The Nicene Creed

Growing up in the Lutheran Church, I learned to recite the Apostle's Creed at a young age, before it was even required. You know how kids pick up rote memorization. Have 'em quote some Napolean Dynamite for you; you'll get the idea.

After a time, to spice things up I guess, they switched to the Nicene Creed. To a kid, it's like learning Scripture memorization in a different version. No problem.

The Nicene Creed contains a statement about Jesus' return to the earth. Specifically:

He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end...

Honestly, I don't remember any teaching on that point. After teaching my Sunday school class last week on "End-Times" doctrine, I asked my mom, who happened to be in town, if she'd ever heard such things. "Never," she responded.

Maybe it's that 2000 years (almost) have passed since He rose into heaven, and we figured we must have gotten that one wrong. Maybe it's the fact that major denominations have so diluted their biblical teaching you'll find more substance from Jay Leno.

But if we read the prophecy in Scripture that has yet to be fulfilled the same way we read the prophecy in Scripture that has been fulfilled, we understand that within context, we can read that prophecy plainly.

Jesus will return. He said He would (Matthew 24:29-31). The angel's who spoke to the disciples following Jesus ascension said He would (Acts 1:10-11), that He would return just as He went, bodily, on the clouds and to the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem.

The time preceding His return will be a time of horrors like no time the world has ever known (Matthew 24:9-28), a time of God's wrath (yes, wrath) being poured out on those who have not accepted what God provided as a mean's of salvation (Revelation 6:15-17).

And that's the kicker. God has provided a solution to man's problem with rebellion. We are rebellious by nature. Romans 3:10-18 delivers that picture in Hi-Def detail.

“ There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
“ Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“ The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“ Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“ Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.”
“ There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We have a sin problem. No, we're not basically good. We are rebellious, and a holy God rightfully and righteously cannot tolerate sin. And because we cannot fix ourselves, He provided the solution.

"For He made Him who knew no sin (Jesus Christ) to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Corinthians 5:21

While He walked the earth, Jesus told His disciples that He was the way, and the only way, to mend the chasm between God and man when He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Christians get accused of being narrow-minded. If we were arguing the Best Picture of 1963, our adamance can be dismissed. But Jesus is coming back. And next time, He won't be cooing in the manger. And so we proclaim the solution, not our solution, not some Ponzi scheme, but the fix for the broken relationship between God and man.

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame."" Romans 10:9-11 (v. 12 is good, too)

I don't know when Christ will return. But as the land He trod once again erupts in flames, I know for certain that it is far closer today than it was yesterday. What a blessing to know that I have been adopted into His family (Galatians 4:4-5).

Just another day; The Viking Version

• Purple: Wow. The (northern state) Vikings won their division. That's the first time since 2000. Something's wacky in the cosmos. They could have backed into the playoffs since Chicago lost, but they actually showed a little heart by beating the Eli Manning-less NY Giants. Hey, a win's a win, baby.
  

Let's see...seems to me there was something else going on in the news. Now, what was it? Something about gonzo or gas-up. Hmmm...oh, yes.

• Gaza: Hamas, the political party linked to more terrorist activities this side of Osama Bin Laden who for some surrealistic reason was handed the keys to the Gaza strip, has been using their territory not for entreprenurial purposes and not for agriculture. They haven't been dabbling in oils or watercolors either. No, they've been using their soil to lob shells into Israel. The response of the international community? Wait for it...no, don't bother. You won't hear it. There was no response. So after warning upon warning, Israel sent its fist squarely into Hamas' Arabian schnozzola. The international response? You'd have thought Bush reinvaded Iraq. Only its worse.
  

Russia is calling for Israel to cease and desist (here). No surprise, really. But what's funnier than Brian Regan's "I Walked on the Moon" is Russia's reason in pleading for the stop. They want to send in "humanitarian aid." That's diplo-speak for "give the terrorists a chance to regroup or dig deep into their cockroachian holes."

Next on the comedy hit parade, Iran, star of "Two and a Half Mahdis," is calling for a full-scale unleashing of Islamic fury upon any and all things Jewish. Didn't we just see this episode in India? When's the last time you heard an Islamic nation speak out against a Muslim terrorist organization (or am I being redundant)?

Guess it's time for the civilized world to bury their tolerant little tetes in the sand, until that sand is turned to glass.

• Tremors. No, not another sequel to a bad movie. Real ones. Seems the earth continues to rumble in parts common and uncommon, most recent in Yellowstone and Pennsylvania. The Dallas Cowboys thought it was all part of the shellacking they took from the Eagles.

Until next time, keep your eyes to the east. He's coming back. Soon.

Double-speak of the Day

Here's a headline from Fox News (the full story from the London paper is here):

Model's Death Exposes Murky World of Polygamy in U.K.

Is this really a story of the seamier side of sexual deviancy, as if sexual deviance can have a seamier side?

Might I pose a better title for the article?

Model's Death Exposes Murky World of Islam in U.K.

For you see, the article is about the increasing influence of Islam within British (and all European) society. Note the gnarly quote from Ghayasuddin Saddiqui, the head of the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain (?!!?):

"This story is very common, unfortunately. We have tried to plug some of the holes in the whole system, but unfortunately our clerics do not live on this planet. They don’t understand. For them, controlling the sexuality of the woman is far more important than justice, so we have this problem.”

And because there is no evidence that the model didn't merely leap to her death, her "husband" is freed on bail. Innocent until proven guilty, true, but what law will decide his ultimate fate?

From the vector Britain has taken, the husband will likely be found justifiably guilty of the homicide of an uncooperative Muslim bride...in a British Sharia court.

Who will have the fortitude to oppose the tide of multicultural vomit flooding civilization and declare, "Not all worldviews are created equal"?

And we want to become like Europe? Don't go any higher than the second floor.

Time and temperature

Sounds like the title for an apocalyptic entry. Not really. Okay, maybe a little.

We hit 78* yesterday here in Texas. SEVENTY-EIGHT DEGREES!!! The day after Christmas! For a mis-placed Minnesota boy, that's just not right.

(BTW, should Al Franken win the Senate seat in Minnesota, you'll not hear me reference that once hallowed state ever again. Tragic. I'll stand like the prodigal's father waiting to see if it returns to its senses, but I'll leave it to roll in its own vomit until such time.)

