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FeaturesChrist’s death, God’s wrath: the vital connection
Jul 30, 2009 Are you missing the point of Scripture passages? Jul 21, 2009 Modeling misjudgments: Clothing, contradictions and Miss California May 14, 2009 Exploring The Last Battle’s Emeth element May 11, 2009 MacArthur on sex and the sacredness of the Song Apr 14, 2009 Heaven and Earth, part 1 — Fixing our eyes away from the lies Apr 13, 2009 Fighting on broader battlefields of Biblical spiritual warfare Apr 11, 2009 Keeping the Cross in focus this Good Friday Apr 10, 2009 An open letter to Jennie Chancey from the Devil Mar 12, 2009 Capitalism, socialism and critics’ Rush to judgment Mar 10, 2009 |
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Palin pick should force Liberals to face Grace |
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by
Dr Ransom
at
04:25 PM ET
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Friday, Sep 12, 2008
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| Categories: Columns, Media: Left-Handed News, Politics: The Left Wing, Deep Doctrine Magic: Biblical Theology, Legalism | |||
For several years, I’ve barely written about political issues. Since retiring somewhat from the incidental position of “token campus-newspaper right-winger,” my interests have diverged more into socio-cultural tenets and worldviews. That especially includes the struggle of true, God-focused, Biblically balanced Christianity against heretical views and other bad stuff. Meanwhile, the presidential election kept going and I didn’t much care. The conservative crop of candidates was underwhelming, and I’m not just saying that because all the other conservatives were saying that. Sure, many bloggers and such were trying to muster sufficient enthusiasm to defeat either Clinton or Obama with whoever we had to work with. But I would rather write about honoring God in art and fiction, discouraging seriously false doctrine, or the nature of films and books that reflect tenets of Scriptural truth, whether intended or not.  Then along came that governor of Alaska as John McCain’s vice-presidential pick. And right away I reverted into a flag-waving, fired-up neo-con artist cliché with the rest of them.For a few days, I had just a mild case of struggling. No politician is perfect, I told myself, and that includes the former mayor, current governor and pro-life mother of five from the 49th state. I’ve enjoyed the Republican convention and Sarah Palin’s speeches; I find her presence in the campaign inspiring — but I know it’s propaganda. It’s propaganda, I keep telling myself. Ah, but then I’m reminded that some propaganda is true. This very site is propaganda — most websites are. My own thoughts include propaganda, which I often hope to repeat to myself, such as the Gospel and its effects on my life. All political movements are propaganda. And that’s all right. With the hope of a glorious and legalism-free life, I am at liberty to enjoy propaganda and make some of my own. Lord willing, I won’t elevate politicians or political causes over the centrality of the Gospel, or the Church’s need to proclaim that Gospel in-depth to believers, and to non-Christians at the same time — whomever the Lord will draw, often with our blessed involvement. But that doesn’t mean other topics are unimportant or off-limits. Therefore, once again on this site, I can write about political issues from that point of view. Palin and all the discussion and the (oft-manufactured) controversy surrounding her brings such fascinating frontiers to explore. In this case, such exploration can be done specifically regarding the issue of Grace in the Christian faith. As usual, Liberals don’t get the Christian concept of Moral Law. But even more so, whether knowingly or not, Liberals even less comprehend the existence of God’s Grace toward sinners. |
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On Speculative Faith: 'Fantasy fiction: Christ-followers had it first' |
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by
Dr Ransom
at
12:29 PM ET
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Wednesday, Jul 25, 2007
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| Categories: Columns, Media: Left-Handed News, Books, Rebuttals, Deep Doctrine Magic: Cross Firings, Subculture Shop | |||
 Mere moments ago I posted today's column at Speculative Faith, titled Fantasy fiction: Christ-followers had it first. Following some minor issues raised about the front-page Washington Post article of July 18, Christian Fantasy Genre Builds Niche Without Hogwarts, Muggles or Spells, I hope to take on the whole notion, subconscious or otherwise, that Harry Potter is merely magically spawning crowds of Christian imitators. It’s been quite fun to observe the reactions throughout our solar system of the blog-universe, following the Washington Post’s article last week that dealt with Christ-honoring fantasy — which, of course, had a quote from our very own blogger, author Wayne Thomas Batson, right there on the very front page. The article, though, only somewhat focused on Christian fantasy authors and books like Wayne’s Door Within series. As Wayne himself later expressed, other prolific fantasy authors such as Bryan Davis, Christopher Hopper and Sharon Hinck received nil mention, despite being with Wayne on the recent Fantasy Four Tour. Also lacking essential inclusion, I would add, was the name of one Prof. J.R.R. Tolkien, Patron Saint No. 1 of Christian fantasy; though one Prof. C.S. Lewis, the other Patron Saint No. 1, received a brief reference, it wasn’t nearly enough to match his influence on the fantasy genre. That’s a substantive oversight, I would suggest. Surely any story remotely pertaining to Christian fantasy would have to include Tolkien and Lewis. Meanwhile, though, two errors of pure fact crept into writer Jacqueline Salmon’s article: first, a