R.A. Torrey's voice! Listen to the Biola founder's sermon on the Bible being the word of God from www.sermonindex.net.

Basically, The testimony of Jesus Christ that it is the word of God. Old Testament: Mark 7:13, Matthew 5:18, John 10:35, Luke 24:27, 44, John 5:47. New Testament: John 14:26, John 16:12-13, Curiously, J.P. Moreland made a similar argument in a context lecture a few years ago.

5 divine testimonies to Christ in support of the authority of Jesus:

1. Christ accredited to us by the divine light that lives, for he lived as never man lived. Read gospels, and see that Christ did live.

2. Jesus Christ is accredited to us by the divine word that he spoke.

3. Jesus Christ was accredited to us by his divine actions. (the miracles)

4. Jesus Christ is also accredited to us by his divine influence on all subsequent history.

5. Jesus Christ is accredited to us by the Resurrection from the dead.

He then compares these testimonies to parrallel claims that might be made by progressive Biblical critics, which is pretty rich.

Very cool to hear the voice of one who influenced Biola firmly. He says "where" funny though. Listen to his pronunciation of everywhere. everywhARE!... I dunno, could be the recording.

Check out this link to see what music was topping the charts in England on your birthday!

Since I can't find the link and somehow it got messed up in the whole copy/paste routine, you may now click on that hyperlink to go to Google. Google something cool and let me know about it. Word.

More on the oil-for-food controversy from the Wall Street Journal editorial page here.

I got a Gmail address!

It's big... and, it's ... big!

So, yes. It's true. Gmail will have big e-mail accounts.

You may now e-mail me at jonathan.james[at]gmail.com, if you so please.

Jonathan, your subconscious mind is driven most by Love

Your instinct to love and be loved is rooted very deeply in your subconscious and affects most of the decisions you make in life — whether you are aware of it or not.

You inspire people to experience their true feelings of love and act kindly towards others. You also value your personal relationships more than most people.

Your unique capacity to love may be greater than those around you, which means you may have more to give in relationships than your friends or romantic partners do.

Your psyche is very rich; the more you learn about it, the more you will understand who you really are.

This from my tickle inkblot test. I took it because Animaniacs always inspired me to take one of these tests, and I saw it on Leslie's blog and thought "hey, that looks like fun!" I don't agree with it, though, I'm too selfish of a person for this to be true.

This post is to record my Bubbs home page address.

This is my home.





Isn't it beautiful?

Good news!

This is both edifying as a potential political blow to Kerry and as an admirably constant stance by the Roman Catholic Church. Not that the bishops will always do what the Vatican says, of course...

This brings new information to the French/Russian resistance to an Iraqi war. I read another article recently fingering bank accounts closely related to Chirac himself as being part of this oil-for-food scandal.

The U.N., being a group full of people, is destined to have many other scandals beyond this one. People sin. They do wrong things. And thus they must be held accountable. Any organization of people without accountability shouldn't be trusted. That's one of the US's main objections to the world court that we won't take part in, and it's a good one. Laws limit people's sinful potential, but the executors of the law must not be above it.

There are some awful diseases out there. Just a few weeks ago I spent a few hours reading up on all the CDC's information on rabies. This way, I'll know if I have it! It makes me feel sick reading case reports of victims, though. It's tragic when people die, especially when it's from an unpleasant disease. Here's a link to their information on it. Fortunately, treatment of rabies is very successful and is now much less pleasant than it used to be. Used to be you got a long series of shots right in your stomach. Now there are fewer shots.

The CDC's website is just in general interesting reading, though. You can find information there on biological weaponry, plagues around the world, and other delightful disease related subjects.

Another disease that I find frightening, and thus interesting, is hantavirus. I've heard from my family friends living in the Eastern Sierra that people are so afraid of this disease that they are now burning down sheds that they own rather than cleaning them out. That way they don't have to worry about catching this disease. The CDC recommends taking a lot of precautions to keep rodents out of your house that might carry the virus. Here are some suggestions for prevention, and then for cleaning up. The cleaning up section gives a good idea of how seriously this disease is taken by health authorities.

Diet Mountain Dew tastes gross.

But it keeps you awake.

This is clever and funny. I'd check it out...

They call it,

Lord of the Peeps

It's clever, because it's peeps in Lord of the Rings scenes, from the movie. Worth taking a peep at, anyway.

Wow! I got another question in my e-mail box just tonight, so I'll answer it before I go to bed. I don't like to keep anybody waiting.

Juno writes:

If you had ONE WISH, what would it be? To be pampered? To experience ultimate relaxation? For Jenna Rink, played by Jennifer Garner in the upcoming release "13 Going on 30", it's the chance at being pretty and popular. Sign up today for Juno MegaMail for a chance to make your wish come true!

Dear Juno MegaMail,

First off, Juno, I just want to compliment you on your rare name. Not many girls are named after the wife of Zeus now-a-days, since paganism has lost its powerful grip on our culture. I'm edified to see that your parents haven't forgotten their hellene roots, and are paying tribute to the goddess of the hearth.

