Even Stars Have Bad Days
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
Join me in mourning the passing of William F. Buckley, Jr. (HT Oil)"For people of my generation, Bill Buckley was pretty much the first intelligent, witty, well-educated conservative one saw on television. He legitimized conservatism as an intellectual movement and therefore as a political movement."
When asked what he would do if he won the race, Buckley issued his classic response, "I'd demand a recount." During one televised debate, Buckley declined to use his allotted rebuttal time and instead replied, "I am satisfied to sit back and contemplate my own former eloquence."
I was browsing my TiVo guide recently and came across VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders. I share them with you because they took me on a trip down memory lane and I invite you to join me on that journey."If the end of our struggle is a 2500 square foot four bedroom, two and half bath, two car garage in the suburbs then our struggle and view of history is a dismal failure."
Read how Good Ideas Distract Groups From Generating Great Ideas."Sunday worship service is not useless to children just because much of it goes over their heads. They can and will grow into this new language faster than we think—if positive and happy attitudes are fostered by the parents."
"If my so-called confession extends beyond a very specific (acknowledgement of sin) sentence or two, then I am most likely excusing my sin, and requesting understanding for my sin, rather than sincerely asking forgiveness because of my sin."
6. Because it arouses sinful passions, the Law itself is evil and sinful (Rom 7:7).
"Christians have an obligation to the most vulnerable members of our society to elect politicians who have both a robust view of human dignity and the temerity to govern accordingly. We betray this duty when we downplay the role the executive branch in advancing the pro-life cause. Judges and legislators matter; but presidents matter too."
Read Abraham Piper on Listening to God through Other People.
The following is an article I wrote that came out today in the local paper, The Murphy Messenger.
I recently came across a list of suggested "awkward" questions friends should ask one another to encourage each other unto godliness.
Recently, I came across the following 8 questions, some of which I've also wondered about."2. The partisan divide: Politicians have been promising to bridge the divisions in Washington ever since Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton. It's a lot harder than it looks."
"It took our in-house financial guru decades to learn these wealth-building rules. It'll take you about 10 minutes"
Read James Galyon's accolades for Bob Fu, a leading advocate for the persecuted Church in China who won the John Leland Religious Liberty Award.
"One In, One Out: Avoid clutter by adopting a replacement-only standard. Every time you but something new, you throw out or donate something old. For example, you buy a new shirt, you get rid of an old one. (Variation: One in, Two Out — useful when you begin to feel overwhelmed by your possessions.)"
"10. I often like to pray for people I meet; how can I pray for you?"
"The fastest way for a preacher to get fired from a conservative Southern church today is to sanction interracial marriages from the pulpit."
"It isn’t the money that is boosting Obama. Rather, it’s the fact that he is a strong candidate that is attracting both the money and the votes."
"Kisses can convey important information about the status and future of a relationship. At the extreme, a bad first kiss can abruptly curtail a couple’s future."
“Exegesis is never an end in itself. Its purposes are never fully realized until it begins to take into account the problems of transferring what has been learned from the text over to the waiting Church.” (p. 149)
"11. All that stuff that’s stressing you out — it won’t matter in 5 years, let alone 15. When things are happening to you right now, they mean all the world. I had deadlines and projects and people breathing down my neck, and my stress levels went through the roof. I don’t regret the hard work (see above) but I think I would have been less stressed if I could have just realized that it wouldn’t matter a single bit just a few years down the road. Perspective is a good thing to learn."
"This movie is not your typical chick flick. Most chick flicks have no turns or surprises, hardly any depth and I never feel what the characters are feeling."
Read as Garth Sundem reveals how to make better decisions."With Valentine's Day around the corner, don't trust your instincts when it comes to selecting a mate. Human decision making is seriously flawed - but it can be fixed with a few simple sums."
"Single men and women can't have sex for 30 days, and married couples are urged to have it every day."
"It is for these reasons, among others, that many early Baptists rejected the label Anabaptist."
"It is too common to see people today that are “dating” a church out of selfish convenience and in some instances it’s not uncommon to see people who are “two-timing” with another church or another ministry."
Scope out Bruce Tomaso's Bible Love Quiz.7. Hosea once purchased his wife, Gomer, with what currency?
- Silver
- Barley
- Wine
- All of the above
"There is only one anti-bias law — the one against discrimination based on age — that would cover all nine Supreme Court justices, if such laws applied to them."
