“Religious Iconography”?

Apparently that is the (non-exclusive) term used to describe body art that contains some ostensibly faith-based message.  I have written previously about the subject of body art and basically I come down on the side of it being an ill-advised practice.  But, that said, I concede that is it a purely individual decision.  And I will also agree that in the context of eternity, it (body art) really will have nothing to do with a person’s salvation, or condemnation.

Still, no matter where you land on this subject, I have to seriously wonder if this sort of thing has a place during the course of a worship service, when glorifying God through prayer, the authoritative proclamation of God’s word, and the practice of the two sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, is appropriate…even in a culturally relevant, contextualized setting. 

Body art, including some of its more extreme forms as a sermon topic? 
Yes.  Absolutely. 

Chancel tattooing during the teaching from God’s word?  
I think not. 

What say you?

Whose better? Colt or Jarrod. Add this to the discussion.

This morning, I read through some childish bantering between what was apparently a Texas Longhorn fan and a Texas Aggie fan.  The discussion was over which team possessed the better quarterback.  The site was facebook.  The discussion lead no where, basically.  The rivalry between these two schools is so intense, that objectivity was the victim in the conversation thread.

This article from SI.com from almost two months ago, adds some light, if for no other reason, it adds some statistical facts to the discussion as well as some off the field personal texture to Jarrod Johnson, who  is with out question lesser known to the general public than Colt McCoy, who has been on the national for two or three years.

Happy 2nd Anniversary…WHATEVER!

Today marks the  second anniversary of this blog.  The editorial board would like to thank the readers of this site, whoever and where ever you may be.  Given the reach of the (appropriately named) World Wide Web, it is likely that some of the visitors to this site are indeed from other parts of the world, set quite apart from where this blog originates, which remains at an undisclosed location, at the request of the United States Secret Service. 

As was the case one year ago, the editors of this site are pleased to share some of the statistics from the site, which are certainly of little if any interest to anyone.  But they make the author feel good that someone is reading, even if not appreciating, what has been published here.  And as is the case with the VAST majority of blogs, they stand in service less to inform the public, than servicing the narcissistic proclivities of our age, as is clearly represented by the pervasiveness of social media of all class and form.

That said, the narcissism of the author is being well served by the fact that by the time this is read, there will have been slightly over 18,000 visitors to the site in the two years of its existence.  This stands in stark comparison to the site visits to other blogs who probably receive this number of hits in the course of several days or perhaps even less.  It should be noted that the author does not feel that he has anything less important to say than those others bloggers, they just have more friends.  Oh, wait, that is the measurement in facebook.

The articles that have been visited most have been interesting to the editorial board.  By far and away the most visited article over the last two years has been the author’s reflection on everyone’s favorite holiday titled “An Earth Day Confession“.   We think people are less drawn to the snarky comments about a holiday that ought to be phased out of existence based on the recent debunking of the entire religion of Global Warming, and more to them having been directed to this blog by way of a keyword search for “melting glaciers”.  In any event, for those who worship the created instead of the creator, they may have been simultaneously horrified by the author’s confession, but relieved by the contrition, unless of course they detected the cynicism.  But most of the people who are absorbed by the Global Warming hysteria are irrational anyway, so they may not  have discovered that the author really was not sorry for any of the heavy footed malfeasance and what they may have regarded as earth abuse or neglect. 

The second most visited article was the piece on the satirical rendering of an Obama Triple Self Portrait titled “Even Norman might get a laugh out of this.”  The Obama Triple Self Portrait speaks volumes on its own, and frankly seems to land extraordinarily close to the truth.

Coming in at a very close third place, but miles ahead of fourth, is the article written in April, 2008 about the plus sized beauty queen from England named Chloe Marshall.    As noted above, the visitors to this site come from far and wide, and the popularity of this article, to a large degree, stems from hits that originated with a Russian newspaper.  How they found this blog in the first place is a mystery.

The board is clueless as to where this blog will head as year three begins.  The intrigue around blogging has waned a bit, and whereas commentary seemed to be where it all began, short book reviews of material the author has been reading seems to be where the site has drifted in the last year.  And perhaps that is good in the sense that the author is more interested in what others have to say, rather than what he can say.  That said, we are guessing that as year three begins, the content of WHATEVER! will be as varied as it has been during its first two, with articles ranging from fairly serious theological discussion to the cynical commentary on contemporary culture and politics.

Our thanks and appreciation goes out to all of our regular readers.  And if you have stumbled in here only for the first time today, thanks for visiting.  We hope that you will check in from time to time to discover WHATEVER thoughts are on my mind.  To which you might say…”WHATEVER!”

The end of “Global Warming” as we knew it? Let’s hope so!

This LINK will take you to a site that lists a HUGE number of the emails that have torn the curtain to the temple for the religion of Global Warming. 

Hopefully these emails will, in time, also blow away the holier-than-thou standing of the movement’s high priest AlGore.

He is not even impressing the European Socialists!

From the German newspaper Der Spiegel’s online edition, a critical assessment of Barack Hussein Obama.  Raises the possibility that B.H.O. is another Jimmy Carter, who, hands down was the worst American President to have ever lived. 

At least until now.

If you don’t see this movie, well there’s no hope for you.

I knew that would get your attention.

Two months ago, I wrote a post, the subject of which was the then-upcoming movie titled The Blind Side.  Well, the movie is now out and showing in theaters nationwide.

I will save you the time of reading another blog on top of my earlier one  (that included two official trailers and an ESPN special feature on the real-life family that is the subject of the movie) and simply say YOU SHOULD SEE THIS MOVIE!

