Elections are special times in Canada where we, as a nation, can temporarily put aside our politeness and superficial notions of post-modern tolerance. Only at election time can we properly revile each other over our political affiliations. Gone are the usual "Well, you can believe what you want" and "good for you, glad that makes you happy" mentality. Usually polite neighbors can now truly express themselves by saying "How can you vote for that party? Are you stoopid?"
Maybe we take the gloves off because election results can actually affect our wallets.
Anyway, I am a bit of a news junkie, especially for Canadian politics and I will be glued to various news sites and some TV coverage. So, for the next few weeks my wife will once again be an election widow. Thankfully the Canadian election cycle is brief and intense. The American system would put serious strains on Naomi's patience. Two years is too long for election coverage!_____________________________________________
Maybe we take the gloves off because election results can actually affect our wallets.
Anyway, I am a bit of a news junkie, especially for Canadian politics and I will be glued to various news sites and some TV coverage. So, for the next few weeks my wife will once again be an election widow. Thankfully the Canadian election cycle is brief and intense. The American system would put serious strains on Naomi's patience. Two years is too long for election coverage!
Labels: Rants
He survived the systematized killing chambers and doctors of death of Nazi Auschwitz, and went on to create his own.
The Nazis systematically killed millions of powerless people, he has enabled many more millions of powerless people to be murdered.
They eliminated undesirables that they thought would undermine their society, he eliminates undesirables that may cause future crimes (by unloved and unwanted children).
Their worldview didn't see their victims as people, nor does his worldview see his victims as people.
He claims to prevent crimes and murders and save lives by taking lives.
His name: Dr. Henry Morgentaler, recipient of the Order of Canada._____________________________________________
The Nazis systematically killed millions of powerless people, he has enabled many more millions of powerless people to be murdered.
They eliminated undesirables that they thought would undermine their society, he eliminates undesirables that may cause future crimes (by unloved and unwanted children).
Their worldview didn't see their victims as people, nor does his worldview see his victims as people.
He claims to prevent crimes and murders and save lives by taking lives.
His name: Dr. Henry Morgentaler, recipient of the Order of Canada.
Labels: Rants
I have this foreboding feeling that my family is going to have a very unwelcome visitor.. one you dread its coming and wish for it to leave, but are virtually powerless to prevent. This intruder isn't a person, it is the Canadian government.
Usually, the news is a good antidote for happiness and contentment, but a couple of stories have stood out recently and gotten lots of attention in the press.
#1:: A Quebec court allowed a 12 year old girl to take her dad to court over his refusal to allow her to go on a school field trip. The judge decided that it was "excessive punishment" and permitted her to go on the trip.
An editorial in the National Post says this on the issue:
#2:: An unelected Liberal Senator brought forth a motion in the Senate to criminalize spanking.
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/
20080618/spanking_senate_080618/20080618/
While her motion passed in the Senate, it still needs to be approved by the House of Commons. The Senator has already stated that she will continue to bring this motion forward until it is accepted and made a law and she has been able to erode parental control and decision making.
Whatever you think on the issue of spanking, I think most people would agree that it is a decision that is best left up to the parents, not the nanny state.
_______
Does the state really know better than me how to raise my children? At times I think that they barely know how to run themselves, yet alone my kids. Should they have the right to stick their nose into my parental decisions that will affect the future of my child's development? They already have the education system, now they want my home.
And what about the ideas being promoted in general in our society? After several decades of increasingly liberal ideas of parenting, are they showing dividends in better behaved, more respectful, better balanced children who become better behaved, more respectful, well balanced citizens? No.. I think most observers would agree that our society is not on that idealistic upward spiral. Look at the problems faced in our school systems, workplaces and the general increase of other societal problems.. The spiral is going down, not up.
What are parents to do? On one hand some politicians are trying to interfere in families by saying spanking is a criminal activity and other forms of discipline should be use. On the other hand we have courts setting legal precedent that parents don't have the right to ground children. What is left? If this continues, then the decision making and leadership of families will shift from the parents to the children and the government, neither of which I trust to be making parenting decisions.
Where is my pen, I’m writing my Member of Parliament._____________________________________________
Usually, the news is a good antidote for happiness and contentment, but a couple of stories have stood out recently and gotten lots of attention in the press.
#1:: A Quebec court allowed a 12 year old girl to take her dad to court over his refusal to allow her to go on a school field trip. The judge decided that it was "excessive punishment" and permitted her to go on the trip.
