looking back at 1999's THREE TO TANGO

starring Mattew Perry and Neve Campbell, with Oliver Platt and Dylan McDermott

"A rich businessman's assumption that his new colleague is gay leads him to ask the man to keep an eye on his mistress. However, the man is not gay--and he begins to fall for the woman himself."

This movie was funny, because it captures an interesting crosspoint in the culture, where people weren't anti-gay but they were a little hesitant toward the whole thing.  You can see it in the various interactions between the characters in the film.  Of course, as it is today, there are people who get fired up when they hear about people being homosexual for religious reasons, many not seeming to grasp the idea that serving God with one's whole being is just not the order of the day for most people in contemporary USA.  I don't know if it ever was, but I can definitely see a closer resemblance to that when I hear about people back in the 1700s etc.  But anyway...  This movie is more about "the world", the people that make up society as a whole.  Maybe homosexuality should offend me.  I know I have my own sinful patterns to deal with, and I haven't done a great job at dealing with them, so I don't feel like I have any business being offended by other people's sinful patterns.
So, for other people that aren't offended by it, or aren't trying to repent from homosexuality themselves, it's a funny movie.  Society has moved beyond the point where it was when the film was made and released, and I don't think it's for the better, although I was trying to tell people for years that banning same sex marriage was not going to work.  The acceptance of gay people was going to increase and continue increasing and it has.  If someone wanted to implement a permanent ban on gay marriage, as people were proposing back in 2003 or thereabouts, they should have done it in the '80's back when public support was marginal.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/506636/sex-marriage-support-holds-high.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_opinion_of_same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States#National_polls

To the atheist

 

What Genesis chapter 3 describes in what is commonly referred to as “the fall of man” is, in a nutshell, a description of a history making chasm between The Father of all mankind, and mankind.

Religion, in general, began with mankind.  Adam & Eve undoubtedly told people about God and Cain even had a face to face conversation with Him.

As Romans chapter 1 puts it,

“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”

So, religion, in general is indeed manmade.  I've heard people point out that other religions bear a striking resemblance to Judaism & Christianity.  What would you expect?  A lie always has elements of truth in it.  

I'm not posting this to win an argument.  I'm ultimately hoping this helps at least one person who might have some degree of humility, at least consider a life with God, not indifferent about Him or opposed to Him.  

I confess I am not as jealous as I would like to be regarding fellowship with Him.  I don't wish the distance I feel from Him upon anyone else and I certainly don't want to see anyone go to Hell, although the unfortunate reality is that for various reasons, the foremost being disbelief, but also a lack of care in following The Great Commission, many will be lost and I alone have little I can do to stop it.  One of the beautiful things about God's word is He knows all things and is by no means asleep at the wheel laying all of the responsibility on His sheep.

Please, at least consider a life with Jesus the Christ.

Communion

 

I'd been skipping communion for I don't know how long.  Pastor usually just says to let the elements pass by if you're refusing to repent.  Thing is, I don't know if I'm refusing to repent.  I am lacking in willingness.  If I were 100% absolutely willing to repent I'd do whatever it takes to get it done.  I'd haunt my room, alternating between wailing in frustration and praying, like a total schizo.  I'd endure going without tv or internet.  I'd turn my face against every female that comes in my line of sight.  I'm still not sure if taking it today was appropriate but it's done.  This time, my pastor said something to the effect of 'Examine yourself, and look 10 x more at Jesus '.  I decided to take a leap of faith.  Ill informed faith, perhaps.  I just can't conceive of being joyful denying myself and preparing myself for burial.  Maybe someday I'll get this figured out.

Confusion

 My pastor pointed out that The Bible is not structured anything like a systematic theology textbook.  His explanation for that is that is that God was (is) intending to capture the readers heart.  I think he's probably right about that, but also The Bible covers a wide spectrum of truth.  There's very few succinct summarizations of any theology.  Really, that's because truth is too complex to succinctly cover.  That's why you often have two statements in scripture that seem to contradict themselves.  On one hand you have Jesus verdict about anger in His sermon on the Mount.  Then you have Jesus' hand picked servant instructing people "Get angry but do not sin".  Then you have words in Proverbs that talk about reputation and honor while other verses talk about the need to love instruction.  You shouldn't love instruction to the degree that you forsake honor but you also should not value honor so much that you refuse others' instruction.  Ultimately, goodness and truth *should* reign supreme but we humans tend to have difficulty with those things.

