Spritual Attack

For most of us, shit happens.
Your car breaks down on the way to work, the biro leaks in your shirt pocket, and the goon at work is giving you a hard time. Shit happens.
But if you're a fundie Christian it's all the fault of Satan and it's a spiritual attack, for the express purpose of making you lose your faith in God.

There are several ongoing threads at Rapture Ready on spritual attacks. because these bozos believe the end is nigh, they are also convinced that spritual attacks are on the increase as Satan, in his last gasp attempts to forestall the inevitable final triumph of jesus lashes out at the faithful. All the following quotes have come from the last three days.
(It needs mentioning that back in the day, I was a bozo too)

I am just completely exausted. I sometimes feel like one more day will be to much! I think of all that is going on in the world is just amazing...I am just so heartbroken that our country is being sold out. And it seems nobody has a clue about what is happening. Everybody is walking around as if it's business as usual. We are a matter of months to a year away from Iran getting nukes....I just dont know. People its time to wake up!

Yes, there's been weird things going on in my corner too. Mostly things happening to people close to me (alcoholic brother relapsing, etc.), things not working out much more so than usual, yet it seems God causes other doors to open. Usually I would be a bit more negatively affected, but I've just put these things in God's hands and I feel at peace. Praise God!
Lately I've been led to pray for God's supernatural hedge of protection around my family, friends, neighbors and brothers and sisters in Christ (around the world and of course here at RR). I really think that we are in a time where we will survive only through God's constant supernatural guidance.
All week last week I couldn't find my Sunday School material for teaching kindergartners at church. I was kind of stumped as to where in the world it went, I'm pretty good about making sure the material is in a safe spot in the house.

I, too have felt the 'heaviness' upon my heart in the past 2 weeks. I know I am getting closer to the Lord, yet I still have a long way to go. My heart is unsettled and I know it shouldn't be. I've made it a habit to take some quiet time daily and pray (I also talk to the Lord during the day) and I am reading my bible on a fairly daily basis. It does help me, but I am still struggling.

I have had attacks that lasted for years and I wanted to kill myself because of them. God provided me a way to stand against the hurricaine that had invaded my life. I seem to be in a resting period right now. All I can say is that nothing lasts forever in this life. Nothing good and nothing bad. Just think that we could be living in the millenium kingdom 10 years from now and forget everything about this time that we live in. It's very possible.

One of the most upsetting things that I've seen lately is the amount of attacks from other self-called "Christians." Has anybody else been experiencing this?
One of Satan's ploys, apparently, it to attack from directions that are almost unimaginable. It's expected to be hurt by non-believers. However, my family, recently, has been attacked by some who proclaim to be Christians. These attacks are more shocking because they are so unexpected. So many are being led down that wide path, and they don't even realize it.

I'm not sure what to think, I feel weird about the World every single day.
Just hang in there, things are heating up! This IS the Last Generation.
Can't be too long.

The same here also, the days go by and I feel well different, going throw the motion's of life, but at the same time feeling I guess a big sense of change coming are way.....I also feel the sense of urgency to leave tracts everywhere especially the last couple of days, one day it was late and I couldn't get it off my mind so I left and just went around leaving tracts everywhere... about 30 to 45 minutes later I came back feeling much better, the same thing yesterday.....but I also have the sense of peace that the Lord has it under control....and I really believe that there is a spirtural battle going on right now, the devil knows his time is really short....but pray and stay close to God......For Jesus is coming back!

Ye oŋe and oŋley wordde of God

A particular brand of wingnuttery I've come across lately is the belief that the King James version of the Bible is the one and only Word of God and all other translations are at least substandard, and at worst, works of the devil.
It is called the King James Only movement and is yet another source of schism amongst the myriad Christian sects.

Try this web page for example: Why Do We Only Support The King James Version Of The Holy Bible?

FABLE: The King James Bible was revised several times before 1800, so modern translations are just additional revisions of the original King James Bible of 1611.

FACT: The so-called "revisions" of the King James Bible prior to 1800 were to correct typographical errors, add notes, and omit the Apocrypha from between the Testaments. There were no changes in the actual TEXT of the King James Bible. The REAL changes (over 36,000 of them) didn't start until the modern revisionists came on the scene.

