Category: Christianity Page 5 of 7

Evil exists: The People of the Lie

On Monday, February 15, 2016

The People of the Lie is a book that has had a pretty big impact on my life. It is a book the mother of a friend recommended I read when I was in college. I think she recommended it to me to help me understand why some people act the way they do and to understand the nature of evil. Well, to understand at least one kind of evil. It is a book that is easy to understand, but hard to read because the truths in it are hard and some of the evil that is described there resides in all of us. I just bought two copies of the book to send to our kids.

I plan to read it again myself. I am certainly not immune to the evil described in this book. I recommend it very highly (the book, not the evil).

Betty Blonde #482 – 06/10/2010

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Holocaust Remembrance Day

By Dad

On Wednesday, January 27, 2016

In Christianity, culture, Politics

This article titled Eichmann begged for mercy before hanging was very, very interesting, but very, very sad, too. It speaks for itself. May we never forget.

Betty Blonde #473 – 05/24/2010

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Growth of religion

By Dad

On Tuesday, December 29, 2015

In Christianity

I have pretty much quit reading National Review. Along with the Wall Street Journal, it is (and probably always has been) the propaganda arm of the GOP establishment. That being said, there are still a handful of people who write interesting articles Kathryn Jean Lopez is one of them. Earlier this month she interviewed Rodney Stark in an article titled The Reality of World Religion: God Wins. It is a very interesting article that says some encouraging things and some scary things. The whole article is worth a read. Here is a provocative statement he made toward the end of the article:

The most important things all cluster; the rise of Western civilization was the direct result of Judeo-Christian religion. First is the belief in progress, that our history has an upward slope. In all the other major cultures, including Islam, history is regarded as headed downward. That not only discourages all efforts to improve anything, but justifies the suppression of improvements — both the Chinese and the Ottomans outlawed mechanical clocks.

Betty Blonde #454 – 04/14/2010

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Losing an old friend

By Dad

On Saturday, December 5, 2015

In Christianity, Family

We lost our dear friend Carolyn day before yesterday. When Lorena and I first got married, we lived for three years in Boynton Beach, Florida. Every Sunday morning during our time there we meet for a home church meeting at the home of Courtney and Carolyn. Courtney was an engineer, originally from Barbados who worked at one of the big electronics firms in the area. Carolyn was a highly educated stay-at-home mom originally from Virginia. They were very, very kind to us. We often went to their home for dinner and got together with them outside of church on a regular basis along with several other members of our little church group. Carolyn very kindly gave us great advise every time we saw here up to the very last time just last year in North Carolina. Not too long after we left Florida to head West to Oregon, Courtney was transferred by his company up to North Carolina to the Triangle area where we eventually moved, so we got to see them on a semi-regular basis in these last few years. The most recent best piece of advice, she gave to Kelly.

“Kelly, boyfriends are like buses. If you miss the bus or leave the bus, another one will come along.”

The way Courtney and Carolyn raised their two children, Corwin and Chevonne, was part of our inspiration to encourage our kids to work hard to achieve academic success. They earned a Masters degree and a PhD (a hard one). Our condolences go out to all of them. We will miss Carolyn a lot. She was a godly influence in our lives.

Betty Blonde #438 – 03/22/2010

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Thankful for Thanksgiving

By Dad

On Monday, November 30, 2015

In Christianity

Carl at Washington special meeting (Spanish) We had a great Thanksgiving. We missed Christian a lot, but we also talked to him a lot and like I said in previous posts, he spent the holiday with very good people. This was one of those Thanksgivings that was unexpectedly encouraging and helpful. We went to a church event on Friday where we saw good friends from my college days, made the acquaintance of some new folks and just had a great chance to talk in an inspiring setting. We plan to make our way back up there again.

One of the highlights of the trip was our friend Carl who was out to Washing for a round of special meetings of our church. We got to hear him preach in Spanish and to say that what he had to say was something I needed to hear is a wild understatement. And he was not the only one who had good things for me to hear. We knew we would miss our North Carolina friends, but we are amazed how frequently–at least daily–we think of reasons to remember them to each other.

