Wednesday, August 31, 2005

You're Not There


Was listening to Hogue this morning and there just a few people (“Mike in his car”) that were getting a little too legalistic about how people in Narlens (New Orleans) are coping with this disaster. “People should take responsibility for not evacuating when they were ordered to do so.” Legalistically, a very true and accurate statement. Humanity-wise it stinks.

First off, this country has never seen anything like Katrina the Bad in decades, perhaps in over a century when Galveston, Texas was pretty much was wiped from the face of the earth back in the later 1800’s(?) (UPDATE: Galveston got clobbered in 1900 by Hurricane Before-We-Knew-Better-Then-to-Name-Them) I don’t know exactly when other then it was a long time ago, but I vividly remember reading about it in skrool; Reading about an account of some poor guy who obviously lost everything sitting amid the wreckage of his town and life laughing hysterically; Or about looters caught by the sheriff with human fingers in their pockets because they couldn’t get the gold rings off the bloated digits. Katrina was one of the truly evil storms this country will ever encounter and yes there will be horrific stories about the aftermath in Narlens like those Galveston stories. But am I going to sit on my pedestal and cluck about how those people caught in the middle of this disaster should take responsibility for their own actions? Easy for me to say – I’m not there and neither are you, Mike.

Hogue also expressed his displeasure with a web log that was clucking away that looting is looting. If I’m taking baby diapers, shoes, clothing, water, etc. from a Walmart, I believe they’ll understand my desperation to provide for my family in the midst of hell on earth and tell me “Don’t worry yourself about it.” If I have my F350 4-whl pickup truck backed up to a flooded Good Guys and I’m loading it up with a HDTV, Tivo’s, DVD players, etc, I deserve to be shot by the National Guard. This Zero-Tolerance crapola I have to tolerate as a guv-mint employee is maddening enough, but to hear about such pontificating dribble about people trying to survive Katrina the Bad by people who have no earthly clue as to what they are talking about makes me nearly red-faced with rage. YOU’RE NOT THERE!

I’m just waiting for the next religious nut, ala Randall Terry, declares “this was God’s judgment against a sinful city.” Yeah??? “What’s in your wallet” as they say on the tube. Be careful about asking for judgment against anybody or any town for the Lord’s sword “cuts off both the righteous and wicked.” Abraham pleaded with God to spare Sodom for the sake of “10 righteous men,” which the Lord agreed to do. Unfortunately for Sodom, all the Lord’s angels found was Abraham’s damn fool of a nephew, Lot. They chased him out of town before it got sacked – eternally. But just you wait, some idiot who will do nothing except make the rest of us Christians look like insensitive nutballs, will say Narlens got what was coming to it. Yeah???? So will you someday, too, Randall. Shaddup already because: YOU”RE NOT THERE!

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Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Katrina the Bad

Good Lord. The Gulf Coast got hammered - hard. Walmart is taking customer donations on top of its own. There are probably a variety of ways to help for those looking.

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I KNEW IT!!

Remeber what I wrote about the MSM storyline on Katrina? Let me cop a line and say, "See, I told you so!"

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Monday, August 29, 2005

GADS! What a Beast!

This pix (got it from Yahoo) pretty much says it all:

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Katrina May Spur Oil Refinery Construction?

The Big Easy is getting the snot beat out of it right now by Hurricane Katrina. This had been predicted for years since Narlens is 10 feet below sea level. A huge disaster that could ripple for years. God be those still in the city trying to ride this beast out.

However, in addition to hosting the Mardi Gras and the Superdome, Louisiana also hosts a good chunk of our oil production. As Hugh Hewitt said, "4 dollar gas anyone?" Today the Chuckster (Shumer) had a brilliant revelation that Bush should release the Strategic Reserve. That's downright Einsteinian, that is Senator. Where's it gonna go?? The refinery capacity of this country has declined in the past few decades and still ain't a popular industry with parts of your constituency. Bush had this problem pegged months ago, of course you won't hear that now from the MSM. I'm predicting what you will hear is that America caused Hurricane Katrina via global warming via all our SUVs and Hummers running around out there.

