Dr. Scott Clark of Westminster Seminary California addresses these questions on his blog. Without addressing prop 8 specifically, Dr. Clark attempts to sketch a foundation for thinking about the relationship between marriage and the state from a Natural Law perspective, drawing from both Christian and Pagan thought.
Here is a rather lengthy and meaty paragraph to give you the gist of his argument:
Read Dr. Clark?s full article at the heidelblog.
Read the rest of the Salvo article here.
Eric Bana's Romulan villain, Nero, looks pretty cool. And the bridge of the Enterprise looks like the inside of an Apple store! We always knew the future would run on Mac. :)
To see more images go to startrekmovie.com.
Edit: In case you're wondering if this has anything to do with philosophy/culture/apologetics, it does. Here are a few quotes from this week's Entertainment Weekly:
Star Trek has always been on the optimistic/humanistic side of things, and people have typically associated its ideology with liberal politics. At the same time, however, Abrams needs this movie to appeal to the widest audience possible. So will Star Trek push the PC envelope, or will it find a way to walk the cultural tightrope and become next summer's optimistic version of The Dark Knight?
You can order the book and DVD together for a special discounted price (or just order one at the regular price) from the Westminster Seminary California Bookstore.
Thanks to the Tennessee Eagle forum & Republican National Coalition for Life for forwarding the following....
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"Investigators (of ACORN's voter fraud) discovered that the entire offensive line of the
- Columnist Wes Pruden
"I want (conservatives) to hurt as much as we did (in 2004). I want their spirits crushed, their backs broken. . . . We do that by making sure a record number of Americans reject conservative ideology, leaving it utterly discredited. The day after the election, I want to see an electoral battlefield littered with defeated Republicans, their ranks demoralized, their treasury in heavy debt, and no real leadership to take the helm."
- Liberal blogger Markos Moulitsas of the DailyKos
FOLKS, we are not fighting for a party, we are flighting for our COUNTRY. A free and fair election is the bedrock of a
1. The
2. Thousands of voter registration forms fakes, officials say
3. Cuyahoga board probes ACORN voter registration drive
4. Criminal inquiry possible in voter filings
5. Michigan Branch of ACORN putting Through sizable, Duplicate, Fraudulent Voter Apps
6. GOP says voter registration groups employed felons
7. 7-yr-old Gets An ACORN vote
8. I Voter, 72 Registrations
9. Is ACORN Stealing the election?
10. ACORN's Senator
11. Obama hid $800,000 payment to ACORN through "Citizen Services, Inc."
12. De-Fund ACORN, Republican Leader Insists [It's about time!]
1. The
SYSTEMIC corruption of our election process continues. Barack Obama and his old friends at ACORN and Project Vote are leading the way. This radical revolution is taking place in your backyard. And as I've reported before, this voter-fraud racket is on your dime.
On Monday, the two groups announced the wrap-up of a 21-state voter-registration drive targeting low-income people and minorities in such battleground states as
What's wrong with that? For starters, these two groups are militantly partisan outfits purporting to engage in nonpartisan activity. And their campaign comes amid an avalanche of fresh voter-fraud allegations involving ACORN in many of those same states.
ACORN has helped register over 1.27 million people nationwide. It gets 40 percent of its revenues from the taxpayers, with the rest coming from left-wing heavyweights like billionaire George Soros and the Democracy Alliance.
Lefty lawyer Sandy Newman founded Project Vote, a 501(c)(3) organization, to register voters in welfare offices and unemployment lines with the explicit goal of turning back the Reagan revolution.
The two groups are inextricably linked - and at their nexus is Barack Obama. Despite his denials of any association with the group, Obama's political DNA is encoded with the ACORN agenda.
As I've noted previously ("ACORN: O's Ugly Ally," June 26), Obama trained ACORN members in
And Newman hired Obama in 1992 to lead Project Vote efforts in
It's an all-out scramble to scrape up every last unregistered voter sympathetic to Obama's big-government vision. "Our volume," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe bragged of the voter-registration program, "is going to be enormous."
Quantity over quality. That's the ACORN way - and the fraud allegations keep piling up:
* Yesterday,
*
Read more here
2. Thousands of voter registration forms fakes, officials say
The group -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN -- already faces allegations of filing fraudulent voter registrations in
And in
"All the signatures looked exactly the same," Ruthann Hoagland, a Republican on the board. "Everything on the card filled out looks exactly the same."
Read more here
3. Cuyahoga board probes ACORN voter registration drive
The board is investigating the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Results of the inquiry could be turned over to the county prosecutor.
Board employees said ACORN workers often handed in the same name on a number of voter registration cards, but showing that person living at different addresses. Other times, cards had the same name listed, but a different date of birth. Still another sign of possible fraud showed a number of people living at an address that turned out to be a restaurant.
Read more here
4. Criminal inquiry possible in voter filings
At least six voter registration workers could face criminal investigations after turning in 200 to 300 fraudulent registration cards, according to the
In one case, "one woman called us to complain because her husband has been dead for 10 years and a voter registration was submitted," said Sue Edman, the commission's executive director.
In other cases, deputy registrars working for ACORN were "making people up or registering people that were still in prison," said Carolyn Castore, ACORN's state political director.
In still other cases, workers used the same address for numerous voters or used driver's license numbers that did not fit the voters' birth dates, Edman said.
Read more here [you have to scroll down]
5. Michigan Branch of ACORN putting Through sizable, Duplicate, Fraudulent Voter Apps
The
The majority of the fraudulent and duplicate applications are coming from the liberal ACORN group based in
According to the report by Freep.com, the spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office, Kelly Chesney, says there is a "sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications. And it appears to be widespread."
ACORN has registered 200,000 voters statewide in recent months with the use of paid, part time employees.
Read more here
6. GOP says voter registration groups employed felons
An official with the Republican National Committee said Thursday that a group involved with voter registration drives in
The comments came from Sean Cairncross, the party's chief lawyer, during a conference call with reporters in the wake of a report that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) had hired at least seven felons as voter registration workers in the city.
The Journal Sentinel has reported on problems with voter registration cards submitted to the city by workers for the group and another liberal group, the Community Voters Project.
The newspaper reported on similar registration problems in 2004, which led to charges against some voter registration workers, as well as state reforms that bar groups from paying workers based on the number of signatures collected.
Read more here
7. 7-yr-old Gets An ACORN vote
O'jahnae Smith is ready and registered to vote this November.
There's only one problem: She's 7 years old.
The
"She's registered to vote?" said a surprised Jerome Smith, O'jahnae's teenage brother. "She's too young to vote."
Read more here
8. I Voter, 72 Registrations
"Sometimes, they come up and bribe me with a cigarette, or they'll give me a dollar to sign up," said Freddie Johnson, 19, who filled out 72 separate voter-registration cards over an 18-month period at the behest of the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
"The ACORN people are everywhere, looking to sign people up. I tell them I am already registered. The girl said, 'You are?' I say, 'Yup,' and then they say, 'Can you just sign up again?' " he said.
Read more here
9. Is ACORN Stealing the election?
Election Fraud: A radical group Barack Obama used to work for is committing voter-registration fraud in several states, ahead of the election. What does Obama know about this scam?
It's a legitimate question to raise now that the FBI has raided the offices of the nonprofit Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now in
The group's voter-registration fraud is rampant, and authorities plan a nationwide sweep of ACORN offices to collect records.
Read more here
10. ACORN's Senator
Election '08: Barack Obama wasn't just the second-largest recipient of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac political contributions. He was also the senator from ACORN, the activist leader for risky "affirmative action" loans.
Despite efforts to blame the rescue bill's failure on the GOP, it should be remembered that 95 Democrats ? some 40% of the Democratic Caucus ? withheld support. Obama himself also deserves blame ? not only for the bill's failure, but also for the crisis it was designed to solve.
As the New York Times reports, "Aides to Mr. Obama said he had not directly reached out to try to sway any House Democrats who opposed the measure." Is the reason the fact that the slush fund for ACORN in the original bill, siphoning off 20% of any future profits for such activist groups, was trimmed from the tree?
