Week in Review (Returns)
After a couple of slack weeks, the Week in Review is back:
Friday, April 28, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
For those of you at the Conyers P.O.
Prayer for North Korea
This is a late heads up, but Open Doors is leading a week long focus on prayer for the "most oppressive country in the world," North Korea. The week is nearly up, but the materials are certainly no less relevant next week than this week. Clicking here will take you to the materials. You can lead your family in prayer, and learn a great deal about things in North Korea as well.
Open Doors grew out of the ministry of a man who came to be known as "Brother Andrew." You may know him from the book “God’s Smuggler,” his autobiography. Today, in addition to other things, Open Doors continues to provide Bibles and other training materials for pastors and church leaders in countries where Christians are persecuted.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Caption Contest
WINNER: "redneck cat-scan" submitted by jeff foxworthy. Nice work, Jeff. Ever considered a career in comedy?Monday, April 24, 2006
Jesus Is a Liberal?
I saw this bumper sticker on a black Pontiac with DeKalb County plates the other day. At first I wanted to commend them for having 'Is' and not 'Was.' But then I figured that 'Is' probably fared better in focus groups than 'Was,' and so I decided 'Is' is probably not some great statement of faith in the resurrection. I found an interesting discussion of a "Jesus Was a Liberal" bumper sticker by J. Budziszewski of Boundless Webzine. Here's a portion of it:
"Last Sunday, after the service," he said, "I was shooting the breeze with this guy Jason at my church. We were standing in the parking lot, and I noticed his bumper sticker. It said, "Jesus Was a Liberal." So I asked him what that meant. I guess that wasn't such a good move. He seemed annoyed."Well, there's a movement of so-called "progressive Christians" out there who "embrace the search not certainty." They are self-described as "liberal." These are their "eight points':
"Did he answer you?"
"Oh, sure. He said, 'Jesus had compassion for the poor. That's liberal. He was anti-war. That's liberal. And he said we shouldn't judge others. That's liberal too.' I started to ask him another question, but he cut me off and said 'Look. The political meaning of Christianity is liberalism. Any Christian who isn't liberal is either corrupt, confused or full of hate.' Then he got in his car and drove away."
"Nothing like a guy who knows his mind," I said.
"So what do you think?" said Zack.
"About what?"
"I've never given much thought to politics. Was Jesus a liberal?"
"I wouldn't say that."
"Then you think he was a conservative?"
"I didn’t say that either. I wouldn't be too quick to associate Jesus with any of our political ideologies."
"Then you’re saying that faith doesn't have anything to do with politics?"
"No," I said, "Faith has implications for every dimension of life, and Paul made it pretty clear that even though our true country is Heaven, we have duties of citizenship in our earthly countries too."
"But when you say that you wouldn't associate Jesus with any of our political ideologies —"
"What I mean is that on the day of judgment, proponents of every political ideology will have to give an account of themselves. Liberals aren't exempt, and neither are conservatives."
"I'm confused. Are you saying a Christian could hold any political ideology, liberal, conservative or whatever?"
"No, some political ideologies are totally incompatible with Christian faith. You couldn't be a good Christian and a Nazi, for example."
"Could you be a good Christian and a liberal? Or a good Christian and a conservative?"
I hesitated. "I suppose it depends on what you mean. Liberalism and conservatism come in more than one version."
"What do you mean?" said Zack. "I thought all liberals were the same and all conservatives were the same."
"Not at all. . . . (click here to read more)
1. Focus: The teachings and life of Jesus provide them with a path to God.
2. Pluralism: They recognize that others follow their own paths to God which are equally true for them.
3. Communion: They view the sharing of bread and wine in Jesus' name to represent "an ancient vision of God's feast for all peoples."
4. Inclusivity: All are welcome to become involved; persons of all genders, sexual orientations, traditions, races, etc.
5. Reciprocity: How we treat others is the "fullest expression" of our beliefs.
6. Search: They find more grace in searching for truth than in accepting certainty.
7. Community: They form communities to support each other in their quest for peace, justice, a restored environment, and to provide hope.
8. Cost: Following Jesus involves a personal investment in "selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege."
