The San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting article about the effect of Obama on certain people.  Now those of you know this is not, and will never be a political blog. I encourage people to vote and vote their conscience knowing that there will never be a candidate that perfectly aligns to all of one's political, moral, intellectual or philosophical convictions.  So when November rolls around, vote for the candidate of your own choosing. 

Yet sometimes in the political posturing, commentary and banter some interesting things are said "out there" - On Friday, there was just such a strange article on the San Fran newspaper's web site.  Here is an excerpt from Is Obama an enlightened being? Spiritual wise ones say: This sure ain't no ordinary politician. You buying it?

Dismiss it all you like, but I've heard from far too many enormously smart, wise, spiritually attuned people who've been intuitively blown away by Obama's presence - not speeches, not policies, but sheer presence - to say it's just a clever marketing ploy, a slick gambit carefully orchestrated by hotshot campaign organizers who, once Obama gets into office, will suddenly turn from perky optimists to vile soul-sucking lobbyist whores, with Obama as their suddenly evil, cackling overlord.

Here's where it gets gooey. Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment. These kinds of people actually help us evolve. They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul. 

That quote will make premil anti-Christ hunters out there a bit freaked out and will make some political hacks want to puke.  To me it smacks of new age silliness and is another line in the long record of human beings putting their trust in human princes, rather than in our creator.  Kingmakers will soon abound...pundits will urge you to put your hope in McCain or Obama.  It seems everyone will want to be Hillary's very best friend.  Well maybe some will never desire to be bff with Mrs. Clinton.

Yet I am reminded today of the truth of Psalm 146 in light of such outlandish comments about a mere man.

146:1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

3 Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

10 The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the Lord!

Yes, do vote.  For Obama or McCain or write in Ron Paul or Hillary if it so suits your conscience. Yet do not trust in new political regimes to fix your own heart or redeem the world in the end.  This job belongs to another - and he will come on his own terms, not on the whims of a fickle, self serving electorate.

(HT - Uncommon Descent)

I just read an interesting BusinessWeek article on the documentary 2 Million Minutes which chronicles the high school experiences of 6 students: 2 from the US, 2 from India and 2 from China. Here is the trailer below...interesting stuff. 

My friend Owen Strachan comments on a recent article in the New York Times Magazine article by Elizabeth Weil.  The piece is lengthy and focuses on the issue of single sex educational philosophy (keeping boys with boys, girls with girls and forsaking the co-ed classroom). 

Owen has called my blog and writing "punchy" - not sure what that means. I think I find his a bit "serious." But I did hang with him for dinner and coffee for a long evening once...and he is a really cool guy to hang with and has a great mind.

Forbes has up featuring the most sinful American cities. The technology is cool as well because a simple mouse-over will show the areas of the country which are the greediest, most lustful, etc. It uses the seven deadlies. It is true that Bible Belt folks are the fattest and and laziest. The West has its share of lust, the Mormons are full of pride and Tony Soprano was from New Jersey.  It seems that Memphis is just jealous, fat and lazy. 

Here is the link

(HT Al Mohler) 

John Markoff of the New York Times recently caught up with Steve Jobs to discuss all things Apple and technological.  Many of you know that Jobs just recently gave his MacWorld keynote and rolled out several new products.  An overpriced, too little time, DRMed, movie rental store on iTunes with a good selection and a Thin notebook called the MacBook Air.  All things buzz around Jobs and everyone who knows him says he likes it this way.  So it Markoff's piece is interesting tech journalism but a quotation found therein was a bit ridiculous. In belittling the Amazon Kindle e-book strategy Jobs made the following comment:

“It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,” he said. “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.”

This is a prime example of why marketers cannot influence the future through leadership and must only follow the dollar signs of the masses and what they think people want.  Now, I do not want to sound arrogant, but sometimes this amounts to a capitulation rather than leadership.  My kids "want" to eat bad food all day, but as a parent/leader, I lead them to finer dining because it is what they need.  There are several problems with Jobs' quote. 

First, it assumes that people were not reading when they read his quote.  I know he is referring to "books" but people are still reading Steve - hello POCBlog reader. Second, it commits what philosophers call the IS/OUGHT fallacy.  Simply because something IS a certain way, does not mean that it OUGHT to be that way.  Of course this deals in ethics and views of the common good, not just "what sells."  Jobs only concern appears to be the latter.  We ought to be (sorry) concerned in helping literacy, not capitulating to literary decline in culture.  Jobs seems to be saying that a gadget whose focus is reading book is flawed, because the kids don't read good any more.

So what should we do with challenges like "people not reading?" My conviction would be to help people love to read.  Because reading...well, its fundamental.  The same thing can be said in the church.  People say that the Christian community don't read deep things, doesn't care about theology, only reads books full of lightweight kitsch...blah, blah, blah.  The marketers therefore flood the bookstores with such stuff and do not help the problem a bit. Our response was to start a young adult ministry that had these things at the center rather than giving in and just entertaining the folks with a get a date club ministry.  I write for Inversion, not for publishers.  I commend thinking, feeling, aching, caring and theology - not shallowness because that is what the folks want.  My goal is not to make it big, strike it big, but to establish people in the gospel and a sacrificial commitment to actually following Jesus.  The result - our people's joy in God and Jesus' mission going forth.  So when Steve Jobs says "nobody reads anymore" - just reply, "Well, I do!" and go spread your tribe.  When people say that nobody cares about theological reflection anymore - I just reply "Well, we do!" and may the tribe increase.

