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Doubling down on my prediction

September 30, 2011 By Gene Veith

Earlier I predicted that no matter how bad the economy is that President Obama will win a second term. I’ve been thinking about this some more and I’m even more convinced that I’m right (though, again, I wish I were wrong). The reason “It’s the economy, stupid” won’t carry the day this time is that all of the Republican candidates, following correct free market principles, believe the main thing the government should do in the face of a terrible economy… Read more

Iranian Christian may be executed this weekend

September 30, 2011 By Gene Veith

32 Comments

Youcef Nadarkhani, sentenced to death for converting from Islam to Christianity in Iran, has once again refused to deny Christ, and so he may be hanged as early as today. Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who is facing the death penalty, again refused to convert to Islam to save his life. Nadarkhani was arrested in 2009 for the crime of apostasy because he allegedly abandoned Islam for Christianity. As a pastor, Iranian clerics believe that Nadarkhani was preaching in order to… Read more

The faith to be idle

September 30, 2011 By Gene Veith

56 Comments

Longtime commenter on this blog Dan Kempin has posted on his church’s website these reflections on Proverbs 23:4: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; Have the wisdom to show some restraint.” (NIV) Ask the young what they want their life to be in ten or twenty years and you will hear a great variety of hopes and dreams and aspirations with one thing in common: “Oh, and I want to be rich.” (I know, because I ask the young… Read more

Anglican worship wars

September 29, 2011 By Gene Veith

68 Comments

One of my former students, Bart Gingerich, who sometimes comments on this blog, has gotten a job writing for the Institute for Religion and Democracy. He covered a recent meeting by the Prayer Book Society, a group of Anglicans who have been calling for the restoration of the 1926 edition of the Book of Common Prayer, the last modernization faithful to Cranmer’s Reformation-era version of the English liturgy (which has also shaped the language and the collects used in Lutheran worship). Bart comments… Read more

Christie as the next knight on the white horse

September 29, 2011 By Gene Veith

74 Comments

Now Republicans who realize that they still don’t have a candidate who can beat President Obama are fantasizing about New Jersey governor Chris Christie entering the race. What would you think of him as a presidential candidate? After Speech, Chris Christie Revels in Pleas to Run – NYTimes.com. Read more

Why the government makes a poor investor

September 29, 2011 By Gene Veith

14 Comments

A chronicle of the failure of Solyndra–a “green energy” company that received half a billion dollars worth of government “investment”–demonstrates the larger point that government bureaucracies are just too ponderous to function as venture capitalists: The Obama administration’s vaunted initiative to catalyze the U.S. clean-energy industry — under attack for betting half a billion dollars on the solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra, which closed last month — has become a case study of what can go wrong when a rigid government bureaucracy… Read more

The Pope on Luther

September 28, 2011 By Gene Veith

964 Comments

Thanks to Paul McCain, who posted a transcript of Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks that he gave at the Augustinian cloister in Erfurt, which was where Luther served as a monk. You should read the whole speech, but here is a sample: As the Bishop of Rome, it is deeply moving for me to be meeting representatives of Council of the Lutheran Church of Germany here in the ancient Augustinian convent in Erfurt. This is where Luther studied theology. This is… Read more

Raising Cain

September 28, 2011 By Gene Veith

50 Comments

The winner of the Republican straw poll in Florida was not Perry and not Romney, but Herman Cain. The African-American businessman took 37% of the vote, better than the two ostensible front-runners combined. One could say that the vote is meaningless. It is cast by Republican activists, not the general public, who have to pay for the privilege. And yet the Florida straw poll, which has consistently forecast the eventual Republican nominee, does tell us this: Republican activists do not… Read more

Deny Christ or die

September 28, 2011 By Gene Veith

18 Comments

A Christian in Iran is being given that choice: recant your faith in Christ or be executed. He has refused to deny Christ three times. This is from Wesley Smith at First Things. Go there for several relevant links. An Iranian pastor may soon be executed for apostasy because he refuses to recant his Christian faith. Here’s the story from the Get Religion blog, by the eminently responsible Terry Mattingly. Here’s the press release from Christian Solidarity, which states in… Read more

The third use of the Law

September 27, 2011 By Gene Veith

67 Comments

Continuing our series on the Law, in which we discussed the civil use (as curb; that is, external righteousness that makes possible the social order) and the theological use (as mirror; that is, to help us to see our sins so that we repent and turn to the Gospel), we now come to the so-called Third Use (as guide; that is, to help Christians know the kind of life that pleases God). This third use has been the topic of… Read more