New Covenant

SSM Surrogates

 

 

This is one reason why SSM is not, objectively, marriage. As a rule*, marriage is a culturally and societally managed institution which, through natural processes, results in the next generation being produced. The protection and perpetuation of the next generation is something which society (whether tribal or governmental) has historically been deeply interested in. Rest assured that there is no natural way in which an SSM couple can contribute to producing the next generation. While virtually any relationship between two or more humans can be recognized and, therefore, named "marriage", "marriage plus surrogate", "grouping", "shacking-up", "brotherhood", "sisterhood", or whatever, only a relationship minimally limited to a male - female arrangement can in and of itself produce the next generation (I know, that last part is pretty obvious). As such, marriage between a man and a woman should be recognized as an institution which, as a rule and by design provides for the perpetuation of society; and not as, for example, an arrangement which provides one with governmental benefits. 

* By "as a rule" I'm referring to an anomaly free, unencumbered, and properly functioning system. (thanks to Stand to Reason for pretty much everything I just said)

So you want to see some sermons?

This coming Sunday, every Bible believing pastor, priest, and rabbi in the U.S. should preach on what the Bible has to say about homosexuality, and then send a copy of their sermon (anonymously) to the city of Houston. #AnniseParker #Houston #BathroomBill #FirstAmendment

The citizen, the 2nd Amendment, and the government

Over at the LA Times, George Skelton has written an op-ed titled, Dorner case shows folly of arming oneself to combat government, in which he argues how the Dorner outcome demonstrates the futility of armed resistance to the government. Unfortunately, he does nothing more than demonstrate a lack of coherent reasoning and understanding of the issue at hand.

To begin with, what exactly is his understanding of what the "government" is? He states,

The nutty notion that a citizen can be heavily enough armed to fight off the government went up in smoke near Big Bear Lake.

Huh? And all this time I thought, to reference Abe Lincoln, that our government was of the people, by the people, and for the people. Silly me. They, are us. Regardless, what's up with the claim that 2nd Amendment advocates believe that it means that "a citizen" is pitted against "the government"? Weren't the Bill of Rights expressely written to delineate how the citizens (note: plural) are protected from the government? Oh, and in the case of the Bill of Rights, I do believe "the government" refers to those duly elected representatives of the people. Seems that at least some of the founding fathers were aware of the intoxicating aspects of power (even when representatives are duly elected), and the need to restrain abuse of said power, via the Constitution.

Yet the notion that an armed citizenry would engage in self-defense against a tyrannical government is, evidently, patently absurd to Skelton. He states,

And there are many [e-mails he's received] like Bryan, who asked: "What if the German Jews had been well armed" against Hitler?

My answer: They would have been slaughtered by the Nazi Panzer divisions.

Maybe Skelton isn't aware of this, but the Nazis slaughtered 6,000,000 Jews anyway. Maybe he also is unaware that in the late 1930s the Nazis prevented Jews from owning firearms. Is it really that difficult to figure this out? If you were a Jew in Europe in the 1930s, and given the choice, would you have rather been unarmed or well armed? Would you have rather silently watched as you and your family were hauled off to a ghetto, and then exterminated in a concentration camp, or would you have wanted the chance and dignity to at least fight for what you could? Is Skelton so immune to the notion of self and family defense that he can't see this?

Again, he states,

The French and Poles were well armed. How'd that work out?

Sigh. Is he not aware of the French and Polish Resistance movements? Does he honestly think that their resistance was not, at the very least, a thorn in the side of the Nazi presence in France and Poland? Would he rather their movements have had no firearms whatsoever?

What is scary, though, is how Skelton seems to imply that we, as citizens of the United States, are nothing more than subjects of the government (and whatever police force said government employs). In his world we must bow down and acquiesce to whatever the government says or does simply for the fact that we would surely lose were we to get into a real shoot-em-up battle with said government. This, of course, is because we are outgunned due to the fact that, as he states, the 2nd Amendment has been violated with our rights currently being infringed.

And, again,

Dorner could have read up on Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge. Or the Branch Davidians near Waco.

Yes, look it up. Randy Weaver's wife Sara was shot and killed by a government sniper as she was doing the dastardly deed of holding her 10 month-old son. And we are all aware (or should be aware) of the deadly and bungled fiasco in Waco, as perpetrated by Bill Clinton's AG Janet Reno. Is this the type of government that Skelton wishes us to simply acquiesce to?

And while Skelton may argue that an armed citizenry is useless against the full force of the government, because of what happened to one armed crazy by the name of Christopher Dorner, he continues to miss the point. Yes, Dorner lost - that was inevitable. Yet look at what he - one person - was able to do or cause before his death: four murders, two of which were on civilians, other individuals wounded by either him or local law enforcement (including one 71 year-old lady), two innocent person's vehicles wrongly shot up by local law enforcement, one innocent person's house burned to the ground by local law enforcement(intentionally, it is claimed), as well as the allocation of extensive resources in and around southern California dedicated solely to his apprehension.

All this because of one crazed individual. And yet, this travesty is a prime example of the right and need for law abiding citizens to own firearms in the United States. Why? Because firearms are already owned by some 100,000,000 people in the U.S. That number, when correlated with the impact just one armed law breaking individual can have, sheds light on the true nature of law abiding firearm owning citizens - their concern for safety, self defense, and committment to following the rule of law. 

A government truly of, by, and for the people has nothing to fear from its armed citizens. Nothing to fear at all.

How CS Lewis' "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" helps demonstrate the deity of Jesus

In arguing for the deity of Jesus Christ (i.e., that he is, in fact, God), many Christians will point to places in the Gospel accounts where Jesus is referred to as the Son of God. For example,

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

- Matthew 14:28-33 ESV

or, more specific to the point,

Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.” So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”

- John 19:4-7 ESV

Yet, when presenting these apologetic arguments, many times Christians will face the response that Jesus never claimed to be God but merely 'the son of God'. 

This, I think, is an unfortunate consequence of our current culture's thinking (and, perhaps, most of Western culture). The mindset we are facing, and most times have ourselves, tends to see individuals rather than groups. When we meet someone who is introduced as so-and-so's son we think along the lines of, "Oh, your name is Frank, and you're John's son." Is it any surprise, then, that we have instances of surnames such as "Johnson"?

We do this all the time. "Hello Mary. Yes, I know your mother Kate, and don't you have a daughter named Rebecca?" In such a dialogue, despite understanding the familial relationship between the mother - daughter - granddaughter, we assign (inadvertently, perhaps) more importance to the individuality of each person. Hence, the argument that if Jesus is the Son of God, then he is God, carries little weight with us.  

However, this does not seem to be the case with the culture with which Jesus interacted. Consider this excerpt from the book of John,

The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

- John 10:31-39 ESV

Here we see that the Jews were ready to stone Jesus because, as they stated, "you, being a man, make yourself God." In his response Jesus actually takes their charge and clarifies it so as to make it clear that, yes, he is in fact making himself out to be God. Note his reference back to his saying, "I am the Son of God". 

So, how does this all tie in with CS Lewis, Narnia, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?

At the beginning of chapter 2, just after the Faun (Mr. Tumnus) spots Lucy, we have the following,

"Good evening," said Lucy. But the Faun was so busy picking up its parcels that at first it did not reply. When it had finished it made her a little bow.

"Good evening, good evening," said the Faun. "Excuse me - I don't want to be inquisitive - should I be right in thinking that you are a Daughter of Eve?"

"My name's Lucy," said she, not quite understanding him.

"But you are - forgive me - you are what they call a girl?" asked the Faun.

"Of course I'm a girl," said Lucy.

"You are in fact Human?"

In these few short lines of text Lewis wonderfully parlays the aspects of cross-cultural issues in how we understand textual meaning. Notice how when the Faun asked "Are you a daughter of Eve?" he was asking if Lucy was "in fact Human". Lucy, "not quite understanding him" (in true Western form), immediately looked to the individuality aspect of her status as the daughter of her mother - that they were two distinct, and therefore separate, persons. Luckily, the Faun understood this confusion on Lucy's part and stepped her through the process, first by asking if she was "a girl", and then asking his initial question in a point blank fashion: "You are in fact Human?"

The point here is that the title Daughter of Eve had nothing to do with the individuality of Lucy but everything to do with her being of the same species as Eve: Human. In like manner, when Jesus was referred to or claimed to be the Son of God it had everything to do with him being of the same "species" as his Father: God. 

Links for Monday, 28 January 2013

Gun Safety (TRUE gun safety) Edition

A PS!DF* Story
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke issues a PSA for the citizens he's pledged to protect. However, unlike the "let's dump all guns in the ocean" utopian dreams some keep dreaming, he has a slightly different, and extremely more rational, approach. From the PSA,

With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option. You could beg for mercy from a violent criminal, hide under the bed, or you can fight back. But are you prepared? Consider taking a certified safety course and having firearm so you can defend yourself until we get there. You have a duty to protect yourself and your family.

* Pound Sand! Dianne Feinstein

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86 firearms for every 100 Americans
And yet the U.K. has a higher violent crime per capita rate.

The Huffington Post offers the infographic under the presumption that this is a bad thing. Yet they don't offer an overall look at violent crime rates, much less defensive gun uses, on a per capita worldwide basis.

From Townhall's Katie Pavlich,

Pretty good national defense strategy, eh? As long as we have the Second Amendment, the United States will never be invaded.

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Tiananmen Square Activist has something to say about the 2nd Amendment
From his speech,

To me, a rifle is not for sporting or hunting. It is an instrument of freedom. It guarantees that I cannot be coerced, that I have free will, that I am a free man.

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Back in 2010 India armed girls to fight militants

A true example of the word 'empowering'.

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And yet another PS!DF* story
With law enforcement officers out there who actually get it - who actually believe in the right of the citizenry to defend themselves - who actually believe the 2nd Amendment means what it says, it will make Federal gun control and/or gun ban legislation difficult to enforce.

This story is of Georgia Sheriff Scott Berry. From Gun Rights Examiner,

Dana Safety Supply [DSS], a well known police supplier of clothing, guns, and gear, with an outlet in Sugar Hill, Georgia, sells firearms to non-police officers. Recently, however, it announced that it would stop selling self loading rifles to anybody but "Law Enforcement individuals." ...What this means is that Dana Safety Supply will no longer sell an AR15 rifle unless the purchaser is a police officer. This new policy has ruffled the feathers of Georgia citizens who buy guns, many of whom declared that they will no longer hand their money over to Dana Safety Supply. One of those citizens is Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry...

Sheriff Berry sent DSS the following letter,

Sirs,

It is my understanding that you have stopped selling self loading rifles to members of the general public in favor of selling them to law enforcement officers only. I deeply regret that decision. As such, this agency will no longer seek bids from or purchase from DSS.

Here's a video of an interview with Sheriff Berry, done by FoxBusiness. Note, especially, the following comments by the good Sheriff,

Fox:  Explain to me why you made this decision. [to no longer purchase from DSS]

Berry:  Well it's real simple. If law abiding citizens in my county can't go there and buy - a legal to obtain - rifle, that they're entitled to buy and they have the money to pay for, then I'm not going to spend their tax money there, and I'm not going to spend my personal money there.

 

Lastly, as noted by Armed American Radio, note the gun control thinking questions that are asked by FoxBusiness.

* Pound Sand! Dianne Feinstein

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Youth Education Summit
Sponsored by the NRA.

Forty-five outstanding current high school sophomores and juniors from across the United States are chosen each year to travel to the nation’s capital, where they participate in the weeklong educational opportunity. The summit encourages young adults to become active and knowledgeable U.S. citizens by learning about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the federal government, and the importance of being active in civic affairs.

 

 

Links for Sunday, 27 January 2013

Home School Edition (particulary for a couple of new homeschool moms I know)

Homeschooling and Socialization
Ah, yes. The question that won't go away. From the post,

And lets face it -- the "Lord of the Flies" social scene in most schoolyards never occurs anywhere else in life. I never encountered anything remotely resembling it in college, grad school or the work place. Women in groups may at times verge on being a bit "catty," but maturity has deadened the sharper edges of the claws they may have had as schoolgirls. And besides, maturity works both ways -- women have thicker skin than young girls.

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Well, homeschooled kids ARE NOT well socialized
Depending on how you define "well socialized." From the post,

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there’s nothing “normal” about our kids. Your homeschooled child is odd compared to the schooled population because they have not experienced ongoing school-based socialization and standardization.

When you consider that the homeschooled population makes up only 3-6% of the entire school-going population, you may begin to understand just how different your kids are or will be.

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Does Homeschooling threaten public school systems?
From Glenn Reynolds,

Traditional public schools haven't changed much for decades (and to the extent they have, they've mostly gotten worse). But the rest of the world has changed a lot. The public who eagerly purchased Henry Ford's Model T (available in any color you want, so long as it's black!) now lives in a world where almost everything is infinitely customized and customizable. That makes one-size-fits-all education, run on a Fordist model itself, look like a bad deal.

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Homeschooling: resistance is futile
From The Atlantic, even "progressives" have been smitten with the allure of homeschooling.

So we are making a different choice. Sure, we have philo­sophical reasons. Some of the parents in our circle are “unschoolers,” convinced that early education should follow a child’s interests and initiatives rather than shape them. Some of us aspire to offer something like a classical education: logic and rhetoric, mythology, Latin. Most of us are put off by the public schools’ emphasis on standardized tests and their scant attention to the visual arts, music, religion, and foreign languages.

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Your homeschooled teen will be better prepared for college
Due to their lack of socialization skills, no doubt. From the article,

They're also better socialized than most high school students, says Joe Kelly, an author and parenting expert who home-schooled his twin daughters.

"I know that sounds counterintuitive because they're not around dozens or hundreds of other kids every day, but I would argue that's why they're better socialized," Kelly says. "Many home-schoolers play on athletic teams, but they're also interactive with students of different ages."

Home-schooled students often spend less time in class, Kelly says, giving them more opportunity to get out into the world and engage with adults and teens alike.

 

Dianne Feinstein is disgraceful

Dianne Feinstein is disgraceful. She is also un-patriotic.

Why is she disgraceful? It's no secret that she's anti-2nd Amendment. In this interview from 2009, when asked about her reinstating an assault weapon [sic] ban in America she stated the following,

"I'll pick the time and the place, no question about that."

Well, there's no question about the fact that she's picked the time and the place - and it's now. Her gun ban press conference was held today, just barely over a month since the tragic mass killing at Sandy Hook elementary school. She's certainly not letting a crisis go to waste by playing on the emotions generated by the senseless killing of those 20 children. Yet by picking this time and place she is, in fact, dancing in the blood of the murderded children in Newtown.

