Coffee Klatch

This morning I read an article by Father Jonathan Morris that was posted on FoxNews.com. I thought it was insightful and wise. His basic premise was that a book (and movie) that takes aim at many of the basics of Christianity in the guise of “academia” (fiction presented as fact) is actually a good thing for Christianity.

Why?

Because the main reason people can believe so much of the anti-Biblical ideas that Dan Brown has assembled is because so many Christians don’t know their own faith, and are thus easily taken in by logical-sounding “research.”

Ephesians chapter 4 encourages Christians to be mature so that they “will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” The condemnation of those preaching a false “gospel” is loudly proclaimed in Galations 1:6-9.

Here is a bit of what Father Jonathan wrote, but I strongly encourage you to read his whole article (it’s not THAT long). He gets into more detail and into a couple other related topics. It’s well worth the read!

Dan Brown is capable of passing fiction for fact because Christians don’t know their faith — what and why they believe. That’s not Mr. Brown’s fault.

Admittedly, the bait they take is a good one. Brown writes his truth claim after the title page: “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals are accurate.” Art and archaeology historians have taken it upon themselves to call him to task for the inaccurate and unprofessional nature of such a claim. Following good advice from his agent and publisher, he has refused to recant, preferring marketing savvy to academic integrity.

In this ambiance of pseudo-historic accuracy, Brown uses his fictional characters to call into question fundamental elements of the Christian faith: 1) the divinity of Christ 2) the validity of the four Gospels 3) the beliefs of the early Christian community.

He does this by claiming the Gospels are part of a conspiracy theory by the apostles to create a male-dominated, patriarchal Church that would stamp out the “sacred feminine.” Brown says Jesus’ true intentions were to leave the Church under the charge of Mary Magdalene, with whom he maintained a romantic relationship. In Brown’s pseudo-religious historical novel, the emperor Constantine seconds the Apostles’ selfish quest for power by outlawing competing gospels to avoid revealing the true story of who Jesus was and what he taught. None of this is true. Let me show you why.

If the Apostles’ intention in writing the Gospels was to produce propaganda pieces to wrest power away from women and take it for themselves, you would expect them to show themselves in the best possible light, reinforce the reader’s bias regarding male superiority, and belittle Mary Magdalene, or keep her out of the story altogether. In fact, the Gospels do just the opposite. They depict the Apostles as men slow to understand, unwilling to suffer, and incapable of loyalty. They do all this while presenting women as their noble antithesis.

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, stand out for their moral courage as they accompany Christ to his crucifixion (the apostles had scattered). The Gospel of John highlights Jesus’ “irreverence” to social structures that looked down on public contact with women. The Gospels refer to women as disciples who share in Jesus’ mission. And just in case there were doubts, the writers point out that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene before any of the apostles.

If we are to believe Dan Brown’s fundamental claim that the authors of the Gospels wrote to conspire against Mary Magdalene and women in general, we also must believe they did a very poor job.

Jesus, who claimed to be the divine Son of God, was pro-woman like nobody else in his day, or ours. And that is the story the Gospels tell. Brown’s attempt at reinvigorating radical feminist sentiment by constructing a false male-female conflict is retro and old. Jesus knew a woman’s worth doesn’t come from being better than men, but from who she is on her own two feet — a daughter of God. Her spiritual sensitivity, intuition, nurturing character, and motherhood are beautifully unique.

If the millions of readers and viewers of “The Da Vinci Code” knew the Christian faith, Dan Brown would be unable to muddle fact and fiction in the irresponsible way he has.

CHRISTIANS, study your Bible and know why you believe what you believe! Then you can stand firm and not be easily swayed by every new wind or “finding” that comes along.

Michael Reagan brings up an interesting point. While I’ve thought about comparing gas prices over time, I hadn’t thought of looking at how much the taxes have been.

“According to the Tax Foundation, over the past 25 years—in inflation-adjusted dollars—oil and gas companies have paid in royalties and state and federal taxes $2.2 trillion dollars. At the same time they have made a little over $630 billion dollars in profits. So their taxes and royalties are three times greater than their profits. The real question… is who is gouging whom?” —Michael Reagan

And we thought that the oil companies were getting outrageous profits! Maybe if they weren’t taxed so heavily the prices wouldn’t be so high. But then, if that huge tax didn’t exist, how would we pay for our bloated government??

Oh, wait, we’re NOT! We’ve got a government that’s growing fat and huge and ever-more bureaucratic on borrowed money! If I ran my personal finances that way, I’d be thrown in jail!

Not to keep going on about immigration, but I guess the whole country is going on about it, so it’s no big deal if I do. I recently got an article that I’ll share with you presently.

Bob Lonsberry ( Lonsberry.com) is the father of four children who are being raised in the house where the author of the Pledge of Allegiance was born. A newsman for 20 years, he has won more than 80 journalism and broadcasting awards, including top Associated Press commentary awards in newspaper, radio and television. He hosts the highest-rated radio talk show in Rochester, New York, on 50,000-watt 1180 WHAM, one of the highest-rated news/talk stations in America. He is also host of a popular morning radio show in Salt Lake City, Utah on KNRS am 570, the second-highest rated AM radio station in Utah. He is a commentator at NRAnews.com, a program of news and commentary on the Internet, and a columnist for Military.com. A veteran, Lonsberry is a former Army “Journalist of the Year”.

