Free Republic

I cannot remember the name of my kindergarten teacher. I cannot remember the names of any of my first grade classmates. However, I have a very vivid memory of the only word I messed up in a first grade reading group: cupboard. I read, “Cup board.” Old Mother Hubbard would have been dismayed. In the same manner, I remember the word that brought my spelling bee prowess to an end in sixth grade: restaurant. Silly things of no importance, and yet, such memories remain and can carry a sting with them. They are sorts of things that nurture and build...

The Neo Pharisee, Tovia Singer has employed a very deceptive tactic in his all out assault on Christianity. He uses his mastery of the Hebrew language, which is indeed the language of the original scripture, to accuse early Christian teachers of distorting the texts of the Hebrew Bible, in order to cast doubt on long held Christian teaching on Jesus’s fulfillment of Messianic scripture. Obviously most Christians do not speak Hebrew, and though they may quote traditionally Messianic verses such as Isaiah 53, Psalm 22 and Psalm 110, they couldn’t answer a when challenged to debate the actual Hebrew. In...

The Word “Pharisee” has been very much overused in our church culture. These days, anyone who calls on Christians to take devotion, and Obedience to God seriously is labeled a Pharisee, and dismissed out of hand in this antinomian age. So also are those who call upon the church to exercise due discernment in this age of false prophets and other religious charlatans. Furthermore those who do not fall in lock step with the abominable “unconditional security” teaching are also called “Pharisees”. Most people who throw this name out have no idea what the real Pharisees represent, they just call...

Pious Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has a brother-in-law who seems to have had it up to here with his wearing his religion on his sleeve and scolding others. According to an exclusive interview in the Washington Examiner, which found the man out in the wilds of a small town in probably rural Michigan: "What we see is a modern-day Pharisee," said [Pastro Rhyan] Glezman, referencing the 1st-century Jewish sect that was notorious for demanding its followers adhere to an exhaustive list of trivial laws to earn God's favor. "Buttigieg is a person who's making up their own rules and regulations and, basically, if...

The new rules about annulment may well make of the Catholic sacrament of marriage – better said, of its indissolubility as perceived by the populace – a tragic farce. In a world in which most people think in term of “rights”, and think they have the right to get whatever they want, there will be no scarcity of people ready to (wink wink) lie to a priest willing to (wink wink) believe the lie, particularly in those dioceses in which the bishops will steer things towards a very frequent use of the “fast track” procedure; fast track for which a...

What Are You Becoming? By Francis Frangipane It is insightful to me that when Luke listed the twelve apostles, when he came to Judas Iscariot, he identified him as the apostle "who became a traitor" (Luke 6:16). Let me start with a question, a sincere question that may be the most important question you can ask yourself: What are you becoming? Judas Iscariot was an apostle "who became a traitor." This was a man who had been used mightily by the Lord to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers [and] cast out demons" (Matt. 10:8). Judas knew...

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.(John 3:1-2)John 3 is one of those bible chapters which in my view are of an essential nature to all who are seeking God, and in need of the salvation God offers. Jesus himself is the instructor, the pupil, (standing on this passage as representative for all seekers of God)...

“Is Paul Having a Pharisee Relapse?” (2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18)Today we come to the end of our series of readings from Paul’s letters to Timothy, and with that, to the end of Paul’s letters. For almost certainly, 2 Timothy is the last letter that Paul writes in his life--at least of the ones we have in the Bible. Paul is writing from his prison cell in Rome, during the persecution under Emperor Nero, and he is awaiting execution. Paul writes to his assistant Timothy, and as he comes to the end of this letter--and to the end of his life--Paul...

I have been called a Pharisee more times than I can remember. It goes with the territory. I host a conservative Christian radio talk show. I publicly defend the teachings and practices of the historic Church. I also publicly point out false teaching and practices in the Church today. For these reasons alone, some believe that I deserve to be called a Pharisee. But I'm not alone. Today, the label "Pharisee" is applied to many Christians just like me - perhaps you're one of them. We are Christians who cherish God's Word, the Church's historic Creeds, confessions and practices. When...

China's widening income gap threatening social stability: governmentMon Aug 22, 1:17 AM ET BEIJING (AFP) - China's rapidly widening income gap has reached dangerous levels, risking social instability by 2010 if the present trend continues, a government report warns. "China's growing income gap is likely to trigger social instability after 2010 if the government finds no effective solutions to end the disparity," the Ministry of Labour and Social Security warned in the China Daily. Su Hainan, president of the ministry's income research institute, found income disparity in China had reached the crucial "yellow" stage -- the second most serious in...

'NY Times' Editor Rips Book Review in Own Paper By E&P Staff Published: August 20, 2005 1:30 PM ET NEW YORK In what must be a first, the editor of The New York Times has written a letter to the editor ripping a recent book review in his own paper. The lengthy broadside by Bill Keller, executive editor, appears in tomorrow’s edition of The New York Times Book Review. Others, including Bill Moyers and Eric Alterman, join Keller in protesting the review of several recent books on the media by conservative legal scholar Richard A. Posner that appeared on July...

Researchers have finally found evidence for what good Catholic boys have known all along – erotic images make you go blind. The effect is temporary and lasts just a moment, but the research has added to road-safety campaigners’ calls to ban sexy billboard-advertising near busy roads, in the hope of preventing accidents. The new study by US psychologists found that people shown erotic or gory images frequently fail to process images they see immediately afterwards. And the researchers say some personality types appear to be affected more than others by the phenomenon, known as “emotion-induced blindness”. David Zald, from Vanderbilt...

If there is anyone who might possibly have an inkling as to what al-Qaida are up to, it is the Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein. He has not only spent time in prison with al-Zarqawi, but has also managed make contact with many of the network's leaders. Based on correspondence with these sources, he has now brought out a book detailing the organization's master plan. AFP Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is blamed for some of the worst terrorist attacks and hostage killings in Iraq. There must be something particularly trustworthy about the Jordanian journalist Fouad Hussein. After all, he has managed to...

The Multiculturalists' Anti-Anti-Terror WarBy Rabbi Aryeh SperoHuman Events | August 15, 2005 It would have been hard to imagine in 2001, when the U.S. began responding to Islamic terrorism, that one of the most difficult battles of the war would be overcoming the legal landmines laid by domestic liberals on behalf of the enemy.Amidst ambushes from terrorists in Iraq, our soldiers jeopardize their lives by hesitating prior to shooting, wondering, first, whether their self-defense will result in domestic liberal groups calling for their court martial or censure.Captured detainees withhold vital intelligence knowing that their release depends not on their willingness...

Al-Qa’ida Claims to have Killed Two Algerian Diplomats CENTCOM: On July 27, "Al-Rifi," a contributor to the "Islamic" forum of the Ana al-Muslim website, posted a statement issued by Abu-Mus'ab al-Zarqawi's al-Qa'ida of Jihad Organization in the Land of the Two Rivers [Tanzim Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn], in which the group announced the execution of two Algerian diplomats. The statement calls the nation of Algeria a “tyrant state,” and accuses it of “hurting Muslims and launching the war against them.” Posted to the Ana al-Muslim web site on July 27, 2005: Statement issued by Al-Qa’ida Organization in the Land...

SINCE the 2004 election, there has been much soul-searching and hand-wringing, especially among Democrats, about how to "frame" political messages. The loss to George W. Bush was painful enough, but the Republicans' post-election claims of mandate, and their triumphal promises to relegate the Democrats to permanent minority status, left political liberals in a state of panic. So the minority party has been searching, some would say desperately, for the right "narrative": the best story line, metaphors, even magic words to bring back electoral success. The operative term among Democratic politicians and strategists has become "framing." How to tell the story...

New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has claimed credit for all kinds of improvements in corporate behavior -- better ethics, fewer "conflicts of interest" -- that are said to benefit shareholders. He's now getting a spirited rebuttal to those claims regarding his biggest target -- insurance giant AIG and its former CEO Hank Greenberg. It comes in the form of a white paper from Mr. Greenberg's legal team examining the charges of bad accounting at AIG on the ex-CEO's watch. We've seen a copy of the paper, which is now in the hands of regulators, and it makes a compelling...

True law, wrote Sir William Blackstone, is fixed, uniform and universal. That is, it is not dependent on time, the person to whom it is being applied, nor the place in which it is being applied. It applies at all times, to all persons, and in all places. Today, what passes for law is none of those. It ebbs and flows depending on who is involved, where it is raised, and who sits on the Supreme Court. Who sits on the Court in turn depends in large measure on which political party holds the White House when a vacancy occurs...

Recently, a Wall Street Journal poll announced that both political parties—Republicans and Democrats—are now held in low regard by the American people. Usually if the fortunes of one party decline, the other party increases—sort of a zero sum game. Now, however, for the first time in polling history, both parties come up in negative territory. Why would this be? Well, the driver who took me to do a CNN broadcast recently gave me a hint. He didn’t know who Karl Rove was, and he didn’t know who all the people up on Capitol Hill were who were calling for his...

“My name is Michael Vocino and I like dick.” These were the words spoken by my philosophy professor, Michael Vocino, as he introduced himself to our class the first day of his Political Philosophy course. In the fall semester of 2003, I enrolled in PSC341, “Political Philosophy: Plato to Machiavelli” as part of my studies to earn my degree in Political Science at the University of Rhode Island. According to the course catalog, this class was about the “Major political philosophies from Plato to Machiavelli and their influence on such key concepts as justice, equality, and political obligation.” But Professor...