iPad2, Xoom and other similars: a BibChr colloquium

My questions are few and brief:

1. Did any of you get an iPad2? If so, what do you think of it?
2. What do you actually use an iPad for?
3. We're thinking we don't want to lug a full laptop around Europe. So what do you get, that is smaller, can do email and web surfing, can do word processing, and (preferably) can carry BibleWorks and Logos? In Europe?
4. What about Xoom? Anyone have one o' dem?

Westminster Bookstore special on Thriving at College, by Alex Chediak

First: I haven't read it yet.

Second: however, Tedd Tripp, Al Mohler, Jerry Bridges, Marvin Olasky, Russell Moore, Doug Wilson, Leland Ryken, Tullian Tchividjian, Michael Horton, Rick Holland, Bruce A. Ware, and Gene Veith, have, and they all love it. So that's got to mean something. Right?

At any rate, you can —

1. Read a description HERE
2. Read a preview HERE
3. Take advantage (if you choose) of their current deal: they are offering the first copy in an order at 50% off (additional copies: 40% off) for one week (sale ends April 5th).

If you get it and read it, get back to us and let us know what you think.

Cool video: Sword Dance and Shadowgraph

Thanks to reader Yurie Hwang for the link.

Monday music: Taimane Gardner does Bach and more... on the ukulele!

It starts a bit nondescript, but hang on... this is a riveting performance.

(Thanks to reader Margot Murray for the tip)

Hither and thither 3/25/11

Cool week in a number of ways. Some time soon I will be receiving the last-before-printing galley of World-Tilting Gospel for one final go-over. The Proverbs manuscript is shifting into overdrive, and I hope to have solid news on that soon. But on the other hand... I'm getting sick! Whee!

Yet I still think of you and your HT needs, Dear Reader. Feel loved? Sweet.

You must remember this, then launch!

• Before the frivolity: remember to pray for "Jollyblogger," pastor David Wayne, whose cancer is on the move again. Also, read his unsparing sharing of the hard lessons cancer has taught him. One way or another, it is the Biblical pattern, isn't it? We die, die, die; and only then, do we live.
• All right, now to the usual assortment of very various variouses.
• 'Way cool: Jim Hamilton notes that The Sword is free on Kindle just now.
• We open with this weeks entry from the List of Things I Will Never, Ever, Ever Do:

• After I found that, reader Chris Carney sent me a vid with a little more info on this... if you want it.
• How to pet a kitty.
• Brilliant. Omaha mayor proposes a ten cents per roll tax on toilet paper. Birth of a thousand puns. (Thanks to Loretta Wissel.)
• Barber does something "I don't see nobody else out there doin'." No doubt. (Thanks, Chris Carney.)
• Next Chronicles of Narnia movie? The Magician's Nephew.
• A pastor was fired for his support for Rob Bell's new book. The pastor was really surprised by the action. I'm 'way more surprised than he: it was a UMC body. (Thanks, Joel Griffith, for the heads-up.)
• Are you comforted knowing that we're at "kinetic military action" in Libya? Whew! At least we're not at war!
• Meanwhile, former Bush administration personnel and others are thunderstruck at the feckless, high-handed way the President unilaterally and apparently carelessly bumped us into wa... er, kinetic, uh, you know. Senator Obama would have issued a high-handed lecture skewering President Bush for such actions. Me, I don't think the reason's hard to figure out. Do you?
• Top Ten Rejected Obama mission names:

10.Operation Nine Months In The Senate Didn't Prepare Me For This
9. Operation Organizing for Libya
8. Operation Double Standard
7. Operation FINE! I'll Do Something 
6. Operation Enduring Narcissism
5. Operation So That's What the Red Button Does
4. Operation France Backed Me Into A Corner
3. Operation Start Without Me
2. Operation Unlike Bush Wars This One Is Justified Because Hey Look A Squirrel
1. Operation Aimless Fury

• Too early to be hungry? Turns out... no.

