Merry Christmas!!

A very Merry Christmas from me and my family to you and yours.

On this amazing day, have you considered why we celebrate it?  Do you believe it?


The prophets of the Old Testament foresaw that a virgin would be with child (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:22-23). The Matthew verse is important because the Hebrew word in Isaiah could be translated young girl or virgin. The Jews at the time of Christ understood the passage to be about a virgin. While an impossibility in the physical realm, would such a thing be too hard for the God of the universe?


But why?  Why did God the Son need to take on flesh?  Consider John 3:16

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whosever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

Some things to key on here:


1.  Salvation for man would not have happened apart from God's intervention.  The verse indicates that apart from this even, man would perish. We, left to ourselves, have hell awaiting us on the other side.  Why? Because our sin (rebellion) separates us from a holy and righteous God (Romans 3:10-18, 6:23a).


2.  God loves us despite our sin! That does not mean he condones our sin.  Rather, for man to come to God, man's sin had to be justly dealt with.  Because man's sin left him in a position separated from God, only God could fix the problem.  Consider these verses: Romans 5:6-8, 2 Corinthians 5:21.


3.  Jesus: The Fix. God the Father gave God the Son. Jesus always knew that he would have the sin of all mankind heaped on him at the cross . That's why he agonized in the Garden of Gethsemane, not that he would be physically killed but that he would be bearing the wrath, the pure, white-hot and just wrath of God the Father. There had been perfect fellowship within the Trinity through eternity past. Now, for the first time, One Member of the Trinity would turn his back on Another. Why? So God would be just in dealing with sin, but the only way he could do so was to become man himself and bear the punishment of our sin for us.  He became just and justifier (Romans 3:26).


So what's left for us on Christmas day? To believe. Not to a Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus belief as some atheists assert. No, we believe in the historical birth of God the Son, we believe in the historical death and crucifixion of Jesus (God the Son) for the sin of all mankind, and we believe in the resurrection of God the Son as the guarantee of the eternal life that he procured for us on the cross (1 Corinthians 15:1-28).


As you gather with your family and open gifts, I pray that you will consider the greatest gift, the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23b). Understand, though, the gift is not yours unless you take it.  How do you do that?


1. Recognize it.  Recognize that your sin has separated you from God.


2. Confess it. Admit that you are a sinner to God. In other words, apologize for rebelling against him. Think about David's words in Psalm 51:4 after he'd committed adultery and murder.


3. Accept it.  Accept what Jesus did on your behalf. Note what Romans 8:1 says about those who have accepted that free gift.


4. Believe it. Trust what God says about the doneness of the deal. Romans 10:9-10


5. Live it.  With that done, live a life of gratitude for what God has done for you. Consider Galatians 2:20.


Have yourself a Merry little Christmas!


~ keith

Thought for the day: Social Security

What are you going to do when you demand your money from the one who stands as judge and jailor, and he just shrugs his shoulders and pulls out his empty pocket linings?

There will be no integrity laden George Bailey to make things right.

Politically incorrect: Motherhood & living together

Among my daily reads, I came across two articles, both from National Review, that fly in the face of post-modernism, an ethic that says, "Anyway is a good way as long as it's your way."

The first deals with working moms.  It's sure to ignite a firestorm.  You'll find it here.

The second peaks beneath the covers of cohabitation (sorry), and the damage unmarried parents inflicts upon the children.  More fuel for the flames.  Read it here.

Bottom line to both:  Doing it 'my way' ends in misery.

I'll never forget the great advice my friend Brian Rath once gave me.  I was stewing in the misery of a job failure when he told me, "If we could orchestrate our lives exactly as we wanted them to be, we would be the most miserable people." The heart of the matter? God knows what's best. He has a plan. We must trust and obey.

Will we ever get it?

Complaint v. Petition

I had a normal dream the other night.

I don't suspect that normal should be an adjective used when chatting about dreams, but having shared with my bride the surreality that unleashes itself when I dip into REM sleep, I'd have to say that that night's forray into the peculiar and inexplicable land of Morpheus comes as close to normal life as anything I've experienced in many a day.

In the darkness of my early morning, I thanked God for my normal dream, but the moment the words passed my lips, it dawned on me that I'd never asked him for a normal dream. I'd groused about the weirdness of my dreams--no, I'd complained about them--but I never once asked him for something less bizarre.

