I Am Not a Crook

Computer related recommendations

2008-12-31T16:11:00.003-06:00

These are the tools I find myself using the most recently. Overall I detect a move toward Microsoft products.

IE7 and IE8 Beta 2 - Once in a while I use Google Chrome and overall I like it. However, I don't like the idea that Google would know not only what I search for but every site I browse to as well. Firefox has been freezing up on me too much lately.

Microsoft Live Mesh - Live Mesh automatically synchs folders between my laptop and my desktop. It also allows you to remote control one computer in your mesh from another. This tool alone removes 90% of the reasons I used Google's web-based applications. Brilliant strategy from Microsoft.

Password Safe - I use Password Safe to keep track of all my online userids and passwords. Live Mesh synchs the password file across my computers.

Microsoft Office OneNote - I keep track of projects, to-do items, Christmas lists, etc. with OneNote. I used to use Google Notebook for this, but I got incredibly frustrated when it wouldn't reliably let me bold items. OneNote is really cool. And of course, I use Live Mesh to synch it between computers.

Mozy - Mozy backs up my main computer every couple hours. I don't have to worry about permanently losing pictures, documents, and so on, even if my house burns down. It's only $5/month.

Google Reader - I track 20-30 blogs with Google Reader. The UI has really improved recently; however, it doesn't render properly in IE8 Beta 2. Hopefully that will be fixed soon.

Launchy - I use this on my XP laptop to launch applications quickly. I don't find a need for it on Vista with its improved Start Menu.

Live Photo - I've switched from Picasa to Microsoft's Live Photo. Picasa was dormant for a long time, and I found that Vista's built-in photo software was pretty good. Live Photo is basically the same thing for XP.

The Iowa Caucus

2008-01-03T21:32:00.000-06:00

I went to my first Democratic caucus tonight, and wow, there were a lot of people crammed in that gym. The funniest moment was when a half-crazed Obama supporter shouted out "Obama will unite the WORLD!!!!"

I supported Obama too, but man, I think that guy is in for some disappointment if Obama wins.

San Antonio fun

2007-11-17T19:35:00.000-06:00

That Darn Owl

2007-08-26T00:34:00.000-05:00

If you enjoy wine but are not wealthy enough to spend $15-20/bottle, I encourage to visit your local Aldi's and buy a few bottles of Winking Owl. At $2.99/bottle, it's as good or better than most other wines I've had at my previous price limit of $11/bottle. (That price limit is now much lower, thanks to Winking Owl.) My palate may be unsophisticated, but honestly, I've had $200-$500 bottles of wine, and the taste differential is nowhere near congruent with the price differential.

Winking Owl discussion

Presidential candidate quiz

2007-08-25T00:08:00.000-05:00

I took the quiz at http://www.politichoice.com. I knew I couldn't stand Guiliani's positions, but now it's been independently verified.

It's interesting that my top 4 alternate between the Democratic and Republican parties.

Candidate Total Score
Joe Biden 68.45 %
Sam Brownback 66.67 %
Chris Dodd 58.33 %
Ron Paul 57.74 %
Mike Huckabee 57.14 %
Barack Obama 57.14 %
Dennis Kucinich 56.85 %
John McCain 56.25 %
Bill Richardson 54.46 %
Hillary Clinton 52.98 %
John Edwards 51.79 %
Mitt Romney 50.30 %
Fred Thompson 48.51 %
Duncan Hunter 48.51 %
Tom Tancredo 47.32 %
Rudy Guiliani 46.73 %

Is Biblical inerrancy important?

2007-06-26T23:26:00.000-05:00

http://touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=04-02-003-f

This is a fascinating essay on the topic of Biblical inerrancy. The author, a conservative Christian, has come to the conclusion "biblical inerrancy" is a meaningless term as currently defined and defended. For one, it applies only to the original autographs, not to any Bible actually in existence. He also reveals that at least some professors at Christian colleges know this, but still profess it with their fingers behind their backs, as it were.

Interestingly enough, he concludes by accepting the Orthodox position on the relationship between the Church and the Bible as the only real solution to the mess.

I remember back in college a Campus Crusade lesson about inerrancy. It asserted that inerrancy is important, because if someone doesn't believe the whole Bible is inerrant, that person can never believe in Christ and be saved. I thought that was ludicrous and still do. At least to me, it's obvious someone could have saving faith in Christ while doubting that whole sections of the Bible are historically accurate. Just so those particular sections don't involve the Lord's death and resurrection, there's no reason such a person couldn't repent and commit himself to God.

Here's the way it worked for me. I first had to believe in Christ. Then, I could believe that he worked through the Church to ensure the right canon, a reasonable level of textual preservation, and proper interpretation.

Flickr site

2007-05-10T21:49:00.000-05:00

Now that Holly has a digital camera, I figured it was time for us to get a Flickr site.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scollyp/

Enjoy!

A Morning Prayer

2007-04-03T21:16:00.001-05:00

I like this Orthodox morning prayer. It's a prayer of someone who doesn't expect everything to go all that well the rest of the day. Someone who prays this prayer is taking it day by day, even hour by hour, and he's asking to be taught to accept God's will in everything that happens.

O Lord, grant that we may meet the coming day in peace.
Help us in all things to rely upon Your holy will.
In each hour of the day, reveal Your will to us.
Bless our dealings with all who surround us.
Teach us to treat all that shall come to us throughout the day with peace of soul, and with the firm conviction that Your will governs all.
In all our deeds and words, guide our thoughts and feelings.
In unforseen events, let us not forget that all are sent by You.
Teach us to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others.
Give us the strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day, with all that it shall bring.

Direct our wills.
Teach us to pray.
Pray within us. Amen.

Let Go

2007-04-03T20:32:00.001-05:00

Having my child in the hospital for weeks and weeks has made certain things stand out that I wouldn't have noticed before. For example, this lyric from Jars of Clay's Good Monsters CD has been really meaningful to me lately.

So, give up the right, to control the waves that empty at your life
Above wild skies, are the rays that break the shadows we design

Give it up, let go. These are things you were never meant to shoulder.
Give it up, Let go...

We simply can't control most of what happens to us. Nor do we understand God's plan; we just see "wild skies." I'd like to think these experiences are teaching us detachment from the world and acceptance of God's will. But that's giving me quite a bit more credit than I deserve.

The Christian Love of Trees

2007-01-29T21:19:00.000-06:00

I found this statement of the Christian's love for nature touching.

Andy's Sayings

2007-01-04T20:28:00.000-06:00

Andy was being goofy tonight.

