axegrinder

Fame

2010-05-18T14:22:00.001-05:00

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"The man whose speech does not match his actions will be forgotten."
- Unknown

For Some Questions, Motives Are Irrelevant

2010-04-20T12:19:00.002-05:00

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When in debate, please don't respond to a challenge with "But why would they do that?" That is irrelevant when it comes to the truth or falsity of a position, the harm or benefit of an action.

I find this response regularly comes up, especially when talking about politics. It is not that important WHY George W Bush or Barak Obama does something. Maybe Bush is incompetent. Maybe Obama is wittingly pursuing a socialist agenda. Maybe not. Either way, we should judge their ideas and actions, as well as the results. Leave the motives to God. The same goes for global warming, gay marriage, the economy, war, etc, etc.

I'd like to extend this point to say something about conspiracy theories. Listen, nothing would surprise me. Is it possible that world leaders have secret societies? Sure, I guess that's possible. However, I don't need to know these usually unprovable things in order to know that certain of their actions have negative results.

Try not to get sucked into the distractions that bombard you if you watch TV news and pundits or listen to them on the radio. Ask "is the action good?" not "is it patriotic?"

Holy Week Greetings

2010-04-01T14:19:00.002-05:00

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I would like to offer all those who aspire to be Holy Fools my warm regards and sincere prayers on your behalf. May you find yourselves in the embrace of the Trinity this Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.

Do You Need Glasses?

2010-03-02T13:53:00.002-06:00

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I found out about a very cool company today:

Warby Parker

They mail you five frames for free to try.

Frames and prescription lenses are $95.

For every pair sold, they give a pair away through charity.

Sounds like a good company, and I'm in need of glasses.

Debate of Texas Republican Candidates for Governor

2010-01-22T11:57:00.004-06:00

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Go watch Debra Medina posterize Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

I went to hear Medina speak a few months ago. I like her.

Debra Medina on
YouTube
Twitter
Facebook
Her Main Site

Have I just committed my first act of campaigning?

Free your mind. The question is not, "Does she have a chance to win?" The ethic for voting is not the "lesser of two evils."

Fr. Tobias on God's Will

2010-01-13T09:20:00.003-06:00

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The conclusion from here:

"To escape this conundrum, I would rather say that the standard of stewardship and equality, and the clarion of prophecy from which all true Prophets speak, is theosis.

"We used to know, in the good old Orthodox days when doctrine still mattered, and praxis still flowed from apostolic liturgy, that God's Will is simply deification. It is not a particular career or whether you should move in with the pygmies. It is not how much you should give to a fund drive or who you should marry. Or, as had been explained to me on one particularly depressing occasion, just which stock option to pick up.

"These are all questions that pertain to augury, not God's Will.

"God's Will is for you and for me to participate in Triune Fellowship, in His own Divine Nature, to be transformed and inducted into the Healing Light of His Uncreated Energy.

"To see this, and nothing less, and to recognize every creature's destiny therein, and even the vectors of politics, is the work of Prophecy. No less."

That, my friends, is good preaching. Be free. One activity in becoming more like Christ is choosing between one or more good options. We must exercise our minds in weighing outcomes of choices. Ask questions, seek counsel from the wise, pray with your spouse, receive the bread and wine. There is no "perfect will of God" other than becoming like Christ. There are a lot of places where that can happen.

Louis Carabini - Inclined to Liberty

2009-12-14T20:52:00.000-06:00

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What a great little book. 100 pages. Free .pdf here. Solid, simple primer on libertarianism. Chapters are 2-4 pages a piece.

An excerpt from Chapter 9 "The False Lure of Democracy:"

The very essence of democracy encourages everyone to express opinions about human activities that are none of their business. There are few days that someone doesn’t ask me what I think that “we” (the royal “we”) should “do” about this or that individual, organization, or group activity that is clearly neither my business nor theirs. It is not the answers to such questions that should give us concern; the mere asking has become so commonplace— and with such a sense of democratic pride and entitlement— that today nearly every aspect of human activity is considered public domain.

In a democracy, each of us has license to prescribe for others how to live their lives; run their businesses; whom they may hire; what wages they may pay; what prices they may charge; what, where, when, and how much they may buy or sell; what they may teach; what and where they may smoke, drink, and eat; what they may plant; what medicines they may take; what houses they may build and where they may build them; what they may say; how and where they may practice their religion (even what religion); where they may go; where they may live; how they may die; with whom and how they may engage in sex; whom they may marry and with whom they may associate. On and on this intrusion goes, with more “dos” and “don’ts” added every day.

...

A democratic state will naturally gravitate to an ever-greater “tragedy of the commons,” in which citizens try to get a bigger share of the funds acquired by the State. Since those funds are now commonly owned, everyone has a right to claim a share. Even free riders become just as deserving of shares as do society’s contributors. Instead of being ostracized, free riders are now entitled to free rides. These entitlements are further justified by their advocates declaring them as “rights” (active rights), implying they have equal footing with natural rights (passive, or inalienable rights). An active right is a claim upon the life of another, while a natural right obligates others to refrain from any such claims. Therefore, a claimant of a right to a free ride, such as free health care, is a disclaimer of the natural, inalienable rights of the person upon whom the claim is made. Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850), the famous French political economist, described the state as the great fiction by which everybody tries to live at the expense of everybody else.

Download it.

God Loves Us

2009-12-03T10:00:00.003-06:00

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... and has a wonderful plan for our tastebuds.

When I was in Atlanta over Thanksgiving, I visited the parents of my best friend from high school. My friend, his 14-month-old daughter and I had a great time chewing the fat and catching up with his parents. At one point I commented on the fact that there was not a fresh pound cake under the glass in the kitchen. Those pound cakes were a fixture in my high school and college days. I have not had Mrs. C's pound cake in many years. I needed me some pound cake.

Despite a looming hairdresser appointment, Mrs. C whipped up a cake and put it in the oven. She instructed me on how to tend to it before her return. She left.

My friend and I took his daughter for a walk around the neighborhood. It was surreal to be wheeling a baby stroller along the same streets we skulked around after sneaking out of his parents' house in the middle of the night over two decades ago. Typically, we got lost in conversation. We were deciding on whether or not to make another loop around the block when I remembered the cake in the oven.

We hotfooted it back to the house. I was convinced we would be too late. The buzzer was screaming at us as we burst through the door. I flung open the oven door to discover the cake still bubbling. We were in time. I shed a tear of gratitude in recognition that every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of Lights, in whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.

I had two pieces.

PS If we're friends on Facebook, and you want to see how cute my friend's child is, there's a pic of us tagged w/ my name.

Save Me, OED

2009-11-13T06:07:00.002-06:00

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I was describing a restaurant the other day and used the phrase "it was nothing to write home about" ... in an email to my mom.

In other news -

This morning, the words "I could eats me a Coke right now" presented themselves in that order in my mind when I opened the refrigerator at work and saw the red and white cans.

Books for Laity - NT Wright and Bible Study

2009-10-08T08:29:00.000-05:00

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I attended a class at church Tuesday night. As with most classes I attend at church, I came away with a variety of thoughts about how the laity might be served in their participation in the life of the Trinity. One way: book suggestions.

It is a regular occurrence that I want to read about a topic and do not immediately know what book to start with. Fortunately, I've had some helpful training in research, so I can usually make some sort of progress. However, I can well remember times, especially prior to seminary, when I cast about, frustrated, looking for the right book on a topic of interest. Bookstores (Christian and otherwise) are RARELY helpful (thank God for the exceptions) and will usually put one on a false scent.

It is the Church's job to teach the people of God. One aspect of that instruction is pointing people to books that will benefit them. God bless the clergy who serve their people in this regard.

I'd like to offer book recommendations from time to time, especially tailored to lay people who are trying to learn the faith and sometimes feel lost when trying to find the right book. I'm going to start by pointing you to a series of Bible-study books by Bishop NT (Tom) Wright, the Canon Theologian of the Church of England. The series is the "For Everyone" series, as in "Matthew for Everyone," "Paul for Everyone," "Acts for Everyone." You will be able to order these books from anyone. Why not find a local bookstore where you can possibly influence what they put on the shelves? There's also a subscription service with a discount and free shipping that I am considering for myself.

Bp. Wright writes to both academics and laity. When he writes academically, he usually publishes as NT Wright. When he writes for laity, he usually publishes as Tom Wright. An example of his academic writing would be "Jesus and the Victory of God." An example of his popular/lay-oriented writing is "Simply Christian."

I have benefited greatly from Bp Wright. I read "Jesus and the Victory of God" in a Christology class and was able to attend a conference in Memphis where he spoke. I was with a small group of students who joined him for breakfast at Denny's before one of his lectures. When I was participating in a study of Romans this past spring, Bp Wright's material was the most helpful I found. I'll link to those materials in a separate post.

"ALMIGHTY God, our Heavenly Father, who hast committed to thy Holy Church the care and nurture of thy children; Enlighten with thy wisdom those who teach and those who learn; that, rejoicing in the knowledge of thy truth, they may worship thee and serve thee from generation to generation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

Ron Paul on the Central Bank and War

2009-09-25T07:22:00.002-05:00

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"Imagine an irresponsible teenager with an unlimited line of credit. The parents, teachers, pastors, and authorities in his life are ultimately powerless to change his habits. Now imagine that teenager armed to the teeth and also immune even from the rule of law. That is what we have with a government backed by a central bank."

