Author: Kevin

Does God Have Emotions?

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There have been many attempts to understand God and explain who He is. One of the most common ways to do this is to use terminology and imagery that is common to human beings. This makes sense, because human beings are limited by their senses and the world in which they live. There needs to be a measure of caution when making these comparisons. One needs to remember that the comparisons are analogies, not equations.

With this in mind, does God have emotions? There is a common perception that God stands outside of our world and is devoid of any real passion or emotion. The Bible paints a different picture. Exodus 34:6 reads, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”

Another biblical concept supporting the idea of God having emotions is the fact that humans are created in God’s image. While what God’s image really is can be debated, one thing that we can take away from the concept is that we are a reflection of God, however faint and dim that reflection may be. Since human beings are emotional beings, one can deduct that God is an emotional being. This is not a big stretch.

God’s emotions as not out of control, nor do they contain malice. When God is angry, it is not a selfish anger, but a just one. But he does have genuine emotions. “God is personal and ethical, and both senses call for healthy emotions or passions” (Lewis, EDOT).

In summary, God is a deeply passionate and emotional being, who cares for us and is moved when we are hurt. As Peter wrote, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Pe 5:7).

VVCC On the Front Page of Wall Street Journal

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My church made the front page of the Wall Street Journal today. They wrote an article about Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life and how it is dividing Evangelical churches throughout the country. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I will write about it once I do. If you subscribe to WSJ, here’s a link to the article.

Why Mark Cuban Doesn’t Like International Play

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Pau Gasol might miss three months of the NBA season because of an injury he sustained to his foot during the closing moments of the World Championships in Japan. Mark Cuban has been vocal about his concerns of NBA players participating in these types of events. His main argument is that there is no insurance for his player, they were to get hurt. This fear has come true for the Memphis Grizzlies. They will be without their best player for a significant portion of the season. At least it didn’t happen to Dirk. Read the news story here.

The Most Useless Words

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Bimonthly and biweekly are the two most useless words in the English language. Webster defines bimonthly as: “1) occurring every two months; 2) occurring twice a month.” I’m not kidding. Those are two completely different meanings for the exact same word. How stupid is that? Why in the world do we allow such nonsense to exist? In its definition of the prefix “bi,” Webster has this to say:

Many people are puzzled about bimonthly and biweekly, which are often ambiguous because they are formed from both senses 1b and 2b of bi-. This ambiguity has been in existence for nearly a century and a half and cannot be eliminated by the dictionary. The chief difficulty is that many users of these words assume that others know exactly what they mean, and they do not bother to make their context clear. So if you need bimonthly or biweekly, you should leave some clues in your context to the sense of bi- you mean. And if you need the meaning “twice a,” you can substitute semi- for bi-. Biannual and biennial are usually differentiated.

Like they said, semimonthly is defined as twice a month, so that answers my problem. But I vote for eliminating bimonthly and biweekly from the English language because they are useless.

A Picture of American Laziness

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American Laziness

Originally uploaded by kevinandbrea.

One of the things that bothers me more than anything else is carts in the Wal-Mart parking lot. These carts were right next to the cart return area. It’s less than ten feet away from being put back into the place it goes. It would take less than fifteen seconds to walk there and back. I guess that’s just asking too much of some people.

I think this reflects a lot about where we are as a country. First, it shows how lazy we are. People wonder why some countries in Asia are way ahead of us in technology and education. I think it has a lot to do with how lazy we’ve become. Another thing it shows is why there are so many kids with discipline problems. If kids see their parents not taking responsibility for their own actions, then why should they? It’s a common thing today (as it has been in many cultures) to pass responsibility on to someone else (“they have an employee whose job is to pick up the carts”) for our own actions.

Walk the extra few feet and put the carts away.

New Windows Mobile Treo to be More Stable Than Palm OS???

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Last month Palm officially announced that the next Treo would be released in the UK in partnership with Vodaphone. Today they set September 12 as the day they will officially unveil the new device. In a story by Reuters today, there was a very odd quote. [Read the News Story Here]:

The company is hoping the move to the Windows Mobile will help alleviate the concerns of Treo users who have long complained of Palm’s own operating system crashing the handsets on a regular basis.

If this statement was made by a Palm representative then they are moronic. Why in the world would you say that one of your competitor’s software is more stable or reliable than your own? You’re giving the impression that you’ve done everything you can, but there is a superior product on the market. If Palm thinks this than the Palm OS is dead.

But another thought I’ve had. When has a Windows product been more stable or reliable than anything else? Windows XP, while being a vastly superior product than the its predecessor Windows ME, is full of flaws and still locks up on occasion. I have had no experience with Windows Mobile, but I would be shocked if it is more stable than Palm OS.

What causes Treo users problems with stability is usually the third-party software they install. There are a number of programs available that are considered hack programs. They manipulate the intended operation of device, which in turn reduces its reliability. The only way this is eliminated is by not allowing programs to hack the device. Having the ability to customize the Treo is one of its most desirable features.

I’ve been a Palm OS user since the Fall of 1997. It would be a shame to see it buried by its own company. Palm, if you are planning on ditching the OS, please give it to the open-source community. They will be able to make it what you have not been able to do.

Bitter Former Taco Bueno Employee

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I previously posted about how it’s annoying to get a ton of hot sauce from Taco Bueno, even though they ask you if you want any and you tell them no. I ticked off Jamee, who apparently used to work at a Taco Bueno. Here’s the comment she left about that post:

Okay quit crying like a little girl…i’ve worked at taco bueno before and yes when u order a combo we automatically ask for your drink first…why because on the computers we cannot move forward in the order until we have your drink request, when a customer starts saying they want no this and no that and they want to add this but take this off, it is much easier to get the drink out of the way first…and sometimes the customers act like we can read their minds like when they want no tomatoes we will put no tomatoes on everything and then they throw a hissy because they just wanted no tomatoes on one thing…although they didn’t specify we just have to grin and bare it. Heaven forbid taco bueno isn’t a magical place were they just get everything right. and please man it’s just hot sauce remove it and throw it away it’s not like it tainted your food.

Jamee. I do throw the hot sauce away. My point wasn’t to complain about Taco Bueno being perfect. My point was that it’s not fun knowing that the employees don’t listen to you.

And get to work on the mind reading thing. That would speed things up a lot.