9-11: What's next

Well, there really hasn't been one, now has there? At least such hasn't occurred upon our turf. It's a monthly happening in Europistan.

Because Islamic psychotics have not blown Americans to pieces on earth in the recent past, the media has dismissed the "War on Terror" as a figment of President Bush's imagination. We bake our cookies and attend our kids' sporting events with nary a thought of those who loathe our marrow. We're back to a 9-10 delusional immunity.

Robert Spencer stands as a man screaming to a deafened masses. In 2006, six Muslims sought to send a few soldiers straight into the abyss to the glory of Allah (how difference the one true God who does not desire for any to perish (2 Peter 3:9)). Spencer writes about the recent conviction of the Fort Dix Six in a recent Human Events article (here). Did you hear about it in your local paper? The national news? E-mags? Nope. Me, neither.

He calls upon the Muslim community via law enforcement officials to police themselves. I would love to merely hear that the majority in America's Muslim community speak out against the Islamic hatred being fomented around the world. That might give me some hope that they would begin policing themselves.

As it is, the sound of silence indicts those who proclaim to be part of the religion of peace.

QotD: An alien perspective

The following quote comes from Kobi Drori, the spokesman for the Raelian movement. Who are they you ask? It's a group who doesn't believe in angels, demons, or gods (God), but they do believe that mankind blossomed forth from seeding done by space aliens. Really. No, seriously.

If the following is not the absolute antithesis of Christ, Christianity, and civilization, I don't know what is:

"The second goal is to expedite the establishment of a society based on the principles of non-violence, solidarity, self-fulfillment and pleasure. To establish one global currency, one global government and harness science to the service of humanity, and not against humanity," he concluded.

I highlighted and italicized a bit. I guess I could have done that to the entire quote.

Considering the quote's source and that their advocating mass orgy to further their cause, they'll likely be dismissed, but this is the very hope, the very heresy that will lead the world further astray. It is the setup that will occur as mankind seeks to live apart from God during the time of the end.

Stay vigilant for your enemy prowls like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour.

Merry Christmas

To all whose eyes grace these peculiar posts, I pray that you and your family have a very...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

May God bless and honor you as you obey and honor Him this wondrous season.

"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given..."

Merry Christmas...from the moon!

Forty years ago, this message rang across the heavens (here).

I hope and pray that you will all have a VERY Merry Christmas. Immanuel!

Blackbelt Christianity

I stumbled upon this article during my morning surf. It's a good Christmas read.

After reading it, I thought of a good friend, a liberal friend, who believes himself to be a Christian, and I forwarded him the article.

The author is a staunch political conservative (on all issues).

And this is a truth you will find: If you take the Bible at its word, if you don't read between the lines and you don't twist and contort the text well outside the realm of context, there's close to a 90% chance your political understandings are conservative as well. No, it's not a Gallup Poll stat. It's a Keith's-not-so-scientific-observations stat.

Considering we are two days out from Christmas, I decided on a little experiment. Off to my usual wellspring of conservative thought, Townhall.com. I found two articles today with religious undertones, one on Hanukkah and one on Christmas. The day before, another three to four were found.

Then I made a sharp turn to the left and sauntered over to the Huffington Post. No articles on Christ or Christmas today. Plenty on Rick Warren (one actually positive). Oh, and there was a sexy shot of a bare-chested president-elect while in Hawaii.

I could not find a link to check out yesterday's articles, so I did a search. This provided some articles on Christmas, but they were exclusively about money, presents, the environment...the here and now and what's coming in the future. Not one peek into the manger. Not one article about what God-in-flesh then means for man-in-sin today.

For folks like the Towhall author, Christ and His advent aren't just another part of their lives. He doesn't divorce golf from God. His work comes under the authority of One who is Wonderful, Counselor. Christ, the Creator, is the foundation for all that we are supposed to be; He is to inform every aspect of my life. That's not something you find from the writers and thinkers of the Huffington Post.

I asked my friend to send me the link to such articles if he comes across them. I'll let you know.

And so I appreciate Chuck for having the courage to go against the grain of his industry, giving them a roundhouse kick upside the head to awaken them about the Child who has come and the King who is coming.

Green

The color of the Grinch.

The color of envy.

In traffic, 'tis the color that makes my heart sing. I'd rather not see red.

The color of money.

The color of the grass and the trees.

Ah, 'tis the color of my bride's mesmerizing eyes.

The Packer's jerseys.

The uniforms of the team formerly known as the North Stars.

Mmmm, cilantro, that wonderful herb found in TexMex cooking.

Green. All green.

Really, I've had no beef with green. The co-opting of a rather fine color by the likes of Greenpeace caused my no lost sleep. The fact that it's the color of Islam never bothered me too awful much, either.

Green now sends chills down my spine like some surreal and demonic nightmare. The enviro-apocalyptics have demanded that the planet's population bow to their "sky-is-falling" scree and the color to trumpet their caustic cause -- green.

I tolerated "The Day After Tomorrow." Enjoyable escapism if you ignore the propaganda. Now every movie where the earth future is at stake, dollars to donuts you can rest the blame squarely on the shoulders on the industrial world (read: America). Note Shyamalan's bomb "The Happening" and the current remake of the cult-classic "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

I've simply ignored Oregon and Vermont and pretty much anyone wearing Birkenstocks. But when Anderson Cooper pronounces "The Planet in Peril" and that I MUST alter my lifestyle to prevent California from sliding into the Pacific, I draw the line. CNN called attention to its conviction that man has the power to adjust the earth's thermostat by transforming their red logo enviro-friendly green. "We care!" they declare.

When that happened, I wasn't surprised. I would change the channel but that would presume I watched CNN (okay, sometimes a perverse, rubber-necking curiousity gets the better of me and I'll tune in...but I quickly repent). I just about spewed my spleen when I saw that Fox News had buckled to the enviro-pressure.

God called us to steward and manage HIS creation. That's plain. It's interesting to see how God created within the planet a "healing" mechanism similar to man's immune system. A volcano belches and cloud, wind, and rain sweep the pollutants away. Like the area around Mount St. Helen's, flora and fauna teem like nothing happened. How arrogant to think that we can break God's earth.

It tickled my ribs when recently a chief meteorologist at the Weather Channel declared man-made global warming and enviro-insanity to be an utter fabrication. The earth is merely working through a temperature swing the likes of which it has swung through for millenia.

