Assassination Revisited...
Though I am still not entirely sure of the ethical implications of assassination...I think I can now say that Mr Robinson would have done better not to say what he did...and this is the reason that I say this.
I don't care if the world claims that he just made us look more like the tyrants they all believe us to be. Global opinion of the strongest nation on earth is never positive--heck, even when it was us or Hitler, us or Tojo, us or Stalin, public opinion has never been all wonderful and great (perhaps I should specify that by "public opinion" I mean the opinions of Europe and parts of the Middle East...there are and have been huge portions of Asia and parts of Africa that appreciate a relationship with the United States). The French in particular have, especially throughout the 20th Century, been at best friends of convenience. So I am not really concerned with whether or not everyone likes us. However, we need to command respect, and command influence--and nobody could ever deny that being liked helps with that sort of thing.
However, this touches an issue completely apart from international politics and power. This is a Christian minister making his words concerning politics and power the center of international attention and as a result making the ministry of missionaries in Venezuela that much more difficult. And for that, Mr Robinson should not have said what he said, even if there was merit to it.
Picking our battles. As Christians its a real challenge to discern what that means. For though we are not to be of the world, we are in the world, and that should mean that we have an effect not merely in church and ministry, but in every area of life--politics and international power included. Our involvement in those other aspects of life may be harmed by our association with Christ and our belief in absolute truth, righteousness and sin, judgement and forgiveness. That is the price we pay for being in the world and not of it. However, when our involvement in those other aspects of life harms the mission of the church...then we're losing sight of our priorities.
sigh.
Saturday, August 27, 2005
The Fantastic Rush Limbaugh
This will probably sound too typical; I like Rush Limbaugh. A lot. I enjoy listening to him, and have since I started listening to radio as a kid. I know that radio isn't well respected...and I know that Rush in particular gets a lot of garbage thrown his way because he makes himself an easy target...any man who consistently opens a show informing his audience that his talent is on loan from God is bound to tick someone off. But I really love listening to him, and even when he's exagerating, he's one of the best at summing up a problem and addressing it intelligently.
Well, this is pulled from his page--which I have linkedon the sidebar--pulled, more specifically from his quotes section. Mr Limbaugh, though I'm fairly sure you'll never read this, thank you. This is just awesome.
"The French found two suspicious, questionable substances in Lance Armstrong's hotel room in 1999. They were later identified as soap and deodorant."
Ah. Wonderful.
This will probably sound too typical; I like Rush Limbaugh. A lot. I enjoy listening to him, and have since I started listening to radio as a kid. I know that radio isn't well respected...and I know that Rush in particular gets a lot of garbage thrown his way because he makes himself an easy target...any man who consistently opens a show informing his audience that his talent is on loan from God is bound to tick someone off. But I really love listening to him, and even when he's exagerating, he's one of the best at summing up a problem and addressing it intelligently.
Well, this is pulled from his page--which I have linkedon the sidebar--pulled, more specifically from his quotes section. Mr Limbaugh, though I'm fairly sure you'll never read this, thank you. This is just awesome.
"The French found two suspicious, questionable substances in Lance Armstrong's hotel room in 1999. They were later identified as soap and deodorant."
Ah. Wonderful.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Hawaii or Virginia?
Having lived in both, the question was posed to me...where would you rather live: Hawaii or Virginia?
Of course, the question assumes that the means to do so are not a problem--since Hawaii is considerably more expensive than Virginia.
Some might think this is an easy question to answer. Who wouldn't chose paradise? But then I'd suggest that paradise is great to visit...but an island can be claustrophobic to live on. Plus, there are seasons in Virginia...and the great city of Washington D.C. in the north of the state. And D.C. is one of my favorites places in all the world. And then there's all that history literally all over the place in Virginia. Still...being able to go swimming and surfing literally all year long (without a stupid wetsuit) does sound ideal...fortunately both Virginia and Hawaii get a lot of rain (which I love)...but in the end, I think I would chose to live in Virginia, and have a vacation home in Hawaii.
Since money is no object, of course.
What would you do? If not Virginia, then what else compares to paradise for you?
Having lived in both, the question was posed to me...where would you rather live: Hawaii or Virginia?
Of course, the question assumes that the means to do so are not a problem--since Hawaii is considerably more expensive than Virginia.
Some might think this is an easy question to answer. Who wouldn't chose paradise? But then I'd suggest that paradise is great to visit...but an island can be claustrophobic to live on. Plus, there are seasons in Virginia...and the great city of Washington D.C. in the north of the state. And D.C. is one of my favorites places in all the world. And then there's all that history literally all over the place in Virginia. Still...being able to go swimming and surfing literally all year long (without a stupid wetsuit) does sound ideal...fortunately both Virginia and Hawaii get a lot of rain (which I love)...but in the end, I think I would chose to live in Virginia, and have a vacation home in Hawaii.
Since money is no object, of course.
What would you do? If not Virginia, then what else compares to paradise for you?
Leadership
You know that whole idea, that people complain about the way that they never get the one thing that they want, but when that thing finally comes around they ignore it completely--even attack it because they weren't actually looking for it, but for their idea of it? Well...if you are familiar with that idea, I thought you might enjoy this article. Its from Newsweek, yes, but its actually very good I thought.
We have an excellent leader. Those people that are too busy screaming their anger to think (all the while stating that they represent the only rational voice in the "dialogue") don't realize just how good a leader we have.
God be with you Mr President.
You know that whole idea, that people complain about the way that they never get the one thing that they want, but when that thing finally comes around they ignore it completely--even attack it because they weren't actually looking for it, but for their idea of it? Well...if you are familiar with that idea, I thought you might enjoy this article. Its from Newsweek, yes, but its actually very good I thought.
We have an excellent leader. Those people that are too busy screaming their anger to think (all the while stating that they represent the only rational voice in the "dialogue") don't realize just how good a leader we have.
God be with you Mr President.
100 Posts
Cool.
To celebrate this minor milestone for this blog, I will tell you about my first day teaching in a formal classroom. I know--hold onto your seats, this may get to exciting for some of you!
I was subbing. Subbing a class called "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens". Still--my first class, officially. I was late. Traffic was awful, and we hadn't planned on the fact that we both had work this morning. I got to the school 5 minutes late, after spending over an hour driving around. I had no syllabi, no handouts, nothing. And I couldn't leave them in the classroom alone. Somehow it all went fairly well though. I gave them the "7 Habits", talked with them about what they meant, and then gave them a personality test their regular teacher had prepared for them, and them had them write a mission statement for their lives based on some of their top priorities in life. It was really cool. Some of them will have my history classes too. I think I am really going to enjoy teaching!
100 Posts. Yay me.
Cool.
To celebrate this minor milestone for this blog, I will tell you about my first day teaching in a formal classroom. I know--hold onto your seats, this may get to exciting for some of you!
I was subbing. Subbing a class called "7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens". Still--my first class, officially. I was late. Traffic was awful, and we hadn't planned on the fact that we both had work this morning. I got to the school 5 minutes late, after spending over an hour driving around. I had no syllabi, no handouts, nothing. And I couldn't leave them in the classroom alone. Somehow it all went fairly well though. I gave them the "7 Habits", talked with them about what they meant, and then gave them a personality test their regular teacher had prepared for them, and them had them write a mission statement for their lives based on some of their top priorities in life. It was really cool. Some of them will have my history classes too. I think I am really going to enjoy teaching!
100 Posts. Yay me.
Assassination
This leaves me divided in my response.
On one hand...Pat Robinson has said some really stupid things in the past...so even if he has a point, perhaps he should be quiet.
On the otherhand...he's actually right (I think). Surely I have heard, even from the Left , that when the problem seems to revolve around one man, one evil dictator, why not take him out instead of going to war? Surely this question has been asked with regards to Saddam. And we all know that it was an accepted premise that anyone with a shot at Hitler would have taken it. So I am a little curious as to why there has been such a stink over this issue.
Is it the Christian problem, or is there a problem with Assassination in general? The government suggests that we just won't deal in that kind of trade. I don't entirely accept this, but it makes a little more sense than that a Christian needs to oppose such actions. There is a difference between hoping that the government established for the protection of the people will aggressively protect us and act with justice and personally carrying out the killing of evil people. Pat Robinson hasn't crossed that line with this statement...he's expressed a desire to see a bad man removed from power--and usually the only way to effectively do that is through force.
So I am not really sure what the problem is...and my conclusion is that the Left is just starved for issues to whine about. That's ok, I guess...pretty foolish and really getting old, but within their rights to do.
This leaves me divided in my response.
On one hand...Pat Robinson has said some really stupid things in the past...so even if he has a point, perhaps he should be quiet.
On the otherhand...he's actually right (I think). Surely I have heard, even from the Left , that when the problem seems to revolve around one man, one evil dictator, why not take him out instead of going to war? Surely this question has been asked with regards to Saddam. And we all know that it was an accepted premise that anyone with a shot at Hitler would have taken it. So I am a little curious as to why there has been such a stink over this issue.
Is it the Christian problem, or is there a problem with Assassination in general? The government suggests that we just won't deal in that kind of trade. I don't entirely accept this, but it makes a little more sense than that a Christian needs to oppose such actions. There is a difference between hoping that the government established for the protection of the people will aggressively protect us and act with justice and personally carrying out the killing of evil people. Pat Robinson hasn't crossed that line with this statement...he's expressed a desire to see a bad man removed from power--and usually the only way to effectively do that is through force.
So I am not really sure what the problem is...and my conclusion is that the Left is just starved for issues to whine about. That's ok, I guess...pretty foolish and really getting old, but within their rights to do.
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Therapy
So I was away for a week at the Royal Family Kids Camp working as a relief Counselor. It was a good time...met some very neat kids, some very good adults and generally had a good week at camp. We stayed at the Green Oak Ranch down in the San Diego area--which apparently has a good deal of history itself with the old stage coach lines. I would have loved more time to find out more of that history, but that was more of a side note than anything else.
Anyways, I was out of the city and away from pretty much all types of media for a total of about 6 days...and it felt wonderful. Now, obviously I am not an anti-techie or anything like that. But at least once a year, preferably once every six months I have real value on getting away from the city and relishing the untouched, unrefined parts of life (though admittedly, in this case we weren't exactly "roughing it"--it was still camp). One night we went on a hike up a hill to a cross that overlooked a city that was on the other side of the hills that surrounded and enclosed the camp from the rest of the world. There was a full moon out, and even though you could see city lights at the top of the hill, generally the darkness was unbroken by anything but natural light in the sky. I stepped away from the campers for a moment and realized just how easy it was to believe in God and Christ in the middle of that quiet, moonlit night--and just how distracting the life in the city is. In the quiet of nature that isn't being interupted constantly by the noise we have grown accustomed too in the city, its not hard at all to believe without reservation, and its not even a struggle to decide to change one's life for a principle that you believe but cannot touch...it was truly theraputic.
I used to get time like this more often. My family would go on vacation somewhere out of the city, often to a resort on a lake, surrounded by lush grass and jungle and mountains. I would climb up to a tower and watch the sky or the sunset or the stars, or just look at the grass from the highest point around...and just absorb the beauty that was there, and when I came down, everything felt very different. I think that is an important point...the times that I removed myself and just appreciated nature to its fullest were not clouded by a lot of thought or agenda on my part. Sometimes I would pray, sometimes sing praise songs...but generally I would just watch, with as few deliberate thoughts as possible, and just enjoy what was there. In fact, often if there were concerns weighing me down, if I cleared my mind during these retreats to the top of the tower and didn't try to figure them out myself but just enjoy what God had created, when I came down I found that I had the answer almost without conciously understanding it beforehand...wisdom from God I believe. Perhaps this is why I really accept the statement in scripture that creation shows the glory of the Lord...I think God is evident in the world without the distraction of man's appetite.
This is all to say...I feel much better. I got (quite literally) beat up during this past week--from running around to wrestling with a dozen kids in the pool everyday...but I feel more rested and refreshed after these past 6 days than I have almost the whole Summer, and certainly since I last left the city to just rest in the untouched refuge of nature. I highly recommend it.
So I was away for a week at the Royal Family Kids Camp working as a relief Counselor. It was a good time...met some very neat kids, some very good adults and generally had a good week at camp. We stayed at the Green Oak Ranch down in the San Diego area--which apparently has a good deal of history itself with the old stage coach lines. I would have loved more time to find out more of that history, but that was more of a side note than anything else.
Anyways, I was out of the city and away from pretty much all types of media for a total of about 6 days...and it felt wonderful. Now, obviously I am not an anti-techie or anything like that. But at least once a year, preferably once every six months I have real value on getting away from the city and relishing the untouched, unrefined parts of life (though admittedly, in this case we weren't exactly "roughing it"--it was still camp). One night we went on a hike up a hill to a cross that overlooked a city that was on the other side of the hills that surrounded and enclosed the camp from the rest of the world. There was a full moon out, and even though you could see city lights at the top of the hill, generally the darkness was unbroken by anything but natural light in the sky. I stepped away from the campers for a moment and realized just how easy it was to believe in God and Christ in the middle of that quiet, moonlit night--and just how distracting the life in the city is. In the quiet of nature that isn't being interupted constantly by the noise we have grown accustomed too in the city, its not hard at all to believe without reservation, and its not even a struggle to decide to change one's life for a principle that you believe but cannot touch...it was truly theraputic.
I used to get time like this more often. My family would go on vacation somewhere out of the city, often to a resort on a lake, surrounded by lush grass and jungle and mountains. I would climb up to a tower and watch the sky or the sunset or the stars, or just look at the grass from the highest point around...and just absorb the beauty that was there, and when I came down, everything felt very different. I think that is an important point...the times that I removed myself and just appreciated nature to its fullest were not clouded by a lot of thought or agenda on my part. Sometimes I would pray, sometimes sing praise songs...but generally I would just watch, with as few deliberate thoughts as possible, and just enjoy what was there. In fact, often if there were concerns weighing me down, if I cleared my mind during these retreats to the top of the tower and didn't try to figure them out myself but just enjoy what God had created, when I came down I found that I had the answer almost without conciously understanding it beforehand...wisdom from God I believe. Perhaps this is why I really accept the statement in scripture that creation shows the glory of the Lord...I think God is evident in the world without the distraction of man's appetite.
This is all to say...I feel much better. I got (quite literally) beat up during this past week--from running around to wrestling with a dozen kids in the pool everyday...but I feel more rested and refreshed after these past 6 days than I have almost the whole Summer, and certainly since I last left the city to just rest in the untouched refuge of nature. I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Intelligent Design
Its so ironic really. At the Academy, we had one of the biggest names at Biola talk about exactly this issue...and then the week that the Academy ends this story started coming out. In case you were living in a hole for the past two weeks, here's the story. This is the link from the NY Times article concerning the issue. You'll probably have to register--its free though.
There's a lot out there...I spent over half an hour yesterday writing a long post on this, including links to others with more to say (who also say it better) and my thoughts on the subversive nature of late-night comedians in this debate. I won't duplicate the post...it got lost when I tried to post it, not realizing that Blogger was down for maintinence, and trying to duplicate it would be frustrating, and probably less effective. My main thoughts were that its truly disturbing how, through a dumb little skit on the Conan O'Brien show that officially is designed to mock Bush and present him as an idiot, a comedian is also weighing in on I.D. and the question of whether or not evolution is the only science or not, etc. They didn't even do very much--they simply made their charicature of Bush read what Bush actually said and that's enough. Disturbing.
Anyways, here's the other links that I thought were really worth reading. They're to Reynold's blog, and include articles from the press that he is responding to, and a response to a letter responding to a radio program that he was on discussing the viability of teaching ID as a theory of origins in the classroom. Read, read, read! It should be noted--those are three different links. If you're interested at all in the issues being debated--and more if you want to hear a good arguement from the I.D. perspective, I suggest taking a look.
Its so ironic really. At the Academy, we had one of the biggest names at Biola talk about exactly this issue...and then the week that the Academy ends this story started coming out. In case you were living in a hole for the past two weeks, here's the story. This is the link from the NY Times article concerning the issue. You'll probably have to register--its free though.
There's a lot out there...I spent over half an hour yesterday writing a long post on this, including links to others with more to say (who also say it better) and my thoughts on the subversive nature of late-night comedians in this debate. I won't duplicate the post...it got lost when I tried to post it, not realizing that Blogger was down for maintinence, and trying to duplicate it would be frustrating, and probably less effective. My main thoughts were that its truly disturbing how, through a dumb little skit on the Conan O'Brien show that officially is designed to mock Bush and present him as an idiot, a comedian is also weighing in on I.D. and the question of whether or not evolution is the only science or not, etc. They didn't even do very much--they simply made their charicature of Bush read what Bush actually said and that's enough. Disturbing.
Anyways, here's the other links that I thought were really worth reading. They're to Reynold's blog, and include articles from the press that he is responding to, and a response to a letter responding to a radio program that he was on discussing the viability of teaching ID as a theory of origins in the classroom. Read, read, read! It should be noted--those are three different links. If you're interested at all in the issues being debated--and more if you want to hear a good arguement from the I.D. perspective, I suggest taking a look.
Wow.
Lots of stuff happening and I have been gone for a while. Ok...first, the updates...
I am currently putting together a couple of syllabi for some history classes I will be teaching. As I write them, I am shocked by how harsh they sound. Actually, in all fairness I need to say, I took the example that they passed around (having never written a syllabus myself) and editted it appropriately for a history class, changing some things here and there to meet with the actual design and function that I had in mind for my class. The overall tone was set by someone who has already taught classes and did well there as well as when she was an actual student. Maybe that's why I think its harsh--I'm guessing she wrote a syllabus based on what she knew she would expect of herself and from her experience teaching...and she was a much better student than I ever have been, and I haven't really formally taught anyone anything. I;m sure I'll be glad of the firmness inherant in her overall design, which is why I kept it...I was just shocked at how quickly I went from being annoyed with teachers like this to becoming a teacher like this. Though...again, I was more frustrated with teachers that had open-ended syllabi than the teachers that told you firmly and bluntly what they expected. So this is probably a really good thing.
Right now I am in the middle of the end of my two weeks off between the Academy and other stuff. Sunday I leave for San Diego for a week, where I will be working with the "Royal Family Kids Camp" for a week as a relief counsellor. Basically its a camp for foster kids and is an opportunity to show them some Chrisitan love without any strings attached. There's no altar calls, no follow up stuff or anything like that--its one week, unconditional love. We don't exchange information or anything like that afterwards, because the idea behind the camp isn't supposed to be that they make us their new friends or family...but its hoping to show these kids that they are important too. I have never done anything like this...I worked with AWANA's in the Philippines with the kids from the Depressed areas, but they had families--families are really big in the Philippines. So this will be something new.
I am praying that God will lead and help me to be what I am needed to be during this week. The wierd thing about doing something like this is that you know that the idea behind this camp is a good thing...and because of that I think its easy to struggle with two extremes...feeling too good about yourself, and so completely missing the point of making the week about someone who doesn't often feel good about themselves...or reacting to that and feeling a self-effacing guilty humilty. I think both are bad...both prevent you from actually helping anyone because you're too focused on yourself. It reminds me of the Screwtape letters--what the demon wrote about the nature of prayer, humilty, pride, etc. So...if you do pray for me, pray that I would be what I should be, and just that...and that I would rejoice in being that and only that.
After next week, I start working on a regular basis. Teaching US and World history at the Gorman Learning Center on Thursdays, and when I'm not doing Substituting work in public schools I'll be working on mailing letters for a loan consolidation company. Some of that is exciting...some of it sounds boring but pays. I'll leave you to figure out which.
Oh, and Aiden is even now at the doctor's office getting shots. They measured him and weighed him...apparently the boy that was so big is no longer so big (though he still seems big to me). They are estimating he'll peak at about 5'8". Doomed to a life of average height. But, at least he'll most likely not grow up and be able to tease his old man about being short...since he'll be seeing me eye to eye (literally) when he's done growing. Its ok though...5'8" puts him at a perfect height to be a very good wrestler. And he's certainly strong enough--all I need to do is help him with his speed and he'll be unstopable. I love that kid.
I'll talk about Bush and ID in my next post. This was just a brief update. Feel updated? Good.
Lots of stuff happening and I have been gone for a while. Ok...first, the updates...
I am currently putting together a couple of syllabi for some history classes I will be teaching. As I write them, I am shocked by how harsh they sound. Actually, in all fairness I need to say, I took the example that they passed around (having never written a syllabus myself) and editted it appropriately for a history class, changing some things here and there to meet with the actual design and function that I had in mind for my class. The overall tone was set by someone who has already taught classes and did well there as well as when she was an actual student. Maybe that's why I think its harsh--I'm guessing she wrote a syllabus based on what she knew she would expect of herself and from her experience teaching...and she was a much better student than I ever have been, and I haven't really formally taught anyone anything. I;m sure I'll be glad of the firmness inherant in her overall design, which is why I kept it...I was just shocked at how quickly I went from being annoyed with teachers like this to becoming a teacher like this. Though...again, I was more frustrated with teachers that had open-ended syllabi than the teachers that told you firmly and bluntly what they expected. So this is probably a really good thing.
Right now I am in the middle of the end of my two weeks off between the Academy and other stuff. Sunday I leave for San Diego for a week, where I will be working with the "Royal Family Kids Camp" for a week as a relief counsellor. Basically its a camp for foster kids and is an opportunity to show them some Chrisitan love without any strings attached. There's no altar calls, no follow up stuff or anything like that--its one week, unconditional love. We don't exchange information or anything like that afterwards, because the idea behind the camp isn't supposed to be that they make us their new friends or family...but its hoping to show these kids that they are important too. I have never done anything like this...I worked with AWANA's in the Philippines with the kids from the Depressed areas, but they had families--families are really big in the Philippines. So this will be something new.
I am praying that God will lead and help me to be what I am needed to be during this week. The wierd thing about doing something like this is that you know that the idea behind this camp is a good thing...and because of that I think its easy to struggle with two extremes...feeling too good about yourself, and so completely missing the point of making the week about someone who doesn't often feel good about themselves...or reacting to that and feeling a self-effacing guilty humilty. I think both are bad...both prevent you from actually helping anyone because you're too focused on yourself. It reminds me of the Screwtape letters--what the demon wrote about the nature of prayer, humilty, pride, etc. So...if you do pray for me, pray that I would be what I should be, and just that...and that I would rejoice in being that and only that.
After next week, I start working on a regular basis. Teaching US and World history at the Gorman Learning Center on Thursdays, and when I'm not doing Substituting work in public schools I'll be working on mailing letters for a loan consolidation company. Some of that is exciting...some of it sounds boring but pays. I'll leave you to figure out which.
Oh, and Aiden is even now at the doctor's office getting shots. They measured him and weighed him...apparently the boy that was so big is no longer so big (though he still seems big to me). They are estimating he'll peak at about 5'8". Doomed to a life of average height. But, at least he'll most likely not grow up and be able to tease his old man about being short...since he'll be seeing me eye to eye (literally) when he's done growing. Its ok though...5'8" puts him at a perfect height to be a very good wrestler. And he's certainly strong enough--all I need to do is help him with his speed and he'll be unstopable. I love that kid.
I'll talk about Bush and ID in my next post. This was just a brief update. Feel updated? Good.
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