searching the sunsets

It's Not Just Church Signs I Hate...

It's pretty much all signs...

HT: Steve

Why You Don't Have To Walk Out of Church...

"I have never seen an unchurched woman get upset we don't have a woman's ministry."

Scott Hodge

HT: D.Rudd

McCain and Obama's Tax Plans

Picked this up through a guy at work. It's mostly in English. Have fun reading and deciding who you're gonna vote for. This piece is mostly just facts without editorializing either guy.

Enjoy

Great Quote #84

"Someone else or some 'event,' should not be able to define who we are. Too many people are defined by some event that happened years ago. It doesn’t have to be that way. That is the promise of the Bible."

~Dr. Robert Lehman

Friends 101

I'm working on a few follow up posts to stuff that I've written earlier this year. Some things in the Que are:

• Why I stay in Church (parts 2 and 3)
• Life is Messy and Control is an illusion
• What is a Win for your life, or what do you want out of life?

Until then, though I have a question. I've been involved with a conversation lately about how friends let you down. It actually spawned my "Life is messy and Control is an illusion" writing--which is currently nowhere near ready for public consumption.

It seems I've heard a lot lately about people who have friends who either annoy the snot out of them or just consistently let them down unless there is a pressing need in the friend's life then they are all about being friends.  So here's my questions:

1. Do you have friends in your life that annoy the snot out of you? Why don't you stop being their friend?
2. Do you have friends that consistently let you down? Same follow up question.
3. Do you have friends that only seem interested in being your friend when they have a crisis and then when the crisis is over you never hear from them?
4. Do you have friends who consistently use the "I've been so busy" excuse to explain why they haven't done that well at staying in contact with you? (As if we're all not busy).

If you answered yes to any of these questions, what do you think the best response is? Also, as a blatant plug to you my readers I have a bet with a friend about your comments on this post. My friend says that no one will have the courage to actually answer the questions. I disagree of course, which is why I put it out here for you to answer. So answer away. :)

"I Am Pro Choice"

" am pro-choice when it come to war. I am not for war, I simply believe that we should have the choice to employ war or not to employ war."

--I heard something similar to this recently. What do you think?

You Chose. What Do You Think?

"Very few of us realize how much we choose our misery in our lives. Even when we do, we still go ahead with the disastrous choice because we are convinced that we don't have the strength to chose better. A Child doesn't give up in school, or a wife on her marriage because each believes it's a good move. The give up because they believe they no longer have the strength to keep up the struggle."

"Most of us spend our lives in a series of compromises between doing what we believe in and doing what will please those who are important to us."

~From an author I've been reading lately. What do you think?

The Wall Stree Journal Weighs in On Change We Can Believe In.

Read, enjoy, hate but don't attack each other in the comments. Here's a little sum sum to whet your appetite.

Though we doubt most Americans realize it, this would be one of the most profound political and ideological shifts in U.S. history. Liberals would dominate the entire government in a way they haven't since 1965, or 1933. In other words, the election would mark the restoration of the activist government that fell out of public favor in the 1970s. If the U.S. really is entering a period of unchecked left-wing ascendancy, Americans at least ought to understand what they will be getting, especially with the media cheering it all on.

...Mr. Obama's agenda is far more liberal than Bill Clinton's was in 1992, and the Southern Democrats who killed Al Gore's BTU tax and modified liberal ambitions are long gone.

In both 1933 and 1965, liberal majorities imposed vast expansions of government that have never been repealed, and the current financial panic may give today's left another pretext to return to those heydays of welfare-state liberalism. Americans voting for "change" should know they may get far more than they ever imagined.

Go here to read the whole thing.

"If You Disagree with Me, You Obviously Don't Really Understand, Study, or Care About The Bible!!!"

Something that bothers me about the internet, specifically the "christian" internet blogs is a variation on Godwin's law.

As an Internet discussion between disagreeing Christians grows longer, the probability of the accusation involving not taking the Bible seriously/literally approaches one

Most recently a fine upstanding man named Cameron Buettell did it with my wife at his blog. See, if you don't agree with me then you really just don't take the Bible seriously.
UGGG

Two Observations on Going to Mars

1. People who don't go there call it Mars Hill, and people who do go there (typically) call it Mars.
2. Some people want to know what we believe before they set us on fire, but many many people just want to see the world burn.