Wow. If you have a few minutes, sit down and read this article about the contemporary American Bible-publishing business (thanks to HoldOn2YourHope for the tip). The author is skilled and well-researched, and you will come away with a fairly impartial glimpse of (one facet of) "commercialist/consumerist christianity."

...though that one glimpse might be a little too much to stomach.

Will Keith Ellison be the first Congressman to be sworn into office on the Quran rather than the Bible? This article by Dennis Prager is very interesting...

Also, is Jesus a 'King'?   And if so, what is He King of?? A spiritual kingdom? (yes...)  A political kingdom? (not yet...)  Is "exclusive commitment to the exclusive authority of Christ" an improper attitude for Christians to hold, as this theologian seems to think? What does that phrase even mean?

"Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?"

Jesus answered, "Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?"

Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?"

Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm."

Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?"

Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." "

John 18:33-37

How does one draw the line between "militant terrorists" and "innocent civilian bystanders"?

Perhaps in some parts of the world it's impossible to draw that line?

Any thoughts?

"...a choice between peace at any price and a peace worth having..."   ...interesting article.

Let's keep our European brethren in prayer... this article shows some of the deep issues they're currently wrestling with... and we will be wrestling with soon ourselves, if we're not already.

Two fascinating articles -

One by Democrat Orson Scott Card, famous author of the "Ender's Game" series and other works, about why he is going to vote for the Republicans this election...

And a thought-provoking justification behind Cox and Forkum's latest (extremely perspicacious) (and hilarious as always) political cartoon...

 Wow, this is really strange.   And sad.  It's interesting how it's hard to get the full/accurate perspective on war events until years afterward (cf. USA War for Independence, Civil War, WWI, WWII, Vietnam, etc).   Who knows how much more crucial information we're missing about current world conflicts...

God knows.

"...there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!" 

- -  Jesus Christ

It is quite plausible that Jesus Christ knew what He was talking about.

For a very sobering, hard-hitting (you have been warned), and insightful look at the "lower class" and increasingly "criminal" parts of the innercities of France, read Theodore Dalrymple's essay The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris.   Note that his essay was written in 2002, long before last year's (and this year's) riots and burnings of thousands of cars.

It makes one weep, to see the utter hopelessness of the vicious downward spiral.  "Who is adequate" to help?  Only the return of the Prince of Peace can "clean up this mess".

Furthermore, to my knowledge this anarchy-disease is not confined to France (though it may be currently more advanced there than elsewhere).   It is the modern innercity, where the confluence of many harmful forces (godless schools, broken families, poverty, crime, Islam/Islamism, and more) is dragging down an entire generation.

How shall we then live?   If we are honest, and if we are ready to lose our lives so that we may find them, perhaps we will... engage.

This is honestly very scary.  But don't ignore God's call.   Don't consider yourself "too important" to sacrifice yourself.  I also will try to do likewise.

Several fascinating articles I came across today:

1. This post by Al Mohler mentions the growing numbers of schools (and kindergartens!) allowing "transgendered" children in school, and catering to them extensively (essentially imposing their worldview upon the other children). The question that immediately comes to my mind is the age-old "Should we engage or disengage?" ...i.e., how much is enough, before one takes one's children out to homeschool them rather than leaving them in to 'have a godly influence'?

2. Another post by Mohler mentions that married couples are now a minority of couples in the USA. This is a thought-provoking milestone in our national moral decline, to say the least...

3. This article by Richard Fernandez (quoting Dershowitz and Arbour) contains a very insightful analysis of the current moral dilemma faced by the United Nations and by those who look to the UN to solve the world's problems. Most of the post is excerpted below:

"Is National Self Defense a War Crime?" Asks Alan Dershowitz in a op-ed in Canada’s National Post. The answer says Dershowitz is "yes" if you ask Louise Arbour, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and currently the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, for so long as national self defense entails the risk of inflicting collateral damage. Dershowitz rejects her position and goes on to argue that:

"Democracies simply cannot protect their citizens against terrorist attacks of the kind launched by Hezbollah without some foreseeable risk to civilians. There cannot be any absolute prohibition against such self-defensive military actions so long as they are proportional to the dangers and reasonable efforts are made to minimize civilian casualties."

Barbour's thinking has set up a wholly secular equivalent of the Problem of Evil. If we remove the term "God" from the standard proposition and replace it with appropriately secular terms we have this restatement:

Barbour's Dilemma is the problem of reconciling the existence of oppressive regimes, genocide and mass slaughter in a world governed by a wholly benevolent, pacifistic, nonviolent and impotent United Nations.

If the United Nations is benevolent then it cannot tolerate the existence of a Rwanda, Congo, North Korea or a Darfur. But if it attempts to stop these atrocities then inevitably it must inflict some collateral damage which will cause some people to die and that, according to Barbour, is a War Crime. There is no way out of the paradox and the system is in logical self-contradiction. Unlike the real problem of evil, a theodicy is not allowed as a solution to Barbour's Dilemma.because in a secular context, no meta-solutions are allowed by invoking a God who can make amends for everything or whose true nature we cannot completely understand. Those transcendant quantities cannot exist in Barbour's secular universe. They might exist in a religious universe, but not in the United Nations'.

There are also other problems with the UN hegemony...  where does the source of moral legitimacy for any enforcement arise, whether 'collateral damage' is done or not?   What right does any human have to 'impose morality' of any kind whatsoever upon a fellow human?   ...or, from whence does that right come?

There's another discussion I'm participating in at http://www.xanga.com/ArgumentsFromtheRight/537648500/item.html that is delving into questions of 'secular morality', if you're interested and have some time.

I learned a cool new word today - "crenellated".

Kinda makes you wish you went to a university like this, eh?   ...where "diversity" is "tolerated" and "free speech" is "championed."