I posted under "Not sure what to think" about the unveiling of this painting that was supposed to happen yesterday...
follow up
Read the whole article and notice the results of the poll at the bottom.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Not sure what to think
I realize that there have been many "messiahs" in history. Even in the times of Jesus a Pharisee named Gamaliel warned the council about men named Theudas and Judas who thought they were something and whose followers disbanded when their leaders perished. His advise was directed at the followers of Jesus after He too had perished. [Acts 6:33-39] So "messiahs" have been around for a long time. Scripture doesn't give us any information about the attitudes of people while Theudas and Judas while they were alive other than that people followed them. And so in this case I'm not sure what to think about the President being elevated in art and idea to the level of "messiah." One the one hand it troubles me since Jesus Christ was crucified and rose from the dead. He, who is, actually, The Messiah. It is sacrilegious to do so with any other human being. On the other hand, however, I'm not surprised given the sycophantic way in which people have thrown themselves behind him. Of course I do not believe he is any kind of real savior but the hyperbole isn't lost on me either. People need a savior. It's evident within us. But as Romans tells us, not turning to God and even rejecting Him..."professing to be wise they become fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man..." Romans 1.22-23
WND article
Be sure to check out the picture in the story...that's the point!!!
WND article
Be sure to check out the picture in the story...that's the point!!!
Friday, April 24, 2009
One to watch
I have a tendency to think this is exactly the direction we're heading in so I'm not just sitting by and waiting. I've written once to my elected officials and will do so again.
hate crimes legislation
hate crimes legislation
Thursday, April 23, 2009
In his own words
One can often listen to critics of someone and be completely convinced that that particular someone is the best or worst thing to come down the pipe in a long time. I'm posting this so that you can hear it in his own words and I'm grateful to "alittleleaven" for adding the Scriptural subtitles.
Watch and before you make a decision turn to your Bible and see for yourself.
Watch and before you make a decision turn to your Bible and see for yourself.
Ok which is it people?
I've read this article twice and I'm pretty sure I understand what it is saying but it leave me really confused. I thought that aerosol pollutants were a bad thing. My grandmother had horrible hair days once they changed her aqua-net hairspray to a pump spray. She suffered so much at the hands of the CFC police.
air pollution good for the earth
just in case you don't feel like reading the whole thing here's the kicker...
"Aerosols offset approximately 50 percent of the greenhouse gas warming," Knut Alfsen, research director at the Centre for International Environmental Research in Oslo, Norway, said by phone.
Without this particle pollution, he said, average global surface temperatures would have increased by 1.0 to 1.1 Celsius (1.8 to 2.0 Fahrenheit) since the start of industrialisation, rather than 0.7 C (1.25 F).
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that average global temperatures will rise before 2100 by 1.1 to 6.4 C (2.0 F to 11.5 F), depending on efforts to curb the gases that drive global warming.
Any increase above 2.0 C, the panel said, would unleash a maelstrom of human misery, including drought, famine, disease and forced migration.
To stay below that threshold, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere must be kept below 450 parts per million (ppm). The current level is about 385 ppm.
"As we continue to clean up the air -- which we must do for the sake of human health -- the challenge of avoiding dangerous climate change through reductions in CO2 emissions will be even harder," said Peter Cox, a researcher at Britain's University of Exeter and a co-author of the Nature study."
air pollution good for the earth
just in case you don't feel like reading the whole thing here's the kicker...
"Aerosols offset approximately 50 percent of the greenhouse gas warming," Knut Alfsen, research director at the Centre for International Environmental Research in Oslo, Norway, said by phone.
Without this particle pollution, he said, average global surface temperatures would have increased by 1.0 to 1.1 Celsius (1.8 to 2.0 Fahrenheit) since the start of industrialisation, rather than 0.7 C (1.25 F).
The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has predicted that average global temperatures will rise before 2100 by 1.1 to 6.4 C (2.0 F to 11.5 F), depending on efforts to curb the gases that drive global warming.
