Satire on You Tube

I have not seen this United Church of Christ video in Canada, but noticed it on You Tube months ago. The clip claims that God does not reject people, and yet from a Biblical perspective in John 1:12-13 those who receive God, become children of God, but not by the will of the flesh, or of man, but of God. Leon Morris writes that people by their own efforts cannot enter into the heavenly family. Morris (1989: 128-129). It is God who takes the initiative to save sinners. Morris (1989: 129). Francis Foulkes explains that in Ephesians 1:4, God does predestine individuals to believe in Christ, but this does not oppose human free will. Foulkes (1989: 55). Foulkes presents the idea that God offers salvation to all, and those that accept are elected. Foulkes (1989: 55). I disagree. Cranfield explains that human beings in their fallen state do not fear God, and persons live as practical if not theoretical atheists. Cranfield (1992: 67). Mounce in his Romans commentary points out that although many people seek a type of religious experience, that according to Romans 3, no person seeks God, who must take the initiative in the human salvation process. Mounce (1995: 108-109). I conclude that for those that God does not take this initiative, they will remain rejected by God, as they reject God in sinful choices resulting from a corrupt, fallen nature. God does not force or coerce persons to believe in him or reject him, but must regenerate persons in order for belief in Christ and God to occur. In the process of regeneration, I reason that God enables persons to, with a limited free will, believe in the Biblical God.

Within the context of the people attending a Biblical Christian Church, members and those in leadership should not judge whether or not God will save those who attend who do not live a life according to Biblical standards, and do not claim to believe in Christ. The Christian Church should be a safe place for non-Christians to attend and to hear the gospel message and receive love and respect. Church membership should be left for those that are seemingly willing to live a life based on Biblical standards and will follow the particular essential doctrines of each individual denomination, or church, if it is non-denominational. I view essential doctrines as ones concerning the nature of God as triune, the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, a trust in the Bible as an accurate copy of the original inspired letters, and a related devotion and desire to obey Biblical commandments, even though they are contrary to our corrupt human nature. The church member must show signs of being guided by God's Holy Spirit.


I am not a 'fan' of Billy Joel, but I think he is a good musician. The song presented is a good one, but I find the drummer's antics funny. Why does he need to stand up while drumming during the 'Big Shot' portions where Joel stands? It it hilarious in my view. It almost looks like he is in an argument with his drum kit.


Okay, granted she was probably nervous, but for a televised event, one would think she would be better prepared, but fatigue may have been factor. She provides an another opportunity for people to believe and spread the dumb blonde myth. She may be a very intelligent person that had a battle with nerves, but probably many out there will not give her a break, which is too bad.

CRANFIELD, C.E.B. (1992) Romans: A Shorter Commentary, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

MORRIS, LEON. (1989) Jesus is the Christ: Studies in the Theology of John, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

MOUNCE, ROBERT H. (1995) The New American Commentary: Romans, Nashville, Broadman & Holman Publishers.


The Vick jury.

thekingpin68 in Florida

Fort Myers, Florida

Hello from Orlando, in Central Florida. This will mean little to new readers, but those that have read this blog for awhile will realize that I live in Greater Vancouver in British Columbia. I am here receiving medical treatment for the eyes in South Florida, in the nice town of Fort Myers. The surgery involves laser treatment for vitreous eye floaters. The large floater in my right eye is gone and there shall be more treatment to get rid some of the smaller floaters. The left eye was treated once with few laser strikes, as it does not have serious floaters and the ones it has are not very dense, hard to shoot and near the retina. The main problem was the large floater in the right eye, and that is gone and I now hope to have as few floaters left as possible. It is easier to type this type of article without the massive floater in the right eye. Here is the link for Dr. Scott Geller.

http://www.vitreousfloaters.com/

Additional from August 22:

I am back in BC now. The surgery was successful in eliminating the large floaters, but I have several small floaters which the laser cannot strike, or the floaters are too close to the retina. Dr. Geller is an excellent surgeon, and a nice man with a good sense of humour. He did the very best he could with four sessions to eliminate the floaters he could safely remove. He has the knowledge and laser to safely remove viewable floaters and ophthalmologists need to investigate his techniques. As Dr. Geller stated and as I knew previously, a vitrectomy is an option in the process. I now shall pursue a vitrectomy locally to rid myself of the numerous small floaters which are filling my right eye.

http://www.stlukeseye.com/Surgical/Vitrectomy.asp

Vitrectomy

Overview

The vitreous is a normally clear, gel-like substance that fills the center of the eye. It makes up approximately 2/3 of the eye's volume, giving it form and shape before birth. Certain problems affecting the back of the eye may require a vitrectomy, or surgical removal of the vitreous. After a vitrectomy, the vitreous is replaced as the eye secretes aqueous and nutritive fluids.
A vitrectomy may be performed to clear blood and debris from the eye, to remove scar tissue, or to alleviate traction on the retina. Blood, inflammatory cells, debris, and scar tissue obscure light as it passes through the eye to the retina, resulting in blurred vision. The vitreous is also removed if it is pulling or tugging the retina from its normal position.

Quick points:

-Central and South Florida are humid, as is the Lower Mainland in BC. It is much warmer here in Florida though. I ran a bit the other day and it was a challenge in this weather.

-It is interesting how in the midst of very warm humid days here in Florida that it can rain very hard, harder than it does in the Lower Mainland for the most part. I was soaked traveling to my car from the surgeon's office. But, I would quickly dry off in the car.

-The water here has been good, and the food as well.

-It has been interesting, even with the long 6 hour round trip drives between Orlando and Fort Myers, to experience the landscape of Florida, and for the first time in my life, the tropics, in South Florida.

-It was very nice to see the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. As I expected, it looks to have much scenic potential.

-The drivers here can be quite aggressive, and some persons view it as alright to drive on the grass off of the freeway. Overall, I think Florida drivers are probably slightly better than ones from BC, but that is just an impression. The speeds here are higher and I deduce the driving skill level is as well. The drivers here remind me somewhat of UK drivers, although the speeds are less here. I drive in the fast lane mainly to avoid the many large trucks here! I drive at 80 miles per hour, and in the UK did about 90-110 miles per hour. In BC, 70 miles per hour on a freeway is probably my maximum typically.

-The people here seem generally quite friendly.

-It is good to see Mr. and Mrs. Documentary Man again. I am staying with them in the Orlando area. They are kind of like a Christian version of Meathead and Gloria from 'All in the Family'.;) They are good, intellectual friends.


Rush: By-Tor and the Snow Dog

The wild solo is dedicated to the few crazy Florida drivers I saw. I am thinking in particular of a guy in the black truck who appeared to try to pass a car on the outside left lane by driving on to the thick grass at full speed. The pass did not work!


Facebook graffiti

Predictions, but not mine!

In my view, the predictions below should make one seriously consider the ramifications of human finite knowledge, and the need to rely on the infinite, omniscient, Biblical God, based on Scripture.

Russ;)

http://baetzler.de/humor/predictions.html

"I have always found strangers sexy."
- Hugh Grant, six months before he was arrested with stranger Divine Brown.

"That rainbow song's no good. Take it out."
- MGM memo after first showing of "The Wizard Of Oz."

That one makes me snicker.

"Radio has no future."

"X-rays are clearly a hoax."

"The aeroplane is scientifically impossible."
- Royal Society president William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, 1897-9.

"No imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"
- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urging investment in the radio in the 1920's.

"You ought to go back to driving a truck."
- Concert manager, firing Elvis Presley in 1954.

"Forget it. No Civil War picture ever made a nickel."
- MGM executive, advising against investing in Gone With The Wind.

"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper."
- Gary Cooper, after turning down the lead role in Gone With The Wind.

"Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little."
- A film company's verdict on Fred Astaire's 1928 screen test.

"Very interesting, Whittle, my boy, but it will never work."
- Professor of Aeronautical Engineering at Cambridge, shown Frank Whittle's plan for the jet engine.

