Why by Fire?
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And who by fire? And who in her lonely slip? And who by brave assent? |
Y ¿quién por fuego? Y ¿quién por conmoción? Y ¿quién con valentía? |
Nightline Face-Off: Does God Exist Part II
Martin Bashir: Kirk, in Victor Stenger’s book God: The Failed Hypothesis, he says, “Evolution, by natural selection, is accepted as an observed fact by the great majority of biologists and scientists in related fields and is utilized in every aspect of modern science, including medicine.”
How do you account for the fact that evolution is now the dominant philosophical understanding for so many of the sciences? Read the rest of this entry »
Excerpts from The Sayings of Muhammad
compiled by Abdullah Al-Mamun Al-Suhrawardy
Shall I not inform you of a better act than fasting, alms, and prayers? Making peace between one another: enmity and malice tear up heavenly rewards by the roots.
He who trieth to remove the want of his brother, whether he be successful or not, God will forgive his sins.
Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.
Say what is true, although it may be bitter and displeasing to people.
Do not exceed bounds in praising me, as the Christians do in praising Jesus, the son of Mary, by calling him God, and the Son of God; I am only the Lord’s servant; then call me the servant of God, and His messenger.
The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of the martyr.
Gingrich on Jefferson, God, immigration….
I was bumming around the ‘Net recently, looking for arguments against socialism, when I came across a speech by Newt Gingrich. Well, I kept hearing stuff that I couldn’t help but question. So, I transcribed the speech and added some annotations. The bracketed numbers, if it isn’t clear, are a rough indication of where Mr. Gingrich said that in the speech.
The speech was posted without information about the venue, date, or time. I can only guess that he gave it in 2005, around the time he published Winning the Future.
The speech starts…now:
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I’m going to take just two or three topics to give you examples of this level—this is the Reagan/Thatcher level of setting up arguments so profound that the other side, in the end, can’t win them, and then just sticking to it.
So, I’m going to give you a couple of areas to think about. I’m going to deal with patriotic education and patriotic immigration. And, in order to explain the context of patriotic education and patriotic immigration, I’m going to talk a little bit about the centrality of our Creator to understanding America as an exceptional country. Read the rest of this entry »
Christmastime Parable
So, I was walking through the mall the other day and passed by Santa. I happened to overhear him having a conversation with a cute little girl dressed in red and green Christmasy attire, with little ribbons and bows in her hair. Very cute! Well, she had the adorablest question to ask Santa! She said, “Santa, how could I be an elf and go to live at the North Pole forever and ever with you?”
Santa grinned at the little cutey-pie, scooped her up, sat her down on a nearby table and kneeled so he was at eye-level with her and said, “Going to the North Pole and becoming an elf is like a president who set up a birthday party for his daughter. The president sent some of his helpers to those he’d invited to the party to tell them to come, but they refused.
“Then, he sent some more helpers and said, ‘Tell everybody I invited that the party’s ready! There’ll be burgers and cupcakes and confetti, and everything’s ready. Come to the party!’ Read the rest of this entry »
Hebrew Word Study:
“man” / “men” / “woman” / “women” / “people”
Genesis 5:1-2 (Young’s Literal Translation)
1 This [is] an account of the births of Adam (-AdAm): In the day of God’s preparing man (-AdAm), in the likeness of God He hath made him; 2 a male (zAkhAr) and a female (n’qEvAh) He hath prepared them, and He blesseth them, and calleth their name Man (-AdAm), in the day of their being prepared.
Luther
There is a crucial scene in Luther, a film about a major catalyst of the Reformation, in which the primary conflict of the film and its characters are laid as plainly as possible. By the time this scene arrives, Martin Luther (Joseph Fiennes) has nailed to the door of All Saints’ Church his “95 Theses” which outline what he feels are the Roman Catholic Church’s abuses. He is brought to Rome and told by Girolamo Aleander (Jonathan Firth), the Cardinal’s aide, “you have one word to say [to Cardinal Jacob Cajetan (Mathieu Carrière)] and one word only: Revoco—I recant.”
We next find Luther lying, servilely, before the Cardinal. When he arises as instructed, he asks, “Which of my teachings is offensive to Rome?” The Cardinal explains that, “Pope Clement’s decree, Unigenitus, clearly states that the merits of Christ are a treasure of indulgences.” To this, Luther replies, “I think you’ll find it says, ‘The merits of Christ acquire the treasure of indulgences.’” When the Cardinal asserts that it is the Pope who interprets scripture, Luther reminds him that, while “he may interpret…he is not above it.” Read the rest of this entry »