Tags: alexandrian christianity, allegory, anti-semitism, antiochene christianity, biblical interpretation, christian thought revisited, covenant, creation, dualism, eastern christianity, eschatos, ethnic religion, evangelical republican hermeneutic, faith of Christ, Gentile justification, individualism, Judaism, justification, justification of God, justo gonzales, messiah, natural law, New Perspective on Paul, Old Perspective on Paul, order of salvation, original sin, philosophy, post-modernism, prophecy, sacraments, salvation history, sin, Son of God, stoicism, Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement, torah, typology, universalism, western christianity, work of christ, works-righteousness
It’s only a few weeks until election day and both presidential candidates are focusing on that small percentage of people who — for whatever reason — have not yet made up their minds.
Romney photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore;
Obama photo per http://change.gov/about/copyright_policy.
Tags: commitment, democracy, election, indecision, obama, politics, romney
The challenge facing gay activists . . .
Dissenting opinion on societal acceptance of alternative sexualities coalesces around three crucial points:
Tags: - Homosexuality, aids, AIDS Quilt, alternative sexualities, axiology, bisexual, buggery, concordance, conscience, focault, gay adoption, gay marriage, gay rights, gender confusion, GLBT, GLBTI, GLBTIQ, HIV, homophobia, intersexed, jesse dirkheiser, lesbian, marriage, moral authority, moral neutrality, ontology, particularism, pederasty, pedophilia, pluralism, race, reification, sexual orientation, sodomy, telos, transvestite, twin studies
Tags: - Homosexuality, aids, AIDS Quilt, bisexual, bradley manning, concordance, conscience, gay adoption, gay marriage, gay rights, gender confusion, homophobia, jesse dirkheiser, lesbian, marriage, matthew shepard, moral authority, moral neutrality, narth, national coming out day, ontology, race, same-sex attraction disorder, sexual orientation, slavery, ssad, telos, twin studies, tyler clementi
The 2012 Presidential election is almost here and many pastors are challenging the IRS stance on churches engaging in politics. Most people think restrictions on the involvement of churches in politics are tied to lofty principles.
Well…. Maybe not.
Tags: Internal Revenue Service, Lyndon Johnson, Naked Public Square, politics, Richard John Neuhas, tax exemption
Technology can be the source of a “devil’s bargain” in dealing with the frailties of human existence.
In Decline of the West, Oswald Spengler describes Western
civilization as “Faustian” in its pursuit of the infinite.
Tags: capitalism, decline of the west, faust, faustian, health care, obamacare, oswald spengler, western civilization
Is there a “war on women”?
Democratic Congressman Jim McDermott accuses
Republicans of waging a war on women, 8 April 2011
Tags: abortion, contraception, feminism, first amendment, war on women
ABC has hit the basement button on cultural decadence with “Good Christian Bitches,” a new comedy series with an epithetic title that promises more of the same in terms of series content.
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Any other use may a copyright infringement.
Tags: bullying, christianity, GCB, good christian bitches, good muslim b*****s, hab 1:12, Habakkuk 1:12, intolerance, islam, leftism, leftist media, Muslims, providence
“Docetism” (from the Greek word “dokeo” meaning “I seem”) usually refers to an unorthodox view of Jesus that alleges He was a pure spirit and only “seemed” to have a physical body.
Orthodoxy of course has long insisted Jesus had two natures, one human and the other divine.
Tags: bible, canon, catholic, docetic, docetism, god's word, Protestant, scripture
What do these people have in common?
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama on 8 Nov 2011.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer on 29 Mar 2011.
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson on July 6 2008.
Tags: agonizers, aplogetics, apologetics, apologia, apologist, authority, catechesis, christian, common faith, contention, corporate faith, declaration, dividing, doctrine, edification, evidentialist, faith, fellowship, gospel, greek, insiders, instruction, irenics, katecheo, kerugma, kerygma, maturity, open microphone, open mike, outsiders, persuasion, pietistic, polemics, preacher, presuppositionalist, private faith, proclamation, rhetoric, teacher, teaching, types of speech, uniting
Do a Google search on the phrase “is not a Christian” and two criteria will compete for first place in denying people a Christian identity.
Tags: baptism, boasting, christian identity, common faith, confessional, conversional, corporate faith, humility, infant baptism, mark of a christian, objectivity, private faith, righteousness, subjectivity
Good ideas are well-served by good illustrations and tonight Conan O’Brien will gift us with a great one.
Conan O’Brien (left) and gay fiancés David Gorshein and Scott Cronick.
O’Brien will reportedly perform Gorshein and Cronick’s wedding during tonight’s show.
(Use of copyrighted material for critical commentary is fair use.)
Tags: conan o'brien, david gorshein, gay marriage, ontological inferiority, scott cronick
The “occupywallstreet” protesters are furious over Wall Street’s self-enrichment via its undue influence on the political process.
