My late grandfather, Seneca Lowell Griggs
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
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Saturday, September 22, 2007
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
THEY LIKE IT
(From Nationalreview.com - the corner
"Because They Like It, That's Why [Michael Ledeen]
From an email, clear thinking for what lies ahead:
The real question remains “Why at all?” and the status of these would-be murderers as privileged post-graduates debunks the usual Lefty nostrums about terrorism arising inexorably from the poverty, oppression and “disenfranchisement” of the globe’s Darwinian short-bus. The answer lies more plainly in a memorable line of a memorable character. In 1971’s “Dirty Harry” the city of San Francisco is being terrorized by the rampant Scorpio serial killer. Clint Eastwood is in classic formulaic dialogue with the big shots down at City Hall who just don't understand what they’re dealing with. Eastwood says “You're crazy if you think you've heard the last of this guy. He's gonna kill again” and the archetypal skeptical D.A. character responds “How do you know?” (A little imagination here to invoke the Eastwood signature voice enhances the flavor of the closing fastball). “Because he likes it” answers Dirty Harry.
It doesn't matter a whit if these manqu̩ human bonfires are doctors, shepherds, bureaucrats or street vendors Рthis is what they do, and they do it because they like it. They are fanatics, subsumed in a crippling theology that fosters self-hatred and murder. Their economic conditions are irrelevant. The Left doesn't get this of course because Marxist materialism denies belief systems altogether, so they therefore must assume that all human behavior is derived from economic determinism. Tell that to Dr. Kill-dare.
These monsters wish to inflict as much pain and death on as many innocents as they can because… because they’re evil and they’re crazy. And it’s not pretty to say so, but the only reasonable and effective defense is to kill them first. "
"Because They Like It, That's Why [Michael Ledeen]
From an email, clear thinking for what lies ahead:
The real question remains “Why at all?” and the status of these would-be murderers as privileged post-graduates debunks the usual Lefty nostrums about terrorism arising inexorably from the poverty, oppression and “disenfranchisement” of the globe’s Darwinian short-bus. The answer lies more plainly in a memorable line of a memorable character. In 1971’s “Dirty Harry” the city of San Francisco is being terrorized by the rampant Scorpio serial killer. Clint Eastwood is in classic formulaic dialogue with the big shots down at City Hall who just don't understand what they’re dealing with. Eastwood says “You're crazy if you think you've heard the last of this guy. He's gonna kill again” and the archetypal skeptical D.A. character responds “How do you know?” (A little imagination here to invoke the Eastwood signature voice enhances the flavor of the closing fastball). “Because he likes it” answers Dirty Harry.
It doesn't matter a whit if these manqu̩ human bonfires are doctors, shepherds, bureaucrats or street vendors Рthis is what they do, and they do it because they like it. They are fanatics, subsumed in a crippling theology that fosters self-hatred and murder. Their economic conditions are irrelevant. The Left doesn't get this of course because Marxist materialism denies belief systems altogether, so they therefore must assume that all human behavior is derived from economic determinism. Tell that to Dr. Kill-dare.
These monsters wish to inflict as much pain and death on as many innocents as they can because… because they’re evil and they’re crazy. And it’s not pretty to say so, but the only reasonable and effective defense is to kill them first. "
Thursday, June 14, 2007
2007 Mustang GT
My son drove up last night in his brand-new, jet-black, Mustang GT - the classic "throaty purr" indicating the presence of 8 honkin' cyclinders creating 300 horses at 6000 rpm. Oh, it's nice.
He didn't listen to his old Dad. I said, light colors last longer and 6 cylinders will be all the horsepower you'll need.
I was WRONG. I'm glad he got the real thing. At this stage he can afford the gas (he's single) and every guy should have a hot car at least once in his life. It's good to be young when you're young. He bought like a 27 year old, not like a 57 year old and that's good.
Enjoy it Tom. You made the right choice.
He didn't listen to his old Dad. I said, light colors last longer and 6 cylinders will be all the horsepower you'll need.
I was WRONG. I'm glad he got the real thing. At this stage he can afford the gas (he's single) and every guy should have a hot car at least once in his life. It's good to be young when you're young. He bought like a 27 year old, not like a 57 year old and that's good.
Enjoy it Tom. You made the right choice.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Life and death of Judy Garland (Francis Gumm)
(Found on James Lilek's blog in response to his post on Judy Garland Days in Grand Rapids)
The Case of Frances Gumm vs. Judy Garland
Submitted by CivilDefense on Sun, 06/10/2007 - 7:39am.
Do you really "...have to wonder how her life would have unfolded if she’d stayed" home in small-town middle America"?
With respect, I don't think so. Her life would have been better, far happier, and almost certainly much longer. (Her daughter, too, wouldn't have been a bundle of second-generation neuroses and inherited pathologies.)
Google the sad end in summary of Garland's story and you learn that she was just 47, full of sleeping pills, and that "everybody loved her" ... everybody but Frances Gumm, apparently. (As I recall, "everyone loved" Marilyn Monroe, too --- not to mention Elvis, Jim Morrison, etc. ad nauseum)
When you're very, very young, deeply impressed by what you see and unaware of what you don't yet know, Garland's meteoric life story has great appeal. Young people don't see those brassy, rouged twin whores, Glamour and Fame, as the flattering, life-sapping, withering harpies they truly are.
As you age, have a family, enjoy the profound pleasures of a modest life and the peaceful retreat of relative obscurity, I think most of us come to regard a life like that lived by Gumm/Garland as a curse and a tragedy ... even if it's set to music and recorded in Technicolor.
The Case of Frances Gumm vs. Judy Garland
Submitted by CivilDefense on Sun, 06/10/2007 - 7:39am.
Do you really "...have to wonder how her life would have unfolded if she’d stayed" home in small-town middle America"?
With respect, I don't think so. Her life would have been better, far happier, and almost certainly much longer. (Her daughter, too, wouldn't have been a bundle of second-generation neuroses and inherited pathologies.)
Google the sad end in summary of Garland's story and you learn that she was just 47, full of sleeping pills, and that "everybody loved her" ... everybody but Frances Gumm, apparently. (As I recall, "everyone loved" Marilyn Monroe, too --- not to mention Elvis, Jim Morrison, etc. ad nauseum)
When you're very, very young, deeply impressed by what you see and unaware of what you don't yet know, Garland's meteoric life story has great appeal. Young people don't see those brassy, rouged twin whores, Glamour and Fame, as the flattering, life-sapping, withering harpies they truly are.
