Deus Misereatur

Fahrenheit 451 , written by Ray Bradbury, is another work in the long line of Dystopian fictions. It was published in 1951, and the feel of the Cold War is still evident, especially at the end of the story. But much that it pictures and describes feels very up-to-date. Wall-sized TVs on every side of the living-room ear buds cranking out music day and night, rush and hurry everywhere, elevation of entertainment - even real life-and-death moments being displayed on the big screen TVs for entertainment purposes (sounds like The Hunger Games), etc. A seminal statement in the book is the scene where Captain Beatty is explaining to Guy Montag, the reason for the demise of books, and what is the purpose of life: "There you have it, Montag. It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no! Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God. Today, thanks to them, you can stay happy all the...

I was blown off my feet this evening. A mother of a young girl sent me this email: "I just downloaded your Ruth series, per" our daughter's "request, for her to listen to at night while going to sleep." Also "we listened to the one on Tragedy over the weekend. I was amening all the way through. ( . . . ) Job is such an encouraging book when looked at from the right perspective." Wow! I'm floored!!! You can find the "Tragedy" sermon here: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=52813103185 The Ruth Series is here: Naomi - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=422131139331 Ruth - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=429131215591 Boaz - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=56131139591 Yahweh - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=513131048180

Recently, Huffpost Gay Voices (Posted 06/06/2013 and updated on 06/07/2013), relayed that three scholars had written an Op-Ed piece in the Des Moines Register, where they denied that the Bible mandates monogamy (you can find the HuffPost piece here ). The authors, Hector Avalos, Robert Cargill and Kenneth Atkinson, are teachers at three Iowa universities, Iowa State University, University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa. If the Huffpost piece is accurate in its reporting, then it appears that these scholars come at the Bible with a priori suppositions that are, at the worst, hostile to the Bible, and at the least, simply taking the Bible as disparate, independent works that are stitched together; that the authors are approaching the Bible with the flatness of a flagrant fundamentalist, ignorant of style, genre, and literary variety, as well as social environment. In other words, the Huffpost writer is processing and promoting the Avalos-Cargill-Atkinson Op-Ed piece throu...