The entire climate change industry is a shameless tautology* designed to dupe people into thinking that the only solution is to give the government more power, regardless of the costs. These ghouls will exploit any tragedy, such as the Oklahoma tornadoes, to further their agenda. Don’t be fooled.
Via Moonbattery » Remembering When Tornados Were Caused by Global Cooling.
* No matter what happens to the weather or the climate, it is because you use too much energy.
Just Brilliant! Three Things Only a PhD Can Believe – read it for the explanations. It reminds of the quote by the philosopher J. Budziszewski: “Though it always comes as a surprise to intellectuals, there are some forms of stupidity that you must be highly intelligent and educated to commit. God keeps them in His arsenal to pull down mulish pride, and I discovered them all.”
Absurdity #1 There Are No Universal Standards
Absurdity #2 There Are No Essential Differences Between Men & Women
Absurdity #3 There Is No Clear Dividing Line Between Humans & Animals
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Study: Christians Who Tithe Have Healthier Finances
. . . researchers compared tithers to non-tithers using nine financial health indicators, and found that tithers were better off in every category. “The weird thing is, a tither looks at that and says to himself, ‘Well I’m better off because I give.’ A non-tither looks at that and says, ‘Oh, they give because they’re better off,’” said Brian Kluth, the founder of the study.
The Takeaways: Some of the more interesting findings from the study include:
• 77% of those who “tithe” give 11%-20% or more of their income, far more than the baseline of 10%.
• 97% make it a priority to give to their local church.
• 70% “tithe” based on their gross income, not their net.
• 63% started giving 10% or more between childhood and their twenties
• Tithers carry much less debt than most people and are financially better off than Christian non-tithers—80% of “tithers” have no unpaid credit card bills; 74% have no car payments; 48% own their home; and 28% are completely debt-free.
• What keeps non-tithing Christians from giving: 38% say they can’t afford it; 33% say they have too much debt; and 18% said their spouse does not agree about tithing.
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Has anyone tried the 7 minute workout? Here’s an article about it and here’s an animation you can follow. At a minimum it looks like a decent workout if you are short on time or traveling and don’t have equipment. Potential buzzkill: The original article mentions repeating it 2-3 times. Hat tip: The Christian Alert.
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Triage: Obama Summons Media Lapdogs to Secret White House Meeting – I’m not surprised, but you would think that at some point these “journalists” might have just a tiny bit of shame. But Obama owns them.
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What Christians Do About Modern-Day Slavery
1. Pray for the victims.
Pray for the estimated 27 million slaves in our world today who are in bondage within affluent countries like America to Third-world countries like Haiti.
2. Raise awareness.
Raising awareness about this issue may not sound like an action point, but it is an extremely important component in tackling slavery. People need to know that this is happening, so it can be reported and prosecuted. . . .
3. Don’t look at porn.
As evil and degrading as pornography is, here’s another reason to never look at it. Porn is part of the problem. If you are looking at pornography, you are perpetuating the satanic industry of sex trafficking. . . .The authors show various connections between pornography and sexual exploitation. Many of the individuals who appear in pornography are slaves. They have been trafficked, drugged, manipulated in some way, and are forced to be part of this wicked business.
Then there are the forces of supply and demand, and the way that pornography creates more and more demand for the commercial sex industry. Pornography is like the gateway drug. People get addicted, and then they want something more. Pornography fuels prostitution (heightening the demand for prostitutes), and a higher demand for prostitutes means more lucrative opportunities for pimps, which means more women and children exploited by them for these purposes. So if you’re looking at porn, even if you’re not paying for it, you’re showing the advertisers and producers of pornography and all those involved in the sex business that demand is high, which then motivates them to shame and exploit even more people.
Think about that the next time you’re tempted to click on that website. Your momentary “pleasure” is contributing to the absolute devastation of women and girls and boys around the world.
