My Favorite Part of Avengers Endgame (Not A Spoiler)

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Avengers Endgame was a great ending to a great movie series.  And my favorite part?  Thor.  Everything having to do with Thor.  The best!  They couldn't have written it better.  And that's all I'll say so that I don't spoil anything.

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Thank you, reddit/reformed. I'm honored!

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[I'm sneaking this post in between the regular bi-weekly (every other week) posts on both this blog and my Anti-Calvinist Rant blog.  (Did you know that bi-weekly can mean both "every other week" and "twice a week"?  What the heck, those are like total opposites!)] Commenter Senior-Emergency-944   started a thread  on Reddit/Reformed   called  Part of me wants to affirm it. But how do you refute this?!  which linked to my post  "But Calvinists don't say God causes sin and evil!" , asking for advice on how to refute the Calvinist quotes I shared about God causing evil.  If I was able to reply to Senior (I don't have a reddit account), I would've said this... That's awesome!  Thank you.  I'm honored that you brought up this post for discussion among reformed Christians.  And I think it's great that you're willing to examine this issue and think deeper about it, to face the dark, uncomfortable truth of what Calvinists really be...
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Spiritual Warfare: Satan's Schemes #6 (half-truths)

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(We're getting closer to the end of the "Satan's Schemes" section, I promise.  A few more to go, then we'll move on.)   Okay, so last post  in this series we saw that Satan "planted" thoughts in Eve's mind, enticing her with new ideas.   But it wasn't against her will, for she was a willing listener - willingly engaging in conversation with him, willingly contemplating what he said, willingly entertaining things that she knew contradicted what God said. “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’    For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.    Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”    ( James 1:13-15 ) [May I suggest praying right now that God shows you if there's something you're dabbling with that may lead you astray or if you're ente...
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Merry Christmas To All!

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Merry Christmas, Everyone!  May God bless you today and this next year.  May He show Himself to you in new ways, to encourage you, to help you along the hard paths, to restore your faith in Him (or draw you to Him for the first time), to lift you up when your heart is broken. A song that I love:  Hallelujah Christmas   (Cloverton) "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the LORD." Luke 2:11 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  John 3:16 "... if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.... Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  Romans 10:9, 13
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Calvinism's Heart-Breaking Destruction

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Wanna see some of the real-life destruction that Calvinism does to hearts, souls, and faith?   Here are some comments (warning: bad language ahead) from a Reddit post called  "Calvinism is disgusting" , showing how people - who don't realize that Calvinism is NOT biblical - have been hurt by Calvinism and have ended up rejecting God altogether instead of just rejecting Calvinism.  Sadly, it's because they don't know that there's a  big difference  between the God of the Bible and the god of Calvinism, between the Bible's hope-filled gospel and Calvinism's sick, hopeless, twisted half-gospel. The reddit post starts out with this comment (I added punctuation to make it easier to read):  "I had a discussion with a Calvinist last night and it's more gross than I thought.  After questioning him for over an hour, it basically boiled down to the dude admitting that god predestined innocent children to a life of suffering and then hell, and that same ...
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If They Mated ...

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I think I stumbled upon the perfect "If They Mated ..." scenario for who I look like and how I act.  (You know, when they take two people and morph their faces into one to show what their offspring would look like if they mated.)  I wasn't trying to figure this out or anything; it just came to me as I was watching The Hobbit recently.  And once I saw it in my mind, I couldn't unsee it.  Then after I thought about possibly sharing it with all of you, my mind won't let it go until I do.  And so here it is, much to my chagrin... I kid you not, if you mixed these three characters - their looks and their personalities - you would totally have me.   Frankie Heck from The Middle (Someone once told me I looked like her, when I was a lot younger.  Actually, it was when she was in Everybody Loves Raymond , but we're both a lot older now.  And I was told once I looked like Winona Ryder, for a split second.  Ah, to be young again!) Bard...
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A "Parody" Of John Piper's "How to Teach and Preach 'Calvinism'"

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Check out this article by John Piper called "How to Teach and Preach 'Calvinism'" .  Now here is my take on what Piper really means to say, on how Calvinists teach and preach Calvinism:  1.   Always point to a Scripture verse, even if it's taken out of context, and say "See, it's in the Bible, so you have to believe it, even if it doesn't make sense."  Such as, if you point to a verse with the word "predestined" in it and say "See, the Bible teaches predestination," then they will be more willing to accept Calvinism (without questioning exactly what it is that is "predestined").  The more verses you refer to, the more they'll trust you and the more biblical they'll think Calvinism is. 2.   Always associate Calvinism with "the truth" and "the Gospel" and "God's Word" and "God Himself."  Tell people "It's okay to struggle with the 'truth'...
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Praise The Lord

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How I'm feeling today:  Praise The Lord by City Harmonic and Blessed Be Your Name by Newsboys. A hard lesson to learn  - learning to praise in the pain.  I still stink at it sometimes.
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Little Drummer Boy #1

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My all-time favorite classic Christmas song has got to be the Little Drummer Boy.   If I’m listening to this song and start to think too much about it, I start to well up with tears.  Every time. My sons occasionally ask me why this is my favorite Christmas song.   “It’s stupid and it doesn’t make sense,” they say. I answer like this: “This song is about a little boy who’s poor.  And he wants to bring Jesus a gift.  But he doesn’t have anything to give him.  And so he gives the baby Jesus the only gift he has to give – a song.  And this poor boy is drumming his little heart out for the Lord, because that’s all he has to give.  But it’s enough.  And the baby Jesus smiles.” Usually, I am trying to hold back tears as I share this with my sons.  But they simply reply that it's still stupid, before running off to play. But that’s okay. I don’t expect them to get it yet.   And in some ways, I almost hope...
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"My Corona Blend": An Essential Oil Blend for Diffusers

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(Great, now I'll be singing "My Sharona" all day!) This is an essential oil blend I made to put in our diffusers at night while we are facing this coronavirus pandemic.  I picked oils that are known for their powerful anti-viral properties, that are good against colds/flu/fever/infectious diseases, that are good for lung/respiratory health, and that help stimulate the immune system.  (I call it "My Corona Blend" for my own reference, but I make no promises about its ability to defeat the Coronavirus.) The smell of oregano and thyme really come through in this.  It smells a bit strong, but pleasant, like a lemon thyme herb plant.  If you want a less oregano/thyme smell, add about half of both of those oils. (Check out safety recommendations for each essential oil to see if they are safe in a diffuser for your family, depending on the age of everyone in your house and whether they have compromised immune systems or not.  And then adjust accordingly, a...
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A Tale of Two Gospels

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  In my post  "A Tale of Two Sermons" , I shared something the Calvinist pastor at my ex-church preached, which was...  "The key verse in Jonah - the one that the rest of the book of Jonah hinges on - is 'Salvation belongs to our God.'  Tim Keller  [Calvinist!]  says this: 'If someone is saved, it is wholly God's doing.  It is not a matter of God saving you partly and you partly saving yourself.  No!  God saves us.  We do not and cannot save ourselves.  That is the gospel.'   And that is the message of Jonah: Only God elects.  Only God sovereignly draws.  Only God sovereignly convicts us of sin.  Only God sovereignly opens blinded eyes." And here's a segment from that post sharing my comments about it, with a few edits and additions (I think this should get its own post because it's a crucial point): 1.  W e all agree that God saves us, that we cannot save ourselves.  But what Keller - and all Calv...
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