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“The Bible is anti-human sexuality outside a very narrowly prescribed range.”

Not at all. How can I say that? Let’s recontextualize.

“The Bible has one monolithic message on absolutely anything at all.”

See what I mean?

What does the Bible say about sex? Lots of things. There are the rules in Leviticus that we’re all familiar with, which instruct an ancient tribe of Hebrews to get a wife or two, boink them as appropriate, not to boink them when it’s, yanno, that time, what to do when your wife bears your kid, and what to do when your slave bears your kid. Roughly. And it’s couched in the highly ritualized, black-and-white, OCD language and tradition that comes out of having a long-standing and very powerful priest class in control.

Up over in the New Testament, there’s Paul. Paul takes an entirely different tack, being quite certain that nobody should have sex at all, because it’s gross. Old definition. At best, Paul’s whole message is muddled, but he’s very well-known for at least being attributed with encouraging asceticism in the church. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that he was certain Jesus would return in his lifetime, combined with the firm possibility that he was also the world’s first armchair theologian. He was certain they were living in unique and urgent times. The result is that he picked weird priorities.

What does Jesus say about sex? Not a whole lot, especially if you don’t spend a lot of time deconstructing the implications of his big anti-legalism shtick.

Let’s see, what else? The parts of the old testament that aren’t made entirely of “begats” and “thou shalt nots” are mostly made up of good old-fashioned bronze and iron age myths and legends, and like any good set of ancient religious myths and legends, they’re full of rum, buggery and the lash. Taken on the whole, it shows a very human sexuality – kind of lusty, kind of confused, kind of not stopped by all the rules present over sexual behavior. It’s also worth mentioning that, as far as I’ve ever found, there’s no story in the old testament of anyone being smote by god for sexual misdeeds. Folks are smote for a lack of faith, a lack of ritual cleanliness, a lack of cooperation, or out of sheer bloody-mindedness, but not for having naughty sex. (No, I’m not convinced that Sodom and Gomorrah is about homosexuality, either. If you ignore the analysis of the passage later in the bible and just read the story, it seems quite clear that those cities were destroyed because they were populated entirely by assholes. And, as the currently totally trendy Book of Job shows, God does not abide assholes.)

You know what’s really terrible, though? The bible has a dirty book. Song of Songs. You could say that it’s a love letter to god using the metaphor of sexual lust. Or it’s just a marvelous letter of longing between lovers. Doesn’t matter. It’s a celebration of beautiful bodies, wonderful scents, textures, tastes, soaring feelings and all of the other wonderful stuff that goes with that intense first blush of love. It’s all the best things sex can do for us. Right there. In the bible.

So, no. The bible is prescriptive about sex, it’s against sex entirely, it’s got an unknown position, it accepts sex as a part of life, and it’s totally into it, and those are just the big swipes. It’s all these all at the same time, plus more.

All These Things and More is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Jeff recently released Hosea: A Love Story, a full-cast audio drama adaptation of the book of Hosea.

Before the interview, I respond to a voice mail left by Dave Avila of The Jen and Dave Show and The Jaded Visalian.

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Jesus Geek: technology news and how-to’s for the connected Christian. Jesus Geek is a member of the My Life Ministries Network: a community of ministries that views the everyday Christian life as a ministry and seeks to encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ.

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This statement seems designed to provoke a reaction without speaking to the real issue at hand. Let us examine that instead.

The Bible certainly condemns specific behavior. In addition to specific sexual acts and relationships, the Bible also condemns: lying, murder, tax evasion, slander, disobeying one’s parents, idol worship, eating pork, and a whole host of other things. The Bible insists that it is the actual words of God, and that it is to be taken as a whole or rejected as a whole. Any other practice is not consistent with Biblical text.

When applying Biblical teaching to human sexuality, as to any aspect of life, one must first accept the authority and legitimacy of the Bible to govern that aspect of life. If one is to accept that the Bible has this authority, no issue may then be taken against whatever statements may be found therein – whether they condemn us for a sexual act, a malicious act, or even a well-intentioned act.

We may be thankful that the Bible does not teach perfect adherence to Biblical Law as the only means of salvation, but that salvation instead is the free gift of God to all who ask. It further /describes/ the practices of those who are saved, rather than attempting to /proscribe/ the actions of those who have no interest in the teachings of the Bible.

In the act of maintaining citizenship within a country, one agree to the legitimacy of the government to set whatever laws it deems necessary, with or without explaining the necessity of those laws. Only once one has agreed to accept Biblical salvation does any other practice described therein become necessary or prohibited. A salvation which attempts to add to or leave behind any portion of the Bible is inconsistent with Biblical text, and comes from human invention rather than divine revelation.

Many world religions use the Christian Bible as their primary sacred text, but reject the divine authorship and complete nature of the manuscript. These religions, which include the Mormons, the Emerging Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and certain movements within multiple Protestant denominations, are legitimately free to change the nature of salvation doctrine and prohibited human behavior to match their own desires. These religions should not be mistaken for, and often do not claim to be, Biblical Christianity.

Should one find oneself in conflict with any portion of the Biblical text, one may adopt a completely legitimate response in rejecting the text in part or in whole and seeking their own religious path. One who does so must understand without error that the freely-given salvation described in the Bible and internally consistent therin applies only to those who accept the authority of Biblical teaching as a whole.

To sum this argument in modern parlance: “If you want to play the game, you have to abide by the rules. If you change the rules, you’re playing a different game.”

Rules of the Game is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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And thats all I have to say about that.

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Ever since the 60’s, there’s been much change afoot when it comes to perspectives on human sexual flourishing. In the past, the Bible’s prescribed sexual mores were accepted with greater frequency and ease. The sexual revolution changed all that. Some even go so far as to ascribe to what I call the “no limits” philosophy: anything two adults consent to is within bounds, as long as it doesn’t harm the parties involved (harm is usually defined in very minimal physical terms), and the “as long as it doesn’t harm” bit is negotiable. Even where that extreme isn’t proclaimed, many hold that the sexual boundaries in the Bible are quite narrow, and therefore anti-human.

So that’s the popular view, but we should pause and ask, “is the popular view wise?” If lived out, will rejecting the Bible’s sexual boundaries really lead to human flourishing?

The short answer is “no.”

There’s no doubt that God’s prescriptions in the Bible are, in some sense, narrow, but suggesting that it’s therefore anti-human is a non sequitur. Afterall, no one would accuse my mom of being “anti-child” because she had restrictive rules about what belongs in an electrical socket (NOT my fingers!) or about what goes on top of a hot burning stove (NOT my hand, knees, or bum!). Get over the fact that the illustration is a cliche’, because the point applies perfectly in the realm of sexuality. The mere fact of “narrowness” isn’t good enough to prove “anti-humanness,” especially when we have good reason to think there’s a protection behind the boundary.

Well,are the boundaries protective? Yes. Most take it for granted that our physical bodies are like machines; they require the right food, rest, and exercise to run right. If you are one of the few that are skeptical of this, one look at Keith Richards will cure you of that skepticism.

What many miss, though, is that we have various non-physical parts to us that operate by the same design principle. It is very possible and easy to deaden your emotions, warp your reasoning skills, and tear your soul to shreds. Perhaps the quickest way to do all that at once is through fast sexual living. J.I Packer put it well:

“Nowadays some will maintain, in the name of humanism, that the ‘Puritan’ sexual morality of the Bible is inimical to the attainment of true human maturity, and that a little more license makes for richer living. Of this ideology…the proper name for it is not humanism but brutism. Sexual laxity does not make you more human, but less so; it brutalizes you and tears your soul to pieces. The same is true wherever any of God’s commandments are disregarded.”

Moreover, behind every “thou shalt not,” lies a “thou shalt;” behind every boundary is a provision. God’s prescriptions in the Bible are meant to save you not only from something, but towards something greater. His commands provide for us relationships where true commitment, trust, and agape (sacrificial, giving) love–the greatest love–can flourish. This is true humanity, for those things that are so necessary for our full well being are not found in the slightest in any of the temporary sexual arrangements that we contrive up. Fun–yes. “The thrill”–yes. A thin sort of happiness?–kinda. But you will also find suspicion, envy, competition and worry…trust and commitment are nowhere to be found.

