Battle Lines Being Drawn
It is always encouraging when Christian leaders and Christians face up to the Great Antithesis between belief and unbelief and build their lives and ministries accordingly. Here is
a clip of Bishop E. W. Jackson calling for black Christians to leave the Democratic party because of its persistent and virulent anti-Christian positions. He has started a movement called Exodus Now!, evoking the biblical injunction to "come out from among them and be ye separate."
According to some media reports, the call is being heeded--to the consternation of the Democratic Party. Before you read those reports, listen to the challenge and appeal Jackson makes to fellow black Christians. It will be heart warming and encouraging to all Christians.
Saturday, 29 September 2012
Here to Help
Jabba the Hut Gives us Nightmares
Ronald Reagan famously quipped that the most dangerous sentence in the English language was, "We're from the government and we're here to help." Authoritarian rulers who believe they know what is in your best interests (better than you do) and who have pompously convinced themselves that they are kindly, considerate, and thoughtful--that is, they have noble motives--are the most dangerous of all. After all Judas believed he was doing his people a great service, having their best interests at heart, when he betrayed our Lord for thirty pieces of silver. In reality, he had fallen under the control of the Devil (Luke 22:3).
Consequently, since the price of liberty is perpetual vigilance, we have to scrutinise very closely "well-meaning" governments. The more well-meaning they are, the more dangerous they become. At the very least it evidences a mode of thinking which considers citizens to be infantile children. Such arrogance is both demeaning and minatory.
New Zealand's privacy laws are an example. Conceived by civil righters and faceless bureaucrats and NGO-bureaucrats, privacy has become a classic example of the genre of authorities knowing what is best for you even if you don't.
Ronald Reagan famously quipped that the most dangerous sentence in the English language was, "We're from the government and we're here to help." Authoritarian rulers who believe they know what is in your best interests (better than you do) and who have pompously convinced themselves that they are kindly, considerate, and thoughtful--that is, they have noble motives--are the most dangerous of all. After all Judas believed he was doing his people a great service, having their best interests at heart, when he betrayed our Lord for thirty pieces of silver. In reality, he had fallen under the control of the Devil (Luke 22:3).
Consequently, since the price of liberty is perpetual vigilance, we have to scrutinise very closely "well-meaning" governments. The more well-meaning they are, the more dangerous they become. At the very least it evidences a mode of thinking which considers citizens to be infantile children. Such arrogance is both demeaning and minatory.
New Zealand's privacy laws are an example. Conceived by civil righters and faceless bureaucrats and NGO-bureaucrats, privacy has become a classic example of the genre of authorities knowing what is best for you even if you don't.
Friday, 28 September 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
If Obama Wins . . .
Culture and Politics - Obama Nation Building
Written by Douglas Wilson
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
If Obama wins -- which is a real possibility -- certain things follow. I mean certain things will follow other than the zombie apocalypse which will tragically end with a horde of them eating the republic's brains.
One of the results will be the chortling comments pointing out that I predicted this wouldn't happen, which is true, and that I ought therewith to shut up with the punditry, which is false, and that my observations on the subject have been nothing but glorified wish fulfillment, which is false again.
My conviction that Obama is going to lose, and that Romney is going to take it walking away, is my considered opinion. If I were a betting man, which I am not, I would be willing to put a $25 steak dinner on it. That is, a steak dinner for one of you out there, probably the noisiest one, not a steak dinner for all of you. That would work out to five Starbucks for 5 of you. That is the level of my conviction on this. Here I stand.
So let me state a few observations about an Obama win -- which is a real possibility -- and then state again why I think he is going to lose.
If Obama wins, look for certain things to follow.
Culture and Politics - Obama Nation Building
Written by Douglas Wilson
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
If Obama wins -- which is a real possibility -- certain things follow. I mean certain things will follow other than the zombie apocalypse which will tragically end with a horde of them eating the republic's brains.
One of the results will be the chortling comments pointing out that I predicted this wouldn't happen, which is true, and that I ought therewith to shut up with the punditry, which is false, and that my observations on the subject have been nothing but glorified wish fulfillment, which is false again.
My conviction that Obama is going to lose, and that Romney is going to take it walking away, is my considered opinion. If I were a betting man, which I am not, I would be willing to put a $25 steak dinner on it. That is, a steak dinner for one of you out there, probably the noisiest one, not a steak dinner for all of you. That would work out to five Starbucks for 5 of you. That is the level of my conviction on this. Here I stand.
