No Moderation

Greed is not good

2009-10-15T16:36:00.000-05:00

(great article I thought I'd re-post)

Greed is not good: "Submitted by Edward Harrison of Credit Writedowns."

In the 1987 movie classic Wall Street, the sinister protagonist Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas gives this famous quote:

In the last seven deals that I’ve been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pretax profit of 12 billion dollars. Thank you. I am not a destroyer of companies. I am a liberator of them! The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.

Since that time, this quote has become famous as the “Greed is Good” philosophy of capitalism. Gekko symbolizes an era in which it is believed that the free hand of market capitalism will steer the economy efficiently and effectively with little need for government intervention or regulatory oversight. Instead, so the theory goes, we are each allowed encouraged to pursue our manifest destiny of getting filthy rich. Screw everybody else.

Well, let me tell you something greed is not good. Greed is corrosive and it is tearing at the very fabric of our democracy. A generation ago most people in America worked for a few institutions in their lifetimes. Many had employer-paid healthcare and employer-financed defined benefit pension plans.

But, since the 1980s the moorings have come off and set us adrift in a world of economic insecurity.

Job insecurity has increased dramatically, especially as reflected in part work statistics(see here and here). This has resulted in deteriorating health and declining work safety.

The healthcare debate is front and center in the US today. Yet, incongruously, the focus has mainly been on how ‘socialist’ proposed remedies appear.

And defined benefit has been almost completely replaced with 401(k) plans, leaving retirees to face potential economic hardship in old age.

This is “the Great Risk shift” in which corporations in pursuit of shareholder value (remember ‘greed is good’) have sloughed off as many economic risks onto ordinary Americans as they could reasonably get away with. This is crony capitalism, not free market capitalism. And a anesthetized American public has put up with this. I continue to ask myself why.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was very much on display earlier in the year as we entered the worst of this financial crisis. Everyone felt vulnerable. But now that recession is over, it does seem that America is returning to business as usual, both on Wall Street and on Main Street.

What I find most galling is that just one year ago Barack Obama was saying, “Elect me! Elect me! I am change you can believe in. But, no sooner does he enter office and he continues the massive bailout of the financial services industry that was begun by the predecessor administration. And today there are really no substantive regulatory changes on offer by this Administration. It was this same support for the financial elite at the expense of the middle class which has led to a widening gulf in income and wealth.

And by the way, if you haven’t noticed, real incomes are lower now than 36 years ago. So, this is certainly not change I believe in…yet. And given many of the players today are the same as they were before the crisis, don’t expect any real change. Apparently the only thing that is going to induce change in Washington (or London) is a horrific depression.

So, what about greed then? Roger Bootle takes this on in his latest book, “The Trouble with Markets,” which I highlighted earlier in the week. Here is how the Telegraph quotes him:

The free-market vigilantes are already rushing to defend the unfettered market system. Their defence is based on one or other of three arguments. First, the market solution is to let failing financial firms fail. If the state intervenes to stop this, the blame for the resulting mess cannot be laid at the door of the market system. Second, banking has been a heavily regulated activity. The regulators have failed in their job. Third, the monetary policy authorities should have paid more attention to the growth of money and credit and the resulting inflation of the property market bubble.

In this way, they try to argue that what seems on the face of it to be a failure of markets is in fact a failure of government. So the solution, they say, is not less freedom for markets but more.

These people are dangerous. The idea of letting the financial system implode and then waiting for the market to bring spontaneous, healthy revival out of the wreckage might read well on the pages of a book, but in the real world it would bring human misery on a gigantic scale. In today’s society, people simply will not tolerate it. If that is what the market system is about then they will have none of it; and rightly so.

Have a go at the full article linked below. Bootle makes some very good points. I liked his last book, “Money for Nothing”. So I suspect his new book is a good read too.

Greed isn’t good– it’s dangerous – Telegraph

5 Things You Think Will Make You Happy (But Won't)

2009-02-18T11:44:00.002-05:00

Link to article

This is fantastic and insightful (if very irreverant) post from 'Cracked'.

Experts have figured out that the brain has no ability to actually predict your emotional reaction to life changes that haven't happened yet. In other words, you physically do not know what you want. The act of sitting around pondering it is apparently what fucks you up.
This might be because for most of human history, we didn't have time to do that. We were too busy gathering berries and running from wild animals. Now that we've got things so under control that the animals hug us. . . well, we're like the guy up there who didn't know what to do with his lotto winnings.
This may be why studies show friendships, altruism and religious practices bring happiness. It may be that taking the focus off your own happiness is what makes happiness possible.

Basically - all these things they lay out WILL fail you. Good stuff, and so true. The last bit about pondering and how it messes with you is SO TRUE....

T

RIP NYT: William F. Buckley Jr. Is Dead

2008-02-27T14:24:00.000-05:00

http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=144284&f=19
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Great Post on Lutheran Theology vs. Traditional Protestant Theology

2008-01-04T13:48:00.001-05:00

Great post over on the 'Confessing Evangelical' Blog - major points quoted written by an Anglican Philip Cary BTW. This for me really hits the nail on the head as to why I became a Lutheran (vs. a Calvanist) - the basis of assurance that is not based on my faith (my work), but on Christ's word. The more I read about the Lutherans on their sacremental theology, the more this makes sense. Take a look.

http://www.confessingevangelical.com/?p=1237

Happy Reformation Day

2007-11-01T10:02:00.000-05:00

Well I'm a day late, but better late than never. I just realized, or more accurately just remembered, that I can send emails to automatically post to my blog which has essentially laid dormant since I began my new job.

At any rate, yesterday was Reformation Day which commerates the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to door of the cathedral in Wittenberg which would be the spark that reignighted the recapturing of the gospel and change history profoundly. Solo del Gloria!

T
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Don't mess with Texas

2007-03-28T09:30:00.000-05:00

This gives new meaning to don't mess with Texas.

Apparently, the new law extends a person's right to stand their ground beyond the home to vehicles and workplaces, allowing the reasonable use of deadly force.

The reasonable use of lethal force will be allowed if an intruder is:

- Committing certain violent crimes, such as murder or sexual assault, or is attempting to commit such crimes

- Unlawfully trying to enter a protected place

- Unlawfully trying to remove a person from a protected place

Watch out y'all...

Texas signs new self-defense by gun law - Yahoo! News

Molto Bello!

2007-03-23T11:43:00.001-05:00

Turn up the volume on this spot by ad house, Partizan meant to celebrate 60 years of collaboration between Shell and Ferrari. Shot in Rome, Monaco, Rio, Sydney, New York and Hong Kong. Very cool.

narcissism posing as humility

2007-03-22T15:45:00.000-05:00

Classic. Thought I'd pass this along, and I can't believe it was in Slate. I see this all the time here in NYC - Yoga religion that is really just repacked self help.

I particularly liked the ending

The final step in the great journey of self-understanding the Yoga Journal editors have force-marched her on is realizing it's all about her "relationship with herself." Whitney Houston yoga: I found the greatest love of all—Me! It's the return of New Age Me-generation narcissism. And there's nothing worse than narcissism posing as humility.

Hey, if Buddhism and other Eastern traditions are about compassion, why not skip the scented bath, skip making amends with the self, skip realization of "the opportunity to embrace aparigraha or non-grasping." Instead, go down to the local soup kitchen or homeless shelter and help some people who don't have the resources to send flowers to themselves, people who actually need help. Rather than continuing the endless processes of anointing yourself with overly scented candlelit self-love.

After all this self-indulgence, it's almost refreshing to turn to a yoga magazine that offers stuff like, "BURN FAT FASTER!"

The entire article from Slate.com is clipped below - - -

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2162283/

The Hostile New Age Takeover of Yoga
There's nothing worse than narcissism posing as humility.
By Ron Rosenbaum
Posted Wednesday, March 21, 2007, at 4:37 PM ET

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against yoga—or Eastern disciplines in general. In fact, I've done tai chi exercises for many years.

No, it's the commodification and rhetorical dumbing-down of yoga culture that gets to me. The way something that once was—and still can be—pure and purifying has been larded with mystical schlock. Once a counterweight to our sweaty striving for ego gratification, yoga has become an unctuous adjunct to it.

There is the exploitative and ever-proliferating "yoga media." The advent of yoga fashion (the yoga mat, the yoga-mat carrier, and yoga-class ensembles). And worst of all, the yoga rhetoric, that soothing syrupy "yoga-speak" that we all know and loathe.

It all adds up to what a friend recently called the "hostile New Age takeover of yoga." "New Age" culture being those scented-candle shrines to self-worship, the love-oneself lit of The Secret, the "applied kinesiology"-type medical and metaphysical quackery used to support a vast array of alternative-this or alternative-that magical-thinking workshops and spa weekends. At its best, it's harmless mental self-massage. At its worst, it's the kind of thinking that blames cancer victims for their disease because they didn't "manifest" enough positive vibes.

One "manifestation" of this takeover is the shameless enlistment of yoga and elevated Eastern yogic philosophy for shamelessly material Western goals. Rather than an alternative, it's become an enabler. "Power yoga"! Yoga for success! Yoga for regime change! (Kidding.)

And then there's what you might call "Yoga for Supermarket Checkout Line Goals." Or as the cover story of Rodale's downmarket magazine YogaLife put it, yoga to: "BURN FAT FASTER!" (Subsidiary stories bannered on the YogaLife cover: "4 WAYS TO LOSE 5 POUNDS"; "ZEN SECRETS TO: HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS ... INSTANT CALM.")

Gotta love "Zen Secrets to Instant Calm," right? It goes right along with other cover lines like "Double Your Flexibility Today!" and "Heal Winter Skin Now!"

Clearly what the ancient inventors of yogic wisdom had in mind: Now! Instant! Today! Very Eastern, calm, and meditative right?

But even more insidious than the easily satirizable but at least down-to-earth and honest magazines like YogaLife—or ethereally serious ones like Yoga + Joyful Living (which coaches readers in "The Breath of Self-Understanding")—are the mainstream yoga publications such as Yoga Journal, one of the most popular, prosperous, and respectable yoga magazines.

