Gene Edward Veith Jr.'s Blog, page 40

Divorce Has Brought Back Large Families

Large families have come back.  Not because couples are having more children.  But because the prevalence of divorce and remarriage has created “blended” families, which often extends the nuclear family considerably.  The family size of Americans with grown children and stepchildren has shot up 66%. Ben Steverman, in Divorce Is Making American Families 66% Bigger – Bloomberg, reports […]

Comfort, Comfort My People

One of the greatest texts for Advent is Isaiah 40.  It reminds us that Advent is not just about Christ coming. It is about Christ’s coming to save us.  This is true of both His first and His second coming. In  “Comfort, comfort my people,” Isaiah proclaims the Gospel and sets a theme taken up by the […]

My New “Publications” Page & an Interview with the Author

  A week or so ago, I noticed that several hundred readers had accessed the Publications tab on this blog.  Going there myself, I found that all of the Amazon icons and links I had set up were broken, due to software changes over the years.  “All of those Christmas shoppers were disappointed!” I lamented to […]

Martin Luther’s Handwriting as Computer Font

How would you like to write like Martin Luther?  That is, how would you like to write with his handwriting?  How would you like to type in his handwriting?  A typographer is developing a computer font based on Luther’s script! I was approached by Harald Geisler, a German typographer, who told me about his project.  I’ll […]

The Court’s Gay Marriage Ruling Already Allows for Dissenters

It sounded like the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the Christian baker who declined to make a wedding cake for a gay wedding, judging from the justices’ questions in the oral arguments (which are not always a reliable guide).  But Ryan Anderson says that the case should never have reached the Supreme Court […]

Mary, the Mother of God

Roman Catholics venerate Mary, the mother of Jesus, with many titles:  Queen of Heaven (the notion that she reigns with her Son), Immaculate Conception (indicating the belief that she was born without original sin), Co-Redemptrix (the view that she is the co-redeemer with her Son).  These reflect what Protestants consider the outsized role that Mary plays in […]

The “Yellow Dog” Political Fallacy

Republican Roy Moore lost the senate race to liberal Democrat Doug Jones in deeply conservative Alabama.  This is because lots of conservatives and lots of Christians refused to vote for Moore, even though his positions would seem to align with theirs.  Evidently, Alabama voters did not go along with the “yellow dog” political fallacy. I […]

On the Pope’s Desire to Change the Wording of the Lord’s Prayer

Pope Francis has challenged the traditional wording of the Lord’s Prayer, suggesting that it be changed.  The news media, as usual, has obscured the fact that the Pope is not wanting to alter the Lord’s words or the Biblical text, just saying that the familiar rendition in the various languages is not a good translation and that […]

The Different Meanings of “Happiness”

One of our inalienable rights, according to the Declaration of Independence, is “the pursuit of happiness.”  But what does that mean?  Ken Myers shows that the concept of “happiness” has changed over the years, from an objective state of “blessedness” to the subjective feeling of “having fun.” The Christian Post has recently republished Ken Myer’s essay […]

Jesus and Hanukkah

Hanukkah starts today, December 12, and lasts until December 20.  Jesus Himself observed it, as recorded in John 10:22-23, and it sets the context for and underscores one of His most shocking statements.  So says my fellow Patheos blogger Tom Hobson in a post you have to read. “Hanukkah” literally means “dedication.”  It commemorates the […]