fundamentalism by blunt instrument
Check this out from Lenovo.com (click on the image for the link)
Lenovo, who makes an excellent computer, by the way (more than one!), announced a new app today. But notice the “More text explaining this here” on the page. I thought this was hilarious in a geeky sort of way.
This is dictionary.com’s word of the day today. It sounds disturbing, but it means “twilight, dusk”. Hardly as ominous as it sounds. The word comes to us from the Latin, they say, around the year 1400.
It just struck me as odd, and I thought you might be entertained by it. Hard to imagine using it in a sentence, though dictionary.com does give examples. Try it on your friends tonight!
A funny little vignette from my reading of A Brief History of Britain 1660-1851: The Making of A Nation.
It seems that in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the people of Britain were very concerned with crime. Many crimes were considered capital crimes, including theft. In 1693 a reward of 40 pounds was introduced to anyone who apprehended and successfully prosecuted highway robbers. Later this was extended to burglary. It was hoped that this reward would cut down on crime. One thing it did was create an entrepreneurial opportunity.
An article in the National Post highlights an unlooked for objection to the modern craze of tattoos. Christians should object to tattoos for a number of reasons, but everyone should think about what they are doing considering the scholastic level of the ‘artists’ that create the defacement of the human body. A Nova Scotia tattooist is being ordered to pay $9,000 in damages to his victim:
Nova Scotia parlour ordered to pay nearly $9,000 for tattoo typo
The story has a number of funny points (except to those involved), including the genius who had “Genious” affixed to his person. The article doesn’t say, but we can imagine an appropriate place for this particular error to be attached.
The latest 9 Marks eJournal is out. There is an article by Owen Strachan attempting to sketch the history of the doctrine of conversion in America. In the article, he cites George Whitfield in the line of the classic Calvinistic preachers who believed in conversion of a Calvinistic sort, the kind where a man is first regenerated (i.e., converted), then has faith given him, after which he is expected to respond to God’s invitation, repent and believe, in order to be converted after having already been converted.
Here’s the quote from Whitfield
But thus it must be, if Christ be not your righteousness. For God’s justice must be satisfied; and, unless Christ’s righteousness is imputed and applied to you here, you must hereafter be satisfying the divine justice in hell-torments eternally; nay, Christ himself shall condemn you to that place of torment. And how cutting is that thought! Methinks I see poor, trembling, Christless wretches, standing before the bar of God, crying out, Lord, if we must be damned, let some angel, or some archangel, pronounce the damnatory sentence: but all in vain. Christ himself shall pronounce the irrevocable sentence. Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord, let me persuade you to close with Christ, and never rest till you can say, "the Lord our righteousness." Who knows but the Lord may have mercy on, nay, abundantly pardon you? Beg of God to give you faith; and, if the Lord gives you that, you will by it receive Christ, with his righteousness, and his All. (From The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield, London, 1771-1772, accessed here online.)
And here is Strachan’s following paragraph:
Like Edwards, Whitefield told his hearers to entreat the merciful Lord for pardon. He simultaneously explained the righteous character of God, detailing the way Christ has accomplished his mission of salvation, and implored his audience to close with Christ. The sermonic material was always God-centered. Whitefield made it clear that conversion occurs by God’s pleasure, yet that hearers were still responsible to respond.
Got a spam e-mail from someone claiming to be doing social work in North Korea and also claiming I had been in contact with them in the past. Then it closed with this disclaimer:
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE – This e-mail transmission, and any documents, files or previous e-mail messages attached to it may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, or a person responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you must not read this transmission and that any disclosure, copying, printing, distribution or use of any of the information contained in or attached to this transmission is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. If you have received this transmission in error, please immediately notify the sender by telephone or return e-mail and delete the original transmission and its attachments without reading or saving in any manner. Thank you.
Please note:
1. This disclaimer comes at the END of the message, after I’ve already read it.
2. It tells me that if I am not the intended recipient, I am prohibited from reading it.
What does this tell you about the intelligence level of the average spammer? Genii?? I think not!
P. S. I plan to get to some serious blogging soon. I know it’s been a bit light lately.
BREAKING NEWS: The epicenter of the quake has been pinpointed to a graveyard outside of DC, where all our Founding Fathers just rolled over in their graves due to current leadership in Washington.
A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, I thought it was funny, so am passing it along.
My American friends might not know what that headline means. I would guess almost all of my Canadian friends would.
I was once at a meeting with Dr. Bob III where I introduced myself this way:
“My name is Don…
“I am a blogger…”
This was due to Dr. Bob’s noted antipathy for blogs.
My wife has typically shared his view and can’t imagine what I find so compelling about my blog. Until today! She found a use for ‘blog’…
Got a link from the Internet Evangelism Bulletin for this. Quite incredible.
The latest audio from the GBCvic
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