So let me state a few observations about an Obama win -- which is a real possibility -- and then state again why I think he is going to lose.
If Obama wins, look for certain things to follow.
Orwellian Newspeak in France
"Father" and "Mother" To Be Expunged
We have published comment recently on the wider, deeper implications of homosexual "marriage". The argument was that when a society recognises two things follow: the state intrudes into and regulates more and more of human activity, trying to make it conform to its degenerate, regressive, secular religion; and secondly, the family and its structural relationships face a full frontal assault.
Now, as if to illustrate the point, France has announced that it is moving to "Orwellise" the national language and discourse about families--all as a result of legalising homosexual "marriage". This from The Telegraph:
We have published comment recently on the wider, deeper implications of homosexual "marriage". The argument was that when a society recognises two things follow: the state intrudes into and regulates more and more of human activity, trying to make it conform to its degenerate, regressive, secular religion; and secondly, the family and its structural relationships face a full frontal assault.
Now, as if to illustrate the point, France has announced that it is moving to "Orwellise" the national language and discourse about families--all as a result of legalising homosexual "marriage". This from The Telegraph:
Thursday, 27 September 2012
Media Defalcation
Not How the Press Works
The media in the US (and the West generally for that matter) is largely in the tank for Obama. He appears to have an unlimited, never-ending supply of "free passes". Most recently he and his administration made a huge mistake over the assault upon the US consulate in Benghazi. Obama and Hillary Clinton and the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice rushed to the microphones to declare that the violence was a reaction to an anti-Islamic video produced in America. The sub-text was "the US is to blame; one of us caused the violence; mea culpa, mea maxima culpa".
Unfortunately for that particular spin, it is now abundantly clear that the attack upon the embassy was planned long in advance: it was a military operation, and had nothing to do with provocation from an amateur DVD. More alarming is the administration's ignoring of warnings which were delivered to the US about an imminent attack.
The media in the US (and the West generally for that matter) is largely in the tank for Obama. He appears to have an unlimited, never-ending supply of "free passes". Most recently he and his administration made a huge mistake over the assault upon the US consulate in Benghazi. Obama and Hillary Clinton and the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice rushed to the microphones to declare that the violence was a reaction to an anti-Islamic video produced in America. The sub-text was "the US is to blame; one of us caused the violence; mea culpa, mea maxima culpa".
Unfortunately for that particular spin, it is now abundantly clear that the attack upon the embassy was planned long in advance: it was a military operation, and had nothing to do with provocation from an amateur DVD. More alarming is the administration's ignoring of warnings which were delivered to the US about an imminent attack.
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
7 Rules for Reformers
Political Dualism - Dualism Is Bad JuJu
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 24 September 2012
A generation ago "community organizer" Saul Alinsky famously penned his Rules for Radicals, and it is my conviction that those interested in reformation should match his craft and self-awareness without trying to compete with the speed and depth of his revolutionary destructo-vision.
Some revolutionaries are patient and some are not. Gramsci argued for the "long march through the institutions" and Lenin wanted the massive meltdown all at once. Most revolutionaries have what Billingsly described as a "fire in the minds of men," but some are willing to go for the slow burn. So more than just simple patience is required to distinguish a revolutionary from a reformer.
So what are the basic rules for reformers?
Political Dualism - Dualism Is Bad JuJu
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 24 September 2012
A generation ago "community organizer" Saul Alinsky famously penned his Rules for Radicals, and it is my conviction that those interested in reformation should match his craft and self-awareness without trying to compete with the speed and depth of his revolutionary destructo-vision.
Some revolutionaries are patient and some are not. Gramsci argued for the "long march through the institutions" and Lenin wanted the massive meltdown all at once. Most revolutionaries have what Billingsly described as a "fire in the minds of men," but some are willing to go for the slow burn. So more than just simple patience is required to distinguish a revolutionary from a reformer.
So what are the basic rules for reformers?
Willing Little Helpers
Our Feckless Defence Policies
There is much to disturb in the Dotcom fiasco. We are troubled by the appearance of an over-compliance with US demands. When the New Zealand police force and spy agency appear to act like extensions of the FBI we are very uneasy.