An editorial in the National Post says this on the issue:
The courts have no business -- none -- in such routine family matters. This ruling is so profoundly intrusive we can only hope the Quebec appeals court strikes it down, and quickly.A 12-year-old Gatineau girl repeatedly disobeyed her father's rules about staying away from Internet chat rooms that he deemed inappropriate for a child her age. Eventually, she chose to circumvent his rules by going to a friend's place to access Web sites he had banned her from viewing at home. She then compounded her disobedience by posting salacious photos of herself on one of the banned sites. So the father grounded her, telling her she could not go on the year-end camping trip for her Grade 6 class.
The girl, whose parents have been divorced for a decade, then left her dad's house and moved in with her mother, even though the father has 100% custody. But because she still needed her father to sign the consent form for the field trip, she and her mother convinced a court-appointed lawyer to take the father to court.
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080620/
Quebec_appeal_080620/20080620?hub=Canada
#2:: An unelected Liberal Senator brought forth a motion in the Senate to criminalize spanking.
www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/
20080618/spanking_senate_080618/20080618/
While her motion passed in the Senate, it still needs to be approved by the House of Commons. The Senator has already stated that she will continue to bring this motion forward until it is accepted and made a law and she has been able to erode parental control and decision making.
Whatever you think on the issue of spanking, I think most people would agree that it is a decision that is best left up to the parents, not the nanny state.
_______
Does the state really know better than me how to raise my children? At times I think that they barely know how to run themselves, yet alone my kids. Should they have the right to stick their nose into my parental decisions that will affect the future of my child's development? They already have the education system, now they want my home.
And what about the ideas being promoted in general in our society? After several decades of increasingly liberal ideas of parenting, are they showing dividends in better behaved, more respectful, better balanced children who become better behaved, more respectful, well balanced citizens? No.. I think most observers would agree that our society is not on that idealistic upward spiral. Look at the problems faced in our school systems, workplaces and the general increase of other societal problems.. The spiral is going down, not up.
What are parents to do? On one hand some politicians are trying to interfere in families by saying spanking is a criminal activity and other forms of discipline should be use. On the other hand we have courts setting legal precedent that parents don't have the right to ground children. What is left? If this continues, then the decision making and leadership of families will shift from the parents to the children and the government, neither of which I trust to be making parenting decisions.
Where is my pen, I’m writing my Member of Parliament.
Labels: Rants
This past week has been a major deep freeze here in the West. In the last few days it has now warmed up to a lovely -20C. This blast of coldness has confirmed something that I have long suspected. For me it is now a profound, deep, meaningful truth:
Cold is cold.
When a comment is made about how cold it gets out here in Western Canada I have often heard people console themselves with the statement "But it is a dry cold". I don't find that comforting. I have also heard people talking about my home region, the East Coast, and exclaim that it is such a damp cold there, and that a -10C temperature there is far worse than a -20C here.
I will now testify that that isn't true. Cold is cold.
Weather for Sackville, New Brunswick today: Freezing rain warning, -9C, 64% humidity
Weather for Olds, Alberta today: Cold, -29C, 70% humidity - colder and more humid than Sackville which is going to get freezing rain.
A few days ago we had a low temperature of -34C (-29F). Even then humidity was hovering between 69 and 74%. Not very dry, but very, very cold.
These observations prompted me to further investigate the claims of "its a dry cold". A quick Google search turned up this weather lore from The Weather Network:
Moo = Ask me if this is a dry cold.
There you have it. Empirical evidence that the perceived benefits of a dry cold is a myth._____________________________________________
Cold is cold.
When a comment is made about how cold it gets out here in Western Canada I have often heard people console themselves with the statement "But it is a dry cold". I don't find that comforting. I have also heard people talking about my home region, the East Coast, and exclaim that it is such a damp cold there, and that a -10C temperature there is far worse than a -20C here.
I will now testify that that isn't true. Cold is cold.
Weather for Sackville, New Brunswick today: Freezing rain warning, -9C, 64% humidity
Weather for Olds, Alberta today: Cold, -29C, 70% humidity - colder and more humid than Sackville which is going to get freezing rain.
A few days ago we had a low temperature of -34C (-29F). Even then humidity was hovering between 69 and 74%. Not very dry, but very, very cold.
