"Faith and Inauguration"

Os Guinness published a column in USA Today about civility in our culture. Os Guinness has a long track record of trying sincerely to improve the role of the Christian community in the public square. He was disciples by Francis A. Schaeffer. Here's a sample from the column:

Obama himself demonstrates civility in action: the ability to respect and listen to people of profound differences, and to work with them on issues of importance for the common good. Uniquely, perhaps, he would be capable of delivering the Gettysburg Address of the American culture wars. Tuesday's inaugural address is not the occasion, but what our nation requires is a statesman's address by the "President of all Americans" to Americans of all faiths and no faith. In short, what is needed is a challenge to the entire nation — activists, pundits and bloggers included — to live up to the promise of the American experiment in light of the culture wars at home and the sectarian strife around the world. What we need is a rebirth of a tough-minded civility that is a genuine habit of the heart, and valued as a necessity in a democracy as well as a virtue in a republic.

"Judge Obama on Performance Alone"

Yesterday, liberal AfAm journalist Juan Williams in the Wall Street Journal published a great column on how to judge BH Obama. Here are a few key graphs:

If his presidency is to represent the full power of the idea that black Americans are just like everyone else -- fully human and fully capable of intellect, courage and patriotism -- then Barack Obama has to be subject to the same rough and tumble of political criticism experienced by his predecessors. To treat the first black president as if he is a fragile flower is certain to hobble him. It is also to waste a tremendous opportunity for improving race relations by doing away with stereotypes and seeing the potential in all Americans.

Yet there is fear, especially among black people, that criticism of him or any of his failures might be twisted into evidence that people of color cannot effectively lead. That amounts to wasting time and energy reacting to hateful stereotypes. It also leads to treating all criticism of Mr. Obama, whether legitimate, wrong-headed or even mean-spirited, as racist.

This is patronizing. Worse, it carries an implicit presumption of inferiority. Every American president must be held to the highest standard. No president of any color should be given a free pass for screw-ups, lies or failure to keep a promise.

In my opinion, this is a wonderful corrective to the fawning, slobbering (to use Bernie Goldberg's term) love-fest for BH Obama from the media so far. Thank you, Mr. Williams. I resent the implication among some that ANY disagreement with or criticism of BHO is racist. Maybe if enough AfAms speak up, we can move race relations ahead in this country.

Reading Calvin's Institutes

I'm trying to read through Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion this year, 2009. Reformation21.org has a reading schedule, and some of their contributors are blogging their way through their own reading. Maybe from time to time, I'll share my own thoughts. Here are a few so far.

His definition of a healthy church:

"...the pure preaching of God's Word and the lawful administration of the sacraments" (:24-25).

No seeker-sensitivity here! No top notch children's programs, or cutting edge youth ministry...hmm...

I am struck by how his theology begins with God, not man. Here are a few quotes:

"[W]e cannot seriously aspire to him before we begin to become displeased with ourselves" (:37).

"[M]an is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly estate until he has compared himself with God's majesty" (:37).

"[H]owever the knowledge of God and of ourselves may be mutually connected, the order of right teaching requires that we discuss the former first, then proceed afterward to treat the latter" (:39).

I wonder how much of our church practice is askew because we begin with man and not with God. Those are two hugely different theologies: theocentric and anthrocentric. I wonder if my life is theocentric?

Concerning "piety," he writes:

"I call "piety" that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces. For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that hey should seek nothing beyond him -- they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him," (:41).

This is huge, and I'm still trying to let this sink in.

Concerning the "pious mind," he writes (and this is my favorite so far):

"[T]his mind restrains itself from sinning, not out of dread of punishment alone; but, because it loves and reveres God as Father, it worships and adores him as Lord. Even if there were no hell, it would still shudder at offending him alone," (:43).

Lord, give me a heart like this!

What I sense, after about 60 pages, is that this man was consumed with God, or as John Piper puts it, "a God-besotted man." His mind had been so conformed to Scripture that he thought of everything from God's perspective. Strangely enough, reading Calvin pushes me to read Scripture more myself. Perhaps that is testimony enough of the power of his mind and spirit.

Trip to Disney

I didn't mention this before we left, but over the holidays my family spent 11 days in Florida with all things Disney. Our schedule was something like this:
1) Go to the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, FL.
2) Spend 4 days at Disney World, one day at each of the parks.
3) Go on a Disney cruise to the Bahamas, three nights, 2 days.
4) Return to Cape Canaveral and go to the Kennedy Space Center.

All in all, this was a great trip. My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on December 20th, and to celebrate, they invited my family, and my sister's family, on the all-expense-paid trip. This was very generous of them.

Initially, I was looking forward much more to the Bahamas thing than to Disney World itself. I thought the "amusement parks" would leave me cold. My experience, though, was quite different. I enjoyed the parks much more than I thought I would. I was struck by the professionalism, cleanliness, organization, cheerfulness of the staff, etc. I hate to say it, but I began to feel the Disney Magic!