Andy's Favorite Things
Car: Tow truck
Color: Red, Yellow, Green, Red (repeated)
Animal: Jaguar
Bird: Woodpecker
Muffin: Pink muffin with a cherry on top
Game: Count how many pumpkins we have outside on Halloween
Inside Game: I Spy
Food: Lamp, lightbulb, a blanket, and oatmeal, and cereal and milk and water and milk and... a woodpecker and a bumblebee
Friend at school: Juanita (dancing partner)
Game to play at school: Hey, there's a fire coming

Andy's Goofy Cookie Recipe
Get cookie powder
Put it in a bowl with bubbly water
Some hot water
Some hot cocoa mix
Add a dog bone

On Looking Good

2006-12-20T21:21:00.000-06:00

One of Touchstone's contributors posted a great comment a few days ago. Usually I don't like swearing, but in this case it was so appropriate that I'll quote it here:

"...we should never try to appear so damn good that anyone who, as a result of coming to know us better, is put in danger of losing his faith."

Full post here.

Free Classical Music (Legal)

2006-12-08T23:52:00.000-06:00

If you like classical music, check out the Peabody Institute's web site. It offers free downloads of full recordings by its various orchestras. The downloads are high quality 256 Kbps MP3's.

Anyway, to an untrained ear like mine, these performances sound every bit as good as a professional orchestra. You know, the kind these musicians join as soon as they graduate.

Symphony Orchestra: http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/584
Concert Orchestra: http://www.peabody.jhu.edu/743

Enjoy!

The New Me

2006-11-23T23:16:00.000-06:00

Now that I'm on St. George's Parish Council, I decided to make a few changes to my look.

Weird Al's Dylan Parody

2006-10-23T20:55:00.000-05:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg

Weird Al did a hilarious parody of Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues," mimicking the opening cue-card scene from Don't Look Back. The best part is every single line is a palindrome. Pure gold!

Orthodoxy Conversion Story

2006-10-15T22:22:00.000-05:00

A prominent Catholic blogger has converted to Orthodoxy, largely driven by liberalism and pedophilia within the Catholic hierarchy. This is a very interesting post... I personally had not known how widespread the cover-up was.

http://www.beliefnet.com/blogs/crunchycon/2006/10/orthodoxy-and-me.html

A Call to an Ancient Evangelical Future

2006-10-11T22:12:00.000-05:00

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2006/september/11.57.html

I'm really encouraged to see this statement from some in the evangelical world. Many Christian churches are too easily manipulated by political parties and ideologies (conservative and liberal) today. The Church can't be caught up in the zeitgeist.

One thing I've thought a lot about is what churches need to do to set themselves up for the long haul. Imagine what would happen if Christ doesn't return until the year 3500. What will your neighborhood Lutheran or evangelical church believe in 3006? Any guesses? Now, what will the Catholic and Orthodox churches believe in 3006? I have a pretty good idea.

My point is that the ancient churches have shown that Holy Tradition based on Holy Scripture is a combination that stands the test of time. So far we've made the transition from living under a pagan Roman Empire to the Dark Ages to Islamic rule to the Enlightenment to a totalitarian communist rule to the world of today. No doubt changes have occurred in liturgy, etc., but the core dogmas remain essentially the same. A Christian from the 4th century could feel pretty much at home in the Orthodox church I go to today. And I think that's pretty darn cool.

What a Weekend!

2006-10-02T23:43:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I:
1) Camped out with my boys in the backyard
2) Replaced two more windows, courtesy of above boys
3) Watched Iowa get beat soundly by Ohio State on national television
4) Finished Memoirs From the House of the Dead
5) Found Noah's glasses in the backyard by scanning the yard pace by pace while wearing a headlamp. At 12:30 AM.
6) Got Pediasure from Hy-Vee
7) Did assorted housework
8) Finished latest edition of Touchstone magazine

I'm pooped, but it was fun!

Funny Onion article

2006-05-15T21:46:00.000-05:00

I'm Doing My Inconsequential Part For The Environment

Andy's Invisible Dragon

2006-03-31T16:55:00.000-06:00

Many children have invisible friends. Not many have invisible dragons. Andy is one of the lucky kids who does.

Andy and his dragon have a lot of fun together. Last night he and his dragon were splashing each other in the tub. This morning they had a sword fight. Then, later they played chase together on his "motorcycle" (Big Wheel) outside.

The one thing I don't like about his dragon is that he makes quite a few messes around the house. I'll ask Andy, "What happened here?" And nine times out of ten, he'll say, "My dragon did it." "Your dragon is pretty messy isn't he?" "Yeah, he is."

Cute things Andy said tonight

2006-03-10T20:42:00.000-06:00

Tonight as I was getting Noah ready for bed, Andy kept trying to get my attention from his room (he was in bed already).

"Daddy, Daddy! Excuse me!!!" Holly is teaching him to say "excuse me" when he wants to interrupt someone.

I went into his room, and he said, "Come here, I want to tell you something. I'm telling God I won't squeeze all the toothpaste out in the sink again." He got in trouble for that tonight.

"I'm sure God forgives you Andy. He loves you very much."

"Yes, God's my friend. And next time you go to the grocery store to get wet wipes with Noah, I'll obey you and get on my shoes and socks."

"That's good Andy. That will be really fun if you can go with us next time. Good night, sweetie."

"Good night Daddy."

Dancing with Devox

2006-02-24T01:05:00.000-06:00

Here's a hilarious review from a magazine called The Baffler. Apparently, a couple postmoderns wrote a book explaining their cultural mastery and how corporations can profit from it. It has a lot to do with some mysterious thing they call "devox."

Warning: this article is rated PG-13 for some bad language.

The Baffler review

Bad skiing = bad ACL

2006-02-22T22:28:00.000-06:00

Last Friday I got the radiologist's report from my MRI. My meniscus and cartilage are both fine. I'm especially glad about this part because a ruptured meniscus can cause arthritis. My MCL is sprained but not torn. It should heal fine on its own.

I have a bone contusion, whatever that means. Unfortunately, I see my doctor on Friday afternoons, and he always seems pretty eager to leave the office. His explanations are a wee bit hasty for my taste.

The worst news is that I have a partially torn ACL. There is a small chance it is totally torn. Basically I'm just going to have to take it easy for another few weeks and get it rechecked. The doctor told me that even with a torn ACL I should have no problem running, hiking, biking, and so on. That's almost everything I like to do anyway. What I can't do until it heals or gets repaired are twisting, pivoting, abrupt direction changes. In other words, tennis, raquetball, and basketball are out for now.

Progress on Resolutions, My Knee, and a Minor Wine Discovery

2006-02-03T23:40:00.000-06:00

I'm doing well on my New Year's Resolutions so far.
- Cook an Indian meal (check)
- Finish painting the stairwell (check)

My 100 pushups per night are getting easier too.

