Let the rhetoric begin

The leafs on the trees haven't even blossomed yet; summer, fall and winter are still before us and in South Carolina this past week the great debate has begun. (Or at least it has in the mind of the media) Both parties held the first of what is sure to be a mind numbing number of televised (go c-span) debates between the various and sundry candidates running for the office of president of the United States. And already the national (yea right) media has annoited the front runners from each party with the oil of buffoonery. With over 500 days until the election the rhetoric of personal attack has been ratched up. Unfortunately for the Dems they still seem to be running against President Bush, and the Reps seem to be running from themselves. Persnally I can wait awhile before I decide which candidate I may support, but here are just a couple thoughts. The democrats are doing there best to make sure family values have a place in the party unfortunately I am not quite sure if the family values they are expressing are the same values that most Amricans hold to. And as far as the front runners of the Republicans is concerned I am not sure which one is trying harder to distance themselves from the base faster McCain or Rudy. I am sure that neither would be very electable then again I am not so sure that any candidate from either party is very electable, which just makes for more fun and games in the weeks and months to come. My best advise enjoy the summer, enjoy the fall, enjoy the winter, because by next spring the rhetoric may be so thick it will blot out the sun.

Orwellian Prophecy

As a school boy (that was a long time ago) I was required to read George Orwell’s book “1984”. I can honestly say I do not remember anything from that book other than I read it many years prior to 1984. I say this because I was challenged to take a fresh look at this Orwell classic recently. As you may or may not be aware this week the House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would protect a particular segment of the population from so called “hate crimes”. The segment of the population that this bill will protect isn’t in danger because of race, ethnicity, or cultural make up. It isn’t even being protected because of its inability to protect itself like those laws that protect the weakest among us, no this bill will protect a group of people because of a behavior.
In the book “1984” Orwell warned that even our thoughts can get us into trouble and subject to criminal prosecution by Big Brother. We are about to witness this prophecy take place. In his commentary today at Breakpoint Chuck Colson even warned that attempts to modify this terrible bill, to modify it chilling effects went unheeded. Unless we raise our voices against this type of special interest legislation we could soon find ourselves subject to Orwellian like Thought Police.

Celebrity Cience - Part I

Proverbs 12:15-17
15 The way of a fool seems right to him,
but a wise man listens to advice.

16 A fool shows his annoyance at once,
but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

17 A truthful witness gives honest testimony,
but a false witness tells lies.

Celebrity Cience
On the March 29, 2007 airing of The View the topic came up regarding Sept. 11, 2001 and the conspiracy theories surrounding that day. During the conversation / debate / rant whatever you want to call it, Rosie O’Donnell, said, “I do believe that it’s the first time in history that fire has ever melted steel. I do believe that it defies physics that World Trade Center tower 7—building 7, which collapsed in on itself—it is impossible for a building to fall the way it fell without explosives being involved. World Trade Center 7. World Trader 1 and 2 got hit by planes—7, miraculously, the first time in history, steel was melted by fire. It is physically impossible.”

Real Worl Science
On April 29, 2007 a gasoline tanker crashed on the interchange which connects westbound I-80 to southbound I-880, near Oakland, CA and the Bay Bridge. The tanker was carrying 8,600 gallons of gasoline and burst into flames.

According to the ChiP, the fire ‘melted’ a second interchange from eastbound I-80 to eastbound I-580 located above the first interchange, causing a 250-yard section of the roadway to collapse onto the roadway below. In the picture below the freeway can be seen draped on the highway beneath, exposing ‘melted’ twisted metal.

A section of highway that collapsed after a tanker carrying gasoline overturned and exploded is shown Sunday, April 29, 2007, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/The Oakland Tribune, Noah Berger)

Already scientists are studying linkages between the freeway collapse and how the World Trade Center collapsed, since the structural failures appear similar.

Now I know that the steel in this bridge did not ‘melt’. Steel becomes molten at temperatures in excess of 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit. But I also know that steel becomes pliable at temperatures as low as 400 degrees Fahrenheit. With the right temperature and force being applied steel can be shaped into just about any form you want.

I Beams used in buildings and bridges are not pour into a mold and created. The steel is heated and run through various rollers to shape the beam. Some of us who were fortunate enough (and therefore old enough) to have grown up in the Detroit area when auto plant tours were still allowed. Many of us remember taking field trips to the Ford Rouge plant. You got to watch as glowing orange steel ingots were run through rollers and presses and shaped into the steel necessary for good old Detroit Muscle. As an elementary school student I knew the steel was not melted, just very hot and flexible.

If the the various World Trade Center buildings had been brought down with explosives the steel would be broken and torn. Hard steel breaks. On the other hand, if fires caused the steel to heat up and weaken, thereby causing the collapse, the beams would be bent. Well guess what was in the wreckage, bent steel.

An excellent place to look through the World Trade Center events is PBS’ America Rebuilds at http://www.pbs.org/americarebuilds/index.html Select Artifacts and go through the pictures. When you get to numbers 9 and 10 you will see the two pictures below with descriptions.



If you still are thinking conspiracy, check the following links. Some of this is pretty technical, but a lot is fairly easy to understand, even for a fifth grader.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/911myths/4213805.html

http://wtc.nist.gov/progress_report_june04/appendixl.pdf

Just My Opinion
I wonder if the View’s resident physics expert is smarter than a fifth grader. Her factually challenged blathering makes her sound more like the resident psychic. or is that psychotic?

Today's church

The church's purpose, it mission is not to bring people to Christ, her mission; her purpose is to equip the saints to bring people to Christ. The reason there is so many milk fed Christians in churches today is because the church is failing in her purpose to equip the saints. Today's church tries to hard to make herself relevant to the culture that she has lost her ability to be relevant to the culture. Paul admonished Timothy in the purpose of the church, he instructed him and he instructed in other letters exactly what should take place when the church came together.
I believe that until the church makes herself more assertive in equipping the body of Christ we will continue to have milk fed Christians. Until the church teaches believers how to distinguish the Truth from the false, how to think critically about the culture and what each individual absorbs from the culture, she will continue to lose her relevance in the culture. I come back again to how we answer the questions of creation, fall, redemption, until we can critically evaluate every aspect of life through that lens of the answers to those questions, we as a church will continue to struggle.