Because Everybody Is Entitled To My Opinion

"O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, . . . in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2).
"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" (Psalm 85:6)

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #47



Thursday Thirteen #47


13 Things About Dane Bramage

13 Things Going On Around Me

Well if you thought I was dead you were wrong. I have been preoccupied. My life is in major flux at the moment. Here are 13 reasons why:

  1. My niece and her kids moved out in April. She got a job and wanted to get her own place. I think it was too soon and I was right.

  2. My niece got laid off. And she gave up her apartment and moved in with my sister (her mom).

  3. My sister is losing her house. She has to be out by September. My niece wants to move back in with me but can't. I have remodeled the upstairs.

  4. The "People Under the Stairs" have to be out by October 1st. No one is happy with this situation. But 2 years is enough.

  5. Dave had another hospital stay. Pancreatitis flared up again and he went to emergency. A milder case this time with a shorter stay. He's home now.

  6. My niece will move "Under the Stairs". Once Dave and his wife have moved, my niece will take over the basement. I don't know what she is going to do in September. She has to b out of her mom's and can't move in downstairs for another month. Meanwhile the kids, 3 this year, will have to be ferried back and forth to school from where ever she is.

  7. Dave needs to move earlier. Things would work out much better (for me) if Dave were to move out 30 days earlier. I haven't approached him about it yet. He is not the most understanding of other peoples needs if they conflict with his own.

  8. My mom is moving into a retirement home. She's 67 and still works (where I get my work ethic I guess) but her income is not much and she won't be able to stay where she is now. They've up her rent.

  9. My homeowner niece is still unemployed. She was trying to go to school but her finances are starting to really suffer so she is looking for work to get caught up on her bills. My sister and brother-in-law may have to move in with her until they find another place of there own. No one gets along with my brother-in law for very long.

  10. My vacation plans have been derailed. A new situation has arisen which will force me to cut short my vacation in August and come home early. I am not looking forward to that day.

  11. Work is hell. My department is short 3 people. We now have one new drone and two contractors. My deliverables have been suffering and I don't think my performance rating this year will be half of last year.

  12. Money is short. Just not enough to go around.

  13. My inner "Mr. Hyde" has been surfacing too often of late. I have been told that I am grouchy, short tempered, and all mopey lately.

Well I do feel better having shared my burdens. I know these are just temporary situations and that in less than 75 days I will have a completely new set of issues. Ah life. Next week I will list the 13 blessings that have helped me through this.




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Thursday, July 05, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #46



Thursday Thirteen #46


13 Things About Dane Bramage

13 Favorite Thursday Thirteens

In honor of this being the 100th edition of Thursday Thirteen I am listing 13 of my favorite T13s.

  1. 13 Thursday Thirteen Logos
    Custom T13 Logos (TT#30) Feet shoes is still my favorite. I am in the process of making a better pair with the new photochopping skills I have learned. Now if only Dave would sit still.

  2. 13 Quotes About Women
    Sayings by Famous People (TT#32) Not all are flattering but all are true! Don't hurt me till after the next one.

  3. 13 Quotes About Men
    More Quotes by Famous People (TT#33) Guys take their lumps in this list.

  4. 13 Searches That Lead Here
    Strange Search Engine Queries That led to Dane Bramage (TT#29) Not sure why "famous women showing Butt crack" led to my humble blog. Read the list and find out though.

  5. 13 Demotivational Posters
    Samples from Despair.com (TT#41) "Meetings: None of us is as dumb as all of us!" I have the coffee mug. I take it to meetings. Here are 13 posters.

  6. 13 Things about Scott Murray's Book Trucker's Tales
    Notes About My Friend's First Book (TT#36) Scott's knowledge and wisdom are vast. His wit is only half vast.

  7. 13 Memorable Films
    Films That Made an Impression on Me (TT#5) When someone said "movies" these were the first 13 to pop into my head.

  8. 13 Hat Tips
    Shout Outs to Other Blogs (TT#22) I thought this was a clever idea. 13 blogs that referred to 13 other blogs. Double the linkage!

  9. 13 Books That just Came to Mind
    Films That Made an Impression on Me (TT#17) A list of my favorite books of all time.

  10. 13 Favorite Games
    Games That I Play or Have Played (TT#10) Gaming is my hobby. (I am currently at the Origins 2007 Game Fair as you read this! Woo Hoo!) Here are some of my favorite all time games.

  11. 13 Favorite Television Shows
    Television Shows Old and New (TT#25) I have never seen Survivor, Friends, Seinfeld, or American Idol. Despite that I am told I am moderately well adjusted. Here is a list of what I do watch.

  12. 13 Things About the Real Me
    Can You Separate Truth from Fiction I have listed 13 things and invite you to find the single false statement in the group

  13. 13 Favorite Bible Verses
    My Favorite Scriptures Here are 13 of my favorite Bible Scriptures including my life's verse!