Green logos will continue to get my goat. I have little green remaining in my IRAs to bring me pleasure. Guess I'll turn to the green of the Grinch and of our Christmas tree. 'Tis the season, afterall.

Rick Warren: The bullseye du jour

Look up lightning rod on Wikipedia (what's an encyclopedia?), and you'll see Rick Warren's picture.

That role has been magnified with Barack Obama's selection of the Saddleback pastor as his inaugural invocator. The bolts are a-flying from the right and the left.

Some on the right see him as the great compromiser, and with regard to the Gospel, that's not a good thing. They see Warren's willingness to pray on behalf of the left-of-liberal president-elect as turning a blind eye or even a condoning of Obama's unbiblical positions on most issues. Betrayal. Compromiser!

The left's none to happy either. Homosexuals and others in favor of sexual aberrance cry out like the Wicked Witch of the West freshly splashed with water. Pro-aborts? No happier. How could the One choose a hate-monger and a bigot, one opposed to women's rights, to ask God's blessing next month at so momentous an occasion? (I hope the lunacy of such a question makes your brain loop-the-loop, too).

My take on the situation? Obama continues to show his political savvy. Within the political process, what's an invocation? What harm will it do? The serpent has pitched a bone to the Religious Right. It affects no law, promises no policy. Count on this: after this momentary appeasement to biblical conservatives, policies and laws that mirror what Obama has favored his entire political life will follow quickly. The morally bankrupt feathers are temporarily ruffled. Soon they'll be turning cartwheels.

Rick Warren? He's never equivocated on positions moral. Pro-life. Pro-marriage. Abortion and sexual misconduct are both sin. He's never wavered on grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. So what gives? By giving Obama an AIDS platform, the body heard first hand the not-quite-right rhetoric of a man pleaser. By offering his church for a political debate, he let the world see that the church has a place in the political arena, and he again, exposed the fact that moral questions were above the future president's paygrade. By praying for the president, he does what we are all called to do (1 Timothy 2:1-3). I don't know that I'd have had the grace to say yes to such an invitation.

Let me back up to his indictment as a bigot, as one who equates incest with homosexuality (here ... this is one of many columns skewering Warren; perhaps the most polite). Last night on the O'Reilly Factor, Juan Williams subbed for Mr. O. Juan Williams sits some where to the left of O'Reilly on the political bench. He was grilling Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of 1st Baptist Church, Dallas about how Warren can state that he loves homosexuals and wants what's best for them when he stands opposed homosexual marriage, homosexual adoption, etc.

Jeffress handled himself reasonably well, but a light came on in my mind. On the left, identity is defined by how you have sex. Therefore, if you define a sexual practice as deviant, aberrant or (gasp) sinful, the left believes you have so identified the person as a deviant, aberrant, or (gasp) a sinner.

Well, the Bible agrees with that assessment (here) ...but the Bible does not stop there. All humanity bears the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27, 9:6), something inherent within the man making him of infinite worth. It doesn't depend upon his sexual preference nor upon whether one likes anchovies on one's pizza. Saint and sinner, young and old, NBA or NHL, red-state/blue-state, Jew and Gentile, all are created in the image of God.

That's why Rick Warren can love those who are homosexual. That's why Rick Warren is not a bigot. He indicts an act of sin. He indicts acting upon sinful lust. And yes, it ought to be equated with incest and even worse. And sadly, those who practice such, those who unrepentantly live the lifestyle, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

A human being is not defined by what he does in bed. It goes so much deeper.

Praise God for the courage of Rick Warren...on a number of fronts. Let's hope he prays in Jesus' name and that his doctrine doesn't turn to much.

(A couple of other articles on Warren and the Inauguration here and here).

Just another day: Christmas is coming

• Poor Al: Do you wonder if Al Gore and the other enviro-elves are running in gross disarray with the snow falling in locales like Malibu and Vegas? I do love the explanation that the incredible cooling we've experienced is due to the rapid acceleration of global warming (here). Yeah, didn't pass the common sense test for me either.

• Geological hiccups: What's up with the earth quaking in Carolina? Only 3.6, but Carolina?!?
  

• Political hiccups: Nice to have the neo-Soviets cruising the Med. They brought their fleet through the Panama Canal, a lovely geo-political nose-thumbing at the only military power in the west (that's us - U-S - in case you were wondering). Not all was jiggy as they anchored off Venezuela, home of the western hemisphere's version of Ahmadinejahd, Hugo Cha-vez. Fistcuffs and snubs abound (here).
  
  Was a time when the neo-Soviet presence in our western waters was seen as a direct challenge to America. Yawn. Outgoing President sees Putin as a soul-mate. How cozy will Barack Obama get with the burgeoning and increasingly belligerent bear?
  


• Money for nothin': So the Fed's going to give money at no interest? Um, I don't get it. But, hey, this is the season of playing with Monopoly money, isn't it? That's what the government's been doing for the last few months.
  
  

by Gary Varvel

• Cobbler, anyone? Back on the loafer-front, the following cartoon says alot about our nation and those we have been fighting. Consider, too, what would have happened if the Keds quarterback had launched the pass across the middle to Saddam Hussein.
  

by Dana Summers

• Blago-sphere: Have you ever seen our political landscape more corrupt? All the while the government's tossing cash like candy in a parade.


• Deep in the moral commode: Police in Nassau, NY approached a car parked behind a local school. The windows were steamed. The police exposed the 44-year old vice president of the PTA with a 13-year old girl. The vice-pres has kids, too. Now, would you feel differently if you knew that the VP was a 44-year old woman and the 13-year old was a boy for that indeed was the case? I hope not. These folks should be locked away. Or worse.
  

QotD: The worst of 2008

"I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system."

President George W. Bush doing his best Yogi Berra...

...and sounding, in the silliest of terms, the death knell of the American economy.

QotD: Lazy fare

"The trouble with the social-democratic state is that, when government does too much, nobody else does much of anything."

Mark Steyn from "America Alone"

Soft bellies

No, not because of Christmas fare.

What would happen if during Obama's much ballyhooed speech to an unnamed Middle Eastern capitol, some doorknob in the masses hurled camel by-product at the President. A) Gross! B) Outrage. The press would be up in arms that some backwoods international would so insult our president and thereby insult our nation.

