imoes's Xanga

Friday, April 28, 2006

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 17:53:50 GMT

On the road again! Leaving Edmonton in 1 hour (hopefully).

Friday, April 28, 2006

Fri, 28 Apr 2006 01:40:39 GMT

They are expected to give birth this weekend. 3.3 million people per day are watching!

Monday, April 24, 2006

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:22:00 GMT

The concert rocked. STABILO was great. They could have played for a bit longer. 45 minutes was a little short. MOBILE (french-canadian band from Montreal) was great too. You should check out both bands.

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 18:52:06 GMT

Ok. Here's the update. Two exams down. Two to go. I'm going to the Stabilo concert tonight and I'm on the guest list thanks to this tallguy. I'll be back in BC in less than a week.Watch out FVCSL. I hear my team needs my mad skills.

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Thu, 20 Apr 2006 03:12:06 GMT

It was rather interesting that the recent (or perhaps not so recent - see below) developments regarding Judas came out just prior to Easter. I may be a little late, but I just came across this and thought you may be interested.

Judas: Hero or Traitor?

A very old manuscript was published recently. It was discovered during the 1970s in Egypt and is known as The gospel of Judas. We have only four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Many more manuscripts have appeared, some of which are called gospels. However, measured with the standard of our gospels they do not deserve that name. For that reason the early Christian church refused to recognize them as gospels. These writings were left to gather dust. This is what also happened to the gospel of Judas.

In his book Against Heresies (around 180 A.D.), Irenaeus called this gospel gibberish. In this gospel, Judas is portrayed not as the betrayer of Jesus, but as the hero among the disciples, for Jesus says to him: “You will surpass all the other disciples. You must sacrifice the earthly body with which I am clothed.”

Mystical language.

This manner of writing is an indication we are dealing with a Gnostic manuscript that uses mystical language. The “earthly body” is Jesus’ exterior. The real Jesus is His soul. This soul has to be freed from His body. Now, who offered the greatest contribution? Judas! He delivered Jesus to be crucified and through that action, Jesus was freed from His “earthly body” enabling Him to go to the realm of light. Here Judas is not the betrayer of Jesus, but His willing assistant helping to affect God’s plan of salvation.

Certainly, this booklet will attract attention from the news media and find a ready market.

Most buyers, however, will find it difficult to read. The esoteric language is hard to understand.

With Irenaeus we can call it gibberish, even though today the use of such language will not make you popular. Nowadays, foolish opinions are popular. Think of the Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. This book is filled with nonsense but has sold 40 million copies. In this book, Jesus has a relationship with Mary Magdalene. This is asserted with an appeal to false gospels. So also today there is a new hype about Jesus’ intimate relationship with Judas who did not betray Him with a kiss but set Him free.

A connection.

An attempt is made to make a connection with the gospels in the Bible. Although these false gospels deviate from our four gospels, heretics and their defenders love to take the opportunity to tell us that we do not read the gospels properly. Look at the Greek word that is used in the New Testament for the betrayal by Judas. Professor Oord, from Nijmegen, tells us that the word Paradidomai does not mean “betray”, but “handed over” or “delivered.” Consequently, Judas is not the betrayer, but the assistant working out God’s plan of redemption. At a later date, however, the church made Judas the money hungry betrayer of Jesus.

Has the church really deceived us? No! When we read the four gospels and Acts, we receive a very negative picture of Judas’ deeds. He betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Satan had taken possession of him (John 13: 2, 27). It was the hour of the power of darkness (Luke 22: 53).

To turn darkness and the work of the devil into a normal, liberating activity requires a lot of acrobatic skills.

The Greek word paradidomai can indeed be used in other situations. Money and goods, talents and words can be “handed over” or “delivered” (Matthew 25: 14). Paul also “delivered” the words for the institution of the Lord’s Supper to the Corinthians. However, the New Testament tells us that Judas delivered Jesus, not as a servant of the Lord, but as a servant of the devil.

The words of Jesus also make it clear when He speaks about the man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed: “It would have been good for that man if he had not been born” (Matthew 26: 24). This was also on the disciples’ mind when they replaced Judas (Acts 1: 25).