There’s also a sense in which the “prevailing wisdom” is just plain morally wrong. Ever heard the following: “We need to find out if we are sexually compatible before we are married. You wouldn’t buy a car without test driving it first, would you?”

Isn’t that every woman’s dream–to be compared to a car. How much more degrading can you get?

In case any are wondering, this is a life I’ve lived–on both sides of the equation. For a number of years, I attended a 12 step group for sexual addicts. I lost count of the number of men (myself included) who started out with what most would consider “trivial” things, but lost control and ended up in the gutter. The pain, loss, and grief I saw in the faces of men in that group was quite enough to get me to question the standard line I led with above. What’s more, in most cases, the biggest grief was not from any physical ailments the men (and I) contracted but from the hurt we caused loved ones in our pursuit of self-fulfillment.

As UCLA psychiatrist Miriam Grossman states, “you cannot live the life of *Friends* and *Sex in the City* and not pay dues.” (Check out the link. It offers a psychiatrist’s perspective on this subject.

Though I have experienced addiction in the past, that’s not the end of the story! God is a God of resurrection and healing. I am currently experiencing the flip side. Due to heeding God’s commands in Scripture while we were single, there’s a lot my wife and I don’t have to deal with in our marriage. In turn, that gives us a freedom that words cannot capture.

As designer of human nature, God knows what He’s talking about. Perhaps a little trust on our part would go a long way.

Are Boundaries On Sexual Morality Good? is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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As often happens in the discussions on this podcast, there are some rabbit trails, but by and large, the questions and dicussion revolve around questions related to how we demonstrate our faith in public.  Should Christians use public prayer as an evangelistic tool?  Or should prayer be reserved for more personal settings (or at best settings which are denoted as Christian-specific)?

Forgive the out-of-date World Series discussion at the top, by the way.  Things are not looking as good for the Phillies as Steve hoped when this was recorded.

Unedited, unscripted, raw discussion of life outside the box of institutional religion–the trademark style of Beyond the Box.

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Extraordinary things happen around us continually. We just don’t always recognize them. The thought occurs to me that a great life doesn’t always seem great while we’re living it. They may seem embarrassingly regular. Seeking to be extraordinary isn’t the answer, because great lives are never achieved by making greatness the goal.
-1-

Above all the other sounds that surrounded him he clearly heard the dull thud of his army boot landing upon the wooden dock. It was such an ordinary sound, but it struck him as different, as somehow meaningful. He could not help from feeling that this was the first step. A new life had just begun. What worried him was that he was not sure what this new life would be. This was his first stop back from his war. He had no one to come back to and therefore no place that he belonged, so he thought that he would use this opportunity to go somewhere he had never been. As he stepped down the dock, along with several hundred others, he wondered. He wondered what the future was going be. He wondered where he would eat supper. He wondered where he would sleep that night. He made his way through the crowd and out into the small park that was the entrance to the city. This park was full of benches placed end to end in curving lines, the benches were full of people, both bums and lovers, with the occasional officer strolling through, checking things out. As he looked at the bums and the lovers sharing opposite benches he knew which one he was. He sat down at one of these, thinking he would rest his feet, get the feel of the place and figure out what was his next move.

He was still dressed in his army greens, with his bag full of everything he owned. As he rested there on the cold, wood and iron bench, on the edge of this small, crescent park, on the tip of this island that contains the largest city in America his mind drifted away. He briefly forgot where he was, that he was feeling lost and lonely. His hand slipped into his pants pocket and pulled out a pin. A lady’s pin fashioned from gold in the shape of an orchid with a tiny, delicate pearl in the center of the petals. It was worn and a little bent out of shape. It was dirty and the clasp on the back would not stay closed. After all it had traveled around the world, laid in hundreds of foxholes and been shot at for several years. It was his grandmother’s pin. She had given it to him when he left their small east Texas wood framed house. It was given to him to be a constant reminder of home and a loved one that cared about him.

He turned the pin over and over in his hand, just like millions of times before, as he thought about the woman who had given it to him. But this time his thoughts went beyond this love. He remembered a cold, quite night in a forest in France, when the stars shone so bright over head that his sense of loneliness became too over whelming. He remembered the long boat ride across the English canal when everything inside him wanted to come up, and not just because of the rough seas. He remembered the first time he saw someone fall from the bullet of his gun and how he cried that night for him and his family. He remembered the night in Paris when the whole world was a party but he was still alone and lost. He remembered how this pin had been there with him through all the times. It had been there to ground him and remind him that there would be a world to come back to, a familiar world full of love and laughter. It reminded him that no matter what this current world was throwing at him, that someone loved him and was thinking about him. He had survived because of this pin. And now as he sits in this park, he thinks back to the letter he finally got, after arriving safe back in England, telling him that his grandmother, the giver of the love and the giver of the pin, had passed away. “I guess she felt like her work was done”, he said to himself under his breath. He put the pin back in his pocket until needed again.

From his pack he pulls out a map that he had picked up on the ferry ride over from were he departed the transit liner. “Where to?” with more of a chipper attitude. He looked over the map and saw nothing indicating to him anything about food or shelter, just a web of lines of Ave’s and St’s. But finally one thing did catch his eye, in big bold letters “Time Square. I bet there will be plenty of activity there.” So with his mind set, he retied his bag, folded the map and stuffed it in his jacket pocket and stood up. It did not take him long to decide on a direction since he knew he was at the very bottom of the city and there was only one way to go. So with a little lighter step and a little gayer heart he started out into the mess of metal and concrete. He had a sense of purpose now, feeling that big things could happen. Of course this feeling was not a rational feeling; he had no reason to feel this sense of adventure. For many times over the past 3 years he had set out in much more unusual places with much bigger goals in mind, and those missions had given him an older perspective, a view of the world that surpassed his 22 year old mind. But now he was a child again setting out on an adventure in his own back yard. He knew that this feeling of optimism was not grounded in anything real, but for the moment he did not care and he let it run.

As he walked he passed store front after store front and he took an interest in them all. Some were fancy shops while others were completely unnecessary to daily life. Many contained completely functional wares and others were only for the rich with nothing else to spend there money on. He looked into each and every one. There were small grocers, fruit stands, wineries, and chocolatiers, Drug stores, jewelry stores, ladies fashions and the occasional pet shop. All sparked his interest. He wanted to go into each one and smell the smells, touch the fabrics and taste the meats and cheeses, but he knew there would be time for that, now he was simply content to take it all in as a spectator. He wanted to see it all, so he must keep walking. Sometimes this walk would slow to a casual stroll and he would take in not only what was behind the glass windows for sale but also the people in the stores selling them, the people walking around just browsing and the others milling around him on the street. At other times his pace would quicken as he wondered what was on the next block. Through all of this he was amazed, his face did not show it, it was still hard and mature, but his heart was a young boy. It was bubbling and excited. But it was growing darker with each step. It was beginning to realize what his mind never forgot. He was alone.