Well that's OK then. The whole thing was God inspired and controlled except for the typos. God can't proof read.

FABLE: The modern translations are more accurate because they have been translated from older and better manuscripts.

FACT: It is truly amazing how so many Christians have bought into this lie without ever checking to see WHAT these manuscripts are, WHERE they came from, and WHO wrote them. Its also strange that no one seems to be asking the question, "Has God honored these 'older' and 'better' manuscripts throughout Church History?"

Older doesn't mean better. Unless it's the KJV in which case older is better.

FABLE: New translations are needed to correct the errors and contradictions in the King James Bible.

FACT: No one has ever proven that there are errors and contradictions in the KJV. Many "Christian" colleges and preachers have a nasty habit of pointing out APPARENT contradictions to their people, but these arguments have been disproven so many times that it is nothing less than disgusting to hear them still being used.

Well there's a few problems here, not least of which is that all the newer translations are full of contradictions too.

FABLE: New Translations are needed to bring the archaic Old English language up to date. People have trouble understanding the language of the King James Bible.

FACT: The King James language is NOT hard to understand. Most of the so-called "archaic" words are explained by the context of the passage or by comparing the passage with other passages in the Bible where the same word is used. Heady and high-minded people resent the King James language because it is plain and simple, and it isn't in tune with their high-minded vocabulary. In fact, the Grade Level Indicator of the Flesch-Kincaid research company says the King James language is EASIER to understand than the new versions.
We certainly agree that the language of the King James Bible is a unique language, but why shouldn't it be? It's the WORD OF GOD!

Can't argue with that. If English was good enough for Jesus, then it's good enough for me too.

FABLE: The King James Bible cannot be infallible because the translators were only men, and all men are sinners. The human element prevents the KJV from being infallible.

FACT: If this is true, then even the ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPHS in Hebrew and Greek were not infallible, because they too were penned by men!

Exactly. Do these people have no sense of irony?

FABLE: The King James translators added to the word of God, because the italicized words in the KJV were not in the originals.

FACT: The Italics in the KJV prove that the translators were HONEST in their work. They set the words in italics so we'd know they were not in the manuscripts they were using.
Besides, no one has a copy of the original manuscripts today, so no one knows for certain that the italicized words aren't in them. In fact, there are many cases where we know that the italicized words are justified. For example, notice in Deuteronomy 8:3 that the word "word" is in Italics. However, when Jesus quotes this verse in Matthew 4:4 he INCLUDES the italicized word! If the italicized word does not belong in the Bible, why did the Lord Jesus quote it?

Because the guys who wrote the gospels were making shit up?

FABLE: The original King James Bible included the Apocrypha in the Old Testament.

FACT: The King James translators knew the Apocrypha was not scripture, so they placed it BETWEEN the Old and New Testament as a HISTORICAL DOCUMENT, not as scripture.

Ohhh, OK. So why have the Apocrypha been dropped from the KJV again?

Here we have the crazy Faithful Word Baptist church burning the Satanic NIV. A bit of web research will show that the wife of pastor Steven L. Anderson, Zsuzsanna has a particularly hateful blog, and do yourself a big favour and watch the YouTube vid of pastor Anderson very upset after a border cop beat him up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUzd7G875Hc They are also Quiverful crazies and antivaccine crazies

Manic Street Preacher #2

So, Tony "The Lawman" carries a handgun when he's out preaching on the streets.

How do we know this?

Because he blogged about it. He later deleted the blog entry, but thanks to the vigilance of SMRT Jill D the blog post was saved. Below is thiat blog post, followed by a revealing exchange between Tony "PhD" Miano and a young Christian.

The Story of how I earned my 'Ph.D"

(Picture of handgun)

Don't freak. There's a good reason why there is a picture of a gun on my blog. :-)

I closed my last post with the following:

"One of the highlights of the afternoon was when Ray conferred upon me my first Ph.D. That's right. It's now "Dr. Lawman," thank you very much. To be continued....."