As you age, have a family, enjoy the profound pleasures of a modest life and the peaceful retreat of relative obscurity, I think most of us come to regard a life like that lived by Gumm/Garland as a curse and a tragedy ... even if it's set to music and recorded in Technicolor.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
"Kakes" graduates
My youngest, "Kakes," graduated from college a month ago. She ended up with a triple major; English, Psych & Linguistics. Through-out her 4 years she received all A's except for one B+. I'm quite proud of my two children. Having graduated from college they should be able to find gainful employment and support my early retirement. That's my plan; not necessarily their's.
Anywho, congrats to Kakes for a job terrifically done.
Anywho, congrats to Kakes for a job terrifically done.
Sitting quietly
This morning while I was unloading my Motobecane racing bicycle, I "twinged" my back. Well I completed the 24 miles with my friend Ron but my back is warning me that I need to be very careful in the next couple of days. Such is life right?
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Live while you can
A D.J. Drummond posted the following on Wizbangblog.com. It is very perceptive.
On Death
Yesterday, I went to the funeral of my old church choir director, the sort of man who achieved greatness the old-fashioned way; he changed the lives of countless people around him by helping them find character strengths and skills they did not know they possessed, and he helped them grow from uncertain youth to a more confident adulthood. Today also happens to be the one-year anniversary of the death of my father. Also, in the past year I have been diagnosed with Cancer, been to several other funerals, and had some unpleasantly direct experience with how the present media culture treats the families of violent crime, so I am a bit more aware of death in my thoughts and ponderings than normal.
We live, we die. These are immutable facts in the human condition. I could make some profound religious or philosophical observation on what happens after we die, I suppose, but it would likely not be original, even if it was worth the effort. And it would be poor, cold comfort to the people left behind to mourn the loss. It's nice to be told that our loved ones are happy and doing well on the other side of the grave, and we might even take some comfort in the hope that we can believe in something more after the death of the body, but in the present we all have to face that death is right here, everywhere all the time. Dying means pain, the grotesque internment of the body as garbage, and the undesired change in reality for everyone connected to the deceased. C.S. Lewis, the Oxford Don and famous as a great apologist for Christianity in the modern age, wrote about the pain he endured when his wife Joy died from Cancer. It was, he felt, grossly unfair and painful to everyone, and it also seemed that everything someone said to him showed how little they understood the situation. If so great an optimist as Lewis felt this way during the passing of his wife, we should not be surprised that anyone else would feel the same suffering.
Yet for all of that, I cannot accept the notion that death should be the focus of a person's life. We are born and we must die, yes, but all that happens in between those events is of tremendous importance. Indeed, all of History comes down to men and women choosing ways to use their opportunities to act in ways that change Reality. Even when they sometimes had to die to do so. And many times, the people who changed the world the most, were far more than they seemed on the outside.
It's no great wisdom to say it, but I think it's a good idea to repeat the fact that living matters more than dying. Anyone can die, and we all get there eventually. Living, and living to a good end, is much much harder and significant. People mourn a person's death, specifically because the way they lived mattered.
By: DJ Drummond
On Death
Yesterday, I went to the funeral of my old church choir director, the sort of man who achieved greatness the old-fashioned way; he changed the lives of countless people around him by helping them find character strengths and skills they did not know they possessed, and he helped them grow from uncertain youth to a more confident adulthood. Today also happens to be the one-year anniversary of the death of my father. Also, in the past year I have been diagnosed with Cancer, been to several other funerals, and had some unpleasantly direct experience with how the present media culture treats the families of violent crime, so I am a bit more aware of death in my thoughts and ponderings than normal.
We live, we die. These are immutable facts in the human condition. I could make some profound religious or philosophical observation on what happens after we die, I suppose, but it would likely not be original, even if it was worth the effort. And it would be poor, cold comfort to the people left behind to mourn the loss. It's nice to be told that our loved ones are happy and doing well on the other side of the grave, and we might even take some comfort in the hope that we can believe in something more after the death of the body, but in the present we all have to face that death is right here, everywhere all the time. Dying means pain, the grotesque internment of the body as garbage, and the undesired change in reality for everyone connected to the deceased. C.S. Lewis, the Oxford Don and famous as a great apologist for Christianity in the modern age, wrote about the pain he endured when his wife Joy died from Cancer. It was, he felt, grossly unfair and painful to everyone, and it also seemed that everything someone said to him showed how little they understood the situation. If so great an optimist as Lewis felt this way during the passing of his wife, we should not be surprised that anyone else would feel the same suffering.
Yet for all of that, I cannot accept the notion that death should be the focus of a person's life. We are born and we must die, yes, but all that happens in between those events is of tremendous importance. Indeed, all of History comes down to men and women choosing ways to use their opportunities to act in ways that change Reality. Even when they sometimes had to die to do so. And many times, the people who changed the world the most, were far more than they seemed on the outside.
It's no great wisdom to say it, but I think it's a good idea to repeat the fact that living matters more than dying. Anyone can die, and we all get there eventually. Living, and living to a good end, is much much harder and significant. People mourn a person's death, specifically because the way they lived mattered.
By: DJ Drummond
Friday, April 20, 2007
The insanity of feminism
Al Mohler and Kathleen Parker clarify our insanity:
"Tragically, the most damaging element of Ahmadinejad's media triumph was handed to him by the Royal Navy in the person of Leading Seaman Faye Turney, the only woman among the captives and the mother of a 3-year-old daughter.
Her presence among the captives taken from the British patrol vessel gave Ahmadinejad the opportunity to make this observation:
"You will know that among the detainees there is one lady who is a mother of a child. Why is it that the most difficult work like patrolling at sea should be given to a woman?
"Why is there no respect for motherhood? Why does the West not value its women?"
Ahmadinejad's questions still reverberate around the Muslim world. Nothing could more effectively demonstrate the immorality of Western values before Muslim eyes than this -- a mother of a little girl sent as a warrior.
As Kathleen Parker remarked in The Washington Post:
On any given day, one isn't likely to find common cause with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He's a dangerous, lying, Holocaust- denying, Jew-hating cutthroat thug -- not to put too fine a point on it.
But he was dead-on when he wondered why a once-great power such as Britain sends mothers of toddlers to fight its battles.
Driven by a fanatical ideology of feminism, the West has turned its back on a reality as basic as motherhood. We have adopted a new morality that insists -- nature's obstinacy notwithstanding -- that there is no difference between men and women. This produces mothers of babies and toddlers in uniform and in the killing zones."
"Tragically, the most damaging element of Ahmadinejad's media triumph was handed to him by the Royal Navy in the person of Leading Seaman Faye Turney, the only woman among the captives and the mother of a 3-year-old daughter.
Her presence among the captives taken from the British patrol vessel gave Ahmadinejad the opportunity to make this observation:
"You will know that among the detainees there is one lady who is a mother of a child. Why is it that the most difficult work like patrolling at sea should be given to a woman?
"Why is there no respect for motherhood? Why does the West not value its women?"