-2-

It was quite a walk, but compared to other recent walks, this was nothing and he was making the distance in no time. The distance was also shortened due to his interest in the sights. As he watched everything that passed by him the repetition started to become obvious. The faces that were so brilliant and unique were now molding into a single formless expression. There was just too many people and too many sights to remember each and thus the distention of each became harder and harder to see. With each step he slowly began to turn inward. He began to remember the fact that he had no one in this world, that he was the last of his family. He thought about the fact that many of his friends had not made the return trip. That he had no job, no home, and not much money. He fell into a deepness, into a lie that said his life was pointless. He argued against it. He knew that things would workout; he did not want to fall into this pit again. As he tried to climb out he thought that he would try to distract himself with a change of pace and scenery. Seeing a small dinner on the opposite side, he quickly cut across the street between the passing cars. Stepping inside the smell of coffee and food frying hit him hard. It was a welcome slap. He sat down at a booth that butted up to a large window that over looked the sidewalk outside. He was starting to feel better, to sit still, and to own this small booth for a moment. As he sat there he quickly remember the pin. He reached into his pocket to pull out this reminder. Just as the tip of his finger touched the edge of one of the petals he heard a voice. “I’ll be right with you”, was said in haste as the waitress passed by him in a blur. He looked up but did not see her, although he did see his surroundings for the first time. He saw the long shiny white bar that ran from the back of the room to almost the front door. He saw the two women behind it talking to one another and ignoring the 3 or 4 people seating in front of them. He saw the 4 or so booths that lined the wall opposite from the bar, two being filled with a pair of couples each. The room was bright. The walls, floors and countertops were all white as white could be. Everything that was not white was either black or chrome. The only other color in the room was the dark, deep red leather that covered the seats. The place was not busy. As he finally caught eye of the waitress she was moving slower this time. She arrived at his table and asked in a New York accent that he had heard from so many men,

“How ya doin’ today?”

This was not an unusual question but it had been so long since he had heard courtesy. He had grown accustomed to being either given orders or being treated as a victor being given spoils. But this inquiry was as a friend talking to another friend, an equal. A person to a person. He looked up to her and saw two eyes, hazel, looking back at him. Nothing really special, but so soft and caring. She repeated the question in a slower tone,

“How ya doin’ today?”

He replied with a not very convincing ok.

“Do ya’ know what ya’d like?”

He replied, “coffee, please.”

“Sure thing.”

She walked off, now obviously in no hurry. When she returned, empty cup in hand and full pot in the other, she not only set them down but she sat down across from him herself.

“Do you mind? My feet are so soar, I could use the break.”

“No, of course not. Please do.”

She filled his cup and they both just sat there in silence as he took his first few sips. She finally broke the silence with an awkward voice,

“You just get back?”

“Yes, just today. Just stepped off the boat about 2 hours ago.”

“Wow. So you don’t really sound like you are from here.”

“I’m from Texas. This is my first time here.”

They talked on like this for a bit. There were a few small silences but mostly just friendly questions and honest answers. From time to time she would get up to check on a table or greet a new customer but every time she would return. On one of these away times he watched her moving around the dinner. It reminded him of the fact that had brought him into this place to start with, that he had nothing in this world. As he watched, she would pick up and distribute plates of food, she would take a table change for the payment, she would even clean up the table when customers were done, and from time to time, while in passing or as she would make small talk with a customer she would glance back him and smile. His heart would lift, but only for a second. It was a harsh reminder that this beautiful, lovely, sweet woman was not his and that he in fact had nothing or no one that came close to that in his life. As he began to dwell on this fact his head slowly sank. As was his habit in such times, he reached into his pocket and found his little reminder, his pendant. He pulled it out and began to turn it over and over. He tried to remember his home and the love of his Grandmother, the love that he was now so missing. She returned and sat down without his noticing for a second. She briefly watched as he stared at the pin. She wondered what was going on behind those inward turned eyes. She could only image all that he had been through. He looked like a small boy who was trying so hard to act older than he really was to hide his tears. Not pity and not judgment, but compassion. Has he noticed her watching him he knew that he had been caught. He extended his hand out towards her, pin laying face up in his palm. Without moving she looked at it for a couple of seconds and then looked and him and grinned. She reached out and gently took the pin from his hand. Without a word on either side she took it and turned it over to reveal the clasp that would not stay. She removed a pin from her apron and commenced to work on it. With a few quick moves and clever pries the clasp would now stay closed. With an even bigger grin she handed it back to him. He looked at it and her and now a smile came over him as well.

He asked, “I didn’t get your name. Mine is James.”

“I’m Alecia. It is very nice to meet you James. So what do you have planned for your visit?”

“I’m not really sure.”

“Well what would you like to do?”

A little sheepish look come over his face, then it showed bright with excitement, “Ice skating.”

“Ice skating? Well, ok. I haven’t been in years, but hey you’re only here for a short time so if you want to go ice skating then ice skating it is.”

She jumped up from the booth with a bounce that he had taken notice of, a bounce that seemed to infect him a little. She quickly disappeared through swinging door at the far end of the bar and then reappeared as quickly as she left, but now minus her apron and paper hat. The sound of her soles clapping against the tile floor and then the slide up to the booth fill the café.

“You ready?” barely stopping for his answer.

He got up and quickly fished into his pocket for the quarter to pay for the coffee. As her infectious smile and gay steps burst out the door and onto the busy sidewalk, he wondered what he has gotten a hold of.

-3-

They walked in silence for a bit, with her leading the way, but plenty was being said. She was looking into the store fronts just as he had earlier, with the same sense of seeing them for the first time. He watched her closely and wondered how she could do that. How she could have the heart of a child, the spirit of innocence, when she lived in such a harsh and lively place.

“So tell me a little about yourself.” He finally said.

“What do you mean?

“Well we’ve talked about me, but all I know about you is your name and the fact that you work in a café. What do you do for fun, where’s your family? Things like that.”

“Well there’s not much to tell. I’m just me.” Not really wanting the attention, which he took as odd since she seemed so confident and comfortable with life.

Trying to help her, “Do you have any brothers and sisters?”

“Nope. It’s just me. My parents call me their Gift, since they were told early on that they could not have children. I was a surprise and a gift, so they think.”

“Do you get along with your parents?”

“Yea, of course. Why shouldn’t I? They live over in Jersey. I typically go over and spend Sundays with them. Yea, I’m a very lucky girl, we get along great.”

Her already bright face lit up even more when she caught the sight of something over his shoulder. She let an Oooooh! and then quickly side stepped around him. He spun around trying to follow her energy but found himself just a bit behind. It was a dog, a huge dog, a Great Dane. He watched as she instantly became friends with the owner as she talked to the dog. He stepped up beside her but his hands never left his pockets. He had never seen such a bright and open spirit in such a delicate form, such joy. This was a contrast to all that he had grown accustom to over the past few years. He had seen happiness but not joy. Happiness that was caused by the surroundings but not joy that just existed in a spirit. She possessed this quality and he was captivated by it, he was taking it in and finding it very satisfying. It gave him a sense of energy and relaxation at the same time. He felt a freedom to exist and enjoy the world that he had never known. He had had to be on guard and defensive for so long he forgot that there was another way.

“So you like dogs?” as they finally strolled away.

“Of course, don’t you?”

“Sure, at least I thought I did. So how long have you worked at the dinner?”

“For about 3 years now, but I have bigger plans.” He had no doubt. “I’m going to nursing school. I’m about half way through. I go to class 2 nights a week and every other Saturday. I really love dealing with the people and getting my hands dirty, but there is so much science that I’m really having to work at it. It’s really getting to me.” He could not image this firecracker getting frustrated or ever encountering anything that could get the best of her.

“I’m sure you will make it just fine.”

“Well, I started out wanting to be a Vet but that was way too much for me, too much science and money. So here I am stuck helping people.” She said sarcastically. They both laugh. “You have a very pretty smile. You should smile more. You know when you smile you get a little dimple just there.” She softly placed the tip of her finger on his check. He had been wearing this same face for the past 22 years and he had never known that. He smiled even bigger and sheepishly turned his face away. As they walked in silence turning this corner and that, crossing street after street, he thought about this touch. He remembered the loving touch of his grandmother’s hands. How gently they would cup his cheeks as she kissed his forehead every night at bedtime. Alecia could see the light grow dark on his face. Her eyes switched from bright to soft as she found herself caring about this young man. She noticed him reach into his pants pocket and that he was turning something over and over. She remembered the pin. She thought to herself about what this pin had meant. Was it a gift from a girl friend, was it a found trinket he had brought back. She knew that it was something that contained something special for him.

Once again, without a word she reached out her hand with her empty palm up. He looked at it and then at her face. Without ever taking his eyes off of hers he pulled the pin out of his pocket and placed in her hand. His hand remained for a second. Then with a blast, a smile exploded across her face and she took off. He watched her sprint ahead, weaving in and out of distinguished men in suits and portly older women in long dresses, all giving her a look. She glanced back with the same large smile and then disappeared into a shop.