But a shoe is no different in Middle Eastern culture. The bottom of the shoe is as foul and fetid as dog droppings. Hence the launched loafer from Abdul Bin-Loco.

For being the brunt of such an insult, Americans have divorced themselves from the lame duck and laugh uproariously at monologues by Leno and Letterman, Conan and Colbert.

We don't get it. We are hated. Our President was simply the best symbol to insult at the time. And we think it's comedy fodder.

Yawn.

AP Photo

Potty humor

I'm sure she'll kill me for this when she's sixteen and some young man who has taken a fancy to her finds this buried somewhere in the cob-webbed crates of the internet's archives. Que sera, sera.

During our youngest son's 14th birthday dinner at The Texas Roadhouse, my youngest daughter announced her need to utilize the facilities. She is a petite and demure four-years old in every respect. I let my bride scoot out of the booth and take care of the escort duties.

She returned to the table laughing hysterically. As my wife stood waiting outside the stall, she heard a tiny voice from within announce to no one in particular, "Bombs away!"

The four men around the table nearly shot milk out their nose.

QotD: Newsweek's heresy continued

"No matter what one thinks about gay rights—for, against or somewhere in between —this conservative resort to biblical authority is the worst kind of fundamentalism... to argue that something is so because it is in the Bible is more than intellectually bankrupt—it is unserious, and unworthy of the great Judeo-Christian tradition."

Jon Meachem, editor of Newsweek magazine, commenting (here) on the heretical article that was their cover story (blogged upon here). The rest of his commentary is equally repugnant.

And right before Sunday. During advent. I think I need a shower.

Ice

It's a gray Texas day. The sky is gray. The grass is gray. The streets are gray. The trees are gray. It might even seem like winter if not for the fact that tomorrow the temperature will zorch into the 70's.

Growing up in Minnesota, the lakes had already frozen by December. My first hockey practice went down on Meadow Lake just behind Ed Hels' house. He was the coach. He had shoveled off a swatch of ice piling the snow peripherally to create a makeshift rink. Pretty funny watching a bunch of six-year old kids donned with oversized helmets and so many clothes that when they fell, they bounced and could not right themselves.

Have you ever skated on a frozen lake? It sounds different than skating upon an indoor rink. The blade of the skate cuts into the ice and reverberates upon the water below. When it's really cold, it sounds like cutting steel.

And ice creaks and moans. As temperatures change, the ice expands and contracts. I guess that's the technical reason, but when your out skating and the ice pops, the sound echoing along the sheet and through the water, it sounds haunted.

Living in the north, you knew that winter had finally settled in when the ice houses began to appear on the lakes. I guess folks from the south never think about how those ice houses get out there, so one day when my Texas-raised bride and I were in Wisconsin visiting my family I showed her. We went down to Lake Mendota and I took the car right out onto the lake. Poor girl freaked like I'd signed her death sentence. After a donut or two, I took her ashore where in her mind the ground was firmer.

Not many folks driving onto the lakes in Texas. Occasionally, they'll drive into the lakes when they forget to set the brake while backing the boat trailer into the water.

I hope you will take time this season to hearken back to the joys of your childhood winters and Christmases and give thanks to God for such delicious experiences.

And if you get the chance to skate on a lake, don't pass it by... no matter how cold!

(In the second photo, Mille Lacs Lake has what appears to be roads but are just routes traced through the snow and onto the ice by cars & trucks getting out to their ice houses)

Lost horizons: The theology of George Bush

It's getting that you cannot tell the Democrats from the Republicans. Excise abortion and homosexuality from a political debate and they have become interchangeable. That fact saddens me in the waning days of George Bush's presidency. Rather than tame a government that has become feral and vicious, he fed the beast. No, he gorged the beast.

His service to us regarding national security could hardly have been better. As Commander-in-Chief, well done. But regarding the restoration of a svelte federal government, not so much.

On the heels of this, I caught the Associate Press' treatment of his interview on ABC News' Nightline (here), and my heart sank some more. Diane Sawyer, as moderate and objective as Keith Olbermann or Harry Reid, confronted him on things Christian, and if one were to grade his responses against what the Bible says, he got an "F" on his test. Deepak Chopra and Oprah, though, titter with glee over the President's responses.

Having to think on your feet, under the lights and with a microphone near to up your nose, can melt the stablest facade, but that's why the man gets the big bucks. He's supposed to be able to think on his feet.

Considering the volatility of the topic, you'd think he'd be especially versed on the role of Christ in his life and in his decision-making as president. As such, I can't blame media pressure on these tepid responses. No, this is the stuff the President believes.

• "I don't think (the Bible's) incompatible with the scientific proof that there is evolution."

Vague. Evolutionists when speaking of evolution refer to transitions between kinds, reptile to bird, fish to mammal, Democrat to Republican, but those who hold to what the Bible teaches will differentiate between macro-evolution (transition between kinds) and micro-evolution (adaptation within kinds). The latter the Bible-believer will affirm while the former he will deny.

• "I'm not a literalist, but I think you can learn a lot from it (the Bible)."

You can learn a lot from a high school mathbook, too. Still, these responses sound like someone who has not examined the evidence or one who has not thought through their responses very well. They sound like someone who hasn't been walking with Christ for very long, something I would not expect from a man who has been walking with Christ for well over a decade. But the worst was yet to come.

• "The president also said that he prays to the same God as those with different religious beliefs. "I do believe there is an almighty that is broad and big enough and loving enough that can encompass a lot of people," Bush said."

Aw, man. I nearly urped.

And so, George Bush, the big government guy, isn't that different from Barack Obama, the big government guy. Seems they're theological bedfellows, too.

Nebuchadnezzar did a whole lot better when he had the microphone to explain what God Almighty had done in his life (here). Would that Mr. Bush had used this opportunity to the glory of God instead of taking the safe and lukewarm route.

(You can see the full ABC video here)

Newsweek's garbage

When I posted yesterday, I failed to include the Bible link to Pastor Albert Mohler's examination of Newsweek's sewage. Oops. Like I tell my kids, proofread and then proofread, again.

Anyway the link's fixed. If you want easy access, go to Pastor Mohler's essay here.

God's peace, siblings!

You are no longer welcome

The dam has burst.

