Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

LETTERS OF C.S. LEWIS TO A SPIRITUAL SEEKER (SHELDON VANAUKEN) - NOW ONLINE

1977 saw the publication of a book that rocked the evangelical world and beyond.  I am referring to Sheldon Vanauken's A Severe Mercy.  The book is still in print, as well it should be.  The current edition carries this descriptive blurb on the back cover:

This acclaimed story traces the idyllic marriage of Sheldon and Jean Vanauken, their search for faith, their friendship with C.S. Lewis, and the tragedy of untimely death and love lost.  It includes 18 letters by C.S. Lewis.

That's not bad, but better and more complete is this description (from the Amazon.com website):

A Severe Mercy, by Sheldon Vanauken, is a heart-rending love story described by its author as "the spiritual autobiography of a love rather than of the lovers." Vanauken chronicles the birth of a powerful pagan love borne out of the relationship he shares with his wife, Davy, and describes the growth of their relationship and the dreams that they share. As a symbol of their love, they name their dream schooner the Grey Goose, "for the grey goose, if its mate is killed flies on alone and never takes another."

While studying at Oxford, Sheldon and Davy develop a friendship with C.S. Lewis, under whose influence and with much intellectual scrutiny they accept the Christian doctrine. As their devotion to God intensifies, Sheldon realizes that he is no longer Davy's primary love--God is. Within this discovery begins a brewing jealousy.

Shortly after, Davy acquires a fatal illness. After her death Sheldon embarks on an intense experience of grief, "to find the meaning of it, taste the whole of it ... to learn from sorrow whatever it had to teach." Through painstaking reveries, he comes to discover the meaning of "a mercy as severe as death, a severity as merciful as love." He learns that her death "had these results: It brought me as nothing else could do to know and end my jealously of God. It saved her faith from assault. ...And it saved our love from perishing."

Replete with 18 letters from C.S. Lewis, A Severe Mercy addresses some of the universal questions that surround faith--the existence of God and the reasons behind tragedy. --Jacque Holthusen

The book had a powerful impact on me as it did on thousands of others.  I recently discovered that three of C.S. Lewis' letters to Vanauken have been placed in the public domain and are available on the internet.  They originally formed part of a small booklet, titled "Encounter with Light," which Vanauken published with C.S. Lewis' permission.  Much of that booklet was eventually  incorporated into Vanauken's larger work, A Severe Mercy.  The text of "Encounter with Light" is available here.   It chronicles in brief compass Vanauken's intellectual journey to belief in Christ, and offers the context of Vanauken's correspondence with Lewis.  The C.S. Lewis letters are reproduced below.

LATE-TERM ABORTIONIST GEORGE TILLER HAS BEEN MURDERED

Breaking News Report here.

Robert P. George, pro-life professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University issued a statement:

Whoever murdered George Tiller has done a gravely wicked thing.  The evil of this action is in no way diminished by the blood George Tiller had on his own hands.  No private individual had the right to execute judgment against him.  We are a nation of laws.  Lawless violence breeds only more lawless violence.  Rightly or wrongly, George Tilller was acquitted by a jury of his peers.  "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord." For the sake of justice and right, the perpetrator of this evil deed must be prosecuted, convicted, and punished.  By word and deed, let us teach that violence against abortionists is not the answer to the violence of abortion.  Every human life is precious.  George Tiller's life was precious.  We do not teach the wrongness of taking human life by wrongfully taking a human life.  Let our "weapons" in the fight to defend the lives of abortion's tiny victims, be chaste weapons of the spirit. 

Other Responses:  National Right to Life Condemns the Murder  

ITEMS WORTH NOTING . . .

- Andy McCarthy - Judge Sotomayor would not qualify for jury duty   // She wouldn't.  Read the article.  

- PRAVDA:   American descent into Marxism happening with breathtaking speed  (HT: Drudge)

- Robert A. J. Gagnon - Why Homosexual Behavior Is More Like Consensual Incest and Polyamory than Race or Gender: A Reasoned and Reasonable Case for Secular Society

      For Part 2: What Disproportionately High Rates of Harm Mean go here.

      For Part 3: The Illogic of Homosexual Unions go here.

      For Part 4: Responses to Counterarguments go here.

TEENS: ORAL SEX AND CASUAL PROSTITUTION NO BIGGIE

Watching the collapse of a culture is wrenching.  ABC News (Good Morning America) carries the story.  Because it's so sickening and disheartening, not to mention degrading, I don't wish to provide excerpts.   Unfortunately, I think it's required reading.