 

 

My friend Tim Dees takes Gloria Steinem to task in one of his excellent Fact of the Day essays.  He also has a good one on "Brooklyn" which is quite humorous.  Check him out at http://www.thefotd.com/

The Steinem piece I have grafted in here below as well.  Just trying to prove my masculinity...Here is Tim's review of the recent NY Times Op Ed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

A STEINEM ON HER REPUTATION

Amid all the bad things that can be said about this election, there is one good thing that I can say: we have the most diverse presidential field ever, and the candidates are being judged on their merits, not on the color of their skin or their gender.  This isn't a universal truth yet, but Barack Obama's success and Hillary Clinton's relative success indicate that non-white male candidates now have a chance.  This is great news.

It would take a real killjoy to turn this expression of egalitarianism into a platform to tell everyone that they're racist or sexist, but Gloria Steinem had an op-ed piece in the Times today that did just that.  I've never been a fan of the way the Times op-ed page is edited (I use the term loosely), but Steinem's piece is particularly fatuous.

For the full argument, read the article yourself (it's available here), but in short, Steinem states that (a) Barack Obama would never have a shot if he were a woman, and (b) Hillary Clinton is losing the election because she is a woman.

Like all Hillary Clinton supporters, Gloria Steinem believes that the key to being president is experience.  That is certainly true in the insurance industry, but that's really about it.  Abraham Lincoln had minimal experience; Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson each had more experience than half the Democratic field combined.  Americans aren't looking for someone experienced, they're looking for someone they can believe in.

It's this commitment to the message of experience that leaves Steinem confused.  How can Iowans reject the more experienced candidate?  And here Steinem starts kicking in the Freud: "children are still raised mostly by women (to put it mildly) so men especially tend to feel they are regressing to childhood when dealing with a powerful woman."  Gotcha, guys!

When Steinem tries to explain why she supports Clinton, things really fall apart: "I'm supporting Senator Clinton because like Senator Obama she has community organizing experience, but she also has more years in the Senate, an unprecedented eight years of on-the-job training in the White House, no masculinity to prove, the potential to tap a huge reservoir of this country's talent by her example, and now even the courage to break the no-tears rule."  Take a careful look at qualification #4: "no masculinity to prove."  I'm no Barack Obama expert, but I don't picture him as the kind of guy who's always challenging people to arm wrestling matches and accepting dares to drink hot sauce.  What Steinem is saying is that every male is fundamentally deficient, because he feels compelled to prove his masculinity.

But that's not all.  Check out this paragraph:

"What worries me is that some women, perhaps especially younger ones, hope to deny or escape the sexual caste system; thus Iowa women over 50 and 60, who disproportionately supported Senator Clinton, proved once again that women are the one group that grows more radical with age."

Note the massive assumption that a vote for Hillary is a "radical" vote.  I can't honestly say why voting for a woman is more radical than voting for a mixed race candidate, but that's an assumption that Steinem made without support.  It's worth noting that college students, known for being radical, are polling hugely in favor of Obama.

So at the heart of this article are two huge assumptions: that men feel compelled to prove their masculinity, and that voting for Hillary is radical.  You could call these prejudices.
 

 

YWAM has released a deal about the recent murders of four of their staff by a gunman on their campus in the Denver suburb of Arvada, Colorado. You can read it here. 

Police are investigating whether this shooting and the one which took place yesterday in Colorado Springs are related.  Sad stuff.

Not that polls mean much but I can across one this morning that seems indicative about American's views of their government.  Personally, I often feel more purple than Red or Blue and don't hear much vision in the politics of the West.  Anyway, we don't do much politics here on the POCBlog, but this did match some things I feel about things today.

A quick excerpt:

The dismal assessment of the Republican president and the Democratic-controlled Congress follows another month of inconclusive political battles over a future path in Iraq and the recent Bush veto of an expansion of the program providing insurance for poor children.

The bleak mood could present problems for both parties heading into the November 2008 election campaign, Zogby said.

"Voter turnout could still be high next year, but the mood has turned against incumbents and into a 'throw the bums out' mindset," Zogby said.

Here is the link: Voters unhappy with Bush and Congress

 

BusinessWeek has an interesting article on the state of alternative energy technology.  I am a big fan of utilizing new science to generate energy...one of the challenges is developing sources that are sustainable economically.  The article talks about the state of developing technologies and some of the companies looking to bring them forward.

Here is the link 

Some of you know that I spent six years at Virginia Tech starting a ministry there with varsity athletes, a large portion of which were on the Hokie football team.  I have been asked several questions over the years about Mike and have been somewhat hesitant to speak.  For one, I do know Mike and spent some time with him at Tech before he went big time.  Second, when someone has that much spotlight on him, is given that much money it is a little tough to know what affect that has on a person.

Some of you may have seen the press conference where Vick issued his apology.  If not it is available here.

I guess the most frequently asked questions I have been asked about Mike are: 1) Do you think he did it (recently this has been asked over and over) 2) What do you think he thinks about God?  The second question is of more interest to me.  You see, I do pray for Mike and have since 1998 when I first met him.  As he is likely to go off to jail in the near future my prayer remains what it was after our discussions about Jesus on the VT campus.

• That he would learn the gospel of grace proclaimed in the New Testament.
• That someone would have both the time and opportunity to teach him about life and godliness.  Our few times were cut short by too much fame, way too quick.

He did cruel things to both animals and to himself.  There is no excuse for this.  But I do pray that he is established in the Jesus he spoke of so publicly today.  Will this happen? I really don't know.  But I still hope so...

According this AP story, one out of four adults did not read a single book last year.  Is there hope for us?  Well, maybe these critters will read.  Not likely.

I'll refer back to my protest in favor of books...continuing a crusade in favor of reading...not backing down one bit.

It seems this self-proclaimed Jesus Christ is getting divorced. If you are not familiar with this guy, he claims to be Jesus come back again. This time he doesn't believe in sin or hell - and instead of "having no place to lay his head" he rolls in luxury cars and rolex watches. Sad that this sort of deception continues today.

Here is a video from CNN

(HT - Garrett Kell) 

New York Magazine has an interesting study on the effects of "over-praising" your kids to the point where they are afraid to try anything, work hard, take risks...you can read it here.

I agree with most of it.  For instance, this type of stuff is ridiculous:

Since the 1969 publication of The Psychology of Self-Esteem, in which Nathaniel Branden opined that self-esteem was the single most important facet of a person, the belief that one must do whatever he can to achieve positive self-esteem has become a movement with broad societal effects. Anything potentially damaging to kids’ self-esteem was axed. Competitions were frowned upon. Soccer coaches stopped counting goals and handed out trophies to everyone. Teachers threw out their red pencils. Criticism was replaced with ubiquitous, even undeserved, praise.

We know that esteeming the self, self-exaltation, etc. is nothing more than veiled pride.  The soul's gaze need be turned outward not upon itself in order to find life.  Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes by John Piper:

We are all starved for the Glory of God, not self.  No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem.  Why do we go?  Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self.  Indeed, what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on the speck called earth, standing in front of the mirror trying to find significance in his own self-image?  It is a great sadness that this is the gospel of the modern world. 

John Piper, Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, (Wheaton:IL, Crossway books 2001) 21. 

Self obsession is a particularly terrible form of idolatry...for in trying to think so highly of ourselves, we realize that we fall so short.  When you think you suck and are trying to find self-esteem the stifling prison that forms is unbearable.  We need to gospel to escape such self-inflicted straight jackets.

The article is not completely down on praising your children, but reminds that all praise is not equal.  Vain and empty praise stultifies.

But all praise is not equal—and, as Dweck demonstrated, the effects of praise can vary significantly depending on the praise given. To be effective, researchers have found, praise needs to be specific. (The hockey players were specifically complimented on the number of times they checked an opponent.) Sincerity of praise is also crucial. Just as we can sniff out the true meaning of a backhanded compliment or a disingenuous apology, children, too, scrutinize praise for hidden agendas. Only young children—under the age of 7—take praise at face value: Older children are just as suspicious of it as adults.

One last quote about the value of persistence and perseverance.

“A person who grows up getting too frequent rewards will not have persistence, because they’ll quit when the rewards disappear.”

Old School people simply called this “spoiling the kids”

From a worldview perspective the article falls way short of dealing with humans as humans.  The worldview of the article is completely reductionistic when viewing people. It is almost like the parents view their kids as a computational, evolutionary pleasure seeking meat machines that you use different inputs in order to manipulate to the right outcomes. This is the overarching view of the article – whether to praise or not praise – their view of human beings is still pretty mechanistic.

Scripture teaches the value of perseverance, suffering, and challenge to the human soul. It teaches us to discipline kids, not spoil them. It teaches us to have them live for different treasure than the praise of men or the rewards they are given. A lot of my aversion to buying our kids so much stuff is that I fear them not seeing the struggle of life, not be broken and dependent on the gospel of grace and thereby losing their souls to this trivial American world of which we are a part.

Kairos Journal has a troubling article on the health of homosexuality. The link has several footnotes which add to the main text of the article...

Here is the link: How Healthy Is Homosexuality?

For two days only, June 27-28, the Desiring God Online Store is offering all their
books for just 5 bucks.  So if you have not purchased that John Piper book you have been eying - I would say tomorrow is the day.  

 
Some people are getting hyped up about Friday's iPhone - I am pumped for Wed/Thur and getting a bunch of copies of Battling Unbelief to give to our people.

 

Robert Koons, professor of philosophy at University of Texas at Austin, has also just converted to Roman Catholicism - See his post at Right Reason - It is interesting to see how the new perspective on Paul has contributed to many peoples "re-vision" of justification by faith alone.

Dr. Koons, like Beckwith, is a trained philosopher (a very good one as well) - I am sure many Protestant thinkers may point the finger wholesale at the discipline of philosophy - I hope this is not the case.

