The Award for Most Pleasure Inducing Album Recorded by Someone Else and Listened to By Me in 2008 Goes To

Midnight Organ Flight, by Frightened Rabbit

The Award for Best Fiction Book Read by Me in 2008 Goes To...

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

The Award For Best Non-Fiction Book Read by Me in 2008 Goes To...

The Reason for God, by Tim Keller

whole heartedly recommended for your Christmas listening needs

low- christmas
rosie thomas- a very rosie christmas

unadulterated cheer and goodwill never make for satisfying christmas carols. advent always requires those undertones of melancholy, longing, and humble restraint. these two albums deliver the goods. put one in your stocking this year.

Vintage Funky Presbyterian on a Television Antenna

Science Community Narrowly Avoids Apostacy

The title of this post links to an article in discover magazine. It's a scientific magazine, not a religious magazine. What seems odd to me is that the scientific establishment will go to such great lengths to protect their belief that there is no intelligent creator of the universe, even though they admit such a conclusion is not based on scientific method. They are willing to postulate the equally unscientifically verifiable solution of infinite universes in order to avoid saying what the data seems to suggest: the universe was intelligently and intentionally designed to accommodate us, that life is not random or peripheral, but central to the purpose of the universe. 

Now, I don't have any problem with people postulating theories which are not scientifically verifiable. What I do find curious is the scientific community's insistence that they are not religious and that their beliefs about the world are developed from empirical evidence and scientific methodology. Clearly at this point their methods cannot sustain the beliefs to which they have committed themselves a priori.  And yet they hold them regardless.  In one sense, I'm completely ok with that.  There is no other way to hold beliefs about the world!   I just wish they'd write a follow up article admitting that they too are religious and have an orthodoxy to which they hold and which exists independent of, and prior to the criteria by which they judge the evidence.  But they can't because in the modernist, scientific religion, doing so would amount to apostacy.  

I guess what I'm saying is  I am suspicious of their metanarrative.  Call me a religious skeptic.  

Call it a fluke, a mystery, a miracle. Or call it the biggest problem in physics. Short of invoking a benevolent creator, many physicists see only one possible explanation: Our universe may be but one of perhaps infinitely many universes in an inconceivably vast multi verse. Most of those universes are barren, but some, like ours, have conditions suitable for life.

The idea is controversial. Critics say it doesn’t even qualify as a scientific theory because the existence of other universes cannot be proved or disproved. Advocates argue that, like it or not, the multiverse may well be the only viable non religious explanation for what is often called the “fine-tuning problem”—the baffling observation that the laws of the universe seem custom-tailored to favor the emergence of life.

Physical laws clamor for life: the universe knew we were coming.

“For me the reality of many universes is a logical possibility,” Linde says. “You might say, ‘Maybe this is some mysterious coincidence. Maybe God created the universe for our benefit.’ Well, I don’t know about God, but the universe itself might reproduce itself eternally in all its possible manifestations.”

nobody panic.

RUSSIAN ANALYST PREDICTS DECLINE AND BREAKUP OF USA
Tue Nov 25 2008 09:04:22 ET

A leading Russian political analyst has said the economic turmoil in the United States has confirmed his long-held view that the country is heading for collapse, and will divide into separate parts.

Professor Igor Panarin said in an interview with the respected daily IZVESTIA published on Monday: "The dollar is not secured by anything. The country's foreign debt has grown like an avalanche, even though in the early 1980s there was no debt. By 1998, when I first made my prediction, it had exceeded $2 trillion. Now it is more than 11 trillion. This is a pyramid that can only collapse."

The paper said Panarin's dire predictions for the U.S. economy, initially made at an international conference in Australia 10 years ago at a time when the economy appeared strong, have been given more credence by this year's events.

When asked when the U.S. economy would collapse, Panarin said: "It is already collapsing. Due to the financial crisis, three of the largest and oldest five banks on Wall Street have already ceased to exist, and two are barely surviving. Their losses are the biggest in history. Now what we will see is a change in the regulatory system on a global financial scale: America will no longer be the world's financial regulator."

When asked who would replace the U.S. in regulating world markets, he said: "Two countries could assume this role: China, with its vast reserves, and Russia, which could play the role of a regulator in Eurasia."

Asked why he expected the U.S. to break up into separate parts, he said: "A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles."

He also cited the "vulnerable political setup", "lack of unified national laws", and "divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions."

He predicted that the U.S. will break up into six parts - the Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population; the South, with its Hispanics; Texas, where independence movements are on the rise; the Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality; five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and the northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

He even suggested that "we could claim Alaska - it was only granted on lease, after all." Panarin, 60, is a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has authored several books on information warfare.

The Latest Sign of the Apocalypse

This from the New York Post-

Asked about his perspective on social issues—gay marriage, abortion—Prince tapped his Bible and said, “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’ ”

I guess I don't know what to say. Except this: I can't wait for the new Prince & the Revolution Study Bible from Zondervan.

back to basics...

It's been a time of getting back to basics for me lately. I'm rediscovering the beauty of the Bible. Not that I ever stopped reading it, but one can read the Bible in different ways and to discover different things. Recently I've really enjoyed the simple beauty of passages like the 23rd psalm and the gospel of Mark. Both very different works, by the way. But similar in their simple, and profound beauty. For instance I've spent a lot of time considering the ways in which my Shepherd "makes me lie down in green pastures" and what that means for me on a day to day or moment by moment basis. And I've though a lot about the theme of rest in the book or Mark and how Jesus is continually in need of rest, but wherever he goes, people find him and his apostles disturb him and he can't even get through a meal or a prayer or a nap without interruption from people in need. And he always meets the need, without bitterness or self pity. And then I've been thinking a lot about the fact that I'm not Jesus. But I am his sheep. And the sheep can rest precisely because their shepherd does not. The implications spin out in a million directions.

In addition to the Bible, I've been rediscovering Bob Dylan's catalogue. I recently picked up The Bootleg Series Volume 8 as well as Bringing it All Back Home and Planet Waves. And I have come to a conclusion. I don't need to listen to any music other Bob Dylan. Nobody does, really. From now on, it's Bob and only Bob for me. It's like the atkins diet for my ears.

Here are a few songs for you that capture the tenor of our lives for the past few months. Why is it that listening to sad songs makes a guy feel better? Click the little blue triangle to listen to song segments, and for petesake- get your hands on some Dylan albums this year.

http://www.bobdylan.com/#/node/140
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/node/855
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/node/90
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/node/195

How to Tell If You're Raising PKs.

Occasionally I reminded that the children we are raising are not um... normal. They are pks. Pastor's kids. The following questionairre formed from real-life Blosser family experiences may help you identify if you too are raising PKs.


1. Your four year old recieves an expensive gift in the mail from a family friend. What is the occasion?
A. a birthday
B. Christmas
C. Reformation Day

2. Your firstborn is just a year old and notices snow falling for the very first time. What does he exclaim?
A. snow!
B. pretty!
C. manna!

3. When arriving at an outdoor party wherein many people are gathered beneath a large colorful tent, your two year old says which of the following sentences?
A. Oh look! A tent!
B. Oh look! A circus!
C. Oh look! A Tabernacle!


(if you answered "c" to any or all of the above there is reason to be concerned).

just like old times

Last night I saw Bill Mallonee play at a little bar around the corner from my house.  I sat there with my friend Jeff and it occurred to us that we'd been following Mallonee's career for about 18 years.  That's a long time.  We felt old.  

ESV study bible

I know study Bibles.  I've got study Bibles.  I use to sell study Bibles, when I worked at a bookstore in St Louis where I got an employee discount.  Which I used to buy more study Bibles. I've got the Literary Study Bible, the Serendipity Study Bible for Personal and Small Group Study, the NIV study Bible, the Nelson Study Bible, the New Geneva Study Bible, the Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, the Thematic Study Bible, the Thompson Chain Study Bible, and somewhere around here I have my old Student Study Bible from highschool.   After a while it began to take a bit more to impress me in the way of study bibles.  I guess study bibles are like most things in life.  There are always several ways to do it well, but a million ways to do it poorly!  I still love my old Thompson Chain.  I've gotten great use out of the Thematic Study bible and the Spirit of the Reformation's cross referencing of historical protestant confessions has saved me hours of work.  The NIV study Bible has been for  quite a while your best bet for an all around resource.   But with the release of the ESV study Bible it looks like the NIV Study Bible is about to be eclipsed.  The video below is a cheesy little promotional thing, but I must say I'm impressed.  Check it out.  

Rashad Evans defeats Chuck Lidell

I thought this doctored photo was hilarious.  I've posted it along with the original for your enjoyment.  (The original is the one on bottom, in case you couldn't tell).  

psalm 147:10-11

His delight is not in the strength of the horse

nor his pleasure in the legs of a man,

but Yahweh takes pleasure in those who fear him,

in those who hope in his steadfast love.

A Vote Against Cynicism.

Alright, here's my dilemma:

I am cynical when it comes to politics and politicians.  And as we all know, there is nothing more hip, more cool, more (dare I say it?) "funky" than cynicism.  Heck, without cynicism one can scarcely maintain one's indie cred.  So far so good...

But alas!  As the title of the blog indicates, I am a Presbyterian.  Which is a roundabout way of signifying that I am (among other descriptors) a Christian.  And as it turns out, cynicism is completely and utterly incompatible with Christianity.  Jesus was no cynic.  And so I probably shouldn't be either.  

You see the problem, yes?

So in an effort to combat said cynicism I have endeavored to post about the two major presidential tickets in a completely sincere and non-cynical manner.  I am determined to write only positive and honest reflections about each candidate.  (for those of you trying to read between the lines, I did presidential candidates first, vp's second and alphabetically by last name respectively).

As a pastor it is very important to me to keep my ballot secret, or at the very least to purposefully refrain from offering any hints as to my preference of candidates in any public manner.  The reason is because a Christian pastor is to call people to Jesus, not to any human being or political party.  Of course there are political issues which are important to me!  And many of those issues are based on what I believe to be Christian principles derived from the life of Jesus and the Scriptures.  And of course there is a time and a place for a pastor to address social (even political) issues when the Bible speaks to them.  But my blog is not the time or the place.  Frankly, I care much more that you resist the allure of cynicism than I care who you vote for this November.  Our next president will be gone in four years.  Eight, max.  Cynicism is much more difficult to depose.  So vote often.

John McCain

John McCain was a horrible student.  He finished 894th out of 899 in his graduating class at the Naval Academy.  Of course given the trajectory of McCain's life, his political career, the universal respect of his peers and his undeniably courageous record as a prisoner during the Viet Nam war, the fact that he finished fifth from the bottom is more of an indictment of our culture's faith in grade point averages and class rankings as reliable indicators of one's potential success or usefulness to society.  

John McCain's experience as a prisoner of war is generally known.  Some have accused him of playing up the story for political gain.  I can't say wether he has done this or not.  But should he be elected to the presidency, his five year imprisonment gives me confidence that he would serve his country with integrity.  The fact that McCain was offered release and declined it so as not to demoralize his fellow prisoners and disobey the Code of Conduct, speaks volumes to me about the man's fortitude and character, even if it says nothing about his political skills and policies.  What could McCain be bribed with that he has not already denied for the sake of honor & duty?  What could McCain be threatened with that he has not already endured for his country?  

I'm not saying that character and integrity are reasons enough to elect a president.  One could certainly have character and yet be incompetent.  A president could have integrity and yet exercise it in favor of policies that are unwise.  But character and integrity aren't bad places to start, either.  Plus the dude must be tough as nails.  As it turns out, character, integrity, and fortitude don't really show up well on the academic transcript.   

Click the link to read about McCain's imprisonment in his own words.