Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 175
March 16, 2016
Julius Caesar then and now
Happy belated Ides of March! On March 15, 44 B.C., Julius Caesar failed to beware the Ides of March and was assassinated by members of the Roman Senate. The charismatic, forceful, willful general had been given dictatorial power in the Roman republic by voters sick of ineffective politicians. (Sound familiar?) The Senators were trying to [Read More...]
March 15, 2016
Trump & Clinton dominate primary, and Rubio quits
Donald Trump took Florida, Illinois, and North Carolina. John Kasich won his home state of Ohio. But since Marco Rubio couldn’t even take his home state of Florida, he has quit the race. Ted Cruz and Trump were in a virtual tie in Missouri. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton won all five of the primaries–Missouri [Read More...]
How Inner Mission evangelizes
As I’ve explained with my first trip to Scandinavia, Christianity in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland has two tracks: the state churches (which are confessionally Lutheran, have a liberal hierarchy, but many conservative pastors) and the Mission organizations (which carry out evangelism, conduct Bible studies, and sponsor ministries to specific groups, such as children, youth, [Read More...]
Young voters prefer socialism, reject conservatism
A poll of first and second-time voters, age 18 to 26, has found that two-thirds prefer socialism or even communism to capitalism. A majority believe that America is no better than any other country. And only 15% favor Republicans. This may spell doom for Republicans and conservatives in general for the next three decades. So [Read More...]
Today’s primaries
We had “Super Tuesday.” They are calling today “Mega Tuesday.” Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Illinois, and Missouri will be voting for the Republican and Democratic candidates. This is a big haul. And Florida and Ohio are winner-take-all states. If Marco Rubio cannot win his own state with its 99 delegates–and the polls say he won’t–he [Read More...]
March 14, 2016
Muslims turning to Christ in Denmark
As we’ve blogged about, large numbers of Muslim refugees are converting to Christianity. (Read Uwe Siemon-Netto’s compelling article on the phenomenon.) I knew this was happening in Germany and in France, though it is not happening everywhere. But it is also happening in Denmark, as I learned last week while I was there. The organization Inner [Read More...]
Is the Republican establishment now accepting Trump?
The last Republican debate was a subdued affair, with none of the yelling and low blows of the earlier debates. This reportedly came at the direction of Republican officials, who told the candidates that they needed to start thinking about the general election and to assure the public that they would all rally behind whoever gets [Read More...]
Unlocking the iPhone
The Justice Department and Apple Computer are locked in a bitter legal battle in the FBI’s desire to unlock the iPhone used by the San Bernadino terrorists, both of whom were killed after their attack. The FBI, understandably, wants to see who else might be in the terrorists’ network. Surely, in the name of fighting [Read More...]
March 11, 2016
“Common grace”?
Steven Peterson sent me a link to an article by the Reformed theologian Richard J. Louw. It deals with vocation and the Two Kingdoms, but he comes at it from a completely different perspective than Lutherans do. He uses the concept of “common grace,” as well as Kuyper’s “sphere sovereignty.” In the early days of [Read More...]
All Canada doctors & nurses must kill patients on demand
Canada is implementing its new euthanasia policy with new guidelines that will require doctors and nurses to kill their patients if requested, and there will be no opt-out on the basis of religion or conscience. Wesley Smith gives the details, commenting, “I have never seen a society jump so enthusiastically into the abyss that is [Read More...]