By now most everyone has heard much about the recent remarks made by Talk radio and television host Don Imus.  Imus hosts the popular syndicated show Imus in the Morning which is distributed by Westwood One and MSNBC.  If you have not heard what went down on the Imus show a week or so ago, I'll catch you up on the story.

Basically, Don Imus and his producer were doing their show commenting on various items in the news etc.  They began to discuss the recent NCAA Women's Basketball Championship game when they turned to the Rutgers women's team and rained out some terrible insults.  Now Imus is one who has insulted people plenty in the past - a display of the lack of civility in our culture where the ad hominem reigns.  An AP article on the incident records the following: 

While Imus has used his show to spread insults around — once calling Colin Powell a "weasel" and other times referring to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as a "fat sissy" and former Colorado Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, an American Indian, as "the guy from `F Troop'"

The comments that followed have brought outrage across America from people from all walks of life.  You can hear the comments at YouTube. In light of his misinformed perception of the ladies from Rutgers, he referred to their tatoos and called them "nappy-headed hos."  Since then there has been a firestorm of media attention, Imus has offered his apology, has been suspended by the network for two weeks, and sponsors have dropped the show, and may be fired from his job.  There is much talk going on about speech, racism, culture - and hopefully some good will come from all of this.  In light of this I want to comment briefly on the situation as well.

The Remarks In Themselves

First of all, the remarks in themselves are deplorable and disgusting.  This is the case from several angles which we don't want to overlook. The remarks were derogatory and racist.  Nappy headed and hos were directed at the black women on the court - everyone knows this and this is a primary reason for the outrage. The remarks were made about women he did not know, are young college women, who did not deserve to be used to try and make a joke.  As has been seen, these women on the Rutgers team, black and white, are women who are of high character and esteem.  The comments of Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer are revealing:

Before you are valedictorians of their class, future doctors, musical prodigies, and yes, even Girl Scouts," she said. "They are young ladies of class, distinction, they are articulate, they are brilliant, they are gifted. They are God's representatives in every sense of the word."

The Rutgers women had just over achieved at the highest level of their sport.  They had accomplished something very remarkable in the world of women's basketball, and some guys tried to have fun at their expense.  One of the tests of human action is that people should not be treating as means to other ends.  People have value due to what they are.  I can only guess how the mothers and fathers heard Imus' remarks - I know how this father's heart would have felt. 

Imus is a White Man

I have read some commentaries which try to shift this conversation from what it is to a commentary on the nature of discourse in rap music and the black community.  This sort of language is common in media, music, and popular views of women in the black community.  I even watched some guy's video complaining of the "hypocrisy" of the black community.  For some reason, we as white people fail to see at times that our words and actions carry different weight with black people because we are white.  We forget that for hundreds of years white folk enslaved black folk.  We forget that just a generation ago in the south, Jim Crowe still strutted down the streets.  We forget that white people still have a sick supremacist view of their culture over others and that  comments like those from Imus confirm many of our black brothers and sisters heartfelt suspicions.  That this is just the way white people are.  In listening to the Imus clip, you hear a guy trying to sound ghetto in talking about the Rutgers team, trying to be hip and funny.  Are these remarks appropriate if they come from a black rapper?  Of course not.  Are they more loaded when they come from the mouths of white folks - absolutely.  People fail to see this. 

I sensed a similar frustration this week in reading a tragic commentary about the state of black men in American in the Tennessean.  At the bottom of this passionate plea by a black man for more men to mentor and help guide the young brothers of the world were some of the most asinine comments I have read.  You can read it all here.  My conclusion sometimes is that people can be so culturally blinded that they don't give a rip about their neighbors.  It is hard not to get frustrated with a white culture that hides from other people in the "the right neighborhoods" all the while looking down on a culture and people enslaved by our forefathers for centuries.  When people say "why are they like that?" "Immigrants do better in life in just a few years in America...Why is that?" I just want to go nuts. 

Moving Forward

I always believe that grace and forgiveness along with appropriate consequences is the way forward.  Our racial conversation in America, with all its pain, awkwardness, ignorance, sin, and joys must continue.  We need to get to know each other better, listen, repent, change, share, empower, pray, weep, and hope for a better day.  I know the stupid stuff I have said to my black sisters and brothers; I know how many folks misjudge me.  As the dominant culture in America, my plea to my white sisters and brothers is to care about people, hang out with folks, be willing to not "defend yourself" or dismiss what is said by others.  We need to listen...no, we need to "HEAR" from our neighbors.  We then need Jesus - to forgive our sins and move us forward to lay our lives and agendas down for one another in love. 

If you are one of the conservative, white guys out there who thinks Imus is being made an example of, that folks are "overreacting", being hypocritical and you are privately angry about it...I do pray you may reconsider your views.  This is not about being PC - it is about civility and respect for all who are created in the imago dei. 

 

Batman has the bat cave.  Some folks in Middle Tennessee had the weed cave.  A short description:

Law enforcement officers in Tennessee make the greatest underground discovery since Tutankhamen’s tomb was unearthed in the Valley of the Kings. Under this ordinary house is a marijuana grow-op unlike any you have ever seen. Within the caves of middle Tennessee, growers constructed a complex of offices, living quarters, restroom facilities, and a climate-controlled forest of over one thousand cannabis plants.

