Update--June 23, 2010: This was a particularly
difficult article to post, not because of what I wanted to say, but
because it seemed to take a longer-than-usual time to get it to take
the shape that I wanted. I kept moving things around, rewriting
sentences, fixing paragraphs, and reorganizing, and then I'd come back
the next day to proofread it again and end up changing more stuff. I
think that it now finally says what I want to say in the way I want to
say it. Happily I had plenty to start with, and it never hurts to write
too much and take out later what I don't like.
All caricature art appears courtesy of Philip Hatter at Thistledown Puppets: www.thistledownpuppets.com
I recommend Firefox as the best of the available free browsers.
Internet Explorer tends to make my site look a little different
than I would like it to look; while Firefox brings it up the way I intend.
Try it!
Looking ahead: I'm still working on that analysis of the problems with a
seminary education, and I'm beginning to take a fresh look at "end-times" prophecy.
April 7, 2010: Hard
to believe it's been three months, but I've been hitting the history
books lately, as you will see in the Church history article. I admit
that maybe this should have been two separate but related articles; I
hope the connection is apparent anyway. I expect to come under fire for
saying that the laxity and divisiveness of the Church is indirectly responsible
for the American welfare state, but we will need to admit that a fresh
perspective on this issue makes it very obvious. I expect that any
music ministers among my readership will relate to the letter I quote
in the short "Musings" article.
January 8, 2010: (The Charismatic Trail) is a very personal article, because it recounts a major aspect of the
almost 36 years I have spent in seeking the Lord through the means of
these churches. It isn't hard to imagine the ups and downs, and I know
that many will have a very different viewpoint of what I'm talking
about here. But I feel blessed to have a perspective that allows me a
broader view of it almost from the very start, and of all the positives
and negatives that worked together for my good. Some of you have
probably started feeling nostalgic already.
December 6, 2009: It recently ocurred to me that I had not put a proper conclusion to the Bible Study Template series--when I begin a study I do not go through the levels as listed. So this will give some idea of how I really do go about it. Give my method a try; you might just be surprised.
March 7, 2009:
FINALLY I have the book list up. It's really been a major
task to choose the books that I feel are of that standard of quality
that makes them classics, and to get all the pertinent data
together and organized. I also included several books that I
don't really care for myself, but are nonetheless important for one
reason or another and that you should still know about--pretty
much all of these are significant in some way. I included two
versions in smaller, printable formats via links for those who would like a hardcopy
without weeding through all the annotations, etc.; I hope that helps.
June 29, 2008 I'd
been intending to do an article on the plain and clear meaning of "free
exercise of religion" for some time now, but when the observation
struck me about the Biblical view of the immature being the ones prone
to offense, I just had
to throw that in and put it all together. The hard decision for
this one was: should I put it in the political section because that's
the intended audience, or in the Christian section because of the heavy
Biblical references? Either way, you'll find it.
April 14 OK,
I had a heck of a time getting the citations page to look like it was
supposed to. I think that now it finally does; I use an HTML
editor program that doesn't always seem to want to do what it's asked
to.
Initial upload--June 28, 2007
Finally, this thing is off the ground! The upload contains
all of the NHC files, a couple of good representative essays for the
political and the general Christian articles, and a start for the Bible
study template of the intro and the first three levels. Even if
some parts of this site weren't finished, I wanted to go up when I
could get enough done that would make sense standing alone.
Meet the church staff (as described in the articles The Sucessful Pastor Dialogues and both of the Discussions):
(Note:
this group is not the same group of ministers that was described in
"The Parable of the Buses" or in any other illustration in these pages.)
Successful Pastor
-- the senior pastor of a would-be mega-church, he appears sagely
and profound (because he's concerned about his image), and mostly
speaks in platitudes and bumper stickers. Mainly, he only trusts
other pastors, and decided a long time ago that his status puts him above
correction.
Associate Pastor -- the
senior pastor's "pit bull," he is a little bitter, and wants to be in
charge. So don't rock his boat; he's a real "company man."
Youth pastor -- Mr. Hip, Mr. Cool, Mr. Trendy--he's usually the first to crack a joke, but the last to get one.
Elder-at-large -- he
genuinely wants to help out, but thinks you're stupid. He's
also a "company man," since six generations of his family have been
leaders in the denomination.
Worship Pastor -- trying
to be objective and "with it," but doesn't want to lose his status
in the church; he's smart, cocky, and always concerned with appearing
professional.
* * * * *
I postponed creating a way to e-mail here because, frankly, I am aware that some of
you would use the opportunity to abuse the ideas expressed here, and
possibly aim at me personally. I'm not the kind of person who has
much use for small talk, nor do I take well to brain-dead idol worship.
On the other hand, I also know that many of my readers will have worthwhile input which will be well-reasoned and certainly not a waste of time. So I've made two different e-mail addresses for two different purposes.
Know that if you decide to e-mail, if your message gives me any reason
at all for suspicion, I won't open it. Period. So please be
very specific in the subject line and put something there that will
help me know what I'm getting into; better yet, name an article
you want to discuss or a quote from something. I can pick up on any vitriol or other bad
attitude that you exhibit, and I probably will ignore you if I see
evidence of it. I also know a thing or two about how to spot a
hAcKeR, a spammer, a 1337 wannabe, or others who are merely up to
something "phishy," so all of you criminal types can just forget it.
If your comment involves something technical, such as a mistyped word or a bad link, use this e-mail address: admin@beholdtheblog.org
If your comment concerns the content, use this address: comments@beholdtheblog.org
-- Jim Morris, Charlotte, NC, USA
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