Monthly Archives: August 2011

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I don't listen to Glenn Beck very often, but this caught my attention today.

Beck was talking about this New York Times opinion piece.  Mocking the Time's linking of a belief in God and a belief in space aliens seems absurd.

Then it hit me.

Beck is a Mormon.

The god of Mormonism IS a space alien.

If a candidate for president said he believed that space aliens dwell among us, would that affect your willingness to vote for him? Personally, I might not disqualify him out of hand; one out of three Americansbelieve we have had Visitors and, hey, who knows? But I would certainly want to ask a few questions. Like, where does he get his information? Does he talk to the aliens? Do they have an economic plan?

Yet when it comes to the religious beliefs of our would-be presidents, we are a little squeamish about probing too aggressively.

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I have an iPod (not used) and an iPhone (attached to me) and I was gifted with an iPad (with me most of the time.)

There is an amazing number of apps - I found one that will store knitting patterns and keep track of my rows...and another that is a ruler.  I no longer have to carry patterns and tape measures.

And an eating log.

and games....

The three I use most are

#1. Cozi.  I've got the app on my phone and pad, Tom has it on his iPad.  I can put my grocery list on the site from my computer, and anybody with the app can add to it - I access it at the store and if it's not on the list...don't blame me for not buying it!

On Cozi, I also take a few minutes at the start of the week to put my Scripture reading list into a Cozi "to do" list.  that way, I can open my

#2 - ESV Study Bible and read anywhere.

#3 - Kindle App.  There are WAY too many books that are free, or $.99.  And it's way too easy to click on the "buy now" and spend too much on books.

While I'm away from home, I read the kindle app.  At home, I mostly read the "hardware" and if it's a book that I'll want to loan or mark up, I get both.

 

(NOTE:  I do have a twitter account that I probably don't use the right way.  I twitter what I'm reading, as I read it...keeping my reading list in the sidebar of my blog.)

 

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1) we stayed at the KOA in Oscoda, MI.

This morning I got an email from them, asking me to rate the stay.  I said that the sites were great, bathrooms were clean and bright...but I wish they had told me about the train that runs right next to the campground.  In the middle of the night.

2) For me, camping is the death knell of eating primal.  it should be easy...cave-folks LIVED camping.  But no.  S'mores, hobo pies, hot dog buns.  I am SOOOO off the wagon.

3) Tom played miniature golf.  Well, we all did, but Tom brought up the idea.  He did really well and I'm not sure if it's because a) his vision is getting better or b) he's getting used to seeing the way he sees and is accommodating or c) the rest of us just suck that bad.

4) Gary and Anita (my cousin and his wife) and her son and DIL stopped by the campsites and the Lumberman's Monument to enjoy and eat.  We need to start inviting cousins to the camp out.

5) Next year, it's Dave's turn to pick.

 

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"Lord, Teach Us To Pray" by Andrew Murray

Cost:  free

Popular Kindle Highlight:

Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray. He did not speak much of what was needed to preach well, but much of praying well. To know how to speak to God is more than knowing how to speak to man. Not power with men, but power with God is the first thing.

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Jonathan Dodson, Resurgence blog, references a book, "God Is Not One," by  Stephen Prothero.

The basis of the book is good - but if we are going to compare religions that don't look very much like Christianity, I believe it is even more important to look at religions that DO look very much like Christianity.

On Page 12 of his book, Prothero writes:

And so it goes with all the world's religions.  Christians align themselves with Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, and fast-growing Mormonism may well be emerging as Christianity's fourth way.

This is a problem.  Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Protestantism have a few things in common, that Mormonism does not share.

  • The Trinity
  • Christ as eternally existent, not a created being
  • the mortality of man (we do not become gods, with our own planets
  • God the Father as eternally existent, not a created being
  • salvation by grace (compared to "we are saved by grace AFTER ALL THAT WE HAVE DONE."

Mormonism is not Christianity.  To blur that line, to put the gospel on that line...believing in a 'different Jesus' - Mormonism's Jesus - could have eternal consequences.

via a post at The Resurgence.