Prosperity Gospel is no Gospel at all...

At church this morning we were surveying 1st and 2nd Corinthians, and in finishing up 2 Corinthians, Pastor Larry emphasized that Paul's perspective of the marks of a successful ministry were not those which are popular today (like those of a particular, popular preacher we'll just call Pastor O). And then he concluded his message with this video as a rebuttal of the prosperity gospel by another leading pastor of our day.

Embedded Video

Blogged with the Flock Browser

New browsers

Well, I wrote a few days ago about Flock, a firefox-based browser focused on networking. You can download it here. I am really enjoying it, but it is quite a memory hog. I think it has to do with how much it is keeping track of. But it is nice to be able to open the browser and just check in on what everyone is up to. And I love it's blogging tool (did this post through it!). Check it out and play with it!

And I'm not too sure how many of you out there are aware of this, but Google just released it's own browser. What?! you ask.... Yeah. Unfortunately, it's only a Beta version which only works on XP and Vista. But Mac and Linux ones are supposedly coming soon. I've started playing around with it. It is blazing fast! But it has a some bugs on a few websites. On the other hand, it is the fastest browser I've seen with gmail, and it has Gears built in, so you can take many of the google services that are offered offline (through Gears) offline. Very cool. It's called Chrome. If you're using windows, it's definitely worth a shot.

On an interesting note, Google released word of this browser to programmers and others worldwide by emailing them a comic strip. Though a little deep, it really explains all about the browser.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

My newest blogging adventure.

I'm not sure how many of you know this, but I keep a blog which I randomly post to in which I explore different "deeper" thoughts which come to me either through school, church, or life in general. I've recently started a series exploring theodicy, which is an attempt to reconcile the reality of evil with the existence of a (good) God. I would love comments and responses to help me know anything specific to address as I explore this issue.  Here are links to the first and second post!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Flock is pretty darn cool!

okay, I downloaded/installed the Flock browser today. Pretty darn cool, I must admit. It's built off Mozilla Firefox and focused (it seems) more on networking. So far, pretty cool. I wrote this up in it's blog posting function....we'll see how well it works!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

the beginning trials of a new dad, 2nd time over

yeah, so I'm pretty pumped about having had my second son yesterday. Awesome stuff. My wife went "all natural", which translates into no drugs and lots of pain for her. Me? The worst I got was on the last two pushes when she snagged my hand just right to squeeze my wedding ring between my middle finger and pinky. My ring finger was fine, but I was praying super hard that Benjamin came soon, because I was sure my ring was cutting through my fingers all the way to the bone. And she was gripping my hand so tightly (and rightly so, might I add - she was pushing at the time!) that I couldn't work my other hand in to take its place. Well, Benjamin was born and I quickly (almost) forgot about the pain in my hand.

In the afternoon my parents brough Keaton (my firstborn) over to see his momma and his new little brother. Of course, as soon as he saw Benjamin, he pointed and said, "Kitty." Then he proceeded to find everything in the hospital room that he wasn't supposed to play with and try to get at it. That's my boy!!!

My brilliant plan was to let him see mommy (more importantly, for mommy to see him!), and then take him home, grab dinner on the way, play with him a bit at home, and then get him to bed so he didn't have someone he wasn't used to putting him down. Lucky for Terra and I, Benjamin was born on the move-in weekend for the UNC campus, where the UNC hospital is. It took me a good half-hour to get off campus, and then the two primary interstates upon which I have to drive home were back up because of traffic (I was trying to go home at 5pm - again, brilliant plan!) and a couple of little wrecks. All in all, a drive which could take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour took almost two hours. Keaton was going nuts by the time we got home. I did (rather wisely, I might humbly add) stop and grab dinner as soon as I could, so he spent most of the trip munching on chicken nuggets and fries.