These observations prompted me to further investigate the claims of "its a dry cold". A quick Google search turned up this weather lore from The Weather Network:
I know many who have experienced cold stress, especially those of you on the Prairies, may take exception to this, but the assumption that dry cold is better than damp cold is largely a myth. Soldiers exposed to severe cold in climate controlled cold chambers did not find damp cold any more penetrating than dry cold, and if you consider the physics of heat transfer, the differences between the two are negligible. But why then do the majority of Canadians prefer dry cold to damp cold? One's perception of comfort or discomfort while exposed to cold air depends on several factors but let's just consider the weather conditions. Cold, dry days have usually sunny skies, high pressure and light winds - weather that is much more pleasing than overcast skies and shivering wind chill. Also soaking up sun's rays only adds to your comfort. So there's good reason to believe that you'll be more comfortable in a dry cold than humid cold, but it's not because of the difference in humidity. Of course, all this assumes one is not perspiring, his or her clothes are dry and it's not raining.
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/index.php?product=help&pagecontent= faq&pagecontent=weatherlore
Moo = Ask me if this is a dry cold.There you have it. Empirical evidence that the perceived benefits of a dry cold is a myth.
Labels: Rants
The whole world is reeling as a result of consumer and corporate greed.
Subprime mortgages allowed people to purchase the dream homes they really couldn't afford. Banks wanted to make more money off of the consumer. Things got bad for buyers. The house of cards got wobbly and started to collapse.
We can look at the history books at what happened in the Great Depression and see the simple mistakes in fiscal policies that led to that financial collapse. I don't think we learned much since then..
Sitting here in Canada I wondered how such an obviously dumb thing could happen again, not realizing the impact it would have around the world. In my ignorance, I thought it would have some big problems for our southern neighbors that would spill over some into other nations' economies, but nothing like what is happening. Our global economy is incredibly inter-linked.
Banks in London and other European nations in trouble because of the US housing market?
Canadian banks writing off billions?
Talk of the US dollar being abandoned as a currency backing in foreign nations?
One in forty-five US homes possibly facing foreclosure?
Worldwide recession?
Turns out that mortgage debt was being traded all over the world, so the impact may be global. Because of house buyers and corporations wanting more.
Greed has a price, and the whole world may have to foot the bill._____________________________________________
Subprime mortgages allowed people to purchase the dream homes they really couldn't afford. Banks wanted to make more money off of the consumer. Things got bad for buyers. The house of cards got wobbly and started to collapse.
We can look at the history books at what happened in the Great Depression and see the simple mistakes in fiscal policies that led to that financial collapse. I don't think we learned much since then..
Sitting here in Canada I wondered how such an obviously dumb thing could happen again, not realizing the impact it would have around the world. In my ignorance, I thought it would have some big problems for our southern neighbors that would spill over some into other nations' economies, but nothing like what is happening. Our global economy is incredibly inter-linked.
Banks in London and other European nations in trouble because of the US housing market?
Canadian banks writing off billions?
Talk of the US dollar being abandoned as a currency backing in foreign nations?
One in forty-five US homes possibly facing foreclosure?
Worldwide recession?
Turns out that mortgage debt was being traded all over the world, so the impact may be global. Because of house buyers and corporations wanting more.
Greed has a price, and the whole world may have to foot the bill.
Labels: Rants
Today is a big day in the town of Olds. The much anticipated Wal-Mart opens its doors. To commemorate this event, may I present the following Jib-Jab video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
I grew up as the son of a small business owner in a small town. Not much of a fan of ye ol' Big Box Marts.
PS. That song is going to be in your head for weeks._____________________________________________
I grew up as the son of a small business owner in a small town. Not much of a fan of ye ol' Big Box Marts.
PS. That song is going to be in your head for weeks.
Labels: Rants
Recently I came across an old email I had sent several years ago to a Christian college in Ontario. We had been invited to go to a youth event in Southern Ontario to set up a display, so we decided to take a couple students with us. The goal of the event was to share the Gospel with the youth in the town through a special drama presentation being performed by students and staff of that Bible college. We were pretty excited when we got there as there were over 300 teens in attendance and this looked like a great opportunity.
Unfortunately, the presentation of the Gospel in the drama was so muddled and messed up that anyone who was not already a believer must have been really confused. What was more disappointing was that the drama was written by the school's president! This raised some serious concerns about the school.
