Sometimes I wonder if there is a "secret-war" against Christianity. Take the movies for example. Murder, violence, homosexuality and anything that is gratuitous in sin is what the movies glorify. Yes, yes, there are good movies, but from the blockbuster Titanic which seeks to glorify the 'myth of romantic love' as more important than eternal salvation to the Dark Knight in which complex moral dilemmas allow the Batman character to become more and more "compromised" in his belief structure (only to be lauded!), we are seeing an all-out, subtle and sometimes overt attack on Judeo-Christianity!
Now, rather than homosexual practice being classified a crime (i.e. the crime of sodomy!), homosexuality, a moral vice, is seeking to impose its standards of elicit behavior on all of society!
Abortion, the murder of a newly conceived child, continues unabated.
War, rather than avoided, is increasingly utilized as Foreign Policy!
What ever happened to Jesus' Teaching? Doesn't forgiveness, rather than 'pre-emptive strike' signal the outburst that Christians should side with? BUT, no, the Evangelical Right sided with the Political Right, and like Nazi Germany, a state-enforced terrorist action called the War in Iraq is the result!
Yes, yes, people may say, "VOTE OBAMA!" BUT, in voting against one set of evils, a vote cast for Obama is WORSE! Killing babies is MUCH worse than the injustice of the War in Iraq!
And so, again, the Christian Right will likely side with McCain, Palin and the "New Political Right!" Luckily, for ALL U.S. citizens, a vote for McCain-Palin will not only be a vote for a Pro-Life Political Party, but also through McCain's historic voting record against use-of-torture, a vote for helping to clean up a military machine that is marked by deception, fraud, and cover-up.
VOTE YOUR CONSCIENCE! VOTE JESUS the CHRIST!
Rob J. King (Democrat, FULLY-PRO-LIFE, and a sworn servant of YHWH, revealed ONLY through Jesus Christ the SON for Eternal Salvation!)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
It's the End of the World as We Know it . . . (but I feel fine!)
That old, old R.E.M. song, "It's the End of the World as We Know It" is as apropos today as any day!
Barack Obama, a first-term Senator, may be the next-President!
V.P. Candidate, a Pentecostal-turned Lutheran from Alaska, Sarah Palin might just rise from utter anonymity (& mothering several kids!) to become "2nd mommy in charge!"
So, when gas prices are as much as school lunches per gallon, when the Tampa Bay Rays might actually win the World Series, when Libya's President is cooing to the new American Leadership of African-American Sec. of State, Condoleeza Rice, and when the stock market needs to be "bought" at face-value ticket-price by the Federal Government in order to avoid the Next Great Depression, we know that life in 2008 A.D. is quite STRANGE . . .
BUT, as the old, old R.E.M. song goes, "but I feel fine!"
Give me that old, old timey Catholic ecclesiology complete with an authoritarian Pope who bans the heretics, unites with the Greek Orthodox and saves the day!
Give me that nice cold Icehouse beer and a Tampa Bay Rays game (yes, I am a "band-wagon" baseball fan and PROUD of it! I even now own a corporate-sponsored Rays baseball cap! ;-)
Give me Christ and nothing but Christ!
Who know, 400 years from now, Tampa Bay may be the next New York City?!
Blessings in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King, Trinitarian, Catholic, Evangelical and awaiting Christ's bodily Return to Earth!
Barack Obama, a first-term Senator, may be the next-President!
V.P. Candidate, a Pentecostal-turned Lutheran from Alaska, Sarah Palin might just rise from utter anonymity (& mothering several kids!) to become "2nd mommy in charge!"
So, when gas prices are as much as school lunches per gallon, when the Tampa Bay Rays might actually win the World Series, when Libya's President is cooing to the new American Leadership of African-American Sec. of State, Condoleeza Rice, and when the stock market needs to be "bought" at face-value ticket-price by the Federal Government in order to avoid the Next Great Depression, we know that life in 2008 A.D. is quite STRANGE . . .
BUT, as the old, old R.E.M. song goes, "but I feel fine!"
Give me that old, old timey Catholic ecclesiology complete with an authoritarian Pope who bans the heretics, unites with the Greek Orthodox and saves the day!
