The Spiritual and Fiscal Recession

My friend Rev. Lindsey Williams:

The spiritual recession and the fiscal recession were brought about by the same thing: consumerism.

Feel free to discuss.

“He who guards his lips is wise.”

Did you see that big interview with President Bush this week?

No, you didn’t. Because Bush is adhering to the traditional etiquette of former presidents remaining fairly quiet after leaving office, and not slamming their successors. Don’t expect to hear from him for a while, and when you do it’ll be classy.

Not like this fool, who can’t keep his mouth shut to save his life. The contrast is very telling.

Come on, Jeep, you too?

Pepsi has a new logo.

Southwest Airlines has a new promotion.

So does Daimler Chrysler.

Nothing like a bandwagon, huh guys?

On Presidential Eloquence

After a speech by the former President, the Chicago Times printed this tacky comment:

The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the filly, flat, and dishwatery utterances of a man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States.

Another paper was more dismissive:

We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation, we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them and that they shall no more be repeated or thought of.

The President, by the way, was Abraham Lincoln. The speech was the Gettysburg Address.

The Two Truths and a Lie Poll

OK, the truths and lies are in. Now it’s time for the vote. (I put a lot of cutting-and-pasting work into this, so I hope you people are appreciative.)

On each of the below except your own (if applicable), vote for the one you think is a lie. Then I’ll get answers from all respondents and we’ll see if the voting public was right.

What Does Jesus Do to the Family?

At times Jesus seems very pro-family.

• He advocates a stricter standard for divorce than any of the prevailing views of the day (Matt 19:3-9).
• He elevates the status of children, women, and widows (Matt 19:13-15, Luke 8:1-3, many others).
• He emphasizes the fatherhood of God, comparing him to good human fathers (Matt 7:7-11).
• He shows compassion on parents by healing their children, raising them from the dead (e.g. Luke 7:11-15, where he raises a widow’s only son from the dead).
• He makes arrangements for his mother’s care after his death (John 19:26-27).

But at times he says and does things that mess with our family-friendly assumptions.

• He tells a man to follow him instead of burying his father (Luke 9:59-60).
• He encourages his disciples to leave their families to follow him (Matt 4:18-22, Mark 10:28-31).
• He leaves his own family, and “disowns” them when they don’t believe in him (Mark 3:31-35).
• He specifically says he’ll tear families apart, and that you must love him more than your family (Matt 10:34-37).

What does Jesus do to the family? He gives it a place of great importance: more important than almost anything on earth, but not more important than doing the will of God. Gospel trumps family for Jesus; obedience trumps family. So yes, honor your father and mother. But if Jesus calls you to follow him, don’t use the family business-or your father’s death-as an excuse to disobey him. Love, enjoy, cherish your family members. But don’t count pleasant family relationships as more important than the Gospel.

God grant that I will love my family more than anything else on earth-but never more than you. And grant that, by your mercy, my family will be one that’s united, not divided, by the Gospel of your Son.

You heard it here first, sort of.

My favorite political blog, National Review’s The Corner, is doing a series on the best conservative-themed movies of the last 25 years. #12 is The Dark Knight.

In his fight against the terrorist Joker, Batman has to devise new means of surveillance, push the limits of the law, and accept the hatred of the press and public. If that sounds reminiscent of a certain former president—whose stubborn integrity kept the nation safe and turned the tide of war—don’t mention it to the mainstream media.

I said something similar in September. Although I only said it to Melissa, and then pointed that out while linking to something by this same author. So the whole thing is a little circular. Whatev.

New Bookmark

This Is Why You’re Fat: where dreams become heart attacks.

or

“The Menu For My Next Dozen Birthdays.”

(HT: Jonah Goldberg)

Kindle 2

Amazon’s Kindle 2, the newest version of their wireless reading device, was unveiled yesterday. One of these days…

Adventures in Bad Admin

Disclaimer: I am not great at administration, but I really appreciate good administration, so I’m trying to get better at it. As part of that, I like to look at things that work and things that don’t.

At about 2:25 PM yesterday, I registered online for a training program we have to attend before leaving for Prague. In the ensuing hours I received no less than seven emails from the training organization.

• Mon 2:30 PM: Receipt and purchase confirmation.
• Mon 2:30 PM: Thank you for submitting an order.
• Mon 2:34 PM: Thank you note for purchase from bookstore.
• Mon 2:34 PM: Thank you for registering to attend program.
• Mon 4:13 PM: Thank you again for your purchase, please save receipt.
• Tues 12:25 PM: Invoice for remainder of bill, request to let them know if missions organization will be paying (even though I gave that info when I registered).
• Tues 1:15 PM: Travel details, and reminder that my confirmation packet will arrive in the mail soon!

Surely they could have combined all these into one email, even if I had to wait a couple of hours!