Session Notes

recoverynation.com

While the architects of AA should forever be in everyone’s gratitude for such a revolutionary approach, and a pure desire to make themselves and their society better… do keep in mind that what they wrote back in the 30’s was cutting edge — back in the 30’s. With all sociological theories, an evolution must take place–and this is especially true in addiction recovery. So much has been learned about the human condition over the past seventy years that it is unfair to compare today’s approaches to then. Not saying that some of their earlier hypotheses were wrong (well yes, some were absolutely wrong… but many continue to form the basis for today’s recovery community) — only saying that the authors were at a significant disadvantage due to not having the benefit of knowing “what we know now”. They were making things up as they went, based on their own intuition and experience. Well, that and a recovery model loosely based from another created in the late 1800’s. But they did good. Not perfect, but good.

You’ve heard the mantra, “Once an addict, always an addict”… Well, while such a statement is not technically a “lie” — as a lie implies deception — such statements are not accurate, either. Not with what we know today to be true of addiction. They may be accurate on the surface, offering a sense of temporary stability and identity… but they are offering the WRONG identity for permanent change to occur.

There’s a backlash growing in our society against the 12 step model — it’s about 20 years too late — but it’s happening. Here’s the stats:

45% of the people who attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings never return after their first meeting

95% never return after the first year.

Based on Alcoholics Anonymous World Services’ own statistics Alcoholics Anonymous has only a 5% retention rate.

and here’s the research to back them.

If you are an addict in the USA with no money to spend, you will be subjected to a 12 step program. On the other hand, if you have a few (As in up to 9) K a week to spend, you will never see a 12 step model brought anywhere near you. Apparently, when someone is spending almost $1300.00/day, you have to actually help them…;-)

Of course, isn’t it interesting that the church is notably absent from any of the above links and, without a doubt, one of the biggest promoters of the 12 step model… Do we actually want people sick?

Q&A: Chastisement in view of development, not shortcomings!:

“WE are the ones who have a problem recognizing it. Just because His dealings may SEEM to line up with injuries or trials or what-have-you, we are the ones who will try to figure out what GOD might be doing by things that may have no connection whatever!!
Some thoughts:
Do your back injuries really have to be considered as ”chastisements“ at all? Could they not just be a weakness and/or an injury? Then again, might this incident not end up being a ”gift“ as our father works all things together for your good? I think we have been trained to be very, very superstitious in our ”Christian“ upbringing.”

This is a good reminder that God sees us/others according to our reality in Christ, if we believe in Jesus/His Work for us. We are the ones who have the problem recognizing it.

Q&A: True discipline:

“The reality of our total acceptance is the basis for true discipline, for our Father is faithful in maturing us.  He works in us FROM the image of his son TOWARD the image of his son.  In other words, beginning and ending in the reality of Christ in us.  He is teaching us who it is we really are, and He uses whatever means He desires to cause us to see this. ”

This is an excellent encouraging short article that says discipline is constant care. I pray parents/schools would understand for believing children God is in them.

demonbaby.com

If you’re not familiar with Oink, here’s a quick summary: Oink was was a free members-only site – to join it you had to be invited by a member. Members had access to an unprecedented community-driven database of music. Every album you could ever imagine was just one click away. Oink’s extremely strict quality standards ensured that everything on the site was at pristine quality – 192kbps MP3 was their bare minimum, and they championed much higher quality MP3s as well as FLAC lossless downloads. They encouraged logs to verify that the music had been ripped from the CD without any errors. Transcodes – files encoded from other encoded files, resulting in lower quality – were strictly forbidden. You were always guaranteed higher quality music than iTunes or any other legal MP3 store. Oink’s strict download/share ratio ensured that every album in their vast database was always well-seeded, resulting in downloads faster than anywhere else on the internet. A 100mb album would download in mere seconds on even an average broadband connection. Oink was known for getting pre-release albums before anyone else on the internet, often months before they hit retail – but they also had an extensive catalogue of music dating back decades, fueled by music lovers who took pride in uploading rare gems from their collection that other users were seeking out. If there was an album you couldn’t find on Oink, you only had to post a request for it, and wait for someone who had it to fill your request. Even if the request was extremely rare, Oink’s vast network of hundreds of thousands of music-lovers eager to contribute to the site usually ensured you wouldn’t have to wait long.

