Mud Gud

Look around you
See the children play
Shaping images from mud

And pondering it lately,
Me thinks children likes messing with mud,
because God too delights in the mud

Phoney alert

Over the weekend, I listened to a good friend moan and moan about the lack of organic foods at their local supermarket. In their eyes it was "outrageous that the big supermarket chains were failing massively to provide wholesome and natural foods that would ensure our children are brought up healthily." Hmmmmmm... Really? I wasn't sure why I couldn't find myself agreeing entirely with this rant and then today I read this insightful post from Douglas Wilson and I think he gets right to the bottom of the issue...

One of our great problems today is that Christians have gotten caught up in our culture-wide quest for authenticity. We want our jeans authentic (pre-ripped at the factory), we want our apples authentic (grown locally instead of somewhere else), we want our music authentic (underground bands nobody ever heard of), we want our lettuce authentic (organically manured), we want our literature authentic (full of angst), we want our movies authentic (subtitles), and we want our coffee tables authentic (purchased from a genuine peasant while we were on some eco-tour or other). In short, we are a bunch of phonies. We are superficial all the way down.

For the full post see Superficial All the Way Down

Questions to an evolutionist

So there has been a storm in the US re Waltke's comments on evolution and his subsequent resignation. Many have written insightfully on this. Probably the best commentary to date on this whole saga is offered by legendary historian Carl Trueman. I particularly like the questions posed in the ultimate paragraph namely

whether evolution is consistent with biblical teaching, particularly Genesis 3, Romans 5 and I Corinthian 15. Which form of evolution is it at which we are looking (there being significant disagreements even within the scientific community)? What about the scientific objections of men like Michael Behe? And how come some people, with little or no scientific training, and who spend their lives telling us how difficult it is to understand messy, written texts - texts designed to, ahem, communicate in a relatively direct fashion -- seem to think that scientific data is univocal, unequivocal, and perspicuous on this point?

And then of course there was that brilliantly apt quote on the dangers of accommodating oneself to the prevailing age

Cultural acceptability is a cruel mistress.

This was an excellent post. Imbibe it here Link text and then ready yourself for some godly conversation next time you meet an evolutionist of either the pagan or theistic variety... Which leaves me to say "Be warned dear Timmy..."

Pun of the week

A thief attempted to steal paintings from the Louvre in Paris, but was caught 2 blocks away when his van ran out of gas. All the thief could say for himself was: “I had no MONET to buy DEGAS to make the VAN GOGH. But I tried for it anyway because I had nothing TOULOUSE!”

HT: Link text who reckon that this is only no 2 in the top 10 pun-chart!

Not so feminst after all

It is about 8 weeks to go today until I get married. I have to confess that as the day approaches I find that the struggles to remain pure have increased. So one solution which my fiance and I have opted for is to avoid spending time purely on our own. This has therefore meant that our recent catch up times have tended to be us going out for a meals. All good fun if not somewhat expensive.

Anyway a thing that I've noticed these last few times is how at the end of the evening, the person bringing the bill almost always hands me the bill. This evening was even more striking. Our waiter was a woman. Rachel - my fiance offered to pay so she asked for the bill. The waiter approached the table and handed me bill.

How interesting? Here we are in 21st century Britain with all the pundits telling us about equal rights and how we are to treat each other as equals and yet when it comes to those situations that ladies cherish and which would not really work to their interest, they somehow revert to doing things in the traditional (and biblical) way. Me thinks that the world is not that feminist after all or as Doug Wilson brilliantly puts it when discussing the issue of biblical leadership/submission "Arguing with the fact of the husband's headship in the home is like jumping off a cliff in order to quarrel with the law of gravity. Marshall the arguments on the way down however one likes, he will eventually find himself refuted in a messy way."

Image of the week

HT ASBO Jesus

Everything is possible

Continuing my musings on the wonder of the Resurrection, this thought from Leithart, really warmed my heart

If it [the Resurrection] really happened, then no situation and no person are hopeless. No marriage is beyond repair, no child beyond recovery, no pagan beyond the reach of the gospel, no sin beyond forgiveness, no womb permanently sealed, no one and nothing beyond restoration.

Doesn't that just make you smile? Look to Him now and smile.