Crazy Love

Crazy Love, Overwhelmed by a Relentless God written by Francis Chan is one of those books that a serious and thoughtful Christian cannot read without knowing that their individual sanctification has a lot more upside potential than we had perhaps previously thought.  As one who holds to the concept of “progressive sanctification,” which I acknowledge is not universally held within Christendom, this book seems to speak directly to that point, with humbling examples of how out of touch we are with reality when we think we are seriously and consistently walking in the way of Christ in our day to day lives, irrespective of how devoutly we think we live our faith.

All 10 chapters of this book are terrific, and make penetrating  points about the outward evidence of our faith.  But none are perhaps stronger than chapter 4, titled “Profile of the Lukewarm.”  Just a few of the examples of “the lukewarm” are:

Lukewarm People give money to charity and the church…as long as it does not impinge on their standard of living.

Lukewarm People are moved by stories about people who do radical things for Christ, yet they do not act.

Lukewarm People seldom share their faith with their neighbors, co-workers or friends.

Lukewarm People gauge their morality, or “goodness” by comparing themselves to the secular world.

Lukewarm People love God, but not with all their heart, soul and strength.

Lukewarm People love others but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves.

Lukewarm People will serve God and others, but there are limits to how far they will go or how much time, money, and energy they are willing to give.

Lukewarm People think about life on earth much more often than eternity in heaven.

Lukewarm People are thankful for their luxuries and comforts, and rarely consider trying to give as much as possible to the poor.

And there are more!

Chan’s chapter titled “Profile of the Obsessed,” as you might expect from its title, is the antidote to being lukewarm.  And to the degree that the profile of the lukewarm describes you (me), the less likely you (I) will be able to identify affirmatively with the obsessed.

This book is simultaneously easy and difficult to read.  In terms of its size, format and writing style it is very reader friendly, but the content is incredibly convicting, as you might have sensed from the examples cited above.  Chan is an engaging person, both in print and in the videos that are referenced in the book and which can be viewed for free on the Internet.  I recommend this book without reservation, to  any and all readers, especially those who come to it humbly and with a willingness to be called-out, but also encouraged and stirred up.  (Heb. 10: 24) 

How’s that atheism working for ya’ now?

This LINK will take you to a rather long, but none the less interesting article about Madalyn Murray-O’Hair, the infamous atheist, who was successful in arguing for the removal of prayer from public schools.  I admit my interest in the article was in part because I had the dubious distinction of being in the same high school graduating class (Austin-McCallum, 1972) as her son Jon Garth Murray, shown in the picture to the left along with O’Hair’s granddaughter Robin.

The last time I saw Jon was over 27 years ago, at our 10th reunion.  I think to virtually everyone’s surprise, he attended.  And I have to say that a badge of graciousness needed to be awarded to the person who did the work to research where he was living so that an invitation could be extended. 

When I read this article, the question for these three that entered my head was “how’s that atheism working for ya’ now?”

HT: Challies A La Carte

The Death Penalty on Trial

The Death Penalty on Trial – Taking a Life for a Life Taken, by Ron Gleason, Ph.D. offers a Biblical look at the often controversial topic of capital punishment.  This is a relatively short book, with the author’s material filling only about 100 pages, with the appendix, end notes, bibliography, etc. it is only 135 pages.  Gleason, who is pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Yorba Linda, CA, deals very graciously, but directly with a subject about which there are probably very few people who take a stance of ambivalence.  My (safe) hunch is that people feel rather strongly in favor of, or opposed to the death penalty.

Gleason systematically discusses the background of the death penalty across history and cultures.  He then takes a look more specifically at the death penalty in what would be considered the church age, starting in about the fourth century A.D. citing St. Augustine as a supporter of the death penalty, then noting the support for it from the Reformers, especially, Luther and Calvin.  But probably the most compelling evidence comes from Gleason’s pointing to the Old Testament and the verses that speak directly to God’s divine law, which was not revoked by the New Testament, but in fact reiterated for the purpose of authorizing civil governments to impose punishment on murderers via their own execution.

Gleason dedicates two chapters to the most popular objections to the death penalty in our age.  One chapter addresses these from the perspective of the secularists who generally cite the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, regarding cruel and unusual punishment.  The other is dedicated to the objections that are raised by Christians who oppose the death penalty because of the apparent contradiction between holding a pro-life stance with regard to abortion, all the while supporting capital punishment.  In both chapters, he refutes the claims and shows the fallacy of their reasoning, pointing consistently back to scripture.

The author’s stated intent was to deal constructively with this topic for both Christians and non-believers alike.  I think he has done a good job in accomplishing this task.  But, I am perhaps not the best person to ask, as I already held to a pro-capital punishment position.

I think this establishes a new low-water mark for integrity in college football.

Watch the following video.  It shows The University of Florida linebacker (and team captain) Brandon Spikes gouging the eyes of Washaun Ealey, a running back who plays for The University of Georgia, during the game last Saturday.

What has achieved a new low is not necessarily the actions of this player, although his conduct is despicable, but rather the fact that Brandon Spike’s head coach, Urban Meyer has suspended him for….catch this….the first half of the game upcoming on November 7th.  THE FIRST HALF!  What makes it even worse is that Meyer’s first reaction when he was told about the incident was to simply move on.  I’m kidding, right?   Nope, “move on” is what Meyer wanted to do until he saw a replay of the incident. 

Incredible.  I don’t even have to ponder who I have LESS respect for, Spikes or Meyer.  

Meyer wins hands down.