Update 5/31/09: Wintery Knight Blog offers perspective and commentary.

SAN DIEGO COUNTY TRYING TO STOP HOME BIBLE STUDIES

- Update 6/4/09 - San Diego withdraws Bible study warning 

According to 10 News in San Diego:

SAN DIEGO -- A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines if they continued to hold Bible studies in their home, 10News reported.  [more . . .]

The Family Research Council comments:

Where two or more are gathered in Christ's name, there San Diego County officials will be also. For a suburban California family, this was the shocking reality during last month's Good Friday holiday. A local pastor and his wife invited a dozen or so people to their house for a Bible study, only to be interrupted by a San Diego employee who threatened to fine the couple for breaking an obscure County land code.

People at Pastor Jones's church are stunned by San Diego's actions, particularly its investigation of the group's activities. According to the family's attorney, Dean Broyles of the Western Center for Law & Policy, the officials asked pointed questions such as, "Do you have a regular meeting in your home?" "Yes." "Do you say amen?" "Yes." "Do you pray?" "Yes." "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord?'" "Yes."

What business is it of the county's how the Joneses' worship? This is not communist China. The Joneses aren't operating an underground church in violation of state law. This is their home! And

MSNBC NEWS ANALYST LAWRENCE O'DONNELL - IGNORANCE ON PARADE

I was dumbfounded and my jaw dropped when I read the exchange between Hugh Hewitt and Lawrence O'Donnell posted by Ed Morrissey over at HotAir.  I mean... this is incredible and unbelievable!!   Pardon the emotional response, but... 

We have men on television (e.g. O'Donnell) offering "informed opinions" (!!) who don't know the first thing about what they are talking about.  We may have suspected that... but to have it blatantly demonstrated on the air, and in black and white.  Oh my..    Here's part of Morrissey's post:

If you didn’t get a chance to hear Hugh Hewitt dismantle MS-NBC’s Larry O’Donnell last night, Hugh made sure you have the opportunity today.  The entire transcript of the interview appears on his blog, with a link to the podcast of the 35-minute conversation.  It’s long, but well worth the time.  Here are a couple of highlights:

HH: What was the last book you read about terrorism?

LO’D: The last…I don’t think I’ve read a book about terrorism.

HH: Ever?

LO’D: No.

HH: About al Qaeda?

LO’D: No.

HH: About…how about the mullahs in Iran?

LO’D: No.

HH: I’m just stunned.

LO’D: Well, I’ll tell you, I’ve read Bob Woodward’s books about the accounts inside the Bush administration from what they were doing from the day they got sworn in, okay?

HH: You’ve never read a book about terrorism?

LO’D: There is no, there is absolutely no evidence, and I defy you today, Hugh,

HH: Larry, you’ve never read a book about terrorism?

LO’D: I defy you to point to me, point to me a citation of one memo or one meeting that Dick Cheney was in where he says anything about al Qaeda.

HH: Larry, I’ve got to go lie down. I really do. Do you think you’re a well-informed MSNBC, by MSNBC standards, do you think you’re above the grade of people on that network?

LO’D: That’s a trick question, Hugh.

He never read anything about terrorism?  Not in seven-plus years after 9/11, when he works as a political analyst for NBC?  That’s a rather amazing admission, but given O’Donnell’s statements, one that only mildly surprises, if that.

Hugh then presses O’Donnell for factual support for one of his statements, and O’Donnell crumbles: [more. . .]

ON RELIGIONS POSING AS "NON-RELIGIONS" - YOGA, FOR EXAMPLE

Tim publishes a lot of good stuff on his blog, Random Observations, and (to my loss, sad to say) it's been a long time since I've dropped by.  His is a thoughtful, independent, creative mind.  A few days ago he posted wise observations on an important, but rarely discussed subject.  He titles his post "Front Door" versus "Back Door" Religions: Yoga, Meditation & Buddhism."

Below is a snippet to wet your appetite:  (Note: When you go to read the whole post, be sure to read the comments, because Tim interacts powerfully with an interlocutor, adding a lot of material.)

. . . Another litmus test I'd suggest is to consider whether a religion is primarily marketed as a "front door" religion, or as a "back door" religion. In other words, does it admit it is a religion, and is it honest about it's own nature, or does it often pretend to be something it isn't? Will they tell you, up front, the beliefs or outlook their adherents tend to adopt? Or are they uncomfortable admitting such, hiding those pesky details until later? . . .

. . .  Many who sign up for "yoga" classes in health clubs, strip malls (or even public schools, apparently) will be told explicitly that it is not a religion. Yet many yoga teachers are pushing a religious worldview, and will continually introduce more elements as the teaching progresses. But that's not the only, or even most important aspect of indoctrination at work.

Contrary to those who insist yoga is not religious, the word "yoga" is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning "to yoke" or "control", and refers, in India, to a method or technique for

DEPRESSING NEWS --- HITLER'S GROWING POPULARITY IN INDIA

Cliff May notes:

London's Daily Telegraph reports:

Sales of Hitler’s Mein Kampf  “are soaring in India where business students regard the genocidal dictator as a “management guru” and consider the book to be a “management guide.”

 

An article in Jewish Chronicle published from London said that sales of Mein Kampf topped 10,000 in New Delhi alone in the past six months and are expected to rise further. A spokesman for Embassy Books in Mumbai who publish Mein Kampf, said people are looking at it from a business angle, especially as Hitler had such a strong influence on the world."

“Students are told to use Mein Kampf and draw parallels with India to learn business strategies. Even for non-students Hitler's books are popular texts and are clearly displayed in most book stores around India.”

“A business student living in Mumbai said that many people in India see Hitler as a good role model for directing a company and cite him as an inspiration in people management,” the article said.

TEDDY ROOSEVELT ON IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR NECESSARY "AMERICANIZATION"

I was notified of the following material currently circulating via e-mail.  I offer a comment at the end.

Theodore Roosevelt's ideas on  Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in  1907.

 'In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and  nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have  room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.'  

Theodore Roosevelt  1907

Me:  Since I have a skeptical streak that requires I verify (if possible) things I hear or read, I checked www.snopes.com which declares Roosevelt's words: "True,"  but added that Roosevelt's comments were not made in 1907, but were part of a letter written in 1919.  See Snopes for much more material on Roosevelt's views on immigrants and "Americanization," including numerous additional quotes.

FAITH & EVOLUTION

I came across a new website (new to me at least) named Faith & Evolution which looks quite terrific.  Rather than clobber with polemics, it offers reasoned articles, videos, and resources (plus calm and detailed responses to antagonists) making it something of a "first stop" for anyone investigating and entering the current discussion on evolution and Intelligent Design. The site was developed by the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute.  

A lead article begins:

Francis Collins [author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (2006)] feels that intelligent design poses a serious problem to Christian belief because it rejects Darwinian evolution, which he feels is supported by overwhelming evidence. But the only evidence Collins cites for Darwin’s mechanism of variation and selection is microevolution—minor changes within existing species. And the principal evidence he cites for Darwin’s claim of common ancestry is DNA sequences that he says have no function—though genome researchers are discovering that many of them do have functions.

Collins’s defense of Darwinian theory turns out to be largely an argument from ignorance that  must retreat as we learn more about the genome—in effect, a Darwin of the gaps .    [more...]

** Blogger Wintery Knight put up a post today titled, "Does the new Ida fossil prove evolution? and wrote,

Whenever you have questions about evolution and culture, there is only one blog that you really need to read, and that’s Denyse O’Leary’s Post-Darwinist. She has written no less than THREE stories on the Ida fossil, so let’s take a look at see what she’s found.   [Read on . . .]

RECENT POSTS FROM DENVER SEMINARY PROFESSOR DOUGLAS GROOTHUIS (A.K.A. "THE CONSTRUCTIVE CURMUDGEON")

-- Groothuis, as many readers know, first achieved name recognition for being one of the first out of the gate evaluating the New Age movement.  He did so with sober, reliable, scholarly, yet readable treatments in such books as  Unmasking the New Age, Confronting the New Age and Jesus in an Age of Controversy, plus his little InterVarsity booklet, Are All Religions One?

A couple of days ago he posted the entirety of his article, "The New Age Jesus," which first appeared in Areopagus Journal (Nov-Dec 2004).   The article comes with footnotes, making it all the more useful.

-- On another post, Groothuis introduces Ian R. Colle (one of Groothuis' students) who published a positive, helpful, substantial (therefore worth reading!) review of  Paul A. Boghossian's Fear of Knowledge: Against Relativism and Constructivism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. vii + 139 pages, $19.95 paper.   Colle's concludes his review:

Boghossian presents the constructivist/relativist views accurately and fairly and defeats the strongest formulation of their supporting arguments in a way that is easy to follow and understandable to the non-technical reader.  This short book should be required reading for all humanities professors and all who care about presenting sound arguments for a realist epistemology.   Read the entire review.