Any increase above 2.0 C, the panel said, would unleash a maelstrom of human misery, including drought, famine, disease and forced migration.
To stay below that threshold, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere must be kept below 450 parts per million (ppm). The current level is about 385 ppm.
"As we continue to clean up the air -- which we must do for the sake of human health -- the challenge of avoiding dangerous climate change through reductions in CO2 emissions will be even harder," said Peter Cox, a researcher at Britain's University of Exeter and a co-author of the Nature study."
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Miss USA: runner-up Carrie Prejean
Posting these for clarity with respect to the end of my last post about Carrie's followership of Christ.
Fox News Interview
Steve Camp's awesome blog
I would post a link to her bio at Miss USA California but they have exceeded their bandwidth limitations which means we have melted their servers :)
Fox News Interview
Steve Camp's awesome blog
I would post a link to her bio at Miss USA California but they have exceeded their bandwidth limitations which means we have melted their servers :)
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Republicans beware???
The GOP a "religious party"
What an interesting article that actually turns out not to be about political parties as much as it is about morality. Still a good read.
Dr. Dobson's quote about the pendulum swing is what I find so interesting. Sometimes in history we do see this swing that he mentions. And I would agree to a certain degree with the proverbial saying that states, "All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
As followers of Christ we are to be involved in the culture as an agent of transformation but it isn't the culture that needs transforming it is the human heart. I think we lose sight of that sometimes. We cannot legislate that transformation and if we spend too much time and energy in trying to do so we will not see the desired results, flawed as they are. If we, however, aim our time and energy at the transformation of the human heart, through the Gospel, then maybe those who legislate will reflect more into the culture the values that we ascribe to in following Christ.
Let me try and ask it from another perspective. Let me assume for a minute that the elected official of a state is NOT a follower of Christ. Why would I expect from that official behavior and legislation that is in accord with values that reflect Christ? Believe me, I fully appreciate the truth that God can and does move the human heart of a non-follower to accomplish His will. But for me to assume that a non-follower will do so in a redeemed way is well off the mark. That does not absolve me, or any other follower of Christ from our responsibility but for me to engage in the "culture war" for the sake of the culture is wrong. It is those on the other side of that "culture war" that should be the actual target...right?
I don't know about the condition of the followership of the woman from California who was involved with the Miss USA pageant but according to the morning buzz she lost her crown because she stood up for what has been termed traditional marriage. She has been booed and ridiculed. And maybe she did lose her crown for being so politically incorrect. I applaud her for taking a stand. I believe that her stand reflects the truth of God. Without knowing the condition of her followership I cannot draw any conclusions about the impact on the culture war or the way the pendulum is swing.
What an interesting article that actually turns out not to be about political parties as much as it is about morality. Still a good read.
Dr. Dobson's quote about the pendulum swing is what I find so interesting. Sometimes in history we do see this swing that he mentions. And I would agree to a certain degree with the proverbial saying that states, "All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
As followers of Christ we are to be involved in the culture as an agent of transformation but it isn't the culture that needs transforming it is the human heart. I think we lose sight of that sometimes. We cannot legislate that transformation and if we spend too much time and energy in trying to do so we will not see the desired results, flawed as they are. If we, however, aim our time and energy at the transformation of the human heart, through the Gospel, then maybe those who legislate will reflect more into the culture the values that we ascribe to in following Christ.
Let me try and ask it from another perspective. Let me assume for a minute that the elected official of a state is NOT a follower of Christ. Why would I expect from that official behavior and legislation that is in accord with values that reflect Christ? Believe me, I fully appreciate the truth that God can and does move the human heart of a non-follower to accomplish His will. But for me to assume that a non-follower will do so in a redeemed way is well off the mark. That does not absolve me, or any other follower of Christ from our responsibility but for me to engage in the "culture war" for the sake of the culture is wrong. It is those on the other side of that "culture war" that should be the actual target...right?
