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Monday , May 3112:05 PM Memorial Day activity (if I still lived in Hawaii):
11:59 AM The Baptist trail:
11:58 AM What Rick Warren and Jimmy Carter have in common. 11:57 AM Some 59 years after the war, meet the new axis.
11:55 AM Farewell, America.8:50 AM Mark Dankof has some wise thoughts about the Iraq War:
8:40 AM A reader linked a sermon by Ravi Zacharias that included this thought-provoking poem:
8:40 AM Stephen Yates on the SBC resolution to abandon the government school system:Read more here. 8:32 AM My interview with Robert Lloyd on WDXB will be aired this Wednesday, June 2, at www.dixiebroadcasting.com.8:30 AM Presidential candidate Michael Peroutka: 100 percent pro-life.Friday, May 28 8:53 AM Who said it?
Noah Webster, who died this day in 1843. 8:53 AM I just stumbled across this outstanding portrait of Gen. Jackson on the Southern Cause messenger board.
8:51 AM What is really controlling many Christians this election.8 :50 AM In case you're looking for a publisher....7:31 AM Planning a road trip? (Thanks to Rachel Layne for sending this link.) 7:25 AM Lee Shelton of Ever Vigilant responds to my essay "The Truth About Terrorism": Lee is doing just about as much as anyone I know for the cause of limited constitutional government. If you haven't checked out his excellent website yet, please go here. 7:15 AM Just received this wonderful report from Pastor Matt Trewhella, leader of Missionaries to the Preborn:
Thursday, May 27 10:55 AM More on Pinckney's call for an exodus from government schools, which I wholeheartedly support. 10:45 AM Why stop-loss is not only a breach of contract but slavery. 10:43 AM Bush's speech alarms even war enthusiasts. 10:40 AM Just had a very nice radio interview with Mr. Robert Lloyd of WDXB radio in Florida. We spoke about the Iraq War, the state of public education, my forthcoming book Why I Stopped Listening to Rush, and the Constitution Party and its presidential and vice-presidential candidates, Michael Peroutka and Chuck Baldwin. 9:45 AM It's been a busy time at the farm. We're just about done with the framing on the new goat barn and hope to begin putting the tin roof on this weekend. My son has also begun fencing in a new (and very large) pasture that will give us more grazing space come winter. The next big project is to construct the wood shed near Bradford Hall, then the horse barn, chicken coop, and turkey coop. Weather allowing, we intend to cut and bale more hay in the coming days. Meanwhile I am working on the syllabus for my Philippians class this summer and hope to have it posted on the seminary website early next week. It should be a fun class as we work through the book word by word and clause by clause. Tuesday, May 25 1:03 PM "Free speech" in Iraq (kudos: BATR):
12:58 PM Pastor Scott Brown on how the church can prepare men to be shepherds in their homes. 12:55 PM As my son and I were chatting yesterday he commented to me, "You know, dad, it's sad, but just about the only people who will be voting for Bush this year are evangelical Christians." The bond between Bush and evangelicals seems to be weakening, however. 12:30 PM Der Spiegel says Bush's speech had "pathos without a plan." A key excerpt:
12:05 PM Michelle Malkin on our muddled multiculturalism. 11:40 AM Did any of my fellow horsemen notice that Bush said he would keep troop strength at 138,000, which would mean "extended duty for...The Second Light CALVARY Regiment"? 11:40 AM It's all a sham:
Read more. 11:35 AM In case you're interested in modest clothing.... (hat tip: Ron Holland). 11:30 AM Clay Bennett does it again:
11:05 AM Are state schools neutral? 11:01 AM From the Mises archive: The Trouble with Public School. 9:25 AM Time to get caught up on thanks: to Linda Craft at ReMax Realty for loaning us their moving van yesterday...to my pastor and his wife, Horace and Joyce Murray, for a wonderful Sunday dinner in their lovely home...to my Intermediate Greek students for their excellent papers, one of which I am sending to our journal editor for publication...to the building and grounds crew here at the seminary for keeping our campus looking so beautiful...and to my publisher for expediting the publication of Why I Stopped Listening to Rush. Monday, May 24 8:23 AM A reader responds to my essay "Suffer the Little Children":
8:20 AM Thomas Fleming on Post-Christian America. 8:15 AM North Carolina Southern Baptists affirm value of public education. 7:03 AM Gary North on Rush Limbaugh. Saturday, May 22 7:55 AM Pictured below are Mr. Andrew Neamtu and his dear wife Corina. Andrew is a Ph.D. student of mine from Romania who will be exploring the history and background of the Romanian Bible translation of Cornulescu, comparing it with the Greek, French, German, and several English versions. Andrew passed his Ph.D. orals last Thursday with flying colors. Afterwards I treated them to their favorite restaurant and then visited with them in their beautiful apartment, where this photo was taken. Andrew has invited me to hold a pastors' conference in Cluj, Romania, where he will serve as translator.
