Wonderful Matters

We enjoyed one of the best Christmas movies ever the other night, Die Hard  with Bruce Willis, from 1988. I know, I know, everyone's arguing about whether it is really a Christmas movie or not, but it is. It happens at Christmas time, there are Christmas songs in it, and the most important reason is that John McClane is, in a very profound sense, a messiah character almost giving his life to rescue people. I know, I know, lots of movies feature their action heroes kick-boxing and blowing away bad guys to save others, but this is just different. For one thing he does walk across broken glass causing his feet to bleed badly. In everything he does he is a sort of living sacrifice and employs great courage and tenacity to give of himself to get the job done. Plus he uses tremendous insight, knowledge, and wisdom to make the things happen he must make happen to do that job. Just amazingness from an action hero throughout. But this is not the only reason the movie so thoroughly enjoyable...

I had some down time tonight, so I thought I'd blog a bit. I really wanted to spill some of my thoughts onto the computer screen here about what I saw in my Los Angeles Times this morning. I just can't help it. The Times is the paper we get, and it is an extraordinarily quality journalistic effort. It is. But it is also a gigantic mouthpiece for the World System. It is one of the reasons I enjoy reading it. I get my news, and I also get a huge serving of the ways the System is keeping people tied to Cain's legacy. Don't get me wrong, this is what The Institution is supposed to do. All very fine stuff indeed. I just can't keep from pointing out how much its perfectly legitimate work comes straight from hell, and perhaps some will see and want to get out of it. Quite frequently I see the profound irony of System operations all over the front page of this very influential daily. Oh don't worry that it's all going away soon. All this news and the humanist tw...

I do have a Facebook page but visit it quite infrequently. Today I did, and a wall post from a terrific friend included one of those quite idiotic but purportedly inspirational notions, this one going something like this, from some motivational speaker at a "You're Really Special"-type seminar that probably cost attendees $800 for the weekend. "See this $20 bill? How many of you want it? [Hands up everywhere.] Okay, what if I crinkled it up, like this? How many now? [Same number of hands up.] Okay, what if I stepped on it and squished it into the ground, like this? How many now? [Same number.] See! No matter what awful thing happens to the $20 bill, it still retains its value. So, listen, YOU ARE VALUED! No matter how much stuff you have to take in life, tough it out because you have value even through all of it!" The few comments there were along the lines of "Bravo! Great words!" and "I must remember that all the time! Thanks!" What w...

Now is the time when Christmas things occupy everyone's attention in some measure. No matter how extremely anti-Christian-things one is, he or she cannot avoid noting the difference in the way things are in December. Even as much as a lot of that Christmasy stuff is driven by those wholly given over to Roman Catholic commitment, it still does direct the observer to one single truth: That God entered our realm of existence as a man with one single purpose. He was to die in order to shed His blood as the one single sacrifice that would cleanse us of our sin and rescue us from the grip of death. How much of a contrast that was to the signing ceremony the president of the United States held yesterday, when he enacted into law the rescinding of the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of keeping an individual's proclaimed and presumed homosexuality from affecting military activity. Apparently the administration and defense department will work out how it will work ...

I recently read an economics piece about the opportunity cost of a certain Christmas tradition. The writer--some young financial wonk somewhere--lamented the abject inefficiency of gift-giving, going into great detail about the real value of the practice. His argument went something like this. Aunt Gladys gets you a $50 sweater when she really could just hand you the $50, at which point you could get what you really want. But because she gave you something you really don't  want, the value to you is no higher than $30, graciously considering that even if you don't really like it, it may be serviceable for having on when picking an avocado off the tree on a mildly chilly morning. So it's not just $0, let's grant that it is something. Making a valiant attempt to think like an economist, he concedes that there may indeed be a value to the simple fact that Aunt Gladys got you a gift, and tacks on another $30 for that, making the value $60. (If he were to be even more pr...

Just want to direct you to a magnificent devotional, one that I read this morning during my quiet time. I don't want to say anything about it. You've just got to read it. It's at Radio Bible Class . I write frequently of horrific things all around to draw attention to the wonderful matters involved. This may seem wildly contradictory, but the reason I do this is because in the face of the most abject evil, the most wretched body of death-- there is a Body of Life. He is Jesus Christ. And He has a place for you if you'd just let Him be your shepherd. Anyway, again, check out the devotional. Your heart will definitely get a tad wrenched. Because, yeah, It is possible to see at Christmas...