Cooking the global warming numbers
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting opinion piece today entitled Our Climate Numbers Are a Big Old Mess. In it, the author talks about how the global temperature data has been manipulated to exaggerate global warming, by the IPCC and others. Scientists or politicians?
Obama’s political nightmare
While he still appears to be in solid shape to win the Democratic nomination, the last few weeks have been politically the worst of Barack Obama’s career.
The Illinois senator struggled in the pre-primary debate in Pennsylvania, before losing by double-digits despite outspending Hillary Clinton 3-to-1 in what could have been a knock-out blow of the senator from New York. All of this came after his much-talked-about “bitter” comment, which rightly or wrongly offended many blue collar, rural Democrats.
Now he has the Jeremiah Wright World Wrath Tour grabbing all the focus away from him and back to his former pastor. He also had some less than coveted “endorsements” happen, which further isolate him, while continuing revelations about the terrorist backgrounds of supporters swirl around his campaign.
Obama is finding life at the top is not always enjoyable.
Theologian trading cards
Nope, not a joke – available at retailers soon. And, you can enter to win a signed R.C. Sproul trading card at Christians in Context.
Of course, everyone knows that the best theologian is a dead theologian – there are at least three Dead Theologians Societies, I’m not even sure which one is ‘official.’
Suffering: who to blame?
Recently scholars NT Wright and Bart Ehrman debated one of the great theological questions of all-time – the existence of suffering balanced with the existence of God. Many have left the Christian faith, including Ehrman, because they could not reconcile the suffering in this world with a God who loved us.
David Kuo, who I don’t always agree with, but find intriguing, offers an interesting take on the idea of suffering and who actually is to blame.
Expelled – well done, thought provoking, too true for insecure evolutionists to see
My wife and I saw Ben Stein’s Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed this evening, and I was pleasantly surprised.
I had low expectations due to the raving disgust of most reviewers, but having seen it, I can now see that their reviews lacked any objective evaluation of the film’s artistry, style and content. Since the film is well made, I suspect that the real problem is that the movie conflicts with many reviewers’ world view, and they are offended and unable to properly evaluate or appreciate the movie for what it is – a fairly well made documentary of ideological hegemony and persecution in science and academia.
The movie spent most of it’s time merely documenting the systematic bias and draconian measures used to censure those who question Darwinian orthodoxy, and it also introduces us to the logical consequences of Darwinism in history, linking it to eugenics and Nazism. What it documents is both frightening and pathetic.
The GOP should not be happy about Chaos
I always appreciate John Mark Reynolds reasoned and insightful political commentary. He is one of the most gracious evangelical Christian political commentors. He has compiled the Ten Reasons To Loath the Clinton Campaign, Even If You Are a Republican. Reynolds is not one of the Republican’s engaging in creating "chaos" in the Democratic primary.
Why I love John McCain
I will now detail why I am throwing my whole-hearted support behind John McCain and why this blog from now until the election will be McCainiac central.
Why I’m not voting for Obama
I am not voting for Barack Obama for President. Below you will find why I cannot vote for this inspiring speaker and seemingly genuine politician.
The scientific pretensions of atheism
David Berlinkski, interviewed in the Intelligent Design movie Expelled, wrote a book on atheism and science entitled The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions.
Interestingly, though he agrees with the premise of Expelled, he found it ‘lacking meat.’
He also advises young academics that, if they want tenure, keep their heads down on this issue until AFTER they gain tenure, because anyone who openly doubts evolution most certainly is black balled in academia, as alleged by Expelled.
He also mentions that the link between Darwinism and Nazism is so clear, that to deny it is to be academically self-deluded.
Who to blame when a liberal and an atheist attack Obama?
I’m sure this is George W. Bush’s fault some how, but Kristen Powers (Democratic strategist) and Christopher Hitchens are not buying into the Obama-hype. They are now part of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to which Hillary first alerted us and of which she is now a prominent member.
Two questions Obama shouldn’t have to answer
While I will not be voting for Obama this fall, I can still recognize things that are unfair to him. There are two questions that have come up which Obama should not have to answer or even concern himself.
Songbird Extensions Guide – Updated
For those of you who love to use Firefox extensions, you’ll love Songbird, an iTunes-like music player, but open source, so you can add all kinds of extensions, using the exact same screen metaphors as Firefox – in fact, I think it’s somehow based on FF. I wonder if the extensions for both will interfere. Argh, a new software addiction! Here’s my list of extensions.
As with FF, they have an aggressive upgrade path, so extensions compatible with v. 0.5 are labeled with a * (note: v. 0.6 is on it’s way, and already in a stable beta if you want to try it).
Last Update: 04.18.08
What was Obama thinking?
Barack Obama should still win the Democratic nomination and is probably still the odds on favorite to win the presidency later this year, but why in the world would he say something so absolutely stupid.
And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Some schmaltzy kids and God humor
Here’s some cute misunderstandings of God by kids, sent to me as some internet spam. Enjoy.
LOT’S WIFE
The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot’s wife looked back
and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, ‘My
Mommy looked back once while she was driving,’ he announced
triumphantly, ‘and she turned into a telephone pole !’
Islam is being conquered
And taken over in Africa and other places. On behalf of Christians everywhere I would like to say “you’re welcome.”
Idols praise God?
How about idols sing praise songs? Those sentiments seem fairly strange – almost as strange as the actual fact. The eight finalist on American Idol sang the popular praise song “Shout to the Lord” to close out their charity show last night.
8 Ways we provoke our children
John MacArthur has posted a nice article on Pulpit Magazine about the following scripture, discussing how we should NOT provoke our children to anger. I’ve created a shortened list (HT: Challies)
Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
What’s Ailing The Church
Chuck Colson, speaking yesterday at the 19th Annual National Conference on Preaching, hits the nail on the head in describing what’s wrong with the churches today: they don’t know what they believe. (Hat tip: WorldMagBlog)
“Of course we care about the world. Of course we care about everything happening in society, including politics, but we better get our own house in order because what we see in the cultural collapse of America around us today and in the Western world is exactly on our doorstep,” argued Colson, who was a top aide to former President Richard Nixon before being jailed for the Watergate scandal.
Colson believes the root of the church’s problem is that Christians don’t know what they believe in.
“I think that is at the heart of the problem of the church – we replaced truth with therapy,” he said.
“Most people are basically ignorant,” he said referring to believers’ lack of knowledge on their own religion.
It’s time for churches to return to the Bible, examining it, understanding what it says and how each of us need to apply it. As Colson remarked at the conclusion of his speech:
“We cannot defend our faith nor can we live it if we don’t know what it is,” Colson concluded.
Successful Christian coffee house “Ebenezer’s” considers franchising to churches
Washington D.C.’s Ebenezer’s Coffee House is owned and operated by National Community Church, on the ground floor of their church office building. It has done so well financially and as a tool of outreach, they are thinking of franchising it out to other churches. From the Out of Ur article on Eb’s:
The connection between the coffee shop and the church represents a
growing trend of churches advancing their mission through for-profit
businesses. Ebenezer’s has been very successful….Mark Batterson, pastor of NCC, said the experiment with Ebenezer’s
has been so positive that they’re considering expanding to other
locations and even franchising the operation to help other churches
launch coffee shops to function as “3rd places” and missional outposts.
