Critics Corner

I am sure I will raise the ire of applauding loyal fans, but I thought the new Indiana Jones movie was terrible. I am far from being a well versed movie aficionado, but I might rank it among the ten worst movies I have ever seen. Seriously, if it wasn't called Indiana Jones, I don't think anyone would go see it. Admittedly I was not a huge fan of the original trilogy, but this was just bad. I will refrain from mentioning any details in courtesy of those who might still want to see it. Or, you could just give me the $10 and I'll save you two hours of your life that you will never get back.

I also recently saw Prince Caspian. Even though it deviated significantly in parts from the book, it was still enjoyable to watch and I thought it was nearly on par with the first movie.

Obama = Mugabe?

Of course not, but that is apparently the image the Clinton campaign would like to establish in your mind when it comes to counting the votes in Florida and Michigan. Isn't it funny how one's perspective of fairness and justice can change so dramatically when the outcome affects your personal success in ways you hadn't imagined a few months ago?

Here's a better comparison for you: Clinton = Nixon.

Return

In case my absence has been noted, I was away for about a week and a half vacationing in Utah. I went hiking and saw a lot of rocks.

Hooray for rocks.

Nicknames

I think one of the things that makes me feel loved is the fact that over the years, and especially recently, I have accumulated a number of nicknames. The funny thing about nicknames is that only that particular group of friends or family members who dubbed you with the nickname will get it, so there is a very low transferability of the moniker. Some of my aliases have included

• Augie
• Stevis
• 12 Cent
  
• Most Excellent Steve
• Pastor Steve
• Stevehorse
• Mr. Chatham

Good times. So what's your nickname?

Political Humor

I saw this on Jeff's blog and thought it was kind of amusing. This one made me laugh.


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Obama's Right

When it comes to the hotly debated summer suspension of the federal gasoline tax, I definitely align with Obama's position on the issue. I think it is very foolish to forgo tax revenue directed towards infrastructure (which we already under-invest in as a country) when we are already running huge deficits for a negligible, temporary benefit. At an idealogical level, I have an even bigger issue with Clinton's proposal than McCain's.

I'm sure this puts me in an unpopular minority, but I don't think it's the responsibility of big oil companies to pay my taxes for me. I'm the one driving on the roads and bridges that have to be built and repaired, and I'm the one pouring CO2 emissions into the environment, so I should be the one who has to pay for it. I don't understand the argument that says that big oil companies are making a lot of money so they should have to pay my taxes. Is it Starbuck's responsibility to pay your sales tax on your coffee because they make a lot of money? Is it The Gap's responsibility to pay your sales tax on your clothes because they make a lot of money? Guess what? The last time I checked, ExxonMobil was not registered as a non-profit charity. They are providing a product that I need and want, they are the ones who bore the risk when oil was trading at $12 a barrel so they should receive their economic reward when oil is trading at $112 a barrel. If you want in on that action, all you have to do is buy their stock and you become a part owner of the company and get your share of those profits. That's how capitalism works.

There's a sad irony to this whole debate. Everyone is up in arms over a tax that costs a grand total of $.18/gallon (or for me about $7/month), but there has not been any discussion this election over social security which is going to go bankrupt soon and costs hundreds of dollars a month. Maybe we need to do a little better job prioritizing our political battles.

Indistinguishable

Today in our 1 Corinthians class, we talked about how one of the underlying problems with the church in Corinth was that the behavior of its members was essentially indistinguishable from the behavior of the culture surrounding it. Sadly, the same could said of the church today in America, as evidenced by a recent Barna Group survey.

The Role of Faith

Faith commitments sometimes play a role in what people do - but less often than might be assumed. In comparing the lifestyle choices of born again Christians to the national norms, there were more areas of similarity than distinction. (Note that in Barna surveys, the born again segment is not based upon whether a person uses that label, but based upon their profession of faith in Christ and confession of personal sin.) Born again Christians are more likely to volunteer for their church; however, they are no more likely than average to help the poor and homeless. Born again Christians were also among the least likely groups to recycle.

In evaluating 15 moral behaviors, born again Christians are statistically indistinguishable from non-born again adults on most of the behaviors studied. They are less likely to view sexually explicit movies and magazines, to use profanity in public, and to buy a lottery ticket. However, even in these cases, the gap between born agains and the norm is not wide - roughly one-third of the non-born again audience say they had engaged in the three activities compared to one-quarter of born again Christians.

My fellow saints, we can do better than this. Of course, it would help if we could all get on the same page with the fact that God does actually expect us to be holy. Unfortunately, it seems we can not even assume that as a starting point, as the Barna Group also explains.

Holiness is a matter embraced by the Christian Church, but it is not one that many Americans adopt as a focal point of their faith development. This is partially because barely one-third of Americans (35%) contend that "God expects you to become holy." A larger share of the born again public believes God has called them to holiness (46%) but that portion remains a minority of the born again population.

And so I will conclude this post with this reminder:

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." - 1 Peter 1:15-16

Thank You

For everyone who made today a wonderfully festive celebration, thank you!

Seriously, You're Not Just A Number To Us

Today, I was greeted by an e-mail with the headline, "Happy Birthday Steve #11984357#" It gave me all kind of warm fuzzies to know that I was not just a name, and not just a number, but a name and a number to company X.

Spend A Little, Save A Lot

So I just finished taking my 3 Year Refresher Defensive Driving course. If you have not taken a defensive driving course, I highly recommend it. I just paid $29.95 to take my course on-line, and it saves a substantial amount (10%) on my car insurance. Sure, it's a boring 8 hours or so, but you can save and return to it at any time so it's not so bad. It more than pays for itself in a very short amount of time, and you might even pick up a few helpful points. I used I Drive Safely.com for my course.