She is disgraceful.*

Why is she un-patriotic? Her interests in banning guns go beyond the so-called assault weapons she displayed at the press conference (yet another play on the emotions leftover from Sandy Hook). In this interview from 1995 she flat out states she wants to take away ALL firearms from ALL Americans.

"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States,  - for an outright ban - picking up every one of them - 'Mr. and Mrs. America? Turn 'em all in,' I would've done it."

Turn 'em all in? Has she never heard of the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution? What is it about the right to keep and bear arms not being infringed upon by the government that she doesn't understand?

She is un-patriotic.

* Other indicators of her being disgraceful: Having a Reverend lead a prayer to open her gun banning news conference (no separation of church and state here, I suppose). Fear mongering the gun lobby as the problem. Using "scary looking" guns as props in her news conference. Including the Bushmaster AR-15 (used in Newtown) as a prop at her news conference.

On the supposed machismo-complex gun owners have

In many of the debates / flat-out-arguments regarding gun control, recently, it's been interesting to see how some anti-2nd Amendment folk trot out the notion that gun owners who claim self defense as the basis for their right to own firearms must have some gender inferiority complex. What are you compensating for?, is the Dr. Phil-ish question that explains what these misguided gun owners are suffering from. Essentially, advocates of gun control claim that the supposed need for having firearms is inexorably linked to the fabrication of an essence, be it ever so false, of manhood. 

Maybe they have a point. If I own firearms for self / family defense then what exactly am I compensating for? Well, I'll tell you what:  

Among other things, I'm compensating for the 6'-4", 225 pound, 25 year-old thug who, after breaking into my home, would not think twice about shooting me in the head (or stabbing me or clubbing me) regardless of whether I was armed or complied with his demands. I'm compensating for the multiple assailants who, after training in prison*, would not think twice about slitting my throat, raping my family, and then strangling them to death. I'm compensating for the inevitability of civil unrest given a natural or man-made disaster in the metropolitan area I live in. And I'm compensating for the sheep-like mentality you display, insuring that your such departures from reality will not inhibit my right to defend the lives of those I hold dear to my heart.

In the meantime, let's take a look at some stories which illustrate that there are many women who seem to have taken to "compensation", regardless of whether they suffer from the gender-complex issues that gun grabber psychoanalysts say they do. And, as a sidenote, notice that not all defensive gun uses (DGUs) involved actually firing the weapon.

15 Million women "pack heat" in the US

And that was in 2011. From the article,

One mother named Elena who lives in Roseburg, Ore., explains how her job as a 911 dispatcher led her to overcome the discomfort she felt about owning a gun.

“Dealing with the calls that we field on a daily basis made me really aware of what people are capable of doing,” Elena writes. “I’m a single mom and I’ve got two kids, so I feel like if I’m ever put in a situation where I need to protect them, I’d prefer to have a gun.

Gun-toting Grandma pulls handgun on two men who tried to rob her

More women using guns for fun and protection

From the article,

Several factors are driving women to the gun range, experts say.

"The first and foremost reason is women no longer want to feel vulnerable," Parsons says. "They want to feel responsible for their own personal safety and the safety of their families. Just by their physical size, the perpetrator is going to be bigger and stronger. A firearm is the great equalizer."

More and more women...

From the article,

To those who say guns are masculine, Ellanson says, "It would depend on how you define femininity. I think a capable woman is the most feminine expression of power that there is."

15 year-old girl scares burglars (note - plural) with dad's... gun

From the article,

Officials said a teen in Texas City was alone when a pair of intruders broke into her family's house, but she turned the tables on the suspects by grabbing her father's handgun.

911 is a joke

In Detroit. From the article, 

The people of Detroit are taking no prisoners.

Justifiable homicide in the city shot up 79 percent in 2011 from the previous year, as citizens in the long-suffering city armed themselves and took matters into their own hands. The local rate of self-defense killings now stands 2,200 percent above the national average. Residents, unable to rely on a dwindling police force to keep them safe, are fighting back against the criminal scourge on their own. And they’re offering no apologies.

More women... 

From the article,

More women throughout the United States are buying guns and learning how to use them. And we're finding that to be true in South Dakota. In fact, a 2011 Gallup Poll found that 43% of women say there's a gun in their home. KSFY's Courtney Zieller is finding out why numbers are at a new high.

21 year-old woman shoots and kills intruder who kicked in her door

Oh, and at least one of the intruders was armed with a gun. From the article,

Tweets sent from the official Dallas Police Department Twitter account said two suspects kicked in the door of the home at about 11:30 a.m. The resident was alone upstairs and heard the noise. She confronted the two burglars as they ascended the stairs and shot at them several times.

The two ran out the front door and one collapsed from a gunshot wound. Police later recovered a gun at the scene, "indicating at least one of the suspects was armed." Nobody has been identified.

