Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

43 SENATORS SIGN A LETTER OPPOSING THE REID BILL

They tell the Senate Leader:  

The only possible justification for a $2.4 trillion increase in borrowing authority is to allow the President to avoid any accountability for these issues before his 2012 election

More from the letter:  

We are writing to let you know that we will not vote for your $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment which, if enacted, would result in the single largest debt ceiling increase in the history of the United States.  In addition to this unprecedented increase in borrowing authority, your amendment completely fails to address our current fiscal imbalance and lacks any serious effort to ensure that any subsequent spending cuts are enacted.

The plan you have proposed would not alter the spending trajectory that is putting our economy and national security at risk.  In return for an unprecedented $2.4 trillion debt limit increase, your amendment reduces spending by less than $1 trillion over the next decade.  Setting aside the $200 billion shortfall between the CBO scored savings and the $2.4 trillion debt limit increase, identified by the Congressional Budget Office, most of the proposal’s alleged savings are based on a false claim of credit for reductions in war-related spending that were already scheduled to occur.  This amendment proposes no change to our military posture and, for that reason, these savings are the sort of widely ridiculed accounting gimmick that breeds cynicism about our ability to tackle our fiscal challenges.  The only possible justification for a $2.4 trillion increase in borrowing authority is to allow the President to avoid any accountability for these issues before his 2012 election.  It is by constantly putting off these tough decisions that we have found ourselves with a national debt nearly equal to the size of our gross domestic product.  The time for action is now, we cannot wait until we accumulate another $2.4 trillion in debt.

For all of these reasons, we must oppose your unprecedented $2.4 trillion debt limit amendment.  Given the nation’s enormous future spending challenges, it would be irresponsible to give the President this unprecedented additional borrowing authority without requiring the enactment of significant spending reductions and reforms.  We urge you to abandon this reckless proposal and instead pursue a more responsible course of action that would rein in spending, reassure the financial markets, and help promote private sector job growth.

(HT: Kathryn Jean Lopez)

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - HOW PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL BE REMEMBERED

Hanson writes:

Barack Obama will be remembered not so much for being the nation’s first African-American president, or even the man who ordered the killing of Osama bin Laden, or even for his Obamacare, but as the president who grew government the largest, ran up the largest deficits during any presidential tenure, and laid out most candidly and confidently the argument of why the United States is an intrinsically unfair society and how that must be remedied by government.  [my bolding]

Behind the current mess and shrill rhetoric in D.C. are these two larger competing visions—the belief that the Obama agenda is the road to serfdom for everyone, and the belief that it will result in a long-overdue equality of result.  [more...]

MARVIN OLASKY RECOMMENDS TEENS WATCH CLASSIC MOVIES - MANY OF THEM WESTERNS

I am posting this as much for myself as for others.  I have not been much of a movie-goer, so I am open to suggestions.  Olasky offers lots.

"Cinema Classics Offer An Opportunity to Train Youth in the Art of Patient Watching"

Mattie Ross, the lead female character in last year's movie True Grit, is a 14-year-old in 1877 with determination so steely and speech so precise that some reviewers have complained. They claim that Mattie could not have existed, since the 14-year-old girls they know are flibbertigibbets. They're wrong: Some students I know are just like Mattie, capable of intense concentration rather than multitasking.

Some of their ability is due to parents who showed children that books, board games, toy soldiers, Lego blocks, and other activities without flashes and beeps can be so fascinating that time stops. These parents shielded their sub-teen children from electronic addiction and their teenagers from drug and sexual activity. Some parents, though, say NO MOVIES—and that can be a problem when children grow up inexperienced in discernment and therefore subject to manipulation by those who equate adult with adultery.

As I was mulling over that problem, a new issue of Academic Questions, the journal of the National Association of Scholars, arrived and surprised me. Academic Questions has a traditionalist orientation that often leads to articles praising Great Books curricula, so it was semi-shocking to see a slew of articles praising the study of popular culture—and particularly movies from past generations that can train students to watch patiently.

Some writers went way back. English professor Thomas Bertonneau praised The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) for its "heroic narrative and medieval balladry." He noted, "The film's appeal is adult, involving the expectation that to appreciate it children and adolescents must rise to the adult level. The dialogue is noticeably literate." True, true—and the movie even ends with a marriage.

HARRY POTTER & JESUS & ANCIENT MYTHS

Charles Colson does an excellent job sorting out the question:

This month, the final Harry Potter film had the most successful opening weekend of any movie ever. Among the fans who lined up for the opening midnight showing were Christians, many of whom see striking similarities between the story of Jesus -- with its sacrificial death, burial and resurrection -- and the story of Harry Potter.

But at least one atheist has also noticed these similarities, and he’s written a book about it. In the newly-released (and blasphemously-titled) "Jesus Potter Harry Christ," Derek Murphy makes the case that J. K. Rowling -- the author of the Harry Potter series -- achieved her success by tapping into some of the deepest and most ancient longings of the human heart. These same longings, Murphy argues, compelled first-century pagans to construct what he calls “the Jesus myth.”

Murphy writes, “Jesus and Harry Potter are both...fictional...characters which incorporate classical (pagan) spirituality and religious ideology...I start by using the similarities between Jesus and Harry to raise the question, ‘how can Jesus be historical if Harry is fictional?'"

Murphey points to similarities between the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ virgin birth, His passion and His return from the grave with the myths of pagan idols like Isis, Sarapis, Horus and Apollo, Murphy hopes to convince his readers that Jesus -- just like the gods of mythology -- is fiction. In fact, he believes that Jesus is just an amalgam of history’s best myths.