• Relatedly: reader Mike Dickie found us how to make Peepshi — which is Peeps Sushi.
• Some will care, we do: Fringe has turned into an interesting, well-done show. Fox moved it to Friday night, usually known as the "death slot." Yet they've renewed it for another full season. Yay! [Warning for UK viewers, who are behind the US broadcast schedule: there are possibly spoilers in this post's meta.]
• Narrow-minded religious bigotry and censorship are alive and well in Illinois.
• I just... it's... sigh. You know, if anyone needs me to explain how wrong this is... well, welcome to the blog. Hang around. (Thanks to reader Mark Patton for the link.)
• Robert Sakovich found something giving various religious viewpoints about Japan. Lost people talking like lost people isn't surprising. Franklin Graham and his helpless, well-meaning spectator God is, though.
• A far better pastoral answer is given by my friend, pastor and author John Kitchen.
• Robert also found an exchange between David Horowitz and a Muslim student that is distressingly revealing.
• Dude really, really wants the ice cream and really, really won't give it back:

• I allowed heavy negative reviews (and thrift) persuade me not to see Battle: Los Angeles, in spite of nifty-looking trailers. Now Andrew Klavan has me wondering: was I manipulated by liberal anti-militarism?
• Are manifestos still "in"? Well, in case they are, thanks to reader Peter Pankonin here is How to Write a Manifesto.
• Are we missing something, or is this a Medical/Judicial Tyranny Alert? A woman in labor declines to sign a Caesarian-section consent... and they take her baby away for five years and counting? For child abuse? Even though it ended up being unnecessary?
• Of course the lone obvious irony here is that, had she contracted to have the child murdered, the medical/legal establishment would have had no interest whatever. Had she contracted for murdering the child as it was 2/3 of the way out of the birth canal, once again, no issue. Isn't that interesting, in a macabre way? The premise of abortion, such as it is, is that a woman has rights over "her own body." Abortion has nothing to do with her body, it has to do with another's body. However, Caesarian sections most certainly do relate directly to a woman's body. I've often said: the current state of abortion in America is a kind of moral insanity, and I mean that absolutely literally.
• Hopefully, my boys will appreciate the grammar-lesson-by-fail here, re. cookingperson Rachael Ray:

• Julie Garrett found a map animating the over 600 quakes Japan has endured since March 11, 2011.
• Thanks to reader Gary Benfold, we can look down the pathway of healthcare tyranny to its more advanced case in Great Britain, where a child was born at 22 weeks, struggled to live, and was left to die in his mother's arms by medics who followed "national guidance not to resuscitate babies born at under 23 weeks" and refused to treat him.
• It's all about cost and governmental rules, and nothing about right and wrong, in this article. I see a double-irony. The mother refers to her "partner," not her husband. Unless she means that, for some odd reason, her business partner was present and her husband was away, she means she hasn't a care about Christ's Lordship in her sexual life — but she's wounded that the medical establishment hasn't a care about Christ's Lordship, either.
• Relatedly — Princeton logic: targeting black babies for abortion? SOP. Warning blacks about targeting black babies for abortion? "Social bullying!" "Racism!"
• So I read that terrific actor Ed Harris is set to play John McCain in an upcoming movie. I'm no McCain fan, but my first thought is, "Oh, are they going to do a movie about his heroic service in Viet Nam?" Silly, naive me. It's about behind-scenes (i.e. probably largely made-up) doings in the last presidential election.
• For Phil Johnson... [rats; turns out that the animated gif I had here was a nasty meme known evidently to everyone except me. Oh well, it was — for us unaware of the association — a cute variation on this video. Sigh. Stupid intraweb memes. Thanks to Kurt K for pointing out the bad.]
• Name that political party: a state senator wants to censor Christians who offer prayers in the Senate meetings, to prevent them from praying in Jesus' name. Name that party!
• Wonder if she'd favor requiring rabbis who pray to pray in Jesus' name. You know, to be fair.
• Reader David Miller noted a story that makes us wonder whether there will be a species-inclusive version of the NIV.
• After I included that in HT, I find that Phil already has his calendar marked.
• Just sad: two homeschooling conferences kick out Answers in Genesis, leaving free rein to such as BioLogos and Peter Enns. Each group accuses the other. (Thanks to Scott Snyder for the link.)
• Leaving only...

Obama is not leading: and... how is that bad, again?

The title pretty well says it all, but let me expand.

Evidently the GOP thinks this is a winning message: President Obama is not leading. Google obama "no leadership" right now, and you get 331,000 hits.

So they keep saying it: Obama is not leading. He is not leading in foreign affairs. He did not lead when it came to the riots in Egypt. He is not leading now, in Libya.