reference to Dr. James Dobson praising the Potter books — the Focus on the Family founder quickly cried foul and said they weren’t at all good and the Post corrected; secondly, a Mormon writer’s erroneous attribution as a “Christian,” a somewhat-understandable, common mistake committed by non-Christians. (In fact, I’ve always thought that Mormonism itself, with its hierarchies of universes, with sets and subsets of Gods and Mrs. Gods, Jesuses and Satans and Adams and Eves, would make a great controversial fantasy series — far more heretical than anything Harry Potter ever conjured up.) More perplexing, though, was the article’s strange swerve into the subtopic of Christian fiction in general. That I didn’t get at all — especially the text’s strong implication that Christian Romance Genres were somehow the latest and greatest thing right alongside fantasy. As Rebecca LuElla Miller noted last week, “Uh, no. Chick lit is entering the been-there-done-that phase.” And that seeming misunderstanding by the author about a basic facet of the Christian literature field unfortunately leads me to conclude that maybe Salmon had also failed to grasp the existence of continuing opposition within the Christian community to fantasy-related fiction. I can certainly hope I’m wrong, though. But my strongest stylistic, even philosophical, objection to the article’s substance regards its implication that Harry Potter — who of course Apparated into the article from the very first paragraph — is the Big Original Fantasy Cheese right now, and all the Christian fantasy authors are coming after. That’s just not the case. Christian epic fantasy authors were there first. And I’m not just talking about Lewis and Tolkien. Read the column's remainder at Speculative Faith ... And read here my original thoughts on the Post article, and Wayne Thomas Batson's Fox News interview, from July 20 |
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Run like wimps, lose like men |
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by
Dr Ransom
at
12:31 PM ET
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Thursday, Nov 09, 2006
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| Categories: Columns, Media: Left-Handed News, War-cast: Iraq, Politics: Redshift, The Left Wing | |||
(Guest column by DaveLoneRanger, originally published under “vanity” status at FreeRepublic.com.) Okay, so we lost. Republicans lost the House, maybe the Senate. Buck up. Suck it up, admit defeat, shake hands with the winners, and get over it. Don't let yourself get into a snit about it. Don't give the liberals ammunition to mock you. They draw strength from your defeat. The tendency after any loss is to place blame. It's one way we have of maintaining some measure of control over our situation; knowing and identifying the problem not only helps us avoid it in the future, but it gives us control and security. (I believe this is why global warming alarmists, and leftists in general always seek to place blame, but I digress.) I'll admit, I was unrealistically optimistic. I thought that, despite all the shortcomings, Republicans would narrowly keep both House and Senate. But yes, I'm going to place blame. It doesn't help; no matter who should have done what, this race is over. But we had better learn from our errors for the next race, or we'll merely repeat it. And we've made some humdingers. The biggest mistake was in failing to wage the public relations war over Iraq. On this, I exclude few from being held responsible. The media spun the Iraq war day in, day out. CodePink traitors and anti-war protestors splayed across our TV screens, and the “Bush lied” mantra broadcast to millions, no thanks to your mainstream media dinosaurs. In short, the Iraq war cost us the House. Don't get me wrong. The Iraq war was right. Our cause was right, our reasons were right, our decision was right. What was WRONG was our response to critics. We had none. For this I blame everyone. All the officials, anyway. Bloggers can only go so far. The House and Senate leaders failed to combat the lies. Bush, Rove, Frist, Hastert, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Snow, Mehlman, all failed to fight the lies. Hannity tried, but was too eager to jump on anything coming out of Iraq. Even Rush didn't demolish the lies like he could have. The Democrats took up the Iraq war and made it their platform, their hill to die on. With the unprecented negativity in the media, the daily humdrum of anti-war sentiment, and little to no response from the Republicans, we let them win much of the public while we waged a war. We lost when we lost the Iraq PR war. When the leftists bellowed that we needed more allies, we didn't respond. (Even though we had the aid and support of 30+ countries in the beginning.) When they said we should give Hussein more time, we broadcast but didn't drive home the fact that Saddam defied 17 resolutions to disarm. When protestors said this was an illegal war, we did not respond that we were acting out of National, as well as International interest, legally permissible under Resolutions 1441, and 660, which authorized the Gulf War. When critics began the “Bush Lied” tirade after finding few weapons of mass destruction, hacking endlessly at the solid tree trunk of President Bush, we either ignored, waved away, or agreed with the leftists' assertions. All while they continued to hack, chip and chop. When Democrats insisted that Saddam was not a threat, no one but bloggers aggressively attacked this flip-flopping lie. Few officials called Democrats on their own words. Bush received approval bounces of four and five percent when he went on primetime TV and defended the war. How many times has he done that? Four or five. All while the media continued the flood of negativity. 