Now, to drive home how this works, here is a heart-warming story of a Sunday School class. We all remember a class like this, I'm sure:
On their web site, they have a charming story that symbolizes the methodology of the Progressive Christianity movement. It involves a Sunday school teacher and a class of 9 or 10-year-olds. Even at that age, some were skeptical of the inerrancy of the Bible. They felt that many events recorded in the Bible never happened. Rather then try to convince the children otherwise, the teacher suggested that they read Charlotte's Web instead -- an enduring story of a bashful pig named Wilbur who befriended a spider named Charlotte. The class enjoyed the book. After some great discussions, the teacher interjected the thought that pigs and spiders cannot talk. The kids protested: "Well, it's a story." The teacher asked whether the story was true. They decided that it was sort of true. "In a way, it was true." So the teacher suggested: "All right, well let's look at the Bible in the same way."
I told you it was touching! So, what do you think? Can Jesus in any way be described as "Liberal" or "Conservative"? Is it helpful to even talk in that way? I don't ever remember seeing "Jesus Is a Conservative" bumper stickers, have you? Are liberals trying to convince others or themselves? Let's talk about it!
Friday, April 21, 2006
ID
This is some Intelligent Design (ID) stuff for your perusal:
- This is an interview with Michael Behe on Janet Parshall's radio show. It is only one segment long, so it's an easy listen. Behe's book, Darwin's Black Box, got things going ten years ago. In it he criticizes Darwinian theory by looking into what for Darwin was a "black box" into which he could not see--the cell and sub-cellular structures.
Behe proposed that these structures are "irreducibly complex," that is, they cannot be broken down into simpler parts or they would cease to function. His simple example is the mouse trap. To alter or remove part of a mouse trap leaves something that won't catch mice. Likewise, he says, to alter or remove part of these tiny structures (machines, really) within the cell leaves something that does not function. And if this is so, then the "explanation" that these structures evolved bit by bit under the "direction" of nothing but chance is not an explanation of anything. What is astounding is that in the past decade there has yet to be a serious challenge to Behe's claim. Oh, there's been enough hot air to fly a zeppelin air force, but nothing in the way of experimentation to definitively destroy Behe's claim. Here is Behe's response to the latest attempt in Science magazine.
- This is an article from the student newspaper at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Lehigh is where Michael Behe teaches. The article is about a talk given by Eugenie Scott, executive director of National Center of Science Education. There are a couple of good quotes in here. The first, which is highlighted in the article itself is, "Believers just make all of their conclusions based on the fact that evolution doesn’t cut it." What is funny about this is that she essentially admits the problems with Darwinian theory ("evolution doesn't cut it"), but she doesn't like it that "believers" bother to point it out! Of course, all the supporters of ID are not "believers" like she means (backwoods, fundamentalist Jesus-freak hicks), but neither are they "believers" like Eugenie is in Darwinian dogma. The real money quote is this one, and I don't think it needs more comment than a simple, "Duh!" "The problem with teaching intelligent design with evolution is that it undermines the theory of natural selection," Scott said.
- These are a couple of blogs about ID and evolution from the Discovery Institute. Very interesting!
- And the following is from the Icons of Evolution website. You are probably familiar with many of these because they were in the textbooks we grew up with:
When asked to list the evidence for Darwinian evolution, most people--including most biologists--give the same set of examples, because all of them learned biology from the same few textbooks. The most common examples are:* a laboratory flask containing a simulation of the earth's primitive atmosphere, in which electric sparks produce the chemical building-blocks of living cells;
* the evolutionary tree of life, reconstructed from a large and growing body of fossil and molecular evidence;
* similar bone structures in a bat's wing, a porpoise's flipper, a horse's leg, and a human hand that indicate their evolutionary origin in a common ancestor;
* pictures of similarities in early embryos showing that amphibians, reptiles, birds and human beings are all descended from a fish-like animal;
* Archaeopteryx, a fossil bird with teeth in its jaws and claws on its wings, the missing link between ancient reptiles and modern birds;
* peppered moths on tree trunks, showing how camouflage and predatory birds produced the most famous example of evolution by natural selection;
* Darwin's finches on the Galapagos Islands, thirteen separate species that diverged from one when natural selection produced differences in their beaks, and that inspired Darwin to formulate his theory of evolution;
* fruit flies with an extra pair of wings, showing that genetic mutations can provide the raw materials for evolution;
* a branching-tree pattern of horse fossils that refutes the old-fashioned idea that evolution was directed; and
* drawings of ape-like creatures evolving into humans, showing that we are just animals and that our existence is merely a by-product of purposeless natural causes.