In fact, my impetus for this examination of yoga media came from a sharp-witted woman I know who practices yoga but frankly concedes that—for her, anyway—it's less about Inner Peace than Outer Hotness. She called my attention to what she called an amazingly clueless—and ultimately cruel (to the writer)—decision by the editors of Yoga Journal to print a first-person story that was ostensibly about the yogic wisdom on forgiveness in relationships.

The story, which appeared in the December 2006 issue, was titled "Forgive Yourself." It's by this woman who tells us about an "intense" friendship she once had with a guy nearly 20 years ago, when they were 16. She says it was "never romantic," and it clearly wasn't—on his part.

Somehow she picked a fight with him—remember, this was 20 years ago. She defaced some "artwork" he'd done on the back of her jean jacket and danced with some other boys in an attempt to make him jealous.

She claims he gave her a "stricken" look.

Then, 20 years later, she starts to hound the guy. She claims she just happened to be going through some boxes and found a journal of his. She claims the journal convinced her that what she needed to do was apologize and ask his forgiveness. So she Google-stalks him, or, as she puts it: "With the help of an Internet search engine, I tracked him down and sent an e-mail. I told him I was sorry and that I hoped we could talk."

She "got no response but figured the e-mail address was out of date." Right.

Anyway she doesn't let that stop her. "After more digging"—by what methods we're not told—"I found a phone number and left a message on his machine."

Her message: "Wow, what a trip to hear your voice! … I missed you!"

He didn't call back.

But no response doesn't really mean no, to her. So, "a month later, in desperation, I sent him a short letter," in which she tells him, "You deserved better. I betrayed your love and friendship and I'm sorry. I made life worse for you and I regret it."

Doesn't regret it enough to stop pestering him now though. And notice how at first she'd disclaimed there was anything romantic, but now she's all "I betrayed your love." And then there's the poem: "I hope you can forgive me," she concludes the note, adding: "I included a poem I'd written for him some years earlier."

Restraining order time!

Instead he makes the mistake of responding. "About a month later an envelope arrived," she writes, "addressed in that familiar handwriting. I opened it with trembling hands and found a short note wrapped around my letter and poem."

"What part of no don't you understand?" his note said. "I never want to hear from you again." Cruel, true, but maybe "cruel to be kind."

"What part of no" does she not understand? Just about every single part of no there is.

What does this have to do with yoga wisdom and its Western use? One might think yoga would counsel acceptance of his feelings. Instead, she takes it as an invitation for further intense inward gazing. Her interpretation: He's afraid of being hurt again. He just doesn't understand her: He thought "I clearly hadn't changed if I was expecting him to give me something (forgiveness) along with everything I'd taken from him." (Don't worry, it took me several readings to figure this out too.)

"I sat down and started to cry. I felt as if I'd been punched in the gut. What could I do now? How would I ever be able to move on?"

So, using her deep yogic intuition again she decides there is one way of "moving on": She can write a several-thousand-word article for Yoga Journal about him and her and how we all can learn something from this about "forgiveness."

"Moving on"? Somehow one wonders if she sent the article to him, perhaps with another poem. And an invitation to "journal" their way to a mutual understanding. Or maybe meet to discuss "closure"?

But look, it's not really her fault; we've all been there. As my sharp-witted friend, who is herself an editor, points out, it is here one has to question the deep yogic wisdom of the editors of Yoga Journal who don't seem to be able to—or want to—see what is going on and instead encourage the writer's "journey"—her quest, her stalking—of "self-discovery."

Thus, we get the classic Western women's magazine "relationship story" translated into Eastern yoga-speak. Indeed they give it prominent placement in the issue and subject their readers to the endless New Age clichés of pablum-dispensing yoga-wisdom "experts" who further encourage the hapless writer not to move on but to dwell endlessly, excruciatingly, on the microanalysis of the situation.

Instead of counseling her just to leave the poor guy alone, they direct her to dwell on her need to forgive herself: Some "research associate" at Stanford tells her "when people can't forgive, their stress levels increase which can contribute to cardiovascular problems."

The poor young woman! All she wants is help, and now she's told she's going to have a heart attack.

Another yogic savant, a "clinical psychologist with Elemental Yoga in Boston" even disses the poor guy and further encourages the writer's obsession, clearly getting the whole thing wrong: "He's the one that can't let go," the "yoga therapist" opines. Right. I guess he wrote that poem to himself.

More yogic "experts" are brought in to prescribe even more "work" on herself. Instead of advising her to leave the whole thing behind, and perhaps perform some act of compassion for someone who needs real help (the admirable Eastern tradition), the yoga experts advise her to enmesh herself in a tediously obsessive spiral of self-examination, which the magazine compounds by prescribing a five-step forgiveness ritual for achieving—you guessed it!—"closure."

The interminable ritual, which is the work of the purportedly steeped-in-yogic-wisdom editors, not the unfortunate writer, begins with "a ritual bath" complete with "scents" and "candles."

Then there's the inevitable "journal" in which you must write down all your "thoughts, feelings and memories." ... "What you learned ... what you'll change ... anything that comes into your head." It's a full-time job!

But that's not all there is to the endless forgiveness ritual (which, remember, is not about forgiving him but forgiving herself because he won't forgive her), there's the semi-demi witchcraft aspect: "Write down the patterns you seek to change in yourself; then burn what you've written." (They neglect to add, "Use this as reminder to change the batteries in your smoke detector.")

But it's not over, the endless ritual. You must next and last, "Send yourself flowers when you've completed letting go."

No premature floral deliveries, mind you. Only when you've "completed" letting go, which sending yourself flowers certainly signals. OK maybe one more poem, but that's it! This is the kind of misguided narcissism (it's always all about you; metaphorically, it's all sending flowers to yourself) that gives yoga, an ancient, honorable tradition, a bad name. This is what is meant by the "hostile New Age takeover of yoga." All this hectoring about the right way to feel. Yoga and other Eastern disciplines are supposed to work from the inside out and not depend on product placement candles, scented bath oils, and "yoga therapists."

And it's still not over! If the ritual bath and flower-sending don't do the trick, there's a "four-step practice rooted in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy that can take us through the process of making amends." You could spend a lifetime "moving on" from some imagined 20-year-old incident. Then move on to the next incredibly elaborate "Moving On" ceremony. You never get to move in, or move out.

The final step in the great journey of self-understanding the Yoga Journal editors have force-marched her on is realizing it's all about her "relationship with herself." Whitney Houston yoga: I found the greatest love of all—Me! It's the return of New Age Me-generation narcissism. And there's nothing worse than narcissism posing as humility.

Hey, if Buddhism and other Eastern traditions are about compassion, why not skip the scented bath, skip making amends with the self, skip realization of "the opportunity to embrace aparigraha or non-grasping." Instead, go down to the local soup kitchen or homeless shelter and help some people who don't have the resources to send flowers to themselves, people who actually need help. Rather than continuing the endless processes of anointing yourself with overly scented candlelit self-love.

After all this self-indulgence, it's almost refreshing to turn to a yoga magazine that offers stuff like, "BURN FAT FASTER!"

Ron Rosenbaum's most recent book is The Shakespeare Wars.

Article URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2162283/

Black Snake Moan Review

2007-03-08T17:24:00.000-05:00

Black Snake Moan

So I went to see Black Snake Moan on Friday with my boys Jonathan and Tim. Timmy really wanted to see Reno 9-11, but Jonathan and I were able to persuade him that Black Snake Moan was the way to go. With a name like Black Snake Moan, not a lot of persuading was needed.

Thoughts - in a nutshell - this is a fantastic movie. Best movie I've seen all year, though I haven't seen a whole lot of movies this year.

We had a mixed crowd of movie-goers with everyone from the tragically hip, urban hip hop types, wall street yuppies and most everything in between. Interesting mix to say the least.

Two Qualifications:
1) I'm a blues FANATIC and the sound track done on Fat Possum records is incrdeible.

Why do I like the blues? Simply, because the blues keeps it real in the realest of ways. The blues is about human weakness, sadness and at times redemption. The blues calls a thing a thing and doesn't try to cover up the rhythms of struggle that play in our world. The blues understands the human condition, understands struggle and understands weakness - and doesn't apologize for any of it.

2) I'm also a gospel junkie with a low anthropology.

What does that mean? It means that I don't think people are intrinsically good, but that we're all broken and in need of rescue. It means that I believe we we always act in our own self interest unless something external breaks in and pulls in a different direction. It means that even when this rescue happens, we will resist it and will continue to resist it the rest of our days. It means our rescue is totally undeserved and comes 100% at the expense of another. It also means that our continued resistance once rescued (or our continued desire to serve ourselves), does not make us any less rescued.

How does this relate to Black Snake Moan?

This movie (in my ever so humble opinion) is about

Powerlessness
The need for rescue
External redemption/rescue that is actively resisted and not deserved
Redemption/change in light of the rescue
Continued struggle despite being freed

I thought maybe I'd break down each of those points, but alas I'm too lazy. Check out the flick and see if you agree.

The problem with a high anthropology

2007-03-08T15:06:00.001-05:00

Steve Harvey Introduces Jesus Christ

2007-03-07T13:07:00.001-05:00

From TD Jake's Megafest.

We're All Failures - Forbes.com

2007-03-05T16:10:00.000-05:00

Click for article

What happens to people is that when they get to a state of betterment in their lives, instead of feeling satisfied, they feel discontent,' says Farson. 'It's the theory of rising expectations.

... or the human condition - ie we're never satisfied (Mick Jagger).

Gotta love New York

2007-03-05T14:17:00.000-05:00

This guy has had enough with the ridiculous expense of living in NYC and decided to 'live in a van down by the river' - literally - in Williamsburg (Brooklyn for all you non NY'ers).