Well, Murphy is certainly right in recognizing a common thread through pagan religious beliefs. As C. S. Lewis writes in Mere Christianity, the heathen religions are full of “...those queer stories...about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men.”

But what Murphy misses -- and Lewis got -- is the fact that the human longings for sacrifice, resurrection and redemption are stamped on our hearts for a reason: They point us straight to the God who stepped into history to fulfill them!

 

"COMPROMISE" WITHOUT "CHANGING COURSE" = CRASH!

Via Ed Morrissey:

IBD’s two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez puts the crises in spending, long-term debt, and leadership into single-frame perspective this morning:

Ed Morrissey writes:

Also, be sure to check out Ramirez’ terrific collection of his works: Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion, which covers the entire breadth of Ramirez’ career, and it gives fascinating look at political history.  Read my review here, and watch my interviews with Ramirez here and here.  And don’t forget to check out the entire Investors.com site, which has now incorporated all of the former IBD Editorials, while individual investors still exist.

THE LATEST "SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE REVIEW: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO PRO-FAMILY NEWS," JULY 28, 2011

These compilations from a variety of sources by the Family Research Council continue to offer interested people a gold mine.  A new edition appears every two weeks.  Readers will find in each a wealth of information not readily found elsewhere. For previous reviews I've posted, click here.   For a complete list of articles from this latest edition,  click "continue reading" below.

OBAMA'S UNIQUE LEADERSHIP STYLE

  Jonah Goldberg describes it well:

Imagine you’re in a burning office building. Obama’s plan for getting out alive: “Okay, you guys break up into different groups and come up with a series of proposals about how we get out of the building. I will then negotiate with each of you separately and then together, and then separately. Then I’ll get on Skype and tell the world what I think of your respective plans and criticize you for their lack of seriousness. I will insist that we have balanced approach of applying both water to the fire and opening the windows, which some say will only provide more oxygen for the flames. But my base says window-opening is essential. Oh and I will blame all of the gasoline I threw around on the lower floors of this building on the guy who moved out two years ago. And I will veto any plan that requires we have a new plan should we get stuck on another floor. And, did I mention this mess was created by the former tenant and….ahhh what’s that smell?

CAROLINE GLICK ON TZIPI LIVNI, "ISRAEL'S PREMIER OPPORTUNIST"

Those who support Israel from a distance may not be aware of the internal politics taking place inside the nation.  Caroline Glick writes of Tzipi Livni, the leader of the Katima party, the political party which opposes Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Likud party.  It's breathtaking to become aware of how dangerous and destructive and anti-Israel are Livni's far left policies.  Glick writes:

Since taking the helm of the opposition, Livni has never been willing to recognize that foreign attacks on Netanyahu are quite often attacks on Israel.

Rather than acknowledge that attacks on the legitimacy of the democratically elected government of her country are attacks on her country, Livni has viewed every attack on Netanyahu as an opportunity to weaken his government.

In this vein, Livni has consistently sided with Obama, the Palestinians and the international Left against Netanyahu, and blamed Netanyahu for their attacks on Israel. For instance, when during his visit to the US in May, Netanyahu rejected Obama's hostile call for Israel to retreat to the indefensible 1949 armistice lines, Livni defended Obama as a friend of Israel and accused Netanyahu of harming Israel's ties to the US.  Indeed, Livni called for Netanyahu to resign.  [more ...]

HISTORICAL FACTS RELATING TO THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

The following video should prove helpful to the millions of people whose historical understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is murky or distorted by false Arab propaganda. The video explains where the terms "West Bank", "occupied territories" and "67 Borders" originated and how they are incorrectly used and applied.

Melanie Phillips is right in saying of this video:

At long last, Israel’s government is showing signs that it has finally understood that it needs to address head-on the lie at the heart of the demonisation and delegitimisation campaign being waged against it. This is that Israel is behaving illegally and in defiance of international law. According to this view, the West Bank is ‘occupied territory’, and Israel should withdraw from land it has illegally commandeered to within its ‘1967 borders’. This is wholly false. Israel’s behaviour is legal, and it is the Arabs who have always behaved illegally.

 

Phillips observes further:

Until now, however, Israel’s spokesmen have largely ignored the fact that many in the west who have swallowed the demonisation propaganda wholesale are galvanised by a sincere commitment to concepts of justice and law. Instead, Israel concentrated mainly on emphasising its need for security, ignoring the devastating impact of Arab propaganda being peddled by useful idiots and worse in the west. As a result, it was not so much speaking to but over the head of a western public which had no interest in Israel’s security, since it believed that any such problem was the result of Israel’s defiance of international law. This left the field wide open for the Arabs of the West Bank and Gaza to commandeer for themselves – entirely mendaciously – the language of justice and law.

Now Israel’s deputy foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, has signalled a welcome change of strategy with a short video he has fronted here. In this he sets out the true facts: that Israel did not steal the West Bank from its true owners – indeed, could not have stolen it, since the land never had any sovereign owner; that Israel took it not from the Palestinians, who never owned it, but from Jordan, which had itself illegally occupied it; that Jews have been legally entitled to live in the West Bank ever since the second decade of the last century when the world’s then governing body, the League of Nations, gave them the right to settle in it; that far from not giving up any ground, the Jews saw their legal entitlement to the land hugely reduced when some three quarters of it was hived off to become Jordan; and that far from being a national border, the 1967 boundary merely marked the ceasefire line in the war of extermination mounted by the Arabs against Israel at its re-birth – and that it was the Arabs who insisted it should have no legal significance.

