Thursday, September 4, 2008

4 ’Elul 5768: Newspaper Carrier Day

Greetings.

Worthy cause of the day:

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:
  1. “Palin calls Iraq war 'a task that is from God'”: To quote:
    Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

    In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."
    I find this rather shocking on Governor Palin’s part. Palin, so far as I know, has not claimed to be a prophet, so presumably she does not have privileged access to knowing God’s will. Furthermore, nowhere in the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament does it say that it is our duty to fight in Iraq or build a natural gas pipeline.  Some clarification is in order on how she allegedly knows what God wants.
  2. Further disappointment with Palin:  Out of curiosity, I watched part of the Republican National Convention on TV last night, and I caught Palin’s speech.  For someone who is allegedly a good Christian (like almost every other candidate, it seems, these days), she was exceedingly untruthful about Barack Obama.  Now, it would be absurd to expect her to agree with Obama, and it is only natural to expect her to attack him (given the dismal state of American politics), but blatantly misrepresenting his positions (which John McCain has also done), especially on taxes, is not legitimate.  It says in the Decalogue, which despite the mainstream antinomian position of Christianity, Christians do seem to claim as binding, “You will not claim [anything] about your neighbor [as] a false witness” (Exodus 20:12).  Her lying about Obama is therefore un-Christian and requiring some sincere repentance.  The only excuse I can see is that Palin does not know Obama’s actual positions, indicating ignorance or stupidity, neither of which is desirable in a politician. Those interested in knowing the truth about Obama may wish to see Snopes.com’s data on urban legends about him; they also have a corresponding page on John McCain.
  3. “Floating church offers solace for traders”: Interesting approach.
  4. “Canceled Muhammad novel finds new publisher”: Thank YHWH! Down with the dhimmi mentality!
Today’s news and commentary:Today’s weird thing is “Making "The Fly" sing”. Enjoy (or be afraid, be very, very afraid) and share the weirdness.

Aaron

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