Photo from http://rangel.house.gov/index.shtml
Capitalism has a corrupting influence on politics and must be severely restrained.
Tags: academia, higher education, occupy wall street, occupywallstreet, politics, wall street
The Keynesian model of macroeconomics has two components worthy of reflection in the face of the current Administration’s approach to fixing the economy . . .
John Maynard (“in the long run, we’re all dead”) Keynes
Tags: economic stimulus, in the long run we're all dead, john maynard keynes
Congresswoman Gabby Giffords makes a surprise return
to Congress on 1 August after having suffered a gunshot
wound to the head in January.
Photo from Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s website.
How many times have you heard the popular bit of wisdom, “we only use 10% of our brains”?
Tags: barack obama, brain trauma, deepak chopra, folk wisdom, gabrielle giffords, gnosticism
“High church” and “low church” mean different things to different people
Here are some typical distinctions . . .
Tags: catholic, clergy, confessional, conversional, high church, laity, low church, Protestant, ritual, sacrament, sacramental
Think there’s a moral equivalence between Islam and Christianity? Read the following clipping from the “Questions of Faith” column in the Saudi Gazette and ask yourself, “what would we do without Mohammed?”
Then consider, “what would we do without Jesus?”
Tags: apostasy, bathroom etiquette, beheading, islam, muslim, sharia law
“Akedah” is the generic Hebrew word for “binding.” In Jewish Tradition, it came to be used as a proper noun to refer to Abraham’s “sacrifice” of Isaac (Genesis chapter 22).
[God] said, “Take now your son, your only son,
whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah,
and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
mountains ….” (Gen 22:2ff)
The “Sacrifice of Isaac”
by Caravaggio (1603)
Most people today understand the Akedah in terms of an existential dilemma for Abraham– and there’s a good reason for that.
Tags: Abraham, akedah, binding of Isaac, canaanites, carthage, child sacrifice, dilemma ethics, gen 22, genesis 22, historical accounts, moral absolutism, sacrifice of Isaac, tophet of salammbo stele
A friend recently related the story of how he once pointed a T-37 Trainer straight up to see how high he could go.
Tags: culture, enlightenment, foundationalism, irrationalism, rationalism, reason, religion, science
Can doubt be a basis for certainty?
Rene Descartes, famous French philosopher
Painting by Frans Hals
Descartes thought so.
Tags: certainty, deduction, deductive logic, doubt, empiricism, epistemic certainty, epistemology, faith, induction, inductive logic, knowledge, metaphysical certainty, omniscience, philosophy, psychological certainty, rationalism
While I agree with Miss America on the problem of eating disorders, I think more depth would be useful in thinking about it.
Tags: anorexia, battle between the sexes, bulimia, eating disorders, gender, miss america, western culture
Mr. Obama wants us to be more polite . . .
Here’s why he’s going to be disappointed—
Tags: adversarial system, bill ayers, civility, democracy, democrats, jeremiah wright, keith olbermann, morton deutsch, obama, politial correctness, republicans
The notion that God created the cosmos out of a sense of loneliness is mistaken.
Tags: creation, foreordination, free will, godhead, love, omnipotence, omnipresence, predestination, sin, suffering, theology, trinity
If there are political points to be made in the Jared Loughner incident they ought to include the obvious observation that the political left is using the story to project its own malice, motives, and mentality onto its opponents.
Mug shot of alleged Arizona shooter Jared Loughner
(AP Photo from Pima County Sheriff’s Dept. by way of The Arizona Republic)
Tags: gabrielle giffords, jared loughner
According to a Military.com article, the Army is studying use of women in combat units . . .
Article photo, which may or may not be copyrighted.
Use here in critical commentary is considered fair use.
Some would say it’s due to the shortage of men who can bear arms.
Not to worry though . . .
Tags: conscience, feminism, gender confusion, guns, virtue, women in combat
TSA may have finally passed the tipping point with its new, more intrusive searching of airline passengers.
Next stop for this elderly lady will be either
(1) a visual inspection involving virtual nakedness or
(2) hand inspection of genital and chest areas
Tags: body scanners, fourth amendment, probable cause, profiling, terrorism, TSA
Baptism is the premier rite of Christianity, yet it is often controversial among Christians.
Tags: baptism, eschatology
Few things are as controversial as the Christian doctrine of justification by faith.
Most of the controversy flows from abuses within the Roman Catholic Church. Protestantism continues to overreact to those abuses to the point of going to an opposite extreme. Some reference points in sorting out the controversy are as follows:
Tags: food laws, law-keeping, Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholics, royal law, temple of God
Sure sounds like it . . .
Consider the following:
Excerpts from ceremony for Bob Chanin,
retiring general counsel for NEA
Tags: bob chanin, labor unions, liberalism, national education association, NEA, public schools
Obamanomics undermines prosperity by “hacking” the virtual “information system” at the center of capitalism’s wealth-creating genius.