RECONQUISTA SHOWS ITS MIGHT

A half a million illegals and their supporters in one demonstration on the streets of Los Angeles.

A half a million.

From just Los Angeles.

That’s roughly as big as any public protest or civil rights march in the history of the United States. And this was just people from Los Angeles.

That’s how bad it’s gotten. How frayed America has become and how the equilibrium of social and cultural identity has tipped irrevocably in some areas. Some areas aren’t really in the United States anymore, and southern California is one of them.

The protest proved that.

Ten thousand in Milwaukee. Twenty thousand in Phoenix. Fifty thousand in Denver. Other tens of thousands all across the country.

Doing two things, primarily: Waving Mexican flags and claiming to have built America and to be the reason for its success.

It was an angry, entitlement reaction all across the country. They called this their land and said they wanted their rights and their freedom and their money and their respect.

A bunch of illegals.

An invading army of people who have flooded our borders and insinuated themselves into our society and economy. An army of people who drain America’s prosperity through their disproportionate use of government services and their wholesale export of American currency.

They are the bird flu of demographic change.

They are the end of American sovereignty as we know it. Since the Manchus breached the Great Wall and the Vandals sacked Rome there has not been such an example of a mighty people being pillaged by a weaker neighbor.

The Reconquista is almost complete.

And with the house ablaze, the Senate will debate the installation of smoke detectors

After years of ignoring the gathering storm, the Washington politicians have decided to exploit our national cancer in an effort to seduce our votes and contributions. It is not likely they will do anything substantive or useful, but they will fan the flames of division and chaos in order to exploit their bases.

While ignoring the fact that both parties have been treasonously impotent on this issue.

The Republicans let illegal immigration roll forward unrestrained because it helped their friends who have tainted capitalism with their immoral greed. The Democrats let illegal immigration roll forward unrestrained because they believed they could claim ownership to the Latino vote as they have the black vote.

And the American mainstream was ignored by both parties. Duped by both parties. The interests of America were dismissed in order to serve the interests of the parties.

And now a half a million clog the streets of Los Angeles.

People who largely had no right to be here. People who any other nation on earth would unflinchingly deport.

People whose words betray a strong antipathy for the United States People who said over and over that the United States would be nothing without them. People who have not gratitude for this nation, but resentment.

Our guests have become our conquerors.

And the government’s response won’t be about the nation, it will be about the midterm elections.

Those half a million people sent a message.

That we will still celebrate the Fourth of July, but that we’ll do it on the Cinco de Mayo.

The lion’s share of Americans want secure borders, enforced immigration laws and America for Americans.

And the Senate is going to tell the lion’s share of Americans to screw off. Just like the president has done.

In our Republic - in our representative democracy - the government is about to ignore those who can vote in favor of those who cannot. The value of citizenship has evaporated as we ignore those who have it and acquiesce to those who don’t.

That’s just the way it is.

And the politicians lack the spine or the integrity to change it.

The Mexican national anthem declares that “heaven gave you a soldier in each son.” And so it is that an army of Mexican sons and daughters has come to occupy America.

And they don’t intend to leave.

And we lack the stones to make them.

And thereon turns the fate of our nation.

When it comes to the topics of immigration and illegal immigrants working in the U.S., I usually end up asking myself this same question: “What would I expect if I were the one trying to get a job in another country?”

If I were visiting another country (take your pick, France, Spain, Uganda, Venezuela), I would fully expect to be required to register if I wanted to stay there more than 60 days or especially if I wanted to stay there and get a job. And I would also expect to be forced to leave if I didn’t comply with their laws. I believe that’s how most other countries work.

Could I just waltz into Canada, find someone to let me live with them, and expect the rights to a job and government-funded benefits?

What makes the United States so different that they must have almost totally open borders and allow anyone to just enter the country however they want and get a job and expect schooling and medical care, etc., for themselves and their descendants? I understand the whole “melting-pot” history that we have, but that doesn’t mean dropping all laws or requirements regarding immigration. Welcome people in, by all means, but they should have to comply with the same laws that everyone else does. We have no business giving non-citizens, especially ones who have ignored our laws, EXTRA privileges and exemptions from those laws.

Anyway, that what I think. If I would be expected to register to live and work in another country, I would fully expect the same thing to be true of people moving to the U.S. to live and work.

I tend to agree with her.

“The bottom line is that while these demonstrations, I am told, are supposed to make me feel better about illegal immigrants, I feel angry when I see thousands of people who knowingly break American law, yet somehow feel entitled to do so and outraged that they have not been sufficiently rewarded for it.” —Debra Saunders

Wouldn’t you know it? Scientists say astrology is a bunch of hogwash! Not just from their scientific backgrounds clashing with “reading” the stars that way, but from an actual study that was done.