These examples are so frequently used as evidence for Darwin's theory that most of them have been called "icons" of evolution. Yet all of them, in one way or another, misrepresent the truth.
- Finally, here's a link where you can, if you like, view a list of over 500 scientists (probably all backwoods, fundamentalist Jesus-freak hicks) who have signed a statement which reads: “We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”
While We're Telling Jokes . . .
Do you know the story about the Congressman who was asked about his attitude toward whiskey?
He replied, "If you mean the demon drink that poisons the mind, pollutes the body, desecrates family life, and inflames sinners, then I'm against it...But if you mean the elixir of Christmas cheer, the shield against winter chill, the taxable potion that puts needed funds into public coffers to comfort little crippled children, then I'm for it. This is my position, and I will not compromise."
- I stole this from Joel Garver's blog, Sacra Doctrina (one of my favorites)
Thursday, April 20, 2006
More on "Repentance"
There was a tradesman, a painter called Darrell, who was very interested in making a penny where he could, so he often would thin down paint to make it go a wee bit further.
As it happened, he got away with this for some time, but eventually the Baptist Church decided to do a big restoration job on the painting of one of their biggest buildings. Darrell put in a bid, and because his price was so low, he got the job.
And so he set to erecting the trestles and setting up the planks, and buying the paint and, yes, I am sorry to say, thinning it down with turpentine.
Well, Darrell was up on the scaffolding, painting away, the job nearly completed when suddenly there was a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened, the rain poured down, washing the thinned paint from all over the church and knocking Darrell clear off the scaffold to land on the lawn among the gravestones, surrounded telltale puddles of the thinned and useless paint.
Darrell was no fool. He knew this was a judgment from the Almighty, so he got on his knees and cried: "Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?" And from the thunder, a mighty voice spoke...
"Repaint! Repaint! And thin no more!"
- I'll credit this joke as soon as I can figure out how.
A Life of Repentance
The first of Martin Luther's 95 Theses declares the entire life of believers "to be one of repentance." Indeed, there is a sense in which we never progress beyond this repentance. Part of the Spirit's growing us into maturity in the image of Christ is an equally growing awareness of the number and depth of our sins, and a greater awareness of our dependence upon Christ. This is not a morbid or morose introspection, but a frank recognition of "the facts." As Paul said, "Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24) and "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul's assessment is right on; that is who we are. And that is why we must continually confess our sin and repent of it. This is not only a one time thing that we do to become a Christian. Interestingly, repentence and belief are joined in Scripture. In Mark 1:15 Jesus says, "Repent and believe in the gospel." Now, none of us thinks that he means to believe once and thereafter forget it. He calls us to a continual belief. Likewise, our repentance is not a one time turning from sin, but a continual one. Jesus also said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).
Now, what is true of our daily living ought especially to be true of our weekly gathered worship as a church--the acknowledgement of my own sin and my utter need for a savior outside of myself is an absolutely fundamental reorientation for worship. So, as "worship leader" (a ridiculous title, because it is given to the guy who leads the singing, and so we begin to think only of the singing as "worship") at my church, I have somewhat successfully instituted a time of confession of sin in our worship service. This flows from everything the Bible says about worship. The psalmist says, "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened" (Psalm 66:18). When Isaiah saw the Lord his response was, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" (Isaiah 6:5). Likewise, when Ezekiel saw a vision of God's glory, he wrote, "I fell on my face" (Ezekiel 1:28).
Okay, that's Old Testament you say. Well, all over the New Testament people are falling in worship at Jesus' feet. The word most often translated "worship" in the NT means just that, "to bow down or kneel before." It is the act of placing oneself literally underneath or below another. These people are bowing down before Jesus, and he accepts their worship. Never does he say, "Stop it! You're embarassing me!" He accepts their bowing down, speaks restorative words to them, and sends them away to "sin no more."
Alright, but those are strangers. We are believers who are in Christ! We have received forgiveness already! We should just bask in that glory and not rub our faces in our sins! Well, aside from the example of Paul above, perhaps the best example is John, the "beloved disciple." When John was confronted with the glorified Jesus he "fell at his feet as though dead" (Revelation 1:17). Now, I know it's a real downer to come to church and fall down as though dead, but that's what happens when sinners come into the presence of a holy God! I could go on much more, but let me end by encouraging you to look further into this and even to encourage your church leadership to do so. Repentance shoud be our daily individual practice, and our weekly corporate practice in the church. The complete lack of this in churches today is a serious oversight.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
41, 42, 43 . . .