Nor is Obama leading in domestic affairs. He is not leading in the budget battle.

All this is true. That isn't my question. My question is: how is this bad?


Of course it is bad in that it shows him to be a wretchedly poor president. But — well, duh. We here at BibChr knew he'd be a wretchedly poor president when his name was first mentioned. We knew it before the election. We knew it after the election. We know it today.

How? Simple. He had the wrong worldview, the wrong philosophy, and no real qualifying experience. Next?

So what has changed now, to make us want him to "lead"? Has he repented, accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, and completely revolutionized his worldview? Short of that, has he had an epiphany that's moved him to see the brilliance of the Founding Fathers, and of the core documents of this nation? Of either, there is no evidence.

And experience? He is still the least-qualified person in any room he enters... unless the topic is fooling enough dupes to get elected.

So where would Obama lead, if he led? In foreign affairs, he'd lead us in apologizing to everyone, deferring to everyone, and trying (personally, individually, for himself alone) to be liked by everyone. We want that?

In domestic affairs, Obama would lead us towards utter and complete totalitarianism under the rigid, iron fist of the elite, with him, personally, at the top. We want that?

So sure, I wish we had a president who knew where he should lead, and would do that.

But as long as Obama sits in the big chair in the Oval Office?

I say: keep voting "present," Mr. President.

Ultimate sermon illustration gif

I'll supply the illustration, you write the sermon.

Hymn: "...Evolution Made Them All"

H-T a tweet from Phil:

Evolution Made Us All from Ben Hillman on Vimeo.

Monday music: "Smoke on the Water," as you've never heard it before

Until recently, Germany's defense minister has been one Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, a handsome 39-year-old aristocrat with a fondness for rock. However, scandal drove him out of office.

That, or he just buckled under the weight of his actual full name, which is: Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. I kid you not.

What music did Guttenberg request for his military send-off? That would be "Smoke on the Water." The band had two days to prepare, and did a pretty impressive job. Check it out.

On the song: here is an analysis with background, and here is the original:

Hither and thither 3/18/11

Busy week, boys and girls, at work and at home. Cool news, though: going over the galleys of World-Tilting Gospel for Kregel. Exciting and scary.

So here's what I've got for now, and will add updates as I can:

• Maybe we can dedicate today's HT to those who help out in the church nursery.

• I keep telling you. Coffee: it's a health-drink. Especially for women. (Thanks, DAOD.)
• Would it be unfair to characterize Robert Schuller's attitude as "To Hell with them, as long as they serve our purposes"? Check it out.
• "The Palin Doctrine"? Interesting read, coming from the actual world (as opposed to elitist echo-chambers.)
• Who knew? Turns out overpaid, overprivileged, bullying union-rights are pretty much the same thing as black civil rights and freedom from slavery. Mm. Wonder if I can use that to peddle my books? "If you don't buy this book, it's just like you're for slavery!"
• Now, the ironically-named judge Maryann Sumi has done an odd thing. A Democrat filed a lawsuit about the Wisconsin law, and so the judge — rather than simply moving to review the complaint — actually halted the law, thus overriding the legislative branch in that state. Two interesting thoughts suggest themselves to me:
• First, Gov. Walker could simply do as President Obama has done with his unconstitutional Obamacare, and move right ahead heedless, whistling a little tune.
• Second, if this is the "new normal" for law, why don't about one hundred-thousand of us file individual lawsuits against pro-abortion laws? Wouldn't a hundred-thousand judges, to be consistent with Judge Sumi's example, have to halt the law that permits wholesale human slaughter? What am I missing here?
• In other news....
• Who hates homosexuals, again? How come every time someone tries to help them find freedom from their destructive vice, they're agin' it? Denial, much? (Thanks, JTW.)
• So can we say homosexual activists : homosexual slavery : : CAIR : Islamic terrorism?
• iPhones. What can't they do?

