FYI, the car is back together. The new alternator works as advertised and I pray I never have to do that sort of work again. Arthritis can really dampen your enthusiasm for playing mechanic. Meanwhile, we are back on track for getting the last two motor mounts replaced (with someone else doing the labor).
If nothing else, it reminds me of why I would prefer to be part of a local community of faith, because the Lord always moves someone to help me with stuff like that. That day is coming.
Bro. Bill asked about the Nicolaitans, mentioned in John’s Apocalypse Chapter 2. You can read the Wikipedia article on Nicolaism and get more than I would be willing to say. I don’t think the text justifies half of the speculation, and I have learned to distrust the so-called Church Fathers on some details. They said plenty that doesn’t pan out with current data. In other words, I personally don’t buy most of what folks say about them.
All I can tell you is that they were some stripe of libertine. It’s a good bet they picked up on some popular and short-lived fashionable theory that connects with Gnosticism or something of that sort. There were numerous swirling heresies in that part of the world and Paul connects a portion of them to what we now know were Judaizers or their hired guns. In the same passage of Revelation we see the mention of latter day Balaamites, and the reference to Balaam itself signals a dishonest effort to seduce folks from a higher morality by seeking to identify their moral soft spots. But the point here is that we know a lot more about the Balaamites than we do the Nicolaitans.
A final item that is of little consequence in one sense: My one and only computer is a Toshiba laptop that gives me much grief. I got it second hand and didn’t use it much until I felt compelled to dispose of my desktop system. This thing works but that’s about it. I’ve tried multiple operating systems and it’s currently back to Win7, but as previously noted, it crawls. It’s just a tool, but for the sake of this online parish, it is technically our church-house, so to speak. The facility does not fit our ministry needs. We do expect to receive a tax refund, so I’m not begging for the funds here. Rather, I’m asking you to pray with me that I find one more worthy. And I’m okay with running Windows, but I’d rather avoid anything after Win7 for now.
I’ve been checking the listings on places like eBay and Amazon, along with lesser known vendor sites. My personal inclination is toward previous generation Dell Latitudes made for Win7 because of the reputed higher grade of hardware, but if you know of anything that speaks to you of sufficient power and quality, I’d be interested in hearing about it.
My interest in the Nicolaitans focuses more on the clergy/laity interpretative value, if there is any. Especially the possibility of how that may be affecting the current church paradigm, irrespective of the institutional construct that is so pervasive. This, as far as I can ascertain, is the first of two commonly held views. The other of course is the libertine doctrine which you mention. Perhaps there is not much positioning on the clergy/laity due to the fact that those who would by necessity agree are the very ones identified in the said interpretation…the clergy. Though I would definitely agree with the concept of elder-ship, I find the pastoral construct in it’s present form, along with all the other formal titled positions, to be a hindrance to qualitative church growth.
Glad your getting your ride out of the ICU.
I personally run Win7 on an Asus G73; a gaming machine residing somewhere between a desktop and a laptop. Too big for a laptop (1.5hrs battery life), but doesn’t take up much real estate in the desk. I don’t game, but it’s fast. I can’t see upgrading the OS at this point. if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Perhaps if I ever rehab back to my former IT-self I will consider upgrading, but I don’t see that on the horizon.
There is not doubt a problem with our Western clergy-laity division. It’s artificial at best and ruinous in all cases. Humility and service is written out of it before anyone so much as moves a muscle. However, I find no good support for the notion that the Greek word “nicolaitan” applies to that. I won’t say it can’t be, just that I won’t use that explanation. We should have organic elders and appointed ritual leaders, with a huge overlap between the concerns for those roles. We can have leaders who do both, but we simply have no good cultural background for the necessary humility and how powerful it can be.