Friday, July 3, 2009

Beware of lobsters

Greetings.

Jewish date:  11 Tammuz 5769.

Today’s quasi-holiday:  Stay Out Of The Sun Day.

Worthy causes of the day:  “YOUNG ISRAEL MOVEMENT LAUNCHES INDEPENDENCE DAY PRAYER CAMPAIGN FOR CAPTURED AMERICAN SOLDIER” (demanding actions from our politicians might also be a good idea), “Stop Toxin-Laden Wastewater Dump in Our Streams!”, and “TELL YOUR SENATORS:  IT'S TIME TO INVEST IN AGRICULTURE”.

Relevant to Divine Misconceptions:
  1. “The Paradox of Evangelicals”:  Rav Boteach notes a discrepancy in evangelical thinking on redemption, i.e., trying to hold by a later Christian view of salvation only through grace yet also an older Jewish view of salvation through one’s own actions and taking responsibility for them.  This clash is being played out in the Mark Sanford (governor of South Carolina) scandal, with the governor trying to take responsibility for his mistakes (to be polite about it), and his wife Jenny being a lot more forgiving than Mark arguably deserves.
  2. More religious intolerance:  “Somalia: Islamists Behead Two Sons Of Christian Leader” (yikes!).
  3. Obvious inconsistency:  “CoE school pupil banned from wearing crucifix while Sikh pupils allowed to wear bangles”:  I frankly find the notion that there are “health and safety fears” from a student wearing a cross on a necklace a bit difficult, especially when the cross is worn so as to be under one’s top, making it difficult to catch upon anything.  Some statistics on cross-related injuries would be appreciated.
Today’s news and commentary:
Today’s weird thing is “Suddenly, George understood what the”:
funny pictures of cats with captions
Enjoy, share the weirdness, and Shabbath shalom.

Aaron

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