Finally a politician I can stand behind...

"Mr. Speaker; I rise to urge the Congress to think twice before thrusting this nation into a war without merit – one fraught with the danger of escalating into something no American will be pleased with. Thomas Jefferson once said: "Never was so much false arithmetic employed on any subject as that which has been employed to persuade nations that it is in their interests to go to war." We have for months now heard plenty of false arithmetic and lame excuses for why we must pursue a preemptive war of aggression against an impoverished third world nation 6000 miles from our shores that doesn’t even possess a navy or air force, on the pretense that it must be done for national security reasons.

For some reason such an attack makes me feel much less secure, while our country is made more vulnerable"

I wish Ron Paul were my representative. Read this article.

"With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God"
Micah 6:6-8, ESV

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
James 2:22-27, ESV.

My friend asked me a few days ago, why is there little to no support for the theonomy movement in the mainstream Reformed camp? I mentioned the popularity of Meredith Kline's "two-kingdom intrusionist ethics" in the Reformed seminaries of the day, the increasing humanistic, relativist decay of our society and the church's desire to be "relevant" in this dying culture, and the strong, vitrolic personalities of the initial movement. That last point angered my friend, "What kind of an excuse is that?", he wondered, "You're a mean guy so therefore I don't believe what you believe in?". I agreed with him that it was a weak point as well, rhetorical rather than theological, and if it were consistent we'd pretty much have to throw out half of the Reformers (Johnny and Marty included) as well.

As I was dwelling on this, the above Scriptures came to mind and while I don't completely agree with the rhetorical weakness of that last criticism, it does have some validity. From what I've heard about and read, from former theonomists, the history of theonomy has without a doubt been controversial and divisive. Not only in it's history, but in it's present incarnationas well. The history of theonomy is littered with in-fighting and disputes and I can see how many have been turned off by the horror stories without really looking into it for themselves.

But I feel there still is hope, a balance can be struck. It will take humility, repentance and charity but it can be done. Maybe not now, but someday.

Writing out loud I find that some things, guidelines perhaps, are needed:

1. Theonomy needs to be bathed in genuine Christian service. It must feed the poor, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned.

2. Theonomy needs to focus on edifying Christ's kingdom on earth, the church. Politics are great and all and thinking about how to apply Israel's civil laws to today's issues can make for some great conversations and prayer concerns. But we need to get back to:
a.)educating the laity (through nightly services and studies as well as catechal training;
b.)singing & praying all the psalms (I'm not a exclusivist mind you, but the church needs to rediscover her first hymn book);
c.)establishing biblical feasting at the Lord's Table for all of God's covenant people (this includes weekly love feasts that conclude with the covenant meal);
d.) as mentioned above exhibit genuine concern and love for our surrounding community. In short, to quote my friend Dave, we must rediscover the concept of the parish. I firmly belive that as the church goes, so goes the culture. (thanks to Doug Wilson, James Jordan and Peter Leithart for influencing these views)

3. Theonomy needs to soften it's rhetoric. No doubt the teaching has been great and the lessons useful, but we need more Christian "gentlemen" who will defend theonomy with gentleness, charity and honor. Men like Andrew Sandlin and Larry Ball are good examples of these kind of gentlemen.

4. Related to the first post, Theonomy must make strides away from being an official "movement" and incorporate itself into the local churches in acts of service and mercy. Thankfully this seems to already be the case.

Anyway I hope I haven't bored you with all this...just my .02.

oops..the last post should read: Check this site out for more info.

On this date in 1620, the Mayflower with 102 passengers set sail succesfully from England.

Check posted by Rob | 11:06 AM |

This is hilarious.

Oh PETA, what zany idea will you come up with next.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot...

If I asked you who the first President of the United States was, you would probably say "Why it's George Washington you dimbulb" (or something to that effect).

But you would be wrong.

From The Christian Almanac:

"Washington was not inaugarated until 1789. And, yet the US continually had functioning governments from as early as Sept. 5th, 1774 (hey that's today-RC), and operated as a confederated nation from as early as July 4th 1776. During that nearly fifteen year interval, Congress-first the Continental Congress and then later the Confederation Congress- was moderated by a duly elected president...Washington was thus the fifteenth and his administration was the seventeenth-in a long line of distinguished presidents. He just happened to be the first under the currrent constitution.
When delegates gathered in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress on this day in 1774, they promptly elected the former king's attorney of Virginia, Peyton Randolph (1723-1775), as the moderator and president of their convocation."

From the Jaded Files:

Bumper sticker I saw today on the way to work:

"Bandwagon Patriot Since 09-11-01"

The past 24 hours has been a blur. Last night Karly and I discovered that we didn't have a parent packet from NCA, in which were certain forms and lists that we needed.

Mind you the first day of school is today.

So we freaked...big time. Karly went racing to Target for school supplies, where she was schooled by a third grader in the finer points of Pee-Chee folder selection and I washed the kids and put them down for the night as well as did the dishes. Karly came back and fixed Josh's lunch for the day and found that the Thermos leaked

Side Note: Remember those tin lunchpails that had scenes from your favorite movie on them. I had "the Black Hole" one as well as the absolutely required "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" ones. By the end of the year the paint would be all chipped and rusted (healthy huh?) and the inside would smell like a cross between rusty metal, whatever lunch meat your mom made your sandwich with, and fruit. Anyways, the lunchpail would always come with it's own thermos, which my mom always filled with milk...that's right, milk. You'd think the thermos would keep said milk cold...ohhhh you would be wrong bucko. By the time lunch would roll around, that bad boy would be lukewarm. Is there anything more disgusting than lukewarm milk? Wait, what was my point again...oh yeah, Thermoses suck...or would that be Thermosi suck. Just stick a semi frozen Capri-Sun in your kids lunch box instead, capiche?
End Side Note/Rant

Ok, where was I, oh yes leaky Thermos, anyway, I continue to do a little housework as Karly flies around the house collecting bits and pieces of the school supply list that we bought and stashed around the house in the hopes of keeping the colored pencils, markers and crayons out of the destructive grip of Cabes (actually, his name is Caleb) my precocious (nice word for 'nosy') 2 year old. We take an "American Idol" break from 9:30 to 10 PM, then continue the treasure hunt. During all this we find that we never recieved a birth certificate for Josh, and it will take dealing with the unspeakable joys of the County Recorder's office to get a replacement. At 11:30, we collapse, exahusted into bed.

We wake up at 6:30 AM and leave the house at 7:20 AM, get to my mom's at 7:30 AM and head out to drop Josh off at school. We get there at 8 AM (I start work at 8:30 mind you) and as I rush through the school gate into the parking lot, I feel a tug on my pants as they get caught on the nearby fence and my heart falls as I hear:

*RIIIIIIIIIIP*

I look down and alas it is true...the whole left leg of my pants have torn down the seam from chonies to knee.

I make my way, hunched over, holding the flailing piece of fabric that used to be my pants leg together and I run into a couple of parents from the school who obviously think I have issues, I jump into my car and take off for home. '8:20' reads the clock on my dashboard, no way I am getting to work on time. So I get home, change into shorts and drive off to work arriving about 9:10 AM. Walking through the parking lot, I find that I have forgotten my belt for my shorts. So I'm pretty much hikin' up my britches every 10 minutes or so.

So that's how my day has been...and yours?

If I were to ask you who the first president of the United States was who would you name?

More on this later...

I really shouldn't laugh at this but...

*giggle*

Random Quote:

"Good wine is a necessity of life for me" - Thomas Jefferson

The September issue of Details magazine has a fascinating and helpful article written by Anthony Giglio called "How to Cheat at Wine". Mr. Giglio is a sommelier ("the guy at the restaurant", as he puts it, "who wears an ashtray on a chain"), who after countless calls from freaked out friends, standing in front of the wine racks asking him which one to buy, decided to write this article.

The secret, he claims, is not the front of the label but the back. There you'll find the trustworthy distributors and importers who are known for not peddling crappy stuff, or soley expensive stuff for that matter. So as a favor to my loyal readers (me) who are wine ignoramuses (also me), here are the guys to look for on the back of the bottle:

The Phrase That Pays: "Imported by Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant"
The Goods: Thousands of high quality boutique French and Italian wines.

The Phrase That Pays: "The Australian Premium Wine Collection" (found on a blue and gold seal on the bottle's shoulder).
The Goods: Outstanding wines from Down Under.

The Phrase That Pays: "European Cellars Direct" or "An Eric Solomon Selection"
The Goods: Fantastic stuff from France, Italy, and especially Spain.

The Phrase That Pays: "Vin Divino."
The Goods: Artisanal Italian and Austrian Wines, plus a few from Austrailia and Chile.

