There were some very cool World-Tilting Gospel developments this past week. Last Friday, Kim Shay put up a delightful (to me!) review of the book, saying she "would recommend this book for anyone, new or old Christian alike." The presence of appropriate Princess Bride quotations ups the "cool" factor to sister Shay. Then Mathew Sims wrapped up his thorough, thoughtful three-part review of the book, concluding that "you should read TWTG. Not because the book in itself has any value but because it so succintly focuses on the gospel and it will deepen your understanding of the thing Paul said was 'of first importance' (1 Cor. 15:3)."
Finally, Dr. David Steele, who pastors a Baptist church in Oregon, gave TWTG a very generous (and humbling, and encouraging) review, in which he ranks it with the works of Pearcey, Nash and Francis Schaeffer as "Among the best" in setting forth a Christian worldview.
God's Wisdom in Proverbs received a full review from our reader Robert Sakovich. By the way, I am scheduled to appear again this coming week on the Janet Mefferd show, this time to talk about that book.
We begin our foray with Yet Another Unmarketable Talent:
- BSIL alerted me to the most amazing Hot Wheel track, ever. I'm not a big Hot Wheel fan. I thought it was a bit boring at the start... but stick with it, it gets amazing pretty quickly.
- YEAH baby, yeah! (Thx Robert)
- The other Robert (Sakovich) aimed me at a post in which Mike Pohlman writes, "There’s something just not right about a religion launching a national advertising campaign. But this is exactly what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has done." I'm thinking they don't front-load the holy undies, Planet Kolob, and a whole bunch else.
- Wellnow, I guess this is one way to improve your book's sales. Sheesh, and the rest of us are forced to rely on persuasion and word of mouth and stuff. Must be nice.
- Fred Butler humor:
- Fred also indirectly directed me to what I'm pretty sure my Josiah will agree is a pretty profligate waste of coffee. Hope it wasn't Peet's.
- And for a Fred trifecta: some pretty amazing (and, some of them, ghastly) pumpkin carvings.
- How Stupid Do They Think We Are? update. The Obama machine thinks it can get away with a "we can't wait" theme. The GOP-led House unleashes a blistering truth-response. Plus, 900+ days without a budget? Yeah, "can't wait" all right.
- As to how stupid we actually are, ask me again in 11/2012. Jury's out at the moment.
- This is pretty great. Photosho + Harry Potter photos + rock star faces = fun fun fun. I particularly like the choices for Dumbledore and Voldemort.
- Angie found an eloquent illustration:
- Chris Carney notes a step in a scary direction, as an appeals court won't stop a judge from considering Sharia law in a case... in Florida.
- Similarly, Robert Sakovich found PETA suing for constitutional rights for whales.
- Hm. Does Sharia law deal with whales?
- Oh, and then there's this group of Muslim students who is suing to have crosses and such removed, because they offend them. Where? At Catholic University.
- Hel-lo? Amir (or whoever)? When you matriculated, didn't you notice that it was called "Catholic University"? Many people would call that a clue.
- So, back to "scary directions," there's a massive persecution of a woman in New Jersey who committed the heinous crime of existing while Christian — out loud! This is a teacher who expressed disapproval of a particular sexual perversion on her personal Facebook page. Now They are being demanded to fire her.
- You can see Viki Knox's comments here and decide for yourself how radical they are.
- You'll be glad to know that conservative stalwart, Republican Governor Chris Christie has, er, weighted in. Glad, that is, until you learn that he's on the wrong side of the equation, finding it "disturbing" that one soul hasn't been assimilated yet.
- Terry Rayburn showed me a fellow who thinks Amazon is about to destroy all publishers. (Warning: a brief crude expression.)
- A little cautionary picture for Josiah, whose day is coming:
- Let me say this again clearly: coffee — it's a health drink.
- (Goodness knows it's good for my health!)
- Relatedly, in our unending search for The Perfect Food, courtesy of Instapundit, I bring you: banana Nutella wontons. Some of you will want to leave out the banana. Most of you will want to wrap it in bacon.
- The perfect food, that is, as opposed to...
- Staying with food: you know I'm no "healthfood Nazi," but dude — how do you not call this a heart-attack in a bowl?
- Zachary West (and Julie) noted giant Lego men washing up on shore here and there.
- Well, we started with a note from BSIL, and we end with a DAOD doubleheader.
- First, DAOD alerted me to an drive in Mississippi to create a consitutional amendment defining a fertilized human ovum as a person. The article sagely notes that this would jeopardize nearly all abortions, "including those resulting from rape or incest." Imagine that.
- Second: hey, DAOD. Want to see what happens when someone flushes on a jet?
- Then these select morsels:
THE USUALS WILL BE OBSERVED
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23 comments:
Ooh! I like Blogger's new picture-stream set-up (when you click on a pic, it shows the enlarged pic and gives a photo stream of all the pictures in the post).
