25 Years Ago Today

 The images and stories of 25 years ago are flooding back, and still hard for me to see and hear. Such tragedy and horror.

Lord, please be with all whose sorrow and loss envelops them. And may God comfort and strengthen resolve in His people to cleave to His love and care. 

Reflecting

 Twenty-four years ago. We remember and pray for God's comfort and peace for all impacted.  Lord have mercy! 

Remembering Anew.

 23 years later.  Remembering with sorrow. Grateful for His hope. Praying anew for a world to change.

Still Remembering

 Twenty-one years ago. The horror and sadness. May the Lord confort those who remember and mourn.

9/11 20 Years Reflection

 Reflecting on 20 years since 9/11 and remembering that day when TVs were wheeled into the library and I caught a glimpse of the tragedy unfolding on a library tour, and then later on the communal dorm TV. 

It was a public event and shared event of shock that still strikes horror and sadness. May the Lord comfort those who mourn.

Reflection

Fifteen years.

Lord have mercy.

Christ is Risen!

The tomb is empty! Christ is Risen!

Quote of the Day

 

"The iguana falls under the exotic animal bylaw in Quinte West, meaning they are not allowed to be kept as pets within city limits. The bylaw also includes exotics like hyenas, all carnivorous fish such as sharks and piranha, venomous animals, plus elephants and walruses to name just a few.

“People need to know that these animals are illegal here,” said Price Morris of Quinte West Animal Control.

 

Noted.

 

Source: Emily Mountney.  "Escaped iguana captured in Trenton" The Trentonian.  Sept 6, 2012.  Accessed 9 Sept. 2012.  Available: http://www.trentonian.ca/2012/09/06/escaped-iguana-captured-in-trenton

 

 

Quote of the Day

For the most part, your television is not consciously attempting to alter your political beliefs. It is mainly transmitting an ethos in which greed is not only bad but the main wellspring of evil, authority figures of all kinds are often untrustworthy, sexual freedom is absolute, and social equality of all kinds is paramount. Within the moral universe of this culture, the merits of these values are self-evident. But to the large bloc of America that does not share this ethos, it looks like a smug, self-perpetuating collusion against them.

Source: Jonathan Chait, "The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy Is on Your Screen" New York Magazine. 19 August 2012.  Accessed 23 August 2012. Available: http://nymag.com/news/features/chait-liberal-movies-tv-2012-8/

 

On Liberty

So often when people look back at history they think to themselves how much more progressive (ie. better) they are than their ancestors.  Well, apparently our ancestors had that perspective as well.

"What these rules should be is the principal question in human affairs..Not two ages, and scarcely any two countries, have decided it alike; and the decision of one age or country is a wonder to another. Yet the people of any given age and country no more suspect any difficulty in it than if it were a subject on which mankind had always been agreed.  The rules which obtain among themselves appear to them self-evident and self-justifying. This all but universal illusion is one the examples of the magical influence of custom."

-   J.S. Mill

Source:   J.S. Mill, On Liberty. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., (1859), 1978, p.5.

Prayer

In all my affairs may I distinguish between duty and anxiety, and may my character and not my circumstances chiefly engage me.

Source: Valley of Vision, p. 78

Quote of the Day

“As a carnivore biologist, it’s cool."  Stephanie Dloniak says. “But as a homeowner with two kids, lions in my flower bed are a problem.”
Source: Lions invade wealthy Nairobi suburb. The Toronto Star.  29 April 2012. Accessed 29 April 2012. Available: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1168554--lions-invade-wealthy-nairobi-suburb?bn=1

1 Timothy 6:17-19

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty or riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich, in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

1 Timothy 6:17-19

He is Risen!

Christ is Risen!

Palash R. Ghosh on the lottery.


Playing the lottery is practically a religion among poor people in the United States. It is yet another corrosive addiction that preys upon the greed and hopeless dreams of those trapped in poverty.

A survey by Opinion Research Corporation for the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association, revealed that one-fifth (21 percent) of people surveyed thought the lottery was a practical way to accumulate wealth.

Source: Palash R. Ghosh, "Mega Millions Lottery: A Curse And Plague On The Poor" International Business Times. 29 March 2012. Accessed 31 March 2012: Available: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/321601/20120329/lottery-mega-millions-state-new-york-poverty.htm

Al Mohler on Gambling

Al Mohler on state-sponsored gambling:
The most insidious dimension of the problem is the role of government in legitimizing and promoting the gambling enterprise. Though outlawed until 1964, state lotteries now represent the most popular form of legal gambling. Turning vice into an economic virtue, these states take advantage of their most gullible citizens, while touting benefits the gambling revenues supposedly make possible.