PRESIDENT OBAMA NOMINATES SONIA SOTOMAYOR TO THE SUPREME COURT

- Update 5/27/09 - The airwaves and cyberwaves are deluged with commentary on Justice Sotomayor.  (Note, for example Michelle Malkin's  excellent column).  Jonah Goldberg makes a sound, succinct and unanswerable point when he says, [my bolding]

Why make this complicated?

President Obama prefers Supreme Court justices who will violate their oath of office. And he hopes Sonia Sotomayor is the right Hispanic woman for the job. Here’s the oath Supreme Court justices must take:

“I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as (title) under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”

Contrast that with Obama’s insistence that the “quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people’s hopes and struggles” is the key qualification for a Supreme Court justice. . .

Goldberg ends his column this way:

. . . who says conservatives are against judicial empathy? I, for one, am all for it. I’m for empathy for the party most deserving of justice before the Supreme Court, within the bounds of the law and Constitution. If that means siding with a poor black man, great. If that means siding with a rich white one, that’s great too. The same holds for gays and gun owners, single mothers and media conglomerates. We should all rejoice when justices fulfill their oaths and give everyone a fair hearing, even if that’s now out of fashion in the age of Obama.

Me: Well said!  To argue differently is to be perverse.

- (Original post) - Wintery Knight has posted "Everything You Need to Know about the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) Pick.  It's a magnificent post with lots of links and quotes.  Highly recommended. 

For continuing coverage, keep checking National Review's Bench Memos.

THE RELIGIOUS LEFT EXUBERANT OVER OBAMA

Mark D. Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion and Democracy, wrote an article today, "Al-Quedo Terrorists=The Prophet Jeremiah?" which describes the ebullience of the Rev. Jim Wallis and the Sojourner's crowd over Obama's left-wing takeover of the United States. As Tooley describes it,

More than 1,100 Religious Left activists gathered in Washington, D.C., for Jim Wallis's annual "Mobilization to End Poverty," which convened in late April.

And an extremist agenda it is. Speakers at the rally equated themselves with the Biblical prophets, al-Qaeda terrorists to the Prophet Jeremiah, capitalist "greed" with the Soviet gulags, and conservative Christians with the Antichrist.     [more . .]

Me:  Wallis has been a hard-left guy since the 60s.  Socialism and anti-Americanism have continually dominated his thinking.   His accusations against the "Christian Right" ring partisan and hollow given his hard left ideological commitments.   Don't ever think he is some sort of "Christian uniter."  He is anything but.

Update 6/1/09 - Peter Wehner offers a "must-read evaluation" of Jim Wallis and his rhetoric for anyone wishing to get their bearings on Jim Wallis. 

WEIRDNESS WITH THE GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE AND "MUDDLING TOWARD MATURITY"

For those who have ever used the Google search engine to find "Muddling Toward Maturity," you are probably aware that Google always brings people directly to one of my sub-topics, "Anti-Christian."  I wonder why that is so.  Does Google have a bias?  I don't know, but be that as it may,  I have many other topics!  If you have newly arrived at the "Anti-Christian" sub-topic, please check current posts here.

(This message was first posted January 19, 2009.  Because Google continues to send searchers to the "Anti-Christian" sub-topic, it requires reposting.)

THE MOTHER OF ALL SCANDALS IN BRITAIN

[Edited Post]
David Pryce-Jones wrote the following summary of the debacle shaking England.  Though he posted it a few days ago, he covers the ground so well I thought it worth reproducing.  An update follows his post: 

In the name of God, go’

The mood in Britain is unlike anything I have experienced. The electorate is enraged by the conduct of its representatives. Some members of parliament daren’t show their face, a former Labour foreign secretary has been booed by a television audience, and a Conservative member has had a brick heaved through her office window. It is all about expenses, fraudulent claims, tax evasion, making private fortunes by looting the public purse. Worse still, much of it

ANOTHER MEMORIAL DAY POST

I was tremendously moved by the following photo:

And I thank Nice Deb for posting the video,"The True Meaning of Memorial Day."  She also includes a link to a list of the brave men and women who have given their lives in American wars:

MEMORIAL DAY

Our debt knows no bounds.   We are grateful to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice that we might be free.  May God be with our heroic men and women still serving in our nation's armed services.



It is the Veteran

It is the VETERAN, not the preacher,
who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the VETERAN, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the VETERAN, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the VETERAN, not the campus organizer,
who has given us freedom to assemble.