I twisted my left knee skiing in Quebec a few weeks ago. At first it was incredibly painful and stiff, but it's getting better and better. I went to an orthopedic doctor today, and he wants to do an MRI. I want to avoid surgery, but at the same time I want to be able to be as active as I have been in the past. I guess I'll just see how it goes.

By the way, I discovered in Montreal that "syrah" is a kind of wine. So, my favorite wine from Dahls, Les Sens de Syrah, is not one of a kind. Very cool!

Making snowmen

2005-12-10T12:54:00.000-06:00

Les Sens de Serah Chateau Beachene

2005-11-05T00:31:00.000-06:00

I've been drinking a glass of red wine each night, hoping to raise my abysmal HDL cholesterol numbers. I spend $10 or less on each bottle, and it usually lasts me for two weeks.

I really liked this one. It had a great mellow taste in a great looking bottle.

2005-10-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of a whale with fins and two "shooting guns." Andy drew it for Adeline.

New reading journal category

2005-10-12T23:35:00.000-05:00

I've added a separate reading journal category for book reviews and quotes. You can find it here. There's also a link on the right under "Categories".

God's mercy

2005-10-04T22:31:00.000-05:00

As a handful of sand thrown into the ocean, so are the sins of all flesh
as compared with the mind of God. Just as a strongly flowing fountain
is not blocked up by a handful of earth, so the compassion of the
Creator is not overcome by the wickedness of His creatures.

St. Isaac of Syria, 7th century

Word from the Desert

Preemptive Foreign Policy

2005-10-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

Geoge Will delivers a good defense of Bush's policy of preemption here. Pretty inspiring stuff actually. I like his Churchill quote (given right after Pearl Harbor): "We have not journeyed all this way across the centuries, across the oceans, across the mountains, across the prairies, because we are made of sugar candy."

Magnatune: A record label that is not evil.

2005-09-24T00:02:00.000-05:00

Magnatune is a unique online music store and record label. Motto: "We're a record label. But we're not evil." Instead of filing lawsuits and enforcing draconian copy protection technology, Magnatune has decided to rely on people's loyalty to musicians they like. So, Magnatune allows you to listen to complete albums legally, for free. If you like an album, you can choose to pay whatever you want for it (minimum $5). On the artists' side, instead of getting a tiny cut of each purchase, they get 50%. One thing I appreciate is that the music is not copy protected in any way.

Now, Magnatune obviously isn't going to sign the Beatles or U2. It also can't market new bands the way a major label can. The musicians who sign with Magnatune were probably frankly unable to sign with a major label, have small followings and see it as a way to grow.

Magnatune does have a nice selection of genres to choose from. It offers classical, jazz, rock, world, metal, new age, electronica, and "other." I was glad to see some Orthodox hymns and a lot of baroque music in the classical section. Check it out if you're in the mood to try something different.

2005-08-26T18:46:00.000-05:00

This is Andy's first drawing of a person. He told us this person was naked and made sure we noticed the rear-end he drew.

2005-08-26T16:10:00.000-05:00

Join the resistance.

LibraryBot Expands!

2005-08-26T09:46:00.000-05:00

LibraryBot works for Ames library too. Peter and Rebekah are now enjoying a life of ease, untroubled by worriome library fines.

LibraryBot Overview

2005-07-17T23:02:00.000-05:00

The library is such a great concept. Just think about it for a second: you can read books and listen to CD's for absolutely nothing! Not only that, but you don't have to wait for Amazon to ship anything to you and libraries have a much wider selection than any bookstore in town. There's also no need to invest in walls and walls of bookcases to store books that only collect dust for the next 25 years.

The problem is you have to return all these free things within a certain period of time. Does the library know when your books are about to become overdue? Absolutely. Does it ever warn you? Never. Instead, it quietly lets you rack up overdue charges.

At any one time my family can have up to 25 items checked out on two different cards. Just the other day I spent $8.25 on library fines! With that money I could have, um, well, I could have bought part of a pizza or something. To be honest I don't know what I could have done with that money, but it sure is irksome to pay fines.

Presenting LibraryBot. Once you give it your library card number and web pin, LibraryBot will automatically:
- Renew library materials on your behalf. At my library, that means a 3 week checkout will normally be auto-extended to an 8 week checkout.
- Give you two days notice on any materials it can't renew.
- Warn you about any currently overdue materials.
- Append an inspirational quote to any email it sends you. :)

It's only been tested on the Des Moines Public Library's site. I imagine it would work with little modification for any library that runs on Dynix.

Now for the code. First, thanks go out to BeautifulSoup, libgmail, and feedparser. These libraries made this project a pleasure to code. Second, this is all released under the GPL 2.0 license.

I broke the code into 3 main modules:
- LibraryBot.py handles all interaction with Dynix's web pages. In effect it puts a Python wrapper around a Dynix library's web site.
- LibraryBotClient.py controls the calls into LibraryBot.py. It decides what action to take based on the information LibraryBot.py returns. Some examples include renewing materials and sending emails.
- rssfeed.py goes out and finds a quote of the day from a randomly selected feed source.

In retrospect I should have also created a separate email module instead of embedding libgmail into LibraryBotClient. Maybe I'll do that later. Other future plans include storing this information to a database for longer term tracking. I'm also going to make it optionally post a blog entry when new materials get checked out. That will make it easy to keep an online reading journal. From a technical angle, I'd like to wrap the core LibraryBot module in a web service. I also want to dig into some C#.

Not by Works

2005-05-15T23:47:00.000-05:00

I get the feeling some people think we Orthodox believe in "works salvation." Maybe this is because we have a lot of disciplines as a Church that could be mistaken for this. However, these disciplines don't earn God's love or forgiveness. That's just crazy talk! Nothing could be further from the spirit of Orthodoxy.

What we're trying to accomplish by all these disciplines is *not* to change God's mind and persuade him to forgive us. God revealed Himself in Jesus as all-merciful and all-forgiving. No, the point of our disciplines is to change *ourselves*. We want to be ruled less and less by our flesh. We want God to rule our lives more and more.

Still, that doesn't even really capture it. The goal is not to become a perfect rule-follower, even if the rules are straight from God. The goal is to be united with God Himself in love and joy and purity and wisdom and, well, you get the picture. It's what we call theosis. To further confuse our dialogue with Protestants, we also call this final state "salvation."

Anyway, here's the prayer I wanted to share.

