The European Heritage of Zionism

I’ve been episodically reading David Engel’s Zionism in Pearson’s “Short Histories of Big Ideas” series.  It seems like a good, fair, and readable introduction to the topic.
He distinguishes Zionism from “activist messianism.”  The latter, a religious movement,  grew in the 16th and 17th centuries and resulted in migration to Palestine in the 18th and 19th [...]

Too Much Information

It seems like the challenge I face in this world is that I am drowning under waves of information. Twitter feeds, Facebook stream, Google Reader constantly shooting more articles at me. Newspapers arriving at the door, books glaring from the shelf, papers on various subjects. Movies to watch, shows to keep up with, sports talk [...]

ACORN, Obama, unlawful acts- should be under strict investigations

Kudos to James O’ Keefe and Hannah Giles for exposing what lies, unlawful, and treachery lies beneath the covers of ACORN.   BUT, will the left media pay much attention to this?  Will Obama speak out against this?  Apparently, this is “just some smear campaign”.  Wow, denial (or secrecy of corruption) is the quite the virtue [...]

Our leaders

Malcolm Muggeridge wrote about British Prime Ministers and what he said applies entirely to our elected leaders:
We like to persuade ourselves that our leaders betray the trust imposed in them and distort the aspirations of those who elect them. Actually they represent us all too exactly…No one is miscast. Each leaves the country appreciably poorer [...]

Mission trip to Bundibugyo, Uganda

I returned from a two-week trip to Uganda on July 25. I did not have time to post updates while I was there, so I’m catching up now that I’m back in the U.S. The first update can be found here. New updates here.

our mad world

Since we are encased within our society we can sometimes forget how insane it really is. A conversation I had yesterday reminded me of the deep weird that we live in. Our women fill their bodies with chemicals to prevent them from fertility for years and years. Later, when they are older and may decide [...]

30 days, pro-choice in a pro-life world

I happen to catch a show of “30 days” late last night (when I should of been sleeping), a reality show by Morgan Spurlock, about a pro-choice woman to took on the challenge of living 30 days at “His Nesting Place“, a faith-based pro-life organization (a great opportunity for ministry or help).   Watching the show [...]

A Christian’s life…

…is not guaranteed protection from hardships, trials, & pains in this life.  In fact, we are warned about it, that it WILL come, and when it does, to ENDURE.   1Pe 1:6  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
1Pe 1:7  so that the tested [...]

Book Review of Mark Noll’s “America’s God” (Chp. 10)

Chapter 10 of America’s God discusses the cultural consequences of the rapid expansion of evangelicalism.  How, he asks, did evangelicalism come to play such an important role in the culture?
While crediting the interpretations of Gordon Wood, Robert Wiebe, and Nathan Hatch that stress the importance of the destruction of hierarchies by the American Revolution, he [...]

Book Review of Mark Noll’s “America’s God” (Chapter 7-9)

In Chapters 7-8 of America’s God, Mark Noll shows himself to be a careful historian as he documents how traditional and “innovative” theologies did not become “American” theologies during the period of the American Revolution.  In other words, even as “commonsense” moral philosophy and republican political theory became more accepted by evangelical Christians, they did [...]

America’s God, Chapter 6: “Theistic Common Sense”

In Chapter 6 of America’s God, Noll continues in his exploration of how American Christianity became so connected with two streams of thought that were often associated with heresy or liberal theology in Europe: republican political thought and common sense moral philosophy.
Protestants, and especially Reformed (Calvinist) Protestants, had usually embraced an Augustinian view of man: [...]

The marriage of Christianity and republican political theory in America

Noll’s fifth chapter analyzes the American combination of Christianity and republican political ideas, which was a rare combination in the 18th and 19th centuries.  You can see my notes on his previous chapter, where he explained more about this, here.
Noll argues that the most powerful influence in combining Christian beliefs and republican political principles was [...]

State vs. family

In a prescient statement, Frederick Engels wrote:
With the transfer of the means of production into common ownership, the single family ceases to be the economic unit of society. Private housekeeping is transformed into a social industry. The care and education of the children becomes a public affair; society looks after all children alike, whether they [...]

Pro-Choice=Abortion=baby torture

For those who oppose torture & are pro-choice, I ask you, how can you declare equality & justice for terrorists & lawbreakers (especially repeat offenders), & luxurious amenities in jails (like cable tv, workout gyms, etc) yet you are ok with the slaughter of innocent human babies who have committed no wrong, though you would [...]

The Church is the Temple

James Jordan expounds on the Church:
I think a watershed in our  understanding of the Epistles is what kind of context we put them into. To  be crass about it (I intend no insult; I just want to get on with it): Either
1. The apostolic church started from scratch after the OT order  was cancelled, [...]

Obama, Sotomayor, & the liberal double standard

The unfortunate double standard used by democrats is shameful.  They will constantly use this against the conservatives.  I will admit there are probably some in the conservative group who are prejudice but doesn’t mean ALL are.  That is just a lie they want you to believe.
Now that the republicans face a nomination, in which they [...]

Rising numbers of ProLifers

Newest gallup poll in May 2009 shows an increase of pro-lifers in America @ 51% of Americans calling themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42% “pro-choice. I just wonder if these same people who consider themselves pro-life also deem it so important that they vote accordingly?  Or is it one of those, “well, [...]

Follow the yellow… patches of grass?

Ok, so aside from my mistakenly bad judgement of spraying our yards with weed killer at night when I couldn’t see well, other parts of our backyard is looking a bit like we’ve been warped into Oz where we would NOT be frollicking on the yellow brick road, er… I mean yellow patches of dead [...]

Making Mother’s day last

For those of you who take joy in celebrating mother’s day, may I encourage you to appreciate your mother/sister/gramma on an ongoing basis?  Should our appreciation for our moms shine one day a year?  We should intentionally acknowledge this day, this occasion more than once a year.  Let her know how much you love her.
Just [...]

Missionaries, their courageous faith & devotion to the great commission

We recently had the priviledge to attend a dedication of a new plane that MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) http://www.maf.org/, a local training hub for missionaries old, new & to be.  They train families in vast & various ways for their venture into areas of the country they will soon discover is alien to them.  There [...]

to sometimes think like a child, as we grow older

There is great innocence and wisdom that can be learned from the minds of children.  I was just thinking of the joys and freedoms of childhood, if you’ve been blessed with a good, normal one, that is. (Which can be relative, I know)
Tonight, I was reminded of treasuring the simple joys of life, you know, [...]

this is kira & lexi dancing to “rebel” by Lecrae

my sweet babies enjoying their banana split treat made by mommy

a trip to chuck e cheese

advice: not a great idea to try to ‘hang out’ with multiple families at chuck e cheese, maybe unless you’re the dads.
it was chaos. won’t do that again. no offense steve. heehee

This is part of our girls’ breakdance show.

our girls are a blast…enjoy.
this is lexi and kira doing their hand stands.

what a riot to watch them move. i can watch them all day.
they like to dance to Lecrae’s Hands Up High, a christian rap artist.

Family Trip Reno, NV

Our recent family trip to Reno, NV to see Rick’s family. It was a looong drive. An hour into it, the infamous question already arises…” are we there yet?”  oh boy, chips ahoy! “no, honey, we’re not there yet.” another hour…”are we there yet?” “no honey, not yet.” after a few hours, they took a [...]

The End of Empires

Tying together the economic crisis, imperial presidency, fiscal insanity in our government, and far-flung military commitments, Andrew Bacevich makes a compelling case that our system is worn out.  If you’ve talked with me at any point since late September, I’ve probably mentioned something about this interview to you.  Check it out and see if you found [...]

Mission trip in the summer

My family and I are planning on going on a mission trip to Uganda in July. Details are here.

the conservative black vote

I know this a little late but I had it drafted during the elections but just forgot about it but still wanted to post anyway b/c this problem didn’t stop just b/c this election is over.
Why were black conservatives who voted for McCain being ostracized for their conservative beliefs?   People want to claim that only [...]

The Presidential pen collection

Ok, was it just me or did anyone else notice the plethora of pens that Obama used to sign the spending bill?? I mean really, how many pens does a guy need to sign those documents? Are there special powers to each pen? Are they all different colors? Did one not [...]