Tuesday, March 30. 2010
It is another dismal, dreary and very damp day here. The morning news featured the horrific story of the bullying that led to the suicide of a 15 year old girl in the toney town of South Hadley, home of Mount Holyoke. Nine teenagers have been charged with (in so many words) tormenting her to death with incessant verbal and physical bullying over a 4 month period.
It remains to be seen what this will amount to, but at least the DA is making a statement and the Legislature is drafting an appropriate Law (word is that it will have no teeth to it, After all, "kids will be kids.") My outrage here is over the fact that this was common knowledge in the school (to students and Staff) and no one did anything about it. The adults have not been charged with any criminal behavior. But allowing this to go on, in my book, is very "criminal", if not legally, morally.
da_charges_9_teens_faults_school_officials_in_s_hadley_bullying_case/
Through the years, during Lent, I have driven by churches with 3 crosses on their front lawn and the words of Lamentations 1:12 posted before them.
"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see if there is any suffering like mine..."
Of course, the church is calling attention to the crosses of Calvary and the brutal murder of Jesus there and the apathy or indifference to that by most people driving by. These words can also be directed to those who passed by Phoebe Snow as she suffered- "Is this nothing to you?" Shame on them!
But as I thought about this, I realized that here are all kinds of horrible, terrible things happening to people around the world today to which we are indifferent. Good Friday is coming and we remember the innocent suffering of Jesus on his cross, singing somber songs and offering prayers, rightly saying "mea culpa".
We should also pause to think of the millions elsewhere who are innocent victims of brutal oppression nailed on crosses of their own. We may not be personally responsible for hanging them there, but to walk by and do nothing should also lead us to say "mea culpa", which means, "my fault", i.e.- I am guilty of sin by doing this-. It is morally wrong to pass bye. That should motivate us to take action on their behalf and not be like the "good" students and Staff of S.Hadley High
Sunday, March 28. 2010
"Congress has heard testimony estimating that more than two-thirds of all births in Los Angeles public hospitals, and more than half of all births in that city, and nearly 10 percent of all births in the nation in recent years, have been to mothers who are here illegally. [There seems to be] no constitutional impediment to Congress ending the granting of birthright citizenship to those whose presence here is 'not only without the government's consent but in violation of its law.'
To end the practice of 'birthright citizenship,' all that is required is to correct the misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment's first sentence: 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.' From these words has flowed the practice of conferring citizenship on children born here to illegal immigrants."
from George Will HERE
Friday, March 26. 2010
With the debate over Obamacare, the subject of Abortion has come to the fore once again. It is related to Healthcare, the Problem of Poverty and Easter. Here is how-
"Ever since C. Everett Koop and Francis Schaeffer pricked our consciences, abortion has been on the front burner for socially minded evangelicals. Thirty-five years since Roe v. Wade, it's time to ask whether it should remain the sine qua non of Christian social engagement.
Claiming to represent the new center, an increasingly self-confident wing of sincere evangelicals thinks not. "The evangelical social agenda is now much broader and deeper," asserts Jim Wallis in his new book, The Great Awakening, "engaging issues such as poverty and economic justice, global warming, HIV/aids, sex trafficking, genocide in Darfur, and the ethics of the war in Iraq."
[Many Evangelicals] seem to be saying that fighting legalized abortion—the deliberate, state- sanctioned taking of 50 million unborn human lives from their mothers' wombs since 1973 (and the accompanying national guilt)—should simply be one item among many on an ever-expanding evangelical to-do list."
- from an article by Stan Guthrie in CT, 5/20/2008 HERE
Should abortion be the top moral priority of our time? It should not. Being pro-life should be. The first God-given universal Human Right is the Right to live. Life is the highest priority.
Continue reading "EASTER AND ABORTION"
Friday, March 26. 2010
OK, we now have a form of "Universal Health Care". How will it be paid for? The VATman cometh!
"Liberals have long complained that Reagan's strategy was to starve the (governmental) beast in order to shrink it: First, cut taxes -- then ultimately you have to reduce government spending.
Obama's strategy is exactly the opposite: Expand the beast and then feed it. Spend first -- which then forces taxation. Now that, with the institution of universal health care, we are becoming the full entitlement state, the beast will have to be fed.
And the VAT is the only trough in creation large enough." Read more from this very chilling column-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032502406.html
Wednesday, March 24. 2010
The columnists I quote in the posts below reflect the secular Conservative perspective. There should be no question that they also reflect a Biblical perspective. Somehow, tragically, incredibly, Evangelicals who claim that the Bible is their ultimate authority for the doctrines of their Faith and for the Principles by which they want to live, fail to see that Idolatry is the major evil condemned by that Bible and that worship of the State is Idolatry and utter foolishness. When is the State an Idol? When it takes the place of God in the life of a Nation and its citizens. When is the State worshiped? When people trust it, yea, demand it, take care of them and provide for all their needs from cradle to grave. This idolatrous worship is increasingly evident in America, even as it was in ancient Israel, culminating in its downfall.