So, please, extend grace and patience to me while I digress from the usual evangelistic post and share with you, my friends and readers (not always one in the same), how I earned my first Ph.D.

As most of you already know, I spent twenty years of my adult life serving as a deputy sheriff with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. When I joined the Living Waters team at the beginning of the year, we all agreed that my presence would provide some additional security at headquarters, during film shoots (no pun intended), and whenever the need may arise.

From time to time, Ray will playfully ask, "Tony, are you packin' heat?"

Sometimes I answer. And sometimes, with a twinkle in my eye, I just give Ray a smile.

Well, for my birthday this year, I decided to treat myself to a new gun. When I retired from the Sheriff's Department, I had to turn in the firearm I carried for twenty years. And the other weapons I have are neither practical enough or tactical enough for life as a retired deputy sheriff. I needed something I could discreetly carry on my person that met my needs. So, I purchased the weapon pictured above: a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm Compact. Ain't she a beaut! (Okay. We law enforcement types get unusual birthday presents.)

Yesterday, as Ray, Mark, and I made our way to Hollywood Boulevard, Ray asked, "Tony, are you packin heat?"

"Yes, Ray." I answered with a smile.

"Does it have a name?"

"No, Ray, I don't name my guns. Some people do; but I just never thought of my guns that way."

"Well, we should come up with a code word, just in case we need it."

"Need what?"

"Your gun!"

"Ah, let's hope that never happens." I said. "Well you're always asking me if I'm packin' heat.

Why don't we use 'Paul Henry' -- 'P' for 'Paul,' and 'H' for 'Henry'. 'Packin' heat,' 'Paul Henry.'

How does that sound?

Ray thought for a moment. Ray is not only a master of analogies, but he is also a master of acronyms. "How about 'Ph.D.!'"

"Ph.D.?"

"Yeah. 'Ph.D.' 'Packin' Heat Dude!'"

We all laughed, and the acronym stuck. And that's how Ray Comfort conferred upon me my first (and likely only) Ph.D.

So, in the words of the radio legend, Paul Harvey, now you've heard the rest of the story. :-)

How weird is Ray Comfort?

This, the is an exchange of posts between Tony and a young believer.

Tony Miano,

I believe you misplaced this. No matter, that’s only part of why I’m emailing you. Rather, [and unfortunately] I find occasion to call account of a deed of your’s which I do not see as at all Biblical (quite the opposite, as I hope to convince you). Namely, your carrying of a gun.

First of all, please understand where I’m coming from. As something like a red-neck myself, I completely empathize with you for carrying a gun. I simply don’t believe you have the right. Did the Apostle Paul make any effort to defend himself? Or what of Steven? Or any of the other apostles? Yet their scenarios were far worse then your own, my friend. Rest assured you have the law on your side. Paul didn’t, but he by no means undertook to defend himself.

You talk enough about hell and judgment –you ought to be more practical about it. Could you honestly and deliberately take the life of an unbeliever, knowing very well where that person was going? Might I ask, whatever happened to turning the other cheek? Or is, perhaps, your ministry truly only about yourselves?

Provers 9:8 says “Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. Rebuke a fool, and he will hate you.” I think you get the point.

Sincerly, your brother in Christ,
Jonathan Brennecke

The Lawman replies:

Jonathan,

You close your e-mail with “Sincerely, your brother in Christ.” Yet the tone of your e-mail, young man, is anything but brotherly or Christian. While you ask some legitimate questions, the manner in which you ask them smack of sarcasm. If you are looking for a rational and respectful conversation, then I welcome it. But I don’t abide the disrespect of my children (some who are older than you), so why would I accept it from you?

So, if you are a Christian, then approach me the way a young Christian man would approach an older Christian man. Change your attitude and maybe we will have a conversation. “Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father” (1 Timothy 5:1a).

One of the reasons I removed the article you referenced is because I came to realize that it might be a cause of stumbling for some. You validated this by the tone and content of your e-mail.

Again, I welcome your questions, so long as you can behave in a respectful manner.

I am in the middle of a conference, at the moment. So, if you do decide to change the tone of your rhetoric, we may be able to continue the conversation in a few days.

So, the question not addressed, Just a slapdown for not showing enough respect.