• Title of the week comes from the beloved Washington Times: Life spans up, death rates down. Really? Last I heard, death rate statistically stood at 100%. I believe I did a post on this, but I can't find it.  /c:
• I didn't used to. But, okay, now I think Dan Quayle may just be stupid.
• Reader John found some more sobering before/after Japan photos, in a unique presentation.
• Whoa. Did you realize William Shatner is about to turn eighty? Yikes. He's not too happy about it, either.
• If he's serious about that, Shatner could just put on a red shirt and go somewhere. He'll never come back.
• But I really think he should re-think his attitude, among many other things.
• Trogdor wants us to play Name that Party again: a State Rep. who is a convicted felon, and thus not eligible to run for, let alone hold, the office he in fact holds. Name that party!
• We could play it again. Which political party just led a successful vote to free us from being forced to pay for a particular liberal media organization? Name that party! (Thanks to Chris Carney for the link.)
• We've come to a pretty pass when the UN comes off as more decisive in leading than the President of the United States.
• Gil Sebenste wants you to look at massive webs made of packing tape.
• As I contemplate flying later this summer, I remind myself of some Basic Safety Tips:

• On the one hand, one's tempted to say "Onoes! Cats!!" And "reign of terror" is a bit over-the-top. But it seems this lady did have a rough go of it, set upon by feral cats. They're a problem in our neighborhood as well, but not of that intensity. (Thanks to reader Justin Durst for link.)
• Chris Carney found a pastor with a novel (and evil) way to fund-raise. Won't give the pastor your tax refund? No communion for you!
• Sonja suggests that readers in Seattle, WA, might want to catch the Star Wars Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center.
• As you surely know, in one of the most absurd things he's done so far, Obama hosted a bullying conference. Yet, kids bullying kids is a now a Federal issue. With all that's going on, this is what O stepped off the golf course to do. He was proud of it, too — my mailbox was full of braggy emails from the White House about it, to my disgust.  All that's going on, and this is what our Federal government focuses on. And now the punchline:
• We're still waiting for the President's anti-bullying denunciation of THIS.
• You could say, "I am far, far too wealthy for my own good." Or you could say, "I (A) bought a $750,000 car... and (B) trashed it on purpose." (Thanks, Chris Carney.)
• Sure. Chew your gum in church. The preacher sees...

• ...or...

• And so...

St. Patrick's Day: a contrarian note we need to note

Dr. Russell D. Moore tells us the lesser-known and vastly more important (and true) side of the life of Patrick of Ireland. (h-t Chris Brauns)

But yes, I'm wearing the only green item of clothing I possess.

Blogs: new, notable, and/or relocated

Dr. Jim Hamilton, author of a terrific book I'm reading even now, has moved his blog. Note and check it out.

Our own Paula has created her own blog, also check-outable. Her emphasis is political. BTW, she knows something on me, in a manner of speaking, that you don't know.

We've mentioned Michael J. Vlach several times, and reviewed a couple of his works. Wellsir, now he has a blog. So far the emphasis is dispensational matters.

Gospel-centered Japan relief organizations: whom to support, and why?

At the end of this post, I invited readers to detail which Christian Gospel-oriented relief organization they would recommend, and why. I'm afraid that it got lost as an update, so I am singling out that question.

Japan: the tragedy

This post will likely grow through the day. I can't (and won't try to) compete with sites that are on top of this situation, but can't let it go without comment.

Andy Dollahite points me to a NYT piece giving some gut-wrenching before-and-after GeoEye shots of Japan. Here's just one:

Here is one of several clips showing the progress of the devastation (h-t Challies):

From Merrilee Stevenson comes this harrowing street-level view, showing a rapid advance from a low-level flow to a torrent that is carrying buildings in its wake.

One thinks of a tsunami as a wall of water. A recent movie had a fairly amazing sequence of a tsunami in a village, but it showed the buildings mostly remaining standing, and a relatively debris-free flow of water.

This footage shows the reality: it isn't that the water is 25 feet high, it is that it is relentless and unstoppable and already filled with deadly debris and fires. You see ships and buildings and cars being carried along. The task of  identifying those killed must surely be worse than 9/11, as these victims will be spread out over miles under seemingly limitless debris.

I am praying for Christian relief workers and for victims. As I learn of leading agencies, I mean to pass that information along.

UPDATE: what Christian Gospel-oriented relief organization would you recommend, and why?

Monday music: "Ankle Injuries," or, Can An Entire Lyric Line Have Only Two Notes?

The answer would be "Yes," as you'll see in this combination of obnoxious song, meaningless lyrics, and clever video (thanks to reader Berry Davis).

I can never predict what posts will and will not be popular, provocative, "hits." I predict this one will not be well-loved. It is clever in that it is done entirely in dice. It keeps my "eclectic" cred.