In this sense, Oink was not only an absolute paradise for music fans, but it was unquestionably the most complete and most efficient music distribution model the world has ever known. I say that safely without exaggeration. It was like the world’s largest music store, whose vastly superior selection and distribution was entirely stocked, supplied, organized, and expanded upon by its own consumers. If the music industry had found a way to capitalize on the power, devotion, and innovation of its own fans the way Oink did, it would be thriving right now instead of withering. If intellectual property laws didn’t make Oink illegal, the site’s creator would be the new Steve Jobs right now. He would have revolutionized music distribution. Instead, he’s a criminal, simply for finding the best way to fill rising consumer demand. I would have gladly paid a large monthly fee for a legal service as good as Oink – but none existed, because the music industry could never set aside their own greed and corporate bullshit to make it happen.

Probably one of the most complete and well thought out assessment of the current state of the record industry — with some strong suggestions about how to take them completely out. Very well worth the read.

Canadians are salt lovers at heart:

“ small children are getting too much, with one- to eight-year-olds consuming more than twice the recommended adequate daily intake of 1,000 to 1,200 mg of sodium per day.”

Q&A: Are we still chastened by the Lord?:

“I can know, good or bad, that He loves me and is not thwarted by all that crap. He didn’t bring us into a life that needs to be made better … but into a life that is connecting to everything I am and everything I do!”

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE THAT WE DO NOT HAVE TO TRY TO BE better. God seemed to say trusting Him is the OUTCOME. HE DOESN’T MAKE US LOVE HIM.

TIME

The Bible and Its Influence has a fascinating constellation of supporters and critics. Some of its more liberal champions, such as the American Jewish Congress’s counsel Marc Stern, feel that the republic can not only survive but will actually benefit from public school courses on a document as culturally central as the Bible — as long as the classes avoid being devotional. Evangelical heavyweight Chuck Colson hopes that God will speak to students even through a class that is secular in intent. Those opposed to the book include secularists who argue that it already violates the First Amendment and fundamentalists who see its approach as secular and therefore diluting the value of what they see as God’s inspired word.

What’s striking about this article is not that you can get a group of Christians, Jews, Secular intellectuals and even a fundamentalist like Colson to agree on a textbook. That’s really not too hard. All you have to do is create a work that is objective, accurate and clearly demonstrates the incredible effect Christianity has on culture and even many atheists will support it.

It’s not even striking that there are fundamentalists out there like this. It takes only the briefest research to discover that it’s not just Islam that has grown more fundamentalist. Evangelical Christianity and other faiths all over the world are all moving towards greater and greater extremism at alarming rates.

What is striking is the degraded nature of thinking process among these Evangelical-Fascist subgroupings. It goes something like this:

Spirituality is a magic thing we get from following rules and jumping through hoops — it is, by definition, good.

Spirituality is as different from the rest of life as outer space is from an atmosphere.

That which is not spiritual is of little value — should be suspect and combated.

Therefore, because it is not about rules and hoops, life and learning can not be spiritual.

Because life and learning is not spiritual, we must fight it.

Seems to me we’ve seen this thinking before — we saw it in and near the end of the dark ages when the religious leadership was trying to burn astronomers at the stake. The Roman Catholic church — in part due to reformers like Luther — was forced to finally cancel this absurdist distinction and embrace all of life as an encounter with the Divine.

For years, Evangelicalism has worn the label of Protestant. We protested an institution and a structure, yes, but really we protested the idea of a human mediator between us and God, the idea of the separation between the clergy and the laity and a split between the secular and the spiritual. We protested magic crystal ball spirituality and demanded that the truth of intimate relationship with God again be taught.

We were right — the release of a document called Vatican II finally even had the Roman Catholic Church agreeing. (Thank God)

The irony is, once we finally get the Roman Catholic Church to agree with us, we then adopt what they just rejected. Now that’s ecumenicism at it’s finest…

FOXNews.com

I was intrigued and excited to meet and interview Alexander Roy, who, with a co-driver, claims to have broken the unofficial transcontinental driving record, racing from New York City to the Santa Monica Pier in 31 hours and four minutes in a 2000 BMW M5.

Ok, I can’t resist.

