Entries from December 2005 ↓

If you’re not listening to this, you’re missing out.
Review coming soon.

Listen to the first few songs here.
[I Hate Everything (But You) is my current fave.]

Click the “Photos” tab above.
FAlbum rocks.

And on a lighter note . . .

20 Facts About Mr. T
(HT: Julie)

Every time a bell rings, Mr. T pities a fool.

Mr. T speaks only when necessary. His main form of communication is
folding his arms and slowly shaking his head. Regardless of the
situation, he is always understood.

Mr. T once punched Chuck Norris at the exact moment that Norris
roundhouse-kicked Mr. T in the chest. The result was the 80’s.

Twenty-three. That’s the number of fools Mr. T has pitied in the time
it has taken you to read this sentence.

Mr. T does not break wind. He destroys it.

Mr. T ended the civil rights movement by getting on a bus … all the
caucasian people moved to the back.

Mr. T is allergic to doorknobs. That’s why he can only kick through
doors.

Mr. T’s pity for fools is used by mathematicians as a demonstration of
the concept of infinity.

There are only four horsemen of the apocalypse because Mr. T is going
to walk.

Mr. T coined the phrase “I see dead people” after the wait staff at
Denny’s forgot his birthday.

Mr. T’s edition of the VH1 show “Where Are They Now?” was the shortest
in the show’s history. It was 10 seconds of a black screen with the
words “Right Behind You” written on it.

Contrary to popular belief, Mr. T is not black. It’s just that the sun
is afraid to shine on him.

Behind every great man there is a great woman. Behind that woman is Mr.
T.

Mr. T once pitied the sun. The ice age followed.

Mr. T puts the laughter in manslaughter.

The last time Mr. T went to McDonald’s, Ronald McDonald greeted him.
What occurred next proved to be the most violent beating of a clown
ever recorded in human history.

Mr. T was fired from the Psychic Friends Network for always predicting
“pain.”

If there is a fool in the woods and nobody is around to hear his jibba
jabba, Mr. T is still able to pity him.

It took five women 2 years to give birth to Mr. T.

Mr. T once appeared on the show “Fear Factor,” not as a contestant, but
as a stunt. There were no winners and six deaths. Mr. T has not been
invited back.

In related news, see how tough Johnny Cash is.

I like Keith Olbermann.

I’ve liked him ever since his days as Dan Patrick’s partner on ESPN’s SportsCenter, through his transition to his current role as a Bill-O’Reilly-esque social commentator on MSNBC. Imagine my disappointment, then, when I heard him essentially say that belief there is only one way to God, that person is the “worst person in the world”. Let me explain.

Last night before bed, I was watching a bit of late-night TV with my wife. After flipping around the channels, we settled on Countdown, Olbermann’s show on MSNBC. On it, he offers pithy, provocative, and often insightful opinions on the prominent news stories of the day, featuring in-studio guests, and making jabs at both the left and right of the political spectrum (with a good helping of smackdown reserved for his nemesis, O’Reilly). One of his regular features is a called “Today’s Worst Person in the World”, chronicling the antics of the latest villian du jour. It’s often an honor reserved for O’Reilly, but on last night’s episode it was bestowed upon a former colleague of Keith’s, John Gibson, who’s currently a commentator for Fox News Channel. Gibson’s offense? Believing that religions other than his own (presumably some form of Christianity) are “wrong”, and saying so publically. Scandalous!

Quoting Olbermann . . .

Selling his new book about this phony baloney war on Christmas, John revealed a very ugly side to himself. He is one of those people who think all religions but his are mistaken. You know, the way a lot of these religious nut bag terrorists think. I would think, Gibby said on a syndicated radio show “if somebody is going to be — have to answer for following the wrong religion, they are not going to have to answer to me. We know who they’re going to have to answer to.”

I’d tell you which religion, John thinks is the only one that’s right, but what’s the difference? It’s not the faith that’s the issue. It’s the intolerance. John Gibson, today’s worst person in the world.

Apparently, to KO, the mere belief that there’s only one way to God is akin to the thought of terrorists. I’m aware of the disdain with which such beliefs are often met in this country, but talk about hyperbole. What Keith is apparently saying here is the inverse of what Gibby said: “The only religion that’s ‘wrong’ is that which says other religions are wrong.” I guess it’s not “intolerance” to point to one particular religion as being wrong. Such self-defeating “logic” staggers the mind.

Quoting KO again, this time refuting talk show host Janet Parshall, who was interviewing Gibson . . .

And by the way, don’t you get this creepy feeling of embarrassment when somebody trying desperately to be holier-than-thou, promptly mis-quotes the bible?

“I serve a god who, with a finger of fire,” you just heard Janet Parshall say, “wrote, he will have no other gods before him.

Actually, Ms. Parshall, as any of us who’ve actually read the bible know, the first commandment is “thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

That’s not just a difference in pronouns. He’s demanding exclusivity from those who believe in him. Nothing in there saying other people can’t serve other gods in which they believe.

Could someone please open a Bible (which he’s supposedly read) for Mr. Olbermann and point him to Jesus’ claim of himself being the only way to God in John 14? Perhaps if he wants to stay in the Old Testament, show him the myriad of times YHWH is referred to as “the one true God” or something similar, or when he punished (or even killed) those who bowed before false deities.

