Morning Links

Good morning. Things are moving steadily on the job market, which is good, because Valerie’s loans are coming due. Because God has never ceased to be faithful in this way, I fully expect to start getting a check about the time our bills start to go up again.

Links:

  1. Nostalgia kick: You Can’t do that on Television was definitely on that list of TV shows I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to watch if we ever got cable. But I loved it anyway, and consoled myself that I hadn’t been barred from watching it when the opportunity arose, because my parents didn’t know it existed. Now it’s all on YouTube. Here’s a clip of Alanis Morisette getting permission from her mom to be a Rock Star. The irony abounds.
  2. On economics:
  3. The sin of infant baptism. I like Mark Dever’s perspective. We’re all too jumpy about that “sin” word, almost as if we wanted to deny that people are sinners.
  4. My favorite email option ever.
  5. Pilots no longer allowed to carry weapons. I wanted to say something about the second amendment here, but this stoops lower than that. More like forbidding armed police.
  6. Makes my mouth water.
  7. Praising Mr. Rogers with faint d…
  8. Sweet ‘n’ Low daddy. I Won’t go into whether non-profit work is more like Equal or Splenda.
  9. Note to self: don’t talk like a pirate to a pirate.
  10. Outrageous salaries are the last resort of the incompetent hiring exec (with due respect to Asimov).
  11. Best Flight Attendant announcements ever.
  12. Twitter can get you fired. A concept I’m very sensitive to.

Mormon Trilemma

I have a meeting this afternoon with a couple of Mormon missionaries who stopped by some time last week and asked to talk with me about their, um, gospel. So I’ve been thinking for the last few days about how to get to the heart of the matter with them as quickly as possible.

The difficulty with Mormons is that they appear so much like ordinary evangelical Christians in their culture and lifestyle that it’s difficult to point out something that is blatantly un-Christian, and at the same time, they have distinctive views on history and biblical texts that make it’s easy to point out errors in their beliefs without ever coming to the issue of the gospel. In other words, it’s easy enough for a committed evangelical Christian to see that Mormons aren’t, and so avoid the possibility of being converted accidentally. But it’s very difficult, in polite conversation, to point out to a committed young Mormon that his religion is different from yours even in its essence, and dangerously so.

Questions of Kolob and ancient Indian civilizations notwithstanding, there are actually two theological errors that Mormons partake in. One is a kind of Arianism, which sees the trinity as three separate entities who are unified only in as far as their personal agreement, rather than three persons of the same substance, eternally experiencing a perichoretic unity. In other words, it’s difficult to explain.

The other error is easier to deal with, because the nature of the gospel hinges on it. The Mormon position is that any human who makes an attempt at self-reform according to God’s law can in time improve to a level of perfection. It is a gospel of self-improvement aided by the power of the Holy Spirit, and God’s gracious repeated revelation of the plan for this self-improvement. In other words, Pelagianism.

Mormon Pelagianism isn’t something that Mormons try to hide, though the true doctrines of grace may escape them. How hard is it, really, to hear that you are saved by God working a heart change in you, to which achievement you yourself make no actual contribution? It’s difficult!

I suppose a more thoroughly indoctrinated Calvinist than I could bring the distinction home through a rigorous application of TULIP, but as for myself, I have a hard time remembering what the letters stand for. And the last thing I want to do is to frighten them by appearing like an enraged madman attempting to throttle them with the gospel.

And besides, I think I have an easier way. Continue reading “Mormon Trilemma”

Morning Links

Just barely still morning. The interview went fine. We’re in the process of setting up another one.

Links:

  1. A man bag I could use.
  2. Against alternatives to the singular they.
  3. On untrustworthy faces. And they didn’t even include a single picture!
  4. Handwork/Headwork. Makes me look good, since I’m all head and no hands, but doesn’t shine so well against 1 Thessalonians 4:11 & 12.
  5. I never was very good at shadow puppets.
  6. Agents and value added. I’d love to find a realtor who specialized in “starter” homes and modest houses in need of some repair.
  7. Obama Sushi. Looks more like Bill Cosby from Picture Pages to me.
  8. Where did that silly idea come from that X people group has no concept of private property? The first commenter is most astute.
  9. Having flashbacks from Wild Wild West
  10. Star Trek like you’ve never seen it before. Also, an “outtakes” remix that almost had me falling out of my chair.
  11. Funny financing. Not a problem I need to solve, but I sure do love those dollar coins.
  12. It’s not always about learning your lesson.
  13. Building on what God has done, vs. what God might do.
  15. Building better breakthroughs through history. And American revivals seem to be happening about every 6-8 years.
  16. By “brick house,” I think he means “stacked.” Neither word brings to mind the image I expect they intend.
  17. So? There are so many things wrong with this perspective, it becomes tedious to attempt to list them.

Poor Judgement?

I had two immediate thoughts on the AIG bonus scandal:

  1. What on earth are these bonuses linked to? Obviously not the success of their ventures.
  2. Re: “cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest…” There is no clear indication that the bonuses they offered previously were successful in attracting “the best and brightest”, so there is no indication that bonuses will work in the future.

    3. However, from listening this morning to clips from AIG Chairman Edward Liddy’s testimony yesterday before the House, it seems to me that Congress has the shoe on the wrong foot with this one. Continue reading “Poor Judgement?”