This topic came to mind because I keep hearing Jesus' freeing of the captives described as 'We're saved from the power of sin'.  Then people talk about needing to "kill" sin because it's "so powerful".  If we're free from the power of sin, then the power that sin has is irrelevant.  The thing is, The Bible doesn't say we're free from the power of sin.  THAT is a summation that probably comes from theology textbook.  We are no longer SLAVES to sin.  That is different than saying that we're free from the power of sin.  Also, it'd seem like, to me anyway, that one's lack of slavery to sin can at times take awhile to become evident.  Our position in Christ is absolute and sure.  However, things on this side of heaven can be a good bit murky quite often.

Contentment musings

 @ https://www.facebook.com/share/1Yab413KYs/?mibextid=xfxF2i

Contentment is an interesting concept. It'd seem like it requires having everything you want. Or somehow amputation from desire. In some cases we are called to do that, to "abstain from fleshly lusts"*, but who can fault someone for wanting a pain free life? Or wanting everything to work as advertised? There is, I think, a degree of discontent in everyone's life and there should be. But it should be submitted to God. Discontent should not be so pervasive that it causes one to point the finger at God. There's very well might be times when you're in so much pain that you end up wailing, rather loudly at that, but it should not cause you to rage against God. Doubt, perhaps. I think God understands that we have reasoning skills and that we rely on them for most things and are not 100% able to accept things that exceed our abilities to comprehend. That's largely why THE GOOD NEWS is called such. It's not new information. It's not even a new reality. It's just that God explains Himself more clearly in The Gospel. It's also the good news that, because of Jesus' sacrifice, people who submit to God, even if it's not a full blown submission, are able receive His spirit implanted in them, securing them a place in Heaven, where there is no pain or awkwardness, frustration etc.... Buy even when we don't understand and are prone to doubt, we should be willing to listen as well as speak. And if God is silent, we need to hold onto the hope of Heaven. Hope softens hearts, and makes people able to endure whatever He may bring.  

In short, I do believe Christian contentment is relative.

 *an observation my pastor made several months ago [which I think he may have forgotten about...] that completely escaped my notice is the emphasis on the -lusts- as opposed to the 'giving into' them.

YUU PPL .

 I posted this comment on an article from People magazine about Amber Heard, which covered a bit of ground including the defamation trial.

These are my two cents.

"It is extremely unfortunate the garbage she dealt with during that, but from what I can tell, Depp's defamation trial succeeded because it's at least understood they were both coked up and out of control.  I don't condone hitting a woman.  If he actually did beat her, that's something he should be deeply ashamed of, and I don't know what happened in their personal lives, but if what I'd read about the backstory of the trial and my overall impression from it is accurate,  she is *partially* responsible for a lot of what happened between them.  I'm not trying to shift the blame, but she made it sound like she's one of those wives who are beaten by their husband simply because their husbands are out of control temperamental; these wives who are all too aware of their husbands temper and often try to avoid even being yelled at.  That's nothing the public needs to be getting worked up about and posting hateful comments about her because of.  Johnny Depp is by no means innocent in all of this, but neither of them need to be villified which is what I think Johnny Depp was ultimately concerned with. Btw, I don't believe his vehement denials are honest.  It's equally shameful for him to be villifying her the way he did and anyone with an iota of human decency can say the same thing, but there are a lot of generally well meaning people who just don't seem to get that you, and I, of course, are not entitled to treat people like dirt and that if you, female or otherwise, get smacked for doing so, sure, call the police, let the violence be acknowledged as such, but, again, you don't need to vilify the violent offender.  Let them suffer the legal ramifications of their actions, whatever it/they may be, but you don't need to go to your friends or the press and talk about how brutal the guy is."

Ga

I'm really not sure what transpired in the Garden of Eden.  The forbidden fruit tree was described as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It was not until it was eaten of that God declared mankind guilty and promised a release from said bondage.