It appears that laws were broken by the authorities. Fortunately we have courts. We have Parliament. We have independent officials charged with reviewing the activities of the Security Intelligence Service. We expect that more and more will come out. We also expect that what will emerge will be not a sinister intent to subvert law or justice, but ineptitude due to being in awe of the FBI and the demands of the US government.
Is it too much to suggest that our government is a bit giddy over the thawing of relationships with the United States? One would hope so. But we expect to be disappointed.
There is much to disturb in the Dotcom fiasco. We are troubled by the appearance of an over-compliance with US demands. When the New Zealand police force and spy agency appear to act like extensions of the FBI we are very uneasy.
It appears that laws were broken by the authorities. Fortunately we have courts. We have Parliament. We have independent officials charged with reviewing the activities of the Security Intelligence Service. We expect that more and more will come out. We also expect that what will emerge will be not a sinister intent to subvert law or justice, but ineptitude due to being in awe of the FBI and the demands of the US government.
Is it too much to suggest that our government is a bit giddy over the thawing of relationships with the United States? One would hope so. But we expect to be disappointed.
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
The "Gospel" of Jesus Wife
Passing Off . . . A Deceit By Other Means
So, Jesus was married. Ah . . . . no. Just about every main stream media last week reported in high relief on an alleged fourth century Coptic manuscript fragment which purported to have Jesus speaking referring to His wife.
When the fragment was released it was with accompanying caveats and qualifications. Few of those made it through the MSM filters. The New York Times did provide some of the qualifications:
So, Jesus was married. Ah . . . . no. Just about every main stream media last week reported in high relief on an alleged fourth century Coptic manuscript fragment which purported to have Jesus speaking referring to His wife.
When the fragment was released it was with accompanying caveats and qualifications. Few of those made it through the MSM filters. The New York Times did provide some of the qualifications:
Bigger is Better?
Exploding a Simplistic Myth
We are all familiar with the fallacy of false causes. Just because a five year old drummer boy beat his drum every evening it was not the cause of the sun's decline below the Western horizon. The co-incidence of factors does not make one the cause of the other--necessarily.
For years we have been told that when it comes to schools, smaller class sizes mean a better, higher quality education. The argument is that a lower teacher pupil ratio causes better learning. Superficially this conclusion is compelling. It seems commonsensical to believe that were a single teacher to teach (say) five hundred pupils in one huge classroom the educational outcomes would be far below one teacher teaching one pupil.
Not so fast, say the sceptics.
We are all familiar with the fallacy of false causes. Just because a five year old drummer boy beat his drum every evening it was not the cause of the sun's decline below the Western horizon. The co-incidence of factors does not make one the cause of the other--necessarily.
For years we have been told that when it comes to schools, smaller class sizes mean a better, higher quality education. The argument is that a lower teacher pupil ratio causes better learning. Superficially this conclusion is compelling. It seems commonsensical to believe that were a single teacher to teach (say) five hundred pupils in one huge classroom the educational outcomes would be far below one teacher teaching one pupil.
Not so fast, say the sceptics.
Tuesday, 25 September 2012
Selective Editing
It's Too Silly for Words
By the "playbook" of global warming alarmists, we are on very sound scientific ground to conclude that a devastating Ice Age is pending. It will destroy life as we know it on planet earth.
OK, so let's open the global warming playbook to Page One:
This, from the Christian "Science" Monitor
By the "playbook" of global warming alarmists, we are on very sound scientific ground to conclude that a devastating Ice Age is pending. It will destroy life as we know it on planet earth.
OK, so let's open the global warming playbook to Page One:
This, from the Christian "Science" Monitor
Disappointment
The One Indispensable Nation
The Commentariat is reported to be deeply disappointed by the Arab Spring. Those poor Arab people have misunderstood our good intentions and our help in throwing out the bad guys. But since this is just a misunderstanding, we will work harder at clarifying our intentions and good motives. We will win them over in the end.
But the Arab Spring has come and gone. We are now in a fierce hot summer storm of riots protesting against the West in general and the US in particular all across the Muslim world.
Firstly, let's just note the naive foolishness of the "useful idiots" in the West who actually believed that the Arab Spring would produce Muslims who would think like Western secular post-Christian human rights idealists. This from the Reuters wire:
The Commentariat is reported to be deeply disappointed by the Arab Spring. Those poor Arab people have misunderstood our good intentions and our help in throwing out the bad guys. But since this is just a misunderstanding, we will work harder at clarifying our intentions and good motives. We will win them over in the end.
