The No Kool Aid Zone

tells you a whole lot about how sick our society really is.

Bride and Groom Have Never Kissed

Now, I don’t think one has to do it this way–although sexual abstinence before marriage is Biblical, of course–but there are other couples who’ve made this choice; I’ve known some. And that it makes news is just, well, silly.

Suggested Reading:

The NFL Family Cookbook

The Six Tiddly Winks and the A to Zees (A Just Right Book)

Evangelical Hermeneutics: The New Versus the Old

A special message from “Webbie Dude” Paul:

I imagine you have, and they are also on most of the other web sites that I manage. I give them a try every year around Christmas time. Supposedly I will earn a (small) commission on any sales made as a result of a visitor clicking thru the banner. I say “supposedly”, because, well, frankly, no one has ever actually purchased anything as a result of these seasonal banners. That’s one reason that this year I added them to most of the sites I manage; I’m trying to increase results and hopefully make a sale or two.

For those who know us “in the real world”, you know that being a dirt track photographer and web site “webbie dude” (web site designing, managing and hosting) hasn’t exactly landed us on “easy street.” So that’s why I’ve added the banners. Any little bit helps, and if you’re going to be shopping online this year, I’d certainly appreciate if you started here. I’ll have various ads and deals from Amazon posted here from now until Christmas, and even if you don’t buy, or even want, that particular item, if you enter Amazon thru one of these banners, any resulting sales will be credited to my account.

And if you’re in the market for great camera deals (or any electronics, for that matter), please be sure to check out B & H Photo and Video and enter thru their banner. B & H is where I buy almost all of my photo equipment and I can assure you their prices and customer service are the best in the business.

So now you know why the increase in ads and banners.
Thank you for your support.

Suggested Reading:

Tiddly Winks

Official Playing Rules of the NFL 2008 (Official Rules of the NFL)

The Great Evangelical Disaster

Justin Taylor reproduces it here. It’s worth the read on this Thanksgiving, and the first thought I had was that there is more theological content in this short presidential proclamation than there is in the average American pulpit every Sunday.

Suggested Reading:

Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body

Remember the federal shakedown of Big Tobacco a few years ago, the feds vs. the tobacco companies? Yeah, I remember it well: on the one hand, you had an entity that harms people’s health, takes advantage of people, grabs people’s money by deceptive means, and leaves the air with a foul smell.

On the other hand, you had Big Tobacco.

Well, my hometown Roanoke Times now reports–hold onto your seats!–that the lion’s share of the shakedown settlement, earmarked for serving the public health, specifically anti-smoking campaigns, is–you’re just not going to believe this, because we all know that the government wouldn’t misappropriate funds, so there’s a shocker ahead, I’ma warning ya!!!–not being used for what it was supposed to be used for!

Activists Saying Tobacco Settlement Being Misused

Turning to other examples of governmental nonsense, what to do about the Big Three automakers?

Do Nothing, says George Will

Here’s a different slant on media malpractice in the 2008 elections:

Few Voters Knew Obama’s Potential Negatives

Though I never did the piece I thought I might on “reflections on the elections”, I’m convinced that the loss of all remaining credibility on the part of the mainstream media is one of the biggest takeaways for me. I’m not sure I’ll ever see the need to watch NBC News again, not to mention MSNBC.

Michelle Malkin writes on The eHarmony Shakedown. I probably should make this a separate post, and may yet, because my opinion is that Neil Clark Warren, founder of eHarmony and a Christian man, ought to shut the whole thing down rather than do what amounts to violating his conscience. Would such a move provoke a level of public outrage at the freedom-destroying homosexual lobby that engages in such shakedowns? I don’t know; Americans are becoming so brain-dead desensitized to both moral concerns and to the rapid-fire erosion of our fundamental freedoms that they might just keep on playing Guitar Hero and not give a rip. Seems to me that this is the appropriate response.

Lee Grady writes in Preparing for a Charismatic Meltdown that as large segments of the charismatic movement have jettisoned the Bible for a dog’s breakfast of ecclesiastical horsehockey and theological silliness, the chickens have begun coming home to roost. Lee Grady is an insider in the movement; I commend his ongoing honesty and willingness to confront these cancers.

Jared Wilson has a nice piece on Numerolatry and the Church, the widespread idolatry of seeking “church growth” at any cost.

Finally, Internet Monk mentions some Evangelical Unmentionables, commenting upon Christine Wicker’s book entitled The Fall of the Evangelical Nation. There are ten theses that iMonk lists, echoing Wicker, and I think they’re pretty much all dead-on.

And scary.

Suggested Reading:

Essential Evangelical Parallel Bible

The Birth of the New NFL: How the 1966 NFL/AFL Merger Transformed Pro Football

The NFL Gameday Cookbook

An Australian geologist with a cool Aussie accent argues that environmentalism is a new religion:

His conclusions seem only obvious!

Suggested Reading:

Dan Rooney: My 75 Years With the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL

Younger Evangelicals, The: Facing the Challenges of the New World

The Tiddly Winks Primer

Well, for better or worse, we’ve got ourselves a new president-elect, and we will all need to find a way to live with that fact over the course of at least the next four years. Some thoughts:

John Ortberg has a good read on the 7 Deadly Sins of Evangelicals in Politics.

Jack Brooks has some observations on Why McCain Lost. I actually think that it came down to two things: one, he ran a meandering, direction-less campaign that gave anybody paying attention a certain amount of discomfort as to what kind of president he’d make, while Obama, credit-where-it’s-due, ran a great campaign. Two, the financial meltdown killed whatever hopes he had, because the party in power will always get blamed, no matter what the real reasons for such a happening (but there is lots of blame to go around on both sides of the aisle for this one).

Don Black gives some Final Thoughts on the Election. Say what you will about the Reverend Jackson, it’s moving to see him in tears as an African-American man is elected to the presidency.

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds has some thoughts on the post-election retirement of Brit Hume, a solid follower of Christ.

Deborah Howell of the Washington ComPost admits what we all know: An Obama Tilt in Campaign Coverage. Duhhh…ya think so?

Jeffrey Shapiro says that The Treatment of President Bush Has Been a Disgrace. Though I’ve not been too keen on a lot of what Bush has done, Shapiro is dead-on. The animosity that has come from the left in this country is astounding and, dare I say, unpatriotic. Disagree with a man’s policies? Believe he’s a poor president? Fine. But those things can be done without the vitriol. Sadly, they haven’t been.

Suggested Reading:

Tiddly Winks

101 Offensive Water Polo Drills

The six tiddly winks and the A to Zees: The wee peoples book (Just right book)