I'm a little surprised at the level of emotion after the death of Michael Jackson.

I've always considered him a tragic figure. Talented, but clueless, and wandering in a wasteland of fame, money, and weirdness.

BTW, He was paying $100,000 per month to live in that house! I think President Obama should step in and take control of the entertainment industry, and put salary caps on how much entertainers can make. Jackson was paying more in rent each month than twice what I make in a year! That's economic justice?

And about Perez Hilton: Would somebody please shut that guy up!

I'll say:

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From Anger to Sadness

OK, I'm over the initial reaction and outburst of anger. The more I hear about this whole affair, the sadder I become. I think the erratic behavior, the emails, etc., show a basically good man that ignored warning signs and somehow ended up in a place he never intended or even wanted to go.

Every married man faces temptation. I've been married for over 23 years now, and I can say from the first week of his marriage, a man must learn to think differently. What once you looked at as possibilities you must now look at as impossibilities, and because of our sin nature, sometimes the "forbiddenness" of things makes them all the more attractive. Then there is the perpetual temptation of "easy skin," i.e., pornography, made wildly easier today via the internet. This, from what I've read, is more a means of dealing with pain in one's life than an issue of sexuality. Then there are the serious temptations, more emotional in nature than sexual, which appeal by claiming to give feelings of "newness," "importance," etc. I think most men feel them - I have - but I've also learned that many, many lies in life can sound very true. Don't forget the Garden of Eden!

So, as a man who has not always lived up to his own ideals, who has fallen short - who regularly falls short! - of his own standards, I have felt what Mark Sanford must be feeling right now.

In some ways, I'll bet it is a relief. I wonder if he felt euphoric yesterday after the news conference. For a man who takes his moral commitments seriously, it must be extremely stressful to know inside that you are gradually becoming two people, someone with a public reputation and someone with a personal reality that doesn't match. And to feel you can't stop the process...How sad! To finally bring the two persons back together must have been a great relief, even if the direction was to pull the public reputation person down to the personal reality, at least the two are now again one. Of course, we would all like to make our public reputation and our personal reality match - God help us all!

Clearly, he was suffering from deep stress. The long, drawn-out battle with the legislature, for what he felt was right, and his eventual defeat, the stress of going in a direction in his personal life he did not want to go, all that led to erratic behavior, almost desperation...then to get caught, come clean, and begin the process of moving on. This happens all over the country every day, at all sorts of levels. Some are left behind and things are repaired with little difficulty; others become trainwrecks. The problem with Mr. Sanford is that, because of his office, status and influence, and because of his stated moral standards, and because of his family, the fall is long, and hard, and painful.

May God have mercy and help this man reassemble his personal life.

Thanks, Mark!

Well, I was not terribly troubled when I heard our governor was "unreachable" for a few days. A man deserves a break now and then, and there have been many times I have wanted to get out on a canoe on Lake Murray all by myself, just to be alone. Not tell the wife? Well, I wouldn't take that route myself, but if Mrs. Sanford is OK with it, I don't think I should judge. Hiking the Appalachian Trail? OK, no problem...a little odd, but, hey, I've hiked part of it, and I can see where that would help someone unwind a bit. South America? Hmmmm...well, OK, I suppose if I had the money and could do that I might want to really get away from it all from time to time. I wish he had been a bit more careful, and had let people know, but again, I'm OK with it. My nice neighbor lady, asked me today what I thought of our missing governor, and I gently tried to give the guy some freedom. I've heard from some reliable sources that Mr. Sanford is a real family man, a genuine Christian man, so I went out on a limb and assured my Jewish neighbor that, whatever the reason for our governor's disappearance, "I'm sure it was nothing, yunno, WRONG or IMMORAL."

THANKS, MARK!

Here and here.

"Two-Faced Feminism"

A funny column by S.E. Cupp on the death of "Two-Faced Feminism." Here are the opening graphs:

Thank you, Barbara Boxer, for hammering the final nail in the coffin of angry and irrelevant pseudo-feminism. If any life were left in its wheezing and flailing body, her latest experiment in the utterly ridiculous effectively pulled the plug.

The venomous brand of feminism that cuts men off at the knees to make women arbitrarily taller is no longer credible. When Boxer had the audacity — and some would argue, questionable mental clarity — to scold a U.S. Army general publicly for calling her “ma’am” instead of “senator,” it telegraphed to the rest of the world the sheer inanity of today’s modern feminism, a rusting relic of the '60s that’s been pushed so far to the extreme borders of relevance that it actually has Boxer hearing things. Yes, in today’s feminism, calling a woman “ma'am” is a mark of disrespect.

But calling another woman a “slutty flight attendant” is apparently hilarious. Never mind that the woman is a governor, the first woman to hold that post in her state, and the youngest. Never mind that she’s an accomplished and hard-working, self-made woman and mother of five. Because she’s a Republican, she’s fair game for those on the lunatic left who, when it comes to Sarah Palin, seem to have forgotten their Feminism for Dummies handbook at their beach houses.

Read the rest here.

Cool Quote

I found this awesome quote today. I believe it, but I certainly don't live up to it. Why don't we teach this stuff in our government schools?

