Author: Jimmy Akin
Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."
Mark Twain And The Book Of Mormon
During a trip out West, Mark Twain took along The Book of Mormon to while away the travel hours. He didn’t think much of its literary style, but he did find it useful as a cure for insomnia:
"All men have heard of the Mormon Bible, but few except the ‘elect’ have seen it, or, at least, taken the trouble to read it. I brought away a copy from Salt Lake. The book is a curiosity to me, it is such a pretentious affair, and yet so ‘slow,’ so sleepy; such an insipid mess of inspiration. It is chloroform in print. If Joseph Smith composed this book, the act was a miracle — keeping awake while he did it was, at any rate. If he, according to tradition, merely translated it from certain ancient and mysteriously-engraved plates of copper, which he declares he found under a stone, in an out-of-the-way locality, the work of translating was equally a miracle, for the same reason.
"The book seems to be merely a prosy detail of imaginary history, with the Old Testament for a model; followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint, old-fashioned sound and structure of our King James’s translation of the Scriptures; and the result is a mongrel — half modern glibness, and half ancient simplicity and gravity. The latter is awkward and constrained; the former natural, but grotesque by the contrast. Whenever he found his speech growing too modern — which was about every sentence or two — he ladled in a few such Scriptural phrases as ‘exceeding sore,’ ‘and it came to pass,’ etc., and made things satisfactory again. ‘And it came to pass’ was his pet. If he had left that out, his Bible would have been only a pamphlet."
(Note: This link does not constitute an endorsement of the host site. Refer to JA.org’s Rules 6 and 7. Nod to Once Upon a Time… for the link.)
If you’re interested in reading the book in which the excerpted essay is found, CLICK HERE.
For more about Mark Twain, CLICK HERE. I especially liked the following quote attributed by Wikipedia to Twain:
"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them."
How Abortion Dies
You’re looking at a picture of the death of abrtion (click to enlarge).
This is a map prepared by USA Today of what would happen in the immediate aftermath of The Evil Decision being overturned.
The light colored states (think: those on the Side of Light) would be expected based on their current laws to move to curb abortion sharply. Some even have trigger laws in place that would kick in as soon as The Evil Decision is overturned.
The dark colored states (think: those on the Dark Side) would move to protect it.
Those in the middle are well, in the middle.
But it’s still the beginning of the end for abortion. This is the lay of the land in the immediate aftermath of when we can drive a stake thorugh the heart of Roe.
But the map won’t stay this way forever.
The light states will get lighter. Because they will have fewer abortions, the Roe Effect will intensify and their populations will rise. They will therefore acquire more legal representatives and have more pro-life folks in them at the same time.
The states in the middle will also get lighter, because the Roe Effect will continue in them, and they may even pass some modest abortion curbing measures that would intensify the effect.
Eventually, the dark states will not be able to compete with a move to add an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and one will get added, ending abortion in the United States. They also may get lighter due to cross-pollenation from the light states and because even in the heart of darkness the Roe Effect will continue to work.
Make no mistake: This battle will be messy, there will be advances and losses, and it will take decades.
But what you’re looking at is . . . the Beginning of the End for abortion.
Bring it on, baby! Bring it on!
Quote Of The Day
From the Great Quotes Department:
"If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention, than to any other talent." –Isaac Newton
Who was Isaac Newton?
I rather like the cartoon of Newton under the apple tree since it illustrates his observation that great discoveries owe as much (if not more) to patient attention as they do to any inherent genius on the part of the observer, but I thought I’d better include a more lifelike image as well.
The Conservative Christian Environmentalist
Journalist and blogger Rod Dreher has a thoughtful article on how environmentalism and Christian conservatism are not mutually exclusive concepts.
"For too long, conservatives have ceded political efforts to care for creation to liberals. We Christian conservatives are finally recognizing that conservation is a matter of moral and spiritual integrity. And we’re learning that the challenge facing humankind from climate change dwarfs the narcissism of the usual left-right politics.
"Politics, however, is the primary way to address a challenge to the commons this massive — and politics won’t shift until our paradigm for thinking and talking about the environment does. The responsibility for that lies with open-minded and imaginative folks from both the liberal and conservative camps — men and women who care more about conserving the natural world and the human civilization dependent on it than they do about protecting their political purity and fundraising base.
"Bottom line: When people like me start to believe Earth Day is for us, too, the earth will move under Washington’s feet. But as long as cultural perceptions keep Earth Day a sectarian holiday for secular liberals, the pace of political change will be, alas, glacial."
There’s Just No Pleasing John Cornwell
Man, what a sourpuss.
The Pope Is A Pod Person!!!
You may have seen this elsewhere, and it’s kinda old news, but for those who haven’t heard. . . .
THE POPE IS A POD PERSON!
Yes, it’s true.
B16 was given a 2 gig iPod Nano by the staff of Vatican Radio.
They loaded it with a buncha goodies:
The pope’s new 2-gigabyte digital audio player already was loaded with a sampling of the radio’s programming in English, Italian and German and musical compositions by Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frederic Chopin, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky and Igor Stravinsky. The stainless steel back was engraved with the words "To His Holiness, Benedict XVI" in Italian.
