John Calvin

Calvin’s Legacy: Dour Autocrat or Democracy’s Hero? by David Skeel of the Wall Street Journal

The actor who portrayed Calvin in Geneva and the re-enacter in Boston probably would find one another ludicrously misinformed. Yet both capture and caricature attributes of the brilliant theological thinker who has never gone out of date and who was so concerned not to draw attention to himself that he insisted on being buried in an unmarked grave.

Current Events

Clinton Departs North Korea with Journalists from the Associated Press

Bill Clinton’s spokesman says the former president has left North Korea with two American journalists who had been held hostage.

Matt McKenna said late Tuesday that Clinton has “safely left North Korea with Laura Ling and Euna Lee.” He said they’re flying to Los Angeles, where the journalists will be reunited with their families.

Cash for Clunkers Becomes a Republican Target by Janie Lorber of the New York Times

From William Kristol – Editor of the Weekly Standard:

Instead of helping the legions of unemployed, the money is going to a “bunch of upper-middle-class people who have some cars sitting around from 12 years ago…Now they’re just accelerating their purchase to get 4,500 bucks.”

We Need Health-Care Reform by Charles Colson

From the article, “Christians have to reassert that there are transcendent standards of right and wrong. While some kinds of heroic care may be withheld in hopeless cases, it is wrong to intentionally take a life. Second, we must champion care for the poor and the weak. Bringing health-care reform to the forefront is the first step. But prudence—a classical virtue that looks objectively at complex situations and applies moral truth—is the third concern. How do we best allocate limited resources?

Gay Marriage, Democracy, and the Courts by Robert P. George – Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University and founder of the American Principles Project

…Following California’s Proposition 8, which restored the historic definition of marriage in that state as the union of husband and wife, a federal lawsuit has been filed to invalidate traditional marriage laws.

It would be disastrous for the justices to do so. They would repeat the error in Roe v. Wade: namely, trying to remove a morally charged policy issue from the forums of democratic deliberation and resolve it according to their personal lights.

Theology

The Sovereignty of God: Command and Ability – Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 by Steve Halbrook of Sovereign Foundations: Contending for Biblical Worldview

Doctrines of Grace: Categorized Scripture List from Monergism

God has recently given us the opportunity to discuss some theological issues with other Christians who believe differently than we do on a number of points, most notably the doctrines of grace. In such a circumstance, given the overwhelming supply of scriptural evidence that comes to bear on the topic, it seemed to me that the best approach would be a simple categorized scripture list: the fact that the entire paper would be scriptures, with the exception of a few brief explanatory notes, would underscore the truth that this is God’s own word and teaching; and the fact that it would be categorized would facilitate the ready comparison of scripture with scripture so as to lead one to a full-orbed understanding of the biblical teaching.

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I came across this article – It is the Narcissistic Middle-Aged, not the young who love Facebook and Twitter – earlier in the week and couldn’t but help nod in laughable agreement on the level of narcissism present in social media tools.

For Twitter to be patronised by young people, it would need to be far more purposeful than it is, more pragmatically useful. But instead, it was dreamed up by — and used almost exclusively by — the most self-obsessed, narcissistic, self-important generation that ever walked this earth, the generation which is forever poised just outside the confessional ready to divulge personal information of great weight to the whole world (‘I have just tied up my shoelaces. I did the right one first. And then the left’).

My guess is that most of the newish internet sites which pander to this epic sense of self are patronised by this benighted and terminally clingy generation.  Facebook, for example, which actually began at Harvard University as a means for students to keep in touch with one another, is now overwhelmingly populated by the relentlessly jabbering middle-aged, importuning one another to be their friends.

What’s your thoughts?  Do you see that narcissism fuels such social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, or perhaps Blogging?  Also, do you think that such sites encourage the development of relationships or further lend to treading shallow waters in friendships?

Read More

In light of this article, you may also be interested in reading Jean Twenge’s The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement.  From Booklist:

The authors distinguish between self-esteem and narcissism, drawing on scientific research, but focus on narcissistic personality traits “among the normal population” and cultural narcissism that goes deep into social values. The authors debunk myths about narcissism—that it is necessary in order to be competitive and that narcissists are actually overcompensating for low self-esteem…The authors argue that the nation needs to recognize the epidemic and its negative consequences, and take corrective action. Individuals can start by practicing gratitude, and parents can teach their children friendship skills, with the emphasis on others rather than self.

Finally, for those of you who would prefer to listen to something instead, check-out The Narcissism Epidemic from the White Horse Inn.

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