Ahmadinejad's questions still reverberate around the Muslim world. Nothing could more effectively demonstrate the immorality of Western values before Muslim eyes than this -- a mother of a little girl sent as a warrior.
As Kathleen Parker remarked in The Washington Post:
On any given day, one isn't likely to find common cause with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He's a dangerous, lying, Holocaust- denying, Jew-hating cutthroat thug -- not to put too fine a point on it.
But he was dead-on when he wondered why a once-great power such as Britain sends mothers of toddlers to fight its battles.
Driven by a fanatical ideology of feminism, the West has turned its back on a reality as basic as motherhood. We have adopted a new morality that insists -- nature's obstinacy notwithstanding -- that there is no difference between men and women. This produces mothers of babies and toddlers in uniform and in the killing zones."
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
V Tech hero
"Virginia Tech University Prof. Liviu Librescu, described as a family man who once did research for NASA, sacrificed his life to save his students in the shooting rampage yesterday.
"When he heard the gunfire, he blocked the entrance and got shot through the door," his daughter-in-law Ayala Schmulevich said.
"He realized he had to save the students," she said. "That was the kind of man he was."
The hero educator was beginning a class on solid mechanics when all hell broke loose on the second floor of Norris Hall.
First came the terrifying gunshots from a classroom next door.
"It wasn't like an automatic weapon, but it was a steady 'pow,' 'pow,' 'pow,' 'pow,'" student Richard Mallalieu, 23, told The Washington Post. "We didn't know what to do at first."
The students in the class dropped to the floor and started overturning desks to hide behind as about a dozen shots rang out, he said.
Then the gunfire started coming closer. Librescu, 77, fearlessly braced himself against the door, holding it shut against the gunman in the hall, while students darted to the windows of the second-floor classroom to escape the slaughter, survivors said.
Mallalieu and most of his classmates hung out of the windows and dropped about 10 feet to bushes and grass below - but Librescu stayed behind to hold off the crazed gunman.
Alec Calhoun, 20, said the last thing he saw before he jumped from the window was Librescu, blocking the door against the madman in the hallway.
He died trying to protect the students."
INCREDIBLE! GOD BLESS HIM
"When he heard the gunfire, he blocked the entrance and got shot through the door," his daughter-in-law Ayala Schmulevich said.
"He realized he had to save the students," she said. "That was the kind of man he was."
The hero educator was beginning a class on solid mechanics when all hell broke loose on the second floor of Norris Hall.
First came the terrifying gunshots from a classroom next door.
"It wasn't like an automatic weapon, but it was a steady 'pow,' 'pow,' 'pow,' 'pow,'" student Richard Mallalieu, 23, told The Washington Post. "We didn't know what to do at first."
The students in the class dropped to the floor and started overturning desks to hide behind as about a dozen shots rang out, he said.
Then the gunfire started coming closer. Librescu, 77, fearlessly braced himself against the door, holding it shut against the gunman in the hall, while students darted to the windows of the second-floor classroom to escape the slaughter, survivors said.
Mallalieu and most of his classmates hung out of the windows and dropped about 10 feet to bushes and grass below - but Librescu stayed behind to hold off the crazed gunman.
Alec Calhoun, 20, said the last thing he saw before he jumped from the window was Librescu, blocking the door against the madman in the hallway.
He died trying to protect the students."
INCREDIBLE! GOD BLESS HIM
Monday, April 16, 2007
20 plus people murdered at Va. Tech
There is great evil loosened in our world. Nobody yet knows the final tally; the shooter is dead.
Waiting to find out who it is; if there is any explanation to the insanity.
Waiting to find out who it is; if there is any explanation to the insanity.
Finnerty, Seligman & Evans Innocent
I admit to attempting to read EVERYTHING about the Duke Lacrosse Non-rape Case that has fascinated the blogosphere in the last year.
It shoulda gone away the day after it was announced there was NO DNA evidence. But too many people desperately needed it to be true to serve their agenda.
If you were following the case in the blogosphere, it was oh so evident that there was nothing there. Yet Nifong and his MANY enablers toiled on.
I would love to interview Mike. It would take a week before you might actually get to the bottom of his motivations.
Oh well, what's next?
It shoulda gone away the day after it was announced there was NO DNA evidence. But too many people desperately needed it to be true to serve their agenda.
If you were following the case in the blogosphere, it was oh so evident that there was nothing there. Yet Nifong and his MANY enablers toiled on.
I would love to interview Mike. It would take a week before you might actually get to the bottom of his motivations.
Oh well, what's next?
Monday, April 02, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Roger Bennett R.I.P.
Roger Bennett, southern gospel pianist, gentleman and follower of Jesus Christ passed away yesterday. He was 48 years young and leaves behind his wife and 3 children.
He died from Leukemia; first battled the disease in the 90's. But it came back last year and took his life. I like what some poster said:
" The one thing I will never forget was when Roger made the statement "No matter what happens to me, I win". This morning he won the best prize of all. I know heaven is better today with Roger there, but we here or earth will miss him. My prayers are for all of his family and Legacy 5 that are left on this earth. God be with them."
Roger was correct. If you're a believer you simply can't lose. You win!
I went to hear Legacy Five, the group he founded with Scott Fowler, hoping to see him a bout 3 weeks ago. Sadly he was not there and now he's gone from this life.
I didn't know him but his reputation was that of a fine, fine man.
He died from Leukemia; first battled the disease in the 90's. But it came back last year and took his life. I like what some poster said:
" The one thing I will never forget was when Roger made the statement "No matter what happens to me, I win". This morning he won the best prize of all. I know heaven is better today with Roger there, but we here or earth will miss him. My prayers are for all of his family and Legacy 5 that are left on this earth. God be with them."
Roger was correct. If you're a believer you simply can't lose. You win!
I went to hear Legacy Five, the group he founded with Scott Fowler, hoping to see him a bout 3 weeks ago. Sadly he was not there and now he's gone from this life.
I didn't know him but his reputation was that of a fine, fine man.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Let's talk about sex, baby - Columns
An insightful article about the "hook-up" culture at an elite University. It's actually sad.
Let's talk about sex, baby - Columns
Let's talk about sex, baby - Columns
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Stealing the Church
California Pastor Stole the Whole Church
Click here to find out more!
By GARANCE BURKE
Associated Press Writer
February 13 2007, 7:45 AM EST
RIPON, Calif. -- For nearly a decade, members of Ripon's First Congregational Church bared their souls to Pastor Randall Radic. But clearly it didn't work both ways. There were certain things he wasn't telling them.
That became obvious a year ago, when Radic pleaded guilty to betraying his flock and secretly selling the church and its rectory out from under them. He used the money to buy himself a brand-new black BMW and a laptop -- exploits he later chronicled in a cheeky, almost gleeful blog about his double life as a sinner.
