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Israel considering a strike against Iran?

November 3, 2011 By Gene Veith

Wars and rumors of war: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to rally support in his cabinet for an attack on Iran, according to government sources. The country’s defence minister Ehud Barak and the foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman are said to be among those backing a pre-emptive strike to neutralise Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But a narrow majority of ministers currently oppose the move, which could trigger a wave of regional retaliation. The debate over possible Israeli military action has… Read more

The revised Roman Catholic liturgy

November 2, 2011 By Gene Veith

42 Comments

When we lived in Wisconsin, my wife taught at a Catholic school, which occasionally would hold mass. This also led to friendships which occasionally took us to wedding and funeral masses. I had thought that going to a Roman Catholic service would at least mean taking in some high church liturgy. But more often than not, it meant folky guitars, praise songs even worse than those of Protestants, and flat sounding modernizations of liturgical language. (I know not all masses… Read more

Murdoch corners 50% of Christian publishing

November 2, 2011 By Gene Veith

52 Comments

HarperCollins is part of the media empire owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also among many other properties owns Fox News. HarperCollins already owns Zondervan, the world’s leading Bible publisher. Now Christianity Today reports that HarperCollins is also buying Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publishing company. This will give Mr. Murdoch control of 50% of the Christian publishing industry. See HarperCollins Buys Thomas Nelson, Will Control 50% of Christian Publishing Market | Liveblog | Christianity Today. Does it matter that the Christian publishing… Read more

Population implosion

November 2, 2011 By Gene Veith

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The world’s population reportedly hit 7 billion yesterday. But, according to the Washington Post, the problem is not a population explosion but a population implosion: The United Nations has declared that the human population will hit 7 billion Monday, and an expanding percentage of those people are in the market for reading glasses. The aging of the human race has been faster than anyone could have imagined a few decades ago. Fertility rates have plunged globally; simultaneously, life spans have… Read more

How to honor the saints

November 1, 2011 By Gene Veith

10 Comments

Thanks to Cincinnatus for bringing into focus for me a great paradox: On the day after we mark the breaking of the church due to the always necessary struggle against how the church tends to fall into corruption and the obscuring of Christ’s Gospel (Reformation Day), we celebrate the unity of the church, how all who have faith in Christ constitute the everlasting “communion of the saints” (All Saints’ Day). And now on that holiday, we can turn to the Lutheran… Read more

Saints that you have known

November 1, 2011 By Gene Veith

20 Comments

Have you ever met a saint? I’m not just asking if you have met someone sure to be canonized by the Church of Rome, such as Mother Teresa or Pope John Paul II. You most assuredly have met a saint, since all Christians, though simultaneously sinners, have that status in Christ. But today being All Saints’ Day, let’s honor saints who have had an impact on your life and on your faith. Who are some? You don’t have to mention… Read more

The Republican Dukakis

November 1, 2011 By Gene Veith

24 Comments

The problem with Mitt Romney is not just that he’s a Mormon. And it’s not just that he is insufficiently conservative. As George Will argues, it’s because he tries to straddle all issues and seldom comes down to a consistent position. After describing his various waffling positions on ethanol subsidies, bailouts, and state public employee unions, Will comes to the following conclusion: Romney, supposedly the Republican most electable next November, is a recidivist reviser of his principles who is not… Read more

Changes in the monarchy

November 1, 2011 By Gene Veith

22 Comments

A fallback position in case American democracy completely implodes is to just apologize for the Revolution and see if the British monarch would take us back. But now it seems that the British monarchy itself is becoming democratic and open to change. Now the Crown will go not to the first born son but to the first born: Sons and daughters of British monarchs will have an equal right to the throne under changes to the United Kingdom’s succession laws… Read more

Reformation Day as Halloween

October 31, 2011 By Gene Veith

134 Comments

I think it’s wonderful that Reformation Day is now the most popular holiday after Christmas. We scare ourselves as a reminder of death and damnation. Children go around receiving unmerited candy, which symbolize the gift and the sweetness of salvation. We wear masks to symbolize the doctrine of vocation. We carve pumpkins. . . .uh, I don’t know why we do that. Someone help me in my crusade to co-opt Halloween for Reformation Day. Read more

The Gospel For Those Broken By The Church–for free

October 31, 2011 By Gene Veith

24 Comments

Rod Rosenbladt, emeritus professor at Concordia-Irvine and a co-host at the White Horse Inn radio program, has a presentation that has become a classic, with tapes and transcripts passed from hand to hand like samizdat novels in the former Soviet Union. It’s called “The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church.” Many, MANY have found it a lifesaver, indeed, a proclamation of the Gospel that is so powerful that they have come to faith. Even long-time veterans–and casualties–of churches have… Read more