No Sense of History...

So I'm reading Terry Mattingly's "On Religion" column in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette (7/23/10) the other day, and it is a fascinating story of an address Father Siarhei Hardun of the Orthodox Church of Belarus gave to the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA. The PCUSA, as you may or may not know, has been in a decades long struggle between "liberals" who want to modify certain doctrines to reflect a more modern sensibility and "conservatives" who want to maintain orthodox doctrines. Father Hardun used his ecumenical address not in the service of a bland, let's all celebrate our sameness feel good message, but, rather admonished the assembly to hold firm and resist the urge to create a "new morality". He closed by quoting the Apostle Paul, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind". Good stuff.

Compare those words, from someone who has probably paid a true cost and hardship for his faith, to the words of Moderator Cindy Bolbach, an outspoken proponent of the relaxation of moral teaching, before her election as moderator of the assembly.

"We have to learn how to proclaim the Gospel in a multicultural age where

Christianity is no longer at the center ...and we have to accept

the loss of the Church we have always known- as the church transforms

itself into something new."

Hmm. Yes. Let's try to think of a time when Christianity was proclaimed in a multicultural age when it was not at the center. Maybe in the first century, when Paul and the rest of the early Christians were proclaiming Christ to hostile audiences while being persecuted and martyred for their devotion to Christ and their faith? Did Paul advocate a watered down "celebrate diversity" approach to morality after regeneration. Of course not. In fact, it was the early Christians fidelity to their principles, both in morality and mutual support, that made them stand out from the other messianic religions. I believe this was used by the Holy Spirit to woo new converts just as the preaching of the early leaders was. I guess Ms. Bolbach just forgot that little nugget of church history in her zeal to turn the page on those "old" beliefs.

Europe's financial mess explained by two Australian guys...

The saddest part is realizing they are right to say the reason the US economy is so strong is that we are owned by China. We are all fracked!*




*BSG, nerds.

Mark Steyn at his best

Obama's lazy tribute to Daniel Pearl Mark Steyn

Mark Steyn with a stark reminder of: 1. the threat we face from radical Islam and 2. the inadequate response that threat is generating from our President.

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Yes, I am still alive.

Some recommendations:

• Angel Time: The Songs of the Seraphim by Anne Rice. First book of hers I've read since her conversion/re-conversion to Christianity. After reading it, I believe her belief. Very interesting story, and, although it drags just a bit, I really ended up liking it. She had an insight about God's relationship/observance of time that I had never really thought of before. While I have often heard of God as the Great I AM, the ever present one, I never really paid attention to the implication of that. In essence, Rice points out, God doesn't experience the passage of time, He just "is". He is in present tense at all times for all time. No past, no future. Reality and time are like a long mural that, after painting and setting in motion, he observes all at once, while those in the mural experience the passage of time. The writers of Fringe explored a similar theme with the "Observers" earlier this year, although that was limited in scope by the limitations of the Observers. Fascinating things to think about.

• The City and the City by China Mieville. Two cities, two populations, two realities superimposed on each other with areas where they bleed into each other. Both are under strict orders not to acknowledge, interact with, or cross over to the other side while they are definitely aware of the others existence. To diobey these orders would cause a "breach", which also happens to be the name of the enforcers of these rules. "Breach" are a murky group of beings/aliens that police and clean up these breaches. The story is a murder mystery set in and involving all of the above. My advice: read the book. Oh yeah, it won the 2010 Arthur C Clarke award for best novel and is a 2010 Hugo Award nominee. Bizanga!

• Angelology by Danielle Trussoni. I know, I know. What is it with two angel-centric books on this list? Am I becoming the angel equivalent of the vampire obsessed Twilight tweakers? No. My wife discovered this book and gave it to me to read. She loved it and I liked it quite a bit, too. Go read Genesis 6:1-4. Explain it to me in an e-mail. Then go read the book. The entire premise and story of the book are one explanation of what those verses might mean. To me, those verses mean that almost any myth (involving supernatural beings or mysterious happenings) from any culture in the world could be based on the "mighty men who were of old, the men of renown." Amazing how you can think you have heard everything and yet God can still surprise you with his provision for covering everything under the sun with the Word.

That's all for now. Happy reading.

"The Real Republican Civil War"

Is the title of an excellent column by Kimberly Strassel in the Wall Street Journal. It highlights the division between the real reformers who want to turn our conservative principles into legislation and save our country from fiscal ruin and the old guard who just want to get elected or re-elected so they can get the pork for their friends and punt the hard choices down the road. I'm with the reformers and this is why I am not really happy with John Boozman as our US Senate candidate. I don't think he is one of us on these issues.

A Confederacy of "Elite" Dunces

PJ O'Rourke, as usual, points out the absurdity and downside of being led by the elite, brown nosing "A" students we all knew in high school and college. Here. He makes the excellent point that we have entrusted the running of big idea programs in both the private sector and the government over the last 70-80 years and they have, with a few exceptions, proven to be incompetent time and time again while it has been the "B" and "C" students, out in the boots on the ground private sector economy, that have driven the greatness of our country forward during the last century. The elitists favorite ploy right now, on both sides, is to make fun of and condescend toward the common folk while calling for more regulation and control by the elites. Judging from the mood in the country toward Washington, Wall Street, and the MSM, I'd say that their party is about to end. Big time.

And yes, I am self aware to note that I might be considered one of those "A" nerds O'Rourke talks about. I don't share the "A" elite political and social opinions myself, but I did spend enough time around those people to know O'Rourke is right on in his assessment of what their true skill set is: pleasing their mentors and each other.

Reformed Theology Resurgence

Interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor about the resurgence of Reformed Theology in evangelical Christianity. As expected of the MSM, they begin the piece by resorting to the puritan stereotype of a joyless obsession over sin. I encourage you to read it to the end because by then they have begun to discover the joy and freedom that true Reformed teaching brings. Outsiders always miss the ramifications of acknowledging the depravity of man and our inability to reach for God because of our utter sinfulness. They focus on the perceived negative connotations about mankind when, if they would only rotate the focus 180 degrees, they would run right smack into the reality of God's love. Reformed Theology celebrates the fact that we are able to love God only because he first loved us. Because it can never be earned by a fallen sinner, His love frees us from the legalism of rule following while saving us from our sin. What a wonderful thing to remember for the upcoming Easter weekend as we remember Christ's work on the cross on our behalf.

Read these and weep...

1. Robert Samuelson Obama: Sowing the Seeds of a budget crisis.
2. Mark Steyn Obamacare Dystopia
3. New York Post A Grim Sign for Obamacare
4. Matthew Continetti Obamacare's Consequence

Weep for our country and our descendants.

Who knew that an 80 year old, New York jewish man and I could have something in common, and that something would be...

Coolness. Norman Podhoretz, former editor of Commentary magazine and a founding neocon, writes an Op-ed in the Wall Street Journal where he defends Sarah Palin and her Tea Party cohorts, scolds the intellectual condescension of the Republican elites (in their attacks on Palin and the Tea partier's), and finally, as a cherry on top, quotes Iowahawk in his T Coddington Van Voorheis persona. How cool is that cat?