A question for Stephen Hawking

According to physicist Stephen Hawking, God did not create the Universe.  "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing."  It is "because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing."  (Link here.)

But here's my question for Professor Hawking . . . why is there a law such as gravity?  Who created it?

"Let's remember, our rights and our privileges flow from our creator and not from our member of Congress."

-Tim Pawlenty, in Iowa this weekend.  (Link here.)

Maybe somebody should tell Elena Kagan.

If only . . .

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, claims that her favorite word is "the Word."  The Word made flesh through Jesus Christ.  (Link here.)  "And that Word is," Pelosi continued, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."

I certainly wish that Ms. Pelosi would live up to that.

She should, especially since she realizes that "we have to make sure we're prepared to answer in this life, or otherwise, as to how we have measured up."

Maybe it is time to stop supporting the widespread destruction of human life Madam Speaker.

What happens when Christians turn the other cheek?

Link here to see.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I think that turning the other cheek is noble and the right thing to do.  It does seem rather unfair and backward, though, like life itself.

Easter

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!"  Luke 24:5-6 (NIV)

Christ is risen!

Happy Easter everyone!

Good Friday

"Are ye able," said the Master,

"To be crucified with Me?"

"Yea," the sturdy dreamers answered,

"To the death we follow Thee."

Lord, we are able.  Our spirits are Thine.

Remold them, make us, like Thee, divine.

Thy guiding radiance above us shall be

A beacon to God, to love and loyalty.

(Words by Earl B. Marlatt, Music by Harry S. Mason.)

Maundy Thursday

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."  In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."  For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV)

The return of the Big Fat Who Cares Department: on religion and homosexuality.

According to Elton John, noted biblical scholar (ha!), Jesus Christ was gay . . .

"I think," Sir Elton said, "Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems.  . . .  Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving."

Does the fact that Jesus was compassionate or the fact that he was super-intelligent or the fact that he understood human problems constitute evidence of homosexuality?  Does the fact that he wanted us to be loving and forgiving mean that he was gay?

Of course not.  

And, I really want to know, why do any of us care what Elton John thinks about the sexuality of Jesus?

The War on Children

The inconvenient truth behind the environmentalist movement is the belief that human beings are parasites destroying the planet.  And now, they're out to eradicate babies.  Don't believe me - check out these two links . . . Chinese delegate to Copenhagen Conference calls for population control to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and a Canadian newspaper calls for "a planetary law" limiting women to birthing only one child to prevent overpopulation.

Human beings were created by God in His own image.  And God gave humanity dominion over the earth.  The environment is here for us - not the other way around.  Flora and fauna are natural resources to be used and conserved - not conserved for their own sake but for future generations of human beings to use.

Imagine a world without brothers, sisters, aunts or uncles.  What a horrible world this would be without family relationships.

By the way, if you think about it, unless you're a first-born, these folks think you should cease to exist.  You are killing the planet.  And none of you should ever have been born.

The Big Fat Who Cares Department is Back . . . and a link the greatest celebrity endorsement speech in American history, as relevant as ever

A music writer at the Associated Press gives us this Gordon Sumner gem . . . "Sting isn't a religious man but he says President Barack Obama might be a divine answer to the world's problems.  'In many ways, he's sent from God,' [Sting] joked in an interview, 'because the world's a mess.'  But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world's problems.  In an interview on Wednesday, the former Police frontman said that he spend some time with Obama and 'found him to be very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world.'"  (Link to full story here.)

So Sting - a musician - is now throwing his celebrity-weight behind Obama.  He thinks he's great.  There's no policy analysis here, just Sting saying, essentially, "I met him and, gosh, he's really neat."

Whoopty-flipping-do!  WHO CARES!

Not me, of course.  Celebrities coming out and expecting us to listen to them on issues because of their celebrity status really annoy me.

Don't get me wrong.  Celebrities have the right to an opinion, and the right to express it.  And if they can back up the opinion with reason and logic, that's wonderful.  The best example of that in American history is Ronald Reagan's speech entitled "A Time for Choosing," which was delivered 45 years ago yesterday in support of Barry Goldwater for president.  If you want to recharge your conservative batteries - and see the type of celebrity support that we should all care about - link here.

Who is running the White House these days?

The Dalai Lama is in Washington this week and, for the first time since he started visiting the U.S. in 1991, America's president has refused a White House meeting.  (Link to story here.)

It begs the question, doesn't it.

What's the difference between God and Barack Obama?

God doesn't think that he's Barack Obama.

I know, I know.  It is an old, possibly bad joke.  Maybe even a cheap shot.  But check out the link below.  Even if the president doesn't, it sure as **** looks like Obama's supporters think he's God.

 

(Thanks to the Timman for posting this video at his blog, with his own Catholic twist.  Link here.)

China vs. Church

If you believe in God, check out this story and then see how you feel about the Chinese government owning most of our national debt.

The battle is on . . . Planet vs. People

Scientists at Oregon State have a suggestion on how to save the planet from greenhouse gasses . . . stop reproducing.  Yep.  That's their plan.  They want to save the planet (for what or whom I don't know) from human babies.  (Link to story here.)

What's next?  Saving the planet from toddlers?  Adults?  Old folks?