I don't know about the condition of the followership of the woman from California who was involved with the Miss USA pageant but according to the morning buzz she lost her crown because she stood up for what has been termed traditional marriage. She has been booed and ridiculed. And maybe she did lose her crown for being so politically incorrect. I applaud her for taking a stand. I believe that her stand reflects the truth of God. Without knowing the condition of her followership I cannot draw any conclusions about the impact on the culture war or the way the pendulum is swing.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Bloggers Beware
When I started this blog I mentioned that I had another blog that is still out there but I don't write there anymore. Every once in awhile I go and see if anyone has been reading it through sitemeter. I found out that the Sargent of Arms at the Senate had read the article I posted on Pat Leahy when Senator Leahy was in the news earlier this year. I chuckled. Then I broke out in a cold sweat. Then I chuckled again. Now I'm not sure what to do...
is this big brotherish?
bad for believers
I mean, I know what I will do if this Bill is signed into law and used to convict me of a crime as a preacher of the whole council of God. But, man alive, there are quite a few bloggers out there that say some inflammatory things about a lot of issues. I thought the jails were overcrowded already. Maybe they'll make room? Maybe the separation of church and state is just a one way street?
is this big brotherish?
bad for believers
I mean, I know what I will do if this Bill is signed into law and used to convict me of a crime as a preacher of the whole council of God. But, man alive, there are quite a few bloggers out there that say some inflammatory things about a lot of issues. I thought the jails were overcrowded already. Maybe they'll make room? Maybe the separation of church and state is just a one way street?
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Blair, Catholics and Truth
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair rejects the Catholic teaching on Homosexuality.here
I find this news article interesting on so many fronts. Catholic Doctrine, Conversion, Tradition, Truth, Church/Culture just to list a few. But I think what strikes me the most is an underlying premise that FPM Blair and so many people have with respect to faith. People seem to think that faith is by one's personal design. "Oh, I like this teaching and can live with it but oh this one is too strict it just can't be right", is a pitiful and pitiable stance.
When FPM Blair speaks of the OT and the passages in Leviticus I am willing to give him the BOTD and assume that he has actually read the OT and discussed the ideas relevant to the issue with his clergy. Knowing what the Pope has said and what the official stance of the Catholic Church is on the matter what can we do with FPM Blair's comments?
Dismiss them as some kind of grab for the face time in print. After all he may be running for the first Presidency of the EU and if his claims are accurate that the greater percentage of catholics in the pews disagree with the official Catholic position, which I don't actually believe is the case, then it would be politically expedient for him to align himself with those pew sitters. Let's face it the Catholic church doesn't have the pull it used to have back in the days of Henry the 8Th. Then again what church does.
Which leads me to why I started this post. As a follower of Christ, a reader of blogs, a minister of the Gospel the current trend of replacing truth with anything that is expedient is beginning to become laughable. I started this blog to earnestly contend for the faith. That faith which has been revealed in Scripture. Tony Blair is not the supreme arbiter of truth or faith. His use of cultural change to be the beacon of truth is pathetic at best. Truth is truth. Does that mean that the truth which we now hold to be truth will not change? Yes and no. If what we hold to be truth is truth then it will not change. If what we hold needs modification to be "more true" then yes it will change...it was simply incomplete. But if the truth we now hold is untrue then it must change. Is FPM Blair saying that the Biblical Truth of the nature of homosexuality, as revealed in Leviticus and in Romans, as sin is in need of change because times have changed? I think he is and I think he is wrong. Culture cannot be the grid we pass truth through. Culture is too easily manipulated and truth is unyielding.
I find this news article interesting on so many fronts. Catholic Doctrine, Conversion, Tradition, Truth, Church/Culture just to list a few. But I think what strikes me the most is an underlying premise that FPM Blair and so many people have with respect to faith. People seem to think that faith is by one's personal design. "Oh, I like this teaching and can live with it but oh this one is too strict it just can't be right", is a pitiful and pitiable stance.