After all my 7 years of driving ambulances and fully understanding that a couple of lines of Cocaine have absolutely nothing on the high that results from doing 100kmh through rush hour traffic, I’m still trying really hard to condemn these guys — I’m trying, I’m still trying… Really trying… SOOOOOO hard… Really…

And then to get to do it with a chase aircraft overhead to watch for radar traps… No! {SLAP} Bad Cal!

OK, so I give up. Seems like God has some significant regeneration He’s not quite yet accomplished with my right foot…

Cervical Cancer – Cancer – Body & Health:

“It’s been shown repeatedly that women who are young when they lose their virginity and women who have had many sexual partners are at higher risk of the disease. However, most people have been exposed to HPV in their lifetime.People who smoke are at higher risk of this disease, as with most cancers. The risk also increases steadily with age. Women over age 65 are the most likely to develop cervical cancer. In Canadian studies, people with low incomes had consistently higher rates of cervical cancer. The most dramatic risk elevation was found in First Nations women, who are 2 to 6 times as likely to develop cervical cancer as non-Native women.”

USATODAY.com

“I don’t know how long this leave of absence will last, but I fully trust the members of the Board of Regents,” Roberts said in a statement released by the university. “I pray and believe that in God’s timing, and when the Board feels that it is appropriate, I will be back at my post as president.”

Well, the son of the man God wanted to nuke for being short on cash has spoken. First, God thundered from the clouds and told him to stand and fight to the end. Oh, now wait a sec, God just thundered again — now our good friend the Oral Roberts prez has to step aside. (Or maybe his indigestion went gurgle in the night…)

But, only temporarily — and on a deadline — as a negotiating tactic — because he needs one — because he’s innocent — and his wife is sure she isn’t into little boys — (and since God, of course, doesn’t speak to impure people, you can definitely trust him on this one) because, “GOD hath SPOKEN…”

There’s a little psychological trick known as, “Divorcing your own voice and receiving it back as thunder.” It works like this:

(1). You figure out what you want.
(2). Tell the world it’s not your decision; you are just waiting on God.
(3). Claim that God told you to do what it is you wanted to do in the first place.
(4). Profit from the gullible.

It works really well — until you suddenly figure out that you are not the Almighty, that your desires, unlike God’s, have changed and you are now stuck. Then the world and even your own throughly brainwashed followers can suddenly see that either your are your own god, your god is psychotic, and/or you are schizophrenic.

And then there are the thousands of those followers who have now seen the truth that they no longer need priests to stand between them and God and are fleeing to a real relationship with the God who is really there (and isn’t short on cash?) Umm, oh, never mind…

But… But… But, oh, let’s follow him anyway.

Dutch News, Expatica

If you find this bookkeeping mentality hard to accept in the face of the threats she faces, you’re in good company. Salman Rushdie has warned the Dutch prime Minister that this could turn into an international scandal for The Netherlands. TIME Magazine has nominated Ayaan as one of the world’s most influential people. She has become an international icon in the fight to liberate women, whether you like her or not.

Yes, she is very outspoken and critical of her former religion. I am sure that some Muslims found her film ‘Submission’ extremely upsetting. But many Christians found ‘Life of Brian’ or the ‘Last Temptation of Christ’ deeply insulting. They did not however murder the producer or try to assassinate the writer. Violence, or the threat of it, undermines everything we hold dear. When we allow terrorists to dictate what a person can say, they win.

One of the most striking things about this article is not what is said but what is not said. Here you have a government (ostensibly a democratic one that claims to stand for freedom of speech and the rights of women) which is home to a woman who has vocally supported such against incredible odds and at the potential cost of her life. It’s also a government that is busy debating the limits of it’s responsibilities to defend those who actually exercise that responsibility from those who would assassinate her for doing so.

What exactly does a government exist for to begin with? Yes, it may do wonderful social services but a government fundamentally exists to define and defend a free society based on the rule of law wherein there is the potential for virtue to be grown by the unifying forces of that society — usually religion or education/philosophy. This government is busy debating if the cost of defending a free person from an islamofascist tyrant takes away from other programs it would rather spend the money on.

