Robot or Human?

The Overstock.com Chronicles: Episode One

As part of our Christmas gifts, Vicki and I got new hiply mispelled (thank you Roe) Razr phones and I scored some ultra cheap headsets on Overstock.com. They are great little devices. I got Vicki and H500 ("Red" edition, remeber the AIDs campaign that lasted like 48hrs?) and myself the H700. Below is my live chat session with Overstock representative "Mario", I am pretty sure that is not his real name... Anyhow, I hope you will enjoy this conversation as much as I did

A few notes: While I was waiting for the "initiate the return", I was able to read a few Lostpedia articles (did you know there were anagrams in Room 23!?!?!, do some eBay surfing , and realized I was hungry for lunch... My final question was apparently a real whollop, it took about five minutes to get a response. I suppose they have other clinets on the line or something. I was most unhappy however that I would have to wait about two weeks to get this settled from start to finish. I'll be sure to update this issue as it develops!

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Welcome to Overstock.com's Customer Service Live Chat! You will be joined with a chat representative as quickly as possible. (Less than 2 minutes)
Chat InformationWelcome to Overstock.com Customer Service, you are now chatting with Mario.
Mario: Thanks for visiting Overstock.com, this is Mario, how can I help you?
you: Yes
you: I purchased an H700 headset and might be having problems with the device
you: It was a refurb, what should I do
you: https://www.overstock.com/orders?inv_id=XXXXXXX
Mario: I'll be glad to check that for you.
Mario: May I have your order number or email address please?
you: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
you: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Mario: For security purposes, can you please verify the name and billing address on the account?
you: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
you: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Mario: Thanks for verifying the details.
Mario: Are you referring to the ''Motorola H700 Silver Bluetooth Headset"?
you: Yes
you: It crackles almost constantly when I am using it
Mario: Thank you for confirming the item.
Mario: To help you better ca you be more specific about the issue?
you: Most of the time, when I am talking on the deadset, there is a "crackling" noise.
you: It is the sort of sound you get when you walk too far from the phone or the battery is dying, but I get it about 70% of the time I use the device
Mario: Thank you for the information.
Mario: I understand that you received the item as defective.
Mario: Am I correct?
you: I am really not sure what is going on.
you: That is why I contacted you guys.
Mario: I'm really sorry that you have received this item in a defective condition.
Mario: I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused.
Mario: Since you've received a defective item, I'll initiate a return for replacement.
Mario: Is that okay with you?
you: Wow
you: What does that entail?
Mario: Please be online while I initiate the return and give you the return instructions through this chat.
you: Are you still there?
Mario: Thanks for being on hold. I appreciate your patience.
Mario: John, I have initiated a return on your item for a replacement.
Mario: Your Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number is XXXXXXXX.
you: What should I do next?
Mario: The RMA number is necessary for the appropriate processing of your return, so please do not send items back without the RMA number.
Mario: We will email you return instructions and a free return shipping label. The email will arrive in 1-2 business days and will include instructions on how to print the label.
Mario: Simply tape the free shipping label on the outside of the box and ship it back to our warehouse.
Mario: To qualify for a replacement, please send the item back to us with the original packaging, manufacturer's container, documentation, warranty cards, manuals and all accessories. Do not mark or deface original manufacturer containers in any manner.
Mario: I recommend you to get a receipt or a signature when you drop off your package at an authorized shipping service.
Mario: All returns must be received back in the Overstock.com warehouse 30 days from the date initiated.
Mario: Your replacement order will be sent to you under order 41346645 once your returned item reaches our warehouse and our certified technicians have tested the item.
Mario: It takes 2 business days from when we receive the returned item at our warehouse to process it. Your replacement order will be shipped out within 1-3 business days after processing.
you: The item only came in a bubble envelope, there was no cardboard. Is that a problem?
Mario: This replacement order will take 5-10 business days to reach you, once it has been shipped.
Mario: Please return the item as it was sent to you.
Mario: Did I explain the return process clearly to your satisfaction?
you: If your technicians deem that the item is not defective, then what happens?
Mario: Our specialized representative will decide on that.
Mario: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
you: Um, that does not really answer my question.
you: So then, it take about two weeks for the exchange process to be completed?
Mario: Our specialized representative will decide on that and see whether the replacement order could be sent to you or not.
Mario: If the does not qualify for the replacement they will contact you again via email or phone.
Mario: Did I explain the return process clearly to your satisfaction?
you: Will they simply return my device then?
Mario: I do understand your concern.
you: I will just wait for the return package to arrive.
you: Thank you
you: for your help.
Mario: However, I would like to tell you that since the returned item is only inspected by our specialized representative they will contact you with the detail information if the item is found to be not defective.
Mario: You are most welcome.
Mario: Do you have any further question for me?
you: That will do for now.
Mario: We look forward for your continued business with us.
you: God bless and take care
Mario: Happy New Year to you and your family.
Mario: Thanks for visiting Overstock.com. Your feedback is important. Please click 'Close' and complete the brief survey which appears. It takes less than one minute.