Click for Link

Inmates at no-smoking prison trade hostage for cigarettes

2007-03-01T11:49:00.000-05:00

As a former smoker, and general skeptic (if not adversary) of moralizing legalistics seeking to legislate morality, I'm strangely sympathetic to these prisoners.
No smoking in prison? Come on.

Click for link to CNN

As the night progressed they started saying, 'Look, we'll give up if you let us have some tobacco. If you do that, we'll go back to our cell,'' Carlton said. 'They got them some cigarettes, they smoked them and went back to their cell and locked themselves back in.'"

Black Snake Moan

2007-02-28T17:36:00.000-05:00

Check out this interview with the director of Black Snake Moan...

"We're bound to each other" | Salon Arts & Entertainment:

I'm exploring something that has nothing to do with race or gender. I'm the crazy girl on the end of that chain. I'm the one who felt I was losing control of my mind and my body because I was not tethered to anyone. And I needed to be snapped back. I needed my father, who died at 49 of a heart attack, to tell me, 'It's gonna be OK, and you're not alone. Everybody goes crazy at certain times in their life. You're entitled to some happiness, you're entitled to some unconditional love. And it will never stop. You will constantly be getting punched in the gut, being exploited, being judged.

Ex-presidents' big payday

2007-02-28T09:23:00.000-05:00

Interesting article from today's Boston Globe. I've yet to read that McCullough book on Truman, but it's on my short list.

Ex-presidents' big payday - The Boston Globe:

WHEN HARRY Truman left the White House in 1953, historian David McCullough records, "he had no income or support of any kind from the federal government other than his Army pension of $112.56 a month. He was provided with no government funds for secretarial help or office space, not a penny of expense money." To tide him over for the transition back to private life, Truman had to take out a bank loan. One of the reasons he and his wife moved back into their far-from-elegant old house in Independence, Mo., "was that financially they had little other choice."

Nevertheless, Truman refused to cash in on his celebrity and influence as a former president. He turned down lucrative offers, such as the one from a Florida real estate developer inviting him to become "chairman, officer, or stockholder, at a figure of not less than $100,000." He wouldn't make commercial endorsements, accept "consulting" fees, or engage in lobbying. He wouldn't even take the free car that Toyota offered him as a gesture of improved Japanese-American relations.

"I could never lend myself to any transaction, however respectable," Truman later wrote, "that would commercialize on the prestige and dignity of the office of the presidency." He did sell the rights to his memoirs for a handsome sum to Life magazine. But he turned down every other enticement to trade on his former position for private gain.

Half a century later, Truman's rectitude seems as quaint and obsolete as George Washington's wooden teeth.

Spirit of Truth?

2007-02-27T11:42:00.001-05:00

I have absolutely no comment on this one. I ran across this online last year, and just dug it up for your viewing pleasure. Crazy is a severe understatement. This guy definitely qualifies for the "No Moderation" label. Apparently he was on public access in LA during the 90's.

One of my favorite lines, "You Satan, huh? Who created yo ass, Satan??"

office space- damn it feels good to be a gangsta

2007-02-27T10:57:00.001-05:00

Yes, yes it does.

Law Gospel from Rick Ritchie

2007-02-26T13:34:00.000-05:00

I particularly liked Rick's connection between making the law-gospel distinction and the assurance of salvation. I can totally relate. If I look to my own performance (vs looking to the performance of Christ alone - on the cross) than I only become discouraged and doubting b/c I know I'll never pull it off.

Click for Rick Richtie's thoughts on Law - Gospel

"When I discovered Systematic Theology, and especially the distinction between Law and Gospel, I was able to recover the assurance I had lost earlier. I was able to return to my previous conviction that Christ's death could get me into heaven despite my sin, or flabby repentance. Let's be clear about this. There are probably not very many people who imagine that Christ's death didn't pay for all the sins of those he suffered for. What goes into question is whether faith in that is enough to keep the connection despite sins."

Theology of Glory & Theology of the Cross

2007-02-26T12:40:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd post this b/c it is such a good summary of glory theology vs. cross theology - - - Tom

A Theology of Glory and a Theology of the Cross by Don Matzat:

Living in a theology of the Cross never makes you any "better" than anyone else. Every day in every way you are not getting better and better. In fact, the preaching of Law and Gospel will not lead you to an awareness of your holiness, but rather to greater awareness of the depth of your sin. As a result, you will develop an ever-increasing faith in and appreciation for the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.
Your witness will focus upon the work of the Cross, not upon your experience of getting saved, sanctified, or becoming more spiritual. You have taken no step toward God or arrived at any higher level of holiness. You don’t talk about your spirituality. You talk about the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

When dealing with these issues on the radio, I often encounter opposition. People will fight to defend their theology of glory. I often challenge them to share their testimony without ever talking about themselves. I have developed the pet phrase, "This thing called Christianity – it’s not about you!"

Martin Luther accurately defined sin as man turning in on himself. While a theology of glory continues to turn you to yourself as you measure your growth in holiness against a plethora of spiritual experiences, the theology of the Cross turns you away from yourself. As a result of the conviction of the Law, you forsake your own good works and spiritual experiences and cling to the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Ode to the Camaro

2007-02-26T11:00:00.001-05:00

Growing up in the southern part of northern Virginia before it became "gentrified", this takes me back. Yee haa!

Nintendo's Wii a hit with the geriatric set?

2007-02-26T09:36:00.000-05:00

Gotta love the Wii. Check this out from endgadet....

No Comment

2007-02-23T11:00:00.000-05:00

Nondenominational Church: "Did We Say Lutherans?"

2007-02-22T13:54:00.000-05:00

Horn Swoggled has some great Lutheran satire - think of it as the Onion for the Wittenberg crowd.

Nondenominational Church: "Did We Say Lutherans?"

A non-denominational church in St. Louis has fired its marketing director after a series of online advertisements featured the headline, "Lutherans welcome." Ever since the ads appeared on relevant blogs and other websites, the church has been beseiged by people who believe things. " We want to reach out to people of all denominations," said Pastor Don Shallows of Big Life Community Church. "We also have ads targeting unhappy Methodists, unhappy Baptists, and even unhappy Muslims.

"But when we say 'Lutherans welcome,' we're not actually referring to people who believe Lutheran teaching. That's going a bit too far."

Since the Google ads began appearing on Lutheran websites, the 1,000-member congregation has been plagued by controversy. It started when a small group of Lutherans grumbled about a 10-week message series on Biblical parenting, because it didn't center on the cross of Christ.

When church leaders ignored their complaints, the Lutherans enlisted several Roman Catholics, and began openly making the sign of the cross at the conclusion of prayers.

A true look at the human condition.

2007-02-16T15:37:00.001-05:00

aka When spoiled rich girls dont get the correct color car for..

Props to my boy Jonathan Hansen for sending this link to me. I think how often I react to God in the same way this girl reacted to her father.

Quote of the Day

2007-02-15T10:16:00.000-05:00

What advances the sinner on the way to righteousness? The utter futility of human work in contributing toward this advance has now been exposed....
- Gerhard Forde from On Being a Theologian of the Cross

Jonathan Hansen - my dear friend and brother sent this to me this morning and what an encouraging word about failure - specifically about that great paradox of how when we lose we win.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Tom

Office Space Beginning Scene

2007-02-12T10:17:00.001-05:00

Since it is Monday, I thought this might be appropriate.

New Template

2007-02-09T15:51:00.001-05:00

Please be patient (not like anyone is reading anyway), b/c I'm not done editing this new template.

Quote for the Day

2007-02-09T13:37:00.000-05:00

"The first commandment assumes that before you had God, He had you."
- - Patrick Miller via Pastor Priest.

A fantastic read - Paris Dakar Rally Crash

2007-02-09T10:58:00.000-05:00

Check out this amazing thread on one of my favorite sites - adventure rider. This guy is a fantastic storyteller. Short story - guy enters the Paris-Dakar rally, which for all you not in the know is a race across the North African desert and is prob. the most dangerous and thrilling road race on the planet. All types of vehicles race in this thing - motorcycles, rally cars, trucks, huge Unimogs, etc... Think Mad Max across the desert. These guys and girls are straight up Chuck Norris tough.

Anyway, Guy crashes. Guy gets airlifted to the Canary Islands and the medical adventure begins. Good times and a GREAT read.

Dakar crash - ADVrider

New Book by PZ

2007-01-23T10:43:00.000-05:00

Buy this book. Amazing, and important - run don't walk to your nearest store or just click this link!

Help, I’m Surrounded by Jerks - New York Times

2007-01-18T10:49:00.000-05:00

Interesting article from today's NY Times - makes me think of the old adage, "When you're pointing the finger, you've got 3 pointing back at you." I always hated that saying.

Click here for article

Are Lutherans afraid to take on the world

2006-11-07T16:16:00.000-05:00

This is a great post by Uwe Simeon-Netto from Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis talking about the problems of Lutherans not stepping up in the public realm. He equates some of the problem a the loss of Two Kingdom theology. I think his criticism is fair and that often Lutherans huddle up too much.

Most non Lutherans I've talked with are blown away and hungry for the gospel and specifically for the Lutheran - biblical views on sin, the human condition and on the forgiveness of sins.

Simul Justus et Peccator

T

We Are Needed

Are Lutherans afraid to take on the world?

(from the November 2006 issue of the Lutheran Witness)

By Uwe Siemon-Netto

Here’s a question for my fellow Lutherans: When did we all become Old Order Mennonites? I am not joking. Only eleven years short of the Reformation’s 500^th anniversary I seriously wonder how Lutheran we still are.

How come we don’t engage this warped postmodern world in which we live? How come we don’t face it head-on? Could it be that Lutherans don’t like dirtying their hands much in politics and in the major media, even though this is precisely what our theology tells us we should do?

Some Old Order Mennonites forbid political office to Christians. Well, they are entitled to their views. They don’t vote either, neither do they drink and make merry, go to the movies or laze around South Beach.