"O my plenteously-merciful and all-merciful God, Lord Jesus Christ, through Thy great love Thou didst come down and become incaranate so that Thou mightest save All. And again, O Savior, save me by Thy grace, I pray Thee. For if Thou shouldst save me for my works, this would not be grace or a gift, but rather a duty; yes, Thou Who art great in compassion and ineffable in mercy. For he that believeth in Me, Thou hadst said, O my Christ, shall live and never see death. If, then, faith in Thee saveth the desperate, behold, I believe, save me, for Thou art my God and Creator. Let faith instead of works be imputed to me, O my God, for Thou wilt find no works which could justify me. But may my faith suffice instead of all works, may it answer for, may it acquit me, may it make me a partaker of Thine eternal glory. And let Satan not seize me and boast, O Word, that he has torn me from Thy hand and fold. But whether I desire it or not, save me, O Christ my Savior, forestall me quickly, quickly, for I perish. Thou art my God from my mother's womb. Vouchsafe me, O Lord, to love Thee now as fervently as I once loved sin itself, and also to work for Thee without idleness, diligently, as I worked before for deceptive Satan. But supremely shall I work for Thee, my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."

The Horrifying Realization I Am Not Going To Be The Next Albert Einstein

2005-03-10T22:42:00.000-06:00

When I was a little boy, I read books about paleontology, astronomy, and other scientific subjects. I secretly thought I would eventually come up with a radical new breakthrough and become famous. Since I didn't know what relativity or other physics terms really meant, I'd imagine myself calculating trajectories of baseballs and basketballs in my head. I pretended I had a supercomputer inside my skull that could calculate each position of a ball out to 14 decimal places as it moved through the air.

When I was in junior high and early high school, science lost a bit of its appeal for me. I fantasized about becoming a famous writer. I thought I would write a best-selling science fiction or fantasy novel, which were the only books I read at that time. In ninth grade I got third place in a national humorous writing competition for making fun of modern poetry. I even asked for a dictionary and a thesarus for Christmas.

Then I got good scores on some tests and ended up with a full ride scholarship to college. I thought, great, now I'm really on my way to shaking things up. I must truly be the cream of the crop. Look out world, here I come.

Where is all this going? This is the time of year when they hand out promotions at work. I wasn't expecting to get promoted, far from it. I earn a great salary and enjoy above average job satisfaction overall. However, seeing other people get promoted higher and higher above me makes me realize I'm not on the world-famous-genius track anymore. I'm not even on the VP-of-a-mid-sized-corporation track. Heck, I may never make it into middle management!

Now I realize that very, very few people do something extraordinary enough to be remembered 200 years after their deaths. That's okay. I'm thankful for the life I've been given and don't need posterity to validate my existence for me. When I was nine, I guess I didn't get that.

Powerful words

2005-03-10T21:31:00.000-06:00

Fr. Seraphim (Rose) of Platina
"Anyone who is attracted merely by glittering censors, incense and beautiful vestments, he, first of all, will fall down before Antichrist."
"Signs of the End Times"

Wow.

I got this from a great blog, http://www.chattablogs.com/aionioszoe/.

The Twilight of Atheism

2005-03-04T22:11:00.000-06:00

I recently read The Twilight of Atheism by Alister McGrath. It's a chronicle of the rise and fall of atheism as a cultural driving force from roughly the seventeenth century to the present.

Although the author is Protestant, he suggests the Reformation unintentionally caused the rise of deism and atheism a few generations later. It wasn't just because the Reformation made people start questioning traditional beliefs. He sees something inherently deficient in classical Protestantism's view of God and his relationship with the world.

"[According to the Reformers] God had chosen to reveal himself through the Bible, and the authorized mode of knowing God was therefore through reading that Bible, and hearing sermons based upon its contents.... Throughout the Middle Ages, God was held to be encountered in the natural world and through the sacramental mysteries of baptism and the mass. Whatever risks such an understanding entailed, it nevertheless affirmed that it was possible to experience God in the patterns of day-to-day living."

Huldrych Zwingli was an early reformer and was one of the first to deny Christ's real presence in the Eucharist. According to him, communion was a symbolic remembrance and nothing more. McGrath observes that this puts the emphasis on Christ's absence instead of his presence.

"Where Catholicism allowed a direct encounter between the believer and spiritual realities, Zwingli resolutely refused to acknowledge that spiritual realities could ever be known through the material world. Christ was in heaven; Christian worship was about recalling what Christ had done in the past and looking forward to his future return. But in the present -- in the here and now -- Christ was known only as an absence. The rise of Protestantism thus gave rise to an absent God who was known only indirectly... For Protestants, especially those tracing their lineage back to Calvin or Zwingli, there can be no sense of sacred space or place.... The outcome was inevitable and predictable. God became an absence in the world."

[Speaking of Zwingli's church in Zurich] "The dull, joyless, and unattractive churches of Protestantism conveyed the subliminal message that the God who was to be found in them shared these disagreeable characteristics... Its simplicity is admirable... But the building speaks subtly of a silent, absent, and distant God. The Protestant reluctance to picture God has all too often led to an envisioning of the world that is bleak and barren, where it ought to be saturated with the radiance of the glory of God. Once more, it is a small step from declaring that God cannot be pictured to suggesting that he cannot be conceived as a living reality in the rich imaginative life of humanity."

Well, whether you agree with the connection to atheism or not, I think he has some good points.

Pentacostalism is a huge tidal wave of reaction against intellectual, Bible-focused Protestantism. Charismatics allow for direct experiences of God outside of reading the Bible. I thought this was very dangerous when I was a Protestant myself.

Now that I'm Orthodox, I see more where they're coming from. After all, saints through the centuries have had all kinds of miraculous things happen around and through them. Orthodoxy also believes it's possible to experience the "uncreated Light" of God directly -- of course, only as a gift of God. We believe God sanctifies and uses everything in creation, from water to oil to bread and wine. The cross is holy, icons are holy, days are holy, the church is holy, and so on. If you let it soak into you, it's really a different way of viewing both God and the world.

"O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth! You are everywhere filling all things! Treasury of blessings and Giver of life, come and abide in us and cleanse us from every impurity and save our souls, O Good One!"

War and Peace

2005-02-07T22:22:00.000-06:00

I finally did it. I read War and Peace! It was truly an incredible book. I'm still kind of thinking about it a week after I finished it, which is always a sign of a good book.

Here are some parts that I liked for one reason or another. Some I though were funny and some really resonated with me.

[after Prince Andrey gets shot] "'What's this? am I falling? my legs are giving way under me,' he thought, and fell on his back. He opened his eyes, hoping to see how the struggle of the French soldiers with the artilleryman was ending... But he saw nothing of all that. Above him there was nothing but the sky -- the lofty sky, not clear, but still immeasurably lofty, with grey clouds creeping quietly over it. 'How quietly, peacefully, and triumphantly, and not like us running, shouting, and fighting, not like the Frenchman and artilleryman dragging the mop from one another with frightened and frantic faces, how differently are those clouds creeping over that lofty, limitless sky. How was it I did not see that lofty sky before? And how happy I am to have found it at last. Yes! all is vanity, all is a cheat, except that inifite sky. There is nothing, nothing but that. But even that is not, there is nothing but peace and stillness. And thank God!..."