It is the VETERAN, not the lawyer,
who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the VETERAN, not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the VETERAN,
who salutes the Flag,

 

It is the VETERAN
who serves 
under the Flag, 
 

 

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

Ed Morrissey says,

You can read more about the men and women who received our nation’s highest honor for their sacrifice at the US Army’s Medal of Honor archive.  Keep all of them, and all who have given their lives in war and peace to protect this nation, in your prayers and thoughts today.

For my previous posts related to the military, click here.  Included in the listed posts is How Pacifism Violates the Command, "Thous Shalt Not Kill" (Charles Williams).

NRO's SYMPOSIUM ON GREAT WAR BOOKS

 Since this is an area in which I know very little, I am grateful to National Review Online (NRO) for providing bibliographic help.  One of the symposium contributors, Victor Davis Hanson, recommends John Keegan's The Face of Battle.  VDH explains why:

RALPH WINTER (1924-2009) - A GIANT OF A MAN, A LEADING MISSIOLOGIST, HAS PASSED AWAY

I have subscribed to Mission Frontiers Magazine for many years, and the first thing I would do upon its arrival would be to read Ralph Winter's  two-page editorial situated right in the front.  Invariably I would be delighted and astonished by the breadth and depth, and sheer visionary power of the man.  I never met him personally but he seemed to me to possess one of the most creative, fertile, intriguing, and bold minds I had ever encountered. 

Assist News Service has provided an initial news article with a short summary of his accomplishments.  I plan to spend time in the near future investigating Winter's website to read more of his work.  It should be noted that in 2005, Ralph Winter appeared in Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.  Winter passed away May 20, 2009.

Update 6/2/09 - Chuck Colson pays tribute and reviews Winter's accomplishments here.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - "EUROAMERICANS?"

VDH makes points we need to keep in mind.  A few examples from his article:

I think we are entering an age in which the federal government will increasingly guide our thoughts into what is deemed correct-the sort of car we must drive, the type of salary we should make, the sort of job we should have, even the type of thoughts we are to express, and all in the name of collective brotherhood. . .

MAX McCLEAN PERFORMS THE "GOSPEL OF MARK" IN CHICAGO THEATER

Wow.  Watch this 4 minute video to get an idea of the power of this  presentation.  Then be sure to drop over to  Justin Taylor's fascinating interview with McClean.  Not only would viewing such a production (in person) be edifying, but it might well trigger imaginative possibilities in young people as well.

ARE KIDS MORE RUDE TODAY THAN EVER?

Chuck Colson's Breakpoint discusses the question: are we reaping the fruits of over-developed self-esteem?

DR. OZ VISITS "ECHO HEALTH CLINIC" FOUNDED BY DR. DAN & SUZIE BELL

What a wonderful idea!  Here is a faith-based free medical clinic for uninsured, low income individuals.  Dr. Oz visited the Eureka Christian Health Outreach (ECHO) clinic (short video here) and was greatly impressed.  Maybe the publicity generated by Dr. Oz will inspire similar programs around the country.  This is an example of self-giving faith in action. More about ECHO can be found at their website here.

SHOULD CHEMOTHERAPY BE FORCED ON A 13 YEAR OLD AGAINST THE PARENT'S WISHES?

Click here for the story.  Should mother and son be hunted down?  What do you think?  I feel uncomfortable about that, to say the least.

TELEVISION

HT: The Constructive Curmudgeon

THE TRUTH ABOUT "ANGELS AND DEMONS"

- I learned (via Justin Taylor's blog Between Two Worlds), about this useful website set up by Westminster Theological Seminary.

- Ben Witherington of Asbury Theological Seminary reviews the movie.  Update 5/24/09: Christianity Today reviews the movie here, and Plugged In here.

- In a New York Times op-ed, "Dan Brown's America," Ross Douthat says,

It isn’t just that he [Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code", and "Angels and Demons"] knows how to keep the pages turning. That’s what it takes to sell a million novels. But if you want to sell a 100 million, you need to preach as well as entertain — to present a fiction that can be read as fact, and that promises to unlock the secrets of history, the universe and God along the way.

