The most recent version of this post is available here.
“Love often manifests itself in giving people what they can’t appreciate and don’t want, and
in demanding from them precisely what they most want to retain for themselves.” — Tom
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Monday, November 21, 2016
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Motion Granted
(Isaiah 53:10, KJV)
“This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
(Matthew 3:17, KJV)
Not only the King James Version but many English
translations of the Bible, old and modern, use the word “pleased” in both verses,
accurately reflecting the meanings of the relevant words in each original
language. Both the Greek and Hebrew words translated “pleased” have wide
semantic ranges and are frequently rendered as “pleasure” or “delight”.
Still, it seems obvious to us that there
are two very different kinds of pleasure in view here.
Labels:
Christ
/
Crucifixion
/
Isaiah
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Matthew
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Too Hot to Handle: Canadians Under Siege
In which our regular writers toss around
subjects a little more volatile than usual.
For
Canadian Christians, our situation will probably turn on whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes his cues and influences from The Donald or from the
inevitable moral drift of the last eight years of Leftist dominance.
Labels:
Justin Trudeau
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Persecution
/
Social Justice
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Too Hot to Handle
Friday, November 18, 2016
Too Hot to Handle: The Trump Years
Anybody
bristling at the thought of one more word about last week’s U.S. election is
advised to turn back here. But I promise this two-parter is absolutely our
final discussion of the subject for a while — at least until President
Trump actually assumes office and does something worthy of commentary.
Assuming,
of course, we are allowed to comment.
Labels:
Church
/
Donald Trump
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Elections
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Politics
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Too Hot to Handle
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Nobody Says ‘Meh’
The dromedary is singularly unimpressed. |
meh
EXCLAMATION
informal
Expressing a lack of interest or enthusiasm:
‘meh, I’m not impressed so far’
Tayyab Babar wants to help people speak persuasively — a highly useful skill whatever your subject. Theoretically, if you follow Tayyab’s rules, fewer people will say “meh” when
you’ve finished expressing yourself.
For public speakers, this would be a
good thing.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
I Got Your Back — For What It’s Worth
“Sure, run with it.”
“I trust your judgment.”
Some people need approval more than others.
Some don’t really care one way or another. But nobody — and I mean NOBODY —
is truly averse to hearing others enthuse about their ideas, even if the
humbler ones among us sometimes find it a little embarrassing.
Three times in 1 Samuel 14
somebody gives positive feedback about the plans of another. In one case the
approver is clearly right; in another the approvers are clearly wrong; and in
the third instance it doesn’t seem to matter much either way.
It’s a good reminder that over-reliance on the
encouragement of others is pretty dubious practice for the follower of God.
Labels:
1 Samuel
/
Counseling
/
Wisdom
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Bringin’ the Crazy
YouTube is full of
videos of disappointed young liberals screeching out their rage and fear
at the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency. Mainstream media outlets run
pictures of crowds carrying signs that read, “If you don’t REVOLT, you can’t
complain”, “Not my president” and “I’m afraid for my country”.
I’m reminded of the
proverb that says, “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
Labels:
Anxiety
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Donald Trump
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Elections
/
Fear
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Proverbs
Monday, November 14, 2016
No More, Eleanor
There’s no single — or simple — explanation for their loneliness. There are those who, often through no fault of
their own, are social misfits, unable to successfully relate to those around
them. There are those whose days are solitary as a result of their own life choices, and those who are housebound because of disability or age, and those who have lost
a life-partner whose companionship cannot be replaced. Then there are people
who, despite being surrounded by caring friends and family, feel a deep-seated
and abiding loneliness because they cannot make one particular relationship
work, and that absence matters to them so much that every other blessing in their lives
pales into insignificance beside it.
Add it all up, and more than a few of us feel very much alone in this world, and those who are
not lonely now may well be lonely later.
Labels:
Loneliness
/
Proverbs
Sunday, November 13, 2016
More Use from His Enemies
― Baltasar Gracián
I can’t help but notice that all through
the trial and execution of Jesus — at least seven times in Matthew 27
alone — enemies and bystanders cannot seem to avoid testifying to the exemplary
character of the one they are busily engaged in putting to death, a fact that
is both remarkable on its face and corroborative of Gracián’s adage.
If such a thing has ever happened before or
since, I’d be more than a little surprised.
Labels:
Christ
/
Crucifixion
/
Matthew
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Inbox: Richard Carrier’s Moral Philosophy
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
Atheism
/
Inbox
/
Richard Carrier
Friday, November 11, 2016
Too Hot to Handle: Evangelical Idiots and the Death of America
In which our regular writers toss around subjects a little more volatile than usual.
Tom: Immanuel Can, today I’m feeling the urge to talk about Craig James.
Craig is the author of the book The Religion Virus: Why We Believe In God (he doesn’t). He is a blogger with a site also called The Religion Virus. I’m not so much interested in his atheism (because we’ve done that, and recently), but in his enthusiastic mischaracterization of the beliefs of Christians.
