NOW can't use RICO to stifle free speech

Supreme Court Backs Abortion Protesters

NOW's use of the RICO act was a blatant, heavy-handed attempt to not only stifle the freedom of speech of abortion opponents, but to intimidate them into silence, since under RICO the plaintiff can seize all the assets of the defendant.

Freedom of speech - it's a Good Thing!

NT06 - Acts 8, in which God uses evil for good yet again

In Acts 8, the stoning of Stephen ignites a general persecution against the church in Jerusalem. The disciples were scattered.

Philip went down to Samaria, where God had a divine appointment for him - an Ethiopian official on his way back to Africa.

I'm sure that when Philip fled Saul's rampage, he had no idea that God would use that persecution to bring the Gospel to a new continent and a new people.

Likewise the Ethiopian, returning from a religious ritual in Jerusalem, had no idea that his eyes would be opened to the truth. The eunuch was a religious man - he'd made a long and dangerous journey in order to worship at the Temple - but he had no understanding of what he was reading.

In like wise, many religious people may be celebrating Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday without a clear understanding of what that really means.

Has God set up divine appointments for us to "tell them the good news about Jesus?"

NT06 - Acts 7, in which Stephen gets stoned

Got to do some fast catching up on the ol' Bible-blogging! I've kept up on the reading, but have been terribly remiss in posting. Tomorrow we start Hebrews, so I've got to fast-forward through the rest of Acts.

Acts 7 records Stephen's speech to the Sanhedrin. I've often wondered what it was he said that got them so riled up. Most of his speech is just a recounting of Jewish history. The "killer" comes at the end, though, when Stephen tells them to their face that they've killed the Messiah, and that he sees Y'Shua now seated at God's right hand.

You can imagine that didn't sit too well with the religious leaders.

When they drag Stephen out to stone him, a young man named Saul holds their coats.

Dear Elena

A father writes through his pain.

I need to go home and hug my little girls. When they ask me why I'm crying, I'll just tell them, "Because I love you so much."

Who's making the doughnuts?

Varifrank (ht:HH) as an interesting post on the law of unintended consequences as applied to the Dubai port-management mess.

This whole thing has had me concerned since it broke. I trust the President's big-picture strategic thinking - I agree that true democracy will stabilize the ME.

But tactically, this looks like yet another administration cmmunications and coordination blunder. How is it possible that this deal was investigated and approved without at least running it past the office of the President first? He's the Commander in Chief, the Head of State, and the Chief Executive.

SOMEBODY should have had the brains to say, "Hey, this might fail the sniff test with Joe Sixpack at first glance. We better make sure all the t's and i's are crossed and dotted. And we ought to get the story out ourselves."

Bush has proven to be a terrific strategic thinker. But at some point, somebody has to go make the doughnuts. You have to have competent execution.

The pattern that I see is not encouraging.

Waiting to exhale

Re the ports thingy, this news tidbit: Arab Co., White House Had Secret Agreement

There is more to nearly everything than meets the eye, eh?

This. Is. Just. Too. Cool.

Multi-Touch Interaction Research The video takes a while to load, but WOW.

Cancer is so Limited

My friend and colleague Laura (see comment on the previous post) was good enough to send along this:

Cancer is so limited...

It cannot cripple Love,
It cannot shatter Hope,
It cannot corrode Faith,
It cannot eat away Peace,
It cannot destroy Friendship,
It cannot suppress Memories,
It cannot silence Courage,
It cannot invade the Soul,
It cannot steal eternal Life.
It cannot conquer the Spirit.


Author Unknown

The Supremacy of God in Suffering

John Piper, on the eve of surgery for prostate cancer, has powerful words of hope in a sovereign God. (The surgery went well and he is recovering.)

Piper has a very high view of God, and that is often confusing to people. It's terrible in its simplicity - God IS GOD. God is fully sovereign in every way, in every respect. Nothing happens that He does not permit, and did not forsee from before His creation of time. Everything - everything! that happens is due to His plan and design, whether or not we can understand it.

That's the sticking point for a lot of people. "I can't understand how a loving God could let my mother die of cancer," they say. So they either dismiss God as callous and uncaring, or limit His sovereignty by saying that pain isn't part of His plan.

