tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10428415921944260912011-10-14T08:35:57.256-05:00Random thoughts from a believer's brainBill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-2281092393892665522010-02-05T22:04:00.000-06:002010-02-05T22:04:34.757-06:00

Well, I've started another blog, but I'm not abandoning this one. I've been wanting for some time to start posting some of the meditations on Scripture which I've been recording in my journal. Many of them can pass as short little devotionals, and I keep thinking others might be blessed by them. It seemed like the best place would be a new blog dedicated to that purpose: http://

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-59408082153186186692009-12-18T18:19:00.005-06:002009-12-18T18:34:56.604-06:00

With the whole country talking about the crisis in health care and Congress debating massive new programs, I feel the need to speak out. I’ve thought a lot about this issue over the years and I don't think most people are analyzing the situation very well. For that reason I would like to share some insights that I don’t often hear expressed in the national debate. I’ve said much of this before,

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-74740288753997943092009-08-23T13:32:00.006-05:002009-08-23T13:44:14.387-05:00

Yesterday we took our youngest son to college at the University of Texas at Austin. It is quite an operation to receive all the new freshmen and to deposit them and all their stuff in their dorm rooms. I was quite impressed with how well the dorm staff had organized the activity. After checking in you were given a number and waited pleasantly in the cafeteria before it was your time to drive up

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-73586904489597974422009-04-04T10:53:00.010-05:002009-04-04T11:12:36.745-05:00

Several lines of thought lately have led me to contemplate the impact on our society of the decline in rural life. I’m talking about the fact that fewer and fewer people live on a farm anymore, and fewer and fewer city dwellers know anyone who does. This has changed our culture in many ways. But the particular effect that has intrigued me lately is a modern city dweller’s relationship to

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-2395712657148984512009-03-07T11:27:00.008-06:002009-03-07T12:03:29.891-06:00

I have mentioned before that belief in God is an almost universal element of human culture. As the pastor of my church has said, we are all born to belief. It takes years of training to become an atheist. When secular scientists note this tendency they remark at how evolution has disposed us to believe such things, and they debate the survival value of such beliefs. But I ask, isn’t it just

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-77283612054401670272008-11-16T17:38:00.004-06:002008-11-16T17:44:39.646-06:00

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what it must feel like to be an African-American contemplating the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States. I think I would be almost giddy. I know at least one friend from church who said she was up partying all night after the election. You might think that I would be dismayed to find Obama supporters of any color at my conservative

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-81362296922439442502008-11-05T22:11:00.001-06:002008-11-05T22:13:30.834-06:00

Lord, last night our nation chose a new President: Barack Obama. This morning he woke up to that exhilarating and doubtless sobering reality. I pray that he would turn to you in humility for the wisdom that he will need in the days to come. Give him the energy and determination to execute his duties to the utmost of his abilities. May he govern this nation with great honor and integrity. When

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-9813182517742717282008-11-02T21:19:00.004-06:002008-11-02T21:28:32.964-06:00

If you’ve read anything I’ve written over the last couple of years it will come as no surprise to you that I’m voting for John McCain for President on Tuesday. I am a conservative, and while I don’t think McCain is the ideal candidate, in my view he is definitely preferable to Barack Obama. In the area of character and patriotism John McCain clearly shines. He has devoted his entire adult life to

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-47394608404373585502008-09-09T20:48:00.009-05:002008-09-09T21:23:52.079-05:00

Bill Whittle wrote an article for National Review last week summarizing the appeal of McCain and Palin's well received acceptance speeches. I think Whittle is spot on. If McCain and Palin can bottle that stuff the election is theirs. You can take what Whittle wrote and distill it down to a simple campaign strategy for Sen. McCain:To those who worry about your age...remind them your mother is 96.

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-45561307258817174032008-09-07T15:14:00.002-05:002008-09-07T15:21:42.799-05:00

For a while now I've been wondering what a "community organizer" is. Obama's official bio on his website doesn't explain it very well. I found a long article on Wikipedia, but I was still a bit confused. It seems to be some form of liberal political activism, but I couldn't quite get a good picture in my mind of what it would look like as a day to day activity. Luckily Iowahawk (via

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-23495143577764653022008-09-06T14:10:00.002-05:002008-09-07T15:25:56.506-05:00

Dear Senator Obama and Senator McCain:Ok, the conventions are over and the election is finally in sight. I’m listening now. Unlike you, I haven’t been eating, breathing and sleeping this campaign for a year and a half. So if there’s anything you really want me to hear you will probably want to repeat it. Oh, I tuned in briefly six months ago to vote in the primary, but now I’m back. The first

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-44003442915108537662008-07-30T18:03:00.010-05:002008-12-13T02:26:10.093-06:00

