Reflections on God … Man … Life
In the wake of the successful takeout of bin Laden, there are some who say we shouldn’t criticize the president anymore. I say we give him credit where it is due, but we keep in mind his overall performance and not let one correct decision cloud our memories or lead us to think that in foreign policy and the war on terror, he is on target. In fact, I believe the following illustration is a perfect representation of where he… Read more »
It appears there is a direct line that can be drawn between the enhanced interrogation tactics used on captured terrorists and the trail to Osama bin Laden. Some continue to believe these tactics are too strong, but we should keep at least two things in mind: first, no one dies from waterboarding; second, it was very effective and has helped save lives. Isn’t that much better than the way some countries deal with those who attack them? What would critics… Read more »
I’ve had a couple of different questions directed at me after the news of Osama bin Laden’s death. Let me use my post today to give my perspective on these questions. One of the questions is ancient—not new at all—dealing with the concept of a “just war.” There has been a strand of Christian thought that rejects the idea that any war is just. This viewpoint, normally labeled pacifism, says it is always wrong to take up arms regardless of… Read more »
One day in the late 1960s, when I was in high school, somehow—and I don’t remember the details—I came across a book that made a major impact on my thinking and my understanding of a relationship with God. It was a book that also took me into a world of which I had no knowledge. It was called The Cross and the Switchblade. It was the story of a rural minister in Pennsylvania who sensed that God had called him… Read more »
I’ve never wanted to use this blog as some sort of personal diary of my family’s life, but sometimes events are worth mentioning. I hope you will indulge me today. My wife, Jan, was recently diagnosed with a very aggressive breast cancer. She has now begun chemo treatments. We expect surgery to follow later. When something like this occurs, one certainly must do what the name of this blog enjoins—ponder principles. As a Christian, I view all of life as… Read more »
I’m glad President Obama is an American citizen. Otherwise, we would have had a major constitutional confrontation on our hands. There would have been a multitude of voices declaring that the provision in the Constitution that requires the president to be a natural-born citizen is discriminatory and should be ignored. The saddest part is that they might have won with that argument, given our national ambivalence toward fidelity to our Founding documents. So Obama has met the minimum requirements for… Read more »
I haven’t said anything about education for some time, so I’ll enter that territory briefly today. Fortunately, the teachers’ unions can help us understand our current state of affairs. A little commentary on how those unions operate can perhaps show us how we ought to reform our education system. Or perhaps not. Hmm … could it be that some of the problems we’re experiencing could be because of the teachers’ unions? As someone who has taught at the university level… Read more »