MMA highlight: Van Damme style

Football is still more violent. ;)

Another great biblical theological Christ-mas sermon from Ryan

Enjoy.

http://www.desertspringschurch.org/messages/Date/DEC_19_2010.php

Schnee family update: A great blog post by my wife.

I married so far up its not even funny.

Here's an update on the Schnee's via Caite's quick wit and writing skill:

http://gregelen.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-2010.html

LOL mijos: This crazy BBC animal Vid wins the day. You will laugh.

Thanks to my lovely cousin Sarah for posting. I steal, but its in the family.

Random Vids: Simpsons punks grad students and BBC punks old people and smart phones

Good times. I've already seen the Simpsons bit. Classic and still funny. There are some pretty funny punk-grad-student animations on xtranormal.

The BBC spot is wonderful. Thanks to 22 words (you must subscribe to this one) for posting.









HT: Leiter and 22 words

Only the strong survive...driving in China: Or, why God said 'let there be lights.'

Yea, cheesy title, but I'm going for attention grabbing here.

This video is absurd. Wow.

Trueman on Incest, Logical Consistency, Norms in Ethics, and Nietzsche

I appreciated Carl's thoughts here:

http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2010/12/a-challenge-to-mainliners.php

Dana White is actually Kris Kringle

Amidst all the horror that one encounters on the daily news, its nice to see sacrificial love at work.

Props to Dana White. Church, lets take a lesson.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Dana-White-pays-for-infant-s-life-saving-surgery?urn=mma-298359

An update on my buddies at Forgotten and their ministry in Thailand

What I love most about "the Forgotten Foundation" is that it started with a bunch of mid-20s something business men with a heart for hurting people around the world. These guys go to show that a few people with a huge passion and a lot of love can make a significant impact.

http://forgottenupdates.blogspot.com/2010/12/think-and-pray-about.html

Fathers and children in the Church (community of faith)

Dads, this is a call we need to hear and heed. Read on.

Thanks to JT for this original post:


http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2010/12/16/a-fathers-role-in-his-children-going-to-church-when-they-are-adults

You can find the whole essay here:

http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-05-024-v

Incest is for Hicks? Not @ Columbia U: Or, is it even wrong anyway?

Ivy League poly-sci proff, whose wife is tenured at the same institution, sleeps with daughter. Wow.

Here we have more interesting and heated issues to THINK through. Again, bumper-stickers be damned! These issues are complex and their positive/negative ethical status stands atop the iceberg of an entire worldview. Who is man? What is his sexuality? Is he, or not, accountable to any sexual norms beyond the ever changing mores of cultures, subcultures, and the privacy of his bedroom?

Original story: http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2010/12/10/professor-david-epstein-charged-incest-his-daughter

Slate's version: http://www.slate.com/id/2277787/

Mohler's take: http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/12/15/so-why-is-incest-wrong/


Where do I stand? On the Nietzschean extreme per usual (Oh how I thank Zarathustra for his forceful and delightful reductio ad absurdams). If there is no personal absolute, then moral norms are a fictional power-structure implemented by weak Apollonians in their sickening attempt to overcome the tragedian spirit of Dionysus. Or, with Arthur Leff, apart from an authoritative and revealed moral norm that is not arbitrary, every question of right is rebutted with "the grand 'says who?'"

Someone's coming; A sermon on Old Testament anticipation in preparation for Christ-Mas

This Sunday, our teaching Pastor Ryan Kelly preached a wonderful sermon on the promises, people, and places that point forward to the coming Messiah. He covers a vast swath of Old Testament history in an attempt to show that Jesus of Nazareth is indeed God's answer to his people's waiting.

Check it out here: http://www.desertspringschurch.org/messages/Date/DEC_12_2010.php 

On a related note, we have Christ-mas eve services at 4 & 6 if you want to roll. My wife is singing. Here is a song she did from a few years back. I married WAY up!!!

No bumper-sticker slogans: A new academic work on the ethics of Abortion

Yes, this is a ridiculously heated issue. It is also, at base, a philosophical issue wherein competing meta-ethical systems wage war. As such, bumper sticker answers should be avoided.

