Wonderful Matters

Speak of idolatry these days and you're sure to get a bemused glower, as if you just said Jack and the Beanstalk was a true story. "We're past that stage of human development" the thinking goes, mostly because we've all been told by World operatives who know that all that supernatural stuff is just personal interpretation. They should know, they tell us enough times on television and in the classroom. How could we not get it? Yes, silly me, "God" is just a mental construct, and idolatry just some backward religious nut's arrogant claim that his god is better than some other guy's. Only thing is... What if God were really God in real reality? And He actually had at least a spittle of interest in what people did with their understanding of Who He Is? Why do we care so much about what people think of who we are, authentically, but don't give God the same consideration? Yes, God will do just fine even with those who blow Him off. He's God, H...

Two items from Slate webzine caught my eye and are quite worth a mention. The first, from a discussion group colleague, is a current series on the concept of "lawbreaker tolerance." It is a fascinating look at the limitations of government in light of its responsibility to prosecute with summary execution. That work is here, "American Lawbreaking" by Columbia law professor Tim Wu . The second, a piece from a few years ago I came across in a search, is another man's take on the fact that there are so many Jesuses out there that knowing the real one is quite a puzzle. That is, unless you merely go talk to the real one. Alas, most people don't like talking to the real one because they fear the shocking discovery that He is so different from theirs. That piece is here, "Jesus Christ, Choose Your Own Personal Savior" by Chris Suellentrop . The two Slate pieces are intertwined in more ways than you may think. Even though government finds many ways, how...

On my Google page this morning was this verse from Ezekiel: "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." It is simple, God would like to be with you, living, forever, in sublime happiness. Problem, He doesn't want to do that with people who jerk Him around-- no one would want that from anyone. That jerking Him around is generally called sin, but you don't hear much of it these days because it is quite uncouth to mention it in mixed company. What people don't realize is that everyone has done that jerking around at some point in his or her life, and that jerking around thing is not as much an offense to God as it is to one another, here, among all us humans who also really don't like it much when those around us lie, cheat, steal, murder, whatever. So what is the issue with Ann Coulter essentially saying that the only way out of this body of death is through Jesus Christ, and that it doesn...

When Paul spoke about the body of death from which Christ freed him, it was clear that deception was woven through his turmoil. He essentially declared, "I do what I know I shouldn't." Christ is the one who gives power to do that which is authentic, or, that which is not deception. From this perspective I can't help but mention a number of news items that amplify the truth of the body of death that reigns in the World. Sure this could be an interminably long list, as it could every day in exposing the World's affairs. There are so many. But I'll just address these for now, and point out how little people see that which truly murders them in each story. Item : Bush claims the CIA doesn't use torture. Apparently a couple of internal memos were intercepted that said government interrogators use torture to get information. Democrats in Congress have vowed to pass an anti-torture bill. The Anti-Deception : The Agency of Cain has used, does use, and will use tor...

Tonight is the premiere of the top motion picture marketed out there for this weekend, "The Kingdom." It stars some Oscar-winning actors and it looks like it has a lot of brave-looking people firing weapons at terrorists of some stripe. I imagine the intended effect is to get all who watch it to shout with Homer Simpson, "U-S-A! U-S-A!" It has received rather tepid reviews so far. I'm paying attention to it simply because of the title of the film and the massive campaign to sell it. I've seen ads for the thing everywhere. Again, I'm just curious because certainly some are going to get some impression about what "The Kingdom" is, whether or not that is actually true. "The Kingdom" in this sense refers to the country of Saudi Arabia, which considers itself a kingdom. It has a king, princes, a royal family, all exerting great power in an oil-rich and terrorist-harboring region. It seems the movie has some intrigue and thrills, but from w...

In doing my web writing wherever that is-- webzine , blog, comments on some site somewhere about something-- I'm insanely devoted to the idea that I can get people to understand and know Christ by saying, "Hey, look at that foolish thing and see how foolish that is!" They would then see said foolish thing for being as abjectly foolish as it is, connect the dots, and find that any true fulfillment for any need or desire can only ultimately be found in Him. I even heard a radio show this morning on the Los Angeles hyper-libertarian station KPFK called "Connect the Dots." They always have someone on who rails against some Power-That-Be as oppressing the poor disadvantaged disenfranchised whatever Power-Back-To-The-People type. They seem to think that displacing the despised Power with their adored Power is going to liberate all and bring joyous utopia. "Connect the dots!" they say, but then when they profess their "final solution," I always wond...

Larry Kudlow is a top talking head, offering financial blab across the airwaves. I think he's got a show on CNBC. He was on Hugh Hewitt's drive-time radio show the other day and they were bantering about the latest economic item of interest-- the severe poking at the housing bubble. So fiercely did Kudlow make the case that the Fed lower interest rates that it amplified the truth that the Fed is quite the law enforcer. I can bet that every Federal Reserve Chairman through history (these days it is Ben Bernanke) has certainly lost count of the number of times he has had to smile nervously as he is asked to crack heads in any number of institutionalized ways to pull back on the abject misassessment of value among Catholicist Nation inhabitants. Kudlow said his recommendation about what the Fed do is the "shock and awe" approach, and he cried "Come on-- stop the deflation ." The deflation here refers to the precipitous drop in home values through the collapse o...