His words below:

“Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it’s a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, the coming doomsday—these are deeply held mythic structures. They are profoundly conservative beliefs. They may even be hard-wired in the brain, for all I know. I certainly don’t want to talk anybody out of them, as I don’t want to talk anybody out of a belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God who rose from the dead. But the reason I don’t want to talk anybody out of these beliefs is that I know that I can’t talk anybody out of them. These are not facts that can be argued. These are issues of faith.

And so it is, sadly, with environmentalism. Increasingly it seems facts aren’t necessary, because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief. It’s about whether you are going to be a sinner, or saved. Whether you are going to be one of the people on the side of salvation, or on the side of doom. Whether you are going to be one of us, or one of them.”

He’s certainly onto something.  As a matter of fact, the Church of the Environment even has a system of indulgences to atone for sins against nature.  They’re called carbon credits.

As most of you surely know, congress is currently working overtime to pass some sort of health care reform bill.  Meantime, debate over the proper contents of such a bill is swirling around the nation like a runaway cyclone.  In most circles, debate over health care centers around one key question:

Is affordable health care a basic human right? 

Those who would answer such a question in the affirmative believe it is government’s responsibility to make sure that its poorer citizens have access to some level of free health care.  Those who say, “No,” to the question above are usually not in favor of publically funded health services. 

In the next few posts, I would like to lead us toward a Biblical answer to such a question.  But before we get there, we need to begin with a more basic discussion of the concept of rights.  We need to see whether or not the Bible supports our Western notion of basic rights.  Only then will we prepared to take a Christian position on Obama Care.  Stay tuned…

I read a lot, not as much as I probably should, but a good bit none the less.  Anyway, no matter what the genre, I usually come to the end of a book and think, “Hmm, that was good.  What’s next?”.  But every once in a while, I read something that just knocks my socks off.  I think, “I must tell everyone about this book.  Everyone needs to read it.  I need to read it again.” 

I’m very excited to report that I have just read such a book.  It’s a little paperback by N. D. Wilson entitled Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World. 

Is it a hymn of praise?  Is it a call to thankfulnesss?  Is it a rebuke of ingratitude?  Is it poetic answer to the so-called “problem of evil”?  Is it a laugh-fest?  Is it a tear jerker?  It’s all of those things, and so much more, rolled into one.

Read it and weep.  Read it and laugh.  Read it and be changed.  Read it and thank God for your mom who taught you to read (then call her when you’re done).  Read it and…oh just read it, as soon as possible.  What follows is a little taste, concerning God’s answer to tragedy in His world:

“Tragedy isn’t an easy thing to kill….Tragedy must by destroyed by someone willing to be swallowed by it, willing to be broken, torn out of the flesh, but able to return to it.  Someone must be able to shatter the tragic from within and exit into comedy, able to rip a hole so wide that a train of souls, a parade, could follow after, banging drums and throwing candy as they strolled into the sun.”

So I was driving around the other day with my daughter in the backseat.  I asked her what her favorite color was .   She thought for a second and then said, “What’s your favorite color, Daddy?”  “Blue”, I replied.  “Me too,” she said. 

I was putting my son to bed last week.  Like every night, I put my hand on his head and began to give him his nightly blessing.  As I began, he grabbed his stuffed Curious George, put his hand on George’s head, and mumbled the blessing right along with me.  Monkey see; monkey do.

Children are hardwired by our wonderful Creator to imitate their parents.  That’s why Prov. 22:6 can promise what it does: “Train a child in the way he should go,  and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  But hidden in that wonderful promise is a sober warning as well.  Our children will learn to be like us.  This includes the good, the bad, and often the ugly.

As I watch my children imitate me in good things, I also see my struggle with anger and frustration in both of them already. Do any of you have similar experiences?  My guess is that all of us see our strengths and our weaknesses constantly displayed before our eyes in the lives of our little ones.

The one good that comes of seeing my children imitate my sinful behavior is that it drives me to confession and repentance, towards the Lord and towards them.  By God’s grace, they will learn to imitate this most of all.

So much can be (and has been) said about the political shenanigans involved in last week’s “beer summit”.  I will leave such commentary to more qualified folks. What I’d like to discuss are the beer choices of the participants.

The cop made a respectable choice, going with a pint of Blue Moon (I’m not a personal fan of Belgian Whites; but Blue Moon is at least a semi-adventurous brew).  The Prof. represented his home town well by going with a Samuel Adams.  Ok, it was Sam Adams Light; but still, what more can we expect from a stuffy, liberal academic?  What really blew me away was Pres. Obama’s choice.   Our Commander-in-Chief, the Leader of the Free World, calls a beer summit; and he downs a Bud Light.  Travesty!  Don’t even get me started about our VP showing up later with a non-alcoholic selection.  I mean talk about emboldening our enemies!!

