Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 288
November 24, 2014
The future of sports
In Europe and Asia, thousands of spectators are rooting for their favorite well-paid players, listening to color commentary, and filling arenas to watch people playing video games. The time may come when, instead of watching professionals play in the NFL, we will watch professionals play Madden NFL. From Hayley Tsukayama, Video games are getting respect [Read More...]
Sologamy
Another family innovation: Marrying yourself. From Robert George, Same-Self Marriage | Timothy George | First Things: It’s only a trickle, not yet a trend, but it is out there, and it has a name: sologamy. Sologamy is the marriage of someone to one’s own self—the his- or herness of it is not relevant, although it [Read More...]
November 21, 2014
Engaging vs. accommodating the culture
My longtime friend, the Rev. Harold Senkbeil, has an article in the latest Concordia Journal entitled “Engaging the Culture Faithfully.” It is a scathing critique of how the Church as a whole has been accommodating the culture instead of truly engaging it. At the same time, it offers a genuinely pastoral response. The article isn’t [Read More...]
Amnesty by decree
President Obama has issued an executive order protecting some 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation. On what authority, you may ask? He is invoking the principle of “prosecutor discretion,” under which a law enforcement officer may choose, for example, which speeders to chase down. So here the Executive Branch, charged with carrying out the laws [Read More...]
The Marriage Pledge?
Some ministers are signing a “marriage pledge” promising not to sign state marriage licenses as a protest against legalized gay marriage. This strikes me as a terrible, if well-intentioned, idea. Doesn’t this mean that the marriages performed by these pastors won’t be legally recognized, unless the couple goes through a separate civil service? Also, at [Read More...]
November 20, 2014
Legalism vs. Antinomianism vs. knowing the Master
Last Sunday our pastor preached on the dangers of falling into either of the two ditches along the side of the road: legalism and antinomianism. Both, he said, leave out Jesus. He went on to explore what that means with a reading of the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) that I had never thought [Read More...]
Human ecology
A useful concept and a clarifying name from Pope Francis: People worry about the state of the natural environment, he observed. But they also need to worry about the social environment. Family breakdown, rampant immorality, and materialistic hedonism damage what he calls the “human ecology.” From Kathleen Parker, Pope calls for family resurrection – The [Read More...]
Intrusive corporations
An executive with Uber, the app-based cab service, said how he wants to spend $1 million to dig up dirt on its critics, wanting to get at “your personal lives, your families.” This from the same company that blogged about the data it has on its riders’ “brief overnight weekend stays”; that is, sexual rendezvous. [Read More...]
November 19, 2014
The End Times according to Islam
A major element in today’s jihadist movement is the Islamic doctrine of the End Times, according to Dr. Timothy R. Furnish in a lecture at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. From an account of the lecture: To establish a world ruled by Islamic law, Jesus and the Mahdi will battle against the deceiver al-Dajjal and [Read More...]
The tea party of the left
According to Dana Milbank, a tea party of the left is emerging, with liberal purists turning against Democrats in Name Only. From Dana Milbank, covering liberal protesters of Louisiana Democratic senate candidate Mary Landrieu, in Purity politics, Democrat-style – The Washington Post: I’ve heard this argument before, coming from tea party activists who said that [Read More...]