But honestly, if you listen to 15-30 seconds of the song, and then watch another 45 of the video, you're probably good, and we're still friends.

Fujiya & Miyagi 'Ankle Injuries' from Tom Lindsay on Vimeo.

Hither and thither 3/11/11

What a week. Monday was actually really excellent, rife with blessings. I already had some terrific folks lined up to read (and, I hope, endorse) WTG, but on Monday three really sweet additions signed up. Plus, most of my other-manuscript readers have gotten back to me with some really helpful info. It's been a neat week; rough at work, but great otherwise.

And through it all, I made this little collection just for you, Dear Reader. So here you go... and remember:

• Update: this feature does not aim at being a news service, but we can't overlook the massive disaster that just struck Japan. An 8.9 quake is the largest every to hit Japan, and the fifth-largest in the world since 1900. You just don't hear that kind of number. The damage is massive, and a tsunami warning has been issued for at least 50 countries and territories. The tsunami siren is already sounding in Hawaii as I write this. We should pray for Japan's people, for rescue workers, and for the work of the Gospel.
• Tone-change Alert to the usual Hither and Thither fare. In three... two... one....
• Hither and Thither makes some people happier than others:

• BibChr Safety Warning. Reader Sonja reminds everyone to be very, very careful about using the Reply All button in email. (And here is an extended Super Bowl commercial envisioning that very thing.)
• Reader Martin Pitcher found some neat Lego pictures inspired by movies.
• He also noticed a very cool set of Star Wars bookends.
• Congratulations, Wisconsin.

• Can we hope for similar change in California? Hope, sure. Is it likely? Nah. There's a lesson there, if our pols would just learn it.
• One of the surreal moments of the week has to be the union thugs and their ilk in the gallery screaming "You are cowards!" at GOP senators (A) at work (B) actually doing their jobs (C) under threats and hostile, ugly crowds, while (D) the Dems cowered in hotel/motel rooms.
• Rep. Allen West knows who the real cowards (and deserters) were, and isn't afraid to say so.
• Michael A. Walsh brings out some of the really ugly implications of the Dems' latest attempts to be, well, un-democratic. Here Walsh adds that the Dems have "been acting like spoiled, petulant children since I first encountered them in 1967, and believe me, they have not improved with age. ...They’re doing us all a big favor by letting the Tolerance mask slip, and giving us a glimpse of the skull beneath the skin."
• Meanwhile, the peace 'n' granola love-partisans are responding... with death threats.
• Please supply links to all the mainstream media firestorm that is sure to erupt, expressing profound concern over such hate-speech and such violent rhetoric exclusively from the left — such as this mumbly threat from Jesse Jackson. Remember the Arizona shooting, and how it was tied to right-wing commentators and Tea Party patriots who didn't have a syllable of threats of violence to their names? Well, here's the real thing. We're watching, MSM.
• Okay, well, mostly not watching. Thank God for alternative media.
• Because of course, well all know that the MSM won't have their panties in a knot over this one, because it's the Left that's genuinely agitating for violence, and that's different. To them. But you know who is calling the agitators out? Obama? Bwahh hahaha. No, that would be Sarah Palin.
• Meanwhile, President Obama reportedly wishes he were president of China. Goodness, so do I. Then China would be falling apart, and would pose a threat to none but themselves and their allies.
• To go to another state less dumb than we in California — faint praise, that — Texas has passed a law requiring ultrasound and a waiting period before a babykilling. Pro-aborts are alarmed and incensed. Remember: they are not pro-choice, they're pro-abortion. A true pro-choicer would be all about an informed choice.
• Fun for movie buffs: an online version of Hangman using objects from movies.
• You who are thinking through Newt Gingrich as a possible candidate: compare these mealy-mouthed self assessments with rocker Danny Seraphine's unqualified condemnation of his own conduct. The Britis Mall Online isn't too unfair in characterizing Gingrich's version as equivalent to "I had an affair because I love America." I think I'd vote for Seraphine first.
• Hm... just picturing that State of the Union. In fact, I can hear it....
• Language that would express my feelings about these mothers would require that I ban myself, so I'll content myself with Julie Garrett's "just sad" and "sick to my stomach," and remind us all that lost people act like lost people — what else can we expect?
• Hunh. Zondervan finally came to an I can't go for that (no can do) point.
• For HSers: a graphical lesson in Civics, Dem-style, for your little charges:

• Wow. Never really been a Phil Collins fan, but odds are that some of you find yourselves in that number. So what do you make of this bitter, odd little farewell?
• Why yes, as a matter of fact, I'd love this for my birthday. What guy wouldn't? But with a price tag of around $500 with all the accessories, I won't be looking for it. (Review videos one, two, three and four.)
• Last week we mentioned a bill in Washington which was perceived as putting pressure on pregnancy centers. Well, it's dead.
• So you've broken into someone else's house. The homeowner comes in. You're caught red-handed. What do you do? Well, you're in Oregon so naturally you call the cops — to protect you from the homeowner. And they do. (Thanks, Julie.)
• Fox News has a calculator for your share in paying for Obamacare.
• So, you're the BBC. You want to do a series on the Bible. There are scads of international Bible-believing scholars available. Whom do you tap? Naturally, an atheist. Judging from her remarks quoted in the article, odds favor it being trite skubalon.
• Don't hold your breath for the BBC's series on Islam, hosted by a Jew. Either side of the pond, "bravery" only runs in one direction. Which I'll use to segue to....
• I tweeted, "Explain, please: Muslims are (A) opposed to violence in the name of Allah, and (B) equally opposed to anything we do to try to stop it. Huh?"
• Case in point? Muslim Democrat Congressman Keith Ellison made a tearful complaint about Congress inquiring into the radicalization of Muslims in America, telling a sad story about a kid named Mohammed Salman Hamdani. Very sad. Problem? The point he's trying to make is completely untrue. Moral? Never believe a liberal's sad story crafted to affect policy. Always fact-check.
• Other Dems were also unhinged, reader Robert Sakovich notes.
• Meanwhile, Bill Bennett makes sense on that issue.
• Lookie there. Gummi Bear chandelier.

• Must be cool to be an Anglican priest these days. Without any faith in the Bible, the Articles, and without a worldview molded by those influences, or all that, your time is freed up to pursue all sorts of things. Or that's my guess from where I'm sitting. (Thanks to reader Curtis Scheidler for the link.)
• So, what is an innocent five-year-old boy's life worth? What's the price of that life? In Rhode Island, if you behave yourself, about twenty-eight years on the public dime. Sadly, the father is absolutely wrecked up, and has some perfectly human feelings about it which (in the insanity of our justice system) could get him jailed while his son's murderer walks free.
• Wish the poor man could wrap his arms around the truths in this excellent book.
• Meanwhile, human life just got cheaper in Illinois.
• Illinois also is moving to drive more business out of the state.  Brilliant.
• Reader Chris Dean points us — after a call for a brief word about gluttony (there it was) — to a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig. I want it. (Some bleeped nastiness, I think.)
• Fred Butler found some very cool pix of a gent who creates art by carving up books. Very intricate and ingenious. Here's one sample:

• Hungry? Reader Susan has the cure: did you know that In-N-Out Burgers has a secret menu? Pretty tasty reading; I think In-N-Out has one of the best fast-food "chain" burgers. If you'd rather goggle than read, here's a slide-show.
• This is a great idea, courtesy of Challies: a gallery of movie "that-guys." I'm famed in my family for naming actors nobody else (except my BSIL, who's a contender) knows. This could help... a little. Problem is, I know a lot of these names, but wouldn't recognize them from the selected photos.
• We have a Winning An Argument By Big Bad Chest-pounding Title Award this week, and it goes to "Janine" (who, I think, is about 12) for Only Those with Blind Eyes and Dead Hearts Can Deny Same Sex Marriage. The URL, however, was created by either a much sharper, or a much duller person: http://www.politicususa.com/en/same-sex-marriage-argue-fail. Indeed.
• Well, there y'go:

• And in conclusion...

Yep: what Kevin DeYoung said

Could be this is Quote Day at BibChr, but that's fine.

Squishy universalist wannabes try to crowbar impenitent unbelievers into a Heaven they would hate with all their beings by fiddling with passages like (of all things) John 14:6.  "Through Me," Jesus says. "Ah yes," they say; "not through faith in Him, but through Him, thought His saving work."

After this by the estimable Kevin DeYoung, whatever ground they had for that pathetic dodge is gone, long gone.

