Greeting Card Headaches

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Finding the right greeting card can be so frustrating.  

 Like, where is the "I'm sorry you got arrested and will probably spend the rest of your life in prison ... but even though this terribly affected our family and friends forever, I love you anyway and hope you have as merry of a Christmas as you can, under these circumstances" kind of card?

 Oh, the headaches of trying to find the perfect card!
(And, no, I'm not joking.  I mean, yes I am, to a degree.  But in a "if I don't laugh about it, then I'll cry" kind of way.)

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Updated: Alana L.: 5O (author vs author)

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[I redid Point #5 and #6 in the Alana L. series on my other blog (and re-lettered the posts).  But instead of going back and changing the already-posted points on this blog, I'll just add the posts in their own little "series."]   Point #5 still :   O:  "Sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign."       This is not technically a conflation (or maybe it is), but it's a sidenote triggered by this sentence in the last post: "[Calvinism]  truly makes God the author*/cause of all sin and evil, despite a Calvinist's insistence that it doesn't." *Bonus Note: Author vs Author When confronted by the fact that their theology makes God the author of all evil, the cause of all sin, Calvinists will inevitably refer to the Westminster Confession:  " God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass:  yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin ." [...
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Pray for Kanye and Kim

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First off, let me say that I have never been a fan of the Kardashians or of Kanye.  I have never watched an episode of the Kardashians, nor could I identify even one Kanye song.  So this isn’t coming from a super-fan of either of these people.  This is coming from the heart of a Christian who knows how strong the spiritual battle is and how much we need prayer. I am asking other Christians out there to pray for Kanye and Kim. I know that there are a lot of Christians who mock Kanye’s conversion.  But I don’t.  I would NEVER mock another person whose brokenness led them to Christ.  That has got to be one of the quickest ways to discourage a new Christian, someone who needs the support of other Christians to help them grow in faith and wisdom.  And yet, here are fellow “Christians” ripping apart a new believer instead of coming alongside him and encouraging him.  Shame on them! Shame on them!   It's hard enough to be a Christian, even h...
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Some Great Anti-Calvinism Videos

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I don't necessarily agree with everything in the things I link to, but they are definitely worth watching ... Hitler and Calvinism  - Love it!  Love it!  Love it! Greg Boyd - Calvinism Refuted in 10 Minutes  -  Excellent!  MUST WATCH!!!  And he makes a great point about how Calvi-god is basically worse than the devil because at least the devil is honest about who he is, and so you know what you're getting with him!  But not so with Calvi-god! Man Saved Out Of Calvinism Gives Testimony Questions That Calvinists Cannot Answer (Calvinism Is Not Biblical!) Why I'm Not A Calvinist A Lead Pastor Leaves Calvinism and Apologizes to the Congregation for Misleading Them   (And you can google many more great videos on YouTube from Leighton Flowers at  Soteriology 101 ) Are Calvinists Saved?   (More great videos at  Beyond the Fundamentals ) Dave Hunt: "What Love is This?" Also, a fun 6-minute "satire" video  we just found:  "The...
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#11 Be Still (shortened)

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(For the full version of this Bible study "lesson," click here .)             Psalm 46: 10 :   “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”             That is one of my favorite verses.  To me, this verse is all about humility.   A humble person is one who has learned to trust in God’s goodness, love, and faithfulness so much that - despite the storms that rage around - they can “be still” because God is God!   A humble person desperately desires to be near the Lord and to bask in His presence, and so they have learned the importance of being physically and mentally still with the Lord at regular times.   And a humble person also knows that everything is about God’s glory!   He will be exalted!!!             Oh, I love this verse!!!
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So this is what we've come to!?! Wrongful Birth Lawsuits!?!

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Yeah, all of this Social Justice stuff and the "entitlement attitudes" and the lack of taking responsibility has made us Much! Better! People! Wrongful Birth Lawsuits (Because apparently having Down's Syndrome is a good reason to abort a baby.  And if you didn't get the chance to abort, it's a good reason to sue and get money for having to deal with the fact that your Down's Syndrome child lived, much to your dismay.  Which, of course, will drive the medical prices up for everyone.): Queensland Couple Suing For "Wrongful Birth" After Daughter Was Born With Down's Syndrome Angry At Down's Syndrome Baby, Mom Sues Hospital For Wrongful Birth Update: Couple Wins Down's Syndrome "Wrongful Birth" Suit The "right to abort" an unwanted child now means we get the right to have people give us money if we missed the chance to abort an unwanted child!  So ... those who would...
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"But predestination!" (my comments 1-4: election)

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Okay, so here's my comments 1-4 on the pastor's predestination sermons ( in the post "When Calvinists say 'But predestination!'" ).  I'll have more posts with more comments coming up.  I don't cover all the sermons or go in order, but I do want to address some of the more important points. This series was written mainly for my ex-church, so they could see the Calvinist pastor's own words, and why I think he's wrong.  In the posts following this one, I will examine in more depth some of the things he preached. Here's the posts in the whole series:  the pastor's sermons  ("When Calvinists say 'But predestination!'"), and my comments  1-4 (election)  and  5-6 (Romans and sovereignty)  and  7-9 (depravity, Book of Life, predestine)  and  10-11 (shaming tactics, Feb. 2015)  and  12-14 (dead, regeneration, born again)  and  15 (total depravity, manipulation)   and  16A (God's Will, babies)  and...
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The Importance of Brokenness

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Such a great sermon, one we can all learn a lot from and be encouraged by: "Encountering God's Process"   by Tony Evans (And here's a great 10-minute video from his daughter, Priscilla Shirer:  "We're Desensitized to our Blessings."   It just seemed to speak so well to the crazy world we're living in right now, maybe because now seems like the perfect time to dig through all the distractions around us to find Jesus.)  And it's funny because just the other day, I was updating and typing up a "Bible Study/workbook" thing I wrote years ago, called  "Through the Refining Fire: Your 'Sweetly Broken' Journey,"  and the stuff Dr. Evans was saying in the beginning was almost exactly the stuff I had just typed up, about how God usually has to break us to rebuild us, how it's part of the process of spiritual growth.   I am sending this "Through the Refining Fire" workbook to my relative  who's in jail  because ...
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TULIP's Totally-Depraved Doctrine (a snippet)

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[This is a snippet from  another post (but slightly updated here) that will be coming up later.]  Calvinism's TULIP petals are all built on each other, one after the next.  And it all starts with "total depravity" (their bad definition of it) : R.C. Sproul  ( Total Depravity part 1 ) :   "... if a person really embraces the doctrine of total depravity, the other four points in this five-point system more or less fall in line. They become corollaries of this first point." And so if they can get you to buy into their view of total depravity (as "total inability"), they can easily get you to buy into their whole TULIP, ensuring that you will become a Calvinist. Because if we are "totally unable" to believe on our own, then God has to decide who believes (unconditional election)...  which necessarily implies a "limited atonement" because Calvi-Jesus wouldn't die for those predestined to reject him...   which then requires "irre...
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