Jonathan replies:

Tony Miano,

I’ll be the first to admit that my tone was rash –is rash– but love is rash. Love is audacious. Love is uncompromsing. If you must glean nothing more from my words than that, so be it.

I will tell you what love is not. Love is not patronizing, not derisive, not condemning.

I may be young enough to be your son, but I am not your son –don’t patronize me. The future belongs to the young, Tony. Get off your high horse already and recall that Jesus said to come to him like a child.

Jon,
Pesharim

Tony responds with:

I may answer your questions in a future blog post. But until your attitude changes, this will end our conversation.

In the first reply Miano said one of the reasons he removed the post was:

I came to realize that it might be a cause of stumbling for some.

and he accusses Jon of having done exactly that.
"Causing someone to stumble" is a Christian euphamism for "I can do this thing because I have rationalised it to myself, but if you try and do it, you are not sufficiently spiritually mature and it will lead you into sin".
They tend to use it with regard to things that are not explicitly forbidden in the Bible, like smoking, for example, or heavy metal, or big fat mustaches.

Manic Street Preacher #1

Over at the SMRT forums someone posted a link to this video of Tony "The Lawman" Miano.



Tony "The Lawman" Miano is a colleague of Ray "Bananaman Comfort" at Living Waters. When I watched this video I was appalled by the hypocricy and the cowardice.

The video is hosted on YouTube channel called "TheLawman104". It's a bit strange because it looks like it's his channel, it says "Tony" next to the name field, but in all the video descriptions he talks about himself in the third person. Very Odd. Ray Comfort's been known to speak of himself in the third person too. It must be some Living Waters delusion of grandeur thing.

He calls himself "The Lawman" because he's ex-cop, and he's big on preaching "The Law" of the Bible. He's also big on mustache, and reminds me of the cop from Village People. Or the leather man.

He also carries a gun.

That's right. Watch the video. Hear how he refers to the crowds as "rabid". He says "The most loving thing you can do for a homosexual . . . is to lovingly share the Law and the Gospel with them" I don't think Biblical law is filled with love for homosexuality. And if it's all done so lovingly, why carry a gun?

On the other hand, he also believes that homosexuals are an abomination to his god. That makes his gun even more worrying.

I will shortly publish the post he deleted from his blog, where he tells of why he carries the gun, and how Ray Comfort came up with the nick-name/codeword "PhD" for Tony's gun. I will also post the discussion between Tony and a young Christian who contacted him asking about the morality of an armed evangalist.

Child Abuse?

This lady and I grew up in the same country, Zimbabwe. We both left that country to find better lives elsewhere. That's where the similarity ends. For she is a fundimental born again Christian. And she believes her 4 year old daughter is a wretched sinner.

Sometimes during the day or before bed, she always asks me if she has been good, and I always try to be as honest as I can with her, and I will tell her what she has done wrong if I can remember. If she has been better than usual I will praise her and tell her. I have never said to her she has been a perfect little girl who has done nothing wrong all day, If I say that to her then I am a liar and I will be doing her more harm than good. I do not believe in teaching children self esteem or that they should feel good about themselves, because they should not. My daughter is a normal 4 year old who loves to play with her dolls and dress up, but everyday she finds that she is doing things that are wrong like doing something to upset her baby brother or not doing what she is told by her mum. So we have a problem, and this is an everyday battle. The problem is sin. I never taught my daughter to sin. This is because she, and as well as the rest of the human race have inherited a sinful nature from Adam. From the moment we are conceived we are sinners, Pslam 57:5. We are born with a desire to sin. We are all born God hating and evil.

The poor wee mite then told her mother that although she tries to be good, she can't and that she knew that only Jesus could help her to be good.
Jean thinks that she has left no imprint on this child and so it must be the Holy Spirit that has revealed this to the poor tortured girl.

This is bordering on child abuse, and I told her that in the comments.

I don't know if she will delete it, probably not because she is not scared of confrontation on her blog. She took a lot of flak for a previous post on her support for slavery.

Oh Jean, I am disappointed.

That is only a step away from child abuse.

4 years old and wracked with guilt daily.

