How Much Do You Have To Have Right?

When we went to the Philips, Craig, and Dean concert, there was a young man standing in the rain screaming at the top of his lungs that PCD were preaching a different gospel. He did so with fervor and desperation.

My kind of guy. If it weren't raining, I would have engaged him to find out what he was blathering about.

Instead, I looked it up.

They believe that we are sinners saved by grace imputed upon us by Christ's sacrifice on the cross if we repent and believe.

That's the same gospel I believe.

What my fervent friend was frothing about was their understanding of the Trinity. We believe God is three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit; PCD believe God is three manifestations, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

That is a different doctrine (barely), not a different gospel. If we have to have doctrine down perfectly, we're all doomed. I don't think anyone can truly grasp the Trinity (partially because while it is strongly implied in the Bible, it is not directly addressed, and ultimately because it is beyond our physics).

If you get the boiled down gospel above, but are off on doctrine (an understanding of the details of how it all works), I'm thinking you'll be okay, though possibly not as effective. I don't need to know how a cellphone works to use it.

A different gospel would be salvation through works (Jehovah's Witnesses, I think Mormons), salvation through a being other than Jesus Christ (Norse Mythology, Moonies, Muslims), stuff like that. (Catholics believe in the "candy bar" approach, as I've termed it. They wrap grace and works all up in one bar whereas we separate them; I'm guessing they're okay.)

And, y'know, I bet there are individuals in JW and Mormonism who are going to be okay because they just don't get what's being taught and believe the gospel anyway.

As someone pointed out to me, when we get to Eternity, we'll be less surprised by who's there than by who's not.

Anti-Intellectualism

I've been seeing it a lot, lately. From a gossip site slamming Sovereign Grace Ministries to the current Health Care Debate.

Because conservatives are against government controlled health care, liberals claim it's useless talking to us since we're "against any kind of reform since all we want to do is trample the poor and fatten the rich folks." Somehow, saying we're against one kind of reform and suddenly we are against any kind of reform. Ridiculous. That's like saying just because I don't like mushrooms, I don't like any fungi. Oh, wait a minute, I don't... okay, because I don't like onions, I don't like any vegetables. Utterly silly.

Meanwhile, the intellectual dishonesty of former SGM'ers who feel "wounded" by their time in SGM take it upon themselves to make every little move CJ makes to be evil (bwa-ha-ha-ha!). There are entirely consumed by gossip... while castigating CJ as an anti-intellectual because he admits he didn't go to college. As if college is required to develop intelligence. Every stand is pushed to the extremes. And they do this as a "warning" to others. So sad.

Is simple logic that difficult to grasp?

We Shall Never Forget; But We Have

Our Jewish brethren have a saying, "we shall never forget."

There's also an age old question: "If you could go back in time to when Hitler was a boy; would you kill him to prevent the Holocaust?"

Or what if Chamberlain recognized Hitler for what he was and made a preemptive attack and ended the threat of the Reich before it could gather momentum? I'll tell you what. Chamberlain would be vilified. Britons would complain about the folly of sending young men to die in ending a threat before it became heinous. Just as the person who said yes to the second question would be branded a vile murderer of children.

I don't like the Iraq war. I hate that so many of our brave men and women have died. But Hussein killed 35,000 of his own people and mass graves cried out for justice. Right now in dozens of places on the globe thousands upon thousands are killed by warlords and corrupt government. And like Chamberlain, we think it's not our job to end such things.

I'm sorry, my Jewish kindred, we have forgotten.

GI Joe - What Do You Know?

Caught GI Joe as part of a guy's night out with a bunch of friends. For the fellowship alone, I enjoyed it. Not because of the movie, mind you, just for the friends.

GI Joe, originally a six inch toy American Soldier with a beard. Then it became a team to facilitate more toys. Now it's a movie to sell bazillions of more toys.

Problem with movies made from toys is that it is a two hour commercial and business plan for future toys. Which means story and characterization are an afterthought.

GI Joe is no longer American but NATO run -- Meaning the title is nonsensical, but now the toys can be a global phenom. The necessity to have as many weapons, characters, bases, vehicles, costumes as possible makes it chaotic. What few clever ideas they had were drowned in silly toy references.

The actors seemed to know they were second fiddle to the toys so they phoned in their performances. Quaid who is dissappointing regularly is worse here. Branden Frazier makes a bizzarre cameo to say "again?" over and over before disappearing. Everyone else was just... sad.

Stephen Summers, the director, is making a name for himself doing toy movies badly (as opposed to Michael Bay, who makes flashy toy movies adequately).

If you're a fan of GI Joe toys, go and have fun. If you're not, either grab a dozen friends and go or stay home.

Good to Know

I got my irregular notification from Social Security of how much I'm worth to my family if I died.

They'd do alright.

I guess I should feel good about that...

A Fair Question

"If Sarah Palin looked like Golda Meir, would we even be talking about her today?"-- GOP strategist Mike Murphy

So true. I doubt McCain would have selected her if she resembled Humpty-Dumpty, but she doesn't and he does, and we're stuck with an albatross in the conservative camp.

Don't get me wrong. I like Sarah Palin. She's got conservative views, an engaging personality, and she ticks off the press. What's not to like?

In many way's she's the exact opposite of our current President (besides black/white and male/female) and I think she'd be just as damaging to the country as he is.

Obama is an intellectual (of dubious conclusions) and completely out of touch with humanity and common sense.

Palin is in touch with humanity, loads of common sense (except when it comes to the perks of office) but is a fairly dim bulb. She espouses conservative values, but would she come up with them on her own? Can she articulate them and studiously defend them? No, I don't think so.

As such, she is not fit for Federal (or possibly State) office. Nor is she fit as a Republican spokeswoman. The GOP can (and must) do better.

Huckabee, probably unelectable and now, as a talk show host, definitely unelectable was the whole package, except he too fell victim to abuses of office--not criminal, but certainly unethical--as the Governor of Arkansas. Could he articulate his platform and defend it from all comers? Absolutely, and with humor as well as aplomb.

People scoff at the idea of dynasties, a la Kennedy, Bush, and the attempt by the Clintons (watch out for Chelsea), but by knowing they're grooming presidents, they know what to avoid early in office. Kennedy had all sorts of personal moral lapses, but his time in office had a purpose. Did Huck and Palin ever consider being president and therefore be careful about milking the office for all it's worth? Doubtful.

Who will the right GOP leader be? I have no clue. I just know they aren't on the scope at the moment.