Archive for October, 2009
Some Thoughts On Pornography
Pornography, porn, dirty pictures, “art”, nasty movies, “eroticism”, freedom of expression… what is it all about? What is, after all, this thing called “pornography”?
The word “pornography” is derived from the greek language. The etymology is as follows:
- Greek pornographos, adjective, writing about prostitutes, from porné - prostitute + graphein – to write
But, what does that mean for us today? And why am I writing about this topic? Today the term “pornography” relates not just to “writing about prostitutes” but also to pictures and videos of women who’ve no more morals than a prostitute. And this “industry” is having a negative influence on our society. Read the rest of this entry »
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It takes more than big dreams
A lot of folks want to dream big dreams of doing big things for God. But then they don’t want to allow Him to take care of the little things in their lives. Especially in the area of surrendering to Him every aspect of their existence and allowing Him to mold their minds according to His Will.
What is “success” in following Christ?
“Americans are a great people; there is no doubt about that. They are great in building cities and railroads … Americans have a wonderful genius for improving the breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, swine … Americans too are great inventors. They invented or perfected telegraphs, telephone …. automobiles … They are great in democracy … Needless to say they are great in money … They first make money before they undertake any serious work .. to start and carry on any work without money is in the eyes of the Americans madness … Americans themselves are great in all these things and much else; but not in Religion … Americans must count religion in order to see or show its value … To them big churches are successful churches … To win the greatest number of converts with the least expense is their constant endeavor. Statistics is their way of showing success or failure in their religion as in their commerce and politics. Numbers, numbers, oh how they value numbers! … Mankind goes … to America to learn how to live the earthly life; but to live the heavenly life, they go to some other people. It is no special fault of the Americans to be this-worldly; it is their national characteristic; and they in their self-knowledge ought to serve mankind in other fields than religion.”Kanzo Uchimura
Can Americans Teach Japanese in Religion?
from The Japanese Christian Intelligencer, pages 357 – 361 – published in 1926
Wow! A friend sent me this quote a while ago. It sums up a lot of what I’ve thought over the years. I don’t agree totally with the author’s assertions, but there is a lot of food for thought there. As an “MK” or “third culture kid” it has been my lot in life to never wholly fit in anywhere. There is too much of my parents’ thinking in me to fit in locally and too much latin thinking to fit in in the US. It really drives home the Apostles reminder that we are but pilgrims in this world. Having been raised in different parts of the world has allowed me a different perspective on life. And the author’s assertion that folks in the US count success in religion by the numbers is very accurate. And this thinking has invaded much of the western hemisphere. Success is too often measured in terms of people attending, decisions made, offerings and tithes received and baptisms. Read the rest of this entry »
Thoughts On Facebook
There’s a “social networking” website called “Facebook“. I was a bit leery of such places for a while. The whole “My Space” and such whoopla left me cold. And then I started paying more attention and saw that there’s actually some value to these places. So I set up an account. And then started finding friends, and friends started finding me. The whole thing is interesting, because it shows how we all have rings of influence in our lives. It’s interesting to take a look at friend lists on other people’s profiles. It’s amazing how many of us know the same people – and yet each of us knows oodles of folks the others do not know.
The “emerging church”
Thanks to Steve Harvey for pointing me in the general direction in which I found this excerpt from a book titled “Faith Undone”. It is a look at the current tendency to “candy coat” christianity. There are a lot of folks out there trying to come up with a “new and improved” version of the Gospel which was preached by Jesus the Christ and His Apostles. The original article Steve pointed me towards was written by Roger Oakland. It starts off with a quote by Doug Pagitt. Read the rest of this entry »
Another option for a computing environment
It’s been quite a while since I did a computer related post. Here’s a little something for those of you who may be tired of Microsoft’s near monopoly on computing environments – usually called “OS’s” for “Operating Systems”. To many new computer users the only option for a computer is the Microsoft Windows based machines at Best Buy or Walmart. A few more savvy people believe that Macintosh will save them from “windoze hell” and lock themselves into an even MORE expensive and limited computing experience. Read the rest of this entry »
Power vs Authority
This has been mouldering in the back files long enough that I don’t recall where I got it. Don’t know if it’s an original thought or something I heard or read. STILL, it’s good enough I think it’s worth posting here. 
Power – the ability and means to inflict your ideas and values on others.
Authority – the right and ability to lead others in a certain direction.
Socialism – for individuals, not nations
Third World Quality Control
While looking for another draft I found the following somewhere in the dusty file cabinets of this site.
One of the problems with living in a “third world country” is that often one is subjected to less than ideal products and services. One pretty much has to just put up with it, although sometimes one CAN influence a situation or person to provide a better outcome than expected.
This type of situation happened on Sunday. There was a local IPSCA competition. Dozens of people congregated. Dozens of guns were all over the place. Thousands of rounds of ammunition were available. Besides the usual crowd of guys there were also a number of women in attendance – some of which were fairly attractive. But, contrary to what we are told to expect by the mass media and the “political gurus”- not one murder, robbery or rape took place.
This leads me to the following conclusion. Since we live in a third world country where the aforementioned quality control problems tend to abound it is quite obvious – the place was full of defective guns…
