miscellaneous...

ok this is a smash and grab one, because i'm really busy and i WOULD HAVE posted on time if the internet connection had been functioning earlier.

1. WHAT ARE MY VIEWS, as one anonymous poster asked, regarding Islam and Wagner's views posted earlier. I agree 100% with him on the fact that those 4 points are QUESTIONABLE ASSUMPTIONS. They are all assumptions and they are all questionable. Debates have raged over them all. I have no problem accepting the first 3 as myths and/or falsehoods. I think the reality on the ground shows that a democratic Iraq with strong leadership and a unifying national identity is not yet a reality and might never be. The issue of "Who is Allah?" is a very sticky and sensitive one with massive implications. There is very good evidence on both sides of the argument. I see from the Old Testament (and the New) that even if we get the right God, sometimes we can worship Him in the wrong way. Wrong enough to commit idolatry, wrong enough to elicit God's wrath and judgement. Modern day Muslims are no more exempt from this dynamic than were Hebrews in 1300 BC. Nor are materialistic Westerners...

2. HELP! We have lost 1/2 our team in the last week or two and already we are under the cosh. These next 2 months will be a real time of testing and temptation. I honestly don't know WHY God allows these things to happen. We were supposed to get new members in months ago and it hasn'tworked out that way. Sadly, each day that passes in our current state of survival mode means another day added on to how long it take to get the book done. I don't anticipate making any progress of note in the next 6 weeks.

3. HELP! Just in case you didn't read the first one.

4. YEAH!!! A little bright spot in a gloomy world of musical mediocrity and dull, market-driven products the equivalent of soggy cardboard. Go to the Spiritual Prog site and be amazed. This is the kind of music I reckon Bach and Beethoven would have been playing if they were alive today. OK, maybe not, but Mozart, for sure :)