Oh, and Happy Birthday, Lexine!!!

Has anyone ever read The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel?

I read something like that once... maybe the same book? about 18 years ago or so. The one thing I remember was the the author telling the reader to contemplate the following two phrases:

Jesus is nowhere.

Jesus is now here.

I guess that was supposed to illuminate the paradox of the "Where is God?" question. I just wanted to say to the author, "Dude, that's an accident of spelling...."

Has anyone ever read The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel?

My mother adores it and gave me a copy, but I never read it and eventually got rid of it. Which I know doesn't help you much. I got the impression it was something along the lines of Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, which all the Campus Crusade kids read in college. (In InterVarsity we spent more time reading Passion and Purity so we could bring our love lives under Christ's control. I kinda wish I'd saved my heavily highlighted copy just for a record of who I used to be.)

t liberalish Christian Anyway. I'm of two minds about the whole "let's prove Christianity!" genre. (Which AFAIK does *not* yet have its own section at B&N, but give it time....) I wouldn't be a Christian if I didn't believe the major events of the Bible, particularly Jesus' resurrection, actually happened. But OTOH, I think intellectual persuasion has its limits, especially since the authors tend to stack the deck. I feel like faith has to leave room for mystery and doubt, too. t /liberalish Christian

happy birthday Lexine!

vw, are you reading any Fred Chappell in your class? He was one of my grad school teachers. His version of Appalachia is not quite so bleak as the one in the scary book.

Evidence That Demands a Verdict, by Josh McDowell, which all the Campus Crusade kids read in college.

That is what I was thinking of.

In college, I was a member of some campus atheist group - we used to debate the Campus Crusade kids, which is how the book got into my hands.

vw, I read a review of the book you're reading, and the last section is supposed to be quite funny in a satirical way. Of course, one person's satire is another one's gut-wrenching horror. The whole book is supposed to be funnier than not.

I guess that was supposed to illuminate the paradox of the "Where is God?" question. I just wanted to say to the author, "Dude, that's an accident of spelling...."

No, it's a truth, but one that only English speakers get to participate in.

May the A's have a great year, as long as the Braves have a slightly better year.

Pffft! Dude, you got Tim Hudson from us! On the balance between the A's and Braves, you're the one that got the potential Hall of Famer.

lexine, I think Billy will wait until midseason, see how well this team is playing, and if they've got a shot, he'll pick up a player - either a bopper, or a starter - to make a run for it. This A's team is too green (so to speak) for 2005, but I think they'll be very good (80 wins). If they exceed expectations a little - that is, if Blanton, Haren or Meyer steps up like a rookie Tim Hudson - then I think they might have an outside shot. But it's an exciting team, with more offense than last year (though we still need a power hitter to go with Chavvy), and the bullpen is going to be throwing all kinds of nasty. Did you know that Dotel has one of the highest strikeout percentages in the majors? One third of his outs are Ks. Not what I want in a starter, but a good trait for a closer. Kiko Calero and Juan Cruz also have sick stuff.

But OTOH, I think intellectual persuasion has its limits, especially since the authors tend to stack the deck.

That's the problem with this book. The deck is so obviously stacked that I can't really take it seriously. Of course the bigger problem is that I've drifted into being agnostic while my wife is becoming more (that isn't the word I'm looking for, but it will have to do) christian. She wants me to get more involved with the church with classes and stuff, but I'm not really a believer anymore if I ever really was.

Pancake Bunny

[link]

The site in in Japanese, but there is a whole bunch of pictures of Oolong and the things he balanced on his head. Unfortunately, he passed away a little while ago, but there are some great pictures of him. He was a fabulous bunny.