Posts from — August 2006

Here’s a post (verbatim, emphasis and all) from a forum, in response to the statement that the Sacraments are not for individual use, but instead are for the church, to be received and celebrated together…

well…perhaps there’s something wrong me then,
perhaps i’m in grievous error.
communion is such an emotionally intense time for me,
i’m really not focusing on other people,
only what’s in/what has been in my heart,
the agony Christ suffered for me before His crucifixion,
and how each and every one of my sins drove nails into His flesh
before they raised Him on His cross…
and how overwhelmed and grateful i am that He chose me for His own,
how He reached down and pulled me from a cesspool of hell on earth,
and seated me as one with Him in the heavens.
i usually can’t get through communion without breaking down.
you know, maybe i am just a self-absorbed jerk,
but in all honesty…i’m not actively communing with the congregation during communion. i’m focuing on my relationship with Jesus Christ, what He has done and continues to do for me, my strengths and weaknesses as a Christian, asking for forgiveness, asking for sustenance, praising His name, thanking Him for His provision, compassion, and mercy. i thought that was the point…self-examination and recognition of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior…being joined with Him by His body and His blood.

I know tradition says that when babies are baptized, they wear white flowy gown type things. Even boys. But, I’m just not down with that. Chalk it up to not wanting to stay frozen in the 17th century, but we opted to give Phinehas something a bit more manly…

As you can see, he is deep in contemplation. Feel free to offer suggestions on what he may be thinking about.

Phinehas was baptized yesterday. I’ve got some pictures on my camera that I may add later. He was joined at the fount by two other children. Everything went well, and it was a good day. Virgil used a baptismal liturgy where he speaks to the child, and it really packed a punch. Tears were welling in many an eye.

Later in the day, we put on a grand party. Megan made all sorts of Very Tasty Treats, including baklava, cheesy spinach triangle things, and sausage rolls. YUM. Also, the father of the other two children manned the bar (Coop’s Cantina) and was making drinks all evening. He even invented a drink for the occasion… The Baptism. And it came in both paedo (non-alcoholic) and credo (the real stuff) versions. Good stuff. Good times.

Phinehas prepares for his goal in life.

This is here for my future reference, but it would be good for you, too…

How To Speed Up Firefox

Here’s something for broadband people that will really speed Firefox up:

1.Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining network.http.proxy.pipelining network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter the entries as follows:

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true”

Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once.

3. Lastly right-click anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “0″. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it recieves.

If you’re using a broadband connection you’ll load pages MUCH faster now!

A Meaningful World

Ashley (standing on one leg): Dad! Look! Flamingoes do this.
Me: That’s right, they do.
(Ashley falls over)
Me: Do they do that, too?
(laughing all around)
Ashley (on one leg again): Girl flamingoes do this.
Me: What color are flamingoes?
Ashley: Pink!
Me: Are boy flamingoes pink?
Ashley: … No! They are… blue!
(pause)
Ashley: I’ve never seen a boy flamingo.

HT: Wittingshire

It seems I’m not the only one thinking along these lines.

Many scientists challenge ID on the grounds that it allegedly is not testable. Plainly, the multiple universe hypothesis isn’t testable. And yet somehow you see prominent physicists like Leonard Susskind arguing that, even if it isn’t testable, “It would be very foolish to throw away the right answer on the basis that it doesn’t conform to some criteria for what is or isn’t science.” If an ID proponent made such a claim, you’d never see it printed in Nature.
…snip…
But when critics claim ID isn’t testable, has the scientific community given ID proponents the courtesy given to Dr. Susskind? Can you imagine Nature affirmatively quoting someone like William Dembski or Jonathan Wells saying, “It would be very foolish to throw away the right answer on the basis that it doesn’t conform to some criteria for what is or isn’t science”? If the answer is “no,” then maybe there is a double standard in the journals when it comes to ID and testability. Perhaps untestable theories are acceptable to Nature when they can challenge intelligent design, but are not acceptable when they support design.

Read the whole thing:
The Double Standard for Intelligent Design and Testability

Numbers 25:1-13

While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”

And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

Phinehas was born Tuesday at 11:20pm. He weighed in at nine pounds, five ounces and is twenty-one and one quarter inches long. He and his mother are doing great, and were able to come home tonight. About an hour or so ago. He ate heartily and is now asleep. He listened to Sufjan Stevens on the way home from the hospital.

We are grateful to God for providing for us, and giving us a healthy baby boy (emphasis on boy! )and a troublefree birth. He is good, indeed.

Psalm 106

Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord,
or declare all his praise?
Blessed are they who observe justice,
who do righteousness at all times!

Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;
help me when you save them,
that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
that I may glory with your inheritance.

Both we and our fathers have sinned;
we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.
Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
did not consider your wondrous works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
but rebelled by the Sea, at the Red Sea.
Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
that he might make known his mighty power.
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
So he saved them from the hand of the foe
and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
And the waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them was left.
Then they believed his words;
they sang his praise.

But they soon forgot his works;
they did not wait for his counsel.
But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness,
and put God to the test in the desert;
he gave them what they asked,
but sent a wasting disease among them.

When men in the camp were jealous of Moses
and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
and covered the company of Abiram.
Fire also broke out in their company;
the flame burned up the wicked.

They made a calf in Horeb
and worshiped a metal image.
They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
Therefore he said he would destroy them—
had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Then they despised the pleasant land,
having no faith in his promise.
They murmured in their tents,
and did not obey the voice of the Lord.
Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them
that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
and would make their offspring fall among the nations,
scattering them among the lands.

Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,
and a plague broke out among them.
Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
and the plague was stayed.
And that was counted to him as righteousness
from generation to generation forever.

They angered him at the waters of Meribah,
and it went ill with Moses on their account,
for they made his spirit bitter,
and he spoke rashly with his lips.

They did not destroy the peoples,
as the Lord commanded them,
but they mixed with the nations
and learned to do as they did.
They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons;
they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
Thus they became unclean by their acts,
and played the whore in their deeds.

Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he abhorred his heritage;
he gave them into the hand of the nations,
so that those who hated them ruled over them.
Their enemies oppressed them,
and they were brought into subjection under their power.
Many times he delivered them,
but they were rebellious in their purposes
and were brought low through their iniquity.

Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
when he heard their cry.
For their sake he remembered his covenant,
and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
He caused them to be pitied
by all those who held them captive.

Save us, O Lord our God,
and gather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!

Hey, did you know the hospital here has free wireless? Yeah, it’re pretty cool. I’m here in this Labor & Delivery room next to my wife, and I can post on my blog.

Talk about live blogging

Megan is having some smallish contractions.

I know I haven’t talked about it much on here, but the due date for the baby is August 15. Also known as “Just around the corner” or “Could be Any Day now”.