fundamentalism by blunt instrument
Unlike many of my American friends, I have no particular love for guns or for the notion that citizens should have the right to bear arms to protect themselves against government tyranny. For such friends, I remind them that from my perspective, the red coats were the good guys
I say that to establish this point at the outset: I have no particular axe to grind against gun control.
I do have questions about gun control, however. The biggest question is this: will it work?
Over at Proclaim & Defend, I linked to this article by a seminary professor from Charlotte. I think it is well worth reading. While it may not be the only explanation for the results of the election, I think Michael Kruger is correct about the spiritual state of the USA. This doesn’t bode well for the politically conservative side in the future. The spiritual state of Canada is much worse, which is why we have NO abortion law and a nation-wide same-sex marriage law – and it is why, despite having a Conservative government with a professing Christian Prime Minister, we are very unlikely to see any change over these social concerns in Canada.
This state of affairs puts an imperative on the Christians of North America. We need to get out of our comfort zone and be concerned with evangelism. The people of our nations are sinking fast. Their only hope is Christ and we should be alarmed about the needs of our friends, neighbours, acquaintances and even our enemies.
On the outlook for the future… many of my friends appear to be well into the doom and gloom camp. As it happened, the Dow Jones average dropped by 2.36% the day after the election. Many cried that the so-called fiscal cliff was at hand. The next day, the DJIA dropped another .94%. The horror! Well, today it went up, by only .03%, but up is up, eh?
The fact is that the stock market does fluctuate every day. A 2 % drop on one day is not a really significant drop.
The headline: Selective abortions prompt call for ultrasound rules
In a recent issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, its editor-in-chief issued a call for banning the disclosure of a baby’s gender before 30 weeks of pregnancy in a bid to end the practice of aborting female babies. This practice is especially prevalent among some South Asian cultures (the editor issuing the call is apparently from this culture himself).
The whole article has the pro-abortion side tied up in knots, as you can see from the comments following the article. You can also see the hard-heartedness of many Canadians who insist on their rebellion and sin.
The article is, overall, heartbreaking. The ramifications of the fall of man are constantly on display. May God help us reach some of our fellow citizens with the gospel.
I ran into a friend of mine the other day. He was outside one of our grocery stores, campaigning for his seat in our legislature. He is the incumbent MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) for the riding next door to the one I live in. [For our American friends, an MLA is like a State Representative, except we have a unicameral legislature, so an MLA has much more influence than a State Rep would. There are other differences as well, but that will have to suffice as an explanation.]
I first met my friend when I was selling real estate to support our work here in Victoria. Another friend referred him to me. One day I picked up my phone at the office and this voice said, “Is this Don the Baptist?” And when I answered “Yes”, the voice went on, “Well I am John the Socialist.” And indeed he is. We get along rather well, in spite of political differences. The story of that house sale is one of my best from real estate days, but we’ll let that go by the wayside, too. John told me the other day they are still in that house, happy with it, and planning to renovate the kitchen soon.
As I said, I ran into John while he was campaigning. We talked about a few things and noted our differences. I was talking to my daughter about it afterwards. I told her that if we lived just a few blocks further west, I’d have a real problem deciding who to vote for. That might come as a shock to those who know my political views – my friend is a member of a party that I think I could almost never vote for. They are through and through socialists, so wrong headed [Read more...]
In Canada today, the biggest news story of the day is the arrest of two Mormons for polygamy. These men are the heads of rival factions among a Mormon sect in Bountiful, BC. There have been numerous stories about these men, their wives, their children, their feud, and on and on over the last few years. With the arrest of two of the principles yesterday, our news media has exploded with stories and opinion articles concerning the matter.
Google.ca news says there are 599 related articles when I clicked on this link, but once you arrive at the link, it says 89 related articles. I am not quite sure how that works, but the story is undeniably a big story here in Canada and is surely of interest around the world, especially in places where there are many Mormons.
One of the men arrested yesterday was on TV today claiming religious persecution. Now… is this religious persecution, or is this a matter of good governance?
So I’m listening to the One’s acceptance speech…
And this is what keeps running through the back of my mind…
[display_podcast]
P.S. What’s he so angry about? He just won? Why can’t he smile?
I offered earlier a somewhat underwhelmed view of the Republican ticket. But what of the other side?
The other side scares me:
When I read the Bible, I do so with the belief that it is not a static (stable) text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelations.(Barack Obama, Audacity of Hope, p. 224)
There’s more, read about it at Lighthouse Trails.
A letter writer to my newspaper, The National Post, asks this question about the Republican vice-presidential nominee:
Re: The Culture Wars Continue, Father Raymond J. de Souza, Aug. 30. Father Raymond J. de Souza’s subtle endorsement of Sarah Palin is interesting. How can a woman be second in charge of the most influential country on Earth and not able to be ordained in his Church?
Just asking. Eric Madden, Collingwood, Ont.
Raymond de Souza is a Roman Catholic priest who has a regular column in the Post. A column I rarely look at and almost never finish, by the way.
But the letter writer asks a good question, one for which Independent Baptists and other fundamentalist Christians should have a good, biblical answer.
My favorite Dem!
Obama’s VP pick makes it very interesting for our family. A few years ago we were in Washington, DC. We had arrived too late in the day to get a ticket for a Senate gallery visit, so we were just touristing around outside the capital, taking pictures, etc. My wife spotted Biden about thirty yards away and waited for him to turn towards us to snap a picture. He grinned and came over to talk to us, which of course thrilled us all. Here was a guy we had seen on TV just chatting us up!
One of my Canadian news aggregator sites led me to this story:
“European Court agrees to hear chimp’s plea for human rights“
I am not sure what is more bizarre… the fact that someone is actually attempting to make a case like this or the fact that the European Court of Human Rights has agreed to take the case.
The case involves a chimp in an animal sanctuary facing bankruptcy. A young woman wants to become his legal guardian to care for him if the sanctuary is forced to shut down. In order to be a ‘guardian’, the chimp has to be a person, hence this case.
Some of this young woman’s rationale:
The latest audio from the GBCvic
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