24/7/365 coverage times four networks all bashing the war and broadcasting negative images, and yet I can count on my hand the times he hit back. Bush failed to wage the PR war. Admitting no WMD's and conceding intelligence failures was, is and remains Bush's worst error. It's their own fault. It's our own collective fault. I have to accept blame just like the rest of Republicans, although in my own small way, I was trying to combat the myths. Now we're not going to get down in the dumps about this. People I know, and — judging from responses I observe — Freepers, are becoming depressed. And I agree, this does not bode well for the country. But while we ran like wimps, we must lose like men. Suck it up. Shake it off. Buck up. GET OVER IT. We will not become depressed, we're not going to invent conditions like Post-Election Selection Trauma, and we can't start whining, or join a cut-and-run movement. We must learn our lessons, and plunge ahead. But we MUST LEARN OUR LESSONS. And make dang sure we get a better head start on grooming our 2008 candidates, primarily our presidential candidate. Democrats will be using their 2006 momentum, their willing media compatriots, and ongoing media-perpetrated negativity to make a go at the White House. Their ranks are forming and strengthening. The time to prepare begins NOW. Don't blow it. |
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Observing the fall of fallible men |
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by
Dr Ransom
at
11:22 AM ET
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Saturday, Nov 04, 2006
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Permalink | |
| Categories: Columns, Science: Genesis, Media: Left-Handed News, Politics: The Left Wing, Deep Doctrine Magic: Churchianity, Life Applications | |||
Kent Hovind, self-styled “Dr. Dino” and one among the more-“flaky” kind of young-earth creation believers, was convicted yesterday for tax evasion. His defense lawyers didn't even try a defense, according to the Pensacola News Journal: Hovind faces a maximum of 288 years in prison. His wife faces up to 225 years. Her charges include aiding and abetting her husband with 44 counts of evading bank-reporting requirements. At last check, nothing on the “Dr. Dino” website references his ongoing troubles — neither were any updates posted in July of this year when he was charged with 58 counts of tax-evasion and related offenses. An apparent master of legal and political carefulness, Hovind immediately began declaring that as an evangelist and Man of God he shouldn't even have to pay taxes anyway — which perhaps explains why his lawyers avoided bothering about a defense. Wikipedia has several references chronicling the whole tax-evasion story beginning earlier this year. So: first someone named Ted Haggard, and now Kent Hovind — but the latter likely has nothing to do with the election, unlike the absolutely, hilariously, transparent attempt to take out Mr. Haggard and thus somehow upset the conservative base. (Haggard's accuser admitted wanting to expose “hypocrisy” among those freaks who want to maintain real marriage and all of that; the man had been sitting on the story since May 2006.) You conservatives out there: are you upset? Does your whole world seem dissolving? Do you trust in fallible men — “of God,” and otherwise — so much that you will abandon your principles when they fall, and fall hard? If you maintain focus on Christ, and not just corrupt practitioners of faith, I should say not. One can argue that Hovind was falling all along. His rhetoric is ridiculous, and he accepts the most weird and Coast-to-Coast-AM-radio-like “evidences” for Biblical creation. Though his belief there is accurate, his methods are not. I've criticized him before, though not directly, for treating his own cultural traditions and exterior perceptions just as the same as actual Biblical truth — scroll down to the ‘We must — be — protogolegorically correct!’ section of Churchianity, part 2: The Unwritten Rules of God's House. Thus, I for one am actually reluctantly satisfied that this “village idiot” of Biblical creation might be put away, though as my brother remarked in properly accented fashion, “I pity the fool.” Meanwhile, my familiarity with Haggard is limited. He could be right or wrong; it matters little for the faith of informed Christ-followers, and for true Christendom altogether. And it matters even less in regard to the election, despite whatever hyped-up “questions” the left-leaning media outlets try to self-generate. Trust not in man, and don't even think that conservative or Republican candidates must be perfect in order to win your vote. Right-wingers are far from perfect — many of them are far from Christ, even — but secular-liberals are far worse. |
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Bill Clinton's lie during appearance on Fox News Sunday |
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by
DaveLoneRanger
at
11:02 PM ET
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Tuesday, Sep 26, 2006
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| Categories: Media: Left-Handed News, Rebuttals, War-cast, Politics: The Left Wing | |||
Transcript: William Jefferson Clinton on 'FOX News Sunday' The interview touched off a buzz across the internet. YouTube received hundreds of thousands of hits for the preview, and Fox News Sunday received the highest rating in three years. The following is part of the crossfire in which Bill Clinton accuses Chris Wallace of unfairly harsh questions which he did not offer to Bush administration officials. CLINTON: So you did Fox's bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me. What I want to know is ... A simple Google inquiry is all it took to uncover yet another of Clinton's lies. In a fit of anger, sometimes one does not think about the veracity of accusations one is hurling, but Mr. Clinton should have thought about that before he went on national televison. |
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