Growing up, I remember my grandparents telling me that music involving an electric guitar or drums was “the Devil’s music”. I also recall having a deck of cards that I had eagerly pulled out of a cereal box (back when we’d actually get prizes from our boxed breakfast) only to have it thrown away after being told that the Devil was in them.
Such was the life as a youth growing up in my church. I gained a healthy respect both for the good that God represented and conversely the evil that Satan represented. Heck, even one of the great prophets of the 80′s and 90′s recognized who was behind the evil in our world:
It was a kid I’ve been tutoring. Tony. He’s a senior in high school, and he’s failing Algebra II. He has to pass it in order to graduate. He wasn’t really asking for help — the school decided he needed it. He has decent grades in other classes, but a failing grade in this one course could really mess things up for him.
So I tried to do what I could within “the system”. Throughout the semester, the best I could do was to meet with him for fifteen minutes or so during lunch, and that just wasn’t enough.
The final exam was rapidly approaching, so I offered to meet him on a weekend. We agreed on a day and time to meet at the library. Read more...
I’m pleased to announce that I have now received a graduate degree. I am now a self-proclaimed “Donkey Fart Doctor of Theology”.
I worked hard for this!
Ye who smelt it, dealt it
Actually, I found this phrase in A Very Brief History of Eternity by Carlos Eire. In it, he quotes Thomas Muntzer (1488-1525), an early Reformation-era German theologian who apparently did not have nice things to say about Luther and other Reformers. (The book link above will take you to Google Books where you can read more about this in context… and maybe pick up a few more choice phrases to use the next time you’re stuck in traffic.)
Ah, the good ol’ days when people were creative. Read more...
Like what you order from the menu at a restaurant and how it reflects on your personality. And how if two (or more) people order their meals before you, and they happen to order the same thing you were planning to order, then you have to change your selection. Otherwise you will look like someone who just follows the crowd and orders whatever everyone else orders.
There are rules, people!!
I’m just surprised at how many people aren’t aware of them.
That’s normal, right? Everyone thinks like me. Don’t they???? ;-}
Oh well, my point here actually has nothing to do with self-consciousness or entree selections. Read more...
It took getting snowed in for a weekend in January to get this started.
Nothing earth-shattering to post yet. But hopefully this week I’ll meet with my co-conspirator (at Lupie’s, of course) and plot the course for future posts.
Stay tuned.
Random Quotes
Things are never as complicated as they seem. It is only our arrogance that prompts us to find unnecessarily complicated answers to simple problems.
I also recall having a deck of cards that I had eagerly pulled out of a cereal box (back when we’d actually get prizes from our boxed breakfast) only to have it thrown away after being told that the Devil was in them. 