But the Arab Spring has come and gone. We are now in a fierce hot summer storm of riots protesting against the West in general and the US in particular all across the Muslim world.
Firstly, let's just note the naive foolishness of the "useful idiots" in the West who actually believed that the Arab Spring would produce Muslims who would think like Western secular post-Christian human rights idealists. This from the Reuters wire:
Monday, 24 September 2012
Normophobia
Carl Trueman Finds the World to be Upside Down
Every now and then I find myself reminded of just how much the world has changed. One such moment came for me on Saturday. I was up in Boston to preach for my friend and fellow member of a certain parachurch blacklist, Mike Abendroth. On Saturday afternoon, he offered to take me to Northampton, location of the early ministry of Jonathan Edwards. As I always try to travel light, I ditched my jacket but had no choice but to wear my chinos and a button down shirt for the trip. In short, I had the humiliation, as an OPC man, of walking around Northampton looking like some newly-minted associate pastor at your typical PCA church.
We went to Starbucks. There I saw a lady who was, as we would say back in Blighty, clearly a 'bloke' dressed as a 'bird.' Now I have seen transgendered people before.
Pleased to meet you. Hope you guessed my name.
Posted by
Every now and then I find myself reminded of just how much the world has changed. One such moment came for me on Saturday. I was up in Boston to preach for my friend and fellow member of a certain parachurch blacklist, Mike Abendroth. On Saturday afternoon, he offered to take me to Northampton, location of the early ministry of Jonathan Edwards. As I always try to travel light, I ditched my jacket but had no choice but to wear my chinos and a button down shirt for the trip. In short, I had the humiliation, as an OPC man, of walking around Northampton looking like some newly-minted associate pastor at your typical PCA church.
We went to Starbucks. There I saw a lady who was, as we would say back in Blighty, clearly a 'bloke' dressed as a 'bird.' Now I have seen transgendered people before.
Scandalous Racism
Above the Pay Grade
Recently the NZ Herald moved from broadsheet to tabloid format. It did not take the venerable rag long to lower its journalistic standards to reflect its new format.
A storm-in-a-teacup scandal hit the headlines over the weekend. Raaaaacism! But worse, fundamentalist Christian raaaaaacism. Still worse, fundamentalist creationist Christian raaaaacism. Yup. That's the worst kind there is.
Apparently a self-promoting violet of the non-shrinking kind was grossly offended by pamphlets circulated in the South Waikato which apparently had the temerity to argue that people who believe in evolution are flirting with racism.
Recently the NZ Herald moved from broadsheet to tabloid format. It did not take the venerable rag long to lower its journalistic standards to reflect its new format.
A storm-in-a-teacup scandal hit the headlines over the weekend. Raaaaacism! But worse, fundamentalist Christian raaaaaacism. Still worse, fundamentalist creationist Christian raaaaacism. Yup. That's the worst kind there is.
Apparently a self-promoting violet of the non-shrinking kind was grossly offended by pamphlets circulated in the South Waikato which apparently had the temerity to argue that people who believe in evolution are flirting with racism.
Saturday, 22 September 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
Obama's Red Rubber Nose
Political Dualism - Mere Christendom
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 17 September 2012
I want to begin by acknowledging what all right-minded observers ought to know by now, which is that Obama's foreign policy approach is a clownfest. And if that is the case, and it is, his Middle East bureau would be the red rubber nose.
It is as if somebody decided to take a mash-up of a Tom Wolfe novel and a Walker Percy novel, get a gifted cartoonist from Marvel or DC, get him on drugs, and then ask him to draw a riveting story of a celebrity president who goes to Vegas in the middle of a Mediterranean meltdown.
In other words, if someone wanted to convince me that the Obama administration is right at the apex of a clueless wickedness, it wouldn't take much convincing. I am pretty much there.
Political Dualism - Mere Christendom
Written by Douglas Wilson
Monday, 17 September 2012
I want to begin by acknowledging what all right-minded observers ought to know by now, which is that Obama's foreign policy approach is a clownfest. And if that is the case, and it is, his Middle East bureau would be the red rubber nose.
