The church currently has approximately 160 members and is growing. "Roughly 90 percent of membership is here every Sunday, which is definitely unique for a Baptist church," Burnett said.
Oye.
http://hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20081205/OAKGROVE04/812050318/-1/rss
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
10 Years
Ten years ago today I signed a New Testament to signify I had received Christ as my Lord and Saviour. It has been a wonderful journey thus far. God is good!
Praise His name from whom all blessing flow. Praise Him that I have escaped His wrath, and despite my ruined state, will be deemed acceptable in His sight because of the atonement of Christ.
Praise His name from whom all blessing flow. Praise Him that I have escaped His wrath, and despite my ruined state, will be deemed acceptable in His sight because of the atonement of Christ.
Wilberforce On Feelings
William Wilberforce wrote this following passage in 1797. Amazing!
"The state of man is such, that his feelings are not the obedient servants of his reason, prompt at once to follow his dictates, as to their direction, and their measure. Excellence is the just object of our love; good in expectancy, of hope; evil to be apprehended, of fear; our fellow creatures' misfortunes, and sufferings, constitute the just objects of pity. Each of these passions, it might be thought, would be excited, in proportion to what our reason should inform us were the magnitude and consequent claims of its corresponding object. But this is by no means the case. Take first for a proof the instance of pity. We read of slaughtered thousands with less emotion, than we hear the particulars of a shocking accident which has happened in the next street; the distresses of a novel, which at the same time we know to be fictitious affect us more than the dry narrative of a battle. We become so much interested by these incidents of the imagination (aware all the while that they are merely such) that we cannot speedily banish them from our thoughts, nor recover the tone of our minds; and often, we scarcely bring ourselves to lay down our book at the call of real misfortune, of which we go perhaps to the relief on a principle of duty, but with little sense of interest or emotion of tenderness."
Source: William Wilberforce, A Practical View of Christianity (1797) 2006. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, p. 59
"The state of man is such, that his feelings are not the obedient servants of his reason, prompt at once to follow his dictates, as to their direction, and their measure. Excellence is the just object of our love; good in expectancy, of hope; evil to be apprehended, of fear; our fellow creatures' misfortunes, and sufferings, constitute the just objects of pity. Each of these passions, it might be thought, would be excited, in proportion to what our reason should inform us were the magnitude and consequent claims of its corresponding object. But this is by no means the case. Take first for a proof the instance of pity. We read of slaughtered thousands with less emotion, than we hear the particulars of a shocking accident which has happened in the next street; the distresses of a novel, which at the same time we know to be fictitious affect us more than the dry narrative of a battle. We become so much interested by these incidents of the imagination (aware all the while that they are merely such) that we cannot speedily banish them from our thoughts, nor recover the tone of our minds; and often, we scarcely bring ourselves to lay down our book at the call of real misfortune, of which we go perhaps to the relief on a principle of duty, but with little sense of interest or emotion of tenderness."
Source: William Wilberforce, A Practical View of Christianity (1797) 2006. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, p. 59
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Obama!
One can't help but join in the celebrations of welcoming a new American President. But some have gone overboard.
According to one Toronto Star reporter yesterday's inauguration , was "arguably the most joyous gathering in U.S. history"
Okay then.
http://www.thestar.com/News/USElection/article/574532
According to one Toronto Star reporter yesterday's inauguration , was "arguably the most joyous gathering in U.S. history"
Okay then.
http://www.thestar.com/News/USElection/article/574532
Sunday, January 18, 2009
C.S. Lewis: The Weight of Glory
Excerts from a sermon C.S. Lewis delivered on 8 June 1941.
"If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." (26)
"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations – these are mortal, and their life to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption, and our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner – no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment." (39-40)
"If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." (26)
"There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilisations – these are mortal, and their life to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption, and our charity must be a real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner – no mere tolerance, or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment." (39-40)
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Quote of the Day
In a story about Norwegian visitors to Chicago's Transit Web Site, there is this wonderful quote.
"Many people just like to watch buses on their computer, even if they are not planning a trip," CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/01/norwegians-cta-bus-tracker.html
"Many people just like to watch buses on their computer, even if they are not planning a trip," CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/01/norwegians-cta-bus-tracker.html
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Coming Christian Theocracy (Oh wait, never mind)
While persuading through a branch library, I was stunned at the number of books warning about an imminent right-wing evangelical takeover of America. With the Bush era ending, I hope this type of unfounded fear mongering will fade.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Richard John Neuhaus (1936-2009)
Richard John Neuhaus, the founder and editor-in-chief of First Things, a first-rate Roman Catholic intellectual journal, died today. I was unaware he was born in Eastern Ontario.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Al Mohler's Sound Track
I just discovered the Al Mohler's sound track is a song by Michael W Smith called Freedom. Let freedom ring this year!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
