Idaho’s Stupidest Candidate Bob Nonini
Earlier this year there was an AP story about an Idahoan Lt. Gov candidate who, as part of his stumping, asserted that women who undergo elective abortions should be prosecuted if Roe v. Wade is ever reversed. OK, without actually attacking his statement, let’s just examine the underlying stupidity that should disqualify him from public office. Show more ›
In Gloriam Dei
Sive ergo manducatis sive bibitis vel aliud quid facitis, omnia. in gloriam Dei facite. —AD Corinthios I 10:31
Would It Help?
Brett Kavanaugh: The Standard For Confirmation Is Not the Standard For Conviction
In my gut, I don’t want to see Brett Kavanaugh confirmed—and not just because Donald Trump wants him on the Supreme Court—that was just the first strike. Listening to the compelling testimony against him was the final nail in the coffin. But my gut was not without its heartburn for feeling that way. I disliked myself for judging a matured man for the offenses of his youth. Even so, his declaration (“I am innocent of this charge”) sounded too much like the famous “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” line. Show more ›
The Mark of the Beast
The book of Revelations describes the final days before the second coming of Christ as a time when the antichrist’s representative will “force all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name” (Rev 13:16-17 NIV).Show more ›
God Is Love (but what does that mean?)
Christians are quick to quote 1 John 4:8b that “God is love” but how often is this quoted in a self-serving, self-affirming manner? By this I mean in the first that when going through a rough stretch in the road of life, is professing that “God is love” just a way for the sufferer to revive hope that s/he is not utterly alone? Conversely in the second, is saying “God is love” just an excuse wielded to excuse the adherent from demonstrating love for his/her neighbor? Such a Christian believer might inwardly believe that it is God’s love that summons the unbeliever to believe and that the believer’s love for the unbeliever is of no consequence whatsoever. Both these and any other conceptualizations are completely and totally incongruous with the text.Show more ›
God and Dice
Albert Einstein famously said (and Stephen Hawking famously repeated) that “God does not play dice with the universe,” but perhaps dice are marvelous illustrations for understanding the trinity.Show more ›
Do Artifacts Have Politics?
https://larvalsubjects.wordpress.com/2018/07/12/do-artifacts-have-politics/Grammar, People, Grammar
I just heard an NPR correspondant say “may” when she should have said “might.” Here’s the difference: may indicated permissibility; might indicated possibility. So it is incorrect to say that an event may not occur if one is trying to communicate doubt or uncertainty of its coming to pass. The correct usage is that such an event might not occur.
Denzel Washington: “Put God First”
God Can (and Does) Change His Mind
It has been said that God cannot change his mind or alter his plans once decreed. Two verses in particular point to this:
Numbers 23:19 (NIV)
God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
1 Samuel 15:29 (NIV)
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.
But there are clear instances where God in fact changed his mind and/or altered his declared course of action. Show more ›