Thanks for allowing us to repost this, Cory. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts here. I think it's unfortunate that 9/11 has been vastly perceived as a Muslim act. The truth is that the perpetrators of 9/11 would have still carried it out if they weren't Muslim. This was not an attack on Christianity, or any other religion, it was retaliation against our government and our nation's lifestyle. Many suffered, regardless of religion.

Thanks for your thoughts, Todd. I have a problem with the idea of God being lonely. Which I guess is directly related to a problem I have in general with why would a complete God create. And if God was incomplete, as you suggest, what does that say about a view that holds God as eternally complete.

If you believe in the trinity, then God was never ever alone. Ever. God was always in perfect communion as the trinity. So opening that up to share with another being could never be considered an act of self-fulfillment as you seem to suggest.

I plan to test this exercise with the ugliest sweater I can find.

I just finished Miller's newest book which talks about the process of turning Blue Like Jazz into a movie script. He was approached by Steve Taylor (yeah that Steve Taylor) who wants to make a movie of the book.

The more I thought about this, the more it wasn't sitting well with me. Why is being overweight a sin? Unhealthy, yes, but a sin?

Kudos for the most left field post to date!

I'm sure you saw the news last week where a flight attendant supposedly took a photo of an overweight passenger, because his inability to sit safely in the seat raised safety concerns for himself and other passengers.. http://bit.ly/6ESFfA
It's definitely an issue. As someone who feels cramped enough on an airplane without having more of that space encroached upon, I feel it's something that really needs to be addressed by airlines.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's the new racism though. Though some studies show that obese people are likely to get paid less for the same job as others, it is a direct product of one's own actions. Unlike racism, which is simply discriminating against someone for who their parents were.

There is something truly cathartic about shows like "The Biggest Loser" where you watch someone who has battled obesity emerge from it. It's rarely simply just a matter of liking food too much. Most people that get to that point have deep-seeded emotional issues. Many feel lonely and ostracized for their weight, which only feeds the cycle further. Studies also show that obese people are less likely to get married. If obesity is in fact the result of sin, it's one of the few sins whose manifestation is so painfully obvious.

I read a tragic story about a man who died recently. He had undergone emergency knee surgery, and didn't have health insurance, so the hospital couldn't allow him to stay. They took him home, and he asked to be sat in his recliner. He was already a heavy man, maybe close to 450lbs, and the firefighters who helped him in told him not to sit in the recliner, or he'd never get up again. But he insisted. And there, over the course of the next months, he sat as his flesh bonded with the seat. His wife sponged bathed him and brought him food. He was a former pastor, and he kept in touch by posting to Christian forums. Finally, his weight became too much for his lungs to bear, and he stopped breathing. When the paramedics arrived, they had to cut the recliner to pieces to remove it from his skin. Police carried him to the ambulance and estimated his weight to be near 800 lbs.

I want to highlight some of the comments shoppers have made on this site. Not really to make fun of them, well somewhat to make fun of them, but more to punctuate what terrible thinking this represents.

it will be wise and prudent shoppers who honor Christ as the reason for Christmas and will choose to not spend their money where Christ is not welcomed

Starbucks Coffee located in Barnes & Noble sells "Christmas Blend" coffee, not just "Holiday" Blend, which I really appreciate.

Rating: Christmas-Offensive --" If there was no Christmas, then there would be no need to shop and spend all kinds of money in there store!!!!! Christmas is the reason people are shopping and spending money."

Rating: Christmas-Friendly--Comment: "I was buying a giant inflatable Santa with my kids, and the check out clerk sang "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" while scanning our stuff!!!!!"

So it seems there are just a few basic criteria for a retailer to be "Christmas friendly":
1) Play Christmas carols over the speakers (any one will do, but religious ones get you over the top)
2) Have your employees say "Merry Christmas" to everyone who comes in or leaves the store
3) Advertise all sales as "Christmas Sale"
4) Allow the Salvation Army to ring a bell outside your front door

Bravo.. well said. I'm sick of the fight for Christmas. Let's face it, the holiday is no longer about Christ. Very few of the key symbols of Christmas are remotely connected to Christ. Many, like the Christmas tree, are based on pagan holidays that coincide with the winter solstice. But what is funny is that Christ is so offensive, that even the watered-down version of a holiday that bears His name, has been edited out.

This year especially I have been struck with a sense of awe over how cheap Christmas has become. Almost every bauble and trinket that is Christmas related was manufactured in China, in a factory where the workers are paid less than 1% of what you pay for it here to manufacture an item that represents a holiday that they know absolutely nothing about. They don't know what our fascination with trees and Santa Claus is all about, but they sweat on a factory floor, melting PVC down to make greenery. A fake Christmas tree made in a Chinese factory costs about $10 to manufacture for the owner of the factory. That includes paying for the labor, utilities, supplies and all. He then sells it to a distributor for $12. Then they ship it all the way across the globe, and Wal-Mart puts it out on the floor and sells it for $120. And as long as they say "Merry Christmas" then God is honored, right?

I agree with you. It's a show, and we are owned by it.

Interesting.. Walton's views almost seem gnostic. The whole de-emphasis on the material origin, and more of a focus on what is essentially a spiritual origin, seems very close in line with gnosticism. I'm only 4 pages into the review, but it's a fascinating approach.

I don't really think a trump card is necessary. Faith pertains to that which is unknown, science to that which is known. If one holds by faith that the earth is flat, and science proves it to be round, then only through self-delusion can faith trump science.
I think it is the very notion that one trumps the other that is causing such a pseudo-war between science and faith.
If you are a believer in science, and a person of faith, then you shouldn't have to choose one or the other. Maybe it's just that your faith is in the wrong thing.