"Better quarters could have been found, but Marshal Davoust was one of these people who purposely put themselves into the most dismal conditions of life in order to have a right to be dismal. For the same reason they always persist in being busy and in a hurry. 'How could one be thinking of the bright side of life when, as you see, I am sitting on a tub in a dirty barn, hard at work?' was what his face expressed."

"[Pierre] was conscious now of a glad sense that all that constitutes the happiness of life, comfort, wealth, even life itself, were all dust and ashes, which it was a joy to fling away in comparison with something else.... What that something else was Pierre could not have said, and indeed he did not seek to get a clear idea, for whose sake and for what object he found such peculiar joy in sacrificing all."

"[Natasha] was gay too, because she needed some one to adore her (the adoration of others was like the grease on the wheels, without which her mechanism never worked quite smoothly), and Petya did adore her."

"All Pierre's dreams now turned to the time when he would be free. And yet, in all his later life, Pierre thought and spoke with enthusiasm of that month of imprisonment, of those intense and joyful sensations that could never be recalled, and above all of that full, spiritual peace, of that perfect, inward freedom, of which he had only experienced at that period."

"He had learned that there is nothing terrible to be dreaded in the world. He had learned that just as there is no position in the world in which a man can be happy and perfectly free, so too there is no position in which he need be unhappy and in bondage. He had found out that there is a limit to suffering and a limit to freedom, and that that limit is very soon reached; that the man who suffered from a crumpled petal in his bed of roses, suffered just as much as he suffered now, sleeping on the bare, damp earth."

"And the whole world has gone on for fifty years repeating: Sublime! Grand! Napoleon the Great. And it never enter any one's head that to admit a greatness, immeasurable by the rule of right and wrong, is but to accept one's own nothingness and immeasurable littleness. For us, with the rule of right and wrong given us by Christ, there is nothing for which we have no standard. And there is no greatness where there is not simplicity, goodness, and truth."

"The doctor, who was attending Pierre, and came to see him every day, though he thought it his duty as a doctor to pose a a man every minute of whose time is of value for suffering humanity, used to sit on with him for hours together."

"What had worried him in old days, what he had always been seeking to solve, the question of the object of life, did not exist for him now. That seeking for an object in life was over for him now; and it was not fortuitously or temporarily that it was over. He felt that there was no such object, and could not be. And it was just the absence of an object that gave him that complete and joyful sense of freedom that at this time made his happiness. He could seek no object in life now, because now he had faith -- not faith in any sort of principles, or words, or ideas, but faith in a living, ever-palpable God."

Baptism and Chrismation Pictures

2005-02-02T23:45:00.000-06:00

Andy was kind of scared of the water. Later he told us, "Jesus put me in the water. And then he gave me some bread."

Noah had the giggles all afternoon, and he loved getting baptized.

Jack and Jodi Ditthardt (two of our sponsors). Due to a storm, Jack had to drive all night to be here.

The boys were both dressed in new white clothes after their baptisms. This is an ancient part of the Church's baptismal ritual and is symbolic of this verse: "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Galatians 3:27

After receiving chrismation, we all walked around the baptismal font three times as Father Peter prayed.

The party afterward was great -- Holly's soups were a hit!

Our sponsors and families gave us a lot of great gifts, a veritable "Orthodox Starter Kit."

Two of my sweet peas

Catechumens no more

2005-01-23T20:37:00.000-06:00

We're in!

Noah and Andy were baptized and chrismated (annointed) today at St. George's, and Holly and I were chrismated. That means we're all now members of the Orthodox Church. It was a really happy time during the service. Our friends and family were there, and Noah was giggling almost the entire time.

Christmas List 2004

2004-11-28T23:19:00.000-06:00

Please check with my wife before buying anything...

Drill bits
Shop vac (wet/dry)
Bible (NKJV)
Band for Eddie Bauer watch
Extension cord reel
The Art of the Fugue (J.S. Bach)
A Musical Offering (J.S. Bach)
St. John Chrysostom: Baptismal Instruction
Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews
St. John Chrysostom: Commentary on the Psalms
Women and Men in the Early Church: The Full Views of St. John Chrysostom
The Philokalia, Volume 1
Camelback water dispenser (for running)

Half marathon

2004-10-18T21:26:00.000-05:00

I met my sub-two hour time goal in the Des Moines half marathon! I ran it in 1:55:59, with an average pace of 8:52 minute miles. I came in 450th place out of 1393 competitors. I'm really happy about it. It's a sweet feeling to meet a goal like that.

In 2002 and 2003 I ran the Des Moines Marathon, but running 13.1 miles in 2004 instead of 26.2 worked out great. I'm definitely running the half again next year. For one thing, unlike the marathon I wasn't ever in excruciating pain during the run -- a little chafing maybe, but that's to be expected. Second, the training was tough enough to get me in shape but not all-consuming like a marathon. Third, I wasn't ever able to *run* an entire marathon. Both years I broke down and had to walk at least a couple miles. I can actually run an entire half marathon.

Thanks to Holly, Marie, and Kim for waking up early to come out with the boys to cheer me on. Sorry for throwing a Kleenex at you!

2004-09-20T21:57:00.000-05:00

Yo ho ho and a cup of milk

FDR's Folly

2004-09-19T01:11:00.000-05:00

I just read Jim Powell's FDR's Folly -- How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression, and I swung back toward the right a bit. He showed how Roosevelt had great intentions but was always thwarted by his reliance on centralized planning.

- He misunderstood the real problems
- Therefore, his solutions had unintended consequences

100 million people making small choices based on local, real-time information or intuition will produce more growth than 10 people (even 10 extremely smart people) who don't have that information. Worse, when central planners get it wrong, they can affect an entire country's economy. When private individuals get it wrong, the effect will be local only.

I hadn't heard before how much FDR attempted to control the economy. He tried to set prices on everything from dry cleaning to automobiles. Businessmen who sold below the federally mandated minimum price were fined and in some cases imprisoned. Too bad for any consumers who didn't have much money -- and remember, this was during the Great Depression. If they couldn't afford the federally mandated minimum price, they went without. No soup for you, come back after World War II!

The author pointed out that Social Security tends to transfer money from lower income black people to higher income white people. This is mainly because of different life expectancies. Interesting quote from the book:

"What would be the public reaction if I propsed a plan to collect monthly contributions from working black men and women, then transferred a good portion of that money to older white women? Or what would happen if I tried to sell a retirement investment plan to 24-year-old black American males that would end up paying each of them $13,400 less in benefits than they paid into my plan? Most likely, if I were successful in conning people into these schemes, I would be arrested, tried, and convicted of fraud."

