Click here to get your own player.

Podcasting baby!

Check out Tal Prince's sermons!

Treo Problems

Pic 1 - Trying to get it to work.
Pic 2- Getting a little frustrated.
Pic 3 - I just found out that it will not work at all!
Pic 4 - The tool that sold me this phone left a self portrait on the memory card. What a jurk.
Pic 5 - My Treo sits there...dead and useless.

Ok, so here is the story...
I am an avid Ebayer. Im not as avid as some of my friends, but I shop there from time to time and I love to check on the prices of items. I have recently been watching Palm Treos. I love those things! I found one that was pretty cheap because it didnt come with a charger or a stylus and it was kind of beaten up. The add said it worked wit AT&T wireless, so I thought that since AT&T and Cingular merged that my Cingular SIM card would work in it. Well, I recieved the phone, bought a charger, charged it, and the SIM card didnt work. So, I called Cingular ("the new AT&T wireless" as they call themselves) and they told me that all AT&T customers received a new phone when the two companies merged! HA! So I tell this guy that I want a refund and he tells me that he is not refunding...you know what. So, after a little threatening, he relented and is refunding me minus 4 dollars, so I am out the money for shipping the phone back to him plus the 4 dollars. I will keep you updated on what happens next.

In other news:
I got a free cup of lemonade while I was out running today!

This is Idol Gives Back

I loved the idea of Idol giving back. Great concept and great job on the corporate sponsors and matching donations. I would have liked to have seen "off camera Simon" in that garbage dump. So, here is my rundown of the contestants.

#1 (Chris) "This song is about how someone has the will to change someone's life." Good try Chris. This show is about giving to people who are starving, not manipulating someone into thinking your love is so good. I don't think that is the kind of world changing they are going for. I didn't like your singing anyways.

#2 (Doolittle) Of course she got me with the content of her song! There will come a day! She is the resident pro. A vocal masterclass! Whatever that is...it sounds good.

#3 (Blake) Good answer to the question and I still like your hair but a song about Communism? Come on. Give me a break. You keep imagining that there is no hell. The judges were right this time. Next.

#4 (LaKisha) The singing was OK at best. I agree with Simon. "Anything is possible when you believe." Is that right? Believe in what? Sounded like the song to accompany The Secret.

#5 (Phil) Good answer to the question. I wasn't impressed by Phil in the last two weeks but this week was a little better. I don't think he gave Garth justice in his rendition of that great song, but it was pretty good.

#6 (Jordin) Now, Jordin has been my favorite for the past two weeks and she is definitely one of my favorites this week. Good comments Randy. What a closer.

Weren't LaKisha and Blake in the bottom two last week too? Hmmm...

As a wrap up, I believe that part of our job as Christians is to be a part of God's work of the holistic salvation of the earth. AI started us out on one part of that, now lets pray that God raises up people to see these people's eternal lives changed.

IN OTHER NEWS:
I just updated from Slimbrowser to Mozilla Firefox.
I preached my final sermon of the year for preaching class today.
I am about to go for a run. First one in some time.

Spring Break is almost over and I'm getting ready to go back to school tomorrow. I have a book reviews due on three books, a test on another book and an essay midterm due this week. Needless to say I should have been working on these things last week, but here I am. The Tulsa International Soul Winning Workshop was great. Hopefully I will have a chance to sit down and write out what it meant to me. I did pick up some great books while I was out there.

First and Second Chronicles from the Thru the Bible Commentary Series by J Vernon McGee

A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian Mclaren

How to Read the Bible Book by Book by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart

What to Wear to the War by Warren Wiersbe

On Saturday, my Dad and I went to one of my favorite restaurants in Tulsa, Kilkenny’s. After parking the car, we were walking to the restaurant and passed this “New Age” store, Peace of Mind Bookstore. They had some books for sale outside and I picked up these titles…

Saint-Watching by Phyllis McGinley

The Lord’s Horesman (John Wesley the Man) by Umphrey Lee

A Handbook of Contemporary Theology by Bernard Ramm

The Waiting Father (Sermons on the Parables of Jesus) by Helmut Thielicke

I am most proud of the last book! I got all four of those books for about ten dollars and I got the first four books for about 20 dollars. All in all I think it was near a “Viking style pillage”.

Were the claims of Christianity unique in the first century

I just finished listening to Rob Bell in sermon 399 from Mars Hill Bible Church. In it, he says that the claims of Christianity were not that unique from the other religious claims from that day. The main god from the Roman Empire was Mithra who was born of a virgin in a cave, was worshiped by shepherds, had 12 followers, had something to do with life and death being conquered, and originated around 600 BC. The myth of Attis originated around 200 BC. Some of the beliefs include that he was born of a virgin, , was hung on a tree, and rose from the dead. Another, the Adonis religion, originated around 200 BC, born of a virgin, was referred to as the son of god, and his followers believed he died to save humankind. Horace, an Egyptian god, was born of Isis who was a virgin, the legend originated around 1500 BC, he died from a crucifixion, and when he was a child foreign kings brought him gifts. When Caesar died, there was a comet and twelve people came forward to say that they saw this comet and Caesar’s followers said that of course they saw a comet because it was Julius, because he was the son of god, rising from the dead and ascending to the right hand of the god in heaven. So, if in the first century you said, “my God was born of a virgin and rose from the dead”, you might get a response like, “sweet man! Mine too!” The claims of the Christian faith simply were not that unique or original. Everybody’s god had risen from the dead. So, Paul writes in Corinthians saying that he didn’t come with persuasive words, but in humility with a demonstration of God’s power.

Have you heard anything like this? I have heard that the claims of Christianity are very unique when compared to the other religions. Maybe many other claims are unique, but those mentioned above are not?

One well respected biblical scholar told me that this was simply hogwash. He said that there was an inscription found in a Roman cave of a person with a donkey’s head being crucified. He said this was done because the Romans thought the Christian religion was so stupid and even Paul said that the unspiritual would think that someone hanging on a cross to save humanity was foolishness. He also said that Christianity was very different from other religions because it is the only one that doesnt make you earn your status. While I fully agree with that final statement, it still doesnt speak to the other claims like virgin birth, where he was born, who visited him, and how many followers he had.

As I researched this, I found this website, and this article written by a preacher turned atheist.

I first posted this with the third paragraph as the end. Then, I wanted to add in some links to the names of Attis, Adonis, and Mithra. First, I realized that I had all of those names spelled wrong. Secondly, I found that there is a ton of info on the net about these religions being very similar to Christianity and even more general info on those gods in general. Even the early church fathers commented on this very thing. This post was at first going to be just throwing up the question to see if anyone had heard of this stuff. Now, I see that it is all over the internet and I cant believe I have been in church for all of my life, have a BA in Bible, and am half way through a Masters Degree in Divinity and I have never heard this stuff. Let me make this clear to any of you out there that are Rob Bell haters...he totally believes in Jesus and his point in all of this was to get Christians to live more like Jesus would have them to and less like we have been living. The whole point of the message was that we should be demonstrating the power of the gospel, announcing that this is the kingdom of God coming to earth, and then if they want to hear more, fine, and if not, shake the dust off and move on.

So, I go on to more discussion on this and I hope you will join me.