On Sunday, we take my parents to church in the morning. When there are Gospel meetings, we take them Sunday afternoon, too. This Sunday was the last Gospel meeting before the holidays and we were surprised when our friends Kirk and Melanie from Charlotte walked in. It is a small world and it is nice to be reminded of the gifts of friendships we receive day in and day out. It is by the grace of God we are given time and opportunity to realize how good we have it just because of the fellowship we are in.

Betty Blonde #435 – 03/18/2010

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Life is linear

By Dad

On Tuesday, August 25, 2015

In Christianity

In some senses, it is true that there is a circle of life. People are born, they live, they die, other people are born and the cycle continues. As I have gotten older, it has become more apparent to me that life and existence, really, are linear. Everyone is on a trajectory unique to themselves with a beginning and an end, with unique stuff in the middle, too. History does not repeat itself other than in broad strokes. This seems to be a gift if it is embraced. It always makes me sad when I hear people bemoan their age. It does no good and there is better stuff ahead. I know that, but it seems hard to maintain that attitude all the time.

I think this has been on my mind because Lorena and I have struggled some to try to figure out what to do now that the kids are out of the house. Life is almost easier when options are limited. Right now, we have plenty of limitations, but many less than in the past thirty years. We will make some fairly big changes within the next three or four years that might include locations, work, school and, maybe even avocations. I think I am less worried now than ever about what I do than my attitude toward it.

Betty Blonde #398 – 01/25/2010

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Read through the Bible

By Dad

On Tuesday, August 11, 2015

In Christianity

My goal when I started tracking my Bible reading in 2006 was to systematically read through the Old Testament three times and the New Testament nine times before deciding what to do next. As of now, I am two-thirds of the way complete. I keep track of my reading here and do the vast bulk of my reading in the KJV using the Xiphos Bible software.

Betty Blonde #392 – 01/15/2010

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Don’t harsh my mellow

By Dad

On Friday, August 7, 2015

In Christianity, culture, Socialization

Kelly at Mcmenamins Kelly and I are kindred spirits in that we regularly get accused of being overly enthusiastic. We talked on the phone about this very subject today. Overly enthusiastic. That is an oxymoron. One of the few really good things that came out of the 1960’s was the expression, “don’t harsh my mellow.” Precisely right. The bane to our existence are those who chose to curb their enthusiasm in a spirit deadening effort be cool, “in the know” or somehow superior to those who engaged in passionate behavior.

Those lukewarm souls who choose to act nonplussed about all things social are not only boring, but could very well be guilty of the attitude for which the Laodiceans were admonished in Revelation 3:14-17. Do not be lukewarm. Be passionate. Love life. Do not be relegated to that category of people who slouch through life throwing wet blankets on all joy.

Stick to your guns Kelly. Be enthusiastic. Be overly enthusiastic. The gnostics of buzzkill in no way have special knowledge about those things you know that animate your enthusiasm.

Betty Blonde #390 – 01/13/2010

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Once in a blue moon you can figure out what to do next

By Dad

On Friday, July 31, 2015

In Christianity, Family

Moon out the window in the morning at DWFritz Lorena and I saw this beautiful moon out the window of our car as she drove me to work this morning. It was even bigger and lower in the sky than when I took this picture out the window of my work at DWFritz. Lorena mentioned Oregon would have a blue moon tonight. I looked that up and found that a blue moon is when the moon is full for a second time in a single month.

I do not know why these kinds of things seem to coincide with times when we are thinking deep thoughts. I am actually pretty sure it is the other way around, that I only notice stuff like this when I am in a time of contemplation. This time of reflection seems to be the trifecta of reflection on the meaning of life. Part of it is that all of us, Christian, Kelly, Lorena and I are within a few years, if the Lord gives us those years, of entry to new things and new places while the world seems to be in upheaval.