The sad fact is that not every good and nice idea is affordable. Guaranteeing a living income to the elderly is a good and nice idea, but it kind of breaks down when there are only 1.5 workers per retiree (projection for 2030). Government funded health care is also a good and nice idea. The problem is that it's going to require higher taxes; at least it has everywhere else in the world it's been tried. Once taxes get too high, why would an entrepeneur risk losing everything to start a business? After all, she knows that if she succeeds, almost nothing will be hers to keep anyway.

The weakness in FDR's Folly is that the author doesn't acknowledge any role for government regulation of private enterprise. Some things, like the environment, don't have much correlation to the bottom line and so aren't affected by Adam Smith's invisible hand of capitalism. When capitialism's natural rules don't apply, government needs to step in with rules for the common good.

The Art of Idleness

2004-09-19T01:02:00.000-05:00

Anti-bureaucratic wisdom from France.

8:34 minute miles

2004-09-13T23:54:00.000-05:00

Last night I ran 7 miles at an 8:34 minute pace. I'm really hoping to run the Des Moines half marathon this year under 2 hours, and at this pace I should get there.

Noah plays basketball

2004-09-09T22:28:00.000-05:00

Tonight Noah was playing basketball like a pro! Each time I threw the ball to him, he caught it, immediately turned around, and dunked it in our little outdoor hoop. Holly, Andy, and I were all clapping for him. He was really proud of himself.

Stop checking blogs! (Let your computer do it for you.)

2004-09-08T22:07:00.000-05:00

Are there several blogs you want to track? This one included no doubt? Completely understandable.

"But", you say, "I can never remember to check all those blogs every day. And some bloggers only post once per month! Checking them all every day is such a waste of time!"

Well, have no fear. Computer programmers are typically lazy and don't like checking things every day either. So, there are tools out there that will check any number of blogs for you automatically. Best of all they're free. A couple well known readers are SharpReader and Feedreader. After installing a reader, just set up each blog's RSS feed address in the tool. For example, scootercomputer's feed can be accessed at http://scootercomputer.blogspot.com/atom.xml.

Jesus and The Victory of God, for non-dispensationalists only

2004-09-04T23:20:00.000-05:00

I read N.T. Wright's book Jesus and The Victory of God a couple weeks ago. I've been going through his "Christian Origins and The Question of God" series backwards for some reason. Not exactly the best way to understand someone's train of thought, is it? It's actually just because I'm cheap. The library got The Resurrection of the Son of God last year, then I requested Jesus and The Victory of God and it came in this summer. Now I guess I'll have to request New Testament and The People of God and read it next summer.

Maybe I'll go all out and cough up 50 cents for an Inter Library Loan!

Now that I've read Jesus and The Victory of God, I feel like I've finally heard a believable explanation of Mark 13:24-31 and its corollaries. "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory... I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened."

I've always kind of mentally skipped over that last sentence. I've heard several explanations but none has struck me as especially believable. Wright draws out what meaning these words would have had for a first century Jew, primarily from the prophets, but also from other sources. Although we read those words and automatically think Jesus is talking about the end of the world, he shows that first century Jews used language like this to refer to "earth-shattering" events which could only be adequately expressed in apocalyptic language like this. Nothing indicates Jews were expecting the end of the space-time universe, nor did they read Daniel 7 as if it meant the "Son of Man" would literally float down from the sky on a cloud.

They did expect God and/or the Messiah to conquer their enemies (pagan Rome), come to dwell again in the Temple with shekeinah glory, and rule the nations through Israel. Throughout the book, he shows how Jesus saw himself as the culmination of this story, only with key differences. For example, in Jesus's view the true enemy was not Rome but Satan.

His point is that in Mark 13 Jesus is referring to the destruction of the nation and especially of the Temple in A.D. 70. Jesus is saying that if this takes place before his generation passes away, it will mean that God has vindicated him as a prophet and as the Messiah. When you think about it, that explanation does fit better with the context of Mark 13. This is how the chapter begins:

"As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, 'Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!' 'Do you see all these great buildings?' replied Jesus. 'Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.' As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked him privately, 'Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled?'"

I also like his explanation of the significance of his cleansing of the Temple. He wasn't just upset because the money-changers were corrupt or because there was financial activity taking place on holy ground. Instead, by forcing Temple activity and sacrifice to briefly stop, he symbolically predicted its permanent cessation. It's his prophetic and messianic judgment on the entire Temple system, similar to the way prophets symbolically acted out predictions of judgment on Israel in the Old Testament. It ties in better with his overall message to Israel.

Although I know that as a conservative Anglican N.T. Wright believes Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity, he doesn't think Jesus knew that about himself, at least before his resurrection. He does think Jesus saw himself as a prophet and as the promised Messiah. I'm not sure how we could ever know the answer to that question to be honest.

Well, there's no way I'll be able to recapitulate the entire book. I guess I'll just say that if the stuff coming out of the Jesus Seminar ever makes you wonder what's true, pick up one of his books for a thoroughly argued alternative.

Anti-Catholic retraction

2004-08-16T23:58:00.000-05:00

In my "Tradition and Sacraments" paper, I shouldn't have written the part about "kissing the pope's feet" -- as if the pope's goal is to bring hapless evangelicals under his (no doubt jewel-encrusted) thumb. Didn't I think he has anything else to worry about? In reality, Catholicism since Vatican II has tried to reach out to the rest of Christianity, and not in a negative "kiss my feet, all ye minions" kind of way at all.

I was trying too hard to make sure I didn't get pegged as a Catholic in the making. It's a fact that the word "Catholic" is shorthand for pretty bad things in some circles:

- Unsaved
- Unbiblical
- Satanic and deceptive; the Catholic church tells its members they're saved when they're not

The fact is that there's a lot to admire about both Catholicism and particular Catholics as well. Let's let God decide on Judgment Day whom he saves. Jesus promises some surprises are in store for us all.

Tradition and Sacraments

2004-08-12T23:46:00.000-05:00

For eight years my wife and I went to Walnut Creek Community Church in Des Moines. Over that same period of time I became more and more interested in early Christian beliefs and practices, which seemed in some key ways incredibly different from what modern American evangelicalism offers. Over time I felt like I couldn't really continue at Walnut Creek in an honest, full-hearted way anymore. In some strange way turning thirty made me want to follow through with my beliefs in a stronger way.

Anyway, this is a paper I wrote at the time. I gave it to the elders/pastors at Walnut Creek and to some of our closest friends at the church.