The global warming nuts have picked sides in what they see as a raging battle between human beings and what they believe is an imminently and easily destructible planet.  

Their premise is wrong and they've picked the wrong side.  They've picked the side of the inanimate and soul-less planet and ignored the value of individual people.  You.  Me.  Your kids and grandkids.  They're saying it would be better if some (or all) of us had never been born.

Yes, human beings use the resources of the earth.  But, guess what, God gave us the earth and its resources to use!  We should do what we can to preserve the planet, but why?  For future generations.  Yes, those very generations of children that we're no longer supposed to have.

The bounty of the earth is plentiful.  Be fruitful and multiply.

Down the slippery slope

As my friends (and even sorta-friends) know, I'm not fond of "slippery slope" arguments.  But this situation can't be ignored . . . a test to determine the gender of unborn children as soon as eight weeks after conception is on the market, over-the-counter, in Australia.  (Link to story here.)  For $125.00 parents can buy a urine test to determine if their baby is a boy or a girl.  Some parents may just be curious or need to get a head start on painting their nurseries pink or blue but I doubt it.  Can't wait for the ultrasound?  Come on.

The real reason to test for gender so early in a pregnancy is to abort before anyone knows that a woman is pregnant - or before she might change her mind and grow fond of the child - and then try again if life's lottery* didn't provide the wanted boy or girl.  This test is going to lead to abortion for gender selection.  There is no doubt.

Technology, research, scientific advancement . . . I'm all for it.  But just because humanity has discovered "how" to do something, that doesn't mean that we "should" do it.

Hopefully, this cancerous new technology can be contained in Australia.  But the slope seems awfully slippery.

*As an aside . . . I know that "life's lottery" doesn't really exist.  God chooses a baby's gender.  Every boy and every girl is a gift.  But, I can't imagine that most of the people who will buy this gender test even believe in God.  If they did, how could they consider destroying His creation?

Who thinks America is a Muslim Country?

Barack Obama, apparently.  He told a French television reporter that the United States is "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."  (Link here.)

To be fair to Obama, he was probably trying to talk about numbers, not values or cultures.  But in that, he's flat out wrong.  (Facts here.)

But I don't really care (at least not enough to post) that Obama's either lying or mistaken about population numbers.  Lies from this politician are expected and mistakes the norm.  What I care about is a president claiming that our country is Muslim in any way.

If anything, America would be a Christian nation, based on our founding and populace . . . but it isn't.  It isn't Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, or any other religion either.  It is a nation where church and state are separate.

Shouldn't it be completely foreign for any American of note to describe our country as a Muslim nation?  Wouldn't such a verbal stumble - if it was one - be followed by an immediate correction?

America is a secular state.  We have a large population of religious people, many of whom are Muslim.  Why didn't the president say something like that instead?

Time to get the government out of the business of defining marriage

"Gay rights" activists and their opponents have placed and kept the issue of same-sex marriage in the forefront of the news for several years.  The latest battlefield has been California, where the state's Supreme Court first struck down a ban on the practice, then voters passed a new ban, which the Court has now upheld.  (Link to story here.)

But what is marriage anyway?  And what institutions should be allowed to determine who can and can't be married to one another - or what "marriages" must be recognized by what institutions?

Should the government, state or federal, be the decider?  (Thanks to George W. Bush for bringing that silly word into common parlance.)

No.  Backing the government as the institution to define private social order seems out of whack to me.  I know that government has assumed the role for years, centuries even.  But should government be allowed to tell churches, denominations, or religions (most of which don't recognize or allow same-sex marriage - link here for a rundown).  Again . . . no.  Government telling Catholics or Mormons or Southern Baptists or Methodists or Muslims that two men or two women are "married" doesn't seem right to me.  And it wouldn't seem right that government could tell members of the United Church of Christ or Reformist Jews that gay couples could not be wed.  To me it is a matter of religious freedom and government has no place.

But the issue does not stop there.  Gay couples don't just want to be "married."  They want the rights and privileges that extend to married couples in the law.  And that is a different issue.  It is the government's place to determine whether or not couples, gay or straight, should be given legal advantages over individuals or other groups.  Those issues could and should be addressed cooly, calmly, and individually rather than collectively in the heated debates that we've seen over same-sex marriage.

Barack Obama . . . covering up Christianity

President Obama gave a speech in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University (a Catholic institution, by the way).  

Here's a photo of what Gaston Hall normally looks like:

And here it is, "decorated" for Obama:

Notice anything missing?  Or should I say covered up with black-painted plywood?

That's right.  The cross and the "IHS" monogram, symbolic of the name of Jesus.  They were covered at the request of the White House.  (Link to story here.)

The president wouldn't want to be photographed around too much evidence of Christianity, I suppose.  

Who knows, doing that might have gotten his name on a watch list at the Department of Homeland Security.

(Credit where credit is due.  The photos used here were found at this link.)

Happy Easter!

While these Easter greetings are coming a day late, they are no less sincere.

My best wishes to all my readers, your families, and friends.  Praise God for the gift and resurrection of our Savior.

Christ the Lord is risen today!  (Just like yesterday.)

Good Friday

"With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God."  -Mark 15:37-39 (NIV).