"We didn't know anything until we got a call from the bank that he had bought a BMW," said David Prater, who led the church board during Radic's tenure. "He drove that car right down Main Street." MORE
Click here to find out more!
By GARANCE BURKE
Associated Press Writer
February 13 2007, 7:45 AM EST
RIPON, Calif. -- For nearly a decade, members of Ripon's First Congregational Church bared their souls to Pastor Randall Radic. But clearly it didn't work both ways. There were certain things he wasn't telling them.
That became obvious a year ago, when Radic pleaded guilty to betraying his flock and secretly selling the church and its rectory out from under them. He used the money to buy himself a brand-new black BMW and a laptop -- exploits he later chronicled in a cheeky, almost gleeful blog about his double life as a sinner.
"We didn't know anything until we got a call from the bank that he had bought a BMW," said David Prater, who led the church board during Radic's tenure. "He drove that car right down Main Street." MORE
Presidential candidates
(Anon Quote)
Once I asked a political professional if he'd come to like and care about the candidates he'd worked with, and he barked the old Cynical Strategist's line, "Rule one: Never fall in love with the meat!"
(That's so good. By the time we finally get to the presidential election of November 2008 I will be So hating the candidates; heck I don't like them now! But two years of this garbage? We're going to have people jumping off of tall buildings before this cycle is over.)
Once I asked a political professional if he'd come to like and care about the candidates he'd worked with, and he barked the old Cynical Strategist's line, "Rule one: Never fall in love with the meat!"
(That's so good. By the time we finally get to the presidential election of November 2008 I will be So hating the candidates; heck I don't like them now! But two years of this garbage? We're going to have people jumping off of tall buildings before this cycle is over.)
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
If you have questions about God read this
What is NOT an attribute of God?
A. He is Loving
B. He is Righteous
C. He is Merciful
D. He is compromising
Answer: D. It is always polite to let each other speak for ourselves and God is no different. He has explained clearly why He is not willing to compromise, while at the same time remaining loving and forgiving. See below for an understandable explanation…
::God-the object of all worship::
Being eternally perfect, just and loving, God is worthy to receive the worship of all. His supremacy demands the worship of His creation (Psalm 96).
::Humanity-united in rebellion::
The world is clearly not perfect. This is because we have all rejected the authority of God in favor of our own (Rom. 1.21-26). Independence from God is sin. It is rooted in a heart that refuses to submit to the authority of God and therefore rebels against Him. From God’s perspective, rebellion is offensive because it seeks a human or self authority (Rom. 3.10-12, 23).
::God will not let us continue rebelling::
This anger evoking rebellion has brought about God’s judgment; expressed now in terms of death, sickness, and inability to earn His favor, and ultimately in terms of eternal condemnation (John 3.18; Rev. 21.8). God’s perfect character & perfect standard require that He deal justly with us as rebels (Ps. 9.8; Acts 17.30).
::Jesus-the only substitute for rebels::
God’s justice will only be satisfied by perfection (Matt. 5.48). God demonstrates His love for us by sending the only suitable substitute (2 Cor. 5.21).
::Jesus-the God who became a man::
Jesus, Himself being God (Col. 2.9), put on humanity & became a man (John 1.14). In His life Jesus showed dependence upon God through perfect obedience to God & remained without sin (1 Jn. 3.5). Jesus fully satisfied the just requirements of God by offering Himself as the sacrifice for rebels through His death on the cross (Rom. 3.25)
::Jesus-the only means of restoration::
God calls every person to receive His gift of salvation by believing in Him: turning from rebellion & depending upon Jesus’ perfection for forgiveness. God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross as the exclusive basis for restoration. God demonstrated this acceptance through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (Acts 17.30-31).
::Jesus-the believer’s perfection::
On the cross, Jesus died in the sinner’s place. God charged the rebel’s sin to Jesus (though He never sinned), so that through the believer’s full dependence upon the merit of Jesus, God would declare the rebel perfect, based upon the sacrifice of Jesus (Rom. 3.26). Here God is proven to be just, holy, forgiving, & loving of the one who submits to & depends on Jesus.
::There are only two ways to respond::
-1- continue rejecting God’s authority (sin)…result: guilt & judgment
-2- submit to & depend upon Jesus (faith)…result: forgiveness
A. He is Loving
B. He is Righteous
C. He is Merciful
D. He is compromising
Answer: D. It is always polite to let each other speak for ourselves and God is no different. He has explained clearly why He is not willing to compromise, while at the same time remaining loving and forgiving. See below for an understandable explanation…
::God-the object of all worship::
Being eternally perfect, just and loving, God is worthy to receive the worship of all. His supremacy demands the worship of His creation (Psalm 96).
::Humanity-united in rebellion::
The world is clearly not perfect. This is because we have all rejected the authority of God in favor of our own (Rom. 1.21-26). Independence from God is sin. It is rooted in a heart that refuses to submit to the authority of God and therefore rebels against Him. From God’s perspective, rebellion is offensive because it seeks a human or self authority (Rom. 3.10-12, 23).
::God will not let us continue rebelling::
This anger evoking rebellion has brought about God’s judgment; expressed now in terms of death, sickness, and inability to earn His favor, and ultimately in terms of eternal condemnation (John 3.18; Rev. 21.8). God’s perfect character & perfect standard require that He deal justly with us as rebels (Ps. 9.8; Acts 17.30).
::Jesus-the only substitute for rebels::
God’s justice will only be satisfied by perfection (Matt. 5.48). God demonstrates His love for us by sending the only suitable substitute (2 Cor. 5.21).
::Jesus-the God who became a man::
Jesus, Himself being God (Col. 2.9), put on humanity & became a man (John 1.14). In His life Jesus showed dependence upon God through perfect obedience to God & remained without sin (1 Jn. 3.5). Jesus fully satisfied the just requirements of God by offering Himself as the sacrifice for rebels through His death on the cross (Rom. 3.25)
::Jesus-the only means of restoration::
God calls every person to receive His gift of salvation by believing in Him: turning from rebellion & depending upon Jesus’ perfection for forgiveness. God accepted the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross as the exclusive basis for restoration. God demonstrated this acceptance through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (Acts 17.30-31).
::Jesus-the believer’s perfection::
On the cross, Jesus died in the sinner’s place. God charged the rebel’s sin to Jesus (though He never sinned), so that through the believer’s full dependence upon the merit of Jesus, God would declare the rebel perfect, based upon the sacrifice of Jesus (Rom. 3.26). Here God is proven to be just, holy, forgiving, & loving of the one who submits to & depends on Jesus.