Evangelicals forget the Bible's warnings about Totalitarianism. That is a major theme of the Book of Revelation. They also seem to forget their World History which gives ample reason to beware Tyrants and golden tongued demagogues who seduce the masses with rhetoric and promises.
Continue reading "CONSERVATIVE OR BIBLICAL?"
Wednesday, March 24. 2010
"As America's teetering tower of unkeepable promises grows, so does the weight of government, in taxes and mandates that limit investments and discourage job creation. America's dynamism, and hence upward social mobility, will slow, as the economy becomes what the party of government wants it to be -- increasingly dependent on government-created demand.Promoting dependency is the Democratic Party's vocation. The party knows that almost all entitlements are forever, and those that are not -- e.g., the lifetime eligibility for welfare, repealed in 1996 -- are not for the middle class. Democrats believe, plausibly, that middle-class entitlements are instantly addictive and, because there is no known detoxification, that class, when facing future choices between trimming entitlements or increasing taxes, will choose the latter. The taxes will disproportionately burden high earners, thereby tightening the noose of society's dependency on government for investments and job creation."http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/22/AR2010032201528.html
Wednesday, March 24. 2010
"The essence of America is energy — the vibrancy of the market, the mobility of the people and the disruptive creativity of the entrepreneurs.
Today, America’s vigor is challenged on two fronts. First, the country is becoming geriatric. Other nations spend 10 percent or so of their G.D.P. on health care. We spend 17 percent and are predicted to soon spend 20 percent and then 25 percent. This legislation was supposed to end that asphyxiating growth, which will crowd out investments in innovation, education and everything else. It will not.
The second biggest threat to America’s vibrancy is the exploding federal debt. Again, Democrats can utter the words of fiscal restraint, but they don’t feel the passion. This bill is full of gimmicks designed to get a good score from the Congressional Budget Office but not to really balance the budget. Democrats did enough to solve their political problem (not looking fiscally reckless) but not enough to solve the genuine problem.
Nobody knows how this bill will work out. It is an undertaking exponentially more complex than the Iraq war, for example. But to me, it feels like the end of something, not the beginning of something. It feels like the noble completion of the great liberal project to build a comprehensive welfare system.
The task ahead is to save this country from stagnation and fiscal ruin"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/23/opinion/23brooks1.html
Wednesday, March 24. 2010
"Pork is the preferred metaphor in Washington for misspending. But last weekend, pork took a backseat to baloney, which was present in abundance as President Obama and House Democrats tried to convince the public — and themselves — that their takeover of one-sixth of the economy is going to improve health insurance and the availability of medical treatment.
http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=2868
Tuesday, March 23. 2010
I have added new articles to my website and my webmaster, Norm, and I have made major changes to the format of the website. We hope it will be more user friendly. Please let us know. Thanks- Cal
http://www.reformedliving.org/
Monday, March 22. 2010
Biblical Values that Make Economic Justice Possible
Loyalty to God, His Name and His Day (Sabbath)
Society based on Marriage and Children and extended Family
Personal Morality
Hard Work and education that enables people to do that work
Private Property and good stewardship of it, maintaining freedom from debt
Profit making from work and development of private property
Profits for meeting the needs of family and others, as well as for reinvestment in private property for more profit
The Civil Government is not to be involved in any of the above at all. Its sole purpose is keeping Law and Order (Justice), maintaining honest courts and ensuring due process; passing and enforcing laws preserving these Biblical values and maintaining a militia to protect citizens from corruption, exploitation or violence. To these ends it may collect taxes and Christians are to pay them.
As to the Poor. The Bible defines the Poor as people who are utterly destitute due to no fault of their own, but due to tragedy, war, sickness and death or due to the oppression of others who steal their land or prevent them from working it (oftern taking them into exile and captivity). The Poor of the Bible are not, for the most part, what today's Society considers to be the Poor, especially unwed mothers and illegitimate children in "single parent families". The first recourse of the Poor in the Bible is to God and to hard work to get back on their feet. Those unable to do so, especially widows and orphans, are to be cared for by their extended family or their church. The local community is also to help those truly Poor though various charitable programs (such as Gleaning) and Tithing, a third of which was to be collected for distribution to the otherwise destitute. A key to all such charitable work was that it was personal, given by people who have com-passion. The Civil Government had nothing to do with the care of the Poor.
See more on my website HERE
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