Mac's Place, GlennFrazier.com

Strengthen the Good

This is an excellent idea.

Count me in.

Comment Spam

The comment spamming is getting worse, and I'm tired of deleting it, so I've turned on comment registration.

This means you have to register before you comment. It's free and painless, so I hope it won't stop you from participating in legitimate discussions, here at the slowly-getting-back-on-its-feet GlennFrazier.com.

GlennFrazier.com

After months of odd dealings, frustration, and poor communication, I am finally, slowly, regaining control over my old domain name, GlennFrazier.com.

It's not final, yet, and I have reason to suspect one more wrinkle in the whole process. I'm in the final stage of changing registrar, and until that's done, I won't be satisfied that all is well. In the meantime, though, I've got glennfrazier.com pointed to bloghost.com nameservers so that, very soon (I hope) glennfrazier.com and mac.thefraziers.org will become one and the same site, content-wise.

As the propogation of these changes slowly kalumphs across the net, I am beginning to see signs of success. Just recently, my mailbox started to fill to bursting with a whole new wave of spam, all addressed to various names @glennfrazier.com (like iranianliberty, blog, and mac), none of which have been working for half a year. I take small consolation, now, in the notion that during the time my domain name was not under my control, those who were using it got to experience the sunami-sized levels of spam I once lived through. (Shh! Don't tell me they didn't actually have to get any of it! La-la-lala! Not listening! La-la-lala!)

Speaking of spam:

Let me just tell you up front that even if you have legitmate reasons to discuss them, there is very little chance any comment you post here on either impotence drugs or gambling will ever get through my comment moderation process. Yes, I get hit with about a dozen knucklehead spam comments a day, all for pretty much the same two stupid products, over and over again. I have comment moderation on, so none of it ever sees the light of day, but I'm getting tired of Denying, Deleting and Banning it all—it's too time consuming. Any suggestions, MovableType users?

Anyway, very soon, I hope, you'll be able to visit Mac Frazier's place via GlennFrazier.com, and all the old confusion over what my name actually is can once again resume. Stay tuned.

Scandal and Witchcraft in Nigeria...I think

I love Google News. Among other thing, I love that I can hunt up a news story on just about any topic from just about any English-language news source of the past two weeks, click it, and be immediately informed of something that matters to someone somewhere, and perhaps begin to get a handle on what at least some folks other than myself are dealing with.

Then again, sometimes you hit a story that doesn't make sense. Then you turn it on its side, and it still doesn't make sense. Squint...nope, still no sense.

Try this one on:

The Earthquake at Okija.

The funny thing is, I do sort of have some personal context for this one, as I am friends with a number of west Africans who have shared with me some of their thoughts and experiences with regard to witchcraft and Christianity in their home countries. Still, this piece assumes so much familiarity with so many facts, on the part of the reader, that it's almost like reading a newspaper in a foreign tongue.

UPDATE: Google News causes a quandry? Google News provides a solution:

Those Shrines Are Barbaric
Okija Register: Has 'Police Container Arrived'?
PEOPLE & POLITICS :- Okija register: Has “police container ...
...see all 11 related...

Okija: It's Not Igbo Alone - PDP Chief

Ritual murders found in Nigeria's 'evil forest'

More human skulls found as probe continues

Inside Okija 'Evil Forest'

83 bodies found in black magic shrines of Nigeria

...and on and on and on...

The earliest reference Google News still tracks is to this August 5th (2004) wire report:

Sorcerers Nabbed with 50 Bodies, 20 Skulls

Nigerian police have arrested 30 witch-doctors in a raid on fetish shrines in southeast Anambra state where over 50 decomposing bodies and 20 human skulls were discovered, a police spokesman said Thursday.

This story is actually covered all over the place, once you really look for it. Not that you'd necessarily want to.

2004 Pennsylvania State Championship, Under 1400 Section

It's over, and I'm brain-dead.

Day one, I had a perfect score: three wins, no draws, no losses. Day two (today) was tougher: I drew my first game, then lost against the highest-rated player in the section (who ended up with a perfect score of five points).

Final standing...

3 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss = 3.5 out of 5 points, which in this case means I tied with three others for 4th-7th place in a field of 32 players. It wasn't enough to put me in the money for a place prize (given this year to 1st through 3rd place overall), but I did score twenty-five dollars for being tied with one other player as best in my class ("E", which is the same as those rated 1000-1199).