Source: Al Mohler, "When the Accounts Are Called: A Christian Understanding of Gambling"  20 Feb. 2012, Accessed,
http://www.albertmohler.com/2012/02/20/when-the-accounts-are-called-a-christian-understanding-of-gambling/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlbertMohlersBlog+%28Albert+Mohler%27s+Blog%29

Quote of the Day

I first learned about Jeremy Lin, a Harvard graduate NBA basketball player who's a Christian, last week.  I love this observation from a columnist.
"It’s not just Lin’s ethnicity and improbable story that set him apart. There’s a joy to his game. He can’t help smiling after a good play. He’s having fun. The typical NBA player proceeds with a studied coolness. Lin wouldn’t be able to hide his happiness with a lampshade."

Source

Rick Morrissey, "Jeremy Lin bursts through the preconception barrier"  Chicago Sun-Times. 13 Feb. 2012.  Accessed 13 Feb. 2012. Available: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/10624746-452/jeremy-lin-bursts-through-the-preconception-barrier.html

Combating Poverty - For the Right Reason

A great quote in a Christianity Today article:

"In pragmatic America, we are often enamored of and motivated by pragmatism rather than simple obedience to Jesus. We are too often tempted to justify our existence on this planet by doing something "significant," by "making a difference in the world," so that we can go to bed at night feeling good about ourselves. But the Christian message is about a God who judges and loves us in our insignificance—that is, when our selfcenteredness has sabotaged our ability to make any fundamentally sound contribution to our lives or to others'. This God speaks to us the frank word that not only do we not make a difference in the world, day to day we threaten to make the world worse by our sin. But in Jesus Christ, he has judged and forgiven us through the Cross, and now he uses even our insignificant efforts to witness to his coming work in Jesus Christ.

What is that coming work? Among other things, it is the end of poverty. No,we cannot end poverty, but God can and will. From this perspective we see that our efforts to stem poverty have significance not because they make us feel better, but because they point to Jesus' final antipoverty program."

Source: Mark Galli, "The Best Ways to Fight Poverty - Really" Christianity Today. 10 Feb. 2012.  Accessed 11 Feb. 2012. Available: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/february/best-ways-to-fight-poverty.html 

 

Building His Church

Russell Moore wrote a fantastic article that the future leaders of the church may be her current enemies.

Whenever I’m tempted to despair about the shape of American Christianity, I’m reminded that Jesus never promised the triumph of the American church; he promised the triumph of the church. Most of the church, in heaven and on earth, isn’t American. Maybe the hope of the American church is right now in Nigeria or Laos or Indonesia.

Jesus will be King, and his church will flourish. And he’ll do it in the way he chooses, by exalting the humble and humbling the exalted, and by transforming cowards and thieves and murderers into the cornerstones of his New City.

So relax.

And, be kind to that atheist in front of you on the highway, the one who just shot you an obscene gesture. He might be the one who evangelizes your grandchildren.

Source:

Russell Moore, "The Next Billy Graham Might Be Drunk Right Now" 2 January 2012 http://www.russellmoore.com/

 

Gambling Away Reality

Drag our Leaf Icon above to your taskbar to bookmark TGAM in Internet Explorer 9.

Show me how

Please don't show me this again

Remind me later

Drag our Leaf Icon above to your taskbar to bookmark TGAM in Internet Explorer 9.

Show me how

Please don't show me this again

Remind me later

I inwardly groaned when I heard on the radio this morning that there is a new proposal to build a casino in downtown Toronto.  I have long-held that casinos (and gambling in general) redistributes wealth from the poor to the middle class and wealthy and in the process leads to significant societal problems.

The local residents who expressed concern on the radio about the casino were mostly worried that traffic levels would increase.  Perhaps. But there's a whole lot more at stake than congestion.   

The Globe and Mail had a live chat with an expert on gambling from the University of Lethbridge.  I was pleased he pointed out something that the people worried about more cars (and also the politicians who support revenue generating proposal), probably hadn't thought of.

"It is true that all government revenue is used for the good of the people. However, the important thing to remember about gambling is that it is a type of industry that simply involves a transfer of wealth, not a creation of weath (e.g., as you would have in a manufacturing industry). Hence, all this new revenue and employment has to come from other parts of the Ontario economy. The primary economic losers would be a) neighbouring casinos and slots at racetracks, b) other retail businesses in the Toronto area, and c) the citizens and city of Toronto, if the revenue contributed is not returned in equal measure in terms of provincial services. Furthermore, although there would be some economic gains for the very local area, this transfer of wealth creates social costs in terms of increased rates of addiction and a small increase in crime."

 

He continues,

 

"Only last point I would want to make concerns where the money is coming from. Governments always correctly point to where the money goes (i.e., to support education, heatlh care, infrastructure, and other good causes). However, we cannot ignore where the money comes from. Research shows that 1/3 of Ontario govt gambling revenue comes from gambling addicts (a much higher percentage just for casinos). Thus, raising money in this way become a potentially ethically problematic enterprise"

 

Source: http://live.theglobeandmail.com/Event/Discussion_The_Globe_talks_with_gambling_researcher_Dr_Robert_Williams_on_the_OLGs_Toronto_casino