Can you count your sins?

Going over the concepts in my last blog, I'm basically saying that defining sin is very fuzzy nowadays. So much so that I don't know that I (or you) can actually pinpoint a sin or two during the normal day.

I would like to be able to know if and when and how I sin when I sin.

The old sins of sex and getting drunk and hating people don't apply anymore. I have sex when I want, I drink whatever I want and pretty much to whatever extent I care to without feeling I'm sinning and I don't hate anybody. So I'm not sinning those ways.

I'm not murdering, stealing, cheating, lying, or fornicating with other women.

I guess I could stretch a few things like when I go faster than the speed limit sign of 65 and I go 70. Maybe technically that's some kind of sin. On the books it is illegal. But on a freeway with everybody around you going at least 70 - 75 mph, you are almost a hazaard trying to go slower. In fact it just don't seem right to NOT go the average safe speed that those around you seem to be going.

So where are my sins? What wrongs do I do that Jesus gave sacrificed his blood to God for?

I got one.

The other day I got an email from a person who did some work. I thought about email my boss communicating the work was done without copying the guy who did the work, thus hinting (sort of) that maybe I did the work.

The pursuit of self-glory. That's feel like sinful.

I don't remember if I actually did it or not, but that's about the only thing I can think of in my life recently that I would consider a sin.

Can you remember your sins?

Can you count your sins?

Can you even name one?

Sins - Can You Count Them?

I've been thinking a lot about sin lately and trying to figure out just exactly what sins I commit on a day-to-day basis.... truthfully, I search my soul and have a hard time finding any. I was always taught that I'm practically sinning every minute in someway or another, if not by actually doing a sin, at least by NOT doing something I should be doing - sins of omission.

This is why we all need the blood of Jesus to forgive us of our sins so God can look upon a sinless person who died and appropriate in His checkbook our debt to this payment.

I was also taught that even if I'm not sinning right now, I still need this blood payment because I surely sinned sometime in my past and besides that I was just plain born with sin somehow already marked on my soul genetically because my parents and their parents all the way back to Adam and Eve also sinned.

That concept was called Original-Sin and was created by Saint Augustine in the 5th century A.D. and accepted by the church ever since.

One of the few exceptions was by an intellectual lawyer turned preacher in the 18th (?) century name Charles Finney. He rationally explained away the whole silliness of Original-Sin and I've been satisfied that the concept is bogus ever since.

So, I'm back to my daily sins to find my guilt - and my continued need for blood payment (I know this is bordering on blasphemy here for evangelicals, but I'm trying to just be logical and honest here.)

So, can I clarify my sins enough to the point that I can be conscious of them?

Can I actually COUNT my sins? Like through the day?

It gets real fuzzy. And the older I get the less sins I seem to do.

Let's start with really the only one people really have trouble with - sex.

Hey, I've been married for 30 years and somehow have avoided the pitfalls of betraying her. I can have sex with her just about anytime I like. I've taught myself to avoid looking and lusting after other women, though I can't say I haven't looked and appreciated sexiness or even lusty body parts of women, but I don't feel I'm battling sinful thoughts at all. What does pass through my mind I just don't feel accountable or guilty for it.

Well this is a dangerous thought, and for sure doesn't negate the powerful death-dealing results that can come from having sex with someone other than your designated for life mate. Lord knows how many family lives have been soiled and ruined by sexual unfaithfulness outside of their mate.

But still, maybe because I'm older or maybe just because I'm successfully habituated to not doing it - don't on any kind of a day by day basis sin this way. It may be over a decade even. I mean very few times have I allowed myself to indulge my imagination with sexual encounters consciously.

Now, I've had sleeping dreams of such a nature, so it's not that I'm too weird. I just strongly am committed to my wife and have an innate fear of losing her if I screwed up (pun not intended.)

But surely you can't actually do sins in your dreams that would require forgiveness at the cost of the blood sacrifice of Deity, can you?

[more to say on this subject - because I think I did sin the other day and want to tell about it.]

Adena Protests - The Austin Tea Party

Austin had its own Tea Party on tax day April 15th. Adena considers herself a strong conservative and decided to participate. I went along to document it and even hollar and protest a little. There were some great signs and the people were very generic and seemingly average Americans. We marched down Congress avenue down to the river and did a mock Tea Party.

Driving is a RIGHT not a privilege!

Driving is a RIGHT not a privilege!

Citizens SHOULD be outraged and some of them are.

In December, a trooper arrested a man in Glendale while he was attacking a camera with a pick ax. In another incident, a troupe of men dressed as Santa Claus toured around the city of Tempe in December and placed gaily wrapped boxes over several traffic cameras, blocking their views.

Driving is a RIGHT not a privilege!

Do NOT believe the lie that driving is a privilege. This is the biggest LIE supporting "BIG BROTHER" and the government to spy on you and tax you through automation practices like cameras.

Transportation of you body and self is a RIGHT!

• It wasn't a privilege to move your body on a horse or a donkey in pre-automobile days.




• It is not a privilege to ride you bicycle to town.




• It is not a privilege to walk, run, or skip through America.




• IT IS A RIGHT - TO MOVE YOURSELF THROUGH THIS MODERN WORLD - as long as it is without harm to the rights of others!

It is a RIGHT to drive a vehicle across America. It is NOT a right to hurt or infringe yourself upon anybody's else's rights.

The government wants to spy on you and tax you and infringe your rights to get from point A to point B without extras taxes. Cry out now and save your freedom.

Don't believe the lie that driving is a privilege. It is not. Driving in this modern day world of transportation requirements is an ABSOLUTE RIGHT!

Last Day at Wimberley First Baptist Church

Turn this up loud 'cause Ozzy is doing the soundtrack here.

This was our last day at church, where we've been for 5 years or so.

It was sad for me. This was where I envisioned my "old country church" memories to take shape. They never quite did. My wrestlings with God and the romantic notions of all that means have wavered to and fro for many a years now.

I still love the meaning of God.

I like good old Black Sabbath music too.

Here's my expression of friends, God, the old days, and where I stand and fall and stumble.

Lance Lipinsky - Cool as Cool Can Get

Lance Lipinsky grew up in Wimberley, TX., and left home as a young teenager to Las Vegas, Nevada to pursue his dream of playing rock-a-billy music. He's played gigs now in Las Vegas for 7 years and now has come back home to his little Wimberley roots and played this year on the stage he first played at when only 13 years old.

Welcome home, Lance. You are as hip as hip can get! And that's pretty cool!

How Lance Lipinsky plays in Wimberley - my recording:


How Lance Lipinsky plays in Las Vegas:

Ariel and I Catch a Snake