Tradition and Sacraments

In each church some doctrines are considered somewhat optional while others are held as absolutely core. Recently I've had to acknowledge I have beliefs which put me at odds with core beliefs of Walnut Creek.

Interpretation of Scripture
In practice, evangelicals pay little or no attention to what the church has believed throughout history when interpreting the Bible. This practice is typically known as sola scriptura. To begin with, the Reformers themselves had a high degree of respect for the church fathers, and I'm persuaded this is not how they understood this phrase. Be that as it may, I believe the evangelical approach of ignoring tradition when interpreting the Bible is flawed.

First, let's look at it from a human perspective with an analogy. Imagine a Supreme Court justice who becomes convinced the courts have distorted the Constitution over the years. Wanting to remain true to the Constitution, he decides he will base his decisions on the text of the Constitution itself and nothing else. What could be wrong with that? In keeping with his belief, he refuses to consider or even read the Declaration of Independence, The Federalist Papers, or the opinions of any court before the year 1970, the year he started law school. As time goes on, people notice his decisions become more and more bizarre. He seems to emphasize certain portions of the Constitution over others. He's unaware that some of his decisions directly contradict what we know to be the Founding Fathers' intentions from other documents.

Although he may intend his stance to be very conservative, he ends up inventing something new and therefore "non-conservative" out of the words of the Constitution. How could this happen? First, he ignores the context around the Constitution and the nation it actually created 225 years ago. Since the Constitution doesn't interpret itself, he will find it difficult to fully appreciate its meaning. Second, by not interacting with other, earlier interpretations of the Constitution, he may unintentionally read his own hidden biases and modem preconceptions into the text.

I believe the same principles hold true when interpreting the Bible. Although the Bible alone is the infallible word of God, like any other document the Bible does not interpret itself infallibly. Otherwise, honest, well-educated, Bible-believing people would not be able to come to opposite conclusions on doctrinal issues. It's simply a fact that there is always a human element to interpretation, and therefore the door is opened to bias, preconceptions, and honestly mistaken interpretations.

When we neglect to consult the church of the past, we may be revealing a hidden modernist attitude. We may think of earlier Christians as being superstitious or ignorant, simply because they didn't know as much about physics, chemistry, and so forth as we do. In many ways, their worldview really was much different than our current post- Enlightenment, postmodern culture. Therefore, it's easy to disregard their beliefs.

However, the Bible was written to certain people at a certain time in history. Even from a strictly historical perspective, it makes sense to find out how those earliest churches' understood it. After all, these Christians had access to written and oral sources that have since been lost. Church leaders from the second century were just a generation or two removed from the apostles.
As I was thinking about this, I imagined what it would be like to actually talk with an early church father. Pretend for a moment that you have a time machine and can travel back to the year 150 A.D. You look up Justin Martyr, a man who would one day pay the ultimate price for his faith, and start talking about Christianity with him. You agree on many issues, but when you bring up a certain issue, he peers at you with a questioning look, "You believe what? Are you from Corinth or something?"

Modern Christian: "No, that's what the Bible says. Don't you believe in the Bible?"

Justin: "Sure we believe in the Bible, but we don't interpret those verses in quite the same way you do. In fact, I don't think your interpretation really does justice to other parts of the Bible."

Modern Christian: "My commentary puts it all together. It all makes sense to me."

Justin: "OK, but there are several churches in the area which were founded by apostles not all that long ago. They all believe the same way about this issue, and in fact what you're saying contradicts that stance. Could all these churches which were founded by apostles have accidentally misinterpreted what the apostles said - in the same way?"

Modern Christian: "Who knows? It's been sixty years since the last apostle died. I don't see any reason for me to accept your human traditions."

Justin: "I'm not asking you to accept every word I say as if it were inspired by God! Still, shouldn't we get the benefit ofthe doubt? Why do you think you know more about what the apostles believed than we do? Who will know more about what you believed: someone in the year 2070, or someone in the year 3900?"

Modern Christian: "Umm..."

So much for my dramatic aspirations.

The Bible itself gives evidence of an active oral tradition in the early church. This tradition is not viewed as a negative thing, something to be replaced by Scripture as quickly as possible. John knew of many other miraculous signs Jesus had done which he left unrecorded in his gospel (John 20:30, John 21:25). Paul's instruction to Timothy to entrust to reliable men the things he had heard Paul say (2 Timothy 2:2) is a demonstration of early oral tradition in action. Paul not only condones this organic, oral method of passing along apostolic teaching, but he encourages it. The amazing thing to me was discovering these "reliable men" from the late first century and early-to-mid second century for myself. Many of them left writings that provide evidence about their beliefs. These men include martyrs like Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Justin Martyr. The New Testament church described in Acts did not disappear off the face of the earth, only to be resurrected centuries later.

From a theological perspective, we should not see God as Deists do. He didn't inspire the New Testament, step back into heaven, and merely hope that Christians wouldn't misinterpret the Bible and lose the gospel. The picture we see of God is quite different from this Deist view. In Acts he actively intervenes in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. In Revelation he warns he will take action against those churches which deviate from his will. As the Head of the church, he has never relaxed his authority over the church, and he has never given up directing the church.

In fact, Jesus promised that the gates of Hell would never overcome his church (Matthew 16:18). This should give pause to those who posit a falling away from the gospel very early in the life of the church. I can't imagine a more stunning victory for Satan. Granted, it's possible that there was always a hidden church that held on to the pure gospel even while the institutional church forgot it or rejected it. At best, that's an argument from silence, an argument which can neither be proved nor refuted.

Jesus also promised the Holy Spirit would always be with us. I believe that's true not only on an individual basis, but on a church-wide basis as well. It seems that evangelicals unintentionally accept this as well, at least in one limited aspect: the New Testament canon. 367 A.D. is the first time a written list of the New Testament books exactly matches our modem list. Up to that time, some churches might omit Revelation or II Peter, while others might include a book like I Clement. If the church was corrupt by 367 A.D., we should feel free to ignore that human tradition and come up with our own canon, perhaps based on modem Biblical criticism. So, how would we decide what goes in the Bible? Would it be apostolic authorship? Many modem scholars dismiss the apostolic authorship of Ephesians, 2 Peter, and 1 and 2 Timothy. No one knows who wrote Hebrews. We could quickly come to several different conclusions over what should be included in the Bible.

For me at least, the reality is that I've always had an unspoken faith that the Holy Spirit was guiding the church. I believe he wouldn't let the church go wrong on such an important matter. It makes little sense to ignore the early church when interpreting Scripture, but listen to it on the more important matter of what is Scripture.