“Well, what have I gotten myself into?” he wondered to himself again as he picked up his step to catch up. As he reached the metal framed glass door he could see Alecia inside spinning a display case full of bracelets. The words on the door read Martinique Jewelers. He stepped in and up to her side.

“The man is cleaning it.” She said as she continued to look into the case. “It was a bit dirty. It could use a good cleaning. So tell me about the pin.”

“Well it’s not much just a bit of a memory for me.” He said as she turned to focus on him. He now looked away and feigned interest in another case. He had never talked honestly to anyone about the pin. If anyone had asked about it before it was never out of true interest, just selfish curiosity. But he knew that this girl was different. “It was my grandmother’s pin. I remember as a child when we would go to Sunday morning church and I would sit in her lap for the ride into town she would always be wearing it. I would thumb it and gently rub the perils. They were so soft and smooth. Every Sunday she would wear the pin. The day I left to go to Europe she gave me the pin. She told me that if ever I needed a reminder of home and the never changing love of family that I could take the pin out and I would be right back at home, right back in that old truck going to church.”

Just then a man with thick glasses and rolled up sleeves appeared through a swinging door in the back. He handed the pin to Alecia and she quickly looked it over and then handed it to James. He inspected it closely. It had never shined so brilliantly, except in his memory. He gave a smile to her and she gave it right back. She asked the man how much and he said for her it was no charge. They both thanked him and walked out the door hand in hand.

-4-

They walked down the sidewalk for a bit, hand in hand and each with a large smile. They walked just a few more blocks until they arrived at Madison Square Gardens. When she stepped up the ticket window you could see the excitement on his face.

“Is this were we are going?”

“Yea. The Rangers are playing tonight so they have a public skate today.”

“Wow, I’ve listened to so many fights from here, I never ever thought that I would get to come here.”

“Two please and two pairs of skates, also.” Was her request to the man behind the window.

“That will be two fifty. You get the skates inside.” He replied with a gruffness.

“So why ice skating” she asked as they waited for the rental man to retrieve their skates. “Have you been before?”

“Nope. But I’ve always seen pictures of it and always told myself that if I every got to go up north that I would give it a try. So here I am and now here I am” as he walks up to the long glass windows that over looked the rink.

They quickly strapped on their skates and gingerly stepped out on the ice. As James held on to the edge and slowly made his way around, Alecia speed around the rink, not too smoothly but defiantly not her first time. She caught up with him and took his hand. She led him away from the edge and together they laughed and skated, skated and laughed. Some times holding hands, sometimes she would skate ahead but rarely did their eyes leave each others. His heart was so high. He had never experienced such pure and uncontained joy. He was just in that moment. He was not worried about the future and he did not need the past as a crutch. He was just himself. At that moment it was just the two of them.

As she skated up beside him she asked “need a break?”

“Want some hot chocolate?” he responded. She nodded and they skated off. After returning their skates they make their way over to the concession area, picked up some hot chocolate and sit down on the same side of a booth. They take a few sips. As he thought about the day and about this girl he remembered his grandmother. He remembered her love. He took the pin out of his pocket, now bright and shinny, glowing with new life, and pinned it on her collar. She looked down at it and smiled.

“It really is a pretty pin” she said.

“You really are a very beautiful woman.” She took up his hand again and they sipped some more. “It’s an orchid, you know. I think they are my favorite flower and not just because of this pin but because they are just so delicate and unique. Each one is an original, like a work of art.”

“Yea, I know what you mean” as looks down at the pin. Jumping up “Come on I’ve got something I want to show you.”

He slid out of the booth and as she started to pounce out of the building she grabbed his hand. This time he beat her to the door and with his body he blocked her from opening it. She slid to a stop and into him. He reached down and got a quick kiss before disappearing out the door. Their gayety spilled out on the sidewalk and they laughed all the way to her apartment. The lights were beginning to come on as the streets were disappearing into the shadows of the buildings. The sidewalk was now much quieter.

They come to a stop in front of a brown brick building. Judging from the windows, three single panes climbing up the right side and three double panes going up the left, it was a fairly narrow building.

“I live on the second floor. I have a small one room apartment there. It’s not fancy but it is clean.”

She stepped up to the door and with a quick turn of the lock they were inside. The entry room was dusty and dim. There were two closed doors on the left side of the room with the word “Office” above the nearer one. The rest of the room was barren and stark. Directly in front of them, a stair case ran up the right side of the long narrow room. She began to leap and bounce up them with him not far behind. She pointed to a door as she ran past it and round to the next flight of stairs. “That’s my place.”

They reached the fourth floor and as she opened the only door at the top of the stairs her demeanor changed. The energy that had been bursting from her as they ran up the stairs had now changed into a softness. A quite, anticipator excitement. The room was bright from the sunlight. The walls and the ceiling were all glass. It was a small greenhouse built on the roof. The room was completely full of flowers of all different colors. But they were all the same kind, they were all orchids. There must have been 20 or 30 flowers in this small glass room. The brilliant sunlight shining on the many varied hues set the room afire with color, like a wonderful work of art.

“Do you like them? Aren’t they beautiful?” Alecia asked.

“Yes. They are wonderful. Whose are they?”

“They’re mine. I love flowers and orchids are my favorite. I started this garden not long after I moved in here. My mom and I used to grow them together, ever since I was a little girl….Aren’t they beautiful?”

As the orange light from the setting sun shown across the room, they looked into each other’s eyes. He turned to her and they stood face to face. He thought to himself as he looked into her soft eyes so full of life, “My war is over.” He knew that this was the love that he had been holding onto in those dark times, the love that he refused to let go of. The love that the pin represented was not gone, only now it was becoming more fully realized. As the filtered sun hit the pin it seemed to come alive with the light. It melted into the blooms that surrounded them. The smell of the flowers filled his senses. The seed of love that the pin contained was finally blooming. He was alive. He was safe. He was home.
“The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zep 3:17

- The End -

And thats all I have to say about that.

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I’ve talked about it before. It’s a really, REALLY intense bit of science fiction wrapped in a gripping thriller and topped off with just a soupçon of horror. As I’ve also said it’s truly amazing that he’s giving the whole thing away for free, not just as a podcast, but also as a Google Book and in PDF Form. All of this with his publisher’s blessing.

This is some pretty ground breaking stuff in my opinion and deserves to be supported. There’s really no excuse for you not to give at least the first few chapters a spin, even if you don’t like reading long stretches of fiction on the screen I think you can stomach that much. That should let you know whether it’s worth your ducats or not. I think it is. I’ll be getting it as soon as my assets are liquid.

The gist of it, in case you’re still leery of reading the FREE things I’ve linked to is as follows:

The president of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy…

So begins 7th Son: Descent, the technothriller novel by J.C. Hutchins. Originally released as a free audiobook podcast, Descent will be in bookstores in late October. 7th Son has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time.com, Wired.com UK, and on the cover of Blogger & Podcaster magazine.

As America reels from the bizarre presidential assassination committed by a child, seven men are abducted from their normal lives and delivered to a secret government facility. Each man has his own career, his own specialty. All are identical in appearance. The seven strangers were not born, but grown — unwitting human clones — as part of a project called 7th Son.

The government now wants something from these “John Michael Smiths.” They share the flesh as well as the implanted memories of the psychopath responsible for the president’s murder. The killer has bigger plans, and only these seven have the unique qualifications to track and stop him. But when their progenitor makes the battle personal, it becomes clear John Alpha may know the seven better than they know themselves…

Check it out!

Free Books Are Cool is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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To which I had some replies:

Odin1Eye – no.. good is subjective. I know many people that I don’t consider good. Selfish, spiteful, mean spirited, lazy etc. however, I think everyone, or almost everyone, sees themselves as good… one reason I don’t like villains to always be evil and the ones I don’t think are necessarily good, probably see me in a less positive light than I see myself. and of course, I am speaking in humanistic terms, as we know that according to scripture, none of us are good. Truth.

