Sick and Tired of Pre-Draft Hype

Bill Simmons of ESPN.com says, "... the NFL Draft is receiving WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much attention this year and I'm not really sure why." (I'm not linking to it b/c it's one small comment in a very long interview, and right now I'm too lazy to set up the link anyway.)

I'll tell you why, Bill. Because everything these days in sports gets overhyped. They wouldn't be saying so much about it if the ratings told them that no one wants to hear all the coverage. Way too many people have gone way overboard following sports. C'mon people, get a life.

U2 Eucharist?

There is a huuugggeeee difference between contemporary and compromise. Here is an example of the latter.

HT: Marc Heinrich

The Road to Greensboro, pt. 1 - Do the 3 Cs Still Have a Place at the Table?

We are living in a very interesting time to be a part of the Southern Baptist Convention.

A key question for this year's Convention is: How big should the SBC umbrella be? Or, to be more specific, is it big enough for the three Cs: Contemporaries, Charismatics, and Calvinists (all minorities within the SBC)?

In the 70s and 80s, when the issue was the nature of Scripture, all three of these groups were welcome in the conservative camp. After all, their presence helped create an overwhelming majority for the resurgence. But now that the inerrancy issue is settled, it seems that we Baptists aren't happy unless there is some fighting going on, so new battle lines have been drawn, at least by some.

I hope that Greensboro proves that there is still room under the SBC tent for Baptists who are a little different from each other but still share a common love for the Lord, His Word, and a cooperative missions effort.

A Less Noticable Down Grade

Arnold Dallimore, in his work, Spurgeon: A New Biography, described the deadly effects of liberal theology of the late 19th and early 20th Century among English Baptists:

Many thought Spurgeon’s concept of the harmful effects of the New Theology was quite wrong, but with the passing of the years he has been proven entirely correct. As he foretold, with the denial of the Scriptures church attendances began to fall off, prayer meetings became places of a mere few till they dropped off altogether, and the miracle of a life transformed by the grace of God was witnessed less and less, if at all. Church after church, in city, town, and hamlet, gradually died out. Throughout England one could see what had once been a church now used as a shop or a garage, or could see where one had formerly stood, but it since had been torn down.
All manner of reasons were given for this sad condition, but the prime cause was the lack of the gospel in the pulpit. All the attempted substitutes failed to attract the people. Where there is no acceptance of the Bible as inerrant and a belief in the great fundamentals of the faith, there is no true Christianity, the preaching is powerless, and what Spurgeon declared to his generation a hundred years ago is the outcome. – p. 214

As I reflected on this assessment by Dallimore I realized that times have truly changed. In our day, “attempted substitutes” have not “failed to attract the people.” In fact substitutes thrive in the place of strong, biblical-based, God-centered preaching. The Bible is given lip-service as inerrant and the fundamental doctrines are not rejected, instead they are set off to the side. The Bible is forced into a man-centered worldview that ignores the grand, majestic truth of God-glorifying grace in Christ that is the unifying theme of God’s Word.

I don’t know about your area of the country, but we have all kinds of churches that are booming in attendance with a man-centered gospel.

Why I'm Not on Wall Street

Several years ago I went to a baseball card store with 4 friends of mine. As teenagers and sports enthusiasts, we only had a little spare money to spend and we spent nearly an hour surveying the field of cards available. I had only about 5 bucks to spend and was pretty sure I was going to invest in a Tony Gwynn Topps rookie card, which was priced around $4.00. I made my way through the store, I heard a couple of my buddies get excited so I hurried over to see what was up. They were pumped because they found out that the first Michael Jordan basketball card was available.

Jordan, playing a few hours north in Chicago was already popular in our basketball crazed little town. You couldn’t buy his card alone. You had to buy the whole Bulls team set. If my memory serves me correct, the whole set was $2.00. Yes, I put that decimal point in the right place…two greenbacks…two bucks…and with it you got the rest of the Bulls, also! All four of the other guys decided that they were going to get a Bulls team set, which included the Jordan rookie.

I was only slightly tempted to get it, but then thought to myself, “Basketball cards aren’t worth anything! And if I get that team set, I won’t have enough money for the Gwynn rookie. These guys can go with the fads and waste their money on a basketball card if they want to, but I’m going to make a wise investment!”

As it turns out, it was a pretty good investment as that Gwynn rookie card is now worth about $60. But, my friends made a better choice…that card, in that set for 2 bucks is now worth around $1,600 but has sold as high as $5,000.

Oh well, as they say, hindsight…

Lifting Hands to God

I recently heard a friend of mine say that lifting hands to God is not commanded anywhere in the Bible. When I heard him say that I was surprised because (a) he is a man of the Word, and so I assumed he knew what he was talking about and (b) I was pretty sure that it was commanded in the Bible.

"Come, bless the Lord, all you servants fo the Lord,
who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the LORD!" - Psalm 134.1-2

There are others also.

Why I've Slowed Down the Blogging

Top 3 reasons I haven't posted in a week (not in order of importance):

1. Parents in visiting from IL.
2. Sick past two days.
3. Busy with work.

So, for all you disappointed SR fans...why not try some of the links over on the right?

SIU Men Picked # 10 in SI's Preseason Poll

In the first preseason poll I've seen for the 2006-2007 NCAA men's basketball season, Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated picks the Salukis at #10, ahead of Duke, LSU, UConn, Arizona, well, there are a ton of top-flight programs that didn't make the list. Oh, yeah, Florida is #1.

**UPDATE (4/6/06): FoxSports has the Salukis at #14, CBS Sportsline has them at #19, ESPN has them as a mid-major who could break into the rankings, and Joe Lunardi of Bracketology fame has them as a #9 seed and climbing.

Florida Gators Win First National Title in Men's Hoops

Donovan did it. He built a national title program. A very convincing tournament run, the Gators deserve to be #1.

CBS's coverage of the tournament was mediocre. Clark Kellogg was insightful, but Billy Packer ruined it for me early with his slamming on the MVC. Yeah, I'm a little bitter.

And I don't know who decides on what camera shot should be selected, but I can't stand the way they pick out one player and ALWAYS zoom in on him. This year's victim was Joakim Noah. Come on, there are some other players on this Gator team.

They say that Billy Graham's star shone much brighter after William Randolph Hearst directed his newspapers to "puff Graham" back in 1949. Someone at CBS is telling the cameramen, "Puff Noah."

Well, enough griping. Time to shut down the computer and watch this year's version of "One Shining Moment." Yawn.

Summarize Deuteronomy

If you could summarize Deuteronomy in one sentence, what would you say?

36

Mt. Vernon, IL - 4:22 P.M. CST, April 1, 1970

Final Four Predictions

Final Four day, baby! OK, less than 9 hours to make your picks. So throw out your brackets! I know, you already did a week ago... Now it's a fresh start.

I find this a tought Final Four to make choices, but I'm going to go with Florida and UCLA wining today, with UCLA taking home the trophy Monday night.

Of course, my personal preference is that George Mason would shock the world and win it all, which by the way, I believe is very possible.

Your picks?