Monthly Archives: October 2008

there are people who have knowledge

and then there are people who know how to apply that knowledge

if you are in education or if you care about education, watch this

I’m reading another Donald Miller book (my third) Searching For God Knows What. Thus far my favorite quote is…

“Reality is like a fine wine, it will not appeal to children.”

is a ‘comedy’ – ‘documentary’ with the stated purpose of allowing religion to poke fun at itself – according to Bill Maher, its star and creator. Maher also says that he is not being judgemental, he is. I saw it yesterday and was dissapointed…

Maher tries to take on his view of Catholicism and then Christianity in a ‘wider sence’ (I do not seperate Catholicism from Chrisitanity for those of you who are now wondering), Judaism and Islam, he also takes on Mormanism (which I do seperate from Christianity) and Scientology. With regard to Christianity and Judaism, Maher focues his resources on the fringes… in some cases the thread hanging from a tassel on the fringe… I am no expert on Islam, so I will not evaluate what he said there.

Here is my main reason for disapointment with the film: Maher was not able or did not try to seek real answers for his self-proclaimed ‘seeking’ (what a laugh, the only thing he seeks is to ridicule) from real thoughtful experts. He was abe to catch people off guard and these were not very well prepared people to start with. Well meaning, yes… thoughtful? No. 

Maher brings to the table all the arguments against Christianity from the last three centuries and asks people who are not well preapared and then edits thier responses.

In fact the editor gets the kudos, the use of stop motion where Maher and his subject are just looking at one antoher in effective. They make some Arkansas senator look like an idiot, or maybe Maher didn’t have to make him look like one, maybe the senator took care of that all by himself.

Maher asks good questions. But Maher doesn’t seem to be really seeking answers, he only wants to ridicule.

Why is Maher so angry? What was done to him to anger him so? We, who are followers of Jesus who think about our faith, need to learn from this film at least two things. One, lets make sure we love people and treat them with justice so as to limit the number of antagonists like Bill Maher. People need love first and then maybe they will listen to answers. But the second thing we should learn is this, we need to know why we believe what we believe. These two things are what the truckers did near the beginning of the film. They gained Maher’s respect and he even let them pray for him. THEY were Christ-like, as we should seek to be.

I agree with Andy Rooney (of 60 Minutes) and Colin Powell (former Sec. of State), both men seem to have great qualifications and would do well… am I still undecided? am I a single issue voter? 

Well, the emails just keep on a coming and some of them are garbage and others are thoughtful and based on personal experience which make a lot of sense… thanks for sending them. Like my friend Dan, I wish you would post a comment, but that’s okay… their topics have included the whole Ayers thing and terrorism, Rev. Wright, Obama’svoting record, and a big one: abortion (stick with me to the end of this post for more on this topic)…

Abortion is a supreme court issue isn’t it? Recently, I was at James Madison’s house (Montpelier) and listened to a PhD candidate (UVa) lead 12th graders through a discussion of the constitution. During this time it struck me – – – Where a candidate stands on the constitution and who a presidential candidate would nominate to serve on the Supreme Court matter more than thier economics, foreign policy, etc. Think about checks and balances… think about legacy… looooong legacy – example: Gerald Ford nominated John Paul Stevens the year I graduated high school (1975).

So… the more I think and pray about this election, and I have done that more with this election than any other… the more I think about the Supreme Court… It now looks like the senate might have 60 Democrats in January. This makes a big difference, a very big difference… If a Democrat (being a democrat is not bad or evil – it is a point of view to be respected) – namely Barak Obama (who has a very liberal voting record – maybe the most liberal voting record) – gets to nominate the next Supreme Court justice (they say John Paul Stevens, 88, is just hanging on for a more liberal president so he can retire), and the Senate is freshly packed with Democrats – then where are the checks and balances? Who will ask hard enough questions of court nominees? Yes, there will be Republicans on the judiciary committee, BUT…

This concern I have goes to such a huge number and variety of issues that the Supreeme Court deals with. I am now ready to risk Sarah Palin (I will just pray for McCain’s well being and that he and others can help her get up to speed on things… No, she is not Harry Truman – but we did get through Agnew, didn’t we?). I was not a single issue voter… until this week… my single issue… my litmus test… is not the economy, the war, or abortion ((which I believe to be a scar on humanity, a scar which breaks the heart of God because it ends the life of a human being (it is not above my pay grade) and an act which has such devastating results on those living after it). My litmus test is what happens to the Supreme Court and who gets nominated to serve there and interpret and apply the supreme law of the land to so many issues. Maybe I’m being inconsistent, but checks and balances are imperative.

My single issue? The Constitution.

Who do I want to promise to uphold it as president? John McCain.

There, I am no longer undecided.

Thanks for caring enough about our democracy (it’s a representative republic, by the way) to care and to discuss and to urge one another on to think…

I hope this urges you to think, to pray, and (to those of you who are American and are registered), to vote.

I was afraid of this. We are getting daily ‘robo-calls’ about the election: I hang up. Yes, when Mrs. Obama “called” today, I hung up. 

Now I am getting emails too. I almost NEVER read FWDS but I got this one from a friend that had a list of quotes that Obama had supposedly written in his two books. I have read one of the books and it didn’t ring a bell. A quick googling of the quotes resulted in this… click here.

Truth. Credabilty. I wish for them in the process. 

Another email was from a friend who asked me some very tough questions about an extreemly tough issue for an amazingly tough time in which we are about to make, by most accounts, the most important presidential decision in anyone’s memory on Nov. 4th. I am thinking and praying through these tough questions and will post about them prayerfully and, hopefully, thoughtfully here in a couple or few days.