It is as if somebody decided to take a mash-up of a Tom Wolfe novel and a Walker Percy novel, get a gifted cartoonist from Marvel or DC, get him on drugs, and then ask him to draw a riveting story of a celebrity president who goes to Vegas in the middle of a Mediterranean meltdown.
In other words, if someone wanted to convince me that the Obama administration is right at the apex of a clueless wickedness, it wouldn't take much convincing. I am pretty much there.
Vast Power Grab
Homosexual Marriage Would Exponentially Increase State Power Over Citizens
We are engaged in a debate over homosexual "marriage". The protagonists have framed the issue as one of human rights and desire. What people desire to do they have an implicit right to. But there is another necessary but eclipsed issue that trundles along in behind. The protagonists necessarily demand our acceptance of another principle: the prior authority and rights of the State to define and constitute marriage itself.
We acknowledge freely that most Pagans in New Zealand would not consider this an issue at all. Who would ever dispute anything so self-evident? Of course the State has rights--pre-emptive rights, prior rights, higher rights. Thus, naturally the protagonists of homosexual "marriage" look to the State as their protector and vindicator and great redeemer in the matter. For the modern Pagan, there is no other entity that can fill this void or perform this role.
The shift has tectonic dimensions.
We are engaged in a debate over homosexual "marriage". The protagonists have framed the issue as one of human rights and desire. What people desire to do they have an implicit right to. But there is another necessary but eclipsed issue that trundles along in behind. The protagonists necessarily demand our acceptance of another principle: the prior authority and rights of the State to define and constitute marriage itself.
We acknowledge freely that most Pagans in New Zealand would not consider this an issue at all. Who would ever dispute anything so self-evident? Of course the State has rights--pre-emptive rights, prior rights, higher rights. Thus, naturally the protagonists of homosexual "marriage" look to the State as their protector and vindicator and great redeemer in the matter. For the modern Pagan, there is no other entity that can fill this void or perform this role.
The shift has tectonic dimensions.
Friday, 21 September 2012
Letter From New Zealand (About NZ)
FranO'Sullivan Writes a Speech for the PM
Who owns what: for an answer, start here
By Fran O'SullivanNZ HeraldSaturday Sep 15, 2012
Mr Speaker, I rise today in this House to introduce legislation to vest all natural resources - water, geothermal steam, airwaves, aquifers and, for the avoidance of doubt, all minerals, ironsands, magma, rare earth deposits, coal, lignite, methane and uranium in this country and the exclusive economic zone that surrounds our shores - in a new Crown entity representing the combined interests of all the people of New Zealand.
Mr Speaker, my Government considers natural resources like water, geothermal steam, and the aquifers that underpin our rich agricultural plains to be public goods that are part of the common wealth of all New Zealanders.
Let's Be Realistic
Why Some Believe in God, and Some Don't
People who are self-conscious are likely to be relatively more objective than those naive folk who believe that the facts are the facts are the facts.
In reality man is a finite creature and all reasoning is conditioned to some extent by his limitations and experiences. This is as true for scientists as for musicians and other artists. Old beliefs control new beliefs. What one already believes to be true conditions all hypotheses from that point onward.
As Stokes puts it:
People who are self-conscious are likely to be relatively more objective than those naive folk who believe that the facts are the facts are the facts.
In reality man is a finite creature and all reasoning is conditioned to some extent by his limitations and experiences. This is as true for scientists as for musicians and other artists. Old beliefs control new beliefs. What one already believes to be true conditions all hypotheses from that point onward.
As Stokes puts it:
Thursday, 20 September 2012
Unbelief's Best Shot
The Mother of Invention
We recently began perusing The God Particle by Leon Lederman. The author is a Nobel winning particle physicist with a gift for whimsical prose. The intent of the author is to provide the lay person with a rough general knowledge of arcane particle physics. The book consists of a journey through the history of physics in general and particle physics in particular.
Lederman is a materialist. All that exists is atomic particles and space. So far, so good. Below is his description for the layman of how it all began.
We recently began perusing The God Particle by Leon Lederman. The author is a Nobel winning particle physicist with a gift for whimsical prose. The intent of the author is to provide the lay person with a rough general knowledge of arcane particle physics. The book consists of a journey through the history of physics in general and particle physics in particular.
Lederman is a materialist. All that exists is atomic particles and space. So far, so good. Below is his description for the layman of how it all began.
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Douglas Wilson's Letter From America
The Chocolate Milk Test
Culture and Politics - Sex and Culture
Written by Douglas Wilson
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
In talking about gay rights, we have to distinguish between different kinds of rights. If someone tries to ramp up the stakes by saying that he is talking about human rights, then we have go on to distinguish between different kinds of human rights.
The first kind of right is a liberty right -- the right to be left alone in certain specified areas. These are rights we have over against an officious government or a meddling neighbor. I have, for example, the right to keep and bear arms. This right was given to me by God, not James Madison. I also have a right to free speech. I have a right to free assembly together with others exercising the same right. I have the right to worship God as He requires in His Word.
Now in this sense, I absolutely believe in gay rights. Homosexuals are people and habeus corpus applies to them as much as to anybody else.
Culture and Politics - Sex and Culture
Written by Douglas Wilson
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
In talking about gay rights, we have to distinguish between different kinds of rights. If someone tries to ramp up the stakes by saying that he is talking about human rights, then we have go on to distinguish between different kinds of human rights.
The first kind of right is a liberty right -- the right to be left alone in certain specified areas. These are rights we have over against an officious government or a meddling neighbor. I have, for example, the right to keep and bear arms. This right was given to me by God, not James Madison. I also have a right to free speech. I have a right to free assembly together with others exercising the same right. I have the right to worship God as He requires in His Word.
Now in this sense, I absolutely believe in gay rights. Homosexuals are people and habeus corpus applies to them as much as to anybody else.
Chrestomathy
The Significance of AD 70
. . . the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple was not only a symbol, but in an initial sense the very coming of Christ into His Kingdom. That coming of Christ into His Kingdom, which had been denied in explicit words, and negtived by public deed, when by wicked hands they slew Him, was vindicated, and, so to speak, publicly enacted when the Roman solider threw the torch into the Temple, and when afterwards Jerusalem was laid level with the dust. As regard the men of that land and generation, it was the public proclamation, the evidence, that the Christ Whom they had rejected had come into His Kingdom. By the lurid light of those flames no other words could be read than those on the Cross: "This is the King of the Jews".
I say, then, the burning of Jerusalem was to that generation--and whatever kindred events successively came within the focus of the telescopic vision of following generations, were to them, the fulfilment of that prophecy, of which the final completion will be the Personal reappearance of Christ at the end of the Aeon.
Alfred Edersheim, Prophecy and History in Relation to the Messiah (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, [1901] 1980), pp.132--133. (Alfred Edersheim (1825--1889) was born and educated in a Jewish home but later converted to Christianity. His perspective therefore is unusually keen and comprehensive on the subject of Jewish history and Old Testament prophecy and its fulfilment.)
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
A Silent God Would Be Silent on Rights
Culture and Politics - Sex and Culture
Written by Douglas Wilson
Thursday, 13 September 2012
So I have made a distinction between certain negative rights (leave me alone in these specified areas) and positive rights (free chocolate milk for everybody). But surely it is more than how it is stated, whether negatively or positively. Couldn't a master of circumlocution cast gay rights as a "leave me alone" issue? The answer to that is "certainly," and so it is not simply a matter of abstract individual rights, negatively stated.
We have no right to be left alone across the board, in every area. We have the God-given right to be left alone in specified areas -- gun purchases, for example. Free speech for another. Free assembly for another. But you don't have the right to be "left alone" in the production of child porn. You don't have the right to be left alone with that abortion decision. The child is present, which means that you are not alone.
Culture and Politics - Sex and Culture
Written by Douglas Wilson
Thursday, 13 September 2012
So I have made a distinction between certain negative rights (leave me alone in these specified areas) and positive rights (free chocolate milk for everybody). But surely it is more than how it is stated, whether negatively or positively. Couldn't a master of circumlocution cast gay rights as a "leave me alone" issue? The answer to that is "certainly," and so it is not simply a matter of abstract individual rights, negatively stated.
We have no right to be left alone across the board, in every area. We have the God-given right to be left alone in specified areas -- gun purchases, for example. Free speech for another. Free assembly for another. But you don't have the right to be "left alone" in the production of child porn. You don't have the right to be left alone with that abortion decision. The child is present, which means that you are not alone.
Beneficiary Bashing, or Not . . .
