Every once in a while, I try to reread everyone's blog, and it mainly occurs when I am looking for a past post that helps me with an argument of one sort or another. I was reviewing Confessing Evangelical because of an argument I started because of an innocent comment by someone (who shall remain anonymous) about going to a workshop that will teach about "blended" worship and other nonsense. I am not the best thinker on the fly and, after the discussion, I remembered John had written something about this topic that I thought I could use. For those who do not remember (or were not around), The Message, The Medium, and The Divine Service set off a comment spree which I am still not sure has ever been matched on his blog before or since. I implore all who think that it doesn't matter whether you drink beer from Styrofoam or a glass to read and think about what you are saying.

Every once in a while, I try to reread everyone's blog, and it mainly occurs when I am looking for a past post that helps me with an argument of one sort or another. I was reviewing Confessing Evangelical because of an argument I started because of an innocent comment by someone (who shall remain anonymous) about going to a workshop that will teach about "blended" worship and other nonsense. I am not the best thinker on the fly and, after the discussion, I remembered John had written something about this topic that I thought I could use. For those who do not remember (or were not around), The Message, The Medium, and The Divine Service set off a comment spree which I am still not sure has ever been matched on his blog before or since. I implore all who think that it doesn't matter whether you drink beer from Styrofoam or a glass to read and think about what you are saying.

The NFL Draft is on. The picks so far.

Alex Smith, QB--San Francisco
Ronnie Brown, RB--Miami
Braylon Edwards, WR--Cleveland
Cedric Benson, RB--Chicago

No one knows when everyone will go. So far, it is going how ESPN and the rest of the prognosticators foresaw. I'm waiting for the 12th pick and San Diego to see where they go.

One of the more amazing things about the blogsphere is its ability to self-check. If you say something stupid, you get called out eventually. If you say something that is true, the organic nature of the blogsphere allows that truth to be passed around. If you need an example of the latter process in action, the fall of Dan Rather is a good example of what happens when the blogsphere smells blood and pounces. Those who are skeptical about this idea need to look at the greater blogsphere and the examples that have been shown.

More than anything, however, catechesis has to be the basis of everything. As I mentioned in the comments, catechesis has a lot to be desired and, more than anything, if someone stumbles in here and just reads our opinions without any understanding of where we are coming from, we could be perceived as closed-minded jerks. When we explain why we think this way and why we believe what we believe, they may still think of us a closed-minded jerks but we can also convince someone we are right. We have to explain what doctrines are behind the conclusions we come, and people might come around to our way of thinking. Knowledge can be a very powerful weapon.

I think we should all read this. I've heard many of the big guys (Instapundit, for example) have nothing but good things to say about this book. I just might have to get a copy. It might help me formulate my thoughts into a central thesis about what the potential for a confessional Lutheran blogsphere is.

I actually do have a dream for the Lutheran blogsphrer in general and for it's application to the LCMS in particular. If anyone has kept up with the news (and I'm sure a few of you have), you have seen the power of blogs to spread stories quickly, to bring down the powerful, and to keep the powerful in check. Blogs continue to expose media bias, lying politicians, and crooked bureaucrats. The power of blogs have proven their merit in within secular politics.

So now, having seen that, I honestly have to wonder if it isn't a question of if but when will the Confessional Blogsphere come into its own? Could we become a force before the 2007 Convention? Let's face it, we were still feeling our way around when the 2004 Convention occurred. Currently, confessional dominate the LCMS blogsphere. I have honestly gone looking for a Jesus First/Daystar(Ni!) sympathizers out there, and I haven't found them yet. There is an opportunity here we cannot ignore. We have the potential to be a force to be reckoned with and become the hammer people like DP Benke and SP Kieshnick fear. This, my friends, is the potential that is out there. We already have the foundation. The discussion is already happening. I don't think we even have to do much of anything. All we have to do is keep it up and eventually this little corner of the blogsphere can take on a life of its own.

I just posted something on Here We Stand. I post so rarely there that I just have to point it out that I did post there.

Normally I'm not the type of person to promote movies, but I give this one a thumbs up. If it's as good as I hope it might be, it will be a great treat. The trailers look promising, so I say you ought to go check it out, with the caveat in mind that it won't match the book which didn't match the TV show which didn't match the radio show...