This is not to say that Israel should hold on to all the disputed territory -- far from it. But the west should be helped to understand that, as a matter of law and justice, Israel is entitled to choose what to give up in its own interests -- because Israel, not its Arab would-be destroyers, stands for justice and law. All Ayalon does in this video is spell out the facts about this. That simple but crucial approach is what has been neglected until now in Israel’s defence strategy. This video marks a sharp turn for the better.

Let’s hope Israel now places more and yet sharper home truths into the public domain. That would without doubt change the terms of the debate – because ultimately truth drives out lies, even the Big Lie about Israel which, left unchallenged for so long, has so disastrously poisoned the entire body politic of the west.

O'REILLY DISGUSTED WITH MEDIA CALLING NORWAY TERRORIST "CHRISTIAN"

Bill O'Reilly has every reason to be outraged that the New York Times headlined: "Norway Charges Christian Extremist."  Click here for video.  Text is below.

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: "Impact" segment tonight: mass murder in Norway. A vicious killer, Anders Breivik, has murdered at least 76 people in the Scandinavian nation of Norway. Breivik is a brutal fanatic who apparently objects to the presence of Muslims in Europe.

Last Friday he bombed buildings in Oslo and then took an automatic weapon to an island a few miles away gunning down 68 people. Norwegian authorities couldn't get to the island because they didn't have a helicopter, if you can believe it.

Now, on Sunday, the "New York Times" headlined "As Horrors Emerged, Norway Charges Christian extremist". A number of other news organizations like the "LA Times" and Reuters also played up the Christian angle. But Breivik is not a Christian. That's impossible. No one believing in Jesus commits mass murder. The man might have called himself a Christian on the net, but he is certainly not of that faith.

Also Breivik is not attached to any church, and in fact has criticized the Protestant belief system in general. The Christian angle came from a Norwegian policeman not from any fact finding. Once again, we can find no evidence, none, that this killer practiced Christianity in any way.

So why is the angle being played up? Two reasons: First, the liberal media wants to make an equivalency between the actions of Breivik and the Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh and al Qaeda. The left wants you to believe that fundamentalists Christians are a threat just like crazy jihadists are.

In fact, in the "New York Times" today an analysis piece says that some believe we have overreacted to the Muslim threat in the world. Of course, that's absurd. Jihadists have killed tens of thousands of people all over the world. The Taliban, Iran and elements in Pakistan use governmental power to support terrorism by Muslims. But the left-wing press wants to compare nuts like Breivik and McVeigh to state-sponsored terrorism and worldwide jihad.

Again, dishonest and insane.

The second reason the liberal media is pushing the Christian angle is they don't like Christians very much because we are too judgmental. Many Christians oppose abortion. Gay marriage and legalized narcotics, secular left causes. The media understands the opposition is often based on religion. So they want to diminish Christianity and highlighting so-called Christian-based terror is a way to do that.

ROBERT A. J. GAGNON - THE BIBLE AND THE "GAY MARRIAGE" QUESTION

Gagnon, who serves as Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, has written major books on the Bible and homosexuality.  He writes:

What does the Bible actually say about "gay marriage"? That question is the title of a a recent op-ed piece in the Huffington Post written by Lee Jefferson, a visiting assistant professor of religion at Centre College. According to Jefferson the answer is: "Nothing," or at least "Nothing negative."

Jefferson used the recent passage of "gay marriage" by the New York legislature as a springboard from which to denigrate appeals to the Bible against homosexual practice. I will use Jefferson's article as a springboard from which to answer the question that he and many others have raised.  .  .    [Read more . . .]

- Note also David Virtue's brief review of W.P. Campbell's book,  Turning Controversy into Church  Ministry:  A Christlike Response to Homosexuality
    
In the virulent culture wars over homosexuality in the church, this North Carolina Presbyterian minister offers the church a way forward that is at once irenic and faithful to Scripture. While some churches like TEC, ELCA and Presbyterian churches debate the issue and others avoid it, struggling people fall through the cracks. This is a book for Christians and church leaders who want to rise above the debate and make a difference in the world by thinking, acting, and speaking in ways that express redemptive truth and Christlike love.

Campbell shares insights, tools and practical guidelines for any congregation that wishes to see Christians positively influence how the larger culture frames the issue of same-sex attraction. He demonstrates how readers can converse in a truthful, loving, and insightful manner about such topics as the nature/nurture debate, law vs. grace, and Scriptures call to holiness. Campbell suggests ways churches can build ministry in leadership training, preaching, support groups, mentoring/counseling and outreach.

WHAT DOES "WORLDLINESS" MEAN?

From Justin Taylor's post:

In his book Losing Our Virtue David Wells described "worldliness" as

that system of values, in any given age, which has at its center our fallen human perspective, which displaces God and his truth from the world, and which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. It thus gives great plausibility to what is morally wrong and, for that reason, makes what is wrong seem normal. (p. 4)

Me:  Excellent

CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATION NAME CHANGES

Christianity Today notes that Campus Crusade for Christ is changing its name to "Cru."  In addition:

In 2007, the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association of North America (IFMA) changed its name to CrossGlobal Link, citing how the words "interdenominational" and "foreign" have changed meanings since its 1917 inception. The mission organization EFMA changed from its original name, Evangelical Foreign Missions Association, to Evangelical Fellowship of Mission Agencies in 1992 to include domestic missions as members. In 1997, it changed its name again to The Mission Exchange. In 2004, the Conservative Baptist Association changed its name to CBAmerica, and in 2008, the Baptist General Conference became Converge Worldwide.

Other organizations have changed names as their reach has broadened. For instance, the mission organization most widely known as SIM (Serving in Mission) was founded in 1893 as Sudan Interior Mission. . .

McConnell led efforts at Fuller to change its School of World Mission to School of Intercultural Studies in 2003, because he found that the term world mission was seen as offensive in the Middle East and Central Asia.

Regarding the dropping of "Crusade," many readers probably know that

in 2000, Wheaton College removed its Crusader mascot and eventually became the Thunder. . .   In 2002, evangelist Billy Graham began using the word "mission" to describe what he always called "crusades." His son Franklin Graham and evangelist Luis Palau call their gatherings "festivals," while Greg Laurie uses "crusade."

ALBERT MOHLER - 11 BOOKS EVERY PASTOR SHOULD READ IN 2011

Mohler's list via Justin Taylor:

1. Collected Writings on Scripture by D.A. Carson (Crossway)
2. Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God by Paul Copan (Baker)
3. Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church by Kenda Creasy Dean (Oxford University Press)
4. The Doctrine of the Word of God by John Frame (P&R)
5. God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment: A Biblical Theology by James M. Hamilton (Crossway)
6. To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World by James Davison Hunter (Oxford University Press)
7. Heresy: A History of Defending the Truth by Alister McGrath (HarperOne)
8. Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas (Thomas Nelson)
9. The Letter to the Hebrews (Pillar New Testament Commentary) by Peter T. O’Brien (Eerdmans)
10. American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us by Robert Putnam and David Campbell (Simon & Schuster) [*Note: 60% off at Amazon at time of writing]
11. Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults by Christian Smith with Patricia Snell (Oxford University Press)

TRAINING FEELINGS TO REFLECT THE OBJECTIVE MORAL ORDER

C.S. Lewis argued the reality of objective morality in his book The Abolition of Man. In Charles Colson's essay,  "Embracing the Moral Order," Colson points out how Jane Austen expressed the objective moral order in her novels.   Colson writes: (my bolding)

The experts have a lot of ideas about why marriages crumble. But one of my favorite answers comes from someone who gave literary marriage advice — some 200 years ago: Jane Austen.

Miss Austen had a delightfully satirical eye — an approach to life that was reflected in her novels. But as Benjamin Wiker points out in his new book, 10 Books Every Conservative Must Read, Austen, the daughter of a clergyman, also had a strong and biblical core of common sense — especially when it came to romantic relationships. Her books reflect the moral order, and celebrate marriage itself.

Wiker notes that Austen lived during the early Romantic movement. The Romantics were lived a life “defined by the passions of the moment. For them, to feel is everything.”

In her novel, Sense and Sensibility, Austen describes the inevitable consequences of this approach to life. It's the story of two sisters, both of whom fall deeply in love. The elder sister, Elinor, “has learned to govern and guide her passions by reason,” Riker says — and ultimately marries a man of good character.

By contrast, the younger sister, Marianne, indulges her passions without regard for prudence. Although Elinor warns Marianne against giving her heart to an attentive young man she barely knows, for Marianne, Wiker notes, “passion is the thing. Feelings must take the place of judgment.” And “being a creature of sensibility, Marianne has no sense,” no interest in learning good moral judgment, which involves “training feelings by habit and reason.”

THE BIG BROIL

From Drudge Report:

Rolling Blackouts Begin In Detroit...

SCORCH: HIGH TEMPS TO LAST WEEKS...

Now covers 1 million sq miles; 140 million people baking...

NEW YORKERS WARNED TO EXPECT ROLLING OUTAGES...

LINKS AND COMMENTARY FROM WINTERY KNIGHT

William Lane Craig makes sense of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement

What works to halt the spread of AIDS"  Morality-or-condoms?

Casey Luskin debates Thom Hartmann on Darwinism

Democrats mandate gay history be taught in California schools

How President George W. Bush helped to create South Sudan

 Is Christianity false or is it just mean and Judgmental?

 How long are the days of Genesis?  Hugh Ross and Jason Lisle debate

IF YOU FAVOR TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE YOU COULD LOSE YOUR JOB

Such has been the experience of some who have had the courage to go public with their convictions.  Maggie Gallagher put up an important piece, "The Chilling of Our First Amentments Rights."  She writes:  [my bolding]

The First Amendment is more than a legal guarantee. It is a culture — a key American value — which holds that in a decent and free society, law-abiding citizens should not face reprisals for speaking up with civility for the moral good as they see it.

Sen. Chuck Grassley’s remarkable opening statement in today’s Senate hearing on a bill to repeal DOMA called attention to a very serious and growing intolerance directed at Americans who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife:

The minority very much hoped to call a witness today at this hearing to testify in support of DOMA. I am sure she would have done an excellent job.

She declined, however, citing as one reason the threats and intimidation that have been leveled against not only her but her family as a result of her public support for DOMA. She will continue to write on this subject, but will no longer speak publicly about it. This chilling of First Amendment rights is unacceptable.

When Chris Johnson, a reporter from the Washington Blade, called and asked if that woman was me, I was at first amused. No, of course not. I am not refusing to make public appearances. I was not invited this time.  

But I could sympathize. I just returned from interviewing a Toronto sportscaster who was fired for tweeting that he believed “in the true and authentic meaning of marriage.” Next week, I will go to North Carolina to interview another man whose contract was terminated when the HR head of his company found out he had written against gay marriage.  

The death threats and hateful mail  New York state senator Rev. Ruben Diaz says he has received are not unusual. Whole professions are in the process of being closed to anyone who espouses — and acts — on the view that marriage is the union of husband and wife.

Fox News is not covering this. Conservative media outlets, except for a few beacons such as NR, are virtually silent.

The underlying truth that “pro-equality” Republicans need to understand is this: They are aiding and abetting a political movement that, at this point in history, seeks to make traditional Christian views on sex and marriage unacceptable in the public square — just as racist views on interracial marriage are unacceptable — by heaping scorn and hatred on any American who does something to support marriage as one man and one woman.

The marriage debate is about redefining not only marriage, but the relationship between Judeo-Christian values and the American tradition.

I just wonder what these “pro-equality” conservatives think will be left to conserve after that.

Me:  I agree.  "Fox news is not covering this..."  Virtually no media outlets are.  I agree with the person who commented: 

In my view the real dynamic here isn't gay marriage qua gay marriage. We're witnesses a much larger shift. One religion (secular liberalism as currently understood) is seeking to displace another (Judeo-christian faith).

The new god(s) cannot abide the worship of any others so the acolytes must take arms against the existing order and destroy it so that it can be replaced by the new order, which of course hasn't exactly been defined just yet.

True believers are the American left are highly motivated to achieve their objective. Those who profess faith in the old God, not so much. So one by one the old order, the old ways will crumble. It remains to be seen if the new order is functionally any better. Many on the right doubt it, but many on the right are not nearly as motivated to sustain the existing order as their opponents are to destroy it.

DROUGHT CRIPPLES SOUTHERN U.S. FARMS

This is really serious. Gregory Meyer reports for the Financial Times:  (HT: Drudge)

 [...] The Lone Star state is at the epicentre of a once-in-a-generation drought stretching from Arizona to Florida. The US’s southern underbelly is scorched like meat on a grill.

The drought has spawned wildfires, turning grasslands to ash. In Texas, the leading cotton producer in the US, 59 per cent of the cotton crop is in poor condition or worse. Harvests of hard winter wheat, prized for yeasted breads, have plummeted in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas as yields and acreage contracted. Ranchers cannot feed their cattle on parched pastures.

  Mr Hancock, a fourth-generation farmer, says the cotton seeds he planted on his 3,000 dryland acres never germinated. “All I see is dry, barren farmland. The weeds really haven’t even grown,” he says.

His irrigated crop is also “right on the edge”, as temperatures in Lubbock have hovered near 38C all month. Last month was the hottest June in Texas on record, breaking the previous peak in 1953.    [more . . .]

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER - THE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIAN WHO STOOD AGAINST NAZI GERMANY

I've posted two videos of an interview with biographer, Eric Metaxas.  The first is a condensed version (8:32 minutes) and the second one longer and with less editing (34:34 minutes).

 

 

VISHAL MANGALWADI - "The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization"

I have long appreciated the mind and heart of Vishal Mangalwadi, the outstanding Indian thinker who has done much to point out the positive influence of the Bible on the development of the West.  (Previous blog posts here).   Now he has written his 450 page magnum opus (but perhaps there is more to come?), The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization.

Charles Colson is excited about the book.  He writes:

Vishal Mangalwadi, a native of India, is one of the greatest Christian worldview thinkers of our day. He believes that much of modern India, including its language, educational system, and political freedom, developed not out of Hinduism, but out of Christianity.

His newest work, The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization explores the Bible’s impact, not only in leading the West to unparalleled liberty and prosperity, but in helping India and other nations to share in the West’s success.

Mangalwadi carefully examines the intellectual roots of Western concepts of human dignity, reason, morality, science, liberty, and self-sacrificial heroism, explaining how each of these concepts grew out of Biblical principles. He then contrasts the biblical view of life with alternative worldviews like Secularism, Islam, and Hinduism.

Colson writes a lot more, and concludes:

I recommend a lot of books on BreakPoint, but this is a must-read. If Western civilization and our way of life are to survive, we must understand and re-embrace the biblical principles and values they were built on.  [my emphasis]

Many other leaders enthusiastically endorse the book:

TYNDALE HOUSE, CAMBRIDGE - A LIBRARY UNDERGIRDING EXCELLENCE IN BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP

Justion Taylor interviewed Dr Peter J. Williams, Warden of Tyndale House, Cambridge, the premiere research library for biblical studies.  Biblical scholarship doesn't usually rank high on the priority list of most lay persons,  but its worth is utterly important.  Williams points out:

Christians accept that it may take vast sums of money to train a soldier or a doctor, and yet sometimes we are unwilling to accept that, if we want Bible scholars as well trained as our medical specialists, it is also going to involve serious investment. Investing in Christian scholarship is a long-term strategy and will usually seem less appealing than more obvious and apparently pressing needs. However, if the church does not have robust scholarship then it will be highly vulnerable to false ideas.

Williams' suggestion for mature charitable giving makes sense:

Evangelicals need to divide up their giving in sensible proportions, giving some to urgent and immediate causes, but also making adequate provision for ministries that tend only to yield fruit in the longer term.

THE LATEST "SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE REVIEW: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO PRO-FAMILY NEWS," JULY 14, 2011

These compilations from a variety of sources by the Family Research Council continue to offer interested people a gold mine.  A new edition appears every two weeks.  Readers will find in each a wealth of information not readily found elsewhere. For previous reviews I've posted, click here.   For a complete list of articles from this latest edition,  click "continue reading" below.