What is striking about this story is that the one question which is never asked is if a government that would seriously debate whether there are time limits on the protection of freedom against tyranny isn’t, in and of itself, proof positive that post-modern stupidity has already ensured that the fundamentalist psychos will win in that country?

MapsOfWar.com

Ok, this is brilliant. From a technical point of view, this is the best use of multimedia technologies to teach history I’ve seen in a long time. Learn more in a few min then you have ever understood about world religions.

From a religious/geo-political point of view, this is one of the fastest ways to gain understanding of the entire Middle East and European situation (with respect to Islam) ever produced. Once you understand the development patterns, all that is further needed to grasp the tension is a minimalist awareness of a religion that teaches that those who fail to convert must be killed and the entire mess makes sense.

Note: Will require Flash plug-in.

BTW: anyone who is going to email to tell me that Islam is a religion of peace should take note of the following:

“Islam spread by means of proof and evidence to those who listened to the message and responded to it, and it spread by means of force and the sword to those who were stubborn and arrogant, until they were overwhelmed and became no longer stubborn, and submitted to that reality.” Sayed Qutb: Fiqh Al-Da’wa, 217-220 – Fatawa Al-Lajnah Al-Daaimah 12/14

“Know that paradise is under the shades of swords.,” Narrated by Bukhari, Vol.4, book 52, 73

“I have been ordered to fight people till they say, “None has the right to be worshipped but Allah”, and whoever says, “None has the right to be worshipped but Allah”, his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law, and his reckoning will be with Allah, (either to punish him or forgive him). Narrated by Abu Huraira, Buchari, Vol.4, book 52, 196

wikiHow

How to Live a Good Christian Life This article will guide you in living a good Christian life. You will read about ways you can grow closer to God, ways to spread the faith, and some basic morals and ethics that God wants us to live by.

If you read over the comments and other sections you would find that this page is the result of a significant number of people working together to create what they all finally agree is the definitive statement on what it means to live a good Christian life.

It’s just annoying enough to be worth the time. Let’s take it apart:

1. Follow Jesus’ greatest commandment: Love God, love your neighbor and love yourself.

Jesus was restating the entirety of the law in one sentence — and demonstrating that no one gets there. Under the new covenant, this is what Jesus does in you — not something you attain via your own effort.

2. Acknowledge you’re a sinner and then repent. Realize that conversion is not simply one act but the beginning of a life-long struggle. Don’t be hard on yourself if and when you fail, pick yourself up and trust in God.

Little problem here, the Greek word for Repent means to experience a change of mind — it’s not about your behavior.

3. Read your Bible. You can really learn a lot from this.

Like the apostles read their Bibles — which were not yet written… When they talked about the, “Word of God,” they were talking about God talking, and them listening.

4. Spend time in prayer.

Nope — Jesus doesn’t want you on your knees — He wants to walk and talk with you all day every day — as a friend, not as a religious experience.

5. Try to see the perspectives of others, even if you personally disagree with them.

Now it’s starting to sound like a cross between a Miss Manners guide and Post-modernist ramblings — where is this in the Bible?

6. Be patient with people who anger you; work on trying to forgive those who may have hurt you. You must learn to love your enemies. God loves everyone, and we need to, also. Say farewell to selective loving. If you have a hard time loving your enemies, pray to God for help.

[Sarcasm]Yep, ’cause it’s all about my effort — rather then about what Christ does in me…[/Sarcasm]

7. Work and pray to the best of your abilities to help others.

That sentence doesn’t even make sense.

8. Treat others kindly as you would like to be treated. Even simple acts of kindness like holding a door open for someone are good deeds.

Nothing more then a restatement of #1 — and under the same heading.

9. Volunteer to help people. For example, you could take a shift at a soup kitchen near you, help with a Christmas effort to give gifts to the poor on Christmas, or visit a people staying in a nursing home.

Why oh why do we consider Mormons, J.W.’s and the like cults — we teach the same performance based religion… If Jesus doesn’t do it in me — then forget it. It ain’t happening…

10. Remain modest and remember that pride can be dangerous. Pride is said to be the mother of all sins, because pride resides in each one of us and the source of all of our sin is ourselves.

Oh, except, it seems there is a little problem of being given a new heart in place of the old one (which, yes, was desperately wicked) — and Paul was rather fond of calling us saints — not sinners…

11. Share your beliefs and spread the good news. Remember, living the Christian life through your actions will make others want to follow God. Always stick up for your beliefs.