Obama, who once represented ACORN in a lawsuit against the state of
Read more here
11. Obama hid $800,000 payment to ACORN through "Citizen Services, Inc."
There's much more to the story of Obama's amended campaign finance reports than what Obama and the Obamedia will tell you. I will fill you in on what's missing in a moment. What we have here, essentially, is Obama using a non-profit group called Citizens Services Inc. as a front to funnel payments to ACORN for campaign advance work. Obama officials say it's no big deal. Nothing to see here. Move along. But where there's left-wing laundering smoke, there's fire. CSI has been the subject of a little-noticed complaint to the FEC by a Democrat who smelled something rotten going on between CSI, ACORN, and a left-wing 527, Communities Voting Together.
But first, the headline:
Obama to amend report on $800,000 in spending
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has details:
Read more here
12. De-Fund ACORN, Republican Leader Insists
Friday, October 10, 2008
(CNSNews.com) - "All federal funding to ACORN must be stopped," House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on Thursday, amid a widening probe into voter registration fraud by the liberal group.
Questionable or duplicate voter-registration forms submitted by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, have turned up in as many as nine states, including so-called swing states.
The "nonpartisan" community-organizer group works to recruit low-income, Democrat-leaning voters. Its national Web site says the group has registered 1.3 million people nationwide for the Nov. 4 election.
"The latest allegations of voter registration fraud by ACORN are further evidence that this group cannot be trusted with another dollar of the taxpayers' money," Boehner said in a news release.
Read more here
And also thanks for Maggie Thurber for the following---.............
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BUCKEYE INSTITUTE FILES STATE RICO ACTION AGAINST ACORN
Think Tank Represents Two Warren County Voters
COLUMBUS ? The Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-based think tank, today filed a state RICO action against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on behalf of two Warren County voters. The action filed in Warren County Court of Common Pleas alleges ACORN has engaged in a pattern of corrupt activity that amounts to organized crime. It seeks ACORN's dissolution as a legal entity, the revocation of any licenses in Ohio, and an injunction against fraudulent voter registration and other illegal activities.
My guest on radio today will be Maurice Thompson, the atty who filed RICO action against ACORN.
You can listen live at 5 p.m. at www.wspd.com ... click the 'listen live' under the WSPD logo - or you can click on Brian Wilson's head since I'm subbing for him and that will also take you to the listen live link.
Maggie
For those of you who don't know yet, Cambridge Bibles (pretty much the best Bible maker in the world!) is about to release their very first edition of the ESV. The edition is a familiar one in other translations: the Pitt Minion. It's a small, hand-sized Bible with a center reference column. The type size is large and clear for such a small Bible. But the best part: it comes bound in beautiful, supple goatskin leather (of course, you'll have to pay a bit more for that!). The goatskin will be available in both black and brown, as well as a burgundy French Morocco leather and a two-tone imitation leather (see all 4 side-by-side in the image below). The nice thing about goatskin (besides the way it feels) is that it's extremely pliable and durable. So if you decide to spend the extra cash, it's well worth it, as you're likely to be keeping the Bible around for many more years to come.
I used to be your average Bible consumer. All of my Bibles were bonded leather. My first ESV was "tru-tone" (basically just imitation leather). Then I found this site. Ever since I first read the insightful aesthetic comments of J. Mark Bertand, I have been a "Bible snob." Unfortunately I am also a "poor graduate student", so that means I'm still using bonded leather bibles. However, when I learned of Cambridge's plan to release an ESV, I decided to save up and spring for my first really nice Bible. Mark will be reviewing all four editions of the Cambridge Pitt Minion ESV some time next week, so make sure to check back for that (in the mean time, browse his blog. He's probably written something witty and interesting about your Bible!).
Now that I've admitted to buying one of these expensive things, I have a question for you (and I'm a philosopher who probably overthinks things, so you can take this or leave it). I've found there to be something of a paradoxical conundrum to the "nice Bible." On the one hand, I can see how it would be far more worthy to spend $80 on a Bible than on useless junk I don't need. And further, buying a Bible that has obviously taken great skill and care to make seems to say something about how important God's Word is to you. But is there something all too modern and Western about the "Cambridge goatskin Bible" market? After all, the words are the words. I can be spiritually fed just as well by a paperback Bible, and give the other $70 to my church, or to a homeless shelter. Then again, is there something about that very sentiment that is equally "modern" and "Western"? Can anything be said for a Bible that is, in itself, a work of art?