Give me that nice cold Icehouse beer and a Tampa Bay Rays game (yes, I am a "band-wagon" baseball fan and PROUD of it! I even now own a corporate-sponsored Rays baseball cap! ;-)
Give me Christ and nothing but Christ!
Who know, 400 years from now, Tampa Bay may be the next New York City?!
Blessings in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King, Trinitarian, Catholic, Evangelical and awaiting Christ's bodily Return to Earth!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Stealing
Today I am a victim of crime!
Unlike "accidental" incidents that might seem like stealing (e.g. someone in the office uses your coffee mug!), I was recently the victim of REAL CRIME!
On 9-18, 7 days after Patriot Day, I woke up, left for teaching (Tarpon Springs/Clearwater campuses of St. Petersburg College) and noticed that someone had actually stolen the celtic cross that sits near my front porch!
How could anyone steal a cross of Christ?
Well, short of feeling a little bit like the Bishop in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables (the one who had valuable silver utensils, etc. stolen from him!), I was quite unnerved!
Was this a "hate-crime?"
Was I being "targeted" just for being a Christian?! Will the cross turn up in some dumpster after a satanic ceremony had been performed on it? (the Tampa Bay Times, a free local newspaper had recently reported a series of animal cruelty cases in which dead cats were found, decapitated heads only, in front of newspaper stands!). After all, I even know of one incident in S. Korea in which a satanic cult had been broken up. The perpetrators? Practicing satanists in the U.S. Army! (their battalion commander, a staunch Catholic, had made sure that religious-hate acts would not exist under her reign!)
OR, was this just a petty crime?
Did someone really just want the cross to decorate his/her yard with?
(the price of the actual cross was only $10 or so and bought near the Lawn care section of a St. Petersburg, FL-area Lowe's Home Improvement store--in 2007! I guess the stealing of a cross is something that a fellow U.S. citizen could somehow "justify" to himself/herself, perhaps as a symbolic act, a hate-crime maybe? More than likely, just someone who likes to steal for the pleasure of doing something wrong! St. Augustine, prior to his conversion, apparently delighted in simply stealing fruit!)
Well, whether it was a satanic hate crime, a local drunk bar-hopper returning from a Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox game, or just someone who likes to steal, I am still QUITE unsettled!
First the cross stolen, and then what should I expect next? Hate crimes are anonymous, and yes, I have been a victim before (e.g. receiving racially-motivated graffiti in college on my dorm room marker wipe-board due to my strong racially-progressive and affirmative action viewpoints!).
CHRIST-FOR-ALL! Rob J. King (victim of Christian discrimination or just a Red Sox fan annoyed that the Tampa Bay Rays are in first place? By the way, if you read this, please return the cross and it will likely reduce your time in purgatory! I just prayed a Hail Mary for your eternal salvation . . . :-)
Unlike "accidental" incidents that might seem like stealing (e.g. someone in the office uses your coffee mug!), I was recently the victim of REAL CRIME!
On 9-18, 7 days after Patriot Day, I woke up, left for teaching (Tarpon Springs/Clearwater campuses of St. Petersburg College) and noticed that someone had actually stolen the celtic cross that sits near my front porch!
How could anyone steal a cross of Christ?
Well, short of feeling a little bit like the Bishop in Victor Hugo's Les Miserables (the one who had valuable silver utensils, etc. stolen from him!), I was quite unnerved!
Was this a "hate-crime?"
Was I being "targeted" just for being a Christian?! Will the cross turn up in some dumpster after a satanic ceremony had been performed on it? (the Tampa Bay Times, a free local newspaper had recently reported a series of animal cruelty cases in which dead cats were found, decapitated heads only, in front of newspaper stands!). After all, I even know of one incident in S. Korea in which a satanic cult had been broken up. The perpetrators? Practicing satanists in the U.S. Army! (their battalion commander, a staunch Catholic, had made sure that religious-hate acts would not exist under her reign!)
OR, was this just a petty crime?
Did someone really just want the cross to decorate his/her yard with?
(the price of the actual cross was only $10 or so and bought near the Lawn care section of a St. Petersburg, FL-area Lowe's Home Improvement store--in 2007! I guess the stealing of a cross is something that a fellow U.S. citizen could somehow "justify" to himself/herself, perhaps as a symbolic act, a hate-crime maybe? More than likely, just someone who likes to steal for the pleasure of doing something wrong! St. Augustine, prior to his conversion, apparently delighted in simply stealing fruit!)
Well, whether it was a satanic hate crime, a local drunk bar-hopper returning from a Tampa Bay Rays-Boston Red Sox game, or just someone who likes to steal, I am still QUITE unsettled!
First the cross stolen, and then what should I expect next? Hate crimes are anonymous, and yes, I have been a victim before (e.g. receiving racially-motivated graffiti in college on my dorm room marker wipe-board due to my strong racially-progressive and affirmative action viewpoints!).
CHRIST-FOR-ALL! Rob J. King (victim of Christian discrimination or just a Red Sox fan annoyed that the Tampa Bay Rays are in first place? By the way, if you read this, please return the cross and it will likely reduce your time in purgatory! I just prayed a Hail Mary for your eternal salvation . . . :-)
Monday, September 15, 2008
Barack, BIG OIL and newborn life!
I am really at a loss as how to explain, much less vote, in this Presidential Election. One the one hand, Barack Obama has impressed me with his poise, his intelligence, his generally good read of the economy, etc. BUT, through supporting Roe v. Wade any Christian should not vote for him! Since 1973, when Roe v. Wade overturned state law after state law barring abortions (judicial usurpation of democratic process as noted by Fr. Richard Neuhaus and others!), over 1 million children per year (40 million plus!) have been brutally and grotesquely murdered by their mommies.
Then in steps Presidential candidate John McCain, an "old, old timer" who has been a staunch advocate against military abuse (i.e. opposition to various torture bills!), is not in support of abortion, and sensing how far the Evangelical and Catholic Right had drifted from supporting the Giuliani-G.O.P., selected a staunch "family values" candidate in the Pro-Life governor from Alaska Sarah Palin.
But, an easy vote for the G.O.P. I am still reticent about . . .
The same Sarah Palin who rightly opposes child-murder (e.g. abortion!) is also the same Governor Palin who abused her position as an elected official to settle a family score in trying to get her ex-brother-in-law (a state trooper in Alaska!) fired due to a messy divorce proceedings! Should we not call her "Governor Stalin?" Sarah Stalin the new voice of women's liberation.
Okay, here the concerned Catholic (and Islamic, Jewish and Protestant) voter is left in a moral quandary.
A vote for Obama is a vote for killing babies.
A vote for McCain-Palin is a vote for dictatorial abuse of power.
In my camp lie the religious voter, the secularist who can actually think (i.e. a baby has unique D.N.A. at the moment of conception, brain waves and a heart beat, limbs, etc. in the FIRST TRIMESTER!) and it seems any and all who really care about people, rather than just cheap votes.
So, although a minority voice, once again, my support can be found neither among the Democrats nor the Republicans.
Alan Keyes, a staunch Pro-Life advocate, an African American Leader with a Ph.D. from Harvard and a moral exemplar is who will receive my vote.
Am I wasting a vote?
Well, only time will tell!
VOTE PRO-LIFE.
Love in Jesus the Christ,
Rob J. King
Then in steps Presidential candidate John McCain, an "old, old timer" who has been a staunch advocate against military abuse (i.e. opposition to various torture bills!), is not in support of abortion, and sensing how far the Evangelical and Catholic Right had drifted from supporting the Giuliani-G.O.P., selected a staunch "family values" candidate in the Pro-Life governor from Alaska Sarah Palin.
But, an easy vote for the G.O.P. I am still reticent about . . .
The same Sarah Palin who rightly opposes child-murder (e.g. abortion!) is also the same Governor Palin who abused her position as an elected official to settle a family score in trying to get her ex-brother-in-law (a state trooper in Alaska!) fired due to a messy divorce proceedings! Should we not call her "Governor Stalin?" Sarah Stalin the new voice of women's liberation.
Okay, here the concerned Catholic (and Islamic, Jewish and Protestant) voter is left in a moral quandary.
A vote for Obama is a vote for killing babies.
A vote for McCain-Palin is a vote for dictatorial abuse of power.
In my camp lie the religious voter, the secularist who can actually think (i.e. a baby has unique D.N.A. at the moment of conception, brain waves and a heart beat, limbs, etc. in the FIRST TRIMESTER!) and it seems any and all who really care about people, rather than just cheap votes.
So, although a minority voice, once again, my support can be found neither among the Democrats nor the Republicans.
Alan Keyes, a staunch Pro-Life advocate, an African American Leader with a Ph.D. from Harvard and a moral exemplar is who will receive my vote.
Am I wasting a vote?
Well, only time will tell!
VOTE PRO-LIFE.
Love in Jesus the Christ,
Rob J. King
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Artificial Reality, the 'Net and David Wilmington! :-)
The other day I received one of those Facebook application e-mails that "compares and contrasts" my different friends. The category was, of all things, who was the "most influential!"
Some names, such as Howard Dean, Chair of the Democratic National Party made sense! (Actually, he was considered the "most influential" of my "Facebook friends," many of whom are medical doctors, Duke University Professors, et al.).
BUT, the second most influential person was that ALL-time famous independent movie producer (and soccer coach, dad, Ph.D. student at Baylor University!), David Wilmington!
The Pope (also a Facebook friend!) apparently is not quite the "Mover & Shaker" that David Wilmington is (e.g. David, as an independent film producer, is on the Google search and thus MUST BE more influential than the POPE! ;-).
Well, as much as David Wilmington is a lifelong friend (M.T.S. from Duke; Ph.D. student in Theology at Baylor University!), due to the dynamics of Internet "search engines," etc. the "artificial reality" as created by the mass media is exactly THAT--namely, ARTIFICIAL!
BUT, and here is both the potentially interesting and also somewhat frustrating point, due to the ever-pervasive "star-producing" quality of the mass media, LEADERS can literally be FORMED OVER NIGHT (e.g. Sarah Palin, a soccer mom turned Alaska Governor turned V.P. Candidate ALL-IN-LESS-THAN 3 years!).
So, whether it is first-term Senator Barack Obama becoming "Mr. President" (or V.P. "Barracuda Palin" the point guard with a B.A. in Journalism . . .), 2008 A.D. is now the era of "mass production of fame . . . "
So, Mr. Wilmington, now that you are LITERALLY more influential than the POPE (Benedict XVI is losing his touch! :-) will you now become the next Shakespeare?!
FAME, Artificial Reality! :-)
Love in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King (Roman Catholic and still a Vatican-loyal CATHOLIC! :-)
Some names, such as Howard Dean, Chair of the Democratic National Party made sense! (Actually, he was considered the "most influential" of my "Facebook friends," many of whom are medical doctors, Duke University Professors, et al.).
BUT, the second most influential person was that ALL-time famous independent movie producer (and soccer coach, dad, Ph.D. student at Baylor University!), David Wilmington!
The Pope (also a Facebook friend!) apparently is not quite the "Mover & Shaker" that David Wilmington is (e.g. David, as an independent film producer, is on the Google search and thus MUST BE more influential than the POPE! ;-).
Well, as much as David Wilmington is a lifelong friend (M.T.S. from Duke; Ph.D. student in Theology at Baylor University!), due to the dynamics of Internet "search engines," etc. the "artificial reality" as created by the mass media is exactly THAT--namely, ARTIFICIAL!
BUT, and here is both the potentially interesting and also somewhat frustrating point, due to the ever-pervasive "star-producing" quality of the mass media, LEADERS can literally be FORMED OVER NIGHT (e.g. Sarah Palin, a soccer mom turned Alaska Governor turned V.P. Candidate ALL-IN-LESS-THAN 3 years!).
So, whether it is first-term Senator Barack Obama becoming "Mr. President" (or V.P. "Barracuda Palin" the point guard with a B.A. in Journalism . . .), 2008 A.D. is now the era of "mass production of fame . . . "
So, Mr. Wilmington, now that you are LITERALLY more influential than the POPE (Benedict XVI is losing his touch! :-) will you now become the next Shakespeare?!
