This is the month we get to see whether SCOTUS will "redefine" marriage. Â That "redefinition" was entirely avoidable if either the protagonists or the opponents of same-sex civil marriage had challenged the concept of state defined marriage to start with, but our political debate is not up to such an idea--not yet, at least... In …
On the Creation of the Universe: Acts of Faith and Love on All Things
Acting again to post Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, III, 6: You are all powerful, of God of glory!  I adore your immense and voluntary generosity.  I pass all the centuries, and all the evolutions and revolutions of nature; I see you as you would be before all beginning and all eternity; that is to say …
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Book Review: Daniel-Rops' A Fight for God
One of the things Americans politicians endlessly yammer about is the way they're "fighting" something or someone. It never ends--they fight special interests, they fight the President, and when they want to be more positive they're "fighting for you". The result of this mentality is obvious these days. But what if there's really something--or someone--worth …
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On the Creation of the Universe: The Six Days
Another day, another post from Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, III, 5: The design of God in the creation and in the description which his Holy Spirit dictated to Moses, is first to make himself known as the all-powerful and very free creator of all things, who without being limited to another law except for …
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On the Creation of the Universe: Efficacy and Liberty of the Divine Command
Marching on in Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, III, 4: God says: Let there be light, and there was light. Â The King says: March, and the army marches; that one makes such an evolution, and it is made; all the army moves at one command of a Prince, that is to say at a single …
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The @ourCOG Tweet That Said More Than It Meant To
Yesterday I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when this jumped out, from @ourCOG, the social media outlet of the Church of God: The painting they used is "Vercingetorix Throws Down His Arms At The Feet Of Julius Caesar" by Lionel-Noël Royer.  Having just re-read Caesar's De Bello Gallico, it leaped out at me.  I doubt …
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On the Creation of the Universe: God Had No Need Either to Find a Location to Place the World or to Fix the Beginning of All Things
Getting back to Bossuet's Elevations on the Mysteries, III, 3: Weak and imbecile that I am, who only sees mortal artisans whose works are subject to time, and who choose certain moments to be the start and end of their work, and who also need to be in a certain place to act and to find …
The Southern Baptists Bite the Dust on Cessationism and Speaking in Tongues
Well, at least for their foreign missionaries: After decade-long resistance, the Southern Baptist Convention will admit missionary candidates who speak in tongues, a practice associated with Pentecostal and charismatic churches. The new policy, approved by the denomination’s International Mission Board on Wednesday (May 13), reverses a policy that was put in place 10 years ago. …
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The Country Where Merit is Run Down, Part II: The STEM Curriculum Dilemma
In the March/April 2013 issue of GeoStrata, the official publication of the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the following was noted in its review of geotechnical (soil mechanics and foundations) education: The national trend of falling credit requirements for the attainment of a bachelor's degree was cited by many as a challenge facing geotechnical …
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Book Review: Daniel-Rops' Sacred History
In the Nazi-Occupied France of 1943, the Gestapo visited the French publishing house Fayard to break the plates of a new book they were publishing. So what was the Gestapo stopping the presses on? How to Help the Allies When They Finally Get Around to Invading France? Hardly. The book they were so concerned about …
Positive Infinity 