Of course, Kelly and Christian will graduate from college and go off to do whatever it they are given to do. Always, in the past, they had some next thing they wanted to accomplish that mostly had to do with school. Now, though, there will almost certainly no more school for them, at least as students. So many things are open to them, they have no idea what would be best to do. Since they are still a few years away from that, patience is the key, but that is hard when the next move will be to something they have never previously done.

The same is true for Lorena and I. We have, at most, a few more years to be close to my parents with their memory issues. Then it is on to something new–maybe even retirement for me. Maybe even in Mexico, but maybe not. It is hard not to think about it even though it is not at all knowable. Patience is the word of the day.

Betty Blonde #383 – 01/04/2010

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Objective truth

By Dad

On Thursday, July 30, 2015

In Christianity, culture, Family

Eating appetizers at McMenamins Wilsonville Our family discusses the subject of objective truth frequently. We have done so as a family for pretty close to a decade. As soon as the kids were old enough to understand the concept, we started to talk about it. The direction our culture is going is not friendly to those who want to live their lives in conformances to mandates placed on them by the objective reality of a Christian God. When the culture embraces the immorality of things like abortion, cohabitation outside of marriage and even the pursuit of fun in the form of sport, music, art and leisure at the expense of the pursuit of God and things God hates, lives get wasted and people suffer.

The hard part of this is that kids get beat up and ostracized culturally and socially as a result of their adherence to objective truth and the dictates it puts on their lives. Sometimes it is an active thing, but most of the time these kids get shuffled off to the side, ignored, derided and ridiculed. Some of us older people notice this. As children of the sixties, seventies and eighties, we went through it ourselves. The difference is that when we went through it, there were large swaths of culture who were on our side. I do not think that is true anymore. Culture is active in its derision of the good and of objective truth.

This is especially so in cities like Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and New York, but I think it has even seeped down into strongholds of morality in places like North Carolina, Texas and Arizona. Kids with access to the Internet tend to give credence to what they read on Reddit and other venues that tend toward the sophomoric, but with a hard edge of aggressive hedonism. The sad part of it all is that what they read on Reddit is often reinforced by what they are taught in school by people trained at educational institutions saturated in the very same vacuous philosophical pablum that upholds relative morality.

It is a hard thing to swim against the tide. I wish I knew better how to encourage those who do so.

Betty Blonde #382 – 01/01/2010

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The news, moral decay and the opportunity in all that

By Dad

On Monday, July 13, 2015

In Christianity, culture, Politics

It has been an interesting year. The veneer of good will between warring world views seems to have been ripped open. I ran into three interesting articles this morning when I opened up my browser to read the news. The first article, titled The end of “news” was about once trusted news sources that are no longer read by anyone but extreme partisans because they are no longer worthy of our trust. I found myself nodding my head to this article as I read. I no longer get my news from the AP, NBC, ABC, CBS, the Oregonian, The New York Times or even Fox News. I mourn that. I always loved to read the newspaper over coffee in the morning. The thing is, they no longer report the news. Other news sources break the important stories. I visited the old, reliable news source for a lot of years before I finally gave up. Now I just ignore them.

The second article titled Punch Leftists in the Mouth by Daniel Greenfield of the Sultan Knish blog about how to deal with those who want to tear society down. It is a rework of Mike Tyson, the heavyweight boxing champ’s famous quote, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Greenfield says it is not good to play nice with people who want to perpetrate evil. I found this interesting because James 4 was the chapter for my daily Bible read today.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. –James 4:4

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. –James 4:17

The last article is a hopeful one. The title of the article is The Sexual Revolution’s Coming Refugee Crisis. The subtitle is Many people are going to be disappointed, and even before they can admit it to others or to themselves, they are going to ask, “Is this all there is?” It basically says that a lot of the bad stuff that has gained approval in our society since the 1960’s cannot sustain itself. God’s rules are being broken and things do not end well when that happens. Many people will come to the end of themselves and start to look for answers outside of popular culture, politics and governments. There is a huge opportunity in that if we remain humble and point these people to something truly good. James 4 has some answers for that, too.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. –James 4:10

