Global Warbling

After reading this article, I have but one choice: VEGETARIANISM.*

*Not because I love animals, but because I hate plants.

Seriously, I think that there are a lot of people rushing to judgment 0n this issue. It's getting to the point where dissent is not tolerated - even when it's well documented and reasonably argued. Where's the humility at the complexity of terran climatology?

Free to be Offended and Offensive

Selwyn Duke makes some excellent points in his recent article about offensive speech.

Let me whet your appetite:

If you can’t defeat your adversaries in the arena of ideas, you have to keep them out of the competition; if you can’t refute what’s argued, you must stop it from being spoken.

The voicing of the unpopular, being the very soul of free speech,
the right to give and take offense shall not be infringed.

Sometimes I think it is time to insert the above into our First Amendment.

So, first you demonize speech refutative of your agenda by labeling it “offensive,” which cultivates social codes and attendant social pressure facilitative of the change you desire. Then, as these social codes become more widely accepted and entrenched, expressing them through rules and laws becomes more acceptable. This leads to the next stage, the organizational expression of them – the speech codes in various private institutions. And once sufficiently inured to these, it’s time for the last stage of this imprisoning of ideas: The legislative expression of these social codes known as hate speech laws.

Thus, there is a lesson here we ignore at our own peril. You can have freedom from being offended or you can freedom of speech, but you cannot have both.

This is why I have no tolerance for the Offensiveness Ploy. It is manipulation by the mediocre, victory for the vacuous, derision by the dull.

I encourage you to read the rest of the article. I firmly believe free speech is losing ground in academia and will soon be non-existent in the public sphere.

Resurrection Fun

Okay - it's Lent. That means that we're preparing ourselves for one thing: EASTER!!!

I understand that our repentance (which should be continual, but is especially intentional in this season) is often accompanied by a somber turn of character. However, in the interests of keeping Lent a truly proleptic time of anticipation (kinda like Advent), I encourage everyone to repent of their unbelief in the true, bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sure, there are people who don't believe it and say as much (some of whom who should really know better). But there are plenty of folks that would confess belief in Jesus' triumph over death, yet the accompanying joy of that fact never reaches their hearts (much less their daily living). Folks, there is only one response to Jesus Christ having been raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25) - a more profound ALLELUIA!!

As James Dennison reminds us:

Eschatological death is past for us—Jesus paid it all.

Eschatological judgment is past for us—Jesus endured it all.

Eschatological wrath is past for us—Jesus bore it all.

Eschatological righteousness is present for us—Jesus has it all.

Eschatological forgiveness is present for us—Jesus gives it all.

Eschatological life is present for us—Jesus lives it all.

Even now to those who are in Christ Jesus—no condemnation!

Even now to those who are in Christ Jesus—no more wrath!

Even now to those who are in Christ Jesus—no more death!

Even now to those who are in Christ Jesus—you are justified!

Even now to those who are in Christ Jesus—you are forgiven!

Even now to those who are in Christ Jesus—you have been raised from the dead!

In that spirit, I encourage you all to take this whimsical test by Gary Habermas.