H. E. Double Hockey Sticks

We had a great discussion on hell last night at Theology Pub.

Some of the questions that were raised.....
--Why does God have people who go to hell suffer for eternity?
--Why can't they just suffer for a little while and then be annihilated?
--Isn't that kind of sick to make someone suffer for eternity?
--How does that correlate with the characteristics of Jesus? Meaning his love, compassion,
grace, etc?
--What is hell actually like?
--What about those who have never heard? Can't Jesus' blood cover them even if they don't
know that Jesus is the one doing the saving? (I think so)

Some people use the argument that God has to send people to hell because it's justice, he doesn't have a choice. But that is saying that God can't make his own decisions. He's bound by some sort of system that is out of his control.

Keep in mind that we were asking these questions not just to dump the answers on people but because we really want to know. Don't assume that you know what my answers would be on these subjects because quite honestly I don't have a lot of them. I think the canned answers for the questions on hell are garbage. There has to be some real answers that don't try to bail God out all the time but really explain the necessity of hell. Again, don't answer with justice because God can do whatever He wants.

All of this has sparked from reading part of Mclaren's latest book "The Last Word and the Word After That." Here are some quotes you might enjoy:

"Deep in my heart, I acknowledged that I felt stuck with the traditional view of hell. It bothered me to use exclusive and Jesus in the same sentence. Everything about Jesus' life and message seemed to be about inclusion, not exclusion. I couldn't figure out how anything with "eternal conscious torment" in it could be called "Good News."

Quote from Mere Christianity:
"There are people in other religions who are being led by God's secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Chrsitianity and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it."

Chronicles of Narnia ends on a similar note with Aslan telling (can't remember his name.) that because of his ignorance he will still be saved. Aslan said that everything he did for his gods Aslan would count that he did it for him and everything he did wrong he would count that he did it towards his gods. Interesting.

I love C.S. Lewis and I think I agree with him and his more open view of salvation but I'm still shocked more people didn't see him as a heretic. There is a fine line between heretic and genius and Lewis was a Mere Genius.

Any thoughts on hell out there? I'm curious to learn more of the history of hell and how the idea has transformed over the years from what Jesus said clear up to this devil and pitchfork idea. I think that will help clear it up. Hopefully Mclaren will go through some of that as the book goes on.

One music note: Bloc Party is another terrible rip off hipster band.

Ping-Pong, Prostitutes, and (can't think of another P-Word)

Where am I? - Sitting in Alt.Coffee (a little coffeeshop in the East Village) right behind a guy with a shirt that says, "Losing is Nature's way of Saying You Suck "No Fear". Hahahaha. I was wondering where all the no fear shirts went. This guys got them.

Worst CD I've heard this week? - The Bravery - The Bravery. This is the most annoying garbage you'll hear for sometime. This dance rock thing has gotten out of control. I've said this before but if I hear one more band (The Killers especially) trying to be a modern version of Duran Duran meets Morrissey I'm going to give up on music. Have you seen The Killers perform? Why doesn't he stop trying to be Morrissey and start trying to create an identity for himself?

What I did last week? - went to Naperville and got some time to hang with Brad and Nick. I ate Cold Stone twice, Mongolian BBQ (awesome), Potbelly, and Smoky Bones. Great food. Also took a romantic walk by the riverwalk one time with Brad and Keith. As Keith says, "just dudes being dudes." In the meantime there was this middle aged couple eating faces by the water for a good 45 minutes. that's got to be an affair right? What husband and wife at that age is devouring each other by the water? That would be respectable if they were married for like 20 years though. To still have that passion would be impressive.

Weirdest NYC thing on Sunday? - a van pulls up in front of Brian and an Explorer pulls up right behind it and parks. A woman who has no underwear on and hardly a skirt gets out of the explorer, gets into the van with blacked out windows and the van starts a rockin. The strange thing about it??? It was 8am! Who's pickin up prostitutes at 8AM on a Sunday Morning?

Best Seinfeld Episode on this week? - Can Yogurt Cause Weight Gain? "This yogurt is *$&#(in great!" I love that one.

PS 89 Talent Show 2005

My friend Gregg informed me this morning that there was an article in the Downtown Express about the Talent Show from a few weeks ago that I MC'd so i went to the site and was surprised to find this on the front.

Here's the article. http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_101/ps89students.html

I'm not sure but I don't think "Catskills Comic" is a good thing. Oh well. It was a fun time and went much better than last year since I knew what to expect. This girl right here had the coolest hair in the world. She was Pippy Longstocking. It would have looked better in color so you could get the full effect. She actually had hangars attached inside her hair. Pretty crazy.

Death and Granola Bars

Last night I watched Larry King Live because they were talking about what happens when a person dies. The panel was John Macarthur (Christian), a Catholic Priest, a Spiritualist, a Muslim, a Jewish Rabbi and an Atheist. I suggest checking out the transcript, it's very interesting. The most irritating person on the program had to be the spiritualist woman. She was very cultish and scary. A lot of "God is love and when we die we get sucked up by the essense of love and we become one with everything" kind of talk. Hers was definitely the opinion with the least amount of authority. At least the Muslim, Christian and Jew have a place where they put their authority. With the spiritualist it is just about what you feel and experience.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/14/lkl.01.html

This morning we met at 7:45 to hand out Granola Bars to people on their way to work with a postcard about Forefront. It was a better experience than I usually have. I feel like this is an effective way to meet people and establish a good community presence but generally don't enjoy participating that much. The people were all very friendly today. The city woke up on the right side of the bed this morning. Had a few people stop and thank us and one person emailed in and thanked us and said he might come to church on the 24th. It's amazing the people you can meet and the invite to church just by handing out something as simple as a granola bar. We do it a lot in the city, it makes me wonder why churches in smaller cities and towns don't make that kind of effort. You would never see anyone from a church in Lincoln Illinois doing that and it makes me wonder why? I bet it would be huge there. But I guess most of us have gotten comfortable by just hoping people show up to a building on Sunday because they know it's there right? I'm not trying to be holier than thou, I just realize now that I didn't make much of an effort when I lived in the Bible Belt because it was almost like, "they know where church is, they can come if they want, it's up to them." I didn't feel like we really sought people out to invite. Am I way off here?

Austin Powers

Believe it or not I had never seen Austin Powers before last night. I saw the third one on TV a few months ago and loved it so last night Kelli and I watched it at her place. There were a few parts within the movie that I was literally crying unable to watch the screen I was laughing so hard. What an incredible movie! I wish I would have watched these movies sooner. I have no idea why I didn't see them. One of my favorite parts is when he is trying to turn around the little golf cart thing in the narrow hallway. If you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about. Or when he is playing Blackjack and stays on a 5. Hilarious scene. I am now a huge fan of Austin Powers. I love comedies but it has been a long time since a comedy has made me laugh that hard. It was painful.

Sandler Classics

I was watching Happy Gilmore tonight and it reminded me how much I love Adam Sandler movies. They are kind of like a genre of their own. Here are my top five favorites.

1. Billy Madison
2. Wedding Singer
3. Happy Gilmore
4. Big Daddy
5. The Waterboy

My least favorite Sandler movie award goes to..............................................Punch Drunk Love. I still don't understand the movie and honestly i'm not sure if i want to.

When I was in college my roomate and i would put on Billy Madison every night as we went to bed. I think the sentimental value has caused me to place it number one. What is your favorite?

My First Review On Relevant

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/article.php?sid=6118

Hey guys, check it out. I wrote a review of The Decemberists new album Picaresque and made it on the site. Not sure if that's an accomplishment or not but it's fun nonetheless.

Illinois' Demise

Illinois' season didn't end quite as i expected. Here are the things I think went wrong:

1. They needed to double team May from the beginning. He was unstoppable. 10 for 11 field goals. You can't win with their star beating you.

2. They did not penetrate at all when North Carolina switched to the zone defense. They didn't pass to the middle to break down the zone. The just passed it around on the outside and someone threw up a three.

3. They shot a NCAA record of 40 three pointers and did not shoot a high percentage.

4. Augustine fouled out with 9 minutes left. That was the cause of #3.

5. Bruce Weber got outcoached. He didn't change anything. Defense stayed the same (no double team or full court pressure) Offense did not change their strategy, they just kept chucking up threes. He got smoked by Roy Williams in the coaching department.

Overall, it was a pretty disappointing game. To get that far and then play awful was horrible. I can't believe they didn't lose by more than 5 playing that poorly. I guess that just shows how good they really are. They can have a terrible game and still almost pull it off.

Learn to walk tourist

Last night I was walking home from Union Square when these two girls who were walking beside me decided to start veering to the left instead of walking in a straight line which usually is not good in a crowd of people. Incidentily she walked into me, which happens, and i just kept walking and got ahead of them and then I hear her say, "excuse you" in a real snotty voice. I think most people say something like that thinking no one will call them on it so I decided to shake things up a little. I turned around and looked at her right in the face and said, "excuse me, what did you just say?" and just waited. At this point you could see the fear in her face that someone actually held her accountable for what she said and i continued, "because what I thought just happened is that you walked directly into me, would that be right?" They still didn't say anything but you could tell they were just trying to get out of there. I've never seen a face as red as hers. It was funny. I know, some people will probably comment something like, "well that wasn't very nice Dustin, you should be more compassionate." And for all those people I guess i would just say, "shut up, it was funny" so go ahead and save your comments.

Another thing I was thinking is that The Bravery and The Killers could not sound more alike. Who is copying who here? I'm confused.

Started reading The Pilgrims Progress last night for fun. I tried before once and thought it was difficult to read but tried again giving some effort into appreciating it for what it is and the time in which it was written and it is actually a very cool book. I'm enjoying it a lot and getting some stuff out of it.

The only other thing on my mind is the Illinois/UNC game tonight. Wow, could there be a better match up? Clearly the two best teams in the country. They match up so well with each other. Should be an incredible game although i would love to see Illinois dominate UNC just to shut Dick Vitale up about the ACC being the best conference in the history of the universe. The Big Ten had 2 teams in the final four. ACC? 1. The Big Ten had 3 teams in the Elite Eight. ACC? 1. Shut up Dicky V. Man, i'm angry today!

The Album Leaf Live

Last night my friend Jeff and I headed over to Brooklyn to catch the Album Leaf play. North Six is a great venue to see a show and surprisingly is closer to me than Bowery Ballroom. I think i'll see more shows there. Anyway, the opening band was supposed to start at 9pm but did not start until late, set up was very slow and after all was said and done the Album Leaf didn't go on until 12:15am. So I was kind of tired of standing around at this point.

The Album Leaf setting up was entertainment as well. They had more electronic equipment than I have ever seen before. They started out playing the first four songs right off of In A Safe Place, which i loved. They also had a huge backdrop with an image show that corresponded directly to the music which was cool as well. I really enjoy their music and the complexity of the sounds they use but near the end I have to admit that it got a bit monotonous. I was tired of standing and tired of loops and apparently so were many other people because only a few stuck around for the encore. Overall however I enjoyed the music and would give the show a B-. Nothing spectacular but entertaining and worth my 10 dollars.