One Reason I Adore Chris Pratt

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It's always great to see people who won't back down from their faith.  This is one reason I totally adore Chris Pratt.

 Okay, make that two reasons.

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Updated: Alana L. 5R (no freedom needed)

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Point #5 still (updated) :   R:  "Sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign."     [A continuation of the last post on  "robots" , with more quotes to show what I mean.]   Not only do Calvinists believe that God - in His "sovereignty" - predetermines/orchestrates our sins but then punishes us for sinning, but they also believe (and this is downright crazy to me) that true human freedom is  not even a necessary condition  for accountability and responsibility.  They  don't think that  we need to have the real ability to make real free decisions among real options in order for God to hold us truly responsible for what we do.   But they think that we can be held accountable for sin simply because we had  the desire to disobey God, because we did what we "wanted" to do - even though, in Calvinism, God determined we'd want to do it.    Reformed commenter  Tiny-Development3598  said this in a...
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One Pastor's Prophetic Dream of Things to Come

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I am not one for listening to other people's prophetic dreams or visions.  Far too many people over the years have thought God gave them some sort of special insight, which proved to be false or unimportant.  I am especially wary now since everything seems so "end timesy."  It's far too easy to get caught up in sensationalizing or over-spiritualizing everything.  But sometimes, someone's account of their dream or vision makes you go, "Hmm."  And while I still don't put much stock into other people's "God told me X,Y, or Z" stories, I do think some things are worth listening to and storing in the back of your mind.  Just in case.  These are strange days and, if we are really headed into the end times soon, then things will probably only get more "supernatural."  And if that's the case, then anything's possible.   (On a different note, having nothing to do with this pastor's dream, but speaking of "strange d...
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Review of "Once an Insider, Now Without A Church Home" - A Look At How Churches Go Wrong

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I was recently asked to review this book – Once an Insider, Now Without A Church Home: One Couple’s Faith Crisis Due to the Infiltration and Spread of Authoritarianism, Calvinism, Complementarianism, and Covenants in the Am Evangelical Church, written by Amanda Farmer.   (Click here to go to the author’s website or click here to order her book on Amazon .) I am not getting paid or reimbursed in any way for this review.   But after reading it, I am happy to do it because I think it’s a message that needs to get out there as much as possible. For me, I will focus particularly on the “Calvinism” part of it, seeing as how it’s also recently taking over the church my family has attended for almost 20 years. I found this review of the book online by another blog-owner.   And since that blog owner did a great job of giving a thorough synopsis of the book, I will focus more on giving my impressions of it, how it affected me, and what it made me think. For starters,...
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#19 Modern-Day Pharisee (shortened)

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            (For full version of this Bible study "lesson," click here .  But I couldn't really shorten this one much anyway, except for the questions.)             “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Matthew 12:7             “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”   Matthew 5:20             There’s an older couple in our area.   They are a nice enough couple, but the wife is the kind of person who likes to comment on everyone else’s business.   On which plants you should get out of your yard, on how you should keep your outside lights on for safety, on which neighbors voted and which didn’t, and on how you shouldn’t be up that high on a ladder.               But her ...
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Does Ephesians Teach Predestination?

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(Today's four posts are the long, unbroken-up versions of my "predestination vs. free-will" series.  If you want the smaller posts, find them, along with other links, in "Links To Other Anti-Calvinism Posts."   They contain most of what you find in these four posts, just in smaller, easier-to-digest pieces.) (Slightly updated August 2020) I looked at Romans in the last post.    This time, I want to specifically consider Ephesians, the other book that is most used to support predestination.    Once again, while there is a lot in this book that can sound like predestination, I do not think it actually teaches that God decides who to send to heaven and who to send to hell. The first chapter of Ephesians gives us what seems like the strongest support for predestination. Ephesians 1:4,5, 11 :    “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.    In love he predestined us to b...
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Anyone Worn Out?