In the end, he stayed up an hour later. But I will admit, if these are the depth of my trials as a new dad (which I very much doubt), I am perfectly happy to endure. God has blessed us with two healthy, energetic young sons, and I am so privileged to be their father.

I'm a dad!!! Again!!!

yep, that's right. Benjamin Cai Jones was born this morning at 3:25 am, weighing in at 8 lbs, 5 oz, and measuring at 21.25" long. I told my wife I would let her post the first pics...so be checking our family blog (Jones Journey - in the column on the right).

And don't sweat, I'll post some more pics as well!!!

Greasemonkey fun...

Yeah, I know Pendergrass sent out an email about this about a year ago...but I'm just now getting into these little scripts. I thought I'd share what I'm trying out, so others can know what's available, and so I'll have a record somewhere of what I did try and what did or didn't work. These are little scripts you can install (after installing the Greasemonkey add-on to Firefox) and which can add extra stuff to specific websites or how your browser works in general.

After trying some stuff, I got an error message in gmail which pointed me to this collection of scripts bundled together as an add-on. It's called Better Gmail 2. So far, this seems to be a pretty decent addition to my gmail experience. I'll let ya know of any problems I have!

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okay, after trying Better Gmail 2 - I love it! To adjust what is enabled, go to where you manage your firefox add-ons and go to Better Gmail 2 preferences. Under the skins tab, you have to try out the "Gmail Redesigned". I think it looks completely awesome!

And I also have added a regular greasemonkey script for adding RSS feeds directly to google reader from your browser, and I found it in this list - but note that all the gmail scripts in this list are old, and Better Gmail 2 does them all and more!

A review of Job

That would be a book called Job - not the one from the Bible. It is a fiction book written by an excellent writer named Robert A. Heinlein. But don't hold your breath for biblical revelations or anything...here's my wee little review:
Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Heinlein's take on the biblical story of Job is a little less biblically based and a lot more fantastically oriented. That said, it is quite an interesting story, with a double share of twists and turns, and throughout it all you're rather unsure exactly where Heinlein is going.

The more religious minded might be rather offended at Heinlein's theological inversion of good and bad. I think this would be a tragedy, because the wide range of religions interwoven here it seems quite obvious this is not his version of the way things might be, but just a very creative exploration of "what if...?" What if you were just an unlucky pawn in a game between two really powerful players? What if they turned out to not be the most powerful? What if they were themselves not to high on the cosmic food chain? Where would that put you?

Heinlein has never been lacking the creativity department, and in places I think he pretty much let it run wild in this book. All said, the theology is blatantly non-scriptural, and in places, anti-christian. It is quite an interesting read, just don't pick it up with the wrong expectations of what you're getting into.

View all my reviews.

Dark Knight Philosophy

After seeing "Dark Knight" - the latest of Nolan's retake of the Batman franchise - this weekend, I couldn't help but mull over some of the more philosophical issues raised. First off, it must be understood that Batman (and his enemies) are not real, and despite how much fun it is to enjoy the speculation of what he would really play out to be in real life (as Nolan has done in both Batman Begins and Dark Knight), the philosophical issues and solutions raised are only viable and relevant if, and only if, they are transferable to our non-superhero world.

That said, the first relevant point raised and dealt with in the movie is that of how far must one go to bring down the "bad guys"? In Dark Knight the issue was how far would Batman go? Would he go so far as to kill? For us, in America, the bad guys most people think of are terrorists. How far can we go? Should the line be anything short of death? or is there a different line, marking a place worse than killing which we do not want to cross? How does one know when one has become worse than one's enemies?

This is, in my mind, a very needful debate. It is an issue which should be raised continually and habitually addressed over and over again. It is not one which can be answered once and never need be addressed again.

The second philosophical point is one upon which the movie closes. The concept that sometimes lies are better for people than truth. This is a very dangerous idea - one which our politicians would most likely love for us to embrace. In a dictatorship this concept might play out more readily - the people have no say and therefore their "need to know" is greatly reduced. But in a democracy and even a republic, there is a foundational understanding that people will have at least a cursory understanding of the truth and be able to (from their understanding) derive a moral and well-conceptualized decision on what must be done. If the people are never told the truth, then how can their decisions be any good?

