Representing...

Now when was the last time you saw a true-blue Reformed pastor on a major network's morning show representing?  Please pray for him.  [He is afterall trying something new for us Calvinists - arguing with someone who is not another Christian!]

Half a Century Later ...

"If our society seriously wondered whether or not to denationalize the lighthouses, it would not wonder at all whether to nationalize the medical profession."

- William F Buckley, 1964

A Comfortable Tyranny

The past shows unvaryingly that when a people’s freedom disappears, it goes not with a bang, but in silence amid the comfort of being cared for. That is the dire peril in the present trend toward statism. If freedom is not found accompanied by a willingness to resist, and to reject favors, rather than to give up what is intangible but precarious, it will not long be found at all.

—  Richard Weaver, 1962

Book List [what I've been reading these days] ...

you are what your mind eats ...

IOUSA - YOU MUST WATCH IT.

In the house of the wise are savings of delicious food and oil, but a foolish man spends all he has. - Proverbs 21.20

The Huffington Post called IOUSA "the single most important film you will see this year[2008]." I am inclined to agree [w/ exception of Expelled].

Watch the entire thing here, thanks to google.video.

Our 1st Month of Homeschooling

Well, we're approaching the end of our first full month of homeschooling and I'm happy to report that we're all still alive and in love with each other. My wife has been a regular superhero through it all and when I get home and spend time in the evenings and Saturdays working with the boys, I'm continually astonished at their progress.  
We follow the Classical method, which sounds impressive, but it simply means that right now our main objective is memorization. At their ages [5 and 3] comprehension is burdensome for the most part. So I sat down and wrote up a list of about 100 things I wanted them to know [and/or do] by the end of the year. I call it the Kindergarten Big 100.

COLLISION DVD - released date: October 27

If this trailer doesn't give you goosebumps, find out what God thinks of you here.

Collision Movie Trailer from Gorilla Poet Productions on Vimeo.

In Honor of National Black Poetry Day

On Being Brought From Africa To America

'TWAS mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew,
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
'Their colour is a diabolic die.'
Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain,
May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.

Phillis Wheatley.

Family Finance in One Easy Lesson

In Context

As our churchplant group has been working through the concept of covenant, I’ve been struck by how easy it is to miss the parts of our faith and thought that are the most basic. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me as someone who resisted Calvinism for years. As these things are becoming more clear to me, I’ve come to understand that in order to read any Bible verse in context, you have to start reading at the first page of Scripture. The context of any given verse in Colossians is not simply the start of its paragraph – it is the entire ancient legacy, from the Edenic prophecies that were made as the fiery cherubim was descending from Heaven, and every subsequent prophecy from every millennium since.

Education: An Oasis

The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.

--C.S. Lewis

Historic Charismania

Those who, rejecting Scripture, imagine that they have some peculiar way of penetrating to God, are to be deemed not so much under the influence of error as madness. For certain giddy men have lately appeared, who, while they make a great display of the superiority of the Spirit, reject all reading of the Scriptures themselves, and deride the simplicity of those who only delight in what they call the dead and deadly letter”.

- J Calvin, Insitutes, I.9.

The Real Jesus

“I think we have to get passed importing our own notions into Who Jesus was and what He was like. You read through His life and uh … He wouldn’t’ve faired very well in many-a Sunday School.”

- Christian singer and song writer, Jamie Soles, answering a question about a children’s song he wrote inspired by the Psalmist’s sentiment of rejoicing at the destruction of God's enemies.

True North

How many times have you heard this one? "The Bible isn't a textbook of ..." If this is true, then just how, specifically and concretely, does it provide answers for life's problems? Either it answers real-life problems, or it doesn't.

In short: Does the Bible make a difference?

Let's put it another way. If a mass revival at last hits this nation, and if millions of people are regenerated by God's grace through faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ at Calvary, will this change be visible in the way new converts run their lives? Will their politics change, their business dealings change, heir families change, their family budgets change, and their church membership change?

In short: Will conversion make a visible difference in our personal lives? If not, why not?

Second, 2 or 3 years later, will Congress be voting for a different kind of defense policy, foreign relations policy, environmental policy, immigration policy, monetary policy, and so forth? Will the Federal budget change? If not, why not?

In short: Will conversion to Christ make a visible difference in our civilization? If not, why not?

- Gary North, What are Biblical Blueprints? [photo: mises.org]

Forget Swine Flu - watch out for Guitar Hero-itis!

"Get out of the house because those video games are death."

- Aaron Fotheringham

Born with spina bifida,17 yr old Fotheringham invented "hardcore sitting" [extreme wheelchair stunt riding]. He's pictured below performing his signature wheelchair back flip [the first person ever to do so].

Now, I have no intention of encouraging my sons to spend 4 hours a night practicing skateboard tricks. But I can't help but admire this kid. It makes me marvel at the 'dominion potential' our sons possess, even those with providential handicaps. Aaron is gaining publicity these days, but says - in his typically soft-spoken and humble way - that all he really wants is to keep getting better and find some guys who can give him some competition. What a kid! In his own way, Aaron Fotheringham is a true inspiration. [photos: top: Lisa Wyatt; bottom: Bancroft Media]