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Can anyone relate to the idea of being exhausted from the energy it takes to just keep breathing (first song link below)?  I've been there, too.  It's probably why I long so much for eternity.  I long for the day when we can finally rest from our troubles.  But until then, I cling to the Lord and take each day as it comes, with His grace, help, strength, and wisdom to get me through.  Worn by Tenth Avenue North Healing Begins by Tenth Avenue North By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North Hold My Heart by Tenth Avenue North Love, Heal Me by City Harmonic Fell Apart by City Harmonic Praise the Lord by City Harmonic Honestly by City Harmonic Oh, What Love by City Harmonic   I AM by Crowder Paralyzed  by NF I'll Keep On  by NF Lord, for those struggling to hang in there, to keep their faith, to keep on living ... surround them with Your heavenly angels to protect them from evil.  Comfort them and guard them while the...
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Links to "Some Carman Songs for Halloween" and Posts on Spiritual Warfare

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For some "fun" songs from my younger years: "Some Carman Songs for Halloween" And here is a bunch of links about Spiritual Warfare, from my post called "War Rooms, Praying Scripture, and Spiritual Warfare": I strongly believe that there are angels and demons.  That prayer matters.  That there is a spiritual battle going on around us all the time ... and that we need to get involved in it, actively and consciously.  (Something I haven't been doing lately.)   Regardless of if we want it or not, we are constantly facing spiritual battles.  But if we don't acknowledge them - if we stick our head in the sand and refuse to get involved, to put on our spiritual armor, to use the spiritual weapons that are available to us - we open ourselves up to deceptions, to defeat, to being very vulnerable to the strategies and attacks of the evil one. What I have done here is compile a list of posts on spiritual warfare, on praying Scripture, and on creating a War Ro...
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"Things My Calvinist Pastor Said" Conclusion: Our Resignation From Our Church

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(This "Things My Calvinist Pastor Said" series is a breakdown on this much longer post:  "We Left Our Church Because of Calvinism,"  which was written last year but updated July 2020.  All memes were created with  imgflip .) Conclusion: Anyway, it's finally final.  We sent our resignation letter in yesterday, simply stating that "due to strong doctrinal disagreements with the head pastor, we are resigning from our membership here."   We've been at that church for almost 20 years.  We've found some good friends there, raised our kids together, loved inviting people to visit our church with us, been part of some great programs, etc.  It's really been a great church.  One of the best and most biblical in the area.   And then this pastor came in with his Calvinism.  And after several years of being angry with his  manipulative tactics  and his  twisted-Gospel  which  turns God into an illog...
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Calvinist Bad Logic #15: Contradictions

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Bad Logic #15 :  I've talked about this already, but in Calvinism, contradictions don't matter.  They will state clear contradictions, and then say "Oh, but we don't have to understand how it all works together.  We just have to accept that this is how things are.  And God can do whatever He wants because He is God." ANY group that tells you to accept something without understanding it should be viewed as a cult! Christianity itself is a reasonable faith that makes sense.  God is a reasonable God that makes sense.  The Bible is reasonable and makes sense. That is, when you understand it all the way it really is.  The way it's supposed to be understood (as much as we can understand anything). And the Bible tells us to know Scripture deeply, thoroughly, and accurately so that we can handle it properly and have real answers for real questions. And yet Calvinism tells you "You don't have to understand it.  And you shouldn't look too deepl...
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Two Reposts: Do You Grieve? Innocent By-Standers?

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These are two posts I wrote over 4 years ago on my other blog (updated slightly for this blog), but they seem so fitting right now. Do You Grieve? “... Then the Lord called to the man clothed in linen ... and said to him, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.”              As [Ezekiel] listened, he said to the [other men], “Follow him throughout the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion.... but do not touch anyone who has the mark....”     ( Ezekiel 9:3-6 )                Do you grieve over the condition of our country?    Over the ways people are trying to erase all signs of God, to make Him illegal, to excuse immorality, to change biblical black-and-white into fifty shades of gray?    Do you ...
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