partsofspeaking

Yeah, that's what all this mania is to me--a step into darkness. I am appalled that Christians would defend vampire movies. What is wrong with people? Sucking blood from a lover's neck? Have they read the Bible or studied literature or history at all? When people ask me, I just say, "I don't do vampires," but I want to say more. Defending the movies because a Mormon wrote them and because the characters don't have sex is bizarre. Vampirism is a sexual fetish, it is related to the occult, and the enemy is using it. No wonder the church is a joke to most people. Its members have no more sense than this.

This is the last lesson in the psalms. We have had quite a journey. We have studied many themes: thankfulness and gratitude, looking at the craziness and injustice of the world and responding to it correctly, dealing with enemies, being shepherded by God, and many others. It is appropriate that this lesson is the last, because it points us beyond the psalms to the whole counsel of God. When the psalmist meditates on and extols the excellence of the word of God, in his mind at the time it was basically the first five books of the OT. We today have the completed canon. Understanding why the Bible is the Bible, where it came from, and how to properly study it is an interesting and important study. So in this lesson we are going to look at what the psalmist says about the excellencies of the Word and what we should do about it, because this is my key point: No matter how excellent and powerful the Scriptures are, they are not magic. God uses them mightily in our lives but we have ...

I got these off a blog posting from Christianity Today magazine website. "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke... "A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." - Dwight D. Eisenhower..."A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one!" -- Alexander Hamilton... "It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error." -- Robert H. Jackson... "As soon as people drop the reins on government, government will leash the people." -- James Bovard... I have signed the Manhattan Declaration. Now I have to live it. We don't really have peace in this world.. We have negotiated absence of war.

The lesson I am teaching this week is on Ps . 119, the Word of God. I come from a tradition that talks about the Word of God almost as if it were a magic formula, that is, if we hear it, or read it, it's going to have an automatic effect on us that we can't control. It's powerful, and more powerful than us, so we have no say in the matter of its influence on us. Neither the Bible nor reality teaches that to be true. The Word is sharper than any two edged sword. But someone has to use it rightly. The word is a mirror; but James says we can look in the mirror and walk away unchanged. The Lord does not impose His will on ours. We can read the word and formulate our own response to it. Some of the primary Biblical scholars of today are unbelievers. They approach the text as a scholar would approach Chaucer, Plato, or Homer, as something to be dissected, not as something to be believed and obeyed. That being said--that there is a human element in the effect of the Wor...

Project Runway --very disappointed. The fix was in. Irina's clothes were ugly, streetwalker-ready suits of armor, and she was an unpleasant person. I would love to wear some of Carol Hannah's clothes (obviously not my size, though, if they fit those emaciated models!). She makes me want to take a sewing class, she is such an impeccable craftswoman. I will be more wary of this show, but of course I watch for the clothes, not for the reality on this so-called "reality" show. Tim Gunn should be more on the same wavelength with the judges, whose taste is questionable.

Do we really ask ourselves that? I have the wonderful responsibility to teach Psalm 116 tomorrow (how often we say "I have to...." incorrectly, as if everything is under obligation or compunction, we have no will, and there is no joy in it). The first line is "I love the LORD." I really don't think about this very much, which means . . . ? Nonbelievers don't talk about love for God, as should be suspected. But Christians don't much either. In some ways that's probably good; we should be professing our love for God before people unless we can back it up, and it would take a pretty hefty spiritual life to look like you can back up "I love God." And it's not about us. But personally, it's a legitimate question to ask. How would we know if we love God? Do I want God's presence more than his blessings, his stuff? do I want to spend time alone with God? Do I ask myself what God's view of something is? Do I talk about hi...

It seems to me that the foremost excuse of the day is "I'm just so busy." And no one can argue with it. Yet, the same people who say they are too busy to do something they have committed to are also on Facebook playing Mafia Wars. We don't suffer from too much to do, but from an inability to prioritize. I am so frustrated with my students' behavior. They are extremely rude; as soon as one asks me a question, the rest erupt into chatter so loud I can't hear the question. They walk in and out of class, despite my asking them not to. They text constantly. They are late, everyday, no matter what I say or threaten. I obviously need a different tact in the future. So what will work with 18 and 19-year-olds who act like they were raised by wolves? Will assigned seating? Will asking them to leave if I see a cell phone?(which truly have caused a great deal of trouble in classrooms) Why are terrorists, who are war criminals, being tried in civic courts? Why ...

Random comments from my life, posted here rather than Facebook, I suppose. I watched an excellent old movie last night, The Country Girl. I always like William Holden movies, for some reasons, and Grace Kelly was so pretty and gracious I consider watching her like watching a work of art. But what got me was the portrayal of alcoholism. I know more about it than most people. I am an adult child of an alcoholic, and two of my brothers-in-law struggle with it. Alcoholism might be a disease, or have disease elements, but, sorry, it's a disease people partially choose, and I resist calling it a disease because that somehow excuses the awful, narcissistic, mean things alcoholics do to get that next drink. The drink is more important than a spouse, a child, God, or humanity. I am glad to say my father never sank to that level, but I've known others who did. At any rate, Bing Crosby often got it right in that movie and it kept me awake even to 2:00 a.m. (though I'm tired no...

I've been thinking about prayer lately. Well, I hope I have been doing more than thinking about it. That and meditation. I am doing a mini study using Cynthia Heald's book, Becoming a Woman of Prayer. It's pretty good, but I have come to the conclusion that . . . . . . a lot of things we think we know about prayer, and that gets said about prayer, just ain't so. One thing we don't need is another book about prayer. Nor do we need more guilt about prayer. Prayer should not be a guilt trip, a chore, a burden. If it's any of these, what's the point? Why should we have trouble talking to the Heavenly Father if we really believe all the things we say about his love and grace? If I've been told once about John Wesley praying 3 hours a day, I've heard it 1,000 times. Does that make a person pray more, because John Wesley did? He also rode thousands upon thousands of miles on horseback. The man had amazing stamina. And I doubt he would like to k...

I am disappointed that the House massed that monstrosity of a bill; if three had gone a different way and not given into the White House's persuasion, it would have gone the other way. It seems ridiculous to make such a huge decision on the basis of three representatives. In fact, we can blame Dede Scozafava and the lone Republican who voted for the bill. When people's taxes go up and the health care system does not improve, those three and their cronies will pay the price. The health care system will not improve until people start to take care of themselves and take control of their own lives. Will this new bill keep me from being run over by 400-pound drivers of those little carts in Walmart? Most of the health care in this country is needed because people don't take care of themselves, eat poorly, don't exercise, smoke, and abuse legal and illegal mind-altering substances. Will we now be motivated to do so? Or do I get to pay for all the morbidly obese people who n...

I don't know if this is a 24-hour thing or the real flu. I've been up three hours and that's about it. Maybe I'm fortunate enough to get the short version, but it's not been fun. I am a lousy patient, but my husband has been sweet. So we'll go with the minimal posting today. If you want to read a good novel, buy mine. Christian book distributors has the best price, but I don't know about their service. My boss liked it.