Labels:
Craig James
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Evangelicalism
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Neo-Calvinism
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Recycling
/
Too Hot to Handle
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Nothing to Worry About
The other day I happened
across a series of comments responding to a post that referenced in passing the
words of the Lord in John 17. You remember: the part where Jesus prays, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may
believe that you have sent me”.
What did the Lord mean? I have rarely
encountered greater diversity of opinion about just a few words. One person even not-so-tentatively floated the proposition that the Father has answered his Son’s prayer in the
negative.
I’m thinking Eh, not so much.
Labels:
Denominationalism
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John
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Unity
Wednesday, November 09, 2016
The Point of the Exercise
The most recent version of this post is available here.
Labels:
1 Samuel
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David
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Leadership
/
Saul
/
Shepherds
Tuesday, November 08, 2016
The Commentariat Speaks (5)
One feature of this election cycle that
will stick with me is the Christian reaction to revelations of venality and
outright criminality in the lives of public figures.
Sure, a few expect it. I’m afraid I’m among
them. While mildly disappointed, we are rarely surprised. We shake our heads
and carry on, thinking “There they go again” and “There is nothing new under
the sun”.
But a large number of believers — whether
because they are low-information voters or just good-hearted souls — have such
difficulty processing the facts that they lag behind even uber-liberal actress
Susan Sarandon, who concedes that the Democratic National Committee is “completely corrupt”.
Labels:
Evil
/
The Commentariat Speaks
Monday, November 07, 2016
Quote of the Day (26)
I have great appreciation for people who stick to the sola scriptura principle; people who are
willing to go to the wall for what they believe the Bible teaches. It
shows sincerity and courage, qualities that are most admirable.
But what do you do when, year after year after year, the
facts on the ground stubbornly refuse to conform to your theological schema, a
system of thought you are convinced is entirely scriptural?
Labels:
Douglas Wilson
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Politics
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Postmillennialism
/
Prophecy
/
Quote of the Day
Sunday, November 06, 2016
Everybody, Take a Holiday
Unless the political process degenerates even
further (and we certainly can’t rule that out given the revelations of the last
few days), by Tuesday we MAY have some idea who will serve as the next
president of the United States.
Many commentators have expressed concern
that even if, against all odds, Donald Trump should somehow win the presidency, he will be unable to deliver
on the numerous promises he has made on the campaign trail — the “big,
beautiful wall” comes to mind — because even if the House and Senate
retain Republican majorities (which is by no means guaranteed), neither
legislative branch will agree to forward a Trump agenda.
To which I reply, “Uh ... so what?”
Labels:
1 Samuel
/
Donald Trump
/
Government
/
Hillary Clinton
Saturday, November 05, 2016
C.S. Lewis Goes YouTubing
Embedding is disabled by request on these
C.S. Lewis videos posted on YouTube, but I’m happy to be able to
link to them. They are way too much fun.
If you haven’t seen a “doodle” before, it’s
a video enhanced with what looks like an animated chalkboard scrawl that
illustrates the content being narrated for you. Someone has gone to the
trouble of doodling at least thirty readings from the beloved Christian apologist.
Labels:
C.S. Lewis
Friday, November 04, 2016
Too Hot to Handle: Crossing Jordan
In which our regular writers toss around
subjects a little more volatile than usual.
Coming soon in your size and mine |
Tom: U of T trans studies instructor Nicholas Matte has called on
Peterson to “stop abusing students”. But the threat of having to appear before
the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal doesn’t seem to bother Professor Peterson.
He’s drawn a line in the sand: “If they fine me, I won’t pay it. If they put me
in jail, I’ll go on a hunger strike. I’m not doing this, and that’s that. I’m
not using the words that other people require me to use. Especially if they’re
made up by radical left-wing ideologues.”
A tempest in a teapot, Immanuel Can? Or
something more serious?
Labels:
Jordan Peterson
/
Millennials
/
Political Correctness
/
Social Justice
/
Too Hot to Handle
Thursday, November 03, 2016
Here, Let Me Fix That For You
As I have mentioned
many times before, Doug, despite being postmillennialist Calvinist Reformed
(is any of that redundant?) is one of my favourite Christian bloggers. He’s
been on a tear lately about unity in the Body of Christ; a very reasonable
concern that is close, I suggest, to the heart of our Saviour.
Labels:
Douglas Wilson
/
Unity
Wednesday, November 02, 2016
Threatened by Intelligence
A series of studies done at University of Buffalo, California
Lutheran U. and the University of Texas, Austin, appear to show that while many
men say they would like a partner who
is smarter than they are when the question is purely hypothetical, when
confronted with the reality they really … don’t.
“Six
studies revealed that when evaluating psychologically distant targets, men
showed greater attraction toward women who displayed more (vs. less) intelligence
than themselves. In contrast, when targets were psychologically near, men
showed less attraction toward women who outsmarted them.”
This is surprising? Seriously?
Labels:
Intelligence
/
James
/
Proverbs
/
Wisdom
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