twitter thoughts

here is an interesting essay from George Packer in the New Yorker about twitter.  Here is how the meat of it begins: The truth is, I feel like yelling Stop quite a bit these days. Every time I hear about Twitter I want to yell Stop. The notion of sending and getting brief updates to [...]

effect of literature

Kevin DeYoung wonders what hath literature wrought? I agree strongly with his conclusion: I’ll take passionate and logical romantic rationalism over the tired tirades of false dichotomies any day. plus, I enjoy his perfect parallel prose. anyone who reads here long knows that I adore appropriate alliteration.

family reengineering

you may recall a previous post on my blog regarding a liberal anthropologist’s case against homosexual marriage. today I present a conservative atheist’s questions about reengineering the family. worth a read. I like Heather’s ending the best: These are not easy questions. The deprivation to gays from not being able to put the official, public [...]

an interview with Hitchens

Marilyn Sewell, a unitarian minister, interviews atheist Christopher Hitchens here. hilarity ensues. here is a glimpse, but it continues on in this vein. The religion you cite in your book is generally the fundamentalist faith of various kinds. I’m a liberal Christian, and I don’t take the stories from the scripture literally. I don’t believe [...]

why do you love the church?

if you love the church, why? (the “if you don’t, why not”? is a whole ‘nother post) Josh Harris lists some wrong reasons why people sometimes love their church. what do you think?  Here are a couple to get you started, then go read the rest of his post including the reason we should love [...]

on the occasion of the March for Life

on the occasion of the march for life, here is a repost from September 2008 of a survivor of an attempt to end her life: here is a clip of a talk by a young lady who survived an attempt on her life and lived to tell the tale (albeit with scars). Makes for an [...]

Roe v. Wade @37

37 years ago the Supreme Court issued its opinion legalizing abortion by fiat nationwide. That legally unsupportable seizure of state police authority remains in effect today, but there are increasing signs of cracks in the abortion on demand edifice. Science and technology have marched ahead. 4d ultrasound and better resolution on regular ultrasound show any [...]

Book of Eli

Julie and I went to see the Book of Eli yesterday evening. it was a rollicking good time and such a pleasure to have our faith not ridiculed and instead treated respectfully. It was an ordinary run of the mill B action movie except for two major things. number one is that Denzel Washington was [...]

no man can serve two roles

James Ceaser has written a fascinating article about Barack Obama as the Leader of Humanity and the President of the United States. It is long but delicious. Combined with Jonah’s book it explains a lot of the disconnect that Peggy Noonan and Charles Krauthammer have been noticing. here is some of it regarding the intellectual [...]

james cameron’s intent

let’s ask the man what he intended with Avatar. my emphasis added below. the director with his star Zoe Saldana said that  “Avatar” — with its depiction of mineral exploitation on a distant planet and a cadre of trigger-happy mercenaries charged with instituting a scorched earth policy — is very much a political film. But [...]

easily offended

Kevin DeYoung asks why are we always so offended all the time in this culture. I think he gets to the heart of the answer in this paragraph. For starters, being hurt is easier than being right. To prove you’re offended you just have to rustle up moral indignation and tell the world about it. [...]

Avatar’s aftermath

check out this CNN article.  Seriously.  Go read it. (CNN) — James Cameron’s completely immersive spectacle “Avatar” may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora. ….. “Ever since [...]

the social contract

Did Brit Hume violate liberal democracy’s social contract or did all the people telling him to shut up about his faith? Ross Douthat has some thoughts on the issue from the New York Times editorial page. some excerpts here, but go read it all. The Washington Post’s TV critic, Tom Shales, mocked the idea that Christians [...]

Firing Line

I ran across this post regarding an old “Firing Line” episode where William F. Buckley is interviewing Malcolm Muggeridge on the topic of their mutual christian faith. I have listened to the audio at the link in the following block twice now and I am going to listen to it many times more. Phenomenally good [...]

so completely true

we humans quickly accommodate to the status quo and become discontented and ungrateful in the midst of overwhelming prosperity and comfort. the link above takes you to a Jonah Goldberg post which has a video to watch that you will then have to watch on youtube. Believe me it is worth the double click involved. [...]

“fertile mix of science and religion”

or as I like to say, you don’t replace something with nothing. here is a peek, but go check out the rest of the interview. KLEFFEL: Armstrong sees the role of religion as a guiding force for ethical behavior. Margaret Atwood brings that notion to life in her newest novel, “The Year of the Flood.” [...]

house churches

here is Lisa Miller of Newsweek talking about house churches in the U.S.  fascinating short read. Now, says David Kinnaman, president of the Barna research group, many Christians are expressing “disappointment that the congregational models have become so consumeristic.” “House church”—also called home church, simple church, or organic church—is “the new expression of hippie Christianity,” [...]

Brit Hume’s advice

probably everybody has seen this already, but what an awesome testimony and word of advice from Brit Hume to Tiger Woods. HT to Fred Barnes

Man is homo religiosus

or as I keep saying, “you don’t replace something with nothing.” the blue people movie is more evidence that in our modern culture spirituality is fine, but Christianity or other specific organized religion is off-limits. Jonah has an interesting piece up called “Avatar and the Faith Instinct.” a bit to tease you over there to [...]

secularism and paganism

useful post from Challies on the six faces of paganism present today in our society. Go read his post for the details. 1. materialism 2. empiricism 3. determinism 4. secularism 5. secular humanism 6. post-modernism see if you can tell which one of these six is not like the rest and tell me why it [...]

more AVATAR

this is a great read and a fun take on the new smurf native movie. Takes down radical earth loving environmentalists along the way. In Avatar, James Cameron has created a world that justifies the smug arrogance and bitter alienation of the radical environmentalist. The alien world of Pandora really is a maternal Gaia spirit, [...]

Les Lanphere

I found Les Lanphere’s blog through Twitter (@llanphere). He has been doing a series showing God’s sovereignty in everything and especially in salvation in each non-Pauline epistle of the New Testament in order to show that this doctrine is not something that only Paul writes about. Interesting stuff. I would also recommend three posts of [...]

the decline and fall of Detroit

here is a Steve Crowder video on the case study of the effects of liberal policies and union power in Detroit. more photos of the collapse of Detroit here. more pictures here Freaky story about how the city and people of Detroit are too poor to bury the dead.

AVATAR

Dr. Russell Moore saw it. I was watching his twitter stream (@drmoore) yesterday evening and saw this (oldest ones at the bottom): I didn’t cheer, by the way. Too much Merle Haggard in my blood, I guess. Like to see you make that movie in Afghanistan, fella…about 14 hours ago from Tweetie James Cameron’s last big [...]

you don’t replace something with nothing

very interesting study from Pew Forum about the religious views of Americans. The religious beliefs and practices of Americans do not fit neatly into conventional categories. A new poll by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, mixing elements of diverse [...]