No, the real danger here is the concept that the truth can hurt people or destroy a "righteous" movement (as Harvey Dent represented in the movie). The reality is, though, that learning the truth is the process of cleaning out the wound. Yes, sometimes it can hurt, sometimes seemingly almost more than the initial wound, but it is a cleaning which must happen or rot will set in and even more will be damaged. And if a social or judicial movement cannot survive the fall of one of it's proponents, does it truly have any real moral foundation? or rather, if it was so weak as to fall with the destruction of said proponent's reputation, then would it really have persisted and amounted to anything even without that demise?

In the end, I find truth to be one of those lines which should never be crossed. If something is being done which no one should know about, maybe it shouldn't be done in the first place.

Readin' to my son

Here's a video my wife promised everyone (heh heh, I got it up first!!!) of me (attempting a) reading of a pretty clever little book.

Three Years - wow!

Well, if no one out there knows...you do now! Terra and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary this week. We're in a zany place in our life right now, with a one year old, another on the way in a couple of months, and trying as hard as we can to move out. That's just a weird place to be, in fact, I think we may have create a whole new level of "limbo" one could be in...

But, that being said, I absolutely love my wonderful, godly wife! Terra has been an awesome support and help in doing this zany adventure of seminary. And I wouldn't do it with anyone else. Here's to all the years and adventures to come!

the weird books I read

okay, I use this neat website, called Goodreads.com, to catalog my books online, and I've started posting the reviews I'm putting on my website on there as well (kind of a backup). Anyways, it had some code you could put in your blog to post the review there...we'll see how that worked here:

A Dark and Hungry God Arises by Stephen R. Donaldson

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
First off, if you haven't read The Real Story and Forbidden Knowledge, don't even pick this book up. You'll spend too much time trying to figure out what's already transpired.



Where this book picks up, the sexually abused and psychologically debilitated Morn Hyland is captive, trying to keep herself and her (also captive) son from being sold/traded to the alien Amnion for genetic experimentation by Nick Succorso, her rescuer and eventual kidnapper. On the other end of the Galaxy, Warden Dios is working his machinations to bring down his boss, Holt Fasner, and part of this involves sending Morn's initial kidnapper and rapist, Angus Thermopyle.



Have no idea what that is about? Read the first two books in the series. The series itself is dark, violent, graphically descriptive, and thoroughly nihilistic. Ironically Morn, the "heroine" of sorts throughout the series, continues to strive for some level of honor and morality amidst the depravity and betrayal resounding around her.



As far as writing, movement, style, etc., Donaldson has done an incredible job, not only with this book, but with the entire series. It is a "page turner" in the classic sense, always moving, with the conflicts continuing to evolve, twist, and even fold back upon themselves. But it seems to be written from a very dark perspective of human nature.



The only reason I hesitate to recommend it is because of the very intense, graphic and (ultimately) nihilistic nature of the book (and series). This specific portion of the series has finally stepped away from the sexually depraved nature of the first two, but the dark and twisted morality and motivations still remain.


View all my reviews.

just a baby-carrying money dispenser

well, I found out the best use of a husband for yard-sale-ing today - that of a baby-carrying money dispenser. We decided to check out a neighborhood yard sale, and so we spent a decent amount of time walking around. First we started off with Terra pushing Keaton around. Eventually, we realized the neighborhood was too big and the participating homes too far apart to hit 'em all that way, so we did "drive-bys" of 'em, stopping and getting out in places where we could hit a couple of decent yard sales at once.

Well, when we did that, I started carrying Keaton around...and playing money dispenser. Yep. Daddyo didn't find much of anything for himself, but momma bear hit pay dirt with some little books, several toy-container-hanger-thingys, and a book on babies sleeping well. All said and done, Terra found some awesome deals. I just handed out the money.