The first time, I let it go. But now I'm really disturbed.
Earlier that very same day I had heard Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" on KLTY, one of the local "Christian" stations. I had heard it reported that they played it, but my blood still boiled when I heard it.
But, hearing "I Can Only Imagine" on "regular" radio motivates me to ask: Are these helpful labels anymore (i.e., "secular" and "Christian") when it comes to music? Were they ever?"... few would dare make a pejorative comment about Barack Obama’s race or Hillary Clinton’s sex. Yet it would be easy to get away with deriding Mike Huckabee’s religious faith.
Bleeding-heart liberals could accomplish far more if they reached out to build common cause with bleeding-heart conservatives."
I wonder if the whole “excellence in praise and worship music” phenomenon we’ve seen over the past few years—for all the good it’s done—hasn’t also had some less-than-desirable effects on young Christians. I wonder if it hasn’t created a generation of functional mystics who gauge their relationship with God by emotional experience rather than the objective reality of redemption.
...
I am really afraid that we’ve managed to create a generation of anemic Christians who are spiritually dependent on excellent music. Their sense of spiritual well-being is based on feeling “close to God,” their feeling close to God is based on their “ability to worship,” and being able to worship depends on big crowds singing great music.
"I think it's sad you people believe in that stuff."
"How has the prince of pandering attained such a chokehold on the American viewer? What dark magic does he wield? After all these years, is it time for comedy snobs to accept that Leno’s reign is not a fluke—that his combination of skills and style is, in some baffling but real way, better than Letterman’s?"
Read about NASA sending the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" to outer space."Amazing! Well done, NASA!" McCartney said in a message to the space agency. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."
Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, characterized the song's transmission as a significant event.
"I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe," she said.
"24, which debuted shortly after 9/11, captured a cultural moment. Jack Bauer was more than the hero we needed, he was the answer to our prayers. No matter what terrorists, drug dealers, and recalcitrant family members threw at him, Jack struck back calmly, elegantly and with deadly force.
But by the sixth, and most recent, season, Jack's strikes became harder to condone. In fact, his tendency to break fingers, shoot kneecaps, and administer pain-causing drugs to elicit information seemed uncomfortably like, well, torture."
"Have you ever started to switch lanes while driving, only to notice at the last second that a car is lurking in your blind spot? Yeah, you know the feeling. It takes everything in you not to let out a high-pitched, banshee-like scream of terror. We've got blind spiritual blind spots as well, and we need the faithful correction of friends to open our eyes."
"8. You probably need to run. Just look at yourself."
"Yeah, I knew he used a Dell, but I never thought he would in public. It has really devastated many of our church planters," stated Darren Patrick, pastor of The Journey in St. Louis.
Presenter: What happened in Dallas on November 22,1963?
Contestant: I don't know, I wasn't watching it then.
Those were the days when children played on their own for hours while adults spent Sunday afternoons in conversation. The church seemed like one big family, said Hamilton, the 44-year-old pastor of Springfield Church of the Brethren in Akron.
"First, let’s try to avoid the proliferation of a trendy, almost Gnostic, vocabulary to express things which, frankly, have been regarded as part and parcel of Christian common sense for generations."
"The decision erased Nebraska's distinction as the only state with electrocution as its sole means of execution. State courts are left with the ability to sentence people to death but no way to carry out the penalty."
Shortly after becoming pregnant, Stepney of Cheam in South-West London was taken to the hospital after suffering what was believed to be a miscarriage. Soon doctors realized she was still pregnant, but had developed life-threatening cervical cancer. Stepney declined to have an abortion and doctors at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London agreed to give her reduced chemotherapy in the hope of stopping the cancer spreading during the pregnancy.
But it wasn't the chemo that ultimately saved Stepney. "I couldn't believe it when the doctors told me that the babies had dislodged the tumor," she said. "I'd felt them kicking, but I didn't realize just how important their kicking would turn out to be. I owe my life to my girls, and that's why I could have never agreed with a termination."
Vote for the new Texas license plate for 2009. Voting ends 2/11 at noon. (HT Oilcan)"Complacency is the enemy of a good leader. If God says go for it, stick your neck out! Never stop depending on the Lord. Stop coasting. Take some risks in faith. Push the envelope. Attempt something that cannot be explained in the power of the flesh. Say to yourself, “What am I going to try in my ministry this next year that I know is bound to fail unless God bails me out?” Unless God is your only safety net, you’re not truly living by faith. Depend on the Lord."
“Remembering a Pioneer”- - - - - - - - -From a letter George Leile wrote to Dr. Rippon of London in 1891:
"I cannot tell what is my age, as I have no account of the time of my birth; but I suppose I am about 40 years old. I have a wife and four children. My wife was baptized by me in Savannah, and I have every satisfaction in life from her. She is much the same age as myself. My eldest son is 19 years, my next son 17, the third fourteen, and the last child a girl of 11 years. They are all members of the church. My occupation is a farmer, but as the seasons in this part of the country are uncertain, I also keep a team of horses and wagons for the carrying of goods from one place to another, which I attend myself, with the assistance of my sons, and by this way of life have gained the good will of the public, who recommend me to business and to some very principal work for Government. I have a few books, some good old authors and sermons, and one large Bible that was given me by a gentleman. A good many of our members can read and are all desirous to learn. They will be very thankful for a few books to read on Sundays and other days. I agree to election, redemption, the fall of Adam, regeneration and perseverance, knowing the promise is to all who endure, in grace, faith and good works to the end, shall be saved."
“He often preached on Sunday evenings at the Kiokee [Baptist] Church, and his preaching was received by black and white alike. Leile was hesitant about seeking church membership because of his color, but his master encouraged him and was in fact even more delighted to discover that he seemed to have a gift for preaching.” (p. 585)
“George Leile was a gifted evangelistic preacher who knew how to present the gospel in the language of his people.” (p. 586)
"The JBU traces its beginning to George Leile, a 'free black slave' from Atlanta Georgia who came to Jamaica in 1783 and started preaching in Kingston. His work grew and spread to other parts of the island. The Baptist Missionary Society (UK) was invited to support the work, and in 1814 they sent the first missionary to the island. The ministry continued to grow and expand under the British."
They're blogging (about) the conference if you want to check it out.
Being a part of the paparazzi who pounces on "The Pipe" et al for a photo op
Getting better acquainted with men I have primarily known online (e.g., Tom Ascol (pictured) and Abraham Piper)."I believe that Christian men and women who are unmarried (and are not called to a life of chastity) have certain present obligations to their future spouse."
Familiar with the "Motivational" posters? Check out these attempts to have fun with the Emerging peeps. They're in alphabetical order, but my favorites were POSTMODERN and UNITY."In fact, it was that possibility, that I could somehow serve pastors, members of Sovereign Grace churches and anyone who wanted to listen in, that eventually persuaded me to begin this blog. So, I hope in some small way this does serve you and if not then we will simply close it down and I will hold my well-meaning friends responsible."
16. You brag that you have never been pinned down theologically on any issue.
13. You are offended when someone says they are going to “Preach the Gospel” or “Teach the truth” believing they should just “Tell a story.”
"A lonely Japanese man has been arrested for allegedly calling directory assistance thousands of times because he liked to be scolded by female operators"
"I fear that the visible church is only visible on Sundays and Wednesdays, and even then it is not the church which is visible, but rather just the gathering of cars in a parking lot! Now, I don’t claim to have the perfect answer, or any grand words of wisdom or a deep, profound insight into how the visible church can actually become more visible to the world, but I do have one small suggestion:
* Do more things in public with your church body so that the world will see you together with one another."
On the eve of Super Tuesday, read about how Democrats & Republicans use different methods to pick a nominee. (Now, if someone could just explain to me the difference between a caucus and a primary ...)"The delegate selection process is designed to keep the campaign going for as long as possible" among Democrats"
"Q: Was anyone willing to talk openly about the “walk of shame"?
A: Several of the students I interviewed mentioned the “walk of shame,” which refers to a college student, usually female, walking home the next morning after a hookup encounter in the same outfit he/she was wearing the evening prior. Given that students dress differently for “going out” at night than during the daytime, it is obvious to onlookers when a student is doing the walk of shame. One of many interesting things about this phrase is that students use the word “shame” at all. If students accept hooking up and believe that “everybody’s doing it,” then why do they use the term shame when referencing a hookup encounter? I think that phrase actually underscores an important issue: Many students are struggling with the hookup system. For those students who are having trouble making sense of it all, I hope my book will help shed some light on both what is happening and why it is happening."