When FPM Blair speaks of the OT and the passages in Leviticus I am willing to give him the BOTD and assume that he has actually read the OT and discussed the ideas relevant to the issue with his clergy. Knowing what the Pope has said and what the official stance of the Catholic Church is on the matter what can we do with FPM Blair's comments?
Dismiss them as some kind of grab for the face time in print. After all he may be running for the first Presidency of the EU and if his claims are accurate that the greater percentage of catholics in the pews disagree with the official Catholic position, which I don't actually believe is the case, then it would be politically expedient for him to align himself with those pew sitters. Let's face it the Catholic church doesn't have the pull it used to have back in the days of Henry the 8Th. Then again what church does.
Which leads me to why I started this post. As a follower of Christ, a reader of blogs, a minister of the Gospel the current trend of replacing truth with anything that is expedient is beginning to become laughable. I started this blog to earnestly contend for the faith. That faith which has been revealed in Scripture. Tony Blair is not the supreme arbiter of truth or faith. His use of cultural change to be the beacon of truth is pathetic at best. Truth is truth. Does that mean that the truth which we now hold to be truth will not change? Yes and no. If what we hold to be truth is truth then it will not change. If what we hold needs modification to be "more true" then yes it will change...it was simply incomplete. But if the truth we now hold is untrue then it must change. Is FPM Blair saying that the Biblical Truth of the nature of homosexuality, as revealed in Leviticus and in Romans, as sin is in need of change because times have changed? I think he is and I think he is wrong. Culture cannot be the grid we pass truth through. Culture is too easily manipulated and truth is unyielding.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Whatever happened to sin?
About 25 years ago Steve Taylor sang a song with the title of this post. In one of the verses he points to politics and the way in which, for the sake of political power and or expediency the notions of truth telling and righteousness are pushed aside. Read the link below and ask yourself the question, "Whatever happened to sin?"
click here
And a few follow up questions:
Why did the United Methodist Church deny his ordination?
What will the ELCA decide in August concerning the question of homosexual clergy?
and for a zinger...Whatever happened to the seperation of church and state? You do realize that that particular door should swing both ways? Right?
click here
And a few follow up questions:
Why did the United Methodist Church deny his ordination?
What will the ELCA decide in August concerning the question of homosexual clergy?
and for a zinger...Whatever happened to the seperation of church and state? You do realize that that particular door should swing both ways? Right?
Monday, April 6, 2009
CAMPONTHIS: ALL BELIEVERS IN JESUS ARE IN FULL TIME MINISTRY
Definetly worth a read and serious think time.
CAMPONTHIS: ALL BELIEVERS IN JESUS ARE IN FULL TIME MINISTRY
CAMPONTHIS: ALL BELIEVERS IN JESUS ARE IN FULL TIME MINISTRY
Martyrdom continues
Although reports indicate that there are a significant number of new church plants in Baghdad we do well to also remember that people all across the globe die for their faith in Christ each day. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
4 martyred in Iraq
4 martyred in Iraq
Friday, April 3, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
ELCA choices made easy.?.
A few years ago the decision of polity for the ELCA was narrowly defeated with those who rejected homosexual clergy being victorious. And so the issue has come up again and this time the vote will be a simple majority. Keep your eyes on this one in August.
click here
click here
What happened Mr. President?
Recall the flap that Candidate Obama took over his position of sitting down and talking with world leaders without preconditions and such. Now we hear that he is ready to confront the Jewish leaders on the West Bank. Confront or sit down...hmmm
click here
click here
The Obama Whirlwind [or World Wind]
Maybe you're like Winnie the Pooh and me..."a bear of little brain" or maybe you're on top of things. Either way I have felt like Obama is moving so fast that I can't even think straight and so I am grateful for other eyes.
click here legal eagles
click here legal eagles
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