4. Use your gifts.
What are your particular gifts and abilities that you could apply to the problem of human trafficking? There are many different sides to this, and many ways to address it. There’s the political aspect. We need stricter laws against these crimes. . . Lawyers need to vigorously prosecute these cases. Police officers need to know how to deal with these cases, so that a girl doesn’t go to jail because she’s assumed to be a voluntary prostitute, when in reality she’s a sex slave. Business professionals can address the issues of poverty that make many susceptible to being exploited. Doctors and nurses can help to care for victims of human trafficking.
. . .
5. Men, take a stand.
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Northwestern student govt nominee’s confirmation blocked because he is a ‘heterosexual white male’ – Gotta have diversity! Which means none of you white heterosexual males!
The same thing happens in corporations. The “diversity” organizations at Compaq and HP were the least diverse groups in the company. They were all black females, except for one guy, who was a gay black. I know a Liberal who did a magazine cover photo for a diversity group and she sheepishly admitted the same thing: It was all black females. If I were in their position I would have been insulted. They didn’t have any prominent roles in the rest of the company.
Ironically enough, our Christian Employee Network Group (which Compaq officially approved and HP did not — even though they approved the gay groups) was the most diverse group in the company. At some lunch time Bible studies I led we would have great diversity in ages (literally 20′s through 60′s), races (black, white, Asian), disciplines (accounting, manufacturing, etc.), levels (administrative coordinators through directors), and even denominations. All the other groups were as homogeneous as could be.
Worse yet, how does this square with Christian organizations being forced to include non-Christians as members? Note that this guy isn’t asking to be in a gay group, just a “diversity” group.
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The shamelessness of pro-abortionists: Democrats in Congress Respond to Gosnell by Attacking Pregnancy Centers. Then again, what would expect from people who support the legalized killing of babies?
Let’s see. Kermit Gosnell has just been sentenced on three counts of first degree murder in the deaths of three unborn babies aborted alive and involuntary manslaughter of a woman who died of a drug overdose during her abortion. Another abortionist in Texas is reportedly under investigation for Gosnell-like behavior,” he says. “So what is the pro-abortion congressional response to this litany of horror stories. Well, according to The Hill Newspaper, “Dems look to crack down on anti-abortion ‘crisis pregnancy centers.’” Yes, that is their response, which is applauded by the likes of (surprise, surprise) NARAL Pro-Choice America and the National Abortion Federation (NAF).
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Please read this short but extremely important article: The Qu’ran says the Bible is not corrupt. This is a great message to share with Muslims who have been told that the Bible has been corrupted. Using their own “holy book” we can point them back to what should be a common source: The Bible.
The short version: The Quran itself claims that the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel are from Allah and that Allah’s words cannot be changed.
Here’s a sample:
The Muslims repeatedly claim that the Bible has been corrupted and that the Qu’ran is the only trustworthy scripture in existence. This is why Muslims often attack the Bible. But this cannot be acording to the Quran. The Quran says that the books of Moses, the Psalms, and the gospel were all given by God.
Torah – “We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of messengers,” (Sura 2:87).1
Psalms – “We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: we sent inspiration to Abraham, Isma’il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms,” (4:163).
Gospel – “It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong),” (3:3).
. . .
We see that the Qu’ran states that the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel were all given by God. With this we Christians heartily agree. But, the Muslims claim that the Bible is corrupted and full of contradictions. If that is so, then it would seem they do not believe the Qu’ran since the Qu’ran says that the Word of God cannot be altered:
“Rejected were the messengers before thee: with patience and constancy they bore their rejection and their wrongs, until Our aid did reach them: there is none that can alter the words (and decrees) of Allah. Already hast thou received some account of those messengers,” (6:34).
. . .
This means that at that time the Bible, which was in existence, could not have been corrupted because the Qu’ran states that God’s word cannot be corrupted. The question I have for the Muslims is “When and where was the Bible corrupted, since the Qu’ran says that the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel are from Allah and Allah’s words cannot be changed?”
Update: I should have just linked to this: According to the Qur’an, the Qur’an is false.
–The Old Testament (the Book) and the Gospels (the Injil) were written chronologically prior to the Qur’an.
–The Qur’an claims that the Book and the Injil are the Word of Allah.
–The Word of Allah cannot be changed.
–The manuscripts of the Book and the Injil prior to and in the time of Muhammad and at the time the Qur’an was compiled bear the same message as the Bible we have today.
–The Bible makes theological claims in direct opposition to the theological claims of the Qur’an.
–The Qur’an insists we can and should trust the Bible (which is God’s Word and cannot be changed or corrupted).
–Since the Bible came before the Qur’an, and the Bible is the incorruptible word of God, then anything coming after the Bible which claims to be the Word of God but is different from the Bible, it is therefore false and not of God.
–Therefore, if the Bible is accurate (from 2, 3, and 5) then the Qur’an is false (from 2, 3, 6, and 7).
–Put more briefly: If the Qur’an is true, then the Bible is true, which means the Qur’an is false — and by extension, so is the religion of Islam.
And here’s another great set of resources for sharing the truth with Muslims.
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Bonus: Another simple but crucial thing to know about the Quran is that it makes a clear historical error about the death of Jesus. This passage explicitly denies that Jesus died on the cross:
And for claiming that they killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of GOD. In fact, they never killed him, they never crucified him – they were made to think that they did. All factions who are disputing in this matter are full of doubt concerning this issue. They possess no knowledge; they only conjecture. For certain, they never killed him. Instead, GOD raised him to Him; GOD is Almighty, Most Wise.
Quran, Sura 4:157-158
That is a very clear claim that Jesus did not die on the cross, whereas we know from the Bible and even secular history that Jesus did die on the cross. Then one guy came along over 500 years later with a radical new story about how Jesus didn’t die on the cross, though he had zero evidence behind it. Zero.
When I speak with Muslims I always bring this example up matter-of-factly. First I clarify with them that this is what the Quran teaches. They always agree, except one guy who wasn’t familiar with it (I showed him the reference and I think it helped plant some seeds of doubt).
Then I just explain why I hold the view that Jesus died on the cross: Lots of testimonies written close to the event and plenty of secular historians backing it up vs. one guy over 500 years later with an alleged vision from God. No serious historian would consider the Islamic version to be more credible.
Is it possible that Mohammad was right about Jesus not dying on the cross? In a hyper-technical sense, I suppose so. But you’d have to throw every historical event ever up for grabs using that approach.
This isn’t some small issue, either. It is an essential claim for Christianity and a key error in the Quran.
I shared this on Facebook a while back and possibly here, but it is definitely worth a re-post. The humor from the massive understatement of the first line is surpassed by the “but it was worth it, of course” vibe of the second. Dedicated to all my spider-hating friends and family.
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Burglars lock homeowner in gun closet with predictably hilarious results – in Texas, of course!
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Parents, Do You Think Before You Post? Good reminders about thinking ahead.
Parents, before you post about your small children, imagine a 13-year-old version of them reading over your shoulder. Your child bears the image of God just as you do. Does what you communicate honor them as equal image-bearers? Does it provide short-term gratification for you or honor long-term relationship with them? Does it potentially expose them to ridicule or label them? Does it record a negative sentiment that an adult would recognize as fleeting but an adolescent might not?
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Our Lawless President: Obama’s IRS Thuggery Certainly Was No Coincidence – Obama has operated like this during his entire career. In Illinois he won elections by illegally getting divorce records unsealed. The IRS issues are just the tip of the iceberg. You do not want government to have that much power, because it will inevitably get abused.
Oh, and when they are playing the “we were idiots / gov’t is too big to know everything about it” card, that is a good time to remind them of how much time Obama spends on golf, vacations and fundraising.
Also see The IRS abuse of power scandal started from the top. Typical Chicago-style thuggery to intimidate donors. (“That’s a real nice business you have there. It would be a shame if my IRS organization had to go audit it.”)
In April 2012, an Obama campaign website named and slurred eight Romney donors. It tarred Mr. VanderSloot as a “wealthy individual” with a “less-than-reputable record.” Other donors were described as having been “on the wrong side of the law.”