Recently the boys set up a "gym" in the living room with various "exercise equipment" made up of pillows, chairs--whatever could be moved into the middle of the living room. Drew, 6, demonstrated the sofa cushion that was like a floor mat for doing sit ups. He did a pretty quick 40 as I held his feet for him, and he challenged me to match his number. (Well, you may be surprised to learn that I don't do sit ups that often.) Drew held my feet, and I s-t-r-u-g-g-l-e-d to match his 40. Actually, I got a second wind somewhere around 30, but I was quite happy to stop at 40. Then I tried to encourge Jacob, 4, to give it a try. I held his feet and he got off to a slow start. But like his old man he began to pick up steam as he went. "Alright, Jacob! You're gonna make it!" I was saying. "You can do it!" Drew was beginning to have a concerned expression. Was his little brother going to match him? As I counted off Jacob's final few sit ups, "37, 38, 39 . . ." I heard Drew pick up right where he'd left off 5 minutes ago, "41!, 42!, 43!. . ."
Monday, April 17, 2006
Caption Contest
- This week's Caption Contest photo has a background story which you can read here.
- WINNER:"Honey, I shrunk the washed up rock and roll band" posted by rick moranis
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Happy Easter!
I was browsing through a hymnal looking at Easter hymns (those under the heading "Resurrection") and noticed that most of those in this particular hymnal ended each verse with "Hallelujah" or "Alleluia" (or some other variant spelling). We are all familiar with the word and have heard it many times. Literally, it means "Praise Yahweh." It is easy to see, then, how songs about the rising from the dead of the Son of God can elicit the shout of praise that the people of God have been singing for thousands of years, "Hallelujah!" Even the banner pictured here is an "Easter" banner, adorned with Easter lillies and "Hallelujah."
I now frequently think of this story from Steve Schlissel when I think of "hallelujah." Speaking of believers, he says:
We are the people who alone have a fellowship that the world only talks about and crows about but knows nothing of. We have a fellowship that spans past every cultural divide and every language and every nation. No matter where we go in the world, we can find believers who are like-minded and like-hearted, and we can bond with them and know that we are brothers and sisters in Christ to the amazement, and disgrace, of all other people. The people of the world try to institute it by legislation, and they fail. They can only fail, because true fellowship is one of the Holy Spirit’s greatest gifts to us. The late Dr. Bob Cook from The King’s College (NY) used to talk about a trip he once made to Japan. As he was riding a train and reading his Bible, he noticed that a Japanese man sitting across from him was also reading a Bible. The Japanese man saw that Dr. Cook had a Bible. They looked at each other and recognized that they were Christians; but Dr. Cook did not speak Japanese, and the Japanese man did not speak English. So, in an effort to communicate with Dr. Cook the Japanese man said, “Hallelujah!” Then Dr. Cook said, “Hallelujah!” They went back and forth with their hallelujahs, fellowshipping in terms of the most untranslated word on earth.
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Easter, PETA Style
WorldNet Daily reports on protests by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in which protesters dressed as animals are "crucified" in front of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria. The signs pictured here say, "You should not kill." You may read all about it here.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Good Friday Hymn
One of my favorite hymns for several years now, and perfectly appropriate for Good Friday, is Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted by Thomas Kelly. The title is taken, of course, from Isaiah 53:4, " Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted." The words are below, and you can listen to the music here or here.
See Him dying on the tree!
’Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
’Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
’Tis a true and faithful Word.
Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.
Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
’Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.
Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.
- You can view more of the art of Lorri J. Myers here.
Thursday, April 13, 2006
How Some Atheists Are Celebrating Easter
Ever wondered how atheists observe Easter? Well, those on the blog Kill the Afterlife endorse the following way:
The War on Easter
I like to think of atheistic evangelizing as a perpetual War on Superstition or War on the Afterlife. Beyond Belief Media and The Rational Response Squad are after my own heart, because they just took this war to the next level by declaring a War on Easter!It is a campaign to photograph the planting of 666 copies of the #1 independent documentary on Amazon.com, The God Who Wasn't There [a "documentary" that claims Jesus never existed], in various churches around the country by Easter Sunday. Ideally, these DVDs will be discovered by a worshipper during the Easter Sunday worship service or by children hunting for Easter eggs.