On the way home I asked the students what they thought of it. I figured this would be a good opportunity for discussion. They also had noted the confused message that was presented in the drama and were upset over the lost opportunity to share the simple Gospel truth. I was so angry with the whole event that the next day I decided to send an email to the person at the school in charge of evangelism.
From me:
Huh? I can't quite follow what he is trying to say.. What I had hoped for was something like how the Apostle Paul answered the same question in Acts 16:
Needless to say.. I'm not real impressed with that Bible school. When the answer to the most important question in the world is so messed up and confused, I can't imagine what the rest of their teachings would be like._____________________________________________
Unfortunately, the presentation of the Gospel in the drama was so muddled and messed up that anyone who was not already a believer must have been really confused. What was more disappointing was that the drama was written by the school's president! This raised some serious concerns about the school.
On the way home I asked the students what they thought of it. I figured this would be a good opportunity for discussion. They also had noted the confused message that was presented in the drama and were upset over the lost opportunity to share the simple Gospel truth. I was so angry with the whole event that the next day I decided to send an email to the person at the school in charge of evangelism.
From me:
"I have a question.. What do you think is necessary for salvation?"Response from the person in charge of evangelism at the school:
Interesting question to find in my email.
I think someone needs to be very human? and somewhat broken and humble because these are the things that God finds so attractive and the... one needs to pray and give up, that is, verbally in prayer, surrender to Jesus Christ, knowing that He died for all of our sins and that by surrendering our control of our life into His hands, we become changed, new and we become fully integrated into the family of God, that is, we become His children. This is what he wants, for us, to surrender to Him and be His children. This is salvation... This is what I believe and what my Bible tells me and I believe this with all my heart.
Huh? I can't quite follow what he is trying to say.. What I had hoped for was something like how the Apostle Paul answered the same question in Acts 16:
Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved"What a contrast... Believe on the Lord (God) Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Promised Deliverer) and you will be saved, vs. the strange, vague response about submission and humility. That has to be one of the most confusing attempts to explain the simple truths of the Gospel.
Needless to say.. I'm not real impressed with that Bible school. When the answer to the most important question in the world is so messed up and confused, I can't imagine what the rest of their teachings would be like.
Labels: Rants
Sell photos on photrade | By tjphoto
"Isn't the rainbow beautiful!" The storm had just passed and Jim and Rick were outside under the brightest and most colourful rainbow ever.
"It sure is, Jim. Just look at that blue! It's so... blue," said Rick.
"Yeah.. and then the greens and reds.. Wow. The rainbow is just so big and bright and beautiful.. I want to touch it."
"Sure, it is a nice blue."
"Eh? Yeah, there is some blue, but there is so much more! Just look at it.. The rainbow is.. majestic," Jim said in awe.
After some thought Rick said, "Hmm.. it's ok. It is just blue to me."
Taking his eyes off the rainbow, Jim is surprised to see that Rick is facing the opposite direction from the rainbow. "Rick, are you even looking at the same thing I am?"
When Rick turns towards his voice Jim is surprised to see that he is wearing a blindfold.
"Yeah, the blue rainbow."
"Rick, take the blindfold off and stop fooling around. This is so amazing.. you gotta see it!"
"Oh, I see it. It's blue. That is my favorite colour."
"No no no... It.. it has blue, but there is so much more to the rainbow! Just look at it.." Jim says as his voice trails off when he returns his gaze to the rainbow.
"Mmm.. blue..."
"Seriously Rick.. are you just making this up? It is so much more beautiful than just blue."
"But I like blue!" Rick said.
"What?! It doesn't matter what your favorite colour is.. The rainbow has many colours. It's amazing!"
"Jim, I know you have your ideas about what a rainbow looks like, but trust me, it's blue."
"How can you say that! It is right here for you to plainly see if you would just take the blindfold off."
"Ok, Jim, I can tell you are getting upset. I'm happy with my blue rainbow. We are just going to have to agree to disagree about this rainbow."
"Argh!" said Jim in exasperation.
_______
Sometimes I feel like Jim when talking to people about God.
God has revealed himself to us so clearly in His Word, the Bible. Yet so many people have their own made up god that has their favourite characteristics, with all their hopes for now and eternity based on nothing more substantial their own vague opinion.
If they would only take off the blindfold and see the full spectrum of God..
Labels: Rants
Here is a familiar scenario ::
Five hungry people decide to get pizza. Excellent choice. But a problem arises when it is revealed that two of the five want to have the abomination pizza: Hawaiian. So eventually a compromise is made. For the five people two pizzas will be ordered, one good one and one Hawaiian.