12 year-old girl shoots intruder

Yeah, this one kicked his way in as well. From the article,

A 12-year-old girl took matters into her own hands during a home invasion in southeast Oklahoma.

It happened on Wednesday when the girl was home alone. She told police a stranger rang the doorbell, then went around to the back door and kicked it in. She called her mom, Debra St. Clair, who told her to get the family gun, hide in a closet and call 911.

 

* Not based on my own knowledge but as related by a retired LA County Sheriff and a current LAPD Police Officer.

Happy New Year 2013 - what Amazing Grace

Today is January 1st, 2013. Happy New Year! It also happens to be the 240th anniversary of the sermon with which John Newton introduced his newly written poem, Amazing Grace. From Near to the Heart of God: Meditations on 366 Best-Loved Hymns,

On Friday morning, January 1, 1773, John Newton, former slave trader and infidel, preached a New Year’s message from 1 Chronicles 17:16–17 in his church at Olney, England. Newton opened his sermon, saying, “The Lord bestows many blessings upon His people, but unless He likewise gives them a thankful heart, they lose much of the comfort they might have.” He told his church to look back at God’s goodness, look around at God’s promises, and look forward to future usefulness. In concluding, Newton introduced a poem he’d written for the occasion, the hymn “Amazing Grace.”

- Morgan, Robert J., Near to the Heart of God: Meditations on 366 Best-Loved Hymns

The scriptural text that Newton referred to in his sermon, the setting just after the announcement of the Davidic Covenant,

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God. You have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come, and have shown me future generations, O LORD God! (1 Chronicles 17:16-17 ESV)

And Newton's original six verses:

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believ'd!

Thro' many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis'd good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call'd me here below,
Will be forever mine.

 

Links for Monday, 31 December 2012

Exporting the "old and sick" to another place 

But don't worry - I'm sure it's for "the common good."

From The Guardian,

Growing numbers of elderly and sick Germans are being sent overseas for long-term care in retirement and rehabilitation centres because of rising costs and falling standards in Germany.

...

...with increasing numbers of Germans unable to afford the growing costs of retirement homes, and an ageing and shrinking population, the number expected to be sent abroad in the next few years is only likely to rise. Experts describe it as a "time bomb".

...

Germany has one of the fastest-ageing populations in the world, and the movement here has implications for other western countries, including Britain, particularly amid fears that austerity measures and rising care costs are potentially undermining standards of residential care.

Something to think about as we travers the road towards nationalized healthcare. 

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The Last Radicals
From the National Review,

There is exactly one authentically radical social movement of any real significance in the United States, and it is not Occupy, the Tea Party, or the Ron Paul faction. It is homeschoolers, who, by the simple act of instructing their children at home, pose an intellectual, moral, and political challenge to the government-monopoly schools, which are one of our most fundamental institutions and one of our most dysfunctional.

The author contends that opponents to homeschoolers have three core reasons.

The first is that progressives by their nature do not trust people as individuals and feel that, whether we are applying for a credit card or popping into 7-Eleven for a soft drink, Americans require state-appointed overseers.

...

The second reason for this hostility is that while there is a growing number of secular, progressive, organic-quinoa-consuming homeschool families, there remains a significant conservative and Christian component.

...

A third reason is that the majority of homeschool teachers are mothers. A traditional two-parent family with one full-time breadwinner and one stay-at-home parent is practically built into the model.

Long live independence!

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Safe, legal and... rare?
From Touchstone Magazine,

The Federal Centers for Disease Control (“CDC”) released a report on the eve of Thanksgiving showing that there was an historic drop of five percent in the abortion rate, the most in a decade. The data is from 2009, the latest year available, and shows that there were only 789,000 abortions. [emphasis in original]

The author states that data from California was not included, so the number of abortions most likely was over 1,000,000. 

As for the demographics, this unsettling note,

Approximately 85 percent of women who aborted their babies were unmarried. The majority of abortions are performed by the eighth week of pregnancy. White women had the lowest abortion rate, at about 8.5 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age; the rate for African-American women was about four times that; and the abortion rate for Hispanic women was about 19 per 1,000.  

The liberal mantra of being there for the disadvantaged seems to get turned on its head.

And to put some perspective on the killing of 1,000,000 unborn children every year, it's like having 137 Sandy Hook mass killings EVERY DAY.

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A belated Christmas Light Painting link for you all
Here's a great example!

© Michael Ross

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Doctrine vs. Methodology?
From The Gospel Coalition,

Pastors constantly face temptation to devote more time and energy to methods rather than to doctrine. If that includes you, then give heed to Paul's instruction in 1 Timothy 4:16: "Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers."

Following the imperative to keep watch on himself, Paul further instructs Timothy to keep watch on his doctrine. My observation, however, is that most ministers aren't doing this. They don't talk about doctrine. They don't read it. If they're paying close attention to anything, it is their methods and psychology. What's the result? Less biblical fidelity. Less interest in truth. Less seriousness. Less depth.