If you’re going to call someone out for misrepresenting Scripture, Keith, please make sure you don’t do the very same thing in the next sentence out of your mouth.

To Olbermann’s credit, Gibson did say some things which could truly be seen as “intolerance” during his interview. He stated that as long as people of other religions behave themselves and are civil, then the US should “allow” them to stay here. Well, Gibs . . . contrary to what most of my fellow evangelicals say, this ain’t a “Christian nation”. Sorry. Even if 60% of Americans claim to be “Christians”, it doesn’t quite work out that way in the way people live (which is the true test). Even so, this country was founded on a principle of religious freedom. Part of what makes Americans Americans is the fact that we can practice (or not practice) whatever religion we believe to be true. When it comes down to it, yes, there is truth and there is falsehood . . . but that is not, nor should it be, a litmus test as to one’s suitability to reside in this nation.

Now, do I really think Olbermann to be the “worst person in the world”? Of course not. There are many worse, probably including myself (and even if there weren’t, none have provided me the hours and hours of entertainment that ol’ KO has). He’s an entertainer, just like O’Reilly, and as an entertainer, he will say things that appeal to his existing audience, and that will hook new viewers. Additionally, he’s a Unitarian-Universalist, so one would expect him to believe that any religion that says there’s only one way is eeee-ville. Still, I long for the days when it was his job to talk about baseball, football, and basketball . . . not matters of faith, diversity, and “tolerance”.

But who am I, anyway? Just a 27-year-old kid with a computer, a conviction, and a weblog to tell it. Just a kid who is grateful to God for being gracious and merciful enough to provide some way, even if it’s the only way, to know him.

Even to the worst people in the world.

(Tags: Keith Olbermann, Olbermann, Countdown, MSNBC, John Gibson, Janet Parshall, intolerance, religious intolerance)

I’ve gone plug-in crazy. This time it’s Steve Smith’s FeedBurner plug-in.

If I have any RSS/Atom feed subscribers (Bloglines, Sage, FeedLounge, etc) out there, please update your feeds to http://feeds.feedburner.com/NotAnotherBlog.

This will make the transition seamless if I someday decide to get my own domain or otherwise move this site (and even if not, it’ll help me track my feed readership more easily).

Thanks!

This is a test of Brian Meidell’s Threaded Comments plug-in. If this works, you’ll be able to reply to specific comments and see them in their proper, nested order.

Nifty!

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together,
and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the holde of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain;
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

- Isaiah 11:1-9

In his blog, Al Mohler recently highlighted a Slate article in which Chloe Breyer (an Episcopal priest, and daughter of US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer) questions the veracity and the importance of the virginal conception of Jesus Christ. Now, such conjecture has been around for centuries. There is truly nothing new under the sun. Still, I’d been thinking about the virginal conception and its necessity recently, and reading Ms. Breyer’s article worked me up a little.

Why is the virgin birth of Christ important? Why does it matter? Why is it one of the doctrines that orthodox (little “o”) Christians stake their belief upon? One reason, which would itself be sufficient were it the only one, is simple: God said so. Isaiah recorded in what is now chapter 7 of his prophecy that Ahaz, king of Judah, was asked (even commanded) by God to ask Him for a sign . . . for proof that what He was saying was the truth. In his false piety, Ahaz refused God’s request, so God decided to give a sign anyway, and Isaiah told him what it would be:

And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Another pointer to the necessity of the virginal conception is the curse the Lord declared on Jeconiah (aka: Coniah), the heir-apparent to the throne of David. In verse 30 of Jeremiah 22, God says of Jeconiah . . .

“Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah.”

This verse is what makes the seemingly-boring genealogies of Christ as recorded in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels so compelling. His earthly father, Joseph, was of the line and house of David, Solomon, and all of the subsequent kings and heirs-apparent of Judah, up to Jeconiah. That genealogy is recorded in Matthew. His mother, Mary, was also of David’s line, but descended from a different son of David, namely Nathan. Her genealogy is recorded in Luke. Joseph, being descended from Jeconiah, could not have been Jesus’ natural father, as Jesus would then been under the curse, and would have no right to be called “King of the Jews”. As Joseph’s step-son (but not his biological son), He inherited the legal right to the throne through Joseph, as a descendent of David, as that right was passed from the father. His biological right to the throne, however, came through Mary, who was also a descendent of David (but not of Jeconiah).

I’ve heard arguments here and there that Jesus needed to be born of a virgin because somehow the sin nature is passed from the father. Sounds nice, but I’m not convinced of that by Scripture. I think that if God had wanted the eternally pre-existent Son to be incarnated through the union of two humans, He could’ve made it happen. The bottom line is this: God said that he would give the virginal conception as a sign, and though Ahaz did not live to see it, God kept His word. God said that no descendent of Jeconiah would sit on David’s throne, but that a descendent of David would indeed reclaim that throne one day. He placed His own “seed” in the womb of Mary, a young girl descended from David, and again kept His word, as He always does

May your celebration of the virgin-born savior be sweet.

Still some kinks to work out, but what do you think, folks?

A lesser-known verse (at least the second half) of What Child Is This . . .

Why lies He in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

The contrast created by mentioning the graphic violence of Christ’s crucifixion in a Christmas carol is gravely stark, and hauntingly beautiful. Gloria patri et filio et spiritu sancto.