shoot the non-believers!!

Any of you who watched Charlie the Unicorn (below) will remember the line "SHUN THE NON-BELIEVER! SSSSSHHHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNN-UH"

Well a new video game marketed under the "Left Behind" series moniker goes one better. "Shoot the non-believer".

This misguided offering (rated "T" for Teen) teaches some really great things. Here's just a few.

• Non-Christians and Christians who do not convert to your particular form of Christianity are deceived by the Devil. Kill them.
• Those “seeking peace for all mankind” are with the forces of the Antichrist and should be killed - READ SOURCE
  
• "Activists” are “wolves in sheep’s clothing,” warning teens to particularly beware of them (Source: LBET Game Manual, p. 45)
• Most musicians are “singing the praises of the antichrist” and that “rock stars” and “pop stars” make “formidable spiritual opponents” (Source: LBET Game Manual, p. 44)
• Humanitarian aid workers who are not Christian, including medics, nurses, and doctors, have “had the veil of the antichrist’s deceit pulled over their eyes” and are therefore part of the enemy forces who may be killed (Source: LBET Game Manual, p. 41)
  

So much for "blessed are the peacemakers". I'm pretty sure that was a translation error anyway. I think what Jesus really said there was "LOCK-N-LOAD, BABY!"

If this disturbs you as much as it does me, consider signing a petition to request that Left Behind Games pulls this warped game from the market. But please - don't under any circumstances spam everyone you know with a request for them to sign it.

chalk art

This incredible work of art is drawn by hand in chalk on a sidewalk! I guess I'm late to the party - everyone seems to have seen this stuff but me. It's simply breathtaking.

See more here...

national buy nothing day

Is anyone else tired of being one of the cattle for our market economy? Then join in the National Buy Nothing day on Nov 25th.

That's right - choose to buy nothing on the biggest day of the year. The goal is to address "unbridaled consumption" that we Amercians are so skilled at. Here's a taste from their website:

Every November 25, for 24 hours, we remember that no one was born to shop, we make a small choice to participate by not participating. We call it Buy Nothing Day, and judging by the huge successes seen all across the globe last year – with thousands of activists and fed-up citizens taking part in dozens of countries – this year’s festival of restraint could be the biggest yet.

Visit them here

charlie the unicorn goes to candy mountain

A post as serious as last night's can only be balanced by a video this stupid...

faith and the cosmic significance of kung fu salad bars

OK - let me start by saying I'm in a bizarre mood. Sort of surreal reflection - like if Dada met Bruce Lee for lunch at the local Souper Salad to the soundtrack of Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon...

"you'd better stay away from him! He'll rip your lungs out, Jim! UUH! I'd like to meet his tailor..."

I've been pondering and praying about faith tonight. Faith in God and faith in others. What it is and isn't. I know of the word, but have yet to capture it. I have a bit, but it can be a love/hate relationship.

I know what I WANT faith to be - a hook to hang my hat on...a formula to fix my problems...a promise to calm my fears...a magic wand to make my life turn out like I want it to.

But anyone familiar with faith for more than just a little while soon realized that Faith has a mind of its own. More often than not, the good guy doesn't win. Sometimes the ship never comes in. And always - 100% of the time, we are disappointed by faith. Even God disappoints us - selfish beings that we are. Justified or not, faith always lets us down.
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By its very nature, faith is unKNOWable. If we are able to truly, firmly KNOW something (in the scientific sense - with proof and whatnot), then no faith is required. So faith is believing that -which by definition - cannot be known. It's belief in what we can't see or hear or taste or smell or grasp.

So faith cannot be quantified nor does it have a very good track records sometimes. So to have faith and keep faith requires that we do so IN SPITE OF everything we know. It's not just a belief in what we CAN'T see, but a decision to believe against what we CAN see.

The "Christian faith" is a tricky thing. There are many faiths that believers wrestle with - faith in a Creator that cares about us, faith in an unbelievable story about God becoming man and settling a supernatural debt, faith in an ancient book, faith in the institution of the Church through the ages, faith in the elders that have preserved the faith.

Maybe the best argument for faith is this - what's the alternative? Without faith, everything is meaningless. Why get up tomorrow? Without faith, I mean nothing - just a little piece of matter that happened to get zapped with enough electricity to roll around the cosmos for a micro-infinitesimal blip in eternal nothingness. Without faith, I'm lint in a giant dryer - clinging on to the underwear called earth.

[It's OK to roll your eyes at that last line. Bruce and Dada just did. And hey - it's that Leo Sayer manning the cash register?]

Anyone who understands the scientific method understands that this would never be and acceptable argument for real research. But for philosophy, it's pretty persuasive. I can't get around it. It hits me square in the forehead anytime I'm tempted to throw the towel in. Justified or not, faith always lifts us up.

So what do you think? What is faith to you? What is it not? What's your favorite Warren Zevon song? What is the meaning of the universe? What's the square root of pie? (I think it's crust....mmmmm)

how do you know so much about oops i crapped my pants?

Watch it. Laugh. Pass it on... That is all.