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects!" -- Robert A. Heinlein

My education was more like: "I'm learning more and more about less and less until eventually I'll know everything about nothing!"

After four kids, I got the "changing a diaper" thing down!

Some Summer Movie Reviews

Well, I've been using some of my credit card reward points to get free rentals from Blockbuster. Here're my opinions of the latest batch.

1. DEFIANCE - This is a Daniel Craig, Holocaust flick filmed in Europe. Craig is the leader of a group of Polish Jews who hide from the Nazis by fleeing into the forests, where they build camps and assemble a society of sorts. I've not been a big Craig fan, but this movie was simply awesome! There's romance, Jews, WWII, desperation, conflict, moral conundrums, war scenes, no sex, a little swearing, violence, etc. There's a moving scene where one of the Jews prays and asks God to "choose another people, and take back our righteousness." Wow. Great stuff. I totally lost sense of time and place watching this movie. The accents are convincing and the Polish and Russian dialogue are son convincing I thought I was really there. I give it 5/5 stars.

2. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - The latest Brad Pitt flick; Pitt plays a man who was born the day WWI ended. A clock maker designs a giant clock for a new train station, but designs it to run backward. Benjamin Button is born on this day, and therefore, his aging process is reversed. He is born as a baby but one with a 90 year old man, organs failing, etc. and as he ages, he gradually grows younger - a fascinating premise. Although I don't always think much of Pitt's politics and social action agenda, I think he is a good actor. This movie is no exception. Again, I was totally lost watching this movie (a key element that I consider when evaluating a movie). It made me think about life, relationships, etc. I give it 4/5 stars.

3. CHANGLING - I wasn't expecting much from this Angelina Jolie movie, based on a true story of a kidnapping in California and the legal reforms it launched. There are some points of extreme stress, so be warned - it isn't always a pleasant thing to watch. But in any case, I enjoyed it. I give it 4/5 stars.

4. APPALOOSA - This western stars Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons, and Viggo Mortensen. Historically, I am not a fan of westerns, but as I grow older, something about them is beginning to appeal to me. Maybe its the guns...maybe its the women...maybe its that each man must prove himself in a one-on-one contest with either the bad guy or nature or himself. Oh well, in any case, I thought this was well done. It wasn't over-the-top, very subdued, minimalist. The rapport between Harris and Mortensen is great. I give it 4/5 stars.

5. JAMES BOND, QUANTUM OF SOLACE - Hmmm, James Bond movies haven't changed much since I first saw "The Man With the Golden Gun" as a zit-faced teenager, drooling over all the beautiful women. Something inside me knew that he was not living a godly life, but I still kinda' secretly wanted to be James Bond and receive the adulation and affection of women the world over. Like I said, not much has changed in these movies, although I have a clearer understanding now of what I sensed were problems with such a lifestyle. Not much else to say about the movie. I give it 3/5 stars.

6. POWDER BLUE - This is a rather odd little thing, kinda' like "Crash" without the accident. Four lives in particular are gradually weaved together. There's not much violence, a bit of language, but way too much skin. I suppose any movie with a "stripper" in it should be a red flag... The lovely and talented Jessica Biel plays the stripper with a comatose son in the hospital. Her life intersects with a socially awkward mortician, some kind of a gangster, and a priest who apparently got married then lost his wife in a car accident and has lost his will to live. I love movies about plain, simple people who reach points of desperation and have to make heart-wrenching decisions. Be warned: the skin is a bit much. I give it 3/5 stars.

7. GRAN TORINO - This movie blew me away! I love it, I love it! Clint Eastwood plays an aging Korean war vet who spent his adult life working the assembly line in the car factories of Detroit, MI. His wife has just died and his neighborhood has been gradually taken over by the Hmong people. The man is grumpy, bitter, racist and generally mad at the world. Through a variety of circumstances, he becomes entwined with the lives of his Hmong neighbors and befriends a teenage boy who is trying to be forcibly recruited by a local gang. There's no sex, little violence, but the language is so foul and bad it got funny. He keeps in his garage a 1972 vintage Gran Torino in mint condition. That car becomes a symbol not only of his life but of the country he served and loves so much - aging, out of date, and no longer the same. This is a great parable of how our nation has in some ways become better but in many ways has become more violent, coarser and less a land of opportunity. If you want a story of sacrifice, redemption, humor, and clashes of culture, this is for you. I give it 5/5 stars enthusiastically!

Well, that's all for now. A pretty good batch. Let me know what ya'll think.

Proverbs 4:19 on Display

This from FOXNews today. I don't say this at all to pronounce judgment on Mr. LeBeouf. I want to draw attention to his own admission of moral confusion, his sense of blindness. This makes me sad for him. [I added the bold italics.]

....LeBeouf, 23, admitted that he is indeed battling a few demons, adding that all actors are.
“They’re all in pain. It’s a profession of bottom-feeders and heartbroken people,” he said. “Most actors on most days don’t think they’re worthy,” he added. “I have no idea where this insecurity comes from, but it’s a God-sized hole. If I knew it, I’d fill it and I’d be on my way.”
The "Transformers" star, who was arrested on a DUI in July of 2008, also admitted to being an alcoholic.
“Why am I an alcoholic? I haven’t a [expletive] clue.”

