Virginia lawmaker: Children with disabilities are God’s punishment to women who previously had abortions.

This little jewel was discovered last night by my lovely wife.  She worked at a specialty Children's Hospital for approximately 3 years and upwards to 99% of her clientele were Children with disabilities.

So the gist is that Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall (R) said:

“The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically.Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children...In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There’s a special punishment Christians would suggest.”

Um...no.  Are you basing this on fact?  Can I see the study?  But what really gets my skin crawling is "there's a special punishment Christians would suggest."  Christians?  I'm Christian, and the characteristics of God post-Jesus doesn't point toward a vindictive, vengeful God.  Oh, there's Biblical evidence of God being this way, but at some point in time (approximately 2000ish years ago), God decided to rewrite the script by pouring himself into the vessel of Jesus, exemplifying love to all of humanity.  By the way, the OT scripture he's referring to is Exodus 13.11-16 and/or 22.29.

Point is, you shall "redeem" all your first-born, which essentially means, in regards to animals, you sacrifice a sheep for a firstborn donkey...in regards to people, well, you pay a sum to the priests at the temple....which none of this has to do with abortion, an increase in handicapped children, or "nature taking vengeance."  


Go away.  Oh, and if you're interested in learning more about this magnificent specimen of....  Here's his web-site complete with bio and contact information.

delegatebob.com/

Personal Salvation and the Kingdom of God.

I've been part of an interesting conversation on one my good friend's Facebook page regarding personal salvation and the Kingdom of God.  Essentially, my friend was eschewing the audacity of many folks who will make a statement such as, "If he/she were a 'real' Christian...."  and how arrogant that kind of statement makes.  (Another one that chaps my khakis is:  "I tell you out of Christian love...." which then somehow enables and excuses the person to be a complete jerk and hide behind their "faith".)

I made the comment that my salvation is between me and God, no one else.  Succinct but not entailing my complete developing theological perspective.  The discussion then entailed further how American society has placed an over-abundance upon personal salvation with the neglect of the community of faith and the Kingdom of God.  I'm of the opinion that salvation is still personal, and part of the "fruit" of personal salvation involves partaking in Kingdom of God and the ever-present community of faith.  There is the personal aspect and, to an extent, it should be tempered with the community and vice-versa.

Little Timmy Tebow

If you know me, you know I don't give a rip about football.  I wasn't a default TN fan b/c I'm native to the state, nor did I become a default Colts fan b/c of Peyton.  Either way, unless you've been under a rock, you know who Tim Tebow is and what "tebowing" means.  (yeah, I know I'm a bit late weighing in on the commentary, now that the furor/support has simmered down.)  At the very least Brother Tim has brought Christianity to the forefront of more people's minds than any Megachurch leader, academician, hate-filled protesting church, or end of world self-proclaimed prophet.  Whether you like the fact that he kneels down and prays or don't, you have an opinion about it; which I think is amazing for a kid who is just doing what is natural for him.  You may quote the Gospel of Matthew deriding him for not "praying in private."  You may hate that your football is now intertwined with conversations about God and religion.  Point is, with more and more pews empty on Sunday mornings, Tebow just brought his faith into the limelight.  I don't necessarily agree with all of his tenets, and really disagree with some of the arm-chair theology he has sparked, but in the end.  Tim has made us think about the nature of God, and how worshipping God, praying, and football relate to each other.