"I do not believe in teaching children self esteem"

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear.

"So we have a problem, and this is an everyday battle"

Oh my word.

"She is a wretched little girl, who knows she is a wretched sinner who needs only a good saviour to help her."

Jean, that is terrible. Terrible. It amazes me that you and I who have some things in common can be so polarised, so far apart.

This post is one of the most shocking things I have ever read. And to think that you are pleased about it and want to share it, and to think that other people have written to say they admire you for it. Your poor little girl. If I was the praying kind I'd be praying for her right now.

The Mark of the Beast - tamed

The planet is a big place. And most of it is not the USA. Most of it is not Europe.
This is something that SciFi films and End Times believers always forget.

I was watching an episode of Farscape the other day. It was episode 6, Series 1 "Thank God It's Friday, Again" The Peacekeepers had drugged up an entire planet and had them growing the druggy root, which the Peacekeepers used in weaponry. Luckily the Farscape crew landed at the one town where the sole representative of the entire planet happened to be.
Which was lucky.

The program would have us believe that all the people on the planet grew the same crop. That all the people on the planet were under the control and reach of the Peacekeepers. It's not very likely is it?

And this is what SciFi has in common with End Time prophesy, the inability to grasp global scale.

Because with the current financial crisis, various christian knobs are getting excited and claiming it is a sign of the end. And when it is pointed out that the crisis will not last I read one person claiming that the solution to the crisis was
"International Socialism. The progression to worldwide totalitarian socialism is what is prophesied."
They go on about only being able to buy and sell if you have some kind of mark. And this is where I get global. Across the whole planet? So, while folks in USA and across Europe have some kind of mark/tattoo/chip that enables them to shop, peasant farmers in the Congo have them too? And fishermen in Bangladesh will have this chip? And trappers in Mongolia? They don't even have shops for chrissake! In Zimbabwe the official inflation rate is in the trillions percent and things are done by barter. Do you think Zimbabweans are going to get uptight about a tattoo? The shops are empty. So if the R
rapture and tribulations starts tomorrow, Zimbabwe will be exempt?

It's stupid. This antichrist, one-world government thing is so small minded. For the same reasons that the authors of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel and Revelations were incapable of percieving a world beyond their horizons, so we tend to think that what effects us and our countries can have planet-wide applications. Small mindedness, lack of imagination.
The Left Behind series tried to make a nod towards the effect of the rapture in other countries, but in the same way that Independence Day did, by showing an alien craft crashing near the pyramids. A token effort.
The reality is, that christians in America think that God is uniquely concerned with America, just like christians in Britain think about the tribulation causing problems shopping at Boots.
But the reality is that the world is a big, big place, and the mark of the beast is simply a logistical impossibility.

Satire, not very well done then

While reading one of my favorite blogs, barry beelzebub, I discovered that a Catholic priest, Peter Mullen is in hot water over offensive remarks he made about homosexuals in his blog. He has claimed he was being satirical. I wanted to see the original article to decide for myself whether it was offensive or not.

I couldn't find the blog, it has been taken down. But thanks to the wonders of internet caching it has left its traces. So I'm reposting it here to save it for others who may want to judge for themselves.

Everything in the blockquote is from Peter Mullen BA PhD, rector of St Michael’s Cornhill and St Sepulchre without Newgate in the City of London, and London's Stock Exchange. he has apologised repeatedly for the remarks.

Matthew Parris is wilfully refusing to give his readers his opinion about the recent "gay wedding" and about relationships between the church and homosexuals generally. He says, "When it comes to the church, synagogue or mosque, if you think the whole thing ridiculous, its hard to get excited about the ridiculousness of a subset of it. I should feel the same if morris dancers or the British Astrological Society tried to exclude gays."

So, for Parris, the views of billions of Christians, Jews and Muslims worldwide are of no more consequence than a couple of obscure sectional interests. From what point of privileged judgement does he thus discount 4000 years of civilisation? The great world religions have survived the criticisms of far more intelligent and better informed opponents than the ignorant upstart Parris. There is a whole history and literature of distinguished apologetics for religious belief, but Parris will attend to none of it - sufficient only to attract his disdain is mainstream religion's disapproval of homosexual acts.