During the final game, I could've offered my opponent a draw, and the way the points worked out, with his score he'd still be clear winner of first place, while I'd be guaranteed no worse than tied for 3rd. However, I played it out because (a) I had a shot at beating him even though his rating was much higher, and if I won then I'd be clear winner of 1st place, and (b) I play to enjoy playing before I play to earn "safe" money, and drawing early would have basically robbed me of the fun of playing a much higher-rated opponent for a shot at top-dog status—playing and even eventually losing such a chance is more thrilling than not playing and then always wondering, by far. Y'know?

I am way biggo tired, so that's all I have to say for today.

G'night.

2004-08-28 UPDATE: Crosstables are up at the Pennsylvania State Chess Federation website, now.

The Life of Charity Saves...But Not My Chess Game

I play chess via email with friends and strangers from all over the world. Sometimes the games are silent contests, sometimes there's extraneous chat, sometimes a real conversation ensues. The following is a game I completed earlier this month, along with an earnest comparative exchange of theologies. For those who do not play chess: just ignore the chess notation and follow the plain-English conversation. For those who do play chess: please forgive my rotten play. It seems I was right to choose to be a professional theologian rather than a professional chess player.

In the following, I am White, and my opponent is Black. Black's moves are generally preceded by an elipsis("...").

1 e4 Hello.

1 ...e5 Hello to you, too.

We then played on in silence for many moves, until my opponent surprised me with a nice tactical sequence.

2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nc3 d6 4 d4 exd4 5 Nxd4 c5 6 Bb5+ Bd7 7 Bxd7+ Nbxd7 8 Nf5 Ne5 9 Bg5 h6 10 Bf4 g6 11 Ng3 Qb6 12 b3 Rd8 13 0-0 Bg7 14 Re1 0-0 15 Qd2 Kh7 16 Rad1 Ng8?! 17 Nd5 Qc6 18 h3 Rfe8 19 Qa5 a6 20 Re2 f6 21 Red2 Qd7 22 Nc7! Re7 23 Rxd6 Qxd6 24 Rxd6 Rxd6 25 Qxc5?? Rc6!

26 Nxa6 Nice shot. Caught me sleeping.

26 ...Rxc5 Sorry for you. Your attack was strong before, but then I didn't understand why you exchanged your two castles against my queen. By the way, what does New Christian mean?

The site that was hosting this game (Red Hot Pawn) provides a small space for players to post biographical information. Mine reads:

27 Nxc5 Well, I miscalculated. I expected to pick up two pawns and possibly a third, as well as your queen. Always recheck vars. before each move. As for New Christian: it's often called "Swedenborgian", and is sometimes called the Church of the New Jerusalem. We believe that there is one God, who is the Lord God Jesus Christ in whom are the Father and Holy Spirit (just as a person's soul and their activities are part of them), and who is one and the same person as Jehovah. We believe that the Bible has an inner meaning that describes in every part the process by which the Lord makes us angels. And we believe that all are saved who live a life of charity--which is service to the neighbor--regardless of the specific details of their doctrinal beliefs or worship practices. There's more to it, but that gives you a flavor.

I was actually playing my opponent in two seperate games, but most of our conversing was attached to the moves of this one. As an afterthought to the above, though, I did message him in my next move of the other game with the following:

"More on New Christianity if you're curious: in response to someone's question in the forums I gave a more lengthy synopsis of our faith. http://www.redhotpawn.com/board/showthread.php?id=12521&page;=5"

My opponent responded:

"Thank you. I'll have a look at this webside."

Now back to our original game...

27 ...Rc7 Thank you for this detailed information. I'm an evangelical Christian and I believe that people are only saved through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then there is just faith on our side to take this. Of course each Christian should do good works, because faith without works is dead, as James writes. But never can a human being be saved by works or charity. That would be religion and Jesus didn't give us a religion.

28 Be3 I don't imagine there are many evangelicals in Germany. Are you an American ex-pat by any chance? As you understand your faith, what would happen if you did not do good works? I'm not trying to argue -- I'm genuinely curious about the evangelical take on the relationship between faith and charity.