Now, there are indeed things that people do that are just rotten and should never be done.  But a question that has come up to me several times is What does "perfect" look like?  What specifically distinguishes God that qualifies Him as perfect?  It's not that He never broke the ten commandments.  True, He hasn't stolen or disobeyed His parents, but when you have no parents and everything you see is yours, I mean...is that really the litmus test?  Is God to be praised and honored because He literally CANNOT sin?  And I don't mean cannot like "I can't violate my conscience", but like the same way a human being CANNOT be a giraffe.  God could perhaps turn a human into a giraffe but then he wouldn't be a human anymore.

I think Paul hunted at this when he said "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me."

Ultimately, we should pursue distance from things that tempt us to do what God commands against, but what is most important is that we are with God.  We were never intended to be perfect.  We were never intended to be equal with God's awesomeness.  We were intended to be with God.  What the law could not do, God did, sending His son in our likeness to bridge the chasm between us and Him.  Inasmuch as we are distant from God, our souls will continue to feel it.  Granted, I think, we weren't to be walking immediately beside Him, literally with Him, 24/7.  The picture in Genesis 2 shows Adam and Eve off doing whatever, and God off doing whatever, there was no explanation or indictment given for Eve being in a position to be having a conversation with Satan.  She's not recorded as having like King David having made one bad decision (staying at home and doing nothing) that ended up snowballing into something much worse.  So we're not going to be like hanging off of God's shoulders all the rest of our days, but it'll sometimes be like when you were a kid and your parents would go to the grocery store and be back in less than 2 hours.  Except it won't even be like that because you'll always know that you're safe, no matter what happens.  

The distance between us and God is in our hearts. 

Our lack of perfection can be wrongfully ignored, like I said, there's things that we simply should not do.  We should not get hostile with people about petty issues, we (or at least I) should not be so materialistic and trying so incessantly to have all these passing fancies.  I should not look at people with such shallowness the way I often do, it should not take so much effort for me to remember to be compassionate and helpful.  These are not small things.  It's insanely easy for me to think otherwise but God obviously doesn't agree with me when I'm thinking that. He had to estrange Himself from His only begotten Son for 3 hours, and watch Him suffer from all kinds of brutality.  Not to mention all of that pain that Jesus The Christ Himself faced.  All to atone for that which we CANNOT atone for.  We can try to make restitution but we CANNOT take back what we do and say.  And I know from experience feeling the brunt of someone's malice, that no apology is really ever enough to assure me of peace.  No act of kindness is enough to offset things.  The only thing to do is know that neither me nor my opponent are innocent.  And we both are offered salvation through the life death and resurrection of Jesus.

bo

 really bites that so many movies that are actually REALLY GOOD just fall on deaf ears so to speak.

OUR FRIEND (2021) 95% of movie goers liked it.  Didn't even gross $1M at the box office.

A GOOD PERSON (2023) 96% of movie goers liked it.  Grossed less than $2.5M at the domestic box office, just a smiden over $2.5M globally.

Meanwhile, that half baked THE BATMAN sequel grosses almost a billion dollars and there's now a 7th Jurassic Park (or whatever...) movie made after 4 lame AF sequels in a row. (Jurassic World 2 was a little better than Jurassic World, but not by much...although Jurassic World was still better than Jurassic Park 3, so, I guess they're slowly getting better...............  didn't finish watching JW:Dominion...)

Helpless babies

 [I wrote this intending to send it to my pastor, but I doubt he has time to read or any interest in reading it]

It seems like the anger etc. over not getting their food fast enough would most likely stem from distrust.  And how many babies would grow up with nutritional deficiencies if babies were not making an uproar about lacking food?  Babies are not aware of the inconvenience their tantrums pose or the limitations of their parents.  Babies also don't have the reasoning with which to "take a look in the mirror".  Of course you don't have to teach babies disobedience.  God didn't need to learn disobedience either.  The importance of authority IS something that babies need to learn and God didn't need to learn that because He's the one who created it.  Not to mention God was never a baby.  I highly doubt Jesus was born with 20/20 vision able to discern weather his mom was too distracted watching soap operas to care if he was hungry and able to figure out "ok, obviously she's getting the lid off of the peanut butter....so, and so, must equate....". If Jesus was resigned to die at the hands of man's neglect if it so shall be from the second He was born, then, only immense peace flowing from The Holy Spirit would have made that possible.

Just seems rather judgemental to be picking on helpless babies who just want to eat.  Not like they cry for no good reason in the first place.  Patience and understanding are far from a babies' capacity.  That doesn't seem to me to be a case of "suppressing the truth in unrighteousness".