What a great way to Kill The Afterlife! So how about it, atheists? I know you all have a copy of this movie, and I know you all live near a bunch of churches.
What a hoot! Now, here's a "battle report" of a "successful mission" in TN fom the War on Easter blog. (You'll have to supply your own nerdy, laughing sound effects as you read):
I placed four flyers in between seat cushions in the main hall. Some of them tucked down deeper than the one photographed. One in the lobby next to brochures. There was two rows of ‘Guest’ parking and I was the only one parking there. I’ve included a picture ‘blurry’ of the service as it was going on while I placed flyers inconspicuously. They are scheduled for three Easter services on Sunday daytime and one devotional Sunday night. They added the third daytime one tonight. Someone WILL see the flyer. I was sitting about 3/4 of the way back where the less ‘holy’ sit.If you would like to see a picture of the flyers they are passing out you can look here. 666 copies of the DVD distributed is a lofty goal, but I'm sure with no God at their side and the ingenuity that comes up with names like "Kill the Afterlife" and "War on Easter," these guys can do it!
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Teddy on War and Peace
Roosevelt's attitude toward war and peace is very interesting and instructive. One of the few ways in which political opponents attempted to criticize TR was to promote a war-monger mystique based on his Rough Rider image and strong "Big Stick" rhetoric. Ironically, the two terms of TR's presidency were among the most peaceful in the history of the nation. In fact, TR won a Nobel Peace Prize for his negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Of the lack of war during his administration, TR later quipped, "I certainly would never have started a war I couldn't have fought in!" These peaceful years were no accident, but were a result of TR's "peace through strength" approach. He strongly opposed a "peace-at-any-price" philosophy. Foundational to his approach is this outstanding quote:
"Peace is generally good in itself, but it is never the highest good unless it comes as the handmaiden of righteousness; and it becomes a very evil thing if it serves merely as a mask for cowardice and sloth, or as an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy."( This is a very biblical understanding. I can't help but think of Jeremiah speaking against the false prophets of Judah who proclaimed 'Peace, peace,' when there was no peace. It was a false peace--not of victory over unrighteousness, but of surrender to unrighteousness. Sadly, I think too of the U.N., which sets itself up as an arbiter of international justice, but is really more often "an instrument to further the ends of despotism or anarchy.")
Further TR said, "I only advocate preparation for war in order to avert war; and I should never advocate war itself unless it were the only possible alternative to shame and dishonor." The quintessential example of this was the cruise of the "Great White Fleet." In 1907, 16 battleships were painted a brilliant white, manned by 14, 000 sailors and marines, and sent by Roosevelt on a 43,000 mile 14-month circumnavigation of the globe that would include 20 port calls on six continents. Critics were appalled at such blatant "saber rattling," but TR contended that the fleet had "exercised a greater influence for peace than all the peace conferences of the last fifty years." As one sailor said, "We just wanted to let the world know we were prepared for anything they wanted to kick up. We wanted to show the world what we could do." And so the peace was kept under Teddy Roosevelt.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Teddy and the Common Man
Teddy Roosevelt was a champion of ordinary people. Many of his history books, such as Hero Tales from American History, focus on the contributions and accomplishments of ordinary folks. Even at the pinnacle of his career, TR made time for average citizens--to the chagrin of the power brokers around him. For instance he once left two senators, five congressmen, and the heads of seven major corporations to wait in the White House for two hours while he discussed flora and fauna with a half dozen "truck farmers" from Alabama. When he finally showed the influential men into his office, one of the senators sternly rebuked him, "Mr. President, you must stand by your priorities." To which Roosevelt responded, "Oh, but I did, Senator. I did."
Monday, April 10, 2006
Caption Contest
It was tough, but we have a WINNER: "The life and times of Grizzly Walenda" submitted by D-bo. But read the comments for some other good ones!Saturday, April 08, 2006
"Observing all things that I have commanded you"
Under Muslim sharia law there are five crimes known as the Hadd offenses. Because these offenses and their punishments are specifically mentioned in the Quran, committing them is considered an especial affront to Allah. They are:
- Wine-drinking and, by extension, alcohol-drinking, punishable by flogging
- Unlawful sexual intercourse, punishable by flogging for unmarried offenders and stoning to death for adulterers
- False accusation of unlawful sexual intercourse, punishable by flogging
- Theft, punishable by the amputation of a hand
- Highway robbery, punishable by amputation, or execution if the crime results in a homicide
Wine drinking, however, is not immoral. In fact Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper with wine and commanded that we drink it. Because of their Lord's example, Christians in Sudan choose to risk the flogging they will incur if caught with wine (which is hard to come by in Sudan anyway) rather than to compromise and drink "juice" with the Supper.