Since Parris will not dirty his hands by entering theological discussions with his readers, perhaps I might answer for religious believers in the purely utilitarian terms which even the lofty Parris is bound to engage with. We disapprove of homosexuality because it is clearly unnatural, a perversion and corruption of natural instincts and affections, and because it is a cause of fatal disease. The AIDS pandemic was originally caused by promiscuous homosexual behaviour. Such promiscuity is itself an evil because its perpetrators merely use others indiscriminately for their own gratification, treating their fellows as sex objects and as means to an end rather than as ends in themselves. I should have thought that Parris, having rejected religious belief, might want to construct his moral beliefs on this Kantian humanistic imperative. But I suspect he is not really interested in morality of any kind - except as a special plea to excuse his lust for gratification at whatever cost to human dignity and the sanctity of human life.

It is time that religious believers began to recommend specific utilitarian discouragements of homosexual practices after the style of warnings on cigarette packets: Let us make it obligatory for homosexuals to have their backsides tattooed with the slogan SODOMY CAN SERIOUSLY DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH and their chins with FELLATIO KILLS. In addition the obscene "gay pride" parades and carnivals should be banned for they give rise to passive corruption, comparable to passive smoking. Young people forced to witness these excrescences are corrupted by them.

Let me continue the comparison with smoking which is banned in most public places. Those committing homosexual acts in public places - such behaviour being a crime in any case under the Homosexual Reform Act of 1967 - should be arrested, tried and punished. Parks, open spaces and public lavatories would at once become more wholesome places. There ought to be teaching films shown in sex education classes in all our schools. These would portray acts of sodomy and the soundtrack would reinforce the message that it is a filthy practice ending with the admonition: "We do, after all, know the importance of washing our hands after going to the lavatory."

But I should like to turn Parris' disdain for religion back on to him. If I consider that homosexual practices are vile, why should I concern myself with subsets of their aspects? I might as well concern myself with other minor irrelevancies such as the Doris Day fanclub and polo-neck sweaters

The Holy Spirit is the DubMeister

A bunch of guys have posted YouTube vids where they have overlaid drumm&bass tracks to clips of people freaking out and dancing in church.

I laughed a lot.

If you double click the vid to launch YouTube you will find many more.

Prayer, What's it all about?

Jesus said "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." (Matthew 21:22) and it is repeated in the Gospel of Mark "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mark 11:24)

This kind of prayer is obviously intercessionary prayer, praying on behalf of other people, praying for a change of events, praying for an outcome of some sort.

the difficulty is, as we all know, believers and heathen alike, prayers do not always get answered. Christians will often explain that God answers prayers in one of three ways: Yes, No, and Later.

Well, the "No" option is a direct contradiction of Jesus' promise. So Christians who are not getting their prayers answered will have to assume that either "Later" is in play, or, they did not have enough faith.

Others will explain that prayers will be answered, providing what is being asked for is in God's will. Well, if it is in His will, His plan, then it will come about anyway. It's His will. So there's no need to bother asking. And if it's not in His will, well again, no need to bother asking. Either way, no need to bother God.

Any ideas on how to resolve the many Biblical contradictions about prayer? Jesus tells us tio pray in private and secret so as not to be like the hypocrites, and yet in Paul's letter to Timothy, Chapter 2 entitled "Instructions on Worship" we are instructed: "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer"

Paul also wants us to bother God in 1 Timothy 2:1 "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior" Wouldn't have done anyone any good in the Holocaust would it? Or perhaps not a single person in the world prayed during 1939-1945 with enough belief.

Paradox

About the year 600BC the Cretan philosopher Epimenides of Knossos said "All Cretans are liars" and thus stated one of the oldest and best known self-referntial paradoxes.

If the statement is true, the nall Cretans ARE liars, but Epimenides himself was Cretan so he must have been lying when he said it. But if he was lying then ... and so on.