I'm also confused as to how someone could be dumb enough to think that we create or in any way orchestrate our salvation.  God created man and everything about man.  It certainly wasn't my idea for God to send His son to die to atone for my sins.  If I were to ever think to ask God to be pleased with me, that dynamic certainly would not have been my first thought.  Or my second or even 15th....  I mean, honestly, if it were up to me, I wouldn't have to painstakingly "put sin [self] to death", but rather my nature would be changed, and viola, I'd ACTUALLY play NO part in my salvation, but it would ALL be God, instead of hearing people SAY that...

Re Christ

 https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14DnkGyxy9w/?mibextid=xfxF2i

"Who has believed our message

    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

    and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

    stricken by him, and afflicted.

 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.

 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

    each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all."

Christ means Messiah.  

Mary, mother of Jesus was not some angelic being. She was a devout Christian, which we are all called to be. She didn't practice "Christianity" the way that Christians do today, but she believed the words of God, to the best of her ability, which is all God requires of us. To believe them and act accordingly. The sufficiency of scripture can be exaggerated like it's literally EVERYTHING a person needs, which is true if you don't want to live on this earth another day. If you want a chance of survival on Earth, you need, for starters, God Himself, His sustaining power, not just words written that speak ABOUT His power. But if you're believing things about God that aren't in The Bible, then how do you distinguish truth from lies?! You may as well believe what the Quran says about God.

Slavery in the USA

It seems like people try to minimize the state of race relations by explaining that every country at one point had slaves.  The real question then is How are the descendents of slaves in Europe and elsewhere treated?  The KKK formed as a response to the Union winning the civil war and it was not until the past 50 years that their presence and influence has seriously begun to diminish.  The more common problem nowadays is people trying to act like racism was never there.  People throwing the "N" word around like it's part of a math equation.  People ignoring or justifying the racism that exists in their friends and neighbors.  I do think a lot of people, black and white, fail to understand that slavery, as its' own independent thing, is NOT unique to the US.  It's not something only black people experienced.  But A) How were those slaves treated?  if they were treated with the same contempt and disregard that black slaves in the US were, are those other countries who allowed slavery doing ANYTHING to try and make amends to the people in their populace whose ancestors faced it or are they just trying to forgive themselves and expect that others do the  same?

I don't think most black people are expecting white people to donate a kidney for the cause.  There has to be some level of forgiveness at hand otherwise the whole thing is pointless.  I think a little bit of political correctness, with a spirit of kindness and understanding is in order.   Sometimes it does go too far, especially when people decide to police and re-police certain descriptions of people groups or characteristics thereof...[I understand not using the term "negro", but seriously????] But generally, what people call political correctness is simply being considerate.  But yes, if you're just doing it so you won't get chewed out for not being considerate, then... either way as far as I'm concerned.  Not that my opinion really means anything...

violence!

 I remember being an open proponent of screen violence when I was younger.  I've mostly given up expressing any kind of support for it, because people are so stuck in their views.  But I've come to realize, where people who decry it are mainly concerned with the destruction and loss that ensues when murder occurs, what I've always found stimulating was more the fantastical elements; movies that take what you normally see and combine them in ways that you don't normally see them.  For instance, in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the main villain is this weird lump of metal that can liquify at any moment.  Its' arms can meld into swords and it can physically blend itself with certain kinds of objects.  And in a couple different scenes you see the sword/knife/stabbing weapon effect being used.  One particularly noteworthy one was when this guy was drinking milk and the machine shot its arm through the milk container and the guys' head.  I think even at the age I was at when I saw it, there was a degree of sadness that accompanied it, but it was also just not something I would expect to see.  You can go through any war zone and you're extremely unlikely to see anything of the sort.  And very few of any of the people I've ever met have been in a war zone even.  Violence in movies is a safe way to be shaken by the very real possibility of death and destruction.  Nobody is going to be gleeful and joyous 24/7.  If you're not going to be exuding bright cheer all day, why not take that boredom or possibly even anger or sadness and channel it appropriately?  As wrong as it may be, no movie is going to be make anyone happy.  Satisfied, entertained, sure, but happy?  Even comedies have a degree of tension that carries them forth.  Ghostbusters, as much fun as it was, was about a fight between humanity and an evil inter-dimensional entity.  You had a guy abusing his education and job description, getting rejected by the woman of his dreams, and he and his friends having to resort to smoking because they were under so much pressure from their job (Apparently they were so busy, they never got a chance to change their business hours of 24/7).  

