THE BASE THEOREM
constructed many years ago...when I first got "saved"
SOME NOTES
about what I've learned since then
NOTES FROM ROMANS (PT. 1)
NOTES FROM ROMANS (PT. 2)
scientific problems that arise from the Bible...and some solutions
addendum (March 2010): these pages are here for archival/education purposes, not argumentative (despite their tone)
"But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain (Titus 3:9 King James Version)".
creation
evolution
the "global flood"
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Daily excerpt from 'A Year with C. S. Lewis' and 'Wisdom from the Proverbs' for the 31st of May
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31 May
Avoid Clarity
Upon learning that Wormwood's Patient has become a Christian, Screwtape illustrates techniques for confusion:
One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print. When he gets to his pew and looks round him he sees just that selection of his neighbours whom he has hiterhto avoided. You want to lean pretty heavily on those neighbours. .... Provided that any of those neighbours sing out of tune, or have boots that squeak, or double chins, or odd clothes, the patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous. At his present stage, you see, he has an idea of 'Christians' in his mind which he supposes to be spiritual but which, in fact, is largely pictorial. His mind is full of togas and sandals and armour and bare legs and the mere fact that the other people in church wear modern clothes is a real—though of course an unconscious—difficulty to him. Never let it come to the surface; never let him ask what he expected them to look like. Keep everything hazy in his mind now, and you will have all eternity wherein to amuse yourself by producing in him the peculiar kind of clarity which Hell affords.
—from The Screwtape Letters
Compiled in A Year with C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters. Copyright © 1942, C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Copyright restored © 1996 C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. A Year With C.S. Lewis: Daily Readings from His Classic Works. Copyright © 2003 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
| May 31
The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble. A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompense of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise (12:13-15).
The man's hands moved over the wood with great love and care. The sharp tools never gouged or split, but they cut into the wood with precision. Each joint was perfect, and the result was furniture of the highest quality. It made mass produced furniture look pathetic in comparison. Many people were annoyed at the high price tag that much of the furniture carried, but people who recognized the quality of the skilled craftsmanship did not hesitate to pay the price. Each piece of furniture carried with it love and devotion to quality.
In our lives, when we produce that which is good, we will receive good compensation. When we produce inferior results, we cannot expect our reward to be great. We should strive to be perfectionists in our relationship with God. The same love and attention we pay Him will be what we can hope to receive. God is anxious to give His children good things, and we can be pleased with ourselves when we know He is giving us that which we are deserving of because we have tried to be the best we can be.
prayer: Almighty God, giver of good things, author of all life, help me to be a craftsman at the trade of life. Let me live a life of quality, giving attention to the finer points of life, and always giving glory and honor to you. Amen.
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See more here
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I've always been fascinated with it...
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