I'm sure I will have more to say on this in the future. For now let me commend these Sudanese Christians for not giving wine over to the devil as have American evangelicals and for actually doing what the Lord has said to do. Maybe if our government banned us from drinking wine with Communion then we would drink it, too, perhaps out of definace. If so, then why can we not do it now, out of obedience? Why are we tacitly more obedient to the early 20th century political marriage of the temperance movement with the church than we are obedient to our Lord?
Week in Review
- Added--a new feature! We will have a weekly (or so) poll (see the sidebar). This week's is a confessional concerning the use of cell phones in public restrooms. Please be honest! If you're brash enough to use a cell phone in a public restroom, you can at least own up to it in an anonymous poll.
- Still in the news--Jesus is still in the headlines. Professor Doron "Moron" Nof of Florida State University speculates that Jesus appeared to walk on water because he was walking on ice! Now, we've always known that the scholarship at FSU was a little suspect, so this should not surprise us. What I'd like to know is why Peter was such an idiot that he couldn't figure that one out? He was a fisherman(!) after all and had spent a little bit of time out on that water himself!
- More Jesus news--this time from the great Judas. I will blog about this sometime soon. Until then, here's the story on the "Gospel of Judas" from USA Today.
- What a country!--"A woman who filled out St. Louis voter registration cards for well-known, dead local politicians in 2001 was sentenced Friday to probation, community service and transcendental meditation training for election fraud and drug violations." If you want to read more, meditate here.
- Caption winner--Jeffro is this week's winner; see below.
- Parallel Universe--Gabe and I are coaching on the Cyclones youth baseball team. Check back here to see our roster when it's completed.
Phone on the Throne: Multitasking Gone Amuck!
Lately I have been encountering cell phone conversations in public restrooms. I have to ask, what is so important? Some have even sounded like business conversations! Usually there is a flush either by the talker or someone else before the conversation has ended. Since I do not have a cell phone, this has not been a problem for me--but I can't imagine using one in a public restroom even if I did have one! And if you are in a public restroom and want to call me on your cell phone, I don't mind waiting! There's a poll on the sidebar concerning this, and please leave comments below (if you dare).
Friday, April 07, 2006
Crummy Church Signs Redux
Tragically, some churches do not have church signs upon which to be foolish (for all the wrong reasons) in the eyes of the world. Some meet in currently operating movie theaters. (No. Churches aren't just for old, abandoned theaters anymore!) In these cases the theater is happy to take these Christians' money, but apparently not happy for them to take over the theater marquee. So what is a church to do? Well, yesterday, the church that meets at the Crossroads Cinema 16 in Conyers mailed out postcards which loudly display their urgent "church sign" message. These 5.5 by 8.5 cards read:
Now, you've just got to like that! "We're going to get you in our doors by first getting you to meditate on the 'f ' word." So, people who know the f word (not "forgiveness;" the other one) are going to have it spring to mind. (You know. Don't think of a pink elephant.) And those lucky few who don't know the f word, like kids, will either continue in blissful ignorance, or take the opportunity of a church mailing to ask someone, "What's the f word?" and thereby add to their vocabulary! Hopefully, the theater will allow these great, sanctified marketers to have access to the giant theater marquee in the near future so they can share these deep thoughts with every passerby on I-20, too!
Oh yeah. And if clever, risque postcards aren't enough to get you to go to church at the movies, they also serve free Krispy Kreme doughnuts from 9:15 to 10:00 AM. Now that's something every church should do!
