Jesus is a four-letter word

The MPAA gives a PG rating to a Christian-themed film because its evangelistic message might possibly be offensive to some.

Hey, here's a news flash for ya - the Gospel IS offensive. Nobody likes to be told they're going to Hell and need Jesus to be saved.

Nobody likes to be told they have cancer and need surgery, either.

Frankly, I wish they'd given the film an R rating - then maybe more kids would sneak in to see it.

UPDATE: Here's a related post (ht:HH) on "preachy," overtly Christian movies. He's got a point.

The Jihad-ehs

James Lileks riffs on how a liberal might react to the roll-up of the Canadian terror cell.

Welcome to Hell, Mr. Zarqawi

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi killed in air raid

Is it wrong to rejoice at the thought of a man spending eternity in Hell?

No. Not when that man hacked the heads off of innocent victims while chanting "God is great."

Not at all.

Burn, baby, burn.

Invitation to a vivisection

Hugh Hewitt interviews Paul Campos.

Campos is a law professor in Colorado and a sometime columnist for the Rocky Mountain News.

Hewitt is a law professor, A-list blogger, and nationally syndicated radio host.

Campos took a swipe at Hewitt in a recent column.

What was that Mark Twain said about not picking a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel? Hewitt invited Campos on his show. The Marines have a saying: If you find yourself in a fair fight, you have not adequately prepared.

Hewitt was prepared.

Campos got his posterior anatomy handed to him on a silver platter, and didn't even realize it. He was expertly sliced, diced, julienned and pureed. This interview - if you can call a public vivisection an interview - should be required reading in cross-ex classes.

As professor Glenn says, RTWT.

UPDATE: Welcome, Hewitt readers! If you liked this, you might like some of the rest of the stuff here. Please go to the effort of leaving a comment - it gets lonely out here on the long tail.

The Euston Manifesto

The Euston Manifesto is a declaration by folks on the left end of the political spectrum that demands examination and respect. I heartily endorse its main points - rejection of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, a willingness to hold up to examination the historic failures of Communism, absolute rejection of terrorism as a valid means to political ends, and a summary rejection of terrorism's apologists.

I differ with a few details having to do with the fact that I'm on the center-right rather than the center-left. So personally, I couldn't sign on.

But those who do have my respect, because we agree on the important things. And on the less-important things, we can agree to disagree and work toward mutually acceptable solutions.

Democrats, are you listening?

Hold your nose and pull the lever

Dangitall, Hugh. I hate to admit it, but you're probably right. As crummy as DeWine is, Sherrod Brown would be worse. You convinced me that majorities matter with "If It's Not Close". I really wished DeWine had had a real opponent in the primaries. He impresses me not in the least. By in comparison, Brown is downright scary.

Better to hold your nose in the voting booth than cut it off.

The Lawn Ranger!

Atlas Shrugs: Iraq: Loving this American Soldier HT: MKH@HH

Power Corrupts; Powerpoint corrupts absolutely

The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation

Learning by teaching

One thing I love about teaching is that I always learn something new. Sometimes it's a new piece of music that a student wants to learn, so I have to learn it, too.

Sometimes it's an insight into how I taught myself to play, which enables me to explain something I wasn't able to explain before. That happened this week.

I've been playing for a long time - 30-odd years. I was in band in jr high and high school, so I learned how to read music, and how to count and clap. I've listened to a LOT of different styles of music, with some fairly complex harmonies and rhythm structures. And back in the day, I'd play in public for hours at a time.

So a lot of what I know is so deeply internalized that I have forgotten how I know it.

Case in point, some fingerpicking twiddly bits I do. This week, working with a student, I suddenly realized how to explain it, how to break it down into bite-sized chunks for a beginner.

When I really thought about how I had learned these bits, I realized that I had spent hours playing with very small movements. For example:

-------------------
-------------------
----0--0--0--0---
--0--0--0--0--0--
-------------------
-------------------

with the thumb on the 4th string and the index finger on the 3rd string.

I also spent a lot of time doing this:

-------------------
----0--0--0--0---
-------------------
-------------------
--0--0--0--0--0--
-------------------

with the thumb on the 5th string and the 2nd finger on the 2nd string.

Hours, mind you. Hours spent doing this. Sitting on that legal-pad-yellow corduroy bedspread - the kind that leaves stripes in your cheek when you take a nap on it.

I combined the two motions:

-------------------
---0------0------
-------0-------0-----
-----0------0--------
--0-----0--------0--
-------------------

Looks a lot more complicated, but it's just switching back and forth. You can simplify it, though, by not worryng about the fingers - just play them together:

-------------------
---0---0---0---0---
---0---0---0---0---
-----0-------0-----
--0------0-------0-
-------------------

Get comfortable with that, and then play the fingers one after the other:

------------------------
-----0----0----0----0---
----0----0----0----0----
-------0---------0------
--0---------0---------0-
------------------------

Do the same thing while fingering a C chord:

------------------------
-----1----1----1----1---
----0----0----0----0----
-------2---------2------
--3---------3---------3-
------------------------

Now, remember that thing called a hammer-on? Do that with your middle finger, on the 2nd fret on the 4th string (keep fingering that C chord, though, so you arch the 3rd finger over the 4th string):

--------------------------
-(1)-------------------------
--------------------------
---0h2----0h2----oh2----0h2--
-(3)-------------------------
--------------------------

Now when you put all those simple things together, you get this:

-------------------------
----1------1---1-----1---
----------0---------0----
-----0h2--------0h2------
--3----------3---------3-
-------------------------

That's a very neat country-sounding twiddly bit that sounds a lot more complicated than it really is, once you break it down. (It's also the foundation for "The Boxer" by Simon & Garfunkle.)

Chocolate Covered Broccoli

Museum Technology blogger Richard Urban of Musematic uses the phrase "Chocolate covered broccoli" in a very interesting post on an unrelated subject to describe the typical educational games found in museum displays (and elsewhere, as I can well attest).

I happen to LIKE broccoli (especially with cheese sauce), but the analogy is apt and vivid.

A prayer for commencement

The school where I work jsut had commencement. Predictably, a member of the faculty sent an email to the administration, staff, and faculty complaining about the fact that there was a prayer. So in the spirit of intellectual syncretism, I offer this non-denominational prayer.


Oh, great celestial Father or Mother or otherwise supposedly Eternal and Beneficent Being or Beings, who may or may not exist (and if you don't exist, please disregard this prayer):

On this occasion, a celebration of knowledge and learning, it seems appropriate to many of us (though not all) to acknowledge You ("you" being used as a generic non-gendered second-person-personal pronoun implying neither singular nor plural status) as the source of knowledge and learning.

As it is written in one text that many (though certainly not all) consider sacred, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,"

and in another, "He grants wisdom to whom He pleases, and whoever is granted wisdom, he indeed is given a great good,"

and in another, "One must possess knowledge about action; one must also possess knowledge about prohibited action; and again one must possess knowledge about inaction,"

and in yet another sacred text, "Inna-godda-da-vida, baby."

Although Your existence cannot be scientifically proven, it cannot also be disproven, and so prudence dictates that it might not be such a bad idea after all to to ask Your blessing - should You be disposed to do things such as give blessings, as described in many (though not all) religious tradtions, which this is not one of, being simply a voluntary ceremonial event, albeit one that's being held on the taxpayer's dime, but then just about everyone here is a taxpayer, and demographic studies show that most Americans believe in You in some form - on those persons among those gathered here who are willing to receive such a blessing from your hand or hands (we certainly would not want someone to receive a blessing that they did not want, and so we offer this opt-out clause).

In the name of Bob and the Flying Spaghetti Monster,

Yeah, Whatever.

The more we know, the less we know

Hidden Star Explains Supernova Oddity, well, sort of, maybe.

God of wonders beyond our galaxy, indeed.

The more we know, the less we know

Hidden Star Explains Supernova Oddity, well, sort of, maybe.

God of wonders beyond our galaxy, indeed.

Popetown

Catholics fail to block "Popetown" in Germany

Of course they can't persuade the local stations to not air insulting cartoons.

They aren't making death threats.

There ain't no doubt, I love this land!

God Bless the U.S.A.!

As Mary Katherine Graham says, "Heck yeah! We pray, we race, and we recognize the benefits of aggressively marketing ourselves to others who like racing and praying, by way of the hood of a speeding Chevy. We are Red America and we are not ashamed."

Preach it, sister!

Nuts about blogging

Southwest Airlines has a blog! ht: Randy at Boeing.

Circular reasoning?

Fossil Suggests Snakes Evolved on Land

It's the first time scientists have found a snake with a sacrum, a bony feature supporting the pelvis, he [Hussam Zaher of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil] said. That feature was lost as snakes evolved from lizards, and since this is the only known snake that hasn't lost it, it must be the most primitive known, he said.

Catch that? Since we already know that snakes used to have legs and lost them through the process of evolution (having smaller / shorter / no legs confers a survival advantage, right?), a snake with a sacrum must therefore be more primitive. Nothing like assumptions that define the meaning of the evidence, eh? Of course, one couldn't possibly call this evidence for Gen 3:14 being accurate, could one?

A very good day, indeed

It's Good Friday for us Christians.

A holy day; a solemn day. But a Good day? Yes. Oh, yes.

It is good to reflect on the agony Christ endured on our behalf. Not merely the agony of the Cross (from where we get the term excruiating), though that was severe enough.

But Christ's real agony was knowing that God - Father - Abba (Daddy!!) - had turned His face away from the Son He had loved since before the beginning of the world. "He who knew no sin became sin" on our behalf, and the Holy God turned away in disgust.

That is why Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" and then, "It is finished." For at that moment, it WAS finished, for all time. "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that all who believe in him might not perish, but have eternal life."

A very good day, indeed.

May your Good Friday be blessed.

Well, Gawrsh!

Some Immigration Marchers Pay High Price Some folks are getting fired from their jobs or suspended from school for taking off without permission to protest in favor of flauting immigration law. Of course, as soon as the advocacy groups sponsoring the marches get involved, the employers cave and the skippers get rehired. I wonder if people have ever gotten canned for skipping out to attend, say, a "Legalize Marijuana" rally, and then gotten rehired because NORML came calling? (For the record, I'm not in favor of legalizing pot.) I love this quote by a marcher:

"'We have to change the way the American people think about us,' Ortega said. 'We are here to work and to make our lives better.'"

Well, Senor Ortega, I'd say that members of your groups are doing a mighty fine job of changing the way Americans look at you. Yup. Flying the Mexican flag above an inverted US flag, chanting "La Raza!" and "Reconquista!", carrying Che banners, signs that read "Anglos are the illegal immigrants," beating up counterprotestors that just want to see the law enforced ... yup, you're changing the way people look at you. Not for the better, I'm afraid.

Merde alors!

Cajuns Ponder Life Without Crawfish

Dat's not so good, hunh? Son! Cher, we gots to have dem mudbugs, oui? But de Good Lord, he provide, non? Jes' you wait some. Dey come back, oui, dey will.

If there were any doubt remaining...

...about the nature of Islam, I think it's pretty well dispelled by this quote:

Afghan Clerics Demand Convert Be Killed:

"Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man must die," said cleric Abdul Raoulf, who is considered a moderate and was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban before the hard-line regime was ousted in 2001.

Emphasis added. If moderate Muslims are insisting that a man die because he has decided to think for himself, then it's pretty clear that Islam is no "religion of peace."

VERY cute picture

ht: HH
Just go see it.

Huh? Say WHAT?

Iraqi Insurgents' Raid on Jail Thwarted - Yahoo! News

Let's compare a couple of sentences:

Emboldened a day after a successful jailbreak, insurgents laid siege to another prison Wednesday. This time, U.S. troops and a special Iraqi unit thwarted the pre-dawn attack south of Baghdad, overwhelming the gunmen and capturing 50 of them... (emphasis added)

versus

Although the raid failed, the insurgents' ability to put together such large and well-armed bands of fighters underlined concerns about the ability of Iraqi police and military to take over the fight from U.S. troops.

"Underlined" according to whom? The Associated Press?

Solemmegethistraight...
(SLMGTS)
Iraqi police captured a couple dozen bad guys, therefore America's "strategery" has failed?!?!?!

Just for the record - I am getting really, really tired of the MSM's aiding and abetting.

A useful Catch-22?

The case of Abdul Rahman has President Bush"deeply troubled."

Very good news. Looks like the Afghan government will find a way to back out by finding Rahman "mentally unfit to stand trial" - after all, he'd have to be crazy to admit to being a Christian, knowing it could get him executed, right?

Hopefully they've never heard of Jim Elliot, who said, "He is no fool who loses what he cannot keep in order to gain that which he cannot lose."

Finally some good news from Europe and NPR

Heard in the radio this morning that the case of the Afghan man facing a death sentence for converting to Christianity is getting some serious traction. Italy called in the Afghan ambassador for a - dare I say it? - "come to Jesus meeting" to tell the Afghan government that Italy might have to rethink its committment to rebuilding Afghanistan. Germany - secular Germany! - did something similar, according to the report.

Very good news indeed. I'd like to hear President Bsh say something publicly about it, though.

Whew! That's a relief!

I used to be really concerned about my kid's incessant whining, but no more. :-)

A CHRISTIAN ON TRIAL

Michelle Malkin points to the story of an Afghan Christian on trial for his life in that country. Under Afghanistan's Islamic constitution, he faces the death penalty for converting to Christianity 16 yeras ago.

This is an outrage. I expect Christians to be persecuted and martyred, but not in countries where Americans have bled and died to give them freedom.

NT06 - Hebrews 7, which clarifies some things but leaves others muddy

Hebrews 7 clarifies a problem I had in chapter 4 abou high priests having to offer sacrifices for their own sins. Chapter 7 makes it clear that Jesus, being holy and blameless, was not so encumbered. Therefore his sacrifice on our behalf was wholly acceptable to God.

But it still leaves unclear the phrase about Jesus "learning obedience" through suffering.

I need to look up this Melchizedek character, too. Verse 3 describes him as "Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God he remains a priest forever."

Strong stuff.

The National Security Strategy of the United States

No kiddin'.

I'm sure he's just crushed.

Jessica Simpson snubs Bush

Accident or design?

VERY cool. br>Cosmic 'DNA': Double Helix Spotted in Space

Paging Ms. Morissette, Ms. Alanis Morisette...

1,600 More SAT Scoring Problems Found. Oh, the irony.

NT06 - Heb 6, in which a lot seems to hang on a single word

Skeptics like to claim that there are so many differences between copies of the New Testament manuscripts that you can't trust the text. Christians counter that the many variants actually make it easier to ferret out the most likely original wording, and in any event, no major point of docrine hangs on a textual variance.

But then we run into Hebrews 6, which warns that a person who has been saved and then falls away cannot be bought back to repentence because they are re-crucifying Christ and holding Him up to ridicule.

Because. That's really scary stuff - it seems to say that if you once make shipwreck of your faith, you're permanently hosed. That's pretty major.

But wait - the NIV footnote says that some manuscripts say while, not because.

While leaves some wiggle room. It allows for a fallen-away believer to come back if they stop, um, falling away. But that's not just wiggle room - it seems like a very different doctrinal point entirely. Can believers who fall awy be reunited, or not? That seems like a binary question. It's either-or, isn;t it? And if because - the harsher reading - is correct, what does that say about God's grace? (Isn't there a passage somewhere about an unforgivable sin?) And what does it say about our supposedly sure hope?

We are very fortunate that we have more than one English translation. Let's look at some others.

The NASB uses since: they can't repent since they scorn Christ. That also give the sense of, if they'd only stop, they could be brought back. The KJV says, seeing that. That also implies an action that is currently happening.

Not an action in the past that has irrevocably set the course of the future.

NT06 - Heb 5 - this is wierd

Hebrews 5 contains some strange ideas. It begins by noting that high priests are fallible and have to offer sacrifices for their own sins. Then it goes on to say that Jesus "learned obedience" by suffering, and was "made perfect." Only then did he become the source of eternal salvation.

And then the author gets all condescending on us, saying that we need baby food! (Of course, he's talking to a particular audience, but STILL...)

Hm.

NT06 - Hebrews 4, in which we are called to work hard at resting

The author of the book of Hebrews reminds us that God's eternal rest is a reward, planned from before hte beginning of time. It's not that we can earn it by good works - the text does not say that - but we can miss out on it by disobedience.

A new dimension in sidewalk chalk

Julian Beever does simply amazing things with chalk in public places.

A gauntlet is thrown

Hat tip to the MouseFrau. :-)

Stay-at-home mom Jennifer Roback Morse challenges "traditional" feminists to a battle of wits over whether women are more or less fulfilled by working outside the home.

Fair warning - she's not unarmed. This particular stay-at-home mom has a Ph.D. in economics and was tenured at George Mason University. She left "all that" to move across the country when her husband got a new job.

Live like you were dyin'

Kirby Puckett was my age. A few years ago we lost a friend to hemorrhagic stroke. He'd just gotten married a few weeks before, and was out walking with his bride when he dropped. Just like that, he was gone.

I heard a country song on the radio last night, "Live Like You Were Dying." The narrator is talking to a fellow who "got the news" and "spend hours staring at the x-rays." Narrator asks, "Man, what'd you do?" and he lists a bunch of things, such as"finally opened up the Good Book" "became the husband I wasn't often enough." The chorus was, "I went skydiving, Rocky Mountain climbin', I went two-point-seven seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu. I spoke sweeter, loved deeper .... Son, I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying'."

Ah - here's a link. (Mind the popups.) Gotta love Google.

A great sentiment, live like you were dying. That assumes of course, that you have advance notice of your demise. But as we saw with our friend Angus and now with Kirby, you don't always get that "two-minute warning."

George Elliot, the martyred missionary depicted in the recent film "End of the Sword", had this to say about living on the edge of death: "It's never too late to become the person you might have been." And, "Live your life so that when the time comes to die, all you have to do is die."

Advice worth taking.

John Seely Brown, guts and throat

How often do you get a chance to talk to the man who invented the mouse? John Seeley Brown was the keynote speaker at the ODCE conference this week. I live-blogged his talk until my laptop's battery ran out.

Brown was talking about how massive online games such as World of Warquest have players from all over the world, and players necessarily learn how to transcend culture. He also pointed out how multimedia literacy is and is going to be a big deal.

I flashed on our guest preacher on Sunday, who talked about how a Bible translator in New Guinea figured out that a particular tribe saw the center-of-the-self in the throat, rather than the heart (as in modern Western thought) or in the gut (as in classical Greek thought.) "Ask Jesus to come live in your throat" made perfect sense to them.

Media literacy requires shared experiences. To persons who were young adults in the 1960's, a half-second image of a Huey helicopter likely causes a visceral reaction - Hueys are a prototype image of the Vietnam war. It immediately brings up a whole host of ideas, thoughts, and feelings. But to a younger person, it may be just a helicopter, with no particular affect (note spelling).

The kennings of medieval Norse verse similarly drew on the expectation of a shared cultural reference. "The sea-steed sailed o'er the swan-road" referred not only to a ship on the sea, but a particular ship with a particular master, and the tragic doom he faced.

After the keynote, I asked JSB about this idea. He referred back to the fact that in massive online games, the players do in fact share experiences; they do in fact share cultural references - within the context of the game. This context does not transfer directly to the real world. It sort-of-transfers through imagining that the real word is like the game worlds in some respects.

But he had also noted that when indigenous peoples are exposed to Western science, they accept the Western definition of, say, a rainbow, side-by-side with the traditional definition, with no apparent difficulty.

I'm not quite sure if I'm satisfied with his answer. (Can you tell I'm thinking out loud?)

We're all in this together

Apparently the Red Green Show is over. 300 episodes, and no more. (When did that happen?!?!) The website lives on, at least, and if you're up Ontario way you can even see some of the original sets. (Of course, you can see a lot of that stuff nearly anywhere north of the 44th parallel.)

NT06 - Heb 3 - a warning against unbelief

Hebrews 3 contains a strong warning about the consequences of a hard, unbelieving heart. "They shall never enter my rest," says the author, quoting Psalm 95:11.

Strong stuff, especially since the people Psalms is talking about are the Israelites of the Exodus. Despite their miraculous salvation by God's own hand, they repeatedly, continually turned away from Him over a period of decades.

How fickle is the human heart! We so easily forget what God has done for us. It is good that God is merciful and compassionate. As Psalm 130 says, if He kept a record of sins, we would be undone. But the blood of Christ has washed away all our sins, removed them as far as the east is from the west.

A little Friday afternoon weirdness for you

Stop alien cow abductions! Cowabduction.com

Funny, the mind's eye

Actor Jack Wild Dies at 53. Jack played the Artful Dodger in the movie Oliver!, and he was the child start of H.R. Pufnstuf, one of my favorite shows as a child. I used to imagine that he was my best friend. He just seemed to be a really cool kid.

Funny, though, I don't remember him looking like this. I remember the mop of hair, but the face is really unfamiliar to me. Strange.

NT06 - Heb 2 - The best Big Brother ever!

Hebrews 2 contains an amazing promise: Jesus considers us who believe in Him to be his brothers.

Some syncretists (folks who want to mash all religions into one) use this as "proof" of the notion that "we all are (or can become) gods/God."

I think that's a silly interpretation. Brothers (and sisters) are individuals. They are not the same person - not even identical twins. They are different. I've got two boys. While you can easily see the family resemblance, they are each unique.

We also have several friends who are adoptive parents. Especially, children who are adopted into a family may be very different from their siblings.

While they clearly do not share the same nature, they do share equally in the love and support that the family provides, and they will share in the inheritance. And what an inheritance!

Seems I'm not the only one...

...who reads Tom Clancy novels.

An Italian Panel has decided that the plot of Clancey's 2002 semi-thriller Red Rabbit is correct - the USSR ordered the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II.

I'm shocked. Shocked.

NT06 - Hebrews 1

I'll get caught up on the rest of Acts, I promise. But now it makes sense to get on track with Hebrews, the next book in our through-the-New-Testament-in-one-year plan.

Hebrews 1 begins with no preable or pastorly introduction, no "Greetings in the name of Christ." The writer cuts to the chase, immediately addressing the issue of whether the Son of God is an angel, or something more. Quoting from the Psalms, the Histories, and the Torah (but curiously not the Prophets - yet), the writer argues that Jesus has divine authority above that of the angels.

So let me see if I got this straight

26 killed and 58 wounded in Iraq means that the country is spiraling toward civil war, but "only" 400 cars burned in French suburbs on a given night means the situation is stabilizing.

Doubleplusungood, eh, Winston?

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.

Memo to Mahmoud

Iran Blames Bombings on U.S., Britain: Bombs went off inside a bank and outside an office building belonging to a state environmental agency. Iran's nutter of a president blames the US and UK.

Memo to Mahmoud - if the US or Britain decides to bomb Iran, the targets will not be a bank and an office building.

NT06 - Mark 16, in which we find something very disturbing

Many translations include a note that the most reliable, earliest manuscripts of Mark do not contain verses 9-20. What's stunning to me is that they DO contain verses 1-8. The earliest Gospel ends with the Empty Tomb. That's a real problem for skeptics.

Some skeptics claim that the resurrection story was borrowed from Mithraism, a secretive Roman "mystery cult" that featured a resurrected god-man. Mark was the first canonical gospel written. It was compiled about 50 years after Jesus' death, most likely from eyewitness recollections (Mk 14:51) and a couple of now-lost written collections of Jesus' words and deeds. Fifty years is a long time. winesses die, memories fade, stories can shift with retellings. But Paul's writings show that belief in the Resurrection as a literal, historical event was prevalent just 20 years after the event. And 20 years is not enough time for "legendary accretion" to override living memory.

Other skeptics argue that the Gospels are simply fiction. But as a work of fiction in that culture, Mark really messed up by making the witnesses women. At that time, women were not allowed to testify in court because they were considered unreliable. Besides, there's no description of the moment of resurrection itself. I mean, come on! That's the climax of the story! If you're making it up, you really should have someone there to describe it, right?

You can set aside the doctrines of inspiration and inerrancy and look at the Gospel of Mark simply as an historical document. And even from that secular point of view, you're left staring into an empty tomb. Mark says that Mary, Mary, and Salome were trembling, bewildered, and afraid. Can't say as I blame them.

If I didn't know why the tomb was empty, I'd be pretty upset, too.

He's baaack (maybe)

So old Osama seems to have released another tape.

He says that the lack of attacks in America is not due to increased security, but because "there are operations that need preparations." Such as, for example, funding from sources we've dried up, or planning by operatives we've captured and killed by the score? The tape also says, "...the operations are happening in Baghdad and you will see them here at home..." Hm. What "operations" are happening in Baghdad? Car bombs, suicide vests, and roadside IEDs, mostly against soft targets such people waiting in line and gatherings of children. Sometimes they even coordinate the timing of the attacks. How hard can it be to implement "operations" like that in the US? There are a LOT of soft targets in the US. The fact that they haven't hit them indicates that they can't. Doesn't mean they won't, of course. We don't want to let down our guard. (And as long as Bush is President, we won't, thank God.)

And ya gotta love the AP caption for bin Laden's picture (a file photo from 1998, showing the now-a-very-haggard-grey fugitive with dark hair). It calls him an "exiled Saudi dissident". Not "terrorist mastermind". Not "mass-murdering madman". "Exiled dissident".

NT06 - Getting caught up

According to the "Read through the New Testament in a year" plan, I'm up to Mark 15. I've been doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the readings, but a poor job of blogging about it.

Mark 14 recounts the betrayal in the garden, and Mark 15 is the Crucifixion. It of course brings to mind Gibson's Passion of the Christ.

To me, verse 34 is the heart of history. When Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" he wasn't just quoting Psalm 22:1. He who had become sin on our behalf was experiencing the awesome eternal emptiness of separation from God. Jesus, the Son, who was with God from before the beginning of time, who referred to God as "Daddy", looked up to Heaven and saw his Father turn His back in disgust.

That's Hell. Forget your brimstone and pitchforks.

Chinook Diplomacy

A little late in noticing this - hat tip to the Paragraph Farmer.

It's a story of how the US provided massive amounts of aid to the victims of the Pakistan earthquake using the heavy-lift Chinook helicopters based in Afghanistan. I don't recall seeing this story reported in the major media - I wonder why?

NT06 - Mark 8, in which Jesus rebukes just about everyone

In this chapter, Jesus hammers on the Pharisees for demanding a sign. The disciples still don;t get it, and Jesus accuses Peter of being Satan.

Jesus also heals a blind man. Skeptics point to this healing and others in Mark where Jesus uses some physical means as evidence that the Jesus legend grew over time. "The original Jesus," they say, "wasn't a divine miracle worker, just a folk healer with delusions of grandeur." (Mark was the first Gospel to be written.)

That totally begs the question of the healings themselves, of course. Mark also contains stories of Jesus healing without physical contact, for example, the Gentile girl in the previous chapter and the paralytic in chapter 2. Perhaps Jesus knew that for this person to accept Jesus' ability to heal, He needed to provide some physical act.

God does a lot of things to help those of us whose faith is weak.

NT06 - Mark 7, in which Jesus reaches out to Gentiles

Jesus takes the Pharisees to task for focusing on the letter of the law rather than its spirit. (The practice of putting man-made rules on a level of or ahead of God's teaching was a major reason I left the Catholic church.) He points out that it's not what we put into our mouths that makes us clean or unclean, but rather what comes out.

Jesus also heals a Gentile girl based on her mother's faith, and heals a deaf-mute. (I wonder how this story resonates with modern American deaf persons. There's a movement in that community to be viewed not as disabled, but as differently-languaged.)

More ammo for the anti-ammo alliance

Judge Alito's wife discloses that the SCOTUS nominee is a crack shot with a shotgun.

"He's a great marksman – he can do double clays," she says, meaning he can hit two clay pigeon targets thrown simultaneously into the air before either hits the ground.

One presumes that the 2nd Amendment will be safe from radical reinterpretation with him on the Court.

NT06 - MArk 6, in which Jesus gets dissed, John loses his head, and a little goes a long way

A lot going on in this chapter. Jesus comes home to a less-than warm reception. We learn that he came from a fairly large family - I've long wondered how folks who claim that Jesus was an only child reconcile verse 3. It's also interesting that his neighbors admit that he has supernatural wisdom and miraculous healing power, but yet they take offense at him.

We learn the unpleasant fate of John the Baptist. I wonder if he will be one of the "martyrs under the altar" of Revelation 20.

Jesus tries to get his disciples a little break from the crowds, but the crowds follow. It gets late and there's no food. So Jesus has the disciples find a little something - a few loaves and fishes - blesses it, and everyone eats their fill. The novel The Robe suggests the possibility that this could have been a case of those in the crowd who had had the foresight to bring food sharing with those who had not. Maybe. But would that have been remembered and passed down? I don't think so.

NT06: Mark 5, in which pigs fly and the dead live again

Jesus is clearly not a capitalist. Yes, I know, to the Jews, pigs are unclean. But still - 2,000 head of swine is SOMEBODY's livelihood, even if they are trefe-herding goyim. No wonder the people of the district begged him to go away. Interesting that nobody sued over the lost herd. I suppose they were sufficiently impressed by the healing of the madman that they figured they'd best not mess with this charismatic preacher - if he can send pigs over a cliff, what might he do to his enemies?

And then there's the very touching story of the rabbi's daughter. I've had a little girl sick, though not, thank God, unto death. I can only imagine the father's anguish.

Jesus raises her from the dead, and then tells the family to keep it quiet? I know I couldn't.

NT06 - Mark 4, in which seeds are planted

The parable of the Seeds and the Sower is probably my favorite parable.

It points out an essential truth about evangelism - the evangelist is not responsible for conversion. Just as the seed grows of its own accord, under the influence of the sun and rain provided by God and the miracle of the tiny life within the seed, the new believer is enabled to come to faith by the Holy Spirit.

But here's a question - if the sower is not blind, doesn't he or she have a responsibility to sow seed in good soil? Is it a waste to sow along the path, or among briars? IOW, as evangelists, should we "qualify our prospects" as they say in the sales business? Should we only attempt to share the Gospel with those who are receptive?

I think the Scripture is clear that we are to sow EVERYWHERE. While the seed is precious, it is not scarce (an interesting economic notion!) It's not our responsibility to only sow where we think seed might grow. God is, after all, in the miracle business.

That's a new observation for me, btw - the notion that we are to sow everywhere. Thank God for blogging - if not for this process of thinking aloud I might not have had that insight.

For years I've held dear another insight, though: Seed grows best in good soil. The Great Plains of the US are ancient prairie. For thousands of years grass has grown, died after a season, and returned to earth to add to the soil. The soil is deep and rich - roots go very deep. The first farmers in Nebraska, Kansas and the Dakotas had to use special "sodbuster" plows to break it up.

Some folks come from families with a tradition of faith going back generations. Great-great-grandpa was a believer who prayed for his progeny and who raised faithful sons and daughters. That's deep soil.

I don't have that to offer my children and grandchildren. My own soil is pretty thin. But I can do what I can do - pull weeds, remove stones, and shoo away birds.


The rest, as Scripture makes clear, is up to God.

Checks and balances work both ways

"The executive branch shall construe these sections in a manner consistent with the constitutional authority of the President."

The President's Statement on Signing of H.R. 2863, the "Department of Defense, Emergency Supplemental Appropriations to Address Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and Pandemic Influenza Act, 2006", makes it clear that this President understands his Constitutional authority, and will not be bullied by Congress.

NT06 - Mark 3: In which the rubber hits the road

The first part of this chapter, where Jesus heals the man with the shriveled hand, is a part of the Lord-of-the-Sabbath narrative of Ch 2. Jesus is declaring himself to be above the Law. To the Pharisees, this is blasphemy.

Then, Jesus' family is apparently called in to do an intervention. He spurns them, in favor of his disciples.

OK, time to stop.

Mark is the earliest Gospel to be written. According to scholars, it was written in the 80's, about 50 years after Jesus' ministry. It appears to be based on still-earlier, but now lost, textual or oral records of Jesus' teachings and deeds.

The earliest part of the earliest record we have of Jesus' acts and words show him to be - let's be charitably skeptical - a charismatic madman. He's traveling about the countryside, healing, casting out demons (for the skeptics: healing mental illnesses?), attracting crowds so dense you can't push your way through them, and claiming to have the authority to forgive sins and decide what the law of the Sabbath means. IOW, he says he's God.

Is this guy nuts? His family certainly seems to think so.

Or is he something more?

NT06 - Mark 2: In which J-man cops a 'tude, dude!

Shortly after healing a leper and driving out a bunch of demons, Jesus returns home to Capernaum. (When did he move from Nazareth?) Crowds prevent a group of guys from getting their paralyzed bud close to him, so they come in through the roof.

Then Jesus whips out the big whammy - he doesn't just heal the guy, but makes a statement that borders strongly on blasphemy. People seem to be more amazed at the healing, though. Shortly thereafter, Levi takes early retirement from the RRS to join him.

In verses 21-22 (the "old wineskins" passage) Jesus seems to say that his ministry is a radical break from traditional Judaism. And on a Sabbath shortly thereafter, he allows his followers to gather grain in defiance of the legalists. (For the farmer's sake, one hopes it was just Jesus and the five disciples, rather than the hordes of followers.)

I'm curious if the disciples were ignorant of the strict interpretation of the law that forbade harvesting on the Sabbath - even plucking grains to eat out of hand - or if they had asked Jesus whether they could do so.

NT06 - Mark 1: We begin

Isaiah foretold a voice crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord!" Mark links John the Baptizer to this prophecy, with John's proclamation that one is coming after him whose sandals he is not fit to untie.

Conveniently, Jesus arrives on the scene and gets baptized. Mark records that coming out of the water, Jesus has a vision and hears a voice from Heaven. He then goes out and has a wilderness experience.

Coming back from the desert, He calls Simon, Andrew, James and John, who drop their nets and tag along with nary a goodbye. They go to Capernaum, where Jesus causes a local stir by casting out demons and healing a leper. He tries to keep them quiet about who he is, but rumors begin to circulate.

So far the picture we have of Jesus is of a poor, simple (albeit very charismatic) preacher and folk-healer - a hard act to follow, though that doesn't keep some from trying.

NT06 - Mea maxima culpa

So I signed up to read through the New Testament in '06, right? One chapter a day, following a handly little guide from Discipleship Journal. Just five days a week. Five minutes with the Word. Really QUITE doable, y'know?

I'm already behind. WHERE are my priorities?

Life after Europe?

(ht:HH) Odd how you can really enjoy reading something really depressing.

In this long piece for the WSJ online, the incomparable Mark Steyn explains how "tolerance," multiculturalist orthodoxy, declining European birthrates, increasing birthrates in the Muslim world, and Muslim immigration to the West combine to sound the death-knell for Western civilization in Europe.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls...

Fly like a girl

All-female tanker crew flies Afgan mission

Yet another reason to drill in ANWR

A big chunk of the world's oil supply is under the control of Islamic governments who are not exactly pro-American. Another big chunk is under the control of South American socialists who are notably anti-American.

Somebody explain to me again why it's a bad thing to produce more oil and gas domestically?

Yup

Hugh Hewitt's New Year's post reminds me of something that happened back in the early 90's. I was talking with a co-worker, remarking on the explosion of information available online. He said, "There's simply going to be too much information to handle yourself. People will sign up for points of view."

The Shock. The Horror.

NY TIMES: CLAUS OK'D ILLEGAL SURVEILLANCE
ht: Hugh Hewitt.

This is why secrets need to be secret

An Italian judge wants 22 CIA agents arrested for doing their job.

An Irish group wants to search CIA planes.

What part of secret don't they understand?

OWNED!

Sen. Roberts dropkicks Sen. Rockefeller (emph added):

I am puzzled by the release yesterday of a July 2003 letter from Senator Rockefeller ... regarding the recently exposed intelligence collection program ... . Senator Rockefeller asserts that he had lingering concerns about the program ... but was prohibited from doing anything about it.

A United States Senator has significant tools with which to wield power and influence over the executive branch. Feigning helplessness is not one of those tools.

SMMMMMMACKDOWN!

Just for the record, I am persuaded that the operation was necessary and legal, and that it resulted in the apprehension of terrorists and the disruption of their plans to kill Americans. The person or person who leaked this information has damaged the national security of the United States and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.


Just in case you couldn't guess.

NTSB Says Plane Crashed After Wing Fell Off

Ya think?

I know, it was a tragic loss of life. And it highlights the issue of an aging commercial fleet - seaplanes really take a pounding, and this airframe had been in service nearly six decades. There might also be an issue with the fact that the airplane was re-engined - the original radial engines were replaced with turboprops. Since the turboprop is lighter, it had to be placed further forward to maintain the aircraft's balance. That increases the twisting load on the main spar. I'm sure the engineers worked that through, but fatigue cracks are still poorly understood.

Still, that was a really dumb headline.

They banned Kenny!

B@stards!

ht: LA

NORAD Tracks Santa 2005

Very, very cool.

Science Journal: Wikipedia Pretty Accurate

According to Nature Wikipedia is nearly as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Not terribly surprising, but interesting nonetheless. What surprised me was the discovery that the professionally-written, edited, and reviewed Britannica has an average of three errors or omissions per article!

Not just an Ent, but an Evangelical Ent!

A few weeks ago I discovered that I was an Ent.

Now it turns out that I'm an Evangelical as well (I know, it's shocking!).

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Reformed Evangelical 79% Neo orthodox 71% Fundamentalist 50% Charismatic/Pentecostal 46% Classical Liberal 39% Emergent/Postmodern 36% Roman Catholic 18% Modern Liberal 18% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

At least I'm in good company!

Not a tame Lion - redux

Edited to 500 words per the Radioblogger content rules.

I watched the Narnia movie with my older three kids, ages 10, 7, and 6. They are very well-acquainted with fantasy-adventure films and computer-generated special effects, with the Narnia story, and as Christians, with the "back-story".

I found the opening scenes deeply moving, but then things slowed down. The family dynamic among the kids was lacking - they felt more like cousins than siblings. Lucy does light up the screen, though. Mrs. Macreedy seemed to be channeling Professor McGonagal, though, and the Professor seemed cartoonish.

When Lucy finally met Mr. Tumnus, I wanted to scream, "Don't you KNOW about strangers!?!?!?!" I had to keep reminding myself that this story was written long before Amber Alerts became common. Still, when he began to weep about "what he's going to do" I got a serious case of the creeps.

The older children's treatment of Lucy when she returned with her fantastic tale was utterly believable. Jadis the White Witch felt a bit cartoonish, but she positively exudes evil.

I wondered why the children weren't complaining about wet, cold feet. But hey, this is fantasy. Mr. and Mrs. Beaver felt like a real married couple. - we're accustomed to CGI characters, and the dialogue works. The encounter with Father Christmas felt contrived - too much deus ex machina. Lucy's pointed comment to her siblings made it entirely worthwhile, though. The camp of the Narnian army had a magical-yet-believable feel. The armor of the fauns and especially the centaurs looked right. Aslan's facial expressions were ... just ... real. Liam Neeson's voice wanted more rumbly resonance, but when Jadis asks him after their conference how she can be sure he'll keep his promise, the Lion's reaction is perfect.

When Aslan presents himself at the Stone Table, the evil and hatred of Jadis' minions is palpable. The sadness and resignation in the Lion's eyes is real. Oddly, it's the humans - Lucy and Susan - who lack emotion. They should show real shock, horror, and sadness. They don't. If there's a real flat spot in the film, that's it. But as we all know, death has no power over Aslan, as it had no power over Christ. The innocent who willingly gives his life for the guilty fulfills the Deep Magic and shatters the Stone Table.

The battle scenes are fantastic - one simply believes that centaurs and minotaurs are battling hand-to-hand, and that beavers wear chain mail.

Aslan arrives, Jadis is vanquished, and the childen are enthoned at Cair Paravel. Years later, they stumble back through the wardrobe just as the Professor enters the room.

That exchange is my favorite from the whole film. :-)

Overall impressions: As a fantasy film on its own merits, A-. Though some of the storytelling and acting falls short of perfection, Narnia feels as real as Hogwarts or Middle-Earth.

As a film adaptation of C.S. Lewis's classic, a solid A.

As an entertaining family film, A++. My kids – even the jaded 10-year-old - pronounced it, "the best movie ever."

When jokes go wrong

Man Apologizes After Fake Wikipedia Post At least Brian Chase had the guts to stand up and say, "I did it, and I'm sorry." A lot of folks would have just faded into the anonymity of the Internet. He quit his job over the furor, too.

Goes to show that some jokes just aren't funny. I wonder if Ted Rall and Whoopie Goldberg are listening?

Not a Tame Lion

Warning - picked nits, spoilers and inevitable comparisons follow. Bottom line - go see the movie!

I watched the Narnia movie this weekend with my older three kids, ages 10, 7, and 6. They've seen the Star Wars, Potter, and LOTR epics (the younger two have not seen SW3 and no one has seen HP4, and we FF'd through the scary parts of LOTR), and the CGI-heavy "Sky Captain." So this little audience was very well-acquainted with fantasy-adventure films and computer-generated special effects.

We're also familiar with the story. A year or two ago we read through the Narnia Chronicles for bedtime storytime, and the kids watched the BBC production of LWW last year or thereabouts. And as a Christian family, we're also quite familiar with the back-story, as it were.

Going in I was concerned a bit about the previews, having seen what came up on the big screen prior to SW3. I was pleasantly surprised that the theater managers had chosen "The Twenty" and previews that were targeted to the family demographic. They certainly piqued our interest. Maybe H'wood has finally figured out that "values voters" will spend money at the theater, too.

The opening scenes of The Blitz were pretty well done. I'm an airplane buff, and the He-111 interiors looked believable. When Edmund runs back to get the picture of his dad to take into the shelter, that could have set up some good emotional context for later, but as it turned out it didn't have a payoff. It was just a set-piece to show that Edmund doesn't do as he's told, and that kind of fell flat to me.

The following scene where the children are loaded onto trains to escape the war was very moving. It had as much impact as the scene in LOTR2 where the Rohan village mother packes her children onto a horse to escape the approaching orc horde.

At the country manor, Mrs. Macreedy seemed to be channeling HP's Professor McGonagal - I couldn't escape the comparison. The child actors played well at being bored kids, though the family dynamic seemed to be a bit lacking. They felt more like cousins than siblings. The Professor seemed a bit cartoonish as well, at least in appearance.

And then Lucy (finally!) finds the Wardrobe. That transition was very nicely done.

When Lucy goes off with the very charming Mr. Tumnus, I wanted to scream at her - "Don't you KNOW about going off with strangers!?!?!?!" I had to keep reminding myself that this story was written long before Level Three offenders and Amber Alerts became common features of a parent's landscape. Still, when the faun began to weep about "what he's going to do" I got a serious case of the creeps.

Every reviewer seems to rave about Lucy, and I agree - she positively lights up the screen. She doesn't do "sad" terribly well - I know what a heartbroken six-year-old girl looks like - but apart from that she did a wonderful job.

The older children's treatment of Lucy when she returned with her fantastic tale was utterly believable. Edmund then follows Lucy back into the wardrobe and meets Jadis, the White Witch. She seems a bit like a cartoon character, but she positively exudes evil, much as the Satan character in "The Passion." Edmund's betrayal of Lucy on his return to "the real world" further cements our opinion of him.

The filmmakers then take a bit of license to get all four children into the wardrobe, and the adventure can finally really begin. I've walked in the snow in inadequate footware, and I wondered why the children - especially the younger ones - weren't complaining more. But hey, this is fantasy.

The talking animals weren't jarring in the least. We're now well-accustomed to treating 100%-CGI characters as real, and the children didn't break the spell. I heard one patron behind me say, "English beavers?" On reflection, he had a point - they're native to North America. The dialog between Mr. And Mrs. Beaver was well-done. They really felt like a married couple.

Fast-forward to the encounter with Father Christmas. This felt flat to me - too much deus ex machina. I'll need to review the book to see how the children get their weapons, but it felt contrived. Still, Lucy's pointed comment to her siblings after he departs made it entirely worthwhile.

The camp of the Narnian army had a magical-yet-believable feel to it. Certainly more sanitized than the Rhohirrim encampment outside the Dimmul, but not totally contrived. The armor of the fauns and centaurs - especially the centaurs! - looked right. Clearly the LWW armorers took the same care as those on LOTR.

Aslan's facial expressions were completely believable. I felt that Liam Neeson's voice lacked a bit of rumbly resonance - comparisons to James Earl Jones' Musafa are unavoidable. Still, there's a nice contrast between the power of a full-grown lion and the wise and gentle voice of Qui-Gon. When Jadis asks him after their conference how she can be sure he'll keep his promise, the Lion's reaction is perfect.

About Aslan's sacrifice I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said. The evil and wickedness of Jadis' minions is palpable. The sadness and resignation in the Lion's eyes, real. Oddly, it's the humans - Lucy and Susan, who seem to lack emotion. They should show real shock, horror, and sadness. They don't. If there's a real flat spot in the film, that's it.

But as we all know, death has no power over Aslan, as it had no power over Christ. The innocent sacrifice who willingly gives his life in the place of the guilty both fulfills the Deep Magic and breaks the stone table forever. Christian audiences get this. I wonder how non-Christians will see it.

The battle scenes were fantastic, reminiscent of LOTR's battle of Pellinore Fields. This is hardly surprising, since Weta Workshop did the CG work. The special effects are completely transparent - one simply believes that centaurs and minotaurs are battling hand-to-hand. Again, some obvious thought was given to the question, "how does this culture - this species - fight?"

We know the rest of the story - Aslan and the revived victims of the White Witch arrive to turn the tide of battle, Jadis is vanquished, and the childen are enthoned at Cair Paravel. Many years later, they stumble back into and through the wardrobe into the spare room, just as the Professor enters.

The exchange that follows is my favorite from the whole film.


So, finally, my overall impressions. As a fantasy film on its own merits, A-. Narnia certainly feels as real as Hogwarts or Middle-Earth, and visuals sell the story and the characters. Unfortunately, some of the storytelling and acting falls short of perfection, and the music was unmemorable.

As a film adaptation of C.S. Lewis's classic, I give it a solid A. The filmmakers took some liberties, but you have to do that in bringing any story to the screen.

As an entertaining family film, it earns an A+. My kids loved it, pronounced it "the best movie ever." Even my jaded 10-year-old declared that it was better than LOTR or even - gasp! - Star Wars III.

We'll be seeing it again, and I don't mean waiting for the DVD.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

I posted this over at LA's site, but decided it deserved a slot over here as well. It was prompted by a quote from one of the passengers on the Columbia-to-Florida flight saying that they hadn't heard anyone say anything about a bomb.

From the reports I’ve seen, Rigoberto Alpizar made the bomb comments while on the jetway, not on the airplane. Little wonder the passengers still on the plane didn’t hear anything.

Imagine this alternative version, though:

“The effectiveness of the Air Marshalls program was being called into question today after a disturbed man was allowed to rush up a jetway and into the terminal from an airplane that had just landed from Columbia.

The man forced his way off the plane and ran up the jetway with a backpack, shouting that he had a bomb. Air marshalls drew their weapons and ordered him to stop, but he ignored their commands and ran into the terminal. Hundreds of passengers waiting to board their aircraft panicked and rushed for the exits. Forty-two were injured in the stampede, and two were killed in the crush, including an elderly man and a two-year old.

‘He was wild-eyed and panting,’ said one witness who declined to be identified. ‘I was scared he had a gun or a bomb or something. Everybody just ran.’

Not everybody. Frank Wilson, a retired police officer, tripped and tackled the suspect as he ran past. Wilson tossed the backpack - which did not contain a bomb - to the side as he held the disturbed passenger to the ground.

‘I just reacted, I guess.’ said Wilson. ‘Old habits die hard. You see someone running like that, and, well, I just took him down. I’m not as young as I once was - I’m a little sore, actually.’

A spokesman for the Air Marshalls said, ‘Our agents are trained to carefully evaluate a potential threat in order to avoid over-reacting. In hindsight, the passenger was clearly not a threat, so we’re very gratified the Marshalls on the scene did not open fire.’ Asked about the passengers who were killed and injured by the panic in the terminal, the spokesman said, ‘That’s a very tragic thing, obviously.’”

My heart goes out...

...to the parents and family of 6-year-old Joshua Woods, who was killed when a Southwest Airlines jet skidded off the end of the runway at Chicago Midway airport and crushed the car in which he was a passenger.

You talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My prayer is that he is safe in the loving arms of his Savior (whose name is also Joshua), and that God will send comfort to the family.

My heart goes out, too, to the air traffic controllers and the pilot of the flight. They will be wracking themselves for the rest of their lives, playing woulda shoulda-coulda over the decision to clear the flight to land, and then to attempt the landing.

For some reason, it's not newsworthy that our commerical aviation system routinely operates in miserable weather with near-perfect safety year-round.

Still, this Christmas one family is going to be without a six-year-old unwrapping presents under the tree. It breaks my heart.