7:45 AM Today is commencement at the seminary, and I would like to wish our graduates God's richest blessings in whatever place of ministry the Lord should lead them. It will be warm but clear for our outdoor ceremony, and I look forward to meeting the families of many graduates I've been privileged to have in my classes through the years. If I could remind them of one thing it would be this: Remember that the greatest work of the church is not the occasional burst of the miraculous, but the day-in and day-out testimony of Christian living in the monotonous and mediocre. Check your spiritual wardrobes daily, and when the outlook is darkest remember that the uplook will be brightest! Congratulations, and best wishes to all! Friday, May 21 7:30 AM Off to Trinity Academy in Raleigh to speak to their second grade class on the life of a Civil War soldier. The teacher is the daughter of one of my faculty colleagues and has just finished a unit on American history. I have special permission to bring my period musket and "couters." I always enjoy educating children and youth about the most important (and costly) conflict in our nation's tumultuous history, and especially about the noble character of such men as Lee and Jackson. Thursday, May 20 4:30 PM "The biblical model is elder-led or elder-directed congregationalism," says Baptist scholar Mark Dever. "It is biblical and it is Baptist." Read more here (PDF). 2:14 PM Glenn Ansley of www.deeperdevotion.com sent me this letter about our government school system:
8:38 AM Debbie O'Hara, one of my favorite authors on the net, thinks all the hubbub about gay marriage is misplaced.
She goes on to note what would happen if a federal marriage amendment were passed and government got into the business of defining marriage. Read "Can Government Save Marriage?" 8:35 AM Tom DeWeese, who will be a keynote speaker at the Constitution Party's National Convention, takes on the Bush administration in "Let the Patriot Act Die." 8:02 AM A surfing competition taking place in Tahiti is bringing back lots of happy memories.
Wednesday, May 19 12:25 PM Yes, you can work without a SSN. 9:55 AM From "Simply Rearing Pagans" on the proposed SBC resolution on public schools:
9:50 AM How can you tell when a nation has lost a war? In three ways, says Die Zeit:
Read more. 9:20 AM Has it come to this? Even staunch "conservatives" like George Will are now questioning the Bush doctrine. Read about it here. 6:22 AM Stephen Baskerville has a good essay on "no-fault" divorce, the power of family courts, and the child-support conundrum. 6:20 AM OK, so I've stopped listening to Rush. But this is going too far!
6:08 AM Harry Potter does Damocles. 6:05 AM Tow the line, reap the benefits. Tuesday, May 18 3:23 PM Should Rumsfeld go? No way, says this writer.
2:04 PM Nowadays it’s almost impossible to get 80 percent of anybody anywhere to agree on anything. The results of the latest poll from Iraq show that a staggering 82 percent of Iraqis "disapprove of the U.S. and allied military forces in Iraq." However skewed such polls may be, the truth is we’ve killed a lot of innocent civilians, destroyed numerous buildings, and alienated tons of Iraqis. See further, "Allies accused of breaking Geneva Conventions on civilian losses." 11:16 AM Bush's poll numbers: down and down and down they go.... 9:47 AM Ran across Lee and Jackson at Drayton Hall in South Carolina earlier this month.
