Julianne's Own...

Top signs that you can tell I'm a calvinist:

I lay awake at night thinking up possible theories on lapsarianism.

My car has a "honk if you think C.H. Spurgeon was hot" bumper sticker.

I bring up Scripture passages which make people cringe.

I go to the local Christian bookstore and turn most (!) of the theology books towards the flow of customers (after I dust them off).

I jump up and down when I "discover" a Christian music CD with God-glorifying lyrics.

I'm the first in line for the latest 'Modern Reformation' Magazine.

I actually think the puritans were awesome people.

I give copies of 'Debating Calvinism' for Christmas gifts.

My best thoughts of God are after reading Isaiah and Romans.

I cringe at the words "emerging" or "middle knowledge."

Top Reasons You Should've Known I'm A Calvinist

Check out these great 20 reasons that you would know someone's a calvinist. 10 from Chris @ Imperishable Inheritence and 10 from Amy @ Humble Musings.

Here are a few:

19. I’m the [girl] who brings the party down by mentioning the “p” word.
16. I feel it necessary to constantly make everyone define what “free will” means.
12. I won’t like any sermon unless the preacher says some kind of reformed buzz word.
9. I can’t sing from memory all the verses of “Just as I Am.”
6. I plagiarize Elisabeth Elliot and John Piper.
2. I smile at the insult “frozen chosen.”

Thanks, Chris and Amy!

[EDIT] Reformolution

I want to start something big. I don't know what it is yet, but it'll be big. I have the name....[EDIT] Reformolution. It's a reformation revolution. I know...this sounds like a reformed Seinfield episode or something...

After some helpful advice, I'm going to go with the name Reformolution. Thanks, Brian!

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

I began to think alone – "to relax," I told myself – but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me and finally, I was thinking all the time.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself.

I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Plantinga and Moreland. I would return to the office dizzied and confused asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

Things weren't going so great at home either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job." This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I'd had enough. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Aquinas, with STR on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors…they didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.
As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for the Summa, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster.

Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Napoleon Dynamite." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.

I still have my job and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

Thanks, Stand To Reason

As my fellow blogger, TulipGirl put it, "WWLB?"

"Seek not to grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause, and to enable you to dispute with others; but seek it for the benefit of your souls, and in order to practice....Practice according to what knowledge you have. This will be the way to know more...[According to Ps. 119:100] 'I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.'"

Jonathan Edwards

Later...Day Saints

5:02 pm

*ding-dong* *bark-bark*

I peer through the glass window in our front door. I see two blurry black figures. Once again, Mormans are at my door. Dad picks up Ginger (who, by the way, wants to tear their theology to bits) and I breathe, in and out, slowly. I'm always up to a challenge, however, tonight I didn't feel like listening or discussing. I put away my feelings and put a smile on my face.

*door opens*

Morman: good evening
Juli: hello
M: we're out sharing in our neighborhood (apparently, my city and theirs are somewhat close) about our faith...blah, blah, blah

We ended up talking about works and faith and the *full* atonement of Christ. Good discussion. I got their opinions of the Reformation and what Luther was standing for. I asked about their convictions of the account of Joseph Smith. Basically, one of the guys said that he believes Smith's account based on "reading [Smith's] journal and praying about and trusting his 'feelings'." I asked about outside accounts that support Smith's claims, they knew of none. I asked if trusting our feeling is the way to go since our "heart is deceitful above all else."

*mumbling*

Their highest goal is to raise a family and live happily.

"Original Sin which binds us so, only the grace of God will untow."

It ended well and Ginger calmed down. Just a reminder of the fog so many live in daily. God, be gracious to these lost souls.

The Sibs minus Army boy

Elyssa, myself, Abigail, Matthew, and Ginger, the famous late-night theologian.

Free will, free agency, and responsibility

For all you guys who've been involved with my "inconsistent theology" post, here is a good blog by my friend, Rand of A Form of Sound Words.

Here is a quick preveiw:

"Man cannot do otherwise than continue in sin so long as he is in his natural state (Jer. 17:9; Prov. 4:23; Job 14:4; Jer. 13:23; John 6:65; Rom. 8:7, 8; 1 Cor. 2:14). But his continuance in sin is not due to outside compulsion or restraint, but to his own character which causes him to choose darkness rather than light (John 3:19). He continues in sin for the same reason that a hog wallows in the mire. He continues in sin for the same reason that God continues in holiness. Thus he is fully a free agent." (T.P. Simmons)

Live in Salem...

WhoooHooooooooooooo!!!!!!

Chris Tomlin, live, friday night!!!! I'm so stoked...

3 Powers

My favorite Brazil Christian rock band!!!

Hey guys!

Athanasius

John Piper just finished a three-part series on our friend, St. Athanasius. Check it out.

Corpse Art

"A dead man, flayed, holds up his own skin. A corpse rides a skinned horse while holding both of their brains. The body of a young women eight months pregnant reclines in a provacative pose. Her womb is cut open so we can see her dead baby. The hottest tickets in America's museums are for exhibits of corpses--mutilated, skinned, but posed in "life-like" positions."

This excerpt from World Magazine's October 8 issue details the horrid truth of what some are doing in the name of "art."

A German man by the name of Gunther von Hagens is the brainchild behind this. Von Hagen invented "plastination," a method of preserving dead bodies in plastic.

The article goes on to describe whose bodies these are and the controversies behind all this and why it is wrong mutilating corpses and displaying them.

Read more here.

"This is art in the culture of death."

Name this dude...

dead bird

This is a sad picture, I know. For three hours it just sat, all puffed-up, motion-less. Later I found it tipped over as the picture indicates.



Matthew 10:29-30
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father."

In this case, a Scrub-Jay.

The Pyro does it again!

Check out this 50-minute message on the story of Calvinism by Phil Johnson. Well worth the short download time. Click here.

Find it at your local Christian bookstore

You all have to check out this month's TableTalk; No Strings Attached. It's about what Reformed Theology isn't. Very excellent.