The Intolerance of Christians

I selected that title more as a matter of irony for what I am about to share rather than claim again Christians for their intolerance of others. Historically Christianity may have had its issues in the tolerance department, yet as a religion its tenets are among the most open and respectful of other faiths. We typically respect the individuals right to disagree. We do however have the intellectual honesty not to simply claim that all beliefs are right and that therefore those who disagree or who do not have faith in Christ run the risk of being outside the will of God, if in fact the truth claims of Christians turn out to be correct. Yet the claim is still made that by merely asserting that there is a right and a wrong view religiously (or spiritually to use more popular language) that we are in fact already intolerant bigots.

With that in mind let me put before you two news pieces. One that has people worried about reprisal and one that no one seems too concerned with. First you have the theory that the meaning behind the phrase "the disciple whom Jesus loved" is in fact a homosexual relationship (far too much can be found here: http://www.jesusinlove.org/). Then you have the publication of a book on the child bride of Mohammed is pulled by Random House for fear that violence may result. Now a linked article on jesusinlove.org claims that depictions of a gay Jesus are destroyed when displayed. Yet no reputable news source is sighted for such an incident.

My point in this is simply that if find it ironic that we are called upon to lift up Islam as a religion of peace while Christians are routinely shunned as hateful, while the only violence that I see directed through a religious lens these days comes from an Islamic source. I really wish that more people in our nation had the capacity to reason through questions like this rather than simply condemning or accepting without understanding the broader implications of what they are doing.

Neighbors

In the evenings, the wife and I take out son for a walk. He rides and sometimes sleeps his way to and from the grocery store, where we have recently been walking and getting Ben and Jerry's (yup, our exercise comes complete with the reason we need to exercise).

The other day I was walking and looking around and as tends to happen to me a sign grabbed by attention and provided unintended humor. Across the railroad tracks is Pacific Transformer and well, you know where I went from there.

One More Commercial Miscalculation

Just thought of another form of advertising that causes me to avoid a product rather than run out and get some are those commercials that I have to suffer through while at the pump at the gas station. Really, do I need to see that additional ad revenues are being added to the already burgeoning profits while I pay in excess of $4 a gallon.

The Unintended Consequences of Bad Commercials

As Madison Ave advertisers attempt to find ways to sell you and I that latest and greatest useless gizmo, they occasionally strike upon an idea that yields the reverse effect. So here are a list of the advertising techniques that I find the most repellent:

1. The volume of the commercial is well above that of the program or even other commercials.
2. The man, husband, or father in the commercial is the foolish patsy bungling his way through life.
   
3. Anything sold by Billy Mays.
4. Medications that I have to ask my doctor about.
5. Anti-smoking ads that lack the ability to understand basic logic.
6. German auto makers telling me about how they have dealt with years of high gas prices and that their solution is a car I also cannot afford.
   
7. Brendan Fraser movies.
   

Crunk is dead! All drink Crunk!

You know how a trend gets so trendy that silly product connections start to crop up causing purists to consider even the original to be rendered a mockery. Well, just like the "Extreme" got run into the ground, "Crunk" is well on its way to that abysmal grave site. "Crunk" is now an energy drink. All I want to know is if it comes with a pimp cup.

PETA

For years my buddy Rich and I have joked about the creation of our own PETA T-shirts. Only instead of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals our PETA would be People for the Eating of Tasty Animals. Well, so far we have been all talk. Perhaps someday we might actually get a design at least. In the meantime enjoy this T-shirt I found at www.thoseshirts.com.

It's only a model

Support Discrimination Against the Foolish

Listening to the radio today, I heard about a hairdresser in Britain who was denied a job because when she interviewed she refused to remove her head covering. The claim is that the request and not hiring her because of it is an attack against Islam. Actually is the discrimination against foolishness. Who wants to have their hair done by someone who will not let their own hair be seen. It is sort of like having a morbidly obese fitness trainer. I just want to see if what you will do to me is consistently and well lived out in your life. The result of the lawsuit was an award of $4,000 pounds in part for "injury to her feelings." Really in Britain I can sue you if you hurt my feelings. Wow! Thus I support discrimination. Specifically against the foolish.

