MY BRIEF TESTIMONY

BRIEF 5 min. PERSONAL TESTIMONY - BARRY BALLARD

On a warm summer day in Washington D.C., I sat in a small movie theater listening to a re-broadcast of a Billy graham crusade that had been previously given elsewhere. I was attending with a Christian group who ministered on the air force based where I was stationed, "Andrews Air Force Base". At the conclusion of the presentation, there was an invitation given to receive Christ and counselors were standing up front to pray with those who came forward. The house lights went up and I went forward and prayed to receive Jesus Christ into my life. This was not the moment of my true conversion, this was "preparation-of-heart", part one.

On a humid pitch-black night in 1969, my plane touched down on the Saigon airfield that was currently under rocket attack. Black-out conditions were in effect and we were rushed to trucks and then transported to our barracks and its inclusive bunker for protection. I was assigned an m16 rifle, two clips of ammo, and given a helmet and flack-vest. I spent my first night in Saigon standing in the bunker, wondering "why?" I was even here. I understood none of it, except that supposedly it had to do with communism and we were protecting democracy. But, I just felt abandoned to the most bizarre and remote assignment I could imagine. I worked "support", so I do not want to give the false impression that I was "combat"; but I did serve some time in the jungle. Only one man died in our group during the year I was there; and he told me beforehand that he wanted to die and never return home. He had received his divorce papers in the mail about a week before my arrival. He was shot down in a helicopter "one" day before he was to return home. My one year in Saigon was a lesson in the deterioration of the human spirit and soul. Eventually, I also learned to hate myself and "living" and could care less about what might lie ahead. I was returning to the states with a crushed human soul, devoid of all optimism. This was "preparation-of-heart", part two.

On a humid gray-dusk-like-evening, I found myself, in 1970, driving through the main gate of Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas. I soon settled into my tasks of working in the 7th bomb wing headquarters, in support roles again as usual. I also served on the honor guard for special occasions for fallen veterans funerals, or award ceremonies. Even though my personal psyche was "wasted“; I was considered an admirable employee and respected for my abilities. My inner life however was an absolute disaster that I did not "share" with anyone. Strangely enough; I was visited by representatives of the "Navigators"; the same Christian organization that had approached me in Washington D.C. I began attending bible studies two nights a week and felt a little better about life by receiving this follow-up. I'll call this "preparation-of-heart", part three.

During my term of service at Carswell, I met my wife to be, Beverly, who invited me to her church in River Oaks, "Trinity Baptist Church". They had a young pastor, John Hatch, who was just finishing his doctorate at Southwestern and the atmosphere attracted me. It was in 1973, “4” years after that initial "preparation-of-heart"; that I made an honest commitment to Jesus Christ and immediately followed that with baptism.

From there, the road did not get any smoother, but my “soul” began a healing process that eventually went from healing to true "Wonder and Discovery". The first thing that was revealed to me was my spiritual gift, which is "Teaching". While at Trinity, I ended up writing three commentaries: James, Colossians, and Philippians. All three helped me grow in my commitment to Jesus Christ.

True conversion was preceded by three moments of "preparation-of-the-heart" in my case. Over a four year stretch of time, God never gave up on me. I think the strength of my testimony must be given to the strength of God's loving patience; to lead me along the final path that would secure my faith. Thank You.
















.. . . . . clicking the lecture heading should take you directly to the download link. if not, copy the http address to your clipboard. then paste into your google search window. google will take you to a direct link you can click on. you then can download lecture for "free" . or go to my homepage on facebook and click on "links" tab where all links are listed.






CURRENT MEMBERSHIP = 23,000 MEMBERS:

BELGIUM = 8,000 MEMBERS

UNITED STATES = 7,000 MEMBERS

GERMANY = 4,000 MEMBERS

UKRAINE = 4,000 MEMBERS































































































































lectures on jurgen moltmann

mp3's

Sunday, July 28, 2013

JEAN-LUC NANCY: AESTHETICS AND POLITICS WORK TOGETHER

click on:  direct link for file   http://www.mediafire.com/?seft7hd59ipg1mb



FOR NANCY, aesthetics must accompany ethics or politics as a “counter-blow” to keep the event “fluid” as event,  and not rigid dogma. He situates these operative realms at the “void-point” which is the “realm-of-spirit”.  Here are two brief snap-shots.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

NANCY'S: MYTH OF THE VOID-POINT

click on:  direct link for file     http://www.mediafire.com/?1ca74tr3chc04cu


Nancy’s system contains two main parts: a psychology for the logic of constructing the notion of the “true”.  And a mythology for the targeted area for positing called the “void-point”.