This was the Obama version of the phone call—put out to every government investigator (and liberal activist) in the land.
Twelve days later, a man working for a political opposition-research firm called an Idaho courthouse for Mr. VanderSloot’s divorce records. In June, the IRS informed Mr. VanderSloot and his wife of an audit of two years of their taxes. In July, the Department of Labor informed him of an audit of the guest workers on his Idaho cattle ranch. In September, the IRS informed him of a second audit, of one of his businesses. Mr. VanderSloot, who had never been audited before, was subject to three in the four months after Mr. Obama teed him up for such scrutiny.
The last of these audits was only concluded in recent weeks. Not one resulted in a fine or penalty. But Mr. VanderSloot has been waiting more than 20 months for a sizable refund and estimates his legal bills are $80,000. That figure doesn’t account for what the president’s vilification has done to his business and reputation.
A great take down here:
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Venezuela, out of toilet paper — and more! But socialism is still the right path for the U.S.! At least that’s what the media, education system, entertainment industry and Democrats tell me.
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Great post about John Newton, author of Amazing Grace
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9 things you should know about human cloning
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They forgot the most obvious one: Real butter tastes better! I just switched to it recently. The key is using one with a little olive oil or something similar so it is spreadable. When in doubt, go with the most natural thing.
Mmmmmm . . . butter.
From the giving credit where it is (sort of) due category, see Men and Boys Behaving Badly: Where Are Their Fathers? – Jim Wallis | God’s Politics Blog | Sojourners.
Wallis rightly notes the obvious role of fathers in guiding their boys. The father of one of the Steubenville rapists even admitted that his absence from his son’s life was a big part of the problem. Roughly 90% of the men I meet in prison ministry had bad or absent fathers. So hey, we agree that fathers are extremely important!
But it is the political policies of Wallis et al that encourage fatherlessness. The “war on poverty” had the opposite effect. Liberal media and entertainment make fathers appear to be bad or superfluous.
And why don’t Wallis and his organization speak out against oxymoronic “same-sex marriage” that repeats ad nauseum the foundational lie that gender is paramount for couples (e.g., a gay guy must have sex with another guy and not just a butch female) but gender is completely irrelevant when it comes to parenting? Wallis has just now switched sides to support SSM — conveniently at the tipping point where he benefited by it.
You can’t have it both ways. Wallis is right about the importance of fathers but a huge part of the problem in how their role is minimized. Shouldn’t the Left be screaming about what a homophobe he is?
P.S. OK, Wallis is a false teacher, so I knew not to expect coherence from him.
Alternate title: Mugged by reality.
This has been the best week in politics in the last 5 years. I’m not glad that the Obama administration did all these illegal and unethical things. We knew they were doing them (for those who actually research these sort of things, he did them long before running for President). But now the few excesses that have gone public are so egregious that even Socialists like Stewart can’t deny them. If anyone thinks that the scandals are only limited to what we know about Benghazi, the IRS, AP, Fast and Furious, etc., then they are still part of the problem. (Oh, and the fact that they are still on the record for unrestricted, taxpayer-funded baby killing and their wildly anti-family and anti-Christian policies is no coincidence.) The administration is still trying out their Excuse of the Day (yesterday day was, “We’re not corrupt, just incompetent!”). I think they are corrupt and incompetent, but whichever lane they pick we have a solid argument against them. Don’t give up.
But this isn’t just about Obama and his over-the-top corrupt administration, it is about big government. It is inherently inefficient and can’t be trusted, so you must limit it. Don’t run against Obama, run against big government and Liberalism.
P.S. How many of these scandals were President Bush’s fault?!
Study Suggests That Wimpier Men Hold Liberal Views – Of course they do!
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Don’t Make it About Barack Obama – He isn’t running for office again and is very unlikely to be impeached. Use his scandal-fest to attack big government and Liberalism, not Obama. That will help in many elections. One of their excuses (read: lies) is that government is too big for Obama to know enough about it. So just agree with them and point out how we need to make it smaller and less intrusive in our lives.