"There will be one million cases of AIDS in Britain by 1991."
- World Health Organisation in a 1989 report. It over-estimated by 992,301 cases.

It is a good thing that this prediction was incorrect.

"We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out."
- Decca executive, 1962, after turning down the Beatles.

Well, I wish most of them were out, but there have been a few very good bands over the years.

"The atom bomb will never go off - and I speak as an expert in explosives."
- U.S. Admiral William Leahy in 1945.

"All saved from Titanic after collision."
- New York Evening Sun, April 15 1912.

The Academy Award winning film, was more successful than the ship.

"Brain work will cause women to go bald."
- Berlin professor, 1914.

This statement is insulting, and goes even further than the 'dumb blonde idea' below.

"Television won't matter in your lifetime or mine."
- Radio Times editor Rex Lambert, 1936.

It is too bad that televangelists matter in our time!

"Everything that can be invented has been invented."
- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, US Office of Patents, 1899.

"And for the tourist who really wants to get away from it all, safaris in Vietnam."
- Newsweek magazine, predicting popular holidays for the late 1960s.

"Stocks have reached a permanently high plateau."
- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929

"There will never be a bigger plane built."
- A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that carried ten people.

"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will."
- Albert Einstein, 1932

"With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the US market."
- Business Week, August 2, 1968

"I think there's a world market for about five computers."
- Thomas J. Watson, chairman of the board of IBM.

"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year."
- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.

"But what [...] is it good for?"
- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
- Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corp. 1977

Yes, who needs theology blogs?

"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"
- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication."
- Western Union memo, 1876

"Who wants to hear actors talk?"
- H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.

I have an 81 year old friend at church and I asked him if he remembers his first 'talkie'.

He laughed.

"Airplanes are interesting toys, but they are of no military value whatsoever."
- Marechal Ferdinand Fock, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre

"No matter what happens, the U.S. Navy is not going to be caught napping."
- U.S. Secretary of Navy, December 4, 1941

"While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility."
- American Radio pioneer Lee DeForest, 1926

"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."
- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)

"Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools."
- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy."
- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction."
- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.

"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon."
- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria, 1873.

No surgeon would operate on my friend Bobby Buff's chest, since it would cut up a muscular 'thing of beauty'...snicker.;)

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
- Bill Gates, 1981.

"What can be more palpably absurd than the prospect held out of locomotives traveling twice as fast as stagecoaches?"
- The Quarterly Review, England, March 1825

"The abolishment of pain in surgery is a chimera. It is absurd to go on seeking it. [...] Knife and pain are two words in surgery that must forever be associated in the consciousness of the patient."
- Dr. Alfred Velpeau, French surgeon, 1839

"Men might as well project a voyage to the Moon as attempt to employ steam navigation against the stormy North Atlantic Ocean."
- Dr. Dionysus Lardner, Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy, University College, London, 1838

"You'd better learn secretarial skills or else get married."
- Modelling agency, rejecting Marilyn Monroe in 1944.

I have wondered, did Marilyn Monroe make the 'dumb blonde idea' famous?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_blonde

Like many popular-culture stereotypes, the origins of this concept are murky. The 1925 Anita Loos novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady (later used as source for a film by the same name made by Howard Hawks and starring Marilyn Monroe) featured the character Lorelei Lee, a beautiful but empty-headed singer. While some look to this as the source for the concept, in fact, it might be far older.

The following are some predictions from the Jehovah's Witnesses.

http://www.carm.org/jw/false_prophecies.htm

1897 "Our Lord, the appointed King, is now present, since October 1874," Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 4, page 621.

1899 "...the ‘battle of the great day of God Almighty' (Revelation 16:14), which will end in A.D.

1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership, is already commenced." The Time Is at Hand, page 101 (1908 edition).

1916 "The Bible chronology herein presented shows that the six great 1000 year days beginning with Adam are ended, and that the great 7th Day, the 1000 years of Christ's Reign, began in

1873." The Time Is at Hand, page ii, (forward).