JURGEN MOLTMANN & JEAN-LUC NANCY: a shared prophesy

JURGEN MOLTMANN & JEAN-LUC NANCY: a shared prophesy

Jurgen Moltmann has been my theologian of choice for quite a few years; since 1975.  We also are good friends, which is even more important to me.  I have never allowed another individual to ascend to his plane until just recently; that person being jean-Luc Nancy. Nancy is a great post-modern fit for previous followers of Moltmann.  Nancy uses Christian language and even Christian concepts, but they are de-mythologized of course.  I’ve found a great deal of material which helps to establish a reciprocal relationship, with each informing the other.  That is why you’ve seen this upsurge of Nancy lectures on Moltmann’s site.   At this point it can only be an invitation; but I think you will arrive at a similar conclusion if you dig into Nancy’s original work.  Thank you, Barry Ballard.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

NANCY THROUGH HIS "5" SCHEMA:

click on:  direct link for file    http://www.mediafire.com/?0gw8gecgfuug5d9

A good workable understanding of Nancy simply requires learning his 5 schema.  Then you can anticipate his thought successfully.  It gives you a nice composite picture.  30 min. only

Friday, July 19, 2013

NANCY: THE OTHER HALF

click on: direct link  http://www.mediafire.com/?07dhbkon16qz8r4

***i just cleaned up the 8:32 point, so cleaner copy now.***


THIS IS ONE-HALF OF NANCY'S SYSTEM: Jean-Luc Nancy likes to approach philosophical problems in two-volume sets. He just finished his philosophy of religion as "dis-enclosure" and "adoration"; and both volumes were excellent. But during the years of 1993-1997, Nancy was interested in the structure of "being". (I'm using french publication dates here). Nancy's philosophy is best depicted as a "triad consisting of: (1). Hegel; (2). Kierkegaard; and (3). Nancy. Precisely stated Nancy is neo-kierkegaardian and neo-Hegelian. He does not reside in only one camp. Because of this deeper sense of personality to his thought, he approached the structure of being by first publishing "the sense of the world" in 1993. This book was to portray his consummate position, and it did. And, in the process, Nancy borrowed extensively from Kierkegaard's "Sickness unto death". The presentation was brilliant and powerful and presented the neo-kierkegaardian stance of Nancy' system. OK, that's half-done.

four years later in 1997, Nancy published this presentation of the structure-of- being, but within the context of Hegel's thought rather than Kierkegaard .

Monday, July 15, 2013

BADIOU: MORE DETAIL:

click on:  direct link  http://www.mediafire.com/listen/p1ea51e47u82m24/badiou6.mp3

BADIOU'S CLEAREST "THOUGHT-PICTURE":Badiou and Zizek are on a mission. They want to be the dominant voices of the post-modern movement; and things are evolving to be just that way.

Badiou has determined to lay down his philosophy in three large volumes of 600 pages each. In 2005, volume one appeared as "being and event". In 2009, this volume appeared as volume two of his overall philosophy. And like the philosopher he truly admires, Hegel; Badiou waited until he had finished these two volumes before writing the "Introduction". That's really the best way to approach an introduction. The introduction was just released this year as "philosophy and the event". You should probably read the small 2013 paperback first, but that's up to you. I did read the paperback first, and it is extremely helpful for understanding this second volume of Badiou's system.

So what is a logic, according to the Hegelian scheme of things? (By the way, Badiou has a love/hate relationship to Hegel; loves his psychology, hates his ontology)




Friday, July 5, 2013

BADIOU'S "TRUTH-PROCEDURE"

click on:   direct link   http://www.mediafire.com/listen/25ajugkqc185sc2/badiou3(2).mp3

AN INTRO: BUT FOR THE SCHOLAR: Even if you are already well-versed in post-modern thought. And even if you have already studied Badiou's "Being and Event"; you will want to purchase this manuscript which goes a long way at clarifying Badiou's position and any obscurities from the previous technical work. This text is accessible, but it is still written in philosophical language. I'd call it "conversational-philosophical" language.

This appears five years after"Being and Event"; and it takes up a methodology of the "Socratic dialogue" as a disclosure- tool. This text specifically centers the presentation of Badiou's position around the six specific steps of the "truth-procedure"; "3" in the unconscious and "3" in consciousness. The steps are: 1. Encounter; 2. Grasping; 3. Proposal; 4. Elaboration;
5. Incorporation; and 6. Positing. There is also a detailed articulation of "mediation", so nothing is left out. There is also an excellent discussion of "Art", which takes the place of "Religion" for badiou. "Art" is presented through a process of "4" moments, with each moment containing its own triad. It is very systematically presented.



