[I]f the universe is what the atheist maintains it is, then this determines what sort of account we must give for the nature of everything — and this includes the atheist’s thought processes, ethical convictions, and aesthetic appreciations. If you were to shake up two bottles of pop and place them on a table to fizz over, you could not fill up an auditorium with people who came to watch them debate. This is because they are not debating; they are just fizzing. If you were to shake up one bottle of pop, and show it film footage of some genocidal atrocity, the reaction you would get is not moral outrage, but rather more fizzing. And if you were to shake it really hard by means of art school, and place it in front of Michelangelo’s David, or the Rose Window of Chartres Cathedral, the results would not really be aesthetic appreciation, but more fizzing still.
If the atheist is right, then I am not a Christian because I have mistaken beliefs, but am rather a Christian because that is what these chemicals would always do in this arrangement and at this temperature. The problem is that this atheistic assumption does the very same thing to the atheist’s case for atheism. The atheist gives us an account of all things which makes it impossible for us to believe that any account of all things could possibly be true. But no account of things can be tenable unless it provides us with the preconditions that make it possible for our “accounting” to represent genuine insight. Atheism fails to do this, and the failure is a spectacular one. Nor does atheism allow us to have any fixed ethical standard, or the possibility of beauty.
Doug Wilson in the Huffington Post
Read the whole thing.
Showing posts with label Amen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amen. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
A Separation of Church and Sports?
A friend of mine sent me a link to a recent USA Today opinion piece about evangelicals in sports. In “I’d like to thank God Almighty“, Tom Krattenmaker argues that although he is “impressed by the good that’s done by sports-world Christians” and considers “Jesus-professing athletes” as “among the best citizens in their sector,” he’s still has a beef with evangelical sports stars.
The problem, says Krattenmaker, is that evangelicals don’t believe all roads to God.
Krattenmaker’s argument against the Tim Tebows of the sports world boils down to: “I don’t like that evangelicals think they’re right.” But, of course, Krattenmaker thinks evangelicals are dead wrong in their insistence they alone are right.
There are other contradictions in the piece. Krattenmaker writes in reference to outspoken evangelical chaplains and athletes:
Krattenmaker is appalled that Tebow’s father’s evangelistic association espouses a “far-right” theology that believes in “eternal punishment” and rejects “the modern ecumenical movement.” “In making and acting on rigid claims about who is or isn’t in good standing with God,” Krattenmaker opines, “the Bob Tebow organization is working at cross purposes with the majority of Americans — indeed, the majority of American Christians — and their more generous conception of salvation.” Yeah, so? Can sports stars, on their own time mind you, only work with organizations that pass muster by national referendum? Millions of people in America think millions of other Americans are going to hell apart from the saving work of Jesus. And millions of Americans think those other Americans are neanderthals for believing that. God bless America!
Besides, it’s not like Tim Tebow puts “punish the infidels” on the black under his eyes. He puts a Bible verse. And while it’s well known that Tebow is a conservative evangelical, it’s not like he’s talking about his father’s rejection of the modern ecumenical movement in post-game interviews. No doubt, some evangelical sports stars have been obnoxious about their faith in the locker room. No doubt, some ministries have been rude in their evangelistic strategies. But then those are the players and ministries that most people will ignore. Most, I imagine, try to winsomely persuade non-Christians about the claims of Christ, just like Krattenmaker does with the claims of his pluralistic faith.
We all try to convince others that our way of looking at the world makes sense, even if our way of looking at the world says we shouldn’t be too definite about the way we look at the world. So, yes, evangelicals think Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. That’s not a secret. And it’s not a crime either.
Kevin DeYoung
The problem, says Krattenmaker, is that evangelicals don’t believe all roads to God.
Evangelical players and ministry representatives in sports aren’t out to harm anyone, of course. On the contrary, they see themselves as fulfilling the Bible’s Great Commission (”Therefore go 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). In this sense, their mission is pure altruism: They seek to share the gift of eternal life.I don’t know many evangelicals who baldly state “everyone else is wrong”, but it’s true, when it comes being reconciled with God we believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way. I have no problem that Krattenmaker disagrees with this belief or even that he thinks people like me backward for holding such a belief. But Krattenmaker’s complaint against evangelical players and ministries is misguided. In one breath he affirms that evangelical sports starts, “like all Americans, have a right to express their faith.” But then he turns around and questions whether evangelicals should be peddling a faith that is so out of step with the majority of Americans.
But there’s a shadow side to this. If their take on God and truth and life is the only right one — which their creed boldly states — everyone else is wrong.
Krattenmaker’s argument against the Tim Tebows of the sports world boils down to: “I don’t like that evangelicals think they’re right.” But, of course, Krattenmaker thinks evangelicals are dead wrong in their insistence they alone are right.
There are other contradictions in the piece. Krattenmaker writes in reference to outspoken evangelical chaplains and athletes:
Should we be pleased that the civic resource known as “our team” — a resource supported by the diverse whole through our ticket-buying, game-watching and tax-paying — is being leveraged by a one-truth evangelical campaign that has little appreciation for the beliefs of the rest of us?This line of reasoning says little more than “I don’t like that the people I root for think I need Jesus.” But Krattenmaker’s “argument” could be used against just about any industry in America. Should we be pleased that the civic resource known as “our movies”–a resource supported by the diverse whole through our ticket-buying, movie-watching and tax paying (especially with Michigan’s subsidies)–is being leveraged by a secular humanism that has little appreciation for the beliefs of the rest of us? The great thing about American is you don’t have to watch a Susan Sarandon flick if her politics are that offensive to you, and you don’t have to watch football if you can’t stand it that some of them believe Jesus is the only way to heaven.
Krattenmaker is appalled that Tebow’s father’s evangelistic association espouses a “far-right” theology that believes in “eternal punishment” and rejects “the modern ecumenical movement.” “In making and acting on rigid claims about who is or isn’t in good standing with God,” Krattenmaker opines, “the Bob Tebow organization is working at cross purposes with the majority of Americans — indeed, the majority of American Christians — and their more generous conception of salvation.” Yeah, so? Can sports stars, on their own time mind you, only work with organizations that pass muster by national referendum? Millions of people in America think millions of other Americans are going to hell apart from the saving work of Jesus. And millions of Americans think those other Americans are neanderthals for believing that. God bless America!
Besides, it’s not like Tim Tebow puts “punish the infidels” on the black under his eyes. He puts a Bible verse. And while it’s well known that Tebow is a conservative evangelical, it’s not like he’s talking about his father’s rejection of the modern ecumenical movement in post-game interviews. No doubt, some evangelical sports stars have been obnoxious about their faith in the locker room. No doubt, some ministries have been rude in their evangelistic strategies. But then those are the players and ministries that most people will ignore. Most, I imagine, try to winsomely persuade non-Christians about the claims of Christ, just like Krattenmaker does with the claims of his pluralistic faith.
We all try to convince others that our way of looking at the world makes sense, even if our way of looking at the world says we shouldn’t be too definite about the way we look at the world. So, yes, evangelicals think Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. That’s not a secret. And it’s not a crime either.
Kevin DeYoung
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Steve Wynn Schools Jennifer Granholm on How to Create Jobs
RUSH: Steve Wynn on Fox News Sunday was interviewed by Chris Wallace. He's the CEO of Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas. He's also on with Jennifer Granholm, the governor of Michigan. And Chris Wallace says, "Unemployment in Nevada is 13.2%. That's the second highest in the nation. Your company, Wynn Resorts, has more than 20,000 employees. Do you see any turnaround yet?"
WYNN: No, in the sense that I think that the priorities of the administration should have been more directly focused on job creation. From the day of the inauguration forward, the priority should have been job creation. And the most powerful weapon and the tool that the government has for that is its tax policy. If the government had used its power to restrain its tax collection they would have given everybody who runs small businesses, large businesses, a chance to hire more people and that could have been done an entirely different way. With eight or $900 billion we could have created four or five million jobs, which would have made a big difference.
RUSH: That's what you call stimulus! That's what you call stimulus. That's what I have been saying. That's what anybody with even a modicum of Econ 101 understands. You have to invest and you have to create the investment. You have to incentivize growth, and this administration is penalizing it! This administration is punishing growth. This administration is doing everything it can to prevent growth. This is all done on purpose. And now, my friends, I finally am joined in my previous one-man crusade: Steve Wynn on board, Charles Krauthammer with a speech he gave on board saying the decline is purposeful. Chris Wallace said, "So where do you draw the line between the proper role of government in all this and the proper role of the private sector?"
WYNN: Government has never increased the standard of living of one single human being in civilization's history. For some reason that simple truth has evaded everybody. The only thing that creates an increased standard of living is giving someone a job, the demand for their labor -- whether it's you and I, Chris, or anybody else. The people that are paying the price for this juggernaut of federal spending are the middle class and the working class of America.
RUSH: Right.
WYNN: And soaring rhetoric and great speeches with or without a teleprompter aren't going to change the truth, and the truth is: The biggest enemy, the biggest obstacle that working middle-class America has is government spending.
RUSH: Steve Wynn, Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas. He is right on the money. "People who are paying the price for this juggernaut of federal spending are the middle class and the working class of America," i.e., these poor people in Detroit. They are in those lines because they have no choice because that's where this administration wants them. "Soaring rhetoric, great speeches with or without a teleprompter isn't going to change the truth." So Jennifer Granholm has gotta get in on this. Wallace says, "Let me bring in the governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm. Looks like she wants to come out of her seat at this."
GRANHOLM: It's just so simplistic to say that! With all due respect, I mean, to say that government has never created a job or increased the standard of living. You know, I mean there -- there are a lot of people who are grateful that in this country we have a minimum wage. There are a lot of people who are grateful that they have access to Medicare and Medicaid. And I hope that we get access further to additional health care for those who are un- -- right now uninsured. I mean, there is a balance here. To say that government is all evil... This is a democracy. It's the greatest country in the world.
RUSH: Now, this is the government of the state of Michigan where people in the tens of thousands are lining up for pittance -- a pittance handout from the federal government. The state of Michigan is broke. The City of Detroit, many people who live there, is in recession. She thinks the minimum wage has raised standard of living. The minimum wage is part of the reason unemployment is rising and the fact that Democrats authored an increase of it. Folks, they are just dunces. They're economic dunces. It is just breathtaking. Now, here she is. She's talking to a man and calling him "simplistic." We'll hear in just a second Steve Wynn describe how many health care policies he provides for people and how many employees he has. And not just in Las Vegas, he's been in Atlantic City. In Macau. He was working on an operation there. But he wanted to respond to this "simplistic" business, and this is the exchange that they had.
WYNN: I didn't say that at all. I'm saying that the source of government revenue, the source of well-being in this country is employment. That allows companies to pay taxes, employees to pay taxes. That's the source here and it's gotten out of focus.
GRANHOLM: I... I agree.
WYNN: There's no --
GRANHOLM: I agree with you.
WYNN: Okay. That's my point, Governor. I'm not making any other point. And, believe me, ma'am, I've got 20,000 employees. I've had as many as 150,000 families that I've been self-insuring. There's nothing "simplistic" about my approach to this problem.
RUSH: And, see, in this series of three sound bites, we have the perfect illustration of the problem. We have a man in the private sector who actually works, who creates jobs, jobs that are really well paying. He has health insurance for all of them, as many as 150,000 -- and a government official is telling him he doesn't know what he's talking about, cites the minimum wage to him! He doesn't have any clue in her mind. And this is where we are. These kind of people, with this kind of thinking as expressed here by Governor Granholm are exactly the kind of people running the whole show now, be it in Washington, be it in Michigan or wherever there is a Democrat governor. This is what they believe. And it takes me back to my opening monologue.
For what? For what? It certainly can't... Do you realize, folks, it is... I don't know what the word is! But to sit here and not be outraged over the economic plight of the working class and poor people in this country, to go out and be playing basketball with your staff and then go play golf after you try another church on Sunday, and then to be talking about a second stimulus, and to pile more misery on top of this with two more disastrous plans: health care reform and cap and trade. Both of which are going to create even longer unemployment lines, will create even more destitution and poverty. There's no way to conclude other than that it must be on purpose. It's just shocking. But this is a great series of sound bites here for people to actually learn who it is in this country that are the smart people, but more importantly, who it is that make this country work.
WYNN: No, in the sense that I think that the priorities of the administration should have been more directly focused on job creation. From the day of the inauguration forward, the priority should have been job creation. And the most powerful weapon and the tool that the government has for that is its tax policy. If the government had used its power to restrain its tax collection they would have given everybody who runs small businesses, large businesses, a chance to hire more people and that could have been done an entirely different way. With eight or $900 billion we could have created four or five million jobs, which would have made a big difference.
RUSH: That's what you call stimulus! That's what you call stimulus. That's what I have been saying. That's what anybody with even a modicum of Econ 101 understands. You have to invest and you have to create the investment. You have to incentivize growth, and this administration is penalizing it! This administration is punishing growth. This administration is doing everything it can to prevent growth. This is all done on purpose. And now, my friends, I finally am joined in my previous one-man crusade: Steve Wynn on board, Charles Krauthammer with a speech he gave on board saying the decline is purposeful. Chris Wallace said, "So where do you draw the line between the proper role of government in all this and the proper role of the private sector?"
WYNN: Government has never increased the standard of living of one single human being in civilization's history. For some reason that simple truth has evaded everybody. The only thing that creates an increased standard of living is giving someone a job, the demand for their labor -- whether it's you and I, Chris, or anybody else. The people that are paying the price for this juggernaut of federal spending are the middle class and the working class of America.
RUSH: Right.
WYNN: And soaring rhetoric and great speeches with or without a teleprompter aren't going to change the truth, and the truth is: The biggest enemy, the biggest obstacle that working middle-class America has is government spending.
RUSH: Steve Wynn, Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas. He is right on the money. "People who are paying the price for this juggernaut of federal spending are the middle class and the working class of America," i.e., these poor people in Detroit. They are in those lines because they have no choice because that's where this administration wants them. "Soaring rhetoric, great speeches with or without a teleprompter isn't going to change the truth." So Jennifer Granholm has gotta get in on this. Wallace says, "Let me bring in the governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm. Looks like she wants to come out of her seat at this."
GRANHOLM: It's just so simplistic to say that! With all due respect, I mean, to say that government has never created a job or increased the standard of living. You know, I mean there -- there are a lot of people who are grateful that in this country we have a minimum wage. There are a lot of people who are grateful that they have access to Medicare and Medicaid. And I hope that we get access further to additional health care for those who are un- -- right now uninsured. I mean, there is a balance here. To say that government is all evil... This is a democracy. It's the greatest country in the world.
RUSH: Now, this is the government of the state of Michigan where people in the tens of thousands are lining up for pittance -- a pittance handout from the federal government. The state of Michigan is broke. The City of Detroit, many people who live there, is in recession. She thinks the minimum wage has raised standard of living. The minimum wage is part of the reason unemployment is rising and the fact that Democrats authored an increase of it. Folks, they are just dunces. They're economic dunces. It is just breathtaking. Now, here she is. She's talking to a man and calling him "simplistic." We'll hear in just a second Steve Wynn describe how many health care policies he provides for people and how many employees he has. And not just in Las Vegas, he's been in Atlantic City. In Macau. He was working on an operation there. But he wanted to respond to this "simplistic" business, and this is the exchange that they had.
WYNN: I didn't say that at all. I'm saying that the source of government revenue, the source of well-being in this country is employment. That allows companies to pay taxes, employees to pay taxes. That's the source here and it's gotten out of focus.
GRANHOLM: I... I agree.
WYNN: There's no --
GRANHOLM: I agree with you.
WYNN: Okay. That's my point, Governor. I'm not making any other point. And, believe me, ma'am, I've got 20,000 employees. I've had as many as 150,000 families that I've been self-insuring. There's nothing "simplistic" about my approach to this problem.
RUSH: And, see, in this series of three sound bites, we have the perfect illustration of the problem. We have a man in the private sector who actually works, who creates jobs, jobs that are really well paying. He has health insurance for all of them, as many as 150,000 -- and a government official is telling him he doesn't know what he's talking about, cites the minimum wage to him! He doesn't have any clue in her mind. And this is where we are. These kind of people, with this kind of thinking as expressed here by Governor Granholm are exactly the kind of people running the whole show now, be it in Washington, be it in Michigan or wherever there is a Democrat governor. This is what they believe. And it takes me back to my opening monologue.
For what? For what? It certainly can't... Do you realize, folks, it is... I don't know what the word is! But to sit here and not be outraged over the economic plight of the working class and poor people in this country, to go out and be playing basketball with your staff and then go play golf after you try another church on Sunday, and then to be talking about a second stimulus, and to pile more misery on top of this with two more disastrous plans: health care reform and cap and trade. Both of which are going to create even longer unemployment lines, will create even more destitution and poverty. There's no way to conclude other than that it must be on purpose. It's just shocking. But this is a great series of sound bites here for people to actually learn who it is in this country that are the smart people, but more importantly, who it is that make this country work.
| RUSH: So here's the test, folks. The real test is this. How many private sector jobs has Jennifer Granholm created? Just last week, we had the most amazing story. It was a two-page story that took me 30 minutes to fully digest and react to. Do you remember it? In her two terms of governor, which will expire next year, I believe, the state of Michigan has lost 630,000 jobs. In the next 14 months it is expected that the state of Michigan will lose another 370,000 jobs for a grand total of one million jobs lost under Jennifer Granholm's governorship. The story was in the Washington Post, and it was a puff piece pushing the obviously false premise that she has created hundreds of thousands of jobs. But the green jobs are to come, and then she's going to really fix the state because she's gonna convert the state into an all-green technology sector jobs state. And get this. By 2020, 40,000 new jobs will be created. We ought to be creating 40,000 jobs a day in this country. And in Michigan she is bragging in the Washington Post about 40,000 new jobs in 11 years. I needed the vapors because the Washington Post was heralding this, as tremendous, great progress. Here's the way to look at this. In 14 months, 370,000 more jobs projected to be lost in Michigan. That's a little over a year and yet on the other side of that in the next 11 years, 40,000 green jobs will be created. I know she went to have lunch with laid-off employees, she went home to her husband, "Oh, my God, what can I do for these people?" The real question here is how many private sector jobs has Jennifer Granholm created, how many has Steve Wynn created? That little side by side answer is the difference between statism and capitalism. So here we have a failed governor with a state in a near depression, holding firm to her policies, learning nothing from a man who created a multibillion-dollar enterprise that hires tens of thousands of people and could hire more but for government tax-and-spend policies and whose own city is in the tank right now because the president of the United States, inasmuch has told people the days of getting on your jet and going to Las Vegas are over. Have you forgotten that? That was early on when he was beating up the Wall Street guys back when the automobile guys had the audacity to fly from Michigan to Washington in their corporate jets to be grilled by members of Congress over why they needed bailout money. So they had to come back with their revised plan some months later and they had to drive, and the president said the days of getting on your jet and going to Las Vegas are over. Guess what's happened to the hospitality business? I'm telling you, this administration has taken a fire hose to the US economy. It's mind-boggling here. Steve Wynn, multibillion-dollar enterprise, hires tens of thousands of people, could hire more and would love to be able to hire more, but because of government tax-and-spend policies, he can't. And on the other side, a failed governor, who's telling him that he's simplistic. From Rush Limbaugh |
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|
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
The Bible Dodge
04 June 2009
The-Holy-Spirit, not-the-Bible dodge (NEXT! #14)
by Dan Phillips
Challenge: Your stress on "the Bible alone
" leaves no room for the Holy Spirit.
Response: Uh-huh. And the Bible was created by...?
Challenge: Your stress on "the Bible alone
" leaves no room for the Holy Spirit.Response: Uh-huh. And the Bible was created by...?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Killing Off American Comedy - By Gene Healy
A lot of folks are upset over comedienne Wanda Sykes's attack on Rush Limbaugh at Saturday's White House Correspondents' Dinner. She called Rush a "traitor," and said "I hope his kidneys fail." Limbaugh aside, though, there were deeper problems with Sykes's routine: it was the work of a courtier comic: embarrassingly sycophantic and unfunny.
Sykes began her routine by gushing to the president "you're so likable," and spent most of her time savaging Obama's critics. For her grand finale, she took on people who complained that the president didn't get a rescue dog: "Look, the man has to rescue a country that's been abused by its previous owner. Let him have a fresh start with a dog." Edgy stuff! Lenny Bruce would be proud.
A solitary flop at stand-up is no big deal, but Sykes isn't the only comic who has trouble making fun of Barack Obama. Jon Stewart's been a lot less amusing since his guy got elected.
Tearing into Jim Cramer makes for good TV, but Stewart's painful earnestness hardly provides the yuks. Comedian Jackie Mason--who summed up Bill Clinton with one razor-sharp line: "at least Nixon had the decency to twitch when he lied"--says that his fellow comics have fallen prey to "hero worship."
From AmSpecBlog
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Corrective Tract For The Prosperity Gospel
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Friday, April 17, 2009
On This I Take My Stand
488 years ago, April 17-18, Martin Luther stood trial at the Diet [formal assembly] of Worms [a small town on the river Rhine in present-day Germany). (It's properly pronounced, I believe, something like DEE-et of Voerms, not DIE-et of Worms.)
On the 17th Luther was asked whether certain writings were his and if he would revoke them as heretical. He asked for time to compose his answer--he prayed for long hours and consulted with friends, and returned the next day to give his famous answer.
Luther then replied: Your Imperial Majesty and Your Lordships demand a simple answer. Here it is, plain and unvarnished. Unless I am convicted [convinced] of error by the testimony of Scripture or (since I put no trust in the unsupported authority of Pope or councils, since it is plain that they have often erred and often contradicted themselves) by manifest reasoning, I stand convicted [convinced] by the Scriptures to which I have appealed, and my conscience is taken captive by God's word, I cannot and will not recant anything, for to act against our conscience is neither safe for us, nor open to us.
On this I take my stand. I can do no other. God help me.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Christmas Eve 1968 - Fotry Years Ago
On Christmas Eve 1968 Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, astronauts aboard Apollo 8 circling the moon, drew us into their experience by televising what they saw back to earth. In the most watched television event up to that time, they celebrated God's good creation. We rejoiced with them.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
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