So, let me get this straight: Being good — however I define that — and arguing with others (Who presumably don’t meet my expectations) is going to make people want to hang out with Jesus? (This is too easy — it’s like shooting fish in a barrel…)

12. Understand that Christians believe God said they would be persecuted for their beliefs, so do not allow others’ attacks to weaken your faith.

Truer words have never been spoken — freedom is always under persecution — from religion.

I think Steve McVey said it best in his book Grace Land when he said:

“The underlying foundation of all religion is performance – whether it’s a tribal dance around a campfire to satisfy the fire god, or a dead religious activity performed week after week by an evangelical Christian with the intent of impressing his God. It’s all religious performance, and God isn’t impressed by our performance. What impresses Him is faith.”

Blog-o-Fascists

Here’s something American media are virtually guaranteed to not report: a British court has determined that Al Gore’s schlockumentary “An Inconvenient Truth” contains at least eleven material falsehoods.

After all the years of any detractor to his Majesty Al Gore being burned at the stake of, “How dare you refuse to believe real scientists,” it seems that it has finally taken a court of law in England to force said scientific experts to hand over the real evidence. Considering DDT, the ozone hole (Based on a software glitch), global cooling, spotted owls, lizard protection (simply because of the 49th parallel makes them rare on one side) and other raw idiocy that defines environmental activism’s track record, it’s not surprising that Gore’s indisputable science also, inconveniently, turns out to be mostly fiction. The court has now forced English schools that wish to show this work of speculative fiction to their students to define it as such before and after showing it.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped him from being given a Nobel peace prize. It’s beginning to look a lot like none of these scientists really care at all about science — though they wrap themselves in it by the hour. They now have a champion and, not even proving him a liar can cancel his personality cult.

(Just remember this the next time someone tells you that, “Science says…”)

But, on to bigger things. We’re facing a crisis — if we do nothing, Al may continue torturing us with junk science movies for years to come — something must be done — the sanity of the free world rests on it. Any ideas?

Wait, I’ve got it — let’s make him president!

Q&A: Did Paul write this letter to unbelievers, too?:

“But he made no mistake about those who were born of the Spirit and had the mind of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, where Paul could have slammed the believers for their sinning (because they were indeed manifesting many of the things he mentioned) he instead says this incredible thing, ”And such WERE some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.“ Remember what Paul had said near the beginning of the letter? ”For I determined to know NOTHING AMONG YOU EXCEPT CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED.“ (1 Cor 2:2). He brought up examples of their day-to-day existence to tie it in with the mindset of the world so that they would be shaken from their stupor! These believers were having an identity crisis!! (Our brother) is correct in saying that, ”ALL Believers by birthright, love the Lord“.”

This is an incredible article on not letting the wisdom of the world/religion DULL THE REALITY OF THE NEW MIRACULOUS WORK OF JESUS/LOVE IN THEM FOR BELIEVERS . WE ARE JUST TO FOCUS ON HIM AND NOT SIN. This is my prayer. Amen.

womensenews.org

Now, Davis and other local sex workers have banded together to establish Canada’s first cooperative brothel in an attempt to offer women a safe place to work.

The group, formed by a sex workers’ alliance based here, called the British Columbia Coalition of Experiential Women, will incorporate next month and is already setting the groundwork to open the co-op brothel.

Members have begun scouting for a location and are enlisting the backing of local businesses, police and labor organizations.

Faced with the task of cleaning up the city to host the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver authorities said they are open to the idea.

“We would be willing to explore anything that . . . would be helping the situation of sex trade workers, and make it safer for them and make it better for the community,” said Vancouver police spokesperson Howard Chow. He noted one requirement: “It has to be something that is lawful.”

So, let’s see: we’ll take an abuse of women that clearly is also a social blight, mix in the idea of creating a central edifice for it and then ice it with a thin veneer of socialist yammering about cooperative business being a wonderful thing. Take this lovely cake and get an idiot police spokesman to endorse it — now there, don’t we have a warm fuzzy story to tell our children about social progress?

