Coming Soon...

Pepe has been through most of it's rounds of edits and rewrites, and I'm glad to say, is still very much the story I originally envisioned. The publisher has still to proof it one more time, and then format it to be ready for release.

In the mean time, I thought I'd spruce up this page a bit, as it will soon begin to double as an author's home page.

The Case for Protestantism

I've posted comments on this blog sometime ago, casting the Catholic Church in a facourable light, in particular, quoting Alan Creech on his return to the Roman fold. It's evident that the Holy Spirit does lead some to join the mother church, in spite of some factors that Catholics such as Alan Creech willingly share which tend to be on the negative side.

I have my own reasons for not joining. First, I haven't felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to become a Roman Catholic, nor an Eastern Orthodox. Despite many of my pro-Jewish, pro-rabbinical views, I have also not felt the leading to convert to Judeaism (even as a Messianic Jew). I apply Paul's advice to remain as one is, to both issues. I'm a "goy" from my mother's womb, and I remain a non-protesting Protestant.

Some of my reasons for not joining the Catholic Church are probably the same reasons I wouldn't join the Anglecan or the Reformed churches -- nor even Baptist. For one thing, I'm not a follower of Augustine (a fine saint, a shining testamony of faith, but I don't follow him in all of his theology which has formed a basis for both Roman Catholic and Reformed doctrine). Also, my perception of what is a minister, rather inhibits me from joining a group that has such a long tradition of elevating the clergy above the laity.

I also find that some of my reasons for not being a Catholic are the same as Scot McKnight's. Here is a very well written essay as to why he isn't Roman Catholic, nor Eastern Orthodox. It's a very good testimonial on behalf of Protestantism, without being anti-Catholic (I hope it's understood that one can be critical without being 'anti-')

Anyway, here it is...

Does Grace Cancel Holiness?

Rabbi Derek Leman has a good post, actually a repost from last year's Yom Kippor.

He opens with this:

I was reading the blog of a well-respected Christian intellectual who holds a high-visibility post in Christian media. He espoused an idea I hear sometimes which troubles me greatly: that grace means we should be realistic and not expect too much holiness in Christendom as a whole. That is, we should not be surprised when we hear surveys showing that Christians are no different than non-Christians in areas like marriage, sexual sin, and so on.

I hadn't actually heard anyone in Church leadership come out and say that, but that seems to be the trend of the Western church of the 20th century. Rabbi Derek's post is deffinately worth a read.

I could only add, people mistake grace for mercy. Mercy is what's been holding back G-d's hand of judgment on the Western Church for not taking advantage of grace. Grace is there to enable us to become holy. Proper use of mercy is to seek forgiveness when we fail.

RobbyMac on Apologies

RobbyMac has put out a creative piece entitled Apology at OK Corral. He deals with the fact that:

"...so many people apologize, and immediately say 'forgive me'. And, maybe this will sound a little weird, but sometimes it feels like they ask for forgiveness as a way of not really dealing with the damage they've caused."

He calls this "'Apology At Gunpoint'; where if you don't 'forgive and forget' immediately, you become the problem."

He's not down on apologies -- just the fake ones that we all tend to do just a little more often than we should.

The Future of Ebooks

Articles like this make me feel good about the fact that my novel is being published by an electronic media publisher. It's a rebuttal by Alexander Wolfe to a statement by Ray Bradbury that ebooks will never take off.

I found it via Website At the End of the Universe in which Capt. Zerox has more things to say on the subject:

I think both ebooks and paper books both have a future. Neither media is going to replace the other, just like movies weren't replaced by television, but I can foresee a time that people read the news or the latest bestseller on some low-cost, portable electronic reader that mimics analog books.

An earlier post of his even says, Publishers wonder whether ebooks have reached critical mass.

However, at this point, we're still making plans that fit strictly with our current income from teaching school, plus faith in the Most High. I've been burned too often by pinning my hopes on something that hasn't actually materialised yet.

to the least of these

Alan Chreech has been putting two and two together and getting something we all need to be paying attention to. There's the saying 0f Yeshua, "whoever does it to the least of these has done it to me", which we all know, but if you look at it in the light of another one, "Love one another as I have loved you...", it goes abit deeper. Here's what he says:

... What if God actually wanted us to love people for who they really were? I'm serious about this now. I believe God wants us to purely love the nasty, torn up people that we are looking at AS nasty, torn up people, not just as a mask for Jesus. ...

... better if you read the whole post...

Novella -- The Wrong Time

I've had an idea for this novel for quite a long time. I finally got around to writing it, and it turned out to be more of a novella -- too short for a novel, but too long for a short story.

It's in the Science Fiction genre, an exploration of the "Many Worlds" interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. That means it's about parallel universes.

It's hard to find a publisher for novellas, so I'll just post it on the site as a free douwnload -- yet another incentive to visit the author's page once my novel, Pepe, hits the market.

So, here it is .... The Wrong Time