But that’s not the Lutheran way. Lutherans are expected to follow the Augsburg Confession, which roundly condemns in article 16 “those who do not locate evangelical perfection in the fear of God and in faith, but place it in forsaking political office.”

By the time you read this column the 2006 mid-term elections will probably be over. I don’t have to be a clairvoyant to predict right now that once again Lutherans will be woefully underrepresented among the 535 members of Congress. They always are. In the 109^th Congress, only 20 of Lutherans held seats – 16 from the ELCA, three from the LCMS, and one solitary man from WELS.

On the other hand, there were 44 Episcopalians, whose church is a mere quarter as big as the three Lutheran denominations put together.

I am not whining. I don’t blame others. There is no anti-Lutheran pogrom afoot in the United States. Nobody keeps Lutherans out of politics deliberately, as there is nobody preventing Lutherans from reaching the most influential positions in journalism – nobody, that is, than Lutherans themselves.

I have heard it say that the Hate-the-Hun hysteria after World Wear I sent Lutherans into the catacombs, including Lutherans who are not even of German descent. Is that why there hasn’t been a Lutheran President of the United States? Well, Dwight D. Eisenhower was a two-term president. He wasn’t a Lutheran, but he was of German origin, and nobody held that against him.

So what’s the matter with us? Are we embarrassed by our identity? Sometimes it seems that way. There are Lutherans who want to be just mainline Protestants. Then there are Lutherans who want to be no different from Baptists. Then there are Lutherans who think like the late Rev. James D. Ford, Chaplain of the House of Representatives. “Lutheran, that’s boring,” he was overheard saying dismissively when somebody mentioned his denomination.

When I was at seminary, it was fashionable for Lutherans to call themselves beer-drinking Episcopalians. And when I went back to Germany recently I was stunned that even at a meeting of allegedly confessional Lutherans a participant suggested that we had better do away with our two kingdoms doctrine.

Well, if we did that Chaplain Ford would indeed be right: What a boring lot we would be! Imagine Lutherans without the liberating knowledge of being citizens of two realms, the spiritual and, yes, the unredeemed secular kingdom, where we must involve ourselves; where we must roll up our sleeves and act according to natural reason; where we lovingly serve our neighbors by performing our chores to the best of our abilities.

Imagine living without the knowledge while we do our duty in this sinful world we always have Christ’s right-hand kingdom to turn to for forgiveness and grace! Imagine going through life without the certitude of being at the same time sinners and acquitted! Who would want to get out of bed in the morning under those circumstances? Who would want to take care of their children, mend somebody else’s car, drill somebody’s tooth, or draw a cool beer for a thirsty man?

Who would run for public office --- oops, isn’t that where Lutherans have become as squeamish as the Old Order Mennonites? Perhaps at the very moment you are reading this, a ground-breaking forum will be held Nov. 3-4 on the Campus of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. It will try to address precisely this issue – the reluctance of Lutherans in America to confront our increasingly complicated reality.

Called to Engage the Postmodern World – The Lutheran Voice in Contemporary America, reads the title of this two-day conference, which surpasses the usual scope of a divinity school. Consider the theme one of the lectures: “Where is Luther now that we need him?” asks Dr. Harold O.J. Brown, a renowned professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC, and co-founder of the initiative Evangelicals and Catholics Together.

Indeed, where is Luther? Where is Luther’s pragmatic voice in this confused global environment where everybody from radical Muslims to befuddled, wayward Episcopalians seems to be “cooking and brewing the kingdoms together,” to use Luther’s dictum; he saw the devil at work where this occurs.

We Lutherans have it all – the right doctrine, even the right institutions. We have excellent schools that could prepare the next generation to take on the world. We have universities that could produce the best and most responsible journalists if only they woke up to that need. We have people with money – if only they’d put it where Luther’s mouth was.

Luther’s voice should come with an American accent, proposes Dr. Mark A. Noll, the great evangelical historian teaching at the University of Notre Dame, who as the keynote speaker at the Concordia Forum emphasizes the “Need for a Lutheran Perspective on Christianity and Politics.”

It’s more than a dozen years that Noll and similar great minds have told the oldest Protestant tradition that it was time to open up its theological treasure chest, knowing that if you share spiritual gems they do not diminish but actually multiply.

Here’s what Noll says about Luther: “In his voice we hear uncommon resonances of the voice of God.” If this is so – and I believe it is – then it is time for all of us to stop playing Amish, quit the sidelines, open our ears, listen to Luther, roll up our sleeves and start dirtying our hands. We are needed.

--0--

Dr. Uwe Siemon-Netto is director of the Concordia Seminary Institute on Lay Vocation, St. Louis.

Happy Reformation Day!

2006-10-31T09:22:00.000-05:00

I'm a Lutheran and theological junkie so I thought I'd wish all you guys a Happy Reformation Day! It's the day Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg setting in motion the Reformation which would reshape Western civilization. Amazing.

Reformation Day

Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated in remembrance of the Reformation, particularly by Lutheran and Reformed church communities. It takes place on October 31 and is an official holiday in many countries. It coincides with Halloween, the eve before All Saints' Day.

On this day in 1517, Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg's main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices. Nonetheless, the event created a controversy between Luther and those allied with the Pope over a variety of doctrines and practices. When Luther and his supporters were excommunicated in 1520, the Lutheran, Reformed and Anabaptist traditions were born.

Within the Lutheran church, Reformation Day is considered a minor festival, and is officially referred to as The Festival of the Reformation. Until the 20th Century, most Lutheran churches celebrated Reformation Day on October 31st, regardless of which day of the week it occurred. Today, most Lutheran churches transfer the festival, so that it falls on the Sunday (called Reformation Sunday) on or before October 31st and transfer All Saints' Day to the Sunday on or after November 1st.

The liturgical color of the day is red, which represents the Holy Spirit and the Martyrs of the Christian Church. Luther's hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God is traditionally sung on this day. Lutherans customarily stand during the hymn, in memory of its use in the religious wars of the Sixteenth Century.

It is also traditional in some Lutheran schools for schoolchildren to hold Reformation Day plays or pageants that re-enact scenes from the life of Martin Luther.

Beggars All: The Crucial Creation/Justification Link

2006-09-27T15:55:00.000-05:00

Great post over at Beggars All on Justification - -

Beggars All: The Crucial Creation/Justification Link

Good thought from G.Veith

2006-09-15T09:56:00.000-05:00

Cranach -- The blog of Gene Edward Veith: "Controlling the future/Changing the past

The discussion of vows reminded me of something I heard in a sermon long ago:

The one way to control the future is to make a promise.

The one way to change the past is to forgive."

Low Anthroplogy

2006-07-24T15:47:00.000-05:00

I wonder why I post stuff up anymore anyway? I don't think ANYONE actually reads anything, but alas if someone stumbles here I'm attaching a link to a very interesting article in today's NYTIMES. It actually displaced that crazy what Shamu taught me about relationships article as the most viewed article today. There maybe a connection between that Shamu article and the one below and if there is it's probably got to do with low anthropology. Check it out.

He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t - New York Times

Arminianism & Semi-Pelagianism

2006-07-07T15:08:00.000-05:00

Arminianism & Semi-Pelagianism: "

'What the Arminian wants to do is to arouse man's activity: what we want to do is to kill it once for all---to show him that he is lost and ruined, and that his activities are not now at all equal to the work of conversion; that he must look upward. They seek to make the man stand up: we seek to bring him down, and make him feel that there he lies in the hand of God, and that his business is to submit himself to God, and cry aloud, 'Lord, save, or we perish.' We hold that man is never so near grace as when he begins to feel he can do nothing at all. When he says, 'I can pray, I can believe, I can do this, and I can do the other,' marks of self-sufficiency and arrogance are on his brow.'
- C. H. Spurgeon"

Men Are from Mars Hill - Christianity Today Magazine

2006-07-07T14:57:00.000-05:00

I've been checking out the Mars Hill on the web for the better part of the last year. Mark Driscoll - their Senior Pastor is doing some great things - check out his interview in Chrisitanity Today. He's like a younger more profane Tim Keller out in Seattle.

Men Are from Mars Hill - Christianity Today Magazine:

"Are young people becoming more sympathetic to Reformed theology?
The two hot theologies today are Reformed and emerging. Reformed theology offers certainty, with a masculine God who names our sin, crushes Jesus on the Cross for it, and sends us to hell if we fail to repent. Emerging theology offers obscurity, with a neutered God who would not say an unkind word to us, did not crush Jesus for our sins, and would not send anyone to hell. I came to Reformed theology by preaching through books of the Bible such as Exodus, Romans, John, and Revelation, along with continually repenting of my sin. I am, however, a boxers, not briefs, Reformed guy. I am pretty laid back about it and not uptight and tidy like many Reformed guys."

John Witherspoon - The Forgotten Founder

2006-06-27T12:31:00.000-05:00

The New Criterion — The forgotten founder: John Witherspoon:

"Who is the most unfairly neglected American Founding Father? You might think that none can be unfairly neglected, so many books about that distinguished coterie have been published lately. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington—whom have I left out? It has been a literary festival of Founders these last few years, and a good thing, too. But there is one figure, I believe, who has yet to get his due, and that is John Witherspoon (1723–1794). This Scotch Presbyterian divine came to America to preside over a distressed college in Princeton, New Jersey, and wound up transmitting to the colonies critical principles of the Scottish Enlightenment and helped to preside over the birth and consolidation of American independence."

Big Words of the Bible

2006-05-18T13:26:00.000-05:00

Big Words of the Bible
As discussed on the 9/11/05 edition of The White Horse Inn

Repentance (Gk. meta-noia) Literally, the Greek word underlying repentance means "change of mind." Another similar Greek word is meta-melomai, which is best translated change of feeling, or "regret." Thus the underlying word for repentance is somewhat distinct from feeling sorry, etc., but primarily has to do with a change of mind which results in new actions. For example, in Luke 3:3 Jesus says to "Bear fruits in keeping with repentance." This statement does not make sense if repentance is interepreted as "doing acts of penance," for why would one need to add good works to the act of doing good works? The sense of this passage then is to bear fruit in keeping with a new outlook, having been converted to God's way of seeing the world. Finally, as with faith, repentance is spoken of in the NT as being a gift of God. See for example Acts 11:18, "to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Conversion (Gk. epistrophe). Turning, returning. From the New Schaff Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: "The noun (found in Acts 15:3) denotes both the act in which a man turns again to God and the Divine activity by virtue of which this takes place." See for example Jer. 31:18 "Turn thou me and I shall be turned."