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From the “What could possibly go wrong?” category: IRS official in charge during Tea Party targeting now runs agency’s Obamacare office
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BABY DIES AFTER MAN ALLEGEDLY TRICKS GIRLFRIEND INTO TAKING AN ABORTION PILL – Of course this is ghastly, but so are all abortions. I wish the people quoted would have also noted whether they are anti-abortion if the mom wants to have the unwanted child killed.
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Friendly reminder: If someone uses the “tea bagger” pejorative against you, just ask them what it means. Then point out that they must be homophobic if they are using the slang for a gay sex act to demonize their ideological foes. Shouldn’t the gays be as offended as if they called you the “f” word? Haters!! Hate speech!!
Note that this is also an effective question to ask when someone is punished for using other slurs against homosexuals. I’m not advocating the use of the slurs, of course, but it is worthwhile to point out their hypocrisy. The people reflexively using “tea bagger” are the same ones who go into full pants-wetting mode if someone uses other slurs. For some reason those are worthy of major fines and even the termination of employment, while the Liberals get a pass. Also feel free to ask if those using the term “Santorum” in a derogatory way are “homophobes.”
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Socialism Leads to D.I.Y. Dentistry in Britain – Ouch. The government can force you to use their insurance plan, but they haven’t figured out how to force people to be dentists. This is the predictable and inevitable results of socialized medicine.
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Wow, Sojourners finally posted on the Gosnell case! I’m glad to see that. Until now, searching for his name returned zero hits. It is harder to imagine a case more opposed to the “common good.” Killing babies, storing their body parts in jars, unsanitary conditions, pure racism (white women got better treatment than blacks and the clinic mainly targeted blacks), government officials deliberately not enforcing laws, Planned Parenthood knowing of the conditions there yet saying nothing — and then pretending to be aghast at Gosnell, and more.
We should never stop reminding people that Gosnell’s main crimes were killing these babies 30 seconds too late. He did a bad job of killing them before they were completely delivered, so he just finished the job outside the womb. But all abortions are just as immoral.
And he isn’t the “rogue” that this article makes him out to be. People who kill unwanted human beings for a living don’t seem to mind breaking the rules regarding how to legally kill unwanted human beings for a living.
Remember that Obama and Planned Parenthood are on record opposing the obligations of abortionists to save the lives of babies who survive abortion. And Planned Parenthood has been caught countless times hiding statutory rape and sex trafficking, yet they continue to get hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding and “social justice” groups not only give them a pass but they support the Democrats’ platform of taxpayer-funded abortions. The right to life should be the foundational principle of “social justice,” not an afterthought — or worse yet, something completely ignored or even opposed.
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Deuteronomy 18 and Moses/Jesus parallels (and why they don’t apply to Mohammad)
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Links to Barack Obama’s votes on Illinois’ Born Alive Infant Protection Act – Obama, Planned Parenthood and Kermit Gosnell all agree.
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Court upholds Obama Admin denial of asylum for German homeschool family – Millions of people can cross our border illegal and get lifetime welfare, but because this family probably wouldn’t vote for Democrats we won’t help them. If only they’d claim to be gay they’d get a free pass.
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House of Horrors 2: graphic photos show Texas abortionist killed living babies, say nurses – Kermit Gosnell was not the lone exception. People who kill babies for a living don’t mind breaking the rules regarding how to kill babies for a living.
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Canadian Supreme Court Rules Biblical Speech Opposing Homosexual Behavior is a ‘Hate Crime’ – This is inevitable with bogus “hate speech” laws.
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Flight: The Genius of Birds – Official Trailer — great examples of Intelligently Designed beings.
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His behavior is getting borderline comical. He dramatically releases Benghazi emails in an attempt to appear cooperative, but the earliest is dates 9/14 when the incident happened on 9/11. Uh, so, either no one sent any emails for 3 days (unbelievable, but very bad if true) or he has good reasons to hide those emails (believable, and a tacit admission of guilt). And then he “fires” the IRS guy who was leaving next month anyway. Great leadership, champ.