Betty Blonde #368 – 12/14/2009

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This marriage thing

By Dad

On Thursday, July 9, 2015

In Christianity, culture, Family, Politics

I have long been of the opinion that the government should not be engaged (no pun intended) in the marriage business. The problem with government meddling in affairs outside of their domain did not begin with the recent Supreme Court overstepping of its constitutional bounds here in the United States. It happened long before that. A guy named Matt Appling in an aptly titled blog post, If You Think the Supreme Court Just “Redefined” Marriage, Take It Up With King Henry the Eighth, really nails the issue. It is ironic that so many people interested in redefining marriage to include something that is not marriage (same sex unions) are calling out the Christian community on the divorce issue. This is something over which the Christian world has fought wars, divided and argued for centuries.

It is right to argue that Christian’s need to get their house in order when it comes to the issue of divorce, but it seem very disingenuous when it is argued by people who treat the institution of marriage (in the true sense of the word) in such a cavalier manner. Christians really need to get this issue right. People both inside the Christian community and out who dishonor marriage through unrepentant fornication, adultery and attempts to redefine it should be viewed with incredulity when they try to argue that Christians are hypocrites with respect to divorce. Some of us are, but some of us, even in our weakness and failure, continue to repent, live repentant lives and fight the good fight.

In the meantime government should get out of the marriage business.

Betty Blonde #365 – 12/09/2009

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We are all just some guy on the internet

By Dad

On Tuesday, June 30, 2015

In Blogging, Christianity

Sometimes I forget who I am. I read a blog post yesterday that was sufficiently interesting that I decided to click on the blog’s About page. The author is an example to us all. This lady knows who she is better than most. Here is part of what she wrote:

This really is just some blog. I really am just some…well…actually, “girl” might be a little inaccurate. I’m over 30 now, so I have to stop saying that, lest I begin to resemble those “girls” who cling to youth with all the grace of a two year old whose favorite toy is under the covetous gaze of his big sister. I’m just some woman on the internet. Take me as seriously as I deserve to be taken, and we’ll get along just fine. (See what I did there? Get Along? Right. Ahem. Expectations, remember? Low.)

Wow. I need a little more of that on this blog and in my life. Our whole family needs that. Credentialism is a bad thing. Pride in one’s own ability that actually came from God is a bad thing. Even our own good efforts are our due responsibility. No one ever gives their best efforts for more than a period of time. I am not saying we should not find joy in God given ability and even the fruits of our own efforts. God wants us to do that, but he also wants us remember from whence it all came.

Thanks Get Along Home blog for the timely reminder. The next time I write something particularly aggrandizing, do not hesitate to point me back to this post. Maybe that will help me remember I am just some guy on the internet.

Betty Blonde #358 – 11/30/2009

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Orthodox Christianity vs. the Supreme Court

By Dad

On Sunday, June 28, 2015

In Christianity, culture, Politics

The New York Times, as the old saying goes, is like a broken clock. Even a broken clock is right two times per day. NPR and Time Magazine do not seem to be right quite that often. In fact, I had kind of relegated them both to the same category as purely naturalistic evolution–their chance of getting anything right is about equal to the mythical chance of a tornado assembling a Boeing 747 as it passes through a junk yard or a million monkeys typing at a million typewriters for a million years to duplicate a work of Shakespeare.

I still think NPR is in that category, but imagine my surprise when an article appeared in Time Magazine that perfectly articulated my thoughts on where we stand here in America now that the Constitution has no fixed meaning and can be modified on any whim of the masses. I am not one of those who believes the court’s latest indignity was done on the whim of five out of nine justices. If society was against them, the Supreme Court could in no way make these kinds of changes.