Now I'll address your questions, one at a time.

What would be my one wish?
Wow! I'm a little uncomfortable answering questions that are about me, with me being here to help you and all. Seriously, though, if I had one wish it would be to see Christ. Either that or to be Holy, so that I might see Him. I guess just asking for that without the work is sort of evil, though. On a less serious note, though, I'd sure like a twinky!

I don't really want to be pampered, although this "ultimate relaxation idea" sounds interesting. Man... ultimate relaxation. I'm seeing rows of corpses at a resort or something like that. Nobody's moving. Plastic smiles and pasty white faces. Hmm... although it does sound enticing I think I'll pass on that for now.

And thanks, Juno, for the valuable info on this dangerous character, Jenna Rink. I'll be sure to be looking out for her and for her by her alias, Jennifer Garner. I'm sorry to hear that she wants to be pretty and popular. Those are very unnatural things for someone to want, and I hope that she's seeing a doctor about it.

Finally, Juno Mega-Mail, thanks for the offer, but I already have a girlfriend, so I'll be passing it up.

-Jonathan

Wow, check out this story on the world's tallest man. He's a tall one!

Click on this cool article about scientific testing on the durability of peeps. It's entertaining enough to read!

Phil Hagelberg writes:

What do you think about the oppression of the geckos that is so prevalent in our culture? What can we do about it?"

Wow, Phil. Thanks for the e-mail. I love to answer hard questions like this one, and I'm sure my readership loves it, too.

Geckos have a special place in our collective consciousness. This is for two reasons: First, they're lizards. As we all know, we were once lizards too. Second, that Geiko direct commercial spokesperson gecko was really cool, and everybody wanted to be like him. I mean, I wanted to be like him because of his ultimate coolness factor.

However, even this special place in our consciousness is not enough to protect the lowly gecko. As he scurries around on the ground people sometimes step on him, and other times they don't. Although I hear that happens less often. The reason for this is geckos are just nasty. Suction cup feet? What's that all about? It's like those toys that stick to the inside of your car window, but it moves. That just freaks me out, and I know it freaks out other people,t oo.

So, I guess I'd ask you: what SHOULD we do about it? It turns out we should actually oppress these geckos more, because they're nasty freaks of nature.

Coincidentally, this same reasoning works for justifying the oppression of the French.

Hopefully that helped, Phil! Send me more e-mails at askruthie@hotmail.com, addressing them "Dear Ruthie" and get them answered! Or you could send it to jrrowley[at]juno.com and address them to me. Either way, something will happen, and I'll bet you like the result.

-Jonathan Rowley

I wish that the Catholic Church would stick to their guns. Kerry is a joke Catholic. He strikes me much more as a wishy-washy ritual "this makes me feel good and gets me votes so I'll continue to do it" kind of person.

If you are a Catholic, you should follow the dogma of your church. And the dogma of the Catholic Church states that politicians can't oppose Church doctrine. Kerry does this! He's apostated himself, alienated himself from the keys. Be consistent, Church, deny him the sacrament. Pray for his soul, that he comes back into the fold. You've excommunicated far better men than Kerry.

One of the things that makes the Roman Catholic Church what it is is its emphasis on heirarchy and submission. This is an asset, and I find it attractive. But the way they use it is so messed up that it pains my soul. I guess it bothers me in general when I see a high and lofty ideal that would be wonderful stepped on and spat on. If you really thought the Pope was the Vicar of Christ on earth, wouldn't you give him a little more respect than Kerry gives him?

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/16/kerry.catholics.ap/index.html

I found this on some high schooler's blog who claimed Einstein said that 98% of the world's population couldn't solve this puzzle. That's silly, unless he just meant that because most people can't speak English. Anyway, you can try your hand on it. I figured it out in 10 minutes, but it's 10 minutes straight of work, and it is kind of hard to keep track of all the information in your mind during that time. So I used notepad. Maybe that's cheating, and that's why it's considered so hard, because I would have a really hard time doing it all in my head. You can post in the comments if you solve it. I think there's room if you use abbreviations. I haven't seen any answers, myself, though, so we can argue about it if you think I'm wrong on something. I'll post the answers if anybody replies.

I take it as an implicit premise that the houses are lined up on one side of the street.

On a street, there are 5 houses painted 5 different colors. In each house lives a person of different nationality. These 5 people each drink a different beverage, smoke a different brand of cigar, and keep a different pet.

Question: Who owns the fish?

Hints:

1. The Briton lives in a red house.
2. The Swede keeps dogs as pets.
3. The Dane drinks tea.
4. The green house is on the left of the white house.
5. The owner of the green house drinks coffee.
6. The person who smokes Pallmall rears birds.
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill.
8. The man living in the center house drinks milk.
9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.
10. The man who smokes Blends lives next to the man who keeps cats.
11. The man who keeps horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.
12. The man who smokes Blue Master drinks beer.
13. The German smokes Prince.
14. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house.
15. The man who smokes Blends has a neighbor who drinks water.

