Oh, the ways this could go wrong!

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So apparently, China is starting a new program - a social scorecard , a rating system for all its citizens where your score determines what kind of things you have access to.  

 Yeah ... I don't see how this could go wrong at all, do you!?! 

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We Left Our Church Because of Calvinism (Things My Calvinist Pastor Said)

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[Yes, I know this is sarcastic, a little spicy and snarky, but I'm okay with that.  Someone's gotta say it.  For the text-only version, no memes,  click here .   For the memes only,  click here .  For the links only,  click here .  Also,  I broke this long post down into smaller posts, so click here for all the links to the individual posts in the  "Things My Calvinist Pastor Said" series .  All memes were created with  imgflip .  (This was updated in July 2020 , and it's being updated again in late 2025, early 2026.)] The inevitable has finally happened, the day we hoped would never come: The day we officially resigned from our church because of our pastor's dogmatic Calvinist preaching (May 20, 2019).   (From now on, I will try to call him our "ex-pastor."  And for the record, it was an Evangelical Free Church, which are being  taken over by Calvinism  all over the place.  So be wary an...
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Prayer, Faith, and God's Will

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(repost, summary of “Understanding God’s Will,” Question 9, Q9a -Q9i)             “‘Have faith in God,’ Jesus answered.   ‘I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.   Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’” ( Mark 11:22-24 )                    I have to be honest.   I struggle with this verse more than any other.   I really do.   I mean, it sounds pretty straightforward to me: believe that you’ll get what you ask for and you’ll get it.   Name it and claim it!   Sounds great!               But there’s a problem.            ...
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White horses and a cup of tea (part 1)

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I generally don't make New Year's Resolutions.  I mean I do sometimes, but I don't really see the point because they never last.  It's often more fun making the resolution than keeping the resolution, isn't it?  And so what started out as a grand idea on January 1st becomes a grand flop by January 31st.  We can waste more time planning and daydreaming about our resolutions than actually doing them, am I right?😁   (Besides, if it's important enough, we'll do whatever it is when we're motivated enough to do it, regardless of the time of year.)   And so instead of any grand resolutions these past several years, I've been trying to think of more light-hearted things to "resolve" to do throughout the year, relaxing things.   Who says resolutions have to be lofty or serious anyway? Such as these resolutions from the past several years: 1.  In 2024, my resolution was to wa tch lots of  sourdough videos , s tart growing my own sourdou...
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Are We At The Very End?

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I'm not the only one who thinks that we are at the very, very end: https://www.raptureready.com/2019/01/11/loving-exhortation-alice-childs/ At least, that is my prayer! Hallelujah! by the Newsboys In The Sky by Bob Carlisle and others Coming My Way by City Harmonic Break Open The Sky by TobyMac People Get Ready by Crystal Lewis I Wish We'd All Been Ready I Have This Hope by Tenth Avenue North Holy (Wedding Day) by City Harmonic Oh, What Love by City Harmonic. Sweetly Broken by Jeremy Riddle
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On Spurgeon's "Calvinism is the gospel"

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In the comment section of the Soteriology 101 post   "Calvinism Obscures the Simple Gospel" , Jeff left this comment, sharing an article that had the famous sermon from Calvinist Charles Spurgeon: Jeff writes:   “Charles Spurgeon: “Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.”   JULY 4, 2014 / DREW MERY If there is any doubt in anyone’s mind as to whether or not the so-called “Prince of preachers” was a Calvinist, let the following quotation, taken from his sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:23-24 (“Christ Crucified”), settle it in your minds–Spurgeon was most definitely a Calvinist. "And I have my own private opinion, that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what now-a-days is called Calvinism.  I have my own ideas, and those I always state boldly.  It is a nickname to call it Calvinism.  Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.  I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by fai...
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The Early Church and God's Gender

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I said in the last post that there was one article on a Christian News website that bothered me enough to remove the link to that website.  But then I re-added the link, and decided to simply write about the bothersome article here. The article is entitled "What The Early Church Thought About God's Gender."   In this article, the author is trying to make a case for God/Jesus being feminine, more feminine than the Word really portrays them.   I have no problem with saying that God/Jesus has a feminine side - a gentle, loving, nurturing side, like all people do to some degree.  Or with saying that since God created man and woman in His image then it must mean that feminine and masculine characteristics come from Him and are evident in His nature.  It's just that men got the more masculine traits and women got the more feminine, and that men and women together in marriage give us a more complete picture of the total nature of God. That's all fine.  But w...
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#1 Wrestling With God, 2015 (repost)

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[ I wrote this post in August of 2015.  But I am reposting it because I need to read it again.  I guess I need to read it again because life sometimes feels like one big "wrestling with God" match.  Wrestling with faith.  With life.   As I look back on these past several years, I am kinda amazed at how things turn out.  Or ... how they don't, I should say.  How real and raw and messy life can be sometimes.  These next numbered posts are taken from over these last few years, showing the progression of life, of the unexpected, of the "wrestling with God, faith, and life" moments.  This one goes up to August 2015, how beaten up I've felt over the years up till then.  And then comes the post about the hope I had that 2016 would be better.  And then comes 2016 - the worst summer of my life.  A life-changer for me.  And then, well, I'm not sure yet what I am putting after that.  But I'm reposting these because it's fasci...
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Why is Calvinism so dangerous? #2 (God wants whom to perish?)

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  [In this series, I'm breaking the long post   "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?"   into bite-sized pieces.] 2. The Bible says ...  God is not willing that any man should perish, He wants all to be saved, His saving grace is available to all. But Calvinism says ...  God predestined most people to hell for His pleasure and glory, His saving grace was never for the non-elect . 2 Peter 3:9 :   "... He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."   [However, Calvi-god predestines most people to perish, but then he says here that he doesn't really want anyone to perish.  Deceptive!  And if he gets glory for predestining people to perish, then isn't he denying himself glory by saying he doesn't want anyone to perish?  If predestining people to hell truly was glorifying to him, then shouldn't he - and Calvinists - celebrate people going to hell because it brings Calvi-god more glory?  If Calvi...
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Quoting from the POP Translation of the Bible, I Presume?

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It sounds like someone's been reading the POP translation of the Bible - the "Pile Of Poopies" version: A Gay Writer Who Forgot Almost Everything Jesus Said . This would be laughable if it wasn't so pathetically sad and desperate! And it's very interesting how his Bible included the "love one another" commandment, but forgot to include the actual greatest commandment ( Matthew 22:36-39 ): "'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment." And then comes the second commandment: "And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Avoid the Pile Of Poopies Translation!  Unfortunately, people love it because it comes with a permanent marker to black out anything you don't like, a highlighter to highlight only the things yo...
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Spiritual Warfare: Satan's Schemes #9 (bitterness, unforgiveness)

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This is the next-to-last of the "Satan's Schemes" posts in the Spiritual Warfare series (and it's a repost from something I wrote elsewhere)... and then I'll  move on. John 10:10 :  "Jesus said, ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy...'" To steal our peace, joy, and contentment.  To kill our hopes, passion, and Christian witness.  And to destroy our friendships, family, faith, and futures.  Among many other things.   And I think one of Satan's biggest tools for this is the snare of unforgiveness and bitterness.  If he can get us to focus on - and constantly ruminate on -  all our hurts, all the ways we’ve been cheated in life, the ways people let us down or treated us poorly, the ways God let us down, the ways we let ourselves down, all the things that've gone wrong, etc., then we'll grow more and more  bitter, discouraged, defeated, and closed-off... and farther and farther from God, His truth, other people, and any hope f...
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