Samson's Jawbone

A friend of mine, who is a Christian musician who was prominent in the 1970's, wrote this on his Facebook page after President Trump issued his executive order on immigration; Compassion is a Christian value and I believe an American one as well.  Closing the borders of our country based on religion defies imagination.  I'm not naive.  I understand that terrorists are looking to enter our country, and I am for all the background checks and law enforcement we need to do to make sure they aren't allowed in.  But my faith, and I'd like to think basic human decency, demands that I not turn a blind eye to the suffering masses who are fleeing war ravaged regions of the world.  How exactly to meet their needs will be debated, but surely Christian folks can agree that Christ taught us to serve the least of these. Compassion shouldn't be a partisan issue.  The book of Matthew speaks to me today… "For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and...

Any time there is a mass shooting such as those that took place recently in Paris and San Bernardino the debate begins anew about the best way to insure public safety: to make weapons difficult to acquire for everyone, or to encourage people to arm themselves. One argument is that if guns were not so available the common criminal or mentally ill person would find them difficult to acquire and would either reconsider their actions or their crimes would be less violent. Another argument is that mass shootings take place quickly before even the best trained and best equipped first res-ponders can be on the scene, so that responsible legal gun owners are best equipped to defend against shooters. As usual the church is divided on the issue of gun ownership and concealed carry permits; Dr. John Piper seems to be of the opinion that Christians who know they are going to heaven should never take the life of someone whom they suspect may not be going to heaven (although he readily admits tha...

My first years of schooling were spent at Forest Hills Elementary School in Tampa. I have fond memories of the school except for one thing -- the air raid drills. We had regular practices preparing for nuclear war with Russia and an invasion of the Florida peninsula from Cuba. From time to time we were shown films prepared by the United States Office of Civil Defense, showing what our lives would be like in the bomb shelters, or how to recognize Russian or Cuban infantry if they were in our area. While walking between buildings the air raid would sound, we would hurl our bodies spread eagle with our hands over our head onto the ground, or if we were indoors we would get under our desks.  50 years later the drills seem ludicrous. These precautions would have done no good in a nuclear war. Since President Kennedy's showdown with Russia gave the country a feeling of safety, to a small elementary school boy the precautions seemed adventurous. Most of us preferred the Civil Defense...

Since President Trump rescinded the Obama executive order giving federal benefits to children of illegal aliens once again many in the church have promoted a false view of what the Bible says about immigration. The Catholic Church has recently stated that Matthew 25 requires countries to allow any person in need into their country.  It says nothing of the sort.  We have addressed "the least of these my brethren," in another post. This passage neither advocates a social gospel nor requires an "unrestricted opening to immigration. I understand that the Catholic Church has a different understanding of biblical authority and hermeneutics then the Protestant one does, and frankly, while I disagree with their understanding of the text find the view consistent with some Catholic teaching. I am far more trouble when I some evangelicals talk about DACA. The ignorance of the Christian Church on this matter is startling. Recently Southern Baptist leader argued for a restrictive...

Many in the media were perplexed recently by President Obama's absence from the march in Paris in opposition to the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine. They have raised questions about the administration's reluctance to label jihadists as terrorist or to identify them as "Islamic extremists." Why is anyone surprised? This administration will never recognize the Islamic connection to terrorism, because the existence of religious terrorism belies multiculturalism. Multiculturalism represents an attitude about proper responses to religious, ethnic, political, linguistic and social diversity among populations. Multiculturalism   embraces differences and makes personal, social and legal accommodations for differences even when those differences are destructive to existing culture. It sees culture as pluralistic and forgoes any efforts at expecting one group to assimilate into a larger culture. It is contrary to the traditional American view of epluribus unum, or the idea of ...

It is time to set the record straight. Some of those who argue in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens crossing the southern border will sometimes imply, (or downright claim) that immigrants from the south have a right to be here, because "the United States stole the southwest from Mexico in a greedy attempt to fulfill our ' manifest destiny .' " Nothing could be further from the truth.  Frankly I'm shocked at the ignorance Americans have of their history in general, but especially of the post-colonial period leading up to the Civil War. It is time to set the record straight: the United States stole nothing from Mexico. In 1803 President Jefferson purchased the 828,000,000 square mile Louisiana Territory which included all of modern Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and major portions of North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and a corner of Northeastern New Mexico. These territories immediately became territories of the United States and ...