Society at large now defines “marriage” differently than those who hold to orthodox Christian beliefs. Christian, my son, made the statement that this is nothing new, society has been like this for as long as he can remember. Thankfully, his living memory is not that long–less than twenty years. Still, this did not all start with attempts to change the definition of marriage to accommodate homosexuality, but with some equally pernicious evils: the libertine sexual morays of the 1960’s and the acceptance of divorce with neither societal nor legal sanction and diminishing sanction by much of the church. Rod Dreher, the author of the article expresses my feelings about this very well:

…social and religious conservatives must recognize that the Obergefell decision did not come from nowhere. It is the logical result of the Sexual Revolution, which valorized erotic liberty. It has been widely and correctly observed that heterosexuals began to devalue marriage long before same-sex marriage became an issue. The individualism at the heart of contemporary American culture is at the core of Obergefell — and at the core of modern American life.

This is profoundly incompatible with orthodox Christianity. But it is also the world we live in today. Dreher goes on to describe the ramifications of all this for professing Christians and how times could get even uglier, but that it has happened before. It is scriptural that evil will ascend before the end. One of these times, when evil is ascending Christ will return. Whether this is that time, only time will tell.

In the meantime, I will consider reading Time Magazine again in a million years or so.

Betty Blonde #356 – 11/26/2009

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Another archaeological find featuring a Biblical name from the era of King David

By Dad

On Wednesday, June 17, 2015

In Christianity

Here, here and here are a couple of articles on the find of a piece of pottery with the name of Saul’s son, Eshba’al, on it. We really do not have much from that era, but confirmation of the veracity of the Bible and even some of the personalities described in the Bible are slowly starting to accumulate, including a direct non-Biblical reference to the House of David itself. Here is an interesting article from Biblical Archaeology review that lists 50 People in the Bible Confirmed Archaeologically.

Betty Blonde #348 – 11/16/2009

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Missing Grandpa Lauro for a year now

By Dad

On Thursday, June 11, 2015

In Christianity, Family

Grandpa Lauro and Mattias One year ago yesterday, Grandpa Lauro died. He was 71 years old. The photo to the left is of Grandpa Lauro and his youngest grandson, Matias. I was trying to think of a way to describe him and it is hard. Of course he was a genuinely Christian man, but that word has been diluted greatly in our day and age so it just does not say enough. After considering it for awhile, about the best I can do is describe some of his accomplishments. There is not time nor room to describe all his accomplishments, but I will try to describe what appealed to me.

He was extremely erudite. His erudition probably was a result of voracious interest in, among other things, music, art, history and theology. He did not have a high level of education, but three of his sons graduated from world class engineering Universities. His fourth son is an entrepreneur and on the verge of earning a law degree. He participated in his community and was politically active, mostly at a local level. He earned a diploma in Music with a focus on Violin from the local University.

His greatest accomplishment, though, was the impact he had on those around him, particularly his family, but also the people with whom he worked, his neighbors and many life long friends. He gravitated to “the least of these.” He loved them and they loved him. His funeral was the most amazing funeral I have ever attended with hundreds and hundreds of people who came to show their respects. A special letter arrived from a man who had not seen him since he was a little boy but on whom he had a profound positive influence. He had this same impact on others when he was young as he had on me as a middle age and older man. The attendence and reverence of the people at his funeral were a manifestation of that influence.

I respected him very, very much. The thing I respected most about him was his fierce love for his God and a fierce dedication to the greatest commandment of them all, to love others as Jesus loved them. We miss him and look forward to the day when we can be together again.

Betty Blonde #343 – 11/09/2009

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Does it DO good or does it just FEEL good

By Dad

On Wednesday, June 10, 2015

In Christianity, Politics

Dennis Prager wrote a great little series of articles (here, here and here–so far) on the differences between the political left and the political right. His third article really nails it. It starts with the following:

A fundamental difference between the left and right concerns how each assesses public policies. The right asks, “Does it do good?” The left asks a different question.