Propitiation (Gk. hilasmos). To turn aside wrath. To appease. The word is a close cousin of the adjective hilaron, meaning "cheerful" (the Greek root of our modern English word "hilarious"). From Webster: "The act of appeasing the wrath and conciliating the favor of an offended person; the act of making propitious." There are six primary NT texts in which a the term is found (Luke 18:13, Rom. 3:25, Heb. 2:17, 9:5, 1John 2:2, and 4:10). In the Romans 3 passage, the form of the noun Paul uses is hilasterion, which is the term used in Greek translations of the OT to translate "mercy-seat," the place on which the blood of sacrifice was to be sprinkled (Lev. 16:12-17) in the inner shrine of the ancient Jewish temple. In fact the only other place this form of the word occurs in the NT is Heb. 9:5, where it is generally translated "mercy-seat." Most therefore see hilasmos as the "act of propitiation" and hilasterion as "the place of propitiation." Paul, then, in Rom. 3:25 appears to be suggesting that Christ is the ultimate mercy-seat, or place in which God's wrath has been turned aside from us. The verbal form hilaskomai is found in Heb. 2:17 and Luke 18:13. The Luke 18 passage is generally translated "God be merciful to me a sinner," but though the concepts of mercy and propitiation are closely related, a more accurate translation would be, "God, be propitious to me, a sinner." Some modern translations have unfortunately replaced the term propitiation with words such as "atonement" (NIV) to simply some of the Biblical terminology.

Expiation (Gk. katarismos). Purification or cleansing. See Hebrews 1:3b, "After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (ESV). From Webster's: "The act of making satisfaction or atonement for any crime or fault; the extinguishing of guilt by suffering or penalty." We get our modern word "catharsis / cathartic" from this Greek word underlying expiation. The RSV unfortunately uses expiation to translate hilosmos and hilasterion, but those terms would better be translated as propitiation, because it communicates more than purification, but also the appeasement of a wrathful God.

Redemption (Gk. apolutrosis). From BDAG: "Buying back a slave or captive, i.e. making free by payment of a ransom." From Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology: "The central theme of redemption in Scripture is that God has taken the initiative to act compassionately on behalf of those who are powerless to help themselves. The NT makes clear that divine redemption includes God's identification with humanity in its plight, and the securing of liberation of humankind through the obedience, suffering, death, and resurrection of the incarnate Son." See Heb. 9:12 and 1Cor. 6:19-20.

Imputation (Gk. logizomai). To credit, think, account or reckon. Though Christ was personally sinless, God treated him "as if" he were a sinner during his time on the cross. Thus, our sin was imputed or credited to his account. In the same way, we are personally sinful and unclean, but God credits us with the active and passive obedience of Christ, and treats us "as if" we are totally righteous. The means by which we receive this credit or imputation is not works, but simple trust in the finished work of Christ, as Paul teaches in Rom. 4:5, "to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." Imputation then is the most crucial component of the doctrine of justification, which is itself the heart of the gospel.

Justification (Gk. dikaiow). To declare or pronounce righteous. God declares a sinner to be righteous the moment the sinner, despairing of his own inherent righteousness, clings to the righteousness of Christ as sufficient for presenting him to God as holy and without blame. It is a declaration, and not a process; it occurs at the beginning of the Christian life, not at the end; it is merited by Christ, not in any sense by the believer; it is complete, not partial; it is declared on the basis of Christs righteousness, not the believers, and it is received by faith alone, not by faith and obedience. The believing sinner is changed and will continue to change, but such changes effected by God in the soul are in no way the basis for justification. From Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology: "The verb translated 'to justify' clearly means 'to declare righteous.' It is used of God in a quotation, which the NIV renders 'So that you may be proved right when you speak' (Rom. 3:4); the NRSV has more exactly, 'So that you may be justified in your words.' Now God cannot be 'made righteous'; the expression obviously means 'shown to be righteous' and this helps us see that when the word is applied to believers it does not mean 'made righteous.'"

Sanctification (Gk. hagiazein). To make holy. With justification, we are declared righteous by God, not on the basis of what we have done, but because we are linked to the righteousness Christ by faith. But sanctification is the process in which we improve in holiness here and now. The former is the basis of our standing before God in heaven, the latter is earthly and always imperfect. A clear passage making this distinction is Hebrews 10:14: "by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." From A.A. Hodge: "Sanctification is the work of God's grace by which those who believe in Christ are freed from sin and built up in holiness. In Protestant theology it is distinguished from justification and regeneration, both of which lie at its root, and from neither of which is it separable in fact...both regeneration and justification are momentary acts, and acts of God in which the sinner is passive; sanctification, on the other hand, is a progressive work of God, in which the sinner co-operates."

Predestination (Gk. pro-oridzow). To decide in advance. From the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology: "Divine predestination means that God has a purpose that is determined long before it is brought to pass. It implies that God is infinitely capable of planning and then bringing about what he has planned, and Scripture speaks of him as doing this (Isa 14:24-27; 22:11; 37:26; 44:7-8; 46:8-10). Prophecy in its predictive mode is to be understood accordingly. God plans and makes his plans known, as he chooses, to his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). God's purpose is one of love and grace (Deut 7:6-8; Isa 41:8-9), above all because in love he predestined what should come to pass in his plan to save and to restore sinful humanity through Christ (Eph 1:5). Colossians 1:26 speaks of this purpose as 'the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but now is disclosed.' This implies that all that is in God's good purpose for us, individually or as part of the people of God, is by God's initiative and thus is a work of grace, something that we could never instigate or deserve (Deut 9:4-6; 2 Tim 1:9)." See also Acts 13:48, Rom 8:29 - 9:24, and Eph 1:1-11.

Regeneration From A.A. Hodge: "A theological term used to express the initial stage of the change experienced by one who enters upon the Christian life. It is derived from the New Testament, where the "new birth" (1 Pet. 1:3, 23; Titus 3:5; John 3:3-21) is the beginning of that "renewal" which produces the "new creature." See also Acts 16:14: "One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”

Gospel (Gk. euangelion). A proclamation of good news (Rom. 1:15-16). The greek root of gospel is the source of the words evangelism (the spreading of good news) and evangelical (one who is gospel centered). It is important to bear in mind here that the word clearly indicates that actual historical events are at the core of the Christian faith. The original disciples were proclaiming good news and were reporting events that actually happened, not eternal principles or mystical speculations (see 2Pet 1:16, 1John 1-3, 1Cor. 15:1-17). From Louw & Nida: "In a number of languages the expression ‘the gospel’ or ‘the good news’ must be rendered by a phrase, for example, ‘news that makes one happy’ or ‘information that causes one joy’ or ‘words that bring smiles’ or ‘a message that causes the heart to be sweet.’"

Pretty funny Will Ferrel video

2006-05-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

Will Ferrell - Bush on Global Warming on Transbuddha

The divine Miss Winfrey?

2006-05-15T08:18:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog (not that anyone actually reads it anyway). I ran across this frightening yet not suprising article about Oprah and her cult following/cult influence. I think it is further evidence of what Stanly Bloom classified as the gnostic religion of America. Ugh.

USATODAY.com - The divine Miss Winfrey?

Hitting For The Cycle

2006-04-21T15:43:00.000-05:00

An interesting read from an old Issues, Etc. .. (if anyone actually reads this blog)

Issues, Etc. Journal - Spring 1998 - Vol. 3 No. 1

Hitting For The Cycle

What is sanctification? How is it produced? To grow in our Christian faith and life, do we simply go in circles and do the same things over and over again? You got it!

by Don Matzat

On a recent Issues, Etc. interview, we discussed the subject of sanctification. My guest, a Reformed theologian, compared the various views on sanctification with a wind-up doll. When you wind-up the Pentecostal doll, it speaks in tongues. The Reformed doll grabs the third use of the Law. The Holiness doll goes after perfect sanctification. And what about the Lutheran doll? Well, from his perspective, when you wind-up the Lutheran doll it simply goes in circles.

After giving some thought to what he had said, I came to the conclusion that he was right. Lutherans go in circles. Or, to put it into baseball parlance, we hit for the cycle. Let me explain. . .

Think of a baseball diamond. At home plate, put the Law. At first base, the Gospel. At second base, Faith. At third base, Good Works or the Christian Life.

Now then, when an unbeliever steps up to the plate, the first thing he is hit with is the Law. He becomes aware of his sin before God.

This drives him to first base where the Gospel confronts him with the Good News of the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

As he rounds first base, the Holy Spirit produces faith causing him to grasp the Good News and rejoice in his salvation.

As he rounds second base, faith, being no idle notion, brings the Holy Spirit, and produces good works. His life is changed as he motors to the Good Works of third base.

In the third base coaching box there are a variety of coaches holding up the "stop" sign.

"Stop," they cry. "Come over here and speak in tongues to get really holy." Others offer the dream of perfect sanctification. Some promote their own evangelical house rules – don’t drink, smoke, dance, or go to movies. Some theologians of the Reformation group are debating the third use of the Law.

The Apostle Paul is also in the coaches box waving the runner through. "Get to home plate," he shouts. "Keep going! Don’t stop at third base."

So the runner rounds third and heads for home saying to himself, "Wow! I am really a good, holy Christian."

As he gets to home plate, he is in for a surprise. He gets nailed by the Law again. This time, though, it is not Romans 1 and 2, but rather Romans 7.