Alethe – If everyone was good all people would be treated with dignity and not abused. Don’t see that starting any time soon!

So we have a nice (dare I say good?) spectrum of answers to the query. And yes it’s a loaded question, but as I replied to Scott those are often the best kinds.

So what’s my take? No, everyone I know is not “good” or at least not good enough. How do I determine that? Aren’t there some people that I know that are “good”? Sure, I know plenty of people that I think are good folk, depending on the day or on my mood. They’re kind to others, frequently generous, don’t kick any puppies, that sort of thing. However, the intrinsic goodness of a person is difficult to measure meaningfully by my own personal standards, which are ultimately meaningless for most people and are far from fair or impartial. So what do I use?

Judging by a society’s standards is tricky. They change over time or by location. A good person two hundred years ago may have been a slave owner. A person in another country (or certain parts of this one) may marry their twelve year old cousin. Those acts wouldn’t be looked upon kindly in modern Western society. If I used that as my measuring stick there would be a flux, not helped by the fact that even within my own society there is a broad range of cultures that I identify with. Granted the change in what’s perceived as moral may change less frequently, but rather than being truly objective it’s still subject to the whims of large groups of people.

Using a religious standard is also an option and it’s the one I choose. Even here I run into some problems, though they are problems of a different sort. There is a large section of the Old Testament that is dedicated to laws and their punishment. One traditional argument is that some of those laws are intended just for Israel and that others are more universal. The difficulty there would be, which is which? If one picks and chooses then the label hypocrite or accusations of cherry picking come flying out of the woodwork.

Then in the New Testament we have Jesus expanding the Old Testament’s laws with statements like

21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder,a and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5)

So, now simply avoiding killing or murder is not enough. We risk judgment in simply being angry or calling names. That really gets to the heart of the matter and raises the bar beyond where some people would feel is “fair”. I mean, is merely having a bad thought enough to be considered a bad act? If you consider another human being inferior or plot to murder your neighbor even if you never have the chance to act on it, have you done something morally wrong? In some cases man’s law would say yes, though usually only if there’s another conspirator. According to the Christian God’s law there is no question. Even if an act is not illegal, seriously contemplating committing an immoral act is immoral in itself.

Based on all of this, I agree with John, to a degree. By my own (again admittedly mercurial) and by God’s standards I am not a “good person”. I lack the scale or the formula necessary to tell me if my good acts outweigh my bad, but I suspect that if I had one that the scales would touch the floor on the bad side. That’s certainly what Christianity teaches. According to my culture and perhaps even to some of my friends I’m a good man, but those people haven’t seen in to my heart. They don’t know the interior Scott. When it comes to that interior life I don’t think I’m alone though, none of us are pretty on the inside. Morality is more than just what you do that your friends and neighbors to see. Whether you are good or not gets to your core and what’s in there.

So what do we do with that? The knowledge that I’m not good enough to measure up to the standards that I believe God has laid out is hard. I want to be good enough. I want my friends to be able to be good enough under their own power. Occasionally I’ve been known to whine and pout along with the best of them that it’s not fair that we can’t be. God’s standards seem too high even to me, from time to time. The good news is that we don’t have to be good enough (nice especially since we can’t be). Though God still wants us to strive and I believe that he has instilled in all of us the desire to love one another and to fulfill his commands, there is no ultimate pressure to do so. We can strive to be good not so that we measure up, to meet the bare minimum, but so we can bless those around us. The motive shouldn’t be fear of retribution or condemnation. We’ve received much grace and need to turn that around to our friends and neighbors.

So are you good enough, my friends? No. The good news is that Jesus was, freeing you to be as good as you can be.

Good Enough is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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We hope you enjoyed this series, and that it has sparked some thinking about the atonement and why it can be very important in our view of the Father.

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Jeff recently released Hosea: A Love Story, a full-cast audio drama adaptation of the book of Hosea. Before we get to Hosea, Jeff and I talk about his podcasting history and social media.

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Jesus Geek: technology news and how-to’s for the connected Christian. Jesus Geek is a member of the My Life Ministries Network: a community of ministries that views the everyday Christian life as a ministry and seeks to encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ.

Jesus Geek is a member of the Tech Podcast Network, Christian New Media Group and CleanCasts.com. It is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Now I know a little about human nature or so I like to think. A good deal of that comes from just watching myself interact with others. So when I read a reaction to the interview by PZ Myers (one of the people interviewed) where he said that that was not the message he gave when he talked to her, I wasn’t surprised. What wasn’t surprising exactly? Well I’m not surprised when someone hears an interview that they took part in and regrets the way they come across (a little of what happened here) and I’m not surprised (though I am saddened)when a reporter actually does “quote mine” looking for nuggets of gold that match up with their agenda (apparently much of what happened here).

I don’t dispute that there is some matter of disagreement in the atheist/agnostic community on how they should treat us and on how they view religion. I know first hand that there are non-believers that think we are sheep-le. I might even be so bold as to say that most of them think that. Some decide to sugar coat the message. Some don’t. There are atheists who believe on some level, based on evidence and rationality naturally, that religion serves some evolutionary good or is at least a by-product of an evolutionary process where the process itself does good and the religion part is a side-effect not unlike bad gas or possibly toxic shock syndrome. Then there are those that believe there is nothing good in religion, not even a little. PZ doesn’t dispute that any of those differences exist. He argues that this is actually a strength. They are free to question one another freely.

Getting back to the NPR story, it’s fun to paint atheism as a sort of religion. Ask Sid, I do it all the time. I argue that some of them meet regularly, have “saints”, merchandise,read from the same books. I mean all they’re lacking is a belief in a supernatural being. That’s pretty important though. So my comparison is tongue in cheek. For some it’s not though and the NPR story plays to that. They tout it as some sort of argument against atheism, saying that if we can just point out how close atheism is to being a religion we can… what exactly? Accuse them of being hypocrites? I don’t think that’s right. It’s not fun when they do it to us and it’s not fun when we do it to them.

The one unifying belief that they do have is a non-belief and one that they view as positive. Based on that, expecting them to be some sort of monolithic organization is silly. They do have organizations of course, but even those can’t agree on what being an atheist means exactly, much less agree on how they should treat us. In order to have a schism I think you need something like a central statement of belief. They simply don’t have that.

So, what we have here at most is a difference of opinion. Should atheists be “accomadationists” or hard core “evangelicals”? There are heated debates and arguments, but no one I’m aware of is getting ostracized (or at least not burned at the stake). That some of us feel this is similar to a religion is telling since our in family squabbles can get far more ugly. As for the question itself, if it’s only one way or the other naturally I’d say that I prefer they choose the former.

Whatever they “should” be though and whether or not they are like a religion, all that really matters is what they are. They are human beings trying to deal with the universe and what they are handed as best they can. They’re missing a piece that I believe is vital, but even with that piece I don’t always deal with life in the most Christ-like manner. How can I expect any more from them? So when we are dealing with one another I would hope that we can be respectful, but that hope is tempered with understanding that there is a lot of baggage that we all carry as a result of what we believe on this one issue.

A Difference of Opinion is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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There are these things called podcasts that you should really really really look into. They’re free serialized audio files that you can play on your computer or download to your MP3 player. They run the gamut from audio books and audio dramas to self help and inspirational. I listen to a lot of them and am going to try and give you a run down of the best ones. So buckle up buttercup, this may take a while and if you subscribe to even one it will be a fun ride.

Fiction I’m Currently Listening To-

7th Son – This is by no means a new one. JC Hutchins podcast this bad boy for the first time back in 2007. Getting the word out now is particularly important because JC has a print deal with a major publisher and this goes live in its print version later this month. I will definitely be dropping more information on the blog when it happens. This is a sci-fi thriller that is hands down the best in that genre that I have had the pleasure of experiencing in some time. The basic premise is covered in this trailer. If that doesn’t make you strap in the earbuds I recommend you have someone check your pulse. If you listened, then you heard that right. Even if you don’t “do” podcasts he is giving away serialized PDFs/Blogtext versions of the book through other websites. No reason for you not to at least give it a look (unless pulse pounding, edge of your seat fiction isn’t your bag).