::There are only two ways to respond::
-1- continue rejecting God’s authority (sin)…result: guilt & judgment
-2- submit to & depend upon Jesus (faith)…result: forgiveness
Sunday, February 04, 2007
"Good News:" simple but profound
Tom Ascol - Founders Blog
"The Gospel is all about Jesus Christ. I teach the people I serve to think of it simply like this: It is the message or Who Christ is, What He has done, and Why it matters."
And that is it!
"The Gospel is all about Jesus Christ. I teach the people I serve to think of it simply like this: It is the message or Who Christ is, What He has done, and Why it matters."
And that is it!
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Millennial Postmodernity
Anything to pick up the cheap hit!
(See KC Johnson's) Durham-in-wonderland which follows the Duke non-rape case.
It has been great reading and offers rich insight into the insanity of feminist studies.
(See KC Johnson's) Durham-in-wonderland which follows the Duke non-rape case.
It has been great reading and offers rich insight into the insanity of feminist studies.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Trying to read the tea leaves instead of Scripture
Misreading God
by Dan Phillips
Reading providence is a fool's game, yet it never lacks players.
Discontented with Scripture, yearning for something God never promises, countless Christians read feelings, circumstances, events, hoping to discern God's personal coded messages in them. They may not use tea-leaves and chicken gizzards, but they no less are acting as diviners rather than divines. The results can be devastating and enslaving.
Dan Phillips of teampyro.blogspot.com has called it. We are not satisfied with God's Word; we want uber magic. (I think God's telling me I need to run to Denny's and have a "Grand Slam" before I go to work today. On that basis I'm over - and - out)
by Dan Phillips
Reading providence is a fool's game, yet it never lacks players.
Discontented with Scripture, yearning for something God never promises, countless Christians read feelings, circumstances, events, hoping to discern God's personal coded messages in them. They may not use tea-leaves and chicken gizzards, but they no less are acting as diviners rather than divines. The results can be devastating and enslaving.
Dan Phillips of teampyro.blogspot.com has called it. We are not satisfied with God's Word; we want uber magic. (I think God's telling me I need to run to Denny's and have a "Grand Slam" before I go to work today. On that basis I'm over - and - out)
Monday, January 29, 2007
The Joy of Sensitivity Training
Sensitivity Training only goes one way!
ASU student objects to sensitivity exercise
By David Discobing, For the Tribune
January 21, 2007
Arizona State University senior Ryan Visconti was told “his kind” wasn’t welcome — that he was an abomination and an unforgiveable sinner. He pleaded to join the “church,” which was set up Jan. 10 as part of diversity training for ASU dormitory employees.
The role-play training took place Jan. 11, one week before the start of the spring semester.
Assigned the identity of a gay Hispanic, Visconti’s persistence during the training got him nowhere. A woman with a Southern accent told him there was nothing he could do. She said he was going to hell, and that even Jesus said so in the Bible.
Visconti, a 22-year-old political science major from Mesa, called the role-play an “ultra-clear example” of the victim mentality and liberal bias that permeate ASU.
“It crossed the line,” Visconti said. “All it did was reinforce the most disgusting, hateful and ugly stereotypes in our society.”
Visconti said he was required to participate in the role-play for his job as a resident assistant. It was an activity that Visconti, other dorm employees and a Valley religious leader said went too far.
Even an ASU associate professor who specializes in minority relations has raised concerns about the activity.
ASU Residential Life spokeswoman Diana Medina said the role-play was designed to examine the effects of racism, classism and “homophobia” on different cultural and economic groups.
But Visconti said the students who designed the roleplay overlooked their own stereotypes, such as the notion that white men don’t have to work for wealth because society gives them a free ride. Or the idea that Christian churches are filled with bigots, and people who support traditional family values such as heterosexual marriage are hateful and narrow-minded.
“They were basically saying that if you don’t feel the same way, you’re wrong,” Visconti said. “It got to the point that if you weren’t a minority or gay, you were supposed to feel guilty and that everything was given to you in life.”
ASU student objects to sensitivity exercise
By David Discobing, For the Tribune
January 21, 2007
Arizona State University senior Ryan Visconti was told “his kind” wasn’t welcome — that he was an abomination and an unforgiveable sinner. He pleaded to join the “church,” which was set up Jan. 10 as part of diversity training for ASU dormitory employees.
The role-play training took place Jan. 11, one week before the start of the spring semester.
Assigned the identity of a gay Hispanic, Visconti’s persistence during the training got him nowhere. A woman with a Southern accent told him there was nothing he could do. She said he was going to hell, and that even Jesus said so in the Bible.
Visconti, a 22-year-old political science major from Mesa, called the role-play an “ultra-clear example” of the victim mentality and liberal bias that permeate ASU.
“It crossed the line,” Visconti said. “All it did was reinforce the most disgusting, hateful and ugly stereotypes in our society.”
Visconti said he was required to participate in the role-play for his job as a resident assistant. It was an activity that Visconti, other dorm employees and a Valley religious leader said went too far.
Even an ASU associate professor who specializes in minority relations has raised concerns about the activity.
ASU Residential Life spokeswoman Diana Medina said the role-play was designed to examine the effects of racism, classism and “homophobia” on different cultural and economic groups.
But Visconti said the students who designed the roleplay overlooked their own stereotypes, such as the notion that white men don’t have to work for wealth because society gives them a free ride. Or the idea that Christian churches are filled with bigots, and people who support traditional family values such as heterosexual marriage are hateful and narrow-minded.
“They were basically saying that if you don’t feel the same way, you’re wrong,” Visconti said. “It got to the point that if you weren’t a minority or gay, you were supposed to feel guilty and that everything was given to you in life.”
Apocalypse inching this way
(coming ever closer - the apocalypse)
LONDON (Reuters) - For Anglicans who still haven't found what they're looking for, the Church of England is staging its first "U2-charist" communion service -- replacing hymns with hit songs by the Irish supergroup.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Rock music can be a vehicle of immense spirituality," said Bishop of Grantham Timothy Ellis, announcing plans for the unique service in the central English town of Lincoln in May.
A live band is to play U2 classics like "Beautiful Day" and "Mysterious Ways" with special singalong lyrics displayed on a giant screen. Seating for the 500-strong congregation is to be re-arranged so everyone can dance and wave their hands.
Just what we need; replace A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD with a Bono tune. sigh
LONDON (Reuters) - For Anglicans who still haven't found what they're looking for, the Church of England is staging its first "U2-charist" communion service -- replacing hymns with hit songs by the Irish supergroup.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Rock music can be a vehicle of immense spirituality," said Bishop of Grantham Timothy Ellis, announcing plans for the unique service in the central English town of Lincoln in May.
A live band is to play U2 classics like "Beautiful Day" and "Mysterious Ways" with special singalong lyrics displayed on a giant screen. Seating for the 500-strong congregation is to be re-arranged so everyone can dance and wave their hands.
