Boundless has an article on the moral issues of piracy (via A Blog Apart).
“Theft is taking a person’s property against his rational will. It simply doesn’t matter that if you hadn’t stolen, you wouldn’t have purchased either. The thing was his, and you took it without his consent.”
…
“The next time someone calls you a thief, don’t bother to be offended. It’s merely what you are.”
I enjoy the second quote a lot. Seriously though, take a look. It’s got some good arguments.
Derek Webb, a former member of Caedmon’s Call and now a solo musician with an album titled “She Must and Shall Go Free” (it’s about the church), discusses Bruce Wilkinson’s book “The Prayer of Jabez” in a recent journal entry. (Discovered via A Blog Apart)
now all [of] this is probably troubling to you (in one way or another). but i want to be clear about my concern in all this and why i’m so opposed to this teaching. it’s not necessarily because of the horrendous exegetical work. it’s not necessarily because 98% of bruce’s teaching is unwarranted in scripture. it is for only one reason: because it simply undermines the Gospel.
Jason Wall has an excellent article about love and pride, and the semantics of these and related terms. He provides a good analysis of related problems and gives lots of scripture to back up his points.
The first sin was pride and it led to the first lie ever told. My pastor once told me that at the root of every problem you will find a lie. To overcome those problems you have to find the lie and establish in your heart, not just in your mind, the truth. This is why Paul exhorts us to think of things that are true.
…it’s 3 am I must be lonely….
Not doing too bad, actually. I read some of
Meditation by Jim Downing (an oldskool Nav… really oldskool) last night.
Isaiah 26:3 - “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Instead of falling to sleep with my last conscious thoughts being about work or anything else, I went over some of my TMS verses. Isaiah 26:3 being the one I focused on most.
Ignore the fact that I couldn’t fall asleep till 8AM ’cause of my generally whacked out sleeping schedule (also has something to do with the three hour “nap” from 12:30AM to 3:30AM). Once I did fall asleep, it felt great. Best I’ve had in a while.
Dawson Trotman, founder of the Navs, also used an acronym for a similar concept: H.W.L.W. = His [God's] Word Last Word. Every night he and his wife would read scripture as the last thing they did all day. They would then go straight to sleep without discussing any further. The point is to focus on God and His Word in order to know him better.
I’ve heard about these strategies. Now it’s time to implement them.