Semper Reformanda

This blog post is of much lighter note than the previous few. This post I should have done a while ago. It is my Reformation Day Pictures post.

Well I celebrated Reformation Day with the Semper Reformanda spirit. In case you do not know Latin it means always reforming. As Christians we are to be alwayse reforming. Not becoming more Calvinist but constantly bringing reform (revival , to use more modern terminology) to own life. Constantly being more conformed to the Word of God in our own lives. Sola Reformanda was also the battle cry of the reformers that we always need to be reforming in a corporate level bring reform to the Church conforming it to the Word of God and opposing anything that unbiblical in the church.

Here is my light hearted effort to celebrate Reformation Day with my own way of living out Semper Reformanda by staging a number of reenactments of Luther’s famous 95 thesis posting through out Louisvile.

In honor of my dear friend Dave Mullins I decided the first place bring Reformation to Mullins Hall at Southern Seminary. Though I did not get too far since it girls dorm.

Next I thought I would celebrate Reformation Day with Southern’s neighbor seminary Louisville Seminary ( Presbyterian USA) . So there I again I did late night reenactment at their chapel.


Lastly I finished the night with a reenactment at a certain Catholic church. It was not quite Whittenberg but the closest thing I could find. (It was cool the nail was already there on the church, we certainly did not put there.)

Lastly, I hope this picture will be taken in good fun and won’t offend anyone. I did not cause any property damage nor left the thesis at various places out of respect for that place. It was just fun posing with the camera. No laws were broken or handbooks violated. Oh yeah and I would explain the “Reformation Day Cowboy Hats” but its not worth the explanation.

Oh yeah here is the last peice of Reformation Day fun that I am sharing for this year. It a cake made good freind Josh and his wife Debbie for a contest for a Reformation Day party they took third place. Anyway its time for me to start transition to celebrating other hoolidays like Thanksgiving.

For the Restless.

For anyone who is currently restless waiting for me to continue in the series on Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of God I invite you to the the Jumbled Rumblings of Ryan Simmons who hosts the Radio Show Beyond The Bubble for Cedarville University. He has just published a related post on evolution. Go check out. For more information on when I am continuing in the series and my delay in it check out the comments on the last post.

The Existence of God: Intro Post

This is the Intro post to a series of posts I will be doing on the existence of God. The subject has always been interesting to me since I was saved out of atheism close to 5 years ago (I’ll be sharing the my testimony somewhere in the series).
So why do a series on the existence of God?
1) It interests me.
2) To hopefully help believers realize we have good reasons to believe what we believe. I actually had a Christian friend,who has walked with the Lord much longer than me, ask me how we know that God is real. She obviously did not doubt God’s existence but was not sure how to explain her beliefs to others. The first thing I said is well you know him personally and have a relationship with him, then I went into some of the philosophical arguments. I think Christians sometime forget they actually know God. I think our real,living, interactional relationship with God is the best starting place to approach the subject and then go into the other arguments; because the existence of God is not a philosophical position but the reality of a person whom we interact with daily. God is a person not a philosophical conclusion. Though philosophical arguments can be a good tool to show the rationality of belief in God to those who do not know him;as well as confirm to Christians what we know to be true.
3)To show non theists that belief in God is very rational and actually makes much more sense than atheism.
As a side note I do know and understand that the best theistic arguments will not make someone into a theist. This is because belief in God is primarily a spiritual issue not a philosophical or intellectual problem. Most people believe what they want to believe without logical reasons to do so, this is especially true with spiritual matters. Until God gives us the ability to discern spiritual things we will not be able to understand anything spiritual even if it was as simple as 2+2 (Rom 3:11, 1 Cor 2:14).

Now I want to lay some ground rules for future discussion. I understand that my audience is probably 98% Christian but I welcome discussion from any non-theists; in order to keep the discussion fruitful I lay down these grounds rules:
1) Stick to the particular topic of the post.(For example: If we are discussing the ontological argument do not talk about problems with the transcendental argument.)
2) Be logical. Avoid logical fallacies. Make your points logically,l for example P+P=C (premise plus premise gives me this conclusion), not I do not like the Cosmological argument so it is wrong.
3) Have philosophical and intellectual integrity and honesty.
4) Be respectful to other bloggers and the person you are addressing.
I also will submit to my own rules. If a comment breaks these rules I will delete it.

The next post I will in the series will be my thoughts on Ps 19 and Romans 1 addressing what arguments are valid for Christians to use based on what scripture says on how God has revealed himself. It should be noted that I will not be making an argument for the existence for God; I will not be saying we know God exists because God’s word says so. It instead will be showing Christians arguments are consistent with what God revealed about himself to the world.

The posts that follow the next one will be arguments for the existence of God concluding with the testimony of my conversion from atheism to Christianity. I am looking forward to starting the series I hope it will also be of some benefit to others as well.

Larks News

Groups form ACLUNPRMTV to better marginalize, offend Christians
NEW YORK — The American Civil Liberties Union, National Public Radio and MTV have merged into a single entity to "ridicule and undermine Christianity wherever possible," says a spokesman. The leaders of the newly formed ACLUNPRMTV felt compelled to combine forces because "evangelicals are gaining too much clout in pop culture and politics." "It's like a resistant bacteria," said one employee anonymously. "The more you try to kill it, the stronger it gets." The group hopes to leverage their strengths in youth culture, the courts and among well-educated atheists to once and for all convince Americans that Christianity is a thing of the past. •
This is my favorite story from the new issue of Lark News you can find here. Larks News definately gives me something to look forward to.
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In other news I had my best Reformation Day ever yesterday! I was able to do a couple
reenactments of the posting of the 95 thesis in Louiville. I will post more on that when I get the pictures developed.

Oh yeah and since both Halloween and Reformation are now over I will anounce the winner. 21 people voted and 42.9% said that its up to your own personal preferences. Coming in 2nd was Reformation Day YAY!!!!!!!! with 33.3% of the vote. Finishing last was Halloween with 23.8% of the votes. But its a good thing we don't decide our theology by popular vote. For the record I also agree with Dave Mullins on the issue. (if there was anydoubt..by the way he is posting again at Mullins Musings) Celebrate Reformation Day instead and carve Reformation Day pumkins!

Also in other news I am thinking about doing a series of posts on Philosophical Arguements for the Existence of God...Fun Fun but that may have to wait.. Since there are only two and half weeks in the semester! Please pray for me and other Southern students. Pray that we finish well and not let out spiritual lives slide behind our academic lives as we prepare for exams.