Just what we need; replace A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD with a Bono tune. sigh
Saturday, January 27, 2007
God kicks our What?
( From John Piper of all people. Hey, I'm beginning to like him!)
John Piper January 10, 2007
I regret saying it. I am sitting here trying to figure out why I say things like that every now and then. I think it is a mixture of (sinful) audience titillation and (holy) scorn against my own flesh and against the devil, along with the desire to make the battle with Satan and my flesh feel gutsy and real and not middle-class pious. There is a significant difference between saying that God disciplines his children and saying that he “kicks our ass” (the phrase used at Passion)—the effect of the first can produce a yawn and leave students with no sense of how real I mean it. I think “He kicks our backside” would have sufficed. And even better might have been some concrete illustrations of the Lord's firm spanks.
If I wanted to take the time, and I felt more defensive than I do, I could probably go to the Bible and find language as offensive as that in the mouth of prophets, and even God when dealing with the grossness of evil. But I doubt that the moment in the breakout session called for something that extreme. Sometimes maybe. I hope the Lord turns it for good.
Me too!
BTW, I certainly believe that God does EXACTLY what Piper said.
John Piper January 10, 2007
I regret saying it. I am sitting here trying to figure out why I say things like that every now and then. I think it is a mixture of (sinful) audience titillation and (holy) scorn against my own flesh and against the devil, along with the desire to make the battle with Satan and my flesh feel gutsy and real and not middle-class pious. There is a significant difference between saying that God disciplines his children and saying that he “kicks our ass” (the phrase used at Passion)—the effect of the first can produce a yawn and leave students with no sense of how real I mean it. I think “He kicks our backside” would have sufficed. And even better might have been some concrete illustrations of the Lord's firm spanks.
If I wanted to take the time, and I felt more defensive than I do, I could probably go to the Bible and find language as offensive as that in the mouth of prophets, and even God when dealing with the grossness of evil. But I doubt that the moment in the breakout session called for something that extreme. Sometimes maybe. I hope the Lord turns it for good.
Me too!
BTW, I certainly believe that God does EXACTLY what Piper said.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Gender ambiguity and your pastor
( If the apocalypse is not upon us it's surely getting closer.)
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
by Jeff Robinson
When the apostle Paul prayed that the false teachers troubling the church at Galatia would emasculate themselves, he surely did not envision the disturbing fulfillment of such an entreaty as reported in the latest edition of Newsweek.
Under the headline "Gender and the Pulpit," the newsweekly bemoans the "workplace quandary" facing ministers who have surgically altered their gender. The article examines the obvious and even ironic difficulties facing a minister who suffers from "permanent gender ambiguity." MORE
Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
by Jeff Robinson
When the apostle Paul prayed that the false teachers troubling the church at Galatia would emasculate themselves, he surely did not envision the disturbing fulfillment of such an entreaty as reported in the latest edition of Newsweek.
Under the headline "Gender and the Pulpit," the newsweekly bemoans the "workplace quandary" facing ministers who have surgically altered their gender. The article examines the obvious and even ironic difficulties facing a minister who suffers from "permanent gender ambiguity." MORE
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The increasing societal chaos
This is truly a disturbing trend. More and more women now live without "nets."
51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse
By SAM ROBERTS - New York Times
For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results.
In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000.
Coupled with the fact that in 2005 married couples became a minority of all American households for the first time, the trend could ultimately shape social and workplace policies, including the ways government and employers distribute benefits.
Several factors are driving the statistical shift. At one end of the age spectrum, women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners more often and for longer periods. At the other end, women are living longer as widows and, after a divorce, are more likely than men to delay remarriage, sometimes delighting in their newfound freedom.
In addition, marriage rates among black women remain low. Only about 30 percent of black women are living with a spouse, according to the Census Bureau, compared with about 49 percent of Hispanic women, 55 percent of non-Hispanic white women and more than 60 percent of Asian women.
In a relatively small number of cases, the living arrangement is temporary, because the husbands are working out of town, are in the military or are institutionalized. But while most women eventually marry, the larger trend is unmistakable.
“This is yet another of the inexorable signs that there is no going back to a world where we can assume that marriage is the main institution that organizes people’s lives,” said Prof. Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit research group. “Most of these women will marry, or have married. But on average, Americans now spend half their adult lives outside marriage.”
Professor Coontz said this was probably unprecedented with the possible exception of major wartime mobilizations and when black couples were separated during slavery.
William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, a research group in Washington, described the shift as “a clear tipping point, reflecting the culmination of post-1960 trends associated with greater independence and more flexible lifestyles for women.”
“For better or worse, women are less dependent on men or the institution of marriage,” Dr. Frey said. “Younger women understand this better, and are preparing to live longer parts of their lives alone or with nonmarried partners. For many older boomer and senior women, the institution of marriage did not hold the promise they might have hoped for, growing up in an ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ era.”
This bodes poorly for the future of society. Women need men, and men need women.
51% of Women Are Now Living Without Spouse
By SAM ROBERTS - New York Times
For what experts say is probably the first time, more American women are living without a husband than with one, according to a New York Times analysis of census results.
In 2005, 51 percent of women said they were living without a spouse, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000.
Coupled with the fact that in 2005 married couples became a minority of all American households for the first time, the trend could ultimately shape social and workplace policies, including the ways government and employers distribute benefits.
Several factors are driving the statistical shift. At one end of the age spectrum, women are marrying later or living with unmarried partners more often and for longer periods. At the other end, women are living longer as widows and, after a divorce, are more likely than men to delay remarriage, sometimes delighting in their newfound freedom.
In addition, marriage rates among black women remain low. Only about 30 percent of black women are living with a spouse, according to the Census Bureau, compared with about 49 percent of Hispanic women, 55 percent of non-Hispanic white women and more than 60 percent of Asian women.
In a relatively small number of cases, the living arrangement is temporary, because the husbands are working out of town, are in the military or are institutionalized. But while most women eventually marry, the larger trend is unmistakable.
“This is yet another of the inexorable signs that there is no going back to a world where we can assume that marriage is the main institution that organizes people’s lives,” said Prof. Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the Council on Contemporary Families, a nonprofit research group. “Most of these women will marry, or have married. But on average, Americans now spend half their adult lives outside marriage.”
Professor Coontz said this was probably unprecedented with the possible exception of major wartime mobilizations and when black couples were separated during slavery.
William H. Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution, a research group in Washington, described the shift as “a clear tipping point, reflecting the culmination of post-1960 trends associated with greater independence and more flexible lifestyles for women.”
“For better or worse, women are less dependent on men or the institution of marriage,” Dr. Frey said. “Younger women understand this better, and are preparing to live longer parts of their lives alone or with nonmarried partners. For many older boomer and senior women, the institution of marriage did not hold the promise they might have hoped for, growing up in an ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ era.”