1918 "Therefore we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the faithful prophets of old, particularly those named by the Apostle in Hebrews 11, to the condition of human perfection." Millions Now Living Will Never Die, page 89.

1922 "The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914." The Watchtower 9/1/22, page 262.

1923 "Our thought is, that 1925 is definitely settled by the Scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith than Noah had upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge." The Watchtower, page 106 4/1/23.

1925 "The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during this year. This may be accomplished. It may not be. In his own due time God will accomplish his purposes concerning his people. Christians should not be so deeply concerned about what may transpire this year." The Watchtower, 1/1/25, page. 3.

1925 "It is to be expected that Satan will try to inject into the minds of the consecrated, the thought that 1925 should see an end to the work." The Watchtower, Sept, 1925 page 262.

1926 "Some anticipated that the work would end in 1925, but the Lord did not state so. The difficulty was that the friends inflated their imaginations beyond reason; and that when their imaginations burst asunder, they were inclined to throw away everything." The Watchtower, page 232.

1931 "There was a measure of disappointment on the part of Jehovah's faithful ones on earth concerning the years 1917, 1918, and 1925, which disappointment lasted for a time...and they also learned to quit fixing dates." Vindication, page 338.

1941 "Receiving the gift, the marching children clasped it to them, not a toy or plaything for idle pleasure, but the Lord's provided instrument for most effective work in the remaining months before Armageddon." The Watchtower, 9/15/41, page 288.

1968 "True, there have been those in times past who predicted an ‘end to the world', even announcing a specific date. Yet nothing happened. The ‘end' did not come. They were guilty of false prophesying. Why? What was missing?.. Missing from such people were God's truths and evidence that he was using and guiding them." Awake, 10/8/68.

1968 "Why are you looking forward to 1975?" The Watchtower, 8/15/68, page 494.

Matthew 24: 23-24 points out that false Christs and prophets shall arise. Jesus states that they should not be believed.

Polls

Yorkshire

I really like my new blog template. As with thekingpin68 blog, the design is standard, but I create my own original colour schemes with HTML code. As one can reason, I like white and dark colours. The previous blog design was good, but I did not like the wideness of the text and preferred the narrow look of thekingpin68. Over time, I have looked at some other colours with thekingpin68 template for satire and theology, but nothing looked that good in my opinion, and so I eventually went with the present template.

The following is a bit silly, but what the heck this is a satire blog. This blog has reached an 'incredible' milestone. Since this blog started in September 2006, a Google search of "Satire and Theology" would always leave this blog behind, usually well behind, information on the book The Devil and Doctor Dwight: Satire and Theology in the Early American Republic. Well today on Google, I am finally the first website on the list after a search, I am presently 1 and 2. Do not worry, I know I am a blog small fry!;)

http://www.misterpoll.com/

The website above offers some interesting polls and I will examine three of these. I voted and shall add commentary. These polls are somewhat like my PhD questionnaire work, although my surveys are more complex. I corrected spelling errors that I found with these polls, and there were quite a few.

Faith and Religion

Results

What is your faith or religion?

Christian (Protestant) (25%)

Atheist (20%)

Catholic (16%)

Other (16%)

Eastern Orthodox (3%)

Islam (3%)

Judaism (3%)

Hindu (3%)

Buddhist (3%)

Jehovah's Witness (1%)

Satanist (1%)

Mormon (0%)

59 total votes

Protestant Christian leads the list, but my sceptical side wonders how many of these persons are primarily cultural as opposed to Biblical Christians.

What do you believe about the Holy Bible?

It is God's Word and has no error (50%)

It is a collection of mythical stories (38%)

It is good, but is not divine (10%)

57 total votes

I accept that the original inspired autographs were without theological error, but copying mistakes have been made. There is also the issue of textual addition and subtraction. These problems do not alter key Biblical doctrines, somewhat due to the large amount of copies from different geographical areas. In the archives, I wrote an article called New Testament Manuscripts which discusses my philosophy on this topic. I do not claim to be a linguist or manuscript expert.

Do you believe in the Big Bang?