Vera and Bill HensleyEach of us knew Vera Hensley in different ways: mother, sister, aunt, friend, neighbor, long-time church member. Some of us knew her very well indeed, while others were only acquaintances. But everyone who met her was quick to realize what a special person she was. Many of you have shared your personal recollections about her with my sister Betty and me. Your kind words about

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-27105175554941637642008-05-24T17:47:00.012-05:002008-07-04T18:35:05.361-05:00

If you saw the movie Expelled you will remember that Ben Stein had some fun at Richard Dawkins’ expense when Dawkins brought up the theory of panspermia. Stein took him to mean that aliens might be responsible for the origin of life on Earth and played it for a laugh. The theater audience at the screening I attended obligingly snickered and poked each other in the ribs. But panspermia is a

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-38650966361920684112008-04-22T20:35:00.003-05:002008-04-22T20:41:17.070-05:00

We went to see the movie Expelled this weekend. I enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Sometimes this sort of thing is too polemical for my taste, even though I might agree with the premise. I had read several reviews from the evolutionist perspective that were complaining about several aspects of the film. For one thing, some of the evolutionists who were interviewed in

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-90012691575534245762008-03-21T23:44:00.007-05:002008-03-22T11:04:29.931-05:00

Today is a special day for me. Of course it is Good Friday, which is special because on this day we commemorate Christ’s death for us on the cross. But for me, personally, March 21 is special for a different reason. This is the day when I remember God’s amazing grace that he showed in rescuing me, a scoffer and a blasphemer, from the path of destruction. This is the day when I was born again.I

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-36057992825092611392008-03-05T22:28:00.006-06:002008-03-06T07:39:59.660-06:00

The real problem with public schools is not poor funding. It’s not obstructive teachers unions. It’s not an overemphasis on standardized testing. It’s not a lack of innovative programs. Helpful changes could be made in all these areas, but we would just be dancing around the edges. The real problem in education is the social chaos created by two generations of disintegrating families, entitlement

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-22934132752302504172008-02-14T23:08:00.004-06:002008-02-14T23:14:43.637-06:00

I hope you literary types don’t laugh at this post. I was a junior in college before I took a literature class that made sense to me. I think people who like to read novels and look for deep meaning and symbolism just have a completely different way of thinking than engineers do. You pretty much need to spell it out for us, and nobody ever did till that professor I had in my junior year. We

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-87269890520791325012007-11-14T12:28:00.000-06:002007-11-23T18:16:52.444-06:00

I watched the Nova special on PBS last night. It was very interesting and helped me understand the Dover School Board case better than I had understood it from the news coverage of the time. It does seem fairly clear that some members of the school board were looking to balance the teaching of evolution with mention of some more faith-friendly alternative. As explained in the show, judicial

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-52702809185312122922007-10-28T20:30:00.000-05:002007-10-28T20:38:51.501-05:00

If you could sum up the very core of Christianity in one word, it would be grace. Grace is what sets Christianity apart from any other belief system. It has been the central theme of the Christian message for the past 2000 years. Grace is good news. It is the Good News. It defines who we are as Christians.Surprised?It’s a sad fact that we Christians haven’t done a very good job lately of

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-26838195130408220352007-08-19T16:47:00.000-05:002007-08-19T16:57:29.658-05:00

Anna Quindlen wrote an editorial in the August 8 issue of Newsweek about this video making the rounds on YouTube. Apparently some people have gleefully discovered that pro-lifers don’t spent much time thinking about how to punish women who get an abortion. The pro-abortion folks take this as evidence that we aren’t very smart. But there’s a simpler explanation. Pro-life activists are motivated

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-34991375392811341782007-07-19T22:03:00.000-05:002008-12-13T02:26:10.400-06:00

Are you looking for this picture? A while back I posted a blog entry about Dan Flavin's art and I linked this picture. Lately, lots of people have been coming to Believer's Brain via a Google image search, looking for it. Please allow me to give credit where credit is due. The photo was taken by a blogger who calls himself D.A.K. You can see the original photo on his blog. Thanks, D.A.K.By the

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-50039425902428766382007-07-01T11:36:00.000-05:002007-07-01T11:39:46.265-05:00

There is a prevailing opinion in secularist circles that American Christians want to create a theocracy in this country. In fact, this has become quite a popular theme for fundraisers on the left. I would like to reassure our atheistic friends that for the vast majority of Christians, nothing could be further from the truth. You see, Christianity had its fling with theocracy centuries ago. It

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-37396845514155988692007-06-27T22:17:00.000-05:002007-06-27T22:24:06.718-05:00