Obviously there's been cases where kids watch violent movies and become violent themselves.  I personally think that's most likely a combination of things 1) Deficient parental guidance.  2) Over-saturation.  I didn't spend the entire day watching the likes of Platoon, The Terminator, Terminator 2, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.  There was not a single day I spent entirely watching movies until I got to be about 14 and even then it wasn't a regular thing.  I didn't even see A Nightmare On Elm Street until I was about 14 because people were so concerned with me being forthright about my penchant for violent movies.  Honestly, I think part of the reason movies like The Terminator resonated with me was because I was not a particularly happy child growing up.  I've always been somewhat melancholy.  I wouldn't say I was depressed, per se, although at times that melancholy has extended into depression.  I don't know exactly why that is.  My guess is it was passed through my mom being so sad as I was growing up. Osmosis, in a sense, I guess.  One of my favorite movies when I was about 7ish was The Last Unicorn.  If you really watch that movie, you'll find it's a pretty dang melancholy movie.  It's not some chirpy "hi ho, we go" or "hakuna matata" kinda thing...  

I'm not trying to say that kids across the board should be allowed to watch The Terminator, or anything else for that matter.  It should be understood by the kid that human beings do have the capacity to die (and that things like blood loss etc. can make that happen somewhat quick) but it should also be understood by the parent that the people you see in movies, even if it's based on true events, are not real.  People, men (boys), especially, have a taste for warfare.  That taste should be tempered as a boy becomes a man, as it has in my case (and I'd assume most other men, to varying degrees), but I'm not sure it should be outright discouraged.  It's a delicate balance, admittedly.  You want to teach kids to increase in their value of life, and to all the more so behold rightly in their sight what should be precious, but God did create men to be fighters.  (He didn't create men to be murderers.)

Measure

"...even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ"

I noticed that ringing particular true just looking at Job's life compared to that of David.  Job's friends were not entirely wrong in saying that God doesn't inflict people unjustly.  I think their main error was thinking that they could pigeonhole sin.  They were seemingly thinking that Job did something wrong.  In reality, Job didn't do anything wrong until his friends brought him down that path of thought.  And God straightened him out on the spot and in person.  And examining Job's life overall, with the exception of that shrouded detour, lasting , what, a couple years? Maybe? his life was rather prosperous. David on the other hand was inflicted with pain almost his entire life.  And the moment life became easy for him, he committed adultery , and then murdered so he could cover it up.  God's discipline is not unjust.  

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?"

This life if anything becomes more difficult when you accept Christ's invitation into His kingdom.  

"For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

Knees

 I think I have a relationship with God, but it's not usually an experiential relationship.  Every kind of sense that God has equipped me with would indicate that I'm simply reading His word from time to time.  Moses had no Bible to read.  He had what could unquestionably be described as a relationship.  I probably would have at least a little more sense of God's presence if my conduct weren't so astray.  It's hard to know what people are talking about a lot of the time.  There doesn't seem to be anyone on this planet who can just tell it straight.  People everywhere say dumb crap like "run to Jesus". Or "lay your burdens at the cross".  I think Jesus is in Heaven. Do I need to merely run in the direction of the sky or go the entire distance?  Obviously it's not literal but a warehouse supervisor doesn't order his employees to "ride the corporate ladder" when he specifically has in mind for the employee to Pick up that box and move it 3 feet to whichever side.  The expression "running to Jesus" is probably more profound as a relating of personal experience.  A person who isn't already seasoned at doing that, on the other hand.... 

So how serious should I expect to take use of phrases like "You need a personal relationship with God" or "You need to have a personal encounter with God".??!    Reading The Bible and understanding most of what it's saying is not a personal relationship or encounter.  If anything, it's an indication that you have different things on your todo list than you once did; worship, praise and the pursuit of peace and sanctification, primarily.  If there's anything else I should be able to testify to, I'm either lacking it or unaware that I possess it.  

Barbarism, to what end!?