I know this leaves a lot of questions unanswered. To be honest I'm not sure myself how far to trust tradition. I don't read church fathers as if they are equivalent with the Bible; after all, they sometimes contradict each other and even themselves! Still, I think the evangelical position is too extreme when it ignores tradition altogether, and I know there's valid middle ground between that position and the position of Catholicism. I want to make it clear that I don't believe Catholicism's claim that the pope can make up new infallible tradition whenever he wants, whether it's supported by the Bible or not (i.e., the Immaculate Conception, papal infallibility, etc.). For now I'm willing to say that the more ancient and widespread a belief was in the church, the more likely it reflects apostolic teaching and the Holy Spirit's guidance. Therefore, we should mistrust an interpretation of Scripture that contradicts those early, widespread beliefs.

Means of Grace or Symbols?
As I read the church fathers over the past several years, some things seemed very familiar to me: the centrality of Jesus's death and resurrection, his divinity and humanity, and salvation by grace through faith, to name a few. However, other things were disturbing.

The primary cause of this disturbance was the early Christian belief that baptism and communion are means of sacramental grace and not just symbols. Calvin provides a good explanation of this difference in his Institutes: "God, therefore, truly performs whatever he promises and figures by signs; nor are the signs without effect, for they prove that he is their true and faithful author." (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, Chap. XIV). Calvin elsewhere observes that the Anabaptists had made the sacraments into "empty signs."

Did the early Christians really believe that in baptism our sins are forgiven and that in communion Christ's body and blood are in some sense really present? Let's see what they had to say in their own words.

Ignatius (c. 105 A.D.):
"They [the Gnostics] abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins, and which the Father, of His goodness, raised up again. Those, therefore, who speak against this gift of God, incur death in the midst of their disputes. But it were better for them to treat it with respect, that they also might rise again."
http://www.ccel.org/fathers/ANF-01/igna/ig2smyraeansshort.html

Justin Martyr (c. 160 A.D.)
"And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Saviour, having been made flesh by the Word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise have we been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-46.htm#P3935_744654

Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD.):
"As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-46.htm#P3903_733473

Irenaeus (c. 180 AD.):
"For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions; being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, even as the Lord has declared: "Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-64.htm#P9597_2800282

Irenaeus (c. 180 A.D.):
"But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion. For we offer to Him His own, announcing consistently the fellowship and union of the flesh and Spirit. For as the bread, which is produced from the earth, when it receives the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two realities, earthly and heavenly; so also our bodies, when they receive the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, having the hope of the resurrection to eternity."
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-62.htm#P8324_2319830 (point 5)

Tertullian (c. 220 AD.):
"There is absolutely nothing which makes men's minds more obdurate than the simplicity of the divine works which are visible in the act, when compared with the grandeur which is promised thereto in the effect; so that from the very fact, that with so great simplicity, without pomp, without any considerable novelty of preparation, finally, without expense, a man is dipped in water, and amid the utterance of some few words, is sprinkled, and then rises again, not much (or not at all) the cleaner, the consequent attainment of eternity is esteemed the more incredible."
http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-03/anf03-49.htm#P11466_3245563

The Nicene Creed (325 AD.)
"I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins."
http://www.ccel.org/creeds/nicene.creed.html

I found myself thinking, "No! This can't be true! The early church didn't believe this, did they? I thought the Catholics made this up in like 900 AD. or something. Plus, God can't forgive sins through baptism because that's nothing but works salvation!" You see, a belief in sacramental means of grace (specifically baptism) had always been a key signal to me that someone didn't understand the gospel. Yet, here were these early Christians who apparently believed the same thing. So... who didn't understand the gospel? Then I read both Luther and Calvin and discovered the Reformers had basically sacramental views of baptism and communion as well. To my surprise I discovered that even the Puritans practiced infant baptism. How were all these people seeing this stuff in the Bible?

Slowly, as I read the Bible through the eyes of these other Christians, things began coming into focus. Verses such as Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 2:12, and Romans 6:3-4 started to make more sense to me. Look them up for yourself. Try to read them without preconceptions. Maybe this older tradition has some Scriptural support after all. Maybe the evangelical interpretation of these verses is actually less straightforward than the traditional interpretation. Perhaps we have imposed a certain systematic theology and worldview onto the Scriptures instead of letting them speak for themselves.

One of the first questions people ask me is, "Do you think you have to be baptized to be saved?" The answer is no. The best Scriptural example is the thief on the cross. He was never baptized and he never took communion, but Jesus promised he would be with him in paradise that day. Let me be clear. I believe God works through the sacraments, but I don't believe God works only through the sacraments.

Stepping back, I think part of the reason evangelicals disagree with baptismal regeneration is that we think it's a "work," and we therefore believe it violates Titus 3:5. But where is this identification between baptism and works taught in Scripture? In reality it's just a classification we've made on our own. I maintain that if baptism is a work, praying the sinner's prayer or even the act of believing itself could equally be considered works. It's misleading to simply label any human action in salvation as "salvation by works."

Another part of the problem is that we are afraid people will trust in sacramental rituals instead of in Christ. This is indeed a valid concern. It's also a danger for those who believe they're saved because they once walked down an aisle or prayed a certain prayer. When sacraments are received in faith, they shouldn't distract us from Christ - instead, they unite us with him. On the other hand, I don't think sacraments automatically give grace even when a person is unbelieving or unrepentant. As 1 Corinthians 11 warns, a sacrament can actually bring judgment on a person who receives it improperly. They aren't magic.

Finally, for me part of the problem was the whole idea of any physical thing accomplishing a genuinely spiritual effect. It seemed somehow less superstitious to see a purely spiritual cause for a spiritual effect like forgiveness. But then I began thinking more about how our salvation came about in the first place. The Incarnation was quite physical. Jesus was born, grew to adulthood, died on a cross, was buried, and rose again. And yet these physical events had immense spiritual significance. Viewed in that way, it makes more sense that God could continue to invest physical acts with true spiritual significance.

So, I can't accept evangelicalism's complete denial of sacramental means of grace anymore. I know there are extremes on the other side as well, but I think there's a valid middle ground –I just don't claim to know precisely what it is yet.

I hope I've made clear some of the boundaries I see. I hope it's also clear I'm not planning on hopping the next plane to Rome so I can kiss the pope's foot. It's true that in many ways I feel uncomfortably adrift. Still, I know a few places I do not want to end up! I continue to pray that God would lead me toward a fuller understanding of his word and his truth. I would ask for your prayers as well.

Why "ScooterComputer"

2004-08-12T22:50:00.000-05:00

Yes, I understand "scootercomputer" makes me sound like I'm seven years old. Unfortunately, my first choice, http://scottspot.blogspot.com, was already taken by a gay man who loves the f-word and The Flaming Lips. So what else could I do?