Fetidus – This is a dark trip through the slimy underground of Washington DC, but not just any Washington DC. In this universe there has been an apocalypse. Zombies, ghosts, and who knows what else have been unleashed on the world. And just like in the real world they have their own Political Action Committee. FETIDUS is the Foundation for the Ethical Treatment of the Innocently Damned, Undead, and Supernatural responsible for making sure that they are treated fairly. James Durham; author, musician, and producer is responsible along with a full voice cast, for for bringing us in to that world and fleshing it out and flesh it out he does. This work is one that you don’t listen to so much as you experience. He won two awards for it and is muchly deserving. I will warn you that this world is a dark place and not for the squeamish. Well worth your time.

The Gearheart – The tagline for this podcast is “Magic, Adventure, and Gunfights” and it delivers on all points. Alex White brings us the story of a secret society of wizards called the Seekers of the Arcane Unknown. They are charged with keeping the knowledge of magic from the populace at large while combating threats to their world and to the political powers they are in league with. A great mix of mystery, political intrigue, action, and suspense this story has been a lot of fun so far.

Great Hites – This is a short fiction anthology podcast and the truly cool thing about it is that anyone is welcome and encouraged to participate. Write your story according to the prompt and send it in. Can’t record? Now problem, they’ll do it for you. Right now Jeff Hite is asking for submissions for 10K word creation stories. Got an idea along those lines? Send them in.

Harvey – Is author Phil Rossi’s latest novella. This dark tale takes place in a little town of the same name. Harvey has some dark secrets and musician Calvin Hubbard, who only wants to make a little music and have a little fun, gets mixed up in the middle of it all.

How to Succeed in Evil – An efficiency expert for super villains is at the heart of this story. He gets tired of the latest crop of villains’ inefficiency and inability to listen to his stellar advice and takes matters into his own hands. This thing is absolutely LACED with humor, at times dark, but ever present. Patrick McLean is working on getting this published and I highly recommend that you give it a listen if you’re into seeing genres flipped on their head. Seeing a comic book world through the eyes of a smart and ruthless villain, that becomes likable through McLean’s excellent craft, is a trip worth taking.

Tumbler – Brand Gamblin is writing the sort of science fiction that I am rapidly becoming very fond of. It takes characters that seem as real as my next door neighbors and puts them in a futuristic world that’s less about ray guns and aliens and more about life on the frontier of space. Libby Carter lost everything that means anything to her, so she hitches a ride on a rocket in an effort to become an asteroid miner. Things don’t go quite as expected and she has to make the best of it. Can she survive? Tune in and see.

A Traders Diary – This is another one of those sorts of science fiction stories I’d like to here more of. Nathan Lowell tells the story of Ishmael Wang over the course of five books (so far). His mother, a university professor and his only family, dies and with her any chances he might have at a future. Or so he thinks. In desperation he joins the space fairing equivalent of the Merchant Marine. Starting out as nothing more than a mess mate on a trading vessel that sails the stars, isn’t his first choice, but it’s his only shot. He’s a “land rat”, one unwise in the ways of space, and no one else will take him. These stories are all about how far hard work, perseverance, and a little bit of luck will take you.

Well this post grows long and there are a lot more fiction casts I’ve wither listened to or will be listening to in the days/weeks/months to come, not to mention the non-fiction. More on the latter in a future post. Meanwhile if you’ve already listened to all of these you should also check out Metamor City, Murder at Avedon Hill, V & A Shipping, and anything Scott Sigler, Mur Lafferty, or Tee Morris puts out. You should also take a gander at Podiobooks. They have over 300 titles.

Podcast Pimpage is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Far from being a dry topic, Ray and Steve infuse their own brand of humor into the discussion as much as possible, including the introduction of the first ever Beyond the Box drinking game!

Join us next week for a wrap-up discussion of the entire subject and the conclusion of this 4-part series.

I wonder who my own theological equivalent rock star would be. I’m not sure. CS Lewis if he were still alive. Maybe N. T. Wright.

Anyway, the two of us met for a beer with some of the folks from the Skeptical Society (might not be the actual group name) and the Charlotte Atheists and Agnostics. I got to meet some nice gents and pimp Archangel. We talked briefly about religion in general, music, and idle chit chat. Time was short so we didn’t get into much trouble.

The talk itself was good. We got front row seats which was truly awesome. Dawkins mostly used his time as an opportunity to do some readings from The Greatest Show on Earth. Can’t blame him for that and they were good, informative, and relatively free of cringe-worthy moments. Perhaps the biggest problem I had with what he said was the notion that evolution is as factual as the earth being round. To a point I would agree with that. Evolution as a process happens. I don’t think that can be disputed or at least hasn’t been falsified (yet) and he doesn’t think it ever will be (but he does say it could be which is splitting hairs juuuuust a little I think). What I do take issue with is the notion that that process is what took single celled organisms and made them into people. That’s nowhere near as certain as a round earth in my opinion.

He also made a few statements about religion and indoctrination. He spoke of a geologist that he knows. The man is well educated, apparently highly thought of in his field, and yet he remains a Young Earth Creationist (no I didn’t catch the gents name). According to Dawkins the man even said that even if all of the evidence in the universe pointed to an old Earth (apparently he doesn’t think any of it does) he would still remain a YEC because in his opinion that is what the scripture plainly taught. Dawkins said (and I can’t quote him directly) something like that proved how dangerous indoctrination was. I suppose it’s not possible that the man decided for himself, for good reasons, that scripture was true. I don’t know what those reasons are and I don’t agree with Young Earth folks, but I’m not going to wag the indoctrination finger.

There was a Q&A afterward that wasn’t exactly inspiring. There were a few softballs like “Where do you find the patience to deal with believers?” and the couple of adversarial questions he got were fairly weak. I would have liked to see some folks who really disagreed with him and had what they felt were good reasons to step up. That or a debate would have been feistier.

The true high point of the evening was when we went to a pub after it was all over. I sat and talked with a few of the CAA people about morality, the Decalogue, the Fall, and a brief skim around the problem of evil. There was a moment there when my snark kicked in. A guy sat beside me and once he knew I was a Christian he asked me why I believed in Christ. It’s not a question that I could do justice to quickly, but I figured I would give it a shot.

Before I could get so much as a half dozen words out he started trotting out the whole notion that the Gospels weren’t written until much later and everything was filled in so that he could fulfill prophecies after the fact and oh my gosh if you’d just read this book and be rational and reasonable. Well I slapped my hands on the table and said, “All I have to do is read a BOOK? Why didn’t someone tell me?” Perhaps not my proudest moment. It did give me pause to think about all the times atheists/agnostics have probably been treated the same way, “If you’d only read the Bible/CS Lewis/A Case For Christ you’d see the light!” So that helped me some with perspective.

He didn’t stay much longer but the two folks I did finish out the evening talking to were quite lovely and we had an actual conversation. It was cut short by the lateness of the hour, but I do hope that through the magic of the internets we’ll be able to pick it up again. It was nice sharing a table with a group of people I couldn’t disagree with more on religion (one guy said that “it’s all BS” and he realized this at the age of 14 after preaching in a charismatic church for a year) and for it to remain civil (for the most part) and fascinating. I’m eager to repeat the experience. I think it would be ultra-cool if we could get some of the more even tempered folks from the CAA and the more even tempered folks in my Christian circles and do a pub crawl with a Zoom H4 recorder.

We’ll see if we can make that happen.

Off to See the Wizard is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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promo

I also mention the new Prayer and Help Podcast from Taylor Kent.

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Links mentioned in the show:

Twitter and Facebook access via Xbox LIVE
• Twitter to clean up duplicate posts
• Hitchhiker’s Guide turns 30
• Barnes & Noble ereader
• Internet is about to DIE!
• The WikiReader

Feel free to leave comments or send feedback to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info. Call 518-290-0228 to leave your voice mail! If you’d like to record an mp3 audio comment, send it to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info.