Or, we could endorse the idea, get all the sex trade workers in there and arrest them. Then put in a whole raft of plain cloths officers posing as hookers and arrest all the Johns too. Get a judge to sentence the lot of them to treatment. Find two deserted patches of forest somewhere, set up a bunch of oilfield camp trailers, bring in the therapists and get to work on actually fixing the problem.

Naw, the warm fuzzy stories are more fun…

Q&A: How do I know my questions aren’t from having “itchy ears”?:

“ Most who hang with me STILL have a lot of personal differences, but we have discovered that those things are not the reason why we are one in Christ and so it is ok to not have to resolve everything. Heck, most of it just kinda fades away in view of the life that we have our eyes open to. Those who turn away do so because of a desire for something OTHER THAN CHRIST. It is so sad to see this happen, but it happens often. Your desires are obvious. You got beat up by man’s religion and finally realized that you couldn’t do or be what they preached. I’ll bet you also realized that those who were doing the preaching weren’t meeting up to the standards they preached! So, if it doesn’t work for the preacher why would you think it’ll work for you? This is how the law operates. It’ll tear you up and spit you out and you’ll go back for more until you finally break. Then the good news sounds FANTASTIC! As it should.

”

This is an encouraging article on only focusing on Jesus and His sufficiency. It is not about being stimulated intellectually enough or being recognized for doing good enough, especially in churches. This is true love and acceptance. It enables us to stay in relationships even though we are different.

Canada.com

CALGARY – Officials at a Calgary church have admitted they were aware of an allegation of wrongdoing against an adult volunteer at his previous church but allowed him to continue working in youth programs under increased supervision for two years.

Police have charged the volunteer with sexually abusing three girls under the age of 14 at Centre Street Church.

According to a statement made by Brian Spiers of Westview Baptist Church during Sunday morning services, church staff investigated the allegations against the volunteer but found no corroborating evidence. As a result, the man was permitted to continue working in church programs.

“Unproven allegations are very difficult for a church to deal with,” said Dayle Medgett, senior pastor of Westview church, after the service.

Although officials declined to comment on the nature of the allegation or how they learned about it, they said the man worked for three years as a missions co-ordinator and parent volunteer in the youth program – but was never alone with children.

Medgett said upon learning of the allegation the church placed the volunteer under “increased accountability conditions.”

This happens to be going on in Calgary — but it could be anywhere. If it’s happened once, it’s happened a thousand times:

Person is in, “Ministry,” in a church, so many are creeped out by his actions, church does some sort of due dilligence via. police checks, nothing is found, person continues ministry/abusing until there is a huge blast radius, everyone pleads innocent claiming there was no proof and the lawyers pick over the remains.

Of course, for years I’ve spoken in one church after another addressing so many different areas of brokenness — and so many of them have responded with the same assumption, “It’s so good someone is helping the sexually broken — but we don’t have that problem here.” (Many times I’ve actually had a couple of their members in one program or another at that very instant…)

Problem is, few of those broken ones stayed in their churches. It’s not that they abandoned their faiths — but it is a departure from church. Not just that church — the institutional church in general. They have become part of the emerging or emergent church and their church is now a home group somewhere. And, the pollsters are very clear on this one: They are NOT coming back.

With their departure, the institutional church lost their first and last line of defense — a broken-and-now-healed-one who can move in on a clear and present danger like the above mentioned individual and bust them — hard. The old saying that it, “Takes one to know one,” has never been more accurate.

It’s kinda like the gun argument in the USA. (When you finally outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns.) When we finally get the last broken-and-seeking-to-be-healed person out of your church, you will only have the predators remaining.

“But wait,” you say, “We never ran the broken out of our church.” Yes, you did.

When the Gospel of grace and freedom was exchanged for a gospel of rules, when ethics became the standard and control became the means, when you embraced some 12 step model of performance in place of the healing Christ has to offer, when fear and shame was allowed to sneak back into the one place on Earth Christ created to be free from it, when you allowed your 50yr veteran little-old-lady-babes-of-legalism-in-Christ to stand in condemnation of one broken heart (thus letting it stand as a warning to others), when you allowed some paranoid lawyer on your church board to tie the entire group up in a knot over the liability issues surrounding having a program of healing in your church, when you had the stunning arrogance to forget that your job was to introduce people to Jesus and then teach them to listen to His voice alone, you ran the broken out.