8:25 AM Let the mass exodus begin! (Hat tip: Icky's blog.) 8:22 AM Before you attend that Promise Keepers conference this summer, read this. 8:20 AM Listen up, you guys. It's time to give up our narrow-minded Christian bashing. Experience is what binds us together, not theology. Got it? 8:12 AM Your Olympic competitor may be a he, a she, or a ...? 8:10 AM What right does this New Testament professor have to speak out against the Gulf War? 8:05 AM This story gives a new meaning to "lighting up." 7:34 AM From a reader:
Monday, May 17 12:40 PM The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture discusses the production of Christian novels. The money quote:
12:34 PM Peter Head of Cambridge has written a fascinating essay on some recently identified Greek Bible manuscripts. 10:04 AM Charley Reese on some black holes in Iraq. 9:43 AM The Lincoln Reconsidered Conference is fast approaching. 9:40 AM The latest from Paul Proctor:
9:22 AM Your tax dollars at work. 9:20 AM Third of U.S. Army unfit to fight. 8:10 AM A longtime reader sent this letter, along with a link to: "A Disaster, Pure and Simple."
8:05 AM Farm update: The chicks are hatching out at a furious rate, and we still have five hens sitting...got 170 bales on Saturday...more cutting and baling this week, weather permitting...who will catch the first bass at our new pond?...our new calves are doing fine so far...still can't believe how utterly quiet it is at night (except for the bull frogs down at the pond) - is this the life, or what?...upstairs porch furniture is now in place...still preparing for our first guests at Bradford Hall with great anticipation.
Thursday, May 13 8:40 AM Dr. Francis Schaeffer (The Great Evangelical Disaster,1984):
8:23 AM Strange, isn't it, that that historically accurate movie The Passion of the Christ had only Latin and Aramaic on the titulus of the cross? John 19:20 says it also had Greek. I'm not the only one with concerns about the film's accuracy.
8:10 AM This will be a great day in chapel as we commission our students who will be leaving for the mission fields of the world. How I thank God for their radical commitment to obey the Great Commission, even risking great danger in the process. May God bless, protect, use, and bless them in every way. 8:05 AM C. S. Lewis:
7:56 AM A breath of fresh air from Doug Phillip's blog:
7:35 AM Opposition to the proposed SBC resolution to encourage parents to take their children out of government schools (i.e., let parents return to their historic responsibility for the education of their own children) predictably increases. "This is not mainstream," says one opponent. Pardon the sarcasm, but "Hellooo?" Since when is radical Christianity mainstream? OK, let's continue to send our little "evangelists" to school. After all, we've been doing this for years, and look how successful we've been. It's the best of both worlds: they can become "salt and light" while developing a secular mindset. Oops, I forgot: there's no difference between Christian education and secular education! In case you're interested, here's the essay that started all this. 7:05 AM Read this sentence:
If it seems a bit strange to you, it should. It's from the world's first verb-less book. Wednesday, May 12 2:45 PM The apostle Paul was a fighter. What was his strategy?
Read "The Good Fight of Faith" by one of my all-time favorite authors. 2:43 PM Diploma mills are doing brisk business these days. But here? 1:45 PM Colonel Paul Hughes, the first director of strategic planning in Iraq after the war, said: "Here I am, 30 years later, thinking we will win every fight and lose the war, because we don't understand the war we are in." Read "Iraq: Time for Exit Strategy?" 12:15 PM I'll admit it: I'm a proselytizer for the Constitution Party. With only 173 days to go before the election I believe it's time to speak boldly about the evils of our two-party system. If you are open to considering an alternative, might I ask you to visit Michael Peroutka's website and read "What Others Say"? It'll help you better understand why so many of us "conservatives" have left the conservative movement for the CP. 11:58 AM I'm glad to report that the calves arrived at Rosewood Farm in great shape. Not having a cattle trailer, my son, ever the inventive one, secured our large dog kennel to the top of our Hardee trailer. It did the job just fine - and saved us the expense of buying a trailer we would use only a couple of times each year. My wife has decided to name the calves alphabetically - A to Z - so we can keep track of which calf we got when. I can't wait to see them next time I get out to the farm. Meanwhile some folks from California took a long look at our Oxford property. There may be an offer in the making. We'll see.... After all, we were living on the Left Coast when we bought the home back in 1998. 11:56 AM Today's chapel message was delivered by my friend and former student Finney Matthews of Alpha Ministries, India, whose Board I have the privilege of serving on along with Dr. Paige Patterson of Southwestern Seminary and Dr. Bill Bennett, our campus chaplain. The work of Alpha Ministries in northern India has grown despite tremendous persecution. Finney's message from Acts 4 was a stirring cry for the church to remain bold in the midst of political and spiritual opposition. To listen, go to the seminary's website: www.sebts.edu. 9:14 AM Malcolm Muggeridge, at the beginning of his autobiography, wrote:
I thought of those words as I received in the mail last night the page proofs to my book Why I Stopped Listening to Rush: Confessions of a Recovering Neocon. The account is an incomplete overview of my pilgrimage from Republican "conservatism" to the new patriot movement afoot in the land. Once I have reviewed the proofs and the cover, the book will go to press. When Socrates took the hemlock rather than submit to the dominant philosophy of his day, he did so with the full conviction that in this battle nothing less than the survival of Western civilization was at stake. Today, human civilization itself is at stake. I make no claims to say anything new about our culture wars in my little tome, but I am profoundly concerned about how people think. I rarely get as excited about a book as I am about this one. It joins many others in trying to get to the root of the crisis we face in America. Look for it to be available this summer. 8:04 AM Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, in his report on the Abu Ghraib prison, found that between October and December of 2003 there were numerous instances of "sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses." This systematic and illegal abuse of detainees, Taguba reported, was perpetrated by soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company and also by members of the American intelligence community. Taguba’s report listed some of the wrongdoing:
Some people at that Iraqi prison say that American torture even led to death. In November, Staff Sgt Ivan L. Frederick II, a 37-year-old MP with years of experience as a prison guard in Virginia, wrote that an Iraqi prisoner under the control of what the Abu Ghraib guards called "O.G.A.," or other government agencies—the C.I.A. and its paramilitary employees—was brought to his unit for questioning. "They stressed him out so bad that the man passed away. They put his body in a body bag and packed him in ice for approximately twenty-four hours in the shower. . . . The next day the medics came and put his body on a stretcher, placed a fake IV in his arm and took him away." The dead Iraqi was never entered into the prison’s inmate-control system, Frederick recounted, "and therefore never had a number." Murder is murder, abuse is abuse, whether committed by Iraqis or Americans. 7:57 AM You know the church is in trouble when most of its ministers use a paraphrase in their work. 7:15 AM Tomorrow night I plan to host at my Oxford home some 60-70 dedicated Christian missionaries on their "American Atrocities Tour," a four-state (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia), 18-city campaign being conducted by Missionaries to the Preborn from May 10th - 21st, 2004. The tour will stop in:
At each stop, the missionaries will line the streets with large five foot photographs of murdered preborn babies. The photographic display will include babies killed by abortion in ALL THREE TRIMESTERS, as abortion is legal in all three trimesters in America. They will also pass out 100,000 pieces of literature during the twelve day Tour which expose the atrocities committed against the preborn. Since 1973, after the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, over 42 million preborn babies have been killed by abortion here in the United States. Now the people of Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro, and Charlotte will be able to see for themselves exactly what a preborn child looks like after he or she has been in the hands of an abortionist. I fully support this effort, led by Pastor Matt Trewhella. For more information, please see his website. 7:07 AM Say what? 6:50 AM To my best friend: Happy Birthday!
Tuesday, May 11 5:50 PM Bush debates Bush. Hilarious! 3:15 PM Tim Melvin has written a truly remarkable article on the family. An excerpt:
Read "Turning the Hearts of the Fathers." 3:10 PM Here is one habit I need to cultivate. 2:58 PM This response to a recent blog posting is a good reminder that we all struggle with our bodies, though in different ways.
2:35 PM This week marks the anniversary of Stonewall Jackson's death. I cannot think long about this great American without tears welling up in my eyes. In the lament I published last year, I cited some of Jackson's more famous aphorisms. My favorite is undoubtedly this one: “Duty is ours; consequences are God’s.” Requiescat in pacem, dear General.
2:30 PM The latest "extreme" sport? 2:15 PM Any minute now my wife and son will be picking up our new calves from a farm in western Virginia. We plan to raise several each year, butchering two for their meat each fall. We could probably make do with just one for our family's beef needs, which means we can sell the meat from one cow. Eventually our plan is to sell farm-fresh chicken, goats, cows, and turkeys to anyone who wants to KNOW what the animal they purchase has eaten. Oh, did I mention the farm-fresh eggs?