Yes, but if it is true, God made it happen (33%)

I'm not sure what I believe (24%)

No, it is a dumb idea (22%)

Yes, it just happened out of nowhere (21%)

54 total votes

I am not a scientist, but I am open-minded concerning the Big Bang theory. This is a NASA article I used with The First Cause argument on thekingpin68 blog.

The Question
(Submitted November 08, 1997)

What is the big bang theory? What do you believe?

The Answer

The big bang theory is the theory that the universe started from a single point, and has been expanding ever since.

This has been well-established by observations, such as the apparent movement of galaxies away from us, and the cosmic microwave background radiation believed to be the leftover light from the big bang.

The evidence for a big bang having taken place about 15 to 20 billion years ago is overwhelming, so I naturally believe that it is the case.

However, if your real question is "why did the big bang happen in the first place?" then that ceases to be an astronomical question, but a religious one.

Some astronomers, who are religious, argue that the big bang theory confirms the existence of God and the basic elements of the creation story as told in the Bible. First came light, then the heavens, then the Earth ...

However, many other scientists do not. Scientists, like people in most any profession, have a vast diversity of religious beliefs. Some of us attend houses of worship, others do not. Some of us consider ourselves very religious, others consider ourselves staunch atheists. Just because we study astronomy does not mean we have any more agreement as to the “why'' questions than anyone else.

On the other hand, it is safe to say that as scientists we can agree on an approach to learning about nature and the universe. This approach is one of using observations to test theories. And when a theory has been tested as much as the big bang theory, with each test reconfirming its validity, then we believe that it likely true -- at least more true than those theories which have failed the observational tests.

Good luck on your quest for the truth.

Jonathan Keohane for Ask an Astrophysicist

How do you believe the world will end?

God will do it however he has planned (56%)

The sun will explode (33%)

The universe will shrink up into nothing (5%)

The world will never end, we will evolve forever (6%)

57 total votes

I reason based on the Book of Revelation (Chapters 21-22) that God will establish a new heaven and new earth. I hope to learn more on this book over the next several years, and it should be stated that the book of Revelation needs to be interpreted with varying degrees of literalness. Mounce (1990: 369). The book uses figurative language in many places, but there shall be a new order of things with the earth and creation. Mounce (1990: 369).

How do you get to heaven and don't be damned to hell forever?

through faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior (41%)

there is no heaven or hell (34%)

you just do good things and hope you get there (17%)

you fly planes into buildings and kill people (6%)

you sacrifice animals so God will say OK (0%)

58 total votes

I chose the first option and reason that a person that is regenerated by the creator to believe and trust in Jesus Christ and God from the Bible is saved. The grammar with this question is poor, of course.

Dating Non-Christians

Is it acceptable for a professed Christian to date a professed non Christian?

Results

Is it acceptable for someone who desires to live their lives in pursuit of Christ to enter into a dating relationship with someone who does not profess a belief in God?

Yes it is acceptable but only if the other is open minded and they discuss mutual respect and work out problems early (32%)

No, it is not acceptable because it will weaken your faith rather than strengthen it because partners should be equally yoked. (24%)

No, it is not acceptable because it is impossible to truly love outside of Christ (11%)

No, it is not acceptable because it will only cause problems later (Children, chastity, marriage) (11%)

Yes, it is desirable to bring others to Christ (9%)

No opinion (6%)

Yes, it is acceptable if they are personally strong in their faith (3%)

277 total votes

These results do not surprise me. Please see my three part, A philosophy of singleness series on thekingpin68 blog. It seems difficult for the Church to influence many Christians in today's Western society to think primarily Christian, and not mainly secular in regard to dating and romantic relationships.

For fun:

Results

Which sport is the better one?

soccer (31%)

football (27%)

baseball (20%)

other (13%)

hockey (6%)

basketball (0%)

29 total votes

There is no such thing as a best sport! But I would vote for soccer as my favourite sport to watch, European professional soccer anyway.

MOUNCE, ROBERT H. (1990) The Book of Revelation, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.