Best Web Junk (June 27)

First, something serious.  You really should read this, and think about your church’s business meetings – from Bart Barber

A bunch of really cool photos from Mars

If you’re going to the olympics you can’t order “Bean curd made by a pock-marked woman”…sad.

I used to watch WPSD news every day, but I never saw a chicken in the forecast – from Dave Barry

or aliens

Do Critics Matter?

I heard this story yesterday.  And it got me to thinking.  Why do I care about game reviews when I don’t care at all about movie reviews?

I occasionally read movie reviews, but at least as far as critics are concerned, movies that they love, I can almost count on hating.

But video game reviews are different.  I tend to be in agreement with video game reviews very often.  The only exception is that game reviewers usually don’t mind vulgarity, and that is enough to keep me from playing a game like GTA, that may be fun, but I can’t stand the hyper violence or horrible language of those games.  I also don’t like games where you have to kill a lot of people. My theory is that game reviews are very practical, and less about opinion.  Game reviews point out actual flaws in games, like a stupid auto aiming gun, or a camera angle that keeps half the story hidden.

So feel free to chime in.  Does what movie or TV critics have to say matter to you?  Do you also place more faith in game reviews?

Here’s a list of game franchises I realy like

Splinter cell – A lot of sneaking, very little killing

Prince of Persia – Cool puzzles and wall running

Madden – I have bought every madden since 92 (that’s pretty sad)

Burnout – Crashes is fun

Christians & Climate Change

Yesterday I saw this comic, and somebody forwarded me this story, and it got me to thinking about “climate change” I put climate change in quotes because it use to be called global warming, until the globe actually cooled last year. Now it’s always called “climate change.”

I realize that this post is about two months too late. I missed all the hype surrounding the SBC statement by Jonathan Merritt. And I missed the big “We get it” statement by the ERLC.

But here are my thoughts anyway…

I have no idea whether humans are causing global warming or not. I will admit that it seems like climate change is real. I found An Inconvenient Truth to be rather convincing, but I cannot deny the stats from earlier that the world cooled last year. So, to clear this up, it does seem like something is going on, but I am not sure it is caused by humans and our activity on this planet. Now that I have established such a thoroughly fence-sitting position let me bottom line it for you.

For Christians, it doesn’t matter whether or not humans are causing global warming. It seems to me that the real issue is stewardship of the planet. We only have one planet to live on, at least until we figure out some new technology to put us on Mars. But I must say that the middle panel of the comic is correct. Stewardship of creation is a secondary issue. Just so that I am clear, there is only one great commission. There is only one duty that rises above all others for Christians. We are to spread the gospel, and preach to all the lost. That, however, is not an excuse to destroy what we have.

There are major problems on both sides of this issue. The people who say that this God’s world and He will take care of it are being irresponsible and simply unbiblical. God gave Adam the job of ruling over creation right in the beginning  And the simple fact is that he expects the same of us. We are to take care of the world.

The other side describes it as a “planetary emergency,” and says “[global warming] threatens the future of human civilization.”  So Gore believes that the end of the world as we know it will be because of global warming if something is not done to stop it. The problem with that is the hyperbole of it all. I’ll state this plainly.  The main problem with the world is sin. It will be the cause of the end of civilization. No debate about that one. We doomed the world a long time ago. And there is no saving it. The greatest crisis ever to face mankind has already been settled. This world will end.

Let me wrap this all up. We must take care of the earth, just as we take care of our homes, our bodies, and our money, but climate change is not the greatest problem the world ever has faced, sin is.

And just in case you were wondering, I could sign the creation care document in good conscience.

What happens when I link to a popular blog

Actually these are trackbacks, plus they were very popular topics.

The first is Bart Barber and the topic of the [then upcoming] Southern Baptist presidential election

The other is Jarrod Morris (on the same day he was linked by flowerdust.net) and the topic of christians and drinking.  Something everyone has an opinion about.

And the places where it bottoms out are Sundays.  Apparently no one reads blogs on Sundays.

Best Web Junk (June 20)

Whether this photo is a tornado or not, it’s pretty amazing.  Better yet.  Click here for a bunch of interesting pictures of the flood

The best fail I saw this week – This has to be a joke

I think I said this a while ago – via Digg

Woman dies in front of TV, not found for 42 years – via Digg

Why is Dana not at work tonight?

Feedbags = funny

Christians & Drinking

I left this comment in this blog earlier today.  So I’ll ask my readers to answer it.

Here’s a question no one has ever answered satisfactorily for me.
-Why does a Christian want to drink a beer?-
If you know it’s wrong to get drunk and you don’t need a little alcohol to stay dysentery free, then why?

I do not want a discussion about legalism and christian freedom in my comments. I simply want an answer to this question, “What advantage do you get from drinking?”  Why do it?

I get the idea from all the people who argue that it’s ok that the main reason that they want to drink socially is because they were taught that it is wrong.  It is pure rebellion.  In fact, the best reason I’ve ever gotten from anybody when I asked this question in person is that it is fun.  Also I’m probably not going to buy the argument that it is delicious.  Nobody lives the taste of beer the first time, and most of us are not in the habit of drinking stuff we think is nasty until it starts tasting good.

I am conceeding that the Bible doesn’t say “thou shall not consume alcohol”  and that it does say “be not drunk with wine.”  Let’s not have a discussion of whether or not it is okay.  I want to know; why drink at all?  Especially since there’s no clear line between sober and drunk.