Discovery Channel News reported on a study that is being published in next month’s issue of the journal Personality and Individual Differences. Click the link to read the whole story they reported. Here’s a clip:

One of the largest studies of the possible link between human traits and astrology found little, if any, connection between the traditional sun signs of the zodiac and characteristics of individuals.

The study adds to the growing body of evidence that there is no scientific basis for star signs, such as Aries, Taurus and so on. These signs are based on the place of the sun in relation to the date of birth of the subject.

The researchers, however, leave open the question as to whether other, more detailed and personal forms of astrology hold any validity.

Current music: Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening, by Ray Lynch

We almost all do it, but none of us really knows why, except that it feels like it would be bad manners not to do it. Saying “God Bless You” when someone sneezes. There are actually quite a few reasons that people say that.

The most common reason I’ve heard is that, back in the Middle Ages, people thought that your soul could leave your body when you sneeze, so saying “God bless you” would help keep your soul, or at least protect it from the Evil One during that vulnerable moment.

Another reason, again, from “long ago,” is that people thought your heart stopped during a sneeze, so saying “God bless you” was an encouragement or a spiritual “get well card” to invoke a supernatural defibrillator, as it were.

And apparently the most popular theory is that, AGAIN, during the Middle Ages, a sneeze was thought of as a possible indicator of Bubonic Plague and imminent death, so “God bless you” was a little more of a last rite mentality than a recovery attempt.

Snopes.com has the full story, at least as much as is known or guessed, going back to documented use in the first century A.D.

Since every use of the phrase in reaction to a sneeze is based on superstition, I tend to prefer, if you have to say anything at all, following the example of many other countries by offering a basic wish of good health. “Gesundheit,” “Salud,” etc., mean that. In Australia, they say “May all your dreams come true!”

When I was in college, a friend of mine went to Peru for a year, and he said that down there, they say “Salud” on the first sneeze, and “Dinero” (money) if there’s a second sneeze following the first, and then “amor” (love) on the third sneeze. So always try to sneeze in threes! Anything more is just allergies.
Here are a couple more websites for information on sneezes:
Sneezes Around the World
Sneeze - Wikipedia

Current music: Soundtrack from Glory

Stand-up comics always have a lot to say about politics and politicians. Oftentimes it’s whatever they can do to get a laugh, no matter how degrading or insulting and regardless of political party. But sometimes the truth comes out. Here’s a recent quote from Jon Stewart that I heartily agree with:

“I know the country has been mired in deficit spending and it’s been terrible burden on the country in terms of interest payments. Good news today out of Washington. They haven’t paid down the debt or come up with any program to do so. What they did is raise the limit of debt we can go to to $9 trillion. It sends a great message to the kids: Hey, are you getting an F? Don’t study harder, make the grading curve go out to K. Then your F looks like a C.”

What has been happening in Afghanistan provides us a clear picture of why Muslims and Christians can never really be reconciled. We can see that without even getting into the theology.

Islamic law requires that if someone converts to Christianity he is to be put to death. Since the case about that Afghan guy that converted to Christianity got thrown out this week, conservative Islamic leaders are becoming quite vocal. They want their law to be followed, naturally, which would require death for the Christian convert.

Iran, Pakistan, Mauritania, and Afghanistan are called Islamic Republics in the official names of their countries. Turkey, Pakistan, and Algeria have Islamic parties in power in their nations as well. Wikipedia says that “One quarter of the world population share Islam as an ethical tradition. Muslims are the majority in 52 nations. They speak about 60 languages and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds.” That’s an awful lot of people who think that converts to Christianity should be executed.

One of the oldest and largest distributed computing efforts today is SETI@home. Distributed computing means using the power of thousands of personal computers to process data for a specific project, usually when those computers are otherwise idle. SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), through the SETI Institute, attempts to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.”

The SETI@home project, with the resources of the University of California at Berkeley, is “a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data.” You can adjust your preferences so that the program uses your computer as much or as little as you want. The default setting is to run when your computer is idle, meaning when the computer isn’t really being used for anything else.

Why would you want to do this?

1. It helps further research by processing data.
2. Your computer’s not doing anything else anyway.
3. It allows you to be part of a gigantic group project.
4. And it makes a cool screensaver!

The initial file is only about 10MB and you’ll need about 20MB of disk space and 64MB of RAM, both of which are pretty minimal.

So give it a try! It’s free and fun (many of you readers may already have tried it at some point–it HAS been running since 1999). If you want to learn more about the project visit their About page. If you just want to get started, visit their Main page and follow the instructions in the bottom left. It’s not hard to set up, since there are only 2 steps, one of which is reading their rules and policies.

Oh, and if you try it out, be sure to Join My Team! They keep stats and kind of have a little competition between groups of people that are participating. To that end, I’ve set up a team for readers of my blog to join. It’s called Swashbucklers. Just visit the team page and click “Join” to be a part of our team and start racking up points. We can raise our team higher in the stats and even “compete” within the team. Just for pfun, of course!