I saw a UFO once. Really.
My son was attending a basketball camp on a college campus and I was driving to pick him up at about 8:30 P.M. The last thing on my mind was that I would look out my windshield and see a huge glowing triangle hovering over downtown Tucson. It must have been many city blocks long, and it was stationary in the air like it was just parked there.
I made a split second decision to continue to drive straight under it whether that was the smart thing to do or not because I had to go pick up (maybe rescue) my son... Anyway, poof, the triangle disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
At the university, I asked everyone in the gym if they saw the UFO. Nobody had. I could tell they didn't believe my story, because no one even walked outside to look into the sky and see if anything weird was out there.
And when I got to my parents house, I told them all about it, and I could tell my dad was jealous that he hadn't seen it to, so he hardly wanted to talk about it.
The next day, the headline on the front page of the Tucson Daily Star was about the UFO, thousands of people saw it, and in the article it said the UFO was probably exhaust from the test missiles the navy was launching from the coast of California out over the Pacific. Impossible. California is 10 hours away down the highway, and the lines of the triangle were so crisp.
I still have no idea what I saw that night, but it wasn't a vapor trail. And it wasn't an air force Stealth either; those things are freaky to see flying around, but the triangle was bigger, and really really bright. Plus Stealths can slowly maneuver around the air, but they don't just come out of nowhere and vanish out of sight again.
After this experience, I feel empathy for anyone who saw the Ressurected Lord. You can see the most incredible sight of your life and people either don't want to listen to you, don't care, don't believe you, or come up with lame explainations for what you saw. I think they did an awesome job of conveying the miraculous sight of Jesus risen from the dead because even today we catch their excitment in the gospels. Nobody convinced anybody that they were just imagining the whole thing, or we wouldn't have a church today. People wouldn't live and die for a mirage; they knew what they knew- Jesus rose from the dead just like he said he would.

The movie was really inspired and inspiring.
I don't go for the ransom theory in a big way but after seeing the movie, it makes much more sense. It portrayed a lot of nobility and courage.
But, I wanted to shake the Lion and say don't bargain with the witch; sort of the way a nation declares it won't deal with terrorists. I don't see why good guys have to satisfy bad guys as long as the good guys have the upper hand;why should Jesus be a bargaining chip in a high stakes game with Satan? That doesn't compute to me. God could just refuse to play. God makes the rules. And if the devil doesn't like it, too bad. He is lucky to exist.

I was glad, especially for Edward's sake that the lion resurrected. Because even though he was forgiven, I doubt he would have forgiven himself if the lion just died and stayed dead. And the poor lion, even though all's well that ends well, ouch- he still went through the ugly death even if he eventually got resurrected. I think the same end could have been achieved without giving the witch her kicks.

I wish there was some way you could look into our hearts and heads to see a "before" and "after" and measure all the growth we have made since joining your class. We are on track and learning a lot about theology, but as assessment devices, quizzes wouldn't necessarily show that. And they would suck the life out of the subject.

I can't wait to take my theology books on the plane with me and read them for fun during the break- why, because our class is interesting. And I want to learn. My theology teacher at SMU was very encouraging to me and I got an A- in the class, but I didn't enjoy the class with the midterm, final and preceptorials, and certainly wasn't ever was motivated to read theology until now.

I wish every agnostic I know could sit in on the class too because then they could see Christians aren't afraid of ideas, that we look at all sorts of opinions and debates. Most agnostics I know think Christians are too narrow minded to allow real discussions on controversial topics. I think I am definitely the oldest person in the class, but I probably need discussion the most because I am still hammering out the details of what I believe.

When my oldest child was a senior in high school and headed for college, I panicked that I didn't teach her enough about God, so in the mornings before breakfast we would read the bible together. It was very unpopular with my kids who would rather sleep in... so I think I understand about feeling so responsible for what the class gets or doesn't get. In the end, more than what you say, or what we read,what will make a lasting impression is how much you care about the subject and try to find ways to reach us, and how hard you work to make it clear. I think we will catch that spirit, and eventually with time we will understand the hard stuff because we want to.

The wierdest things turn out true.
I remember all sorts of things other kids would tell me growing up, about the birds and the bees, etc., etc. and I always thought they were making it all up because it wasn't believable to my 8 or 9 year old mind. That's a theological lesson for me, a reminder that just because I don't think something make much sense, doesn't mean it is wrong or inaccurate. Stop and think about all the things that shouldn't happen that happen-Who would have put money on the Crocodile Hunter being stung by a sting ray and dieing, 1 1/2 weeks ago?
We have such finite vision. God can sees the whole picture- the beauty in the ugliness, the ugliness in the beauty. And he knows the all the "whys" and "therefores".
I have always wondered about the crucifixion; if there were other possible endings to Jesus' story, why pick that one? I just don't buy the idea Jesus' death was to satisfy either God or Satan. God would not have been so cruel, and why give so much power to Satan?
I do believe in the subjective theory because good examples are hard to come by; I can't imagine Pres. Bush volunteering to be crucified for the good of the nation. Would any other religious leader besides Jesus die so horribly if they could avoid it? Would Muhammad have done that? Or Moses? Would I?
There must be more to it than modeling behavior, because Jesus' death did change things on a cosmic level, but I will leave it to better minds than mine to discover.

The Aztecs used to cut beating hearts out of sacrificial victims, and the priests would wear the skins of their victims, and they called it religion. The Aztecs were smart; how could they be so fooled?
Some people think medicine is no good unless it tastes bad, and maybe people think religion isn't effective unless it physically hurts something or someone. MaybeGod only asked for blood in the Hebrew Temple because that is the imagery people understood in that day and time. I guess it is possible He enjoyed all those animal sacrifices, but I don't see how taking the life of a helpness animal could make Him smile.
I have a cousin very involved in efforts to try and restore the Temple in Jerusalem. I told her once that it might take the form of a space station or something. Hopefully if a Temple is ever built again, God would ask us to put Hondas on the altar, or someother material sacrifice that doesn't bleed.
I really hope at the end of the lectures I understand why the crucifixion of Jesus was necessary because other than the fact that contemplating it can help people deal with their own pain, I don't see why God allowed didn't honor Jesus' hope that the cup would be removed from him.

Lastly, the Word Faith Movement sounds like Christian voodoo.