The design on this thing was pretty extensive...check out the pics here. It looks like some keen minds were being used for misguided purposes.

(HT - Challies) 

Tim Dees, a good friend of mine, puts together a daily e-mail he calls Fact of the Day.  It is a random, but thoughtful foray into all manner of topics of interest. He sends these out to a growing list of friends and co-conspirators who like to engage the mind and have some fun as well. 

I have decided, with Tim's permission, that from time to time we will run a "Fact of the Day" here at the POCBlog.  The only criteria will be when the FotD is of particular interest to...well...me.

There will be a "Fact of the Day" coming soon. Many thanks Tim! As you will soon see, these are pretty engaging little nuggets of factology.

An interesting quote in a discussion on the New Republic

"Today, according to an amazing recent survey, only 51 percent of the French population identify themselves as Catholic, and only half of those Catholics believe in God. The implications for French society have been significant."

You think? Why someone would be Catholic yet not believe in God? I know incense and cathedrals are cool, but if you don't believe in God why on earth would someone claim to be Catholic? Strange.

(HT - Tim Dees) 

The guys who were responsible for this, decided to speak, well, uh, sort of, speak to the media about their involvement in a publicity stunt for a cartoon network show that mobilized counter terrorism efforts in Boston. 

I would love your opinion on this.  Do you think this is harmless fun?  Wise guys who need to be slapped around? Guys that crossed lines and ought to be prosecuted as criminals?

I am sure there will be many lists flying around during the last days of 2006, but I thought this one from the Tampa Tribune was interesting.  It contains 50 things we know now that we did not know last year.  Read on...you should feel smarter now?

No warp drive or worm hole travel so I guess we will have to wait to explore the galaxy. 

Some do affect me though.  I will try to have some red wine here and again, drink more chocolate milk after workouts and try not to sleep in on weekends.  Oh, wait a second, I have kids...I don't ever sleep in on weekends and we all love chocolate milk.

There is a great CBS News piece online featuring the spirituality of today's college students.  Specifically, the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ is highlighted in the story.  Kasey and I served on staff with Crusade for 8 years so it was a blessing to see the continued fruit on the campus.  Additionally, I came to faith in Jesus through the athletic ministry of Crusade, so my heart certainly beats for those sharing the gospel with the half drunk (or fully drunk) knuckleheads on campus.

Here is the video (I believe you need to have RealPlayer installed to view it) 

HT - Jarrod Lynn 

People will soon be able to walk out "over" the Grand Canyon according to this National Geographic Article. The 1,500-member Hualapai indian tribe will soon open this attraction to generate revenues for the reservation.  Not sure how much the walk out into the sky will run you, but it certainly looks cool.  A large rendition of the project is available here.

I wonder what the length of the walkway is out from the cliff?  The engineers I am sure worked to balance the load, strength and weight of materials to get you as far out there as possible. 

How much would you pay for a ticket to do this? $0, $10, $15, $20?

The New York Times is running an article based on a survey designed to estimate the number of married households as a percentage of the population.  For the first time the data they have shows married households making up less than a majority of American households.

The interesting thing in the piece was the typical blah, blah, blah about the marriage "test drive" known as cohabitation.  The end of the article reads:

“Even cohabiting young adults tell us that they are doing so because it would be unwise to marry without first living together in a society marked by high levels of divorce,” Ms. Smock said.

A number of couples interviewed agreed that cohabiting was akin to taking a test drive and, given the scarcity of affordable apartments and homes, also a matter of convenience. Some said that pregnancy was the only thing that would prompt them to make a legal commitment soon. Others said they never intended to marry. A few of those couples said they were inspired by solidarity with gay and lesbian couples who cannot legally marry in most states.

Jennifer Lynch, a 28-year-old stage manager in New York, said she had lived on the Lower East Side with her boyfriend, who is 37 and divorced, for most of the five years they have been a couple.

“Cohabitating is our choice, and we have no intention to be married,” Ms. Lynch said. “There is little difference between what we do and what married people do. We love each other, exist together, all of our decisions are based upon each other. Everyone we care about knows this.”

If anything, she added, “not having the false security of wedding rings makes us work even a little harder.”

When this is stacked up next to the reality that cohabiting couples seem to separate at a higher rate than those who did not shack up, you can see a sad deception being perpetuated today (See Rutger's Univ Study on Marriage and Cohabitation).  Unfortunately the people ravaged by such popular "try before you buy" mythologies are the women who give it all up to some knucklehead guy without any commitment.  And when the boy will not grow up, commit, be a good dad...she is puzzled.  She should know better and find a real man.

 

For all those young folks out there who have been through the crazy world of marriage, divorce and troubled lives...and who do not want to walk that path yourself. There are some good findings you need be aware of over at Rutger's University's National Marriage Project

Ten Important Research Findings on Marriage & Choosing A Marriage Partner

Specifically, all those who think "you gotta try before you buy" are just plain spinning nonsense to themselves. Cohabiting does not make for a better marriage - it is hazardous to future matrimonial success.