Monday, July 1, 2013

SELF AS SPIRIT:

KIERKEGAARD AND NANCY: THE “15" STEPS TO REACHING “SELF” AS “SPIRIT”

(copyright: Barry L. Ballard, July 1, 2013)


1.   NANCY: inscribed.  Self begins with a preceding “origin-identity-truth” of self that is on-the-way to arriving completely. An inscribed “trace-of the-eternal” which is opening.

KIER: despair.  Self is in despair of “weakness”, but where introversion results in the “infinite-self” being posited as an abstract possibility.

2.   NANCY: inscription is opened in a “waking” moment.

KIER: abstract possibility opens as “primitive-plan”; the waking out of despair.

3.   NANCY: opening leads to “imagination”; an imagination which is “praxis-based”.

KIER: infinitizing. The imagination engages an unconscious activity of
“fantastical-expansion”.

4.   NANCY: internal posited desert.  Unconsciously,  the self reserves a “space” for the “feeling-percepts” of the “trace-of-sense” found in the situation that correspond to the trace within the self.

KIER: internal posited mirage.  The unconscious space for the feeling-percepts of possibilities is  not the entire desert; it is the fuzzy and non-distinct hint of a mirage of possibilities that don’t appear as hard-edged certainties.

5. NANCY: self forms a “body-of-pattern” called “world”.  Unconsciously,  and based on feelings, arranging the feeling-percepts of the desert into a  felt-model of “transformation” or “body-of-transformation”.

KIER: not a “body”, but a “pregnancy” is created as the “personality-of-sprit”; waiting for the mid-wife activity in cognition.

6.   NANCY: arrangement of sub-systems.  The self,  unconsciously , based on feelings, keeps relating the “thought-picture” of the “body-of-transformation” to the “process-of-appearing” in externality and recognizes that the “feeling-model” can be refined into a “punctuated” group of  sub-systems of “truth” that can then be organized into an “enchaining”of interrelated spacing and structure. Called: “originating-spatiality”

KIER: arrangement of sub-systems becomes less distinct in kierkegaard and means  the resolution  of contradictions facing the self in the mirage.  Therefore, he creates the step of “temporary-suspension” of the teleology of the moral-stand-point, in  favor of an eschatological ethics, similar to Abraham.

7. NANCY: “punctuation” concentrates into “central- glimmer” , which is more than the sum of punctuations.  It is represented as an influential “excess” of spirit.

KIER: “passage  through the eye of the needle” (part 1).  Begins as a process that first demands that the self posit the sense of the possibility of the divine , in  the new eschatological ethics.

8.   NANCY: situation narrows as cognition takes over.

KIER: “passage through the eye of the needle” (part 2).  For kierkegaard, it is a “fight” ; a fight against the pain of childbirth.  A “travail-of-birth- pangs” that means faith is not easily decided in view of the lack of certainty.

9.   NANCY: "passage through the eye of the needle".  Cognition takes up the “excess” in a responsible “faith-decision”.

KIER: “passage through the eye of  the needle” (part 3).  For  Kierkegaard,  self also takes responsibility for the excess of the mirage.  But that means choosing to be a “mid-wife”,  by a willingness to conceptualize the “infinitizing” into an “idealizing” of language that can be posited.

10. NANCY: cognition appropriates the feelings and the “body of transformation” with its imaginative possibilities

KIER: consciousness re-appropriates “infinitizing” and works it through a “cognitive-praxis” in the external world.

11.   NANCY: cognitive partitioning.  Cognition concretizes the “spatiality-model” of:
“punctuations” into “lexical content”   & “enchaining” into “lexical form”.

KIER: consciousness enlists a lexical content called: “transferred-language”, which is symbolic language of the spirit with metaphor ; used to articulate the “cognitive-praxis”.

12 NANCY: cognition also conceptualizes the “excess” as “infinite liberation”.

KIER: Kiekegaard’s cognition also conceptualizes the infinite-excess of possibility as:
“the generic-verb of “building-up”, rather than liberation.

13. NANCY: positing linguistically. self posits th result as “being-to be-completed”; or as an eschatological promise.

KIER: the model of “transferred-language” is coupled with the empowerment of “love-as-building-up” ; and is ready for positing.

14. NANCY: the result is actualized in the instability of the “realm-of-difference” or “appearing-process”.

KIER: the result is actualized in the “tendency-of a -community” of selves ; where all selves are perceived inscribed with the infinite ground.

15.   NANCY: result is returned to self.  Self grows in “spirit”.

KIER: the positing is relinquished to its own self-actualization and return.  Self grows as “spirit”.