Quote of the day

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Link-you very much

In the continuing celebration of my 300th post, I decided that I would show my appreciation to everyone who has ever linked to me by linking to them. You'll see in the right sidebar a list of blogs who technorati claims have linked to me at one time or another.

Technorati says that 45 other blogs have linked to this one, and they have done so 91 times - that gets me a ranking of 45,561. I have a couple of other blogs that I run, here and here, so I factored those out of the links and linked up the rest.

Take a looky-loo to see if your blog is listed. If you have linked to me and your blog is not listed, please let me know and I will make it right. If you want to be listed on my coveted blogroll, link to me and I'll link to you - unless of course you are a porn blog, then I will choose not to link to you.

Thanks for your readership and your comments and your links.

One fixed point

A philospoher (can't remeber which one) longed to find just one fixed point. Then everything else would make sense. Think about it for a second and there is sense to be made of this. If there is nothing to rely upon as sure (if there is no fixed point), then there is no refernce point for anything else. If there is no fixed point, then how can there be meaning of any lasting value? How can meaning even be shared?

Modernism (militant modernism) says there is not only one fixed point, but that everything has a fixed point. Everything has a place it should be - in its fixed point. This kind of modernism played out to its logical end is ridiculous. What is the fixed point of toasted almond fudge ice cream? Well, if you ask me it is the one and only ice cream worth eating. There may be one or two of you who disagree with me (fools). But in that disagreement we must conclude that one of us is wrong or that there is no fixed point for toasted almond fudge ice cream.

I fall on the side of no fixed point for this one, though it is tough for me to believe anyone would not exalt toasted almond fudge ice cream as I do. But now let's go to militant postmodernism. That would say there are no fixed points anywhere, ever. Played out to its logical end runs into lunacy itself. The fact that there are no fixed ponts is a fixed point and therefore disqualifies its own assertion by proving itself.

APPARENT RANDOM TANGENT: I love the andromeda galaxy.

What if there is one fixed point? What if rather than trying to find it outside of ourselves or inside of ourselves, all that there is occurs inside of that one fixed point? What if all of creation is a fixed point amid the nothingness of pre-creation? Which of course leads to the question as to whether or not there remains a lingering nothingness that is still in pre-creation stage - but we won't got here right now.

What if creation is the fixed point and God is the context of the one fixed point? So in essence, creation is a fixed point within the larger fixed point of God (if encompassing everything can be considered a fixed point). God can enter creation but creation cannot transcend God.

Ah, but what if the context, God, permitted the creation to transcend its context - God himself? Would that be anything but Hell?

Only God can be self-contextual. Creation requires God as context in order to be sustained. But God, loving the fixed point so much he allows it permission to exit its context, though does not desire its exit.

Does this make sense to anyone or do I have tumor on my brain?

300th Post and question

Dear friends, this is my 300th post on blogger. Thanks for your readership and keeping it interesting (blow kiss, blow kiss). Now, you wise ones, blow some holes into this one (because there are holes). Seriously, I want to see who I am dealing with out there. Find the flaw in the logic.

My paypal moneymarket account earns 4.03 percent. Yours does to if you have one. I get a fee of 30 cents plus 1.2 percent per transcation. The difference of the percentages is 2.83 (minus 30 cents) in my favor. So why wouldn't I run up my credit card on a monthy basis and pay it off with my paypal account?

My 2005 Reading List - 1 Sentence Reviews & Highlights

1. Finding Faith - Brian McLaren
Review: Logical progression of finding faith.
Highlight: Difference between good and bad faith.

2.The Last Word - Brian McLaren
Review: "What the Hell?" - Explores theology of Hell.
Highlight: Wraps up A New Kind of Christian Trilogy with a bang.

3. Planting Churches in a Postmodern Age - Ed Stetzer
Review: Excellent strategies and thoughtful ideas with ample extra-book options.
Highlight: The fact that it addresses postmodernity from a practical perspective.

4. Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
Review: You will find it hard to be nored with this one.
Highlight: The ideas of rapid cognition and thin-slicing.

5. The Relevant Church - Jennifer Ashley and friends
Review: Explores new kinds of churches; very different churches.
Highlight: No one way to do church is OK.

6. The Gospel Accordning to Tony Soprano - Chris Seay
Review: Looks for God in culture - and stretches a bit.
Highlight: Fearless.

7. The Emerging Church - Dan Kimball
Review: Introduction to what is being called the Emerging Church
Highlight: Deconstructs & Reconstructs - doesn't leave you hanging at the end of criticism.

8. A Generous Orthodoxy - Brian McLaren
Review: Explores the spectrum of Christianity.
Highlight: The 7 Jesuses

9. Experiential Storytelling - Mark Miller
Review: How to tell stories well.
Highlight: I can't remember.

10. Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
Review: Takes a cool and refreshing look at Christianity
Highlight: Goes from sophomoric to soul level and you don't even notice.

