Jason at Godfidence said that if you remove *all* the springs then you just have a tarp and that doctrine cannot be removed or changed.  I disagree with him (and commented as much on his post).  If you remove *all* of the bricks from a wall all you have left is mortar - Bell wasn’t suggesting you remove any doctrine, only that you are open to examine them, put them under the microscope, and test them.  If they are true, they will hold up - if they are not, then they weren’t Doctrine to begin with, but instead a misunderstanding of scripture that can be corrected.

Bell goes on to say ‘all truth is God’s truth’.  If I thought the Earth was 6000 years old based on my interpretation of the Bible, and you proved through science that it was 4trillion years old - My understanding of the Bible changes - not my faith. And I believe that is the point of Bell’s approach.

Have you read the book?  When you get a chance, go read Jason’s post… I’d love to hear your thoughts?

This gives a whole new understanding of No News is Good News!  A recession is a self-fulling prophesy, the more we talk about how bad the economy is, the worse it will get.  I’m not saying to put our heads in the sand and pretend nothing is wrong - but lets not bury the few peices of good news we get with negativity.

I heard a story recently that bears repeating:

A man owned a hot dog stand downtown and every day during lunch hour he would carry a huge sign and yell as loud as he could - ‘Hot Dogs! Get Hot Dogs Here!’, and business was good - very good.

One day his son came home from college and said, ‘Dad, I don’t know why you bother carrying that large sign everyday and spend all that time straining your voice - the economy is bad, people just aren’t going to buy hot dogs right now.’

So the man left his sign at home and didn’t bother yelling during the lunch hour.  When he came home he told his son that he was right, no body bought hot dogs that day - the economy must be bad.

The hot dog stand shut down and the man went on unemployment - later on welfare.  Now the man votes for the Democrats because the Republicans are talking about welfare reform and he isn’t sure he can make ends meet if those government checks stop coming.

I guess I should start thinking about which welfare program will meet my needs during this bad economy!

What fun!  Which by the way, I can only say because we didn’t burn down the place!  And right now the turkey is in the fryer and we are in business!

Well, Merry Christmas to ya, even if you are avoiding the 8 hour marathon of force family interaction! :o)

So for the few wordpress friends that actually read my blog - go fill out the survey!

I do wish I was more of a sports fan for the sake of my son.  He hardly knows football from basketball.  Anyway - the Panthers missed a field goal in the fourth that would have won the game - then just didn’t show up to the overtime.  The Giants force a punt, but almost lost possession when the receiver didn’t call for a fair catch and lost control of the ball.  The Giants all but walked the ball into the end zone after that play.  I have a hard time picking winners - maybe that’s why I never got into sports…

Despite the break in, church services were held Sunday morning as scheduled.  Our pastor (Rev Paul Owens) said on the local news broadcast, “I hope they find what they are looking for”.  Sunday morning we focused on our worship, our faith, and our God - but not on the damage.  Its difficult for me to understand what would motivate someone to do this to a church.  I grew up with a respect for the things of God - not just my church or the churches that follow my faith - but all places of worship.  I was taught to treat ministers as well or better than you would a policeman, fireman, or the President of the United States - even if you disagreed with them, you showed them respect.

I too hope those responsible find what they are looking for… but I must admin, I also hope the police find them as well…