Holiness?

Is there any difference between "holiness" in the NT and in the OT. It would seem that at bottom, they are the same; but Paul and the author of Hebrews throw a few curve balls about how the sacrificial system and purity codes fell short until Christ fulfilled the Law.

One of my friends made a point that holiness is more about being connected to God than being separated from the world. Tell me, are there any persimmons up that tree?

JP

Burn Out

So, you're sitting in your office and you're wondering... "How could I possibly still feel burnt out after a week long break?"

Don't Mess With Jesus, He's a Good Shot...

Unless you have been living in a cave the last few days, you surely have heard about the tragic shootings at a Youth With A Mission center and finally the New Life Church in Colorado Springs CO (where Ted Haggard was pastor). The situation is tragic and difficult, but raises some serious questions that we have to grapple with.

As a pastor I have seriously mixed feelings about this episode, primarily because of the message that it sends. Do we want people to look at this and say, "Christians aren't wimps"?

Years ago, a Baptist pastor by the name of J. Frank Norris shot and killed a man in his office in what he called self defense. His justification was that the visitor went for something his inside coat pocket during an argument. The "assailant" turned out to be "armed" with papers from his lawyer.

On one hand, you have the Exodus passage exonerating one from blood-guilt if you kill in self defense. On the other hand, Jesus didn't have a security detail.

As a pastor/father, it is one thing to allow myself to suffer harm, but what am I to do when others suffer at the hands of evil men. For years, I was a strict pacifist until I ran into an ethical brick wall called The Holocaust. Should the lives of others be snuffed out meaninglessly if I can stop it? Yet at the same time, when this young man was killed/killed himself he was most likely sending himself into eternity without Christ. A similar thought has crossed my mind in the war in Iraq/Afghanistan. Every Muslim that we gun down spends an eternity in Hell. Is that the cost of freedom?

So, what would I do? I honestly don't know, all I can say is that I hope to God I would do the right thing. But in this case, I am most concerned about the message that this sends.

Lastly, I fear that this congregation is under assault from the Enemy, or perhaps they are experiencing the inevitable entropy associated with the Mega-Church movement. Perhaps only time will tell. Either way, we should be praying for them and the families involved in this terrible event.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT JOSEPH

First Week of Advent: The Announcement IV

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child, by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept, her a virgin, until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.
Matt 1:18-25 (NASB)

Joseph and Mary’s culture was so intensely honor bound that we have to reach a bit to fully comprehend his dilemma. In our day, when single starlets boast to Oprah about their latest love child with a Scandinavian super-hunk, it is easy for us to lose the “scandal” of a pregnant teenage girl in first century Palestine; much less one who was engaged to be married. For them, an engagement was as binding as a marriage. Mosaic law permitted a man to reject his wife if she was known to have “known” someone prior to their completing (read: consummating) the ketubah. Joseph being a devout man is pulled in a few directions. His honor, her honor, the lex taliones (eye for an eye) which could permit him to have her stoned for immorality, and, if I may read into the situation a bit; one might suggest a commandment about “loving your neighbor as yourself” or “doing unto others” was floating around in there somewhere… So what was he to do? We are told that he “decided to put her away quietly”, in other words, to find a way for her to slip out of town or whatever it would take for them to move on with their lives. Afterall, Joseph’s heart must have been broken, one could only imagine how the dreams that the betrothed have would have evaporated the moment he heard what had happened. We don’t even really know how he found out. Maybe he was at the coffee shop, or the barbershop, or Matza-Mart, maybe it was the matchmaker (if there was one), or his family that told him. Whatever way, could you imagine. But not only is there something about Mary, there is something about Joseph. Notice what his primary concern seems to be, not Joseph, but for Mary. That tells me something about his character, as does the next event in the passage.