The Smiths, wildly popular in Britain, somewhat obscure in the USA, had a song titled "Barbarism Begins At Home". And I truly do believe that statement.  The song itself is lampooning corporal punishment.  And there are times when corporal punishment is misused.  Certainly there's no excuse in treating children like punching bags.  But the sentiment in that song reminds me of a crucial complaint that people have against Christianity.  It's a book written in blood.  The God of all creation lived a life of heartache and gave up His life to save those who were intent on taking it from Him.  And the various people who's stories are highlighted in His word all share in that suffering.  The first few chapters of The Bible depict an earth that is fraught with pain and discontent.

Furthermore, Jesus even said in one of His teachings - "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.". However, "those who live by the sword will die by the sword". It often gets misconstrued like He's saying don't live by the sword but you might notice He doesn't say that.  He simply provides a statement of fact as a warning to Peter.  I think that warning could be taken in conjunction with the words Jesus spoke about judgement of other people.  "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”. I think given the context of Jesus warning to Peter using his sword, it could be said that Jesus was, at least in part, reminding Peter of the importance of not judging, to put it simply.  For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.  We are indeed to live by the sword -- the sword of The Spirit, which is The Word Of God.  The testimony of Jesus, His redeeming of humanity, the power that caused Him to rise from the grave, and His triumphant resurrection.

"But now abide faith, hope, love—these three; but the greatest of these is love."

The place of the skull crushing reality His atonement

 https://www.amazon.com/True-Discipleship-Following-Master-Calvary-ebook/dp/B0BFQC38K1/ref=rcmlt_m_sccl_3/133-2257990-2082150?pd_rd_w=oWpz8&content-id=amzn1.sym.62fd6873-4e40-4eeb-aa7d-4664171d9891&pf_rd_p=62fd6873-4e40-4eeb-aa7d-4664171d9891&pf_rd_r=20JZGZ1RSCWK2PE99ZJ9&pd_rd_wg=LUSG2&pd_rd_r=c158047e-5990-4030-96a2-b7732d2ac59c&pd_rd_i=B0BFQC38K1&psc=1

I really wish people would calling the place where Christ died "Calvary".  That word is not in any translation of The Bible I've ever read.  Calvary probably sounds prettier than "place of the skull", but that's where Christianity begins to border on nonsense, when people try to sanitize the reality of it.  Christ's death was not beautiful, it was not pleasant, it was nothing to feel nostalgic or fuzzy - tingly over.  It was a disgusting physical reality that had deeply profound spiritual ramifications that we should be forever thankful for, but looking at it with a syrupy sentiment is just bs.  But then again, there's people who think PASSION OF THE CHRIST was morally wrong for depicting the crucifixion in that manner.  Granted, PASSION OF THE CHRIST was not a particularly great movie.  But that was no doubt a flaw of the film.  Ugh.  😬

Chosen but free

 I don't have a problem with the God's ability and willingness to supercede our will.  If He never did that, we'd be in a world of debilitating agony because sins of the highest and widest reaches would be an obvious blight in our lives.  WW3 would have happened a loooong time ago, rather than being a looming possibility.  

I don't have a problem with who God chooses.  If God wanted to force His salvation on everyone, I'd be happy with that, even if it meant the likes of Adolf Hitler and Ted Bundy were in Heaven.

The problem I have with Calvinism is that it completely ignores the fact that GOD DOES NOT FORCE HIMSELF.  He will seal His children with the Holy Spirit so that there's no turning back from Him, but He will not force you to engage in sanctification.  He will not force you to read His word and to keep His commandments.  To an extent, if you're truly a child of God, you will do all of that, but nobody who is born mentally retarded becomes some legendary pastor.  There is a part of all people, even in their condemned state, that is at home with God.  A person can grow so far away from that by deliberately suppressing the truth and doing everything conceivable to push God away, that God will give that person over to a state of utter unsalvagability, such as what occurred to the Amorites.  The Bible doesn't point out the process of transitioning from death to life because IT'S NOT NECESSARY that a person understand this.  It's also different for different people.  The Bible doesn't say literally everything that just so happens to be true.  There's a good deal of spiritual truth in The Bible, but it doesn't even say everything there is concerning that.  Paul gives a little snippet describing Heaven then stops at "things that are unlawful to speak of."

If a person were to pick between Arminianismn and Calvinism , I'd have to say it's probably to the greater effect to choose Calvinism.  But neither one's writings hold a candle to The Bible.

