http://www.kyledresback.blogspot.com/

Eventually we would hear about scriptures that contradict or balance the sixth commandment, scriptures that tell us when war and violence are appropriate. In order “for a war to be just, three things are necessary. First, the authority of the sovereign. . . . Secondly, a just cause. . . . Thirdly . . . a rightful intention,” wrote St. Thomas Aquinas in his thirteenth-century masterpiece Summa Theologica, establishing the basis on which Christians could rightfully go to war.

Self-defense, we might learn, is often considered justification for the use of violence, even deadly violence. “To those against whom war is made, permission is given [to fight], because they are wronged . . . Allah is most powerful for their aid,” the Qur’an instructs Muslims. Additionally, the Jewish Talmud has very simple and practical advice regarding self-defense: “If a man comes to kill you,” it tells us, “forestall it by killing him.”

Forgive the provacative teaser, but I wanted to get your attention   I ran across this really interesting article some of you may like as well…

Is God a Pacifist?

 All the old discussions are here.  All we need now are new posts from Kyle.

Hopefully I can get some wedding pics all up in here. In the meantime, make sure to visit www.etherdrift.net/arnoldcam and www.b109.com for Arnold’s and Rachel’s blogs respectively. They’ve got a few pics.

Fun weekend.

Does God have a plan B? Unfortunately there’s no more context for the question, so take it as you will. But do answer.

So far I have one True and one False.

I heard the all-time worst line in a worship song over the weekend: “There’s a hole in God’s heart that only I can fill.” That beats out “You [Jesus] took the fall and thought of me above all” as well as just plain indecipherable lyrics such as “I can feel this God song rising up in me” and “You [God] are spinning / You are singing zealous love over all your children.”

What? What happened? Did someone really write that God is “spinning” in a worship song?

While the last two are just plain bad writing, the first two are quite concerning. Logically, neither makes sense. Worse, neither is scriptural. Not even remotely. So why do we, the most educated generation the church has ever seen, mouth these words without much thought? Maybe because they come with a catchy guitar part. Maybe we’re used to worshiping ourselves and our individual importance rather than God.

Or maybe I’m just grumpy tonight. Any other classic lyrics out there? (This is all presuming that any of you guys are still out there.)