(And Dan, make sure you tell Josiah not to be too happy about getting his driver's license until he returns from DMV and enters your garage. Take it from an ex-16yo. I'll plead the Fifth for now.) :P
Ahhh. Wife is sleeping, kids are soundly dormant. I have...Unhindred.Free.Time. It's a precious commodity, and I'm spending it here at H&T!
That Fred Butler-his blog is becoming more and more part of my morning ritual. Sometimes even before I visit teampyro! That's sayin something.
Yea, about Muslims in Catholic school. Over here I think the Muslims practically outnumber the Catholics anyway. But when you factor in the nominalism, among Catholic schoolers it's even more dismal. Nevertheless, I suggest Muslims go live in actual Muslim countries to appreciate how much liberty they enjoy in America.
Coffee is a health drink. You've found a friend in my wife. Coffee is liquid gold in her books. she is actually inchoherent without it in the AM.
Constitutional amendment...I'm Canadian, but I hope that initiaitve works. It'll be an uphill battle though-you've got the same mentality as the hyper-easily- offended -Muslim crowd to deal with. Next it'll be every Femi-Libero-Christophobic roused to action sensing an attack on their sacred right of choice.
Have a good weekend.
"That Fred Butler-his blog is becoming more and more part of my morning ritual. Sometimes even before I visit teampyro"
OK, Pierre, now let's not get crazy here.
(c:
Let me say this again clearly: coffee — it's a health drink.
Preach it, brother!
Wow...that track was awesome! I was laughing half the time, but really was impressed by how dedicated that father is and how much time he spent with his sons to do something they liked.
In the comments for the Bacon Cheddar Potato Chip Covered Peanuts was this: "Oh, sweet mystery of life at last I've found you!"
The Mormons actually have been schooled to distract from those issues that you brought up, Dan. Todd Friel actually showed a clip of a Mormon professor talking about how they don't need to engage those issues when tlaking to people outside the church. That's the difference between cults and Christianity - we lay out our distinctives right up front.
I'll have to show that Chewy joke to my boys...our youngest son thinks that Chewbacca is hilarious.
Those carvings are pretty intricate, but definitely ghastly.
From the comments on the article about the GOP resposne to the Obama idiocy:
It's interesting. I wasn't even aware that the House had past these 15 jobs bills. What's happened with the Media that they won't even report simple news. Are they afraid that the narrative of do nothing republicans will be destroyed?
The thing I really don't like about Obama's plans to help out with home loans is that he is only targeting those with poor credit and that have loans guaranteed through the government. So all of you who have worked hard to maintain your credit, we're going to make you pay for those who don't take care of their credit. That's basically what will happen, too.
I like how that graphic Angie found takes it back to the common problem and then shows the divergence.
I remember that case in Florida...I had hoped that the appeals court would have displayed some common sense. And I usually think I'm too cynical...
Wow...I hadn''t read the actual exchange between that teacher and the commentors to what she posted. I still would like to know if there are any people willing to take atheist teachers to task for harassment of Christian students? I'm guessing there aren't many lawsuits brewing over that...and it surely occurs.
So Amazon is moving into publishing? I wonder if any of these companies realize that they need other people making money in order to buy their products. Or do they just see the $$$$?
I thought the same thing about the new KFC bowl. What else do we need to add? Bacon! On top of mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and fried chicken! Talk about going into a carb coma!
Hooray for Mississippi! I hope other states will follow suit.
$350M on Halloween greeting cards? Really? And candy corn is the most eaten? I can only handle like 3 of those before I have to hit the water.
"I'm from the Federal Government and I'm here to help" "EEEK!" Priceless.
Yeah, not many people are going to look at this Occupy movement very objectively. You know...I am more worried about a one-world government from those groups joining forces with the European rioters than other groups right now. Mainly because the amount of people that I could see falling in line with that. What is really funny is that they are so stuck on no one person being above another that they can't agree on anything and focus their efforts. It is postmodernism at its worst.
Too cute to eat all at once...hahaha!
The cop drama graphic is hilarious!
OK, Pierre, now let's not get crazy here.
Yes. Let's not, because now I am all expected to be entertaining all the time and under that kind of pressure I'll just fall apart.
BTW, those orange Hot Wheel tracks made good switches when my mother couldn't reach the fly swatter.
Kids these days. I remember when we had to do epic Hot Wheels tracks with just. . . gravity.
I had a friend whose mother (who was raising 7 kids alone, 5 of them boys) kept Hot Wheels tracks hidden at arm's length throughout the house. If they started misbehaving, *flash of orange, whoosh, whack!
Way to start an eclectic post with an eclectic meta, guys.
(c:
See, Fred...when you follow up that first comment with the wit in the second, you just set the expectations even higher!
"Chris Carney notes a step in a scary direction, as an appeals court won't stop a judge from considering Sharia law in a case... in Florida."
Given the following, I can't tell what I should find scary. That is, I can't see any argument that this is a step toward giving sharia the force of law in the US (which would indeed be a scary direction).
From the story:
"Nielsen limited his use of Islamic law to deciding whether arbitration by an Islamic scholar mediating a dispute between the mosque and ousted trustees followed the teachings of the Koran."