The Phrase That Pays: "Imported by Michael Skurnik Wines."
The Goods: More than 450 wines, from Argentina to Italy, from the traditional to the cutting edge.

The Phrase That Pays: "A Daniel Johnnes Selection."
The Goods: Boutique wines (at boutique prices), especially from France as well as Chile, California, and Oregon.

Well that's the list, now get to your local Trader Joe's and put what you learned here to practice.

Ugh...Dodgers down 5-0 in the 4th. Against Randy Johnson no less.

To top it off Brian Jordan is injured...AGAIN.

Oh the madness...

Well the Dodgers need to beat Randy "Big Rat" Johnson tonight in order to sweep the D-Backs and pull within 3 game out of first place.

I'm not overly optimistic about this but at least we have some prior success against Johnson and I'd rather we face him than Schilling. It alsways seems that we wet ourselves whenever he pitches.

Here's the lineup I'd throw out tonight

1. Grissom
2. LoDuca
3. Beltre
4. Green
5. Jordan
6. Karros
7. Izturis
8. Grudz
9. Nomo

John Cage was born today in 1912.

If I remember correctly, he was famous (infamous?) for the composition known as 4'33" in which he would sit there for four minutes and thirty-three seconds and do nothing.

He rejected Christian forms of truth, beauty and goodness from the west and instead was heavily influenced by the Taoist book of sayings the " I Ching. Of course with Zen philosophy, as with all monistic religions, everything is one. That played out well with his musical philosophy which was "All sound is music".

Irregardless of the irrationality of his position, he was hailed as a genius, of course, by the "elite" (whose artistic brethren include individuals who thought, and still think, that Jack Pollock was a great painter).

We can certainly see his spritual progeny in the death metal/techno/electronica "musicians" (using this term loosely) of this day. From the grinding guitars that screech like buzzsaws to the indeterminate blips and bleeps that the ravers "dance" (again...term...loosely) to.

But we can also see his influence in the relativists of our day as well who proclaim "There is no such thing as an objective standard of beauty". "What's beautiful to some is not so beautiful to others". "Who are you to judge what is beautiful and what is not?".

I'll formulate some thoughts on that and get back wid'ya sometime in the future.

Follow up question to the last post:

What would one eat at a St. Augustine Memorial Feast? And would it be a potluck?

....mmmm...potluck.

Xavier+, another blogger I happened upon reminded me that Aug 28 was the memorial feast of St. Augustine. He also posted a quote of St. Augustine's, some of the most beautiful prose I have ever heard which I shall now reprint:

"Late have I loved Thee, O Thou Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved Thee! Thou wert within me, but I was outside myself, and it was there that I searched for Thee.

In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me from you; yet if they had not been in you they would have not been at all. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace.

This only do I know, that it is not good for me when Thou art not with me, when Thou art only outside me. I want Thee in my very self. All the plenty in the world which is not my God is utter want."

Can I get an "Amen"?

My friend Rick wants me to help him start a church.

"Not until I get ordained" I jokingly replied.

But then I got to thinking...

Now the more I think about it, the more excited and terrified I get.

But I would definitely want to be ordained before I undertake an endeavor like that.

Why don't we hear prayers like this in the church (individually and corporately) anymore?

From the Westminster Larger Catechism:

Q. 191. What do we pray for in the second petition?

A. In the second petition, (which is, Thy kingdom come,) acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fullness of the Gentiles brought in the church furnished with all gospel-officers and ordinances, purged from corruption, countenanced and maintained by the civil magistrate: that the ordinances of Christ may be purely dispensed, and made effectual to the converting of those that are yet in their sins, and the confirming, comforting, and building up of those that are already converted: that Christ would rule in our hearts here, and hasten the time of his second coming, and our reigning with him forever:and that he would be pleased so to exercise the kingdom of his power in all the world, as may best conduce to these ends.

I get tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat every time I sing this song.

"Arise, my soul, arise,
Shake off thy guilty fears:
The bleeding Sacrifice
In my behalf appears:
Before the Throne my Surety stands,
(Before the Throne my Surety stands)
My name is written on his hands.

He ever lives above,
For me to intercede,
His all-redeeming love,
His precious blood to plead;
His blood atoned for ev'ry race,
(His blood atoned for ev'ry race)
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds he bears,
Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers,
They strongly plead for me;
Forgive him, O forgive, they cry,
(Forgive him, O forgive, they cry)
Nor let that ransomed sinner die!

My God is reconciled;
His pard'ning voice I hear;
He owns me for his child,
I can no longer fear;
With confidence I now draw nigh,
(With confidence I now draw nigh)
And "Father, Abba, Father!" cry"
-- by Charles Wesley
Blue Trinity Hymnal #223

"Hey, hey Momma, say the the way you move, gonna make me sweat, gonna make me groove"

I almost drove off the side of the I-5 freeway playing air drums to this song today.

Note to self: listen to classical music on the way to work from now on.

No one's ever wrecked their car playing air cello as far as I know.

OK I'm peeved, since this will not fit in the sidebar for links, I'll post this here.

Books I'm Reading:

Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators - Dave Chilton
I would recommend this as an entry level economics book to any high schooler.

The Abolition of Man - C.S. Lewis
Masterful essays on the inadequacies of an education that leaves out morals, ethics and objective truth.

Van Til's Apologetic: Readings and Analyses - Greg Bahnsen
Pretty amazing, I haven't read Frame's analysis yet but this one is gooood. It lets Van Til speak for himself.

Future Men - Doug Wilson
Good advice on how not to raise a girly man. ;-)

I know that this is not an appropriate follow-up to the last post but...

Dodgers won their eighth series in a row!!

My wife looks like an angel when she sleeps.

We've been going through the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (actual title btw) at church and the more I read it, the more I am struck by it's images of beauty. I know you think Revelation and you think bowls of wrath, scorpions with men's heads, plagues, lice and telemarketers (ok maybe not the last one).

But you also see the beauty of the glorified Christ, His skin of bronze, His hair white as wool, constantly ministering to His churches, exalting and avenging His slain saints. The glassy sea around the throne with lightning and thunders and a bow (rainbow?) around it. The 24 elders falling and worshiping the exalted Christ who is worthy to open the scrolls and seal the fate of those who condemn Christ's elect.

As I dwell on these things, it gets hard to contain the joy. Christ is alive and has all authority in heaven and on earth. We tend to forget that and can get wrapped up in pessi-millenial theology which proclaims no earthly hope or vindication for the saints of Christ. "Wait until death!!" is their battle cry.

Some think that the current wave of postmillenial popularity is a result from the generation which grew up in the 80's/90's (which admittedly I did). That generation grew up in the prosperity of the Reagan years, saw the advent of the World Trade Organization, United Nations and the fall of communist Russia. With all that going down, how can one not be a postmillenialist?

Bunk, purile bunk.

Biblical postmillenialism grounds itself in Scripture, not in the humanist's Babelesque plans to unite the world or the greatness of supply-side "trickle-down" economics. Biblical postmillenialism has nothing to do with that. It agrees with the Bible in saying that Jesus is the rock/mountain which fills the earth and "the dream is certain" (Dan.2:35, 44-45).

To paraphrase Greg Bahnsen.

We know (not wistfully hope) that "of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from henceforth and forever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this" (Isa. 9:7). The confidence of the prophets was that all nations would flow into the church to be nurtured by God's word, live by His just standards and learn peace (Isa. 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-3). "In His days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace until the moon be no more. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth ... And His enemies shall lick the dust ... All nations shall serve Him" (Ps. 72:7-11). "All the ends of the earth shall turn unto Jehovah" (Ps. 22:27), and then shall "the earth be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9).

We also know that "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever" (Rev. 11:15). The Messiah's reign has been established on earth (Matt. 12:28; 28:18). He need only ask the Father, and the nations will be given to Him for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession (Ps. 2:8). With that end in mind Christ commissioned the church to make all the nations His obedient disciples (Matt. 28:19-20). Having bound Satan so that He is restrained from deceiving the nations (Rev. 20:2-30, Christ is now despoiling Satan's house (Matt. 12:29). This is why the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the onslaught of Christ's church (Matt. 16-18). Crowned with glory and honor (Heb. 2:9), Christ has been enthroned at God's right hand "henceforth expecting his enemies to be made the footstool of His feet" (Heb. 10:13).

Postmillennialists, are genuinely "realized millennialists," we expect Christ's subduing of his enemies to be accomplished before the second coming. So did Paul. "For He [Christ] must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet; the LAST enemy that shall be abolished is death" (1 Cor. 15:25-26) - meaning the resurrection of believers "at His coming," which brings "the end" (vv. 23-24).

These are not vain hopes or wishful thoughts...these are the promises of God which are yea and Amen (2 Cor. 1:20).

For more check this out!!