28 ...b6 You are right. Unfortunately there aren't many evangelicals in Germany. We are normally small groups of believers, but there are also some groups with about 600 persons, mostly babtists from Romania or Russia. Baptists and methodists are denominations I could identify with, but I'm firmly against the Charismatiker (I don't know the English word for them). I would be easier for me to talk about these difficult things in German, but two things on your question: 1. We all have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, according to 2.Cor.5,10. There is not the question about saved or condemned, but only what we have done (charity f.e.). 2. It is a characteristic of a true believer to do good works. Otherwise there is the question if there had really been a change from darkness to light. What good could we offer God with dirty hands? We have to be cleaned first and then we can do good things, but not to be saved but because we are saved.

29 Ne6 Thanks for the explanation. So if you have been cleaned, but then do not do good works, then you have not really been cleaned, right? I agree with you that true faith and charitable living are linked together. Perhaps we mostly differ on what causes faith and what causes charity. Forgive me if I'm being too inquisitive. Unfortunately, I don't speak German at all.
 
29 ...Rxc2 You are really not too inquisitive. It's a good thing to talk about our faith. Faith and good works is really a difficult topic, but look at 1.Cor. 3, 9 ff.

30 Bxb6 Wonderful. I agree entirely that it's a good thing to talk of our faith. I suppose it confuses things when I speak of good works and of charity as if they are interchangeable, since they are really seperate things: charity is willing good, works are the effect. I believe that charity and faith are like husband and wife, with works their offspring. As you say, your works are not good without faith. I'd add that works without faith would be like a tree trying to bear fruit without first having leaves on its branches. I'd also add that charity is the trunk of that tree. It's yet another model of the Divine Trinity. Our Lord's own words illustrate the idea nicely. "You will know them by their fruit," (Mat 7:16, 20) but, "When its branch is yet tender, you know summer is near". (Mar 13:28) So new green growth must come first. But without the will to do good that is charity, those leaves can't grow, and that will cannot come from ourselves, but from our Lord in his mercy. "Without Me, you can do nothing." (Joh. 15:5) See also the first half of John 15 on this and, even more clearly, Matthew 7:15ff.

30 ...Rc6 It's true what you wrote about works. But they must be works which "God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Eph.2,10) But the most important and only question that counts in the end is: Are my sins forgiven or not, only this is the point whether we are saved or condemned. Then, but only after this is settled, there is the question of good works, if we get a prize or are just saved but like through the fire.

31 Nxg7 Yes, that nicely punctuates my point about charity (and not good works and not faith) having to come first. We cannot even have faith without our Lord's will for good which he implants in our own hearts if we let Him. For the seeds of faith to sprout, they must find the good soil of charity. Only then can we truly carry out genuinely good works, for works that do not stem from a belief on the Lord cannot be good, and we cannot have that faith without the Lord's will working within us to make the truths we read from the Bible a part of our lives. On forgiveness, I'm afraid, we are going to just accept that we differ. All your sins are forgiven, as are all sins of all people always. The Lord God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, and so He is Mercy itself and Grace itself. He doesn't punish, nor hold grudges. Our eternal salvation or damnation is not reward and retribution, but the merciful consequences of our lives and affections. If we make ourselves into devils by hating others, rejecting faith, and failing to live good lives, then after death we would find a life among angels too great a torment. It is in the Lord's mercy that even the most unrepentant sinner (there's the key: repentence) not be obliterated nor suffer the torture of living among those he or she hates, and so they live among other spirits of a like nature...which, of course, is Hell. It's not a punnishment, though, so much as the best He can mercifully offer us if we reject his path: Love the Lord and our neighbor, pray and read His Word, and keep His commandments in a life of charity and use. To me, that is what I understand to count most in the end.

31 ...Kxg7 Dear Glenn, Thanks a lot for the many lines you have mailed, that you have put so much effort in that. There are some points where I can agree as I can with some teachings of Jehova's witnesses as well, for example. But there are things where we differ as you said. It's never God's intention with mankind to become angels after death. Angels are not beings who are saved through the blood of our Lord and they can fall. Satan himself is a fallen angel. We wouldn't be secure in all eternity but would always be in danger to fall again. Hell is made for Satan and all the fallen angels and a place they share with people whose sins are not forgiven. And these people are mostly not worse than the others. God is not a cynic to put them in such a bad place as hell and tell them that they have preferred this place to heaven. But he is really angry about sin and his wrath will hit everybody who is not covered and cleaned through the blood of his son, but tries to offer him other things than he has ordered. Think of Kain! God wants to save us and that's why he sent his son and let him die for our sins. God's word says woe to those people who neglect such a salvation! There are many people like you and me who want to be saved but there is Satan and he leads many people astray. One of us has the wrong teachings, that's for sure. I would say, forget all charity and other things. You must have Jesus and then he will lead you step by step. Forgive me if I was too harsh and too direct, perhaps I misunderstood some things you wrote because my English is not so good. When I was baptized as an adult I chose the verse John 14,6. It's a guideline for my life and my prayer is that Jesus can be seen in my life.