President Barack Obama, center, with members of his economic
team, speaks on the economy from the Rose Garden of the White House,
Sept. 15, 2010. http://whitehouse.gov
Tags: austan goolsbee, free market, gary locke, jeffery zients, joe biden, larry summers, macdonalds, obama, obamacare, obamanomics, shaun donovan, timothy geithner
Hopes for a post-racial America following the election of Barak Obama are fading fast.
Barak Obama and czar appointee Van Jones who was
forced to resign over his racist comments
Tags: american, black, dj, ignorant, interracial, new black panthers, people, racism, reasons to believe, regent college, relevant/neue magazine, road rage, rob norris, ross hastings, schlesinger, stephen meyer, white
Bill Maher accuses Christians of “kill thy neighbor” intolerance.
Copyrighted image. User here in critical commentary is fair use.
Click here for the YouTube video
But who’s more intolerant?
Tags: bill maher, bill o'reilly, environmentalism, intolerance, leftism, liberalism, religion, secularism
When it comes to the internet and email, are you guilty of passing on the “Poor Man’s Virus”?
The great irony in the pro-gay exploitation of Tyler Clementi’s death is that perhaps no other segment of American culture is more notorious for bullying than the gay activist crowd.
Tags: - Homosexuality, bullies, bullying, natural affections, outing, tyler clementi
The “Vibrant Dance of Faith and Science Symposium 2010″
October 26-28, 2010
Grace Covenant Church
9431 Jollyville Rd.; Austin, TX
Registration and other details (click here)
Tags: alister mcgrath, american scientific affiliation, andy crouch, biologos foundation, calvin college, christianity today magazine, dan heinze, darrel falk, deborah haarsma, Dinesh D'Souza, discovery institute, fazale rana, hill country institute for contemporary christianity, hugh ross, jack collins, reasons to believe, regent college, relevant/neue magazine, rob norris, ross hastings, stephen meyer, the christian post, the chuck colson center for christian worldview, walter bradley, walter kaiser
I was sitting in a senior manager’s office the other day and the conversation turned toward a particular company’s reputation for vulgarity.
“Is it not legal for me to do what I want with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?”– beneficent landowner to disgruntled beneficiaries
Tags: 2010 elections, capitalism, free market, socialism
What’s up with the weird weddings?
Photo of underwater wedding.
This image may be copyrighted.
User here in critical commentary is considered fair use.
Any other use may be a copyright infringement.
Tags: barak obama, christianity, gay marriage, god as father, harry reid, maturity, nancy pelosi, pelosi, reid, same-sex marriage, uncle sam, vaughn walker
What do newscasters, sociologists, political commentators, and even theologians have in common?
Answer: All claim to have “the Big Picture” …
Tags: higher criticism, historico-critical approach, historico-critical method, modernism, modernity, political pundits, post-modernism, post-modernity, psycology, sociology
Anger is an emotional strategy for gaining the upper hand in confrontations with others. Sometimes it works and sometimes it fails.
Professor Robert Solomon of UT at Austin offers some insights on anger and other emotional strategies.
Tags: Emotional Intelligence, road rage, Robert Solomon, Stanley Schachter
The “n-word”– “probably the most offensive word in English”– according to Webster’s.
As Dr. Laura discovered on her 10 August radio show.
Copyrighted image. User here in critical commentary is considered fair use.
So the cultural left got some rope and went looking for a tree.
Tags: african, american, black, cbs episode, dj, dr laura, host, ignorant, interracial, marriage, nigger, people, racism, racist, radio, schlesinger, talk, white
In 1993, Ramzi Yousef ignited a van-load of explosives in the basement of the WTC.
In 2001, lead hijacker Mohamed Atta flew a Boeing 767 into the North Tower while Marwan al-Shehhi flew another 767 into the South Tower.
Ramzi Yousef, Mohamed Atta, and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
And in 2010, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf proposes to build a mosque two blocks from the site of the now-destroyed office complex.
Tags: cordoba center, ground-zero mosque, imam feisal abdul rauf, mohamed atta, ramzi yousef, terrorism, world trade center
Procreation is an obvious advantage of heterosexual marriage over same-sex unions.
One objection though is that society approves of many heterosexual marriages in which procreation is not envisioned or even possible– so why not extend the same favor to gay and lesbian couples?
Tags: gay marriage, heterosexual marriage, procreative argument, same-sex marriage
Confused about sexuality, unfaithful to friends, fawning towards enemies, unwilling to control the borders, unable to pay the bills, unwilling to set a budget . . .
Those are just a few of the things that cloud the future of the country. Could there be a unifying thread?
Tags: christianity, enlightenment, god as father, maturity, uncle sam
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