Now, I never knew that this paradox is quoted in the Bible. At least I did know because I have read the verse as part of the Letter to Titus but didn't know what it referred to. Reading the book "Aha! Gotcha: Paradoxes to Puzzle and Delight" by Martin Gardner taught me lots, but then I still didn't realise the reference in Titus. (Can't find that book, I must have lent it to someone)

The author of the letter (it is disputed as to whether or not it is Paul) says in Titus 1:12-13 - "Even one of their own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons." This testimony is true."

Bloody typical. Not only does the author miss the point completely, taking it to be an actual observation about Cretans and not as an exercise in logic, he further misquotes and attributes evil, laziness and gluttony to them. see my edit below.

And then to cap it off, in perfect irony, he adds "This testimony is true"
But, if it's true, then the guy who said it ('one of their own prophets') must be a liar so it's not true etc etc.

The author of the letter to Titus shows exactly the same mentality and ignorance that we see in today's popular christian apologists. If you spend any time reading Ray Comfort's blog you'll see what I mean.

I recommend you reach Ray Comfort's blog via the clever and sexy Raytractors. That way you can be vaccinated against the stupid before you inflict it on yourself.

edited to acknowledge my own ignorance, after further research:
The author of Titus is not misquoting, he is working from a stanza in the poem Cretica by Epimenides:

They fashioned a tomb for thee, O holy and high one—
The Cretans, always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies!
But thou art not dead: thou livest and abidest forever,
For in thee we live and move and have our being.

Minos is talking to Zeus, so the Cretan "lie" is that Zeus is dead. Which is yet further irony given that the Cretans seem to have been early atheists, or at least aZeusists.

This poem by Epimenides is also quoted in Acts 17:28

Not all recession is bad: baptisms down

Baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention have fallen to a 20-year low, a trend that is setting off alarm bells in America's largest evangelical denomination.
From Reuters

I was a Baptist, and our church put a lot of emphasis on full-immersion, adult baptism. We believed that salvation was thru faith in christ, and not by works, but that a truly born-again person would want to follow the commands of jesus, hence baptism, communion etc.

The article discusses the unease felt by Southern Baptists over the decline in baptisms, as it is an indicator of church growth, but as it interviews some of the nuttier delegates, some choice quotes result.

Evangelist Jim McNiel of St. Louis, the drop in baptism numbers was a sign that the biblical "end times" described in the Book of Revelation were drawing near.
"I see two factions. You have one for believers but you also have a faction from Satan and there is a strong battle looming," he said.

Yes, it's the Satan faction. They are a bit like lobbyists, but have more integrity.

Book Burning

From the Shreveport Times

About 30 people gathered for a regional revival Friday night that included a book burning as a statement to reach out to local residents.

"It is allowed for Harry Potter to be taught in our schools, but not the Bible," International House of Prayer pastor James Crawford said during the Shreveport Regional Unity of Faith Revival.

James Crawford is the crazy on the right doing the arm thing.
He is very pleased with himself.
He has posted in the comments section of the news story:

I am James Crawford the director of this prayer movement.
We are going to see the city established in the word of the Lord.
We will not tolerate this perversion anymore. We are the watchmen of the Lord and He is the only Lord worthy to reign in this city. Why, because he said so and He is God!!!

He would like other "watchmen" to call him on his cell phone: (318) 218-9836
or mail him at james@ihop-shreveport.com

Perhaps we can drop him a line too. Something along the lines of the arm-thing he's doing in the picture and some other famous book burners in the 1930's and 40's.

Anne Frank burns for eternity

Christian theology regarding judgement goes like this:
God is perfect.
When we violate His standard imparted to us through the 10 commandments, our offence is infinite because it is against in infinite God
Therefore infinite suffering is a just punishment.

I have paraphrased the wise "truthwar" who has a blog at The Truth War.

He has made this post on Anne Frank because the topic of the merits of Anne Frank and Hitler, and their eternal suffering has been recently discussed in the comments section on Ray Comfort's weird little blog. The synchronicity of subject matter and shared theology is too strong. Read his blog and Comforts and you'll see the same phraseology. For example they share this odd concept of "false converts".

They, and their supporters believe that, since what we do in life, ie our "works" count for nothing in the eyes of perfect Yahweh, they are both, Anne frank and Hitler, probably suffering eternally in hell.