He then goes on to give great examples of this exact phenomena describing the different ways liberals think about the minimum wage, affirmative action and the “peace” movement. His final example is the granddaddy of them all:

Perhaps the best example is the self-esteem movement. It has had an almost wholly negative effect on a generation of Americans raised to have high self-esteem without having earned it. They then suffer from narcissism and an incapacity to deal with life’s inevitable setbacks. But self-esteem feels good.

Betty Blonde #342 – 11/06/2009

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Research on how to be happy

By Dad

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015

In Christianity, culture

I laughed when I saw this article on research about happiness. Here is a couple of quotes from the article that tell the story:

“If you lead your life always waiting for a great thing to happen, you probably will be unhappy,” Tamerin said.

“You can choose to live focusing on what is not right in your life,” Dr. Sood said.

And perhaps one of the biggest hindrances to being happy is too much thinking about one’s self, research shows.

“Complainers are never going to be happy,” Ketchian said. “Happiness is a decision.”

I think this research was already in at least a couple of millennia ago. Not surprisingly, there was nothing in the article about holding to a Christian worldview to help facilitate these kinds of behaviors and attitudes.

Betty Blonde #341 – 11/05/2009

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Is oppression of Christianity inevitable?

By Dad

On Monday, May 18, 2015

In Christianity, Politics

I am on the same page as Dennis Foley in his article at the Intellectual Takeout website titled Render Unto Caesar? He starts off by saying, “I’ve seen it coming for many years.” He believes oppression is coming for Christians. I have seen it, too. My college age daughter and I discussed this very thing last night. A group of “friends” who purport to be Christian ridiculed her for a position she took that is fundamental to Christian belief. This is all part of the reason we decided to homeschool our children eleven years ago. Foley describes an event where the governor of a state blames Christianity for the ills of our society and suggests that religion (Christianity really) and the religious should be suppressed. Foley describes it so well, I am just going to post a starting quote and recommend a read of the whole article.

The threat appears regularly in the comments on our social media pages. The first time you learn that passing your faith on to your children is considered a form of child abuse, you’re taken aback. But then the allegation is repeated over and over and over again. The first time you see talk of “stamping out the virus of religion,” you wonder what that means. But then you learn what it means for some when another commenter nonchalantly recommends going into the churches, slitting the priests’ throats, and finally getting on with the evolution of society.

Such anti-religious (typically, anti-Christian) attitudes as are now spreading like wildfire through social media. Similar sentiments played out horrifically in the French Revolution, the Marxist purges in Eastern Europe and China, the Cristero War in Mexico, the killing fields of Cambodia, and the ongoing slaughter of Christians in the Middle East and Africa. Is it unreasonable to wonder if and how the virulent, anti-Christian attitudes of today will be unleashed in America?

Betty Blonde #324 – 10/13/2009

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Is it OK to do things that lead to an altered state of spiritual consciousness?

By Dad

On Sunday, May 17, 2015

In Christianity

Some of you might know I am not, to say the very least, a fan of yoga. I feel the same way about hypnosis. Yoga is inextricably tied to Hinduism and altered states of spiritual consciousness. All Hindus are enjoined to practice yoga to achieve that very end. Hypnotism arrived to the scene much later than yoga and Hinduism, but is informed by it and it can be argued that the roots of hypnosis are in yoga and or yoga-like trance states (see here). There is no place for yoga in Christianity and no place for Christianity in yoga. Here is an article on the subject from one of the Hindu sects titled There is no Christian Yoga. The author of the article displays monumental ignorance on the subject of Christianity by erecting a Christian straw man against which to argue, but gets that one thing right: yoga is not Christian even if some left-wing churches try to co-opt it. Yoga belongs to Hinduism (and maybe Buddhism and Jainism). Hypnosis with its states of altered consciousness, like yoga, is neither benign nor Christian.

Betty Blonde #323 – 10/12/2009

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