And, to illustrate some of the Ellul stuff I mentioned, here's the quote for today, Wednesday, June 25: "In reality, the problem that confronts us is that of the Chrsitian ethic, an ethic which has nothing in common with what is called general morality and still less with the Christian values in the traditional sense. ... At heart, this is a fight of faith: individual, and in the presence of God; and a living attitude, adopted according to the measure of faith of each person, and as the result of his or her faith. ... Thus we can never make a complete and valid description of the ethical demands of God, any more than we can reach its heart. We can only define its outline, and its conditions, and study some of its elements for purposes of illustration. "The heart of this ethic may be expressed thus: it is based upon an "agonistic" way of life; that is to say, the Christian life is always an "agony" [literally in Greek: a contest/wrestling]: that is, a final decisive conflict; thus it means that constant and actual presence in our hearts of the two elements of judgement and of grace. But it is this very fact that ensures our liberty. We are free, because at every moment in our lives we are both judged and pardoned, and are consequently placed in a new situation, free from fatalism, and from the bondage of sinful habits. ...this is enough to show us that the whole Christian attitude is in direct relation with the act of God in Jesus Christ." --Jacques Ellul, _The Presence of the Kingdom_, 2nd ed. (1989). pp. 12-13.