If ever elected President (no one hold their breath), I promise to proudly represent our great nation by downing real, manly beer for all to see.   For my first beer summit, I think I’d down this little beauty.

Great (and brief) article from  Congressman Ron Paul on the proposed health-care bill.   It’s entitled The Immorality of Taxpayer Funded Abortion.  It’s definitely worth a read. 

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/functions/printfriendly.php?article=152

So I’m watching the Today Show on NBC this morning (no comments please ).  The hosts and the guests were discussing the legalization of marijuana.  And as you would expect, some guests were arguing the pros and and some the cons.  The guy in favor of legalization was maintaining that one of the benefits of making pot legal would be that governments could tax it, thus bringing in a whole lot of  revenue.  As a retort, the person opposing legalization argued that in the case of cigarettes and alcohol, tax revenues (on these very highly taxed substances) don’t come anywhere close to covering the medical costs spent on dealing with the health consequences of too much smoking or drinking.  I can only assume she was talking about the medical costs laid out by government (federal, state, etc.). 

So for those of you who might be more “in the know” than myself, allow me to ask you this: Are our state and federal tax dollars being spent on medical treatment for chain smokers and alcoholics, treatment related to substance abuse I mean?  If so, this blows my mind.  If any substance is going to be legalized in this country, then people should have to bear the financial burden that may come with abusing that substance.  Isn’t this just common sense?  

Your thoughts?

A new, supposed “missing link” was announced two weeks ago.  But despite the frenzied estacy filling the media reports on this discovery, things with this fossil are not nearly what they seem.  Big surprise.  Take the link below for a great article from the good folks at Creation Ministries International.

http://creation.com/darwin-fossil-ida-hype

As many of you may know, the Twilight book series by author Stephanie Meyer has become quite a pop-culture sensation.  The series has sold millions of books worldwide and has even sparked a successful motion picture.  Wanting to see what all the fuss was about, I picked up volume one of the series and gave it a quick read.  The story was interesting enough to make me want to continue, so I read the next three novels as well.  Below are my thoughts:

The basic plot of the Twilight series is easy to sum-up: Girl meets boy…only boy also happens to be a vampire, though a sort of “reformed” vampire as it turns out.  In other words, he no longer kills people.  But that doesn’t mean he’s not tempted to do so, and it doesn’t mean that other vampires are as reformed as he is.  Anyway, romance ensues; but from the beginning it is destined for tragedy…or is it?  Read the books to find out.  But read the rest of this post first.

Do the books have any literary value?  Not much.  That’s not to say they are horribly written.  Author Stephanie Meyer knows how to tell a gripping story.  However, the narrative often drags and the dialogue can be strained at times.  Her writing does improve as the series goes on.  Is Meyer in the league of Tolkien or Lewis?  Not by a long shot.  Is she comparable to even J. K. Rowling or Stephen King?  Not yet, but she might be one day.

From a Christian perspective, the series has a couple strengths.  First off, moral absolutes are assumed throughout the series.  Good is truly good.  Evil is truly evil.  Repentance, at least on a human level, is possible and to be desired.  Secondly, the books have no sexual immorality to speak of.  And third, family relationships are valued and protected by the characters within the series.  None of this is really surprising when one learns that Meyer is a practicing Mormon. 

Though the books need not be dismissed as evil or demonic, Christians should be aware of several things before reading them or allowing their children to do so.  Number one, the series is a bit heavy on romance – not sexual romance, but extremely passionate romance.  This can be a huge stumbling block for young women, not to mention married women who are dealing with a marriage that is lacking in the romance department.  Number two, due to the gripping nature of the narrative, the series can be a huge time-sink.  One should make sure one’s other duties are prioritized and in their proper place before beginning.   And number three, the books do contain some pretty violent and vividly painful scenes.  I don’t think the violence ever becomes gratuitous, particularly given the subject matter.  But in my opinion, they are not appropriate for anyone 16 or below. 

As an aside, let me close by saying that I have always found the concept of the “reformed vampire” to be a bit fascinating (Meyer is not the first author to imagine a vampire who is conflicted and desperately trying not to be a monster).  As a matter of fact, I think the idea is slightly comparable to the life of a believer.  Though we’ve been renewed in the inner man, our flesh still craves for sin.  The Christian life is a life of learning to say “no” to our evil desires and to say “yes” to righteousness…Twilight’s Edward is attempting something similar. 

Proverbs 18:17 says, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” 

This wisdom certainly applies to the global warming issue.  Contrary to what the media (not to mention companies vying for gov’t subsidies) would want us to believe, there is another side to this whole issue.  And the link below is a great resource for discovering that other side:

http://right-mind.us/tags/Global+Warming/default.aspx