Speaking the Truth and Wanting an Answer

Being slightly paranoid I struggle with putting my thoughts out in the open which is why I am not as consistent as I might be with this blog. That being said, this is therapeutic and I will be writing more often beginning August of this year. I am reminded of the Cyril Conway quote I posted last November, "Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self."

Sean Hannity says there is no racist rhetoric, no racist signs at any tea party meetings/rallies. He is either partially blind or outright lying. The NAACP calls on tea party leaders to lead, and openly denounce the racist signs and speeches and until yesterday all they have done is issue denials. Maybe this is why Mark Williams felt emboldened and with all the subtlety of an elephant post some of the most racist writing I have read since reading some Klan propaganda. Mark Skoda, one of the founders of the National Tea Party Federation, called for rebuke and removal of Mark Williams and over the weekend, the federation held a conference call and decided to boot both Williams and Tea Party Express from the “TEA Party movement”. Not that this really means anything because while there is the TEA Party Express (“coloreds signed a letter to President Lincoln asking for the repeal of the Emancipation Proclamation because they know their place”), the TEA Party Nation (who want to reinstate literacy tests for voting), the TEA Party Patriots, the Tea Party (of Florida which is an actual registered political party) and the National TEA Party Federation (too much racism to add between parentheses) none are affiliated with the others. They are not cohesive, unified or organized to the point that anyone has any authority to rebuke, remove or ‘boot’ anyone. This is news; Civil rights and civility in discourse matters. Truth and clarity matter.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano appeared on local radio in Mobile, AL to assure listeners of the Obama Administration's concern over the gulf oil spill. She assured the listeners that she had been in close contact with Gov. Barbour. Haley Barbour is governor of Mississippi. Ooops, Secretary Napolitano misspoke but this isn’t news.

Speaking about the developing Manhattan Mosque former half-governor Sarah Palin tweets “Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate” and as tempted as I am to discuss the qualifying adjective “peaceful” this isn’t news either.

Leftwing sites and blogs that give the former half-governor more than a satirical faragraf are not contributing to the education of it’s readers any more than people who post talking points, platitudes and pithy one liners via social media. As read recently on Facebook, “The 10 most dangerous words in English are, “Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”” ... Um ... yeah, thanks for the contribution.

Back to some news that we can use.

Tax cuts don’t pay for themselves. The ‘born-again’ so-called deficit hawks seem to have forgotten this economic fact. The Sr. Bush called this Voodoo economics. After years of surplus Jr. cut taxes for the wealthiest among us. This coupled with Medicare pt. B, two misguided wars and a huge Wall Street bailout led to an enormous deficit and the largest recession since the Great Depression. When the Republicans were in power they spent money without consideration of future generations. Now that there is a Democrat in the White House they have seen the light and wont even vote to extend unemployment benefits unless it is paid for. Now personally I don’t have a problem with that argument except for the clear hypocrisy. Republican leaders say the people on unemployment just need to go get a job, never mind the fact that there is only one job for every five of the unemployed. Republican leaders also say people on unemployment are lazy and won’t look for work as long as they receive a check from the government for doing nothing never mind the fact that they worked, paid into this insurance and must look for work to qualify for benefits. The fact remains that these people who through no fault of their own are unemployed would wind up costing more if ignored.

The plain and simple of it is this:

· Republican leaders want us to believe that the Bush tax cuts which added to the deficit twice before if extended wouldn’t now.

· Republican leaders want us to believe that the $33 billion cost of reauthorizing unemployment benefits cannot be added to the deficit but a reauthorization of the tax cuts, which will cost $678 billion, is o.k.

· Republican leaders want us to believe they want to decrease the deficit but won’t say what programs they would cut to do so.

· Republican leaders think that we will be satisfied by telling us, “We are going to balance the budget,” and “We need to make sure that as we look at all that we are spending in Washington D.C.,” and “We need to live within our means,” and “We need to go back to the exact same agenda” (that got us into the mess that we are currently in)

Republican leaders must think we are stupid.

We refuse to accept as an answer some form of the question reiterated. We are going to balance the budget by balancing the budget is not an answer. Because I said so is not an answer. We are not children and we will not put you in office simply because you say you can do a better job.

I applaud David Gregory for his valiant attempts to get our leaders to answer the questions we all have.

The NFL Season is Drawing to a Close

Having had a excellent season of picks so far, if we do not look at my NY football GIANTS predictions – which may reveal an inability to remove my emotion regarding the greatest team in the NFL, and after last weeks 100% record I have been asked to pick again this week albeit a bit earlier and with greater depth.

Lets get right to it; Colts over the Jets and Vikings over the Saints

Here is a brief explanation:

As a NY Yankee fan I must necessarily hate the Mets. This is true for all Yankee fans. The NFL however, is hugely different than MLB. In the NFL, NY football GIANTS fans do not hate the Jets or the Bills unless playing each other. In many cases GIANTS fans actually root for the Jets and/or the Bills. Truth be told, I was a young Jets fan and wore a Namath (12) uniform much to my father’s dismay. And hating to admit it, I had NE Patriot bed sheets. That being said I will be rooting for the #1 ranked defense in the NFL today and for rookie Sanchez and expect great things although I do not believe they can beat Payton Manning. The freshly minted four time MVP has too much experience and will be seen in Florida come February. Manning, along with his toolbox filled with Wayne, Clark, Garcon, Addai, (if you need to read the entire roster check the Colts site) will put too many points on the board even against the Jets defense for the rookie Sanchez to match.

Now on to the late game:

Two words, Brett Favre. Nuff said. Sure Drew Brees is an elite quarterback, a freakishly accurate window passer who has proven himself this year. Today he will be sacked 3.5 times, hit and rushed each in the double digits. Yes, Allen, Williams2, Greenway, and Edwards will have their way with the Saints O-line today, even in the Superdome. I do not believe the 12th man will have much impact on today’s game at all.

That being said and knowing I do not have a dog in this fight we will be attending a Colts vs. Vikings Super Bowl party this February. As far as Eli and my NY football GIANTS ... the 2010 season begins on Monday, February 8th so enjoy these few weeks ‘off’ and we’ll see you then.

Quote

"Better to write for yourself and have no public than to write for the public and have no self." Cyril Conway

Reflections from the Deep South

Just because something is not politically correct does not mean it is not a belief, practiced or not. It might be politically incorrect to bring up racism, but believe me it is alive and well and can even be found within the church here in the deep south. Shortly after arriving in Arkansas from Arizona, I was privileged to preach in several small to medium sized congregations. I used the same line in sermons at each location; Please invite someone to service next week. It doesn't matter if they are black or white (shocked expressions could be seen throughout the all white congregations) male or female, gay or straight. (At one location a woman stood up and said, "If you bring a gay to MY church I won't be coming here any more and I won't bring my grandson either." - because all gays are pedophiles don'tcha know) I won't go into the events the morning a black woman came to service. Suffice it to say the reception was not a good reflection on Christ or the congregation. Yes, racism is alive and well in America.

If we were to be perfectly honest the problem is that America is still a very prejudice nation. Although it began around the time of the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans founded in the 1790s, the past eight years the 'we versus them' mentality was both nurtured and encouraged. Agree with me or you are 'un-American.' If your ideology opposes mine then you are a 'terrorist who will destroy my America' and are compared to Hitler. There is no respectful debate, only a twenty-four hour news cycle that promotes the basest of humanity in the name of ratings. Most people are sheep (sheeple) bleating the regurgitated pabulum they have been bottle fed from those who benefit most from multinational interests. Sheeple aren't even smart enough to use their brain for the most basic of functions let alone apply critical thinking skills. Motivated by fear they re-act rather then act, repeat rather than carefully consider, bleat, bleat, bleat ...

While it may not be politically correct to blame the blacks, Indians, Italians, or Mexicans, you can take all that savagery and irrational hatred, and apply it to the opposition party. (And, if you're Republican, you can get away with a LITTLE bit of racism, and claim it's only political. Simply justify your racism by saying, "I don't hate ALL Mexicans; just the illegals"… and it's not your fault if you can't tell the difference.) And just one more thing before I go on ... Fascists, Socialists and Communists are NOT the SAME!

Seeing as I am ranting ... For the "Pastor" of that baptist church in Tempe, Arizona, I pray for your salvation. If you have experienced the Christ event then I pray you let the Spirit of peace rule in your heart.

Sheeple ... Raise Your Eyes!

I once asked the question regarding how people would classify themselves and received various responses. Many said they were a Christian, a few said they were American. I had one friend say emphatically, 'I am an American first!' (His rant continued) I was secretly hoping he would say he is a human.
People have different perspectives which is why we must necessarily create an atmosphere that fosters the furtherance of understanding, carefully and deeply considering others point of view, taking away that which adds to our understanding. It is the overabundance of ignorance which increases imbalance and unfairness, grinding to a near halt much needed growth, both personally and communally. I wonder why it is that the one thing which is constant, the one thing we can count on to always be, we fight so hard against. The very word ‘growth’ implies change yet change is the one thing we fight hardest against. I bet you have heard people say, as I have emphatically, ‘I’m not going to change.’ I would also bet, as I’m sure you would, that these same people would not say, ‘I’m not going to grow.’ It matters little if you consider yourself an American or a human we must necessarily aggressively pursue progress.
Money is behind all the bleating in the world today. The uninformed opinion bleats its opposition to progress, regurgitating the pablum they have been fed as if it is Gospel. Common people, I urge you to exercise your grey matter and become informed.... Approach the subject at hand with as few presuppositions as you are able, and make well informed decisions. Together, we can positively effect growth and development for our families, our communities our nation, our planet!

Inerrancy; Baseball is Drawing to a Close as The NFL Season gets Underway;

I offer this statement in the spirit of God’s humility and grace, leaving open the possibility for further discussion that may arise from time to time as we continue to grow in the knowledge of God’s character and nature. In the matter of inerrancy and infallibility one must necessarily have knowledge of the terms definitions as well as an understanding of the differences in application as they pertain to biblical text. Inerrancy and infallibility must necessarily be both defined and separated. Inerrancy is understood simply as being without error. Infallibility means not liable to mislead or deceive, also trustworthy in that it is incapable of error in defining doctrines touching faith or morals. The authority of biblical text is at the center of our faith. We, who profess faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, are called to a lifestyle of surrender and obedience to God, following Jesus by the power of the indwelling Spirit. Biblical text is not only a guide for defining our position as joint heirs with Jesus and a guide for behavior but also a revelation of the very character and nature of the Creator. The Spirit inspired the various authors but their personalities were neither overrode nor were their words chosen. This fact allows biblical text to be read with richer texture, color and greater depth. Allowing the human element into the text allows us to accept contradictions rather than try to explain them away. 1)'Manipulating biblical text in order to manufacture consistency or support the unbiblical doctrine of inerrancy only shows disrespect for both God and scripture.' In my opinion the understanding of biblical authority through the lens of infallibility as opposed to inerrancy is a sure foundation for any age.
The preceding comments come from the scholar in me, and the following come from the pastor. 2)'As the Spirit prospers our study we should trust and submit to all biblical teaching about Jesus, salvation, life and any other topic the text deals with. We should also constantly be working to fulfill our commitment to God as our grasp of biblical text grows. For us to live in Christ is more important than which words we use to explain biblical authority.'

It is 2:29CST and I am still rubbing my eyes in wonderment; The YANKEES have swept the RedSox ... yes, you read exactly what I typed, The NY YANKEES beat the RedSox like redheaded stepchildren over and over again. In fact, the YANKEES swept the series. The RedSox scored a run here and there but they didn't win a single game of this series. This has not happened for almost a quarter-century. The question I have been asked is are they peaking to early with just over fifty games remaining in the regular season. Peaking? Who said they are peaking. In my opinion they are merely beginning to build up a head of steam to take them to and through the playoffs to the World Series.

With the return of Osi Umenyiora, the intensity of the GIANTS D-Line has increased exponentially to unmeasurable limits. Manning is seeing and completing better than ever as long as he gets the ball from center. The regular season opener is 35 days away and this NY Football GIANTS fan has already stocked his fridge and cabinets with everything needed to enjoy each and every crack of the helmets and pads.

I'll save the 'On The Home Front' information 'til next time.

*Special thanks to 1)Kent Leslie and 2)Al Hearne for their ideas about the subject of inerrancy and infallibility.

Some of y'all might not like it but ...

It has been so long that I am bursting at the seams! Except for the three little ones, everyone was around the television last night to watch the All-Star Game. If you missed it you missed a great game. It actually looked like the National League was finally going to win one. The final score was AL over the NL 4-3. How about those Yankees! Not only did Jeter get on base twice last night he scored both times. Both Jeter and Teixeira played solid defense and Mo shut the NL down in the bottom of the ninth. The season is half over and we are just 3 games out. Not too bad for a bunch of over the hill players (rofl).

The NY football GIANTS are to begin practice at Albany, Monday, August 3rd. This is their final contract year at the U so get out and support them. IF you remember, please do a couple of things for me while you are there. Chant OSI OSI OSI OSI (that’s pronounced oh-see for the uninitiated) and don’t forget to send me some pictures!

This past week and one more time we brought contemporary worship back to Hope! We led service at Hope Family Church and had a great time.

We will continue to worship as we have for over the past year, every Sunday morning in Blevins, The Church of Hempstead County meets at 10am, Knowing Christ and Building Christian Community, where contemporary worship in song and relevant, compelling biblically based messages are staples. Join with us whenever you’d like!

On a personal note: Summer is almost over and we are getting back in school mode. The kids are going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. We still have not found property to build our house on yet, but we know we will soon. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers especially regarding some acreage.