Obama's Confusing Message on Abortion

For Father's Day, Barack Obama spoke at at the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago, IL. In his address he stated that "responsibility doesn't just end at conception." This was addressed to fathers, who as he points out, all too often in the black community do not stick around to raise the children that they create. Now, this otherwise great challenge stuck out in my mind, not because of the social health that it can engender, but the contradictory message that it offers when compared with prior statements that he has made with regard to the conceptions of a child. Some time back Senator Obama commented that he did not want his daughters punished with a baby if they make a "mistake." So, let me understand this, men, if we make a baby our responsibility continues, but women if you want out of your own responsibility just abort that thing before it really is a child. This is the equal freedoms that Barack has talked about at rallies before audiences such as Planned Parenthood. I am not sure that this is all that coherent of a policy or consistent of thinking on his part. But you be the judge and listen to him tell you.

Finding his voice

Last night James found his voice and boy did he use it. I could get into much greater detail on this but first I am just too exhausted to do so and for those of you who are parents, you really don't need much of an explanation.

11 days and a few more names

I missed a couple of our son's nicknames in the list I posted yesterday. So here a a few more of the cute nicknames he has so far:

• Bubba
• Bub
• Bubs

Note the theme with this set. All his mother, this time. More to come as they continue to surface.

Ethnic Skin

Have you seen the commercials for the Al Roker NBC special on America's Ethnic Skin? Being as etymologically inquisitive as I am, I wanted to see how they intended to make use of the word "Ethnic" with respect the this so called "Ethnic Skin." Two quotes on articles related to the show shed some light on the direct they might be taking.

"By the year 2050, one-half of the American people will have ethnic skin."

"Melanin-rich skin has unique attributes and special concerns that are best addressed under the medical advice of a dermatologist who is well-experienced in treating ethnic skin,"

Once again white people, you have no ethnicity!

10 days old

Life with a 10 day old son is just about the most exciting adventure one could hope for. There are of course the diapers and midnight feedings which one would naturally expected (though how hard it is to get myself awake in the morning is something I had to experience to truly understand). What I did not anticipate was the volume of nicknames that seem to flow quite naturally from both mom and dad. Here is a sampling of the names the wife and I have been using to comfort and engage our boy.

• Jamesy
  
• Bug-A-Boo
• Bugs
• Snuggle Bug
• Snugs
• Sugar Baby
• Shugs
• Monkey
• Squirt
  

More to come I am sure.

Captain Jackson

For those of you who saw the American Idol Finale last night, this photo might look somewhat familiar. Sadly I was unable to locate a good photo of Randy in his Bob Keeshan look-a-like jacket.

Better to Live and Root Out West

Why is better to live in and root for the West? Just take a look at these scores and I think the answer will be quite clear.

1. Tue, May 6 – Bos 76, Cle 72

• 1. Sun, May 4 – LAL 109, Uta 98

2. Thu, May 8 – Bos 89, Cle 73

• 2. Wed, May 7 – LAL 120, Uta 110

3. Sat, May 10 – Cle 108, Bos 84

• 3. Fri, May 9 – Uta 104, LAL 99

4. Mon, May 12 – Cle 88, Bos 77

• 4. Sun, May 11 – Uta 123, LAL 115 (OT)

5. Wed, May 14 – Bos 96, Cle 89

• 5. Wed, May 14 – LAL 111, Uta 104

6. Fri, May 16 – Cle 74, Bos 69

• 6. Fri, May 16 – LAL 108, Uta 105

7. Sun, May 18 – Bos 97, Cle 92

Now I know that there are those who argue that the East just plays better defense, but no amount of quality defense can excuse a play off game with a winner having 74 points.

Tolerance Worldwide

I was catching up on Modern Reformation magazine a couple weeks ago when I ran across the following quote from a Hinud leader in India on the topic of anti-Christian violence in India.

“Swami Lakshmananda Sarawati, Hindu leader of Orissa, was unapologetic about leading the anti-conversion efforts. Speaking of human rights groups’ regular warnings about anti-Christian violence in India, he said, ‘Christians in India must understand, and understand fast, that they cannot be protected by the US State Department writing its annual vituperative anti-Hindu reports on religious freedom and human rights. Christians can be protected only by the good will of the majority of Hindu in whose midst they have to live. Christians have to earn the good will of the Hindus instead of demanding special protection and special rights.” (March/April 2008, p. 6).

So as much as there are concerns with how intolerant Christians can be for desiring to convert people to Christ, at least we no longer beat them or kill them when they slam the door in our face. What gets me is that it is considered special rights to not have your head bashed in for not offering the proper veneration of Krishna. In our postmodern America Christianity is the only religion without special rights. It is considered an outrageous intolerance to even mention that someone's religion might be wrong. However just like letting Yankee and Red Sox fans know that the world does not revolve around their silly rivalry, it is even more accurate and dare I say indisputable to claim truth when one sees it in Christ. Our culture asks that I tolerate by neighbors and their religious choices, but what I would like to remind them is that in order for me to tolerate something or someone, I must first disagree with them. I cannot tolerate what I think is correct or true. So I support tolerance, I just pray that our neighbors around the world would practice a bit of what is preached by them to us.

The Beauty of God's Creation

Even in destruction God is able to paint the sky with beauty as can be seen in this photo of a Chilean volcano eruption. Here is part of the story taken from National Geographic:

"After 9,000 years of silence, Chile's Chaitén volcano (pictured on May 3) is erupting with lava, ash—and lightning (full story).

Since the volcano awoke on May 2, it has continued erupting intermittently, blanketing the area in ash and forcing more than 4,000 people to flee.

The mingling of lightning and ash seen above may be a "dirty thunderstorm."

The little-understood storms may be sparked when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collide to produce static charges—just as ice particles collide to create charge in regular thunderstorms. (More: "Volcanic Lightning Sparked by 'Dirty Thunderstorms,' Study Finds" [February, 2, 2007].) "

Out with the Pink and In with the Blue

James was quite the surprising little fellow. Not only was he nearly born in the car on the way to the hospital, but the fact that James was James and not Kate (our name of choice had he actually been the girl we thought him to be) has also thrown us into a bit of a fluster of activity. The sea of pink dresses have been sorted through, in the hope that we will be able to return some of them. Meanwhile a new wave of blue clothing has been washing ashore since we first called our friends to let them know all about James' surprising plumbing. It started in the hospital, with bags after bags being brought by aunts, and grandmas, and friends, and co-workers. Since then the clothes have not stopped coming (well really they have, I mean they are not literally currently pouring in our windows, but there remain more offers for more gift and loaner clothes).

And then there have been the visitors. On Wednesday night, with James just a day old, he played host to a dozen friends and family members at one time. That was quite the full hospital room. Let's hear it for the family friendly orientation of Hoag that allowed us the joy of all that love, care, and support.

All three of us have been home since Thursday and have been working on getting some sort of routine down. Since tomorrow is his 1 week birthday, any sort of regular activity is good.

Work on the house is nearing completion, with really only the flooring to go, which is being held up by a later delivery of Pergo from Home Depot.

Gas News

With the ever increasing cost of gas, I, along with millions of others I am sure, are glued to news reports trying to understand just what it is that causes gas prices to fluctuate (read "go up"). You hear things about shortages, worker strikes in Central America, damaged pipelines, and calls to reduce consumption. As I have listened I have begun to wonder if there really is a straight story on why prices are the way they are. There was a time when I thought I understood and could rely upon the basic principle of supply and demand to regulate prices. However increasingly I hear news reports where production is up, consumption is down, and the prices continue to go up. Additionally I hear complaints that while consumers pay record prices at the pumps, "big oil" is reaping record profits. OK so if you accept that, then what do you do with news reports that there are refineries who have reduced their capacity due to their being unable to maintain the level of profit desired.

So to recap: We have oil prices that go up when consumption is up and when it is down and we have both record profits and reduced profit in on the part of the oil companies. Boy that cleared things up. Happy driving!

The Home Stretch

The past month plus has been far too busy, thus it has been a while since my last post. So to bring you up to speed, we are in the final week heading to Andrea's due date. Next Thursday is the day, though we are currently thinking that our little girl will be arriving a bit late rather than early or even on time (whatever that means when it comes to babies). Her room is finished and ready for her, but it remains the only room in the house in such a state. Yesterday work started up again on the kitchen and living room. Cabinets are going in and flooring is getting done. There are a couple of snags, which by now we just expect, and so that final work should not be done until the week after the baby's due date. We will be moving back home tomorrow. Leaving behind the Residence Inn, which lost its charm about a month ago. The house should be ready enough to put the frig back in tomorrow (or so we hope) which will make things sort of livable for the time being. This has been a challenging adventure. I think that when all is said and done things will end up better than when this all started, but the process to get there much like the physical upheaval of a woman's body during pregnancy and childbirth is not the simplest of things to get through. Doing both at the same time would not be something that I would suggest anyone volunteer for. We look forward to showing off our little girl and introducing her to all our friends in the coming weeks.