32 Be3 Well, we clearly differ here in what we understand the Lord's Word to be saying to us about life after death, and also about the nature and disposition of God. You seem firm in your beliefs, and those beliefs (if I understand you) do include the idea that if you do not perform good works then you must not have been saved, so I am comfortable with our differences. By my faith's teachings, it sounds like you are on the path; I suppose your understanding of the Lord's Word is that I am in danger of hell fire. I'm okay with you believing that, too. I do find it a little sad, though, that your idea of God is of an angry one. My understanding of the Bible is that His anger was only an appearance of anger, which appearance was for the purpose of illustration; anger, revenge, retribution, jealousy and wrath are the weak reactions of flawed mortals and not attributable to the Divine. But you see three persons in one God, whereas I see three aspects of one God who is one person. When Jehovah Himself came down and took on a natural body and walked among us under the name Jesus, He showed us what His true personality really is. John 14:6 is a wonderful verse, especially in context. One of my very favorite passages is John 14:6-11, especially verses 8 and 9: "Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father?'" It seems to me that we understand one another's viewpoints, both the ones we agree with and the ones we disagree with. If you grow tired of this topic, I'm happy to just play chess, even when you're beating me. :) I'm also happy to continue to discuss our beliefs, too, as I find it nearly always helps me to better understand my own faith more fully.

32 ...Ra6 You are perfectly right in so many aspects. Yes, Jesus is God and he revealed us the father. But look at John, 3,36; Rom.1,18; Eph.5,6 or Rev.19,15. Jesus was angry, too, when he drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple. God is love, but that's only one side of him. He is also holy and to be feared by sinners who are unrepentful, he is a consuming fire, see Hebrews 12,29 f.e. It's interesting to talk about our views, but you have the advantage to speak English as you native language. I always have to work with the dictionary, a German and an English bible (Mac Arther with the New King James Version and Luther from 1912). Which bible do you use?

33 f4 You make a good point, particularly with reference to the casting out of the moneychangers, and yet I still believe even that is just the appearance of anger, just as to children an adult may appear angry only because it is necessary for them to perceive him to be so. Nevertheless, your interpretation of God's anger is supportable by the text, so I won't begrudge you your right to live by it. I fully appreciate your difficulty with the language. I'm learning spoken Russian, right now, partly for evangelical purposes, but so far the thought of trying to discuss theology in Russian without a couple of lexicons and a lot of study time is daunting, to say the least. The Bible translation I turn to most often is the New King James Version, although as I learn more Hebrew and Greek, I become less wed to a single translation. I find the New Revised Standard Version, the Authorized Version, the New International Version, Ogden's Bible in Basic English, and Young's Literal Translation to all be useful and reasonably reliable. I strongly dislike the Living Bible Paraphrase, though. I didn't used to be a fan of the Good News Bible, but recently I saw the movie, Gospel of John, and they followed the GNB exclusively, and I must say I thought it was a good choice for use in a dramatic presentation like that. I don't suppose the movie is available in German, yet? It's a wonderful, faithful, powerful production.

33 ...Nd3 I think the movie is available, but I don't think pictures and especially moving pictures are a godlike method in evangelism. God favors the spoken word for salvation. I don't like the way to watch sermons on TV, because TV transmits so many bad things and a spring can't send forth fresh and bitter water from the same opening. So many people are prevented to continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers (Acts 2,42), because it's more convenient to sit in front of the TV. People who visited American brothers or sisters told me that many of them never switch off TV even when they have guests. I surfed the internet to look for the Swedenborgian Church and was a bit shocked by the first quotation I read form Swedenborg: All people who live good lives, no matter what their religion, have a place in heaven!!!! You have the best bibles, how can you believe in this humanistic teaching?