Neglecting doctrine results in less capacity to offer a compelling alternative to the thinking of our generation. I often hear the excuse that pastors aren't studying theology because they're too busy trying to reach more people. Ironically, this pursuit of identification often comes with a corresponding loss of communication. We put forth all this effort to make people feel comfortable and at home so they don't feel the difference between life in Christ and life without Christ. Problem is, it is supposed to be different when you come to Christ. That is the point.

[emphasis added]

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From Radicals to Oddballs
Oh, those homeschoolers,

There are two facets to educating a child well. The first is to recognize that education is not merely the accumulation of facts, but that it has an unavoidably moral aspect. A suitable education must do more, therefore, than simply teach facts, even moral facts. Education must seek to cultivate the moral imagination of the child, for reducing moral education to a list of rules is bound to fail.

Links for Sunday, 30 December 2012

No, despite America's obsession with guns, the U.S. isn't the most violent country
It's the U.K. From the article,

Britain's violent crime record is worse than any other country in the European union, it has been revealed.

Official crime figures show the UK also has a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and even South Africa - widely considered one of the world's most dangerous countries.

In terms of violent crimes per 100,000 residents, the U.K. comes in at 2,034 per 100K (with the U.S. listed at 466 per 100K).

For those who may be unaware, the U.K. has effectively banned the general public from owning firearms.

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Besides that, gun control doesn't reduce crime - just ask the U.K. or Australia
From the Wall Street Journal,

We aren't alone in facing this problem. Great Britain and Australia, for example, suffered mass shootings in the 1980s and 1990s. Both countries had very stringent gun laws when they occurred. Nevertheless, both decided that even stricter control of guns was the answer. Their experiences can be instructive.

...

The results have not been what proponents of the act wanted. Within a decade of the handgun ban and the confiscation of handguns from registered owners, crime with handguns had doubled according to British government crime reports. Gun crime, not a serious problem in the past, now is. Armed street gangs have some British police carrying guns for the first time. Moreover, another massacre occurred in June 2010. Derrick Bird, a taxi driver in Cumbria, shot his brother and a colleague then drove off through rural villages killing 12 people and injuring 11 more before killing himself.

Read it all.

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Enacting "Gun-Free [sic] School Zones" increases the frequency of active killer events
So says David Codrea, and he links to an interesting graphic provided by GeorgiaCarry.org.

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The Mayor of Newark gets it
Mayor Cory Booker,

I'm not afraid of law-abiding citizens who buy a gun... Listen to me, the people dying in Chicago, the people dying in Newark are not being done with law-abiding gun owners.

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The World according to murder
An interesting infographic (have not vetted the accuracy of it).

Provided by Survival Goods

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Be careful what you ask for
CNN asked its "iReporters" the question, "Was your gun banned?", and also asked them to "upload a photo of your gun and share your thoughts on gun control.

An intrepid young iReporter decided to have a little fun with the assignment, and uploaded a photo of a nerf gun* (shown below), stating,

My ak 47, 5th generation model. This one uses the 9.88x33mm round. I believe the only nation that uses it is Canada. They need this kind of firepower actually. I got mine in yellow because nothing says, "I'm big, bad and scary like yellow"...banana yellow.

This gun is actually at the top of the ban list. I don't like that. We have rights to bear arms. Don't take that away from me, don't take that away from us. Guns are a part of our heritage, or history, our roots, our blood.

What happens if tyranny arises? What if North Korea invades? What if a meth head randomly walks into my house? The only thing between life and death, survival, and non-survival, freedom and slavery is this baby.

* "Not vetted by CNN"

4th Sunday of Advent - Peace

Peace

As we closed the 1st Sunday of Advent post with an excerpt from Luke 2, we begin this post with the same:

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

(Luke 2:8-14 ESV)

Peace has been promised by God Almighty, yet in our world, as in the world of the past, peace is ever allusive. Is this an example of a broken or unfulfilled promise of God? Or have we equivocated on the type of peace promised? Let's look at the same record that has been given to us which promises peace.

Not long after the angels praised God at the birth of Christ by proclaiming peace on earth we find this event:

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

(Matthew 2:16-18 ESV)

State mandated slaughter of male children under the age of two in the region of and including Bethlehem. Doesn't seem very peaceful to me.

Or how about what Jesus himself told his disciples, about 30 years later, to expect - based on his historical presence in the region of Judea.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

(John 15:18-25 ESV)

And yet, despite the promise of persecution and hatred, he later says,

Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

(John 16:31-33 ESV)

May you have the Peace of the Christ who has overcome the world!

 

3rd Sunday of Advent - Joy

Joy

The Third Sunday of Advent we celebrate this year is Joy.

What is Joy? One thing we should be clear of, as we answer that question, is that joy is not a synonym for happiness. Unfortunately, our culture seems to have gotten itself into a rut of genuflecting to the god of Happiness. If we've learned one thing, after living in over 65 years of peace and prosperity, it's that our most important aim in life is to be happy.