Confusing the water even more with a movie won't do any harm at all.

You are the Battle of Pearl Harbor sketch. You're
all about little old ladies fighting each other
in a muddy field. Sick freak.


Which Monty Python's Flying Circus Sketch are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I bow down to your awesomeness. You truly are a
Knight of the Round Table, ready to defend
yourself against the Knights of Ni, use the
Holy Grenade of Antioch, and RUN
AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! from the horrible monster
of ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHH!! Or perhaps a
barber who truly desires to be a singing
lumberjack. Or better yet, you are Brian,
fighting off the misguided crowds and wondering
what on earth you did wrong to wind up singing
"Always Look on the Bright Side of
Life" while hanging on the cross. Well
whoever you choose all I have to say is Go
you!!!


How big of a Monty Python fan are you?
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Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

10% Midwestern

10% Upper Midwestern

10% Yankee

5% Dixie

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I continue to give a lot of thought about the whole Purpo$e Driven? phenomenon as it relates to the Lutheran Church. As I was thinking about it, I remembered an analogy my friend Vicar Ryan and I discussed as it relates to the whole Purpo$e Driven? thinking. The Purpo$e Driven? Life has many good things within it, but it is also loaded with false doctrine. The Purpo$e Driven? Life is like an apple laced with arsenic. Yes, the apple can contain nutrients that we need and can use, but the apple also contains poison. You eat too many apples laced with arsenic, and you eventually die. You let a little false doctrine in, and it can eventually kill your faith. It's not worth eating apples laced with arsenic when you can easily get apples without arsenic. It's not worth reading The Purpo$e Driven? Life when you have books like The Spirituality of the Cross, God at Work, and Dying to Live available. A little leaven ruins the whole lump.

It's the type of generic fluff evangelicalism that our current pope (Jerry I) wants to overrun our synod with. Let's face it, the LCMS is being overrun with this type of generic reformed thinking. I know of more than one church that did the 40 days of purpose?lessness over Lent. I have a hard enough time when pastors decide they know better and deviate from the lectionary, but to replace Lent with the 40 days of purpose?lessness is being a bad shepherd and any pastor who did such a thing should be forced to reread the Book of Concord again and reminded of what the heck he took an oath to actually preach, teach and confess.

Pastor Paul McCain has an article up about Cardinal Bernard Law celebrating a mass for JPII in St. Peter's Basilica. It makes me wonder if the Roman Catholic Church has learned anything from the priest abuse scandal? Anyway, go read it. In reality, Bernard Law should have been excommunicated, stripped of all his titles, and thrown in jail for conspiracy to commit abuse. Why the authorities in Boston haven't pressed charges yet, I don't know.

Political Correctness gone Mad

You scored as Spanish. You should learn Spanish. It can be useful especially if you live in the United States. Spanish 67% Arabic 47% French 40% Latin 33% English 27% Japanese 20% Chinese 13% What language should you learn? created with QuizFarm.com

Rank Item Percent
1: Lutheran (100%)
2: Eastern Orthodox (95%)
3: Roman Catholic (91%)
4: Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England (80%)
5: Presbyterian/Reformed (60%)
6: Church of Christ/Campbellite (48%)
7: Congregational/United Church of Christ (44%)
8: Baptist (Reformed/Particular/Calvinistic) (42%)
9: Methodist/Wesleyan/Nazarene (27%)
10: Pentecostal/Charismatic/Assemblies of God (26%)
11: Anabaptist (Mennonite/Quaker etc.) (15%)
12: Baptist (non-Calvinistic)/Plymouth Brethren/Fundamentalist (12%)
13: Seventh-Day Adventist (9%)

Christian Traditions Selector

I've added to more blogs to my blogroll. I'm desperately trying to have the most comprehensive list of confessional LCMS blogs out there, so if there's someone you know of that I don't have, drop me a comment or email me.

U2 is a good band, but I'm still kind iof stuck in the Joshua Tree era.

I have eliminated Twylah from my blogroll and mourn her leaving because who am I going to turn to now when I have ESL trouble?

My hatred of Coldplay merited a couple of comments, no matter what my stinking counter says (which is 1).