34 Ne2 If we discuss something Swedenborg wrote, we should probably both be looking at the same text. A URL (or a reference to one of his books) would help me see the context of what you're looking at. Very simply, though, yes, heaven holds those in whom is charity--the will to do good over evil, which is the same as loving the Lord. As you know, loving the neighbor is loving the Lord, so charity is loving the neighbor, as well. Before we go too far down the path of "who is damned", we should probably remind ourselves, though, that thinking in such terms (e.g., "I know who is damned, and I know I am saved") is not a good idea. (Mat 7: 1, 3; Luk 18: 9-14; James 4:1) But speaking in general terms, the New Christian belief regarding the salvation of gentiles comes down to what we were discussing earlier about faith alone being dead because good works are required (Mat 7:21, 16:27, 27:22-23; Luk 13:25-27; Joh 5:29) and that whole relationship between love, faith and works, described in parables by the vine, branches and fruit I mentioned a few moves ago. Faith comes from love, not the other way around, and the person who loves their neighbor loves the Lord, even if they do not yet realize it. (Mat 25:40; 1 John 4:7-11; 3 John 11; 1 Corinthians 13:2, 7) Just look to the story of the Good Samaritan, who was neither Jew nor Christian, yet our Lord selected him as the illustration of who the neighbor is and of how we should act. (Luk 10:29-37) The non-Christian who nevertheless loves their neighbor (and therefore the Lord) will receive a faith in Jesus Christ some time in the future, guaranteed. The Christian, however, who does not really love their neighbor in their heart--who does not desire to do good for them in service to our Lord--has not really received a true faith in Him and so needs to pray that their heart be changed before they can be reborn as a genuine Christian. That gentiles are saved is not humanist, but Biblical. That what you hold in your mind matters more than how you live your life, however, is very post-modern, when you think about it. On the topic of media, I do agree that evil is done by means of film and television. Probably more evil has been done by books so far, but books have been around a lot longer, so maybe that relationship will change some day. I don't know. I do know, though, that I can find wisdom in books and in film. It's just a matter of choosing carefully and receiving it critically. The first method of not sinning, though, is to flee from it and to shun it and to avoid opportunities for sin and falsity to take hold of you, and if that is the path you have found best for yourself regarding film and television, I can't really speak against you. Back on to what Swedenborg has said. Be careful of your sources. Like anything else on the web, it is easy to find people who haven't read carefully or who have only heard from someone who heard, and often what they say Swedenborg wrote--like what some people say the Bible says--is not entirely accurate. Two good sources (sorry, I only know English ones) are http://www.newchurch.org/, which contains all of the basic ideas, and http://www.theheavenlydoctrines.org/, which is a searchable archive of everything Swedenborg wrote on theology after his calling to be a revelator.

34 ...Rxa2 Wow! That was an impressive mail. First of all, I don't want to make you angry or insult your faith. If this happened, please forgive me. I just wanted to help you as you did with me. If you think we should stop talking about the subject of faith let's do it. The quotation that hit me so hard was in the internet under www.swedenborg.org and was featured by the Swedenborgian Church of North America. I looked up http:www.newchurch.org and read the answers on the questions people often ask about this church. The believers who are baptized into the Church! must confess to believe everything what the Bible says (that's right) and what the teachings of the Church are (that's wrong!!!) People in your church come together for prayer, for reading the Bible and !! the teachings of the Church. So you give the Bible and the teachings the same importance!? Jehova's witnesses do just the same, the Bible in their special translation and the Watchtower. I hope you can live that life of love and charity and good works. I'm such a failure and often disappoint my Lord, moreover my marriage broke after 20 years and I live seperately from my wife and my children. But in his mercy the Lord chose me to be his follower and servant. As 1.Cor. 1, 26ff says, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. I have nothing to be proud of but I can say that I can glory in the Lord. It' the Lord alone and nothing else. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life.These are God's terms for eternal life. Religion always tried to go a way of good works to please God, as we see in Cain, the Tower of Babel, .... Eph.2,8f: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

35 Nd4 Don't worry, I'm not upset or insulted in the least. I do admit, though, to a touch of enthusiasm when it comes to discussing these topics. www.swedenborg.org is only one of three Swedenborgian denominations in this country. newchurch.org is put together by one of the other three. If you detect differences between the two sites, that is why. I am a member of the newchurch.org organization, myself. I'll have to go back and read the FAQs there, but from what you say it sounds like you got the wrong impression about doctrine in our church. We are not catholic, and the "teachings of the church", as in the things our priests say and historically have said, are not held on par with the Lord's own Word, believe me! When we talk of the doctrines, we are usually referring to those things which are taught to us by the Lord in His Word and through His Word. Now, the definition of the Lord's Word is different. Just as the early Christian Church added various Gospels and Epistles to the already-existing Jewish canon, and just as later as the Christian Church grew and matured it added and subtracted books to its own canon according to a whole series of value systems and deliberative processes, the New Church too believes that a third revelation has occurred. The Greek New Testament tells the story of how our Lord and Heavenly Father came down to earth to defeat the Hells, save mankind, and glorify His Human. In preparation for that, though, He provided the Old Testament, the inner truths of which He infilled through the acts and statements of His life on earth among us. Finally, through the agency of a devout and intelligent eighteenth-century Lutheran, He revealed to us a rational explanation of those acts and words, along with more clear enlightenment of how those acts and words actually did (and still do) infill all the Law and the Prophets that went before. So, yes, in that sense, we have more than the Bible you use, but it is not the teachings of men, or of a man, but those given through a man to the rest of us from our Lord. On the life of charity...I hear you. It is very, very hard. And we fail. Constantly. This was promised to us, though, wasn't it? We are to expect trials, tests, temptations, troubles. Charity is the will to do good, and it cannot come from us, but only from the Lord. Our part is to try to behave as if we have it, to try to be faithful as if we had it, and to ask for it and then openly receive it when it is given. He stands at the door and knocks. He no more expects us to always succeed any more than any loving parent expects their two-year-old to always tie their shoes. He gently leads us when we listen, and over time (our whole lives) He slowly and carefully replaces our selfish hearts with His own heart of Love and Charity. I am very sorry to hear of your broken marriage. Marriage is particularly sacred, as you know. And yet the Lord forgives, as you also know. We'd all be in trouble otherwise, wouldn't we? He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. Absolutely! It just seems from our discussion to this point that we have differing understandings of what it means to "believe". You see belief as above and so at least in some way seperate from works. To me, without works as a result and a desire to do good as a cause, there really is no belief. Belief to me is the means by which Love's ends are made real, and that reality comes down to good works. Trunk, leafy branches, fruit, it's all one tree. The first, Charity, is the gift of God from which all faith grows. I'm curious, though: how is the Tower of Babel story an illustration of religion trying to use good works to please God? I read it as a parable of how people often try to get ahead in life by means of carefully reasoned lies in the place of God's own truths--"their stones were bricks", literally. It had never occurred to me that the men from the east in the story were motivated by a desire to please God, so much as to "make a name" for themselves. I'm not saying you're wrong, merely that your ideas I find new and surprising, and therefore interesting. One of the first things that gets dropped on the floor in the communications handoff between two people of different languages is emotional nuance. I have been a little concerned about the emotional content of your messages, as I can see you have been about my own statements. It's hard, sometimes, when working across a language barrier to properly decipher how someone feels apart from what they think. I just want you to rest assured that I am finding this conversation stimulating, enlightening, and enjoyable. I also am finding it hugely time consuming and a little off the track of our stated purpose here: playing chess. If you grow tired of this, we can ratchet it down. Likewise, if you feel you need a little emotional space on this issue after our lengthy exploration of one another's beliefs and ideas, I get that too. It's your call, as I'm happy playing chess silently as well as babbling on like this.

35 ...Ne1 Thank you for your sympathetic lines.I also enjoy our correspondance very much and think it is very important at least for me to think about the faith of other Christians. It is an emotional topic for both of us, because we have put the whole sense of our life in our faith.That's not only our present, but more than this our future and the future of our six children who we teach in those ways. If the system of our faith as we have it in mind and try to live, was shaken, everything would change in our lives, even our deepest relationships to God and other people. About the Tower of Babel. I wanted to say that religion is the way how man has always tried to find and satisfy God on his own terms. God wanted a bloody sacrifice, Kain gave him something he thought should please God. The men who built the Tower of Babel wanted to go to heaven their own way, too. So we often try to please him with our good works. Sola scriptura, sola fide and sola gracia is too easy. No, we want to bring him offerings, f.e. our good works or fasting. The Islam thinks of scales with good and bad works. I don't believe that there is a third revelation. In Revelationwe are warned of adding to these things or taking away form them. Hebrews says (Hebr.1,1ff) that in these last days God has spoken to us by His Son. The Bible is complete, there are no more revelations. Didn't Joseph Smith from the Mormons or the New Apostles or Jehova's witnesses also claim to have got divine revelations. Or the Charismatics, when they say, the Lord has spoken. No and no again. That opens the door for every wrong teaching. These men can't take over the task of the Holy Ghost who will guide us in all truth (John 16,13). You are right. The nuances make the conversation difficult. Sometimes I can't express things that way as I could in German. You often write encouraging words that help to soften the differences we have. But I can tell you that you and your family are in my prayers from now on.

36 b4 Okay, I see your point about Babel. The closing warning of Revelation presents interesting problems. The Christian canon has gone through many different permutations over the centuries. Several early lists of works considered canon actually suggested relegating Revelation to the same status as the Book of Enoch, if you can believe it! Also, there is strong evidence that Revelation was written before John's epistles. Does that make his letters "additions" to the Word? It is easy to see why, every time a Christian council came up with a new canon (which happened many times in the early centuries) they always made certain to place Revelation last in their list, no matter how the other books were ordered. In comparing us to the Mormons you are on the right track, though. New Christians and Latter Day Saints often get looked at in the same light. That's not to say that we believe the same things, but we do share in common a belief in a new dispensation. Anyway, I've really appreciated your civil tone and respectful explanations. You and yours are also in my prayers. I'm sure our Lord, who knows better than either of us, will hear our prayers and guide each of us appropriately.

36 ...Nxg2 Thank you. One thing about revelation. It sums up what is already written in the old testament. There are no new ideas. 2 Peter 3, 10 ff. tells us the same about the end of this world. So there can be no question that it is God inspired.

37 b5?? Oh, no doubt in my mind that Revelation is Divinely inspired! Your point is an excellent one, especially in light of the fact that the warning that we are not to add to the Word of the Lord also appears--twice--in Deuteronomy. (Deu 4:2; 12:32) Surely that doesn't mean that all the Former and Latter Prophets--to say nothing of the Gospels themselves--are NOT also Divine. The Lord Himself while on earth drew the thread through all the Old Testament to the New one He was living when He quoted the two great commandments from Exodus and Deuteronomy. (Mat 22:34-40)

37 ...Nxe3 I think I see what you want to hint at. But when were these warnings? The first time in Deuteronomy when God gave Israel his law.Jesus later said that not one jot ore one tittle will pass from the law till all is fulfilled (Mt 5,17 ff.) It was sealed with the blood of animals - the Old Testament. Then there was the New Testament sealed with the blood of the Lord himself. Then the revelation warned us to put something away or add to it. All the scriptures of the New Testament were written in the first century. Every writer knew the Lord personally and became a witness of his death and bodily resurrection. But even at that time there were scriptures that were not divinely inspired and it was not so easy to separate them. But this task was finished before the end of the fourth century. There was no idea to take the books of believers of the second or third century in the canon. The passed generations had all they needed in the bible or a life to please God. Why should there be more revelations in the last centuries. The Lord himself warned us of false prophets who will rise up and deceive many in the last days. (Mt. 24, 11ff.).Paul said that even if they or an angel from heaven preached any other gospel then what they have preached they should be accursed. (Gal. 1, 8 f.) Glenn, thanks to our correspondance I've found joy again in the words of the bible and can only be amazed about the wisdom and richness of God's word.

At this point, my position on the board was totally hopeless, my efforts having gone more into the theological discussion than into the rather lousey game of chess I had been playing. Accordingly, I resigned.

38 Resigned 0-1 I'm glad our conversation has helped you again find joy in reading the Bible. I, too, have found it instructive and rewarding. As for our chess game...well, as you can see I've managed to turn a desperate struggle into a dead loss with my most recent move. I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time. Well-played. The board is yours!

The game was painful, but the conversation gratifying. I'm tempted to editorialize and explain further, but not today.

Gotta Love the Monkey

There's this town in Scottland that you probably haven't heard of: Oban.

Well, now we have this:

It is not, on first reflection, the most obvious target for monkey thieves.

Sounds like the pitch line for a 1960's Disney movie that never got green-lighted, right? Well, it's the lead sentence in an article in today's Guardian. With a lead like that, you just know you gotta read the story.

If, however, you disagree, I'll just sum up: professional monkey theives hit the local zoo and made off with 10,000 Sterling of cute monkeydom as embodied in the persons of fifteen monkeys from three seperate species. Officials say the chimpburlglars (okay, monkeys aren't chimps—so what?) were working to order, and left untouched all the monkeys of lesser breeding.

This blog will post followups as the story develops. Maybe.