6. Living together before marriage has not proved useful as a "trial marriage." People who have multiple cohabiting relationships before marriage are more likely to experience marital conflict, marital unhappiness and eventual divorce than people who do not cohabit before marriage. Researchers attribute some but not all of these differences to the differing characteristics of people who cohabit, the so-called "selection effect," rather than to the experience of cohabiting itself. It has been hypothesized that the negative effects of cohabitation on future marital success may diminish as living together becomes a common experience among today's young adults. However, according to one recent study of couples who were married between 1981 and 1997, the negative effects persist among younger cohorts, supporting the view that the cohabitation experience itself contributes to problems in marriage. 

So kick out that nappy head boyfriend of yours and drop that week shackin up schmack! Men who take all the benefits with no commitment are little boys masquerading as men...get rid out that kind of chump. Men, get your game together, get a job, serve someone else through the church so that you will be worth marrying some day. I have hope for you guys.

There is an interesting article on addiction from the Wall Street Journal by Theodore Dalrymple - Article | Poppycock

I found the following quote to be quite witty...

And in China, millions of Chinese addicts gave up with only minimal help: Mao Tse-Tung's credible offer to shoot them if they did not. There is thus no question that Mao was the greatest drug-addiction therapist in history.

(HT - Al Mohler) 

Over the years I have had several born again Soccer experiences.  Beginning "Dead in My Soccer Sins" I was raised by my Dad thinking that Soccer was for sissies and communists.  It just was not a manly, American sport in my eyes.  What a small closed minded American sportsmen I was!

My first conversion happened as a Freshman at UNC Chapel Hill.  First, the women's soccer team was so ridiculously good that you could not help but be a fan.  They were fun to watch, dominant, and many of them were smoking good looking (like my wife Kasey for instance - we met at UNC where she was on the soccer team).  So I became a rabind "women's" soccer fan.  At this point in my life soccer was good for "women, sissies, and communists."  I married that soccer player and became a big fan of hers for life.

My next step in Soccer Sanctification happened in our first ministry assignment with Athletes in Action.  Kasey and I were sent to the University of Kentucky to work with athletes and complete a two year period of ministry training.  My first team to work with was...you guessed it "MEN's Soccer" - now at this time I thought these two words together formed an immediate contradiction...for their could be no "soccer" for "MEN" - boy was I wrong.  I had so much fun ministering with these young men.  We saw half the team come to Jesus and I ended up having about 12 dudes from this team in my house for Bible studies.  These guys were raw, not typical church boys.  Hungry to grow, with huge questions, all the rough edges you could imagine - just fun.  And I began to go to their games and realized how intense, athletic, and yes...well, yes...even tough these guys were.  Now, they could never whip wrestlers and they still look silly bouncing balls on their heads, but these were men, yes dudes, tough guys. 

The final and complete step of my growth as a soccer fan took place spending summers in the Czech Republic during major soccer competitions (namely the 2000 Euro Cup and the 2002 World Cup).  To watch beautiful play, with knowledgeable fans is a sure treat...which brings me to a quandry about last nights warm up game in Nashville between the US Men's side and the Moroccans.

• Short story - we lost...and Morocco is not good
• Longer story - we held out our best guys for much of the play and the game, from what I have read, was not pretty to watch.

I think these are great opportunities to showcase Soccer to the American public, good PR games, etc.  But when the stars are not playing full out, the game suffers, and we loose to lesser opponents.  What to do?  I know we must focus on the World Cup Games - but it would be good to see more of the best we offer on our soil.

Anyway, the US men are currently ranked 5th in the world, made it to the 2002 World Cup Quarterfinals loosing a close (we got ripped off) match to the Germans.  US Men's Soccer is on the rise.  Our women, well they have been good for a long time.

Chear for our American Footballers this year in the World Cup - they open next month agains the Czech Republic - the nation where my final roots as a football fan were sunk deep.   I pray we bring our A game as our initial pool is pretty tough.  We need to win the first one as the Italians will be next.

Long live the dudes that bounce the ball off of their heads.  But in honesty, I pray my two girls are All American Soccer players...but I hope my son puts on the Helmet and pads and grabs some pig skin.  Or even learns from his pop how to grab a hold of somebody, sling em down and pin em.  

For we know that real men are wrestlers...but soccer is for men as well...just perhaps softer, pretty boy men who like to use products in their hair.

Out

 

There is a great article on Salary.com about the calling of being a "Stay at Home Mom." In our society Mom's can be berated by those who think it is a disgrace to be home with the kids rather than building the career and making the big bucks. I was really encouraged by the positive tone of the article as well as the interviews with real live stay at home Moms.

Many such as USA Today are making a big deal about the articles salary calculation for Moms - and I would only say they pay calculated is far too low. But as many know, you cannot measure the value of a Mother's example, love, instruction and yes discipline of children.

More than anything both articles indicate that intelligent, professional, trained, and highly competent women are turning to their children rather than trying to be Mom and CEO at the same time. More power to the one trying to do it all. But I am encouraged by our generation's desire for family and home rather than simply "me and money." As a man married to a brilliant, educated, talented woman - who is leading our children at home, I cannot say how I marvel at my wife...So I will go ahead and say it: Kasey, I love you, you are awesome! I can't wait to see all that God will do in and through your life...As a mom, in different jobs, service and callings.

