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The Hypocrisy of Mayor PeteIf we are truly born-again Christians, then before we condemn sin in others we are to examine ourselves to see if we are in some way and degree guilty of what we condemn (and other sins), and repent, lest we be judged accordingly. (Matthew 7:1-5; cf. Romans 2:17-24) However, Pete Buttigieg majors on calling conservative Christians "hypocrites," meaning that what they say and support is contrary to what they profess to be, yet that is just what Buttigieg is blatantly guilty of by calling himself a Christian. For Scripture is the supreme definitive source of...

The left has done a 180 since its free speech heyday of the 1960s. What used to be anything goes, and protecting the First Amendment right to say controversial things, has morphed into a treacherous map of what you can and cannot say. Universities, which were once a bastion of free speech, have now become the most hostile areas of all. If you do not agree with the left — even if you are on the left — expect to be savagely targeted. You could lose your job, your career, and reputation over just one social media post. Not to...

News reports are featuring famous athletes, actors, and pop-stars being asked about abortion and gay-marriage. Often, they criticize Christians: "Doesn't the Bible say 'judge not'; who are you to tell people what they can, and cannot do?" Unfortunately, misrepresentation of this Scripture is common among the media and other groups who often misquote Jesus' words from Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that you be not judged." Ironically, few reference another scripture that also deals with judging, John 7:24. Here Jesus encourages His followers to "judge with righteous judgment." At first, these two scriptures may seem contradictory, but when we look at...

Just are the ways of God, And justifiable to men. – John Milton I saw an atheist's cartoon in which God is saying, "Now I will torture you forever for breaking some rules I made up – because I love you." As wrong as he is about Christian doctrine, I have to applaud the cartoonist for getting one thing right: He's holding God (or our beliefs about God) to account. Christians should do the same. When one of the pagan Gnostics invented a "good" god to replace the cranky, judgmental Hebrew deity, Christians pointed out that a god who's not...

Born-again Christians who are proclaiming the truths of God’s Word are increasingly being accused, especially by unbelievers, of judging them, against the admonition of Jesus, “Do not judge”, as if Christians are not allowed, much less instructed, to judge anyone or anything, ever. But, is that really what Jesus meant? Is that a valid accusation, or is it merely a ploy to mislead us and keep us from speaking out on current moral issues, so that they can freely contend for their version of moral truth without opposition?

“Don’t judge me!” shouted to obese mother of what I estimated to be a dozen ill-mannered proto juvenile delinquents. Her charming tats aside, she otherwise was a model of incivility, bordering disheveled as she stashed a poorly covered ’40 into a bag while fishing for her EBT card. Had she been talking to me I would have politely informed her that, yes, I’ll judge her and everyone else. I damn well hope people judge me as well. This modern disinclination to judge is as antithetical to normal social functioning as is socialism, and perhaps as evil. Relying on quaint tools,...

It was St. Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, who said, "Interficere errorem, diligere errantem" - Kill the error, love the one who errs. I have actually taken that as the motto for this Blog. Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council put it this way: "..it is necessary to distinguish between error, which always merits repudiation, and the person in error, who never loses the dignity of being a person even when he is flawed by false or inadequate religious notions. God alone is the judge and searcher of hearts, for that reason He forbids us to...

It turns out that criticizing Joel Osteen ruffles feathers. Perhaps this shouldn't surprise. His congregation is more than forty-thousand strong, his sermons air worldwide, and his book sales are stratospheric. He's got more than a few fans available to take offense at someone holding his feet to the fire. In response to my piece Friday, “The insufferable Joel Osteen,” several people said that I was “judging” Osteen, which is a considerable no-no. I was told I should be ashamed and that I should apologize.But not so fast. Is saying that a man is wrong “judging” him? “Judge not, that you...

While wine snobs have blighted the earth for thousands of years (you can bet there was at least one guy curling his lip at the vintage of Jesus’ first and best miracle), beer snobbery is a relatively young art, especially in the U.S. This is because every beer in the country once tasted exactly the same. Oh sure, there were Bud lovers and MGD aficionados who would swear they could tell the difference, but if you gave them a blind taste test, you’d soon discover they’d just keep asking for another “test taste” until there wasn’t any beer left and...

By now many of you have either heard about or read about the infamous sentence spoken by President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States -- Justice Sonia Sotomayor: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life” (From a lecture delivered by judge Sonia Sotomayor published in the Spring 2002 issue of Berkeley La Raza Law Journal entitled "Raising the Bar: Latino and Latina Presence in the Judiciary and the Struggle for Representation.”)...

Judging with Empathy This has been of concern to me since candidate Obama shared his criteria for selecting a Supreme Court Judge. Candidate Obama was forth coming regarding his criteria for appointing Supreme Court Judges. To recap Obama’s stated criteria : "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom," and "The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges." What made Obama’s revelation so startling was...

The True Lover Of God Mary Lindow Jun 25 2006 06:04PM THE TRUE LOVER OF GOD DOES NOT NEED TO BE LAVISHED UPON BY MAN THE PRESENT EVILS AND PRESSURES OF OUR TIME ARE NOT NEW TO GOD OR......TO THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD! The Bride of Christ has been either over stroked with false platitudes or has been allowed to be spoiled with a gluttony of self-love, self-analysis, and self-promotion. All members of the Lord’s Body, leaders and simple followers, have all had the virus of “I WANNA BE SOMEBODY” attempt to sidetrack and infect the human nature side...

PROPOSALS INVITED TOWARD A MORE CIVIL DISCOURSE RE RELIGIOUS FIGURES AT ODDS WITH VARIOUS SENSIBILITIES The current thread regarding Pat Robertson is but the latest in a long tradition of certain flavors of evangelical Christian and particularly Pentecostal/Charismatic religious figures being thoroughly shredded by what--90% or more of the posts--usually in the harshest, most hostile, even demonizing wording possible. It seems that when folks are perceived to be in such Pentecostal/charismatic categories, all bets are off, no holds barred--the most viscious attacks are the minimal Standard Operating Procedure. Instead of exhorting one another in Christian Love, the worst attitudes normally...

At times like this, I really, really, really love my job. You see, this is the semester that I get to teach Constitutional Law. I have 20 eager and vocal undergraduates (a large class, by my institution’s standards) currently enrolled. They’ve been primed by two rounds of Supreme Court nomination hearings, not to mention a very public and spirited debate over the scope and extent of the President’s inherent Constitutional power to wage war. They have facts. They have opinions. And they are ready, willing, and able to duke it out with their colleagues. Whee!  When we came to Hamdi...

Archaeology / Judging by these remains, the Tanakhic description is anchored in reality By Ran Shapira Unlike other cities from the biblical period, Bethsaida has been well preserved. Buildings discovered there indicate an organized and stable society from the 10th century B.C.E. A road paved with basalt stones, four meters in width, leads to the gate of the city of Bethsaida, which overlooks Lake Kinneret from the northeast. About 50 meters of the road were exposed during the most recent digging seasons at the site. Dr. Rami Arav says that an investigation with ground-penetrating radar revealed that the paved road...

For the first time in the 52 year history of the competition, everyone has the opportunity to vote for their favourite Miss World contestant.The audience vote will count for 50% of the final vote for Miss World 2002. From the week of 18 November to midnight on 6 December, anyone from around the world has the chance to cast a vote for their favorite constestant by Email.Send Emails with the mobile code of your contestant (phone promotion on the webiste -missworld.org) in the subject line to migmw@mailgwflytext.comEach vote entered by 6 December will be eligible for an all expense paid...