Lincoln On Opposing God

"Men are not flattered by being shown
that there has been a difference of purpose
between the Almighty and them."

Quotations at About.com

Jumping the Shark of Orthodoxy?

Has the Episcopal Church jumped the shark of Christian orthodoxy? Virtue Online reports that:

The House of Deputies of the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church today overwhelmingly refused to even consider a resolution that affirmed Jesus Christ as the "only name by which any person may be saved."

To be sure, there were some who stood up against the Liberalism which is taking over the Episcopal Church, but they now appear to be a minority. I found the following quote disappointing but not surprising (emphasis added):

The Rev. McDowell of the Diocese of North Carolina told VirtueOnline after the floor vote, "In the Episcopal Church we don't do up and down votes on Jesus Christ as Lord, and to do so is potentially a mean-spirited approach, to ask questions that aren't meant to be questions."

McDowell explained that how one lives his life is the more important issue than whether one affirms Jesus as Lord. To place a statement of belief over actions is the essence of "self-righteousness," he said. "Actions speak louder than proclamations...What Jesus calls us to do is to live our lives."

So it is "mean spirited" to affirm John 14:6 where Jesus says, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Also according to Rev. (sic) McDowell, affirming Jesus as Lord isn't as important as being a good person. Yeah, right. If we start affirming Jesus as Lord, we might need to start doing all sorts unpleasant things like, maybe actually believing it to be true.

As the article states, the Episcopal Church has been sliding towards apostasy for years. This is just their latest and, perhaps, the most blatant rejection of traditional Christian doctrine. It may only be a matter of time before the remaining faithful Episcopalians deploy the lifeboats and abandon ship.

Buy a Book for the Troops

(Note: This post has been dated for June 18th to keep it at the top of my blog through Father's Day. Please scroll down to read my current (more or less) posts. Thank you!)

Bill Bennett, radio talk show host and former Secretary of Education and Drug Czar, has a new book out titled, America The Last Best Hope, Volume 1. This book is dedicated to the brave men and women in America's military.

The publisher, Nelson Current (part of Thomas Nelson, Inc.), has generously agreed to donate one book to our soldiers for each book purchased on Bill Bennett's website between now and Fathers Day (June 18th). If you purchase from the website, you also have the option of getting an autographed copy or a personalized copy. They'll make great Father's Day and birthday gifts. If you're like me and can't pass up a bargain, this is like getting two books for the price of one! Just click on the book below or any of the links in this post and buy as many copies as you can afford.



About the book (from the website):

Synopsis:

Volume One of Dr. Bennett's masterpiece America: The Last Best Hope is now available. Volume two is a work in progress. America: The Last Best Hope is a vibrant account of this country's record from before the Founding of the United States to the present day. In recent decades, many histories have treated the American story largely as a social study of missteps and injustices. This treatment is different. Dr. Bennett does not shrink from any hard truths about the nation's past, and he trumpets the glory, romance, and exceptionalism of American achievement. At 512 pages, the first volume covers the discovery of the Americas to the eve of World War I. Volume Two takes readers from World War I to September 11, 2001. The first volume will be published and released May 23, 2006 by Nelson Current, and the second in 2007.

I don't often plug a book unless I have a very good reason. I don't think there are too many reasons better than showing our military how much we support them. Now, buy the book.

Lincoln On Bad Law

"The best way to get a bad law
repealed is to enforce it strictly."

AmusingQuotes.com

Another Harebrained Liberal Idea

The Christian Science Monitor reports in this slightly biased article that there is an attempt underway by Liberals to stop President Bush from stealing another election. (Shhh! Don't tell them that he can't run again. That will spoil all the fun. Besides, Carl Rove has a plan to overthrow the other two branches of government and set up a Bush Dictatorship.)

But, seriously, there are some Liberals who think they are smarter than the Founding Fathers and want to abolish the Electoral College. Unfortunately, they know that there is no way they can amend the Constitution. So, what does a Liberal do if they can't get what they want by following the rules? That's right. They cheat. So, what's the plan, you ask? The plan is to require a state's electoral votes be awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes nationally regardless of who receives the most votes in that state. For example, in 2004, Massachusetts would have been required to give all its Electoral votes to President Bush. Or in 2000, Texas would have been required to give its Electoral votes to Al Gore even though President Bush received the most votes in the state. Of course, it would have made a recount in Florida unnecessary.

Think about that for a moment. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Okay, now if you still think that's a good idea, you're either a moron or you're on the New York Times editorial board. I'm sorry. That's repetitious.