Congratulations to Thursday Thirteen on reaching the 100th Edition Milestone. I hope everyone who participates catches the spirit and gives you a list of their lists!




Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!


Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Happy 4th of July

I celebrated the 4th alone (but was graciously fed by family) and now I am in the beautiful state capitol of Columbus. All the fireworks were yesterday (the 3rd- go figure) and now I am luxuriating at the Crown Plaza. Tomorrow me and 15,000 of my closest friends will fill the Greater Columbus Convention Center for the 2007 Origins Game Fair. I was in such a foul mood until I got out on the road and started down here. Now I can't remember what my snit was about. Probably a good thing. Ah the magic of room service. I may post some pics. My Thursday Thirteen was done last week in anticipation of lack of time. If I don't get to you this week it is nothing personal. Now back to vacation. A friend suggested that there may be a Lesser Columbus Convention Center. Sounds like a quest to me!

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

That's Right! I Said Baptists Are NOT Protestant!

This post is for Big Daddy Weave, an alleged student of Baptist history. BDW took exception to my assertion that Baptists are not Protestant. He invited me to catch up on my Baptist history. Nah. Instead I think I will teach him a thing or ten. From Baptist Banner Baptist History section:
  1. Baptists are Ancient, and our Ancestry can be traced through the vital principles established and set forth by our Lord Jesus Christ and His disciples in the New Testament Churches

  2. Baptists are not "Protestants," as our testimony extends much further in History than that of Martin Luther or John Calvin.

  3. Baptists are not "Reformed" in Theology or practice, for our view of the church could never allow the marriage of church and state.

  4. Baptists are not "Calvinists," for the doctrines of grace were believed and preached long before John Calvin Preached in Geneva. Calvinism

  5. Baptists are not "Arminian" in theology, for our forefathers preached the Gospel with fervor long before the time of Jacob Arminius, and believed they were enabled by God to Persevere.

  6. Immersion was in common use among Baptists before 1641. We reject the 1641 theory of William Whitsitt and oppose the Conclusion of Henry Veddar About Baptism. We View as Suspect the modern histories of Robert Baker, Leon McBeth, Walter Shurden, Robert G. Torbet, and James Edward McGoldrick as they submit to the thoroughly disproved theory of William Whitsitt.

  7. Baptists heritage is far older than "Fundamentalism," or the era of the city-wide revival campaigns, or the time of the old Evangelical Alliance.

  8. Because Baptists have suffered at the hands of Papists and Pedobaptistic Protestants alike, we ought to venerate and remember our historic testimony far above the testimony of our persecuting enemies. That is, we ought to revere the testimony of the Paulicians, Peter de Bruys, Henry of Clugny, Balthasar Hubmaier, Henry D'anvers, John Clarke, Obadiah Holmes, Valentine Wightman, Isaac Backus, Shubal Stearns, Samuel Harris, John Leland, John Taylor, Isaac McCoy, et. al. These names should be more commonly known among Baptists than those of D. L. Moody, Ira Sankey, R. A. Torrey, Sam Jones, Gipsy Smith, John Wilbur Chapman or Billy Sunday.

  9. Infant Baptism is the badge of the antichrist, and flirtation with that badge is akin to treason against God's word.

  10. Ignorance of Baptist heritage, which is so infectious in our pulpits and pews today, is dangerous and must be overcome with a renewed teaching of our Baptist heritage and heroes of past generations.

Jesus said "Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist..." Notice he didn't say John the Catholic, or John the Protestant. We Baptist trace our doctrine back to John the Baptist. Schools out.

Monday, July 02, 2007

A Coalition of Liberal Baptists

Before I start let me state plainly and up front that I am a Baptist. I am an independent Fundamental Baptist, not Southern Baptist or American Baptist. I have issues with the SBC but in this instance I agree with their thoughts regarding the American Baptist Coalition. Oh and BTW, Baptists are NOT Protestant. They existed long before Martin Luther split the Catholic Church. I really get irked when people call Baptists Protestant or lump them together with protestants.

Our local paper picked up this story and ran it this weekend. Upon digging I found that this meeting took place back in January. Carter, Clinton Seek To Bring Together Moderate Baptists Well it seems that Carter and Clinton are trying to rally the backsliders liberal Baptists. Carter is the ringleader and Clinton is a self proclaimed cheerleader for the cause. Notice also how they say that Baptists that believe in abortion, gay rights and women preachers are "moderate" and not liberal.
The new coalition, which is Carter's brainchild, would give moderate Baptists a stronger collective voice and could provide Democrats with greater entree into the Baptist community. But Carter and other organizers are trying to walk a fine line, insisting that the alliance is not directly political while touting its potential to recast the role of religion in the public square.

Yeah right, it is not political at all. I would have believed it if someone besides Clinton and Carter, you know someone who isn't a liberal Democrat ex-President, were championing the cause.
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

"We hope . . . to emphasize the common commitments that bind us together rather than to concentrate on the divisive issues that separate us," Carter said. "There's too much of an image in the Baptist world, and among non-Christians, that the main, permeating characteristic of Christian groups is animosity toward one another and an absence of ability to cooperate in a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood."

Carter has also made reaching out to muslims part of the package. Interestingly the majority of the congregations in this coalition will be black. It is the old divide and conquer. Imomoral Democrats (immoral in that they support issues clearly forbidden in the Bible like abortion and homosexuality) want to separate the black votes from the Baptist camp in the guise of ministering to their specific needs. Needs Carter claims Southern Baptists ignore or are against. Their thinly veiled plot has not gone unnoticed.
The Rev. Richard Land, head of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said the smaller Baptist groups are in "a search for significance and relevance." He scoffed at the idea that the new coalition would be nonpartisan.
"I'm not going to question their motives. I just know that if I were them, I would be concerned about how it might appear to many people, the timing," Land said. "Purportedly they're going to hold a convention of several thousand people in Atlanta in early 2008, hosted by two former Democratic presidents, one of whom has a wife seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Some would see that as an overtly political activity

The rest of the post is below the fold. Go to the end of the post and click "We want to read more!"

Carter and Company complains that the SBC only cares about sexual morality. That they don't get involved enough with social issues. Correct me if I am wrong, but the best way to deal with social ills is to create a better living human being. The mission of the church, ANY church is to reach the lost. We will give account for our own lives and how we live for Christ as individuals not as a denomination. The fact that all the issues Carter claims his group will address are social issues only proves the political intent of his gathering. Still the SBC does address issues like poverty. But there will be many areas where their beliefs diverge.
Land denied that Southern Baptists care only about sexual morality, noting that the SBC was heavily involved in relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. But he agreed that there appear to be significant disagreements between the SBC and the new coalition.

"One of the areas where we would be in significant disagreement would be our view toward Israel, as highlighted by President Carter's new book," he said, referring to "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," published in November by Simon & Schuster. Fourteen members of an advisory panel at the Carter Center have resigned over the book's depiction of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yeah that Carter. "It's all the Jews fault". Maybe that is why he was so impotent during the Tehran Hostage Situation. He was busy appeasing the Islamic powers in the region.
Another difference, he said, was made clear last week when Carter spoke of sexual orientation as an "ancillary issue." "Most Southern Baptists would disagree with that," Land said. "We're not going to affirm and accept all sexual orientations."

Oh! Sexual orientation is an "ancillary issue." Because the Bible just isn't clear enough on how God feels about homosexuality.
The covenant would not be not a new denomination but a coalition of four historically black Baptist churches -- including the 7.5-million-member National Baptist Convention USA and the 2.5-million-member Progressive National Baptist Convention -- and several predominantly white Baptist groups, including the 1.4-million-member American Baptist Churches USA and the 500,000-member Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Together, they have more than 20 million members, outnumbering the SBC, which was not invited to the Atlanta meeting.
"The elephant is no longer in the room. There's been a convergence of the rest of the Baptists in North America," said the Rev. Daniel Vestal, national coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a group of present and former Southern Baptists unhappy with the SBC's course.

Wow. The elephant is gone. No political reference there. And with 20 million members, they get to decide what is moral and what is not because with religion majority rules right? I don't think so.

In a nutshell, Jimmy Carter, the worst president in American history, and Bill Clinton, the sleaziest president in history, have joined forces with disgruntled, backslidden Baptists to form a new "non-political" group. Their meeting next year (an election year) will focus on healing social ills including poverty, pollution, lack of health care and global religious and racial conflict. A laudable agenda but to anyone on the outside looking in, it is obvious that the two former presidents are trying to mobilize a guilt free religious base of unrepentant sinners, unbelievers and liberal sympathizers based on their dislike for the Southern Baptists' strict religious stand. They are doing it for obvious political power. Well someone in the DNC didn't like conservative Republicans claiming the religious high ground in the last couple election cycles. Unable to sway people of faith with their stands on the issues, they have decided to create a new base. One that believes in abortion and gay rights and can claim them as equal in validity as the pro-life and anti-homosexual stands traditionally held by Christians. Will this ploy work? Oh sure there will be lots of people who don't think the SBC is progressive enough but the ultimate deciding factor is Truth. This new group of Baptists cannot back up their liberal stands with scripture. And what exactly do they plan to do about poverty, pollution, and global and religious conflict? I'm thinking the pastors are going to urge their members to vote Democrat.