Western civilization thrived because of Christ. When man subjected himself under the mighty hand of God, denying and restraining his sinful nature through the power of the Holy Spirit and loving his neighbor by seeking his good and holding accountable his sin, civilization as we know it took root.

Dinesh D'Souza spoke on this very point at a leadership conference in Colorado Springs for Hillsdale College (adapted here). Man tended his plot, helped his neighbor tend his plot, and restrained those without law from harming either one.

Our nation is so very richly blessed because the high watermark for this thinking occurred in the middle of the 18th century during the formulation of our nation. Law, founded upon God's law and natural law (also God's), erected a high and secure dam against the tide of man's depravity.

Throughout the 19th century, the dam held, but the centrality of man in Enlightment thinking began to wear. Man as evolved and man apart from God began to take hold in the universities of Europe and infected the theologies of American seminaries. As man loosed himself from God, he loosed himself from God's laws and the dam began to leak like John McCain's press corps.

The 20th century infused relative law into American jurisprudence. Jurors began to dismiss the original intent of our Founders regarding Law, and incorporated social whim. Right and wrong begin to dissolve amidst the incessant dripping of sociological silliness. No, the devil didn't make me do it, but Burger King might have. Or Folgers. Or Jack Daniels. Or Hugh Hefner. But it is most certainly not my fault.

Despite that, I had hoped that the dam would hold. It was such a work of art. It reflected the truth of the Creator like Hubble's mirrors. But the dam is down.

Overreacting, you say? Consider current events in light of California's Proposition 8. If unfamiliar, with Prop 8 Californians affirmed the obvious, that marriage is between a man and a woman. You'd think this would affirm the dam's integrity. Every state that has voted on marriage has recognized affirmed God-ordained marriage. Notice what has happened since the election.

• Churches violated. Homosexuals have invaded churches that boldly and rightly spoke out in favor of Prop 8, interrupting worship services, tossing crude fliers, shouting crude epithets and behaving crudely. Little was done to the disrupters.
  
• Mormon's targeted. While I believe Mormonism to be heretical in light of biblical Christianity, their stance against sexual sin exhibits greater courage toward their documents than most Christians show toward theirs. Because of this stance, they have had unleashed upon them the full wrath of the homosexual community with Books of Mormon burned on the doorsteps of their church. What have you heard about the search for those who have threatened the LDS?
  
• Hollywood. Did you like Nacho Libre? Swell. Jack Black and others have created a musical with Mr. Black portraying Christ that rips the integrity of the Bible mocking fundamental doctrines and mocking the Son of God all to discredit those who supported traditional marriage. Hue? Cry? Nope. Just the sound of silence.
  
• Newsweek (linked here). The cover story: The Religious Case for Gay Marriage. The precis is equally charming:

  Opponents of gay marriage often cite Scripture. But what the Bible teaches about love argues for the other side.

If you're a Bible-believing Christian, you understand the absurdity of such an assertion (if you'd like some biblical guidance through the Newsweek article go here). During Christmas and Easter, you can count on Time and Newsweek unleashing some of the most unbiblical treatments of biblical topics in all journalism. Prop 8 simply provided the fodder.

But it's not just Proposition 8 where Christians and God are being dismissed. Kathleen Parker, conservative journalist (in name only), has called upon the Republican Party to heal itself by distancing itself from the Religious Right. Only by jettisoning this obsession with abortion and homosexuality can conservatives regain their political voice, asserts Ms. Parker.

Hollywood, the homosexual community, liberal journalists and now centrist journalists state that those who hold to the Bible, biblical Christians, have no voice in the public arena. God and His word may not be used as a point of argument in the public nor the political realm. That is what is being asserted within all of these events.

Where is the public outcry against such censorship and against such bigotry? Where are the voices of elected officials denouncing such affronts against civility, against civilization, and against God?

The dam is decimated and the torrent crashes down the valley. The enmity and loathing toward those who name Christ will only increase. The silence from those who support Christ but don't want to get swept away will grow more haunting.

Life has been easy in a tranquil and protected valley. No longer. The time to retreat in cowardice is at hand. Run, if you fear. Run!

Or stand upon the rock of Jesus Christ.

- There is no other argument that matters in a world racing toward hell. Christ.
- No argument surpasses Christ when it comes to defending the unborn.
- No argument overrules Christ when it comes to indicting our sin.

Will we be overwhelmed by the flood of American decadence for the glory of God? May He give us the courage to stand for His name. May we stand with grace and dignity toward our enemies.

And may God divert the tide and reestablish the levee in our time.

A more perfect "union?"

Unions served America well in the day when some industry moguls took brutal advantage of its workers. No longer.

Heroes

How's your holiday season? Lights up yet? Tree? Shopping done? Have you lost Christ somewhere in the midst of the extraneous already?

Pilots, when they are flying on their instruments in the clouds, have something called an attitude indicator that indicates the planes orientation to the earth. It tells the pilot climb or dive and bank. High performance aircraft, upon the completion of dogfighting or acrobatics, had to ensure their attitude indicator was properly oriented to the "wings-level," because the instrument would tumble and indicate erroneous attitude. To "right" the attitude indicator, the pilot would reset it or "recage it."

Would you like to "recage" your holiday "attitude indicator"? Read Ollie North's encounter with a real hero here. All of the superficial will melt away.

Yes, God is good!

Indictment at Wal-Mart

I missed Black Friday. I was tucked away, all snug in my bed. I will be next year, too. And the year after that. I ventured out during one BF a few years back. A living nightmare. Not worth it for the ten dollars saved.

What happened at the Long Island Wal-Mart one week ago, customers (people) stampeding a part-time employee to death, provides ample impetus on many levels for staying under the covers.

The other night on the docket at Bill O'Reilly's night court, two of his Barbie-doll talking heads pitched their two cents into the opinion bowl about what the legal outcome of this travesty should be. Here were the possibilities that zorched through my mind before they opined:

a) The store worker stood foolishly before the throng. It's his fault

b) Wal-Mart should have expected such a push at store opening and either hired more security or come up with some plan to prevent the crashing wave of humanity.

c) Society in general holds the blame for making such a big deal out of Black Friday

d) The folks that trampled the man to death for a TV should be charged with manslaughter.

How do you think Bill's lady lawyers leaned? B. They believed the courts would hang Wal-Mart.

