Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
…celebrating the Fourth of July?
Or are they just taking advantage of a summer holiday?
Or are they just dressed up in (conservative) Mennonite get-up?
(Inquiring mind(s) want(s) to know.)
DISCLAIMER: I can’t say that I have anyone in mind in particular. Just askin’.
Cal Thomas published yesterday,
Intellectually, I understand the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision that the First Amendment protects the most violent of video games.
Well, I don’t understand.
Because I thought the First Amendment was intended to protect political speech.
But I can’t see that it says so expressly:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
So we’re “stuck” with going by what it actually says.
I still say the modern-day usage of the First Amendment has become mangled, perverted, and distorted.
And inconsistent. For example, how does the government get away with fining broadcasters for using certain language on the air waves? And for another example, how come imaginary hate speech isn’t protected?
Politics.
Humanity.
Imperfection.
Oh well.
I must say, though, that I’m very thankful for the First Amendment.
And I’ll also say that I agree with Mr. Thomas’ closing statements:
In a perfect world, children would listen to, respect, and obey their parents. But this is far from a perfect world and parents could use occasional help from the state in preventing violent culture from undermining what’s in the best interest of the child, and the country. This ruling by the Supreme Court does not achieve that end.
In it’s full version, this statement is a dumb-yet-telling (and elitist) proclamation:
And that would be what, according to a major mainstream magazine?
Were Quayle and Gore as foul-mouthed as the current and previous Vice Presidents?
What makes people use profane and vulgar words?
And why has such speech crept into the hearts and mouths of Christian men and women?
HT on the quote: World Magazine
I stood at the kitchen sink.
Early this morning — just before (or was it just after?) five.
Carefully slurping hot coffee.
Looking out the window.
Drearily considering the circumstances.
Pleading with God.
Trying to have faith.
(Drearily, God, faith — is something out of place there?!) 😯
When I noticed what I was seeing:
Somewhere down there in the Pudding River bottoms are cows.
In the fog.
They can’t see clearly.
For all they know, the whole world is foggy, bleary, dreary.
But the rising sun will fix that in short order.
Can I believe that God sees me and my fog in remotely similar fashion?
Can I believe that the Risen Son will fix my problems?
Sure.
I’m thankful.
Which do you see as the greater threat to Jesus Christ’s Church: Islam or secularism?
Which do you fear more?
Evangelicals, according to survey research conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life, view secularism as a greater threat to Christianity than Islam. It seems, on the surface, like a great question for the cultural curmudgeon, at least from this relatively uncultured curmudgeon’s point of view. Will Christianity rot from the inside, or instead be overrun by the heathen hordes?
[…]
Or maybe what respondents meant, the 71 percent of them who chose “secularism” as the major threat to Christianity, is that what they fear most is a falling away, a slow boiling of the frog. Maybe it’s the gradual relaxation of standards that frightens them, the willingness of more and more self-professed Christians to pick and choose which doctrines they believe, if they care to countenance doctrines at all.
Wouldn’t it be something if the reason for this creeping secularism, if it exists, is the very notion of secularism itself?
[…]
In other words, maybe the greatest threat to Christianity is not that people abandon it for other things, but rather our own tendency—or mine, at least—to imagine that it has a limited domain, that there are the things of Christ and then there is all the rest of it. It’s not that a man goes to pornographic sites, it’s that he forgets every woman he sees is crafted in the image and likeness of God. It’s not that a woman goes cold in the marriage bed, it’s that she believes a Christian union is only a spiritual one. It’s not that our children go to where Christ is not, it’s that they imagine there is such a place.
How often I have imagined myself going to a “Christless corner,” some place in real life where God isn’t.
Such foolishness to attempt so impossible a task!
Let’s banish from our heads and from our living the dangerous notion that life has separate Christian and secular dimensions.
May God’s people be revived to such a degree that every dimension of our experience and environment becomes a living reality of acknowledging God in all our ways.
Well, please read Tony Woodlief’s full article over at World magazine: Christless corners.
With links added by me, here’s a current story over at Mission Network News:
Dangerous Bible distribution to get Truth to Iranian youth
Despite the persecution and risk associated with assisting believers there, Bibles are being sent to Iran.
Iran ranks second only to North Korea for its poor treatment of Christians, according to Open Doors’ World Watch List. Believers make up a tiny minority of the nation and pay dearly for their faith.
And yet amid this severe atmosphere, Christ followers are determined to remain in their country and spread the Word. Their persistence is working, and the home church movement is booming–especially among Iranian youth.”
We just believe this is a tremendous opportunity to put Scriptures into the hands of young believers; the youth in that country are incredibly open to the Gospel,” says Ken Leggatt with WorldServe Ministries in Canada. “It’s an incredibly youthful nation as well,” Leggatt adds.
The total median age of an Iranian is about 26-years-old as opposed to the U.S. median of 36-years-old, and the number of these young people in the nation looking for change is high. Many are welcoming digression from the old oppressive regime of Iran and extremism. Getting Bibles into the country so they can read and learn more for themselves is crucial.
With all this in mind, WorldServe has chosen Iran to be the first recipient of their Million Bible Challenge.
We might fault the US Government for failing to support the recent revolution efforts by the youth (and who knows who else) of Iran.
But what kind of spiritual and moral support is Christ’s Church providing to fellow believers and potential believers in the Islamic Republic of Iran?