Archive for October 2004

October 29, 2004

Random Fact of the Day

1:05 am | Nature | Random | Comments: 0

Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two helpless protesters to death.

October 25, 2004

The Number of a Man

6:50 pm | Religion | Comments: 0

Recently, I’ve been revisiting some old ground in my christian walk: Eschatology (the study of Last Things). I had a brief discussion with a friend who has accepted the Premillenial view of these matters. Having studied this pillar of Systematic Theology intensively in the first few years of my christian walk, I made some basic points to her which I will reiterate here.

By way of background, shortly after I became a christian (about the time I was fifteen years old), I became involved with a group of young college students who had all recently been introduced to the Christian faith. Eschatology became a real point of conflict among us (we were virtually all a- and post-millennial, with the exception of one Baptist guy who ended up getting upset and departing from among us). This period of about 3 years gave me the opportunity to iron out what I believe the Bible teaches regarding the Last Things. Eventually, I found that debating the issue was absolutely fruitless and needlessly divisive. This does not detract from its importance to the Christian faith, however. We need to exercise moderation in how we prioritize it in relation to unity, harmony, and love for one another.

With my friend I focused on one of the primary Eschatological characters in scripture: the Beast! I believe the prophecies of the Beast in Revelation and the Man of Sin in 2nd Thessalonians refer to none other than Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, or just Nero for short. If you’re interested in finding out why, read The Beast of Revelation Identified by Dr. Ken Gentry and The Mark of the Beast by Richard Anthony. Furthermore, most biblical prophecy has been fulfilled by Rome, focusing on the destruction of Jersusalem in A.D. 70 by Vespasian. This approach to biblical prophecy is known as Preterism, meaning “things that have past”.

There exists a school of thought known as Hyper-preterism: the belief that ALL biblical prophecy was fulfilled in A.D. 70, including the Second Advent and the resurrection from the dead. Please be aware that this postition has always been regarded as a Big-H Heresy by Reformed Theology, and also by Paul the Apostle (2 Tim. 2:17-18). I have seen several close personal friends adopt this heretical view and leave the church as a result. Hyper-preterism pulls the christian faith to pieces (for information, refer to A Brief Theologcial Analysis of Hyper-Preterism by Dr. Gentry). However, extremist and orthodox preterists alike agree that Nero was indeed the Beast of Revelation.

These are difficult things to consider. The study of Eschatology can often be as seemingly murky and dark as the prophecies with which it deals. Ultimately, we need to ask ourselves, “How will this affect how I live my christian life today?” Out of it all, we need to discover how God can be glorified through us. There alone can blessing be found.

October 24, 2004

Goofballs

11:49 pm | Culture | Politics | Random | Comments: 0

Lately I’ve been noticing how many goofballs there are. Take, for instance, Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. Everybody knows she was elected for two reasons: she’s a cute blonde, and Wayne County. And she’s been making of lot of Michiganders mad, both dems and GOPers alike. Next up, we have Rob Schneider. I shouldn’t have to say anything about that slimeball. Now that I mention that, most of Hollywood is worth adding to the Hall of Goofballitude.

I don’t want to be depressing, though. There’s good news out there. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. My spaceheater is working. I also found the book I was looking for all week long. Huzzah!

October 19, 2004

It’s Polltastic

1:13 am | Politics | Comments: 0

Yes folks, we’ve gone poll-crazy here at SIO. Can you count on them? No! Should you put any stock in them at all? No! Will the Red Sox win the Series? No! But I frankly don’t care. Polls are fun to look at, much like those cool electric zappy-balls that make lightning when you touch them.

You’ve seen our link to electoral-vote.com. Well, there is more out there than that, my friends. The format he’s got is great, but I don’t want anybody to think that endorsing that site is an endorsement of John Kerry (if you happen to read what he writes from day to day it’s pretty pathetic - but at least he’s got good polling “standards”). Another Kerrycentric poll site is 2.004k.com. Maybe you don’t like the idea of John Kerry winning the election. If that describes you, check out realclearpolitics.com and electionprojection.com. So what can you do with all this data? That’s anybody’s guess. At least you’ll have a good picture of what a U.S. map looks like when some states are colored red and others are colored blue, with some light and dark shades in the mix. Beyond that, you’re taking your chances. Life on the edge - SIO style.

October 18, 2004

Party!

1:16 am | My Life | Politics | Comments: 0

No plans for Election Night? Come on down to Steve Birn’s apartment in beautiful downtown Grand Rapids! Everyone is welcome. That is most definitely where the craziest, wackiest, most grammatical party is going down on November 2. Regardless of Steve’s plans to take over our church and turn it into a Jewish synagogue, he’s nothing more than a loveable little fuzzball.

