I haven't done a "Who said this" in a while (I haven't blogged in a while either; I think Facebook is inadequately filling my online socializing needs for now.

Here's the quote though:

"In the state of original righteousness, man was bound to seek God...according to the tenor of the covenant of works. His seeking of God consisted in the faith and works of obedience required in that covenant. And there is now no way to seek God but according to the revelation that he has made of himself in the covenant of grace, and the terms of obedience required therein".

So who said it? (no googling...)

I find this hard to believe, and the justification is incredible: The two villages where mothers killed EVERY baby born a boy for ten years

The Papua New Guinea jungle has given up one of its darkest secrets - the systematic slaughter of every male baby born in two villages to prevent future tribal clashes.

By virtually wiping out the 'male stock', tribal women hope they can avoid deadly bow-and-arrow wars between the villages in the future

It is the Daily Mail, so take with a grain of sensationalism.

So I know some people consider Obama a Christian. He says he prays to Jesus. Fine.

Since he was a member of a United Church of Christ denomination church (though he left it: BTW: does anyone know what church he's joined in the meanwhile? Has he attended anywhere while campaigning?) which is theologically liberal, it raises the questions whether his beliefs about Jesus are anywhere near orthodox.

I haven't read the Audacity of Hope, but I came across this quote

When I read the Bible, I do so with the belief that it is not a static text but the Living Word and that I must be continually open to new revelation – whether they come from a lesbian friend or a doctor opposed to abortion.

So clearly, he isn't looking into the Bible itself for revelation, and his views on the Bible's authority are woefully inadequate for actual Christian life.

1. Does he actually believe Jesus rose bodily from the dead?

2. Does he believe Jesus was born of a virgin?

3. Does he believe Jesus is the second person of the trinity?

4. Does he believe that some day Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead?

I raised some of this on my blog months ago, and haven't found any answers in the interim. Is there any answer to these questions?

I've really been enjoying the Planet Money podcast from NPR. It does an excellent job of patiently explaining the financial crisis. The most recent episode (which I listened to on my way to work) included an interview with Mark Cuban (billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks (heh).

Very enlightening/troubling was the site Mark Cuban started with his own funds, an investigative journalism site bailoutsleuth.com which reported on how the very first contract awarded for the bailout by the Treasury Department is heavily redacted, removing what one would think would be pertinent information, like what we, the taxpayers, are paying Bank of New York Mellon Corp for their work on the bailout.

I commend to all the podcast and Cuban's site.

Two interesting quotes from John Owen's commentary on Hebrews (volume 20). The first is the preeminence of Christ, without ignoring the other "instrumental casuses" of salvation (braodly considered, of course)

The Lord Christ alone is the only principal cause of our eternal salvation, and that in every kind. There are many instrumental causes of it in sundry kinds. So is faith; so are the word and all the ordinances of the gospel; they are instrumental, helping, furthering causes of salvation, — but all in subordination unto Christ, who is the principal, and who alone gives use and efficacy unto all others. How he is so, by his oblation and intercession, by his Spirit and grace, in his ruling and teaching, offices and power, is the chief work of the ministry to declare. God hath appointed that in all things he should have the preeminence.

There are both internal and external means of salvation that he hath appointed, whereby he communicates unto us the virtue and benefit of his mediation. These it is our duty to make use of according to his appointment; so that we expect no relief or help from them, but only by them. So much as they have of Christ in them, so much as they convey of Christ unto us, of so much use they are, and no more.

And on the necessity of obedience

Salvation is confined to believers; and those who look for salvation by Christ, must secure it unto themselves by faith and obedience. It is Christ alone who is the cause of our salvation; but he will save none but those that obey him. He came to save sinners, but not such as choose to continue in their sins; though the gospel be full of love, of grace, of mercy, and pardon, yet herein the sentence of it is peremptory and decretory: “He that believeth not shall be damned.”

I was also intrigued to see how Owen included faith in amongst obedience

Hence it is faith in the first place that is intended in this obedience. For it is that which, in order unto our participation of Christ, first “cometh by hearing,” Romans 10:17; and that partly because the object of it, which is the promise, is proposed outwardly unto it in the word, where we hear of it and hear it; and partly because the preaching of the word, which we receive by hearing, is the only ordinary means of ingenerating faith in our souls. Hence to believe is expressed by [greek], “to hear” so as to answer the ends of what is proposed unto us. The ensuing subjecting our souls unto Christ, in the keeping of his commands, is “the obedience of faith.”

The Bomber as School Reformer by Sol Stern, City Journal 6 October 2008

Calling Bill Ayers a school reformer is a bit like calling Joseph Stalin an agricultural reformer. (If you find the metaphor strained, consider that Walter Duranty, the infamous New York Times reporter covering the Soviet Union in the 1930s, did, in fact, depict Stalin as a great land reformer who created happy, productive collective farms.) For instance, at a November 2006 education forum in Caracas, Venezuela, with President Hugo Chávez at his side, Ayers proclaimed his support for “the profound educational reforms under way here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chávez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution. . . . I look forward to seeing how you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane.” Ayers concluded his speech by declaring that “Venezuela is poised to offer the world a new model of education—a humanizing and revolutionary model whose twin missions are enlightenment and liberation,” and then, as in days of old, raised his fist and chanted: “Viva Presidente Chávez! Viva la Revolucion Bolivariana! Hasta la Victoria Siempre!”