If I had to choose....

I guess CDs are kind of, practically speaking, obsolete, so if I had to just outright get rid of my CD collection, I could probably get rid of just about everything, but these are the ones I would really truly prefer to keep if I had to, for whatever reason (?), cut it down to the bare minimum.

UPDATED:

1. American Football - American Football

2. Kate Bush - The Whole Story

3. The Fray - How To Save A Life

4. Genesis - Genesis

5. Genesis - ...And Then There Were Three...

6. Genesis - Invisible Touch

7. Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk 2: Longs

8. Genesis - Three Sides Live

9. Genesis - We Can't Dance

10. Idlewild - 100 Broken Windows

11. Idlewild - The Remote Part

12. Jars Of Clay - Good Monsters

13. Jars Of Clay - Much Afraid

14. Avril Lavigne - Let Go

15. Oingo Boingo - Dark At The End Of The Tunnel

16. Oingo Boingo - Nothing To Fear

17. Oingo Boingo - Skeletons In The Closet: The Best Of

18. Pale Waves - My Mind Makes Noises

19. Real Friends - The Home Inside My Head

20. The Story So Far - Proper Dose

21. Tears For Fears - Shout: The Very Best Of

22. Toto - Toto IV

removed
Genesis - Live
Genesis - Live/The Way We Walk 1: Short
Weird Al Yankovic - Even Worse
Weird Al Yankovic - Off The Deep End

added
Pale Waves - My Mind Makes Noises

surprise!

 My nephews seem really iffy on the whole concept of presents being a surprise.  They spend copious amounts of time prior to Christmas and birthdays trying to figure out what they're presents are.  They say things like "It could be....[ x ]", and I feel compelled to remind them it could be ANYTHING(!), as far as they know, because they DON'T KNOW what it is!  I highly doubt the oldest one, now 8, even knows of everything it COULD be.  Heck, I don't know what their presents COULD be.  Not exhaustively anyway.  If I were actively shopping for their Christmas and birthday gifts, I'd still be unaware of a possible gift, meanwhile they themselves might be pining for something that even they explained it to me, with their limited ability to articulate, I might be like "Huh?  Are you sure you didn't dream this....?"  (I know this because they've tried doing that and that's exactly how it goes sometimes)

I myself at times have wondered not so much what a surprise really is, but more so why surprises are important.
I think with Christmas gifts, the gift is a surprise because, if you're giving it to the recipient in honor of what Christ has accomplished during his stay on earth, it's important to distinguish it from other gifts by giving in on the day that Christians have decided upon as Christmas.  The fact that we don't know what day Jesus was in fact born is really irrelevent and it's honestly perplexing why people feel the need to point that out.
And as for birthday gifts, I guess if you love somebody enough, setting aside a special day just for them is importand and what better day than the day that started it all?  For me, it's more tradition.  If nobody I knew had been born, it would be because God decreed or at least allowed that to be the case (there is indeed a distinct difference between a decree and a permitting and I wish Christians would quit using the terms interchangeably).  A birthday celebration, therefore, in my imaginary perfect world, is more of an honoring of God's infinitely wise providence, as unfathomable and confounding as it often is.  There is an element of care to it as well.  In the case of the adults I know, seems like they're so heavenly minded, getting them a gift is like dropping a penny in a well.  For children, ie my nephews, they get so excited by the bling and blang, it's fun to partake in by buying them gifts.  For me, even though I can get caught up in the same kind of thing, I recognize that everything comes with a price tag and, with a few exceptions, it's much bigger than the amount of enjoyment I am able to get out of it.  If I had enough income to buy whatever I wanted without taking a huge pause just after buying a tiny sliver of it, it'd be a different story but nobody I know has that kind of money, including myself.  I still do like to buy stuff, but I'm hoping, given my budget and everything, hopefully I'll be more consistently cognizant of the fact that I really would be better off just giving my money to charity than spending it on cool stuff....

Per Unshakable Assurance by MacArthur

According to John MacArthur I'm not a Christian.  I've been suspecting it for a good while...  I think it's possible I'm saved, but even if so, I really am not where I should be in my relationship with God.  The story continues...

Party line

I will be fine.  Cut me off.  I'll be fine.  If I'm not enough like Jesus to avoid damnation, oh well.  

