This coming week …

I’m not going to be here as much this week as usual. The boys are out of school, and they’re with me the whole week. So, I’ve got two sons and a daughter full time this week, and lots of things to do. Finishing our foamsmithed swords and shields (with the boys), reading, that kind of thing.

So, for this week I’m putting down a lot of the weighty matters.

My 11-year-old is reading “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” and my 9-year-old says that he doesn’t like to read. He and I are reading “The Qwikpick Adventure Society” together. I’m also reading to them “Over Sea, Under Stone,” the prelude to the “Dark is Rising” series. That, and we’ll be spending time in daily devotions, playing in the snow, and fixing the mailbox.

In any case … I won’t be around a whole lot, but I’m not retreating. I’ll be back …

Adam Discusses Huckabee

No, not that Adam.

This one.

It’s a pretty good look at the GOP nomination race and how the next few weeks might play out. I know what the math looks like, and I know that conventional wisdom is that it’s over already. Still, I think it’s worth looking at all of the options.

Some of us still haven’t given up, and we want Gov. Huckabee to stay in this. After all, there isn’t anywhere else for us to go.  If there’s no place to retreat, why not go down fighting?

A question about John 5

In my Bible study group Wednesday night, I found myself alone in a discussion, with everyone else interpreting words in a different way. Since I also found myself disagreeing with one woman’s study Bible footnotes, I’m considering a rant about those things … but I’ll pass.

Christian Carnival CCXII

Proving that he is always ahead of his time, Don posted the 212th Christian Carnival yesterday at the Evangelical Ecologist.

I encourage you to check it out. It’s always interesting stuff, and some of the best blogs are part of the Carnival weekly.

Rush Limbaugh vs. hope

I only listened to part of Rush Limbaugh’s show this afternoon, and that’s just as well. I listened to him talking about hope, and arguing with one of his listeners — a devoted and excitable fan who desperately wanted Limbaugh to understand that hope is not a bad thing, and certainly not a bad word.

This, by the way, illustrates the real problem that people of faith are going to have with unbelievers, even within the Republican party or conservative movement.

To Rush Limbaugh, “Hope is an Excuse for not Trying.”

Today, he was talking about a quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche, “Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torments of man.”

Bill Clinton lies about pro-lifers

I know, I know … I take three days off and come back with “Bill Clinton lies.” In other news, clouds are in the sky, it’s cold in February in New Hampshire, and I couldn’t carry a tune with a bucket.

A group called Students for Life of America showed up at a Clinton rally, and Bill Clinton lost his cool.

Clinton said, “You wanna criminalize women and their doctors and we disagree. I reduced abortion. Tell the truth, tell the truth, If you were really pro-life, if you were really pro-life, you would want to put every doctor and every mother as an accessory to murder in prison. And you won’t say you wanna do that because you know, that you wouldn’t have a lick of political support. Now, the issue is who, the issue is, you can’t name me anybody presently in politics that did more to introduce policies that reduce the number of real abortions instead of the hot air putting out to tear people up and make votes by dividing America. This is not your rally. I heard you. That’s another thing you need is a president, somebody who will stick up for individual rights and not be pushed around, and she won’t.”

Comments from a dead woman

“I still don’t know what my task is here on this Earth, but I know God’s not done with me yet. How else could you explain everything that has happened to me?” Rae said.

Rather eloquent, wouldn’t you say, for a woman who’s brain-dead and has no chance of recovery?

Well, that’s because Raleane “Rae” Kupferschmidt wasn’t actually hopeless.

Her doctors only thought she was. Might give you something to think about, no?

Priorities

My pastor told a story yesterday about a chaplain he met who was very adamant about saying that he is not a “black Christian.” He is, he said, a “Christian black.” The importance of that semantic argument is the adjectives change nouns, and become more important.

He raised some very good points about the nature of the massacres in Rwanda, in which tribal identity supplanted common faith. He spoke about the Christians in Palestine, conveniently forgotten by the Christian Republicans who support Israel without question; and many other groups.

Conventional foolishness

Not that they particularly matter anymore …

Remember all the people who said that Gov. Huckabee was just trying to play the spoiler to knock out Gov. Romney and Sen. McCain would win the nomination?

Christian Carnival CCXI

The 211th Christian Carnival was posted yesterday at Brain Cramps for God, and it’s done as the Valentine edition. I, by the way, did participate this week.

As ever, I would encourage you to check it out. I have met some of my favorite bloggers through the Carnival, and it’s always interesting reading.

The Carnival is for posts from a Christian point of view. They don’t have to be theological, and can be from any Christian perspective. Each week, posts are submitted from around the blogosphere and posted by hosts who graciously help out.