Methodological Madness

Wrote this on an iPad

Kelvin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:41:14 +0000

I wrote this on an iPad using a 3G connection.

Channel 9 revives The Block; property bubble imminent

Kelvin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:31:59 +0000

Channel 9 has recently announced that The Block, the renovation reality television show, will be back for 2010.

Surely this is a sign that we may now be in a property bubble.

Conversations with Mormonism

Kelvin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:32:46 +0000

About half an hour ago I had a fascinating and pleasant conversation with two Mormons, who were apparently visiting someone from their church. I think we had about a 10 minute conversation about our beliefs. A few dot points from things that struck me:

We use the same jargon to mean different things. To them, “grace” means something that Jesus does to enable people to get baptised and live a holy life. To me, “grace” just means undeserved gift.
It is quite clear that they have a gospel++ theology. They emphasised that they are calling on people to believe Jesus, get baptised and live a good life. I explained how thankful and relieved I was that I contributed absolutely nothing to my salvation
There was a big emphasis on water baptism as a prerequisite to salvation. They placed so much emphasis on the word “water” in John 3:5 that they seemed to have completely missed the point that one can’t be “born again” (same verse, elsewhere in John 3) by yourself.
We had a brief conversation about the various English Bible translations. What’s interesting is that they mentioned that they have interlinear Bibles with the literal translations “placed there by the Church”. I haven’t heard a Bible translator place so much authority on his or her translation, as opposed to the authority of the Scriptures in its original language (see paragraph 1 of the AFES Doctrinal Basis)

Sadly, all of us were getting bitten by flying insects that we had to end the conversation early.

Qantas Club Paper Planes Commercial

Kelvin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:23:54 +0000

You may have noticed recent television commercials from Qantas, featuring the paper planes motif.

One that caught my eye is this one, featuring the Qantas Club.

I have been to the Qantas Club a few times, courtesy of my employer. What I am wondering is at what times of the day/week/year, or at which airport(s), is the Qantas Club as serene as the one depicted.

4 pages

Kelvin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:28:35 +0000

Apparently you can distil anything into 4 pages or less.

Comparing mobile phone plans

Kelvin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:08:08 +0000

I’ve been thinking about whether I should get a new phone. Part of this is thinking about whether I should purchase the phone upright and connect to a SIM-only plan, or whether I should join a fixed term contract.

I’ve put together a spreadsheet to help me with this choice. Maybe you’ll find it useful.

Disclaimer: I haven’t checked the spreadsheet carefully, so I can’t guarantee it’s error-free.

Biblical theology in mainstream media

Kelvin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:57:17 +0000

Earlier this week Joe Hockey made a speech to the Sydney Institute titled In Defence of God. In the speech he called for, at the risk of oversimplification, a more liberal theology of God.

Today’s letters page in the Sydney Morning Herald has a section devoted to this topic. It’s good to see that biblical theological views of Scripture are so well represented.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Kelvin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:21:55 +0000

I wonder what sort of commodities you can get from this store? Gold? Iron ore?

SCCCA North-West Evangelism Workshop

Kelvin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:09:35 +0000

At the SCCCA training workshop a few Wednesdays ago, Tom Tokura led a really useful workshop on evangelism.

He has kindly shared a copy of the presentation. Hopefully you will find it as useful as I have.

Ikea Hacks

Kelvin — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:11:15 +0000

Fascinating web site on how to use Ikea furniture to do other things.