Not that I know what he is talking about since the chances of me reading a Vampire romance are less than zero, but Douglas Wilson is reading Twilight and writes critiques on each chapter at the Credenda Agenda web site. They are hilarious. The latest is linked here.
I am (predictably) thrilled that Scott Brown won on Tuesday. That said, it never ceases to amaze me how people get so totally overwrought about the least little nothing in the aftermath of such big stories. Two points to consider.
First, people are already speculating about whether Brown will run for President or be Sarah Palin’s VP in 2012. Good grief. The man hasn’t even been sworn in as a senator yet, let alone cast a vote or participated in debate. Why on earth would anyone get this far ahead of themselves?
Second, there’s a pretty dumb kerfuffle going on in certain quarters of the blogosphere about a one-liner in Brown’s victory speech about his daughters being “available.”
Thankfully, Ayla Brown, one of the available daughters, has given an interview where she shows that she has a better grasp that many commentators do:
“I had no idea he was going to do that. I saw the script and there was definitely no mention of that. It was totally off script,” Brown said in a phone interview squeezed in between classes at Boston College.
She admitted that she was slightly embarrassed. “But that’s what gives people a chance to see my real dad.”…
“That is incredible. It just surprises me that people can be so negative,” Ayla said. “I feel as though all fathers across the nation can relate to having daughters and having these conversations…That’s our dad. There’s nothing creepy about it at all.”
Really, this is nuts. I think these people need to lighten up.
This is starting to break into the mainstream press, so perhaps you’ve seen this already. However, it’s such a fascinating potential development, that I have to comment.
Scott Brown is the Republican nominee for the senate seat from Massachusetts that is open as a result of Ted Kennedy’s death. The election is next Tuesday, and pits Brown, a state senator, against Martha Coakley, the sitting state attorney general. Now, MA is probably one of the bluest states in the union. However, the last few polls out on this race have shown it incredibly close, with one poll even showing Brown ahead by a point.
Making matters even more interesting, Brown has made the race an open referendum on ObamaCare, stating forthrightly that he would be the 41st vote to filibuster the existing bill. This has made him an internet phenom - he raised $1M yesterday, mostly in small donations of $5-10 and most coming from out of state.
Yesterday was the last debate, and by all accounts, Brown did very, very well. Quoth Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:
While most of the post-debate attention has focused on Scott Brown’s Reaganesque moment in declaring that the Senate seat doesn’t belong to the Kennedy family or the Democrats but to all Massachusetts voters, Coakley had a Gerald Ford-esque moment on the war in Afghanistan. She declared Afghanistan to be terrorist-free and wants the troops to come home now:
Wow. Sometimes in politics, there are moments that really show you that a tide has turned. I thought Obama’s election was one of those times. Interestingly, now it seems not so much. In fact, if MA elects a Republican to the senate, that will be more than the tide turning - it will be a political tsunami.
Like I said in the previous post, the RPC Book Group is looking forward to a new slate of books! As has been our custom, we have selected 11 works, both fiction and nonfiction and including one Shakespeare.
We hope you will join us in 2010. Please do NOT feel bound to come for the whole year. If there’s a particular work or works you want to interact with, please watch the bulletin for announcements. The list below is generally a book per month list for your reference.
The thing I hear most about why people don’t come is that the books seem too heavy, etc. Obviously, enjoying the written word is a common denominator among all our folks, but the group effort in reading, interpreting and discussing the ideas contained in what we read is where the fun is. That makes the heavy thoughts/writing styles, etc. not only bearable, but enjoyable. It also provides a sense of accountability and encouragement to read books we might not otherwise pick up.
At any rate, here is the list- join us next year as you can! True Spirituality Schaeffer, Francis
Beautiful and the Damned Fitzgerald, F Scott
Thomas Aquinas (sel. Writings) Aquinas, Thomas
Violent Bear it Away O’Connor, Flannery
Mind of the Maker Sayers, Dorothy
The Odyssey Homer
Richard III William Shakespeare
Augustine of Hippo Brown, Peter
Picture of Dorian Grey Wilde, Oscar
Girl Meets God Winner,Lauren
Demons Dostoevsky, Fyodor
Well, it’s hard to believe 2009 is coming to a close.