They ignore the third path - the paradox that a loving, merciful God can design pain and suffering into our lives. Sometimes we can see His hand clearly - would the Acua Indians have come to salvation if not for the martydom of Jim Elliot?

Oftimes, though, we can't.

And that's where we have to simply accept the paradox. God IS infinitely loving and merciful. Yet He permits suffering.

We can't understand it.


But we don't have to understand everything.





Disclosure - I consider myself blessed to have sat under John Piper's teachings for a decade. He baptized me and my wife, and officiated at our wedding in the old sanctuary at Bethlehem Baptist Church (now the site of the new education wing at BBC).

Also, I lost my mother to cancer when I was 4. I was at my uncle's side when he died of stomach cancer 20-odd years ago. My stepmother died of ovarian cancer about a decade ago. And as an asthmatic, I've stared death in the face a couple of times myself.

Martyrdom 101

A speaker at a Teheran university boasted that his organization has hundreds of potential suicide bombers ready to strike US and UK bases in Iraq, should there be an attack on Iranian nuke facilities.

The things they teach in schools these days.

NT06 - Catching up - why was Stephen set up?

I have been keeping up with the reading, mostly. But I am waaaay behind in the blogging. So let's pick up at the end of Acts 6, where Stephen gets arrested.

The setting is in the first few years after Jesus' earthly ministry, "in those days when the number of disciples was increasing." Acts 6:7 contains an interesting tidbit: "a large number of priests became obedient to the faith."

Priests were becoming believers in ha'Mashioch. Levites were starting to think that this carpenter's son from Hicksville was The One.

This was a challenge to the religious power structure.

Especially, it seemed to challenge the belief system of the Hellenic Jews, as we see in verse 9. Now, I don't claim to be an expert in the religious practices of 1st-century CE Hellenic Jews in Jerusalem. (If you are, or if you have links to the same, please leave a comment.)

But anyone who has spent time around people can attest to the fact that folks don't like boat-rockers. Especially if you've just climbed into the boat. Newton's third law applies.

Apology accepted

The Liberal Avenger and I have some sharp differences, but he showed class in this case. Wish I could say the same for some of his blog-mates, but that's their problem.
UPDATE 2/16. Their webadmin sgo (who I had thought was a decent fellow) decided to label me a spammer and block my IP. Life goes on. Speaking of which, I'm waaay behind in my liveblogging of Acts...

Italian Judge gets one right

ROME, Italy (AP) -- An Italian judge has dismissed an atheist's petition that a small-town priest should stand trial for asserting that Jesus Christ existed.

I hope the judge assessed a big chunk of court costs against Cascioli.

Why Mommy is a Moonbat

Detroit Pete sent me a link to this bit of leftist drek. At first I thought it was a spoof. But it seems not to be. Where to begin?

"Democrats make sure we share all our toys, just like Mommy does" - including the very special toys that we thought were just ours, because Democrats don't believe in owning personal property. Everything belongs to everybody, and that couple in the background (who look a bit like Al Franken and Teresa Kerry) should feel really bad about not sharing their cigar and poodle with the man sitting on the park bench.

"Democrats make sure we are always safe, just like Mommy does." Safe from elephants walking through the park, that is. But crazed madmen who want to kill you? Mommy will dialog with them, because after all, their worldview is just as valid as ours. We mustn't be judgemental like those naughty Republicans. After all, a suicide bomber is the poor man's cruise missile.

"Democrats make sure children can go to school, just like Mommy does." Yes. Mommy packs an apple and a carrot into Junior's bookbag, while in the background Mr. and Mrs. Franken celebrate the graduation of their son from a school with an admission fee of $160,000 while the man in the ball cap and trenchcoat from the park bench looks on wistfully. Of course, since here in FairyStoryLand the Democrats are running things, there's no guarantee that you'll learn anything in school, because the teacher's unions have removed all accountability. And there's little likelihood of you getting a job after graduation, since they've taxed small businesses out of existence.

Cheer up, dear. You can always move to Madison and write fairy tales

NT06 - Acts 6, in which deacons are selected and Stephen is arrested

Acts 6 is a very short chapter. The chapter divisions here chop up the narrative strangely, as Chapter 7 is Stephen's trial, speech, and stoning, and Chapter 8 begins with Saul's approval of the sentence. But in Acts 6 we see the effect of growing pains in the first mega-church. (The Jerusalem community of believers numbered several thousand at this point.) It's interesting that the number of Hellenic believers seems to outnumber the Semitic believers, as the first crop of deacons all have Greek names.

NT06: Acts 4-5, in which persecution begins but cooler heads prevail

In Acts 4 and 5, Peter and James suffer the consequences of healing the crippled beggar. It's interesting that the Sadducees are upset because Peter and James are preaching not just Jesus risen, but resurrection in general. (The Sadducess did not believe in a resurrection of the dead, as did the Pharisees.)

The end of 4 and the beginning of 5, where the early community of believers held goods in common, may describe the first commune. Marx thoroughly perverted "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Never underestimate the devil's ability to to twist good into evil. Likewise, never lose hope that God works all things for the good of those that love Him!

5:1-5 imples that Ananias represented the money he gave was the whole price he got from the sale. Verse 4 implies that since the money was his to do with as he pleased, he would have been perfectly justified in holding some of it back for personal use. The grave sin was in trying to "look good" while really holding out. Verse 5 says that great fear seized all who heard of this. Fear of what? One hopes, fear of lying about one's gifts, not fear of not giving.

I find it very interesting that it's Gamaliel who cautions the Sanhedrin about oppsing God's designs. it's widely thought that Gamaliel was the father of Hillel, who is widely oconsidered to be the father of Rabbinic Judaism. To this day, part of the Seder meal is eating a "Hillel Sandwich," a combination of matzoh, maror, and charoset (minus the Paschal lamb eaten in Hillel's time.)

Where's the warrant for MY arrest?

Priest accused of breaking law by claiming Jesus existed.

Unbelievable, and yet completely believable.

reminds me of the old challenge: If it was a crime to be a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Doesn't look like me at all

According to the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz, I'm a Lamborghini Murcielago!

You're not subtle, but you don't want to be. Fast, loud, and dramatic, you want people to notice you, and then get out of the way. In a world full of sheep, you're a raging bull.

So they say.

Oh, too funny.

Don't click here if you don't "get" Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or if you don't know who Lileks and Hewitt are.

OTOH, if you do, make sure you've swallowed your beverage before clicking the link. For safety's sake, I implore you. James as Patsy... too much.

NT06 - Acts 1-3, In which orders and weapons are issued

Acts is really a continuation of Luke, so it makes sense to take a running start by reviewing the last chapter of Luke before diving into Acts 1. Go ahead, I'll wait.

In verses 1-10 you can see immediately the parallel with Mark 16. There are differences, too. Mark reports that the women were scared and didn't tell anyone, while Luke reconts that they told the disciples. Luke lists Mary Magdelene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, and some others. Mark lists the two Marys and Salome. Luke says they saw two men. Mark says they saw one man sitting on the right side. There's also Matthew's version and John's version.

Skeptics love to crow about these differences as "contradictions." How can all these different accounts possibly be true? You can decide for yourself. Read carefully and you'll see that John's account is the only one that's really divergent, but they're not mutually exclusive.

I'll save the details for Easter, though. :-) For now, lets continue on into Acts.

In Acts 1, Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until he sends the Holy Spirit. The disciples choose Matthias to replace Judas. He's not elected, but chosen by lot - to the Jews, a sacred method of making decisions.

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit descends as tongues of flame, and the apostles preach in the languages of their audience. Were they empowered to speak, or were the listeners empowered to hear? Doesn't matter. The Word gets out, and a community of believers begins to form.

In Acts 3, Peter heals a man unable to walk. The telling thing is that he does so not by his own power, but by the power of faith in the name of Jesus. Surely the lame man had been present a few weeks before when Jesus had cleared the merchants and moneychangers out of the courtyard. He may have heard the cries of "Give us Barabbas!" and "Crucify him!" echoing through the streets. And he may well have heard the strange whispers beginning to circulate that Jesus had been seen alive again.