I was really impressed by how careful the restaurants were with food allergies. Most places could not care less, but the staff at Disney took every one of our concerns very seriously, both at the parks and on the cruise. Since we are a family with many food allergies, this was a welcomed experience.

There was a bit more walking than I was ready for, especially at EPCOT (which some people say stands for "Every person comes out tired"!). Special mention goes to Cinderella's castle, and Mainstreet, USA. At Epcot, I enjoyed walking around all the different countries. The light show / fireworks display was awesome. I could have spent much more time at all the parks, certainly. We had a very diverse group, 2 people in their 70's, one who was on a scooter, four adults in their 40's, then 7 kids, ranging in age from about 3 to 17. It is hard to make everyone happy, but when we separated and did our own thing, we really had a good time.

They had a great safari ride at the Animal Kingdom. At Hollywood Studios, they had a cool Star Wars ride. Our meals were excellent. We had two meals with Disney characters, a supper with Winnie-the-Pooh people, and a breakfast with the Disney princesses, including Mary Poppins, Princess Jasmine, Belle, Mulan, and a few others. I'm amazed at the skills of these characters. They made you think they really were Mary Poppins, etc. My favorite was seein Snow White in the flesh on the cruise. This actress had the gestures and expressions of Snow White down cold. She looked, talked, and acted just like Snow White in the movie. And while I was waiting in line to meet her, I saw her interact with some little girls in such a way that it brought tears to my eyes. She really knew how to make these little girls feel like they were meeting Snow White. Amazing...where does Disney find this kind of people? They were all so good.

The cruise was also wonderful. I took the Queen Elizabeth II to England when I was 19, so this wasn't my first experience on a cruise ship. I love standing out on the open decks and watching the docking and feeling the sea wind in my hair. One one of the days, we stopped at Nassau, Bahamas, and went to something called "Dolphin Encounter." We got to touch a dolphin, etc. Very nice, and certainly memorable for the kids. The second day we were scheduled to go snorkeling, but the sea was too rough, so we walked around the island Disney owns and sat on the beach.

One of the few regrets is that they have so much to do that we got tired and had little time to sit together and talk as a family. But it was certainly a shared experience, one we will never forget. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

The Holy Land Experience also had some high points. Again, very professional people, nice shows, great singers, a very nice model of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, and a wonderful exhibit about Biblical manuscripts called the Scriptorium. I enjoyed the whole trip.

Now, with the beginning of the semester, it is back to reality!

Bush Post-Mortem

Fred Barnes has a good evaluation of the Bush Administration. Read it here.

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"10 Things the President Got Right"

In the Interest of Fairness...

Here's a column by a supporter of Gaza, Rhashid Khalidi, of the NYT. Here's the introduction:

NEARLY everything you’ve been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

Pro-Life State of the Union: 2009

Here's an excellent issue in World magazine on the state of the Pro-Life cause. Read about it on Justin Taylor's blog here.

"It's Not Easy to be Christian in the Middle East"

See an interview between Newsmax and Mordechay Lewy, Israel's Ambassador to the Holy See (Vatican). Read it here. Here are two key paragraphs:

If someone wants to be pro-Palestinian, he can find many reasons. When they look at our area they ask: Do we have Christian brothers there? It’s natural that Christians will have solidarity with their brothers in the Middle East. It’s not easy to be Christian in the Middle East. I am not saying Christians don’t have problems in Israel, but they should pray to God to thank Him they are under Israeli and not Muslim rule.
I can understand Catholics’ special affection for each other, but they should not seek to improve the personal security of their brothers in need by being anti-Israeli. This is not a life insurance policy. It is a notion which experience shows has failed. You’re not buying anything with it. The Muslims deeply resent Christians, so they are not impressed by such Christian anti-Israeli statements. That’s the experience in the Middle East.

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UPDATE:

Hamas reinstitutes crucifixion of Christians as "enemies of Islam."

Read it here. I haven't heard much about this in the media.

What Can We Talk About?

I found a great quote today in the Economist, in an article on conversions of Muslims in Kosovo to Christianity. In the reader's comments, someone very perceptively wrote the following:

Discussing large things is now a capital offense, we must only debate
trivialities. You may oppose a man's opinion on transportation policy, but you
must not oppose his view of the world - even if he wishes to see that world burn
in an act of suicidal violence.

Queen Pelosi

(Democrat) change you can believe in! Destroy the minority! Nancy Pelosi rammed new rules down the throat of the 111th congress to consolidate power. There's bipartisanship for you! Newt Gingrich's congress changed these rules to allow the minority more freedom. Read the article here. {image}

A T-shirt at Disney

I saw a t-shirt at Disneyworld last week that read as follows:

More people have read this shirt than have read your blog.

How true.