my burg

Is the whole world obsessed with sex, or is it just our society? Polygamous mormons, pedophile priests, and that perverted Austrian dungeon of evil. Many would blame men in general, or testosterone, or religion, or more specifically, fundamentalism. But it's not just the men. See The big list: Female teachers with students. And now my daughter's hero, Hannah/Miley is going the way of sensuality , photographed by a female photographer who specializes in the racy, and with her father in the picture. Miranda Devine, with the Sydney Morning Herald , writes (May 1): Every artist wants to subvert hypocrisy and artifice. And childhood, after all, is the ultimate artificial construction. It exists only because responsible adults deliberately set out to protect children from predators and situations their young brains are not yet wired to deal with. But in an era in which all taboos must be broken, the reigning philosophy is that every truth must be told, every emotion liberated, no ...

"Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." (1 Corinthians 5:6-7) This chapter gives us some insight on the nature of the church and on the use of authority. The church has an authority to exclude. It is not all-inclusive in the sense that any lifestyle is acceptable to the membership. This principle itself is not acceptable to many people. Such authority can be heavy-handed and petty, but it should not be. The case in 1 Cor 5 involved an arrogant, unrepentant, seemingly enlightened acceptance of a very gross immorality. One that even the unbelievers found repulsive. It needed to be dealt with. As Mark Dever says, "the church does not discipline for sin, but for unrepentant sin." There is a tendency for us to be uncritical of our friends and critical of those outside our cir...

Everything you wanted to know about the ampersand is here .

Here's an interesting turn... I wonder how Greenpeace will respond? The Pill as Pollutant: A really inconvenient truth.

Some have tried to downplay the relationship between Darwin's view of natural selection and what is called "social Darwinism." Darwin himself saw the implication: “Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but excepting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed... At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace throughout the world the savage races.” --Charles Darwin, from The Descent of Man Quoted by David Klinghoffer in "Don't Doubt It"

An interesting excerpt from Benedict XVI's April 17, 2008 speech before the bishops of the United States at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington: It is in this fertile soil, nourished from so many different sources, that all of you, Brother Bishops, are called to sow the seeds of the Gospel today. This leads me to ask how, in the twenty-first century, a bishop can best fulfill the call to “make all things new in Christ, our hope”? How can he lead his people to “an encounter with the living God”, the source of that life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks? Perhaps he needs to begin by clearing away some of the barriers to such an encounter. While it is true that this country is marked by a genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their behavior. Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the week to promote business practice...

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. (1 Corinthians 4:8-10 ESV) Often we think our ministry would be more effective if we were more impressive in worldly terms. If only we were more popular, young, hip, cool, learned, wealthy, successful (in worldly terms), a mover and shaker, more on top of things, even more "victorious" in an outwardly impressive way. Paul makes it clear in chapter 4 that apostolic ministry was not as impressive in those terms as the ministry posture of the Corinthian church. It almost sounds like the contrast between an un...