en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/265076 Comments by Bruce http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/22/why-i-retired-from-the-ministry/#IDComment13014429 Andrew and Jim, Thanks for your comments. We are all a work in progress. It remains to be seen what the finished product will be........ Bruce Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:04:25 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/22/why-i-retired-from-the-ministry/#IDComment13014429 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/22/why-i-retired-from-the-ministry/#IDComment13014420 Thanks Steve for your kind words. The Christian Church says our two great truths are Love for God and Love for Others. It seems we have spent most of our history living contrary to those truths. Loving God begins by loving others. Bruce Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:03:23 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/22/why-i-retired-from-the-ministry/#IDComment13014420 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/22/emergent-christianity-worships-at-the-altar-of-baal/#IDComment13013095 Funny Tim!! :) Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:33:22 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/22/emergent-christianity-worships-at-the-altar-of-baal/#IDComment13013095 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/20/defining-fundamentalism-2/#IDComment12857216 Joe, No........in one of my more "depressed" moments I "deleted all the stuff I wrote, thinking who would ever want to read this sh**. Unfortunately, you are not the first to ask about that series. I may try and re-create it. I have finally dealt with what caused me to blog, not blog........so no more deletes. :) The S**T stays!! Bruce Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:40:16 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/20/defining-fundamentalism-2/#IDComment12857216 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/19/nofollow-on-comments/#IDComment12849136 Steve, Basically nofollow is a tag that search engine bots and spiders read when indexing a site. Nofollow tells the search site not to use the link for page ranking (at least with Google) The practical effect of the tag is that is keeps links tagged nofollow out of the search index. SEO=Search Engine Optimization There are certain things you can do on your blog that will make the blog more search engine friendly. The goal is to get your blog into the search index and once it in the index to get it to #1 spot in the index. With Wordpress I use a plugin for this.......it rewrites the page headers, adds meta information about the page, etc. Everything is done to make the page easier to index. You use blogger so I am not sure how much of this you can do. Self-hosted sites usually have complete control over their blog and making changes is easy (and can be dangerous) :) Bruce Sat, 20 Dec 2008 16:45:57 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/19/nofollow-on-comments/#IDComment12849136 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/18/count-me-as-one-who-is-tired-of-the-george-bush-victory-lap/#IDComment12828097 Bob, I agree about Congress...........but NONE of them are taking ownership for the War right now :) Just the President.........HE seems oblivious to the mistakes he made. Bruce Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:26:01 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/18/count-me-as-one-who-is-tired-of-the-george-bush-victory-lap/#IDComment12828097 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/12/gandhi-on-truth/#IDComment12663366 Donald, And of course that is the hard part isn't it? I have neighbors. One is easy to love the other not so easy to love. As a pastor some people were very easy to love and some people were not. Yet, it seems I learn the most about myself when confronted with people hard to love. I remember when one of my sons got in trouble a few years ago. I was angry and upset. Then one day it dawned on me WHY I was angry and upset. My son made me, the minister, look bad. It broke my heart to realize how wicked I was......and I learned a valuable lesson about loving others. I don't have to condone their sin BUT I must love them as they are, where they are.........not only for their sake bur for my own. Thanks for reading Donald. I see you have a new blog and I have added it to my feed reader so I can keep up with what you write. You should feel honored :) Actually I am a blog addict. I love to read and consider what others have to say. Bruce Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:59:00 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/12/gandhi-on-truth/#IDComment12663366 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/14/sunday-night-church/#IDComment12657011 Steve, Yeah, I was the photo taker. We have thousands of family photos. I am in ten of them. :) Bruce Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:59:50 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/14/sunday-night-church/#IDComment12657011 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/14/sunday-night-church/#IDComment12656560 Dave, Gets old doesn't it? Of course they "assume" yo uwere getting fed before, as if sitting in a location=getting fed. We missed you too. Bruce Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:37:47 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/14/sunday-night-church/#IDComment12656560 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/09/fifteen-things-i-hate-about-blogs-and-web-pages/#IDComment12503643 Steve, The RSS feed at first was a pain with blogger in general. Recent versions of Firefox have auto-RSS feed built into them. If it senses an RSS feed on the site it shows the rss icon. Click it, add it to your feed reader. My problems are more with blogger itself. They tend to lag behind in features and allowing users to customize their sites. Hey, the price is right tho......... The only time I actually go to your site is to comment. As soon as it becomes possible to comment from within the RSS reader........that will end for me.For me, It is all about content , and that's why I read your blog. :) Bruce Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:16:49 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/09/fifteen-things-i-hate-about-blogs-and-web-pages/#IDComment12503643 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/06/top-30-programs-i-use-most-every-day/#IDComment12503598 Lewis, OpenDNS handles the routing of web content requests (putting it simply) Instead of using your ISP's routing you use OpenDNS. First, OpenDNS has faster response rates than most ISP's. Second, you can sue their filtering to limit access to certain websites and also limit access to chat, social networking, etc. It is very customizable and pretty easy to set up. I have not noticed any speed reductions. We have a home network with several computers, a dvr, vonage,and a media player. I have everything set up with a static IP address with with my router handling DHCP. (the assignment of IP addresses) This is the most complete way to use OpenDNS..........but you don't have go this route. Thee are some basic instructions on their website on how to change your setup to use their service. I heartily recommend it. I am not sure BUT it may require you to remove Safe Eyes. They may conflict with each other. The service is password protected and can not be easily bypassed. Since the service is IP address specific you will need to make sure that Open