FAME, Artificial Reality! :-)
Love in Jesus Christ, Rob J. King (Roman Catholic and still a Vatican-loyal CATHOLIC! :-)
Friday, August 15, 2008
Christian Warfare
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
--Ephesians 6:10 - 15 N.I.V.
Many "trials & tribulations" beset the true follower of Christ!
Whether it was Karl Barth, the Swiss-German Protestant (Calvinist) Theologian who resisted Hitler or whether it was the Methodist-trained Nelson Mandela, the first democratically-elected President of S. Africa, when one follows Christ, one will be persecuted, exiled, killed even for the Faith of Christ!
Take for example the recent round of high-profile "trials" in which Christians were (thanks be to God!) vindicated! First, the wife of TV Evangelist Joel Olsteen had been dragged into court on false charges of assault. A stewardess who had been aboard the flight that the Olsteens were travelling on had attempted to "con" Ms. Olsteen out of several hundred thousand dollars due to "emotional distress" because she had claimed that Ms. Olsteen attacked her while on flight.
The verdict?
A unanimous jury decision was on behalf of the TV Evangelist-Olsteen family . . .
Similarly, in a rancorous Tampa Bay-area divorce trial, a trial in which the former Mrs. Hulk Hogan sought to imprison him on "contempt of court" charges for not buying a several million dollar condo in Las Vegas (the Hulkster claimed it was a bad business decision and had that court order amended!), the quietly Christian Hulk Hogan was relieved of any penalty and the couple split all assets more or less "50/50." At the end of The St. Petersburg Times article (p. A2, August 15, 2008), the reporter briefly mentioned how the Hulkster prays nightly with his family, and how the tattoo on his wrist is to help him remember that "The Spirit of Christ is in him." (paraphrase)
So, whether it was Karl Barth resisting the Nazis or the Hulkster resisting his money-hungry former wife the truth is that JUSTICE is done!
The Nazis were (eventually . . .) conquered and tried for War Crimes.
The Hulkster can now live in peace.
The Olsteen family can now return to ministering for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Remember, however, FELLOW CHRISTIAN, the struggle against evil is not just physical (legal), but is always conducted in the heavenly realms . . .
ALL THE BEST IN CHRIST,
Rob J. King
--Ephesians 6:10 - 15 N.I.V.
Many "trials & tribulations" beset the true follower of Christ!
Whether it was Karl Barth, the Swiss-German Protestant (Calvinist) Theologian who resisted Hitler or whether it was the Methodist-trained Nelson Mandela, the first democratically-elected President of S. Africa, when one follows Christ, one will be persecuted, exiled, killed even for the Faith of Christ!
Take for example the recent round of high-profile "trials" in which Christians were (thanks be to God!) vindicated! First, the wife of TV Evangelist Joel Olsteen had been dragged into court on false charges of assault. A stewardess who had been aboard the flight that the Olsteens were travelling on had attempted to "con" Ms. Olsteen out of several hundred thousand dollars due to "emotional distress" because she had claimed that Ms. Olsteen attacked her while on flight.
The verdict?
A unanimous jury decision was on behalf of the TV Evangelist-Olsteen family . . .
Similarly, in a rancorous Tampa Bay-area divorce trial, a trial in which the former Mrs. Hulk Hogan sought to imprison him on "contempt of court" charges for not buying a several million dollar condo in Las Vegas (the Hulkster claimed it was a bad business decision and had that court order amended!), the quietly Christian Hulk Hogan was relieved of any penalty and the couple split all assets more or less "50/50." At the end of The St. Petersburg Times article (p. A2, August 15, 2008), the reporter briefly mentioned how the Hulkster prays nightly with his family, and how the tattoo on his wrist is to help him remember that "The Spirit of Christ is in him." (paraphrase)
So, whether it was Karl Barth resisting the Nazis or the Hulkster resisting his money-hungry former wife the truth is that JUSTICE is done!
The Nazis were (eventually . . .) conquered and tried for War Crimes.
The Hulkster can now live in peace.