The RPC Book group has been down several different roads this year. We have seen glimpses of God’s Glory and Grace an much of man’s depravity through 11 vehicles of literature.
We have wandered from 20th c Vienna to the rural South to California to strange unnamed lands and found the human predicament consistent with what we are taught in Scripture. We really sin- a lot and we really need a Savior- a lot!. Thanks be to God, we have one in Christ! We also spent some time looking at orthodox Christian belief, the sacrament of Communion and Godhead-centered worship. That’s not even taking rabbit trails into the mix!
I’ll post about what’s coming in 2010 shortly- you won’t want to miss it!
As a reminder, here are the books we read together:
Thunder at Twilight Morton, Frederic
Everything That Rises Must Converge O’Connor, Flannery
East of Eden Steinbeck,John
Mystical Presence Nevin,JW
Blood Meridian McCarthy, Cormac
One Hundred Years of Solitude Marquez, Gabriel Garcia
Better Way Horton,Michael
Tempest Shakespeare, Wm
John Calvin: Steward of God’s Covenant Calvin, John
Heart of the Matter Greene,Graham
Christianity and Liberalism Machen, J Gresham
In the Christmas spirit, I’m offering up two simply unbelievable intersections of Jesus and Santa Claus. The second is definitely by Christians; the first by someone I believe to be a Christian, because when he was interviewed, he said that Christmas was supposed to be about Jesus, which I doubt a non-believer would be saying these days. So assuming that we’re dealing with Christians all around, here are two commentaries on Jesus and Santa:
Yes, you are seeing Jesus holding a double barrel shotgun, having just shot Santa Claus. You can read the full report, complete with video, here. The creator of this display, who claims it to be a work of art, intends it to be a commentary on how Christmas has been commercialized.
Now, before offering any comment on this, I’ll offer the contrast of the second item:
That gem was found on a local church’s signboard. (Increasingly, I think that the best thing that government could do for the church would be to ban these signboards, stopping Christians from saying things that make them look like morons.)
OK, so here we have two vastly different views of Jesus and Santa. On the one hand, Jesus is popping a cap in Santa and on the other, Jesus sort of becomes Santa, complete with the list of naughty and nice. Poor Santa just can’t win, can he?
Really, what this proves to me is how utterly the church writ large has failed to comprehend Jesus, despite having the Scriptures and thousands of years of learning about them. Of the two, I think that the signboard actually displays the worse misapprehension. The implication of Jesus having a list and checking it twice is that he’s going to find out who’s a good little boy - getting salvation in his stocking - and who’s been a bad boy - getting a lump of Satan’s coal in his. So to be saved, you’d better be good, for goodness sake!
This is works righteousness taken to its logical conclusion. How this squares with anything Jesus ever said to a pharisee, anything Paul ever wrote - indeed, with the entirety of Scripture is lost on me. What the Bible actually teaches is that we are all desperately wicked, despite any of man’s outer appearances of being good little boys and girls. Of course, for the modern American church, this is unpalatable in the extreme. So instead, it transforms Christ into jolly old St. Nick, allowing its members the illusion of working their way off the naughty list and onto the nice list. But really, Santa is much less threatening that the Christ of the scriptures, isn’t he?
All of which brings me to the dead Santa scene. This one actually caused me to have several different reactions, because, unlike the signboard, there is an element of truth to this guy’s point. No one can reasonably dispute that Christmas has been commercialized to obscene extremes. Also, it is true that Jesus is going to ultimately judge the world and will destroy such things.
That said, it seems that the guy who created this is missing several pretty important points. As a Christian, one should understand that the commercialization of Christmas springs from our completely self-centered, greedy, depraved natures as humans. Would taking out Santa stop that? I realize that Santa may be seen as a symbol for such, but I don’t think it’s obvious that this was the intent of the guy who set this up. He clearly rails against commercialization, but that’s the symptom, not the disease.
Also, I don’t think that the image of Jesus with a shotgun is exactly the way to convey either divine displeasure with commercialization or the way judgment will be carried out. The shotgun implies a very human vigilante-style justice, which is a far cry from the perfect judgment that will be carried out at the last day.
Taking both pieces together, though, it strikes me that the modern church must really be lacking for understanding of Jesus to try relating him to Santa Claus. Maybe the ones who need to get back to the true meaning of Christmas aren’t all the pagans around us, but church itself.
From the Onion, no less.
Imagine that: teaching depravity through satire!
Best line:
“We’ve tried behavior modification therapies, but children actually learn from our techniques and become even more adept at manipulating others while concealing their shameless misanthropy,” Singh said. “Sadly, experience has taught us there is little hope for rehabilitation.”
“Just look at the way most adults act,” Singh added.
It seems that when we don’t know what to say, most of us go ahead and say something anyway. One of the most asinine comments is often heard in funeral parlors during “visitation.” It is, “doesn’t he (she) look natural?” I say asinine because the one thing the deceased most certainly do not look is natural. At least, no dead bodies I’ve ever seen did. They look the very opposite. Death is the most unnatural and horrible phenomenon there is. It is the ultimate enemy…as well as the ultimate consequence of our collective sins, beginning, of course, with our first parents. That is one reason the sermon series we’ve been hearing on Corinthians is important and dear to me. A lot of people I love have died in my lifetime, and it has never felt right or natural. It feels very wrong. The sudden loss and complete disconnect with a big part of your life. The emptiness. The helplessness. Once someone has died, there is NOTHING you can do to help them…comfort them…bring them back into your earthly existence. I am so Thankful to be told, with the authority of God’s word, that this horrible enemy is being conquered and will be completely destroyed one day…that death will die….or, as the scriptures say, be “swallowed up in victory.” Only then will everything resume its state of creation. Only when there is no more death will everything be fully “natural” again.
I perused a toy catalogue that came in my mail from a large chain…wondering what’s popular with kids now. No real surprises, thankfully. The usual fare. What bothered me was the “take” on boys’ toys vs. girls’ toys. The girls’ lead page … and I quote: “she already thinks she’s a princess…make it official.” The boy pages lead quote, ” gifts that inspire good behavior….toys for boys.” Now, this statement about the boy toys is certainly not true in my opinion…I mean … it’s the usual guns, games, fast cars…dinosaurs, power vehicles and power action figures…etc. They’re obviously the things boys enjoy…the major theme being power. So why the odd intro….things that help boys behave? You want your girls to feel empowered….like princesses. But the boys, well…you just want them to behave? Personally, I WANT our BOYS to feel empowered….brave….strong… warriors for all that is right. I know it’s messy, though. I raised three boys. You don’t make warriors at tea parties. Don’t get me wrong, I want boys who respect authority, know what it means to be under authority, and who learn self-control and thoughtfulness for others. What I detest, though, is our cultures’penchant to try and feminize boys….make them kind and gentle creatures who wouldn’t hurt a flea if they knew it carried the plague! So….from a Christian mom who wants boys to be boys and men to be men….I encourage you parents of boys to let them climb, push, run, jump, hunt, take some chances, get a few knocks and bruises and learn to jump up, brush off, and keep going..always protecting the fair damsels in their midst (sisters, classmates, mom, etc.) at the same time…maybe even treating them like princesses from time to time, because they have the strength, power, and right-headedness to do it.
Though this seems impossible, it was twenty years ago today that the Berlin Wall fell. By the time I studied in Germany in 1993, what had been THE symbol of the iron curtain had been reduced to a small patch in the concrete in front of the Brandenburg Gate. As the wall fell, I remember the utter shock that this was actually happening, since of course before 1989 the conventional wisdom was that such was impossible. It was, in many ways, a whole new world. The “Evil Empire” was about to vanish.
Twenty years later, I’m not sure very many people remember this or even care. President Obama couldn’t be bothered to attend, sending Hillary in his stead. I suppose that Germany was OK for a campaign rally, but not so attractive when the celebration turns to the defeat of communism.
So to commemorate, I post again what was one of the best speeches ever delivered by my political hero, Ronald Reagan.
Try to imagine this sort of clarity of purpose coming from any contemporary politician. If you can, your imagination is more vivid than mine.