Here is the link to the Salary.com pieceSalary.com™ Careers & Jobs by Location and Category

More information is now up concerning the 2006 Desiring God National Conference.

A new full length promotional trailer is online here.

HT - Theologica

There is an interesting article in the Boston Globe about employers reading people's blogs, MySpace, Facebook, etc. when they are interviewing them for a job. 

The counsel and commands of the Scriptures do apply to blogging

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; James 1:19 ESV

If you are interviewing for a job and you say: This job really sucks, I may just work there a year, and you write it on your blog.  Well...it seems you are being a bit two-faced, duplicitous with your possible employer, and stupid to write it on the blog. Here is an exerpt from the Boston Globe piece:

In October 2002, after an interview for a job at a nonprofit, she said, someone at the organization read her blog, where she had broadcast to the world that she wasn't actually all that interested in the job and didn't plan to stay for even a year if she were hired.

Don't lie to people, that is wrong.  Then to go and publish the truth on your blog...that is wrong and stupid.  One solution that was offered doesn't seem that great in my mind:

Natalie Gioella, a senior at Northeastern University, knows students who received offers for internships and co-op jobs, but were later turned down because of their postings on Facebook.com. So, Gioella, 23, doesn't post.

The other option would be: Post with integrity so people see who you actually are.  Or don't post and put on whatever face people want to see in your interviews; but that is a very hard way to live.

Here is the link: Job applicants' online musings get hard look - The Boston Globe

Al Mohler has an insightful commentary on marraige up on his blog. See - “Marriage is for White People”—The Decline of Marriage among African Americans To all my young brothers out there, both black and white. This call is for us:

In order for this to happen, couples of all ages, races, and ethnicities need to live out the fullness and fulfillment of marriage before the watching world. Christians have a special stake in this, because we understand that marriage is not only a social institution, but that is also the unique arena in which the glory of God is demonstrated in the holy relationship between the husband and his wife and in the proper ordering of the household as a testimony to the grace and goodness of God. Furthermore, we are the ones who know that we will give an answer for our responsibilities in marriage--and every single Christian has an important stake in this mission of recovering marriage. Above all, the church should be the one place where healthy marriages are nurtured, expected, supported, and lived out, not only before the congregation, but before the entire society.

God, preserve your vision for marriage in us, and through us...by your grace and to your renown. Help us we beg - redeem our sexuality, our marriages, and our children.

Many have probably heard by now of the passing of Ronald Nash.  Dr. Nash was a philosopher and a teacher in both secular institutions and evangelical seminaries.  I did not know Dr. Nash and was exposed to his work just recently through his excellent works Faith and Reason and Life's Ultimate Questions.  Both are fine introductions to Christian thought and philosophy in general.

Nash's emphasis on worldview and conceptual schemes coupled with his modified Augustinian epistemology was a fresh breeze to my mind this past summer.

I regret that I did not have the chance to study with him, but the Lord of Nash's philosophy saw fit to call him home.  Pray for the Nash family.  The church has lost a great defender of the truth and a looming figure of evangelical thought. 

 [Updated - Russell Moore now has a tribute online to Nash]

We are busy working on a redesign of Power of Change Blog. We are moving to the Moveable Type platform in order to utilize blog categories and a little more robust design.



I think it will be similar to the current blog yet better looking and a bit more organized. Be ready to point your feedreader to a new address. I'll let everyone know the address when it is ready to roll.

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Mark Noll Leaving Wheaton for Notre Dame

Best wishes to a great historian heading to Notre Dame. May he sit well in George Marsdens seat.

(HT - Theologica)

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This post has some great stuff in it. First, it highlights a man whom I have respected immensely and learned much from over the years, Ravi Zacharias.

Second, this is from Mark Driscoll, a young guy just a couple of years ahead of me who I have been reading/listening to a bit lately.

Third, it reflects some discussion about the Emerging Church...a topic I have been reading about for several years now.

So, go enjoy a little Tzatziki with Ravi

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Mark Driscoll has started blogging - sort of. It looks like a new cooperative network of evangelical theologians and pastors is forming who desire to hold to the historical gospel, engage missionally in culture, and get some cool hang time together if forming.

Driscoll - thanks for not going down the Pelagian finger painting roads that many emerging people are slopping around in.

My next generation sisters and brothers, get in the Resurgence and pass on emgergent. Here is the call...

As another generation comes of age, the Gospel of Jesus Christ must resurge to meet the needs of people and their continually changing cultures. The time has come for the church to move forward into the time and place for which God purposed us, and to meet our day with unchanging, vibrant, unabashed Truth.

Thanks for the capital T in truth - I feel you dog...praying for resurgence

Link - Mark Driscoll's blog | Resurgence

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This is a crazy story - BREITBART.COM - Pregnant Skydiver Survives Face-First Fall

HT (JivinJehosophat)

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Many are familiar with the vampire novels written by Anne Rice. Some of you may have heard of her recent return to the Roman Catholic Church out of decades of wandering in existential thought and unbelief. There is an interesting interview with her on Christianity Today's Web Site.