MORE ATTEMPTS OF THE LIBERAL MEDIA TO DESTROY MICHELE BACHMANN

I first wrote about it here.  Now David French writes:

One of the most disgusting political spectacles of my lifetime has been the single-minded effort of the Left to destroy Sarah Palin. Without burdening the readers with a litany of links, we all remember the “not a real woman” comments, the stalking author/neighbor, the hacking scandal, the recent (enthusiastic) fishing expedition through thousands of e-mails, and the vile insults from academics, politicians, and celebrities alike. The goal: to banish her to the fringe of American life, to turn her into a figure of mockery and contempt.

Now, apparently, the Left has decided it’s Michele Bachmann’s turn. Already a hate figure on fringe media outlets like MSNBC, the MSM is piling on. Slate asked if she can be president and still believe in biblical gender roles, ABC News is recycling stories from The Nation about her husband’s counseling centers (where, try as they might, they cannot show a single unethical practice), The Daily Beast gave space to Michelle Goldberg to talk about Bachmann’s alleged “unrivaled extremism,” and the Washington Post’s lifestyle section dedicated several thousand words to a scornful profile of Bachmann’s husband, Marcus.

Why the hate? The secular feminist world view was built around multiple destructive cultural lies: motherhood is a barrier to self-actualization, orthodox religion traps women unhappily in the home, and the only real path to power and happiness is exploding, not upholding, traditional religious values. Yet a mother of five (with 23 foster children), happily married in a Christian family, and who proudly espouses the very traditional values most repugnant to the academic feminist Left is a leading candidate for the most powerful office in the world. She is a living refutation of their foundational beliefs, and — like Sarah Palin — she must be destroyed.

As we enter a primary season where Republican infighting threatens to reach a crescendo, I hope we can learn a lesson from Sarah Palin’s ordeal. You may or may not support Michele Bachmann for president, but we can (and should) defend her against the coming ideological onslaught, an onslaught that is aimed at her but whose real targets are the core values that govern many of our lives.

SOUTH SUDEN CELEBRATED ITS INDEPENDENCE FROM SUDAN ON JULY 9TH

 

Investors Business Daily (cited by Jim Loft) noted that South Sudan's statehood was largely the work of President Bush and U.S. Christians.  President Obama, as usual, couldn't bring himself to credit Bush.   In his statement, Bush went unmentioned.  Pathetic.  See photos of the new South Sudan President, Salva Kiir, wearing the black cowboy hat given him by President Bush.

Michael Gerson writes of the challenges facing the new nation.

 

<p>South Sudan celebrated its independence from Sudan July 9th.&nbsp; It was the fruit of President Bush's efforts -- and Christians -- as the new South Sudan President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, graciously and thankfully acknowledged.&nbsp; But Obama couldn't bring himself to offer any public credit to President Bush.&nbsp; He could only offer vacuous statements.&nbsp; Pathetic.&nbsp;&nbsp; Investor's business Daily <a href="http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=577937&amp;p=1" target="_blank">reports</a>:</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em><strong>Freedom:</strong> As South Sudan joyfully celebrated its  independence from Sudan, President Obama hailed it as the fruit of  partnership, togetherness, hope and unity. South Sudanese, however,  hailed President Bush.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Proudly wearing the black cowboy hat given to him by President Bush,  South Sudan's new president, Salva Kiir Mayardit, couldn't have made a  stronger statement about who made his country's independence possible  after 50 years of warfare.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>"It was George Bush and the Christian fundamentalists who heard the  cry of South Sudan," affirmed a South Sudanese man quoted by the Los  Angeles Times.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>But to hear the White House — in its official recognition of the new  republic, as well as on the White House blog and in an op-ed published  earlier this year, President Bush had nothing to do with this.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>"Today is a reminder that after the darkness of war, the light of a  new dawn is possible," wrote Obama, as if such events just .. . happen.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Fact is, these events didn't just happen.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>In 2005, President Bush put South Sudan at the top of the U.S.  foreign policy agenda. Knocking heads, he forced the murderous  Islamofascist government of Sudan to negotiate with the South Sudan  rebels, including their right to secede. That hard work led to today's  result — and with it, the first chance South Sudan has ever had to break  free of its oppression.</em></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Obama made sure to thank the African Union, civil society groups and  even Sudan itself. But recognition of President Bush was relegated to  nothing more than a nameless "U.S. leadership" that "played a part."  Christian groups that made it their cause were also ignored.</em></p>
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AN EVENING WITH C.S. LEWIS

From Justin Taylor's Between Two Worlds:

This one-man show by David Payne gives a good feel for C.S. Lewis as a man and as a thinker.

The setting is 1963 (the last year of Lewis’s life), with Lewis addressing in his home a group of writers from America. It’s an hour and a half in length:

 

 

Justin Taylor adds:

If you’ve never heard C.S. Lewis himself speak and are interested, here are some free samples online.

The first two are from the BBC:

Beyond Personality: The New Men (14:05 mins)
March 21, 1944
Length: 14:05
(This talk later became a part of Mere Christianity.)

An Introduction to The Great Divorce
Date: May 9, 1948
Length of clip: 1:58

On this site you can hear a few samples from his lectures on The Four Loves:

• Introduction (0:29)
  
• “Agape Love” (0:20)
  
• “Is Creation Necessary?” (0:35)
  

You can also order The C.S. Lewis Recordings, which contains the following material:

The Four Loves – In this rare recording of C.S. Lewis’ own voice, Lewis examines the four classical Greek terms for love: storge, philia, eros and agape. Recorded in 1958 in London by the Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation, it was first heard in the United States on the Episcopal Series of the Protestant Hour radio program, now known as Day1.

C.S. Lewis Speaks His Mind – This rare recording contains Lewis’ lecture on Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, Lewis’ adaptation of his famous Cambridge lecture known as “The Great Divide,” his introduction to his book The Great Divorce, and his critique of works by author Charles Williams.

WILLIAM AND KATE IN HOLLYWOOD

Piers Morgan said it well:  

‘They are the biggest stars in the world, there’s no question.

‘I’m very proud of them. I think they have re-energised the monarchy. They are incredible ambassadors for our country. They are flying the flag in brilliant style and I think it’s really exciting.

‘Kate has what Simon Cowell calls the X-factor. She’s like Jacquie Kennedy, she’s like Princess Diana. You can see it but you can’t really say what it is.'

Me:  No two ways about it.  Kate and William make a handsome couple.  May they be a force for good in the world. More photos here.  Update 7/11/11 and here.  They flew home to the UK on a commercial flight!

PEGGY NOONAN - THE WORLD LOOKS TO AMERICA

Peggy Noonan writes of Ronald Reagan centenary celebrations this past week in Krakow, Budapest, Prague and London.  These nations thanked God for President Ronald Reagan and erected monuments in his honor.   The leader of Hungary's government ended his speech saying, "We need a Ronald Reagan.  Is he there, somewhere, already?"  To which Noonan added, 'The world misses him as much as we do.  It misses grand leadership as much as we do."  Noonan again:

The world looks to America. It doesn't want to be patronized or dominated by America, it wants to see America as a beacon, an example, a dream of what could be. And the world wants something else: American goodness. It wants to have faith in the knowledge that America is the great nation that tries to think about and act upon right and wrong, and that it is a beacon also of things practical—how to have a sturdy, good, unsoiled economy, how to create jobs that provide livelihoods that allow families to be formed, how to maintain a system in which inventors and innovators can flourish. A world without America in this sense—the beacon, the inspiration, the speaker of truth—would be a world deprived of hopefulness. And so we must be our best selves again not only for us but for the world.   [more...]

HUGH HEWITT INTERVIEWS HENRY KISSENGER "ON CHINA"

Hewitt regards former Secretary of State Henry Kissenger's book, On China, as MUST READING for the foreign policy elite, every executive doing business in China, and every student hoping to do so someday. Hewitt writes:

Saturday July 9 marks the 40th anniversary of Henry Kissinger’s secret trip to China that began the  process of opening the relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic and culminated in Richard Nixon’s visit to Beijing in February, 1972.

“There are two slightly different purposes in writing the book,” Kissinger told me in a wide-ranging interview yesterday (transcript here.)

“One is to explain how Chinese think about international affairs to non-Chinese,” he continued. “Not to explain the Chinese point of view so much as to explain the way of thinking, the different concepts of time, and the different concepts of deterrence and defense that the Chinese have.”

The second purpose is aimed at the Chinese.

“Now as far as the Chinese are concerned, what my book might do is show them how their actions are interpreted by other countries, and therefore, to the extent that they care about what other countries think, to enable them to conduct a policy that leads to cooperation rather than confrontation, if that is the decision they have made.”

Whether this second purpose is accomplished only Chinese officials can tell us, but Kissinger’s first mission is fully achieved and the result is alarming. . .    

What was chilling to me was Hewitt's next-to-last paragraph:

The most troubling aspect of the book is its brisk review of the emerging “triumphalist party” inside the PRC. Proponents of this view argue that an epic duel is now underway between the U.S. and China, and that the West’s weakness is revealed by the financial crisis of 2008. This aggressive nationalism could mutate into something like the Japanese militarism of the early 20th century with, Kissinger told me, the same sort of results as that unhappy chapter.   [more . . .]

Read Hewitt's interview with Kissenger about the book.  It makes for fascinating reading.

ALLERGIES AND ICE CREAM: A DISASTROUS COMBINATION

From Hallelujah Acres (bolding in the original):

Why Ice Cream Makes Allergies Worse

It’s one more reason why ice cream just ain’t worth it.

In addition to having way too much sugar, saturated animal fat, chemicals, and preservatives (lovely combo, isn’t it?), it’s ice cream’s sinister dairy content that wreaks havoc for allergy sufferers.

You see, dairy has casein and arachidonic acids. Most people who know better avoid ice cream because of the casein, which is known to cause cancer.

But the allergy culprit is the arachidonic acids.

Arachidonic acids increase the body’s production of leukotrienes, inflammatory mediators that cause congestion associated with seasonal allergies. In effect, this situation makes allergies worse.

The dairy in ice cream also weakens the immune system, further contributing to allergy symptoms.

Olin Idol, Hallelujah Acres’ Vice-President of Health remembers having seasonal allergies as a child. Only after he adopted The Hallelujah Diet well into adulthood did he connect the fact that ice cream made the allergies worse.

“The ice cream that I loved as a child was the root cause of my allergies,” Olin says. “I find it hard to imagine how many others are unknowingly dealing with underlying allergies to milk products.”

There IS a healthy alternative… Here’s a non-dairy ice cream recipe we shared in our most recent Health News magazine:

WHAT MOTIVATED THE CHRISTIAN VILLAGERS OF LE CHAMBON TO RESCUE JEWISH CHILDREN DURING WORLD WAR II?

Charles Colson recounts the story.

[...] Drayton Nabers writes [in The Hidden Key to Happiness] that when the Nazis began rounding up French Jews to send to concentration camps, Trocme -- a French reformed pastor -- determined to provide sanctuary for them.