And they think this is a good thing. Well, it must be a good thing mustn't it? It's Yahweh's plan, and Yahweh's justice.

Credit where credit's due, to both truthwar & Comfort - they do allow comment on their blogs. A rare thing amongst their kind.

Every day is April Fool's at Rapture Ready

I'm a glutton for punishment, and I've been reading the threads at the Rapture Ready forums.
Rapture Ready. Now there's a whacky world of weirdness. Just read their posting rules to see how uptight and twisted they are. I love rule 30. "No liberal agendas". Rule 16 states "We believe that the Holy Bible (old and new testaments, 66 books) is the only true Word of God in its entirety and fullness, is perfect without error and not open to private interpretations." But then in rules 11, 15, 26, 28 and 29 they ban any speculations on interpreting the scriptures. If I was god, passing my ideas to mankind via a book I'd make sure the meaning was unambiguous.

Anyway . . .

There was a joke posted about atheists, and it irritated me a lot, because the joke was stupid, rather than funny, and posted in an area where non-believers aren't allowed to post.
Here's the joke:
I have no idea if this actually happened, probably not, but thought it was good enough to share anyway.

(Some judges do have a sense of humour)
Have you heard about this case? Great answer from The Judge!

In Florida , an atheist bece incensed over the preparation of Easter and Passover holidays. He decided to contact his lawyer about the discrimination inflicted on atheists by the constant celebrations afforded to Christians and Jews with all their holidays while atheists had no holiday to celebrate.

The case was brought before a judge. After listening to the long passionate presentation by the lawyer, the Judge banged his gavel and declared,

"Case Dismissed!"

The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling and said, 'Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and many other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah...yet my client and all other atheists have no such holiday!'

The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said, 'Obviously your client is too confused to even know about, much less celebrate his own atheists' holiday!'

The lawyer pompously said, 'Your Honor, we are unaware of any such holiday for atheists. Just when might that holiday be, your Honor?'

The judge said, 'Well it comes every year on exactly the same date---April 1st! Since our calendar sets April 1st as 'April Fools Day,' consider that Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.' Thus, in my opinion, if your client says there is no God, then by scripture , he is a fool, and April 1st is his holiday! Now have a good day and get out of my courtroom!!

Way to go, Judge!
The particularly irritating thing was the way the numbnuts on the board presume it's a real story and not a joke:
"That is priceless!! I can just imagine the apoplectic looks on the faces of that lawyer and his atheist client!!
That judge deserves a medal!"
and
"I have seen the coming of this type of Holiday idea. I am very glad that the judge did have a great way of putting things. Unfortunately many other judges will not do this. We are in tough times. Buz and Moderators, your stuff was good. Check your pm. I love having the opportunity to share a truthful opinion, and even though I disagree with one of the posters, I would only gently tell them that Atheists have no love for our faith. God does not believe in Atheists. That is even more interesting.
Stand for what is righteous, true, perfect, praiseworthy, and even focus upon these things. I search for all the truth, and this situation is actually funny at the moment, but it may not do so well in the 9th circuit court CA."
If the story is true, where is the date, the names? What court was this? What courts have the rights to set holidays?
And the judge is talking bollcks anyway, because April Fool is not a public holiday. It's just a date with associated traditions, like Halloween or Valentine's day.
And there already are nonreligious holidays. Most countries have national day like July 4th or July 14th in France. In France we also have May 1st as a holiday (Labour Day)
I can't imagine any atheist pleading for a special holiday. I like the ones we already have just fine. Easter and Christmas fall so close to Spring Equinox and Winter Solstice that they make ideal times for a break and a celebration.
So, here's the joke re-hashed.
A christian & an atheist were talking at work.
"It's not fair that there are so many religious holidays and no special days for atheists"
"But you do have a special day" replied the christian
"I suppose you mean Haloween" said the atheist, because the christian might think all atheists were evil
"No, April Fool's day"
"What's April Fools got to do with atheism"
"Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no God.'"
Voila - same idea, same triumphant christian at the end, a mini-joke midway with the haloween thing and no bullshit about courts, judges or "pompous lawyers"