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Wednesday, August 24, 2005

The Left's Cynicism and Moms

On a whim, I paid a visit to the website of the National Organization for Women to see what their take on Cindy Sheehan and the Moms peace movement is. They don't appear to have one as far as moms go anyway, but have all the usual stuff about occupying the Iraqi's, etc, etc. I find that very curious, but here's some speculation for you. Cindy Sheehan is mentally unstable and her televised blubberings are "bad" for women. Continued coverage of her and other Code Pink reality denialettes perpetuate the stereotype that women are bags of emotional gas that can't be trusted in stressful situations without spontanenously combusting. That was a myth the Left had been trying to put down as a chauvinist lie about the "weaker sex" for years, but nag, err... excuse me, NOW that such emo serves a purpose for the Left agenda of "Get the Chimp," has NOW been told to shut up and keep their NOW unuseful opinions to themselves??? Could the Left truly be that cynical?

Some are criticizing Bush for even speaking Sheehan's name in recent speeches. Frankly, I think it's brilliant in drawing even more attention to the lunacy of the Anti-Reality Movement. All we need NOW is algore or Moe (Howard Dean) going into one their trademark red-faced rants alongside an Anti-Reality activist. Most people I know are sane, but too polite to get very vocal about those they consider to be deranged.

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Tuesday, August 23, 2005

"It was YOUR turn to watch him!"

Probably the words being used the most over at The 700 Club right now. Who took the muzzle off of Pat Robertson and let him vomit up this furball? The only thing that gets my goat worse then people gleefully reveling in their debaucheries are "Christians" that make the rest of us look nuts. Just so people who read this site and are pondering about Christianity, what it means, and if it's right for you - Pat Robertson ain't Christianity. The guy's a crackpot just so we're clear on this.

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Friday, August 19, 2005

What are You up to?

Today I was challenged in my comfortable lifestyle here in America Land by God Himself it appears. Pardon me if I sound more incoherent than usual - the fetching Mrs Guano (not her real name) and I killed off two bottles of my private vintage tonight. Anyway, God has apparently decided that my life has gotten too comfortable and I need to expand my horizons. I've been presented with a mission oppurtunity on "The Far Side of the World" to quote one of my favorite movies (even if Russell Crowe is an ass!). The Far Side of the World indeed as far as physically, economically, and culturally. As a hint visit this site.

Why are You doing this to me??? Struggling to keep a teenage son from becoming a teenage father is this self-indulgent sex crazed culture isn't enough complication right now? Helping my 10-year old cope with these nutty school standards and not feel like a complete failure isn't enough Stage 3 work? Figuring out a way to put these guys through college so they can have a decent chance of spreading Your Love across the country and/or world isn't enough of a life challenge right now? Being assitant coach to my 10-year old's soccer team isn't enough challenge for a fella that TOTALLY identifies with (R)nold in Kindergarten Kop? The fetching Mrs. Guano (not her real name) and I getting into a big hairy issue over this isn't enough of a life challenge for us to both understand each other's calling from You? What are You doing? And why are You doing it? Why are You complicating my life? Why do You complicate anybody's life? What did I ever do to You? Strike that! I already know the answer to that question. Or is a better question what have I not done for You?

Is this because me and my big mouth said the blessed (us) is the world have a moral obligation to hold a hand UP to the less blessed in the world? Putting my money where my mouth is, eh? What a nudge I am! Weeellll.... just shows to go you - be careful what you axe for. Stay tuned as this spiritual ordeal unfolds. You just may see and hear of things you've never seen before here in America. I do ask you offer a prayer of guidance for me in the next few days. I have to provide an answer to this by Tuesday.

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The Anti-Reality Movement

I haven’t spent a lot of time reading or cogitating on Cindy Sheehan until this week. Her plight is pathetic. I felt bad for her in losing a son and figured she had a right, as we all do, to be mad at our leaders over life events. People even get mad at God sometimes and He understands this. A fellow and his wife in my men’s Bible study just lost their baby. I can imagine the hurt, anger, pain, and bitterness they are both feeling right now and probably asking, “Why are You doing this to us?” That’s what I’d want to know too. Is their suffering greater than Cindy Sheehan’s? I don’t know the answer to that, but as the Hoguester said this morning, “life is about loss.” We all will eventually lose everything we have on this earth including our lives. That will either be a joyous event because we’re “going home,” or a sorrowful event. That’s totally up to us.

But this growing hoopla over Sheehan has been bothering me and I think I finally figured out why. Ms. Sheehan isn’t the “Rosa Parks” of the “Anti-War Movement,” she has been made the Rosa Parks of the “Anti-Reality Movement” by people that could give two hoots in hell about her. In an e-mail to Eric Hogue, I referred to her as a “pathetic sot.” That was wrong and insensitive, because as I’ve googled on this woman since yesterday and seen what she’s said and written about us (Americans), I’ve come to believe that she’s unhinged. The woman is of questionable sanity and it’s not polite to speak poorly of people not in full control of their faculties. She has become a true mascot for the Anti-Reality Movement. Why Anti-Reality vs. Anti-War, you ask? Because the Anti-Reality Movement in this country refuses to recognize the depth of evil in our enemy.

These are bad people. The Blog Youse Can’t Refuse links to Mohammed in Iraq who answers Ms. Sheehan’s questions to Bush about why Casey died much more eloquently than I can and certainly with much more authority. Mohammed lived surrounded by the evil we only glimpsed on 9/11. In our comfort, we’ve been able to ignore the evil in the world. But notice Mohammed doesn’t whine about being a “victim.” He’s being a man, which seems to be a rare commodity in this country any more. He’s manly in recognizing nothing will be done about the evil in his midst by whining about it. He’s manly in recognizing he and others around him could still die trying to purge the remaining outposts of evil from his country. He’s manly in recognizing this is his fight, but thankful we’re willing to help him. But we’re helping ourselves too. I pray for an Iraq full of Mohammed’s versus an Iraq full of Za-cowardlys and the rest of the "freedom fighters" cutting off heads and such.

The Anti-Reality Movement in this country worships “victimhood,” so Cindy Sheehan has become their poster child. The Palestinians are victims of Israeli oppression according to this movement. Never mind Palestinian homicide bombers blowing women and children to bits on buses all applauded by yasir arafat and saddam hussein (lack of capital letters intentional as a sign of disrespect). But as Michael Medved says, “Every day I’m proud to say I’m not a victim!” I may be under attack, my beliefs may be under attack, my way of life may be under attack, but I refuse to call myself a “victim!” Some people in this country wear victimhood like a badge of honor and measure it against others in sometimes televised weepfests across the country. I’m most troubled to see men accepting that mantle. I have a sound effect on my computer. It’s clip of Brando from The Godfather Nickie Goomba would probably appreciate. See if you recognize it:

You can act like a MAN!!! {SLAP} Wazza matter wit chu?!?!


Men in this country need to act like men, to act like Mohammed. What bothers me most about the Anti-Reality Movement is it demands men to shed their manhood and seek cover behind “mother’s skirts.” Grow up already. Releasing your "inner child" isn't a good thing. Act like a man. Men face down evil in the eye, wrestle it to the ground and destroy it. Men act like gentlemen, but are strong, rational and sometimes make hugely difficult and unpopular decisions. Men recognize they have a Lord, and take the proper steps to swear allegiance to the right Lord when they discover they've been deceived by themselves or the Dark One. Anti-men froth at the mouth and spew forth bile from spittle soaked lips when confronted by men because the so obvious constrast declares their anti-manhood for all to see. Stand firm and hold fast.

Cindy Sheehan’s plight is pathetic. She’s lost her son, losing her husband, perhaps losing her mother, perhaps losing her family, and apparently lost her mind. Is she an icon or a mascot for any cause that should matter? Not to us who embrace reality.

UPDATE: Mark Steyn weighs in mightly on this topic. Also a weblog called Instpunk believes as I do, that Cindy has gone totally insane. From the sounds of the site, Instapunk and I may have banged heads at New Wave bars in Bezerkely back in the 80's!!

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Monday, August 08, 2005

The DaVinci Decoder Ring

There’s no way Jesus could have been married! He takes off one day with 12 other friggin' guys and she doesn't see Him again for 3 days??? Yeah. Come on! No "wife" is going to buy "The Resurrection" story! - Sam Kinison

Adventure Christian Church took on "The Da Vinci Code" two weekends ago. Never got around to posting on it until now. I haven't read the book, nor do I intend to. I've heard the basic synopsis on it:

Jesus wasn't God in human form, didn't die on the cross for my sins, married
Mary Magdalene, had a kid, moved to France and started the Mervonigian (sp?)
dynasty.


Whhhhaaaaaat? So Jesus and Mary Magdalene turned into Beldar and Remulak Conehead ("We're from France")?!?!?! And Leonardo Davinci knew all about this because he was a member of some secret sect that was protecting this secret all these years, but left clues to it in the Mona Lisa and/or The Last Supper?

Whhhaaaaaat? Okay, this is starting to sound like something you'd find on the back of a Kraptain, errr, Captain Crunch box of cereal. Great Saturday morning reading if yer 10!! Ohhhh, wait, it gets better!!! The Roman Emperor, Constantine the Great, basically conspired with the Christian Church as we know it by collating the books of the New Testament and suppressing others that didn't give the Church dominion over culture. Also he further conspired to deify Christ in his collation of the NT to consolidate that power into the church's teaching. So the New Testament is just a power play by the early church to dominate society.

Whhhhaaaaaat? Now I know this book has probably become the "bible" of some leftist kooks out there that would love nothing more than to see John Lennon's imaginings come true - as in: and no religion, too. You know its fun to believe in all sorts of kooky conspiracy theories. I was a die-hard X-Files fan for years. Used to have the Smoking Man's mug on my desktop with a ballooned quote: "Every problem has a solution." (You X-philes out there; tell me who and what ole Smokey was referring to from that quote.) BUT, after the show was over every Friday and then Sunday night, I turned off the TV and rejoined reality. The reality is no conspiracy can survive this long without exposure. Humans aren't that smart to perpetuate a fraud for centuries on end. The answer to that might be; "Well, this book DOES expose it!" Guess that explains why it's on the fiction shelf in bookstores and libraries, was never peer-reviewed by historians, and now Opie and Tom Hanks are making a probably equally pathetic movie based on it. Perhaps it will double bill with Disney's Atlantis.

There have been many attempts to relegate the Redemption of Christ to the dustbin of history. The most fanatically faithful in science tried to declare God as either dead or no longer needed. I used to be quite a Carl Sagan fan many years ago. Sagan absolutely had no use for an active Creator in the universe. His primary conclusion was if God had always been here, then the universe had always been here, so there was no need for a singular Creation event. From that dismissive albeit weak line of reasoning, he then ran down a Hindu rabbit trail of multiple births and deaths for a closed universe to explain away the Singular Big Bang (sounds too much like a "Creation") as rather "Multiple Big Bangs." Carl getting in touch with his feminine side I suppose.

Whhhaaaatttt? As a young man, I gobbled up that kind of farcical crap like a kid at the theatre slamming down greasy popcorn washed down with Coke and all its sugary goodness. “Dragon’s of Eden:” Now there’s intellectual nutrition for you! Now I wonder what Carl was smoking - or how much - right before that particular episode of Cosmos. Our cosmological knowledge today would no doubt trouble Sagan today had he lived. He knows the Truth now. It points to an incredibly precise mechanism to support our lives. Just the slightest upset in the design and life on Earth would have never happened. Fascinating stuff, but extremely problematic to modern day dinosaurs still pursuing the Answer to Life through Darwinian theory.

Anyway, Tim Dally with ACC dissected The Davinci Code with a surgeon's skill. He didn't have a set outline to it, but here are the basic discussion points:

1. The Bible is Truth

2. Jesus’ Divinity

3. The Davinci Code as a historical document

Point 1 The DaVinci Code (herein “DVC”) declares the Bible to be a creation of men and not God. According to the DVC:

The Bible is a product of man, not of God. History has never had a definitive version of the Book. The Bible as we know it today was collated by the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in 325 AD


First of all, Constantine was not a “pagan” emperor. Constantine converted to Christianity in the year 312 AD after a dream in which he “was commanded to place the sign of Christ on the shields of his soldiers” before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in which he won sole power of the western empire, and that “he attributed his victory to the power of "the God of the Christians" and committed himself to the Christian faith from that day on, although his understanding of the Christian faith at this time was quite superficial.” (link). Constantine did make church clergy functionaries in his imperial government and created legislation supportive of the church. He eliminated many old Roman “pagan” traditions in the New Rome – Constantinople, and commissioned several churches such as the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem as examples. But Constantine was an imperfect man and engaged in several imperial intrigues, including the murder of his own family members. Ahh, the plot thickens. Before Constantine showed “favor” on the church, it was persecuted by Rome. Apostles such as Paul were executed by Roman Emperors. From this postmodernesque view of a suppressed church gaining power over suppression through the inter-government role of Christian clergy in Constantine’s government, probably stems the DVC fantasy of Constantine and the Church creating the hugest fraud on humanity our own CIA would hold up as deity itself.

To give the DVC a little credit, let’s suppose its claim is correct for a moment over this Constantinian conspiracy. If Constantine began collating the New Testament at the “First Ecumenical Council of the church” in May 325, why did he put some books in and leave others out? First of all, let’s explore the origins of the four known and accepted, or "canonical" Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Judea in the time of Christ was an oral history culture. Only a small percentage of the population was even literate (the so-called “scribes”). Oral history of a village was passed about its inhabitants and through the generations with fierce devotion to the original. In the example Dally presented, we parents know this fierce defense of oral tradition is often demonstrated by our kids. Dally’s kids used to hear Sukie, the Saggy, Baggy Elephant before bed. Like mine, if I skipped a paragraph or a page in his favorite stories, Bat Jr. (not his real name) KNEW IT!!! Daaaadd! You missed a WHOLE part! Even if I left his favorite parts intact, he still knew I missed a page or paragraph of those books. And that’s how it was in oral cultures. Whole sections of the village able to counter false teachings or foggy memories with “No, that’s not right.” The Gospels were written to defend those oral histories of Jerusalem beyond Jerusalem. The Gospels were written within decades of Jesus’ ministry and the Resurrection by the eye witnesses themselves and so had not yet become foggy in antiquity. This all happened centuries before Constantine converted let alone held the first major council on what the church truly believed. The canon of Christ’ life and death had been “collated” long before. So what was the First Ecumenical Council about? Heresy, basically:

Arius, a priest in Alexandria, taught that there was a time when Christ did not exist, i.e. that he was not co-eternal with the Father, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were three separate and distinct hypostaseis, and that the Son was subordinate to the Father, was in fact a "creature."


Ah-HAH! The DVC’s point exactly! Jesus was just a guy like you and me. Nothing special about Him. But the Bible vehemently disagrees! The First Ecumenical Council sought to declare what the church believed and had believed all along and also what it didn't believe to discredit heresies like Arius'. The canon of the New Testament was developed through three tests: Apostolic teaching, consistency with Jesus’ teaching, and recognition by the Church. The four Gospels, while not all inclusive on some specific facts or starting in different periods of Jesus’ life, are wholly consistent with each other. The smell of conspiracy would spring forth from Gospels that were basically carbon copies of each other. They were written by the Apostles themselves or associates (Mark and Luke) of the Apostles, thus Apostolic. They had to be consistent with what Jesus said. What say you if you found the following in the Bible?

(114) Simon Peter said to him, "Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life." Jesus said, "I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven."


Whhhaaaaattt? Wherdaheckisdatweirdness in the BIBLE?!?!?! It ain’t. That be a quote from the “Book” of Thomas in Codex II of the so-called Gnostic Gospels. The Gnostic Gospels can be described as “unauthorized biographies” of Jesus. Something like Kitty Kelly on Jesus Christ. The Gnostic Gospels were found in upper Egypt in 1945. They preached that men could have knowledge of deity on their own and that was the supreme purpose of human beings. Teachings on Gnostic themes began around 140 AD by one Valentinus, its first and greatest teacher. Just 40 short years or so later, Gnosticism was being purged from the church as heresy, nearly 145 years before Constantine held the First Ecumenical “Conspiracy” to eradicate such “historical” documents. The DVC starts breaking down right there. The Gnostic Gospels fail both the second canonical test and as well as the third even if they pose as passing the first with titles such as the “Gospel of Thomas,” so the DVC sympathy with their plight is misplaced at best, historically illiterate at worst.

Point 2 Jesus as God in human form. The DVC denies His deity in suggesting Christ scampered off to France (Gaul) with Mary Magdalene and baby in tow. There’s no need for a personal Savior then and the church loses a huge grip on humanity. The Gospels of the New Testament give no evidence at all that Jesus was ever married, but very forcefully declare that He was “the Christ” (Matt 16:16) or that he was God among us from John’s testimony (John 1:1-3), or as Paul said to the Colossians; “in Christ, all the fullness of God lives in bodily form” (Col 2:9). The first century believers in this faith of God among us, most were killed defending this “conspiracy” the DVC would have us believe. Steven, then, was stoned to death for a lie. Conspirators may be many things, but stupid they are not. Being stoned to death does nothing towards consolidating one’s own personal power and prestige, which is the usual goal of a conspiracy.

Point 3 The DVC as a historical book. It ain’t to put it simply. Historical books are peer reviewed, they are ripped asunder before ever seeing the light of day by fellow historians much in the ancient tradition of oral history – “No, that’s not right,” or “Yes, that’s correct according to the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Historical books don’t appear on the fiction shelf. Historical books don’t claim the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the Judean Desert in the 1950’s when they were found by the Dead Sea in 1947 as pointed out by Tim Dally.

The DVC is hugely flawed as history making the claims it does. As a piece of great American literature, I doubt anybody will remember much about it 10 years or so from now.

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A New Look!

Finally figured out HTML somewhat, so here's a new fresh look with updated (and working) links. Gonna give Haloscan a shot as well so cross my fingers!

Update: Yikes! I have both Haloscan and Blogger trying to collect comments on this at the same time. So for this update, reporting that I'm a bit up the creek! (sigh)

AH-HAA! I think I got it to work. Haloscan, that is. Leave a comment if you would to let me know if I got 'er right!

UPDATE Redux X 2: Nope. I didn't. I'm a complete incompetent when it comes to HTML if no one's figured that out by now. Thanks to Ralph at From LA to El Dorado for a friendly e-mail letting me know I botched it. I think Haloscan's FINALLY working now!

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Thursday, August 04, 2005

ID, the Shuttle and the Sacramento Beast

Thanks to the Hoguester this morning, I did something unusual. I read the editorial in the Sacramento Beast this morning. The editors published a fiery sermon in defense of Darwin today. It sounds more like the “Bush-is-a-chimp” rants you would find on the Daily Kos or the Democratic Underground websites. The sermon’s attack on the Intelligent Design (ID) theory might as well been written by Kos or the DU in its obvious complete ignorance of what ID is all about. ID is not creationism. ID is not “young earth” philosophy as the Beast implies with:

As with all science, evolution isn't incompatible with religious belief -
although it obviously conflicts with the literal belief in a six-day biblical
account of creation.

Perhaps the Beast’s editors should have read one of Philip Johnson’s books, or William Demski’s, or Hugh Ross’ before attempting to whip up the Luddite masses out there with that ill-conceived sermon, and rather engaged in a thoughtful, educated, and rational discussion, but alas it’s not to “Bee.” (heh!) The Beast, as always, lives up to my lowest expectations of it.

What does this have to do with the Space Shuttle? That would be the Luddite part. The Beast and others like them are basically Luddites: “Maintain the status quo, we’re advanced enough, put the tools of production under the control of the masses, examine and analyze nothing that might offend someone’s sensibilities, feed the hungry,” blah, blah, blah. Under the Beast’s philosophy, science would come to a screeching halt. Examination of new theories and concepts would never get started because the scientific community would have “faith” the current theories are correct enough. There have been critics lately (some on the conservative side apparently) saying NASA is a waste of money, etc, etc. That those funds would be better spent of helping the poor oppressed people across the world. Some folks said that sounds like what I would think.

Well they’re wrong.

Spending 13 billion dollars a year on pornography is grotesque and inhuman. Spending 13 billion dollars a year on the space program is technological advancement. From technological advancement springs forth wealth, new wealth, from wealth springs forth Christian missions to the poor oppressed people around the world to spread the Good News of Christ and the blessings and grace of a loving God. From wealth springs forth the sustaining of those missions. I’m all for wealth and creating as much of it as humanly possible. I’m all against the exclusive use of wealth for selfish ends. NASA and the space shuttle represent future wealth yet to be created, hence future souls yet to be saved. Godspeed NASA.

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Monday, August 01, 2005

What a Boy Scout!

I was browsing through the Power Guys and ran across news that George Bush dared to pay a visit to that offensive gay-bashing organization - the Boy Scouts of America. A great example of Bold Love that doesn't compromise its standards. And fine standards they are! Every time I read what our President says I get a sense of the deep intelligence that runs in this horrible speakers mind. Here's a quote of what he said to the Boy Scouts:

Second, always remember where you come from and what you believe. At times, you may come across people who say that moral truth is relative, or call a religious faith a comforting allusion. They may question the values you learn in scouting. But remember, lives of purpose are constructed on the conviction there is right and there is wrong, and we can know the difference.

Amen to that Brudda!



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Homosexuality – How Then Shall We Respond?

If public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them – George Orwell

You have been given the choice between war and dishonor. You have chosen dishonor – now you will have both! – Winston Churchill


Well them is fightin’ words! Durn tootin.’ Adventure Christian Church is exploring all kinds of fightin’ words these days. Words that need thorough examination. Postmodernism would deny this. Postmodernism, political correctness, celebrate diversity, and moral relativism are key catch phrases of American, if fact Western culture these days. Some are familiar to different readers, and some aren’t. Their common denominator is they are all Public Enemy Number One to a healthy and conscience society. Moral relativism is postmodern philosophy embodied – “Your criticism (read “intolerance”) of my sin is worse then sin itself.” For a philosophy that teaches truth is what matters to you or there are different truths for different people, that’s an incredibly intolerant attitude – “Don’t you dare disagree with me!” However, the primary tenet of postmodern faith is power, those that have it and those who don’t and how they can get it. The duty of the state then is to pass power to those who don’t have it. What that says about tyranny is for another post. Basically, history says, “Been there, done that, a lot of blood spilled in the process.”

What does this have to do with homosexuality? Everything anymore according to Joe Dallas this morning at Adventure. Joe Dallas is associated with that “intolerant” Christian organization – “Focus on the Family.” You know, the one with that religious Nazi, Dr. James Dobson? Christians have been muted by the Gay Rights Movement for fear of being branded “intolerant” or guilty of “hate crimes.” Granted, some Christians who conveniently forget about their own sin, have contributed to this through poorly chosen words – "Sorry son, this church has no room for fags.” Shocking wasn’t that? Don’t be shocked, the church a few decades ago was best at alienating people. Essentially the Church got lazy about sin, especially its own, and as a result did stupid things allowing the Dark One some huge victories in the process. Should I apply some earthly measure of sin to claim I’m not as bad as you? From a secular standpoint, that’s a fallacy in that I would commit an act of a philosophy (postmodernism) that I despise - my “sin” works for me, so don’t criticize it, if you do, you’re evil. Biblically, that’s a waaayyy false teaching. God hates all sin equally, because it all separates us from Him. Whether I lust after women joggers along the road or you lust after men – makes no difference. It all drives a dark wedge between us and the One that loves us so much, …. He sent His only Son as a final burnt offering for that sin.

To protect our culture, our society, our government, our very life and well being, we can’t be silent any longer. Through our choosing of dishonor, we’ve been thrusted into a fight for our very survival. Our opinion has been sluggish, so now we are persecuted. So how then shall we respond? By taking up arms? “Verbal” arms is what got us to where we are. Some months ago, I posted on the very public spat between Alan Keyes and his daughter who came out of the closet. I wrote that Mr. Keyes, and us, should pray for Jesus to put a crowbar in his arms and pry them apart into a position of a loving embrace. I pray that now for all of us on this Hot Topic. Below are the sermon notes and some quotations from Mr. Dallas' message:

“Homosexuality – How Then Should We Respond?
- Joe Dallas


I It is impossible to take a position on homosexuality without being controversial.
A. “Controversy for its own sake is a sin, but controversy for the sake of truth is a divine mandate.” – Dr. Walter Martin
B. Even when controversial, we must be Christ-like.
C. “We are His workmanship” (his poema). Ephesians 2:10
D. An effective response will include Repentance and Recommitment
II The Church must repent of whatever immorality exists in Her own ranks, and recommit to Biblical standards of holiness.
A. Compromised Holiness means compromised impact.
B. Christians fail to transform the culture because they are neither grieved nor humbled by their own sins – George Barna
C. It is always easier to fight for our principles than it is to live up to them – Alfred Alder OUCH! That hits a little close to home.
D. Biblical Standards of holiness include Honesty and Accountability.
E. “Exhort one another daily, while it is still called today, lest any of you be hardened in your hearts through the deceitfulness of sin” – Hebrews 3:13 “Why is it that people will be more open and honest with their bartender then most anyone else, including Christians? Why can’t the Body of Christ be more like a bar? Well… in some ways!”
F. How, then should we respond? First, by being Consistent. Consistent in committing our lives to Biblical standards. Through consistent commitment, questions never arise to one’s integrity.
III The Church Must Repent of Hostility Towards Homosexuals and Recommit to Bold Love.

A. Righteous anger Corrects a problem. “Be angry and sin not” –Ephesians 4:26 Do we have a right to be angry that our culture is under attack by the Dark One? Absolutely!!
B. Wrath/hostility Aggravates the problem. “For the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.” –James 1:20 Do we have a right to attack others over their sin(s)? Absolutely NOT!
C. Hostility shows itself in the “Jonah Syndrome.” Jonah was much more interested in the condemnation of the Ninevites than their salvation. He avoided God’s order to him to warn them God was displeased with them. He even grabbed himself a front row seat to watch the barbeque after prophesizing that Nineveh would be destroyed. Jonah was upset with God after the Ninevites repented and God showed mercy on them.
D. Bold love seeks to Serve without Compromise. We’re all sinners. I don’t condone yours anymore then I condone my own. But Jesus wants us all to know Him and know His forgiveness. We are here to spread that Good News to all of humanity, but remember it’s His news not ours.
E. How then should we respond? By being Compassionate.
IV. The Church must repent of being intimidated by the gay rights movement, and recommit to Her assigned role.
A. “The Church must be reminded that it is neither the master of the state nor the servant of the state. Rather, it is the conscience of the state.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A state without a conscience will allow all sorts of abominations on its people. History is rife with examples. Those with power will execute those abominations on those without power.
B. The gay rights movement has a two-fold agenda: the Normalization of homosexuality, and the Silencing of opposing viewpoints. The Silencing part is the most chilling. Canada has passed legislation regarding so-called “hate crimes.” Is teaching on the laws handed down in Leviticus (including laws against homosexuality, bestiality, and other sins such as murder, theft, etc.) a “hate crime?” That hasn’t been tested in Canada – yet. What does this say about Canada as a ” state with a conscience?”
C. “If large numbers of people believe in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech, even if the law forbids it. But if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if the laws exist to protect them.” –George Orwell Are you a member of the so-called “Religious Right?” Who is this “fringe” element anyway? Why are you afraid of being painted as a member of the Religious Right? Or are you just an inconvenient minority anymore?
D. “You have been given the choice between war and dishonor. You have chosen dishonor – now you shall have both!” –Winston Churchill Prophetic words by Mr. Churchill to the Chamberlain government regarding its timid response to Hitler’s aggression. How are we to respond to Satan’s aggression against our culture? Let’s choose honor.
E. How then shall we respond? By being Courageous! Not easy, but absolutely necessary if our society is to survive.

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