And then I thought of Israel.

Israel endured 400 years of slavery at the hand of Egypt. God worked in miraculous ways to free the 2 million-plus folks he had chosen as his special people. Hot on the heels of one of the most amazing military victories ever and a handful of days after their release, the Hebrews got hungry and thirsty. Rather than ask the One who delivered them from their servitude for some food and water, they griped. Oh, how they griped.

"Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." (Exodus 16:3)

"Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" (Exodus 17:3)

"Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." (Numbers 11:4-6)

As the One who gives and the One who witholds, God understood with absolute clarity Israel's need (Matthew 6:8). He also understood the heart of their gripe; it was against Him. Thus kindled God's righteous displeasure with his people.

What would have changed the deal? How about, "God, we are parched and we are starved. As you miraculously made the way for our escape from Egypt, we trust you completely to take care of us and to provide for our needs. We look forward to how you will do that because we can't figure it out in this dry and barren place." Just a little trust toward the One who had proven himself so very trustworthy.

I hope in the future if I'm troubled in the least by the utter weirdness of my dreams that I will simply trust God to do his good work. If I'd like them stopped, I'll make that request (with thanksgiving, Philippians 4:6), and continue to trust him for the next emersion into REM sleep. I'd hate to endure the outcome of Israel's grousing (Numbers 11:19-20).

Quote of the Day: Anti-theism

Antitheism provides every reason to be immoral and is bereft of any objective point of reference with which to condemn any choice.   

Any antitheist who lives a moral life merely lives better than his or her philosophy warrants.   

All denunciation implies a moral doctrine of some kind, and the antitheist is forever engaged in undermining his own mines.

Ravi Zacharias

"Can Man Live Without God?" 

(italics in the original

QotD: Thom. Sowell

"It doesn't seem very scientific to have a good-looking nurse taking a man's blood pressure."

~ Economist Thomas Sowell

"Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene"

Other beauts from the same column:

The difference between mob rule and democracy was never more sharply demonstrated than by labor unions' attempts to prevent the Wisconsin voters' elected representatives from carrying out their official duties at the state Capitol. What would it matter what the voters want if any mob can stop it from happening?

Learned scholars still debate the reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Learned scholars of the future, looking back on our decline and fall, may simply be baffled as to how we could have been so stupid.



QotD: Pascal's Wager, the atheist, and the agnostic

I have heard Pascal's Wager in the past, but it struck me afresh last night as Dinesh D'Souza unpacked it in his book, What's so great about Christianity?

Pascal's Wager considers the existence of God philosophically (really, Pascal directed it toward the atheist, the apatheist, and the agnostic).  He looks to death and considers, what's the risk? Dinesh D'Souza takes it from here (italics mine):

If we have faith in God and it turns out that God does not exist, we have a downside risk: metaphysical error. But if we reject God during our lives, and it turns out God does exist, there is much more serious risk: eternal separation from God.  Based on these two possible outcomes, Pascal declares that it is much less risky to have faith in God. In the face of an uncertain outcome, no rational person would refuse to give up something that is finite if there is the possibility of gaining an infinite prize. In fact, under these conditions it is unreasonable not to believe. Pascal writes, "let us weigh up the gain and loss involved in calling heads that God exists. If you win, you win everything. If you lose, you lose nothing. Do not hesitate, then: wager that He does exist."


The ingenuity of Pascal's argument is that it emphasizes the practical necessity of making a choice. This necessity is imposed by death. There comes a day when there are no tomorrows, and then we all have to cast our votes for or against the proposition on the ballot.  The unavoidability of the decision exposes the sheer stupidity of "apatheism," the pretense that something doesn't matter when it is quite literally a matter of life and death.  The apatheist and the agnostic refuse to choose when there is no option to abstain.  So the refusal to choose becomes a choice--a choice against God.


Pascal also exposes the pose of the atheist who fancies himself as a brave and lonely man facing the abyss. We admire a man who is steadfast in the face of unavoidable adversity. If we knew we were alone in the universe and that death was the end, then there is no alternative but to stand tough in our mortal skins and curse the darkness. But what would we think of a man who stands ready to face a horrible fate that he has a chance to avert? If you are trapped in the den with a hungry lion, and there is a door that may offer a way out, what sane person would refuse to jump through the door? Viewed this way, the atheist position becomes a kind of intransigence, a reckless man's decision to play Russian roulette with his soul.


Atheists sometimes express their bafflement over why God would not make his presence more obvious. Carl Sagan helpfully suggests that in order to dispel all doubts about his existence, "God could have engraved the Ten Commandments on the moon."  Pascal supplies a plausible reason for what he calls the hiddenness of God.  Perhaps, he writes, God wants to hide himself from those who have no desire to encounter him while revealing himself to those whose hearts are open to him. If God were to declare himself beyond our ability to reject him, then he would be forcing himself on us. Pascal remarks that perhaps God wants to be known not by everyone but only by the creatures who seek him.

Dinesh D'Souza, What's so great about Christianity, pp. 202-203 

Movie villains 2

As I lamented Hollywood's oil hatred, exemplified in Cars 2, in my last post, I cited other villains cliched by movie makers over the past thirty years, notably OUR government, OUR military, and the church. Regarding the latter, I should have been more specific. It's not the church per se.  Hollywood hates those who take Christianity seriously and live it out at home, at work, at play, and yes, in the church.  That hatred burbles to the surface in villains that look nothing like Christ.

You might think I'm just being thin-skinned, knowing full well that I am a Christian of the born-again variety, a man who tries to love his wife, train his children, labor at work, and cast his vote in accord with the word of God. I understand that there are Christians who do evil and that there are those who profess to be Christians who do evil in the name of God.

But.

Is this the exception or is this the rule? Dinesh D'Souza in his sterling work, "What's So Great About Christianity," details the rise of western civilization (is there really any other?) upon the foundation of Christianity, a history rapidly being amputated from our schools.

How, too, does such Hollywood's Christian villainy jive with the cover-to-cover word of God? The Bible reveals that those who are Christ-followers will be known by their love (John 13:34-35), that they are to love their neighbor as their very self (Matthew 22:39, Romans 13:9), and that their character will reveal love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, and more (Galatians 5:22-23). The Son of God declared that you will know a tree by it's fruit, therefore if these things are obvious by their absence in someone's life, their relationship with Jesus Christ is questionable at best (1 John 3:6-10).

Will a Christian be perfect and without sin?  That is without a doubt the standard because God himself is the standard (Matthew 5:48, 1 Peter1:15-16), but at the same time, as we struggle in our skin (Romans 7:13-24), we will still sin (1 John 1:8).

If that is what we would expect to see of Joe "The Average" Christian, why do we not find such characters in television or in film? Ever. If you find a practicing Christian in film, it's a C-grade "religious" movie with a production quality of a junior high school play (yes, there are exceptions), and therefore, few see it. The entertainment's vision of a practicing Christian falls into one of these categories:

• Ignorant.  The person has no education and, in the Hollywood mind, believes the Bible literally.  That said, I believe the Bible literally where a plain reading demands a literal reading. But Hollywood has no understanding of context or of the different types of literature in Scripture. To their mind, anyone who believes it is an eyes-aflame ignoramous.
• Evil. Hollywood believes the Bible to be a dangerous book unless you cut parts out of it. Any who choose to live by it are therefore by default evil.
• Intolerant. Because a Christian has the audacity to declare something sin, they get portrayed as out-of-touch isolationists.
• Hypocritical. To the movie-making mind, not one Christian practices what he preaches. All decry the perversity of the culture only to return home and bed the baby sitter.

Yes, many Christ-followers do not know their Scripture and many are not on top of current events, but many more are.

Yes, many Christ-followers misapply the very word of God they profess to follow, but many more honor the name of Christ with their lives. The lives of many who profess to be Christ-followers and carry out evil in the name of Christ look nothing like God's word says a Christ-follower will look.

Yes, many Christians exhibit little tolerance, but many more live great care and compassion for their fellow man without condoning their sin.

Yes, many fall short of the holiness of God's character, but that is why Christ shed his blood in the first place. Man cannot attain to the holiness demanded by a holy God.

Here's my beef. In the past thirty years, how many noble Christian characters have made it into film or television, not pseudo-religion like "Touched by an Angel" but those who hold to and live out a vibrant faith in Jesus Christ? The idea of the Christian villain would not even be an issue if any semblance of balance was shown by those who produce our entertainment.  

Despite the success of films like The Blind Side, Soul Surfer and the works of Sherwood Pictures, an arm of Sherwood Baptist Church (Fireproof, Facing the Giants, Courageous), we get fed film after film like the upcoming film, "The Ledge." 

"Those quiet religious types are always hiding a bit of crazy, aren’t they? Anyway, at least in “The Ledge” they are, as it centers (on) a Bible thumper who gets off-the-crucifix crazy when he finds out his wife is taking advantage of the pleasures of the secular flesh."

That crazy Bible thumper takes Leviticus into his own hands and demands that the adulterous atheist commit suicide before he murders his adulterous wife.  Charming.

Not to be outdone in bashing believers, "Salvation Boulevard" will also pitch in to tar and feather the pious.

"Set in the world of mega-churches in which a former Deadhead-turned-born again-Christian finds himself on the run from fundamentalist members of his mega-church who will do anything to protect their larger-than-life pastor." 

Yeah, it breaks my heart, but yet again, it does not surprise me. A few millenia back, as the incarnate God walked the earth, he said, "You will be hated by all for my name's sake" (Mark 13:13). And It gets better. On the night before he would be nearly beaten to death and then hung upon a Roman cross to die, he told his disciples,

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name,because they do not know him who sent me...But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled:'They hated me without a cause.' (John 15:18-21, 25)

So Christian villains will continue to fill the cineplex. Perhaps our conduct as Bible-believing Christ-followers will help others to see that such films are truly works of fiction.

To welcome the worm

Over the last couple of months, I have posted photos of the Wichita Falls, Texas ten-day forecast on Facebook that looked a lot like today's forecast:

Why would I share such? Perhaps it is my Minnesota roots longing for a 75-degree day to go bike down around the lakes on the southwest side of Minneapolis.  North Texas has no such place where lake dumps into lake ringed by bike paths and naturally growing elms, oaks, maples and pines. Nor does it see 75-degrees between the months of April and October except between 1 and 2 a.m. I remember my undergrad philosophy instructor, Patrick Tower, telling me that "misery loved miserable company." Maybe I just wanted everyone to take pity.

Quite frankly, the area around where I live is facing a dire situation. The heat, yes, has been unrelenting. Couple that with wind that never dies and a ground-quenching rain that last visited some time late last summer and you have a) a tinder box, b) a crop-destroying drought, and c) conditions that crack a house's foundation. If you could think to pray for this neck of the woods--that God would send rain--when you happen to think of me, that would be most appreciated.

As I rode my motorcycle home this afternoon, a decent-sized cloud mass shielded the sun, and praises to God spilled from my lips. When it's 105-degrees, a modicum of shade makes all the difference.  But that cloud got me to thinking of Jonah.

I'll not go into the entire big-fish story (yes, it was a fish and not a whale). Let's skip to the end. Jonah was in the middle of a mood. In fact he was hating life much like I have been hating 10-day forecasts. As he moped on a sun-scorched hillside, God in his goodness sprouted a Miracle-Gro laced plant to grow up and cool the perturbed prophet's brow (Jonah 4:6).

That very same God, to teach Jonah his sovereignty in all things, sent a root-chomping worm that withered the shade-producing plant. Jonah's response? He posted a picture on Facebook of the withered plant and considered death to be favorable to enduring the inferno atop the hill for another day.

God's response: "Son, I bring the shade and I bring the worm. I have my purposes in both, purposes that you do not see. How about coughing up a little praise for the shade AND for the worm?" (a very loose paraphrase of Jonah 4:9-11).

As I type this, my thermostat's on an endurable 77-degrees. I have a kiddie-pool in the back yard to dip into if I need to cool off not to mention the four gallons of ice cream in the freezer and lemonade in the fridge. My God is so very good to me in ways seen and unseen. His word makes clear that he controls the weather (Matthew 5:45). So when we see no rain, when the wind never ceases, and when the temps make the world feel like an Easy-Bake Oven, God's not surprised; he has brought it to pass for his GOOD purposes.

By the time I pulled my bike in the garage, he had given me a repentant heart as well as a cloud-covered ride home. I will continue to pray that he will send the rain and the cooler temps, but I will do so with thanksgiving for his good and for his provision and for his purposes unseen. Though I do not understand all of his ways, I do know that God is always good.

Movie villains and 'Cars 2'

No pitcher can go an entire season without a loss. In fact, some of the best pitchers during their best seasons will find themselves on the receiving end of an old-fashioned whoopin'.

It comes as no surprise that Pixar would finally have a weak outing. "Cars 2" has great visuals, all the usual suspects in the realm of vocal talents, and, as usual, none of the double entendres or innuendos that fill most "family-friendly" movies. As a story, I felt it fell far short of the compelling storylines that have been Pixar hallmarks. Easily the weakest film of the lot.

What really made the movie fizzle was Pixar's choice of villain, a corrupt oil company. As crushed as I was to see the finest movie company to rise in my lifetime genuflect to political correctness, I saw the handwriting when Woody of "Toy Story" fame appeared in a gay-pride commercial sponsored by Google Chrome. So, now, Pixar becomes yet another shill for the Hollywood machine churning out propaganda for leftist thought.

Think back across the movies you've seen in the last twenty years.  Who are Hollywood's TOP 5 villains?

5 - The church

4 - Our military

3 - Our government

2 - The rich

1 - Companies and corporations

Joe Stalin must be laughing himself silly as he burns in hell thinking that Americans are coughing up $8 a pop at the Cineplex to have their noses rubbed in their very way of life.

Now, folks, there is not a pristine organization on the planet because every organization is made up of flawed and fallen people, but look at those five groups. Villains? Really?

I just saw a video posted by a friend's daughter on Facebook of her week ministering to the folks of Joplin, Missouri.  They went in association with Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief organization begun by a fellow named Franklin Graham. You might recognize the name. Billy's son. How many atheist organizations are pouring manpower and money into Joplin? For all that the church has done in the name of Christ for good over the centuries, she's known for Crusades, Inquisitions, Witch Trials, and pedophilia.  Charming.

On this July 4th do I really need to defend our military? Do we believe that it's made up of fascist zealots who delight in atrocity and rape? Really?

Same goes for our elected officials. WE VOTED THEM IN, PEOPLE!! If they are villainesque, they merely reflect their constituents.

The rich as a villain. Why? Because they've gots and we han't gots. Honestly, that's it. Most of us don't see the philanthropy carried out by those with wealth because they don't want it trumpeted. Yes, there are miserly cads and those who give for tax-break only, but oh so many more give because they have been richly blessed. They understand their God-given responsibility to give back. Most of us knuckleheads don't understand that without the wealthy, most of us don't have a job.  We're just dumb.

And that takes us to companies and corporations. Pixar picked "Big Oil" as its must-have villain for "Cars 2" (here). Would someone tell me the evil that oil companies have wrought upon the world? I say, "Thank you very much for the gasoline. Could you please pump some more?" Regarding an oil spill or a tanker run aground, it is great media.  Lots of pictures.  Considering the bajillion oil platforms and oil tankers that lap the globe, I remember two hiccups in my lifetime, the Exxon Valdez and the Gulf last year. Surgeons don't fare that well. Movie studios certainly don't. So oil is the villain? Really?

Here are a couple of villains for you:

1. Hugo Chavez

2. Mahmoud Ahmadinejahd

3. Vladamir Putin

4. Abortion doctors and those who fund this national sin

5. Islam - that brand where folks live out the Koran like Mohammed did

6. China

We could toss "atheism" into that pot considering the worldwide brutality that has been birthed from the philosophies of Nietzsche and those who hold to no higher authority to which man is accountable, but Hollywood prefers the atheistic hero and fundamentalist (Christian, of course) villain as seen in their upcoming release, "The Ledge." Considering I already had Hugo, Mahmoud, Vlad and China, I figured adding "atheism" would be redundant.

Despite spending forty years and billions of dollars to stem the military and geopolitical tide of godless socialism and communism, such diseased ideologies have infected our country through the university and through television and film with the drumbeat, "America and it's way of life is evil." Occasionally you find an individual to stand up and say, "No, foundational and fundamental America is VERY good." Until very recently, I thought Pixar was that go-to guy, but as with most major league aces, some weakness has been exposed.

Will there be any pleasant surprises at the box office this year? Movie-junkie that I am, I hope so.