Some Debates are Just Plain Tiresome
The furore over "beneficiary bashing" is making its seasonal reappearance. We have grown somewhat bored with the whole thing. Same old, same old. Whenever a government moves to put terms and conditions around state payments to some the furore reappears. It's boring because there is absolutely no way to resolve the issue and move forward.
The reason for the issue's intractability is state welfare benefits are universally regarded as a human right. The type of right in question can only be regarded as a demand right--although most people use the term "right" crudely without that nuance. A demand right functions as follows: I have a need (for food, clothing, heating, recreation, etc.) and my need constitutes a right to demand of others that my needs be met. The enforcer of the demand is the State.
Virtually everyone in New Zealand believes that demand rights are intrinsic to justice itself.
The furore over "beneficiary bashing" is making its seasonal reappearance. We have grown somewhat bored with the whole thing. Same old, same old. Whenever a government moves to put terms and conditions around state payments to some the furore reappears. It's boring because there is absolutely no way to resolve the issue and move forward.
The reason for the issue's intractability is state welfare benefits are universally regarded as a human right. The type of right in question can only be regarded as a demand right--although most people use the term "right" crudely without that nuance. A demand right functions as follows: I have a need (for food, clothing, heating, recreation, etc.) and my need constitutes a right to demand of others that my needs be met. The enforcer of the demand is the State.
Virtually everyone in New Zealand believes that demand rights are intrinsic to justice itself.
Monday, 17 September 2012
Letter From America (About China)
Shock Move: China Calls for End to Forced Abortions After International Outcry
Horrific stories about forced abortion are common in China. The nation’s controversial one-child policy has traditionally been upheld by savagely forcing women to abort their babies if, indeed, they become pregnant after already having a child.With the rest of the world learning more about the horror, international pressure has mounted for the country’s leaders to abandon the controversial policy. Now, in a surprising move, Chinese officials are finally calling for an end to the practice.
The Eye of the Beholder
Loving Father or Corrupt Cop
A "just so" story peddled by Unbelief is that the yellow brick road to the Wizard of truth is paved with objectivity. One who seeks after truth successfully, the one who finds truth, will be marked by objectivity--the discipline of stepping outside of oneself and seeing things as they really are, in themselves.
Of course absolute objectivity is non-existent in creatures, finite creatures. The limitations of being a finite creature intrude upon all our attempts to be objective. Our objectivity can always, ever, only be, of the relative kind. Relative objectivity proceeds by disclosing to self and others our limitations, cant, and biases--that is, our lack of objectivity.
That being said every so often Unbelievers are remarkably honest about God and their subjective prejudices against Him.
A "just so" story peddled by Unbelief is that the yellow brick road to the Wizard of truth is paved with objectivity. One who seeks after truth successfully, the one who finds truth, will be marked by objectivity--the discipline of stepping outside of oneself and seeing things as they really are, in themselves.
Of course absolute objectivity is non-existent in creatures, finite creatures. The limitations of being a finite creature intrude upon all our attempts to be objective. Our objectivity can always, ever, only be, of the relative kind. Relative objectivity proceeds by disclosing to self and others our limitations, cant, and biases--that is, our lack of objectivity.
That being said every so often Unbelievers are remarkably honest about God and their subjective prejudices against Him.
Saturday, 15 September 2012
Not With a Bang, But a Whimper
Human Rights Go Phhhht in Europe
When a culture or society rejects the Living God they do not continue in a vacuum. Rather, the culture moves to replace God with gods of its own making. In our modern secular world this inevitably means gods of power--state power.
We have seen an example most recently in the extension of powers claimed by the European Central Bank and the European Stability Mechanism. Consider the following:
When a culture or society rejects the Living God they do not continue in a vacuum. Rather, the culture moves to replace God with gods of its own making. In our modern secular world this inevitably means gods of power--state power.
We have seen an example most recently in the extension of powers claimed by the European Central Bank and the European Stability Mechanism. Consider the following:
Something Much More Comprehensive
National Standards are So Nineteenth Century
Commentators are chortling gleefully over David Shearer, the NZ Labour Party leader appearing to do an about face on education. His party, always in abject submission to its controlling unions--of which the teacher unions are dominant--has been taking great umbrage at any suggestion that the government education system is failing. Apoplectic tirades have poured forth insisting that there is nothing wrong with government schools: they are the best in the world, etc. etc.