Supporters for this idea (not counting the CSM) are the New York Times:

...several newspapers have come out in favor of the plan, including The New York Times, which calls it an "ingenious solution."

(maybe they meant "disingenuous solution"?)

Former liberal Rockefeller Republican and erstwhile 1980 Presidential candidate John Anderson:

"a bipartisan advisory group including former GOP Rep. John Anderson (a presidential candidate in 1980)"

Note that CSM does not mention Anderson's Liberal political bent or that he is one of the founders of another supporter of this end run around the Constitution:

"Fair Vote, a nonpartisan organization based in Maryland"

Fair Vote may very well be a "nonpartisan organization". It's hard to say, though. Ironically, it seems their website www.fairvote.org isn't working.

If successful, Presidential elections will cease to be national elections. Candidates will put all of their efforts into the most heavily populated areas and ignore the other 80% of the country. The President will be effectively elected by New York City, Southern California and Chicago. Everyone else will just have to pound sand.

Finding God in the Genome

This London Times Online article on Francis Collins, the director of the US National Human Genome Research Institute, is likely to give the ID folks much to boast about and provoke well evolved caterwauling from the Neo-Darwinists.

From the article:

His book, The Language of God, to be published in September, will reopen the age-old debate about the relationship between science and faith. “One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been created that science and religion have to be at war,” ...

For Collins, unravelling the human genome did not create a conflict in his mind. Instead, it allowed him to “glimpse at the workings of God”.

“When you make a breakthrough it is a moment of scientific exhilaration because you have been on this search and seem to have found it,” he said. “But it is also a moment where I at least feel closeness to the creator in the sense of having now perceived something that no human knew before but God knew all along.

“When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1 billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can’t survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can’t help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God’s mind.”

A sense of awe. If only every one of us could say that. Too often we are so caught up in the "importance" of ourselves and our lives that we lose perspective. We think too much of ourselves and too little of God. We put ourselves up on a pedestal and create a god who serves our desires, rather than worshiping Him as He has revealed Himself through His creation and through His Word.

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
and worshiped and served the creature rather
than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Romans 1:25

The Offense of the Gospel

Motion Picture Association of America has decided that Christian evangelism should be in the same category of disturbing content as profanity, violence and nudity:

The Christian moviemakers behind a low-budget film called "Facing the Giants" were stunned when the MPAA pinned a PG rating on their gentle movie about a burned-out, depressed football coach whose life on and off the field takes a miraculous turn for the better.

"What the MPAA said is that the movie contained strong 'thematic elements' that might disturb some parents," said Kris Fuhr, vice president for marketing at Provident Films...

The MPAA, noted Fuhr, tends to offer cryptic explanations for its ratings. In this case, she was told that it "decided that the movie was heavily laden with messages from one religion and that this might offend people from other religions. It's important that they used the word 'proselytizing' when they talked about giving this movie a PG...

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;
Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
And clever in their own sight!
Isaiah 5:20-21

John Bolton on . . .

I saw this London Times Online article and thought I'd do a little spin-off on my "Lincoln on..." series. However, I decided to just make one post out of it. Enjoy.

John Bolton on...

ON NEGOTIATING
“I don’t do carrots.”

THE UN
“It’s a target-rich environment.”

REVAMPING THE UN
“Reform is not a one-night stand.”

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
“We want a butterfly. We’re not going to put lipstick on a caterpillar and declare it a success.”

THE NEXT UN SECRETARY-GENERAL
“A proletarian.”

THE WORLD ORGANISATION
“There is no such thing as the United Nations.”

THE UN BUREAUCRACY
“If the UN Secretariat building in New York lost ten storeys, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.”

Lincoln On Relativism

"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

AmusingQuotes.com

Greenpeace: Filling In The Blanks

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Greenpeace revealed one of their trade secrets on Wednesday:

Before President Bush touched down in Pennsylvania Wednesday to promote his nuclear energy policy, the environmental group Greenpeace was mobilizing.

"This volatile and dangerous source of energy" is no answer to the country's energy needs, shouted a Greenpeace fact sheet decrying the "threat" posed by the Limerick reactors Bush visited.

But a factoid or two later, the Greenpeace authors were stumped while searching for the ideal menacing metaphor.

We present it here exactly as it was written, capital letters and all: "In the twenty years since the Chernobyl tragedy, the world's worst nuclear accident, there have been nearly [FILL IN ALARMIST AND ARMAGEDDONIST FACTOID HERE]."

Well, at least they know that their factoids are "alarmist and armageddonist".

[HT: Balko via HH]