Oct 20 2008

Evangelicals, politics and society: what the Left wishes was true, but isn’t

Category: election 2008,left,philosophy,politics,right,theologyharmonicminer @ 2:17 pm

J. Daryl Charles, author of “Between Pacifism and Jihad“, comments on an example of journalistic wish-fulfillment in which David D. Kirkpatrick prays earnestly for the “crack-up of Evangelical politics”. Well, to be fair, he only cheerleads what he wishes was the end of Right-leaning evangelicalism.  After pointing out that the trends present in mega-churches and the “emerging” church are not dispositive of the major part of evangelical Christendom, Charles, whose knowledge of evangelicalism is wide and deep, provides plenty of examples that were in Kirkpatrick’s backyard, but which he failed to notice…  maybe the fences were too high in New York City, so Kirkpatrick had to go to the midwest to find something to write about.  Ending graphs, though Charles’ entire take is worth reading:

And yet, had Kirkpatrick done his homework, his research would have taken him, not to Wichita, Kansas, but to his own backyard and New York City, where evangelical congregations are vibrant and socially engaged. Consider, for example, the very large and increasingly influential Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, which embodies what is salutary, healthy, and encouraging about Protestant evangelicalism. But because Redeemer, given its simultaneous commitments to theological orthodoxy and social responsibility, has been making a difference in the city for almost two decades (and doing so without a so-called leftward political shift), such evidence would undermine Kirkpatrick’s thesis. Similar examples abound in metropolitan areas nationwide.
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Oct 20 2008

The end is near

Category: humorsardonicwhiner @ 9:05 am

There is something to be said for just giving up.   For accepting that the end is just around the corner, and embracing the suck.   Betcha can’t guess where this article comes from: The American way of life is dead…

The American way of life, a system unsustainable by any stretch of the imagination, was facilitated on two facts: cheap gas and a valuable currency, the currency than morphing into cheap credit.

Since the US signed a deal with Saudi Arabia to value oil only in US dollar, something that happened in 1948, the US dollar has been a powerful currency, quickly rising to the level of the world reserve currency. As soon as all nations needed the dollar to purchase oil, there seemed to be no end as to how many dollars could be printed and what first the US government and than the ever down sized taxpayer, could afford…just add the cheap credit.

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Oct 20 2008

Baseball Done The Obama Way

Category: Obama,sportsamuzikman @ 12:21 am

I went to my son’s baseball game today.  He had an amazing game, if I do say so myself. And as his father I am definitely claiming bragging rights, at least for the foreseeable future!

In the third inning he came up with bases loaded and hit a double to right-center field. 3 runs scored. In the fifth inning he came up with the bases loaded again.  This time he hit a grand slam home run over the center field fence.  He also had a single and drove in a total of 7 runs in the game.

My son, who is now 16, has played organized baseball pretty much continually since he was 7. He has played in both spring and fall city leagues as well as having spent several years in travel-ball which is a year-round commitment.  Since the age of 9 he has trained privately with a former professional baseball player, often twice a week.  His training has included lessons in both pitching and hitting.  He has also spent countless hours in weight rooms, batting cages and even more hours in the back yard either hitting off a tee, throwing into a net or playing catch with me.  In short he has worked very hard to refine and multiply his talents and today was no fluke, it was the fruit of his labor.

On my son’s high school team is a another young man (my son’s best friend) who never played baseball until the 9th grade.  He tries very hard but it’s a struggle for him to keep up because he does not have the same experience that many other player have. I don’t know what his hobbies and interests were before high school but it is safe to say he was doing something else during the many hours my son was playing and training.

Now if Citizen Obama were allowed to apply his wealth redistribution tax plan to baseball, things might have gone like this today: After my son’s third at-bat a time-out would have been called. The umpire would announce that it wasn’t fair for my son to have 7 RBI while some of the other players (like my son’s friend) had none. The Obama Rule would then be invoked – Anyone driving in more than 3 runs in a game shall be forced by the umpire to share the extra RBIs with players having none, to be distributed at the discretion of the umpire to players on both teams. This rule would guarantee a more equitable distribution of runs scored and helps all players to have more RBIs. Well.. all but my son that is – the one who worked very hard and who sacrificed so much for so long to be the very best he could.

Can you imagine a baseball game where the goal of each game was a tie score and for all players to have the same stats? Neither can I.

Can you imagine the United States as a place where governmental limitations are imposed on hard work and sacrifice? Where citizens are subjected to punitive taxation if they work “too” hard, earn “too” much and become “too” successful? Neither can I.

But Obama can…

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Oct 20 2008

Islamic censorship is alive and well in the West, not just Saudi Arabia

Category: Uncategorizedharmonicminer @ 12:15 am

The religion of perpetual anger once again performs a successful act of de facto censorship due to fears of what will happen if to media producers if they don’t knuckle under. Imagine if Southern Baptists had protested the blasphemous use of a bible verse. I can hear the laughter now.

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