Now THIS is an Effective Divorce Ministry

I found these advertisements next to each other on a bulletin board at a local church:

Divorced? Check out our singles ministry! The singles ministry is free, so I think more people will attend it than will the 8 week long divorce workshop.

Is the United States Funding International Abortions?

Are our tax dollars being used to encourage abortions in other countries?

Well, they are, now.

The so-called "Mexico City Law" which has been in place to prevent this was repealed by President Obama on his third day in office. This ruling was originally established by President Ronald Reagan and remained in effect throughout his presidency and that of President George H. W. Bush. It remained effective until it was overturned by President Bill Clinton in 1993. In 2001, George W. Bush put the law back into effect, saying, "It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad." As a fan of smaller government (and not murdering babies) I completely agree.

I'll be setting up my taxes, soon, and I will do so with the dark knowledge that some of the money I work for is going to other countries to fund pro-abortion groups.



This may be a good time to write your Senator and Congress person.

Source.
Source.

That Problematic Benediction

Here's the last paragraph of the inaugural benediction:

Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around ... when yellow will be mellow ... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen.

Open your eyes, you're standing in front of the first black President of the United States!

I take the bus to work from time to time, I've also ridden on trains and subways, and I've never seen anyone asked to sit in the back. The bus I ride picks up blacks and whites, Asians, Indians, and Hispanics, and it's first-come first-serve for seating, with no exceptions. (As a matter of fact, the bus is possibly the most egalitarian place I go.)

I am not saying that racism is gone; it is not, I'm not naive. But, "back of the bus" was a long time ago. While Rev. Lowery is dreaming of a world where blacks can be treated equally the rest of us are enjoying that world, in fact, a lot of white people just voted for a black guy. (Years ago, some other white people tried to get Colin Powell on the ticket.) The United States is a miraculous place where all people groups are excelling and we should be proud of it. Let's not waste our time pointing fingers at each other.

Calvary. Cavalry. As Different as Night and Day.

Calvary - The hill near Jerusalem where Jesus was crucified:



Cavalry - An army component mounted on horseback.


No one gets this one right and it makes for some funny misunderstandings. For example, this guy is selling spurs that were worn by soldiers on horseback and he calls them "Calvary Spurs". Maybe Jesus wore Cowboy boots to the cross?

This article from the Washington Post says that auto makers are sending in the "calvary" to Congress, which conjures images of union workers shoving Golgotha to the Capitol Building.

Cavalry.

Calvary.

They're as different as night and day.

Don't you think that night and day are different?

Here are more common grammar mistakes, if this sort of thing lights your wood.

Are There More Government Workers or Manufacturers in the United States?

Are there more people employed in the U.S. as manufacturing workers or as government employees? A good question, and one I probably couldn't have answered until today. The Fabius Maximus Blog has an interesting graphic for us that shows a disturbing trend. Look at it, then come back and finish reading. I'll wait. (They won't let me show it here.)

See the graph.


I don't have any brilliant analysis for you (I'm a medievalist and won't try to be an economist) but this is shocking to me. I would rather see Americans building things than working as bureaucrats, paying their own salary with ingenuity instead of with our taxes.

What do you think? Should we cry "communism" or embrace it as progress? Notice the quickly rising red line indicating the way government jobs have grown, in ten years will the red line be twice as high as the blue line on a chart like this? When does it stop, and what happens when the government grows until it can't grow anymore? Maybe I shouldn't think about stuff like this.

Discuss. What does it say, to you?

Did Jesus Ride on a Dinosaur? Oh, my...

Does the Bible say that Jesus rode on a dinosaur?

That question might sound completely ridiculous to some of you, but others among you have heard of this and thought, Wow, those Christians sure are stupid.

And, why shouldn't you think that?


A saddled Triceratops is on display at the Creationist Museum. Why? What does this have to do with Christianity? Wait, it gets better.


Jesus probably rode on a dinosaur? Since when? If Aristotle and other Greeks spent so much time cataloging animals, why didn't they make up a category for the dinosaurs and describe any? If they were around in Jesus' day, why don't we have paintings and descriptions? We have them for every other animal.

OK, now to get my hands really dirty.

Is it possible that man once lived with dinosaurs at some point? I think it's remotely possible in isolated incidents - but that's not saying much . There's a lot we don't know, like why African tribes tell stories of a Brontosaurus, or how a T-Rex managed to have soft tissue in it's bones after 10 million years. Not all of the questions about the universe have been answered.

Is it relevant to my faith? Not really. I don't think being a Christian has much to do with this stuff. Christianity is about my connection to God, not dinosaurs.

Can Christians Believe in UFOs?

This morning, I read an article over at Answers in Genesis that discussed an idea that I didn't know anyone actually believed: the idea that Christians cannot, and must not, believe in the possibility of alien life in outer space.

This is something I've never understood. The Bible makes no mention of aliens, at all, so why work it into our beliefs?

The fact that they are not mentioned in scripture has caused some to believe that aliens must not be real. As the article puts it:

Even if there were other galaxies with planets very similar to earth, life could only be there if the Creator had fashioned it. If God had done that, and if these beings were going to visit us one day, then He would surely not have left us unenlightened about this. (emphasis mine)

However, the Bible also fails to mention quantum physics, sewing machines, and Antarctica, but those things are certainly real. Most of our world is a mystery and the Bible only tells us about a little of it.

The article also lists numerous reasons why the existence of alien life is dubious and tries to play the part of the paranormal skeptic by decrying UFO sightings as crazy stories. They could be right about that part, maybe there are no aliens, but it has nothing to do with theology and doesn't belong in such an article. It's merely someone's opinion about a hotly debated topic.

The people at Answers in Genesis have gone so far as to say that alien life and the validity of Christianity are mutually exclusive ideas, so if aliens did land they would have to admit that their faith is wrong. That is a very foolish position and it is completely unnecessary.

Believe it or not, the Bible doesn't answer every question. Does it tell us how we can be saved? Certainly, it does.

But, did it warn us about the great depression or explain why Earth's magnetic poles shift? No

It's very unlikely that we will see aliens in our lifetime, even if they do exist, but let's not bog ourselves down with meaningless theology when the work of the Kingdom is to be done.

Happy Birthday to the Gideons!

In my previous job I traveled constantly and every hotel room I visited had a Gideon's Bible in the sock drawer. (Giving me a fine alternative to watching the "Girls Gone Wild" commercials which seem to be the only thing on at night in hotels.)

This year, the Gideons celebrate 100 years of service since the first Gideon, a traveling salesman, started placing Bibles in hotels for his own spiritual encouragement and to help others who might stay in the same room. Knoxnews.com has a good treatment of the story, including this bit:

Elliott Osowitt, 59, pastor at Faith Fellowship in Jefferson, N.C., said when he used to work in the tourism industry, the life he led "involved loose living and immorality." His wife eventually kicked him out of the house on Christmas Eve in 1996.

His daughter had also been sent to prison during that time, and Osowitt felt he'd failed as a father and husband. He was going to shoot himself in motel room that night, but before he did, he saw a Gideon Bible laying on a television, he said.

"When I looked at it, I thought who needs that and threw it on the floor. It fell on the floor and it still stayed open, like it was beckoning me," Osowitt said. "It really made me mad, so I kicked it, but it hit this wooden box frame under the bed and popped back on the floor."

He then picked it up and was about to throw it when he looked down and started reading a passage from the Gospel of John.

"It caused me to stop. It caused me to cry. When I read it was Jesus, I had a hard time with it," said Osowitt, who converted from Judaism to Christianity and became a Southern Baptist minister.

"It literally began a process of healing that eventually led to the reconciliation with my entire family. I just thank God for saving me and the Gideons for being so faithful."

Steve Smith, director of communications and development for the Gideons, said the group has thousands of similar recorded testimonies.