Sproul throws down on the cult of pluralism

"If all religions are equally good, then one stands out as terribly bad, and that is Christianity, because Christianity has no time for pluralism. It sees one way only. Now that is downright un-American. Sometimes you have to make a decision where your allegiance is going to be—with the secular culture or with the One whom God sent into the world as your Redeemer" (R. C. Sproul, Acts [Crossway: 2010], 318)

Consumerist church (Sacred Sandwich strikes again)

—from Sacred Sandwich

A fun (to me, anyway) book note

A reader recently wrote asking for book-recommendations.

He* had gone to an unhealthy doctrinal place, and now was asking for five or six books to help him get "started clawing my way back to doctrinal health and sanity." I asked what specific areas were needed, and he replied, "Salvation and all its elements for a start...grace, atonement, sanctification, etc."

So I started searching my internal bibliography for some examples... and then stopped, and chuckled. I wrote back,

My book! I'm chuckling, but seriously, that's exactly what [The World-tilting Gospel] is about! But unfortunately, it won't be on the book racks (as they say) until August.

And then I came up with some titles, like Knowing God, for starters.

On which (previous) note: Kregel just received my list of possible endorsers, some extraordinarily gracious men (and [cue Darth Vader voice] a sister) who agreed to sacrifice the time to peruse the tome. Scary. Humbling. I'm not joking: some of these folks have, I am sure, very literally read the finest Christian works in the English language (and others) — and now my humble little effort will be in their hands. Gulp.

Hm... would anyone buy a book whose back cover had endorsements from big names, like

• "Nice try! Really... nice!" (Dr. Heinrich Borfmann, Bogotron Seminary)
• "Moments of true semi-adequacy!" (Edie Contralto, Cupboard-Keepers Ministries)
• "We had such hopes for little Danny. And now, this. Oh dear. Well, at least he's not in prison.  ...He's not, is he?" (Verna Fleebner, Glenoaks Elementary School [retired])
• "Ambitious, but... well, ambitious!" (Pastor Eulie Lapidary, Church of Holy Perpetuity)
• "Brings to mind the greats. Longingly. By way of contrast." (Varf Konkelman, talk show host)
• "This one part was terrific!" (Bob Fernbern, mechanic)

Such are the inner thoughts of a first-time author venturing forth where giants have trod.

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*I'll probably post on this stylistic note sometime, but I'm going to try to draw back from using conventions such as (s)he when I mean to speak generically. No force on earth can compel me to use "they" as a neuter. That leaves me with the classic, standard generic "he." So unless sex matters, when I speak namelessly of someone (as here), "he" means a person, without specifying his or her... agh! — his sex.

Monday music: "The Drum Song," Adjoa Skinner

Recommended by our Brad Williams.

Here's the artist's explanation of the song:

This song is a medley of 3 different African folk songs that I learned while living in East, South and West Africa. The basic interpretation of the song is "For all that you have done for me, I thank you everyday, I thank you all my life".

Interesting BBC discussion on anti-Christian prejudice in foster care

...following up on the item mentioned yesterday:

(h-t- Turk)

Hysterical: MacArthur Study Bible ad

(h-t- Turk)

Hither and thither 3/4/11

It's been a nice, fast week. That's how I like work-weeks! Enjoyed last weekend, week's been good, looking forward to this weekend with family, study, worship and fellowship and burgers! God is generous and gracious.

(Remember the usuals.)

• Anyone see the Democrat Fleebaggers? I think maybe I did....

• ...briefly.
• Speaking of which, looks like the GOP is starting to play some hardball. My initial thought is, "Woot!" My second is, "How are they going to enforce it?"
• As you listen to the crying and moaning from Wisconsin (or any other) unionized public workers, keep these facts about their income relative to private employees' in mind. (Explains a lot about California.) Courtesy of Robert Sakovich.
• Moving from above-the-law Democrats to the Obama administration isn't really much of a move, is it? It is surprising to me that Judge Vinson actually thought the Obama White House would do something when he ruled Obamacare unconstitutional. Whatever the explanation, Vinson has since been enlightened, and has responded with a "harshly worded" opinion reiterating that the whol law is unconstitutional, and giving them seven days to file an appeal. Vinson showed Obama and crew respect. Now he knows where that ends up.
• About time. Senators DeMint and Coburn introduce a bill to defund National Public Radio. Guess the party? Oh, you knew.
• Reader Martin Pilcher found a cool instruction on building a chess set out of Legos.
• Reader Dave Miller points us to impressive pictures of the lava lake in Nyiragongo Crater, where the photographer is said to have gotten within about a yard of the crater itself.
• Once again, it takes a British essay to ask and answer the obvious: Do tyrants fear America anymore? Calling American foreign policy (—huh? we have a foreign policy? I mean, besides apologizing and dithering?) an "embarrassment," writer Nile Gardiner answers in the negative.
• But then any of you who were BibChr readers around October of '08 could have predicted exactly this state of affairs.

• Staying in Britain: so, if you're a sexual pervert, you're prime material to be a foster parent. But if you're a Bible-believing Christian? Forget it! (Thanks to reader accross-the-sea Phil Baiden.)
• UPDATE: here is a video clip from a BBC discussion of this incident. The participants you'd least expect make the most sense.
• Semi-relatedly, here are words you never expected to hear me say. Ready?
• Props to CNN. Last month, CNN published a desperate attempt to accommodate the Bible to the perversion du jour. And now this month the publish a solid Biblical response by Robert Gagnon, a leading scholar and writer on the subject. (Thanks, Robert Sakovich.) Fred Butler has a bit more on Gagnon.
• Yeah, um....

• Name some unpromising media for portrait art. How about... snails? Cigar ash? Screws?
• People quote the Pope to me now and then and I invariably think "Who cares?" The sad answer is that, while no Christian should care, thousands of Rome's slaves do. So Robert Sakovich says the Pope has cleared the Jews of Jesus' death. This is supposed to have an an impact on anti-Semitism. Well, I'm all for that. But (A) what the heck is he talking about?, and (B) who does he think he is? Oh wait, we know about (B). So as to (A), no living Jew is any more responsible for Jesus' death than every living Gentile. OTOH, the Jews at Jesus' time certainly were, but so were the Gentiles. However, finally, it is important to say — and a Gospelly person (in contrast to the Pope) would say — that living Jews who reject Jesus expose themselves to the warning in Deuteronomy 18:19. As I have explained at some length elsewhere.
• ...aaand now I'm hungry. Thanks a lot, Martin.
• Similarly: oooh, num.

• "Religion of Peace" Alert: did you hear that there will be a rally in favor of imposing Islamic Shariah law on America, from people who expect to create a new Constitution and see the flag of Islam flying over the White House?
• The elites in the MSM may not make much of this, though. They're on-guard against "Islamophobia." Also, they're busy watching the real enemies of freedom — you know, those people who think babies shouldn't be murdered for being inconvenient or imperfect, or who oppose redefining words (and institution) to make sexual perverts feel better about remaining enslaved to their perversion.
• Meanwhile, want to know what the (Ob)American Secretary of State thinks is "real news"? Yes, that would be Hillary Clinton. Answer: Al Jazeera. No sir, no ma'am, I am not making that up.
• Must have been kick in the tummy to the MSM, who's been carrying water and running interference for her and her husband for well over a decade.
• So perhaps that is why an Obama administration official is calling for American cable companies to carry Al Jazeera?
• Know who Libyan rebels hopes comes to aid their cause? Hint: ain't Oblahblah.
• Aww. Best friends forever:

• (Hopefully that will get me out of hot water with my Dear Wife, who was not blessed by the laser cat bowling in last week's installment.)
• Keeping it in the family, my DAOD found a way to see things other people accomplished at your age. Encouraging or depressing, your call.
• I'm sure my Jonathan would approve of this flowchart:

• And I'm pretty sure my Josiah (and maybe the Grasshopper boys) would like this heavy metal Lego Viking animation.
• Readers John and Reality Check both noted a new Roman Catholic Bible. I think updating "holocaust" and "booty" makes sense. The rest? Or Roman Catholics even bothering to do a Bible? Not so much.
• Newt Gingrich is going to explore the possibility of running for President in 2012. He really, really, really, really, really shouldn't. Neither should Mitt Romney.
• Oh good heavens. Reader Dawn Lewis found video of some TSA agents giving thorough searches to little boys who just came off a train. The accompanying story is even more aggravating.
• Most of my favorite Ziggy cartoons have him standing in front of a sign. Like this one.

• Yucky. Or: I really missed a bet.
• So now, I leave you with this thought: soccer is even more dangerous than it looks.

• Well, that, and these: