Penn Jillette wants me to share the gospel with you.  He is an atheist, but he reminded me that you, even if you are not a Christian, still have a soul, and that should matter to me.  It does.  I know that you’re probably tired of hearing religious people cram religion down your throat.  I’m sorry that other Christians, or myself, may have gotten it wrong and tried to present anything but what matters most toward you.  So, in an attempt to clear things up here’s the gospel in simple terms and with some simple definitions to help clarify things.

The Gospel

The gospel is simple.  So simple a child could understand and believe it:  Jesus Christ died on the cross, was buried, rose the third day (read it in the Bible – I Corinthians 15:3-4).  In doing so He satisfied God’s requirement of justice for sin.  Sin that you and I have committed and that separates us from God (read it in the Bible – Romans 3:23-24).  In doing so God extended His love and grace to the whole world!

What is Grace?

Grace is the unlimited, unmerited blessing of God due to the totally adequate work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Lets break that down because that sentence is like a t-bone steak, and it needs some dissecting to get to the good stuff.  Grace is unlimited: that means that even Adolph Hitler, had he believed the gospel before death could be saved.  It means I don’t have to worry about out-sinning God.  It means that I don’t have to worry about losing my salvation.  It means I can rest in God’s grace.  It means having knowledge of eternal peace with God.  Grace is unmerited: it means that I can’t earn it, I can only believe the gospel and receive it.  It is like a birthday present from a total stranger that is a check for a million dollars.  I didn’t earn it, it is a gift!  Since I didn’t earn it, I don’t have to work to keep it – its a gift.  Blessings of God is a bit tougher to describe because it has to do with relationship with God.  Blessings is not just stuff, it is the reception of God Himself into our lives (God isn’t against stuff, its just that He doesn’t only operate on the earth – Ephesians 1:3 tells us we’ve been blessed with every heavenly or spiritual blessing – read it in the Bible).  The totally adequate work of Christ on the Cross: this means that Christ’s death on our behalf was satisfactory to God so that when God looked at Christ and those who believe the gospel and are therefore identified with Christ he was satisfied and could have awesomely intimate relationship with them.  This is why Ephesians 1:4 can tell us that we’re holy & blameless (read it in the Bible).  Christians are not perfect on the earth, but before God they have been declared holy and blameless as He is holy and blameless.

God wants a relationship with you.  Belief is a simple act, but you know it comes with consequences.  Once you have responded to the gospel – in either belief or unbelief – you know that that decision will come with ramifications.  I encourage you to ponder the gospel message.  Eternity is a long time to be wrong.  I have personally spent hours and hours of my life studying to make sure I’m not putting my trust in absolutely insane, highly improbable truths.  Instead I have found the Bible, God’s book of love, to be True and the source of truth.  Hell is not described as a great place to be, it is described as a place with weeping and gnashing of teeth.  It is described as a lake of fire.  I don’t want to pass up this opportunity to ask you to read the verses quoted and ask yourself where you will spend eternity.

Think About It

I don’t agree with Penn’s reflection on God, that He doesn’t exist.  But I ask you to consider this: I’m not trying to con you, I don’t want a notch in my Bible cover, I don’t expect to get “Jesus Points” [instead of brownie points or merit badges], but I really care about you.  If you’re reading this it means something to me, you mean something to me.  Ask questions in the comments, email me (randy@randypeterman.com), or IM me (if you need that information I’ll email it to you) and we’ll discuss this.  I’m not looking for fights, so if you think you’re going to find that here, you’re at the wrong URL, but I am being genuine because I want you to be there with me in heaven in awe as God reveals more of Himself to us for eternity (read it in the Bible).

Consider putting your trust in Christ to make you right with God rather than trying on your own.  To do so just pray and be really honest with God about your failure to meet His standards of perfection, trust Him for His work through Christ on the cross, and rest in the assurance that you’re adopted into His family.  Then consider finding other Christians who can help you learn about the Bible – I’ll be the first volunteer.

I had installed WordPress 2.7 as a beta last month.  When the final release came out WordPress notified me, but instead of like previous versions, it just let me click a link and it handled the upgrade on the server with very little fuss.  It was like buying a 2008 Honda knowing that when the 2009 Hondas came out you could push a button and for free your Honda would upgrade to the latest.  Before several steps were required, now, I just click a button.  Wow.

The new interface for administration is very clean and polished and easy to use.  Wow.

The ease of editing posts has been taken up just a notch, which is quite nice.  Wow.

I can install plugins from within the plugin interface without having to download and unzip zip files, it just works.  WOW!

Thanks to Matt and the rest of the team at Automattic for a fantastic release that is well worth the upgrade.

If you’re like me then you get Christmas wishlist requests from various relatives.  Some of the folks want them to find inspiration, some of them want them to ignore, and others want them so that they can get you something you’d like.  Either way here are some simple tips on compiling the list:

1. Figure out gifts at different price ranges.  With the economy being somewhat sketchy lots of folks are cutting back, by giving people several options in different price ranges you’ll be able to let people use the list.
2. Take a walk through your house and see if anything you already have reminds you of something you’d like.  Do you have a DVD collection?  Do you have some things in your kitchen that are old but could be replaced?  Do you have some clothes that you really like but would love in different colors?
3. Take a walk through your nearest big box store.  WalMart or Target could have hundreds of items for sale in all of the price ranges on your shopping list, run through one of the stores and make a list
4. Find the items on your list on Amazon and if the list is in Word or HTML format provide links to the items there.  Amazon.com often offers other suggestions when you look at products, keep a lookout for those items.  You can also create a wishlist on Amazon.com – make a note of the link and send it out if it will help those needing the list
5. Check, mark, underline, bold and or italicize things that are most wanted.  I can think of 100 things I might like for a wishlist, but there are only a hand full of things that I would really, really like.  Make it known so that the persons involved don’t feel lost in a see of too many choices.
6. Make sure that there aren’t too many choices.  If you’ve only got 5 things in each category you’re more likely to get those things and help people make an informed choice.

I finished installing the sound dampening accessories on our new dishwasher tonight. I had waited on the off chance of leaks from the new installation. No leaks meant silencers were to be installed. This washer is quiet now. The air gap which prevents backflow contamination is now louder when it’s draining than the washer is when it’s running.

I am going to say this: if you have a washer without a backflow prevention mechanism such as an air gap: get one. I can think of no other cheap installation that could be better for your home repair money. I could have possibly saved my old dishwasher from replacement had I known about the air gap. Installation took all of 20 minutes because I’m slow and wanted to triple check the connections.

So far I’m thrilled.

Also, I fixed a broken closet door tonight. Tip: don’t cut corners with “repairs”. The previous owner of this house did and I’m having to make up for it in dishwashers and wood and time :). Not that I mind. After hours in front of a computer screen physical labor is refreshing.

At the end of the above video is a grape letting off a gaseous flame. I showed the above video to an 11 year old boy and he announced, “Oh! They made it better!” In boy terms there is nothing better than first making flames from a grape in a microwave – except to be able to make the flames float up in succession. That’s just magical.