So what do you think? Am I still a good Christian? :P
Teacher and youth pastor, Michael Ferber, has written a book that attempts to interact with current philosophical trends in Christianity and address them from a Biblical perspective, using Paul's first letter to Timothy as his guide. Part commentary, part theological guidebook, with a little philosophy thrown in, Pomo Timmy is sure to capture much interest and attention among Christians seeking a Biblical perspective on postmodernism (and modernism, for that matter). While I don't fully agree with all of Mr. Ferber's theological conclusions (he comes down on the egalitarian side of the gender debate, for example), I can heartily recommend this book!
I recently asked Mr. Ferber a few probing questions to help introduce us to the purpose and subject of his book:
1. "Pomo Timmy" isn't exactly like a typical Bible commentary. Briefly, what IS this book, and what do you hope to accomplish with it?
Pomo Timmy is essentially a Biblical commentary with a strong philosophical bend. My hope in writing the book was to mine I Timothy to craft a response to some of the philosophical challenges present today, particularly the contrast between the relativism of postmodernity and the fundamentalism of approaches to faith rooted in more modern paradigms (modern in a philosophical sense).
2. You've worked in youth ministry for a number of years. Is "Pomo Timmy" geared more towards a youth audience, or do you hope to reach all ages?
Pomo Timothy is definitely NOT geared to a youth audience. Some of the later chapters are concrete enough to keep their attention, but most youth get bogged down in the introduction. However, it is appropriate for youth leaders and pastors who are trying to help youth and young adults navigate the various meanings of ?truth? in our society.
3. Many Christian leaders believe that the church needs to adopt postmodernism wholesale or it will die. Others simply dismiss postmodernism as an irrelevant fad. Why do you believe that postmodern thought poses a real threat to the church, and how serious do you think the threat is?
I believe the ?wholesale? acceptance of the relativism of postmodernism does indeed pose a threat to the church. However, I find it ridiculous to argue that much of life is not relative. The distinction I try to draw in Pomo Timmy is that there is some truth that is as real as real can be, while other aspects of ?reality? are undeniably socially constructed. I Timothy is a helpful tool to work through this complexity. The church does need to embrace and study postmodernism, but it needs to chew the meat and spit out the bones, so to speak. I believe postmodernism is a threat only to the degree that we allow the absolute truths of the faith to be replaced by absolute relativity.
4. In the introduction to "Pomo Timmy" you distinguish between knowledge and actual reality, and you suggest that both modernism and postmodernism simply collapse these two into each other. If my knowledge of reality is not the same as reality as it actually is, what is left of objective truth? How can I, as a Christian, claim to know anything as being actually true?
I would argue that the frameworks with which we view the world and reality are constantly changing and that ?reality? or ?truth? can be viewed from many situated perspectives, which therefore generate many different kinds of descriptions of the same reality. Yet, changes in perspective do not negate the reality of the observed object. To argue that I am finite, limited, and situated in a specific context at a particular time is to make an argument about me ? not the reality I am observing. If enough people, situated in many different times in many different contexts, also describe what I am observing eventually there will be enough understanding to move toward objectivity ? this is what critical realists would call aletheic truth. I personally believe that God has revealed Himself to enough people consistently over enough time that we can trust the Biblical account.
To purchase a copy of Pomo Timmy, or find out more information, simply click the amazon.com link above.
Michael Ferber has served as pastor, youth pastor, Christian school
administrator, college professor, and development director at
organizations including World Vision, Regent University, and West
Virginia University. He is a Ph.D. candidate studying geography of
religion at West Virginia University. He holds a Master of Arts in
Education from West Virginia University and a Master of Divinity from
Asbury Theological Seminary. Michael lives with his wife, Christina,
and their children, Leah and Brendan, in Clarksburg, West Virginia.