archshrk

Apologetics

• The Death of Celebration 14.01.10

  Tom’s letter on the tsunami in 2005…relevant in light of the recent earthquake in Haiti*
  I have had a few months to reflect on the tsunami that killed upwards of 250,000 people in Southeastern Asia . I have heard sermons, read obituaries, and seen images that evoked a range of emotions. I have talked to people [...]

• Desiring God: free download 04.11.09

  Free Audiobook Download of the Month from christianaudio.com…
  Each month christianaudio gives away a premium audiobook download for free. How does it work? Well, they give away one audiobook download that they have published or that a partner has allowed them to give away absolutely free; available only during that month and only once, ever.
  This months [...]

• Not done lightly 24.08.09

  Frank Turk of … and his ministers a flame of fire recently wrote a series of posts regarding the issue of leaving the local church. The series is in response to John MacArthur’s post: When Should People Leave Their Church? which begins…
  Leaving a church is not something that should be done lightly. Too many [...]

• H.R. 1913 is not anti-christian 21.04.09

  You may have received an email similar to this one…
  Persecution today announced that there is a measure before Congress (H.R. 1913) that will effectively make it a hate crime to call homosexuality a sin. It also will make it a hate crime to call Islam a “False Religion.” Write to you congressman (or [...]

• Jesus was a Good Teacher 07.04.09

  This was too good not to share.

  Challenge: I believe Jesus was a moral example and a great sage and teacher.
  Response: …who sagaciously taught that He was God incarnate, the only sufficient sacrifice for man’s sins, and the only mediator between God and man; who made worship of Him as God a moral imperative; and taught [...]

• How the Irish Saved Civilization 16.03.09

  On the last, cold day of December in the dying year we count as 406, the river Rhine froze solid, providing the natural bridge that hundreds of thousands of hungry men, women, and children had been waiting for. Thus begins the Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish Saved Civilization
  In this delightful and illuminating look into [...]

• The New Calvinism 13.03.09

  Didn’t expect to see this…

  Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation’s other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don’t have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is [...]

• Single greatest quote of all year 12.03.09

  … and his ministers a flame of fire: Stop asking me
  The problem is not that there’s too much conservatism: it’s that there’s a lot of unfounded, flabby conservatism running around with plastic fishes attached to it rather than a robust, young, and dangerous conservatism riding around on the fat, noisy Harley which is the Gospel.
  ’nuff [...]

• The Brick Testament 03.03.09

  The Brick Testament is the largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible in the world with over 3,600 illustrations that retell more than 300 stories from The Bible.
  Launched first as a website in 2001, then as a published book series in 2003, The Brick Testament project is an ongoing one-man labor of love, constructed and photographed entirely [...]

• How to get free stuff 23.02.09

  Bible Study Magazine and Mars Hill are giving away 20 copies of Mark Driscoll’s new book, Vintage Church. Not only that, but they are also giving away five subscriptions to Bible Study Magazine and a copy of their Bible Study Library software! Enter to win on the Bible Study Magazine Mark Driscoll page, then take [...]

• The Preservation of Favoured Races 12.02.09

  That’s the subtitle of Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species. It’s full title is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. And his next book was titled The Descent of Man, one entire chapter was dedicated to “The [...]

• tipping the ‘ol hat 11.02.09

  Here are some things I thought you might enjoy (or hate)
  First, Darwin Must Die! according to The New York Times. Also, Animals are nihilists too. (sorry, NOT kid friendly)

  HT: Frank Turk
  Next, King Uzziah had woman problems (sort of) and Charles Spurgeon is short and stout (much like a teapot)
  Finally, Catholics can buy earn their [...]

• The Theoanthropos – a hypostatic union 25.11.08

  Just wanted to give a heads-up/shout-out about a wonderfully fascinating conversation going on over at Blogogetics.com right now. The Theoanthropos – a hypostatic union | Blogogetics
  Theos is Greek for God and anthropos is Greek for man so the theoanthropos is God-man, referring to Jesus Christ. Hypostatic means a state union between two substances, ousias, [...]

• Homosexual Hermeneutics 04.11.08

  Given the extent of discussion surrounding California’s Prop 8, I wanted to address the issue of Homosexuality and Scripture. Lucky for me, Sam already has. Take a look at his 10-part series on Homosexual Hermeneutics. I’ve linked to all ten parts here with highlighted text to help understand the topic of each. [...]

• Some things to remember when engaged in apologetics debates 25.09.08

  When they quote scripture for their beliefs, it’s called “scriptural support”.
  When you quote scripture for your beliefs, it’s called “prooftexting”.
  When they provide bible verses that support their opinion, it’s called reading scripture “in context”.
  When you provide bible verses that support your opinion, it’s called “cherry picking verses”.
  When they make a distinction between two slightly differing [...]

• to exegesis or exegete 22.09.08

  Turns out neither is correct.

  In studying scripture we tend to come at it (or away from it) in two ways. One is the critical explanation or interpretation of a text or portion of a text. The other is the process of interpretation of an existing text in such a way as to introduce [...]

• Why We Are Not Emergent 24.04.08

  TimK from Gospel Prism was sharing about a book he received at T4G. The book Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be) covers a lot of ground. “They point out some of the problems with thinking of the journey as more about experience than a destination. They argue that humility is [...]

• ‘Darwin chip’ brings evolution into the classroom? 14.04.08

  ‘08 April 2008 – New Scientist
  A new “Darwin chip” could make evolution as easy as pressing play.
  Researchers have created an automated device that evolves a biological molecule on a chip filled with hundreds of miniature chambers.
  The molecule, which stitches together strands of RNA, became 90 times more efficient after just 70 hours of evolution.
  “It’s survival [...]

• What is ‘Open’ Christianity 25.03.08

  This is from a discussion I had that was started by my post, ‘Open’ Christianity kills me
  So what exactly is open Christianity? Youtube is down
  “Open” Christianity is basically the belief that God is whatever you want Him to be. Here’s a quote from a leading supporter of ‘Open’ Christianity.

  OPEN CHRISTIANITY invites you to love [...]

• What is Sin? 10.03.08

  So I just heard that the Vatican has announced several new sins. But it seems to me, there’s no such thing as new sins. In fact, there are basically three types of sin which manifest themselves in various forms.
  What is…sin’s essence? Playing God…acting as if you, and your pleasure, were the end [...]

• Life and Death 06.03.08

  I read a post called Life and Death and it got me thinking…
  I’ll be going to a memorial service tomorrow and this issue has been weighing on my mind. How do we comfort those who pass on and those who remain? I don’t think believers have as much difficulty with death [...]

• Does the Church Replace Israel 26.02.08

  Does the Church Replace Israel
  This is the covenantal view (our position) so, no doubt, there will be some not-so-happy Ryrie and Scofield fans who read this, grind their teeth, and give it a one-star rating. But the truth must be told. Jesus is the True Israel and all those in Him (both Jew and Gentile) [...]

• Theological Terms 17.01.08

  This is a response to the “are you a heretic?” quiz. Since these terms may be foreign to many of us, I thought I’d share what CARM (CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY) has to say about these terms.
  Chalcedon: Chalcedon believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, [...]

• Are you a Heretic? 17.01.08

  Take this little quiz to help identify your theological persuasion.

• Mormons are Christians? 12.01.08

  Joel Osteen Declares Romney’s Jesus is Our Jesus?

  Chris Wallace interviewed Pastor Joel Osteen on the Fox Television Network’s “Fox News Sunday” program December 23, 2007. Osteen pastors what is touted as the largest church in the United States (Lakewood Church of Houston, Texas). Here’s an interesting segment of the interview.

  Wallace: “Is a Mormon a [...]

• Where do atheists get their morality 21.12.07

  In this video, an atheist attempts to answer the questions “where do atheists get their morality”.
  I’m curious about how you would respond to his answer.

• Dr Seuss Theology 27.08.07

  More theology by Dr. Seuss…
  I Am I Am
  Exodus 3:14, in the style of “Dr. Seuss” by W. Alan Froggatt
  Dr. Seuss Learns Greek
  Got this from Tyler Williams who got it from someone at Regent College
  And finally, James W. Kemp’s The Gospel According to Dr. Seuss. Kemp finds parallels between the actions of cats in hats, [...]

• evil archshrk 21.08.07

  I think this number is a little low.
  So often in life we look for hope and inspiration in the stories from scripture. We look at our own lives and try to find understanding by identifying with those people who loved God and found redemption and meaning in Him. Unfortunately, we most often identify [...]

• Of diapers and dads 19.08.07

  Martin Luther has a very interesting take on changing diapers. It really puts into perspective this act of drudgery for any parent. Diaper changing can be an act of holiness, even as you wipe the filth away. One thing is for certain, however, dads are not exempt from the Lord in changing diapers (according to [...]

• Get Fuzzy Demons 07.08.07

  This is part of a story arc involving Satchel (a dog) who is sleep walking. Bucky (a cat) is has determined the “real” reason for Satchel’s behavior.

  Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I consider myself a liberal democrat but I still find this funny. People seem to have a problem with the [...]

• Is Harry Potter evil? 30.07.07

  You’ve probably already the latest Harry Potter book by now. If you haven’t, then you aren’t likely to read it any time soon. Don’t worry, I’ll not spoil it for you – I never read any of the Harry Potter books. And I’m OK with that.
  I was reading a short post over [...]

• 11:11 Prophesies 18.06.07

  Recently, a friend of mine was asking about the 11:11 Prophesies. I heard about this before but had trouble finding info on the subject so I asked a good friend about it and he replied:
  11:11 seems to be a “heightened spirituality” token of a trans-substantial interdigitating heterologous harbinger, indicium towards a unitarian augury of [...]

• How to make a burrito 08.06.07

  Before I begin, i have to confess…
  I don’t think this post is necessary. Or at least I didn’t think so. I have several websites that I manage and one of them has to do with serving burritos to the homeless. You may also know that I am addicted to tracking my site [...]

• Happy Saint Patrick’s Day 15.03.07

  Below is an excerpt from the Appletree Press title: A Little Book of Celtic Saints , Author: Martain Wallace that I hope you enjoy in honor of our St. Patrick’s Day Celebration.

  Much of Patrick’s life is shrouded in mystery and historians differ on the probable chronology of the saint’s life. Fortunately, he has left behind [...]

• Free Will Song 13.02.07

  Just found this over at Samshua. Quite possible the most hilarious and distrbing song of all time.
  As you listen to the song, you’ll see that saying God is sovoriegn yet gives us a free will is such an oxymoron. These people sing about God’s control and power and glory over everything and then [...]

• Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms 07.02.07

  This is the first in what I hope becomes a recurring series about Apologetics. Occasionally called eristics, apologetics is the formal defense of the Christian faith. Historically, Christian theologins have differed as to whether apologetics is appropriate to the presentation of the gospel, and if so, how it should be accomplished. Depending [...]

• Where it all began 21.04.06

  This is the one and only entry into a paper journal I wrote when I started blogging. It’s from Febuary 26th, 2004

  God has a funny way of working with us sometimes. PhotoJulia bought this journal because she thought the cover was neat (and it is, too) but here I am writing in it. [...]

• What happened to Burritos and Socks? 27.07.05

  If you got the July 26th newsletter you may have noticed that there were some changes made to the Burritos and Socks Ministry. You may have even tried to go to the website to get the details. Unfortunately, the site as down the following morning so I’ll have to give you the quick [...]

• How NOT to Serve 27.07.05

  Big Mike was asking our old friend Mr. Davis if he was getting involved with any of these churches he was visiting. He wasn’t and “I’ll tell you why…” Turns out that he would end up spending more time correcting these people becuse they weren’t doing what they were supposed to do. [...]

• New Night! New Ministry? 25.07.05

  Tonight is the first night of our revised ministry. We now meet on Mondays at 6:30 at Marc’s house. Another major change is our menu. We have accepted that we cannot legally make burritos at home and have begum looking for alternate food items. The major problem is the cost of [...]

• …and Socks 21.07.05

  Well, tonight’s the night we stop making burritos. I’m a little sad to see that part of our ministry go but I have to desire God’s will over my own. The hardest part is that we can make 48 burritos with bean, cheese, rice and salsa for about $20 but we can’t get [...]

• How can we minister to the homeless without feeding them? 18.07.05

  Well, the debate is over. After some prayerful consideration and studying the word of God it is clear that we need to obey the law as it does not go against God. We are not prohibited from feeding the homeless, we just can not make food at home for them. This is an easy fix. [...]

• Jaywalking for Jesus 18.07.05

  It has come under discussion that doing good could be sin. Specifically, San Diego County does not allow us to give home made food to the homeless.
  Can I sell food I make at home?
  No. All food sold or given away to the public must be prepared and stored at a commercial food establishment with a [...]

• Bibles anyone? 20.06.05

  Mr. Davis will not serve. I don’t mean in the military, I mean in the church. But he has a good reason, which I’ll explain later, but first, I need to tell you about bibles.
  A few weeks ago, while doing our normal rounds of servitude, a young man walked through the parking lot [...]

• Ten Cents to a Donut 20.05.05

  Despite our recent boom , only three of us went out to serve last night. While this isn’t the first time it was unusual. Even more unusual were the few conversations we had (3 people handing out 48 burritos don’t have a lot of time for talking) marc tried to converse [...]

• Isaiah 58:10 18.05.05

  if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.

• Budget 13.05.05

  Each week I make a Costco run for this ministry. I buy the supplies needed on a weekly basis because some items (tortillas and cheese) need to be fresh plus we don’t have the storage room to stock up on other items. But incase you’re wondering what it costs to make 48 burritos [...]

• Photos 12.05.05

  I hope to post some pictures of our trips to downtown San Diego as well as from the surroundings. This is more of a sample for me to work out the kinks in displaying the images so it may change several times before I get it right.

• All talk and no action? 10.02.05

  “I always talked about wanting to go feed the homeless on the holidays and whenever that day came, I was no where near downtown or wherever the soup kitchens were. It was always all talk for me and no action.”
  Paula is one of the newest members to the Burritos and Socks team. She [...]

• BSM Goes AWOL 09.12.04

  So another lapse in posting has occurred and my many readers (both of them) have been hounding me for an update. The Ministry has been going strong but other responsibilities have kept me from posting lately. First, we finally broke our running streak. We started in January of 2003 and have not [...]

• Ministry – When and Where we Meet 07.09.04

  “Thursday 6:30pm Burrito’s & Socks – This ministry makes burritos and often purchases new socks and then takes them around to the homeless. Our desire is to be the hands and feet of the gospel and consistently meeting real needs.”So I haven’t posted lately, but things have been busy. First, we had a memorial [...]

• Losing the Lost 06.08.04

  This will be brief. This past Thursday, we went out like always. We even had Drew with us this week which was good. When we arrived in El Cajon, Vanessa was there waiting for us with the whole gang. She tells us she had an announcement which turned out not to [...]

• No Patience 22.07.04

  Sometimes (almost always) I have little to no patience when dealing with someone so lost they can’t even argue in a straight line. These are the guys who mis-quote scripture, take things out of context or just run around in verbal circles. They are so committed to living for their own [...]

• To Whom Do We Preach pt2 18.07.04

  So this post is not directly realted to pt1 but they were part of the same train of thought when I started my earlier post. The point I wanted to get to was to whom do we preach. I’m not asking who we should preach the gospel to but rather who is hearing it. This [...]

• To Whom Do We Preach pt1 18.07.04

  It’s been a while but I have a good reason…I suck at writing. But more than that, I couldn’t make it July 1st so I didn’t have anything to say. After that, I just wasn’t inspired to share anything. That sometimes happens, but I should probably write anyway lest I let it [...]

• A few words from our friend 30.06.04

  Last week we had a guest helping us with the BSM. I asked her to jot down some thoughts afterward to share with you here. She is here visiting her son for a couple of weeks.
  “Took my nice long walk with the Lord Thursday morning. Walking and talking things over, I was sharing my burdens [...]

• Anthony and Vanessa 11.06.04

  Please pray for our friends Anthony and Vanessa in New Jersey. Many of you may know Vanessa from the Burrito Sock Ministry. She brought her 3 children and sister’s 3 children to Kaleo and we even had a birthday party in the park for her youngest boy.We learned that her husband Anthony had [...]

• He meant it for good 08.06.04

  Mark 43 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And it happened, as he sowed, that some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds of the air came and devoured it. 5 Some fell on stony ground, where it did not have much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had [...]

• ‘Thank You’ to the Denver crew 01.06.04

  I wanted to give a big thanks to the Denver crew for helping out this past Thursday even thought they were on their Senior vacation. I’m sure we didn’t compare to Disneyland’s California Adventure or Mission Beach but your presence was greatly appreciated. In the past I’ve been feeling discouraged by the limited involvement we’ve [...]

• Encouraging words 21.05.04

  This is a response to my last post “When things get messy” that I recieved from my ‘courting partner’ (JG)“I will be praying for you and the volunteers that come on Thursday nights. I thanked God last night that Vanessa thought of you instead of having her kids endangered or on the streets. God was [...]

• When things get messy 20.05.04

  Please pray for me as I am having struggles with our efforts in the Burrito Sock Ministry (BSM. Pastor David talks about how things will get messy as we grow and I fear it’s starting to get messy. I don’t want this to become a burden or to start resenting/dreading Thursday nights. [...]

• A time to pray 18.05.04

  I’ve had some time to pray about this ministry and plan to do a lot more. I realized I wasn’t putting my faith in Christ like I should. I was trying to handle it all on my own. One change lately is that we are now funded by Kaleo. Originally, I [...]

• It’s been a while 30.04.04

  Well, it’s been a while since I first posted, but the Ministry continues. Participation seems to have increased a little bit but contributions are still a little low. I’m not sure how to best get people involved, but it’s not good for the three of us to keep shelling out the funds for [...]

• And so it begins 16.02.04

  Greetings and Salutations.This is the first blog report for the Burrito/Sock Ministry. Actually, it’s just the test run of the program but it will have to do for now.