- Ron Paul "End the Fed" chapter 4 p67

Read chapter 2 of "End the Fed."

Some Timely Words

2009-09-15T07:50:00.002-05:00

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"What we need is not fewer people, but more room between them, where those who would stand on their own feet, could, and those who won't, might have to. Then the welfare, the relief, the compensation, instead of being nationally sponsored cash prizes for idleness and ineptitude, could go where the old independent uncompromising fathers themselves would have intended it and blessed it."

- William Faulkner "The Duty to Be Free" (1953)

*

"A bad policy does not become good because worse things are possible."

- David Gordon in a review of Tom DiLorenzo's "The Real Lincoln"

Faith

2009-08-31T06:43:00.002-05:00

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"Therefore, O Lord, when all things common seem,
When all is dust, and self the centre clod,
When grandeur is a hopeless, foolish dream,
And anxious care more reasonable than God,—
Out of the ashes I will call to thee—
In spite of dead distrust call earnestly:—
Oh thou who livest, call, then answer dying me."

- George MacDonald "Diary of an Old Soul" (August 31)

Comfort

2009-08-13T06:28:00.003-05:00

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"Thou art the truth, the life. Thou, Lord, wilt see
To every question that perplexes me.
I am thy being; and my dignity
Is written with my name down in thy book;
Thou wilt care for it. Never shall I think
Of anything that thou mightst overlook:—
In faith-born triumph at thy feet I sink."

- George MacDonald "Diary of an Old Soul" (entry for August 13)

1st Amendment

2009-08-05T09:30:00.001-05:00

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"The function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger."

- Justice William O. Douglas (quoted here)

An Update on Gus

2009-07-27T15:09:00.003-05:00

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In April, I posted a quote from the Ochlophobist. The situation that prompted his thoughts was an accident involving the son of some of his friends.

Och shared an update on Gus recently.

DB Hart on Suffering

2009-07-22T08:18:00.000-05:00

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Here are links to an exchange between David Bentley Hart and others on suffering after the horrible tsunami in 2004. I think you will find this to be a helpful example of theological dialogue, both the good and the bad.

I have thought about suffering consistently over the past few years. I find myself more and more embracing the Eastern Orthodox view as represented by Hart. I also find myself more and more weary of the embarrassing theodicies extant within much of Christendom.

Hart's Article in the WSJ Opinion Journal

William Luse and DB Hart - 1st Exchange, 2nd Exchange

Anthony Esolen and DB Hart - 1st Exchange

Esolen on Christ's Wounds and Dostoevsky

Hart and Esolen - 2nd Exchange, 3rd Exchange

William Reichert brings up Job.

Hart responds.

Hart's Last Word

Why Is Idolatry Forbidden?

2009-05-07T20:15:00.002-05:00

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"everyone worships — everyone has a god."
- a friend

I am concerned about how worship is commonly defined. Worship is often defined as “our response to what God has done” or something to that effect. Worship is not primarily a response. It is a participation. Worship does not take place if it originates in us, even if the act is a response to what we know about God. I know that most Christians would agree with what I am saying, but the language we use when speaking of worship indicates what our thoughts are about the subject.

Having drilled that point, I'd like to say something about worship as participation (reception and offering) as it relates to idolatry.

Might the prohibition against worshiping idols be connected to the fact that worship involves as much receiving (actually more) as it does giving? Worship is participation in the life of the Trinity and depends on our inclusion via the Incarnation. When we worship, we are receiving from God. Worship enables all of life to be lived, that is, to be a man fully alive, which is the glory of God, to paraphrase St. Irenaeus.

Therefore, if one worships an idol, then that one does not receive anything, because idols cannot see, hear, speak, act. An idol is not really real or truly true. An idol does not exist independently from the worshiper. Is it going to far to say that idolatry is staring into the abyss and attempting to invest it with meaning? "When you stare at the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" (Nietzsche). Staring into nothingness is the way to confusion, frustration and, finally, insanity.

When one worships in the Logos, the only true rationality and logic, then one is enabled to think true thoughts. It is possible for revelation to be received. When one worships an idol, that is, something invested with meaning by himself, then a type of circular reasoning incurs within a closed system. There is no connection with something outside the worshiper. The result is the stifling of life - a frustrated ability to meaningfully observe, ask questions, come to conclusions, know metaphysical truth, apply scientific knowledge.

Risen

2009-04-12T08:39:00.001-05:00

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"He is not here, but is risen." (Luke 24:6)
All our hopes are vindicated.

Life from death.
Victory from defeat.
Holiness from the abyss.

Hallelujah.

Light

2009-04-11T18:30:00.001-05:00

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Corruption.
Fallenness.
Evil.
Death.

Healed.
Transformed.
Displaced.
Overthrown.

"The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." (John 1:5)

Prostrate

2009-04-10T18:20:00.001-05:00

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I cannot sink myself deeply enough into the dust before the Holy Cross.

Stripped

2009-04-09T18:10:00.001-05:00

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The place of gift and sacrifice. The place of despair and hope. Tonight, the place is only severe.

The Ochlophobist on Suffering

2009-04-04T19:26:00.003-05:00

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"I think the new atheists are largely right with regard to the group psychosis and delusion surrounding popular Christianities. Any Christianity that has an answer for human suffering, or has a program to "deal" with human suffering, is worse than worthless. If that is Christianity, the ochlocrats can have it - then give me Nietzsche, give me Cioran, give me a bottle of Cutty Sark that will not end until I lay in the insatiable dirt.

"There is no answer to human suffering. There is no program which will end or substantially mitigate the inevitability of human suffering. Even in our decadent age of program after gratuitous program people find themselves immersed in hurt, loneliness, depression, woundedness - the course of a human life often enough brutal and unrelentingly harsh for many, even with our happy pills and TVs and internet relating and other forms of technocratic sedative. There is only, with regard to human suffering, a consummate Image, before which it is right to bow down and worship."

Go read. And pray for Gus.

Thanks, O.

The Novels of Charles Williams

2009-03-17T18:50:00.002-05:00

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Here's a link to downloadable versions of Charles Williams's novels.

Wikipedia entry for Charles Williams

An essay on his novels

He was influential on CS Lewis and many others. If had a few minutes more right now I would say more. Go read.

Ron Paul - "What If ... ?"

2009-03-01T20:14:00.002-06:00

Either/Or

2009-02-11T21:15:00.002-06:00

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Coke or Pepsi?
Vanilla Malt

Democrat or Republican?
No

Protestant or Catholic?
Anglican with Orthodox sympathies

Beatles or Stones?
Creedence

Blue State or Red State?
Anti-State

Calvinist or Arminian?
Social Trinitarian Theo-comic bound by the 3 Creeds and 7 Councils

Fox News or CNN?
Lew Rockwell

Spiritual or religious?
“This I tell you, brother: you can’t have one without the other.”

Vanilla or Chocolate?
Coffee

Coffee or Tea?
Beer

Liberal or Conservative?
Sometimes Classically Liberal, Sometimes Paleo-Conservative, Sometimes Neither

NY or LA?
Austin

North or South?
South

Chesterton on Our Ills

2009-02-06T10:21:00.001-06:00

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"Now this same primary panic that I feel in our rush towards patriotic armaments, I feel also in our rush towards future visions of society."

- GK Chesterton, "What's Wrong With the World" Part 1 Chapter 4

Resource Request for Romans Study

2009-02-04T17:24:00.002-06:00

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I am writing to request recommendations for a study of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. The sources can be anything: commentaries, books, articles, et al.

My church has just started a weekly study of Romans that will last four months. I would like to use this occasion to do an intensive study on my own, as well.

I am especially interested in Patristic sources, as well as other Orthodox, Catholic and Anglican writers, but I will seriously consider any recommendations.

Am I in Austin?

2009-02-03T21:29:00.002-06:00

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Some very un-Austin-y things are coming to Austin in the next month:

1. Bruce Springsteen

2. Motocross

3. Jerry Seinfeld

4. Harlem Globetrotters

5. Monster Trucks

Do Not Ignore the Parallels

2009-01-24T12:57:00.006-06:00

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"The Beloved Leader" is a long-standing tradition. One that we honor at our peril.

Did you know that there is a Joint Resolution before the House that would repeal the 22nd Amendment which limits presidents to 2 terms? Here it is. It was introduced on Jan. 6. Here's a brief article about it.

HT: lutherpunk

Albert Jay Nock on the State

2009-01-14T12:34:00.003-06:00

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The following was written in 1939.

"The weaker the State is, the less power it has to commit crime. Where in Europe today does the State have the best criminal record? Where it is weakest: in Switzerland, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, Monaco, Andorra. Yet when the Dutch State, for instance, was strong, its criminality was appalling; in Java it massacred 9,000 persons in one morning which is considerably ahead of Hitler's record or Stalin's. It would not do the like today, for it could not; the Dutch people do not give it that much power, and would not stand for such conduct. When the Swedish State was a great empire, its record, say from 1660 to 1670, was fearful. What does all this mean but that if you do not want the State to act like a criminal, you must disarm it as you would a criminal; you must keep it weak. The State will always be criminal in proportion to its strength; a weak State will always be as criminal as it can be, or dare be, but if it is kept down to the proper limit of weakness – which, by the way, is a vast deal lower limit than people are led to believe – its criminality may be safely got on with.

