What Christians Should Learn from the Osteen Interview

John Starke:

Evangelicals have responded to the interview by saying, “We’re going to be asked this question more and more, let’s hope we do better than Osteen.” Maybe we can be more winsome or less nervous than Osteen. We should certainly explain that homosexuals, like anyone else, should put their hope in the finished work of the gospel. But the first and last word on why homosexuality is sinful is with the Bible. And Osteen didn’t budge from that. We can come up with all kinds of reasons and studies as to why homosexuality is harmful to society, but nothing is so authoritative as God’s Word on why it’s wrong. Only Scripture is definitive enough to cause us—indeed, every created being—to put our hands over our mouths.

In our discussions with skeptics, when we don’t have all the answers, Christians should be humble enough to say, “I don’t know, but I believe the Bible.” That is a good Christian response. We base our knowledge upon the wisdom of God, not on man. We can always reproduce the arguments of others or register sociological data, but we can never do better than God’s Word.

Read the rest.

I think it is also important to be able to give good reasons why we believe the Bible to be trustworthy.  Since our faith stands or falls on the historicity of the accounts, it would follow that the reliability of the Bible is an issue that has to be central in our witness.  Here is a great place to start for learning some good answers for why the Bible is trustworthy.

In my previous post, I found this to be a helpful contribution from a commenter:
At 3:50 Piers asks, “What would you say to a homosexual watching this? How do they change, what do they have to change to be better people?”

I would have loved to have heard something like this as a response:

“It’s not about being a better person, Piers. What I’m talking about is realizing that I personally fall short of the absolute holiness that God demands. And that even so, by the free grace of God, I can be declared righteous because of what Jesus Christ did for me. He lived a perfect life. He died for my sins. And even though I absolutely don’t deserve it, His righteousness is applied to my account. Will this have an effect on how I live my life? Absolutely. If this is really true, I will change to be a better person. But to focus primarily on that aspect is to get the caboose out in front of the engine…”
Vitamin Z

Brit Hume, Tiger Woods, and Jesus Christ

Journalist Brit Hume isn’t backing down from his recent comments that Tiger Woods should turn to Christ for redemption and forgiveness.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/
As he says in the follow-up interview below, “Jesus Christ offers Tiger Woods something he badly needs.”




Last year on my blog I mentioned the following about Hume and what he planned to be doing in his retirement.

Brit Hume, the Washington managing editor at Fox News and one of the best in the business, is retiring from his position. Starting in 2009 he’ll become senior political analyst and work 100 days in the year.

When public figures retire at the top of their game they often cite wanting to spend more time with their family. And that’s the case here. But Hume offers an additional reason–one rarely cited in these situations:

I certainly want to pursue my faith more ardently than I have done. I’m not claiming it’s impossible to do when you work in this business. I was kind of a nominal Christian for the longest time. When my son died (by suicide in 1998), I came to Christ in a way that was very meaningful to me. If a person is a Christian and tries to face up to the implications of what you say you believe, it’s a pretty big thing. If you do it part time, you’re not really living it.

From another interview:

And since my son died, I have been, really, I felt rescued by God and by Christ. I have an intense desire to pursue that more ardently and have it be a bigger part of my life than it has been.

When asked how that will translate, Hume responded, “It’ll translate into Bible study.”

Denny Burk also includes this quote from Hume’s interview on WTOP News radio:

Christianity is uniquely and especially about redemption and forgiveness. That is what the cornerstone of what the faith is about. Now other faiths aren’t hostile to the idea, but think of what the message of Christ and Christianity is. It is that the God of the universe sent His only begotten Son, who died a hideous death on the cross, to atone for all of our sins. And we are thereby offered through that act a new covenant in which we are offered forgiveness and redemption on a continuing basis in return for our faith in God and our continuing efforts to live the Christian life. That is a unique doctrine.
Justin Taylor

SNS – Exclusive Bob Dylan Interview

Interview by Bill Flanagan
Bob Dylan has at various times revolutionized folk, rock, country and gospel music.  However, any Dylan fan who says he was not surprised that Bob has released an album of traditional Christmas songs is pulling your leg.  Christmas In The Heart is another surprising move by an artist famous for surprises.  Yet when you hear Dylan’s direct and obviously sincere readings of “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Little Town Of Bethlehem,” and “The First Noel,” this unlikely exercise seems of a piece with the rest of Dylan’s work.
From the very first, this was an artist who made us look at the familiar with new eyes and ears. While some critics tie themselves into knots analyzing Dylan’s motives, it has usually turned out that Bob Dylan means exactly what he says. Featuring members of his touring band along with Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and Chess Records vet Phil Upchurch, Christmas In The Heart is Bob Dylan’s celebration of family, community, faith and shared memory. And a timely celebration it is. Recognizing the world wide problem of hunger, Bob Dylan has donated all of his proceeds from the record, in perpetuity, to organizations around the world to help with hunger and homelessness.
We sat down to talk in the Waterfront Plaza Hotel in Oakland on a rainy, windy, October day.
BILL FLANAGAN: Is recording a Christmas album something you’ve had on your mind for a while?
BOB DYLAN: Yeah, every so often it has crossed my mind. The idea was first brought to me by Walter Yetnikoff, back when he was President of Columbia Records.
BF: Did you take him seriously?
BD: Well, sure I took him seriously.
BF: But it didn’t happen. How come?
BD: He wasn’t specific. Besides, there was always a glut of records out around that time of year and I didn’t see how one by me could make any difference.
BF: What was Christmas like around your town when you were growing up?

By Bill Flanagan Picture Courtesy of Columbia Records

BD: Well, you know, plenty of snow, jingle bells, Christmas carolers going from house to house, sleighs in the streets, town bells ringing, nativity plays. That sort of thing.
BF: Your family was Jewish – as a kid did you ever feel left out of the Christmas excitement?
BD: No, not at all.
BF: What’s your idea of a good Christmas Dinner?
BD: Mashed potatoes and gravy, roast turkey and collard greens, turnip greens, biscuit dressing, corn bread and cranberry sauce.
BF: Have you spent any Christmases overseas and been struck by how the holiday is celebrated in other countries?
BD: I was in Mexico City once and they do a lot of re-enactment scenes of Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay.
BF: How do you like to spend the week between Christmas and New Years?
BD: Doing nothing – maybe reflecting on things.
BF: Why do you think Christmas has better songs than other holidays?
BD: I don’t know. That’s a good question. Maybe because it’s so worldwide and everybody can relate to it in their own kind of way.
BF: Very often when contemporary artists do Christmas records, they look for a new angle. John Fahey did instrumental folk variations on holiday songs, Billy Idol did a rock and roll Christmas album, Phil Specter put the Wall of Sound around the Christmas tree and the Roches did kind of a kooky left-field collection. You played this right down the middle, doing classic holiday songs in traditional arrangements. Did you know going in you wanted to play it straight?
BD: Oh sure, there wasn’t any other way to play it. These songs are part of my life, just like folk songs. You have to play them straight too.
BF: There’s something new that happens when your voice goes up against the very smooth background singers and old-fashioned arrangements. It adds a new flavor to the mix. When you do I’LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, it sounds really forlorn, like you’re singing the song in jail and this is your one phone call. Do you ever approach singing a song like an actor?
BD: Not any more then Willie or Nat King Cole would. The songs don’t require much acting. They kind of play themselves.
BF: Do you try to go for different emotions on different takes?
BD: Not really. The emotions would pretty much be the same on any singular take. The inflections would maybe differ if we changed the key and sometimes that might affect the emotional resonance.
BF: When I hear your version of HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING, it makes me think of a lonely fellow outside the church, looking through the window at the congregation, wishing he were in there. Did any of these songs surprise you when you heard them played back?
BD: No, they were pretty much the same going in as going out. You can already hear them in your head before you begin.
BF: Any Christmas songs you like but you did not think you could do?
BD: Not really. There were ones I didn’t want to do, but not any that I didn’t think I could do. The idea was to record the best known ones.
BF: CHRISTMAS BLUES is an old Dean Martin song. What attracted you to that?
BD: It’s just a beautiful song.
BF: Stan Lynch once told me about you and him slipping out of a rehearsal with the Heartbreakers to go see Dean, Sinatra and Sammy Davis. What appealed to you about those guys?
BD: I don’t know, maybe the camaraderie. On the other hand I wasn’t much into that whole scene actually – it left a lot of people out.
BF: MUST BE SANTA is a real jumping polka. Did you hear a lot of polka bands growing up?
BD: Yeah, I heard a few.
BF: I never heard that song before. Where did you hear it?
BD: I first heard that song years ago on one of those “Sing Along with Mitch” records. But this version comes from a band called Brave Combo.  Somebody sent their record to us for our radio show. They’re a regional band out of Texas that takes regular songs and changes the way you think about them. You oughta hear their version of Hey Jude.
BF: The way you do WINTER WONDERLAND makes me think of Gene Autry and Roy Rodgers, the singing cowboys in the old movies. Even in John Wayne films, there’d always be a scene back at the fort where an Irish band was playing, or the Sons of the Pioneers were singing. Did you have a favorite cowboy singer as a kid?
BD: Yeah, Tex Ritter.
BF: What about Gene and Roy?
BD: Yeah, they were okay, but Tex Ritter was my favorite. He was way more heavy. There was more gravity to him.
BF: Have you heard “Christmas on Death Row,” the rap Christmas record?
BD: No I don’t think so.
BF: Do you listen to rap music?
BD: I don’t listen to rap radio stations and I don’t play rap songs on the jukebox, and I don’t go to rap shows – So no I guess I don’t listen to rap music all that much.
BF: What do you think of rap music?
BD: I love rhyming for rhyming sake. I think that’s an incredible art form.
BF: There’s a lonely quality in the way you do SILVER BELLS. You were a young man when you moved from Minnesota to New York City. Was Christmas very different in New York?
BD: Christmas was pretty much the same in New York, only more so.
BF: Did it make you homesick?
BD: Not really, I didn’t think about it that much. I didn’t bring the past with me when I came to New York. Nothing back there would play any part in where I was going.
BF: Hearing you sing ADESTE FIDELES reminds me of being an altar boy at Midnight Mass. The priests all had to lead the singing, and it didn’t matter if they were singers or not, they belted it out. Have you ever sung in a foreign language before?
BD: I’ve sung in French, Italian and Spanish. Over the years, Columbia has asked me to do records in those languages and I recorded stuff here and there.  None of the tracks have been released though. It’s hard deciding whether to do a translation of one of my own songs, or an original song in one of those languages – which I’m actually more partial to. I’ve always wanted to do some Edith Piaf songs.
BF: LA VIE EN ROSE?
BD: Yeah. That one and a couple of others. SOUS LE CIEL DE PARIS, POUR MOI TOUT SEULE and maybe one or two more
BF: What stopped you?
BD: Well, I can hear myself doing them in my head, but I’d need written arrangements to pull it off and I’m not sure who could do that.
BF: Which singers do you associate with Christmas?
BD: Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole. Doris Day.
BF: What about Bing Crosby?
BD: Sure, White Christmas was always a big song.
BF: I always get choked up at the end of GOING MY WAY when the old priest’s mother comes walking toward him on Christmas Eve and Bing watches from the door of the church then picks up his suitcase and walks off into the snow – TURA, LURA, LURA playing in the background. You can’t get any more Christmasy than that. Did movies have a big effect on how you saw the world growing up?
BD: I think so. I lived in a small town and movies were a window into the outside world.
BF: CHRISTMAS ISLAND is a wacky song! Santa’s going to sail in with your presents in a canoe. Where did that come from? You ever been to Christmas Island?
BD: No I’ve never been there. I have no idea where the song comes from, who wrote or even if there is such a place.
BF: Your song THREE ANGELS always reminds me of the holidays. Did you ever sit down to write a Christmas song?
BD: I have never done that. It’s something to think about though.
BF: You have grandchildren. What do you think they’ll make of this record? Did it occur to you making this record that years from now your grandchildren will play this album for their own kids?
BD: I don’t know what my grandchildren think of any of my records. I don’t know if they’ve even heard them. Maybe the older ones.
BF: You’re a lot more loyal to these melodies than you are to the melodies of the songs you’ve written. Do you figure these tunes can’t be messed with?
BD: If you want to get to the heart of them they can’t be, no.
BF: Your version of THE CHRISTMAS SONG is right in the pocket. You slide into that song like you’ve been singing it all your life. You also sing the intro (“All through the year we waited…”) which most people leave out. I don’t think Nat King Cole used that intro – why did you bring it back?
BD: Well, I figured the guy who wrote it put it in there deliberately. It definitely creates tension, predicts what you are about to hear.
BF: I think you did drop the “goodies” on the sleigh. Did something about that bother you?
BD: No not really. I don’t think I thought of it until you mentioned it. I try my best to be exact, but sometimes things just fall away. We probably recorded the song, got the feel right and moved on. Most likely we didn’t even listen back. Just moved on to something else. I don’t think that’s something I would have noticed anyway.
BF: You really give a heroic performance of O’ LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM The way you do it reminds me a little of an Irish rebel song. There’s something almost defiant in the way you sing, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”  I don’t want to put you on the spot, but you sure deliver that song like a true believer.
BD: Well, I am a true believer.
BF: You know, some people will think that Bob Dylan doing a Christmas album is meant to be ironic or a put-on. This sounds to me like one of the most sincere records you’ve ever made. Did anybody at your record company or management resist the idea?
BD: No it was my record company who compelled me to do it.
BF: Why now?
BD: Well, it just came my way now, at this time. Actually, I don’t think I would have been experienced enough earlier anyway.
BF: Some critics don’t seem to know what to make of this record. Bloomberg news said, “Some of the songs sound ironic. Does he really mean have yourself a Merry Little Christmas?” Is there any ironic content in these songs?
BD: No not at all. Critics like that are on the outside looking in. They are definitely not fans or the audience that I play to. They would have no gut level understanding of me and my work, what I can and can’t do – the scope of it all. Even at this point in time they still don’t know what to make of me.
BF: Derek Barker in the Independent, compared this record with the shock of you going electric. So many artists have released Christmas records, from Bing Crosby to Huey Piano Smith. Why is it a shock if you do it?
BD: You’ll have to ask them.
BF: The Chicago Tribune felt this record needed more irreverence. Doesn’t that miss the point?
BD: Well sure it does, that’s an irresponsible statement anyway. Isn’t there enough irreverence in the world? Who would need more? Especially at Christmas time.
BF: The profits from this album are going to buy Christmas dinners for folks who are having a hard time financially. When I heard that I thought of the Woody Guthrie song PRETTY BOY FLOYD – “Here’s a Christmas dinner for the families on relief.”
BD: Exactly.  PRETTY BOY FLOYD. “Pretty Boy grabbed the log chain and the deputy grabbed his gun.” Did you ever notice how Pretty Boy Floyd looks exactly like babe Ruth?
BF: Yeah, I have.
BD: Did you ever think it could be the same guy?
BF: Maybe they’re interchangeable?
BD: Yeah, in the real world Pretty Boy would be batting clean up for the Yankees and Babe Ruth would be robbing banks.
BF: Yeah, and they’re both legends.
BD: Right.
BF: Why did you pick Feeding America, Crisis UK and The World Food Program to give the proceeds of this record to?
BD: Because they get food straight to the people. No military organization, no bureaucracy, no governments to deal with.
BF: Do you still send out Christmas cards?
BD: I haven’t for a while.
BF: Do you have a favorite Christmas album?
BD: Maybe the Louvin Brothers. I like all the religious Christmas albums. The ones in Latin. The songs I sang as a kid.
BF: A lot of people like the secular ones.
BD: Religion isn’t meant for everybody.
BF: What sort of gifts do you like to give?
BD: I try to match the person with the gift.
BF: Are you a last minute shopper?
BD: Always.
BF: Do you drop any hints about what you hope to get from your family?
BD: Nope. Their well-being – that’s enough of a gift for me.
BF: I know we’re out of time but I have to ask, what’s the best Christmas gift you ever got?
BD: Let me think… oh yeah, I think it was a sled.
SNS Exclusive
© Street News Service: www.streetnewsservice.org

John Calvin on Tradition

‘Tis the season to think about traditions. Every family has its own non-negotiable holiday rituals. If your family’s like mine, you may have competing visions of the perfect holiday under one roof (or tent, or banyan tree—or what ever your family cohabitates under).
In my experience, churches are a lot like families in that way. Each one has its own immutable ways of doing things (and often enough, every member has a different opinion about whether these ways are right or wrong). And this isn’t the case only around the Christmas season. Churches of all types—even the ones that don’t like formal rituals—form all sorts of traditions.
Earlier this fall, I spoke with a pastor who knows a thing or two about the power of tradition—another former theologian—John Calvin. Brother Calvin died in 1564, but given the recent interest in his theology, I thought I’d get his opinion on the role of traditions in the church today.
Url: Before we get started, I just have to ask: did you really outlaw Christmas in Geneva?
No. But I got blamed for the decision. I only wanted people to celebrate Christmas properly—without all the superstition and idolatry that can come with Christmas celebrations.

So, in fact you were not Dr. Suess' inspiration for the Grinch.
No, I believe the Grinch was a Baptist.
And how does the proper celebration of Christmas relate to the Reformation agenda in general?
Well, the Roman Catholic Church back in those days had developed some traditions—not just Christmas traditions, but all sorts—that were not supported by the Bible. Most ordinary people at the time couldn’t read, and they didn’t have access to a Bible, anyway. So they believed all sorts of things. Unfortunately, the Church had a few practices that took advantage of these folks.
So we reformers argued that scripture alone should be the authority for how we practice our faith. If a practice isn’t justified in the Bible, then we aren’t morally obligated to do it. This is especially important when it comes to salvation. We shouldn’t let our traditions distract us from what the Bible teaches.
So are all traditions bad?
Not at all. Traditions are important. There have been a lot of faithful Christians before us who have prayed and studied and thought hard about what it means to live faithfully as Believers in the world. And we can learn a lot from them. Believing that “scripture alone” is our rule of faith means that we acknowledge that humans make mistakes. If we’re not careful, we can let traditions form in our own churches that lead us away from the gospel and from God’s will for us. Before long, we can think that our opinions come from the Bible. When that happens, it becomes really hard for us to change our traditions.
So traditions are fine as long as we remember that they can be changed?
Exactly. We measure all our practices and opinions against the Bible. And when the Bible tells us we must change things, we change them. The Bible is like a pair of eye-glasses: we can’t see the world or God or each other correctly if we don’t let the Bible correct our vision. And if you need glasses, you can’t just wear them once and expect that your eyes will immediately get better. You have to put them on every morning when you wake up. In the same way, we can’t just look at the Bible once and think we understand it—or that we understand God. We have to keep reading and let the Bible correct our vision.
That sounds like a lot of work.
I suppose it is. Another important phrase for the Reformers was semper reformanda—always reforming. We can never stop thinking about our traditions in the light of scripture.
What about the Reformed tradition?
Good point. I certainly don’t want people to believe everything I said just because I said it. I expect folks to examine the scriptures for themselves. Don’t let my understanding of things become a tradition that keeps you from really understanding what the Bible teaches. When you read for yourself, you just might find that I got some things wrong.
Out Of Ur

An Interview with Steven Curtis Chapman

Rising from the Valley of Death

Steven Curtis Chapman opens up about losing his daughter, their family's arduous journey, and a new album of songs chronicling the path of pain and hope.

by Interview by Mark Moring |
Steven Curtis Chapman’s new album, Beauty Will Rise, is the first recording he has done since the tragic death of his 5-year-old daughter, Maria Sue.
CT’s Mark Moring interviewed Steven about the album and about the pain in their grief. Here’s an excerpt:

Ain’t feeling it at all. I’m just not sure. I needed to hear my pastor speak truth again to me. I needed to hear somebody say again, here’s what’s true.
That has been an important process, the whole thing of taking every thought captive and saying, God, this is what I choose to believe. Because I’ve found myself, especially in the first few days and weeks after Maria went to heaven—and there’s still moments of this—that I could almost feel myself being sucked into this black hole of doubt and despair. Of saying, “God, if I let myself keep going in this direction, there seems to be no bottom, no end to this, and I’ll never be able to escape from it.”
At the hospital at Vanderbilt, literally within an hour of knowing that my little girl was in heaven with Jesus, I found myself having to make a choice, when I would start to feel myself and everything in me being sucked into this place, this abyss. I would begin to say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord. You give. You take away. But, God, I trust you. I trust you. You are faithful. You are good. I trust you. I trust you.” And as I would say that, literally just choose to make that declaration in the midst of this, I would almost physically feel myself being pulled back from that place. And I’d start to breathe again.
But it wouldn’t be long before I would go, “But, God, what? How could this happen? How are we ever going to survive?” And it’s like here I go back into that black, dark place.
But there was a grace to even recognize that you were falling into that place.
Yes. That is the grace and the gift of God to be able, in that process, to make that choice. That’s the crazy theology of all that—to even be able to make that choice to say, “God, I trust you,” that is a gift of grace. But we’re making that choice over and over again.

Christianity Today

Money, Greed, and God: An Interview with Jay Richards

Kevin DeYoung has an interview with Jay Richards about his important new book, Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem.

Here's one exchange from their interview:

On page 35, you write "Spiritually you're better off a little mixed up about economics than indifferent to human suffering. Economically, though, only what you do is important, whatever your reason." This seems to be a very important point for the book. What are you trying to say in these two sentences?

When I wrote: "Spiritually you're better off a little mixed up about economics than indifferent to human suffering. Economically, though, only what you do is important, whatever your reason," I was trying to balance but capture Gilson's "Piety is no substitute for technique." To me, this is one of most important points I've tried to make. Motivation IS important when we're considering our spiritual state before God. It's just that our motivation for a policy has nothing to do with the real world effects of the policy. I think that Christians often weight our (and others') motivations far too heavily on economic matters. It's as if we think feeling bad about poverty is more obligatory than actually doing something that helps the poor. For instance, several times in churches I've pointed out why minimum wage laws don't really help the poor in the long run. I've never had anyone try to debunk the argument, but several times I've received the complaint that my argument shows that I'm not really concerned about the poor. It doesn't of course. But even if it were evidence that I weren't concerned about the poor, the argument's validity (or lack thereof) would remain the same.

Read the whole thing.

Reading Richards' book and Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy would help to dispel a lot of bad economics among Christians, would actually lead to serving the poor more effectively and efficiently, and would help people realize that folks like Jim Wallis frequently offer arguments that are nothing more than demagoguery (cf. pp. 37-38 of Richards's book).

Finally, here's a quote from Richards's book:

. . . [H]aving the right intentions, being oriented in the right way, doesn't take the place of doing things right. A pilot's caring deeply for his passengers and wanting to land a plane safely are no substitute for his learning how to actually land plans safely. . . . I hope you already have a heart for the poor. Lots of Christians do. But do you have a mind for the poor? Unfortunately that's in rather short supply. (p. 35)

Rock Star Apologetics - Bono

I ran across this excerpt from, Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas while looking for an article on Karma.

Assayas is a friend of Bono's and a journalist. This is part of their conversation.

Assayas: I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?

Bono: Yes, I think that's normal. It's a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.

Assayas: I haven't heard you talk about that.

Bono: I really believe we've moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace.

Assayas: Well, that doesn't make it clearer for me.

Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.

Assayas: I'd be interested to hear that.

Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep s---. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.

Assayas: The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.

Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there's a mortality as part of your very sinful nature, and, let's face it, you're not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions. The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That's the point. It should keep us humbled… . It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven.

Assayas: That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?

Bono: No, it's not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says: No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: "I'm the Messiah." I'm saying: "I am God incarnate." And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You're a bit eccentric. We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word! Because, you know, we're gonna have to crucify you. And he goes: No, no. I know you're expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he's gonna keep saying this. So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was—the Messiah—or a complete nutcase. I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. This man was like some of the people we've been talking about earlier. This man was strapping himself to a bomb, and had "King of the Jews" on his head, and, as they were putting him up on the Cross, was going: OK, martyrdom, here we go. Bring on the pain! I can take it. I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that's farfetched …

Liberals in Love - Interview with Bernard Goldberg

Liberals in Love

By Bill Steigerwald
FrontPageMagazine.com | Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Award-winning network TV reporter Bernard Goldberg first hit pay dirt in the book world with Bias, his 2001 best-seller exposing how the news we saw was distorted by the liberal bias of the journalists he worked with during his long career with CBS News. Several media books later, Goldberg is back with A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media. The Regnery Publishing book, which goes on sale Monday, indicts mainstream print and electronic journalists not for having liberal biases, which are a given, but for becoming open and unapologetic activists for Obama.

Q: What’s your 60-second synopsis of your book?
A: This is not a book about the same old media bias. This time journalists cross a very bright line. This time they stopped being witnesses to history and they were intent on helping to shape history. They moved from media bias to media activism. In my whole life I have never seen the media get on board for one candidate the way they did this time around and -- this is very important -- they did it without even a hint of embarrassment.

It isn’t just conservatives that feel this way. Lots of people feel the media was in the tank for Barack Obama. They were because he was young, because he was cool, because he was black and because he was liberal. There’s no way in the world we would have seen this kind of slobbering if we would had just inaugurated the first black president who was conservative and Republican.
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