my burg

Here are some recent notable articles I've read: Church and the College Years .  "Love for the 'universal' church necessitates love for and commitment to the 'local' church. So our local churches seek to manifest the universal church as a part of the body of Christ we can love, see, touch, struggle with, give to, and serve."  Why Mormon theology is not Christian (Ben Witherington).  "What I would say is that they are deceived about what the Bible really teaches about the nature of God, of Christ, of salvation, and of true humanity, not to mention the nature of the Scriptures which are indeed the sufficient rule of faith and practice for all true Christians and do not require supplements or corrections from Joseph Smith’s works." Making an idol of family .  "This stuff of many women's fantasies includes an adoring, faithful spouse; attractive, obedient kids; people who depend on you, love you, give you a reason to get out of ...

Interesting fact: "Irene" comes from the Greek, eirene, meaning "peace".  The New York Times has a great real-time map here that tracks the storm's progress.

Here's Carl Trueman on "Me and Muammar: What We Have In Common": "And as we shudder at the sight of this lunatic rambling on our television screens, it is worth remembering that Gadaffi is only an extreme example of that which dwells in each of us.  The desire to be in control, to make a mark, to make ourselves indispensable: these are all drives that are universal within fallen humanity.  Our worlds may be smaller, the damage we do somewhat more modest, but our ambitions are in their own ways just as absurd as his."  The blog post is here . 

Gerry McDermott's post in his Northampton blog led me to an interesting NY Times article. Apparently, in an annual gathering of social scientists -- who routinely identify prejudice and bias -- it was discovered that there is a stunning lack of perception of their own bias and non-diversity:    Discrimination is always high on the agenda at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s conference, where psychologists discuss their research on racial prejudice, homophobia, sexism, stereotype threat and unconscious bias against minorities. But the most talked-about speech at this year’s meeting, which ended Jan. 30, involved a new “outgroup.” It was identified by Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at the University of Virginia who studies the intuitive foundations of morality and ideology. He polled his audience at the San Antonio Convention Center, starting by asking how many considered themselves politically liberal. A sea of hands appeared, and Dr. Haidt est...

David Warren's column on... well, our incompetence which leads us to believe the superstition that underlying every problem is malice and that the state must have the solution... Let me mention in passing that President Barack Obama was in no way responsible for the [BP oil] catastrophe, and that there is nothing he can do about it. He is being held to blame for "inaction," as wrongly as his predecessor was held to blame over Hurricane Katrina, by media and public unable to cope with the proposition that, "Stuff happens." In a sense, Obama is hoist on his own petard. The man who blames Bush for everything now finds there are some things presidents cannot do. More deeply, the opposition party that persuades the public government can solve all their problems, discovers once in power there are problems their government cannot solve. Alas, it will take more time than they have to learn the next lesson: that governments which try to solve the insoluble, more or less ...

Psychology Today blogger and marriage therapist William J. Doherty writes, "They were the baby boomer couple who could. At first sad, I became mad when I read their non-explanation of the divorce: they had come to a 'mutual and mutually supportive decision that we have made together following a process of long and careful consideration.' ... Is this little whimper all that a 40-year marriage with children and grandchildren is worth? Sports teams and their home cities show more grief and anger when teams leave for better stadiums and tax benefits." His article is worth reading: " Al and Tipper: We Hardly Knew Ye "

Great picture of the Hokie Storm Chasers team. Notice the cars are running, in case the team has to.

On April 15, 2010, United States District Court Judge Barbara Crabb, for the Western District of Wisconsin, struck down the National Day of Prayer statute, 36 U.S.C. § 119, as violating the Establishment Clause. Judge Crabb ruled that the statute serves no secular purpose, but rather calls the nation to engage in a religious exercise – prayer. This decision makes perfect sense from a secular viewpoint. It is logical in a pluralistic society which must accommodate atheists as well as all stripes of religious beliefs. But if U.S. leaders cannot call upon people to pray or acknowledge any kind of higher power, then this is problematic if in fact there is a Power who can (or does) bring blessing or disaster. So in a sense atheism has been "established" as our guiding governmental philosophy. In other words, we cannot say for certain that a religious exercise "serves no secular purpose", when in fact it may be supportive of the national welfare. To so rule against thi...

I have so appreciated the faithfulness and tireless efforts of Bob Benne and others (including Gerry McDermott) as they have sought to keep Lutheranism true to its biblical foundations. Bob wrote this after the CORE meeting in Indiana to chart a new course for conservative Lutherans. I was especially moved by the last paragraph. My Interpretation of the CORE Assembly at Fishers, Indiana, Last Weekend I haven’t been so excited about church life beyond the local parish for a long time. The camaraderie, the singing, the hospitality, the powerful talks, the affirmation of biblical and confessional truth, the focus on the future……all were expressed in almost overwhelming portions. The 1,200 souls present were full of life and determination. The CORE assembly was quite an experience. For the first time in 25 years I felt liberation from the arduous struggle for the soul of the ELCA and freedom for the shaping of a future church life in which I could joyously participate. I had hoped fo...

...to hear Whoopi Goldberg's take on sexual ethics . Is this how the film industry protects one of its own? See " Whoopi Goldberg on Polanski Crime ".

Last year we spent three hours at church one afternoon with Russian representatives from North Ossetia, talking on the subject of faith in the aftermath of tragedy. Many of these delegates were psychologists or social service professionals who had dealt with the aftermath of the Beslan School Hostage crisis , September 1-3, 2004. At the end of this siege on September 3, there were nearly a thousand casualties, including the death of 334 hostages, of which 186 were children. These workers had come to Virginia Tech a year after our 4.16 to dialogue with us. Most of the representatives were Russian Orthodox and spoke freely of their faith and relationship to the church. It was a precious and intensely moving time. One of them, a social worker, said that there is no problem for mental health professionals to advise their counselees to seek God and attend church, something not usually allowed to American mental health professionals. They said, "There is no possible answer in this lif...

Bigger than Jesus, indeed