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
A Tale of Two Books
Dueling books have been released from the principal parties in the sad case of Terri Schiavo. Michael Schiavo has released Terri: The Truth, and the Schindler family has released A Life That Matters: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo -- A Lesson for Us All. The early returns from the press surrounding the releases confirm the eminent unlikability of Michael Schiavo. What is his hope for his book? That the book will motivate people to get living wills and oppose politicians who try to intervene in the personal affairs of others. To this end he has started a political-action committee — TerriPAC — to counter government interference in family matters. As if anyone cares, he plans to announce his endorsement for Florida governor through TerriPAC within weeks. Further, the book reveals that Michael was talked out of a last minute decision to let Terri's feeding tube remain by his evil puppet master, attorney George Felos. "He reminded me that we had to realize that it wasn't just about Terri anymore. It was about the rest of the people who didn't want the government telling us how we could die and when we were allowed to decide that we didn't want further medical treatment. And it was about who has the right to make decisions between a husband and wife.'' That is the sort of drivel that passes for great moral thinking in our society. And the media were there in the trenches with this foul "dynamic duo" then and now. They concur that the great lesson of all of this really boils down to "living wills."
As for the Schindlers, now that Terri is dead they were granted a congenial interview on Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer. What is their hope following Terri's death? In their book the Schindlers talk about their fight against medical neglect of those especially vulnerable . "We've become comfortable in our society to kill someone simply because they have a brain injury," Bobby Schindler said. "That's what we're trying to change." They have established the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation "dedicated to ensuring the rights of disabled, elderly and vulnerable citizens against care rationing, euthanasia and medical killing."
Okay. You can tell where I stand on this one. I'll simply say this: I agree with the letter of what Michael Schiavo says he hopes for, but the spirit in which he carried it out was, and is, chilling. The very issue in this case was that Terri's "wishes" were unknown, only "remembered" years later after Michael met a fanatical "right to die" attorney who thinks it is wonderful to starve to death. No. In principle, we don't want the government "interfering in family matters" (though millions of us each year strangely let the government decide who gets the stuff and the kids in divorce). But we do want the government to protect innocents from those who would take advantage of them, even within families. That's why we have laws against things like incest, spousal abuse, and even (ahem) uxoricide.
Likewise, we as a society need to wake up regarding end of life issues. Too many people in the youth and vigor of their teens, 20's, and 30's seem to think that older and disabled folks are just sitting around wishing that death (preferably by starvation) would just hurry up and claim them. That's not the way it is. And even the almighty living will written up at age 25 cannot possibly reflect one's thinking at age 75. Nor can it possibly cover every contingency one might face. So the lesson is bigger than simply "living wills." (Sorry, Michael. Sorry, media.) The lesson is, in fact, the one the Schindlers would have us to learn. May we learn it.
Try this experiment. Search for "Schiavo" on the web in the Google search at the bottom of the sidebar. See what ad is above the search results.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Achoo Syndrome?
No. Achoo syndrome is not the name for the widespread sneeze attack in the Atlanta area yesterday as a result of the 2nd highest ever recorded pollen count of 5,861! Of course pollen.com says not to worry about all that pine pollen:
On Pollen.com, we cannot list every species that is pollinating, only the leading three in terms of actual pollen counts and the allergenicity of the plant. Pine pollen typically does not cause allergies and is usually considered to be a nonallergenic plant. Pine trees do produce enormous amounts of pollen, covering surfaces with the yellow”dust", but generally does not cause allergic symptoms. Because of this, we typically don’t list pine as a predominant pollen.Hmmm. Would you locals say there's more oxygen or pine pollen in the air? It's debatable. Now, about achoo syndrome (from medterms.com):
Achoo syndrome is a disorder characterized by nearly uncontrollable paroxysms of sneezing provoked in a reflex fashion by the sudden exposure of a dark-adapted subject to intensely bright light, usually to brilliant sunlight. The number of successive sneezes is usually 2 or 3, but can be up to about 40. The achoo syndrome is also called the photic sneeze reflex or the helio-ophthalmic outburst syndrome.That's a syndrome? I thought everybody had that! How many of you would diagnose yourself with achoo syndrome?
The syndrome is much more common than has been generally recognized. In one study it was found in 23% of medical students. The syndrome is one of the most frequent of all known genetic traits. It is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, affecting males and females alike, who have a 50:50 chance of passing the achoo gene to each of their children who will have the disorder. The syndrome was first described in 1978.
One physician reported that he had suffered from photic sneezing for over 20 years and, having just learned of the existence of the syndrome, found that the "symptoms are more easily tolerated if you can put a name to them, even if that produces only an illusory understanding of their significance." He commented on the potential hazards of photic sneezing if it occurs while one is driving a car on a sunny day. Tunnels and shadows created by tall buildings and forested terrain can induce sneezing upon re-entering the bright sunlight.