Brown is explicit about this mission. He isn’t a serious novelist, but he’s a deadly serious writer: His thrilling plots, he’s said, are there to make the books’ didacticism go down easy, so that readers

TIM CHALLIES INTERVIEWS DOUGLAS GROOTHUIS ON "THE SOUL IN CYBERSPACE"

In 1997, Douglas Groothuis (Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary) published The Soul in Cyberspace. Now, 12 years later, Challies interviewed Groothuis to get his current thoughts on technology and computer-mediated communication.  Groothuis says many interesting things.  One of his comments, sure to cheer book lovers, is the following:

... each communications medium shapes its content distinctively and shapes the perceiver necessarily. For one thing, we lose a sense of history when we move from books to screens. Books can be old friends, both the content (which stays in our minds) and the artifacts themselves, which we treasure. For example, I would not part with my 1976 edition of Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who is There, which I read shortly after my conversion. It was that book, those ideas, that

CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY'S BOOK - "LOSING MUM AND PUP: A MEMOIR" (ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS PARENTS, PAT AND WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR.)

The Scriptorium links to an excellent review of the young Buckley's book using the following sentence as a link: "Christopher Buckley tried to write a book about Mum and Pup but ended up writing the first draft of a religious memoir about his own unbelief."

Me:  The review offers significant insight into, and the flavor of, the Buckley relationships.  It concludes with this paragraph (which seems wise to me):

The only son of two outsized individuals, Christopher vainly sought his father's attention and approval, chafed at Bill's public role, and nursed a secret knowledge of his limitations. Today, the world knows that his father was no saint. Despite the occasional laughs, this reader wishes the author had filed the manuscript away and waited for the gift of time and perspective. It would have been a better book.

VISHAL MANGALWADI'S NEW BOOK - "TRUTH AND TRANSFORMATION: A MANIFESTO FOR AILING NATIONS"

  I have long been an appreciative reader of Vishal Mangalwadi, whom I regard as one of the seminal thinkers of our time.  (See an earlier post about him here.)  In fact, on the left side of my blog I have included a category, "Online Books," where I have listed a number of Mangalwadi's books available for free downloading:  "When the New Age Gets Old," "India: The Grand Experiment," "Yoga: Five Ways of Salvation in Hinduism," and "Corruption and the Culture of the Cross."

Today I learned via Charles Colson's Breakpoint, that Mangalwadi has published a new book, Truth & Transformation.   Colson writes:

R. A. TORREY (1856-1928) - MAJOR AMERICAN EVANGELICAL LEADER OF AN EARLIER AGE

Earlier generations of Christians were well acquainted with the famed American Bible teacher, scholar, and evangelist, R.A. Torrey.  The renown of R.A. Torrey during his lifetime reached enormous heights.  I have known of him for years (in fact an uncle of mine was named after him), but I've not read very widely or deeply in his writings.  Today I looked on the internet and discovered a treasure trove of materials at The R.A. Torrey Archive.  The website contains entire books, numerous articles, and various resources related to the man.  Particularly interesting to me was an audio recording of a sermon preached by R.A. Torrey.  It is the only voice recording that has survived.  I listened to it (it is 27 minutes) and was  struck by the depth and

TO THOSE WHO MAY BE VISITING THIS BLOG FOR THE FIRST TIME . . .

Dear Visitor,

I was going to include the following in a "profile" but decided to put it in a post instead.  In case you are wondering where the author of this blog is "coming from,"  here's the scoop:

I see life through the prism of Christian faith.  I am heavily indebted to C.S. Lewis, who once wrote, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”  To me, the explanatory power of Christian faith offers the most satisfying intellectual perspective of any philosophy or ideology.  Deeper still is

"NO, MR. PRESIDENT" - JOHN PIPER'S RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA ON ABORTION

I have seen this YouTube video on a number of websites, and most recently over at HotAir.  It's well done, passionate, and unanswerable.   Technically, the juxtaposition of voice and graphics would be worth viewing even for those who resist the message.

Update 5/19/09- Denver Archbishop Charles J. Chaput offers hard hitting comments on Notre Dame and the issues that remain

Update 5/19/09 - Chuck Colson offers excellent (if depressing) commentary on President Obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame University.  Particularly disturbing, as Colson says, "was the appalling sight of the field house filled with faculty, students, and parents wildly cheering."  I felt exactly the same way. 

Do read all of Colson's commentary.  As shocking as it may seem when first stated, Colson is right to

MISS CALIFORNIA, CARRIE PREJEAN, AN EXEMPLARY CHRISTIAN?

Justin Taylor tries to synthesize two contrasting views, or at least suggest they are compatible.  Douglas Groothuis offers the tougher critique that turns out pretty hard to harmonize with the more gentle evaluation.

This young woman is a beauty queen, both ensnared by and loving that sad and silly skin game. However, the category should not exist. American society has created an unreal and cruel standard for women to reach: the beauty queen--a woman known for curves and perfect skin, heavenly hair and preternatural teeth. They prance and pose and preen; the cameras churn and burn; the media salivates and speculates. My stomach turns. It is all sinful a waste of the short time we have on this fallen planet.  [more]

Me: Groothuis is tough on beauty queens and beauty pageants.  No doubt about it.  There's a part of me, though (in fact a major part actually), that says he's right.  (The comments on the post are pretty interesting and worth reading.)

Update:  Nancy Leigh DeMoss offers her comments (text here; audio here) on the Carrie Prejean situation.  DeMoss says:

JOEL ROSENBERG - ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU MEETING WITH OBAMA

Rosenberg has contacts all over the Middle East and Washington.  His analysis should be added to anyone's media diet.  Click here.

Update: Daniel Pipes, a Middle East observer whose views I value highly, offers his analysis here.

DALLAS WILLARD - CHRISTIAN FAITH DOESN'T ENCOURAGE INTELLECTUAL SLACKNESS

Dallas Willard, in his soon-to-be-published book,  Knowing Christ Today: Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge, writes in the Preface:  ". . .  many people now believe you do not need to think deeply and carefully to follow Christ. C. S. Lewis has a very penetrating comment to make about this matter:

 "God has room for people with very little sense, but He wants every one to use what sense they have. The proper motto is not 'Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever,' but 'Be good, sweet maid, and don't forget that this involves being as clever as you can.' God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers. If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you you are embarking on something which is going to take the whole of you, brains and all…. One reason why it needs no special education to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself."  (From Mere Christianity)

CONSPIRACY THEORIES SURROUND BILDERBERG GROUP MEETING THIS WEEKEND IN GREECE

Haaretz has the story, using the headline, "Are the people who 'really run the world' meeting this weekend?"   (HT: HotAir)

Me: I have no idea how significant the Bilderberg group really is.  Of course, with everything kept secret, and so many of the most powerful people in the world attending, conspiracy theories are bound to flourish. 

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - "THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF A PALIN PRESIDENCY"

Or, put differently, how press predisposition and bias shapes the tone and commentary of "news" -- and thereby shapes public opinion.  How gingerly and with great deference the press handled the slips, foibles, goof-ups, and stupidities of Obama's first 100 days in office.  Now if it had been Palin, things would have been radically different.  Victor Davis Hanson tells us how she would have been treated and what we would have read:

The first 100 days of the Palin presidency, according to a consensus of media commentators, have proven a near disaster. Perhaps it was Palin’s scant two years’ experience in a major government position that has eroded her gravitas, or maybe it was her flirty reliance on looks and informal chit-chat. In any case, the press has had a field day, and it is hard to see how President Palin can ever recover from the Quayle/potatoe syndrome. Here is a roundup of this week’s pundit mockery.   [Read on]

  

BOOKS THAT LOOK INTERESTING . . .

The following are books I've recently "bumped into" or otherwise become aware of (i.e. they are not books I have personally read):

From Jay Nordlinger (of National Review Online):

 James Mann -  The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression

From the current InterVarsity Press catalog:

Roger Olson - Finding God in the Shack: Seeking Truth in a Story of Evil and Redemption

John Walton - The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate

Mark Noll - The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith

FOUR-MINUTE OVERVIEW OF 11 ARGUMENTS FOR CHRISTIANITY BY WILLIAM LANE CRAIG

Wintery Knight Blog has much outstanding material, especially on Christian apologetics.  I am indebted to that blog for the video of William Lane Craig's interaction with Christopher Hitchens mentioned in the title of this blog post.  The short video clip offers a well-done "taste" of the solid, persuasive material William Lane Craig brings to his dialogs.

MORE AMERICANS "PRO-LIFE" THAN "PRO-CHOICE"

Gallup reports:

A new Gallup Poll, conducted May 7-10, finds 51% of Americans calling themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42% "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.   [more . .]

WILLIAM LANE CRAIG'S REMARKABLE WIFE

Pretty fascinating story.  Craig is one of the most influential and effective Christian apologists in the world today.  Check out the credit he gives his wife, Jan.

His website is Reasonable Faith.   Herewith some links to a few of his debates:

“Does God Exist?” with Austin Dacey, “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?” with Bart Ehrman, and “Is Goodness Without God Good Enough?” with Paul Kurtz.

FORMER CONGRESSMAN JACK KEMP REMEMBERED (7/13/35 - 5/2/09)

Click here for a video of the entire memorial service honoring former Congressman Jack Kemp held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

Kemp served Western New York for nine terms in the United States House of Representatives and subsequently served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the George H. W. Bush administration. Mr. Charles W. Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries and former special counsel to President Nixon, delivered the Eulogy, and the Rev. Dr. Robert Norris, senior pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland, preached at the service.

Click here for Chuck Colson's eulogy for Jack Kemp.  (22 minutes; well worth watching!!)

Michael Gerson - The Most Influential Republican Who Never Became President  (Me: You need to read this column to get to know Kemp, the man of ideas.)

Peggy Noonan, “He Had the Power of the Happy Man,” Wall Street Journal, 8 May 2009. (Excellent column!)

Sean Duffy, in The Denver Post, wrote "Why Jack Kemp Matters."

William Bennett remembers Jack Kemp here.

Colson writes about his friend here.

GEORGE F. WILL - OUR GOVERNMENT HAS GONE ROGUE

Will concludes his important column with this paragraph:

The Obama administration's agenda of maximizing dependency involves political favoritism cloaked in the raiment of "economic planning" and "social justice" that somehow produce results superior to what markets produce when freedom allows merit to manifest itself, and incompetence to fail. The administration's central activity -- the political allocation of wealth and opportunity -- is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption.

(HT and headline from HotAir)

GAY GENE SUDDENLY VANISHES

The WorldNetDaily story carries the subheading:  "American Psychological Association revises statement on  homosexuality."  Given the enormous political pressures the APA came under to issue the first (unscientific) statement a number of years ago, this amounts to an astounding reversal.   Read the whole article.

The other day VirtueOnline carried an insightful interview with the head of NARTH (mentioned in the article above): National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality.  David Virtue interviewed NARTH's founder, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi.  Virtue titled his interview, "Gays can Change. Reparative Therapy Works."  It's an article well worth reading.

You can see a BBC-TV interview with Dr. Joseph Nicolosi here: http://www.ccfon.org/mediacentre.php?avid=197&avap=1

FELDSTEIN: THE COMING TAX REGIME THAT WILL KILL AMERICAN PRODUCTIVITY

Ed Morrissey summarizes and comments on Martin Feldstein's outlook.  The result is a failure to heed Economics 101, a class Obama apparently couldn't work into his schedule.  The nation will reap the consequences.  There's no glee in my soul, only sadness. Concluding paragraph:

Obamanomics is a disaster, and it couldn’t come at a worse time.  Four years ago, the country may have been resilient enough to shake off the worst effects of Obama’s policies, but with our economy already reeling, his taxes will kill any chance at recovery.  We will spend years running up massive deficits — which will prompt Obama to impose higher and broader taxes.  Get ready for one of the most vicious of all vicious cycles.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: WHY THEY CAN'T CO-EXIST

Chuck Colson writes:

As more states—like Iowa—approve same-sex “marriage,” conservatives are claiming that freedom of religion is in peril. Same-sex “marriage” supporters accuse them of engaging in hysterical gay-bating. Who’s telling the truth?

Let me share some stories with you from an excellent news broadcast produced by National Public Radio. Then you decide.

Two women decided to hold their civil union ceremony at a New Jersey pavilion owned by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association. This Methodist group told the women they could not “marry” in any building used for religious purposes. The Rev. Scott Hoffman said a theological principle—that marriage can only exist between one man and one woman—was at stake.

The women filed a discrimination complaint with the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights. The Methodists said the First Amendment protected their right to practice their faith without being

SOME NOTRE DAME SENIORS SAY NO TO GRADUATION

David Brody has the story, plus a first-class video produced by students.  (HT: Drudge)

George Weigle, distinguished senior fellow at Washington's Ethics and Public Policy Center, delivered a commencement address last weekend at Mt. St. Mary's University called by Kathryn Jean Lopez, an "Un-Obama Commencement address."

CAROLINE GLICK ON ISRAEL'S ATTEMPT TO FORM ALLIANCES WITH EGYPT AND THE VATICAN

Caroline Glick has a track record of brilliant reporting and commentary for the Jerusalem Post.  Her latest commentary, "Opportunity is Knocking at Israel's Door," is no exception.  For anyone following events in the Middle East, it's a "must read."

NAT HENTOFF ON HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION

Six minute video.  Click here.

EVANGELICAL GROUPS EXPERIENCING GREATER COOPERATION

Charles Colson's Breakpoint offers news I hadn't known before:

. . . leaders from 100 ministries gathered recently in Washington to discuss strategic alliances. I was overwhelmed by the response.

Me: I find this news encouraging.   Read the whole thing.