Any of you that read macker's site know that he and I and emdot and Beermary will every now and then, get into a four way battle royal over matters theological. Macker, of course, is on the side of the angels. I carry the flag for the Dark Side. Marya (Magdelene) and Mary kinda sorta referee, but will toss a rabbit punch in the kidneys at one or the other of us on behalf of the Buddhists and the whatever it is Mary calls herself these days. :-)

Anyway, one of the more recent gangfights (see the comments) was on the subject of salvation. Specifically, does it exist for those that do not believe in Jesus?

The bell dinged to start the match, and macker charged out and swung a dogma at me, busting me in the chops with the contention that Jesus was the only way to get to heaven. I shook it off, and pile-drove him headfirst through the canvas with the following dilemma: You (meaning Xians) would have us (meaning the agnostic humanists, or Deists, or whatever the hell it is that I am) believe six impossible things before breakfast, to wit:

For (1) to be true, then there must be some sort of Plan B for all those poor souls that don't get a fair chance as salvation, so then (2) must not be true. Yet both of these contradictory axioms must be held to be true by every flavor of Xian I've ever come across.

Macker responded with the last and most common argument Xians use when faced with such a paradox, a profession of faith that God could work all this stuff out, (I'm summarizing ruthlessly here) while some dude named John, heretofor an lurker to the rumble, just called me a dead horse that they should stop beating. Clearly I am on of the Unrepentant Fallen. The match was called on account of exhaustion on both our parts, I think, after 26 comments in the thread.

But macker is not the only Xian blogger I read. Donald Sensing of One Hand Clapping wears a few hats. One of them is as a Methodist minister. He is in fact the pastor of his church. I don't know if he was reading our tussle, most likely not, but an essay he just wrote, "Is Heaven A Private Club?" addresses this very topic, and does a damn good job.

From his essay: 'Heaven is not a private club for anyone or any group. Heaven falls under the sole sovereignty of a holy and gracious God. Only God can establish the conditions by which human beings enjoy eternal life in his presence. All knowledge human beings have about God is limited, partial, and fragmentary, so we must approach questions about salvation and eternity with deep humility. If the fullness of God is like a vast ocean, at best we can get our toes wet. Any person or faith who claims certainty about the whole of God's providence is, frankly, inexcusably arrogant. At the minimum, we must admit that not only is God's grace greater than we imagine, it is greater than we can imagine. The gates of heaven will almost certainly open wider than we think."

He solves the dilemma, unsolvable as I stated it, by disallowing one of the premises. With some deft theological judo, he says that while Jesus is the means by which salvation is made possible, direct belief in him may not be required. He backs this up with scriptural citation, (though admitting other scripture may contradict his reading) and in the process, brings up the idea that the moment of death may not be the last point at which salvation is possible. This is a bonus helps reconcile the contradictory ideas of Eternal Damnation and Infinite Mercy.

Now go read the whole thing.

To the extent that Rev. Sensing's statements here have come to represent mainstream Xian belief, it is certainly a welcome, maturing, evolution of the faith. I would find it hard to believe, though, that there could be much acceptance of his reading of the Scripture that allows salvation after death. Unfortunately, however, it seems to me that is what it would take to solve the problem of young Abdul, taught from the cradle to actively hate all non-Muslims. While the gates of heaven may open wider than we think, it his hard to imagine a God that could accept both Abdul's faith and that of the Rev. Sensing as equally valid manifestations of the divine plan for man.

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This one's been out for a few days - I'm just now mentioning it due to dereliction of duty, and the tiresome fatigue resulting from parroting the endless parade of M$ security flaws. Though chatting with Ceridwen last night until almost four AM may have a bit to do with it, too. :-)

I think I just need to tweak my templates to include a "New Exploder Flaw" link on every day's page. It would be true more often than not.

This one is worse than most:

1. It's existed for five years.

2. It lets the Bad Guys swipe your e-commerce info, that is, your credit card numbers.

3. M$ says it's not really that exploitable, while security experts disagree. (what a surprise)

4. No patch has yet been published.

Same as it ever was.

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Nathaniel Lee Kenwanyama, 22, is a convicted rapist. He also, until a few days ago, was a baggage screener at Houston's Hobby Airport. He most likely would still be, had he not, last Saturday night, fired some shots at some folks and tried to set an apartment on fire. He's being charged with attempted capital murder, three counts, and arson.

He's been employed by a Houston-based firm, Maxaero, for the last six months. It's pretty obvious that the mandated background checks were never performed, as it would have been fairly easy to ferret out first, that he'd been fired from his previous job as a jail guard after his background came to light, and second, that he'd spent five years in a juvenile detention facility.

Maybe the folks at Maxaero, who have security contracts at airports in three states, are just good-hearted folks that want to give a guy a second chance. If so, I hope their compassion lands them in jail along with their rehab project. We've been treated to the sight of several corporate execs being led away in handcuffs over the last few weeks. I'd like to see whoever's (not) running Maxaero added to the parade. Mineta, if you're listening, here's a good candidate to make an example of.

Especially since this is not their first problem. The local TV station that reported the Kenwanyama story, earlier this year investigated the firm. Maxaero hired one of the station's young production assistants. His background was never checked, his references weren't called, and he was never even questioned as to his mental stability or criminal record. That story is here.

Oh, and during his training, he was taught several "secrets" of the security process. Secrets that it seems are not hard for a potential bomber to learn. All you have to do is fill out an application.

Unsurprisingly, Maxaero refuses to talk to the press about either incident. Perhaps a subpoena or two could loosen their tongues, and tighten their hiring policies.

He could start with the CEO, Willard Sumner. Earlier this year, when the process of federalization made it look like his company might lose some business, he said that it would be "devastating," and "put them out of business."

We can only hope.

Sumner then went on to say: ``We've worked hard to build a company that doesn't have the bad reputation that other companies have." I think you can quit worrying about your reputation now.

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