Many righteous people are recorded as having dreams by which God reveals significant truths to them (Jacob, while not particularly righteous at the time; Joseph, Solomon). Others have angelic appearances (Gideon, Daniel, Elijah). While it is noteworthy that not everyone who sees an angel is righteous, to me, this is further evidence that Joseph was also “highly favored”. Joseph having both a divinely given dream and a communication form an angel (angelos, or “messenger”) would seem to highlight both the character of the recipient and significance of the event.

As it is though, we don’t know much else about Joseph. Almost like a minor character in a play, Joseph seems to disappear without explanation, the ends of his story are completely frayed. He is conspicuously absent for instance at the Cross, possibly indicating his death prior to the ministry of Jesus and is never mentioned outside of the Gospels. Unfortunately, ancient biographies don’t always pay attention to the details which inquiring minds want to know.

What we do know of Joseph demonstrates his love for, and incredible trust in God. His character was such that God chose him to watch over his only Son. All I can say is that Joseph must have had his heart in the right place.

So what are the best parts of our story?

First of all, its all true! It is far from a myth meant to comfort the feeble and frail in the midst of a wicked generation. It is the announcement of the dawning of a “New Deal”, the consummation of Israel, of the Law, the doorway to Heaven will be flung wide open, but not how we expected it to be (but that is another sermon).

Second, it includes us. Notice how God uses the un-fantastic; a teenage girl and a blue-collar carpenter, to bring about the incredible. Although I would argue that Joseph and Mary were individuals of exceptional character, I have to ask this question: “Where they chosen because they were highly favored, or highly favored because they were chosen?” If you ask me, I will go with the former option.

As much as we want God to love us more because we are good and love others less because they are bad, the fact remains that God loves us all the same. Joseph and Mary were not chosen for any reason other than that they were chosen. Just like Elijah, they were normal, yet God-fearing folks through who worked a miracle (cf. Jas 5:17).

Third, its not over yet! The story of the announcement is the story of two people who demonstrate incredible trust in God. But moreover, it is a story of light being spoken into a dark world. Sound familiar? It should, because it is the same hope we have today, not as we await the Advent, but as we await the Second Coming.

With that in mind, Merry Christmas and have a wonderful season of Advent.

THE (SAME) OLD STORY

THE (SAME) OLD STORY
The First Week of Advent: The Announcement III

As mentioned before, the expectation of Messiah goes way back, some say all the way back to Genesis 3:15, the so-called “protoevangelium”. (If you can fit that on a Scrabble board, I am pretty sure you would win.) This is considered the first prophecy of Jesus Christ. The seed of the woman, Jesus and the seed of the serpent, presumably Satan and the powers, will bruise His heel at the cross and later at the resurrection He will crush the serpent’s head; at the Second Advent the crushing will be complete, as Paul says, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

Yet without question, the most significant statements about the coming Messiah are found what many Christians have come to consider an advance copy of the Gospels, the book of Isaiah.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 (NASB)

Before all of Dr. Bayer’s students have a longhorn; I readily concede that yes, this does refer to king Ahaz (Is 8:1-10). The study of the Hebrew alma is a great Excursis of “semantic fields” for Hebrew and LXX nerds. In the 60’s, scholars nearly went to fisticuffs about the translation of this word: should if be young woman or virgin? The RSV was doomed to the pejorative “liberal” for all time because of their choice to render the Hebrew literally, however, we know that the Gospel writers had nary a worry claiming that this text points to Jesus (Mt 1:23), so neither do I, and neither does Dr. Bayer or any other orthodox Christian. So, you may translate it “young woman” if you will, since we know that the birth in Isaiah’s time was not immaculate, but we know that when it applies to Christ, there is no problem.

Here is the fantastic thing! His virginal conception was foretold, but so was His place of birth, the details of His life, the mode of His execution, and details right down His burial and that He would raise up again on the third day! Talk about detail.

