Voila!

Alright folks, the new layout is basically here!  There's a few bugs still, but I'm reasonably satisfied and I hope you are too.  You may notice that when I changed the template, the expandable post summary code (the part that makes it say "Read More") disappeared for all posts.  I've fixed it manually for the first few, and will gradually go back through and fix it, but for now, older posts appear in all their overlong glory.  The upside is that the new way of doing the expandable post summaries won't share the bug of the old way--that it says "Read More" whether or not there is any more to read!


A brief note on the rationale...a couple months ago it struck me that my blog sounded rather violent--"Target Practice" was the title, and the tagline said it was "an arena for lobbing shots at anyone who I disagree with" or something obnoxious like that.  Given that I have in the last couple years come to feel strongly about the Christian opposition to violence (again, I'm not a pacifist, but Christians today are so far from pacifism that we need to lean in that direction to achieve any kind of godly balance) this seemed rather out of character.  It also (despite what I remember as my resolute intent at the time) comes across as rather brash, obnoxious, yea, even arrogant.  While "lobbing shots" (do you "lob" shots??) may happen here from time to time, and indeed will be necessary from time to time, it is scarcely the point, which is to constructively seek harmony and growth in the Church and our societies.  


Plus, the whole blog was looking rather stale and ugly to me...hence the total makeover.
(Special thanks to Donny Linnemeyer for helping fix a few bugs.)

Apology

I would like to apologize to any who may have read my posts on James Jordan's view of images, and to Jordan himself.
I recognize that I worded some things too strongly and it was inappropriate for a potentially public forum where anyone may read what I say and misunderstand my intent. I had naively thought that only a few close friends, if anyone, would read the posts, and they would understand the context and be able to discuss these things with me.

Also, when I posted the material, I forgot how strongly I had worded some of the things that I had typed up, having written them that way in order to give strength and focus to my writing, but originally intending to soften some things later. Of course, that is not to deny that even in the first place, my attitude toward Jordan was inappropriate. It was. I believe strongly that he was very wrong in many of the things he said them and the way he said them, but I know that, to any Christian, especially a learned teacher, I should give the benefit of the doubt, rather than imputing maximum error, as I did.

Furthermore, I hope that everyone who has read this blog understands that the admittedly strong stances I have been adopting have been primarily for the sake of argument. I don't think I know hardly anything about this stuff, but I've been trying to figure things out and work out what positions are and are not tenable through suggesting some thoughts on the subject, and inviting discussion and correction. I don't think I've made that clear enough, but please understand that is my intent. I'm not trying to shake down the walls of Protestantism single-handedly. Right now, I'm just trying to find the walls.