[JULY 10 marked] the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, the French theologian who helped carry the Protestant Reformation into the heart of Europe . . . . Though Calvin was never the theocratic thug of popular imagination, neither was he a champion of individual freedom.
Continue reading "JULY 19 / Good introduction to John Calvin" »
THE MOST Reverend Katharine Jeffert Schori, presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church, stirred more than a little controversy with her July 7 welcoming address at the church's Anaheim convention. She criticized a core traditional protestant doctrine, individual salvation (heresy, she said). And in the process, she ticked off some Episcopalians in Mississippi. Let's start with her joke about Mississippi, sandwiched between two main clauses of the first sentence we'll examine.
LET'S TAKE A BREAK from giving money to good works and give something more valuable -- our hearts and minds -- to the celebration of the 233rd birthday of the greatest nation in history.
Reflect on the words.
We hold these truths to be self-evident . . .
What truths? And what does "self-evident" mean?
. . . that all men are created equal . . .
Clever people delight -- delight -- in pointing out that blacks and women were not treated equally in 1776. Does this falsify the proposition that all were "created" equal? Is that proposition true or not? What, if anything, does it imply about social and economic outcomes?
. . . that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights . . .
What, according to the Founders (including skeptical old Tom Jefferson), is the source of human rights? Do you believe a "Creator" endowed humanity with rights?
BECAUSE everyone needs a rural hometown, I again lend you mine. From Garrison in the News, May 7, 2009:
IN 1999 -- a lifetime ago, it now seems -- four Kingwood High School students, young women, started robbing convenience stores. They called themselves the "Queens of Armed Robbery."
Continue reading "JUNE 25 / David Edgar Hancock (March 26, 1970 - June 25, 2000)" »
YOU NEED a church. If you don't have one, I'll lend you mine -- Kingwood First Baptist.
A DISTANT UNCLE passed away and left me quite a batch,
And I was livin' high until that fatal day
A lawyer proved I wasn't born, I was only hatched.
Ev'rything's agin me, and it's got me down.
If I jumped in the river, I would prob'ly drown.
No matter how I struggle and strive,
I'll never get out of this world alive.
I'M JUST a poor, wayfarin' stranger,
Travelin' through this world below.
There is no sickness, no toil nor danger
In that bright land to which I go.
I'm goin' there to see my father
And all my loved ones who've gone on.
I'm just goin' over Jordan.
I'm just goin' over home.
BECAUSE everyone needs a rural hometown, I lend you mine. From Garrison in the News, May 28, 2009:
Obituary, "Jimmy Carrell Simms."
Funeral service for Jimmy Carrell Simms, 57, of Garrison was held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, May 25, 2009 at First Methodist Church, Garrison with Rev. Jean Ferraro officiating.
Continue reading "JUNE 11 / "The beautiful people we have known in this life"" »
MY SWEET Diana and I have been blessed with forty-two years of marriage. Last year's celebratory post is eternally true.