Bestselling author.....Ha!

 https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1439102740/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?ie=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.w2Q8slxcL3KzrzOCaXG6QMX-k5OcjJdJlMvDYPjO91K7H3rjfVeHlYuWESe4bwmf-US5dLVgQbJMK3HSa-xKKB440hn93Igg-v-k2ntMrXnuKMbwbPzmNoSxEFM8VF34JBe-F9hUxKV22xMApLjBpg6GLVPyXxFlGJ9IVXWaWfcNiO7N0iNhcoHsvh2KJfiE__kiUBYN0ARF8kvrczplBg.fh2G8k9bFU77pmBxLszYpX8HgVFeYnsal64BmiCFoYA&qid=1736607773&sr=8-6#secondary_view_morpheus_1736608195443

Jodi Picoult has written some pretty dang good stuff.  NINETEEN MINUTES and MY SISTER'S KEEPER are pretty good.  A few of her other books might also be good.  I haven't looked really extensively into most of them.  I have noticed a few different publications have pointed out glaring flaws in various books.  A customer on Amazon once noted the cheap pulp - ie LAW & ORDER 8hr DNA testing bs - quality of SALEM FALLS, which some people defend 'because it's 

just

 fiction '.  

just as my CD collection "are just things", and should look like the contents of a dumpster because they're not something more....

And taken from Wikipedia, SMALL GREAT THINGS; A writer for the New York Times thought the white supremacist character was well-written, though found that the protagonist and African American character [Ruth] to be the least believable: 

"The more we see of Ruth and her family, the more their characterization feels like black-people bingo — as if Picoult is working through a checklist of issues in an attempt to say everything about race in one book." Gay found it a "flawed novel" but felt "generous" toward the book and gave her "a lot of credit for trying, and for supporting her attempt with rigorous research, good intentions and an awareness of her fallibility"

I can't say I feel as generous toward an author who has gotten crazy rich writing horseshoot.  There are plenty of books out there that are entertaining, well researched and don't suffer from an author overextending (s)he's grasp.  Granted, you have to look for them.  The more an author writes, the more oxidized their work is likely to be.  The same thing started happening with Stephen King as far back as the early 80s when he started churning out BS like Firestarter and Cujo.  And it got even worse the more prolific he got.

 

Faith, yeah I know...

 I think some people confuse faith with what The Bible talks about when the word "faith" is used.  Believing is an important initial step toward faith, but if it's just something you know, it's just as irrelevant as knowing that Abraham Lincoln is the 16th president.  You have to be willing to bank on it.  Because if you truly grasp even a surface understanding of what God has done for people, you know that there's nothing to do but respond.  And you also know that no response - no matter how extreme - is ever going to be enough to make up for your sorry existence.   

People in the Calvinist camp tend to combine "faith is a gift" with "you were dead in your trespasses", and assume by "dead ", that God means incapable of anything good.  If a person is incapable of anything good, then God has no reason whatsoever to have mercy on them.  No person can come to father unless The Father draws him to Himself.  God has to see at least some inkling of potential in you in order to empower you for service to His kingdom.  To believe anything else is to assume there's some factor in God's decision making that we're completely clueless about, which I suppose is possible.  Granted, we should not assume that we know all of the ins and outs of God's decision making.  We don't know ourselves as well as we presumably should and so how can we know what exactly led God to show compassion on us?  More so, we should not take any credit for the good that is in us, because we didn't put it there.  Good comes from external influences.  We have the capacity to respond to those influences but without the influences, we are hopeless.   And even with a treasure trove of good influence we are still prone to amplify whatever negative influences come upon us.  We need Jesus' intercession.  Woe to those who reject it.

Happy New Year 2025 AD

 https://www.gotquestions.org/what-year-was-Jesus-born.html

Really don't know why people are so fixated on this question.  The calander that "Western" society uses is completely made up and has been traded so many times and I'm assuming didn't even exist when Adam & Eve were created.  The geneologies cited in Genesis are not there for us to try and figure out how old the world is and there is no promise God makes to include every person in any geneoloy list.  Maybe He has done that, but how do we know?  He does not owe us any such thing and we don't need any such thing.  Or maybe I don't need any such thing.  I can't imagine a person's soul longing to know how old the world is, but then again I'm kinda dulled to what my soul needs...