Once the pope, who is also a pianist, gets the hang of the device’s trademark click wheel, he will be able to listen to a special 20-minute feature produced by the radio’s English program that highlights Mozart’s life and music to commemorate the 250th anniversary of his birth.
The iPod also contains an English-language radio drama on the life of St. Thomas a Becket and a 10-minute feature on the creation of Vatican Radio, with original sound clips of the inventor of the radio, Guglielmo Marconi, and Vatican Radio’s founder, Pope Pius XI.
The pope also can relive the historical papal transition of April 2005. On the player, the radio’s German program included a mix of news and interviews done during the death of Pope John Paul II, the conclave and the election of Pope Benedict.
Now, popes get a lot of presents. People shove them into their hands all the time, and a lot of gifts (I’m sure) are gratefully received but then never actually get used. So has the pope actually started using his iPod? According to The Mirror, he has:
Yet despite his traditional views, Pope Benedict enjoys listening to his iPod as he walks around the Vatican [SOURCE].
But then that’s The Mirror. So who knows?
Take That, Lovejoy!
Franco Zeffirelli’s miniseries Jesus of Nazareth is known for being one of a number of recent films that attempts to rehabilitate Judas Iscariot. (Not unlike the recently-released "Gospel of Judas").
In the miniseries, Judas is portrayed by British actor Ian McShane, who is best known for his role as art detective Lovejoy (pictured)–for which I have nothing against him (not having seen the show).
Judas is also portrayed in Jesus of Nazareth as not betraying Christ for money (no matter what the gospels say), though money is given to him as an afterthought.
I don’t want to downplay the other positive aspects of the series, but this is one aspect where the film gets it wrong.
So says Pope Benedict XVI ( . . . kinda).
According to Catholic News Service,
[D]uring his April 13 homily at the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Pope Benedict said Judas is the clearest example Christians have of someone who refuses God’s saving love.
For Judas, the pope said, "only power and success are real; love does not count."
"And he is greedy: money is more important than communion with Jesus, more important than God and his love. He also becomes a liar, a double-crosser who breaks with the truth," Pope Benedict said.
Purposefully ignoring the truth, he said, Judas "hardens, becoming incapable of conversion … and throws away his destroyed life" [SOURCE].
I acknowledge that there are unlikely ways of reasoning that Judas could have been saved, even given Jesus’ statements regarding him that
"Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me."
And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to him one after another, "Is it I, Lord?"
He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me, will betray me. The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."
Judas, who betrayed him, said, "Is it I, Master?" He said to him, "You have said so" [Matt. 26:21-25].
If you end up going to heaven, then I don’t see how it could have been better for you that you had not been born, so I don’t see how (on the most likely interpretation) Judas could have avoided going to hell. If you end up in heaven, it seems to me that you’ve ended up on the plus-side of being born.
But even shy of this declaration, it’s nice to see the Judas-revisionism being dealt a papal blow.
Thanks, B16!
We need such salutary warnings in an age in which people are likely to think that God will let them into heaven no matter what they do.
Blog Operations Note
I’m afraid that I’m having to take my home computer in for repair work, which means that my Internet access for he next week or so will be spotty. I’ll still have some access, but not as much as usual.
Fortunately, I knew this was coming, so I’ve been able to prepare blog posts for next week.
My co-bloggers may also be able to chip in, particularly toward the end of next week and the beginning of the next, depending on when my regular access is restored.
The most notable change in operations is that I won’t be able to effectively respond to e-mail in the interim. I’ve got an auto-reply set up for my account explaining this, but if you’re written me recently and haven’t gotten a response, it may be a while before I can respond.
I can’t respond to all e-mails, but I try to make sure to respond to those who have the most pressing issues.
I’ll try to respond once I get back, but if you need an urgent answer to your query, please try forums.catholic.com. There are a lot of well informed people there who may be able to help.
Thanks for understanding!
Isn’t That Special
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer (NOT the National Enquirer),
A professor at Northern Kentucky University said she invited students in one of her classes to destroy an anti-abortion display on campus Wednesday evening.
Witnesses reported "a group of females of various ages" committing the vandalism about 5:30 p.m., said Dave Tobertge, administrative sergeant with the campus police.
Sally Jacobsen, a longtime professor in NKU’s literature and language department, said the display was dismantled by about nine students in one of her graduate-level classes.
"I did, outside of class during the break, invite students to express their freedom-of-speech rights to destroy the display if they wished to," Jacobsen said.
Asked whether she participated in pulling up the crosses, the professor said, "I have no comment."
And why is she cagey on her own involvement in the vandalism?
NKU President James Votruba said any evidence of criminal conduct in the incident will be turned over to prosecutors. He said he appreciated the emotional nature of the abortion debate and was glad that diverse viewpoints are represented at the school, but he condemned the destruction of the crosses.
"Freedom-of-speech rights end where you infringe on someone else’s freedom of speech," Votruba said.
"I don’t buy the claim that this is an act of freedom of speech, to destroy property."
GET THE STORY.
(CHT to the reader who e-mailed.)
So . . . abortion advocates turn to violence.
Isn’t this a "Dog Bites Man!" story?
PRE-PUBLICATION UPDATE: Instapundit reports that Professor Jacobsen is being removed from her position.