See the whole article here.

"Wicked" in Proverbs 4:19 is perhaps too strong a word for us. I'm not trying to call Mr. LeBeouf wicked. What I'm trying to illustrate is that those who do not walk in the "fear of the Lord" (properly defined) often suffer from a kind of moral blindness, an inability to properly perceive their own lives. That's all I'm trying to say. Perhaps someone like him is not far from the Kingdom of God....

What's Good for the Goose...

During the "Bush years," we heard all sorts of drivel about how oppressive the administration was, especially as exemplified in the movie, "V For Vendetta." The mantra was:

"People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people."

I wonder: Is that still true? Or is oppression OK now?

Crutch's Recent Movie Reviews

I rented some movies this weekend, thanks to our credit card rewards program! Here are my mini-reviews:

1. Kung-Fu Panda - Andrew and Diane assured me that I would laugh uncontrollably at this movie, but I found it pretty average. There were a few laughs, the funniest sequence is when the panda is fighting his "mentor" for a dumpling (food). All in all, though, I was a bit disappointed. I would give it 2/5 stars.

2. Doubt - again, this movie had potential - I love religiously themed movies! - but this one slipped into political correctness, and left too many loose ends. Meryl Streep was creepily excellent as the accusatory Sister Aloysius, and ole Philip Seymour Hoffman was great as the accused Father Brendan Flynn. I would give it 2/5 stars.

3. The Day the Earth Stood Still - the Keanu Reeves propaganda piece about global warming and environmentalism. This is a remake of the old 1951 movie, but I felt I was being preached at for most of the film. Even the gorgeous Jennifer Connelly was not on her best game. I give it 2/5 stars.

4. The Reader - the new Kate Winslet Holocaust movie. Of the lot I saw this weekend, this one was the best. We saw much more of ole Kate naked than I would have preferred, so be ready for that (I didn't realize it was rated R, and I thought the affair played a more minor role in the film). The first third of the movie is the affair she has with a 16 year old boy. There were some tender moments between them. A subplot of the movie is the negative effects that such an intimate relationship has on a young man. The film raises some interesting moral questions about the law and the Holocaust. I give it 3/5 stars.

Why Is Socialism Bad?

Here's a short blog posting that gives a couple of reasons.

1) It doesn't work in the long run.

2) It diminishes human dignity.

FELLOW RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS

Tea Party Slogans

Signs I saw at the Tea Party:

Don't tax me, bro!

Don't Tread on Me!

Socialism = Slavery

Revolution is brewing!

American by Birth; Taxed to Death!

End the Fed!

Big Gov't Sucks! (sorry; I agree but I don't like that expression)

Tea Party - Columbia, S.C.

Here are some photos from the Tea Party in downtown Columbia today. Jim DeMint was there, as was Gov. Sanford. There was a good turn-out, several hundred, easily. Where was Lindsay Graham?

Here is Gov. Sanford speaking to the crowd.

Here's Jim DeMint talking to the crowd.

Here's somebody's kid (ahem...) holding a sign. Some nice lady gave him the sign.

Here's some other abusive parent who dragged his/her kid down to a political protest.

Bow? Wow!

Another Obamanation! Can you believe this guy? I wonder if he had to "lean over" to shake the Queen of England's hand?

"A Rookie President"

Read here a pointed critique of BHO. Here's a taste:

Barack Obama is a rookie in a sense that few other Presidents in American history have ever been. It is not just that he has never been President before. He has never had any position of major executive responsibility in any kind of organization where he was personally responsible for the outcome.

Bye Bye, Johnny Calvin; Hello, Johnny Chrysostom

Well, I gave up on reading the Institutes. Something about Book I that kills me every time. I just don't find all his debates with strange heretics all that interesting.

Instead, I found a biography of John Chrysostom, biship of Antioch, then bishop of Constantinople, by J.N.D. Kelly, called Golden Mouth: The Story of John Chrysostom - Ascetic, Preacher, Bishop (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998). What a fascinating life! I'm hooked. I can't read enough about this guy. And Kelly's bio reads like a novel: engaging, suspenseful, dramatic. I may have to re-read it simply because it was so good. Now I'm sampling some of his sermons which appear in translation in the Nicene/Post-Nicene Fathers collection. He was the first major exegete to write a full-length commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.

Well, more on him later, I hope.

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King Obama

I have NEVER seen such an exercise of raw power as what we are witnessing in the new Obama administration. A president fires a CEO??? Does this not bother anyone? Maybe next he'll decide to fire Dr. Bill Jones at CIU. The arrogance and audacity of it all... People are going to hate this man before long. I was inclined to give him a lot of grace and room to make some initial blunders, but he used all that up in about the first two weeks of his reign. I think we're living in a dictatorship now.

First he bribes companies by giving them money, then he takes them over by telling them to do what he says or else... How many companies has he run before? Ridiculous!

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"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.