Just letting you know that some of the layout on the right side was adjusted and some of the color scheme was modified slightly.
Oh, and I dumped almost the whole thing but was able to recreate the last months posts from the archive files.
Note to self: Backup, backup, backup.
Speaking of which, I think I'm gonna get this entry posted and go backup the blog entries. Inspirational point from this bit of life?
When I first was a Christian after leaving the LDS faith as a teen, I learned a lot about the current methods at the time to evangelize Mormons, thinking that I was the perfect candidate to witness to those I used to agree with. As time went on, I figured that I had put myself in a pretty good spot. According to those I spoke with from the LDS church, while I thought I would've been cast into their version of Hell (Outer Darkness), they assured me that I would most likely be relegated to one of the lower kingdoms. [Note: Joseph Smith was claimed to have said that if we knew what awaited us in the lowest kingdom, we would kill ourselves just to get there.]
Meanwhile, as a Christian, I had learned that anything but the "truth" automatically condemned you to Hell. Now, I understand that certain denominations are less fundamentalistic about this than others, so, if I was in one of the strictest sects, I thought I had myself sitting pretty. If I died and the Mormons were right, yeah, sure, I wouldn't get to be a god and have my own world, but I could still enjoy eternity in the third kingdom. After all, how bad can beating yourself up for eternity be if the place was so awesome you'd commit hari kari just to get there?
And if I died as a Christian, I felt certain that I had met the requirements to assure my salvation in some of the more strict interpretations of what that meant, even "salvation by faith through grace". Yep, my backup plan was looking pretty sweet until a few years ago when the whole thing started looking kind of hokie. I mean, one thing was said and read all the time, meanwhile a whole other set of standards seemed to be applied as the REAL status quo.
What do you do when the primary plan goes to shit? All of a sudden that backup plan didn't look too realistic, especially since that experience of the LDS faith was now mirrored by my experience in this new faith.
Well, when the dust settled I found that I no longer needed a plan of action. With the grace of God, there is no need to put into motion a plan, nor to have a backup option in case the first one fails. God had his plan, he put it in action, he made sure that it was accomplished. It is done.
Previous Comments:
Oh, and I dumped almost the whole thing but was able to recreate the last months posts from the archive files.
Note to self: Backup, backup, backup.
Speaking of which, I think I'm gonna get this entry posted and go backup the blog entries. Inspirational point from this bit of life?
When I first was a Christian after leaving the LDS faith as a teen, I learned a lot about the current methods at the time to evangelize Mormons, thinking that I was the perfect candidate to witness to those I used to agree with. As time went on, I figured that I had put myself in a pretty good spot. According to those I spoke with from the LDS church, while I thought I would've been cast into their version of Hell (Outer Darkness), they assured me that I would most likely be relegated to one of the lower kingdoms. [Note: Joseph Smith was claimed to have said that if we knew what awaited us in the lowest kingdom, we would kill ourselves just to get there.]
Meanwhile, as a Christian, I had learned that anything but the "truth" automatically condemned you to Hell. Now, I understand that certain denominations are less fundamentalistic about this than others, so, if I was in one of the strictest sects, I thought I had myself sitting pretty. If I died and the Mormons were right, yeah, sure, I wouldn't get to be a god and have my own world, but I could still enjoy eternity in the third kingdom. After all, how bad can beating yourself up for eternity be if the place was so awesome you'd commit hari kari just to get there?
And if I died as a Christian, I felt certain that I had met the requirements to assure my salvation in some of the more strict interpretations of what that meant, even "salvation by faith through grace". Yep, my backup plan was looking pretty sweet until a few years ago when the whole thing started looking kind of hokie. I mean, one thing was said and read all the time, meanwhile a whole other set of standards seemed to be applied as the REAL status quo.
What do you do when the primary plan goes to shit? All of a sudden that backup plan didn't look too realistic, especially since that experience of the LDS faith was now mirrored by my experience in this new faith.
Well, when the dust settled I found that I no longer needed a plan of action. With the grace of God, there is no need to put into motion a plan, nor to have a backup option in case the first one fails. God had his plan, he put it in action, he made sure that it was accomplished. It is done.
Previous Comments:
Like the way the site looks. I gave up on going to the hosting it on a server where I'd download the Moveable Type (even though you graciously offered to help). I decided to go with Typepad - the site developed by the MT people. I'm pretty much pleased by what they have to offer and they plan on expanding their services. Not in expensive though. Give it a view when you have the time.
Posted by lillium on September 3, 2003 at 10:25:18 AM
Lillium,
Thanks for dropping by again! Yeah, I have another friend that went with TypePad as well (I have a link to his blog on the front page). It definitely is a lot less hassle than messing with the software yourself on your own server.
Posted by HarryTick on September 3, 2003 at 2:04:07 PM
Hey Billy ... guess what I just did this morning? I downloaded FeedDemon (RSS aggregator) and now have you in my Blog channels. It's pretty cool. I'll probably be setting up my own RSS feed sooner or later.
Jim
Posted by the shovel on September 3, 2003 at 12:55:01 PM
William,
Did your mother teach you to use that kind of language?
Your brother thinks heaven is here on earth (by his own making) and to an extent, that is true if we tweek the word for our own purposes from the biblical definition. I mean, we can, by the way we think, act, SPEAK, treat others, create a pseudoheaven of sorts, create our own reality or illusion of reality as we want to see it, ignoring wordly influences (good luck). Unfortunately, we don't have complete control of those other influences and they can pop up unexpectedly at any time, as troubling and catestrophic as 911 or as inconsequential as reading a single word in your son's (who is "not a Christian anymore") blog. I suppose everyone's definition of their own heaven would be different. Mine would not have those words in it; I would guess God's would not either. I could be wrong.
That being said, keep up the good work. I love you.
Mom
Posted by Mom on September 3, 2003 at 3:57:12 PM
"Did your mother teach you to use that kind of language?"<
Are you really sure you want me to answer that? :) Rest assured, I'll be sure not to use it in conversation with you.
Love,
Bill
Posted by HarryTick on September 6, 2003 at 4:18:14 PM
Hi Bill,
Just curious as to what this is....RSS aggregator
Richard
Posted by Richard on September 12, 2003 at 5:03:30 AM
Richard,
FeedDemon is like an email client or news reader that looks up webpages that display links to recent articles. For instance, Walking the Dogma has an rss feed at the following address: http://www.thelincolns.org/harrytick/index.rdf
It doesn't look like much but a bunch of gobbledy-gook to the untrained eye, but if you look at http://www.thelincolns.org
Posted by HarryTick on September 12, 2003 at 7:39:34 PM
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