29/4/04 14:38
Thinking allowed. People talk (argue) about inerrancy. What do they mean? It seems to me that those who take seriously the whole (Christian) bible (the old and new testaments) claim that the bible is inerrant, while those who disagree with some aspect of what it teaches say that it isn't. The problem for me is that while I am uncomfortable with trying to argue that any piece of writing is inerrant, I am generally more in sympathy with those who say that the bible is than with those who say that it isn't.

Congestion charging
Mixed feelings. Angry, because it appears to be a tax imposed by Edinburgh City Council on people who live outside the city. They're claiming that their primary concern is to reduce congestion, but in that case why are the residents of Currie and Balerno exempt? We do have to find ways to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but it has to be done fairly.

Sleep deprivation - a method of torture - a by-product of being a parent ...

Weekend becomes week. Family and personal concerns give way to work concerns. But family questions which can only be answered by people who work 9-5, Monday to Friday still have to be asked. And, it is in the nature of the way that one thinks, that one's mind goes on trying to find answers even when the priorities have shifted.

Syndicated
The Site Feed link goes to an RSS feed - Atom - so you can be quickly notified when this blog is updated.

Exploring i-church. Feeling just a little bit guilty, as I sign up for the newsletter, of unfaithfulness towards the physical congregation I belong to. But I do not intend to transfer my allegiance. I just think that the Internet could help my local church to function better as a community.

Journeying
I believe, what? Do I believe the same now as I did 40 years ago? Is there something which is real and unchanging, which I should believe? Is my belief more accurate now than it was?

On the help desk
Realising that one of the most significant emotions affecting my working life (my whole life, in fact) is insecurity. It's not just job insecurity. I do worry that my job isn't secure. But more than that, I worry that if I lost my job, I simply wouldn't be able to cope.

A new trick (thanks, HanDBase mailing list) - to enter date & time, just do dts. Wonderful.

Since I am here ...

Let's give things some thought. Why are people still opposed to Jesus? Why would they rather believe some scientist who pretends to be able to explain that Jesus really didn't rise from the dead, than a bishop of the Anglican church who argues that he did?

It's Easter Sunday. I am an ordinary human being. I have never seen anyone rise from the dead, nor, honestly, do I expect to. But I reckon that Jesus did rise from the dead. This is the bottom line. (Sorry about the cliche - what I am trying to say is that here is something which cannot be avoided.) Either you live your life, based on the assumption that he didin't rise from the dead, or you take it as gospel that he did. If you think that he did, but that it is somehow irrelevant, you're wrong. If someone rose from the dead, then it matters.

Decision: whether or not to attend a concert this evening. Nobody else in the family wants to go. Just me.

Why should I go? It'll be good music, and interesting. It's something to do with the church, which I should support. And I should especially support the event when it coincides with my own interests.

Why shouldn't I go? Well, it's a Sunday evening. I've got work to-morrow. It would mean leaving Lesley on her own with Hannah and Matthew.

Decision: I would like to go, but I can't.

2004 04 06 2137
Listening to Joan Bakewell interviewing Wendy Cope on Radio 3 tonight, I liked the quotation from George Herbert - something like 'dare to be true'.

Relaunching this blog
Heretofore, entries in this blog have been technology tryouts, but we seem to have arrived at a platform (mo:Blog on a Tungsten E - making the blog title a misnomer, I'm afraid).

But this is to be a journey, from enslavement to freedom.

Trying
A fresh start.

A real post
Simply don't know what the answer is.

The journey
There are some who say that achieving internal purity just isn't worth the effort. But what's the alternative? To be forever vulnerable? Never to know when you're going to fall and somebody's going to accuse you, or make capital? Or to 'come out', and make it public? Would those who despise purity be just as quick to despise the lack of it?

Justice
In Deuteronomy it says that anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse, which implies such confidence in the system that miscarriages of justice never occur. But, of course, they do.

2004 04 04 2110
The tooth fairy is about to visit - what is the going rate?

Rant 2004 04 03 1249
Radios - I prefer them to televisions. But I'm tired.

Something's not right about Microsoft Money (version 11). It is claiming that I am not making a regular contribution to a savings plan, but I am, and it should know about it.

Testing 1,2,3
mo:Blogging