To Center Street’s rather significant credit, they seem to have had at least enough wounded healers remaining to eventually make it hot enough for the abuser in question — so he left. That’s remarkable for a church these days. Perhaps it was soon enough to keep the wolves from gathering.

In most other cases, the only hope is that lawyer…

Frederica.com

The idea of returning to an era of young marriage still seems daunting, for good reason. It is not just a matter of tying the knot between dreamy-eyed 18-year-olds and tossing them out into world. Our ancestors were able to marry young because they were surrounded by a network of support enabling that step.

Young people are not intrinsically incompetent, but they do still have lots of learning to do, just like newly-weds of any age. In generations past a young couple would be surrounded by family and friends who could guide and support them, not just in navigating the shoals of new marriage, but also in the practical skills of making a family work, keeping a budget, repairing a leaky roof, changing a leaky diaper.It is not good for man to be alone; it’s not good for a young couple to be isolated, either.

In this era of extended education, couples who marry young will likely do so before finishing college, and that will require some sacrifices. They can’t expect to “have it all.” Of the three factors—living on their own, having babies, and both partners going to school full-time—something is going to have to give. But young marriage can succeed, as it always has, with the support of family and friends.

A rather refreshing example of rational thought in the rather polarized abstinence vs. contraception debate. Perhaps it’s finally time to admit that they both have failed, that (Barring forcible physical segregation) sex is going to happen and that our options are either young marriage or abortion?

I was 25 when we married and neither I nor Ros had yet finished Graduate school. It wasn’t easy — in fact it was the hardest thing I have ever done. I discovered just how fun it was to experience panic attacks and stress induced skin rashes — and, I’d do it again. I had to grow up in one all-fired hurry — but it eventually had to happen. It could have been a lot easier if our society didn’t think I was 5-7 years too young and actually had some supports in place.

My kids will likely be out of the house and in college before I’m 50 and, with the current progress of modern medicine, I might actually still be around by the time their kids have children. Show me the down side of that…

AOL News

Richard Roberts is accused of illegal involvement in a local political campaign and lavish spending at donors’ expense, including numerous home remodeling projects, use of the university jet for his daughter’s senior trip to the Bahamas, and a red Mercedes convertible and a Lexus SUV for his wife, Lindsay.

She is accused of dropping tens of thousands of dollars on clothes, awarding nonacademic scholarships to friends of her children and sending scores of text messages on university-issued cell phones to people described in the lawsuit as “underage males.”

First we have Daddy telling them that God told him that he needs $8 million for Roberts’ university, or else he would be, “Called home.” Now we have his son and his son’s wife spending it — and they apparently are catching up… The apple truly has landed in a nice shady spot — right under the tree.

What is most striking to me is that this insane show should have been shut down twenty years ago when the first 8 million dollar lie was told. All the believers of North America would have had to do is stop giving. Roberts would have lived — and his little corner of a false gospel would have died.

Instead believers continued to flood this charlatan with money. Now they point in horror at the fruit of their refusal to think for themselves — aghast at the possibility that a man who so obviously serves a false god could violate their hearts and pocketbooks.

News flash Church: If the god you serve is leading you through fear, shame, judgment, condemnation, guilt, rejection or the iron fisted control of the law the real God died to free you from, then you are serving a false god and living under what Paul called, “Another gospel.” Not even the prophecies of the Old Testament (Jer 31:31 –> for example) would have endorsed this.

Bonno put it well when he stated, “The God I believe in is not short on cash…”

P.S.: Dr. Roberts, it’s time for you to meet again (For the very first time) the fruit of your loins and the fruit of an evil that would dare to defraud God — they’re now a package deal…

Q&A: If I don’t understand the scriptures am I not saved?:

“Understanding the scriptures never saved anyone. Actually, it was those who thought they understood the scriptures who rejected Christ the loudest. Your fear comes from the intimidation of the religious self-righteous mindset. You have felt that suggestion that if you don’t know it then you don’t know God. But we know God because His Spirit is in us and not because how much Bible we know or don’t know. That part is actually irrelevant. The Bible declares Jesus … and Jesus declares us righteous. The fear is not of God, so don’t believe it.