Any system of thought requires certain axioms, or presuppositions, which cannot be proven within that system. Last time we saw that science originally rested on a set of presuppositions that arose from the Christian worldview. God is a personal, rational Being. He is the Creator of all things. We were created in his image as personal, rational beings. From this picture emerges the idea that

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-32628594028427471642007-06-20T23:10:00.000-05:002007-06-20T23:17:31.856-05:00

Creationists are fond of saying that evolution requires just as much faith to believe as creation. I don’t need to tell you how much scorn is heaped on such statements by evolutionists. I think creationists miss the point with this remark because secular scientists try very hard to be guided only by the evidence. On the other hand, I think many scientists fail to realize the extent to which

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-38037276881398356952007-06-12T21:50:00.000-05:002007-06-12T22:16:22.261-05:00

We’ve been talking lately about the Apostle Paul’s contention that Creation reveals the existence of God. In my previous post I argued that the existence of the universe and the existence of life are both good reasons to believe in God. Now I want to talk about another reason to believe in God that I find even more compelling, although it is much more subtle and easy to miss. This evidence can be

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-46219344377629269182007-06-06T23:47:00.000-05:002007-06-07T08:25:27.364-05:00

In my last post I talked about Paul’s famous statement in Romans that unbelievers are “without excuse” because God’s eternal power and divine nature can be clearly seen from looking at his Creation. The evidence for God is right before our eyes, so that he is justified in condemning us for rejecting him.But some will object that we simply see what we want to see. You and I are watching a

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-43967372836513605842007-05-25T09:10:00.000-05:002007-05-31T15:27:51.703-05:00

As a former militant agnostic and devotee of scientific naturalism, I consider these verses from Paul’s letter to the Romans to be one of the most powerful passages in the Bible:The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-20552265557371980012007-05-16T23:02:00.000-05:002007-05-18T13:53:42.439-05:00

Last week I wrote about visiting the Menil collection. I want to go again soon. It is an interesting place and I didn’t get to see everything on our first visit. One exhibit we didn’t have time for is entitled the Dan Flavin Installation at Richmond Hall. We did pick up a copy of the brochure, though. My description here is from the brochure.Flavin was evidently a 20th century artist of some note

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-20069214953161169052007-05-11T00:49:00.000-05:002007-05-11T09:35:10.381-05:00

This past weekend my wife and I visited The Menil Collection. This museum houses the art collection of the late John and Dominique de Menil, prominent Houston philanthropists and art patrons. I am somewhat embarrassed to confess that although it has been open for nearly 20 years, this is the first time I had visited it.Before we visited the main collection we took a walk around the grounds. There

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-9945609735642143452007-03-26T22:59:00.000-05:002007-03-26T23:04:17.536-05:00

For several years I have subscribed to World magazine, a weekly news magazine like Time or Newsweek, but written from a Christian perspective. Normally I enjoy, or at least appreciate, their take on things. However, the current issue has an article about urban living that really made my blood boil. The author, Mindy Belz, waxes rhapsodic about urban environments and disparages the suburbs. She

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-66677836041096537852007-03-08T23:57:00.000-06:002007-03-09T00:03:04.440-06:00

The other day a friend of mine posed an interesting question. Why are Americans, by and large, so much more respectful toward each other and toward public property than citizens of other countries? My friend is from South America. Her father is here visiting, and he was marveling that no one seems to litter and everyone is so nice to each other. He wanted to know, how did this come about and why

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-35512262099529583032007-03-02T21:08:00.000-06:002007-03-03T09:39:09.790-06:00

Today I want to talk about modern art. Fair warning, though: I am a geek. I write computer programs for a living. I am neither schooled in art, nor an avid fan of it. My encounters with art are mostly of the casual and unplanned type. If you are an artist, consider this a dispatch from the frontiers of your world, where serious art occasionally intrudes upon the lives of the ignorant

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-83033302565346148352007-03-01T00:40:00.000-06:002007-03-01T00:52:26.100-06:00

Recently the news, er, publicity broke that James Cameron (of Titanic fame) has made a documentary for Discovery Channel called The Lost Tomb of Jesus, presenting conclusive proof that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead. No, it turns out he married Mary Magdalene, raised a family, and was buried in a large upper class family tomb in Jerusalem. When they opened it up in 1980, his bones were still in

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1042841592194426091.post-9551896044639631142007-03-01T00:31:00.000-06:002007-03-01T01:10:05.171-06:00

Welcome to Believer’s Brain. Let’s get the demographics out of the way, first. I am a middle-aged, happily married man. We have two teenage sons and live in the western suburbs of Houston, Texas. We generally vote Republican and we’re active members of a Southern Baptist church in the area. This means we’re just like about a half million other people who live within 25 miles of here. (Well, I’m

Bill Hensleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06590194120523861924noreply@blogger.com3