Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Politics of Faith

I always read Relevantmagazine.com's news headlines. Read this one today. Apparently some Pastor's are sticking it to the IRS and risking their non-profit status by endorsing candidates from the pulpit, which would be a violation being that:
Under IRS regulations, non-profits are "absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or opposition to) any candidate for public office."
I believe this is tricky stuff. I don't think a Preacher should tell people who to vote for from the pulpit either, but perhaps for different reasons. To me, I would find it hard to come down definitively on one candidate. This is the first part of the joke of this whole debate: as if one Presidential candidate (or party) has the solution to all of our nation's problems. Preachers do have a responsibility to point their congregations in the right direction; I just think there's too much ambiguity on all sides of the political spectrum to proclaim one party/candidate as "the right one" especially from a pulpit.

The second part of the joke in the article, to me, is the underlying assumption that faith should be relegated from politics. You cannot nor should not keep them separate. Am I saying that we should elect super-Christian President man someday, like some White Knight of WASP lore to rescue all the good and God-fearing folks from liberal degradation and R rated movies? Uh, no.

I'm just saying if your faith isn't informing how you see the world than it doesn't hold much water. Faith is very much a political matter.

Friday, September 26, 2008

In Defense of Cable

Ok, so all my buddies are doggin on me now because I caved and got cable?

Here's the thing, previously my buddies and I would just sit and veg in front of ESPN and never say anything. Thus, TV eroding at community.

But Sarah and I find ourselves at home quite a bit, and would like to enjoy several shows together. Thanks to the DVR we can. For instance, I have band practice on Thursday nights. So, we record the Office, and watch it when I get home. Or, Sarah can now join in on the "Project Runway" discussions in the teacher's lounge. Thus, TV building community.

PTI is no longer on ESPN.com by the way, they're promoting the audio podcast instead.

We do actually save money on Internet, but then we turn around and spend it on the cable.

We got a Toshiba HD TV for our wedding, and it would be silly not to use it to its fullest potential.

So there it is. I went for a year, it was good. But its good to be back. BB, you gotta help me out here.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

5 Lists of 5

Hey gang. Long time no post. Here's a little something.

5 reasons I haven't blogged lately:
-Led worship on Sunday morning for 3 weeks
-Preached last Sunday
-Fantasy Football time eats into blog time
-Launched a new worship service
-Am married now, so blog time at home is not as plentiful. I'm not as bored!

5 things I am excited about:
-Office premier tonight
-Getting cable installed today
-Just got some new frames after 3 years, with my wife's sweet sweet teacher insurance
-Iron Man on DVD/Body of Lies coming out in a couple weeks
-My buddies Diffey and Crystal are getting married this weekend

5 things I would normally be embarrassed to admit:
-I actually enjoy watching "Dancing With the Stars"
-I downloaded, and often listen to "When You Believe" by Whitney and Mariah
-Sarah and I refer to "Wheel of Fortune" as "our show"
-My favorite item from Shake's in Columbia was called "The Pink Poodle"
-I still have a deep desire to play with Legos

5 Political/Current Event Comments:
-If Sarah Palin wasn't hot, she wouldn't be as big of a deal. Just sayin.
-If we are in such a financial crisis, why have there been like, 8 new banks built all over the place?
-Missouri currently may have the worst sports teams combined in history: Cards/Royals- not in the playoffs. Rams/Chiefs- two worst teams in the NFL. Blues- sucked it up last year, and currently have a "whatever it takes" campaign going. On the bright side, we do have Mizzou football, but that doesn't count towards the professional ranks.
-I find campaign ads insulting to the public's intelligence. Whether its McCain/Obama or Missouri Governor ads, they both say the other will raise taxes and that they've lowered taxes.
-The Zooperstars are awesome. I think mascots are hilarious.

5 Bold Predictions:
-The Presidential debate this Friday will be the highest rated ever.
-The Office Season 6 will be its last.
-Within 15 years, the Methodist Church will split over the issue of homosexuality.
-The San Diego Chargers will rally from a 1-2 record to win the Super Bowl, and LaDanian Tomlinson will retire.
-People will finally realize the futility of offshore drilling and by 2012 we will have alternative fuel stations (I almost wanted to say Gas stations...)

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

ROOTS | Launches Wed September 3 | 7-8pm

I AM KING OF THE NERDS

My email was answered on the ESPN fantasy focus podcast today!

Thank God I'm already married.

Check it out here

They answer my email at the 38:35

Paradualis

Its been a while since I've written much of any significance. Well, I guess you could say that about anything on here! But I think I've come up with a word that describes something I've been fascinated with for a long time. Be warned, this post does show how dorky I am and displays thinking too much about fairly dumb stuff.

Have you ever listened to Elton John's "Your Song"?

It's a song...about writing a song for someone.

Mind blowing!

A couple Sundays ago my Pastor gave a sermon about lots of the shallow self-help clothed in Christianity stuff that is out there. So in many ways, it was a sermon about types of sermons.

Ah-ha! There it is again.

My wife Sarah is a teacher. In college, she was in classes learning how to teach other kids. A class about running a class.

So here it is world. A combination of the word paradox and the latin word dualis, which means "containing two".

Paradualis: When the object or action being performed is of the very substance that said object or action is propagating. (sounds official right?)

Can you think of any others?