Thought for tonight

"Thus we have the Ten Commandments, a compend of divine doctrine, as to what we are to do in order that our whole life may be pleasing to God, and the true fountain and channel from and in which everything must arise and flow that is to be a good work, so that outside of the Ten Commandments no work or thing can be good or pleasing to God, however great or precious it be in the eyes of the world." -- Martin Luther

Words Fail Me

FOXNews.com - Foxlife - Barbie and Ken: It's Over

This is one of those times

That I sit in front of my computer and channel Beavis and Butthead.

Marvel Comics Interactive DVDs "huh huh . . this is cool." "yeah, yeah, cool, yeah."

to steal a line from Pascal

"I have only made [that entry about Breakpoint and the Passion] longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter."

Since when is this our job???

In the past I've said nice things about Chuck Colson's Breakpoint commentaries, so it's with a clear conscience that I can rant against him. In today's Breakpoint, Who Killed Jesus? Setting the Record Straight, Colson addresses the latest issue of Newsweek (which will probably hit my mailbox today) which had the cover story "Who killed Jesus?" This was, of course, inspired by Mel Gibson's 2nd Commandment shattering film.

This morning on Today I saw Katie Couric lob soft-ball questions at the Newsweek writer on the same topic (and saw more of the movie than I ever, ever wanted to). This alone started my day off on a bad footing--it would've been much worse if Diane Sawyer hadn't mollified me by lobbing soft-ball questions at Adam Sandler on Good Morning, America.

On Today, the Newsweek guy said some silliness about Pilate not being the kind of person who would be bullied into crucifying Jesus by a bunch of Jews, and made some nasty remarks about the hyper-literalistic nature of Gibson's movie--silly man, thinking that the Gospel writers knew what actually happened at the Cross without the perspective of 21st century "scholarship." The point he seemed to be making was that we shouldn't blame the Jews for the death--it was Pilate. See, the Jews shouldn't be blamed for it--so nobody should hate them, just hate that Pilate guy.

Here's a better idea--those who watch the movie should realize that everyone who isn't a Roman in the movie probably is a Jew--"bad guys" and "good guys" alike! So yeah, there are probably people to villainize as well as those to proclaim as hero. Furthermore, we need to realize that Pilate had a hand in it, the Jewish leaders had a hand in it, the Jewish mob that cried for the release of Barabbas had a hand in it, and GOD ALMIGHTY had a hand in it (you might say He predestined it if you're one of those silly types that take the Bible at face value). This is NO reason to HATE any group of people who happen to be descended from Pilate, the Romans, the Jewish leaders of the day, the Jewish mob or anybody else.

The book of Acts recounts the early church praying, "...for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." (Acts 4:27-28) And did they call down fire from Heaven on these people, did they call for their deaths? No. Instead, they asked that God would enable them to keep proclaiming the Gospel to these people. If you're gonna hate the Jews for this, you'd better be ready to hate everyone mentioned in those verses (including the One they were praying to).

Colson's point in reaction to the Newsweek question was, "The Jews didn't cause the death of Jesus, nor did the Romans. They were merely instruments carrying out what God had decreed. He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross so that the sins of mankind might be forgiven. And those who take Scripture seriously have always known who killed Jesus: You and I and all other sinful human beings did so. So enough of this foolish controversy." Now up to that point, he's right. (and says it with less sarcasm than I did) And according to Gibson, that was his point as well.

Now all my bile for the day would've been saved for the ninny at Newsweek, if Colson had stopped there. Or if he'd only gone on to say, "be ready with a biblical answer for your Jewish friends who hear all of this propaganda, most of it stirred up by professional activists."

It was the stuff in between those two quotes that got me going: "My advice to Christians is that you make it abundantly clear to your friends and neighbors that we are the ones responsible and then take them to see the film. Let them experience the passion and explain to them why it was necessary for Jesus to go to the cross." (emphasis mine) Take them to see the film? Why not just use what you've already said as your answer? Better yet--USE THE BIBLE with them. Give them one, read them the passages, study it with them!!!

And then he topped it off by concluding with: "So, three cheers for Mel Gibson. And thanks to Newsweek for asking the right question, even if it does not have the right answer. But now it is up to us Christians to do our job to educate our neighbors and flood the movie theaters." It's the JOB of Christians to flood the movie theaters? Where are we told to do that? Must be somewhere in 4th Corinthians 15 (never spent that much time reading that portion of Paul's letters).

Here, Christian, here is your job--proclaim the gospel, preach Christ and Him crucified--we don't need some silly little (blasphemous) movie to do our job when we have the Bible.

Troubling idea

Stumbled upon this quotation:
"I did (make) a few dietary concessions. My Achilles heel of food is the apple fritter. But I'm very proud of my butt. I have a good, tight hockey butt. It's the beer belly I'm a little self-conscious about."

--GORDON CLAPP, who plays Medavoy on "NYPD Blue," about his upcoming nude scene on the show, quote in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

1. Just by reading this I have already spent WAY more time thinking about Gordon Clapps butt then I ever, ever, ever wanted to.
2. Glad Greg's gonna get more screentime (they've been short-changing the character lately) . . . not sure this is the way I would've picked. But then again, he's about the only one left.

It ain't much, but it's a start

Looks like I'll probably be working for the Idaho State Tax Commission starting in mid-May. Just some Data Entry stuff, nothing major--but it's something.

Haven't done Data Entry since March 2000--their requirements were over 10,000 Keystrokes Per Hour at 90% accuracy. I tested at 11,700 KPB/99% accurate . . . shouldn't brag, but being that out of practice, I'm quite pleased. God is good.

Perspective, or the lack thereof

My wife asked me last night if I realized that w/in three weeks we would likely have a baby. And while I know the probable date as well as she does, it really hasn't dawned on me yet (even after that conversation).

I don't know if it's because I've got so many little things on my plate that I can't look that far ahead, or what.

I'm gonna be a dad (again) in three weeks . . . I should probably have some sort of reaction to that.

Census

Yes, I did state in the "Finished Hostage" (below) entry that I have two--that has actually been confirmed.

Shocking, ain't it? At this rate of growth, we'll have 3 by July.

Now, if I could just get my wife to read this.

Finished Hostage

Well, I know all of my two readers are eagerly awaiting to find out what I thought of Hostage. Kept up the pacing, kept up the suspense .... but, I'm not sure how satisfying the ending was.

I don't know how he could've resolved everything differently than he did without going into melodrama, so he ended it right. But I didn't fear for a second that anything else was going to happen.

All in all, tho--great read. Crais is capable of better, but it was still pretty good.

The All-Spin Zone

Friend was just telling me that he heard some guys on NPR news discussing the murder of that girl in Florida.

One guy says, "Everybody is up in arms about this but Bush has murdered 50000 people." And the other guy chimes win with "It's just racism."

good grief . . . . this is just sick.

hope yet for the Grand Ol' Party

GOP slams Bush policies at retreat - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics

Feels really good to read this on the Gipper's Birthday . . .

Those were the days

Okay, I've never bought any of the "good ol' days" kind of arguments about things being better in yesteryear. Society and culture, etc. had just as much sin in the Leave it to Beaver days as it does in the Sex and the City era.

But when you read things like this, you reconsider:

"I tell you, brethren, you could not do any better than to go and get that old Presbyterian catechism on the Ten Commandments and study it and teach it to every one of your children. I tell you those Ten Commandments constitute the standard of righteousness in heaven, and they will remain the standard of righteousness over the lowest hell. There never, never will be a time when any of those ten words will lose any of their obligatory force. That is why, all over this earth, rulers and statesmen lift their hats when they go to Matthew Sinai, when they look at those Ten Commandments, as the sublimest expression of the principles of law the human ear ever heard, the human eye ever saw, the human heart ever conceived of." -- Baptist Professor B.H. Carroll

Not sure when he wrote that, sure wasn't in the last 10 years.

Mandatory reading

my bad, meant to post this last week:

Crosswalk.com - weblogs: "The Newest Teen Girl Fad--Bisexual Chic"

Reinforcement

Got a call at lunch today, the State Tax Commission wants me to get tested for their night shift.

Then my eldest's Bible lesson for today was God's provision of manna in the wilderness--teaching Israel to trust Him to care for them.

I think I might be being taught something.....

ah, Scooter-Girl, we hardly knew ye

After two full seasons of semi-self-righteous boycotting, I've started watching American Idol this year. Not religiously, but frequently.

Just a couple of things to say about it: 1. Am bummed that Scooter-Girl got cut last night. Didn't think she could've gone all the way, but she was fun, and I wanted to see if she could've found her stride.

2. (and the seed of this is from my wonderful wife) The initial try-outs particularly, but some in the weeding out down to the final 32 showed this to a degree. We see the fruits of subjectivism and "you can be anything you want to be" that have been crammed down the throats of our youth in government schools for quite some time now.

How so?

Well, I think it's fairly safe to say that these three judges are pros when it comes to music--who can sing, who can't, etc. Even if they weren't before (and I think Paul Abdul's qualifications can be questioned on the basis of the Forever Your Girl album--and we shall not speak of Spellbound)*--suffering through the last couple of years on the panel clearly qualifies them as experts. When they say someone cannot sing--especially when all three say it--it's pretty certain that said person cannot sing. It's as true as 2+2=4. But how many will argue against them? "Well, that's just your opinion." "I know I can sing, you're wrong." No, no, no. There is objective truth, and one such truth is that not everyone can sing--you're one of us who can't!

Secondly, we need to face the fact that we can't be anything we want to be. I will never, ever, ever be a MLB player. For many reasons, I never could've been. There are physical, emotional, mental, intellecutal limitiations on each of us. My mind is not capable of thinking in certain ways. Howard Dean's temperment does not fit him to be President. The current CA governor, for all his skill/popularity/money can't be either--because of the Law of the Land. And even if person X had all the personality, all the talent, all the temperment to be a pop singer (or whatever), you still need the training, the opportunities, and the "luck" or "breaks" or whatever you call all the little things that can spring up in our path to get us to the record contract. Life is tough, wear a helmet.

*Okay, okay, in the interest of fair disclosure: I purchased both Forever Your Girl and Shut Up & Dance when I was in High School, which I think proves I know what I'm talking about.

Jehovah Jireh

Okay, two days ago I hit rock bottom (well, close to it anyway). Full of self-pity and woe-is-me because I haven't found a job since leaving my last position in Oct. Bank account's running on fumes, my kids don't understand why Daddy's being so grinchy lately (which probably means that daddy hadn't been grinchy enough when income was better), and I've got some major (and minor) expenses coming up. Whatever shall I do???

Well, ya silly, maybe you could trust in God a little? Believe that the prayers of your family and the saints that are around you will work? Am sure I read somewhere, "I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread."

About 15 minutes ago, my former employer emailed me asking if I wanted to do some contract work starting in a couple of weeks . . . "oh ye of little faith"

Couple of fiction notes

1. Someone in IRC just pointed me at ShadowPDF.net, a collection of classic pulps of The Shadow. Takes me back to when I was a kid and listened to the radio shows on tape/radio . . . too cool.

2. Update on Hostage. I was very tempted to pull an all nighter for this one. It's very different in flavor and pacing than the Elvis Cole series. I've stopped missing them, and have been drawn into Chief Tulley's world. The set up Crais creates in the first hundred pages or so is brilliant. This is all going to go horribly, horribly bad. Which means it will be incredibly fun to read. Only question is how dark Crais will let it go . . . .

my guess is very.

Now that's what I call noir

Started Robert Crais' Hostage last night. I didn't get very far into it before my arch-nemesis, Sleep, won another round in our ongoing battle.

First stand-alone novel I've read by him. I can already tell I'm going to miss Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. Not that it's a bad book--but any novel that opens up with a double-murder/suicuide could really use some old friends in it to help you cope, y'know?

Ohh, while writing this I read that the movie based on this book started filming a couple of weeks ago. Bruce Willis stars. That could be cool....

Swiftly go the daaaaaaayyyyyyyssss...

My eldest signed up for T-ball last night. He's pretty excited. Mom and Dad are pretty excited.

Today, Cal Ripkin League. Tomorrow, getting a check from Steinbrenner.