Monday, October 29. 2007
I won’t rub it in: the Red Sox are the World Champions, again! One lesson of life for those who supported the Other Team might simply be, “You win some and you lose some. Oh well- keep going, keep trying.” Of course, now you could root for the Patriots. For the sports fans here, this is a great time to be a New Englander.
For everyone here, the view outdoors is magnificent! Foliage is at its peak and it is absolutely perfect! Awesome display of Beauty that glorifies the Creator. My brother is an Artist. God is, too. Color (red or not), creativity, imagination and design are things Christians should celebrate for God’s sake.
Monday, October 29. 2007
It is not irrational for voters to care deeply about a candidate's stance regarding abortion because that stance is accurately considered an important signifier of the candidate's sensibilities and sympathies, and of his or her notion of sound constitutional reasoning. But regarding abortion itself, what a candidate thinks about abortion rights is not especially important.
This is from today’s column by George Will. Could it be true? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/26/AR2007102601864.html?sub=AR
Monday, October 29. 2007
"A headline in the Los Angeles Times pretty much said it all: 'Maddening Intense Blazes Met Explosive Suburban Growth.'" This is from a column today by Richard Reeves. Our local paper ran it with the title “Playing with fire, getting burned”
"The results were predictable: Fifteen big "brush" fires, more than 600 square miles burned, more than 1,800 buildings reduced to ashes, hundreds of thousands of people running for their lives, cost about a billion dollars. There is no mystery about any of this. The Times headline was perfect because it caught the relationship between man and nature in disaster, whether fire, flood, earthquake or global warming. What nature does is inevitable; all these things were happening with maddening regularity long before there were upright bipeds running around making them better or worse."
Continue reading "PLAYING WITH FIRE"
Monday, October 29. 2007
CNBC’s The Big Idea host, Donny Deutsch, recently interviewed conservative columnist Ann Coulter. He said he was offended by her remarks and many other columnists and bloggers have picked up the story of Ms Coulter’s alleged anti-Semitism expressed in that interview. What did she say?
Everyone, including Jews, should become Christians. Mr. Deutsch, who is Jewish, said this was like the view of the “head of Iran” who wants to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth.” Not so, countered Ms Coulter. She pressed the view that evangelical Christians believe everyone needs to believe in Jesus. When Jewish people do that, Sshe said, they are “perfected”. I think the preferred term is “completed”.
Continue reading "ANN COULTER AND ACCUSATIONS OF ANTISEMITISM"
Saturday, October 27. 2007
It requires Special Revelation via the Scripture to know the Gospel; nevertheless “Natural Law” exists and it is the basis God has for holding pagan Nations accountable for their actions. For example, study the first chapter of Amos which records God’s judgment coming on those pagan Nations guilty of violence, oppression, cruelty in their treatment of other Nations and people groups (e.g.- slave trading).
Natural Law, particularly, Natural Moral Law, is about Justice. That is God’s yardstick for every Nation. Instead of politicking and seeking legislation to make this a Christian Country, our goal should be to make it a Country wherein there is Justice (as measured by God’s standards) for all.
This gives us a major principle to use in deciding which candidates to support in the coming national election. Likewise, this goal gives us a guideline to use in evaluating legislation and government policies. Who will work for Justice? What will enable Justice?
Continue reading "PRIORITIES IN PICKING A PRESIDENT"
Saturday, October 27. 2007
In light of what I have written above, I am inclined to think that Mitt Romney might be the best candidate for our next president. I am also persuaded by this well-reasoned article by Wayne Grudem that Mr Romney is probably the best person among the current candidates for the position.
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/commentary/11557559/page1/
Saturday, October 27. 2007
With the recent fires devastating southern California, reporters are again making frequent reference to “Mother Nature”. The word nature comes from the Latin- to be born. The word “nature” usually is a noun referring to any and all natural (as opposed to artificial or “man made”) objects or phenomena. “Mother Nature” is a metaphor indicating the ultimate source of our natural life, that which mothers or nurtures us physically. Sometimes feminized Nature is deified and many people through the centuries, including ours, have worshipped Gaia (goddess of the earth). Much of today’s Environmentalism reflects this deification and common rhetoric is replete with it.
There is no such goddess. Mother Nature as an entity or force (a deity) in control of our destiny or the weather or wild fires does not exist. Seems obvious, but we read or hear of “her” daily. Why?
Continue reading "MOTHER NATURE? WHO IS MOTHER NATURE?"
Saturday, October 27. 2007
Classic (Christian) Christmas carols are filled with sound doctrine. The 3rd verse of “Joy to the World” includes these words-
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found…
If this is our Father’s world and He is involved in its day by day operation, how do we account for natural disasters? To start with, what we are inclined to think of as “disasters” are often simply natural phenomena- the earth acting according to how it was made. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes are not disasters in themselves. Neither are floods nor droughts. They are as natural as the changing seasons, with ice and snow replacing the hot days of Summer. Global warming and global cooling are natural, too. So is the accompanying extinction of certain species of animal and wildlife and the erosion of shorelines and the redirection of rivers.
Continue reading "THE CURSE"
Thursday, October 25. 2007
We returned from Maryland last night. We had a good visit with our family there and that included visiting Baltimore's Inner Harbor- always fun, and times wandering on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay- also a pleasure. It is a great area- sometimes we visit Annapolis or go down to DC. We also spent time on the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) campus where our daughter, Melinda, is a student. She is one of 13,000 at this school that bills itself as an honors university, known for research in various Sciences. I was really impressed by the great number of East Indian and Asian students. What a mission field for local churches and groups like IVCF. I know that is not PC to say in this age of Pluralism and, in fact, all the students on the campus need Christ, not only the international ones. And then, all the students who are Christians need to be challenged to think Biblically about the material they are studying. I would make a good guess that most of them are not.
Thursday, October 18. 2007
Thank you for checking out my Blog. There will be no new posts until next week. However, there are 1263 posts already on this site for your perusal 
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