"So, you think you are really hot stuff," the Law says to him. "Quite a good Christian, eh? You are merely a wretched man born out of the wretched root of your father Adam."

Filled with sorrow and contrition, he wanders back up the first base line declaring, "Almighty God, merciful Father, I a poor, miserable sinner. . ." This time, as he gets to first base, he not only hears the Good News of forgiveness, but his pastor is waiting for him with words of absolution – "I forgive you!" He also hears Jesus saying to him, "Take and eat, this is my Body and Blood given for your forgiveness."

"This is fantastic," he cries as his faith is again built up and his heart is filled with great joy. He heads toward second base renewed in his faith. As a result, his behavior, actions, and attitudes are again being adjusted.

This time, as he arrives at third base, the coaches box is filled to overflowing. Everyone wants him to stop. One former football coach offers "Promise Keeping." Someone else wants to put a "What would Jesus do?" bracelet on his wrist. Bearded psychologists are there offering self-esteem, support groups, and help for his wounded inner child.

The apostle Paul is still there waving him home. But this time he is being backed up with some of the saints of the past – Martin Luther and C.F.W. Walther.

So our faithful baserunner heads back to home plate only to get clobbered with the Law again.

He continues to run the bases and his understanding of sin deepens. He grows in the knowledge of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. His Faith increases and good works freely flow from his life. Much to his amazement, as he reads the Bible, he discovers that this is exactly what God wants for him.

As he grows, he learns to love the worship of the Church. He discovers that various elements of the liturgy deal with either the Law, Gospel, Faith, or Good Works.

The traditional hymnody of the Church enhances his experience of Christian growth. He sings with enthusiasm "Alas, My God, My Sins are Great," "Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness," "My Faith Looks Up to Thee," and "May We Thy Precepts Lord Fulfill." In so doing, he is running the bases again and growing.

So, we go in circles! Fight the good fight, and run the good race, but whatever you do – don’t stop at third base!

The Park Slope Hat Spat: Read All the Emails - Gawker

2006-04-10T15:47:00.000-05:00

As a Park Sloper, I'm sad to say I'm not completely suprised by this nonsense, but it makes for an interesting read nonetheless. Check the below link to the article in Gawker.

The Park Slope Hat Spat: Read All the Emails - Gawker:

" few weeks ago, a member of the Park Slope Parents e-mail forum who’d encountered a stray piece of winterwear in the neighborhood posted a notice to the group titled “Found: boy’s hat.” … [S]ubscriber “Lisa” went public with her problems regarding the gender-specifying description of the hat. Wondering how such a categorization would feel to a spiky-hat-wearing girl, Lisa wrote, “It’s innocent little comments like this that I find the most hurtful.” A third member responded soon after, saying such political correctness drove her “up the wall,” and a heated discussion ensued. Lisa’s supporters questioned their opponents’ commitment to “the free interchange of ideas and questions” … while an opposing faction expressed facetious dismay that the original poster, who had described the hat as likely belonging to “an older child,” was not more considerate toward “younger children who happen to have large heads.” … [O]ne poster questioned the use of “hat,” asking if the object might be more sensitively labeled a “soft, porous bowl.”

It’s all pleasantly, kookily amusing, right? Not quite. In summarized form, yes, it’s amusing enough. But we had a chance to read the entire exchange — stretching on for days, with charges of political correctness and anti-political correctness, sexism and stereotyping — and we’re much less amused. The whole thing is after the jump; prepare to be intrigued, amazed, disgusted — and quite certain you could never, ever be paid enough to move out there."

The Park Slope Hat Spat: Read All the Emails - Gawker:

Thoughts on Mark 8:31-38

2006-04-06T14:31:00.000-05:00

Mark: 8:31-39

31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

I was thinking about the text, and specifically 'he must deny himself and take up his cross'. I've been reading the AA Big Book, and lo and behold AA has a lot to say about this 'denial'. AA is strong on the diagosis of sin - ie that our problems 'arise out of ourselves' - that we're selfish and self-seeking, etc. . . We're given a 'daily reprive contingent upon the maintance of our spiritual condition' - and 'our very lives as ex-problem drinkers depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.' The denial of self boils down to service - that we've been given a second chance on life to help others - not to win a bunch of cash and prizes or to have this 'glorious life' - but to help those who still suffer. It's about serving others; not ourselves - though by servicing others we too are served - another paradox!

It's all a big Chrisitan microchosim - we're saved by grace to serve others by proclaiming the good news (in aa speak - to proclaim that there is a solution to the alcoholic who still suffers...) I think the denial is that which pushes us out and away from our own natural an innate wiring that seeks to serve ourselves. (to be self-justifying/our own Gods as it were) Our default mode as drunks (sinners) is to do for ourselves at the expense of everyone else. For the alcoholic this is life threating,b/c the more it becomes about self again - the closer he is to another drink - and to drink is to die. Drunks get to see the mortal consequences of sin up close and personal. Intense.

So much of the AA solution is about admitting a 'lack of power' (Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves.p.45) It's amazing that the solution to the drink is focused on service. Doing the inventory to look at resetnements/fear/past sex conduct - is all about revealing where the drunk is wrong; where he is self-propelled - and pushes him to make 'amends' - to clear wreckage so we can serve others. Pretty cool.

Anyway, I'm rambling a bit, but I guess the crux of what I'm getting at is I think the 'deny himself' is much much deeper than the denial of worldly or physical comforts, but really hits us where it hurts - the denial of our intrisic selfish/self-seeking comforts-the deinal of our own self-diefication or self justification. I see it a lot in marriage - 'love your wife as Christ loved the church' - self sacrifical love - service that hurts - esp. when I WANT to be right/justified.

Some selected excerpts from the "Big Book"
The AA Eleventh Step Prayer a.k.a. St. Francis Prayer

Lord, make me a channel of thy peace
That where there is hatred I may bring love
That where there is wrong I may bring the spirit of forgiveness
That where there is discord, I may bring harmony
That where there is error, I may bring truth
That where there is doubt, I may bring faith
That where there is despair, I may bring hope
That where there are shadows, I may bring light
That where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather
to comfort than to be comforted
to understand than to be undersdood
to love than to be loved.
For it is by self-forgetting that one finds. It is by forgiving that one is forgiven. It is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.

Amen. (AA 12 & 12 p.99)

Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs. p.20
Our real purpose is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us. p.77
-------------------------------------------
Selfishness, self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably
find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt.

So our troubles, we think, are basically of our own
making. They arise out of ourselves, (ie SIN - my emphasis TB) and the alcoholic is an extreme example of self-will run riot, though he usually doesn't think so. Above everything, we alcoholics must be rid of this selfishness. We must, or it kill us! God makes that possible. And there often seems no way of entirely getting rid of self without His aid. Many of us had moral and philosophical convictions galore, but we could not live up to them even though we would have liked to. Neither could we reduce our self-centeredness much by wishing or trying on our own power. We had to have God's help.

This is the how and the why of it. First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn't work. Next, we decided that hereafter in this drama of life, God was going to be our Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father, and we are His children. Most Good ideas are simple, and this concept was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we passed to freedom. p.62
----------------------------------------------
Simple, but not easy; a price had to be paid. It meant destruction of self-centeredness. I must turn in all things to the Father of Light who presides over us all.

These were revolutionary and drastic proposals, but the moment I fully accepted them, the effect was electric. There was a sense of victory, followed by such a peace and serenity as I had never know. There was utter confidence. I felt lifted up, as though the great clean wind of a
mountain top blew through and through. God comes to most men gradually, but His impact on me was sudden and profound.p.14
________________________

My friend had emphasized the absolute necessity of demonstrating these principles in all my affairs. Particularly was it imperative to work with others as he had worked with me. Faith without works was dead, he said. And how appallingly true for the alcoholic! For if an alcoholic failed to perfect and enlarge hisspiritual life through work and self-sacrifice for others, he could not survive the certain trials and low spots ahead. If
he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die. Then faith would be dead indeed. With us it is just like that. pp 14-15
_____________________________
Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic.p.31
_________________________

I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots.p.42
But the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly any exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge .p.39

When we became alcoholics, crushed by a self-imposed crises we could not postpone or evade, we had to fearlessly face the proposition that either God is everything or else He is nothing.p.53

The first requirement is that we be convinced that any life run on self-will can hardly be a success. On that basis we are almost always in collision with something or somebody, even though our motives are good. Most people try to live by self-propulsion. Each person is like an actor who wants to run the whole show; is forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet, the scenery and the rest of the players in his own way. If his arrangements would only stay put, if only people would do as he wished, the show would be great. Everybody,including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful. In trying to make these arrangements our actor may sometimes be quite virtuous. He may be kind, considerate, patient, generous; even modest and self-sacrificing. On the other hand, he may be mean, egotistical, selfish and dishonest. But, as with most humans, he is more likely to have varied traits.

What usually happens? The show doesn't come off very well. He begins to think life doesn't treat him right.He decides to exert himself more. He becomes, on the next occasion, still more demanding or gracious, as the case may be. Still the play does not suit him. Admitting he may be somewhat at fault, he is sure that other people are more to blame. He becomes angry, indignant, self-pitying. What is his basic trouble? Is he not really a
self-seeker even when trying to be kind? Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of this world if he only manages well? Is it not evident to all the rest of the players that these are the things he wants? And do not his actions make each
of them wish to retaliate, snatching all they can get out of the show? Is he not, even in his best moments, a producer of confusion rather than harmony?

Our actor is self-centered -- ego-centric, as people like to call it nowadays. He is like the retired business man who lolls in the Florida sunshine in the winter complaining of the sad state of the nation; the minister who sighs over the sins of the twentieth century; politicians and reformers who are sure all would be Utopia if the rest of the world would only behave; the outlaw safe cracker who thinks society has wronged him; and the alcoholic who has lost all and is locked up. Whatever our protestations, are not most of us concerned with ourselves, our resentments, or our self-pity? pp 61-62

Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. p62

Before we begin (our day), we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives. p86

It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee, Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. p.85

New BMW R800S

2006-04-06T08:54:00.000-05:00

BMW is finally releasing a new line of more 'afforable' mid range 800cc bikes. Their new 1200 twins are bikes I'm just in love with, but at almost 17K out the door, I don't predict there will be any new 1200 twins in my life in the near future (unless I some how score a new gig that is willing to pay me ridiculous amounts of cash).

These new 800 twins, however are another story. At less than 9K, the value proposition becomes a little more 'attainable'. My old R1100S was my dream bike (never should've sold that bike!), and it looks like this new 800S is like it's little brother. I'm excited to take one for a spin when they hit the dealers later this summer!

Click for Article

The White Horse Inn - Now has PODCASTS

2006-04-06T08:50:00.000-05:00

If you haven't listened to this show, I couldn't recommend it more highly. It is by far the most consistent and engaging theological resource I've used. They now have FREE PODCASTS for all you iTunes users. Check it. . .

The White Horse Inn

2 Great Posts from incarnatus est on Lutheran vs. Catholic Theological Differences

2006-04-05T15:58:00.000-05:00

Below are 2 great positings I read on incarnatus est.

Enjoy (if anyone is reading),

Tom

Its crucial : At the same time saint and sinner

From Diane Hampson, Christian Contradictions, p. 24-25.

The formula "simul iustus et peccator" encapsulates the structure of Lutheran thought. As we have seen, the Christian lives by Christ's righteousness, a righteousness which is extrinsic to him. Thus he is, at one and the same time, both a sinner (in himself) but also righteous (in that he lives by God's righteousness). Heiko Oberman expresses this in a helpful manner. Righteousness is not one's property; but one's possession.

For example, the book that I have out of the library is in my possession but not my property… Thus the extra nos shows that justification is not based on a claim of man, on a debitum iustitiae. Another way of putting this is simply to say that God accepts the human just as he is for Christ's sake and that which man is -at least in relation to God - is a sinner.

This for Luther is the message of the gospel, overturning our presupposition that we have first to be good before we can be accepted by God.

What it is important to notice, particularly in view of the debate with Catholicism, is that iustus and peccator are relational terms and we are involved in a relational understanding of what it is to be justified, There is a sense in which neither term refers to the inward 'state' of the person. Certainly neither is to be understood as a quality which could be predicated of the human, understood as a substantial entity.

On the one hand God, for Christ's sake, holds the sinner to be just; he acquits us … Thus we may say that we are indeed to be considered fully just. On the other hand when the human is placed coram deo (before God), faced with God's goodness he must necessarily judge himself a sinner. But again it is not so much that the human is a sinner in himself. It is not that there is nothing good in the human. It is simply that when one considers the nature of God, the human cannot bring anything to God, on account of which God could accept him. In relation to God, he must count himself a sinner. The human thus has a double sense of himself; as both fully just and yet also as a sinner.

http://incarnatusest.blogspot.com/2006/04/its-crucial-at-same-time-saint-and.html

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Its Crucial #2

Are we righteous before God because we have been placed on "the way" by God and so eventually will arrive at righteousness or are we ( as Luther would have it) only by faith in a promise, not by supposing that someday God will help us by his grace actually be righteous.

For Luther and Lutherans there is a contradiction and conflict at the heart of the Christian religion. The conflict is not one of purity (I must be pure, I must attain righteousness with God's help), it is the conflict of faith. God says that I am righteous and yet I can, see, know and feel I am not. The conflict is one over the Word and promise of God versus my sense of sinful self, not over my inner state which by work or acetic practice or the sacramental system of the church God purifies so He can then accept me. No, for Luther, God says, Sinner, I accept you. Thus the conflict.

Again, Hampson in Christian Contradictions(p. 25):

We can express the Lutheran simul in another way; which is present in the quotation which we have just given. The Christian has a double sense of time. He lives 'from' the future, in that his sense of himself now is derived from his sense of Christ. The future is not placed at the end of a via, a path, which consists in his own transformation. Rather -to repeat myself -the Christian lives 'from' that future, for his sense of himself is bound up with that future. It is in this sense that Luther is future orientated. The Christian bases himself on something which is not at his disposal, of which he knows through the promise. Thus the Christian lives by a kind of a dare, which is the nature of faith. He holds in faith to what is scarcely credible, that God accepts him fully and completely for Christ's sake.

In this sense he believes against reason and on the ground of the revelation alone. Faith is eschatalogical in that through belief in that other future it is actualised in the present. Yet, while the Christian knows himself as accepted and living from that future, he is struggling with his present condition in the world. The Lutheran simul iustus et peccator thus brings with it a double sense not only of self but of time … Clearly it is a quite different sense of time from the Catholic, in which the human is at one 'place' (to put it figuratively) on the via which leads from the present to the future.

http://incarnatusest.blogspot.com/2006/04/its-crucial-at-same-time-saint-and.html

It would be hard to be married to this lady....

2006-03-27T10:34:00.000-05:00

Click Here - - woman has perfect memory

2006-03-14T09:52:00.000-05:00

This is very cool.

2006-03-10T09:23:00.000-05:00

Guitar Shred Show - Mr.Fastfinger

Article | The stigma of smoking

2006-03-02T12:58:00.000-05:00

spiked-health | Article | The stigma of smoking:
Excerpt - -
"It is a sign of the times that there has been no storm of protest over the increasingly manipulative and moralistic character of anti-smoking propaganda. In the crusade to reduce mortality from smoking it is considered legitimate to exploit the deepest fears of parents and children. While the law seeks to prohibit smoking in public, the new anti-smoking advert seeks to proscribe it in the private sphere, fomenting domestic strife to achieve this objective. At a time when a wide range of civil liberties are under threat it is alarming that the strategy of using children to police their parents' behaviour - reminiscent of totalitarian regimes - provokes so little public disquiet."

The Happiest Wives NYTimes

2006-02-28T14:10:00.000-05:00

The Happiest Wives - New York Times:

"From the 1960's through the 80's, wives cut back on housework as husbands did more. In the 1990's, though, the equalizing trend leveled off, leaving wives still doing nearly twice as much of the work at home.

That seems terribly unfair unless you look at how men and women behave when they're living by themselves: the women do twice as much housework as the men do. Single men do less cooking and cleaning, because those jobs don't seem as important to them. They can live with unmade beds and frozen dinners.

Similarly, there's a gender gap in enthusiasm for some outside jobs. Men are much more willing to take a job that pays a premium in exchange for long hours away from home or the risk of being killed. The extra money doesn't seem as important to women.

In a more egalitarian world, there would be more wives mining coal and driving trucks, and more husbands cooking dinners and taking children to doctor's appointments. But that wouldn't be a fairer world, as Nock and Wilcox found.

The happiest wives in their study were the ones who said that housework was divided fairly between them and their husbands. But those same happy wives also did more of the work at home while their husbands did more work outside home. Nock doesn't claim to have divined the feminine soul, but he does have one answer to Freud's question.

'A woman wants equity,' he says. 'That's not necessarily the same as equality.'"

Steve Jobs is the Modern Day PT Barnum

2006-02-28T13:42:00.000-05:00

This guy is a marketing GENUIS, and he doesn't have an MBA - put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Live from the Steve Jobs Keynote -- "Fun new products" - Engadget

Alan Dershowitz on Larry Summer's firing...

2006-02-27T13:04:00.000-05:00

Click here to read the whole article

An excerpt:

"In the minds of at least some vocal members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, expressing such politically incorrect views is the academic equivalent of provoking Islamic extremists by depicting Prophet Mohammed in a political cartoon. Radical academics do not, of course, burn down buildings, at least not since the 1970s. Instead they introduce motions of no confidence and demand resignations of those who offend their sensibilities (while insisting on complete freedom of speech for those with whom they agree -- free speech for me but not for thee!)."

Senator Yosemite Sam

2006-02-24T13:06:00.000-05:00

OpinionJournal - Wonder Land:

After nearly seven days of elevating the Cheney bird-hunting accident to the level of a national crisis, now comes this week's flap over managing the ports. To be sure, the matter of secure U.S. ports trumps the hunting of quail as an affaire d'état. But it was the strikingly low quality of the politicians' commentary and behavior that attracted notice.

Within hours, if not minutes, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Robert Menendez announced "emergency" legislation to "ban foreign governments from controlling operations at our ports." No matter that most of the current operators of our ports are from Denmark, Britain and, uh-oh, China. Chuck Schumer: "It's hard to believe that this administration would be so out of touch with the American people's national security concerns." Yes, that is hard to believe.

R.I.P. Harvard President Lawrence Summers

2006-02-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

A good piece on Larry Summers. Inmates running the asylum?

Townhall.com :: Columns :: R.I.P. Harvard President Lawrence Summers by Ben Shapiro - Feb 22, 2006

RadioShack CEO lied on resume

2006-02-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

Wierd story - it's not too often you have CEOs lying about getting theological degrees. Harvard B-School or Wharton maybe, but Pacific Coast Baptist College? This guy must be one heck of a salesman.

USATODAY.com - RadioShack CEO lied on resume: "e CEO said he now believes he received a ThG diploma, which is awarded for completing a three-year degree in theology. Errors in Edmondson's resume were first reported earlier this week by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram."

The flames of hate in Alabama

2006-02-16T10:36:00.000-05:00

An interesting op-ed from boston.com on the church burnings in Alabama.

The flames of hate in Alabama - The Boston Globe:
"Suppose that vandals last month had attacked 10 Detroit-area mosques and halal restaurants, leaving behind shattered windows, wrecked furniture, and walls defaced with graffiti. The violence would be national front-page news. On blogs and talk radio, the horrifying outbreak of anti-Muslim bigotry would be Topic No. 1. Bills would be introduced in Congress to increase the penalties for violent ''hate crimes' -- no one would hesitate to call them by that term -- and millions of Americans would rally in solidarity with Detroit's Islamic community."

A Review of Beth Moore's Believing God

2006-02-15T13:50:00.000-05:00

A Review of Beth Moore's Believing God: "Basically she says, don’t let theology and doctrine confuse you when you can figure it out with God for yourself in a way that works for you. Unfortunately, people who use her materials can’t help but absorb some of that reasoning. Even more troubling is that they think they’re doing Bible study when they are really getting a heavy dose of mysticism, storytelling, psychology, and prosperity gospel. In the introduction to Believing God, Moore shows her true, but mistaken, agenda when she says, “I know I’m going to make it to heaven because I’ve trusted Christ as my Savior, but I want to make it to my Canaan on the way. I want to finish my race in the Promised Land, not in the wilderness. You too? Then we have to cash in our fear and complacency and spend all we have on the only ticket out: BELIEF.”"

A Cartoon's Portrait of America

2006-02-15T13:36:00.000-05:00

A great article in the Washington Post - make me think of the old adage - 'self knowldege avails us nothing.' This writer has a low anthropology & I like it.

Here's an excerpt - -

"Of course, some good may come out of this story, even in this country. If nothing else, this controversy should bring an end to that naive, charming and sadly incorrect American theory of international relations that "the more we all learn about one another, the less we will fight." Gradually, the Islamic world is learning that we don't respect religion in the same manner they do. Slowly, we are learning that they feel differently about the printed word, and the printed picture, from us. And somehow, I've got a feeling that this new knowledge will be not the beginning of understanding but the inspiration for more violence"

Click to read the whole thing - A Cartoon's Portrait of America

Naked Banker Fires Secretary

2006-02-15T13:34:00.000-05:00

I'll let this one speak for itself. Note the article on the bottom about the dwarf getting swallowed by a Hippo!

Naked Banker Fires Secretary :: Business News :: Here Is The City News :: The Latest Business & Financial Markets News And Views

Gotta see this when it comes out . .

2006-02-14T15:14:00.000-05:00

Sony Pictures - Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Being mocked is Christ's work, not Muhammad's

2006-02-13T11:38:00.000-05:00

A great post on the Wretched of the Earth Blog - link below.

Being mocked is Christ's work, not Muhammad's - Wretched of the Earth

Veith on Cartoon Rioters

2006-02-08T11:44:00.000-05:00

I thought this was a great post from Gene Veith’s Cranch Blog today.
Questions for Cartoon Rioters

It's interesting to listen to Muslims explaining why they are rioting, burning, and demanding murder in response to the Danish cartoons. "You do not understand," they say, "how these pictures of the prophet offend Muslims." Yes, you are clearly VERY offended. But then it is surely a separate question to examine your behavior when you are offended. Why, when you are offended, are you rioting, burning, and murdering? As opposed to other reactions, such as just getting angry without hurting anyone, writing polemics against idolatry, praying for Allah's judgment, or vowing to separate from an infidel society? (Emphasis mine – TB)
Also, we now know that your religion forbids making images of the prophet. Muslims may not do this. But do you expect non-Muslims to follow Islamic teachings? The Q'uran forbids the eating of pork. So are the non-Muslims who do eat pork also insulting Islam?
And if your religion demands the idolaters be punished, then I can understand why you want to kill the cartoonists and the newspaper editors who published them. But why are you attacking Danes and even other Europeans who had no connection with the cartoons? The people working in the Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon did not draw or publish the cartoons. Nor did that priest in Turkey who was killed--he wasn't even Danish--nor did those German tourists who were kidnapped. You are not harming the guilty by harming the innocen

Back up again - Being confessional when it hurts:

2006-02-08T11:34:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted, so since things have been slow I'm picking it up again . .

Being confessional when it hurts:
I saw this today on Cranch and thought I'd post it.
T
------------

Cranach -- The blog of Gene Edward Veith

One of my daughter's teachers, in a Lutheran school, once spoke out in class against the death penalty. So at home we talked about the issue. We looked at Romans 13, which gives the lawful authorities the office of 'bearing the sword' against evildoers. We also looked at the Augsburg Confession and the Apology (XVI), which affirm capital punishment and which all Lutheran teachers are pledged to uphold.

When my daughter the next day brought these texts to school, the teacher saw what Scripture and the Confessions teach and so she CHANGED HER POSITION. Even though she personally disapproved of capital punishment, she recognized that the practice must be legitimate anyway because the Bible says that it is. She believed the Bible not because she liked what it said but even though she did not. She reasoned that if she disagrees with something the Bible and the Confessions teach, then SHE must be wrong.

How often do we see that? The usual approach when confronted with an authority that puts forward a position we don't like is to question the authority or try to interpret it away so that we can be left with our personal preferences anyway. But this teacher showed herself to be a true Bible-believing Christian and a genuinely confessional Lutheran."

More Serenity Prayer History

2005-12-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

More on the orgins of the Serenity Prayer - from Box 459 - offical AA newsletter. Click Here

The Original Serenity Prayer

2005-12-13T13:56:00.000-05:00

The Serentity Prayer is probably one of the most widely circulated prayers around - @ least in secular spiritual circles. I ran across an old timer the other day who recited a 'traditional' longer version I'd never heard before and I was blown away. Take a look:

GOD, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change,

Courage to change the things I can

Wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardship as a the pathway to peace.

Taking as He did, this sinful world as it is,

not as I would have it.

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to his will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

Amen

All I Want For Christmas

2005-12-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

Cool posting at What you Do Quickly about Christmas -

He says:

Walmart has replaced its normal "Merry Christmas" greeting with "Happy Holidays." I can't sleep!

Actually, I can and I do --like a baby.

What do I expect from Walmart? Low Prices --Always. That's their promise. That's all they promise. That's all I want.

Read the rest

Sufjan Stevens Christmas Album

2005-12-09T11:07:00.000-05:00

I found this online today - you can download all 3 Christmas albums by Sufjan Stevens. You may need to try a couple of times b/c the server gets a lot of traffic, but if you're persistent you'll be rewarded.

Click Here

Veith on problems w/NT Wright

2005-12-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

Gene Veith has a great snippet on his blog today regarding 'the new attack on justification'. Many conservative evangelicals are embracing NT Wright and his views on the New Perspective on Paul (NP). To me this hits at the heart of modern evangelicalisms semi-pelagian and in many cases pelagian tendencies and why I'm so dogmatic about the imporance of theology! Sola Fide - read on. . .

From Cranach -- The blog of Gene Edward Veith:
The new attack on justification

N. T. Wright is an Anglican bishop in England. Evangelicals and other theological conservatives like him because, among other things, he wrote a stirring scholarly defense of the historicity of the resurrection of Christ. But he believed that Luther had it wrong with this justification by grace through faith stuff. This is because Luther misunderstood the writings of St. Paul, who, according to Wright, was just talking about freedom from the Jewish ceremonial law, not the moral law. Actually, according to Wright, we are saved by good works after all.

Though this is being called the 'new perspective on Paul,' this is not particularly new. This is basically the Roman Catholic take on what Paul says. Anglicans have never been particularly strong on justification. But what is remarkable to me is how so many evangelicals are seizing on this. Both liberal evangelicals and conservative evangelicals (including some otherwise hard-core Calvinists).

The Wall Street Journal has a column praising Wright from John Wilson, editor of 'Books and Culture.' (Click 'continue reading' for the article.) I think many evangelicals have been wanting to make salvation a function of good works for a long time, and this gives them a good excuse. Salvation comes from living like Jesus did. That usually gets translated into either conservative or liberal politics, or trivial lifestyle choices like not driving SUVs, recycling, affirming gays, or--on the complementary side--not drinking, smoking, or going to movies. I have yet to see the person who lives with the moral purity of Christ. But go ahead and try. And then when you fail, perhaps you will appreciate how Jesus really chose to live His life. By dying for you."

Continue reading "The new attack on justification

Martin Luther's Christmas Book

2005-12-06T17:01:00.000-05:00

A friend turned me on to this book 2 years ago, so I thought I'd pass it along. Luther's Christmas book is a WONDERFUL book and I can't recommend it more highly to remind us all about the reason for the season.

T

New R1200S

2005-12-05T15:34:00.000-05:00

New BMW R1200S - I had a 2001 R1100S for a couple of years before I got married, and this is the next generation. The coveting has begun.

action/consequence.

2005-12-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

Awsome post from John Camp. A must read.

John Camp: Some thoughts on action/consequence.

Here's a snapshot of my old job. . .

2005-10-20T11:12:00.000-05:00

2005-10-17T12:58:00.000-05:00

Don't mess with my rice.

Monster List of Lutheran Books

2005-10-14T15:49:00.000-05:00

Clicky

Fads are so yesterday

2005-10-14T15:32:00.000-05:00

Hits close to home living in NYC. . .
Clicky

Does anyone care if Mayan civilization collapsed or not?

2005-10-14T14:48:00.000-05:00

Interesting article - - http://www.culturecult.com/art_notes.htm

Experts Decry Decline of Good Manners

2005-10-14T14:26:00.000-05:00

Not that this is big news. . . read more here

Clicky

Developments in retirement

2005-10-14T14:11:00.000-05:00

More broken promises, but are we really meant to 'retire?'

Corporate America's legacy costs from the Economist.com

Updates on Iraq

2005-10-14T14:08:00.000-05:00

Should be interesting to see what happens. Important.
Clicky

Excerpts from Bono

2005-10-06T08:26:00.000-05:00

Bono on Faith Click Here

Townhall.com :: Columns :: Miers is the wrong pick by George Will

2005-10-05T10:52:00.000-05:00

Important arguements eloquently stated by Will. . . .

Clicky for Will on why Miers is a Bad Choice

The End of Life as She Knew It - New York Times

2005-10-05T10:04:00.000-05:00

Interesting article from today's NYTimes. There was a longer piece by the woman mentioned in this article in the Times Magazine 2 weeks ago.

The End of Life as She Knew It - New York Times

Order in the Court - New York Times

2005-10-05T09:03:00.000-05:00

Order in the Court - New York Times