Flag Football
Football season is here, and my five year old had his first practice in flag football this afternoon. I must say I haven’t laughed that hard in quite some time. It was a mixture of pride and joy watching him enjoy himself so immensely. I’ll have to teach him the proper form for jumping jacks (he looked more like he was trying out for Dancing with the Stars) and his only exposure to push-ups were from a Spongebob episode. But, for an hour he ran like a boy possessed and laughed the whole time. That’s all that matters at five years old. I’m so jealous 
Review – The Faith of Barack Obama
Please define the following – Christian Democrat.
Having a hard time? Then I would guess a read through The Faith of Barack Obama (by Stephen Mansfield) is something you should do before November 5. If you have ever read Senator Obama’s speech to the Democratic Convention in 2004, you may have noticed a line that was swallowed whole by the rest of his speech. “We worship an awesome God in the Blue States.” Mansfield grabbed onto this almost invisible and unheard line and turned it into an interesting book which has piqued my interest in Obama.
I haven’t shown a lot of interest in Obama so far in The Monday Nut, as is the wont of a blogger…I had mentioned in previous posts that his delivery technique was a well-rehearsed amalgamation of Bill Cosby and Christopher Walken…and I mentioned that he was the only Reaganesque character in the race (talk about how great America is, then talk about how to make it better). However, I’ve always seen Obama as just another liberal idealist who believes his moral compass always spins in the right direction (toward Valhalla). Mansfield made a music analogy in the book when he intimates that Obama (and much of his generation) does his faith “like jazz.” Mansfield is trying to get the point across that Obama’s faith is multi-faceted and takes inspiration from myriad sources…To get my point across as to why I haven’t paid much attention to Barack Obama, I’ll “sample that riff” and say Obama is like jazz in every way. It’s the same old standards being played over and over again…he’s just got a better saxophone, a nicer stage presence, and the guts to change a couple notes here and there. But, it has always still sounded like “Star Dust” to me.
Obama is a liberal, no questions asked, and though Mansfield seems to swoon at times in the book, he is smart enough to take on the tough issues that surround what he sees as an up-and-coming movement on the American Left to wrest Christianity from the Right. For instance, how can one claim to follow the teachings of Jesus in his private life, yet still fully support partial-birth abortion in the public arena? It is one of many instances in the book elucidating how Obama struggles to worship the God he came to accept as his savior and also worship the “state” itself, all while building a massive wall between the two.
Mansfield spends a considerable amount of time on Obama’s membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ, trying to explain why the Senator allowed himself to be mentored by the newly anointed fire-brand Jeremiah Wright. I like many others reacted negatively to the ideas purported by Reverend Wright, but at the same time, I have never supported any minister sullying the pulpit with politics regardless of his denomination or political leanings. The two chapters on Reverend Wright and Trinity United alone are worth the price of admission. Mansfield makes a valiant attempt to tell us “The Rest of the Story” and I found my opinions of Wright tempered. Every man has his failings, whether he is a “man of the cloth” or not. The list of positives attributed to Wright is long… I also understood why Obama struggled with his decision to distance himself from a church he had been a member of for 20 years. One does not make such a decision lightly (or at least shouldn’t).
It is clear that Obama is a man torn between many things. Mansfield has written the definitive book on the spiritual journey of this junior senator from Illinois, a man we hardly knew just two years ago. As he says in the opening of Chapter 3: Faith Fit for the Age, “Men find God in varying ways, even within the Christian fold. For most, faith comes in a progression, through a layering of truth over time. I have walked much of the same roads as Barack Obama, and much of this book contains personal truths. I would surmise this is true for almost every person of faith. There are many questions to be asked and many answers to be understood. I do not envy Obama as he tries to balance his faith with his political ambition. In the end, it could be his undoing…because as Mansfield points out, in some cases, he is fighting against both sides of the political spectrum simultaneously.
If for no other reason than to better understand the man who might be the next President of the United States, I highly suggest this book. It is well written and (gasp) for the most part, objective. As I mentioned earlier, Mansfield seems to swoon in parts, but still presents all the issues we’re thinking about in a frank and honest manner.
In his blog post about why a Christian publisher (Thomas Nelson) decided to publish this book, Mike Hyatt (President & CEO) claimed the agenda of the book was: “to explain Obama’s faith, to put it in historical context, and to explore what it might mean for our collective future.” Mission accomplished, and more.
