On Richard Dawkins

If you have some friends who are "new atheists" or being influenced by them, this may be helpful. All the same though, if you are a militant or dare I say, ignorant(?!) type of creationist (not all creationists are like that), you may need to be careful here too, and hear what Ruse says about Dawkins and learn to have "intellectual integrity." In other words, be a humble truth seeker.

The trouble with Richard Dawkins from CPX on Vimeo.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards: #33

33. Resolved, always to do what I can towards making, maintaining, establishing and preserving peace, when it can be without over-balancing detriment in other respects. Dec.26, 1722.

Peace is good. But it is not ultimate. Promote what is good, but do not make it ultimate if it is not ultimate. God alone is ultimate, and there needs be wisdom in "making, maintaining, establishing and preserving" anything that is good but not ultimate.

Back to peace itself though, it's easy to look at the world news and think well, at least there isn't war going on in this country, or near my close group of people. But peace is more than an opposite of war. Are people around me finding peace and learning to live in peace among others? And, is "tolerance" the way for peace?

(Source: A Puritan's Mind)

Best in life

from Conan, the Barbarian,

Mongol General: Hao! Dai ye! We won again! This is good, but what is best in life?
Mongol: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcons at your wrist, and the wind in your hair.
[I'm thinking, mmm... meh.]
Mongol General: Wrong! [oooh, thank you for rebuking him.] Conan! What is best in life?
Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
[RRAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!]
Mongol General: That is good! That is good.

To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
Cool. But it's only cool in movies. In real life, nobody's going to say cool when your village has just been pillaged and burned down.

You can crush your enemies and hear the lamentation of their women, Conan, but as for me, best in life is this: To know, to love, and to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Image Source: Photobucket]

"justice be served but mercy be shown"

SMH reports:

The Libyan jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing was granted release on compassionate grounds in Scotland on Thursday, despite fierce US opposition to freeing him.

In a move likely to be hailed by Libya as a new sign of its return to global respectability, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi -- who has terminal prostate cancer -- was given his freedom by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

MacAskill said Megrahi, who medics say has less than three months to live, could return to Libya to die because Scottish law required that "justice be served but mercy be shown".

Justice be served but mercy be shown.
I like that. Since the day I watched Braveheart, I always liked the Scots. :-)

SMH article continues:

The 57-year-old "now faces justice from a higher power... he is going to die", MacAskill added.

That is solemnly true. Megrahi will face God's judgement. Only God can judge him with perfect justice, and only God can have mercy on him. Even Mergrahi, who was behind the bombing of a commercial airplane, which killed hundreds of human lives, if he would place his faith in Jesus and turn to God, there is no way God will reject Mergrahi. Christ's sacrifice is sufficient to cover anyone's sin. And only His sacrifice is sufficient to cover anyone's sin. Do you believe this?

On the cross where Jesus died, God's justice was perfectly fulfilled and His mercy was majestically poured out. Justice be served, but mercy be shown? As I've already said, I like those Scots, but at best, our ways are mere imitation, or reflection of God's way of executing justice and showing mercy, which was gloriously declared and served at the cross of Christ.
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. -- 1 John 4:10

Sand Animation from Ukraine's Got Talent

Another moment that makes me cry, "Return, Lord, come and save us."

Why I love Jesus

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards: #32

32. Resolved, to be strictly and firmly faithful to my trust, that that in Prov. 20:6, "A faithful man who can find?" may not be partly fulfilled in me.

Would others think of me as trust-worthy? Would God think of me as a faithful servant whom He has confidence to entrust with His treasures?

(Source: A Puritan's Mind)

Stiff-necked

I slept funny, and now I have a neck pain. Usually, it's just an annoyance. But this is nothing like those other times I had this. I'm in quite a lot of pain. I even took an early leave from work to see a physio.

Using this opportunity, I'm trying to think about what it really means to be "stiff-necked".