Comments on: Thoughts for a Rainy September Friday

By: Silence? What’s That? | Careful Thought

Silence? What’s That? | Careful Thought — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:43:19 +0000

[...] Edelen at Cerulean Sanctum posts some thoughts on the notion of silence. I’ve been thinking a lot about silence. (I guess if [...]

By: Oengus Moonbones

Oengus Moonbones — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:55:42 +0000

Old Old Dire Dan: “Does a peace effort even exist in American churches outside of dead, liberal mainline denominations and a handful of Quakers?”

I dunno. But what constitutes a “peace effort” in your view? Please tell us who are so ignorant.

However, in explaining things, do avoid flighty abstractions and do make specific proposals involving real-world countries and conflicts. There are a lot of mean, nasty people out there. What happens when some of them really do want to kill lots and lots of people?

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:29:04 +0000

Not sure if this relates to the posting, but I wonder if Abraham Lincoln would be as outraged at abortion as he was over slavery. Because it was the issue of slavery that ultimately provided the impetus to go for him to aim for the White House and stamp the practice out, for good. I suppose one main difference between abortion and slavery is that there was a heavy regional component to slavery, which helped divide the Union from the Confederacy. Although, keep in mind that the Civil War was never fought over the issue of slavery.

To deflect one potential criticism, no I don’t think abortions will drop to zero if the law changes. Slavery still exists in parts of the world, including the U.S., though definitely not the way it once did. Perhaps with a change in the abortion law, the whole option of an abortion will not even come across people’s minds, people who want to obey the law (and have a respect for human life).

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:56:49 +0000

My mother and I took my little nephew for a day on the town today as my younger brother and his girlfriend held a yard sale. When I asked him if he wanted to go “night night” or “take a nap,” he always would say, “No,” even before he fell fast asleep on the way home. Before he went to sleep, his activity level spurted, as most children’s do when they use more energy to try to stave off tiredness. Thirty minutes of silence cause adults to squirm and whine, too, before they fall asleep from doing too much.

The Word of God instructs us to pray for the peace of where we live. But most politically minded prayers tend to talk about judgment, not peace.

I am against the war in Iraq. I want the insurgents to surrender. Let’s have a peace movement indeed, where we implore those who fight against America to lay down their arms. That would lead to peace, too, right? Why do peace movements almost always take issue with America and not so much with America’s enemies? (Because most peace activists know, and will admit, that they would be assassinated in the Middle East, and/or, at the least, their words would fall on deafer ears there than here.)

“Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this” (Eccl. 7:10 KJV). It seems these days are worse than those days because, as kids, we had little concept of how bad the world was back then. It was just as evil then as it is today. Indeed, it was just as evil after the Fall as it is now. Only now, we have the technology to spread various sins and their grotesqueries faster. Indeed, if America ever was a Christian nation with high moral standards, why did we need two Great Awakenings, Azusa Street, etc.?

The goal of an education is to get as much money out of my pocket and the pockets of taxpayers as possible while providing as little value as possible. I am taking classes I probably will never use in my probable career path. I surmise that I am forced to take these classes just so colleges and professors can rake in more dough. If they really gave the student body a choice, most of us would take as few classes as we thought prudent to receive the education we need.

If Palin were a confessional Episcopalian in the Anglican Communion under an African bishop; or if she were a Reformed Presbyterian with ties to charismatic renewal groups, she still would be cast as a fringe lunatic. Indeed, if she believes God’s Word is true, she is fringe to the left-wing media and probably to most Americans.

More genuine Christians need to run for office.