The two Hawaiian pizza lovers (HPL for short) will dutifully take a few slices of their Hawaiian pizza. Meanwhile, the other three good pizza lovers (GPL) look in dismay over their slice at this little pizza that has to be divided by the three of them.
Then it happens.. the HPLs decide that they also want to partake of the good pizza too (it is good after all) and take a slice or two each. The GPLs are distraught and hungry over this grave injustice. The end result of this sad situation: two full Hawaiian pizza lovers, three other hungry people, and four slices of unwanted leftover Hawaiian pizza.
_______________________
This is exactly the situation where a Pizza Eaters Code of Conduct is needed. What I propose is this:
Your comments are welcome. Oh, and Stephen Harper, if you have dropped by again, please talk to your guys about bringing this into law.
Five hungry people decide to get pizza. Excellent choice. But a problem arises when it is revealed that two of the five want to have the abomination pizza: Hawaiian. So eventually a compromise is made. For the five people two pizzas will be ordered, one good one and one Hawaiian.
The two Hawaiian pizza lovers (HPL for short) will dutifully take a few slices of their Hawaiian pizza. Meanwhile, the other three good pizza lovers (GPL) look in dismay over their slice at this little pizza that has to be divided by the three of them.
Then it happens.. the HPLs decide that they also want to partake of the good pizza too (it is good after all) and take a slice or two each. The GPLs are distraught and hungry over this grave injustice. The end result of this sad situation: two full Hawaiian pizza lovers, three other hungry people, and four slices of unwanted leftover Hawaiian pizza.
_______________________
This is exactly the situation where a Pizza Eaters Code of Conduct is needed. What I propose is this:
Should you be in a group and want a lesser pizza (be it Hawaiian, vegetarian, or really anything not loaded with cheese and meat) you must then consume only that lesser pizza. Once the others have sat back and loosened their belts you may then abandon your lesser pizza and proceed to eat a slice of the greater pizza (Meat Lovers, Canadian, etc.).
Your comments are welcome. Oh, and Stephen Harper, if you have dropped by again, please talk to your guys about bringing this into law.
Labels: food, ramblings, Rants
From the headlines:
Wow.. sounds bad.
_____________________________________________
There are ominous signs that the earth's weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production - with serious political implications for just about every nation on earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only ten years from now...
The evidence in support of these predictions has now begun to accumulate so massively that meteorologists are hard pressed to keep up with it....
Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. ... The longer the planners delay, the more difficult will they find it to cope with climatic change once the results become grim reality.
Wow.. sounds bad.Even though it sounds just like the stories we hear every day, this is actually from Newsweek's coverage of scientists warning about global cooling from their April 28, 1975 edition. See the whole report here.
Labels: Climate Change, Rants
I found this entry on andrewcoyne.com (columnist for the National Post) about sunblock rather interesting:
Take off the sunscreen
Classic. Decades of scare stories about the sun's evil rays, years of alarmist warnings by politicians and others ("for God's sake keep your kids out of the sun"), and what do we find is the major cause of cancer in northern countries? Lack of sunshine...:
For decades, researchers have puzzled over why rich northern countries have cancer rates many times higher than those in developing countries — and many have laid the blame on dangerous pollutants spewed out by industry.
But research into vitamin D is suggesting both a plausible answer to this medical puzzle and a heretical notion: that cancers and other disorders in rich countries aren't caused mainly by pollutants but by a vitamin deficiency known to be less acute or even non-existent in poor nations...
For many reasons, Canadians are among the people most at risk of not having enough vitamin D. This is due to a quirk of geography, to modern lifestyles and to the country's health authorities, who have unwittingly, if with the best of intentions, played a role in creating the vitamin deficiency...
Only brief full-body exposures to bright summer sunshine — of 10 or 15 minutes a day — are needed to make high amounts of the vitamin. But most authorities, including Health Canada, have urged a total avoidance of strong sunlight or, alternatively, heavy use of sunscreen. Both recommendations will block almost all vitamin D synthesis.
Ok, so this is a blog entry about a blog entry about a news article, but I can't help wondering what else the scientific community and governments might be wrong about that are driving policy and public education...
