We can always count on Rush Limbaugh to bring us the most thoughtful commentary on the issues of our day. Check out this video and witness another shining example of his brilliance. The idea that African-Americans can’t swim seems to be a popular talking point with Republicans these days. Watching this video of Limbaugh scares me because I can see many conversations about Survivor around the office water cooler sounding a lot like this.
(HT: Media Matters)
I’m a huge fan of the show “Survivor” and I’ve watched the show religiously. I was getting pumped up for the new season starting this September but then I read this story on yahoo.com. Basically, the story confirms that the cast members will racially divided into four tribes. The twenty cast members will be separated into four tribes that consist of caucasians, African-Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. There will be five members of each tribe all of the same race and they’ll be competing against the other tribes (races).
Jeff Probst, the host of the show, called this “twist” a “social experiment” but it seems pretty obvious to me that this is just a very lame and irresponsible way to stir up publicity and ratings. I’m pretty disappointed.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Am I crazy to think this is a terrible thing for CBS to broadcast? If you are a fan of this show, will you still watch this season?
Bam!! Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, just kinda opened a big can of whup ass on the American mainline church denominations on his personal blog. I have to say that I kinda get what he’s saying but in the end I have to reject it. I don’t reject it because it’s a really dumb rant. I reject it because it’s simply not manly enough. I sorta hear what Driscoll is getting at, but he simply lacks the volume and bravado that I need from a pastor in order to fully accept what’s being said. It gets back to the details really. If only his truck was a ’73 Ford, a much more studly year and make than his girly ’78 Chevy. If only he would have headbutted his son rather than taking his more passive approach with the “knuckle-to-knuckle handshake”. If our young reformed believers are really taking thier faith seriously, can’t they take a little headbutt every once in a while? Also, that picture he uses of Jesus on this post almost looks like a girl! What’s up with that, Driscoll? Where’s the Jesus that’s leaning out of a window of a monster truck going 90 MPH firing an assault rifle into the air and screaming “WoooHoooo!!”?
Until Mark Driscoll can step it up and bring us the “shock and awe” that I know is deep down inside of his studly soul, I’m gonna have to wait it out while I listen to my Ted Nugent records.
This story makes me burst with pride. Only in Arizona would this brilliant plan be hatched.
If you are a Mac user and run iChat, then you have to check out this new iChat plug-in called Chax. It allows you to use tabs for all of your chats in one chat window. It also have a ton of preferences that make iChat a much better application than it already is.
Download here now, thank me later.
P.S. If any of you already knew about this but didn’t tell the rest of us, then you’re gonna end up here!
It’s so refreshing to have someone in the mainstream media speak up and remind the American public what’s at stake with the Bush Administration’s illegal suvielance of American citizens. At this point I’m not asking that the President actually make this country a better place. I’m simply asking him to not break the law and to respect the Constitution he took a sworn oath to uphold. You can download Judge Anna Diggs Taylor’s opinion here in .pdf format.
I can’t wait for the personal attacks this judge will be recieving from the Rovian pundit army.
P.S. It’s also nice to see someone on a news channel who’s not mindlessly reading from a prompter.
(HT: Crooks and Liars)
Did anyone else see this episode of Dateline on Sunday? It was an interesting look at pastor named Carlton Pearson who had built up quite an impressive pentecostal ministry with the help of Oral “900 Ft. Jesus” Roberts. While riding high with a wildly succesful ministry in Tulsa, he came to a different understanding of Hell and then proceeded to watch his ministry dwindle to next to nothing.
Pearson claims to have had a revelation of sorts that lead him to believe that hell is not a place we go after we die, but that hell is a part of our life now. In the end, Pearson began to teach that everyone would be redeemed after death and that the widely accepted view of hell that christians have held on to is not an accurate portrayal.
While watching this piece, I was really impressed with Pearson and his story and I related well with much of what he shared. Regardless of his views, it took a great deal of courage for him to push forward toward where he felt God was calling him, even though that meant loosing his ministry he worked so hard to build up. In that regard, it was a very inspiring story. Plus, the story has a little Ted Haggard action in it as well! It was fun for everyone, regardless of what views of hell you share! Gotta love Ted.
Hell is such an interesting subject. I’ve was taught as a child that it’s a real place you go to after you die when you’ve failed to accept God “into your heart” and it’s a lake of fire and that it’s really hot. As I’ve gotten older I’ve found that belief impossible for me to hold on to. If my failures as a human being require a seperation from God after I die, then the fact that some have to throw in hot flames to boot seems to undermine the agony of simply fully knowing you’ve failed to honor the one who has created all things.
I really enjoyed Brian Mclaren’s book “The Last Word and the Word After That” in which he discusses the issues of hell and judgement. In one section of the book he highlights the idea that the New Testament pharisees used the idea of a literal hell as a device of control and fear as they propagated their Jewish purity system (a system Jesus came to dismantle). I can certainly see a parallell between the pharisees of the New Testament and the Ted Haggard’s of today. If hell isn’t a literal scary place of fire and pitchforks where people might go if they die, then the transactional gospel so many evangelicals offer up is rendered totally useless.
Lately I’ve been recording a great t.v. series hosted by Bill Moyers on PBS called “Faith and Reason”. On the show Moyers interviews various well-known authors regarding the issues of faith and reason. The guests vary on their perspectives but they all bring a very interesting perspective to the issue. Some of the guests include Martin Amis, Salmon Rushdie, and Mary Gordon.
I think my favorite guest so far was Mary Gordon. I think I most closely related to her perspective. She verbalized, very eloquently, many ideas that I resonated with. Here is one quote from her interview:
“Faith without doubt is just either nostalgia or a kind of addiction.”
If you haven’t checked it out, you can watch it online here.
Buy tickets here.
Zach Lind 