Hey hey hey hey hey!

I got answered by the Ribman meister, as well. So check it while you still can, eventually you have to pay to access the archives at ucomics.

Let's just say mine was about mullets. I think that's more than enough to peak people's interest.

Ribman answers my question here!

I've realized that I enjoy very much watching chick flicks with my girlfriend.

:)

Well, Holy Week is over, and it went pretty well.

Hurrah for Christ and His redemptive ministry!

This is the funniest e-bay description that I've ever read. I have some tears in my eyes from reading it. That might have something to do with being really tired, too, but my roommates agree it's funny. So, my point is, read it!

This is a story. I'm sitting down at my computer to write a story.

This is a story about salt. Salt is great. Sometimes I eat salt. Othertimes, salt eats me, if you know what I mean.

Mostly, though, I am the eater in my relationship with salt. It seasons all of the foods that I eat. I partake in the grand parade of sodiumness. Other times, though, I am the seasoning on the meals of the salt. This story is about one of those times.

During a long hot spell, people got really thirsty and then they sweated. Lots of sweat filled lots of bottles in dingy floors around a room of steamy vinyl couches and old coffee tables peppered with moldy magazines. It was the salt collection agency's main office, where the government collected sweat-salt for study and later reclamation and commercial use. The people who worked there, of course, were a little weird.

One of them was named Sal. Sal used to walk to work every day, even when it was 100 and the humidity condensed on the shop windows' edges that lined the way he walked. By the time he reached the room where he worked, his shirt was soaked, and he smelled pretty bad. But the smell didn't really matter, because he worked in an office that was full of jars and other containers, some with poor lids, that were full of wonderfully odored sweat. And he could always wring off his shirt into a jar and add to his personal collection of salt jars. He really liked his jars of salt. A lot of the salt in the office was from his body. The truth was that Sal sweated profusely almost every day of the year.

The office itself didn't have any air conditioning. Instead it had old foggy windows, slid open to allow in whatever breeze the stifling atmosphere created, swaying the broken and bent faded yellow blinds that kept the blazing sun from baking the inside. Two 50s styled circular fans on tall stands swept the room with their breath too far away from the windows to affect any effective air circulation. One of them had a few streamers attatched. The colored streamers flowed and danced in the current, the happiest element in the beauru.

Sal walked into the office late a Monday morning some time in the middle of week. "It's hot outside. Should be good for business," he said.

Sal spoke not to a person, but to a large pillar that he had erected from reclaimed salt in the corner of the room. He was currently in the process of working this salt into a human figure during his lunch breaks. It was something to keep his mind off of his boring job, anyway. And it was good company. The only other employee that worked in his office was a small round lady that cleaned the office every weekday afternoon from 3-6, and a supervisor that came down from the main office in the state capital once a week to check on his collection progress.

In general his collection progress was good. He was efficeint at his job, no matter how much he hated it. He had a few regular sweat collection routes that he ran, depending on the day. Wednesdays he started the day at the local gym. There he would receive whatever sweat the showers' filters had caught the day before. There was usually quite a lot of it, sometimes up to 5 gallons. After the gym he'd drop by the post office where recent clothing alterations in the postal carrier uniform had upped the production and conservation of sweat per person quite a lot. He had maybe 10 gallons from the entire postal workers union. Then he would go off to the police department: 2 gallons. His last stop Wednesday and every day was at the sweat drop off point. There local conscientious citizens would drop off their personal sweat collections. This was quite a lot, and would take maybe an hour to fill his tanks with it and take it back to the office. There he would work on draining the salt, and start on the refining process to reclaim the valuable salt.

I visited it once. Only once, though. Remember that statue that he was making in the corner? Well, it turns out she didn't like me very much. So she ate me. Fortunately she was just salt, so I broke my way out and walked home.

And that's the end of my story.

This is truly very, very frightening. Christian influence in culture will be wrenched from our hands, whether or not we like it.

http://www.californiarepublic.org/archives/Columns/JohnsonH/20040405JohnsonScoutophob.html

Phil got a letter answered by Captain Ribman! So that's just plain awesome.

www.titanicsociety.com

This is an interesting website that glorifies sacrificial courtesy done by men for women and children. It has good ideas, I think, of saving history from revisionist doctrine. That makes me happy, someone needs to make sure that history is represented in a light that will edify and teach people to live better lives, rather than merely tear at the fabric of our society and the traditions we hold dear.

Chernobyl created a dead zone of empty cities and villages as people were evacuated out of the area in the days following the meltdown. Here's a website by a Russian woman who goes to Cherynobyl to drive around on her motorcycle. She takes pictures and has put them up. It's the image that all those apocalyptic novels foretell in doom and gloom, but real. It happened.

From the Dead Zone

A source for more information on the Chernobyl disaster can be found here. This is dry, but good to read for fairly solid and very dry thoughts on the issue. Here's a much more readable report that says most of the same things without all the documentation.

It's impossible, it seems, to establish just how much this has effected the world and people. But let's hope nothing like it happens again.