David Gelernter really celebrates the Puritans “To understand America and Americanism, you must understand those Puritans. They are a difficult proposition, an intellectual handful. They were religious fanatics. But their intolerance gave birth to toleration; their quest for religious freedom yielded freedom in general; and their devotion to the Bible and the biblical idea of …
God’s Knitting Needles
You have heard many times that this Table is not the time or place for confession of sin. If you have ignored these exhortations, and have come to the Table with unconfessed sin in your life, then confessing sin here is far better than not confessing sin at all. So take care of whatever it …
Breaking Bread Across Generations
Our gracious Father, from whom all fatherhood derives its name, we thank You for our family. We thank You for children, grandchildren, parents, and grandparents. We thank You that we are allowed to break bread across generations like this, and we are grateful for the hands that prepared this food for us. Father, we ask …
And Some People Think the Religious Right Created the Taliban
“In the event, President Carter secretly authorized $500 million (closer to a billion in today’s money) to help create an international network that would spread Islamism in Central Asia and ‘destabilize’ the Soviet Union. The CIA called this ‘Operation Cyclone,’ and in the following years poured over $4 billion into setting up Islamic training schools …
Art in a Can
“The high point came in 1961, when an Italian artist name Piero Manzoni sold ninety cans of his own feces (each weighing thirty grams and marked ‘Made in Italy’) to art patrons willing to pay the same rate as the current price of gold” (Martha Bayles, Hole in our Soul, p. 288).
Seems Simple Enough
Contrasting ways of looking at the world. HT: Borg Blog
An “Unnecessary” Website
Somebody’s gotta clean up around here.
But What a Choice
Marvin “Gaye is a special case, of course. But the same forces that propelled this troubled artist into the ooze made ‘love men’ out of many other talented musicians . . . The assumption was that any woman in her right mind would prefer the love man’s smooth-talking, satin-sheets-on-the-waterbed approach to the ear-blistering screeching of …
Yeah
“Now then, let these two things be granted about the Law: first, that we are not justified by it, but by the free grace of God in Christ; second, that when duties of holiness are set down in the Law, we are bound to them by the most strong obligations. What need is there for …
The Differences Between Riches and Wealth
“According to the World Bank, the total exports of the Arab countries (other than fossil fuels) amount to less than those of Finland, a country of 5 million inhabitants. There are at least 50 Arabs to each Finn” (Serge Trifkovic, The Sword of the Prophet, p. 206).