Author: Alan

Alan is an ordinary guy, living in a small, high plains Colorado town...and humbled to be a minister of God...
Alien with halo

Okay, I Stipulate God Is an Alien

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To my atheist readers and friends, the article below will come off a bit snarky, but I actually respect your skepticism and penned it the way I have to prompt dialogue, not insult your laudable aversion to blind faith.

Alien with haloIt seems to me that atheists (and others) can hold I am someone who has blind faith in fairy tales since I believe in God, but (at the same time) they can provide far-fetched explanations for the inexplicable and it’s okay. Can’t explain why this universe is so perfectly designed for life? Posit a zillion universes out there with ours just happening to be one with conducive conditions. Can’t explain where the Big Bang came from? Just, ironically, take all our physical laws out of the picture as Steven Hawking did:

At this time, the Big Bang, all the matter in the universe, would have been on top of itself. The density would have been infinite. It would have been what is called, a singularity. At a singularity, all the laws of physics would have broken down. This means that the state of the universe, after the Big Bang, will not depend on anything that may have happened before, because the deterministic laws that govern the universe will break down in the Big Bang.

You can pretty much propose anything and still look down on people who believe in the supernatural…

Because science.

Now a rough segue…but I promise it’ll all be connected before we are done. 🙂 Continue reading “Okay, I Stipulate God Is an Alien”

Proving There Is A God, Sodom Found (Maybe), and Scientists Reducing Faith

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 NewspapersI saw three interesting articles on the Internet today. The first says there is no way to prove there is a God:

“Why God Cannot Be Proven: A Star Trek Argument”

Basically, it claims you can always posit that anything that seems supernatural is actually just a smarter alien using non-supernatural means that seem magical to us.

I would suggest, instead, it fits my saying that “proof is in the eye of the beholder”—that people will not believe what they don’t want to believe. However, in fairness to the writer, proof of an infinite being might itself be infinite, and we have finite brains. We may have no choice but to have faith bridge the gap…

But that faith would still be based on evidence versus the false modern equivication of faith with blind faith.

The second article says they may have found the biblical city of Sodom: Continue reading “Proving There Is A God, Sodom Found (Maybe), and Scientists Reducing Faith”

Acts 2:15 doodle

Doodling Acts 2

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I lead my church’s tween/teen class, and I’ve been trying new approaches to keep the Bible studies interesting. The latest addition to my repertoire is personal erasable boards. Although they are for other purposes (that I may explain someday in another post), I allow the kids to doodle…and their team can get points for good ones. The one below (which is actually for Acts 2:15, not Acts 2:14…that’s on me, not the artist) wasn’t the greatest artistry displayed this last Sunday, but I sure liked it. 🙂

Acts 2:15 doodle

In case you aren’t familiar with the story (you have to start at the beginning of Acts 2 to get the complete picture, however)…

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them:“Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day (Acts 2:14-15).

The Lord has blessed me with a class of great kids…

Traditores Higher Frequency

Episode 1 – The Right Foundation

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Traditores Higher FrequencyIntroduction

Welcome to the very first edition of Traditores Higher Frequency…but before we chat a bit about the the program and me…

I’ve been listening to the Scorpions’ new album, “Return to Forever,” on my recent bicycle rides…and one of my favorite tunes off it is “We Built This House.” The chorus goes like this:

When the rain fell and the flood came
And the wind blew hard like a hammer on these walls
We didn’t crack or break or fall
We built this house on a rock, on a rock
This house on a rock, on a rock1

Now…it sounds a lot better when they perform it…and it’s not meant in a religious sense even though it is an allusion to Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:24-27…but it helped convince me that this first episode of Traditores Higher Frequency should, after a brief introduction of myself and the program, build the right foundation…a firm foundation…for what will follow. Continue reading “Episode 1 – The Right Foundation”

Hateful, Horrible, or…?

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I had an interesting interaction with Penn Jillette this afternoon. Thoughts about our Twitter dialogue? Is he right, am I right, or are we both wrong?

https://twitter.com/AlanCult/status/635546990546255872

https://twitter.com/AlanCult/status/635550029701230592

In case the tweets don’t come through, here are the text of each: Continue reading “Hateful, Horrible, or…?”

Truth (Something to Consider)

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I’ve developed some great friendships on Twitter.

Wait! What does that say about me if I develop most of my friendships when limited to 140 characters or less?! 🙂

Either way, I’ve developed some great friendships on Twitter, and one of the folks I appreciate most is Jeffrey Guterman, whose Twitter profile describes him as a “mental health counselor and author.” He and I view the world from different angles, but I’ve had some of my most rewarding tweet dialogues with him. Here is an example of how he takes the time to explain difficult concepts (we were discussing contradictions and truth):

Continue reading “Truth (Something to Consider)”

Like a Trapped Moth

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Moth trapped by a windowThis is a post that I meant to write three weeks and a few days ago. Although the company I work for is great, conditions as of late have made me feel I have little control of my fate—that I am trapped by circumstances.

I am sure I could have done certain things more effectively, but am convinced I have done a good (perhaps great) job given what was on my and my department’s plate.

But, it doesn’t matter. I am trapped like the moth in this picture. I don’t really advertise all that I am accomplishing (nor my successes), and as such often cannot even put them in words. Instead, all certain people see are what I could have done better (or that they perceive I could have done better), not all I did in the background that made the incredible look mundane. Continue reading “Like a Trapped Moth”

Cross out of blocks spelling God Love

“Jesus loves me (but not you), this I know…” (Addendum)

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Cross out of blocks spelling God LoveAlthough I basically touched on this point a long time ago in “Jesus loves me (but not you), this I know…” (Part 1), as I was reading in Matthew, I was reminded that those who say that God only loves the saved have a hard time with this part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:43-45, English Standard Version).

We are to love our enemies, and our Lord analogizes this to how He sends rain on the just and the unjust. The equivalency is clear…we are to love everyone just as God loves everyone.

That is a far cry from universalism (all are saved)…but even the lost are loved by the Creator.

P.S. Please also check out “Jesus loves me (but not you), this I know…” (Part 2).

Happy Father’s Day (“Things My Father Said”)

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For the Traditores Video of the Week…

Okay…I know it’s more like the Traditores Video of Every-Few-Months. 🙂

And as a Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there…here is a great tune from one of my favorite bands:

[youtube=https://youtu.be/0VNthEJlSdw&w=512&rel=0]

By the way, at least some of the group became Christians. (They may all be…I am not sure.)

This bonus video is why I even thought of the song today. It’s a great live version that was just posted (and YouTube sent me an e-mail about): Continue reading “Happy Father’s Day (“Things My Father Said”)”

Strasburg water tower

51 (“I’m Okay”)

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Strasburg water towerAs my day winds down and Augie, snuggling beside me, sings, “I’m okay”…I am reminded just how blessed I have been during my 51 years.

And just how blessed I still am.

CloudsOn this birthday, I am not as thoughtful as some. 2015 has provided some fairly high levels of stress, and that continues in some areas. A contributor to the stress is my lack of self-confidence…I hate to disappoint (and mentally it is easy for me to assume I have). That’s why, heading to and from this year’s American Heart Association’s Heart Walk, a song I don’t remember ever hearing before from Styx was especially heartening. Just happens to be the song Augie was just singing, “I’m Okay.” 🙂 Continue reading “51 (“I’m Okay”)”

Colt Ford Workin' On Cover

The Gospel According to Colt Ford

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Colt Ford Workin' On Cover

Introduction

During this second opportunity…I should say blessing…the Lord has given me to stand in this pulpit, I am going to do something I am famous…or infamous :-)…for doing at the church in Antrim, New Hampshire I pastored.

I am going to preach a sermon based on a popular song. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still a “Bible and Bible only” guy, but one of the advantages to being a topical preacher (versus expository) is there is more opportunity to choose “jumping off points.” Being a music addict, that means today you get to put up with the intersection of that love and the Lord’s Word.

I promise it won’t be too painful…every parishioner survived all my previous music-related sermons. 🙂

Who Is Colt Ford?

Anybody here ever heard of Colt Ford?

Well, I hadn’t until a couple months back when a tremendously talented country-musician friend of mine, David Britt, tweeted an image of a Colt Ford album he had just purchased. David’s tweets never steer me wrong music-wise…so I logged into Spotify and checked out Colt Ford’s work. I’d describe him as a country-rock-rapper. That is I would describe him as an incredibly gifted country-rock-rapper.

Continue reading “The Gospel According to Colt Ford”

Happy "less than a week and we are the homeowners" :-)

Less than One Week (Praise God)

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Happy "less than a week and we are the homeowners" :-)This posts appears on two of my blogs, Strasburg.Rocks and Traditores. It will seem a bit odd on the former…but it speaks to the intersection of both in the form of the purchase of property in the friendly, small town of Strasburg, Colorado.

Although I am continually thankful to the Lord, I hesitate to make certain statements because they can be presumptuous. For instance, if when you have an unexpected bill you can’t afford just enough money shows up, is it fair to say, “The Lord sent the $$$?” I mean beyond the general providence of God…did He really personally ensure you received that cash? Sure, at a minimum, He didn’t prevent it from showing up…but did the Most High specifically fill the expense versus income gap?

Now, I am not questioning whether you should thank God in cases like that. You should. I am questioning whether it is presumptuous to say The Almighty divinely stepped into your timeline and changed something.

And with that rather lengthy preamble I humbly suggest that Michelle and I are about to own…and Augie is about to live with us in…

…a house that the Lord has personally provided.

How do I know? Well… Continue reading “Less than One Week (Praise God)”