Neal was here

Proverbs 23:17 – “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but live in the fear of the LORD always.”

The catholic Anglican church is trying to apologize for critisizing Charles Darwin and his evolutionary theory.. Still haven’t decided how I feel about that. Darwin’s descendents think it’s a futile effort to ‘make themselves [the church] feel better’ (from the article).

I applaud the church for realizing that they misunderstood the theory, and apologizing for hurting the reputation of Darwin via that error. I don’t, however, think they should apologize for disagreeing with him. Even if one side is wrong, debate and disagreement is what verifies truth.

The church, from the article, also states that the teachings of Christianity and the teachings of Darwin are not in disagreement, and I’m not 100% sure on that. A literal interpretation of Genesis is clearly in disagreement, so the questions then becomes whether Genesis should be taken that literally. That’s a debate that I cringe to enter.

amendment: it’s the anglican, not catholic. entirely different story. thanks for the clarification, phil.

Contrary to what might seem intuitive, satisfaction is not found in the abundance of pleasure. Neither is meaning. In these pleasures, we find only that what we expected to be satisfactory is, in fact, not only incapable of satisfying the need and multiplies the desire itself. The good things of life are merely allusions to a deeper good, and the cavity in our soul that creates this infinite, often misunderstood, longing can not be filled by the mere finite pleasures of this life. Only an infinite pleasure can fill an infinite void, and to accept anything less is to settle for mere fractions of what true satisfaction can deliver.

I am becoming more and more convinced of this fact, but have yet to fully know, in the Biblical sense, this truth. To let go of a trivial good in the hope and promise of a bigger good can be a difficult thing.

This is why abortion is wrong. Shaun, if you read this, thanks for posting what could not have been an easy post.

This has been one of the hardest years of my life to date. Not because of financial difficulty; God has blessed me with a job with an ever-increasing paycheck. Not because of work stress; my job is very laid back and they let me get away with all kinds of stuff. Not because of lack of ministry opportunity; I’ve got a large Bible study group that I work with, as well as playing in the band for my local church, and I’ve got a side ministry going involving getting the churches together in Tucson to really enjoy time with the Lord together. And it’s not because of lack of challenge: I’ve got several websites that I’m building in a business we’ve started together, as well as another band I’m playing in, and a large stack of books I’m intending to read. It’s not really even because I lost a relationship with a girl whom I deeply care for, although I think that played a role.

No, this has been a hard year because I’ve been generally dissatisfied with myself, and struggling to figure out who I really am, and what I’m supposed to be doing with my life. Clearly, this is a very cliche battle, and I readily admit it. But it’s been a battle nonetheless. But I’m learning, and here’s a quick summary of the some of the lessons learned from this travail.

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Yogi Berra once said,

If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up someplace else.

There is truth in the statement. It’s been my instinct, and the philosophy of others that I’ve read that this as a negative thing to not end up somewhere specific. But is it? I would argue that it depends.

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Isaiah 26:8 [nasb]

Indeed, while following in the way of Your judgements, O LORD,
We have waited for You eagerly,
Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.

Isaiah 26:8

Psalm 119:97 [nasb]

“O how I love Your law!
It is my meditation all the day.”

Psalm 119:97

Deut 30:14-15
14. But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
15. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;

A choice: [life and prosperity] or [death and adversity]

This post is ONLY to get the category to show up on the side.