This blog is one of my "creative energy" outlets, existing mostly so my head doesn't explode with thoughts about politics, religion, The Media, and so on. Thus far, it has served its purpose well. One other such outlet for me over the past couple of years has been web page design. I know, I know. That's a little geeky. But, I'm OK with that.

I have always enjoyed tinkering with things. Every since I was little one of my favorite activities would be to find something mechanical, take it apart to see how it worked, and then try and put it back together without any pieces left over. Web design, at least on my level of expertise, is a lot like that. I understand the basics, but I am always learning new things each time I piece a website together. When I am done with a site, I have usually learned a few new tricks and I come away with a better understanding of how Al Gore's internet really works.

Since I lost my job and moved from St. Louis to Lincoln, Wittmania Productions has effectively gone out of business, at least for awhile, meaning that I have had very few web design energy outlets. So, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to design the website for my upcoming class reunion. I used CSS based rollovers on the nav bar, and learned how to launch a javascript "ticker" that pulls its messages from an external text file, making it very easy to update. I also implemented a favorites icon that displays in most browsers, including the Windows IE7 beta.

In case you were wondering, I am a proud member of the Lincoln Northeast High School Class of '97. Go Rockets!

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a pastor and one of his staff members who had an affair together and were subsequently run out of the church. Basically, I feel that the way our modern American church deals with sin is shamefully unbiblical. We are inconsistent, hypocritical, and our pastors have been rendered impotent by the current distaste for biblical "church discipline."

So my position was/is that Christians are really great at shooting their wounded, which results in damage to the bride of Christ, in both an individual and corporate sense.

Now let me throw something else into the equation. It has come to my attention that the pastor in question is completely unrepentant. He is showing no remorse, other than wishing he hadn't been caught. The affair lasted more than seven months. He has been confronted by the elders of his church, and his highest priority has been "damage control," not repentance and restoration.

The question I've been chewing on for the past week is this: At what point does the Church (big "C") shift from caring for its wounded to driving out wolves in sheep's clothing? I still don't really have an answer, so I guess this is the part of our show where we ask the audience. What do you think? Where is the line between restoring a brother and throwing out a wolf?

I'll be anxious to see if anyone can help me with this one.

Nary an Original Thought has reached a milestone:

As of today, this blog has been visited 1,001 times. That's about 4 visits per day, on average, since I started back on November 29th, 2005. Kind of scary when you think about it. I hope nobody's been hurt (see disclaimer at top of page).

Headline: Bank Data Sifted in Secret by U.S. to Block Terror

Happy Independence Day from the NY Times! I hope they enjoy that freedom of the press thing that American soldiers continue to protect while they sit in their safe little cubicles publishing articles that make the war on terror more difficult for the U.S.

If only they could harness their investigative reporting energy for good instead of evil. Since they're so into discovering secrets, I say we ship a team of them over to the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan to find Osama bin Laden. They keep saying that he should be our focus, not Iraq. If they redirected their efforts toward helping the U.S. instead of hating this country and our president, I guaran-damn-tee that they could find Osama in two weeks or less.

The Colorado House of Representatives was preparing to vote on a resolution celebrating the 90th anniversary of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. Rep. Ted Harvey tells the story of what happened next:

As a strong pro-life legislator I was disgusted by the idea that we would pass a resolution honoring this 90 year legacy of genocide. I drove home that night wondering what I could say that might pierce the darkness during the debate on this heinous resolution.

God answered that prayer by sending Gianna Jessen to sing the National Anthem. Gianna had survived an "unsuccessful" saline abortion and weighed just two pounds at birth. She was also born with cerebral palsy, a complication of nearly burning to death in a bath of highly concentrated saline.

Read the rest of the story here. You'll be glad you did.

HT: The Presbyteer

Consider this story:

Two U.S. marines are on patrol in Baghdad, which is under U.S. control. Saddam Hussein and his armies were defeated years ago, but a dangerous insurgency continues. It is essentially impossible for the U.S. military to be defeated, but the insurgents continue to wage their war, unaware that they have already been conquered.

As the marines conduct their patrol, a well-placed roadside bomb explodes, ripping their armored vehicle apart. Both of the soldiers are critically wounded as they are thrown from the vehicle. The insurgents laugh and cheer as they rush back into the shadows, congratulating themselves on another victory against the occupying forces.

Upon hearing the explosion, four marines rush to the scene. As their wounded friends lay there bleeding to death, one of them remarks, ?You know, I always had a feeling that these two weren?t very good marines.? A second adds, ?Yeah, I know I?m not the best warrior in my division, but at least I?m not as bad as them.? Finally, a third says, ?It makes you wonder if they really were marines, or if they just had us all fooled this whole time.? The fourth empties his sidearm into the soldiers? dying bodies and they head back to their camp.

Despicable, right? Who could even imagine such an atrocity?

Now, change the story a little bit. Instead of ?two U.S. marines,? insert the head pastor and the children?s ministry director of a church. Instead of ?Saddam,? insert Satan. Instead of ?roadside bomb,? insert adultery. Instead of ?four marines? insert four Christians. Continue reading this post »