Friday fun: Playing the age game

Alouette Lake, BC (photo from trekearth.com)

Update September 2015

My social life is significantly improved post-student era. I am talking with more people. The feedback is positive even in this very secular region of the world.

This has really been of great assist at work, where my public relations skills as well as computing skills has my manager looking to promote me.
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Here is some Friday fun, the satirical and the mostly serious:

Being a theologically, philosophically, Biblically orientated Christian man in BC can be tricky business in the early 21st century. In my late 30s, I have been a student for 17 years, and have worked part-time in fields such as telemarketing, census, and security. Having mainly avoided the secular approach to life by God’s grace, my path has been quite different than most Christian women my age. In my studied opinion many Christians basically believe but live as non-believers do in many ways. I reason this is largely because by God’s will, for several reasons, many 21st century Christians do not value the serious study of Scripture and related fields. The Holy Spirit tends to mould and change persons through teaching and much of this takes place through study.

Now, I must apologize to the women reading this article as I realize many of my female blog readers are serious students of Scripture and related study.

I am hardly God’s gift to women, but I have had several women interested in me over the years, but just not suitable ones. Some of these women I have met on-line, but although I think one can have on-line friendship, I do not believe in a realistic romantic on-line relationship with a woman. I would have to meet a woman in person to have an idea if a romantic relationship was possible.

Are you interested in meeting me in person?

Directions:

Okay, walk, jog, fly, drive, or take a boat or train to Maple Ridge, BC, Canada, which is the most northeastern part of the Lower Mainland. In the morning, head down the Lougheed Highway heading east to Toronto through the centre of town and where the Lougheed meets the By-Pass and look southwest for a glow coming from one of the residences. The glow should be my good friend Bobby Buff putting on his Crisco for the day to give him that bodybuilder ‘shine’. From his place, please head west down the hill and at the bottom of the hill I live in a condo. During the afternoon and evening you can look for me doing the David Bruce Banner (The Incredible Hulk) walk on the near-by streets. I may be praying or pondering on some intellectual issue. Five free blog comments to any young Christian woman willing to approach me.



As I have different life experience than most Christian women my age and have never found a relatable woman in a romantic context, I am disturbed at how many persons seem to think that by hypothetically ‘throwing’ someone my age at me will solve my problem, and that I should ‘grab’ her and date her. Some people just do not get it. Contrary to much societal propaganda, mutual attraction is not primarily about age and chronological maturity although I admit they are important factors, but it is mainly about shared worldview and experience. A woman can be 20 or 120, and we will relate if we have similar worldview and experience, although I am not attracted to much older women physically. If a woman is younger than me and shares my Christian worldview and is interested in Biblical studies, theology, and philosophy, especially from a conservative Reformed view, we may relate and there may be mutual attraction. Some people whine to me that even though I would like to have children one day, and lack sexual experience I should not expect to date or marry someone younger. Well, if a woman of any age is not attracted to me, fine, most women will not be attracted to any one particular man, but that does not mean I should go after someone close to my own age because we will relate better, which is not necessarily true, or because that is the pragmatic thing to do. Pragmatism should be part of romantic relationships, but there still has to be basic spiritual, intellectual, and physical mutual attraction.

I study at times some relationship teaching, both Christian and secular. One interesting secular teacher, that I am not endorsing necessarily, states concerning the idea of women dating older men:

http://doubleyourdating.com/m/dating/Secrets_Of_Dating_Younger_Women.asp

CATEGORIES AND CATEGORIES

I've found that women usually fit into one of
the following three categories when it comes to
how they view this topic:

1) "It's perfectly normal" (Maybe 20%)

2) "It's taboo, and very intriguing" (Maybe 20%)

3) "It's GROSS!" (Maybe 60%)

As I do not share the sexual and romantic experience of most women my age, and would like my own children one day, and am not interested in becoming a stepfather, unless the children are little, I have emailed on Christian dating sites some younger women over the years. Some women are offended, but if I am going to find a relatable Christian young woman I need to try even if as little as 20% or slightly more of Christian women would be open-minded concerning the age issue.

Frankly, I would much rather be alone than simply date and marry someone within secular societal standards, as my worldview and experience is outside of those standards.

I reason that some in the Christian Church would be more offended if I dated and eventually married a significantly younger woman with a similar level of romantic experience (probably more than I would have), hoping to potentially have children one day, than they would be with two homosexuals marrying!

Please ponder on that statement.

Interesting, from my research I have found that many Asian and African women are not near as concerned romantically with age difference, and the same can be stated for Eastern Europeans, although less so. The age issue is at least somewhat a Western construct.

Is there such as thing as too much of an age differece? It most cases yes, but this would be dealt with by the fact that there would not be mutual attraction and therefore an unwritten, unofficial socially constructed rule concerning age difference in romantic relationships is not needed.

Happy Friday!

The Lochness Monster

You Tube

Martin Ruane

Martin Ruane, better known as Giant Haystacks (October 10, 1946 - November 29, 1998) was an English wrestler. Giant Haystacks wrestled in such places as England, the USA, Canada, India and Zimbabwe amongst many others. He was known for his huge size, weighing over 48 st (672 lb) at his heaviest.

After the decline of British Wrestling, he invested, unsuccessfully, in the motor trade for a few years and then managed with more success, a debt-collection agency.

Now, can you imagine this gentlemen coming to your door to collect a debt? I am not surprised that he did well in that business.

Ruane was a deeply religious man and refused to fight on Sundays. He reputedly ate 3 lb of bacon, 12 eggs every morning to maintain his strength, and flew all over the World. He died on November 29, 1998 at the age of 52, following a two year battle with cancer.

I am not a fan of wresting or bodybuilding, but I have a friend interested in both. I remember watching The Lochness Monster on television as a child and thinking that he was the largest human being I had ever seen. I remembered him and my friend had never heard of him. We looked him up on the web last night and had found out that he had passed away. I am not surprised he was a religious man as he came across as a basically nice guy when I watched him on television as a child, in my humble opinion of course.

Is there a theological lesson here? Even the mightiest fall. This is known of course, but how often is this general idea pondered seriously on? This man was almost 7 feet tall and more than 600 pounds, in fact my friend and I viewed a clip claiming at the time that Martin Ruane in his wrestler persona was 900 pounds. However, he looked grossly obese in that particular video. Cancer and death took down this giant, perhaps the largest human being I have even seen, and at relatively young age.

I think for an unbeliever a wise philosophical approach is to consider the seriousness of death, and if God exists what ramifications could result after death. Hebrews 9: 27 explains that each person dies and then after this is judgment. Scripture comes from a historically based tradition of God revealing his word to persons. Jesus Christ claimed he would rise again in John 2: 19-21, and is reported to have resurrected from the dead by followers in Scripture, many of whom gave their lives for the gospel message reasoning they had witnessed this resurrection; I would therefore, consider the Hebrews verse carefully. Yes, there is not empirical physical evidence for an immaterial God or for the existence of an immaterial human spirit, or for life after death, but there is documented evidence of historical persons throughout approximately 1500 years of Biblical history that experienced God's special revelation.

From:

Religion Facts

Yes, I realize that there is some academic debate concerning the exactness of these dates, but I provide this for historical background. Christianity is a historically based religious faith and philosophy and not mythology.

c. 4 BC Birth of Jesus
c. 26 AD John the Baptist begins ministry
c. 27 AD Jesus begins ministry
c. 30 AD Crucifixion of Jesus
c. 35 Conversion of Paul
c. 44 Martyrdom of James
c. 46-48 Paul's first missionary journey
c. 49 Council of Jerusalem
c. 50-52 Paul's second missionary journey
c. 51-52 First and Second Thessalonians written
c. 53-57 Paul's third missionary journey
c. 57 Letter to the Romans written
c. 59-62 Paul imprisoned in Rome
c. 60 Andrew martyred by crucifixion in Achaia (Greece).
c. 66-67 Second Timothy written
c. 68 Martyrdom of Paul
70 Fall of Jerusalem
c. 90-95 John exiled on island of Patmos
c. 95 Book of Revelation written

My friend and I reason this is a doctored bodybuilder photo. He looks a little like the Michelin Man. Do my female readers dig him?



Natural Science: A complex secular classic, and Chucky's favourite.

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/06/education-is-evil.html

Bonus 'bodybuilders'


Hey ladies, look at me.;)



I should state that I consider non-medical use of steroids for the body as abuse of the body.






Google Images/Michelin


Google Images/Marvel/Sega

A birthday party=bad

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/06/limited-atonement.html

I realize the clips below are a bit long, and so I recommend watching the first 4-5 minutes of the first video. A former Jehovah's Witness is being phoned by an elder and accused of having a birthday party. The man posting the video does not want to be 'disfellowshipped'. The first 4-5 minutes of the video features:

1. Some insight into the Jehovah's Witnesses organization and an example of what it views as an important spiritual issue.

2. Funny sounds.

3. The man being confronted makes a good point, as he alludes to Matthew 18 where one is to approach and reprove an offending person in private, and if the offending person does not listen, one is to take two or more persons to talk to the offending person. The elder did not seem interested in following this Biblical example, although he acknowledged the concept as Biblical.





http://www.religionfacts.com/jehovahs_witnesses/holidays.htm

Rejection of Holidays

One of the more well-known practices of the Jehovah's Witnesses is their non-celebration of holidays. All holidays, including birthdays, are considered "pagan holidays" and may not be observed by Witnesses. The official website of the Jehovah's Witnesses explains:

Jesus never commanded Christians to celebrate his birth. Rather, he told his disciples to memorialize, or remember, his death. (Luke 22:19, 20) Christmas and its customs come from ancient false religions. The same is true of Easter customs, such as the use of eggs and rabbits. The early Christians did not celebrate Christmas or Easter, nor do true Christians today.

The only two birthday celebrations spoken of in the Bible were held by persons who did not worship Jehovah. (Genesis 40:20-22; Mark 6:21, 22, 24-27) The early Christians did not celebrate birthdays. The custom of celebrating birthdays comes from ancient false religions. True Christians give gifts and have good times together at other times during the year. {1}

http://www.allbaby.com/babyinfo/birthdays.htm

Happy Birthday! The Origin of the Birthday Party

Birthdays are considered happy occasions when we celebrate a person’s special day with gifts, sweets, parties and good cheer. However, looking back into history, birthdays were not always seen as a festive day.

In Europe many thousands of years ago, a person’s birth-day was seen as a fearful experience. Common belief was that bad spirits could harm the person on the anniversary of his or her birth. A way to keep the evil spirits at bay was to surround oneself with family and friends, who often brought small gifts or food to share.

At these protective gatherings, people would use crude noisemakers to scare off the evil spirits lurking about. The custom of lighting candles and torches also began. In these days, most people believed that gods lived in the sky and a fire light that is later extinguished would send a sign to these gods.

Birthday celebrations began to take on a more positive tone during the Middle Ages, but they were still very rare and usually only celebrated by royalty or the very wealthy. During the Reformation, the recognition of one’s birthday began to be more common.

During this period, the English people began making cakes for the birthday person, often hiding coins, rings and thimbles inside.

The concept of children’s birthday celebrations was thought to have first started in Germany and the day was called Kinderfeste.

Over the centuries, birthdays have evolved from simple events with token presents and good wishes to a significant annual event in people’s lives. Most people now celebrate with a party of some type – especially for children. Sometimes birthday parties can be lavish events, these usually taking place for adults on what is considered a “milestone” birthday, reached at age 18, 21, 30, 40, 50 and the decades beyond.

Sure enough according to both my Jehovah's Witnesses and All About Baby® links, a birthday party has pagan roots, although this seems to be primarily from a historical European perspective. But I state, 'So what'; common sense is needed here. If a birthday party is thrown to 'keep the evil spirits at bay' then the motives behind the party are indeed wrong. If a birthday party is thrown by persons to celebrate, in love, a fellow human being, it can be a good thing. It can be a bad thing to throw a party that features heavy use of human vices, or it can be a good thing featuring love and fellowship. The fact that the birthday party or anything has pagan roots does not make it a bad thing in itself. It was the idea of keeping evil spirits at bay, rather than trusting in the Biblical God, that was wrong with the original birthday party concept. There is nothing wrong with the idea of a birthday party in itself. Mark 6: 21 mentions Herod's birthday banquet and so this was a custom in Jesus' culture. I am not an expert on birthdays and will not state that the concept of a birthday party in the ancient Near East equals the concept of a 21st century Western birthday party, but doubtless there would be similarities.

Since this article is already long enough, I am not going to discuss Jehovah's Witnesses doctrines here in detail, but this can be done in comments if needed via your always appreciated respectful comments.:)

Radical Canadian liberal Christianity: a price to pay

Victoria, BC (photo from trekearth.com)

http://thekingpin68.blogspot.com/2008/06/cs-lewis-and-animal-pain.html

Chucky and I had lunch with one of our pastors from church on Sunday. We all basically agreed that the Canadian government, Canadian culture, and radical liberal Christianity has given in to secular non-Christian perspectives on many issues such as same-sex marriage. We also agreed that Biblical Christianity would likely face greater persecution in the Lower Mainland in the future. I stated that in the future I would rather be in a house church where Biblical theology is taught than to share a church with extreme liberals who just flatly refuse to submit to Biblical teaching in many essential areas. I will not be a member of a church with a group of persons that deny Biblical essentials and are basically attempting to mould God into a 21st Century human image rather than submitting to God as is revealed in historical Scripture. Please note, I do realize that there are moderate Christian liberals that hold to many Biblical essentials.

Human made religion on its own cannot please God. Paul notes that no one is righteous in Romans 3: 10 and that no one seeks God in Romans 3: 11, that all fall short of the glory of God in sin in Romans 3: 23. In Romans 6: 23, Paul explains that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is everlasting life in Christ. The final place for those outside of Christ is noted as providing everlasting punishment for the devil, the beast and false prophet in Revelation 20: 10. The beast and false prophet are very likely human beings, and other persons outside of Christ will be thrown into the lake of fire as it states in verse 20: 15. Sin is against an eternal God and required the God-man Christ to die for it. In the atoning work he expiated sin, as in covering it, and provided a propitiation for sin as in appeasing God's anger against sin.

From a Reformed perspective, since human beings cannot atone for their own sins, punishment must continue forever as sin is never paid for and never will be paid for outside of Christ. Expiation is the idea that Christ’s atoning death covers sin in believers and cleanses followers from corruption, according to Erickson. Erickson (1994: 811). J.S. Whale writes that expiation means God himself purges or covers human sin. Whale (1958: 81). Propitiation is found in Romans 3: 25 and James Strong explains that the word under review, hilasterion, is defined as an expiatory place or thing, an ‘atoning victim’ along with ‘mercyseat’ and ‘propitiation'. Strong (1986: 48). In John 2: 2 and 4:10 propitiation is defined in the same way. Strong (1986: 48). Some within both liberal and conservative Christianity attempt to deny propitiation, but the Greek text allows it as a strong possibility. Walter Bauer writes that the meaning in Romans 3: 25 is uncertain and could be either expiates or propitiates. Bauer (1979: 375). Even if propitiation is denied as an aspect of atonement, which I see no Biblical or theological need for, it would not change the concept of everlasting punishment in the New Testament. Jesus was of course known for discussing hell in Matthew 5: 29, for example. In Matthew 10: 28, Jesus mentions that persons should fear God that can destroy both the soul and body in hell. In Matthew 18: 8, Jesus describes this as everlasting fire. Does destroy in Matthew 10 necessarily mean annihilation, or is it describing a destruction of meaningful life due to punishment? Strong defines destroy in 10: 28 as apollumi meaning to destroy fully, perish, or lose in a literal or figurative sense, destroy lose, mar, and perish. Strong (1986: 16). R.T. France mentions that the exact form of the Greek word here apolesai carries a meaning of loss and ruin as well as literal destruction and annihilation, and so annihilation is not necessarily to be favoured here over everlasting punishment as the view of Jesus. France (2001:186).

Any organization can call itself religious and Christian, but obedience to Christ and his New Testament message is crucial. We are saved by grace through faith, and not works, although true Christianity should lead to works (Ephesians 2: 8-10). It is God through Christ that saves and human religion that claims Christ and yet denies the gospel message in disobedience is doomed. I do not state this in arrogance but simply point out the Biblical reality. Since human beings are sinful, corrupted, and not perfectly good, an organization should not expect its radical liberal attempts at religion to impress God in order that he provide its followers with everlasting life.

ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.

FRANCE, R.T. (2001) Matthew, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans.

STRONG, J. (1986) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Pickering, Ontario, Welch Publishing Company.

WHALE, J.S. (1958) Christian Doctrine, Glasgow, Fontana Books.

Satirical cartoons: