Now I don't want to get off on a rant here...

Liberal Principles IV

“Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.” Ralph Waldo Emerson (Prudence, 1841)

Liberal Principles I
Liberal Principles II
Liberal Principles III

1. A god has no control nor exerts any influence in the world today, whether he created the world or not
2. War is never the answer
3. Don’t trust your government
4. Government should play a limited role in the enforcement of morality, but a major role in the enforcement financial equality
5. Morality is relative to the personal choice of the individual and there should always be a safety net against the consequences of those personal choices

The follow up to this principle didn’t take quite as long for me to find the motivation to write. I’m sure that is in part due to current events. My last installment didn’t spark as much conversation as the previous one did. It did however move Malnurtured Snay to write some counterpoints. They didn’t seem to necessarily be counterpoints or disagreeing with me, as much as it was offering a libertarian viewpoint.

However, he does quote Ronald Reagan when attempting to refute the third principle I have put forth. "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" It is very unlikely that Reagan used that statement to justify mistrusting the government, but was used more as humor to help convey the message that government does have limits.

Liberal Principle #3 Don’t trust your government

I think that recent events are very telling about the truth behind this liberal principle. Seeing that the Republicans control, set the agenda for, the House, Senate, White House and most current Supreme Court Justices are Republican nominees one could argue that the government is largely made up of Republicans. That’s not to say that Republican = Conservative or even that Conservative = Christian. However we do see a right of center leaning of the government, which when I last checked was elected by the people to represent them in our democratic republic form of government.

When your actions are almost always to put up stop signs, to say “NO”, to criticize and ultimately to obstruct government from doing its job you are showing an obvious distrust in leadership. Since this leadership by in large controls every branch of our government, your distrust is against more than just the leadership and the people that put them there; it against the government as a whole.

We see this with judicial and cabinet nominations, social security reform, energy reform, etc. It is unfortunate to see this level of distrust that pervades every view one can have. Obviously our government is not perfect, but it is also not completely faulty. It is easy to say no, it is easy to stand back and criticize. It is much more difficult to lead, to put forth new ideas, to make advances for positive change. Liberals have stood in the way of that at every turn and offered no substantive alternative.

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13: 1 – 2). To submit to the government, is to trust in the overarching reach of God into all aspects of life. To trust government, is to submit to the authority of God. This is a reciprocal promise and if the roles were reversed, that Democrats set the agenda for the government, I would submit to their leadership.

Submission doesn’t require that you never offer objections, but it does mean you do not obstruct. There are plenty of opportunities for debate on the issues and this is good and healthy. At the end of the day, our representatives should vote on the issue. What protects the people is not unlimited debate, but the votes of elected officials representing their constituencies.

Trusting leads to greatness. Mistrust leads to judgment.

MLB: April Showers Bring May Flowers

The Elite Sports Programming Network or ESPN, formerly the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, has never been particularly high on the Orioles or Baltimore that much. And that’s fine because the blue collar town, despite its liberal bend, doesn’t much care for the “Elite” either.

I can recall during the 1997 season when the O’s went wire to wire, they owned the Yankees and pretty much everyone else in the division. Was this something that the Elite network gushed about or touted as being legitimate? Not really. There was always this air of “This just isn’t the Yankees year” and not, “Hey look at what the O’s are doing!”

This is the first season in a long while that the O’s have been doing well and we have every right to be excited about our team, and so does any other team that is doing well at this time. Sure the standings don’t amount to much right now and I don’t particularly start paying attention to that until late August. But in the words of Brian Billick, “A win at the beginning of the season counts as much as a win at the end of the season in the record book.”

So while I don’t expect much from ESPN, I was a little surprised to see this Page 2 article by David Schoenfield. Here is his assessment of why he hates April baseball and the breakdown of the AL East. There is a breakdown of every team in the league as well, with snippy remarks for everyone.

MLB’s April Showers

This is what bugs me about April baseball: Brian Roberts.

Look, I know you Orioles fans are all excited about Mr. Roberts. I'm tired of hearing of this guy. He's not going to be the AL MVP. He may not even be an All-Star. A guy who hits .273 with four home runs doesn't suddenly become one of baseball's best hitters.
…

AL East
Baltimore Orioles: And for the seventh straight season all the O's need is for Sidney Ponson to finally harness his "talent," win 24 games, capture the Cy Young Award and they will knock off the Yanks and Sox.

Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox are the greatest franchise in the history of sports. I have nothing negative to say about a team headed to its second straight World Series title. I'm glad they're finally getting some national exposure after all these years. I love this team!

New York Yankees: Baseball Prospectus keeps track of a statistic called "Defensive Efficiency," which is simply the percentage of batted balls in play that each team turns into outs. The top team through Sunday was the Marlins, who turn 74.75 percent of balls in play into outs. The league averages are 69.3 percent in the AL, 69.8 percent in the NL. No team is below 66.8 percent ... except the Yankees, who have turned just 63.87 percent of balls in play into outs. The Prospectus Web site lists this statistic back to 1972, and the worst team in that span has been the 1999 Devil Rays, at 66.17 percent. In other words, the 2005 Yankees are looking like a historically awful defensive team, one of the worst of all time. And that, Yankee fans, is why your team will miss the playoffs.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays: As ESPN.com's Jayson Stark has pointed out, the Devil Rays have a payroll of about $29 million. Yet they'll bring in about $30 million in revenue redistribution and another $30 million in various national television, radio and licensing deals. So they're $30 million ahead before selling one ticket. And you thought Vince Naimoli was a little cracked.

Toronto Blue Jays: This is your best pitcher right now.

This is his take on it and his prerogative to voice his opinions. But this is what bugs me about elite sports writers: David Schoenfield.

He would rather tear people down than build them up and this is what passes for sports writing. The great thing about sports is that every team has the same opportunity to play the game and win. Mr. Schoenfield gets to write about that opportunity; about men playing a game for a living. I won’t be looking for him to dispel much truth, just his elite opinion.

Government In Action or INaction?

Hugh Hewitt has certainly been following his own advice by leading the way in framing the concerns and arguments against our government inaction. The problem with the left's view of "advice and consent" is that their advice to the President is to quit his job. Something they would certainly consent to, but unfortunately for them, will not happen.

The issue isn’t about rubber-stamping anyone because I don’t believe that anyone wants our system of checks and balances to go away. The issue is about obstructing the government from doing its job. I thought there were penalties that came along with obstruction of justice? To Hugh Hewitt, those penalties are coming sooner or later, but who are they for?

Lead the Way
Senate Republicans may not understand the true stakes in the coming judicial showdown.

Thus the leaders of the left's unprecedented and extra-constitutional blockade of Bush's circuit court nominees are on record as planning to use similar tactics for any Supreme Court vacancies that arise in Bush's second term, the first of which is widely believed to be coming soon with the expected retirement of Chief Justice Rehnquist.

THE VOTE ON THE RULING ending the filibusters could wind up being the most important vote having to do with domestic politics in a generation. The GOP's continued majority hangs in the balance. But do Republican senators and strategists understand its importance?

There seems to be a great temptation among the elected to confuse what they wish to be the case with the actual facts on the ground outside of Washington. Outside of the war on terrorism, there are few issues that the base of the Republican party deem more significant than the selection and confirmation of judges. It is far more important than tax cutting, far more important than energy policy, far more important than curbing trial lawyers--because the courts ultimately play decisive roles in all of these areas, and more.

Friday, April 22, 2005

It is not acceptable to most Americans to be defined as "outside of the mainstream," and the GOP is defending much more than its judicial nominees when it engages in this battle.

All weekend long every GOP senator should tell every newsman and constituent:

"There was exactly one refusal to close debate on [an appeals court] judicial nominee in the entire 20th century, and that was a favor to a sitting Supreme Court justice about to be embarrassed by defeat who withdrew his nomination immediately afterwards and resigned soon after because of ethics problems.

Since January, 2003, there have been 20 different refusals to close debate on judicial nominees. This disfigurement of Senate tradition, disguised as the appropriate application of a rule intended for legislative debates, must and will end."

That is it. That is all there is to the argument on the filibuster.

UPDATE:

Bishop of Rome Selected

Cardinals Select Ratzinger as New Pope

VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the Vatican's chief overseer of doctrine, assumed the name Benedict XVI Tuesday after he was elected pope of the Roman Catholic Church following one of the shortest conclaves in history.
…
On Monday, Ratzinger, who was the powerful dean of the College of Cardinals, used his homily at the Mass dedicated to electing the next pope to warn the faithful about tendencies that he considered dangers to the faith: sects, ideologies like Marxism, liberalism, atheism, agnosticism and relativism — the ideology that there are no absolute truths.

"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labeled today as a fundamentalism," he said, speaking in Italian. "Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself, be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards."
…
"We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires," he said.

Being that I am a former Catholic, now Presbyterian, I have mixed feelings about this. I am greatly encouraged by his words of wisdom concerning relativism and guarding against this self-destructive worldview. Meaning it is a worldview that will cause an individual much strife in this world along with its inherent self-destruction as being logically impossible.

I am also reminded of all the pomp and circumstance that led to me despising Christianity altogether as hypocritical. The Vatican seems like it is an attempt to build God’s thrown room here on earth and the priests, cardinals and bishops all to seem to be a part of this court, elevating themselves above common man. It’s this elevation that I believe made me feel the most distance from God and Christ growing up.

As Rev. Larry Wanaselja said on the previous pope’s message, “he was adamant about the sanctity of life…and he understood the heart of discipleship which is dying to self.” It is not hard to understand there are many positive influences in the world that come from the Roman Catholic Church. It played a vital role in the birth of the Church and preserving the Scriptures as we now know them.

As Ratzinger is the first pope in nearly a thousand years that is from Germany, I felt it fitting to see some words of wisdom from another German theologian. Helmut Thielke tells a story of a young student attempting to understand, interact and learn more about God’s word. Taken from his book titled A little exercise for young theologians, chapter V – The Shock of Infatuation with Theological Concepts.

A young student has a question that he is eager to raise in the discussion period following the Bible study hour. Under the pressure of putting it into words, because of his excitement and embarrassment, his pulse beats high. But finally he takes this pounding heart of his into his hands, stands up, frames his question and lets himself speak out freely with a couple of critical objections.

Now you should see how the young theological "pro's" feel summoned to the lists. With lances lowered and at a rattling gallop, with their lips painfully locked, hardly repressing a howl of triumph, they pounce upon him. Then the technical terms fly around the uninitiated ears of the unhappy layman. Then rattle upon him words like "synoptic tradition", "hermeneutical principle", "realized eschatology", "prophetic foreshortening of the time perspective", "here and now", "ever and ever", "legitimate and illegitimate", "presupposition" and "toward what end", so that he hastily runs for cover, with one hand held up to protect his face the other raising the white flag.

And so they easily suppose that this truce, owing to helplessness, is victory and that they have convinced the other man. But in fact, instead of winning him over, they have merely applied a kind of shock therapy - only it was never "therapy". They have smothered the first little flame of a man's own spiritual life and a first shy question with the fire extinguisher of their erudition. By such performances a person can really be smothered and strangled!

The student was in bitter earnest. Whoever is in earnest instinctively reacts with unusual sensitivity. And this instinct makes him say quite rightly: "Although my fate and my life were at stake, those others came at me with their routine. I found in them no trace of life or truths learned by experience. I smelled only corpses of lifeless ideas. I would rather go back to the less rigid young heathen. Granted that they haven't much to say to me, and that that little is probably wrong, at least it is genuine. I was looking for a Christian in whom I could detect a flame. I found only burnt-out slag. Maybe there was a glow underneath, but I am just so unused to it that I wouldn't see such hidden fire."

Here we see that a lack of humility, understanding and love can push someone away from learning about the only true faith that saves eternally. This is something that I can identify with as I recall being driven away by the lifeless corpses I saw growing up in the Catholic Church. It is also a reminder to me in my now Protestant Church, not to be discouraged as the flame continues to grow in my heart and to be especially sensitive to the lives at stake around me.

How will the Church bring the Gospel message of hope, faith and love into this "dictatorship of relativism"?

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Liberal Principles III

“Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! ... I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775

Liberal Principles I
Liberal Principles II
1. A god has no control nor exerts any influence in the world today, whether he created the world or not
2. War is never the answer
3. Don’t trust your government
4. Government should play a limited role in the enforcement of morality, but a major role in the enforcement financial equality
5. Morality is relative to the personal choice of the individual and there should always be a safety net against the consequences of those personal choices

I have been on a bit of a hiatus talking about politics here and I have certainly not been following through on my series on “Liberal Principles” the way I had planned. My wife reminded me of this a week ago, as we talked about some issues. Also, seadragon’s post on Building up Democrats and some other Baltimore Bloggers political comments just sparked a desire to continue along this path I started.

Liberal Principle #2 War is never the answer

Now I venture into this principle knowing that many liberals would argue that they don’t oppose war, just the President’s use of it. I would suggest that if they were stay consistent on that point they would oppose every major conflict our country has faced.

This is not a post to debate the finer points of the Iraqi war, but looking at the over-arching principles behind the drum beat against it. To maintain a consistent worldview, I believe that being against this conflict leads to the ideology that war is never the answer.

Liberals, either purposely or inadvertently have become pacifists. Now that may not seem like an altogether bad thing, but a major problem is that injustice is ignored and justice is not served. Our actions have consequences and when you take those consequences away, you ask for major trouble. We see this very clearly in children that lack discipline. They never learned that they were responsible for their actions or that there were consequences for bad behavior.

In Scripture we see that the Apostle Paul exhorts the Galatians to be set free from the law by Jesus Christ. We see here a call for balance and a warning to both the pacifist and the war monger. “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5: 13 – 15)

To toe the line between absolute law and absolute grace, we seek freedom in Christ Jesus. We can not allow unrighteousness to go unpunished while at the same time we are exhorted to love and not destroy. It is a difficult balance indeed, but to indulge one over the other leads to folly.

War is never the desired answer to the question, but occasionally it is the answer for the day. With liberty in Christ Jesus there is no death.

Patrick Henry (1736 – 1799) - “Give me liberty...”
March 23, 1775 at St. John's Henrico Parish Church in Richmond

Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.
…
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

The War of Terror has already begun. The War on Terror is just beginning. We see the fruits of this already in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, etc. Where else are seeds of freedom being planted? With freedom from tyranny comes freedom of religion. The Gospel has prospered under tyranny and it prospers under freedom. My prayer is to see it prosper under freedom for all, because that is the true path to peace.

Buck's Musings

5	1

Tonight the Bird's secured themselves a second straight series victory against the Devil Rays. It is good to see them playing with some consistency against playoff teams and cellar dwellers the like.

Tonight's victory was spurred on by two-run double by Miguel Tejada in the top of the seventh-inning. I didn’t see this though because I was in the store picking up some groceries. However, while I was watching the game I heard one of the greatest Buck Martinezisms. “The biggest difference between the Orioles and the Devil Rays, is that from top to bottom in this Orioles lineup anyone of them is capable of taking it out of the yard at anytime. Lou Piniella knows that the Devil Rays need to string together 3 base hits and a passed ball just to scrap up one run.” That’s just a great line and had me rolling! Poor Lou, but unfortunately true.

Buck followed this musing up with, “They’ve proven that ground balls don’t go any farther at Coors field than anywhere else”. Pure baseball genius!

Close Encounters of the Google Kind

I had a discussion last night about connectedness with a friend. We talked about the thumb print of God being on all creation and the desire for each of us to be in relationship. For the Christian this is evidenced in our call to love God and to love one another. This is not the same connectedness that says, “We are all one, with the universe, with each other, with the chair.”

Recently, I experienced a reminder of this link in a very literal sense. Last week I received an email from someone who had come across my blog by Googling names of his co-workers. The entry in question just happens to be about the huge crush I had on one of his female co-workers in High School. Using her name, Heather Requard, in the entry it did occur to me that Google might pick up on this someday. I never thought it would be of any consequence though (of course I realize I just used her name again).

So I get this email from a guy that works with her and wants to know if I’d like him to share my entry with her. Disbelief? Oh yeah! I wrote him back telling him to do as he saw fit, but that I just hope she was doing well. A little while later I get my first email from her!

Disbelief?
Heart pounding in my chest?
Speechless?
Remembering what its like to be back in High School?
OH YEAH!!!

We have exchanged several emails now and caught up on the last 10 years some. I’m reminded of what a wonderful person she is. She seems to be genuinely happy in life and has now married a great guy. She is one of those girls that are hard to forget and her husband I’m sure is reminded of her beauty everyday.

That is what its like for me every morning that I wake up and look over at my wife. I am reminded of God’s graciousness in my life and the beauty of that truth that radiates from her.

Impulse Purchases

Stores these days really know how to play up the impulse purchase desires. They put all the yummy delicious, single serving candy by the cash register. Those little things that usually cost less than a dollar and its very easy to reason, “Sure why not?!” The tabloids with their eye catching headlines along with the magazines with their glitzy covers accompany the candy, so that more than just a sweet tooth can be soothed.

This is all part of our culture which is being driven more and more by consumerism. This is the attitude of accumulating, having, showing off and throwing away tons and tons of STUFF. Companies have learned better and better ways to market, package and convince us that we must have this or we need that. They do a great job of selling the idea that existing without these products is near impossible.

But the impulse purchases are the ones that generally fly under the radar screen and seem like no big deal. My wife and I went out to go grocery shopping and we came back with a new car. Those crafty salesmen had the car set-up right by the door and we couldn’t resist the impulse!!

Actually, we had little choice in the matter as we were down to being a one car family. My plan was to just to gather information on cars and take it from there. Well I gathered so much information on this particular car; I now have a title for it in my name! Why the spiel on consumerism than? We just attended a conference where that was one of the main topics of discussion. So we were noticing the irony of the very next day when we bought a car.

I pray that we are being good stewards of what the Lord has given us and that this wasn’t really an impulse purchase. We want to trust that the Lord will provide for our needs, we want to take responsibility for our choices that affect those needs. Lord do an amazing work in us today!

Heart Issues

It is easy at times to go through the motions of life with all the responsibilities we have, with all that we need to accomplish day in and day out. We can set it on auto-pilot and just forget about things. We learn what is expected of us, when it is expected, and sometimes why it is expected. We go through our day just trying to survive till the end.

Life can get pretty overwhelming at times and it becomes very easy to take the world onto your shoulders. This eventually leads to a mental and emotional overload and we can fall right into auto-pilot to deal with it. But what does this do to our hearts? What does this do to our relationship with God?

Do we trust in God at those times? Do we grieve when we sin if we have it on auto-pilot? Do we love God the way he calls us? Do we love those around us then?

Do not put your heart onto auto-pilot, Beloved, but draw closer to God and fall deeper in love with Him. Lord do an amazing work in us today!

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

And the winner is…

Last night as my wife and I boarded the elevator we were joined by an interesting cast. We were leaving the A’s romping of the O’s evening the series at 1 game a piece and the elevator was filled by other bewildered and perhaps drunken fans leaving the game. This obviously isn’t all that interesting; however, the future Miss USA 2005 boarded the elevator with us accompanied by her two chaperones.

For those that don’t know, the Miss USA 2005 Pageant is taking place in Charm City at the Hippodrome. It was announced back in October apparently:

The state of Maryland will host the 54th Annual Miss USA® Competition live from the historic, Hippodrome Theatre…
Baltimore has retained its sense of history, art and tradition, while carefully blending in cosmopolitan progress. With over one hundred community festivals, concerts, and events organized annually, more than 1.5 million visitors per year delight in the discovery of Baltimore’s charms.

These lovely ladies will be attending the finale of the Orioles/Athletics series tonight. Miss Maryland Marina Harrison and current Miss USA Shandi Finnessey will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitches. Along with Miss Alabama Jessica Tinney, Miss Montana Amanda Kimmel, Miss New Hampshire Candace Glickman, Miss Oregon Jessica Carlson and Miss Washington Amy Crawford who will be singing the National Anthem.

So Amy & I got home and tried to figure out who the future Miss USA 2005 was that rode on the elevator with us. As any good pageant goes there was one winner and two runner ups. It was a little difficult figuring out which one she was, but we think we have a winner.

UPDATE:
Looks like we were a bit off as Miss North Carolina USA, Chelsea Cooley was crowned MISS USA® 2005 last night.

Holy Blogger Meetup

Outmatched and under gunned, at least of the intellectual caliber, my wife and I attended the Evangelical Blogger Meetup last night for dinner. A slightly different crowd than the Baltimore Blogger Happy Hours, and yet both groups are fun to be around. I guess that can at least partially be attributed to the inner geek in all of us.

I am a very relationally driven person, so I always enjoy meeting new people and getting to know them. This has only increased for me since coming to Christ and learning the true meaning of fellowship.

I didn’t take a camera last night, but as I found out, my little 1 mega-pixel camera would have been outmatched too by the 6 mega-pixels. But I’m sure pictures will pop-up on some of these sites (my creative way of listing those that were there):

• David Wayne and wife AKA Jollyblogger
• Terry Pruitt and wife AKA Pruitt Communications & Big Red 5
• William Meisheid and wife AKA Beyond the rim…
• DJ Chuang AKA a place called home, Church Marketing Sucks, For Ministry
• Nathan Maphet AKA Intellectual Defenestration
• John Barr AKA Reflections, Murmurs, and Treatises

There may be a market for these things yet!