This book is pro-life, but its not propaganda. Agree or not, a thorough reading will prove fruitful.

Check it out here:

http://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Abortion-Question-Routledge-Bioethics/dp/0415884691/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=IO8D5WD6UGYP5&colid=2RPJIFKCJBA38

A year in google searches + RP on Wikileaks & Jefferson

A year in our searches:



RP:

Christ-mas Songs: Yoyomama & AKrauss

This song is what I like to call 'Christ-mas songs done well.' So many are done poorly.

Folk Angle has some great stuff, as do Sojourn, The Civil Wars, and the creativity award goes to...Sting! For some killer soul and vibrato you must adorn your digital tree with Aaron Neville.

Enjoy! and Drew can tip his own hat on this one since he has a fine old-man collection.

What is QE video: Quantitative Easing (A perfect dinner table discussion at the Anderson Christmas)

This biased video will give you a start.

2 warnings: 1, there is minimal vulgar language in this video. 2, This video is biased, as all videos are, and not a substitute for substantive bipartisan investigation of the issues. Anyone seriously desirous of understanding the paradigms behind modern economic policy should watch the Keynes/Hayek rap. ;) Or, just go to the unbiased mises.org.

For all my 'we're not printing money' friends: John Stewart on point

Ps, my beard is legit.

The embed code is federally reserving the right to establish workable code. Click the link and give JS 3 minutes of your day. You won't be sorry.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-december-7-2010/the-big-bank-theory


HT Zachary, son of Lynn, Nielson.

A creation myth for Atheist children

Agree or not this little piece plays its part well. Every view of the world, man, and meaning has its starting points, rational or otherwise, and necessary consequences. As we read this, approaching Christ-mas, a good question is: what are the logical/emotional conclusions of what you believe for the good, true, and beautiful? We may have different answers, but, being alive, it is always a question worth asking.

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2010/12/when-nothing-created-everything

Science, Ethics, and Answers: Blackburn on Harris

O. J. Simpson...not a jew. Blackburn...not a theist.

However, he, like me, sees grave difficulties with the pretension that science has all the answers. Science is descriptive, and highly important, but not normative. It can give us a thousand 'is's but never a single 'ought.'

Flying Car: Nate Saint's son brings us a brilliant idea

I want one.

HT: Paul Edwards

Tears: Dax reminds us about hope & community in the midst of suffering

First off, hat tipping to Los via Zach.

Second, this post completes today's triune video montage. We started with smiles over serious issues, then on to Waldonian existential ironies and inquiries, and now to strike the most serious and most hopeful note; sorrow and love flow mingled down.

This video is about a young boy named Dax, his battle with cancer, and a community of faith and love that gathered around him in support. Warning, if your heart is currently beating you will most likely cry. I did. Perhaps its because I'm a survivor who has watched fellow child-soldiers, just like Dax, fall before me (Vonda). Perhaps its because my sweet daughter is only 3 months old and this is a stark reminder of how little control over her well being I really have. Perhaps it is because, like you, regardless of your faith, I am moved, broken, and angry about this kind of evil in the world. The redemptive edge of this video is almost lost on me. And it doesn't matter if you like Matthew West's voice or not, the fallenness of the story is choking.

Yet we cannot loose sight, especially around Holy-days and Christ-mas, of how suffering led an entire community to fight for a child, to turn deep evil for lasting good, and to lay down their lives for their little brother. Time is short. Today, if we hear the voice of love, let us not harden our hearts.

The existential (where's) Waldo: another great vid

Hat Tip to Kelly James Clark.

Story of Jonah: This little girl is legit

Smile.

Faith a Precondition of Science?: An Astro-Physicist Speaks, Others Respond

Bahnsen said it first. ;) Not really. 

Really interesting stuff here from a variety of non-theistic perspectives. Obviously I have disagreements, but that's what makes it so stimulating. My dad has a background in Physics (Ph.D) and we had a great talk the other day over carne adovada about many of these same issues.

P.S. thanks to Triablogue for posting this.

See Paul Davies' original piece here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/24/opinion/24davies.html?_r=3&pagewanted=print

Critical responses by other geniuses here: http://www.edge.org/discourse/science_faith.html

And a few book recommendations for Christmas: