it's a thinking man's faith.



a few basics
verses
archives
the Berean Call
IFCA
Rock for Life
Moody Bible Institute
Wheaton College
other links
salvation.com
fundamentals




support freedom
Support freedom.


contributors:
court
court - 22 | website
laurel
laurel - 19 | website
thom
thom - 18 | website
thad - 21 | (no site)
jeannine - 22 | (no site)


Want to be a contributor? email me and tell me why! :)



topics discussed in the past include:
lukewarm Christians
"hateful zealots"
Revelation
partial-birth abortion
the end times
free will
differing views
gender roles
dating
pre-marital sex

dig throught the archives and see what we've had to say!


other christians in blog-land:
Well... I'll be blogged
my brain hurts
Mute Troubadour
Blog Veritas
h.n,b.p? (paulo)
An expected end
Dead yet Living
Saved by Piercing
fallible.com
Brnwebgrrl
ladydusk
jimhart3000
thinkingland
Simply us
Miracle Rain
Chinaman's hat
Manna cabana
Ultraspy
foolishness.net
Undefined
sacra doctrina
My 2 cents
Di's dailies(on hiatus)


stuff to buy
(things we have enjoyed)
C,L -Rock for Life shirts
C -Hinds Feet on High Places
C,L -My utmost for His highest
L -Macarthur Study Bible
C,L -Boy Meets Girl
C,L -Pro-life Answers
C,L -Left Behind
C -the Seduction of Christianity
C -Berean Call books
C -the God Makers
C,L -This Present Darkness
L -Chronicles of Narnia
L -the Great Divorce
C,L -Prophet
C -Don't check your brains
L -Straight Pride wear
more coming soon.
(also: see music below)


good music
Jars of Clay
Jennifer Knapp
the Supertones
PFR
Five Iron Frenzy
Sixpence
Audio Adrenaline
Timber
delirious?
Caedmon?s Call
Burlap to Cashmere
Waterdeep
Smalltown Poets
Newsboys
the W's
Phil Keaggy
Bleach
Third Day
the Insyderz
DC Talk
Relient K


Sign book



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Comments by YACCS

    Wednesday, November 29, 2000

 > > > >  court | 11/29/2000 09:48:02 PM | linky <

  This election nonsense brings out the worst in people. I keep seeing ads encouraging people to rally behind one candidate or the other, for any number of reasons.What is really striking to me are the ads that attempt to appeal to women, claiming your "power to choose is at risk."

Like many others of my gender, I tend to vote based on issues. Specific ones. Like abortion. The only difference is, I'm on the opposite side of the issue. I am 100% pro-life. "Aaah!" You say. "The dreaded 'life' term." What I think is kind of funny is when abortion rights supporters label those who are pro-life as "anti-choice." So... if we're "anti-choice," can you be... "pro-death?" "Anti-choice" is such a twisted, backwards thing to say... like we're all "oh yes, I think no one should be able to make choices. Like, should I have sex? Or should I use birth control? Or maybe it won't matter this time? Oh, oops..."

(gets out soapbox)

Abortion is just plain sick. It's literally murder. It is infanticide. These are people. Human beings. Early-term or late-term, it's the same individual. It saddens me to think that if the same thing were done to animals - if it were little puppies and kittens being sucked from their mother's wombs, or having their brains sucked out, or otherwise aborted - animal rights activists would go nuts. And yet when it's a matter of human children, people just look the other way. "Oh, it was her choice, it was the best thing for her." That comes off as very selfish to me. There was a case a few years ago where a pregnant woman was shot, and the killer was charged with two murders - hers and her child's. Why is that considered murder, but if the woman had "chosen" to kill the baby herself, through an abortion, it would be perfectly legal? It doesn't make sense to me.

Partial-birth abortion is a whole other issue. It makes me shudder just thinking about it... like the title, "partial birth," the baby is delivered up to its head, but not all the way (if it were fully delivered, it would be illegal to go on with the abortion), then its skull is punctured, and its brains are sucked out. How nasty is that??! Let's go do that to our puppies, and see what the same abortion supporters have to say about it. You'd probably be charged with animal cruelty. Does this make sense?

I've talked about this before, and it's been beaten into the ground everywhere you look, but it really is the issue I'm most passionate about. My skin crawls at the thought of it... there is almost nothing more repulsive to me. so I apologize if you've heard enough about it, but I won't stop considering it of the utmost importance.

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    Sunday, November 26, 2000

 > > > >  court | 11/26/2000 03:43:21 PM | linky <

  Aha! Very interesting, Dani! I, too, was always under the impression that Santa Claus was not a good thing, for a whole lot of reasons. I always found it disconcerting when Christian families would celebrate Christmas with Santa. Let me just say here that my parents did not do the whole Santa thing with my brothers and I, and let me tell you, it did not ruin my Christmases one single bit. I think I probably had even more fun without the fat guy in the red suit.

Some of my reasons for not being fond of Santa:

-As Dani says, he draws the focus of the season away from what it's supposed to be. It's Christmas, not "Santamas."