They did so despite the fact that the punishment for sheltering Jews was death. They did so even though the villagers themselves were desperately poor;  since the Trocmes often had several children staying in their  home, the Trocmes’ own four children often had very little to eat.

At various times, government and even church authorities ordered Trocme to turn over any Jews hiding in the village. He refused, and was himself thrown into prison. His cousin Daniel Trocme, who also rescued Jews, was executed in a concentration camp. Other villagers also died while protecting Jews. By the war’s end, Le Chambon was known to be a city of refuge, and the Trocmes were recognized by Holocaust memorial groups for their heroism.

Learning about the people of Le Chambon, Nabers wondered: How are we to understand such extraordinary group submission to the call of God, and Trocme’s ability to lead his people to such valiant obedience?

First, Trocme’s sermons “were biblically based with a heavy emphasis on the source of the believer’s power to follow God.” He often focused on the Christian’s obligation to protect the helpless, even in defiance of the authorities.

Second, the courage of the villagers was strengthened by regular small group meetings that were washed in prayer, moving “the hearts of those who would later provide refuge at risk of their lives.”

Third, the Protestant villagers could identify with persecution, because their Huguenot ancestors were persecuted in Catholic France.

Fourth, the villagers had developed habits of virtue, compassion, helping; rescuing the Jews was the fruit of these habits.  [more . . .]

Me: I'm impressed with the factors that enabled and inspired the people of Le Chambon to act so courageously.   There's a real pattern here to emulate.

CHUCK COLSON - THE AMERICAN CREED

Colson writes:

The great British intellectual G. K. Chesterton wrote that “America is the only nation in the world that is founded on [a] creed.”

Think about that for a moment. Other nations were founded on the basis of race, or by the power of kings or emperors who accumulated lands -- and the peasants who inhabited those lands.

But America was -- and is to this day -- different. It was founded on a shared belief. Or as Chesterton said, on a creed.

And what is that creed that sets us apart? It is the eloquent, profound, and simple statement penned by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” 

. . .  According to Gallup, 66 percent of American adults have no idea that the words, “We hold these truths . . .” come from the Declaration of Independence. Even worse, only 45 percent of college seniors know that the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are proclaimed in the Declaration.  [more . . .]

TWO VIEWS OF AMERICA

Walter Russell Mead - "The Future Still Belongs to America"

Toby Harnden - "Down on the Fourth of July: The United States of Gloom"

Me:  W.R.  Mead's article cites easily ignored or forgotten facts and provides a welcome counter thrust to Harnden's piece, but with the White House consistently governing so poorly, it is hard to see past the gloom. 

HAPPY 4th OF JULY - INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Please wander over to my friend Wintery Knight's blog for a wonderful 4th of July post.

JULY 3, 2011 - A TIME FOR REPENTANCE AND PRAYER

This needs to be taken seriously.  The most extraordinary time of my week is Saturday morning when I am privileged to meet with others for prayer.  That's where it's at for our individual lives, for our nation and for the world.  Tony Perkins says, "More than one million Christians in all 50 states have pledged to join the Family Research Council (FRC) to get on their knees this Sunday to pray for our nation."  He continues:

Call2Fall is based on 2 Chronicles 7:14, which reads: "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Of the event, Perkins said:

"Our nation's journey back to God begins on our knees in humility and repentant prayer. America is at a crossroads no less critical than when our nation's founders bowed together in humble prayer before Almighty God. God answered their prayers, and He still hears and answers the prayers of those who call on Him with sincere hearts.

"This Sunday, more than one million believers across the nation will fall on their knees for at least five minutes to cry out to God to heal our nation, and thank Him for the wonderful gifts He has bestowed on us.

"Like our great Founding Fathers, we will declare our dependence on God, even as we celebrate our independence."

 

AFRICA'S ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTION TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

It's only been recently that I've become aware of the new scholarly fascination with tracing the neglected African roots of Western Christianity.  Thomas Oden wrote in 2007  How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind and has a new book in press, The African Memory of Mark: Reassessing Early Church Tradition.  Last fall Inter-Varsity Press conducted a fascinating interview with Oden.  More information, he says, is available at www.earlyafricanchristianity.com

In his five-star review of How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind," Amazon reviewer C. Stephens wrote:

Thomas Oden writes, "Christianity would not have its present vitality in the Two-Thirds World without the intellectual understandings that developed in Africa between 50 and 500 C.E. The pretense of studying church history while ignoring African church history is implausible." (10) Yet, in his book "How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind," Oden purports that for centuries Western intellectuals have in fact ignored or downplayed the momentous contributions of African Christians to church history and theology. According to Oden, today's Christian mind has its roots in the writings and teachings of the early church leaders from Africa, in the struggles of the early church martyrs from Africa, in the lives of the desert Fathers of Africa, and in the early Christians who fled Africa taking their faith throughout the  Mediterranean cities. Oden suggests that it is critical for contemporary African Christianity to learn of its prestigious heritage--to learn that Christianity is a vital, traditional African faith rather than a foreign imposition.

He writes, "The profound ways African teachers have shaped world Christianity have never been adequately studied or acknowledged, either in the Global North or South." (9) This is a story that Oden believes needs to be told throughout African villages and cities and must especially reach the African child. He believes it is a story best told fully by young African scholars. The story of African Christianity conveys extraordinary faith, courage, tenacity and intellect that must serve as inspiration and guides not only for African Christianity but for universal Christianity today.