After two weekend-long video-editing sessions we finally went live with the new online training course anticipating the Da Vinci Code film opening next week on the 19th. It’s called “Da Vinci Code Conversations,” and it's intended to give viewers a brief, birds-eye-view of the major contentions in Dan Brown's novel and — presumably — the film.

Not having screened the film, everybody is guessing as to how much of the book’s more controversial elements made it into the screenplay, but we’re pretty sure it will involve the major highlights of this course since the plot largely depends on it:

I haven’t been blogging much of late because nearly every waking hour for the past three weeks has been focused on the imminent launch of the latest online training course I’ve been tinkering with (no—more like beating myself senseless against) at work.

I’m responsible for selecting and preparing content for one of ChristianityToday.com’s websites: CTCourses.com (short for ChristianityTodayCourses.com, natch). So far, since our launch in early January, 2006, we’ve managed to push two courses out the door, one on how to host small groups, featuring Brett Eastman, and another free course on managing email overload, featuring Kevin Miller (my supervisor at CT, freshly ordained Anglican priest, and also author of a book on managing information overload).

Tomorrow, if all goes well, we’ll be launching the third course, and we

Short post today. I just wanted to point to a brief and fascinating roundup of arguments for the existence of God from a cosmological/mathematical viewpoint:

The article summarizes the evidentiary value of three numbers in mathematics that seem to point to an intelligent designer of the universe:

On Heresy

What is heresy? The textbook definition is simply:

And right alongside that definition — at least on this weblog, anyhow — you can find a picture of Bishop Carlton D. Pearson who wants to "rewrite the theology of the charismatic world" by preaching a "Gospel of Inclusion" asserting that Christ's death conclusively reconciled all mankind to God — whether we realize it or not — and that the only separation between man and God's grace is subjective, illusionary, and exists only in unenlightened minds (Carlton Pearson, "Jesus Savior of the World/Gospel of Inclusion — Position Paper," Higher Dimension website, viewed March 5, 2006).

More on that later, but first.…

I posted a couple comments recently on a blog I visited off my PneumaBlogs aggregator that I'd like to recapture here for additional commentary from my readers, if you're game.

There was an interesting post by Maryellen at her “To Everything a Time” blogspot about God's divine plan and predestination, and the moral and intellectual confusion this causes. In fact, Maryellen herself was asking good questions after reading some sci-fi, so like a good blogger, she shared the angst.

This was what caught my attention (from early morning insanity):

I commented:

In “The Ultimate Issue” Brian logged an interesting and thought provoking post on “designing your own God.”

I like it. That’s good stuff.

Yet, I think there is a tension between having the right beliefs about God and having a personal knowledge of God—which will always be unique to at least a degree.

To make a comparison: Knowing God is like studying the stars. There are facts that can be known: among other things, stars are hot; are primarily composed of