This bodes poorly for the future of society. Women need men, and men need women.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Scion xB out of production Dec. 2006
Here's a brief note!
"scion xb
The demand for the Toyota Scion is up, so Toyota is doing the only sensible thing and cutting back on the supply, reports Gina Chon in The Wall Street Journal (11/10/06). Say again? You heard right: Scion could easily sell another 25,000 cars above the 150,000 it already sells each year, but has decided to cap supply at 150,000. It’s even taking its popular xB model (a.k.a. The Toaster) out of production for a while, just for fun. It’s a scarcity strategy, of course, and even Lyly Lao, who sells Scions in West Covina, California, thinks it’s a good idea: "Everybody is trying to be different, so it’s important for Scion to not put too many cars out there, or they will be everywhere," she says. The strategy extends to the Scion’s media choices as well."
I wish I really understood what was going on. Toyota dealerships absolutely couldn't keep a Scion xB on their lot. My wife and I bought one in 2005. We have loved it. It is an extremely ROOMY little car. 108 horsepower engine guarantees excellent mileage and it's classic Toyota quality actually being built in Japan - where the quality is highest. Now Toyota has ceased production of this very popular little car. Here's my suspicions - I could be Way Off!
The Scion xB was strategized to be a popular introductory model for generation X. If they could introduce Gen X to the Scion, they would ultimately move up to bigger, more expensive Toyota models.
Well I don't know how popular the xB was with Gen. X but it's been extremely popular with the Baby Boomers (me 'n my wife). Lots of elderly people running around in xB's probably guaranteeing it's unpopularity with younger generations. I believe that the profit margin on the xB is probably not all that good; that's generally true of stuff in general. The less expensive, the less profit margin. I wonder if Toyota/Scion didn't decide they were actually losing money on the Scion xB. Of course they were selling it for more than it costs to be manufactured but if they believed they were stealing clients from themselves; then they were going to have to stick a fork in the xB.
Now there is a new model Scion coming out sometime 2007. It will have a bigger, more powerful engine, probably be heavier and definitely be more expensive. Some wags have suggested, from preliminary models, that it looks like a PT Cruiser on steroids.
So my little TOASTER/MILK WAGON is starting down the road to planned obsolesence. Apparently Scion was selling 150,000 of these A YEAR after only 3 years. And then they stop production. sigh
BUT, Scion does not KNOW the Rabbi Philosopher. I'll get 20 years out of this vehicle. Even more likely it will simply out live me. I'm not going to let it go; I'll drive it until it comes to an absolute stop no longer repairable. NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER QUIT.
I'm counting on Scion having actually built a terrific car that will, with good proper maintenance, outlast its projected life. That would be good.
"scion xb
The demand for the Toyota Scion is up, so Toyota is doing the only sensible thing and cutting back on the supply, reports Gina Chon in The Wall Street Journal (11/10/06). Say again? You heard right: Scion could easily sell another 25,000 cars above the 150,000 it already sells each year, but has decided to cap supply at 150,000. It’s even taking its popular xB model (a.k.a. The Toaster) out of production for a while, just for fun. It’s a scarcity strategy, of course, and even Lyly Lao, who sells Scions in West Covina, California, thinks it’s a good idea: "Everybody is trying to be different, so it’s important for Scion to not put too many cars out there, or they will be everywhere," she says. The strategy extends to the Scion’s media choices as well."
I wish I really understood what was going on. Toyota dealerships absolutely couldn't keep a Scion xB on their lot. My wife and I bought one in 2005. We have loved it. It is an extremely ROOMY little car. 108 horsepower engine guarantees excellent mileage and it's classic Toyota quality actually being built in Japan - where the quality is highest. Now Toyota has ceased production of this very popular little car. Here's my suspicions - I could be Way Off!
The Scion xB was strategized to be a popular introductory model for generation X. If they could introduce Gen X to the Scion, they would ultimately move up to bigger, more expensive Toyota models.
Well I don't know how popular the xB was with Gen. X but it's been extremely popular with the Baby Boomers (me 'n my wife). Lots of elderly people running around in xB's probably guaranteeing it's unpopularity with younger generations. I believe that the profit margin on the xB is probably not all that good; that's generally true of stuff in general. The less expensive, the less profit margin. I wonder if Toyota/Scion didn't decide they were actually losing money on the Scion xB. Of course they were selling it for more than it costs to be manufactured but if they believed they were stealing clients from themselves; then they were going to have to stick a fork in the xB.
Now there is a new model Scion coming out sometime 2007. It will have a bigger, more powerful engine, probably be heavier and definitely be more expensive. Some wags have suggested, from preliminary models, that it looks like a PT Cruiser on steroids.
So my little TOASTER/MILK WAGON is starting down the road to planned obsolesence. Apparently Scion was selling 150,000 of these A YEAR after only 3 years. And then they stop production. sigh
BUT, Scion does not KNOW the Rabbi Philosopher. I'll get 20 years out of this vehicle. Even more likely it will simply out live me. I'm not going to let it go; I'll drive it until it comes to an absolute stop no longer repairable. NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER QUIT.
I'm counting on Scion having actually built a terrific car that will, with good proper maintenance, outlast its projected life. That would be good.
Monday, January 08, 2007
Unfeigned Repentance
Joan Foster of liestoppers.blogspot.com has a terrific post on the rightness of true repentance versus false repentance.
" Gone to the Dogs
When my son was around seven, he was told to apologize to his sister for some transgression.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I was wrong, but it was your fault."
With that early potential, and without a lot of parental intervention . . . who knows . . . he may have grown up to be a reporter for the NYT, a talking head with his own "legal issues" show, the editor of The Durham Herald-Sun, or the President of Duke University. I guess my husband and I didn't realize he was on track to greatness, when we stifled his first instincts to "quibble" (as my husband calls it), and required that he be accountable for how his words and actions affected others. When you are wrong, you say you are wrong . . . simple as that. It used to be called "accountability" . . . a quality not much in vogue these days. Obfuscation or better yet, avoidance . . . represent the current "Repentance du Jour."
My own father had an additional take on "accountability." He believed that true contrition carried its own power. When I once complained . . . in words similar to those I would hear from my child many years later, . . . he explained, "You're not apologizing for her. You're apologizing for YOU." It took me years and some maturity to understand that. A true, sincere, and unencumbered apology not only embraces the recipient, but also enhances the giver. It conveys a kind of moral stature - that this individual, flawed as we all are, has the courage to make a public and ethical course correction. This kind to courage . . . to self-monitor, to self-examine, and to reveal one's strength by admitting one's weakness . . . is rare. Sadly, the Art of the Apology is not in much evidence today. Maybe, we need to add it to our children's general curriculum, or at the very least, insist it be a required class in every journalism or law school.