DNS has your current IP address (with Verizon this changes every time you reboot the router) OpenDNS has a plugin that automatically updates your IP address with them. This may seem complicated.........but it is not. Not as hard as the old days when we were buying 200.00 modems? Remember? Bruce Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:11:29 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/06/top-30-programs-i-use-most-every-day/#IDComment12503598 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/09/promoting-your-blog/#IDComment12503203 John, You are so right about content. That's why peopl come to a blog........content. Commenting has never been a problem for me......NOT commenting is the problem :) Bruce Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:58:28 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/09/promoting-your-blog/#IDComment12503203 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/10/the-cincinnati-reds/#IDComment12502830 We can only hope. :) Well the Tigers are my American League team. So I pathetic all the way around. Bruce Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:55:52 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/10/the-cincinnati-reds/#IDComment12502830 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/09/today-is-international-anti-corruption-day/#IDComment12416799 It is hard to believe the arrogance of the governor. He makes Nixon look like a saint. Sad, dad day. It is no wonder people are cynical about politics. Bruce Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:42:53 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/09/today-is-international-anti-corruption-day/#IDComment12416799 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/08/thoughts-on-annihilation-hell-belief-and-eternity/#IDComment12314846 Kay, Good point. I have oft said that the JW's were right on some things. Especially their view of the eternal kingdom.(though not the number that will be there) Much more Biblical than the average Baptist and their "sitting on a cloud strumming a harp" eternity. No religion is totally errant and that should give us pause before we condemn others to hell. In my Baptist days I was a first rate Catholic hater. I mean........fire and brimstone hater of everything Catholic. Well God gave me a Catholic doctor and really messed up my thinking. He was the best example of a Christian I ever met. I remember when the tests came back that said our daughter had Down Syndrome.......He personally called and asked us to come to his office after hours. He spent a significant bit of time with us.......loved us.......and showed us true compassion. Of course later doctrinal studies (bashing Catholics didn't require any knowledge about them..Baptists just hated Catholics) showed me that Catholics and Protestants had a lot more in common than I thought. Ultimately it led me to see that Catholics were part of the Christian Church Thanks for commenting Kay. Bruce Tue, 9 Dec 2008 19:34:18 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/08/thoughts-on-annihilation-hell-belief-and-eternity/#IDComment12314846 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/08/i-am-a-barnacle/#IDComment12314749 Steve, I find the blog stuff fascinating........especially the "how people end up on the blog" and "where they are from." I find myself saying who in Luxembourg, Singapore, China, etc is reading my blog and WHY. This is one aspect of the internet and blogging I really like. It allows for a connection with a diverse crowd from the most unlikely of places. Jason, So are you saying your Dad is a bottom feeder :) Actually I am quite proud to be considered a barnacle. That means I am price conscious and since we live near the poverty line.......some years anyway....... it's .pretty good idea to be a barnacle. I have no problem with making a profit.........it is just the "amount" of profit some stores try to make. God blessed me with a mind that can remember prices......so it is hard for Walmart to trick me into thinking their prices are better than Meijers. Meijers is almost always better. Your Mom is the resident coupon-er IF she can remember where they are :) My take is this............if you don't want barnacles quit running sales. Bruce Dad Tue, 9 Dec 2008 19:24:15 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/08/i-am-a-barnacle/#IDComment12314749 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/05/rick-warren-misuses-romans-13/#IDComment12314594 Bob, Thanks for reading. I probably should have been more nuanced in my post about Rick Warren. I watched the Saddleback Forum and I thought it was one of the best political forums/debates I have ever seen. I appreciate Rick Warren's positions on AIDS, poverty, etc. He is a much needed voice within Evangelicalism. My problem is when Warren (and others who have the spotlight) give these "interviews" and then they speak off the cuff. They end up saying "dumb" stuff. I know the liberal end of blogdom has had a field day with his comment.........they see it as a sure sign that Warren is NOT centrist, or progressive. (which is unfortunate because many times Warren is the only reasoned voice in the crowd) I caught Joel Osteen on Larry King last night (while commercials were airing on Monday Night football :) ) His speech was so imprecise and toned down that he ended up saying "nothing" (except maybe being a infomercial for the prosperity gospel) Yet, while I don't care Osteen my sister is really helped by listening to him. So you are right..........reasonable minds can disagree......BUT BUT BUT my mind seems so much more reasonable :) Have a great day Bob! Bruce Tue, 9 Dec 2008 19:09:48 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/05/rick-warren-misuses-romans-13/#IDComment12314594 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/05/the-call-of-the-wild/#IDComment12169434 Dave, Yes many meanings. If you read the entire poem it seems clear Service was speaking of his days in Alaska. In 2001 my 3 older sons took a trip to Alaska. (before their married days) They had a wonderful time.........and one son would move there tomorrow if he could (and his wife said yes) Too much snow and cold for me.......maybe in my younger days :) Bruce Fri, 5 Dec 2008 19:14:52 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/05/the-call-of-the-wild/#IDComment12169434 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/03/fundamentalists-just-dont-get-it/#IDComment12150184 Thanks Iggy. Your words are very encouraging. Bruce Fri, 5 Dec 2008 06:07:02 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/03/fundamentalists-just-dont-get-it/#IDComment12150184 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/02/leaving-the-fold/#IDComment12076812 Andrew, I hear you friend. I am quite shocked at how supposedly Christian people respond to those they differ with. I don't know if it is the internet and it's distance that gives people a boldness to say the things they do? I told one guy........."you wouldn't say those things to my face." He said "why not?" "Simple" I replied. "Say those things to my face and you'll end up with a busted nose" :) I am not entirely sanctified........ People think their "boldness" is "defending the faith" Heretics must be beaten down and destroyed by whatever means necessary, according to them. What a shallow, weak faith that can be toppled by the likes of a Bruce or an Andrew. Thanks for commenting. Bruce Thu, 4 Dec 2008 00:29:17 +0000 http://brucedroppings.com/2008/12/02/leaving-the-fold/#IDComment12076812