It sounds like the two parties, a mosque and its trustees, had agreed to Islamic mediation--and the judge is considering sharia law to determine whether the mediation that occurred was valid Islamic mediation.
If any two parties agree to a certain form of mediation, isn't it obviously of interest to the court judging a subsequent lawsuit whether that mediation had occurred in the agreed-upon fashion?
Jugulum,
What keeps a judge from applying that reasoning to what occurs in a marriage between two Muslims, then? So should the man who beheaded his wife in NYC go free because that is the acepted practice within the context of the religious beliefs of Islam?
"Out the Door" Hot Wheels tracks I have seen and done. "Down the Street" was hampered by gravity (cf. Regier).
"Up the stairs again" was impressive, as was the wicked jump into the satellite dish/funnel.
An analogy occurs to me.
A publishing company contracts with an author to write a book that will use grammatical-historical hermeneutics to interpret the book of Genesis. The author delivers his manuscript--and the whole thing is full of pure allegory and reader-response.
So to determine whether the author fulfilled his contract, the court examines scholarly resources on the definition of grammatical-historical hermeneutics. Let's say he referred to Kaiser and Silva's Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics. Does that mean their book had force of law?
Robert,
"What keeps a judge from applying that reasoning to what occurs in a marriage between two Muslims, then?"
The basic, well-established principles of contract law.
This is a contract case, where two people freely contracted to use Islamic principles in mediation. If the contract meets the standards of a valid contract, then anyone can contract to abide by any set of mediational standards.
But a contract can't override criminal law. You can't make a contract that says, "You're allowed to kill me if I ever burn your dinner." A contract giving consent won't stop the killer from being prosecuted--you can't consent to your own murder.
Similarly, if state law determines that the only valid grounds for divorce is adultery, then a court couldn't use sharia standards to create a new ground for divorce--even if the Muslim husband and wife had signed a marriage contract that allowed him to divorce her simply by repudiating her three times. The contract wouldn't override state marriage law.
Now, if state marriage law did allow couples to define their own marriage contracts and their own grounds for divorce, then a Muslim couple could agree to abide by sharia law--and the divorce court would consider sharia.
Just like the court would consider the official rules of Scrabble, if my lease with my roommate allowed him to evict me if I ever cheated at Scrabble.
For some reason, Steven Tyler as Professor Trelawny totally fits.
By the way, I bet you can find some cases somewhere in America where a court considered sharia, and wasn't a contract law situation. And I agree, that would be legitimately scary.
We just need discernment to tell the difference between meeting contractual obligations and giving sharia force of law.
For new players: if history predicts, Jugulum will reply 1-3X for every attempt to answer his challenge, until people just stop trying.
I'm not saying it's good, I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying. That is a way to have this entire meta be about Jugulum requiring proof to his satisfaction that Sharia law in American courts is not worrisome.
Dan,
I receive and recognize that I have trouble being concise. (I've known that much for a while, and I'm working on it.) I also see your point that posting 'P.S.' comments when another thought occurs to me is problematic, since it's a pattern. (Even if I think expressing the additional thought helps clarify things, the length and multiplication of comments results in me dominating the meta, which isn't something I want to do. You refrained from saying if it's good or bad; I'll go ahead and say it is bad.)
You have my apology.
I would also genuinely value the application of your mind to the core distinction & question I raised: How is the Florida case a scary direction toward granting legal weight to sharia, given that the judge is determining whether the terms of a contract to use Islamic mediation have been met?
If you don't think the point is even substantive enough to address, I obviously disagree, but it's something everyone will evaluate for themselves. (My personal pride aside, I would value your comment because I think you would actually help people to evaluate the point--if I'm wrong, I expect you to see how.) If you still think it's just wisest not to engage with me at all, that's obviously your prerogative, up to your best application of sober wisdom.
the Candynomics graphic has a priceless little tidbit - Peanut Butter cup seekers should go to 2-story homes instead of ranch houses...
and that Hot Wheels track was/is crazy impressive.
I thought the same thing about Steve Tyler as Professor Trelawney. I'm still laughing.
About Amazon taking over publishing. Do you think they'll let profitability trump free speech and publish everything they can get their hands on? ....
yeah, I didn't think so either.
And those pumpkin carvings are SICK!
I'm going to go to Catholic University and start a Reformation Club and a Crusaders Club. We'll meet anywhere we please and "curse the Moors and the Seracens"
Let's offtrack the meta with Hot Wheel's tracks and God's Wisdom in Proverbs passages RE disciplining a child. Dan, I still say that Appendix on Prov. 22:6 is Grrrreattt!
Have a great weekend
Love that graphic about the Tea Party vs. Occupy Wall Street.
And PETA? You mean People Eating Tasty Animals? That's my kind of PETA ;D
Have to show the boys the (creepy) pumpkins.
Thanks for the fun,
Julie
I agree with Jugulum in this case. Really, I do.
Maybe the State Department is trying to compensate for Challies not reviewing the President's book.
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