Happy Firefox Day

Firefox 3 releases today and the mozilla folks hope to set a new record for downloads in one day. It’s supposed to be awesome and you know you’ve always wanted to see the internet without IE (although IE only accounts for 42% of the visitors to my church website.)

So what are you waiting for…go get firefox now

Be ready for a slow download. Setting a record takes a lot of bandwidth.  Also, sooner or later all your extensions will be updated, they will work again.  Don’t worry.

100 Things to do Before I Die (okay…actually about 40)

I have long said that I have only 1 material goal in my life – visit and do something meaningful (experience the people or geography) in all 50 states – but I have recently seen some lists like this on different blogs, so I decided to make me a list of 100 things to do before I die. Most of them are just things it would be nice to do. But some of them I take seriously and actually work for. I’ll try to put the important ones at the top of the list, but outside of the top 10 they are pretty much just random.

Feel free to comment on my list, or put your own top 10 list in the comments.

44.  Win my fantasy football league again

43. See the northern lights

42. Memorize the book of James

41. See one of my youth group alumni become a career missionary

40. Go on a foreign mission trip (to the third world)

39. Travel somewhere by train

38. Eat frog legs that I gigged myself. (I’ve done this many times but not in over 5 years)

37. See a World Series game

36. Earn a ThM (only because it’ll probably be a necessary step toward my PhD)

35. Get a passport

34. Donate to my alma mater

33. Witness 52 times in 1 year

32. Teach an ESL class

31. Eat a crazy expensive meal

30. Read 24 books in a year – Done 2008

29. Beat Phil Thomas at Scrabulous – Done 8-26-08

28. Have a really great looking yard

27. Grow a 100 lb pumpkin

26. Get 100% on one song at intermediate level guitar on Rock Band

25. Fish all the open lakes on Ft. Bragg (Done 10/24/08 Last one was Smith Lake)

24. Teach on a university level (this one may possibly happen in the fall)

23. Write a book

22. Lead 10 people to Christ in one year (2 so far this year)

21. Catch 20 different species of fish (5 so far this year)

20. See a race at Daytona

19. Go on a cruise

18. Catch a 10 lb bass

17. Become scuba certified

16. Get 500 blog hits in 1 day

15. Write 500 blog posts

14. Write a list of 100 things to do before I die

13. Make a budget and keep it

12. See a TV show taped live

11. Visit 6 continents

10. Catch a 7 lb Bass

9. Go peacock bass fishing in the Amazon River

8. Have me some kids

7. Earn a PhD

6. Be completely debt free

5. Go 3 months without missing a single day of quiet time

4. Lose 80 lbs

3. Get married

2. Become a Certified Apologetics Instructor

1. Visit and do something meaningful in all 50 states

Best Web Junk (June 14)

I was away most of the week and I wanted to do that final update on the convention so these are a day late and short.  Enjoy anyway

Sexism; funny? How about a train wreck?

Grandmother with a machine gun – via the ninja

Final Thoughts on the SBC 2008

I didn’t know how to wrap up my experience at the 2008 SBC, so I decided to just make a list of stuff I am thinking. This list will be complete thoughts, but not expounded upon unless you want to hear more.

Thoughts in no particular order

• I didn’t vote for Him, but I love and deeply admire Johnny Hunt and believe he will be a great president.
• The music was wonderful. I was moved to tears more than once. The Gettys particularly, but also the combined choir from the final night.  My favorite song is here. (start at the 5:23 mark in this one)
• After seeing the IMB report, I am deeply convicted that I need to go on a foreign mission trip.
• I only saw 2 votes unopposed – Moving the schedule forward 15 minutes because the order of business committee didn’t have any business, and appreciating 100 years of RAs.  Every other vote had at least one person waving a ballot in the negative
• Frank Page runs a tight ship.  We were ahead of schedule nearly the entire time.
• Folks at the convention seemed generally positive. Different from the general tone of the blogging world, and a great encouragement to me.
• For some reason I really enjoy the business part of the business meeting, where we have motions, amendments, and calls for the question and such. Is that weird?
• I was not there for resolution 6.  (I didn’t get up when my sister-in-law tried to wake me.)  But it was the most important of the convention. I’m glad it was amended and hope it has some effect. Also, this is a good summary/commentary.  Or you can watch it yourself here (it starts around the 15 minute mark)
• Half of all Guidestone claims are for “preventable” issues such as diabetes and heart conditions. As a fat dude (though not Guidestone insured), I’m ashamed of that.
• 7300 messengers is more than I expected. Especially with the convention being held north of the Ohio.
• The Annie Armstrong banquet was wonderful. The speaker was great, the fire alarm ruined it
• The falling dollar cost us $18 million as we tried to spend LMCO money…Wow

I’m not that popular but I saw a bunch of people I know pretty well

• Mitch Minson
• Tim Burdon and family
  
• Don Mathis
• Rick Hatley and family
• Carlton Binkley
• Myron Yandle
• Drew Farr

Here’s some other stuff not necessarily convention related but related to my trip.

• For the first time ever I pumped ethanol.  $2.99 but it got much worse mileage.
• The GPS I borrowed tried to lead me through a football stadium.
• My brother’s dog is humongous.
• The TSA took my toothpaste.  Stupid liquid rule.  But I learned that saline is allowed in your carry-on.