"So it strikes me that instead of sweating blood over the iniquity of foreign States, my fellow-citizens would do a great deal better by themselves to make sure that the American State is not strong enough to carry out the like iniquities here. The stronger the American State is allowed to grow, the higher its record of criminality will grow, according to its opportunities and temptations. If, then, instead of devoting energy, time, and money to warding off wholly imaginary and fanciful dangers from criminals thousands of miles away, our people turn their patriotic fervor loose on the only source from which danger can proceed, they will be doing their full duty by their country."

- Albert Jay Nock "The Criminality of the State"

Read it all.

The Heart and the Mind Are One

2009-01-07T23:56:00.002-06:00

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A person’s failure to recognize the beauty of the life of the mind, either by neglect, inability, prejudice or faulty instruction, does not justify that person denigrating or dismissing intellectual pursuit.

The heart and mind are not two things, but one. What moves our mind moves our heart. When our heart is moved without any clear perception by the mind, however simple that perception may be, our heart is often moved by the wrong things and in the wrong ways.

Listen to Flannery O'Connor

2009-01-05T18:04:00.004-06:00

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You're in for a real treat.

Follow the following links to download one lecture by Flannery O'Connor and one file of her reading one of her stories.

"Some Aspects of the Grotesque in Southern Literature"

"A Good Man Is Hard to Find"

HT: The Morning Oil by way of AEL by way of Faith and Theology.

Thanks to all for this wonderful material.

St. Anthony Thinks That I Am Crazy

2008-12-30T14:54:00.004-06:00

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I've been looking through some old journals and found this little quip:

"A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him saying, 'You are mad, you are not like us.'"

- St. Anthony of the Desert

(found in Henri Nouwen's "Way of the Heart" p24)

It is interesting that you could read that quote to just about anyone who believes anything with some level of conviction, and that person would nod his head. We are experts at sound-biting ourselves into a self-affirmation that is fortified against the assault of truth.

What I want to know is what madness St. Anthony would diagnose in me.

Merry Christmas 2008

2008-12-25T08:26:00.002-06:00

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Christ is born.

Sin's reign is over.

Death is on the run.

We rejoice in the Word made flesh, dwelling among us.

The Right Perspective on Everything

2008-12-20T19:12:00.003-06:00

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"What stops a man who can laugh from telling the truth?"

- Horace

Soldiering On

2008-11-30T18:13:00.004-06:00

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Lord of Heaven's Armies,

Open to us the gates of righteousness,
teach our hands to fight,
grant us the courage to face any enemy.

We will be indefatigable,
indestructible,
faithful unto death.

We will win the fight of faith,
gather the spoils of the victory of the resurrection
and stand with you on the Day of Judgment.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-27T15:23:00.003-06:00

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A few things that I am thankful for today from the past year that relate to my faltering attempts to live a thoughtful life:

I have learned more about myself, and that is better for those around me.

I have learned more about the way the world works and gained some knowledge about how it might work more beneficially for its inhabitants.

My thinking has been challenged, which is good for strengthening what is right and correcting what is wrong.

I thank God for these things.

Doug Bandow on American Defense

2008-11-25T10:37:00.001-06:00

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I heard Doug Bandow at an Acton Institute conference in '03 or '04. He's a Libertarian writer who knows much about globalization. He recently wrote an excellent article on what America's priorities should be when it comes to our military and defense.

"The conservative movement isn’t dead, but its wounds are serious. To revive, the Right needs to offer a genuine alternative to the traditional liberalism likely to dominate policy in the Obama administration. No where is that more necessary than in foreign affairs. Let President Barack Obama propose sacrificing American lives and money to reform the world. Let conservatives insist that Washington defend America rather than populous and prosperous allies and favor the protection of American liberties over the dream of global social engineering. That is a political battle the Right would win."

Read the rest of "The New Welfare State" by Doug Bandow.

I have added Doug Bandow's site to the Libertarian Links page.

Radiance

2008-11-23T15:16:00.005-06:00

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Father of lights,

as the light shines in darkness and is not overcome,

so illuminate our dark hearts

that we both know ourselves and your goodness.

Deliver us from evil within and without

through your Son Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

"Conquering kings their titles take
From the foes they captive make;
Jesus, by a nobler deed,
From the thousands he hath freed."

- Nevers Breviary, 1727
(#324 verse 1, 1940 Episcopal Hymnal)

Obama's Cabinet = Legion of Doom

2008-11-22T12:45:00.005-06:00

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With all the concerns about Pres-Elect Obama and the people he is tapping for Cabinet positions, I have dubbed the Obama Administation the "Legion of Doom."

You heard it here first. If a talking head or radio voice uses the nickname, remember the source.

21st Century Boy

2008-11-20T11:35:00.003-06:00

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He’s quick with a tear,
A hug, shrug and smile.
A man, maybe not,
But he’ll do for a while.

He’s clearly in touch
With his feminine side.
Too bad he’s forgotten
What a man should provide.

The quivering lip,
Un-taciturn glance.
Behold him, dear ladies -
The sensitive man.

How the Heller Case Happened

2008-11-18T22:28:00.008-06:00

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DC v. Heller was a landmark Second Amendment case. Read Brian Doherty's explanation of how this case happened.

"In retrospect, D.C. v. Heller seems almost inevitable, because of shifting public and academic attitudes toward gun rights. But victory came only after a protracted struggle, with many pitfalls along the way. It was pulled off by a small gang of philosophically dedicated lawyers — not “gun nuts” in any stereotypical sense, but thoughtful libertarians who believe Second Amendment liberties are a vital part of our free republic. Together they consciously crafted a solid, clean civil rights case to overturn the most onerous and restrictive set of gun regulations in the country. In the process, they set the stage for further legal challenges to other firearms restrictions from coast to coast."

I guess I've never posted anything Second Amendment-related on axegrinder. I've been interested in the Second Amendment for a few years. I will probably offer some more thoughts and links in the future. I will say that the Second Amendment's importance extends way beyond hunting, sport shooting and self-defense on an individual level (although it includes all those things). The Second Amendment promotes a principle that is essential to the character, health and survival of the United States as a republic that is founded in respect for personal liberty. This principle can and should be valued by all people, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum.

The Good Fight

2008-11-16T14:49:00.003-06:00

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Lord of Hosts,

give us the strength to fight

evil in the sunshine and under the clouds,

self-aggrandizement,

and the temptation to make everything a fight.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Amen.

Putting God Out of Reach

2008-11-13T15:41:00.003-06:00

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I am involved in a study on Wednesday nights at my church. It has been profitable. I like the people in my class. I do not care for the material we are using.

The text focuses on knowing God and working with him to accomplish his will. One of the biggest failings of the book is that all the stories that are told to illustrate the lessons of the book have to do with church work in some direct way: vacation Bible schools, missionary work, starting a Bible study, a church meeting its financial needs, etc.

The study is supposed to help the layperson walk closely with God in his day-to-day life. However, all the stories in the book are about church, where 99% of the people using the book do not spend the majority of their time. If there are no testimonies about God's presence and leading that occur outside the direct context of a church, what is that saying to those of us who are not clergy?

I know the authors of the book believe that God is present with and works through all his people. I am afraid that they are leaving an impression on people that God is not all that interested in their vocation, unless they are clergy.

Fr. Thomas Hopko's 55 Maxims

2008-11-11T12:10:00.004-06:00

**
1. Be always with Christ and trust God in everything
2. Pray as you can, not as you think you must
3. Have a keepable rule of prayer done by discipline
4. Say the Lord’s Prayer several times each day
5. Repeat a short prayer when your mind is not occupied
6. Make some prostrations when you pray
7. Eat good foods in moderation and fast on fasting days
8. Practice silence, inner and outer
9. Sit in silence 20 to 30 minutes each day
10. Do acts of mercy in secret
11. Go to liturgical services regularly
12. Go to confession and holy communion regularly
13. Do not engage intrusive thoughts and feelings
14. Reveal all your thoughts and feelings to a trusted person regularly
15. Read the scriptures regularly
16. Read good books, a little at a time
17. Cultivate communion with the saints
18. Be an ordinary person, one of the human race
19. Be polite with everyone, first of all family members
20. Maintain cleanliness and order in your home
21. Have a healthy, wholesome hobby
22. Exercise regularly
23. Live a day, even a part of a day, at a time
24. Be totally honest, first of all with yourself
25. Be faithful in little things
26. Do your work, then forget it
27. Do the most difficult and painful things first
28. Face reality
29. Be grateful
30. Be cheerful
31. Be simple, hidden, quiet and small
32. Never bring attention to yourself
33. Listen when people talk to you
34. Be awake and attentive, fully present where you are
35. Think and talk about things no more than necessary
36. Speak simply, clearly, firmly, directly
37. Flee imagination, fantasy, analysis, figuring things out
38. Flee carnal, sexual things at their first appearance
39. Don’t complain, grumble, murmur or whine
40. Don’t seek or expect pity or praise
41. Don’t compare yourself with anyone
42. Don’t judge anyone for anything
43. Don’t try to convince anyone of anything
44. Don’t defend or justify yourself
45. Be defined and bound by God, not people
46. Accept criticism gracefully and test it carefully
47. Give advice only when asked or when it is your duty
48. Do nothing for people that they can and should do for themselves
49. Have a daily schedule of activities, avoiding whim and caprice
50. Be merciful with yourself and others
51. Have no expectations except to be fiercely tempted to your last breath
52. Focus exclusively on God and light, and never on darkness, temptation and sin
53. Endure the trial of yourself and your faults serenely, under God’s mercy
54. When you fall, get up immediately and start over
55. Get help when you need it, without fear or shame

HT: David Bryan and The Ochlophobist

Losing and Gaining

2008-11-09T16:33:00.004-06:00

**
Our Lord,

Take from us the things that would

harden our hearts to others,

blind our eyes to your goodness,

cripple our hands from working out our salvation.

Give us only those things that will

encourage sound thinking,

strengthen us in the midst of temptation,

make us an encouraging presence for others.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Amen.

Small Is How It Should Be

2008-11-06T11:00:00.001-06:00

**
I am a proponent of small things. Or, at least, small expressions of large ideas. It seems that when large ideas, like freedom and democracy, get tied to grandiose efforts, trouble follows. Better to keep it on the down low. Keep things at a manageable level. Don’t overextend.

And what that means is, don’t extend yourself into thy neighbor’s yard. If you want garden gnomes and campaign signs in your own yard, whoopty-do. Have at ‘er. Knock yourself out. But, don’t put your ideology smack dab in the flowerbed of the guy next door. Whether or not he appreciates and agrees, he should be the one planting the signs and the flowers on his corner of God’s green.

So, here we are in the land of the formerly free and the home of the proxy-brave, telling one another what to do, say, think and believe, failing to quote one reliable, authoritative source, but always ready with an appeal to emotion and a myriad of other logical fallacies. “You can’t say that.” “You shouldn’t think that.” “You are making me uncomfortable.”

Is that the best we can do? Defaulting to thoughtless tropes as a substitute for intelligent arguments and well-reasoned declarations of principle and dogma? Are we really that adrift from the trustworthy moorings of days-gone-by? Have we no guideposts that are older than the Enlightenment? Or at least which pre-date Woodstock?

One man arises from the confusion (or maybe from outside the confusion). One not born of that which is without form and void. One who knows his history and that of his nation. Who knows how we got where we are. Who doesn’t boil it down to strife based on race or gender. One who recognizes that ideas have consequences, and that those consequences can be traced backwards and to the present. Good ideas proving themselves to be good, and bad bad.

There’s one thoughtful soul proving his moral and intellectual metal. There’s another. And another still. Sitting around the dinner table, she unleashes a torrent of ideas that have been percolating. Family members listen. Someone repeats the ideas, after sober reflection, to a co-worker. Said co-worker makes the ideas his own. A cousin catches wind. Her college roommate reads about it on her blog. Pretty soon there are a couple dozen people thinking good, sustaining thoughts that they have never thought before, or at least what were only shadows and whispers are now out in the light and unmistakably heard.

And that’s how it begins.

Despise not the day of small things.

Bill Kauffman

2008-11-04T10:48:00.003-06:00

**
There are good folks who seem to have a life-changing encounter on an almost daily basis. While I appreciate these people’s lust for life, I am not the kind of person who gets wound up about things very easily anymore. I say that to contextualize what I am about to tell you.

Fr. Jonathan Tobias mentioned a man named Bill Kauffman on his blog recently. I take Fr. Tobias’s recommendations very seriously. If he says a book is worth reading, then I can make that purchase with no hesitation (Richard Weaver, Owen Barfield, William F. Lynch, to name a few).

Bill Kauffman is blowing my mind. Run, don’t walk, and start imbibing his thoughts.

Download this stuff and listen to it more than once:

Interview with Antiwar Radio

“Wendell Berry on War and Peace: Or, Port William vs. the Empire”

“Anti-Interventionism in American Literature”

“Restoring American Regionalism”

Antiwar Conservatism (with Michael Tomasky)

Straight Talk Interview

Kauffman writes about subjects where I am doing a lot of catch-up, which would explain some of my enthusiasm.

This page will be updated periodically.

Still

2008-11-02T19:00:00.002-06:00

**
Our Lord,

grant us the peace

of sanctified desires.

Amen.

Overheard Last Night

2008-11-01T14:10:00.006-05:00

**
"If you're ever in Chicago and need a wizard, give me a call."

This was followed by a man with blacked out eyes handing my roommate a biz card, which read:

"Paranormal Investigations
Lost Items Found
Consulting
Advice

Reasonable Rates
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment"

Along with name, address, phone and title - "WIZARD."

UPDATE:

I was relating this anecdote to a friend. He asked me if the name on the card was Harry Dresden. Apparently, this gent was playing a character from a book and TV series called the "Dresden Files." Not nearly as cool. But still, not bad.

Whoops.

The Church is the Interpretation of Scripture

2008-10-31T08:30:00.001-05:00

**
"The interpretation of Scripture cannot only be ideas or words about words, but must become flesh, just as the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."

I know that some of the folks that check in here from time to time are people who practice the interpretation of the Scriptures, either as laity or clergy. May I direct your attention to some thought of Fr. Stephen Freeman on the relation of the Church to the interpretation of Scripture?

Unless I'm mistaken, Fr. Stephen was, at one time, an Evangelical, who now serves as an Orthodox priest. His writings are a constant source of edification to me. He writes as a pastor and covers a remarkable array of topics. It would be well worth your time to make his blog a regular stop.

Is There Any Hope for Casting an Informed Vote?

2008-10-30T14:01:00.007-05:00

**
Follow the links and read various writers for The American Conservative make cases for their approaches to voting for the Prez. The exercise was beneficial for me. I appreciate nuanced thinking, rather than the oversimplifications, faulty logic and irrationality that I hear online and around the table in too many places. Almost every position is represented, and all from writers who profess some form of conservatism or another (Obama, McCain, Barr, abstention, write-in for Paul).

Three Things That I Know

2008-10-29T17:19:00.008-05:00

**
Here are 3 things that I know for sure:

1. God is and he cares for all creation.

2. God wants me to be holy and has made a way for that to happen.

3. I will suffer in this life.

What are three things that you know?

I'd like to hear from some folks here or on their own blogs with a link back to this post, so I know where to look.

Step lively, Thomas at ER, Lutherpunk, WBS friends, RebHer, fellow Anglicans, RCs, Orthodox and anyone else. Make it what you will. Own it. Talk to me. It can be as contemporary or ancient or both as you want.

Updated Links to Answers:
Endlessly Rocking
Right Hand
Philokalia
Peach

NBA Season Starts Today

2008-10-28T12:40:00.005-05:00

**
The World Series is going on. Football is in mid-season. However, my favorite sport kicks off tonight.

Hoops!

I realize that there are only about seven people who consider NBA basketball their favorite sport to watch. Thankfully, they all write about it on the Interwebs.

Questions that interest me going into the season:

Will the Suns be entertaining with their new coach and philosophy?
Will Portland live up to expectations?
Will New Orleans take the top spot in the West?
Will Atlanta continue to be endlessly disappointing on every level?

Libertarian Links

2008-10-27T20:55:00.015-05:00

**
This post will be periodically updated. (Updated 3.1.10)

In the age of blogs, is there still a need to say that a link here does not mean across-the-board endorsement? Consider it said.

Ron Paul:
Campaign for Liberty
Writings and Videos
House of Rep's Site

Lew Rockwell
Mises Institute
Murray Rothbard - The Ethics of Liberty
Thomas Woods
My favorites from Mises so far are Thomas Woods, Tom DiLorenzo and Walter Block. Make sure to check out the audio lectures. Great stuff to listen to during commutes, running, work-outs, etc.

Antiwar
Doug Bandow

Independent Institute
Front Porch Republic - not strictly Libertarian. Bill Kauffmann writes there.

Pro Libertate - William Grigg
Who's Your Nanny?

The American Conservative
Taki's Magazine

Radley Balko

More to come.

Dumb, But Not Stupid

2008-10-26T15:57:00.001-05:00

**
Silencing someone is not the same as answering them.

New Book by Thomas Torrance

2008-10-25T16:13:00.001-05:00

**
Thomas Torrance's new book on the Incarnation.

HT: Endlessly Rocking

The Interview You've Been Waiting For

2008-10-24T10:48:00.002-05:00

**
An interview I did this week:

Q: What are you listening to right now?
A: The ticking away of my biological clock. I’m down to about four decades of fertility left.

Q: Whom are you wearing?
A: I design my own clothes from lower-middle-class people’s cast-offs.

Q: What do you think about the election?
A: A guy who has been in DC for over 20 years casts himself as a maverick. A guy who played the corrupt games of the Chicago political machine in order to rise in the ranks casts himself as an outsider. They are both as status quo as TV dinners. Well, except that one of them wants more abortions and less guns (at least for law-abiding citizens).

Q: Do you think Jesus is coming back soon?
A: Depends on your definition of “soon.”
Q: Your lifetime.
A: Why in the world would I believe that?

Q: Seen anything good on TV lately?
A: I saw an advertisement for 35% off cowboy boots at Cavender’s. That seems like a good deal.

Q: What does the future hold?
A: More of the same, only maybe better or maybe worse.

Q: If you could have anything right now, what would it be?
A: I haven’t had a really good back rub in a long time.

The Litmus Test

2008-10-23T10:00:00.001-05:00

**
"If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" (1 John 4:20)

That about sums it up, doesn't it?

Undecided Voters

2008-10-22T09:11:00.001-05:00

**
My sister told me David Sedaris had a quip about undecided voters. He likened them to passengers on an airplane who, when the stewardess gives them the food choices, have trouble deciding. Only the food choices are chicken and human feces. He points out how ridiculous it would be to ask how the chicken is cooked.

I have, what I believe, is a better analogy to describe the choices in the election: You can have a plate of cat poop, a gun in your mouth or a date with Charlize Theron.

You can choke down cat poop; it won’t kill you but it will make you very sick and will in no way be good for you.

You can choose the gun in your mouth, trust the guy holding it, believe that the gun is not loaded and that he will never pull the trigger, even though everything you know about him says that you are a dead man.

You can choose the date with Charlize Theron. That is the sensible choice, only we both know you will never get a date with Charlize Theron. And you are still going to either be eating cat poop or having a gun shoved in your mouth.

To review:

I know if I don't explain this analogy, I am going to get comments:

The cat poop is McCain.

The gun in the mouth is Obama.

The never-going-to-happen date with Charlize Theron is a third party candidate or write-in vote.

Selah.

Bill Ury's Half-Hour Hour of Holiness

2008-10-21T10:50:00.000-05:00

**
Sometimes things simply slip by me. Mea Culpa.

A link to Dr. Bill Ury's radio show is long overdue here. I only recently became aware that his show is available for downloading, podcast subscription and streaming audio.

Dr. Ury was my theology professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, MS. He is a great teacher, an excellent human being and the father and husband of a wonderful family.

Dr. Ury is on the short list of people who have been instrumental in shaping the way I think about the world. While I know he never looks for accolades, I believe that we are right when we offer thanks to God for the people who have helped us along the way.

Allow me to push you to make this show a regular part of your week.

Zombie Love - A Haiku

2008-10-20T10:25:00.004-05:00

**
Gaze into blank eyes.
I caress your rotting skin.
All you say is "Brains."

Unnatural Theology

2008-10-19T14:46:00.002-05:00

**
The Ochlophobist talks about St. Athanasius and nature.

His post is from months ago. I meant to link it then, but it somehow got lost in the shuffle.

God is Not a Genie

2008-10-18T14:26:00.001-05:00

**
“Be careful what you wish for.”

Actually, no. Don’t be careful what you wish for. Read the Psalms. Follow their lead. They have comprised the prayerbook for God’s people for millennia.

You do not have to edit yourself with God. Open your heart to him. He will not use your words against you, like so many others.

God is not out to get you.

Opinions

2008-10-17T10:13:00.001-05:00

**
The question as to whether or not you and I have a right to our opinions has been answered in the affirmative. The question remains, are our opinions valid/correct?

If I do not agree with your opinion, then I am not going to mock you by saying that I respect your opinion. If you do not agree with my opinion, please don't be dishonest and say that you respect it.

Respect is "a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements" according to my computer's dictionary. If my opinion is wrong, then it should not inspire admiration based on it's quality.

I will always respect you as being created in the image of God. We should respect one another's right to hold differing opinions. What we should not do is respect opinions we deem to be faulty, ill-conceived or dangerous.

What I've Learned This Week

2008-10-16T09:50:00.001-05:00

**
When you don't live to work, but work so you can live, things can go poorly at your job and you can still have a fantastic week.

Now, enjoy Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band performing "Mama's Fried Potatoes."

Cinch your bonnet and hang on so you don't get left behind at the watering hole when the bandwagon rolls out.

Yes, Sally May, you do need two versions of the same song when it's that good.

The crowd was much smaller and louder when I saw them a few weeks ago in Austin.

Writing the End

2008-10-15T12:19:00.001-05:00

**
“In writing fiction in which no formula is allowed unchallengeable victory, Dostoevsky has implicitly developed what might be called a theology of writing, specifically of narrative writing. Every fiction is at its most fictional in its endings, those pretences of closure and settlement. Every morally and religiously serious fiction has to project something beyond that ending or otherwise signal a level of incompletion….

"The gratuity of fiction arises from the conviction that no kind of truth can be told if we speak or act as if history is over, as if the description of what contingently is becomes the sole possible account of language…. The novel ought to be a stout defender of the independence of eschatology in its most robust sense – that is, a defender of the apparently obvious but actually quite vulnerable conviction that the present does not possess the future.”

- Rowan Williams’ "Dostoevsky: Language, Faith, and Fiction" pp. 46, 60

HT: Faith and Theology

Review of book

Interview about book

Remember Those in Chains

2008-10-14T09:25:00.005-05:00

**
"The fact is, for the moment we've got a sweet, easy gig here, and our brothers and sisters get 'emselves killed simply because they're, you know, Christians. We ought to, say, remember 'em from time to time. Still, remembering is ever so much harder than forgetting, but I hear the memory responds well to exercise over time."

- From Endlessly Rocking

Is there anything as salutarily and sanctifyingly re-orienting as remembering those who are persecuted for the Christian faith? I do not take such prayer as a means to escape from or ignore our own present and pressing circumstances. Quite the contrary. I think that investing ourselves in the suffering of others in whatever ways we can (suggest away in the comments) will have a side benefit of helping us overcome our own obstacles and such.

I'm going to ramble down the road for a minute here.

After I was baptized at age 18, my life profoundly changed. No, duh, right? I went to college aggressively seeking out the best, strongest, most intense Christians I could find. I began to read the New Testament for the first time.

The environment in college can be extreme. Kids are away from home for the first time and are poking around in the dirt trying to find the most titillating things available. Hedonism was rampant and in my face. A soft-shelled religion wasn't going to get it done for me.

Bible studies, sing-alongs and Friday night putt putt weren't going to see me through my walk through Vanity Fair. I needed some way to steel myself, feed my faith and put my youthful energies to work.

I found some good folks, good books and good activities. One of those activities was reading about and praying for Christian martyrs and persecuted saints. I can remember the first time I saw a "Voice of the Martyrs" newsletter. This was the early 90s, so their materials weren't nearly as professional-looking as they are now. The layout was rough, the pictures were grainy and the effect the package had on me was striking. There was a picture of an Asian pastor on the front. He was covered by some branches. Blood was visible. He was dead.

The effect, then as now, was not to belittle anything that I go through day-to-day. The things you and I face are real. The effect my exposure to present-day martyrs had was to broaden my perspective on the Church and to embrace, however failingly, my place as a "rememberer."

Talking Heads

2008-10-13T11:05:00.002-05:00

**
Public discourse, argument, debate, critical thinking, logical processing are hindered when we focus on the person rather than what the person is saying.

Speculating on the emotional state or motives of an interlocutor is not helpful, unless one’s motive is to construct a barrier to protect a cherished opinion or as an attempt to avoid the taxing work of examining an argument and developing counter-arguments.

Stats

2008-10-12T14:29:00.001-05:00

**
78% of people are more likely to believe what you say if you provide a statistic.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics."

Humor and Sobriety

2008-10-11T13:36:00.001-05:00

**
"Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.”

- George Bernard Shaw

Laid Back

2008-10-10T09:40:00.001-05:00

**
Somebody accused me of having OCD but he made a mistake and said I had ODC.

I protested, “No I don’t, and by the way, it’s OCD, not ODC.”

Singularity

2008-10-09T09:44:00.002-05:00

**
Singularity of purpose is not understood by many. It is feared. It is even shunned.

We’ll admire it at a distance, in an athlete or someone else who provides a commodity we value.

We like the actor who immerses himself in a role to garner an Oscar. We laud the athlete who is single-minded in pursuit of the championship.

When it is someone close to us, it makes us nervous.

How easily we forget the Lord, who says, "No man can serve two masters," and the apostle who says, "the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways."

Sympathy

2008-10-08T09:39:00.001-05:00

**
"...there are men whom one hates until a certain moment when one sees, through a chink in their armour, the writhing of something nailed down and in torment."

- Gerald Kersh

Wrong Answers

2008-10-07T10:35:00.001-05:00

**
Just because you cannot tell me the answer to a question does not mean that my answer is right.

“What is 987,543 X 216,759?”

“It’s 74.”

“No, that’s not right.”

“Well, what is it then?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then how do you know my answer is wrong?”

“It’s too simple. Both numbers being multiplied are greater than your answer.”

"It's not enough to simply say what is wrong; you have to also give the right answer."

"Are you saying that we should only oppose what we know to be a wrong answer if at the same time we know the right answer?"

Important Work to Do

2008-10-06T10:10:00.001-05:00

**
Monday, July 28, 2008 9:20 AM
The Hideout coffee shop on Congress between 6th and 7th
Austin, TX

I am standing in line, waiting to pay for my two breakfast tacos. In walks Russell, dressed in some faux-Native American, homeless get-up which includes a rather tatty headpiece, carrying what I think is a 3 1/2 foot long rainstick. The barista tells him that he can’t be in there “after what happened last time.” Russell, undeterred, moves across the shop and steps behind the counter, asking when Maurice* will be in.

The female barista says, “Russell, you can’t be in here.”

Russell: “Why not?”

FB: “You scared me last time you were in here.”

R: “You were so scared you were laughing at me." At this point, Russell becomes irate. “You can’t stop me. I’m not a joke. I am serious business** …”

Male Barista: “Maurice will be in at noon.”

Russell, leaving: “I’ll be back at noon.”

I pay for my tacos a minute later and wish the baristas a Russell-free day. I walk the block to 6th and Congress and see Russell, catty-corner to my position, shaking his rainstick at passing cars and passers-by.***

He’s got important work to do.

Notes:

*I don’t remember the name he used and thought Maurice sounded funny.

**He said some other equally important stuff that I can’t remember.

***He wasn’t shaking his rainstick at passers-by. I just wanted to include the word “passers-by” because it is so odd to me. Now, I’ve gotten to type it three times. Passers-by. Four.

Confession of Sin by the Damascene

2008-10-05T14:10:00.001-05:00

**
“I fear, O Lord, Thy judgment and the endless torments, yet I cease not to do evil. My Lord God, I continually anger Thee, and Thy most pure Mother, and all the Heavenly Hosts, and my holy guardian angel.

"I know, O Lord, that I am unworthy of Thy love for mankind, but am worthy of every condemnation and torment. But, O Lord, whether I will it or not, save me. For to save a righteous man is no great thing, and to have mercy on the pure is nothing wonderful, for they are worthy of Thy mercy.

"But on me, a sinner, show the wonder of Thy mercy; in this reveal Thy love for mankind, lest my wickedness prevail over Thine ineffable goodness and merciful kindness; and order my life as Thou wilt.”

- John of Damascus

Ask the One-Eyed Man

2008-10-04T12:14:00.001-05:00

**
“An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

No, it doesn’t. It shows those of us with two eyes the consequences of our actions. It provides a constant reminder to those who have done evil to others that there is a time to give an account for what they’ve done.

If I have had injury done to me, I have the place to offer forgiveness. I do not have the right to sanctimoniously put a trite bumper sticker forward as the wisdom of the ages.

An eye for an eye makes the whole world see more clearly.

Cats vs Dogs

2008-10-03T10:33:00.001-05:00

**
Why do you suppose in Westerns and action movies you never hear the protagonist say the following:

“I’m gonna find those guys and I’m gonna kill ‘em. They should never have shot my cat ... I loved that ole cat.”

Walker Percy's Self-Interview

2008-10-02T12:46:00.001-05:00

**
Walker Percy interviews himself

Excerpt (please go read the whole thing; it'll take 5 minutes):

Q: What kind of Catholic are you?
A. Bad.
Q: No. I mean are you liberal or conservative?
A: I no longer know what those words mean.
Q: Are you a dogmatic Catholic or an open-minded Catholic?
A: I don’t know what that means, either. Do you mean do I believe the dogma that the Catholic Church proposes for belief?
Q: Yes.
A: Yes.
Q: How is such a belief possible in this day and age?
A: What else is there?
Q: What do you mean, what else is there? There is humanism, atheism, agnosticism, Marxism, behaviorism, materialism, Buddhism, Muhammadanism, Sufism, astrology, occultism, theosophy.
A: That’s what I mean.

HT: Korrektiv

October: An Indulgence

2008-10-01T14:52:00.004-05:00

**
I am going to post something every day during the month of October.

I arrived at the decision to do this after about thirty seconds of semi-coherent thought.

Can you say that much about most of the decisions you make?

Who knows but maybe all this activity will jump start a lagging axegrinder.

Pray for me that I do not

1. unrighteously offend
2. reveal things about myself I will later regret
3. waste your time

Any and all other supplications are appreciated.

Hack away.

Bailout Links

2008-09-30T11:44:00.007-05:00

**
Yes, economics is WAY outside my wheelhouse. Nevertheless, there's some great info out there that has helped me get a handle on what's going on.

1. Overview by Harvard economist, Jeffrey Miron

2. Ron Paul before the vote. Plenty of stuff at Campaign for Liberty

3. Economist John Lott

4. Reason has a lot of analysis, as well.

5. OK, Bob Barr needs on this list.

Update (10/7):

6. Paul Craig Roberts

Richard Eyre on the Definition of Art

2008-09-04T14:18:00.002-05:00

**
From here:

Here’s a personal catechism: art – good or bad, high or low – must have form, it must have shape. It’s a way of knowing the world, of giving form and meaning to things that seem formless.

A work of art has to have ambition beyond wanting to please the audience or appease fashion, a desire to examine the world – people or nature or society – and make it look or sound or seem new.

A work of art should introduce something to the world that didn’t exist before. Of course when we look at the art of our own times we can easily get caught between complimenting the emperor on his new clothes, and sounding like Ruskin saying of a painting of Whistler’s that it was like “flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face”. Just because art doesn’t look or sound like we expect it to may be precisely why we need it – because it’s original, because it makes us look at the world differently, because it uncovers new meanings. Or, of course, it may just be tosh.

Art is everything that politics isn’t: politics generalises about people, art particularises. Art is about the “I” in life, not about the “we”, about private life rather than public life.

There has to be a complexity about art but that’s not the same as obscurity. Because it’s difficult it doesn’t mean that it’s “elitist”. Opera is elitist – but elitist in the sense that it can be performed by only a very few, very gifted and very skilful people to a live audience limited by the number of people who can sit in an opera house at any one time. It’s only fair to use “elitism” as a pejorative if the opera house repels a prospective audience through excessively high prices or through a selectively exclusive attitude to the public. Moreover, it’s unreasonable to judge an art by the company it keeps.

There must be mystery, a sense of unknowability in a work of art – as there is in every human being. In art reality must be given the chance to be mysterious and fantasy the chance to be commonplace. The DNA of art is metaphor: that’s the genetic cell without which nothing can be mutated by craft into art. Art strives towards the mythic – towards seeing heaven in a grain of sand. Art is unquestionably a form of magic, conjuring something from nothing – sounds from the air on a musical instrument, a human being in paint on a stretch of canvas, a world with a pen on a page of paper.Art must be serious about itself. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be funny, but it means it can’t be trivial. But seriousness alone – any more than sincerity alone – isn’t enough in itself.

There has to be an element of pleasure in art, of sensual enjoyment – be it of a combination of sounds, of words, or textures, or of images. Art has to ravish the senses, but not only do that. There has to be a moral sense. You have to be able to feel that the artist has a view that human beings possess a moral sensibility. That’s not the same as the artist being a moralist – or being a “good” person. The artist may be saying “this is how you should live your life” but it must be inferred, not preached. Art is not polemic.

There must be passion in art. Passion gives us a sense of life lived more intensely, with more meaning – more joy, more sorrow. “We are all under sentence of death, but with a sort of indefinite reprieve,” said Victor Hugo. We can spend our period of reprieve in a state of listlessness, or we can fill the period of our death sentence with experience – lived experience or the experience we gain from art.

Art reflects, expresses, invokes and describes the ambiguity of humanity. Whatever the form of art, however realistic or however fantastical, it offers up a commentary on being alive, on the infinite messiness of humanity. Art doesn’t improve our behaviour or civilise us. Art is useless. It doesn’t clothe the poor or feed the hungry. It’s as useless as, well . . . life, but it’s precisely our awareness of the uselessness of life that makes us want to struggle to give it purpose, and to give that purpose meaning through art.

The philosopher Simone Weil wrote this: “The love of our neighbour means being able to say to him: What are you going through? It is a recognition that the sufferer exists, not as a specimen from a social category labelled ‘unfortunate’ but as a man exactly as we are. To forget oneself briefly, to identify with a stranger to the point of fully recognising him or her, is to defy necessity.” Art is a way of “defying necessity”, drawing us into a heightened awareness of other people’s feelings and other people’s lives. It enables us to put ourselves in the minds, eyes, ears and hearts of other human beings.

Logos vs. Dissertations

2008-08-28T11:24:00.001-05:00

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"For convenience sake, let us say that blasphemy means irreverence towards something sacred. I expand and weaken the definition for the sake of the secular. In the old days when gods were believed in, blasphemy took a lot of courage and gall, for it took a deliberate act to speak personally against a personal god. In this "de-mythologized" age, where the gods are packed away into socio-linguistic dissertations, blasphemy has entered the language at its base, and has become the ubiquitous vocative in which we denounce God for our comfort (at least for now, it "feels" better to tell ourselves that the unseen is also unreal) and to establish the phenomenological world as the substantial one (i.e., "virtual" taken as "real")."

- Fr. Jonathan Tobias

A Course in Miracles

2008-08-19T14:37:00.002-05:00

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Faith is the natural state of mankind. Unbelief is unnatural. It is a void, like sin. It is privation. Faith is not a miracle.

Eden is natural. People are living in self-giving love with God and one another. We are ultimately headed back in that direction.

Hell is unnatural. People are gathered, yet alienated from God and each other and unable to communicate.

The Tower of Babel is unnatural. People are gathered, not to worship God, but seeking to overthrow him.

Pandemonium is unnatural. Fallen angels, estranged from God through a war of rebellion, seek to establish order apart from God.

Everything is not a miracle. Saying that something is a miracle is usually a sign that a person is ignorant. When someone recovers from an illness, injury or disease, it is not a miracle. God is not honored by calling everything that is hard to understand “a miracle.”

God did a tremendously impressive job creating the world. Sin has screwed things up pretty badly, but not to the extent that he has to step in every five seconds and suspend the laws of nature and the processes of the created order.

A baby’s birth is not a miracle.
Someone especially sinful converting to Christianity is not a miracle.
A wayward child returning to church is not a miracle.
A sick relative recovering from cancer is probably not a miracle, even if the doctors can’t explain it.

When God created the world, he called it “good.” All the great things that happen, all the unexpected blessings, all the good events that occur that we cannot explain are usually not miracles. They are simply God’s goodness manifest in creation, as he intended in the first place. Cheesy sentimentality and ignorant devotion are not what God has left his people to express. Such make religion unnecessarily come off as silly and backwards to folks.

It’s OK to say “I don’t know. I don't understand. I thank God for this good thing, however it happened.” Humility is a better witness than presumption. We don't have to have a label to slap on everything.

What is Good Writing?

2008-08-15T11:46:00.004-05:00

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"There is a corner of the sea that is deep but not so deep that it's black. It's the blue of a blueberry, violet in its heart, though this blue allows light through its million unseeable pores. The hue is evenly painted but electric, a klieg light pushing through a gel of cyan. But invading this blue are clouds of inky purple, billowing clouds curling in small waves, and they grow from below, splitting the sea between light above and dark growing from below."

Is this good writing? If so, what is good about it? If not, why?

I am withholding the author, work, context on purpose.

I didn't write it.

Petting Brains to Death

2008-08-05T15:14:00.003-05:00

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"Contemporary American education ... begins by treating children as psychologically fragile beings who will fail to learn — and worse, fail to develop as 'whole persons' — if not constantly praised. The self-esteem movement may have its merits, but preparing students for arduous intellectual ascents aren't among them. What the movement most commonly yields is a surfeit of college freshmen who 'feel good' about themselves for no discernible reason and who grossly overrate their meager attainments." (here)

Weep. And pray.

The Inscrutable Ways of God

2008-06-29T16:57:00.000-05:00

**
God’s ways are not our ways. To us, his up often seems down, and his down up.

The world in sin is in such disarray that Christ’s methods, message, works and dictates often seem cruel, austere and uncharitable. When, in fact, he is the prince of peace, the sun of righteousness who will rise with healing in his wings. He is the annunciated one who brings “peace on earth, good will to all men.”

The re-establishing of priorities is taking place in the Gospel (Mt 10:34-42). For families to be truly unified in love, they must receive one another in the name of Christ. A blood relation is corrupted as sin reigns through death in a family. That blood relation is holy, as God intended, as members of the family die to sin through Christ’s death in baptism (Rom 6:3-11).

God’s strength is exhibited through death and resurrection. God’s victory comes after a seeming defeat. His fullness arrives after a complete emptying.

Passages like Psalm 89 and Isaiah 2 are promises of God’s strength overwhelming the strength of his people’s enemies. God’s power is unmatchable. However, the conquering king came as a baby who grew up to be a man who was misunderstood, sold out, arrested, abused and killed while his followers scattered.

It all looked lost, undone, defeated. The message was torn to shreds and thrown to the wind, like an old love letter between two people who are no longer together.

It’s over and done, friends. The boss is dead and gone. Let’s pick up our stuff and head back home. Turn off the lights and lock the doors on your way out.

Nope.

It didn’t end in death. It doesn’t end in death for us, either. The oaks of Bashan will topple. Sin and death will be cast in the lake of fire. We win. There is victory, glory and goodness at the end of the world for each of us together with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

6th Sunday After Trinity
Lectionary Readings:
Isaiah 2:10-17
Psalm 89:1-18
Romans 6:3-11
Matthew 10:34-42

God the Initiator

2008-06-15T13:29:00.000-05:00

**
God is the initiator. He creates a context within which we respond by serving him and reaching out to others. Israel was responsible to the nations/gentiles. The Church is sent to all peoples. The Church’s outward movement began with and in Israel.

God acts and acts again as we continue to find ourselves in trouble:

In Exodus 19, God initiates the exodus of Israel from Egypt, bringing them from slavery to freedom, from serving Pharaoh to serving the Lord.

In Psalm 100, God initiates through “creating” something from nothing. The shepherd creates a flock, where before there were only scattered sheep.

In Romans 5, we are justified from sin by blood/death; we are saved from wrath by life/resurrection/intercession.

In Matthew 9-10, we are scattered sheep who are gathered in a kingdom by Christ, the King and Shepherd) and his apostles. Those who are disordered and alienated become one in and under Christ.

The results of God’s initiatory acts are he moves us from trouble to blessing:

In Exodus 19, we become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation that benefits the entire world.

In Psalm 100, we become a flock that offers thanksgiving, blessing and praise to God.

In Romans 5, the atonement of Christ brings us from a state of sin unto a state of rejoicing.

In Matthew 9-10, we go from being sick and scattered to being healed and gathered, to being harvested and a kingdom.

4th Sunday After Trinity
Lectionary Readings:
Exodus 19:2-8a
Psalm 100
Romans 5:6-11
Matthew 9:35-10:8

Trust is Not Passivity

2008-06-10T11:57:00.000-05:00

**
I can't tell you how annoyed I become with the way some people talk about trusting the Lord. The way trust is presented is often a sign that they don't know what the heck they are doing and will probably continue to be clueless and/or frustrated. "Trusting the Lord" is often detrimental passivity. I'm ranting.

I'd like to be able to build up and plant in the place that I am tearing down and destroying. I fear that many Christians are crippled by wrong conceptions of trust and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Waiting, waiting, waiting for an answer that God doesn't intend to give, or in a way that he doesn't intend to speak.

Is it enough to do the work-a-day things that indicate our trust in the Lord (pray, do good, give, guard our thoughts, etc) and then make decisions according to what we see in front of us? If our motive is to do what pleases the Lord, shouldn't we go forward humbly, knowing that we might be mistaken but also that the Lord knows our hearts? Is it wrong-headed fear that complicates things? Is it our experience of the negative consequences that our mistakes have on others? It's a hard road to avoid presumption, passivity, fear.

Suffering and the Second Advent

2008-05-25T15:27:00.004-05:00

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Suffering and the Second Advent
or, On the Road

A common theme in the Old Testament is the triumph of the saints and the judgment of the wicked. That is, the people of God will be vindicated as the gentiles are abased. In the promises offered by God to his oft-suffering family we see that he frequently directs them to hope, and that in the future, where hope always resides.

The hope of salvation in the Old Testament is explained in the New Testament. God’s people will experience proximate suffering, privation and destitution. However, they can look forward to ultimate glory and justification. The Eschaton, or Second Advent/Coming, solves the problem of God’s “unrealized” promises. Unrealized is in quotes for a reason that I will offer in a moment.

The big theme of God’s defense of the righteous and their promised victory over the wicked presents a problem. How do we explain the reality that bad things happen, and continue to happen, especially to good people? Where is God? Why isn’t he keeping his promises?

The Passion of Christ is the matrix within which we understand the aforementioned conundrums. Jesus entered into both the common sufferings of all humanity and the peculiar sufferings of the righteous. In this vale of sorrow, we never know the embrace of the Trinity more fully than when we suffer for righteousness sake. “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.”

1st Sunday after Trinity
Revised Common Lectionary
Isaiah 49: 8-18
Psalm 62
1 Corinthians 4:1-13
Matthew 6:24-34

Trinity Sunday

2008-05-18T16:24:00.002-05:00

**
Quicunque Vult, or The Creed of St. Athanasius

Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

And the Catholic Faith is this:
That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate, and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible,and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord.
And yet not three Lords, but one Lord.For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by himself to be both God and Lord,
So are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion, to say, here be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other; none is greater, or less than another;
But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting;
Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead; and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood.
Who although he be God and Man, yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether, not by confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.

What It Takes

2008-05-09T16:18:00.001-05:00

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To excel, prodigies do what others can't.

To excel, the rest of us must do what others won't.

A Weighty Tome Is On The Way

2008-04-23T18:57:00.001-05:00

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After conducting much market research regarding the relevance of Christianity to the felt needs of the postmodern psyche, I have written my new book. It will arrive just in time for Christmas.

title: The Secret Principle of Powerful Living
subtitle: Authentic Conversations for Reaching Your Full Potential

Scylla and Charybdis and You

2008-04-15T14:46:00.001-05:00

**
Sometimes our principles overrule common sense.

Sometimes our sentimentality overrules our principles.

The wise man is able to navigate the tricky waters between these two mistakes.

Did You Know?

2008-04-10T13:52:00.001-05:00

**
Q: What is axegrinder’s favorite band?

A: Molly Hatchet, of course.

Hymns vs. Praise and Worship Music

2008-04-03T10:31:00.005-05:00

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This post is a response to an excellent article over at the blog of Warwickensis. I encourage you to read his thoughts and patronize his blog.

I have dealt with this issue continually for probably 10 years. I have many Evangelical friends and occasionally visit their services at times when my church is not gathering.

If I offend you with either the tone or content of this post, please forgive. At those certain places in the following paragraphs simply imagine me sitting across the table from you. There is a smile on my face. I am speaking as one engaged in a friendly debate.

Anything you perceive as an attack on you, please do not take it as such. Imagine that I am trying to push your buttons a little. Again, as friend to friend, not as someone who is trying to harm you. We all tease each other sometimes.

I am just telling you that you spilled something on your shirt. If I tweak your nose when you look down, I won't blame you if you take umbrage with my immaturity. I only ask that you believe me when I say that there is no malice involved. But, seriously, you have something on your shirt.

{Rant Mode: Engaged}

The cultural and intellectual degeneration perpetuated, though not initiated, by Rock and Roll music has almost completely overwhelmed the Church in America (and I assume Britain). The inability to understand and articulate the Gospel and even the most basic doctrines of the faith, while not solely the fault of, is directly tied to the ubiquity of "Praise and Worship" "music" in churches (Roman, Anglican, Evangelical, etc.).

I am very thankful that both Anglican parishes where I’ve attended sing only hymns. It is painful to me to see otherwise intelligent friends fall into silliness and irrationality when it comes to music. The defenses that I have heard for P&W have caused my jaw to drop in disbelief. The vigor and emotion with which they defend this golden calf within churches are only outstripped by the vacuity of their reasoning.

And the whole idea of "blended worship?" Don't even get me started. Either have a rock concert or a service of worship. Either sink into the confusion and despair of Existentialism or rise in the likeness of Christ and sings songs that exhibit excellence, reverence and profundity of thought that has been enabled by revelation. Sing of the mighty acts of God in time and space. Sing of the acts and nature of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Thank him that we can participate in the Son, through the Holy Spirit, unto the Father.

If Hymns and P&W were to have a fistfight, P&W would run away the second Hymns raised their hand.

People have asked me if I think that we can no longer write music and if we are stuck with the body of hymns written before the 20th century. First, the breadth of our hymns has not been broadly explored in generations. So, the idea that we would ever reach a point where every quality hymn has become over-used is ridiculous.

Second, there are very, VERY few people who have the requisite combination of gifts, intelligence and training in literature, poetry and divinity to offer the Church songs worth singing. The same goes for the musicians who would write the new tunes to go with our new songs.

I hear the protest, “You can’t say that only smart people can write songs for the Church!” Please, hush up. You’re embarrassing yourself. And if someone in the audience is going to quote the verse from Psalms that says, “Sing to the Lord a NEW song,” again, please, quiet yourself. The adults are trying to talk.

The music of hymns is absolutely better than the music of P&W. I will say that with no hesitation whatsoever. I’m going to have to disagree with those who think that it is simply a matter of taste. I assert that it is not a matter of personal taste. That is the kind of fuzzy, relativistic thinking that we need to be combating, not coddling.

If a kid is raised only eating junk food, his health will suffer and he will have no taste for those foods that would truly nourish his body. A compassionate and wise person would not indulge such a child. He would do whatever possible to help him see the danger of his inadequate and harmful nutrition.

The idea that there is no objective way to say that some forms of music are better than others is so obviously foolish that I feel like, on those rare occasions nowadays when I stumble into a debate on the subject, I’m talking to a child, a mentally-handicapped person or a college freshman who is in the middle of his first semester of politically-correct, “multi-cultural” indoctrination. I realize that I need to write more about this point. Let me get my thoughts together a bit more, and I will get back to you. This epistle was hastily written after I was inspired (?) by Warwickensis’s thoughts.

One more note: I listen to rock music. Do not read me as some post-modern Essene who is completely ignorant and unaware of music, movies, and TV. Who knows him some pop culture? This guy. A Snickers bar never killed anybody. Just make sure it’s not your main diet. Also, don’t ever serve one at a formal dinner with royalty.

{Rant Mode: Disengaged … For Now}

Fr. Gordon Anderson on Anglican Spiritual Formation

2008-04-01T16:49:00.001-05:00

**
It may be April Fools Day, but I ain't pullin' your chain. I heartily concur with Fr. Anderson's sentiments. I feel every year I travel the Anglican way I learn so much that I do not realize until after the fact. My Anglican spiritual formation has primarily been through weekly participation in the Liturgy, practice of the Daily Office and interaction with the rectors of the churches I have attended. I have not done a tremendous amount of reading in Anglican theological sources. John Wesley's writings, Lancelot Andrewes's collection of personal devotions, and a number of Anglican blogs have been my other, secondary influences. I've been an Anglican for a shade over six years. I have four more years until I become an Anglican (read on).

"A wise priest colleague remarked to me once that it takes ten years for a convert to become an Anglican: that is, to be truly formed by the liturgy and ethos of the classical Book of Common Prayer and the English spiritual tradition. Having been on this journey myself for so long now I definitely agree with that. Anglican formation is a very long and slow process. It involves a complete reorientation of ones general thinking, theological method, and spirituality. It is so slow, in fact, that half the time one doesn't even know it is happening! Once one is formed in the tradition, though, he could hardly imagine being anything else, and such a strong and solid base has been established that the spiritual life beings to really blossom. By far the critical error people make is thinking they know something of Anglicanism after just a few services, or a few years of membership in an Anglican parish, but after brief time, in frustration, they leave. It takes so much longer than that to really explore and experience our tradition.

"On a related note, I wonder if it is even possible for anyone to get a truly Anglican formation in the Episcopal Church anymore, since that body has abandoned on a local and institutional level the classical Anglican tradition and rule of life. Because of that, I tend (perhaps wrongly) to be very leery of people who come to us from TEC proudly boasting that they are "life long episcopalians". I wonder what, if anything, they have learned about English spirituality in The Episcopal Church - even if it is a "conservative" parish. Lord knows they know nothing about the Book of Common Prayer in many cases, and they certainly have not read even popular Anglican writers like C.S. Lewis, much less the classical divines, such as Jewel, Taylor, Thorndike, etc.

"Our formation process is slow, and I think sometimes people get impatient with it. But things that grow slowly grow strong. And I think having strongly formed Christians is much better than having great numbers of poorly formed souls, which is, sadly, what many other churches focus on these days."

Two additional points from me:

I think that I fell in love with the 1928 Book of Common Prayer liturgy within 2-3 services. I find the Mass in the parishes where I have worshiped to be beautiful, theologically instructive, and spiritually formative and edifying. Don't even get me started on the music and hymnody. The Daily Office of Prayer and liturgies are so accessible. I really could go on and on and probably will write a detailed post or series at some point on the things that I find so wonderful about Anglican worship. I might also include some critiques of the areas where we could improve. We'll see.

I know that the majority of the people who visit this blog are not Anglicans, so let me offer a few basic words of explanation. Continuing Anglicanism, aka the Anglican Continuum, is separate from what used to be known as ECUSA (the Episcopal Church USA) and is now simply called TEC (The Episcopal Church). The general difference is that the Continuum claims to hold to many of the traditional beliefs and practices that TEC has changed or jettisoned over the years. I have strong opinions about these issues but am seeking to avoid polemics here. Some of the differences are pretty straight forward. Some of the areas of conflict are quite complicated. Most of the astute, American, Anglican and Episcopal bloggers I read remain in TEC and are trying to chart a very difficult course. They have my prayers and respect. For simplicity, while not technically correct, when I use the term Anglicanism on this blog, I am talking about the Continuum. If I say Episcopalianism, I am referring to TEC. If I am talking about worldwide Anglicanism I call it the Anglican Communion.

OK, enough of that.

Captain Jack Revisited

2008-03-27T10:41:00.001-05:00

**

It has been a month and a half since I wrote this post. I have become a little fascinated with Stephen Jackson in that time. I read an ESPN magazine story about Stephen Jackson that portrayed him as very sympathetic. I've also read some other info about him in various places. His teammates and coaches speak very highly of him. He has done a lot of charity work. It sounds like he is involved in a Bible study and probably church. He continues to do good things for his hometown, Port Arthur, TX (near Houston).

There is no question that Stephen Jackson has done some regrettable, ill-advised things. It seems that he sometimes lets his emotions get the better of him. On the other hand, he comes across as fiercely loyal to friends and teammates and will stand up for them whatever the cost to himself. In a weird way, I kind of identify with him. Like most of us, his life seems to be a mixture of good and bad as he seeks to become a better person in the midst of numerous temptations, both inward and outward. Add to all of that the religious element and the fact that he is a very good basketball player, and you have someone with whom I would probably enjoy sharing a meal (He worked in a relative's soul food restaurant as a kid. I could eat me some soul food.)

I decided to write this update because I felt like I had spoken unfairly about another bearer of the image of God. There's always more to the story that we see. That doesn't mean that we don't make judgments based on what we know. It does me that we recognize that our judgments should always be provisional. We (almost) never have the whole picture before us. That being said, maybe my original post could simply be taken as a tongue-in-cheek comment on a strange situation.

"Do unto others ..."