The Pastor with GUTS
I receive a lot of email with stories that turn out to be urban myth…we all do. Whether this one is true or not doesn’t matter to me one bit. Agree or disagree with the gist of it, there are truths in here. Enjoy…
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It seems prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard: ‘Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ‘Woe to those who call evil good,’ but that is exactly what we have done.
We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.
Amen!’
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa and Korea .
The Faith of Barack Obama
I’m interested… A recent reading of Joe Wikert’s Publishing 2020 blog led me to an opportunity to receive a copy of the new book, The Faith of Barack Obama and the opportunity to review it here at The Monday Nut. Now, I’m sure my conservative friends are saying, “are you nuts?” Maybe so. However, if you want a shot at getting a copy to review, you can contact the publisher and ask for one…but you have to promise to blog about it. Yesterday they were offering 100 copies to bloggers, but updated it today to 200 so hurry if you want one.
Anyway, I keep hearing the following…”Obama is an unknown.” I find that slightly hard to believe since he has actually published two pretty stellar performers (from a publishing standpoint) and he hasn’t exactly been hush-hush about what he believes. But, I think this opportunity to understand his faith (and the process of its growth) is critical to understanding him as a person. I believe strongly that a man’s faith, and whether he chooses to follow it, is one of the best ways to know him. Therefore, I will be reading this book with as open a mind as possible.
Will it change my mind on how I will vote this November?
No. Simply based on his liberal beliefs and the fact that I keep hearing the word TAX out of his mouth. However, I hopefully will know the man who would be president a little better and perhaps get the chance to hear some things contrary to the constant musings of the media.
Nancy Pelosi Blocks Insulin Production Bill
August 1, 2008 (Washington, DC)
Majority party leaders in Congress this week continued to fight against calls by health advocates and diabetics to increase production of insulin in America in an effort to calm the skyrocketing price of the critical medicine. Over 85% of the synthetic human insulin used by diabetics is produced outside of America and as the demand for the treatment continues to grow here in the United States, diabetics are finding it more and more difficult to afford something they need to stay alive.
When asked by reporters why they did not support increasing production of insulin in America, the Speaker of the House responded with multiple reasons. “First, the current administration has done nothing to educate the American people about the dangers of becoming insulin dependent. They have just sat by and watched as America has gotten fatter and fatter and did nothing as the American pancreas deteriorated. They have made no moves to create a situation where alternatives to insulin are more readily available and I am convinced that their association with Big Medicine has been the reason why. Second, the production of insulin is shown to cause damage to the environment and I am trying to save the planet. We can’t just start producing insulin here like the days of old. It has been shown time and time again that insulin production will cause mass extinction of myriad species. Third, Americans with diabetes need to stop being so dependent on insulin. They need to reduce their usage and conserve what they have. I mean, there are people who use insulin three-four times a day! We cannot continue to support such rampant use. Last, there are many alternatives to insulin that must be developed more. Herbal remedies for diabetes have been shown to be effective, yet, as I have said at least ten-thousand times, the current administration has done nothing to promote their development or use.”
When confronted with the facts that insulin is a critical medical treatment, and that the majority of American believe that increasing insulin production is a critical need the Speaker said “I am not going to be diverted for a political tactic from a course of action that has a big picture view. We need to look at the root causes of our insulin dependence, come up with an action plan, and put it into motion over the next 30 to 50 years.”
Minority leaders in Congress are hopeful that this issue will be detrimental to the majority party in November.
Okay…So this is a farce base on a current news story. But, isn’t it glaringly apparent that oil is the driving force of our economy..our critical medicine per se? Yes, we should be developing alternatives, but all the political blustering is ignoring the fact we need to become less dependent on foreign oil as soon as possible. How much pain do we need to endure before people like Nancy Pelosi get it? Or is she just so hell-bent on making Bush look worse that she can’t think about the real ramifications of blocking drilling? I hate the fact that one person can have so much power in Congress. Not only does she get to block a vote (which she knows she will be on the losing side of) she gets to blather on about why… Ugh, my kingdom for a sharp instrument to poke into my aural canals.
Look, when 51% of Californians think we should drill for oil…THE WRITING IS ON THE WALL. Madam Speaker, you need to let the vote go. Your arrogance in believing you are saving the world is beyond comparison and smacks of the writings of certain Eastern European leaders from generations past.