God’s plan

It is amazing, however, that the evil design of man is subservient to God’s plan of redemption. In all four gospels, Judas is the betrayer. Nevertheless, all four gospels make it clear that God continues His redeeming work in spite of this evil. The Scriptures must be fulfilled (Mark 14: 49). Jesus knew exactly what was to happen to Him (John 18: 4). We cannot solve the mystery of human betrayal that paved the way to redemption. Darkness and light work together, but we must be careful not to call white black—also in our own lives. In remembering Christ’s death on the cross, we realize that we, with Judas, are guilty of the bitter suffering of Jesus Christ.

Dr. J. Douma

Kampen, the Netherlands

Original in Dutch - Translation by Leo van Huizen

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 01:56:58 GMT

If you've been on the Fort-to-Fort trail in Fort Langley lately, you will have noticed a fair amount of construction going on. Jordan Bateman, a councillor for Langley Township, gives the following details at www.langleypolitics.com:

We [Langley Township Council] had eighteen submissions on the public hearing, with a lot of concern expressed about site elevation and the berm near the railway. Parklane assured Council that the site will be the same height as the Mavis-Glover intersection (seven metres), meaning the houses will be of similar elevation to Wendel’s. The berm will rely on plantings to help buffer noise, and will not include a cement wall on top.

Homes will range in cost from $300,000 for a rowhouse to almost a million for some of the single family homes. They already have a list of 2,000 names wanting into the 280-home development. The easternmost portion of the site will be used for commercial and seniors purposes, and Parklane expects to apply for a development permit for that part later this year.

The plan includes an incredible new waterfront, complete with a plaza and revitalized Fort to Fort Trail. It will be a spectacular walk.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

Sat, 08 Apr 2006 17:58:01 GMT

Sailing anyone?

I read a depressing article yesterday about the cost of restoring/maintaining a wooden hull sailboat. The dream lives still though. I'll just have to wait a little longer (ok, a lot longer).

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 03:44:38 GMT

UPDATE:

Ok, I drove to the store and purchase the CD for $16 and I get home and it doesn't import into my iTunes because of the Copy Control. This is the third CD that I've purchased that has done this. While I respect an artist's right to protect and be properly compensated for their creativity, I think once I purchase their creativity, I should be able to play it on the platform I want. Right now, I need to listen to each of these three CD's by themselves (the Stabilo CD has its own built in media player). On top of this, if I owned an iPod (and my birthday is just over a month away, hint, hint), I would not be able to import the songs onto my iPod either. This is annoying to say the least.

Other than that, the disk is great. You should still buy it, but maybe you should buy it from iTunes if you use iTunes or an iPod to play your songs.

You can check out Stabilo's new website at http://www.stabilomusic.com/

They're playing in Edmonton on April 22. I will be going.

It comes out tomorrow (or today - depending on when you read this)!!!

Click here to listen to a few tracks of Stabilo's new album Happiness & Disaster and then go to your local music store to pick up your own copy.

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 22:04:26 GMT

I just got back from the Can. Ref. hockey tournament in Barrhead. This tournament has been going on for 14 years, and had eight teams coming from places like Smithers, Coaldale, Fraser Valley, and Edmonton. Having never played organized hockey I've never been a part of the Can. Ref. hockey sub-culture. It was great fun. My main reason for going was to see my friends Jason and Kristen from Vernon, the "in-laws" Jon, Thirza and little Kaylee, and Wietse. It was a nice little road trip, just over 1 hour. I was introduced to Sirius satellite radio by Jason and we even tuned into the Canucks game last night. On my way home today I stopped by the local soccer store and made a new purchase:

Soccer season is coming (or already here if you live in the Valley - we're still waiting for the snow to melt here in Edmonton). I needed a new pair of cleats since I sold the pair I used last year. I got a good deal on my new cleats getting $60 off. I'm thinking I'll be on track for a 10 goal season with savings like that. ;)

In other news, I found out I am emceeing Lydia and Bruce's wedding reception this summer with my brother. It's going to be fun times. If you have any good stories about Lydia and Bruce start writing them down.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 16:25:54 GMT

Happy Birthday Lydia!