Stormbringer's Thunder

Buon giorno. I have read many discussions where people will attack the "believer's" position because it involves faith, the soul or spirit of man, and deeper meanings of the Bible. I will not attempt to explain faith, having read books about it and being unwilling to write one here and now. Nor will I attempt to define soul or spirit, especially since philosophers and theologians have been hashing it out for centuries. What I will do is state that if something does not fit into naturalistic and materialistic philosophies of science, that does not mean that those things do not exist. But I will go after the question of the deeper meanings of the Bible. Essentially, "Sorry, Salvatore. You are unable to understand them." Now, come on, get off your high horsie, Pilgrim. I am not being insulting. It is a statement of fact according to God. Work with me here so you can understand this point of view. When someone actually belongs to God and has a personal r

Buona sera. Today, I'm up to my old tricks of taking my experiences and observations and trying to form a general principle that I hope you can use. In this case, I have contrasting ideas. Just a moment... yeeeerrrshhh . Ah, that's better. I needed a good, long stretch. "I thought you had enough of a stretch in Sing Sing." Cool it, Nicky! I was undercover. Don't you have trolling to do? Yeah, you thought I didn't know abou t that. We'll talk later. OK, before I was so rudely interrupted... One of the most important watchwords in my life is "balance". (One of my favorite Moody Blues albums is "A Question of Balance".) More often than not, going to an extreme can get you into trouble. Buddha was right in this area when he said, "Seek the middle way". (Don't give me that look. You know it's true, never mind the source.) If you focus on peripherals too much, you miss out on what life has to offer. People will get so lo

Buon giorno. Yours truly is a bit wired today. I've made it clear in the past that I'm a proponent of freeware and Open Source software. (No, I'm not ready to tackle Linux without a tutor.) Although both are technically free, freeware is often the product of one developer being generous and giving away his or her work (sometimes as a way to attract attention to other products that are for sale), and Open Source is available to anyone with the necessary skills to develop; a group effort, if you will. Click on the above link for more information about Open Source. Much of my favorite software is Open Source. I like the guiding principles behind it, and that it seems to be a labor of love. Firefox , Open Office (replacements for Excel, Word, PowerPoint and others), 7-Zip file compression and others . I found a couple that are new to me. Sort of. Couple, that is. You'll see. For someone that wants to do Bible study on their computer, with multiple versions to com

Edited 5 August 2011 Buona sera. Do you know that old group of Clapton's and Winwood's called "Blind Faith"? Well, this has nothing to do with it. I have a lesson, with some illustrations from my recent experiences in Trollsville. Sounds like a new game from Zynga, doesn't it? Well, my game was unpleasant, and yet, there were laughable experiences. Here is the point, then I will explain it: You can become so blinded by hate that you miss out on some good things. If your criteria for whether someone is "acceptable" to you is based on qualifiers, be careful. People have chosen to hate me because I am a Christian, because I am not (denomination), because I am a Conservative, because I work for — waitaminnit, you almost got me there. Can't tell you that. But what good is it to have such severe limiting factors? "You Xtians are all stupid and worthless, neener neener!" That guy is missing out on valuable information. Just today, I

Buona sera. Hey, what do you get when you cross an atheist with a Jehovah's Witness? Someone who knocks on your door for no apparent reason. Ha! Love that one. (Insert Larry the Cable Guy voice): I don't care who ya are, that's funny! You're not going to believe this. With the merging of technology and magic, the United States Air Force has made a holy relic in my waffle! Are you ready? OK, here's the Nighthawk: Even though it's officially retired, I still think it's cool. OK, now dig this. The USAF has made it happen that an image of the Nighthawk has appeared in my waffle! Get a load of this: What will happen next? I love miracles of technology! They send a tingle down my leg, just like Obama does to Keith "Leftist Nutcase" Olbermann. Do more than ten people watch that show anymore? Now I have something a bit more serious. It's another area where I agree with disbelievers, and that's when religious people act like pagans worshiping idol

Excuse me. I am very, very sad right now. Just found out that I lost a friend. Well, I considered Dana Key, the lead singer and guitarist of the Christian band DeGarmo and Key a kind of friend. Met him after concerts (and once before) about three times. Great show. (Greg Morrow was drumming for them, look for him on the credits of Van Zant's latest albums.) He's gone now, dead on June 6, 2010 at age 56 from a blood clot. Some people say that people do not grow spiritually when they're into any kind of rock music. Well, Dana was another one that became a pastor. He was one of those people that you could see it in his eyes, felt like he was looking into me. Startling the first time it happened. These guys meant what they said, and had the courage to sing about Jesus. For that matter, I remember when they released a 2-for-1 deal — buy the tape, there is a second one inside the package for you to give to "an unsaved friend". That has always impressed me. I came