Want to keep up with the latest in my whacky world? Follow me on Twitter, follow the podcast on Twitter and become a fan of the podcast on Facebook.

Jesus Geek: technology news and how-to’s for the connected Christian. Jesus Geek is a member of the My Life Ministries Network: a community of ministries that views the everyday Christian life as a ministry and seeks to encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ.

Jesus Geek is a member of the Tech Podcast Network, Christian New Media Group and CleanCasts.com. It is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Visit GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts for a FREE 30 day trial!!

E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

Slice of Sci-Fi
All Games Considered

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I can’t think of any of the latter that are in mainstream Christianity right off the top of my head, at least not any that I would hesitate to talk to non-believers about. Maybe that’s just my nature. I do know that there are things that some Christians are less comfortable broaching the subject on and perhaps they restrict talking about those to gatherings of fellow believers. I think that might be a mistake.

The main belief system I can think of that does have this sort of thing, at least as I understand it, is the Mormon church. To any of you in the viewing audience that may be Mormon, realize that I intend no disrespect and that I may be falling for propaganda with these, but it’s what I’ve been told/read for myself. For instance, they believe that all good Mormons (or Mormon men at least) will have their own planet to rule over. They also believe that God was once a man and that Jesus and Satan are brothers.

These are hardly state secrets. After all, I’m not a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints and I know about them. My point is though that you won’t be taught these things by the nice gents that come knocking on your door and by my experience if you bring them up you won’t get visited again. These will only be shared if you join, or I suppose attend regularly. The reasoning, as I understand it, is that if you aren’t a believer in the other things they teach then they believe these teachings are too “hard” for you to understand/accept. So they wait until a certain point in your growth to bring them up. Again, I’m open to correction if I am wrong. I’m certain that these teachings among others are points where Mormons may receive ridicule from mainline Protestants or non-believers. I can sympathize, as there are beliefs I hold that have been turned against me. The difference is my beliefs are something I am willing to talk about with anyone and risk the ridicule.

So, I think this all comes down to secrecy being bad. Where there are groups with secret practices/beliefs there is greater opportunity for misunderstanding. Revealing those beliefs does and should open you up to examination or criticism. I think that an examined religious walk is a healthy one. I suppose it could also make people reluctant to embrace your beliefs, but if that happens then perhaps that’s opportunity for even deeper reflection. Any hard teaching should be able to stand up under scrutiny Even if the non-believer can’t be convinced, you should at least be able to explain why you believe what you do and have the courage of your convictions.

I’m often told that “deconversion” requires courage. No doubt that’s true. Atheists aren’t looked on kindly by our culture. Conversion also takes courage, though perhaps a different sort. If you walk in with your eyes open, seeing everything that you are embracing with clear vision and are leading an open life you have to be willing to risk transparency. People who disagree with you whether you believe in a god or not, will judge you and most often find you wanting something, whether that’s some sort of “righteousness” or some notion that you aren’t “free thinking” enough. So maybe it’s not a different sort of courage at all.

The necessity of leading an examined and transparent life and possessing the courage that takes may be the hardest teaching of all. It’s definitely one worth wrestling with though.

Hard Teachings is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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RNC Chairman Michael Steele said this:

The real question Americans are asking is, “What has President Obama actually accomplished?” It is unfortunate that the president’s star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. One thing is certain — President Obama won’t be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action.

So speaking of premature, Steele can now see into the future?  Not to be outdone in his foot in mouth-ness (what?  it’s a word.)  Brad Woodhouse the DNC Communications Director said this:

“The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists – the Taliban and Hamas this morning – in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize”

It goes on (mostly downhill) from there.  Now strictly speaking, Woodhouse is right.  The RNC and Hamas are in agreement when it comes to shouting down Obama’s award and I’d say any time you find yourself agreeing with Hamas you might want to think twice at least.  But (and this is a big but) I want to call a halt to all comparisons of your political opponent to a dictator or terrorist group.  It’s stupid, intellectually bankrupt, and blatantly manipulative (I am so not gonna say anything about Glenn Beck).  Also I’m sure it’s something Goebbels would have been proud of.

He’s won it, accepted it humbly, and wants to move on and actually try to get some stuff done.  Any shouting about how he didn’t deserve it or did deserve it or how weak the Nobel Committee is or how weak the right wing radio air bags are is really adding nothing to the conversation or to our country getting itself out of the messes it is mired in. Can we focus on that, please?

Obama and the Nobel is a post from: Spiritual Tramp

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Podcasting for Water logo generously provided by Dave Avila

Many people have donated and I could easily start listing off the dozens of people who have done so but some have donated anonymously (intentionally or unintentionally) and I would not want to leave them off of the list.

There are also a number of podcasters who have donated their time, money and attention to the cause. Again, I could start listing names and podcasts but I’m sure it would be incomplete.

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So let me say thank you. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for playing promos. Thank you for recruiting members to the cause. Thank you for spreading the word.

So where do we go from here? Am I finished? Well, let’s talk about what’s going on right now.

Brad and Faith McFadden are currently releasing a podcast a day. You can pledge an amount to Podcasting for Water to encourage them in their goal to release 100 consecutive podcasts. Details about that can be found here. Register for the forums and leave your pledge.

Brad’s brother, Cary, has pledged $1 per voice mail received and played on the show. Voice mail has to be left between 7PM CST on 10/11/2009 and 7PM CST on 10/12/2009. Details about that contest can be found here.

I’m working on another contest for the month of November. Suffice it to say it will have something to do with moisture farms.

I’m not finished. I have committed to doing this for 1 year. I started in January and will stop (maybe) on December 31st. I do have plans to do more with social media and charities. I hope to make an announcement about that soon.

Finally (not really), here’s some information from LWI about the water crisis:

Almost a billion people lack access to clean, safe water.

Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from water-related diseases.

The last time you flushed your toilet, you used more water than the average person in the developing world uses all day for washing, cooking, cleaning, and drinking.

Living Water International is addressing the most basic of physical needs by helping deprived communities acquire safe, clean water. Our goal is to substantially ease the global water crisis while addressing root causes such as injustice, oppression, and abject poverty. Our passion is to see communities and worldviews transformed, both among those in desperate physical need and among those who have been blessed with much.

LWI has completed more than 6,500 water projects which provide clean, safe water to more than 7.5 million people every day. The organization provides training and volunteer opportunities. LWI is currently at work in 26 countries: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Malawi, Haiti, Peru, Brazil, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Angola, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, India, Zambia, and Romania.

You can make a difference! One dollar will provide clean drinking water for one person for one year.

Again, thank you everyone for your generosity.

I played promos for New World Army and Great Hites.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a great free option for Windows users looking for basic virus protection. Make sure you change your password for your online email accounts because thousands of usernames and passwords were hacked and posted online.

Feel free to leave comments or send feedback to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info. Call 518-290-0228 to leave your voice mail! If you’d like to record an mp3 audio comment, send it to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info.

Want to keep up with the latest in my whacky world? Follow me on Twitter, follow the podcast on Twitter and become a fan of the podcast on Facebook.

Jesus Geek: technology news and how-to’s for the connected Christian. Jesus Geek is a member of the My Life Ministries Network: a community of ministries that views the everyday Christian life as a ministry and seeks to encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ.

Jesus Geek is a member of the Tech Podcast Network, Christian New Media Group and CleanCasts.com. It is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

I play a promo for The Retroist podcast and play some voice mail.

Thanks to everyone who donated prizes, donated money, spread the word, played a promo or helped out in any way. it is greatly appreciated!