11. Things Unseen - Leonard Allen
Review: Describes Churches of Christ entering the postmodern era.
Highlight: Wonders why we look for resuscitation when we need resurrection.

12. You Have What It Takes - John Eldredge
Review: Classic Eldredge for men.
Highlight: Naw, just read Wild At Heart.

13. Man's Search For Meaning - Viktor Frankl
Review: Survivor of concentration camp finds meaning is life-giving.
Highlight: Self-awareness is best acheived through self-transcendance.

14. The Practice of the Presence of God - Brother Lawrence
Review: God is everywhere and you can be with Him always.
Highlight: Washing dishes is worship.

15. Soul Survivor - Philip Yancey
Review: Spiritual mentors who helped Yancey survive the church.
Highlight: Ghandi.

16. Aging and the Life Course - Quadagno
Review: Right, like you are interested in this one. It's a textbook.

17. Emerging Worship - Dan Kimball
Review: New ways to worship.
Highlight: Practical examples - refreshing.

18. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
Review: Deep theology hidden in kid's story.
Highlight: "Safe? Of course he's not safe, but he's good."

19. A Horse and His Boy - C. S. Lewis
Review: Follow up to LWW - great.
Highlight: Shasta knows he does not belong as a slave and seeks for something else he knows is out there.

20. Revolution - George Barna
Review: Forecasts church over the next decade and a half.
Highlight: House churches, family churches, and arts churches will proliferate.

21. Mere Christianity - C. S. Lewis
Review: Deep and insightful - a must for all people.
Highlight: Every chapter carries a gem within it. Best book on this list.

22. Statistics For People Who (thin they) Hate Statistics - Neil Salkind
Review: The title says it all.
Highlight: I can now runa T-test.

23. The Jesus Proposal - Rubel Shelley & John York
Review: Return to Jesus' idea of faith.
Highlight: Refreshing departure from small minded religion.

24. The Jesus Community - Rubel Shelley & John York
Review: Better than Jesus proposal.
Highlight: From institutional to relational church. Bam! There you go.

25. Struggling With Scripture - Walter Brueggemann
Review: Three theologians share the value of wrestling with scripture.
Highlight: Makes you feel dumb if you've got it all figured out.

26. The Smart Stepfamily - Ron Deal
Review: Best Christian book for stepfamilies. Check out the blog.
Highlight: The stories are helpful.

27. Who Moved My Cheese? - Spencer Johnson
Review: Short, simple - simplistic. Decent metaphor for change.
Highlight: The conversation I had in my book club.

Post Removed and Reduced

I ranted about a certain parade in a certain community at a certain time of year, but I removed the post. Here is my shortened, min-rant.

1. Parades are about fun, community, and appropriate celebration.
2. Parades are not about marketing, celebrating irrelevance, and uncool cars.
3. People in the parade should enjoy themselves.
4. People watching the parade should be able to enjoy themselves.

McRant

Check out Matt Ritchie's McRant over here.

Check out Christian Parenting

Christian Parenting does a smack down on consumerism.

Word of God Speak

Word of God Speak series in its entirety right here.

Getting Over Myself: The Spectre of Perpetual Narcissism

2500 blogs report people trying to get over themselves. There are 21 people on blogs who claim that they have indeed accomplished the task of getting over themselves.

Now, let's think about this. Can someone who has actually gotten over themselves blog about it? There seems to be a little hypocrisy here. I mean, if you have gotten over yourself, why post it for the entire world to see? If you need to let the world know you have gotten over yourself, then you have haven't really gotten over yourself.

Furthermore, who is going to read a blog post with the title, "How I got over myself?" The kind of people who need that kind of information are the most unlikely to read it.

I think people have been reading Flashbang. In fact, I think they are reading Flashbang wishing they had written it.

Can people really get over themselves? Is there any there there? Isn't getting over yourself a process or a discipline? Isn't it laced inside of every single decision you make?

Is there any evidence that anyone has ever gotten over himself? Let's factor out Jesus and look for an example. Peter couldn't get over his racism. Paul couldn't get over his pride. Do you think "the adulterous woman" got over her issues?

I think of someone like Ghandi as someone who has approached getting over himself. And still, he labored and struggled with himself.

It's gratuitous to mention that I have not gotten over myself. I don't know myself well enough to get over myself. And if I did have such a great sense of self-awareness, I doubt I'd have the power to accomplish self-transcendance. And all that is messed up anyway. Viktor Frankl would say that the road to self-awareness passes through self-transcendance. The amount of humility required to self-transcend is enormous.

And let's round this post out with humility. Do you know it when you see it? Do you know where it comes from or how to produce it? Please, don't try to answer these questions - you'll be exposed. Do you know how to seek it?

Humility is the key to pursue the discipline of getting over yourself. Trying to get over yourself is like trying to get happy. The pursuit of happiness only chases happiness away and trying to get over yourself only causes one to focus on himself. Humility spooks the spectre of perpetual narcissism into remission.