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This Thursday I am going up to Brown University to speak to a group of people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. See the following article from the Brown Daily Herald - the Campus Newspaper of the University. This article is pretty unbelievable. Not because it describes a party that sounds essentially like an orgy, but the response of the students who were there. Mind you, these students were partially or mostly naked, making out in public, it is reported that some were having sex at the party in the open etc. Were they ashamed to go and do this? No, they are angry because it was video taped.

Here are a few quotes:

One student who appeared in the producer's footage and wished to remain anonymous said she found it "incredibly offensive" that Fox News videotaped and aired images of her without her permission.

"I am a student now but I will one day be a professional," she said. "I never thought that going to such a social function would have such jeopardizing consequences for me."

Monica Skeldon '06, who was shown briefly as Watters described same-sex kissing, said she felt "a little violated" that she was taped without her knowledge.

Tumiski said he was upset that his image was shown on television without his permission. "They didn't have to show our faces. I thought that was unnecessary," he said.

It is a strange tale of a people flaunting morality, but not wanting to be shown as doing so...

Jesus once said:

"For God so loved the world,[g] that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God."

I'm so thankful that Jesus forgives and redeems the lives of those like myself who do wicked things. That he draws us to himself, brings us into the light to expose us...so that we might call upon the God of grace who sent his son to a cross to redeem us, to make us knew, who once walked in darkness.

Full Article from the Brown Daily Herald -- Fox News airs footage of Sex Power God - Campus News

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Justin Taylor has pulled some fun quotes from a Washington Post article about the internal culture at Google

Worth your time to read.

Source - Theologica - Between Two Worlds: What It's Like to Work at Google

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A story commonly scoffed at by doubtful folks has found some verification at the tip of the archaelogist's spade.

Get em David! Link - Finding Said to Boost Proof of Goliath - Yahoo! News

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Cool article on the BBC about the archaelogical find of an ancient church in the Holy Land.

Link - BBC NEWS | Middle East | Ancient church found on jail site

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Donate to Hurricane Katrina Relief efforts. The following are recommended by Desiring God Ministries to assist victims of Hurrican Katrina:

• Castle Rock Community Church and Urban Impact Ministries exists together to transform the Central City of New Orleans through Spiritual Development, Christian Community Development and Strategic Partnerships. Last summer, Bethlehem’s Youth Pastor, Brad Nelson, brought a short-term mission team to assist with the summer outreach. Now the ministry staff and church people have scattered. Seventy have evacuated to Arkansas.
• Desire Street Fellowship and Desire Street Ministries are located in New Orleans. Pastor Mo Leverett and his wife moved into the Desire neighborhood and founded DSM in 1990, a time when the Desire project was ranked the worst in the country. The ministry has planted a church, Desire Street Fellowship and a school, Desire Street Academy. In the wake of the hurricane, the staff has been scattered taking with them many of the 200 boys from the school. For the time being they are planning to set up a temporary school in Atlanta. They tell us, “Our greatest immediate needs are for prayers and funding.”
• The Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Missions Board has a Disaster Relief section on the website. There you will find several ministry avenues for disbursing relief through Southern Baptist churches and affiliations.
• World Relief can also be supported directly with an online donation or by mailing a check to: Katrina Hurricane Relief Effort, World Relief, 7 E Baltimore St, Baltimore, MD 21202 or call (800) 535-5433.
• Prison Fellowship is gathering critical supplies—toiletries, blankets, etc.—to truck down to Louisiana’s prisons. You can donate online or by calling (800) 206-9764.

An interesting essay by John Piper is available from Desiring God Ministries as well. In times of tragedy, crying out to God, repentence, trust in the Cross of Christ is the only way. Katrina has reminded me of several things in the human condition. Here are some things I have learned:

1. The pride of man to build a city in a bowl, protected by levees, a disaster waiting to happen...Pride goes before destruction,and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18
2. The kindness of human beings. The compassion of people on their neighbors has been an amazing thing to observe. Particularly the rallying of churches and believers to give, go, pray, open homes, has been a testimony to the God worshipped by these people.
3. The depravity of man. Beyond race, color, creed, or political persuasion, people have evidence the truth of Scripture - For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The reports of rape, looting, violence has brought discouragement to many - oh how much more to live through this on the ground. Many brave souls have seen such depravity, yet held on to hope.
4. We are not as strong as we think we are. In the last 100 years the wonderful technological advancement has given the illusion of stability and the easy life to far too many. The reality is that we are but dust, a fraile creature, each of our deaths certain. Those who perished in Katrina passed on in a drastic, tragic fashion. The rest of us have the same appointment, whether quickly or in a few score years from now, slowly dying with tubes and machines hooked to our bodies. The end is the same.

Who can escape this body of death, who can escape this body of sin - but by the grace of God in the person of Christ - we live and then die without hope. In the midst of great suffering, the ancient patriarch Job cried out "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him" Such is our only recourse - our God is a present help in a time of trouble.

An old hymn comes to mind:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is Well with My Soul by Horatio Spafford

Such was written in tragedy by a man who had just lost his children in a shipwreck. Such is the soul established on the rock of Christ and a life built on his words (Matthew 7:24, 25)

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Reading this article - which ran in Oct 2004 - is a bit spooky...

We are not as strong as we think we are...we think we are the masters of our world. We are not...we are not...

Gone with the Water

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