”

I pray there would be no shame about not reading the bible or fear one will not go to Heaven. His love is in us and that is Him. I feel if we believe in Jesus we will be there. May it be so.

Random Musings:

Finally something happened. The Scriptures began to penetrate my heart. My eyes were opened to the fact that I hadn’t been falling—the Everlasting Arms had held me all along. The fear vanished. I began to taste and understand grace. It was glorious, amazing, indescribable.

Theological and doctrinal shifts, it seems to me, shouldn’t be so emotional. I don’t do theology by experience, by throwing myself off imaginary cliffs. But this was more than just the “mind-y” way I had approached my Christianity for the past six years. This truth penetrated to the core of my being. It captured my heart and laid me bare.

Grace—wow! It wasn’t a matter of me saying, “Oh, cool, the doctrines of grace. What a wonderful theology. To think that my salvation was God’s idea all along—amazing!” No, this was much, much more than that. It was so personal. So intense, so intimate. Grace—God’s grace—for me!

This is a stunning story of transformation from a Bill Gothard driven theology of lies to a theology of freedom and grace. Well worth the read.

Children’s Services | Sibling Rivalry:

“Sibling rivalry is less about the relationship between your children, than it is about their relationship with you, their parent. Each of them wants you to love them and them alone. They don’t want to share you.”

Children’s Services | Turn Your Words Into Gold:

“Don’t come back to the room until you can show some respect!Feel free to come back to the room as soon as you can be respectful!Stop arguing with me!I’ll be glad to discuss this with you as soon as the arguing stops.If you forget your lunch, you’ll just have to go hungry.”

These are good grace-based communications so kids will be more open to listen when you talk.

Q&A: Using the Bible to promote bogus religion:

“We have come to speak in terms of ”believing“ when the word ”opinion“ would more accurately describe our relation to the concept or idea that is being discussed or declared. But we don’t usually want to say we ”THINK“, or that this thing is our ”opinion“ because it sounds less authoritative or less personal or perhaps, less godly and more scientific.  The fact of the matter is that our religious world has presented us with the idea that our ”beliefs“ consist of the teachings we hold, instead of IN WHOM we believe – and this has created MANY bogus ideas.  Are you following me so far, ”

This is a very good article that outlines the problems with why people blindly follow what they think the Bible says. It seems right. When we claim a verse we are standing in agreement with God. We were taught we had to believe the Bible so we would know what was true — but we were never taught to think over what it is, who it was written to or what it was written to accomplish.


Fear of infidelity towards God causes so many people to hang on to lies that others have told them.

God give us Your discernment to give You the fear. Cleanse us from it completely. Amen.

Q&A: but what if our perspective is wrong?:

“nderstanding ”truth“ and understanding the Bible were the same thing. Maybe that strikes you odd coming from someone who so clearly holds to the teachings of the Bible. It would have appeared so to me at one time … and still does every now and again, believe me. But we know ”truth“ for one reason and one reason only, and that is because Christ has become wisdom to us. We know Christ, who IS the truth. ”But you have an anointing from the Holy One, AND YOU ALL KNOW. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, BUT BECAUSE YOU DO KNOW IT, and because no lie is of the truth.“ 1 John 2:20&21 ”

This is a good article that states as we grow/rest in confidence in Christ who is truth/set us free, we will not be so concerned about misunderstanding the Bible. May the life of Jesus that is uncovered be clearly and accurately spoken. Amen.

Q&A: How do you read the Bible and get what you do out of it?:

“When I see Christ as my life I see Him in everything in my everyday life … I even see Him in the Bible! hahaha! How’s that as flip-flop kinda way to view Biblical interpretation? Just remember, the stuff you have read from me has been the same kind of stuff you are wondering about. I just KNEW there was something wrong with so many of the accepted viewpoints, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I’ll be honest, I NEVER thought that I would uncover so many things in the Bible. But know this: Bible knowledge does NOT equal true knowledge. Actually, true knowledge, which is what we have received already, is what MIGHT allow us to understand some of the PERCEIVED Biblical contradictions. Just realize that what you end up discovering by seeing the original intent of the written word is the SAME REALITY that you KNOW in your heart to be true: that you are REALLY free in Christ through what He did for you in His death, burial, and resurrection.”

This is an excellent section stressing to focus on Christ/His freedom in us!