But Shearer knows that parents and the public in general really like the idea of National Standards in government schools, testing for age competence in reading, writing, and maths. So, he has done the next best thing: he has promised that his government would spend more money for underachieving schools (which hitherto did not appear on Labour's radar screen). He has also promised that he would keep National Standards.
His critics are mocking the about turn. But not so fast.
Commentators are chortling gleefully over David Shearer, the NZ Labour Party leader appearing to do an about face on education. His party, always in abject submission to its controlling unions--of which the teacher unions are dominant--has been taking great umbrage at any suggestion that the government education system is failing. Apoplectic tirades have poured forth insisting that there is nothing wrong with government schools: they are the best in the world, etc. etc.
But Shearer knows that parents and the public in general really like the idea of National Standards in government schools, testing for age competence in reading, writing, and maths. So, he has done the next best thing: he has promised that his government would spend more money for underachieving schools (which hitherto did not appear on Labour's radar screen). He has also promised that he would keep National Standards.
His critics are mocking the about turn. But not so fast.
Friday, 14 September 2012
Homosexual Hypocrisy
Libertines and Their Fellow Travellers
In the propaganda that is swirling around the push to institute homosexual "marriage" in New Zealand, the proponents are amongst other things are engaged in special pleading. They want homosexual "marriage" to be put in a special category, deserving (in their minds) special treatment which they are unwilling to grant to other human beings. To this point, their argument is nestled amongst a putrid swamp of hypocrisy.
The Wall bill to institute homosexual marriage is replete with restrictions and definitions which prohibit marriage for certain types and classes of adults. Yet at the same time it claims that homosexuals must be allowed to enter homosexual "marriage" because it is a fundamental human right. Why is homosexual marriage a fundamental human right while other forms of marriage are not? Why is homosexual "marriage" so privileged? Why is it in a special category?
Consider the Preamble to the Bill:
In the propaganda that is swirling around the push to institute homosexual "marriage" in New Zealand, the proponents are amongst other things are engaged in special pleading. They want homosexual "marriage" to be put in a special category, deserving (in their minds) special treatment which they are unwilling to grant to other human beings. To this point, their argument is nestled amongst a putrid swamp of hypocrisy.
The Wall bill to institute homosexual marriage is replete with restrictions and definitions which prohibit marriage for certain types and classes of adults. Yet at the same time it claims that homosexuals must be allowed to enter homosexual "marriage" because it is a fundamental human right. Why is homosexual marriage a fundamental human right while other forms of marriage are not? Why is homosexual "marriage" so privileged? Why is it in a special category?
Consider the Preamble to the Bill:
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Letter From Canada (About Organic Food)
Marni Soupcoff: Stanford study shows organic food no safer or healthier than conventional food
Marni Soupcoff Sep 5, 2012 12:16 PM ET
Last Updated: Sep 5, 2012
National Post
When a new study by doctors at Stanford University found that organic foods are not any healthier than conventional foods, Canada’s organic growers must have been at a loss.
What could they possibly say to the dreary news that paying big bucks for organic products actually provides no positive physical or nutritional benefits? Would the growers be humbled or embarrassed? Would they graciously admit the evidence that their products are no better for consumers than the less pricey non-organic varieties?
Well, what do you think?
Neglecting Duties
Subtle Disobedience
An abiding temptation to Christians and the Church is to distort the truth by emphasis. It is a subtle form of disobedience. If the landowner gave his stewards a list of ten responsibilities and they focused on one only, neglecting the other nine. the unfaithfulness and disobedience of the stewards would be apparent to all. But not to the stewards, we suspect. Their uber-faithfulness to one duty would be used to justify the neglect of their other duties.
When Christians overemphasise a responsibility clearly taught in Scripture to the neglect of other commandments their defalcation is usually not immediately apparent to them.
An abiding temptation to Christians and the Church is to distort the truth by emphasis. It is a subtle form of disobedience. If the landowner gave his stewards a list of ten responsibilities and they focused on one only, neglecting the other nine. the unfaithfulness and disobedience of the stewards would be apparent to all. But not to the stewards, we suspect. Their uber-faithfulness to one duty would be used to justify the neglect of their other duties.
When Christians overemphasise a responsibility clearly taught in Scripture to the neglect of other commandments their defalcation is usually not immediately apparent to them.
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