Stones Cry Out

Good morning.

1. Tone deaf atheists.
2. So, on the debt … the big Democrat non-negotiable item … the ball had to be kicked down the road past the elections. Now, outside of the beltway, I’m curious if any Democrats agree that was the primary thing. I’m betting not so much.
3. At least for a week or so we can avoid media fraud (well, it’s a hope … if somewhat over-optimistic).
4. Summer heat is relative.
5. Doing calculus is harder than you thought …. oh, wait they’re not doing calculus.
6. For those who haven’t figured out that government spending is a divisor not a mulitplier.
7. But of course the government has more effective ways of stomping out businesses.
8. I too used to drink it hot (not grape though) and really only when camping.
9. Battleships and hollywood.
10. Survivalism and some broken premises.

Part 5: Becoming Truly Relevant And Truly Counter-Cultural

We Must Never Stop Evangelizing

If you’ve read the first 4 parts of this series, and have made it to this final post, I thank you. Hopefully, whether or not you fully agree with my argument, you have at least taken a hard look at the issues I’ve been discussing. However, if past experiences I’ve had in attempting to discuss this topic are any indication, then I fear that those fully entrenched in the pragmatic approach of evangelical capitalism – those truly in need of hearing my arguments – will have already left the conversation. If that has occurred, then it is unfortunate, because I believe that this issue is critical to how we, as evangelicals, conduct our lives in the 21st century.

Read the rest of this entry

Part 4: When “Personally Feeling Good And Being Happy” Is Our Goal

A Cultural Laziness Which Has Evolved From An Attitude That Life’s Main Goal Is To Have Fun

It seems that our culture has come to expect to be catered to – to have their needs (felt needs) met. It also seems that we have moved from living as pragmatic narcissists to that of entitlement-expecting narcissists with a hedonistic bent. In the secular realm, catering to those felt needs is simply a business transaction; but in matters related to the spiritual, such catering can have eternal consequences.

In discussing the general attitudes of the younger generation with a friend from work, she told me of an e-mail she received from one of the coaches from her son’s baseball team. It had to do with what this coach has seen with the kids he’s coached and how it is also reflected in the college grads he’s hired. He titled his e-mail The Coddled Generation. Here are some excerpts,

Last night I was watching a 60 Minutes program about motivation in the work place and the uniqueness of the generation entering careers in 2011.

The show was really interesting, both from the perspective of an employer as well as a baseball coach. On this particular show, the coaching professionals interviewed were motivators and trainers used by businesses – experts on the emerging generation of workers and how best to speak to and communicate with them. The show highlighted fun and wacky office cultures like Google and Zappos where strange outfits are commonplace, happy hours are frequent and workers can take turns in the “nap room.” This was designed to show how corporate structure has evolved to help make workers comfortable, keep them happy and engaged, and ultimately increase productivity.

At one point, one of the consultants interviewed described this generation as “The Coddled Generation,” and then went on to describe how their upbringing has led to a completely different worker. This expert referenced school environments where Mom calls to complain about a grade, where simply showing up is reason for celebration, and where trophies are awarded to each and every athlete.

…

I honestly believe that the culture has changed, and there are two main differences:

A lack of desire to be outstanding…

A need for coddling and hand-holding

Read the rest of this entry

Good morning.

1. Contra finger pointing as policy.
2. A similar attack on Mr Krugman here.
3. Log-Log plots?
4. Mr Obama’s last few weeks, allegorized.
5. “CBO Scoring” … a valid point on the validity of that method, which begs the question … why even have such scoring at all?
6. Of exertion and repose. (HT)
7. Interesting language boundary problem.
8. Foreign policy gaps the GOP might exploit in the upcoming election season.
9. A different cycling Tour.
10. Celebrity. Not celebrity.
11. Birth control of a different, less celebrated sort. Heh.
12. The AGW reporting rachet, report on side only, ignore the other. (repeat)

Part 3: When Christianity Is About The Experience, Feelings Become Paramount

An Emotion-Based View Of Christianity, Giving Too Much Importance To The Feelings Of An Individual And To That Of Making Converts

At the heart of the twenty-first century Western model of Christian evangelism is the scripture found in Matthew 28 – what is commonly referred to as The Great Commission.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

– Matthew 28:19 ESV

With this verse Christians have, in sincere and fervent zeal, taken the Gospel message of Christ to all the nations of the earth. Unfortunately, and in spite of their zeal, some may have missed the true intent of the verse. Note that the reference I show above ends not with a period, but with a comma. The folks at Stand to Reason promote the principle of Never Read a Bible Verse^[23], which is a pithy way of saying that one should never read a snippet of scripture (or any text, for that matter) without understanding the context of the passage the snippet is contained in. Using this principle, a better reference for The Great Commission would be Matthew 28:16-20, the paragraph which contains Matthew 28:19.

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.  And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

– Matthew 28:16-19 ESV Read the rest of this entry

Good morning. My youngest returned from her mission safely and happy last night. The puppy … she was ecstatic. Thanks for your prayers.

1. What’s in a name anyhow?
2. How not to make your point, really really emphatically.
3. I don’t see how Congressional Democrats get a free ride here.
4. Behavioral economics discussed.
5. Time or money and healthcare. I wonder if the model posed by professional athletes, where “get back on the field quickly” is a primary end has its similarities at other economic strata.
6. Bush and Obama, two similar situation, dis-similar quotes. Obama really really comes out bad in that comparison.
7. Yippee. Bulwer-Lytton and the worst firsts.
8. Zero sum … if we’re on the gold standard, which we are not. Most theories of value and currency don’t posit money as fixed quantity. 
9. Fast and furious continues to unfold.
10. Spot the flaws.
11. One reason Libya matters. Perhaps destroying US credibility and prestige was Mr Obama’s intent. After all he’s allegedly very smart. 
12. Corporate prayer … a bit off the beaten track.
13. Consequences of choice and abortion.

Part 2: When A Church Is Run As A Business, It Can’t Help But Be About The Bottom-line

A Pragmatic Mindset Derived More From Capitalism Than From Scripture

It is my opinion that the United States became a rich and powerful nation due, in part, to the aspects of capitalism which cater to the ability of humans to self direct their will towards goals, achieving them through determination, discipline and hard work. It is not difficult to find story after story of entrepreneurs who took little to nothing and built empires through their perseverance. Yet, hard work alone was not the recipe for success these people used. There were, and are, plans – business plans, marketing methodologies, sales approaches, growth models, etc.

Just about every salesman is schooled on how to entice a potential customer with the product he is selling, convincing the customer that he needs the product – regardless of whether or not the customer does, in fact, need the product. You may have heard the idiom, “He could sell ice to Eskimos!”^[7], describing the abilities of a top salesman to sell a product to an unlikely buyer. Or consider the various marketing strategies employed by establishments wishing to get customers inside their stores – all for the purpose of pitching products to them. The “loss leader”^[8] strategy stresses the point of selling one product at or below production costs for the sole purpose of being able to put other “for profit” products in front of the customer. It’s a gamble – a bet – that the customer will not leave the store with only the “for loss” product. And who among us has not had product B pitched to us via means of first having product A presented? For example, at a Bass Pro shop I recently had a timeshare presentation pitched to me after being enticed to win a new truck by just “entering a drawing.” Then there is the “bait and switch”^[9] approach in which the customer is led to believe they are getting product A when, in fact, they are sold a cheaper product B. It should be noted that one common feature of any sales approach is that the product is dressed up – enticed – to appear as indispensible to the buyer. Is it any wonder, then, that the phrase “Caveat Emptor”^[10] – “Let the buyer beware” – came about?

Read the rest of this entry

Good morning.

1. Talking ABB.
2. And here, and yes, ABB was right wing (but alas for the MSM theme, not a “fundamentalist Chrstian” in any sense of the word that I’ve ever heard).
3. More here. ‘Nuff of that, eh?
4. That errant “atheists are more intelligent and well educated” mistake. That works when you only count as atheists the intelligent and well educated ones.
5. Pseudo-science and regulations.
6. Our 2002 VW Golf TDI (diesel) too got about 50mpg in our recent family road trip vacation.
7. Sports are global.
8. Bulb talk. (HT)
9. Some pro-choicers might be about choice, some not so much.
10. “Debt talks have become a dangerous game” (what goes unsaid is that he’s leading that charge).
11. Talking about catechesis and steaming heaps of twisted metal.

Part 1: An Introduction to the Problem Facing the 21st Century Western Church

The “Takeover and Colonization of Christianity”

Twenty-first century Western Christianity is in dire straits. Europe exists in a post-Christian state, and many believe that the United States is effectively on a path towards that same end. While some may argue that there has been a resurgence of evangelical growth, what with such phenomena as the megachurch or emergent church movements, it seems that more and more people in the U.S. are choosing to affiliate themselves with no religion^[1]. Whereas up through the mid-twentieth century one could expect an average United States citizen to understand the tenets of a Judeo-Christian heritage, a worldview of pluralism is now permeating the environment, essentially deadening secular society’s sensory receptors pertaining to moral truths. Strangely enough, we find that this state of affairs has occurred despite the West having experienced over 60 years of peace, prosperity, and religious freedom. Or, perhaps, I should state that this condition has occurred because of said peace, prosperity, and religious freedom.

Read the rest of this entry

Good morning. 

1. Question, how can the GOP be the “party of no” if they’re the only ones with offers on the table. To what are they saying no? This? Which begs the question, why isn’t no the right answer to that?
2. Comparisons to history already?
3. The other shoe to drop.
4. Racism and drug policy. Heh.
5. The American flag and how to do a really really bad study.
6. Remember Obamacare.
7. There’s a phrase for that, “A fool and his money … soon parted.”
8. Global warming? “The point I want to make is that these difficult and technical questions were studied rationally in the 1960s; but they are no longer studied rationally today.” Yah think!
9. There’s a word for that. Hypocrisy?
10. That strikes me as a particularly slanted view of Nationalism. But I suppose one could twist the notion that a nation has rights within its boundaries that exceed the rights of other nations (to exercise rights within those boundaries) to mean a nation has rights “superior” to other nations. It’s wouldn’t be a particularly honest twist however.
11. Of course it’s a setup … just like Democracy is the worst form of government, …. except for all the others.
12. So, have you forgotten Egypt?
13. A bet made. Two weeks?
14. Green absolutism = stupidity.
15. Flee.

In the UK, their National Health Service is their nationalized health care system. Supposedly, this has led to a better system. Tell that to these people.

A dossier compiled by major charities says desperately sick elderly people have been left screaming in pain, with others given the wrong drugs, while families were denied crucial information about the health of their loved ones.

[…]

Many relatives said elderly people were left to cry out in vain for pain relief.

Reporting a recent visit, one said: “They [staff] were rushed off their feet … People were screaming out for their drugs, you know, people with cancer, all sorts of really painful stuff going on. The nurses who should be giving out the drugs were doing breakfasts.”

Oh, and if you want to complain about treatment, you may want to think twice, because the government, given this power, tends to abuse it.

The 26 interviewees spoke to the charities on condition of anonymity. Several expressed fears that making complaints lead to “repercussions” for their relatives or friends behind closed doors.

“If you start asking awkward questions, you’re labelled a troublemaker,” said one.

There’s no need to predict what will happen under ObamaCare; there are already so many examples.

Good morning.

1. Cheating and schools, all you union fans and detractors note the first comment as well.
2. Not noticing the government regulations which basically require plastic ware for public groups.
3. Some similar regulations noted.
4. Two parts of a conversation on neo-liberalism and what that means, here and here.
5. If you didn’t have enough to worry about … 
6. Higgsy news.
7. Mongolia, Taiwan, Tibet, the Baltics, Georgia … the list goes on.
8. Adulthood in a nutshell.
9. And don’t worry, be happy.
10. American as apple pie.
11. Art with a possible messages? You think?
12. A rant to enjoy.
13. Cricket races and the debt handling.
14. Words twisting in time.
15. If renovation could leave it looking just like that, now that would be cool.
16. Somebody who didn’t get the climate != weather memo.

Hats off to Concerned Women of America for coming up with a humorous way to address the very serious debt crisis our country is facing. This is without a doubt one of the most clever ads I have ever seen.

Hat tip: Ed Morissey

I had been enrolled in the local diocesan late-vocations education program … but dropped out for the next cycle because I’ve been a little too busy. Anyhow, the last assignment (which I didn’t go to class to deliver) had as part of the homework an assignment to delivery a short 5 minute homily on Baptism. This is intended to be given to the parents, god-parents/sponsors, family and witnesses  just after a Baptism. Orthodox Christians practice infant Baptism, so this talk is geared in that regard (below the fold).  Read the rest of this entry

Good morning.

1. Freedom of speech and the Interwebs.
2. A question regarding commerce and regulation.
3. A left-liberal teacher Democrat talks about Obama.
4. If you’re raising kids … priorities.
5. Yah, right … and if it’s raining or you turn on your A/C or if it’s under 20 degrees? Not so much, eh?
6. At least nobody is keeping to the pretense that the intevervention was for humanitarian reasons.
7. Data for the Palin film.
8. There is a kernel of truth to that. Most IT professionals don’t do home PC repair … but are pressed into it by friends and family. Basic knowledge of what a computer is and what programs do … plus a measure of persistence and google are what passes for that expertise.
9. Here’s a notion. Obama is trying to push the US to default for his own political gains.
10. There is no car, no driver. I think this is basically right. Government can’t help the economy. It can only choose to harm it a little or a lot.
11. “Somebody has our money” … the basic core of the liberal tax fallacy.
12. So … you’re outraged about Murdoch on principle?