Funny: imaginary campaign ads based on School House Rock, from The Volokh Conspiracy (Orin Kerr).

Love this headline:

Palin to Meet World Leaders, Bono

I could stare at stuff like concept ships (concept spaceships) all day.

And build them out of lego. Sigh.

Interesting article on some of the details of Obama's "community organizing".

This is an interesting quote

The first and most fundamental lesson Obama learned was to reassess his understanding of power. Horwitt says that, when Alinsky would ask new students why they wanted to organize, they would invariably respond with selfless bromides about wanting to help others. Alinsky would then scream back at them that there was a one-word answer: "You want to organize for power!"

Galluzzo shared with me the manual he uses to train new organizers, which is little different from the version he used to train Obama in the '80s. It is filled with workshops and chapter headings on understanding power: "power analysis," "elements of a power organization," "the path to power." Galluzzo told me that many new trainees have an aversion to Alinsky's gritty approach because they come to organizing as idealists rather than realists. But Galluzzo's manual instructs them to get over these hang-ups. "We are not virtuous by not wanting power," it says. "We are really cowards for not wanting power," because "power is good" and "powerlessness is evil."

The other fundamental lesson Obama was taught is Alinsky's maxim that self-interest is the only principle around which to organize people. (Galluzzo's manual goes so far as to advise trainees in block letters: "get rid of do-gooders in your church and your organization.") Obama was a fan of Alinsky's realistic streak. "The key to creating successful organizations was making sure people's self-interest was met," he told me, "and not just basing it on pie-in-the-sky idealism. So there were some basic principles that remained powerful then, and in fact I still believe in."

This is quite an effective ad against Obama's candidacy. All voices of Democrats, and Obama himself from 2004 saying he didn't think he was the kind of person to be ready to be president four years hence.

I was very struck by this moving "geeklist" from a Crohn's disease sufferer. Its a unique look at how a community of affiliation (boardgamers) are using the tools of the internet to reach out. Wow.

I know of two sufferers of this disease myself, and the dialog he posted is very illuminating.

Call me depraved, but I found Cracked.com's The (Mentally Ill) Idiot’s Guide To Amazon.com to be pretty funny, especially the wishlist part.

Cracked.com is pretty hit or miss, but the hits are good.

When "narrative" becomes an excuse - Reformation21 Blog

God's word is more than narrative. It is divine revelation.

Yeah, so?

Its divine revelation in the form of narrative. Its revelation of a narrative, and in a narrative. (Plus other stuff, I think everyone grants)

"Would-be" theologians are apparently undermining the normative authority of scripture by appealing to narrative (who?)

Duncan doesn't give me enough here to do anything but suspect a false antithesis.

Peter Leithart was discussing hermeneutics, in reference to Jorge Gracia’s Theory of Textuality. Gracia uses the example of the playing of games to illustrate how an author can "intend" one thing, but a different or wider meaning can result. A player might not (often doesn't) know the full import of his move for the game as a whole.

Intriguing.

Also interesting because I've noticed in playing games with my kids (see Ticket to Ride, left, for the latest...) that they can become quite bothered by the fact that what they intended by the move isn't actually the result of the move. She "meant" to take my Knight, not leave an opening for my Bishop to take her Queen. Often times the kids want their full intentions realized in the play of the game, and when that doesn't happen, it can be frustrating.

Feral cities - The New Strategic Environment from Naval War College Review.

Inneresting.

I'm sure all my fellow TMBG friends already knew this, but apparently, TMBG recorded a "simlish" translation of their song Take Out The Trash. Simlish is the pidgin nonsense language that the characters in Maxis "The Sims" game speak when interacting.

Pretty geekily amusing.

"Took a la treesh!"

Comic-con 08: This Is What Ender's Game Will Look Like From Now On is io9's report on the Ender's Game comic, coming from Marvel in October. Apparently it will be different than the book.

Really interesting quote From Lawrence Dennis

"Any charter of liberties becomes necessarily an absurdity after a few years, for no plan of public order and means to its realization can long, be appropriate to changing conditions."

People are talking again about what Obama said (in addition to the need to deal resolutely and decisively with terrorists) about the roots of the 9/11 attacks

The essence of this tragedy, it seems to me, derives from a fundamental absence of empathy on the part of the attackers: an inability to imagine, or connect with, the humanity and suffering of others. Such a failure of empathy, such numbness to the pain of a child or the desperation of a parent, is not innate; nor, history tells us, is it unique to a particular culture, religion, or ethnicity. It may find expression in a particular brand of violence, and may be channeled by particular demagogues or fanatics. Most often, though, it grows out of a climate of poverty and ignorance, helplessness and despair.

Fair enough.

But is that consistent with his understanding of poverty he expressed in Dreams of My Father (see below)?

There he claimed poverty in inner city Chicago is the worst, because of the lack of "discernible order" in the life of the poor (order provided by tradition and networks of middlemen and bribe takers). Wouldn't the kind of traditional societies like those of the Arab world fit the model of those that provide "discernible order"? But the terrorists didn't and haven't come from Chicago, they came from a place where there was tradition.

I continue to be concerned with the statist impulse. The statist assumes he knows enough about social order to manipulate it. But nobody knows enough to do what he think will actually come to pass. Thus the governing impulse that humbly says we can't know the "roots" or "climate" that produces something (I'm becoming more leery of the climate metaphor) and instead we deal with the matters at hand is bound to be more effective and in tune with reality, avoiding the inevitable "unintended consequences"