The winners of the prizes are:

• Kevin Shelton – $10 iTunes gift card
• Greg Clarke – Print copy of The God Conspiracy by Derek P. Gilbert (Compliments of Taylor Kent at Snark Infested Waters)
• Jeff Darlington, Nathan Norman, & Joel Spangler – PDF copy of The God Conspiracy by Derek P. Gilbert
• Brad McFadden – Print copy of Crescent by Phil Rossi (Compliments of Taylor Kent at Snark Infested Waters) and the 8GB iPod Touch
• Jeff Musick – Atomic Earth board game created by Winston Crutchfied at the Critical Mass Podcast
• David Torrell – Spiritblade on CD (Compliments of Winston Crutchfied at the Critical Mass Podcast)
• Steve McHenry – Skillet’s latest CD (Compliments of Charley Hays at Cross Driven Radio)
• Lewis Haverland – Sonicflood’s latest CD (Compliments of Charley Hays at Cross Driven Radio)
• Jeanne Bautista – A box of chicken-flavored ramen noodles (Compliments of Daniel Lewis at The Ramen Noodle)
• Tim Mead – CD set of Spirit Blade: Dark Ritual (Compliments of Paeter Frandsen of Spirit Blade Underground)
• Dave Busch – Cursed by Jeremy C. Shipp (Compliments of Taylor Kent at Snark Infested Waters)
• Kevin Shelton – a story starring one of the winners in their preferred genre (Compliments of Justin Lowmaster at The Space Turtle)

Feel free to leave comments or send feedback to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info. Call 518-290-0228 to leave your voice mail! If you’d like to record an mp3 audio comment, send it to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info.

Want to keep up with the latest in my whacky world? Follow me on Twitter, follow the podcast on Twitter and become a fan of the podcast on Facebook.

Jesus Geek: technology news and how-to’s for the connected Christian. Jesus Geek is a member of the My Life Ministries Network: a community of ministries that views the everyday Christian life as a ministry and seeks to encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ.

Jesus Geek is a member of the Tech Podcast Network, Christian New Media Group and CleanCasts.com. It is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Visit GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts for a FREE 30 day trial!!

E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

The Original Jesus Geek
JDaze Podcast
Nobody’s Listening
Two Blind Squirrels
Geeks On!

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Released under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCom

Rather than make you wait two weeks for the second part I’ve decided to go ahead and release a bonus episode this week. We talk about his board game Atomic Earth as well as some other services Winston has available at his website.

Sponsor: Try GotoAssist Express free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.GotoAssist.com/techpodcast

Next week will be the giveaway for the Podcasting for Water contest which ran during the month of September. The plan is to do the giveaway live on my LiveStream channel at 10PM EST on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 and re-broadcast the results in the feed here.

Feel free to leave comments or send feedback to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info. Call 518-290-0228 to leave your voice mail! If you’d like to record an mp3 audio comment, send it to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info.

Want to keep up with the latest in my whacky world? Follow me on Twitter, follow the podcast on Twitter and become a fan of the podcast on Facebook.

Jesus Geek: technology news and how-to’s for the connected Christian. Jesus Geek is a member of the My Life Ministries Network: a community of ministries that views the everyday Christian life as a ministry and seeks to encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ.

Jesus Geek is a member of the Tech Podcast Network, Christian New Media Group and CleanCasts.com. It is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Despite the dry sound of the titles of this series, Ray and Steve spend some time attempting to explain the relevance of these discussions to the very nature of our relationship to the Father.  Continue to stay tuned for the rest of the series as other views are discussed.

(Ray and Steve did a two-part series on this view of the atonement a year ago in a discussion entitled “God’s Punishment or Satan’s Defeat”.  Here are links to part 1 and part 2.)

Feedback, as always, is welcome and invited! Even feedback contradictory to information presented in these podcasts.

Part of the proceeds from Pathfinder benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, so you can support our veterans by purchasing a copy today.

Sponsor: Try GotoAssist Express free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.GotoAssist.com/techpodcast

News articles mentioned in the show:

• 20th anniversary of moving atoms
• Unhackable netbook?
• New Vegemite spread named iSnack2.0

Feel free to leave comments or send feedback to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info. Call 518-290-0228 to leave your voice mail! If you’d like to record an audio comment, send it to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info.

Want to keep up with the latest in my whacky world? Follow me on Twitter, follow the podcast on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Jesus Geek: technology news and how-to’s for the connected Christian. Jesus Geek is a member of the My Life Ministries Network: a community of ministries that views the everyday Christian life as a ministry and seeks to encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ.

Jesus Geek is a member of the Tech Podcast Network, Christian New Media Group and CleanCasts.com. It is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

The spiritual know-how is spread throughout today’s show.

Promos played for The Jesus Geeks and CleanCasts.com

Sponsor: Try GotoAssist Express free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.GotoAssist.com/techpodcast

News articles mentioned in the show:

• Twitter App Store
• Windows 8 rumors, clues, whatever
• Microchip in the eye

Feel free to leave comments or send feedback to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info. Call 518-290-0228 to leave your voice mail! If you’d like to record an audio comment, send it to geek{at}jesusgeek{dot}info.

Want to keep up with the latest in my whacky world? Follow me on Twitter, follow the podcast on Twitter and friend me on Facebook.

Jesus Geek: technology news and how-to’s for the connected Christian. Jesus Geek is a member of the My Life Ministries Network: a community of ministries that views the everyday Christian life as a ministry and seeks to encourage Christians in their daily walk with Christ.

Jesus Geek is a member of the Tech Podcast Network, Christian New Media Group and CleanCasts.com. It is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Visit GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts for a FREE 30 day trial!!

E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

Screen Geeks Radio
Jesus Geek (The Original One!)

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While that may sound less than exciting for many people, Ray and Steve try to present it in a way that is interesting and informative.  The different theories of the atonement (what does it mean that “Jesus died for our sins”?) have pros and cons, including the way that they cause us to view our Father.

In this first segment of the series, Ray and Steve look at the widely-held view among evangelicals, the Penal Substitution theory.

In this “here is where we are” from-the-heart episode, Ray and Steve talk openly about their feelings of not fitting in.  We’re willing to bet that many of our listeners have similar feelings if they have been involved in a similar journey as we have.  Feel free to share your story below in the comments.

E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

One of the Farpoint Media family of shows
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Released under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCom

~Chris

P.S.- Cliff has made it back safe and sound from Mexico and actually has a tan! God can work miracles!

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E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

On The Edge Of Darkness
The OG Jesus Geeks
Screen Geeks Radio

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By the way, Beyond the Box has a new twitter account.  If you want to receive notifications on Twitter of episode postings, podcast news, etc., follow BtBPodcast on Twitter now!

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E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

Adventures of Indiana Jim
Archangel: Legion
On The Edge Of Darkness
Thin Ice Podcast
Jesus Geek

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So often, the notion that what we say can actually affect our lives gets relegated to the box of “new age” or “positive thinking” (ironically, a term that’s usually spoken with negative implications by Christians) or “word of faith”.  Putting this concept in those boxes allows many to dismiss the concept without giving it much thought.

Ray and Steve discuss scriptural concepts regarding the power of the spoken word, however, and toss around ideas related to the notion that what we say does, in fact, have an effect — positive or negative.

Join us next week for the conclusion to this discussion.

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E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

Screen Geeks
All Games Considered
On The Edge Of Darkness

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Released under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCom

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E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

Podculture
Daddy Digest
Phoenix Games and Gifts

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Riffing off of a quote by Martin Luther, the discussion covers several elements of western culture and our tendency to try to be secure in our own strength.  Whether it’s financial security (i.e., retirement), insurance, or extended warranties, the question is begged of followers of Jesus: In what is your security found?

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E-mail us at: thejesusgeeks@gmail.com. Visit us at www.thejesusgeeks.com. And leave us voicemail at 425-320-3581. Produced by Chris Martens.

How To Grow Your Geek
NLCast

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Also, happy anniversary to Beyond the Box, now starting its second year of podcasting!

In sort of a sequel to the last episode, Ray and Steve continue to discuss the need for getting our hands dirty in service as part of the kingdom.  It looks different for each person, but the guys talk about the danger of “convenience” serving, simply paying someone else to serve in our place.  Forget carbon footprints. What’s your kingdom footprint?