Labels: Rants
Some friends sent me a thought provoking article:
Read more at American Thinker: A Necessary Apocalypse
Certainly not a Christian work, but an interesting look at the history of environmentalism as a pseudo-religion, complete with it's own series of end-times apocalyptic events. If you are old enough (and I barely am..) you may remember some of the previous dire warnings of the doomsday scientists: nuclear winter; over population and world-wide starvation (which led to b-movies like Soylent Green); the global cooling scare of the '70s._____________________________________________
A man who ceases to believe in God does not believe in nothing; he believes in anything.
- G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
The apocalyptic vision of global warming serves a deep need of the environmentalist credo, the dominant pseudo-religious tendency of our age in the prosperous West.
For good or ill, human beings are constructed to believe, and faith has its demands.. Along with the concrete elements that demand belief (that fire burns and that it's not wise to walk off cliffs, for example) there exists an apparent necessity for a belief in "the rock higher than I" - a belief in a superior entity that can inspire awe and gratitude, that can be turned to in hard times, that can act as witness to injustice and dispenser of mercy.
Despite the claims of our current crop of militant atheists such as Dawkins and Harris, this is not simply brain-dead foolishness. Religious belief is hard-wired into human beings, by what means and for what purposes we don't yet understand.
When religious belief is subverted, it does not, as Chesterton implied, simply vanish. It is almost immediately replaced by another set of beliefs on a similar level of abstraction and serving the same purpose. Sometimes it's an import, such as Buddhism or TM. Sometimes it's a creed deliberately created to serve a political agenda, as we see in Nazism and Communism. Sometimes it's the goofy SoCal syncretism currently expressed in Wicca and Neopaganism. ("If people seriously want to be pagans," the late Joe Myers, a Christian brother of my acquaintance once said. "They'd become Roman Catholics.") And sometimes they're a combination, a weird melange of ideas picked up from various sources that (and usually not coincidentally) also serve a political purpose. Which brings us to environmentalism...
Read more at American Thinker: A Necessary Apocalypse
Certainly not a Christian work, but an interesting look at the history of environmentalism as a pseudo-religion, complete with it's own series of end-times apocalyptic events. If you are old enough (and I barely am..) you may remember some of the previous dire warnings of the doomsday scientists: nuclear winter; over population and world-wide starvation (which led to b-movies like Soylent Green); the global cooling scare of the '70s.
Labels: Climate Change, Rants
Forget the hype about storms, coastal flooding, or having to hang up my snow shovel. That is the small stuff. This is what scares me most about the climate change hype:
French president Jacques Chirac has hinted about the same thing in recent years, and you can see this working towards a single, world-wide government.
Now that is scary._____________________________________________
"Climate change is going to be more responsible for bringing about a borderless world than free trade," U.S. economist Jeremy Rifkin at the environment conference in France.CTV News article: Support shown for new global environment agency
French president Jacques Chirac has hinted about the same thing in recent years, and you can see this working towards a single, world-wide government.
Now that is scary.
Labels: Climate Change, Rants
The United Church of Canada is a very liberal organization that has questioned the deity of Christ, His resurrection, and virgin birth. It rejects the Bible as being verbally inspired by God. They face "a stunning 18-per-cent free fall in United Church membership" (MacLeans Magazine, Dec 1997 a great article describing a trend that has continued since then). It sees itself as an organization for important social issues (like this past summer's stand against bottled water), that is tolerant (except for conservative stands on theology and social issues), and open minded.
In light of all this, the United Church of Canada has launched a new advertising campaign. They have a number of controversial ads that they hope will provoke thought and discussion. They cover a number of areas such as parenting, homosexual marriage, how fun sex should be, the Bible, and Jesus.
Here is one of them:
"Want to explore your spirituality in a place that is as open-minded as you? Drop by wondercafe.ca and join in the discussion."
So I did.
Here is my first post on their Bible forum:
This ad boils down to the question “Did God really say…?”
People have been asking this question for a long time. In fact, it is the oldest trick in the book. Literally.
If the answer is yes:
then my disagreement is irrelevant. He is God and I am man. He is the perfectly loving and perfectly just Creator of me and everything else. If yes, then the Bible is God’s Word to man and we must accept the whole thing. If God said it, then our opinion must change to conform to His Word. We can’t change or disregard portions of His Word that do not conform to my opinion.
If the answer is no:
then the book is pointless and so is the church. Go find a secular social club to hang out in because the church has no authority and has nothing to offer but man’s opinions that are constantly changing. There are no real answers and everything truly is relative.