C.S. Lewis, on the subject, wrote,

The very nature of Joy makes nonsense of our common distinction between having and wanting.

Yet what do we find in America, today? Wanting? In Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, Smith & Denton write,

However, it appears that only a minority of U.S. teenagers are naturally absorbing by osmosis the traditional substantive content and character of the religious traditions to which they claim to belong. For, it appears to us, another popular religious faith, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, is colonizing many historical religious traditions and, almost without anyone noticing, converting believers in the old faiths to its alternative religious vision of divinely underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness...

Christianity posits something much, much more vicious than personal happiness and interpersonal niceness. Namely, the Son of God became Man, fulfilling the covenant God made with Abraham - indeed, with Adam - that He would bless all the peoples of earth, that He would redeem all those with whom He finds favor.

This is not a pathway grounded on personal happiness. Again, from Lewis,

Which of the religions of the world gives to its followers the greatest happiness? While it lasts, the religion of worshipping oneself is the best.

...As you perhaps know, I haven't always been a Christian. I didn't go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don't recommend Christianity.

So... what of Joy?

Joy to the World,
the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

 

2nd Sunday of Advent - Hope

Hope

Do we, here in the 21^st century West, have any concept of what it means to have hope? Real hope? Do we understand what long-suffering means? Can we comprehend what it means to depend on the promises of God?

Consider Psalm 80.

Restore us, O God;
       let your face shine, that we may be saved!
O LORD God of hosts,
    how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of tears
    and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
    and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Restore us, O God of hosts;
    let your face shine, that we may be saved!
(Psalm 80:3-7 ESV)

For the Second Sunday of Advent, this year, we are celebrating Hope. The promise of God – redemption for mankind – was long awaited and, upon his arrival, was misunderstood. In like manner, I think, we have misunderstood what it means to rely on the hope we have in God. In our self-made reliance, we mistakenly rely on our ability to provide for ourselves temporal pleasures – a temporary immortality.

Instead, let's return to an understanding of our history, to an understanding of why we're here, and to an understanding of who God is.

The Bondage of Corruption, by Keith Patman

The world, upon its axis whirling, groans.
The flitting sparrow flinches, flails, and falls.
An aching hollow howls within the bones
Of bird and beast and man; the death-curse palls
Once-glad creation. Stung with sorrow, pain,
We toil and struggle under leaden skies
And wail like Israel in Pharaoh's reign,
“How long, O Lord, will you ignore our cries?”
God's Holy Spirit bears the troubled prayer
Aloft, with a more deeply uttered groan
Than ever echoed in earth's bitter air,
And lets the burden fall before the throne.
God answers. From a starlit hillside creche
A pain-cry rings as cold air bites new flesh.

1st Sunday of Advent 2012 - Love

Love

The 1st Sunday of Advent was December 2^nd. I'm late. I know.

This year we're celebrating Love for the First Sunday of Advent. You may have heard of the saying, “God is Love.” Indeed, reference 1 John 4. But what exactly is that supposed to mean? In English, the word 'love' has a variety of applications which can run from the erotic to gastronomical. I 'love' green chile cheeseburgers, for instance. Not to worry, though, because we have the Word of God to explain this to us.

In Romans 5 we are told of the depths of love which was expressed for us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

(Romans 5:6-11 ESV)

And in the well known John 3:16 passage we are explicitly told of God's love for mankind as well as the implications of such love. Hence we celebrate the Advent of Love, a pre-existing love, which by its very nature, cannot have existed in a singular state – for who would God have to love?

One admonition I'd like to leave you with is that as you reflect on the Love of God, particularly in the Advent of the Incarnate Jesus, don't make the mistake of trivializing said love by over-personalizing the concept. While God loves each and every one of us, the phrase “For God so loved the world...” should not be translated “For God so loved ME...” In our self-centered culture, that's an easy trap to fall into. I recently heard an evangelist prompt the audience he was speaking to to repeat the phrase, “Jesus was born, just for me.” Besides being wrong on so many levels, such a phrase only serves to reinforce the individualistic mentality so prevalent in society. Remember Romans 5:8, “...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Happy Advent!

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

(Luke 2:8-14 ESV)

Links for Friday, 30 November 2012

Some post election thoughts, albeit a bit late.

They ran out of undies on Staten Island (despite the promises from a "Presidential" looking Obama)
From Fox,

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro says the people of his community are in desperate need of fresh underwear.

"It's like a third-world nation," Molinaro said in a phone interview on Tuesday's Good Day New York.

If you reference my March 2011 post on being prepared for a disaster level emergency, you'll note that I recommend you set aside extra underwear and socks in the "Shelter" section.

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Is it the end of conservatism in America?
From a commenter at The Belmont Club,

I still have hope, but it is in the states and local communities. The governors and state legislatures must step up and stop acting like subsidiaries of Washington. Those that do will thrive; those that don’t will slouch toward their demise.

