Centurion Question of the Week

What should pastors do to make Christians think (and act on those thoughts!)?

The Democrat Majority - ouch!

The Mitchell Report Names (of ballplayers with steroid problems)

Here. Including a few that look to heaven after a homerun and give all credit to Him. Ouch.

Oh yeah, and Alan Keyes is in the running for president

Ugh.

Huckabee apologizes to Romney

One reason among many to like Fred Thompson

What you believe, Mr. Future President (and supporters), matters.

Is anybody else out there tired of the inferred or outright charge of bigotry if we care that Mitt Romney is a Mormon? Afterall, the critics of “the concerned” huff, it matters not what he believes theologically, for we are not electing a “Theologian-in-Chief.”

True, but theology counts.

“Ideas are motor,” started my first theological text in seminary. “They eventuate in acts. Acts, repeated, become habits out of which character evolves. Thus does Holy Writ affirm that out of the heart are the issues of life, and ‘as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.’”

It is hardly enough that a candidate thus believes in God, and all current candidates apparently do. What do they think about God. Indeed, the complete worldview, according to James Sire, consists in five basis answers to five basic questions.

1 ) What is prime reality – the really real?
2) Who is man?
3) What happens to man at death?
4) What is the basis of morality?
5) What is the meaning of human history?

Islam answers these things differently than does Christianity. Same for Buddhism, Hinduism and Chinese Universists.

Of the major religions of America, Protestants have slightly different answers than Catholics. Mormons, are substantially distinct from the orthodox assumptions of Christianity. Atheists different than Universalists. And on it goes.

We are now told we are not supposed to care about the differences? That these things are not not legitimate concerns for the voting public?

That some people’s favorite candidate is Mormon now makes them terribly defensive, it seems. What if it were Jehovah Witnesses at issue? Or Krishna? Or, Wiccan? Agnostic?

One suspects, at some point, it matters for most of us.

Few desire a strict religious test for political office. But when did it become wrong to investigate what a man thinks about the most important issues of life?

On the other hand, simple statements of theology isn’t what is most important either. Many an important theologian has acknowledged that Satan understands the tenets of orthodox Christianity, and is the devil still.

“You do what you believe and you believe what you do,” said an old professor. The fruits of a man’s life have to be investigated, which should give pause when considering the last popular president’s Southern Baptist theological bent that also marched in lock-step with his full-scale support of aborting a child four-fifths out of the womb, having sex with an intern in the Oval Office and lying under oath among other sordid and, one presumes, anti-Baptist behaviors.

Still, theology is important. And to deny that is to deny the importance of religiosity as a whole. What we believe matters, and for the most important office in the political world, it matters all the more.

I am beginning to think that the real dogmatists are those who vehemently think political ideology trumps doctrine but want to throw around the “B” (bigot!) word to assuage their own lack of theological rumination.

The path to the nomination for the leading candidates

From Rasmussen

...it is easier to develop a plausible explanation as to why each of the leading candidates won’t win the nomination than to show how they will win the prize. Still, one of them will become the party nominee. This week, Rasmussen Reports looks at a possible path to victory for each.

Confused Christmas - good stuff

New Huckabee ads

Will this hurt Huckabee?

Sounds good. Just not on the Drudge Report in the middle of a presidential campaign...

Will this kind of reportage and history check begin to erode support?

And how long will it be until "they" run this clip on Mitt Romney?

And this is what happens when you are winning the race

You get attention...on your record.

Video for the Christmas humbugs - Merry Tossmas!

Here.

Romney's speech

It will be persuasive to many...to you?

Yes...here is the answer

Brain scans for candidates. Hmmm.

Matt's OneNewsNow column

Read it here. Come back and give your opinion.

By Steve Turner, used by Ravi Zacharias:

*****

Creed

We believe in Marxfreudanddarwin
We believe everything is OK
as long as you don't hurt anyone,
to the best of your definition of hurt,
and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage.
We believe in the therapy of sin.
We believe that adultery is fun.
We believe that sodomy is OK.
We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything is getting better
despite evidence to the contrary.
The evidence must be investigated
And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there's something in
horoscopes, UFO's and bent spoons;
Jesus was a good man
just like Buddha, Mohammed, and ourselves.
He was a good moral teacher
although we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same--
at least the one that we read was.
They all believe in love and goodness.
They only differ on matters of
creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing
Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing.
If death is not the end, if the dead have lied,
then it's compulsory heaven for all
excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan.

We believe in Masters and Johnson.
What's selected is average.
What's average is normal.
What's normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament.
We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed.
Americans should beat their guns into tractors
and the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good.
It's only his behavior that lets him down.
This is the fault of society.
Society is the fault of conditions.
Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him.
Reality will adapt accordingly.
The universe will readjust.
History will alter.
We believe that there is no absolute truth
excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds,
and the flowering of individual thought.

"Chance" a post-script

If chance be the Father of all flesh,
disaster is his rainbow in the sky,
and when you hear

State of Emergency!
Sniper Kills Ten!
Troops on Rampage!
Whites go Looting!
Bomb Blasts School!

It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

*****

HT: Veritas Lux Mea

Repeal Day?

Tomorrow is Repeal Day! And in celebration, this quote from William Bennett:

"One of the clear lessons of Prohibition is that when we had laws against alcohol, there was less consumption of alcohol, less alcohol-related disease, fewer drunken brawls, and a lot less public drunkenness. And contrary to myth, there is no evidence that Prohibition caused big increases in crime. (The De-Valuing of America)

This. Not. Parody.

At least, I don't think it is. Divorce squanders earth's resources!

Things #1

Six things I've learned about Monday night prison preaching ministry

1. There is no audience more receptive to the gospel message in all the audiences I preach to.

2. I never want to go. I am always glad I went.

3. The Spirit is always at work before we arrive. Our job is to join in His ministering.

4. Regardless of why they are in, it is tragic that many of these guys - pre-trial - have yet to see a lawyer after several months.

5. Detention center deputies are poorly paid, under-appreciated and nearly always helpful.

6. I agree with Joe: "You don't have to wonder if you are in the will of God when you are in the middle of a prison sharing Jesus." Yes.

Motto of liberals - "None of your d--- business?"

Here.

Huckabee

Matt,

I wanted to send you some stuff on Huckabee.

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?
command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomy
Name=g%20overnment&articleId=
9010162&taxonomyId=13&intsrc=k%20c_top

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GT5B4dybIE

What it is about is his tax increases, support for college education for illegal aliens, releasing a convicted rapist and destroying the hard drives of 87 state owned computers his last month in office.

You asked on your show tonight if people would believe Mike because he signed the Americans For Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge based on his past record tax record. No, I don't believe him. I can only look at what he's done in the past.

You also mentioned Obama tonight. Here is the "About us" page from the church that he is a member of: http://www.tucc.org/about.htm I have taken the liberty of replacing the word "black" with the word "white" and the word "African" with the word "European" in this transliteration:

We are a congregation which is Unashamedly White and Unapologetically Christian... Our roots in the White religious experience and tradition are deep, lasting and permanent. We are a European people, and remain "true to our native land," the mother continent, the cradle of civilization... It is God who gives us the strength and courage to continuously address injustice as a people, and as a congregation. We constantly affirm our trust in God through cultural expression of a White worship service and ministries which address the White Community.

Click here to read about Dr. Wrights talking points for Trinity United Church of Christ its Web site and the White Value System.

I wonder how far this would go if it were, say... Mike's church...

Phil