-Kids are always terribly disappointed to find out he doesn't really exist. As my mom pointed out, if they've discovered you've lied to them about Santa, they have good reason to doubt other things you've told them, too, like the reality of Christ's birth, and the existance of God.

-Santa supports the whole idea of "be good and you'll get what you want." Kind of sounds similar to "do good and you'll get your way" or "do good and you can save yourself." ... it's not a philosophy I'd like to promote in any form. It supports the idea that good deeds are all that really matter; throw in a few good deeds and you're OK. As it is with God, if it were really based on that system, nobody would get any presents, just like no one can get into heaven that way.

Both Laurel and Thom were raised believing the whole Santa thing... it might be interesting to hear from one of them, eh? :D

Overall, Christmas is my favorite holiday. There's not many times of year the whole country sings religious songs and doesn't think twice about it. It's nice to walk around downtown and hear "Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King" in an area where usually it's hard to even talk about God without being made fun of. I like the lights, and the music, and the movies (I like "It's a Wonderful Life" ... so shoot me :), and going to church on Christmas eve for a cantata or a candlelight service.

Of course... i still live at home and have never orchestrated my own Christmas... so perhaps my opinions will change slightly then. :D

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    Wednesday, November 22, 2000

 > > > >  court | 11/22/2000 11:04:23 AM | linky <

  I haven't much time, but I wanted to mention that I read Col. 1:10 this morning, and it struck me, and I thought that those things would be wonderful to pray, to aspire to.

"... that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. ... giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light." --Col. 1:10, 12

Have a blessed Thanksgiving. :D

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    Monday, November 13, 2000

 > > > >  court | 11/13/2000 09:26:39 PM | linky <

  OK, I moved this site to tripod... hopefully temporarily... those pop-up ads drive me nuts.

But at least I can publish again!!

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    Saturday, November 11, 2000

 > > > >  court | 11/11/2000 11:11:09 PM | linky <

  This is really annoying. I need to get a personal domain. Geocities is really getting on my nerves.

One of the things I really liked about Thom's speech last Wednesday was one of the final things he said... "When you get to heaven, God's not gonna stand there and go 'well... I guess you can come in.' He's gonna say 'c'mere, you. I love you,' and give you a big bear hug. 'Welcome to heaven.'" And Thom made the motion of someone hugging someone and slapping them on the back. I had never really thought of it that way - I always kind of pictured the "God behind the throne like a judge" sort of thing (I don't know why exactly), but I bet it's more the way Thom described it. It's a nice thought. :)

We may soon have a new contributor to In the Light! John Regan has asked to be a part of this blog. He says of himself: "I'm a youth pastor in Missouri and I really liked your blog. I'd like a chance to post some input. I'm a southern Baptist, working on a BA in Christian Education." You can check out his personal blog here. Welcome, John! :)

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    Thursday, November 09, 2000

 > > > >  court | 11/9/2000 10:23:59 PM | linky <

  Arrgh! Darn geocities... it's not accepting Blogger posts again; well, for me, anyways. I need some good quality webspace. Of course... that requires $$. Ah well... I will use what I've been provided! (Not that I'd mind at all if something better came along! :)

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 > > > >  court | 11/9/2000 12:31:15 AM | linky <

  Thom gave an excellent speech at youth group tonight - it truly was straight from God, as he was calm, collected, articulate, engaging, interesting, poignant, and very "alive" - it was one of those talks that everyone in the room really heard. He spoke on "why do we screw up as Christians, and what does it mean?" It was just excellent. I would write out a summary but I'd rather let him do that if he would like, as i would probably forget important parts and the really impactful things he said. It was just a terrific speech, and I wish I'd got it on tape. I was at once humbled, encouraged, and proud of him, and also awed at how God used him.

This election stuff is crazy. Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer... hopefully our future is not going down the tubes. I voted.... did you? :)

I'm toying with redesigns for this site, but so far all of them suck... but I will redesign it, as soon as I can come up with something good. I keep seeing all these nifty-looking sites, and I want to at least give my best shot at creating something nice to look at. Which (sigh) this site is not. Quite not.

Time to hit the sack... God bless.

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    Sunday, November 05, 2000

 > > > >  court | 11/5/2000 10:16:20 PM | linky <

  This is great, Dani! Funny how inspiration hits in the wee hours of the morning. :)

Ahh... I'm in one of those little dips at the moment, where I'm not really "on fire" for God. I'm such a silly person... God does incredible, obvious, amazing things for me, and a week later I'll be standing around with my hands in the air going "Hey, God! What's going on? Where are you?" Maybe it's just humanity... we forget so quickly the blessings we have, and we want more signs, more of this, more of that. My faith is not in question - it hasn't been for years - but my desire to serve, my drive, my passion goes up and down. I see parallels of that in my relationships with the people around me - over and over again, wanting signs of this or that, even though they've been abundantly proven.

I often think that one of the reasons God created us to be social beings was so that we could understand our relationship with Him better. This is especially true of romantic relationships - learning to be selfless and love someone so much... as close to unconditional as a human can get. And to think that God loves us COMPLETELY unconditionally, without petty grudges or criticism or what-have-you, is a thought to marvel at.

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