Shotguns and Rifles

Some apologists are snipers, delicately, surgically dealing with opposition with carefulness and nuance.

Others wield sawed-off shotguns, "painting with broad strokes." They sense urgency. They don't have time for nuance.

They're both aiming at the right enemy. Both are needed for the advancement of the Gospel.

When spheres overlap

I just heard the Pedro the Lion song "Indian Summer" being used as bumper music on the Dave Ramsey radio show.

Sometimes, it is bizarre in the extreme when seemingly disparate spheres of my life overlap.

Not to mention, what a lyrically bizarre song choice for a show about personal finance.

Good manners

Spurred by this post at Irish Calvinist.

Gratitude is not "good manners." Teaching kids their "pleaseandthankyou" is worthwhile depravity suppression, and makes for more pleasant conversation, but it is not the same as giving them grateful hearts. We are selfish, greedy sinners, all of us. Gratitude is an affection of a man who knows he is undeserving, not of the entitled.

If most Americans were honest they would say:

"Why should I be thankful? What I possess is only mine because I earned it, or stole it from you. I deserve life and clothing and food and health. I DESERVE IT. I have a RIGHT to it. Thankfulness is unbecoming of self-actualized captains of their own destiny."

But that would be rude. Our mothers taught us to say "please" and "thank you."

I'm grateful for the Rebirth, grateful for a heart that loves God's law, grateful for a grateful heart.

Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving! Read a Puritan.

Romans 5:1,
Pilgrim

Bad Religion was wrong about the Puritans

Puritan work ethic maintains its subconscious edge
While "Old Glory" maintains your consciousness
- Bad Religion, "You Are the Government"

They were wrong about the Puritan work ethic. It's basically gone. I don't have it like my dad does, nor he like his father, and so on. By grace, forgetting what lies behind....

Here's why I'm thinking about it today: A fine piece in the WSJ about overcoming depression.

Often misunderstood and perennially maligned, the Puritans—tested first by religious persecution and later by the elements in their primitive surroundings—grew not into the fuddy-duddy party-poopers of modern history books, but into a tenacious and stalwart people. They developed by sheer necessity one of the most highly defined and well-honed work ethics in history. If anyone knew a trick or two about surviving hard times, they did.

Man, it would be so cool if someone eulogized me as "tenacious" and "stalwart."

HT: BikeBubba

Narrow? Nah. Just microscopically focused.

Heidelblog, describing a magazine:

"Christian Renewal, a small, Canadian magazine targeted at the Doyeweerdian, neo-Kuyperian, Dutch-Reformed community north of the border"

:-)

I guess it's good to know your target demographic.

Hopeful Monsters

I admit it, my CD player is stuck in 1998, despite all Jeff's efforts to drag me into the present.

But if you like raw, energetic, science-fiction inspired punk rock parables about Christ and him crucified, I commend (once again) Blaster the Rocketman's album The Monster Who Ate Jesus.

Enjoy the brutality:






EQUAL RIGHTS FOR WEREWOLVES!

Uncorrect

A fine summary of the Ft. Hood atrocity: The Latest Islamic Terror Attack

Political correctness is an internal gag order. Political correctness is the ultimate gag order, it bludgeons your brain like brass knuckles, until you feel ashamed for speaking the truth. Eventually you will gag yourself, you'll self-censor, because you feel guilty for thinking your thoughts. And guilt is a very, very effective motivator.

Refuse to feel guilty for seeing and speaking the truth.

If you read this blog

I want to know your opinion.

Do you believe the world is getting, and shall continue to get, better and better, or worse and worse?

I don't beg for comments often, people. Humor me just this once.

And have a good weekend.