So let me be perfectly clear: we must restore self-governance. That was true before this election, and it remains true.

I want to encourage everyone to keep trying to preserve the republic. We have been blessed to be a part of this great American experiment, and we owe it to those who have paid in blood and treasure to not give up. It is a duty we should not fear, but relish. And if you don’t think you can do that where you live, come on down to Texas. We may be the last, best hope of the last, best hope on earth.

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No! Your argument ignores reality.
For clarification, try a simple term substitution - as shown by the strikeout and italics below. From the "Dear Republicans" post, (FYI, the post degrades into juvenile level vulgarity),

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, mention abortion the intentional killing of innocent unborn children again. It will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, be illegal in this country.

Whether or not the truth claim of the second assertion is valid does not mandate the abdication from morality as indicated by the first assertion.

Further reference, The SLED Test.

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Even Obama, Presidential-looking though he may be, cannot cut through red tape.
SUCKERS.

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The Gods of the Copybook Headings, by Kipling

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

...

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began.
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

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Intolerant Liberals, Hispanic Republicans, & an Old Earth

Be wary of those who rag on that the Republican Party is primarily made up of old, rich, racist white men. Be wary because when faced with the prospect of a young Hispanic Republican, as in Marco Rubio, the media seems to think that a question of priority for said Republican is to ask him how old he thinks the Earth is. Let's disregard how other issues were skipped over in lieu of that high priority age of the Earth question. Issues such as: immigration, the economy, healthcare, gun running into Mexico, a U.S. Ambassador being killed in a coordinated attack at a U.S. Embassy and, maybe, the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, you know - low priority issues like that. Oh, and let's also disregard the fact that Rubio probably-most-likely-maybe thinks that the laws of aerodynamics work consistently enough so that he believes that when he boards a jetliner it will actually fly through the air (as designed); or that he thinks that the laws of chemistry work consistently enough so that when he takes medication it will interact with his body the way it is supposed to; or that he thinks most of that - you know - "science stuff" really works.

Yes, since they can't accuse him of being an old, rich, racist white man, they simply disregard all of the real issues and paint him out to be some sort of buffoon by asking him how old the Earth is because, when all is said and done, they're not interested in tolerating a Hispanic Republican.

Be wary.

Foolish Heart: Embracing the Culture of a Lost World

This particular line, from a Grateful Dead song, has always struck me as poignant,

Sign the Mona Lisa with a spray can,
Call it Art

    - Foolish Heart

As the singer insinuates, the quick and dirty tagger's label can hardly sanctify a classic work of art.

What is it about the Western Evangelical Church that drives us to acquiesce with the culture we live in and, at the same time, justify said acquiescence as a noble cause?

Take, for example, the manner with which many churches are approaching the upcoming celebration of Halloween. This year Halloween falls on a Wednesday and, as most of you may be aware, many churches hold their "mid-week" services on Wednesday nights.

It seems to me that in times past the church would hardly have blinked an eye at this current conundrum.

"What? Halloween is on Wednesday? Oh well, try to get some 'trick-or-treating' in before you show up for Bible Study."

Yet nowadays the church bends over backwards to accommodate a culture which worships Halloween (in terms of merchandising expenditures) less only than that of Christmas. Do a search on the various churches in your vicinity and my bet is that you'll find them having, in lieu of their regular Wednesday night ministries, some event geared to provide the community with candy and fun and games and entertainment. Whether or not said event is described as a Harvest or Hallelujah Party one thing is clear, there's very little chance of having a mid-week Bible Study at the event.

What I find most disconcerting with this whole fiasco is that, with cans of spray paint in hand, apologists for these events boldly stencil on the words COMMUNITY OUTREACH, and then walk away thinking that an event which has replaced the study of God's Word is somehow promoting the Gospel. In our misguided attempt at reaching a community of non-believers we've succumbed to the market mentality notion of keeping the customer satisfied. While we've been given a divine opportunity to be truly counter-cultural and shine like a light on a hill in a world of darkness, we've taken to dimming said light as we go out of our way to join in the celebration with our culture.

POSTSCRIPT:  $370,000,000. That's how much money we Americans, who happen to be in the midst of the Great Recession, spend on Halloween costumes for our... pets.

Absolutely Uncertain

Watch this one...

 

11 years on

11 years after 9/11 we see that the problem still exists (witness the recent events in Cairo and Libya).

What we need to realize here is that on December 7, 1952 (11 years after the attack on Pearl Harbor), not only was World War II over, but Japan was our ally, and we were in the midst of the Korean War (which would not be over for another 7 months). The dynamics of the acts of aggression in those conflicts are categorically separate than what we now face. This is different - very different. As for the events of the past few days, to blame an insignificant movie as the cause demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the core issue. Furthermore, to blame an insignificant movie for the murder of 4 Americans in Libya would be like blaming Wall Street for the toppling of the Twin Towers. Oh, I forgot, some people already do.