12:33 PM Last week I returned to light weight lifting after a hiatus of several months due to shoulder surgery. It feels great to get back to the gym, and I enjoy (and have missed) the special comradeship among lifters here at Southeastern. In my opinion, you’re never too old, too overweight, or too out of shape to start weight training. In a Tuft’s University study, the participants (all of whom were over 50) increased their daily energy expenditure by 15% through just 30 minutes of light weight training three days a week. Even though they ate about 350 more calories per day, the subjects lost an average of 4 pounds of fat over the 12-week training period. The message? We can turn the clock back. The only question is: Are we willing? To me this question is all the more important in light of the disturbing numbers of overweight students I encounter every day on campus. Why should obesity characterize so many Southern Baptists? In my search for an answer to this question I ran across an interesting Purdue University study of religion and body weight which found that religious people are more likely to be overweight than are nonreligious people. Sociology Professor Kenneth Ferraro found the correlation between being overweight and being religious was statistically significant regardless of a person’s choice of faith. The findings, published in the March 1998 edition of the journal Review of Religious Research, came from analyzing data collected in two national surveys. “The religious lifestyle has long been considered a healthy one, with its constraints on sexual promiscuity, alcohol and tobacco use,” Ferraro says. “However, overeating may be one sin that pastors and priests regularly overlook. And as such, many firm believers may have not-so-firm bodies.” Ferraro doesn't say that religions intentionally promote higher body weight, but two factors may be at work. “American churches are virtually silent on excess body weight, despite a Biblical dictate for moderation in all things,” he says. “In the Book of Proverbs, gluttony is listed with drunkenness as a sign of moral weakness, but few religious groups have any proscriptions against overeating.” At the same time, he points out, most religions promote acceptance. “Overweight people may find comfort in religious settings. Temples, synagogues and churches may provide an important source of acceptance in the midst of a society that highly values fit bodies,” Ferraro says. And, while being overweight was a tendency across all religions, “Baptists tended to be the heaviest, with Jewish, Moslem and Buddhist groups the least overweight.” So, with your doctor's approval, I encourage you to begin exercising today. Weight training is a good option, if you've never considered it before. Sessions of about an hour in length, two or three times a week, will get anyone off to a good start; even many experienced weight lifters don’t invest more time than this. Lifting is one of the best things you can do for your metabolism, and whether you wind up eagerly awaiting each workout or just cheerfully tolerating it as necessary maintenance, it will almost certainly give you a stronger, leaner body, and more energy. Not a bad return on the investment of about 3 hours a week, including showers! 12:29 PM Alexander Strauch's pamphlet on biblical eldership and church leadership is available online free of charge. It remains perhaps the most readable and Scriptural overview of New Testament principles of eldership ever written. 9:52 AM David Hackworth on the prison scandal:
Read more. 9:50 AM Just read this excellent essay on the "Deceitfulness of the Heart" by (of all people) David Black (d. 1806). 9:48 AM John Muether has a good essay on why we don't read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress anymore - and why we should. A sampling:
8:55 AM A reader just sent in this response to John Notgrass's essay "If John Kerry Was President":
Since we're being purists today, I would remind my readers of the following rules for English composition:
8:40 AM The Constitution Party's presidential nominee Michael Peroutka has just picked up another major endorsement, this time from K.C. McAlpin, the Executive Director of the U.S. Immigration Reform Political Action Committee - "a national committee that unites the concerns of the vast majority of the American people who want to see their immigration laws enforced - and want to see common sense limits put on immigration, and things done to, for instance, to stop the threat of terrorism." At least Peroutka is willing to face squarely our "Immigration Madness." 7:17 AM Rosewood Farm update: Yesterday, with the help of some seminary students (from Ghana and Kenya) we moved furniture up to the farm, including a late 1800s grand piano that four men could barely lift. It's still in beautiful condition, and most of its keys still operate. We are now preparing to receive our first guests at Bradford Hall - two pastors and their families. Monday, May 10 7:52 AM Ask for permission first, then pray. 7:30 AM The latest on the SBC resolution on government schools may be found here. 7:10 AM A reader's email alerted me to this timely quote by Mark Twain:
7:05 AM It was great to be back at my home church in southern Virginia after being away for several weeks preaching elsewhere. After the service I took my wife to her favorite restaurant for Mother's Day to enjoy Ethiopian food. This weekend was as busy as ever. Got a good deal on a hay mower we had been looking for for some time. Looks like it's shaping up to be a good week to cut and bale. The big news is that on Tuesday we are getting our first cows (calves, that is), which we will raise for meat. Today I've a got a moving van, and some students will be helping me move our heaviest furniture and our organ/pianos to the farm. Thursday, May 6 8:57 AM Baptists were not always so loath to practice church discipline. 8:22 AM Have you noticed how beautiful it is today in central North Carolina? Somebody needs to take a nice long ride this afternoon.
8:20 AM Tom Ascol asks "Why Work for Reformation within the Southern Baptist Convention?" 8:18 AM "India Undaunted" brought back many happy memories of my weeklong ministry to Indian pastors in the state of Kerala. 8:16 AM La historia muestra dónde la conciencia y la tradición chocan, la mayoría del pueblo de Dios van con la tradición. Ahora mismo, la pregunta está delante de la casa... ¿Qué va a hacer usted? Read El Cristianismo Pagano. 8:10 AM District 4 Superintendent Dr. Gary Burgess said, "She has been placed on paid administrative leave. We are investigating and I cannot comment further at this time." The parent who brought the concerns to the district, John Cummings, said, "This is a district matter between the district and its employee. If people want the truth they will contact the district." Guess what this teacher's crime was? 8:07 AM To my Greek students: for an excellent and succinct guide to the textual variants in the Greek New Testament, go here.
7:57 AM WND just ran a report about the downward slide of church attendance in America. At The Baptist Banner website, T. C. Pinckney addresses this issue head on:
Read "Who should join a Southern Baptist church?". 7:14 AM NPR aired a magnificent report this morning on one-minute miler Roger Bannister and the "Perfect Mile" - the match race between Bannister and John Landy. Read about it here. Inspiring!
Wednesday, May 5 9:14 AM "The administration's chronic rejection of good advice has already been revealed as the primary cause for the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of Americans in Iraq, not to mention thousands of Iraqis. History will not be kind to Mr. Bush." So writes Karen Kwiatkowski. 9:05 AM Writes Walter Williams:
Read "Poor education prognosis." 8:23 AM An investor group headed by Al Gore is launching a news network that will offer "irreverent and bold" programming for young adults. Hmmm, just what that narcissistic generation needs. Kyle Williams suggests a better use of time. 7:52 AM Please pray for the Telg family. 7:50 AM The prisoner abuse in Iraq has been going on for some time. An excerpt from a report by Major General Antonio Taguba reads:
Meanwhile, as the scandal widens, the outrage in the Middle East is only beginning. America has never been more hated in the Arab world. Tragedy is, we're all capable of such brutal behavior. 7:44 AM Employee fired for using the H word. 7:03 AM Many Americans incorrectly think that the festivities of Cinco de Mayo, held each May 5th, are a celebration of the independence of Mexico. Among other things, Cinco de Mayo is a reminder of how a native populace can thwart a formidable invading army. France brought 4,500 troops and began marching inland on its war of occupation. Their objective was to occupy Mexico City. Gen Latrille, commanding the French troops, was informed that the French would be welcomed with open arms in Puebla and that the local clergy would shower them with blossoms and would offer a special Te Deum in their honor. Mexican President Juarez assigned the defense of Puebla to Gen. Ignacio Zaragoza. Encountering unexpected opposition on May 5, 1862, Latrille attacked recklessly, and within two hours the French had expended half of their ammunition. The decisive action of the day was carried out by young Brigadier Gen. Porfirio Diaz, who repelled a determined assault on Zaragoza's right flank. The invaders, witnesses of more glorious days in Crimea, retreated to lick their wounds in Orizaba. That's how May 5 was added to the calendar of holidays in Mexico. Any lessons here today for another invading army that is facing an extremely hostile and proud populace? Tuesday, May 4 9:24AM Just what we need: another Bible version. 7:29 AM The BBC today is running a survey on what people think the legacy of Margaret Thatcher should be. Well, other than the fact that she could live on five hours of sleep, I would applaud the fact that she embraced traditional American values such as freedom and limited government, unlike her current British counterpart, who leads the avowedly socialist Labour Party and who, like Bush, is recasting society into a socialist democracy. But above all I will remember Margaret Thatcher for cutting British taxes in half, for getting rid of Britain’s insidious exchange controls, and for giving public sector tenants the right to buy their houses off their local government. That there is plenty of legacy for any politician, if ya ask me. 7:22 AM I wish Devvy Kidd would learn how to get to the point:
By the way, if you think this is "unhelpful conservative bashing," wait till you read what Bill Sizemore has to say. 7:16 AM The latest from Eric Margolis:
Monday, May 3 12:30 PM Looks like we preachers aren't the only ones guilty of etymologizing. Mel Gibson writes in the "Foreword" to The Passion (Tyndale House, 2004):
Hmmm, let's see here. We need to "unforget" in a "spiritual way" that can be "experienced" but not "articulated." This interpretation of aletheia would certainly be news to Bauer or any other New Testament lexicographer I'm aware of. Gibson's film, it seems to me, is a good example of postmodern thinking. Postmodernism has the following features:
Perhaps this explains the popularity of the film among evangelicals, with a few exceptions, of course. 11:53 AM Last Sunday's service in Roxboro was age-integrated as far as I could tell. If you are working through this issue of age-integrated worship, youth ministry, children's' church, etc., this author has some excellent advice, written in the form of a letter to a pastor. It has an upbeat and positive tone. You could read it and then perhaps pass it on to your own pastor. A key excerpt:
11:30 AM USA Patriot Act naysayers up to 300 ... and counting. My take? Go here. 10:24 AM Just a miscellaneous thought, but it seems like we got a ton of rain this weekend, though the weather is starting to clear, which means we can go ahead with attending to the horses' needs (hoofs and molars) this afternoon even if the pasture will be a bit soggy. When you live in the country you never take the rain for granted, especially when you've just planted corn, beans, and sunflowers. After several years of drought in southern Virginia we are almost back to normal water levels, and each rain storm brings much needed moisture to the region. Today I was reminded of Matthew 5:43-45: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." This verse is sometimes quoted out of context, as if rain were a punishment. Rain is not to be seen as trouble or as an inconvenience. Jesus' words were spoken to people living in a land with low rainfall, people who depended on rain for their survival. To them, rain was a picture of God's blessings. God is like that - He just keeps opening the big ol' spigot of heaven and pours out blessings upon us day after day. Lobe den Herrn!
9:50 AM Heard the one about the panda who walked into a cafe, ordered a sandwich, ate it, then pulled out a gun and shot the waiter? "Why?" groaned the injured man. The panda shrugged, tossed him a badly punctuated wildlife manual, and walked out. When the waiter consulted the book, he found an explanation. "Panda," ran the entry for his assailant. "Large black and white mammal native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves." Neat reminder of the importance of correct punctuation. Problem is, what's good punctuation in Great Britain doesn't work in the U.S. (the use or non-use of the serial comma is a good example). 9:43 AM A recent Pew Report chronicles how Americans translate on-line community and interest groups into off-line social relationships. Howard Dean was even able to create something resembling a movement around progressive politics. An interesting glimpse from the report:
8:05 AM Had another very good Lord's Day, this time in historic Roxboro, NC, at the Front Street Baptist Church, which is heroically carrying on an inner-city ministry to the largely ethnic community in which it is located. I spoke on "Jesus and the Age 30 Transition" (a call to radical obedience) and afterwards dined with this small yet vibrant congregation. The pastor, Lance Murphy, is a student of mine at the seminary and is currently taking my Intermediate Greek course on 1 Timothy. We share many interests. He grew up on a farm riding horses and is also a member of the Roxboro Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp, where I spoke recently. I also met many church members who were keenly interested in the Hunley funeral. I pointed them to the numerous photos of the event published at Dixie Daily News. This weekend my son and I were able to complete the stairs and loft on our new goat pen. So all in all, a busy and productive weekend. This week's goals are to trim the horses feet, file their molars, and put the siding up on the barn. If you enjoy the outdoors as much as we do you might like this brief essay on farm life I recently stumbled across surfing the net. It's from the September 23, 1871, edition of Harpers Weekly.
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