Are the presidential elections really as tremendously important as they seem to be? Or are they ridiculously overhyped and blown out of proportion? Sure, it’s important, but I really don’t think it’s going to shatter my world completely if John Kerry is elected. I also don’t think that all my problems will be instantly solved when George W. Bush is re-elected. If you’re voting third party, you’ve already come to terms with losing, so what’s all this fuss about? One really important issue that I can see is the appointment of U.S. Supreme Court justices. I’d much rather have Bush doing that than Kerry. But aside from that, I think that too many people are pinning all their electoral hopes on the President and not enough on where the vast majority of the government is: the House and Senate. Can you tell me who your senators are? Mine are Levin and Stabenow. Ew.

October 15, 2004

Extremes

9:01 pm | My Life | Politics | Comments: 0

Rarely is it ever a comfortable temperature in my room. It’s on a corner of the house with two big outside walls that are uninsulated. Thusly, in the summer it’s buttcrack hot in here, and in the winter it’s buttcrack cold. That reminds of how useful the word “buttcrack” is as an adjective. So I’ve got my trusty spaceheater going. The thing with the spaceheater is that it’s quite extreme as well - get too close and you’ll burn your toes. Regardless, it’s all that stands between me and frozen-footdom.

I was thinking today about the minimum wage issue. John Kerry wants to raise it to seven bucks an hour during his presidency. Seems to me that’s a really bad idea; what if employers can’t afford that kind of cash, and have to lay off their unskilled labor as a result? I think that mimumum wage should be lower, actually. People should get paid what their work is worth. I realize that we need to keep people from being abused, but I really don’t think that scrubbing toilets in a McDonald’s is worth seven bones an hour.

October 12, 2004

The Seeds of Revolution

1:29 pm | Culture | Relationships | Comments: 0

Marriage has always been the foundation of society. Lately, we’ve been discussing “equal partner benefits” in Diversity class, as well as the proposed federal and state constitutional amendments defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman. In private discussion, one of my groupmates (we’ll call her “Sara”) said today, “I’m already loving and committed to my boyfriend, so why should I get married?”. My other groupmate (”Angela”, for the sake of discussion) said, “I don’t think you’re right, and I don’t want to think about this bull[poopie]”. The outcome of these discussions has revealed what many of us already knew to be true: most americans have a highly degraded view of marriage. They see it as pointless and old-fashioned.

Marriage needs to be defended as an institution; an institution that puts responsibility on the shoulders of the man and the woman to stay together. Even this naked and neanderthalic conception of marriage is foreign to today’s whiny, snot-nosed, liberal college types. Nevermind what the foundation of marriage should be. Their argument is that people change over time, and they should be able to change partners whenever they want. I say this is destructive, and history agrees with me.

Sara, the more contemplative and open-minded of my group, had this comment. “People back in the fifties, who stayed together alot more, had, like, stronger moral fiber than we have today”. Sara couldn’t bring herself to admit that we as a nation would do well to return to that strength of character; Angela couldn’t be bothered to think about it. Poor mush-brained liberal.

October 6, 2004

Take it Easy

2:05 am | Politics | Comments: 0

Debate season is now fully engaged, and people’s political veins have really begun to approach popping level. Tonite was the VP debate, with most people agreeing that VP Cheney held his own and got in a few good shots against Edwards. It was also agreed that Edwards’ most potent weapon was the smile that was pasted on his grill the entire time.

Are you anxious about the elections? Do you feel like you’re in the dark about what’s going to happen on November the Second, 2004? You want to be informed about the elections. You want to see some data and some facts or something. Look no further than the Electoral Vote Predictor, featured for a limited time only in our OwnageLinks™ section. This is easily the most comprehensive compilation of election data, arranged in the now-infamous red state-blue state view. Here you can find past election history for each state, the latest polling data from across the country, and even political humor.

Disclaimer: Third-party candidate (read “little guys”) enthusiasts may be disappointed by this website.

October 4, 2004

Chaos

7:30 pm | Religion | Comments: 0

A long time ago, a friend of mine made a really cool bumpersticker. It said, in big white letters against a black background, “God’s Law or Chaos”. There is truth to this statement. All order in this world is ordained by God, and without him there is only disorder and chaos. This inevitably leads to destruction, and these are the trademarks of demonic activity.

I recently saw the M. Knight Shyamalan movied “Signs”. An interesting part of the plot is that the lead character, a former clergyman, has renounced God and his existence. In his mind, man is on his own; a creepy line of his is “There’s nobody looking out for us.” What a hopeless thought. Where this true, life would be perfectly meaningless. There would be no laws. No order. No logic or rationality. The Bible teaches us that it is the goal of Satan and his agents to foster this exact form of denial of God. The results of their work are always destructive, often brutal, and sometimes even catastrophic.

We can see it, among many others, in the form of suicide by despairing individuals, terrorist attacks by worshippers of false gods, and genocide in the Sudan by some of the most brutal men ever born. What’s behind all this? It goes deeper than just men. Our enemies are much more powerful than that.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Ephesians 6:12