There can be no middle ground. No half and half. As unpopular as it may seem to this age of “tolerance”, it is either yes or no.
There have been a few responses and I have posted more replies to their forum over the last few days. I really don't know why anyone would bother to attend a service at the UCC. It seems so... empty.
_____________________________________________
In light of all this, the United Church of Canada has launched a new advertising campaign. They have a number of controversial ads that they hope will provoke thought and discussion. They cover a number of areas such as parenting, homosexual marriage, how fun sex should be, the Bible, and Jesus.
Here is one of them:
"Want to explore your spirituality in a place that is as open-minded as you? Drop by wondercafe.ca and join in the discussion."
So I did.
Here is my first post on their Bible forum:
______________________________________________
This ad boils down to the question “Did God really say…?”
People have been asking this question for a long time. In fact, it is the oldest trick in the book. Literally.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Genesis 3:1Satan used this question to plant doubt in Eve’s mind about the authenticity of what God had said. “Did God really say??” She chose to believe Satan rather than God.. with disastrous results. This is a question of the authority and authenticity of God’s Word. Satan has been using this same trick throughout the ages, and now The United Church of Canada is now asking us.. “Did God really say?”
If the answer is yes:
then my disagreement is irrelevant. He is God and I am man. He is the perfectly loving and perfectly just Creator of me and everything else. If yes, then the Bible is God’s Word to man and we must accept the whole thing. If God said it, then our opinion must change to conform to His Word. We can’t change or disregard portions of His Word that do not conform to my opinion.
If the answer is no:
then the book is pointless and so is the church. Go find a secular social club to hang out in because the church has no authority and has nothing to offer but man’s opinions that are constantly changing. There are no real answers and everything truly is relative.
There can be no middle ground. No half and half. As unpopular as it may seem to this age of “tolerance”, it is either yes or no.
2 Timothy 4:3I say yes, God really did say..
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
______________________________________________
There have been a few responses and I have posted more replies to their forum over the last few days. I really don't know why anyone would bother to attend a service at the UCC. It seems so... empty.
"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People... having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them."end rant.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Labels: Rants
Palestinians wielding guns and firebombs attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday, following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that angered many Muslims...
Later Saturday, four masked gunmen doused the main doors of Nablus' Roman and Greek Catholic churches with lighter fluid, then set them afire. They also opened fire on the buildings, striking both with bullets.
In Gaza City, militants opened fire from a car at a Greek Orthodox church, .... Explosive devices were set off at the same Gaza church on Friday...
Firebombings left black scorch marks on the walls and windows of Nablus' Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches. At least five firebombs hit the Anglican church and its door was later set ablaze. Smoke billowed from the church as firefighters put out the flames.
In a phone call to The Associated Press, a group calling itself the "Lions of Monotheism" claimed responsibility for those attacks, saying they were carried out to protest the pope's remarks in a speech this week in Germany linking Islam and violence.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,214128,00.html
Can they not see the irony of carrying out violent attacks to protest being called violent? I wonder what they would do if they had a chance to meet the Pope.. would they hold a gun to his head and force him to say that they are not violent?
The media just reports the events, but I think they are too afraid to actually point out the irony.
As my dad used to say.. "It boggles my mind!"
Update: Some Australian media had insightful editorials here and here.
Labels: Rants
Found a great article about the hysteria that we had last year in the wake of the hurricanes last summer. Remember all the hype saying it was all because of global warming and that this summer would be worse? Turns out that the predictions were wrong, so were the reports that there are more happening in recent years that any time in the past. Anyway, this article is a good read._____________________________________________
Labels: Climate Change, Rants
A church that is relevant and tackles the issues that matter
0 Comments Published on Friday, August 18, 2006 at 8:27 PM.
< sarcasm >
Forget those petty issues of the spiritual needs of the world, or even poverty, disease or war, these guys are looking at the big picture, the things that will matter for eternity!
< /sarcasm >
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060818/bottled_water
Finally, a church with convictions, one with a strong moral stand, a church that is doing something!!
That is what Canada needs!
That and more snow in the summer._____________________________________________
Forget those petty issues of the spiritual needs of the world, or even poverty, disease or war, these guys are looking at the big picture, the things that will matter for eternity!
< /sarcasm >
Canadian Press
"The United Church of Canada plans to ask its members to stop buying bottled water....
...
"The main thrust is our concern about the privatization of water,'' Richard Chambers, the church's social policy co-ordinator, said Friday from Thunder Bay.
