The world has believed this insignificant group of lowly, unimportant, and uneducated men precisely because the divine character of what happened is more marvellously apparent in the insignificance of such witnesses. What gave power to the preachers who persuaded the world was not the eloquence of the words they uttered, but the miracles of the …
The Ultimate Good in Life, the Stoics, and the New Atheists
Look, now, at the great virtue called fortitude. Is not its very function—to bear patiently with misfortune—overwhelming evidence that human life is beset with unhappiness, however wise a man may be? It is beyond my comprehension how the Stoics can boldly argue that such ills are not really ills, meanwhile allowing that, if a philosopher …
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The City of Man is a Single Community
The city of man, for all of the width of its expansion throughout the world and for all of the depth of its differences in this place and that, is a single community. The simple truth is that the bond of a common nature makes all human beings one. Nevertheless, each individual in this community …
Barack Obama, the Edgar Faure of American Politics
If I ever write a "self-help" book, it will be All I Ever Knew About Politics I Learned From the French. (Click here for some of what I have actually written.) Watching the French makes one a cynic, and at times like this it holds one in good stead. My French teacher in prep school …
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Maybe That’s Why Obama Didn’t Ask Phil Bredesen to be Commerce Secretary
Tennessee's Democrat governor weighs his, and the state's, options: Tennessee could reject a portion of the $787 billion economic stimulus package out of concerns that it would force the state to raise taxes on businesses in the future. At the National Governors Association meetings in Washington, D.C., Gov. Phil Bredesen said this week that he …
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Galatoire’s on Ash Wednesday, and a Lesson on Prosperity Teaching From Katrina that Needs to be Remembered
I'm reposting this today primarily because the incident at Galatoire's (a very well known restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans) took place on an Ash Wednesday which is, IMHO, the best day to eat out in the Crescent City. But I also think that the comments on prosperity teaching needs reiteration. Orignally posted …
Evil men hate those who are good for no other reason than that they are good
In the case of Cain and Abel, there was no rivalry in any cupidity for the things of earth, nor was there any envy or temptation to murder arising from a fear of losing the sovereignty in both were ruling together. In this case, Abel had no ambition for domination in the city that his …
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Somebody Thinks the Church of God is Growing
None other than the National Council of Churches, in their 2009 Yearbook: According to the 2009 Yearbook, among the 25 largest churches in the U.S., four are growing: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (up 1.63 percent to 5,873,408; the Assemblies of God (up 0.96 percent to 2,863,265); Jehovah's Witnesses (up 2.12 percent …
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The Gospel for Quinquagesima, Set to Music in French
The Gospel for Quinquagesima is on this wise: “Gathering the Twelve round him, Jesus said to them: “Listen! We are going up to Jerusalem; and there everything that is written in the Prophets will be done to the Son of Man. For he will be given up to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted and spat upon; …
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Selling Upward Mobility, Delivering Downward
Jethro Tull fans will remember the line "slowly upstairs/faster down" from Stand Up's "We Used to Know," and that's pretty much what Obama and Democrats are trying to accomplish in their current program. To use another line from the same album, nothing is easy. On the one hand, Obama knows that Americans expect their government …
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Positive Infinity 