My father believed the venue for an apology needed to match the venue of the offense. No private apology was acceptable for some transgression witnessed by others. Instead, you offered your Mea Culpa over the meat and potatoes, while the rest of the family looked on. Once learned, this technique had its own absolution. I always left the dinner table feeling, not demeaned, but delighted that my parents were now proud of me once more. To this day, a mistake I make in a meeting, I feel obligated to correct in a meeting. I will apologize to my children in front of their friends. The Art of the Apology has served me well. I am rarely burdened with old regrets. M. R. Vincent sums the concept up in this quote:
"Mere sorrow, which weeps and sits still, is not repentance. Repentance is sorrow converted into action; into a movement toward a new and better life. ""
That is so very excellent
" Gone to the Dogs
When my son was around seven, he was told to apologize to his sister for some transgression.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I was wrong, but it was your fault."
With that early potential, and without a lot of parental intervention . . . who knows . . . he may have grown up to be a reporter for the NYT, a talking head with his own "legal issues" show, the editor of The Durham Herald-Sun, or the President of Duke University. I guess my husband and I didn't realize he was on track to greatness, when we stifled his first instincts to "quibble" (as my husband calls it), and required that he be accountable for how his words and actions affected others. When you are wrong, you say you are wrong . . . simple as that. It used to be called "accountability" . . . a quality not much in vogue these days. Obfuscation or better yet, avoidance . . . represent the current "Repentance du Jour."
My own father had an additional take on "accountability." He believed that true contrition carried its own power. When I once complained . . . in words similar to those I would hear from my child many years later, . . . he explained, "You're not apologizing for her. You're apologizing for YOU." It took me years and some maturity to understand that. A true, sincere, and unencumbered apology not only embraces the recipient, but also enhances the giver. It conveys a kind of moral stature - that this individual, flawed as we all are, has the courage to make a public and ethical course correction. This kind to courage . . . to self-monitor, to self-examine, and to reveal one's strength by admitting one's weakness . . . is rare. Sadly, the Art of the Apology is not in much evidence today. Maybe, we need to add it to our children's general curriculum, or at the very least, insist it be a required class in every journalism or law school.
My father believed the venue for an apology needed to match the venue of the offense. No private apology was acceptable for some transgression witnessed by others. Instead, you offered your Mea Culpa over the meat and potatoes, while the rest of the family looked on. Once learned, this technique had its own absolution. I always left the dinner table feeling, not demeaned, but delighted that my parents were now proud of me once more. To this day, a mistake I make in a meeting, I feel obligated to correct in a meeting. I will apologize to my children in front of their friends. The Art of the Apology has served me well. I am rarely burdened with old regrets. M. R. Vincent sums the concept up in this quote:
"Mere sorrow, which weeps and sits still, is not repentance. Repentance is sorrow converted into action; into a movement toward a new and better life. ""
That is so very excellent
Saturday, January 06, 2007
A New Year
We draw ever closer to the end of times; but God hides the future from our eyes. Should we be afraid this year? There are many, many reasons to be afraid and yet Scripture makes it plain that God has called us to live unfraid. To paraphrase an old hymn, I don't know what the future holds but I know who holds the future.
2007! Ready or not you are here. May I more closely serve God's purposes this year.
2007! Ready or not you are here. May I more closely serve God's purposes this year.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Internet; Life-long shame opportunity?
Saw this post regarding some cheerleader (maybe or maybe not) who let it all hang out apparently. No, I didn't look.
"Ladies, here's a tip: someday, you might want to get married to a guy you really love. This guy may surf the internet tubes, and may run across that embarassing little video you did a few years ago when you still did "that kind of stuff". (Or your new guy's friends might help him out and just mail him the link or give him the DVD. 'Cause that's what friends do -- crush each other's hopes and dreams, and then laugh about it.) Your beau may not like the fact that his fiancee was famous for dancing naked and drunk on a balcony while a group of guys groped her. I'm just saying. It's not the kind of thing that promotes the trust and matrimonial bond that makes for a long and happy marriage.
Everybody has a history; you don't get to be an adult without having made one or two (or a hundred) dumb mistakes on your way up. But for sanity's sake don't film it. The internet has a long, long memory, and those youthful indiscretions can and will cause you misery later in life. (Plus any doctor can tell you that genital warts, herpes, and chlamydia are more than just annoyances, and AIDS will simply effing kill you.)
Fair? No. But (ahem): Life Is Not Fair.
Posted by Monty at January 4, 2007 05:40 PM
"Ladies, here's a tip: someday, you might want to get married to a guy you really love. This guy may surf the internet tubes, and may run across that embarassing little video you did a few years ago when you still did "that kind of stuff". (Or your new guy's friends might help him out and just mail him the link or give him the DVD. 'Cause that's what friends do -- crush each other's hopes and dreams, and then laugh about it.) Your beau may not like the fact that his fiancee was famous for dancing naked and drunk on a balcony while a group of guys groped her. I'm just saying. It's not the kind of thing that promotes the trust and matrimonial bond that makes for a long and happy marriage.
Everybody has a history; you don't get to be an adult without having made one or two (or a hundred) dumb mistakes on your way up. But for sanity's sake don't film it. The internet has a long, long memory, and those youthful indiscretions can and will cause you misery later in life. (Plus any doctor can tell you that genital warts, herpes, and chlamydia are more than just annoyances, and AIDS will simply effing kill you.)
Fair? No. But (ahem): Life Is Not Fair.
Posted by Monty at January 4, 2007 05:40 PM
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Virgin Mary vs Angelina Jolie
Just a little confusion in the culture? HERE for the picture
Artist Kate Kretz has this beauty on display at the Chelsea Galleria booth at the Art Miami Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center, January 5-8th. Kate will be at the fair Friday & Saturday.
From her site:
This painting addresses the celebrity worship cycle. The title, "Blessed Art Thou", is taken from a line in the Catholic prayer "Hail Mary": "...blessed art thou among women". Our culture is deifying celebrities, but in the bible, it is the meek who are blessed, so the title presents a question for the viewer to ponder.
Hattip: Wizbangblog.com/pop
Artist Kate Kretz has this beauty on display at the Chelsea Galleria booth at the Art Miami Fair at the Miami Beach Convention Center, January 5-8th. Kate will be at the fair Friday & Saturday.
From her site:
This painting addresses the celebrity worship cycle. The title, "Blessed Art Thou", is taken from a line in the Catholic prayer "Hail Mary": "...blessed art thou among women". Our culture is deifying celebrities, but in the bible, it is the meek who are blessed, so the title presents a question for the viewer to ponder.
Hattip: Wizbangblog.com/pop
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