The Olsteen family can now return to ministering for the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Remember, however, FELLOW CHRISTIAN, the struggle against evil is not just physical (legal), but is always conducted in the heavenly realms . . .
ALL THE BEST IN CHRIST,
Rob J. King
Friday, August 8, 2008
Do Plants 'Hate' Each Other . . .
In Michel Foucault's The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences, the French philosophical genius describes the "birth" of modern scientific disciplines such as botany, biology, etc.
In perhaps the most humorous part of the book (I am about half-way through it), Foucault describes the pre-modern view of botany in which plants were thought to have almost human and/or animal-like dispositions. Although a modern botanist would explain how certain plants do not grow well next to each other due to chemical conditions of the soil, differences in root structure, etc., due to a view of similitude in which all aspects of nature were somehow intertwined, the pre-modern mind would think of plants as actually "hating" each other in the way that human neighbors may have disagreements or in the way that different animals might get into territorial squabbles (e.g. local stray cats fighting each other). Quoting the 1656 work De la subtilite by J. Cardan, Foucault describes this non-sensical scene thusly, "It is fairly widely known that the plants have hatreds between themselves . . . it is said that the olive and the vine hate the cabbage; the cucumber flies from the olive . . ." (p. 24).
What nonsense so it seems to the 'modern era.'
But is this the case?
Plants are indeed living creatures, granted lacking rationality, but in spite of a lack of cognition plants do respond better to conditions that are not simply reducible to chemicals. Granted, plants may lack the anthropomorphicized "emotional" qualities that we humans often ascribe to dogs, cats, etc., but nonetheless as the Jewish teaching on soil conservation shows (e.g. allowing fields to lie fallow in order to "rest"), perhaps the living aspect of creation (i.e. plants, animals, humans, microorganisms) are not simply the network of electro-magnetic energy, chemical interdependencies, etc. Perhaps creation is just that, the living, breathing (plants aspirate!) handiwork of God Himself!
Okay, so do plants "hate" each other? Well this question would be difficult to gauge. Plants do not speak. Thus, like the amoeba all that we can do is to live according to "stimulus-response." Thus, if your flowers seem to "perk up" in direct sunlight, then let them grow there! If they seem to wither in direct sunlight then place your potted plants in a cooler, less sunny place.
In care of God's Green Earth in Christ, Rob
In perhaps the most humorous part of the book (I am about half-way through it), Foucault describes the pre-modern view of botany in which plants were thought to have almost human and/or animal-like dispositions. Although a modern botanist would explain how certain plants do not grow well next to each other due to chemical conditions of the soil, differences in root structure, etc., due to a view of similitude in which all aspects of nature were somehow intertwined, the pre-modern mind would think of plants as actually "hating" each other in the way that human neighbors may have disagreements or in the way that different animals might get into territorial squabbles (e.g. local stray cats fighting each other). Quoting the 1656 work De la subtilite by J. Cardan, Foucault describes this non-sensical scene thusly, "It is fairly widely known that the plants have hatreds between themselves . . . it is said that the olive and the vine hate the cabbage; the cucumber flies from the olive . . ." (p. 24).
What nonsense so it seems to the 'modern era.'
But is this the case?
Plants are indeed living creatures, granted lacking rationality, but in spite of a lack of cognition plants do respond better to conditions that are not simply reducible to chemicals. Granted, plants may lack the anthropomorphicized "emotional" qualities that we humans often ascribe to dogs, cats, etc., but nonetheless as the Jewish teaching on soil conservation shows (e.g. allowing fields to lie fallow in order to "rest"), perhaps the living aspect of creation (i.e. plants, animals, humans, microorganisms) are not simply the network of electro-magnetic energy, chemical interdependencies, etc. Perhaps creation is just that, the living, breathing (plants aspirate!) handiwork of God Himself!
Okay, so do plants "hate" each other? Well this question would be difficult to gauge. Plants do not speak. Thus, like the amoeba all that we can do is to live according to "stimulus-response." Thus, if your flowers seem to "perk up" in direct sunlight, then let them grow there! If they seem to wither in direct sunlight then place your potted plants in a cooler, less sunny place.
In care of God's Green Earth in Christ, Rob
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