Dialogue With A Friend

In a pure-hearted effort to be encouraging, a friend shared with me some thoughts as follows:

Someone Greater

There’s a battle happening all around us—a battle for your heart, your mind, and your soul. A battle that’s not only physical, but also spiritual. A battle with literal enemies who impact the seen and unseen world.

John wrote:

“But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”
1 John 4:4 NLT

Yes, we are in a real battle.
Yes, we have a real enemy.
Yes, the kingdom of darkness is constantly fighting against the kingdom of light.

But for those who are trusting in the finished work of Christ, greater is the One living inside of us than the one who is living in this world.

We have a real Savior.
This story isn’t close to over.
The kingdom of darkness will never prevail against the kingdom of light.

Our enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. To pervert, manipulate, and confuse, distract, divide, and disable.

But God is greater than the doubts that clutter your mind, the enemies that frustrate your plans, the heart-wrenching and even soul-crushing situation that’s currently consuming your thoughts.

You can fight from a place of victory because the battle has already been won.

Jesus has already conquered death. And now, while we wait for others to come to salvation and for God to bring all things to completion under Christ’s authority, we can fight with a confident hope.

There’s a battle happening all around us—a battle for your heart, for your mind, for your soul. But greater is the One living inside of you than the one who is living in this world.

The gesture was appreciated, and accepted in the milieu in which it was given. After all, that’s what friends do: They love one another, encourage, and help one another as an expression of that love.

None of that message was alien to me, and there have been seemingly countless times in which I have heard, or read such a message, using those exact terms, phrases, and expressions.

And, as friends do, a response was crafted as follows:

Have you ever heard of the now-defunct comic strip by Walt Kelly called Pogo? It was syndicated from 1948-75, set in Georgia’s portion of the Okefenokee Swamp, and was primarily political satire, but included comedic social commentary, as well.

If not, don’t worry; I’m about to succinctly describe one frame.

The protagonist, a possum, for whom the strip was named, makes a remark saying.

A Short, Post Saint Patrick’s Day Lesson

If you’ve ever heard any Xian pop songs, you may have heard the line “I don’t believe in luck, I believe in Jesus.” Or, maybe you’ve heard someone say something like, “I’m not lucky, I’m blessed.” The idea is that, for the Christian, luck has no role in their life. Simply put, that’s not only bad theology, it’s contrary to Scripture itself.

“I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the

We All Love… Silly Pet Pictures

Seen here, Izzy, the dog has “rescued” a discarded empty of chips from the trash bin, apparently in hopes of obtaining a smidgen of a tasty morsel. / Photo by SRL

Do Animals…

Things like this – Cat LOL videos, stories of animals having friendships, and other similarly expressive photos & stories (such as the depressed goat which was separated from, then was reunited with it’s longtime donkey companion) – are quite fascinating.

The reason why should be self-evident. Which is, that we find them humorous or entertaining because we ascribe human traits to animals.

From childhood, I never considered the

This is where I’m supposed to cobble together some title that clues you in to what you’re about to read. Just so happens, you’re SOL. ;-)

As a kid, I recollect lying in bed one evening and thinking that nothing was something… that there was absolutely no such thing as “no thing” because “thing” was something, and that a void, or chasm were things which also existed because there was something before and after, and which may have surrounded the same void or chasm. I reasoned further, that the existence of a void, or chasm could only be identified first by the presence of another thing which was opposite. Those thoughts I had long before I’d heard of the names of the world’s great philosophers, or even read any of their thoughts. My questioning led me to suppose that, when I met the Almighty – I still aspire to that Beatific Vision – I would ask Him, “Where did you come from?”

For quite some time, I have also shared that we understand the things we do not now understand by comparing them to the things we do understand. We analogize. It was fascinating – indeed exciting – to recently hear a scientific researcher – an astrophysicist – say almost verbatim the exact same thing.

In much the same way, we use our brains to understand.

Institutional Failure: UAH, Discovery Middle School; Killers Amy Bishop, Andrew Pakhomov & 14 year-old

Exactly what are the rules of “the Blame Game?”

We certainly know how to play it. And it seems that the silly little games we adults often play at times like this – in the midst of tragedy – rather than accept responsibility, we adults behave as if we were once again, carefree 6th graders on a playground somewhere, dodging and deflecting a kickball thrown at us.

Games however, are as much for adults as they are for children, and perhaps more so, because in learning to abide by rules and cooperating, we come to understand strategies, tactics, and how best to utilize opportunities – things and events – that come our way. Essentially, it is “the hand that is dealt us.” Hopefully, we learn how to be gracious losers, and equally humble winners, understanding also that no one always wins, and that “our time is coming.”

Yet, it is game-playing at inappropriate times that characterizes and differentiates children from adults.

Tell me more about this One whom does not exist.

I have an atheist friend, for whom I have warm affection. We share several common interests, among them, Amateur Radio and some political ideals. Having visited with him and his wife on occasion, I can attest that they are genuinely nice folk.

He is my friend. And friends do things together. On occasion, we have dined, shared entertainment, and attended club meetings together.

Quite recently, I sent an email message to him that expressed my utter dismay at recent news of Wall Street’s record profits in the midst of our nation’s most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression.

In my original comment I did not mention God, though I did cite one scripture – 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.”

I thought his reply most interesting.

“God is not just.”

As I understand it, atheism is the denial of the existence of God. It does not mean that God does NOT exist, it simply means that their faith is in the negative, rather than the affirmative.

Philosophically and logically, however, one cannot prove the negative. Thus, it is impossible to prove that God does not exist.

And yet, it is equally impossible to describe something that does not exist. It is impossible to speak about something of which one knows nothing, or indeed, claims cannot be known.

Therefore, to make such a statement as “God is not just,” presupposes the existence of God.

As well, it points – at least in my estimation – to a more fundamental question which I perceive to be at the heart of his fundamental objection to God’s existence, and therefore denial – which is ‘why is there injustice in the world?’