I'm Picking Another Fight!

I've been off of the blog for a few days and I've been trying to be less controversial in my Facebook postings as well. Part of the reason is that people get really angry when I post things that they disagree with. By and large, people today take disagreement as a personal attack on their own intelligence and decision making ability. It doesn't have to be that way.We all arrive at our personal preferences for a variety of different reasons--including...

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How Much Faith Do You Have?

When it comes to our religious beliefs (or the religious beliefs of others), there is always that immeasurable element of faith. Sometimes we forget that it even takes a great deal of faith to be an atheist.I bring this up because of a couple of pics posted on Facebook and because I'm rereading the book I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. I like this book (I did say that I'm rereading it) but I'm not certain...

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A Question for My Evangelical Friends

I want to begin by saying that this is really addressed to my evangelical friends and it is not a trick question. It is not a trap or a question that cannot be answered as some of my recent questions have been. It may appear that way, but it is not. I am asking the question because there are many (including me) that are looking at evangelicals and mainstream Protestants that are going to support a Romney/Ryan ticket and wondering how you can do that.Here's the problem:For the past several election cycles, conservative evangelicals and mainstream...

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Marking Time ...

School is starting around the Ozarks. From elementary schools to college classes, the new school year begins.When ever these regular calendar events come around, they have a way of making me realize that time is passing by. It doesn't make me feel older, but it does make me pause and look to see if different areas of my life are on track.Recently (thanks to meeting regularly with my accountability group), I've got my daily Bible reading back on schedule. I'm also more deliberate about my prayer time.A couple of conversations with friends and a...

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Did You Know...

...that even if the Roman Emperor Diocletian (early 4th century) had succeeded in destroying all of the manuscripts that would become the New Testament, he could not have destroyed our ability to recounstruct it.Why?According to Norman Geisler and Frank Turek in their book I Don't Have enough Faith to be an Atheist, the early church fathers of the second and third centuries quoted the scriptures so often (36,289 times) that all but 11 verses of the entire New Testament can be reconstructed from their quotations!John <>&...

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I Know How You Feel

It may sound funny, but I think I know how Dan Cathy must feel.I know that I have no idea how it might feel to have millions of dollars to donate (personally or corporately) to organizations of my choosing. And I know that I really don't know what it's like to run a big successful business and I've never been in demand to come speak to large groups of successful business men and women.But I have made statements that I thought were just expressing my own thoughts and opinions only to come under fire from readers and friends for doing so. It's kind...

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Socialism? Please Explain.

I didn't get any takers on my post asking for some clarification on how the PPACA became a bad thing to the party that originally proposed it. So let me ask a second question--another one that I don't understand but have a pretty good idea of why things are the way they are.How is Obamacare socialism?Medical care is not provided for by the government.Medical care is not paid for by the government.Medical insurance is not provided for nor paid for by the government.If you get sick and need medical care, the doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies...

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For the Record

I've been wondering what I would write about for post number 700.For better or worse, this seems to have been dropped in my lap.I've decided to set the record straight. I realize that I often seem to send some mixed signals to my Christian friends and family. I am more concerned about sending mixed signals to my non-Christian friends and followers. So let's just put it out there as plain as I can manage in a few short paragraphs.I am a follower of Jesus.I don't like to use the word Christian to describe myself. If we accept that Christian means...

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I Need Help in Understanding PPACA

In case you are not familiar with the PPACA it stands for Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It is referred to as Obamacare by most conservatives or opponents. In Missouri, nearly every political ad for the primaries that are coming up have a conservative talking about how they will oppose Obamacare.The thing that I really have a hard time understanding is when did this conservative proposal for health care reform become so distasteful to ... conservatives? I even wonder if these politicians know that it was a conservative think tank that...

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Once More on Chick-fil-A

Well, Aug 1, Chick-fil-A (CFA) appreciation day is in the history books (so to speak). I didn't make it by a CFA and don't have any feelings about it. I have seen many posts from friends that waited for long periods of times and nobody seemed to get angry or behave rudely.Just a few observations--Maybe if you know that everybody around you has the same moral beliefs as you do, it's easier to behave civilly. I wonder if we could manage to be as polite the next time we're waiting to renew our driver's license or sitting in a doctor's...

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