Morning Links

Good Morning. My parents were in town, so we spent the day yesterday in Gatlinburg. We had a great time, despite the fact that we forgot to bring a stroller for David, so we spent the entire time holding him. At least Valerie and I had really sore backs last night!

Links:

  1. Actually, Great Expectations would be greatly improved with time-traveling robots.
  2. Peculiar
  3. In other words, TULIP is all right as far as it goes, but it doesn’t actually completely cover Calvinism. I’m fifty-fifty on this one. I’d say the Nicene creed does a pretty good job of describing orthodox Christianity. If anything, the only caveats I’d make would be to narrow the options, rather than widen them.
  4. On the other hand – Heresy = Good.
  5. So far, I pass.
  6. Not really sure about this.
  7. Hope for helpless gamers.
  8. Tilt, not bias.
  9. Really the way bureaucracy works.
  10. I think I read about this idea first in Speaker for the Dead. But it brings up some questions – is recording somebody without their notice legal? It isn’t over the phone.
  11. So glad I’m not a Hindu.
  12. cluster-fluffle
  13. Rhet!
  14. The term “Jesus is my girlfriend” really ruined a lot of songs for me.
  15. Trap!
  16. Spell Check poetry.

Scripture Memory

Recently the men’s group that I’m a part of has decided to add a scripture memory component to our sessions, which I hate. I’m actually pretty good with the memorizing; what I don’t like is incrementalism – that is, doing a little bit, every day, for the rest of your life. I abhor the idea of filling up my day with five minute tasks, and I’d rather take anything I have to do and “have it all at once and get it over with.” Give me five hours on Monday, rather than 5 minutes a day for the next 2 months.

Unfortunately, that’s not how memorization works. You could commit the entire gospel of John to memory on that Monday and recite it perfectly. On Tuesday, it would be “In the beginning was the Word and the word was God and the word was with God, without which nothing was made that was made… uh, John not the Christ… Cana… something.” Memorization has to be incremental. Which means the biggest part of memorization is remembering to memorize.

Fortunately, a friend had a handy little form that I’m going to try to use. On the front page, you have your list of verses and a set of checkboxes by each one, arranged in sets of seven. The goal is to recite your passage (correctly) every day for seven weeks. On the back side, you have your list of verses, with checkboxes arranged in sets of 5. After you’ve hit seven weeks, you recite the passage once a week for seven months. And I’ve been told that, after you complete this nine-month regimen, you have a baby. That is, you can move on to other passages, because you will never forget again. And since, I will likely be castigated by my friends for failing to do my memory work, I’m going to give it a try.

However, I can’t stand a hand-made paper form. So I’ve made a better one (I think). I’ve attached it to the bottom of this post in two formats. One is a spreadsheet, in OpenOffice format, which has the advantage that it can be edited on computer, keeping ugly handwriting away from my pretty form. The disadvantage is that OpenOffice wouldn’t allow me to do it in a single file, so you have two. The second format is an Acrobat file, which is neatly in a single file, but you have to fill it out by hand, because I don’t have the technology to make proper forms in Acrobat.

You’re welcome to these forms if you like them:

Morning Links

David is still home. His supercold has mostly gone away, but now he has an ear infection from the buildup. And of course, a fever. As soon as I get done being the worst Mr. Mom ever, I’ll see about posting something that I originated myself.

In the mean time, links:

  1. More on Watchmen: revision as political statement. I doubt I will actually watch the movie myself. Some things that are bearable in print, should not be seen in action.
  2. David says B, which has always been my preferred position on the matter, but I think we’ll be going with A for a while.
  3. Ok. If I can get them to use this patch for something, we will do Boy Scouts.
  4. Population rapidly declining, liberals rejoice?
  5. Only works in English
  6. More on the Evangelical collapse. From one view, it’s a good thing – the part that’s supposed to collapse is the part that I didn’t consider Evangelical.
  7. Apparently, I need to read more Wodehouse, cause I never heard of Bertie Wooster. I have heard of Jeeves, though.
  8. (Obliquely) via Rick Joyner: Todd Bently on road to restoration, via a remarriage. My only thought: Remarried? I couldn’t even get married that fast!
  9. A critique of the Lorax, with which I agree. I’m all in favor of taller buildings!
  10. Scary place to do your business.
  11. Embryos might become fertilized?

Afternoon Links

  1. Hoo Boy
  2. Heh.
  3. Wow. All Don Francisco’s stuff is donation-based. I still haven’t downloaded any songs though. I feel the need to donate something and I haven’t any.
  4. Connecticut attempts to undermine the first amendment. Fortunately postponed. Anthony Esolen says, “bring it on!“
  5. On Confession. The Orthodox position looks to be closer to a Protestant position than he thinks. Of course, for a Protestant, there is a judicial aspect to dealing with sin, but that aspect, for the believer, has already been dealt with at the cross. Since the judicial aspect of confession has been removed, there is no reason to confess your sins to an official who responds to it like a parole officer. Rather, you confess one to another, for mutual edification.
  6. The Debt Star.
  7. Massive financial collapse leading to war. Fernandez seems this is an improvement over WWI, in which this was reversed.
  8. Pretty! My guess is that I still won’t be allowed to get one at that price, 45,000 hours or no.
  9. Evangelicalism collapsing. Actually, I thought the trend was up.