I tried to shake the cobwebs from my mind thinking I'd started to drift into the realm just shy of sleep where things melt into bizarre. Nope. Still wide awake, and that's what they were saying. Wal-Mart should have seen this coming.

Like McDonald's should have predicted 350 lb. Americans? Like Smith & Wesson should have predicted Jesse James? Like God should have predicted Ted Bundy?

No pulse to be found in civility. The expectations for personal responsibility in the public arena? Dead.

The cops should be hanging "Wanted" posters with photos from the security cams of every person in that mass who walked over or pushed past the man being stomped to death. Everyone should be charged with manslaughter.

Furthermore, each of those folks should have to pay Wal-Mart for damages to its property and for the soiling of its community image for the barbarity that occurred on their premises.

I am responsible for my actions. Not my Mom & Dad. Not my kids, not my bride. Not my boss & not my neighbor. Not chocolate, coffee or Big Macs. Me. Hold me accountable for my actions. It's biblical. It's American.

But no. We bailout banks that squander money. We toss cash at car companies that cave to crazy union demands. Some even want us to apologize to the Middle East and the world for 9-11. Nuts!

Law standing on its head and society laughing at the comedy. Yikes.

Socialized medicine: Oh, Canada

Here's why we don't want the government involved in our medical care:

"Emergency rooms in Canada are so crowded that patients are dying while they wait to be treated, Canadian doctors said (last month). Treatment is free in Canada's national health care system, and at many hospitals packed ambulances idle outside for hours because there is no place to leave patients. . . . 'We've had people have heart attacks in the waiting room, people seize in the waiting room, and patients have miscarriages in the waiting room,' said Dr. Brian Rowe of the University of Alberta Hospital. 'It's like a Third World country.'"

And we want this? Am I missing something?

Excerpted from The Week from within Ross MacKenzie's column

"Terrorism" by any other name

**An afterthought: I came across this quote by Jay Nordlinger an hour after I wrote this post:

"About the atrocities in Bombay, I will say only this — something you have heard many, many times: There is no negotiating with or appeasing these people; they must be faced down, until they don’t bother us anymore. They are the same, really, wherever they strike: Bali, London, Madrid, New York . . . They are Islamists, or Islamofascists, and the civilized world must round on them, until they die or quit. This is a war of civilization against barbarism. All the rest is a matter of details."

And a little later in the same article...

"Some Indians are pointedly identifying the terrorists as “Pakistani.” And they are, in some sense. But in a more important sense: They are Islamists, or Islamofascists. It doesn’t matter where they’re from — whether Pakistan or India or the Philippines or Egypt or Amsterdam or Marin County. They are Islamist terrorists, and they must be faced down until they bother us no more.

"Or did I say that already?"

Now to my original post...

----------------------------------

I offer here three political cartoons from over the weekend. Note what they have in common.

By Steve Breen

By Glenn Foden

By Lisa Benson

YES, all three have elephants, but that's not the target at which I'm shooting. YES, two have snakes, but cobras, like elephants, have symbolized India for years. Here's a fourth cartoon. No elephants. No reptiles. But the same thing in common.

By Scott Stantis

Ah, "terrorism." There's the rub.

What a horrible euphemism we've created. You might as well say that we battled blitzkrieg in the 1940's and fought a War on Trenches two-plus decades before that. Terrorism flows like poisoned water from the well of an ideology. It is a symptom of the cancer that ravages our planet. Most of the time it remains unseen and then without warning, it flares into a malignant tumor.

Why do politicians and journalists (and cartoonists) for the most part refuse to insert Islam as the impetus behind these atrocities? Why must they couch it with adjectives like radical, extremist, way-out-there-in-the-nether-regions, wacko, etc, if they identify it at all?

Why? Theo van Gogh. European cartoonists. Salman Rushdie. Critiquing Islam or Muhammad has become akin to suicide on the European continent, and because we refuse to identify the threat, it has become hate speech in America. You risk losing your job, exorbitant fines, or imprisonment for declaring that that against which we fight has been instigated by those practicing purist Islam.

We have been cowed. We don't want to offend. We don't want to lose our heads. And so we ignore the Saudi-funded Islamic schools going in down the street in major metropolises across our land. Even President Bush, a man I respect greatly, buckles and refers to it as a religion of peace.

Wait for the next major explosion. Once again, reporters will be running around like chickens with their heads lopped off trying to determine why anyone would do such a thing. Who could be behind such hideous acts? They might even pry open the door and see the sinister source, but fearing for their very lives, they'll secure the door and once again label the monster "Terror."

And the malignancy will spread--unseen and undisturbed--until the next tumor erupts.

In my neighborhood.

Riches

A good name is to be chosen rather
than great riches,
And favor is better than silver or gold.

Or so begins Proverbs twenty-second chapter.

As a committed Christ-follower, I could nod my noggin until next November in utter agreement with that principal. The foot and a half plummet from head to heart, aye, there's the rub.

In a time when moths eat holes in IRA's and rust erodes 401k's (Matthew 6:19), the Christian can lose sight of laying up treasures in heaven faster than a pea in the circus huckster's shell game. A little slight of hand a bit of misdirection and I become firmly convinced I'm properly focused.

But the shell is empty. No stuffed teddy bear and I lost my three dollars.

Perhaps thieves have broken in and stolen. No matter. Where are my eyes? Does the loss of my money have me sweating the future or do I continue to trust the one who's got the few remaining hairs on my head numbered (Matthew 10:30)? Oops, that's three fewer.

Don't misunderstand. We must be wise about preparing for the future. Consider the ant (Proverbs 6:6-11) and other proverbial success stories (13:11, 13:22, and 21:5 to name a few). Still, as one gentleman exposed to me in my younger days, if I die a fool, someone else will get my stereo, and someone else will woo my wife.

No other place offers the treasure trove of wisdom like God's word. At a time of fiscal irresponsibility by individuals (we're approaching $10,000 in credit card debt per family), corporations (can you say AIG? the Big Three?), and our own government (we will not see the debt paid off in our lifetime...if ever), I love stumbling upon simple and sage wisdom that echoes biblical truth.

I offer to you a couple of articles that passed my way this week.

1. A bold, fresh bit of stewardship. God's not mentioned but the ruminations are straight out of Proverbs.
2. Bailout, communism & the greed of the common man. Thomas Sowell winds up upon the Big Three automakers and knocks them, our nation's recent socialist tendencies, and our individual greed right on their fragile posteriors. Why do we want to see "The man" fail? He illustrates by highlighting why the American Revolution didn't devolve into class warfare as did the French Debacle.

Let's continue to be good stewards of the dollars we earn and not fretting if our mattress burns or if FDIC proves less sure than we'd hoped. Let's dig for treasure that will be secured by One that even a meddlesome government cannot destroy.

Just another day: Black Friday

The glorious tryptophan haze of yesterday's feast has faded after a glorious night's sleep. No, I did not awake in the wee hours of a chilled morning to save twenty bucks on something I really don't need anyway. Been there. Done that. Not a tradition I long to further.

Here's some of the wackiness that's caught my eye of late.

• HICKVILLE. I live in a town of just over 100,000 folks. A small state school resides here, too. Despite the fact that Islamic nut-jobs have murdered over a hundred folks on the other side of the planet, our local paper covered it on page 9. Some of the stories that preceded it? Harvey Milk. Iraq voting on America's departure in three years. Oldest woman died. Planned Parenthood gift certificates. Police taser naked DUI suspect...in California. I don't live in California. But you wouldn't know it from my paper.


• BLACK FRIDAY grew blacker still. Seems some zealous, me-first shoppers trampled a New York Wal-Mart employee to death in their haste to get-what?- an iPod? Guitar Hero VII? Greed. No, Gordon Gecko, it's not good.
  


• BACK TO MUMBAI. The world cries out against "terror." Terror didn't kill 100+ folks in India. It was not what left none alive in the Mumbai Jewish Center. How much savvy is required to assemble this five-letter puzzle.? Here are those letters in no particular order. See if you can piece it together (I picked a color as close to blood red as I could find).
  

A-M-L-S-I

Here. Maybe this picture will help.

Does the tablecloth (hijab) give it away?

• SAVE THE PLANET. As if the enviro-cataclysmic obsessions weren't bad enough, some folks are asking the UN to develop a plan to deflect incoming asteroids. Sounds great in theory and on the silver-screen, but deflect an asteroid?!? Little ones are of no concern. They fry in the atmosphere. If it's big enough to get through the atmosphere and do some damage, it's too stinking big for anything we've got to nudge it out of the way (apologies to Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman). Imagine Al Gore standing on the Mississippi River Delta holding up his large though not-quite-omnipotent hands trying to hold back Katrina. Can you say, "Absurd." Then there are these:
  


• Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. (Revelation 8:8-9)


• Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. (Revelation 8:10-11)


• NORTH & SOUTH. Of the border, that is. Things are goofy in Canada. It seems they don't know which way they want the country to go. The current government recognizes the economic crisis in which it finds itself and wants to decrease spending particularly toward political parties and government workers. The opposition threatens to dissolve the government. Just to the north.

In and around the Caribbean, just to our south, Russia continues to cozy-up to kooks like Castro and Chavez. JFK had the spine to stare down Khrushchev. Will Bush for a few more weeks and then Obama have the wherewithal to stand toe-to-toe with Medvedev and Putin as the Neo-Sovs begin to up the military ante in our own backyard? Maybe our leaders consider Russia a "nation of peace." Maybe their just looking to swap some Stoli for a few Havanas and a couple sacks of coffee. Maybe.

Until next time, enjoy your turkey sandwiches!

Thanksgiving tragedies: India

In his seminal work, America Alone, Mark Steyn records a quip he made after 9-11 "...that these days whenever something goofy turns up on the news chances are it involves some fellow named Mohammed." He intended it to be simply a throw-away line, a bit of humor, but there's truth in jest, he realized. He then goes on to list a dozen major terrorist attacks beginning with 9-11 and marching to the present where one of the chief terrorists was, you guessed it, named Mohammed.

It's not the name he's indicting. It's the motivation behind the name. That motivation is Islam and it's hostility toward the civilized world.

Call up any news web-site today and the headline will be about the concerted acts of brutality in India. One of CNN's linked articles had as its title "Who is to blame for the Mumbai attacks?" Wouldn't it have been nice if CNN had maintained this distanced sense of objectivity during the presidential election? I'll give them a hint. I bet one of the dudes' names begins with an M.

Reuters image

Once again terrorist motivated by their Koranic convictions are unleashing their genocidal wrath on things western, things Christian, things Jewish. Early reports had the gunmen checking passports looking for westerners. As of this typing, the butchers have slaughtered 125 people.

A religion of peace?

Ever the expert of international intricacies, Deepak Chopra gagged up his thoughts to Larry King.

The situation is complex, Larry, because it could inflame to proportions that we cannot even imagine. It has to be contained. We now recognize that this is a global problem, with only a global effort can solve this."

(Okay, so far. I am a bit surprised that the Deep-one is only now recognizing it as a global problem. Sorry for interrupting...)

"And you know, one of the things that I think is happening is that these militant terrorist groups are actually terrified that Obama's gestures to the rest of the Muslim world may actually overturn the tables on them by alienating them from the rest of the Muslim world, so they're reacting to this."

(Um, the Muslim terrorists (the adjective and noun seem to be side-by-side quite a lot these days) don't like overtures of peace and cooperation? I think he's right but he has no clue why. Back to the countdown...)

"You know, there's 1.8 billion Muslims in the world. That's 25 percent of the population of the world. It's the fastest-growing religion in the world."

(Oominous and true statistics)

We cannot, if we do not appease and actually recruit the help of this Muslim world, we're going to have a problem on our hands."

Whoa, Nelly! (apologies to Keith Jackson). Look up appeasement in the encyclopedia (dating myself...Wikipedia) and you'll find a picture of Neville Chamberlain or a map of France.

Chopra's recent work on Jesus Christ has further muddied the man's mind. He, like many folks, took Christ's words, especially His Sermon on the Mount,* and conformed them to his own thinking, his own philosophies thereby distorting them beyond any biblical recognition. Chopra's painted a Strawberry Fields Forever Jesus who would like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. That's not Him.

And so the world peers in on more murder perpetrated in the name of Allah and wonders "What's goin' on?" The average Joe recognizes the threat and wonders how long it will be before the rapidly growing virus within our own shores erupts into an incurable plague.

Could you pass me a drumstick?

*For an exceptional audio treatment of the Sermon on the Mount, follow this link. The messages that begin "SotM" deal with the Sermon on the Mount. Pastor Counterman is currently one-third the way through Chapter 5 of Matthew (the SotM) going through chapter 7.

Verse of the Day (VotD): Thanks Giving!

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:28

Giving Thanks

George Washington, some deist stiff-armer of religion? I don't think so.

[New York, 3 October 1789]

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor--and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be--That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in thecourse and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

Those nutty deists! Wish we had more like them in office today.

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and family.

Glory to God in the highest!

The hunt

Parenting seemed easy ten years ago. My eldest was eleven; the youngest, three. Out of respect and honor or fear, all four boys followed the directions of their parents in obedience.

My eldest has since graduated from college. Sons two and three are attending college and son four careens down the road of his first full teen year bouncing off the guardrails. We've slapped two little girls on the tail end of our family bringing the total progeny to six.

The adventures of the last half-dozen years have convinced me that I know little about fatherhood. Like the chaos that must be felt by an offensive guard in the National Football League every time the ball is snapped, I attempt to hold passionately to the blocking assignments that God has given me, but more and more it seems the quarterback gets sacked and we're now third and nineteen. Next play I vow to myself that I will try and hold my man and make way for the ball carrier.

I don't understand the overall gameplan, but I know the One who does. And so I keep blocking.

As the ache for independence begins to pound in the heart of the teenager, more and more their pathway diverges from that of their parents. Sometimes that brings rapturous thrill. Other times we dwell in silent and grievous agony.

Sometimes the roads come back together. This weekend was such a time.

My younger three sons and I ventured south to hunt whitetail deer. I have a dear ("deer"?) friend whose father-in-law has cultivated his ranch into prime deer hunting real estate. The latter, Mr. Jack, has graciously offered his son-in-law, KC, the opportunity to invite some friends to hunt the ranch. We have been richly, richly blessed to enjoy several such opportunities.

This weekend, we knew the greatest success we had ever known. Three of us took 8-point bucks, all of reasonable caliber. For that reason, I've no doubt my sons will savor the weekend.

My greatest joy was being on the same road with them once again. It was sitting alongside my son as he spied his 8-point, a deer I didn't see, and fell it with a single shot. It was seeing my son ride back in the truck with his beast in the back. I got to witness my son, the one who was skunked, rejoice in the success of his father's first deer and in the success of his brothers' kills. It was watching my son dress the gnarliest gut-shot I've seen (not that I've seen many) with the skill of a surgeon. It was watching two of my sons process three deer in an afternoon with knives flying like butchers with another son faithfully feeding the meat grinder.

Since driving home Sunday afternoon, our paths have again begun to once again diverge. I will savor the weekend that my three younger sons stood alongside me on the same road. Like God's glorious rainbow, three 8-point racks hanging side-by-side will jog my all-to-forgetful memory.

(Click the picks to get the up-close-and-personal)














"My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will be glad."

Proverbs 23:15

Obamatheology

Haven't heard about folks railing against folks for wanting evolution challenged in a while.

Fox News posted a piece (here) about a scientist who is coming out with something revolutionary. He's suggesting a combination of science and religion. Compatibility. Kumbayah, all over again.

I'll not use 301 to vent against evolution and all its tentacles but to point out the San Andreas Fault that this guy has picked as his "firm" foundation. (Excerpted from Fox, parentheses mine)

The scientist: "I was raised believing in God, so for me, the onus would be on someone to stop me from believing. There is a certain momentum that is already there."


(Has the man never heard of inertia?)

The skeptic interviewer: "So you're stepping off the page of science?"



(Not required for belief in God or Genesis 1. What most Christians don't grasp is that the one who created science is the One who wrote the book. Trying to conform the Bible to science is silly. God will not be inconsistent between the General Revelation (nature) and the Special Revelation (the Bible) )

The scientist: "Absolutely," he said, but added that he thinks science will soon nail down a definition of consciousness that will make God's intentions more clear.



(Um, it's called the Bible)

A Christian in the White House?

Much about Barack Obama's politics has given Christians cause to shudder, but the Illinois Senator's self-profession the he is a Christian gives the saints hope that the Holy Spirit will bring conviction in his life regarding his position on many issues.

When your Christianity is nothing more than what you say it is, all bets are off. And so it is with the President-elect of the United States of America. Below I have excerpted some of his comments posted at World on the Web. Not many of them are good.

The full interview, which demands our attention for getting these comments in their full (and troubling context) can be found here.

What he believes: “I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.”

On whether he considers himself born again: “Yeah, although I don’t, I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. And I’m not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I’ve got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others.”

On how often he attends Trinity United Church of Christ: “Every week. 11 [o'clock] service.”

On his prayer life: “Its’ not formal, me getting on my knees. I think I have an ongoing conversation with God. I think throughout the day, I’m constantly asking myself questions about what I’m doing, why am I doing it.”

On who Jesus is to him: “Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he’s also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher. And he’s also a wonderful teacher.”

On who he looks to for guidance: “Well, my pastor [Jeremiah Wright] is certainly someone who I have an enormous amount of respect for. I have a number of friends who are ministers. Reverend [James] Meeks is a close friend and colleague of mine in the state Senate. Father Michael Pfleger is a dear friend, and somebody I interact with closely.”

On the existence of hell: “I find it hard to believe that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell. I can’t imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity. That’s just not part of my religious makeup.”

On doctrine: “I think that each of us when we walk into our church or mosque or synagogue are interpreting that experience in different ways, are reading scriptures in different ways and are arriving at our own understanding at different ways and in different phases. I don’t know a healthy congregation or an effective minister who doesn’t recognize that. If all it took was someone proclaiming I believe Jesus Christ and that he died for my sins, and that was all there was to it, people wouldn’t have to keep coming to church, would they.”

On the existence of heaven: “What I believe in is that if I live my life as well as I can, that I will be rewarded. I don’t presume to have knowledge of what happens after I die. But I feel very strongly that whether the reward is in the here and now or in the hereafter, the aligning myself to my faith and my values is a good thing.”

On what sin is: “Being out of alignment with my values.”

On being aligned spiritually: “It’s when I’m being true to myself.”

(boldface mine)

(An aside: This is post #300 since I started blogging on the first of the year. Wish the topic could have been brighter. Thanks for the encouragement from those who've tripped through these musings with me)