At some point not too long in the future, I will switch my comments from haloscan to blogger. I have to figure out how to transfer all that stuff from haloscan to blogger, however, because I don't want to lose any of my old comments (there are many I remember that are lost already) and I am tired of Haloscan's glitches.

Speaking of eliminations, if anyone would like to take Twylah's spot, it's open. If there is any confessional Lutheran out there with a blog I don't know about but you found me, leave me a link in the comments.

More bands I hate:

The Beatles
Hansen
Ashlee Simpson
Lifehouse


Band I like:

The Ramones
Metallica
Tourniquet
Alice Cooper

I promised a post on music I hate and I shall deliver right now.

I hate Coldplay. I find them to, quite possibly, be more annoying than Kenny G and that's saying a lot for me. I hate Coldplay because everyone thinks they are some sort of freaking geniuses when, in reality, they are a bunch of sniffling twits who couldn't write a song if Bach gave them lessons. Everybody thinks they are sooo great because of the keyboard-driven melodies and the "deep" lyrics. I could make better music with a can of beans and a six-pack of Schlitz.

I know many people are starting to wonder who the next Bishop of Rome may or may not be. Chris H. was kind enough to link to here where you can bet on who will become the next Bishop of Rome. You can even bet on what the next Bishop of Rome's name will be. You could look at this in one of two ways. The first way is as a discusting exercise that tramples on the grave of a man who isn't even buried yet. You could also look at this as a chance to get a grasp as to what popular opinion is thinking. People, who are rational, will not put money on someone they think will not win. So, it gives a view of popular opinion on this issue. It was kind of like the bets placed on who would be the next president last year. The degenerate gamblers thought Bush would win, and they turned out to be right.

24 is on tonight and it's supposed to be the most shocking and violent episode ever. That's saying a lot. I'm ready. It's only 20 minutes away. Yay!

The AP has just reported that the Bishop of Rome, John Paul II, had died.

So, I play a joke and none of you saw it, except Theresa maybe. Of course, the last practical joke also worked extremely well. It's not like this wasn't the most obvious thing in the world, a change in the Blog of the Week. You all missed my link to the Daily Kos as "Blog of the Week", one of the worst of the worst of leftist-spewing hate-filled bloggers that go around bevomiting forth upon the internet.

Rev. McCain has an excellent post on JPII. I do believe, of all the things we can say about the Bishop of Rome, he is actually teaching us his last lesson: how to die well. We don't see that lesson very often anymore. We need to see it more.

I decided not to do an April Fool's joke this year. I mean, it took way too much thought and way too much planning last year when I pulled of this joke, which went fairly well, IMHO. Anyway, the descision has been made not to pull any April Fool's stunts off on this blog. It would be foolish.

Terry Schivo is dead. Welcome to the end of civilization as we know it.

The law convicts and our dear friend, Alice Cooper, says it better than anyone.

For criminal acts and violence on the stage
For being a brat
Refusing to act your age
For all of the decent citizens you've enraged
You can go to Hell
For gambling and drinking alcohol constantly
For making us doubt our parents authority
For choosing to be a living obscenity
You can go to Hell
You're something that never should have happened
You even make your Grandma sick
You'd poison a blind man's dog and steal his cane
You'd gift wrap a leper
And mail him to your Aunt Jane
You'd even force-feed a diabetic a candy cane
You can go to Hell
You're something that never should have happened
You even make your Grandma sick
For criminal acts and violence on the stage
For being a brat
Refusing to act your age
For all of the decent citizens you've enraged
You can go to Hell

Until he repents, this is the message Michael Schivo must be confronted: the law, to the point where the gospel is withheld from being an option until true repentance is seen. Alice Cooper, I have found, does an excellent job at delivering the law with all its strength and might through music. Maybe someone should relentlessly play Brutal Planet and Dragontown to him until he repents.

What does this do to us as a society? It brings us one step closer to completely devaluing human life and brings us one step closer to the fascist state people so desperately want. All it takes is a peek into history and see where the path we are now treading leads, and thy name is eugenics. Josh has it right when he says we are heading to Brave New World.

Guide us waking O Lord
And Guard us sleeping
That awake we may watch with Christ
And asleep we may rest in peace