Which, mind you, made me feel rich and important - though with our total dollar barely more than halfway to the double digits, my feelings of personal wealth didn't balloon too dramatically.

I'll never be a good yardsaler - but my wife, on the other hand, is quite a professional. She had fun and that was really the whole point of us going. I just got to hang with my son and throw around money.

Giving the baby a cold one

"Do you want a cold one?" my wife asked my son. I quickly looked at her from the Budweiser commercial on the TV.

Of course she was talking about a teething ring, not beer. Context is everything...

another price of fatherhood

yeah, so we're trying to let our son cry it out these days. If he starts crying in the middle of the night, we let him work it out on his own. Unless its late enough for him to get up...

so here's how it goes, Yesterday (actually, the night before yesterday...if that makes sense...not last night, but the night before) He slept pretty well, waking up and wimpering a small amount, but right back to sleep for him. Then, at 5:30am he starts making some noise. I have to get up at 6, so I figure he'll amuse himself for a bit and then want to get out by 6. So I just lay in bed.

All of a sudden my wife was like, "Zach, it's 6:30..." (there should be an exclamation point there, but we were both so out of it). Yeah, I probably could have dozed/slept until at least 7am yesterday.

Today, he's wide awake at 5:40. On my day off.

Just another small price of fatherhood.

Finding the why

Here's the issue, folks. What is this blog? I originally adopted it so that I could put updates of our family online, so friends could keep up with what we were up to. But my wife has started doing one, and she's doing an excellent job. So if you want to know what our family has been up to, check out The Jones Journey. She does an excellent job.

And sometimes I have some deeper thoughts, but I actually started a blog for that, Thoughts to Chew On. So my deeper thoughts I post there (note that I said "deeper", I have no idea how deep they actually are...but they're deeper than my average thoughts...).

I also play around on my website, but I have a blog for all those updates - so whoever out there who actually cares when I post new reviews of books and other random stuff on there can just add my website blog to their RSS reader and just be notified whenever I find the time to add stuff to it.

Then there's Linux, which I enjoy playing around with - but that's not my life by any stretch. I'm just a bit of a nerd. So I started a separate blog for whenever I figure out something worth noting in Linux - not because it'll be any earth-shattering discovery for most people, but it's a great way to keep track of what I've been up to as I explore what's available. Anyways, My Linux Exploits is all for that.

So, this blog - what do I even have it for now? I'm going to be trying to post more regularly on this one, but, as you can see, I have a bad habit of being quite verbose. Don't stress, I am going to work on that.

I've entitled this blog "Life According to Zach", which I found clever when I first started, and I think it's still a pretty apt title. So, hopefully, in the future (more near than far) you will be seeing more posts here. More posts which will be interesting and worth reading.

If you have any suggestions on the sort of stuff I should be blogging about here, let me know. It's not that I'm redefining this blog (or myself), maybe more like refocusing and streamlining.

Here's to finding the why!

I thought I was current...

okay, so I thought I was up-to-date with all the techy trends started with kids. my wife and I are avid texters ourselves, so I figured I was familiar with most of the lingo associated with that.

not so - check out this latest trend!

no superbowl party for this church

yeah, I couldn't believe it either, but a church was banned from having a Superbowl party by the NFL. Don't believe me? check it out here.

waiting for snow

well, keaton is taking a nap at the moment and Terra and I are waiting for the snow so we can see what he thinks of it.

In the meantime, I thought I'd mention xkcd. What in the world is that? Well it's an online comic I've really been enjoying lately. It's a little random, but I enjoy his sense of humor.

Interesting book website

my best friend brian invited me to join an interesting website for book lovers: Goodreads.com. I put in a few of the books I've read and even updated what I'm reading and what I've got next on my list to read. Check me out - and join if you want to here.