"The United Church is committed to supporting municipal water sources wherever they exist in the country and strengthening those.''
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060818/bottled_water
Finally, a church with convictions, one with a strong moral stand, a church that is doing something!!
That is what Canada needs!
That and more snow in the summer.
Labels: Rants
Heard about the photo fraud in Lebanon?? It is where a few "news journalists" have taken liberties with the photos that they present as truthful images of the war to make things look worse or more dramatic. See a slideshow of some of the photos here._____________________________________________
Labels: Rants
My brother-in-law found a recent speech by British PM Tony Blair who had some very insightful observations about the problems in the Middle East. Give it a read._____________________________________________
Labels: Rants
It really annoys me to hear about the government of France condemning Israel for their attacks in Lebanon.
It is very easy for them to say such things as they sit in their relative security. They are not the victims of nearly daily terrorist attacks and rocket attacks from both within their border and from another nation. They don’t have their civilians being killed by those who want every single citizen of their nation to die. How easy for them to condemn Israel.
What would the French Government do if they were surrounded by nations that wanted to destroy them? Oh that’s right.. they pandered to those who wanted to invade until they finally were overrun by aggressive enemy armies. One big difference between Nazi Germany and Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, Iran, Hamas, etc, etc, etc, is that they don’t merely want to occupy their land, strip it of resources and subjugate their people. They want to exterminate the Jews. Well, unlike the government of France, Israel has a backbone and they are fighting for their very existence, and they won’t take France’s lead on this.
Perhaps the French government needs to remember some recent history.. the history of hundreds of thousands of foreign troops dying on their soil to help liberate them.
Maybe France is just mad because they lost the World Cup (and just about every other international thing they get involved in).
Maybe France's politians should just keep quiet and go back to their pompous self-obsession.
end rant._____________________________________________
It is very easy for them to say such things as they sit in their relative security. They are not the victims of nearly daily terrorist attacks and rocket attacks from both within their border and from another nation. They don’t have their civilians being killed by those who want every single citizen of their nation to die. How easy for them to condemn Israel.
What would the French Government do if they were surrounded by nations that wanted to destroy them? Oh that’s right.. they pandered to those who wanted to invade until they finally were overrun by aggressive enemy armies. One big difference between Nazi Germany and Hizbullah, Islamic Jihad, Iran, Hamas, etc, etc, etc, is that they don’t merely want to occupy their land, strip it of resources and subjugate their people. They want to exterminate the Jews. Well, unlike the government of France, Israel has a backbone and they are fighting for their very existence, and they won’t take France’s lead on this.
Perhaps the French government needs to remember some recent history.. the history of hundreds of thousands of foreign troops dying on their soil to help liberate them.
Maybe France is just mad because they lost the World Cup (and just about every other international thing they get involved in).
Maybe France's politians should just keep quiet and go back to their pompous self-obsession.
end rant.
Labels: Rants
A friend sent me a link to a video with interviews of psychologists about the scientific methods of their trade and their ability to cure people. Very interesting..
http://www.cchr.org/uploads/video/no_science.wmv
Note: While I recommend this video, the site this video is on is from a group associated with Scientology, and I certainly don't condone that group._____________________________________________
http://www.cchr.org/uploads/video/no_science.wmv
Note: While I recommend this video, the site this video is on is from a group associated with Scientology, and I certainly don't condone that group.
Labels: Rants
Cartoon by Gary Varvel. Published in Time, Apr 3/06
In the days following 9/11, western leaders and liberal religious figures were falling over themselves to claim that the religion of the airplane terrorists was a “religion of peace”. They claimed that the true core of that religion was non-violent, tolerant, something to be trusted. The terrorists were extremists, not representative of mainline believers (at least not those located in western cultures).
Taliban flashbacks
Under the religious Taliban, Afghanistan was one of the most opressive, restrictive nations in the world. Now we see the new, free, de-Talibanized, and democratic Afghanistan putting a man on trial for converting from the state religion to Christianity. The constitution of Afghanistan calls for such converts to be tried and put to death. That same constitution is based on the state religion. Ok, so the government is a bit heavy handed.. what about the people? The call from the masses and "senior religious leaders" is that if the state doesn’t kill this guy, they will. Tolerant? No. Extremists? Mainline, in Afghanistan at least. A religion of peace? You decide.
Labels: Rants