A mathematician conjured up an example to help us grasp the immensity of this:

The chances of any one person in history fulfilling only EIGHT of the approximately 300 prophecies concerning the life of Jesus could be illustrated by covering the State of Texas with Silver Dollars, 2 ft. deep. Mark one Silver Dollar and place it in the pile. Take a second person and blindfold them and give them one chance to pick the correct Silver Dollar. There you have it.

And to quote Dr. Bing Bayer, “He told us to look for Him in there [the Old Testament]”:

"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."
Luke 24:44 (NRSV)

You see, when you come right down to it, the entire Bible is really The Jesus Book. W.A. Criswell (who was born in Eldorado, OK if you can believe it) spoke of a "scarlet thread of redemption that runs from Genesis to the Revelation". This is so true. All of human history hinges upon the ministry of Jesus, so much so that his life split time in two (BD/AD: Before Christ & Anno Domini "The Year of Our Lord. It all points to Him.

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY:

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY:
First Week of Advent: The Announcement II

Before we move on, let’s pause to think about Mary. As CS Lewis noted in Mere Christianity, when people talk about Mary the air can get thick very quickly. Protestants, wary of idolatry, tend to downplay her importance when they mention her at all. As such we can miss her significance altogether. Catholics, who may sense that she is not getting proper respect can feel much like you’re talking their mother down, and we know how it is when a man feels his mother’s honor is on the line…

So where should we land? With all do respect, I would argue that Mary has taken far too much prominence in Catholicism. But on the other hand, I want to stress that mentioning her once or twice a year, and that almost parenthetically, is shameful.

If we can squeeze her in between the Christmas program (at church and at school), the cantata, the shopping, trips to the air port, and the office party (whew!) we might come to terms with the reality that of all the women on the earth at the time of Christ’s birth, before or since, God handpicked ONE to bear the Son of God! Her name was Mary. And what is said about her? “Hail, favored one!” says Gabriel, and Elizabeth adds, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”

She must have done something right! But again, one reason that it is so crucial that we understand Mary is the significance of God using one of US to bring about his forgiveness. Did you catch that? I hope you did. Beyond that, we should see her example as a willing bondservant, And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:38 (NASB), WHATEVER YOUR PURPOSE, HOWEVER IT MAY COME, SO BE IT. If only we had such faith!

Dark Days: First Week of Advent: The Announcement

THE ANNOUNCEMENT

I. DARK DAYS
Advent (from Lat. adventus "coming" "arrival") Advent begins on the Sunday nearest November 30 and lasts until Christmas Eve. It is a celebration and remembrance of the first coming of King Jesus practiced to help us keep a proper focus during preparations for the Christmas holiday, keeping Christ in Christmas for ourselves.

Consequently, I am surprised at how much noise Christians have made over the last few years about companies, organizations, and governments taking Christ out of Christmas. Most of us will roll out of bed on Christmas day, open our presents, sit down to our new things and not open the scriptures once to share with our children why we do any of it in the first place. So, just in case we have forgotten, why do we celebrate Christmas? The story begins, like most great stories, a long time ago in a place far away under the reign of an evil king…

The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in a dark land,
The light will shine on them.
Isaiah 9:2 (NASB)

There are few periods in Israel's history as dark the time during which Jesus' birth was announced. Israel was under the authority of the Roman Empire, who by then was well established as the world power. Although the Jews were granted an exceptional amount of autonomy under Rome, there remained a constant "cloud" of oppression, the simple knowledge that they were not entirely free. Being under any authority has its ups and downs, but for God's chosen people to be under the heel of a gentile nation… again…

The Jewish people had waited in hope for the coming Messiah, the one promised to free Israel, set them up in their rightful place and redeem the world… but this promised Son of David had not yet come.

It was in the midst of this darkness, that an angel appeared to a young woman, probably not much older than a sophomore in High School, engaged to be married to a good and righteous man, in a village about the size of Rockville, MO; and he brought staggering news. The most important event in human history was about to take place… THROUGH HER.

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin,?" 35 The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. 36 "And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. 37 "For nothing, will be impossible with God." 38 And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38 (NASB)