These are my thoughts for the past week as well as for this Sunday, May 9, 2010, the 6th Sunday of Easter and Mother’s Day. The Scriptures for this Sunday are Acts 16: 9 – 15, Revelation 21: 1 – 10, 22 – 22: 5, and John 14: 23 -29.
———————————————————————————————
The title of this piece comes […]
These are my thoughts for the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, 17 January 2010. The Scriptures for this Sunday are Isaiah 62: 1 – 5, 1 Corinthians 12: 1 – 11, and John 2: 1 – 11. This is also “Human Relations Sunday”.
——————————————————————————————
Cross-posted to Thoughts From The Heart On The Left – please post your […]
I am working on a number of projects right now, all of which deal with science, education and science education in some manner, shape or form. First is the “book” project. Entitled “Science and Education in the 21st Century: A Contrarian View”, it is a look at science, science education and topics that we all […]
Here are my thoughts for the 2nd Sunday in Advent, 6 December 2009. It is as much a political piece as it is an Advent piece.
———————————————————————————————
For whatever reason, the thoughts that I had about this piece never quite came together like I thought they would. But the words of John the Baptizer, written in Luke, […]
This was supposed to be a piece questioning the motives of those who marched in Washington last weekend. At best, they have a selective memory; at worst, they are representative of days past when the police set the dogs on the children in Birmingham, state troopers beat the marchers on the Edmund Pettis bridge outside […]
I am going to post something about the science education issue in California - see "Creating Controversy" - http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/09/01/evolution later in the day. But right now, I have to "cool down" a bit.
As you may or may not know, I was a high school student in Missouri for one year before my family moved to […]
On January 20, 1961, John Kennedy stood before the people of America and the world and announced that the torch had been passed to a new generation. I cannot help but think that on August 26, 2009, with the death of Ted Kennedy, the light of that torch may have gone out. We must now […]
As the title says, what is happening does not make any sense. Unless, of course, you feel that the problems with reforming healthcare and an ever increasing deficit are problems that occurred when Barack Obama was inaugurated as President last January.
Would the arguments against health care be taking place if John McCain had been elected […]
Harry Patch died two weeks ago; he was buried on August 6th. Now, unless you are like me and you listen to the BBC, you probably don’t know who Harry Patch was. He certainly wasn’t important but then again, his death does have some significance. He was the last surviving British veteran of World War […]
“In the beginning” is a phrase that a lot of people have problems with; perhaps not with the words themselves but with how long ago it was. The physical evidence tells me that this world began several million years ago and the universe began even further back in time. But there are those who will […]
Now, this isn’t a blog about Governor Sanford and his problems, though we are reminded that when one “preaches” about one set of values and then lives and entirely different set of values, it is very difficult for people to hear the truth.
And while I am saddened by the death of Michael Jackson, it isn’t […]
This is a portion of what I have posted on my own blog for this Sunday:
————————————————————————————-
Abraham Lincoln once told us that the government of this country was a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” But it doesn’t appear to me that we have that sort of government anymore.
In the […]
Here are my thoughts for the 2nd Sunday in Easter. The Scriptures for today are Acts 4: 32 - 35, 1 John 1: 1 - 2: 2, and John 20: 19 - 31. This is also a political piece but the times demand it.
——————————————————-
For as long as I can recall, I have considered myself a […]
I had intended to write a commentary about the countdown to the end of President Obama’s first 100 days in office but the thoughts are not coming together for such a missive. However, I do want to make a note that it seems like everyone, on the outsides of both aisles, are setting up this […]
Recently John Mark Reynolds wrote at Scriptorium Daily, “Moral men have a duty to help their neighbors, but nobody has the right to force other people to help. … When we pass our moral duties over to the state, we lose the power to do charity ourselves, turn an act of charity into coercion, and […]
The post on my own blog with this title (Thoughts From The Heart on The Left) is for this coming Sunday but I think that it needs to be on this blog as well. I have posted a link to the entire piece so that you can continue reading it there (besides, I added a […]
In the beginning there was nothing. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. (From The Message, Genesis 1: 1) For cosmologists, in this nothingness before the moment of creation through the Big Bang, there was nothing but chaos. There was […]
There is a movement attempting to convince Western governments to forgive the debts of poor countries, particularly in Africa. Religious supporters of this idea often invoke the biblical Jubilee as an example and also as justification for large-scale debt relief.
I’ll let other people argue the merits of African debt relief. I’m more concerned about the […]
In the last eight years evangelicals have been blasted as being beholden to the Republican Party. Some of that criticism has been fair, some has not. I find it curious that for some younger evangelicals and those who align themselves with the emergent church in an effort to "find balance" that the pendulum has swung […]
Just some thoughts to begin the year
————————————————-
What will it take for change to occur in this country in the next year? What will it take for this country to understand that the methods and the thoughts of the past have no place in the future and that those who cling to the past will find […]
Shock! Amazement! Wonderment!
Those were the words that seemed to resound through the “ether” when it was announced that the governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, had been indicted and arrested on corruption charges.
“How stupid can this guy have been?” was the question that my wife asked, in light of what Patrick Fitzgerald said at the news […]
For what do we have to be thankful this year? I am first thankful that I can post my thoughts. To post my thoughts and express my beliefs is, first and foremost, what I believe this day is about. While it may not have been the reason that the first thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 […]
GW Bush claims to “believe in the free market.” If faith without out works is dead, then lets take a look at his works. A look at the numbers tells the story.
With thanks to www.reason.com (“Bailout Balance Sheet”, November 7, 2008 by Katherine Mangu-Ward and Anthony Randazzo) here are the totals–so far […]
Those who have read my blog or heard me preach know that I am a southerner and a 2nd generation military brat by birth. Without doubt, where I was born and where I grew up in this world had a lot to do with how I feel and what I think of the world around […]
Much is going to be written and much is going to be said about the election of Barack Obama in 2008. Those that are on the right and left of him are going to be saying what was right about this election and what was wrong about this election.
There are some who will say […]
There is an interesting op-ed from Compassion International President and CEO Wess Stafford in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution today. Full disclosure: In my “real life” my firm works with Compassion. Still, I thought this was an interesting piece and worth sharing.
Currency of compassion halts global food crisis
By Wess Stafford, president and CEO of Compassion International
Published by […]
Both candidates proclaim a belief in free markets and yet both voted for the theft by threat of force of $850 billion of our money and neither have spoken out against the upcoming taxpayer pillage on behalf of the Detroit Big Three. Both consistently rail against big oil, big pharm., wall street fatcats, corporations […]
In addition to the $700 billion dollars being used to take bad debt off the hands of the people who handed out the bad loans and the people who bought the bad packaged loans off of their hands, you are also being asked for an additional $100 billion in your hard earned tax money for […]
Conversations the other day and discussions that have been taking place prompt me to ask if we are truly ready for the future. To be ready for the future requires, I believe, a vision for the future and I do not believe that such a vision exists.
In the midst of rising energy prices, the predominant […]
Great article from Bradley Harrington. Here are some excerpts.
There was once a time, many decades ago, when the Republicans advocated liberty and individualism; when the GOP supported capitalism, free enterprise, and private-property rights; when the party opposed poverty-inducing schemes such as Social Security and food stamps; when they would have viewed institutions such as […]
I gave a sermon on Sunday (10 August 2008 ) in which the presentation probably was not one of my better ones. I forgot that I am God’s representative and Christ’s disciple and that the words that I speak have to be His words, not mine. I have been on a roll lately and I […]
There is a non-profit program offering academic enrichment, martial arts, media production classes, mentoring, exposure to renowned writers such as Rudyard Kipling, and field trips to places like Washington. All this is made possible to enable young children from the Mississippi Delta to dream beyond the borders of their small and empoverished existence. […]
On this day, April 4th, 1968, the world changed. Some would have us say that the world is a better place; others will say that it is not. For a while in my life, I thought the promise of the world was going to be fulfilled. But this singular day in my […]
My friend Andy Jackson, who does some of the best blogging around, points to this article about John Edwards and his wealth, from The New York Post. It seems to say, in none-too-subtle terms, that because Edwards has money, his campaign claims of being an advocate for the poor is hypocritical.
Edwards may be shallow. He […]
Think again.
A post I wrote in October received this response just yesterday:
Being the wife of a compulsive gambler that has borrowed $72,000 @ 20% interest, I completly agree with your blog on gambling. Our governments are allowing/encouraging this destrictive behavior to all. I use to go to the casinos with my husband, gamble $100 here […]
It didn’t take long for senator-elect Jim Webb of Virginia to become a full-of-himself politician. George Will’s article is spot-on and reveals what is so wrong with the climate in Washington D.C.
As a point of clarification, my “Cup of water” post was intended to establish a sidebar listing of various Christian organizations dedicated to providing assistance not only for the spiritual, but the physical needs of impoverished people throughout the world. Ideally, the links should take one directly to a donations page (e.g., see here). As […]
With all the politically related links on this site, perhaps it is time to add a section which lists links to organizations engaged in providing for the physical needs of those less fortunate than ourselves.
I’ll begin the list…
Sponsor a child:
Latin America ChildCare
WorldVision
General Disaster Relief
Assemblies of God
US Disaster Relief
Assemblies of God
Africa specific
WorldVision
Battered & Homeless Women
The Sheepfold
Pregnancy […]
I enjoyed John Gilmartin’s post on revival, and have long held steady to the belief that we need not great political movements, rather, great movements of God.
His post reminded me of my college study in which I wrote several papers on the social dynamics of Evangelical revivalism. In every case, real revival — literally described […]
Joy. It is the infectious quality of the African church.
In the midst of suffering, pain, poverty and HIV/AIDS, there is joy unspeakable. Nothing can hold it down; it spills out in hours of worship, in the daily grind of life, and while driving along roads with potholes the locals call “Hippo ponds” they are so […]
As I have been carefully reading Jim Wallis’ book God’s Politics over the last several weeks, I am struggling with how he seems to “use” Bible passages to support his positions. One such interpretation is that of Mark 14:7 in chapter 13.
“The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you […]
A New Covenant for a New America is a Sojourner/Call for Renewal covenant declaration which outlines how to overcome poverty. It proclaims that poverty is America’s new slavery. This is a primary document guiding Blue Christian politics.
Jim Wallis in his book God’s Politics states that poverty is the most important political issue in the Bible.
“Because the Scriptures spend so much time on the poor, we will too. This is the most important political issue in the Bible, and it must be ours as well” (p. xxv).
I think this is a very […]
Help Make Poverty History.
Or… not.
Wasn’t it Jesus himself who told us that we would always have the poor among us? Is it really our task, as Christians, to strive to end poverty?
In Poor Excuse (Touchstone, May 2006), Frederica Mathewes-Green writes,
Poor people are fellow members of the same sad wash of humanity that encompasses us all, […]
Jim Wallis in his book God Politics elevates national and global material poverty as one of the central issues that Christians should be forming their political philosophy and activism around. BlueChristians like to emphasize the number of verses in the Bible that mention the poor as proof of this conviction (especially focusing on the prophets), although context, not just the number of verses, […]
Today RedBlueChristian completes its second week online. By my count, 114 posts have been published so far (this one makes 115). By the end of today, we will average close to 9 posts/day.
I surveyed the topics and “leanings” (red?, blue?) of our first 100+ posts. Obviously such an analysis is subjective. Nevertheless, by my estimation, 37 of […]
I mentioned in the comments of a post below my admiration of Ole Anthony who, like Jim Wallis, gave his whole life to ministry in communal living. Anthony, possibly better known as the publisher of The (Wittenburg) Door Christian satire magazine, also is founder and head of the Trinity Foundation. The non-profit Trinity Foundation buys […]
