The Associated Press (AP) is running a story on the lone survivor of last January’s Sago, mine disaster.The AP has released excerpts of a letter that survivor Randal McCloy, Jr. wrote to the families of his 11 co-workers who died in the accident. The letter not only reveals that four of the men’s airpacks were not working, but it also recalls the final moments of McCloy’s dying comrades. As time went on, I became very dizzy and lightheaded. Some drifted off into what appeared to be a deep sleep, and one person sitting near me collapsed and fell off his bucket, not moving. It was clear that there was nothing…
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David Beamer on the New Movie “United 93″
Do you remember Todd Beamer? On September 11, 2001, he was the hero who said “let’s roll” as he and a band of other heroes aboard United 93 led the first counter-attack in the war on terror.I’m sure that you have already heard about the new movie based on the events of that day aboard that fateful flight. The movie is called “United 93″ and you can watch the trailers here. Some have been questioning the timing of the movie and whether releasing such a movie shows disrespect to the families of the victims. Todd Beamer’s father, David Beamer, weighs in on the debate in today’s Wall Street Journal in…
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Ambassador Tony Hall to Speak Tonight at Criswell College
For those readers who are in the Dallas area, I want to bring your attention to a special convocation that will be held tonight at the Criswell College where I teach. Ambassador Tony Hall will be giving an address in the Criswell College chapel that will be broadcast on C-SPAN.The convocation will begin tonight at 7pm, Tuesday, April 25. Click here for a map to the College. The public is invited to attend. Ambassador Hall is a Democrat who is a leading advocate for hunger relief programs and improving human rights conditions in the world. He has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. In February 2002, President…
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Southern Pride and American Idol
This is something I hate to admit, but I am an American Idol fan. Yes, it’s true. My wife and I both are hooked.Today’s Washington Post may have unlocked the mystery of why we like the show so much. It turns out that the most successful people on the show are southerners who learned to sing in church. Here’s an excerpt: For five years, the most wildly popular talent contest on American television has been dominated — thoroughly, totally and completely — by kids from Southern Hicksville, USA. Seven of the eight top-two finishers in the first four years were from states that once formed the Confederacy, and five of…
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Who’s afraid of Derek Webb? (part 3)
(Click here for Part 1) (Part 2) As I said in part 2, there is much to commend on Derek’s new album, “Mockingbird.” But as I also indicated there, I will now address some items that I think are not so good. First, pacifism plays a big part on this album. That Derek embraces pacifism as the only Christian alternative comes through loud and clear in the song “My Enemies Are Men Like Me.” I don’t know how else to understand the following lines except as condemnation of anyone who might argue for the possibility of a just war: peace by way of war is like purity by…
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Who’s afraid of Derek Webb? (part 2)
(Click here for Part 1) When I got home from the Derek Webb concert on Tuesday night, I shot off a blog that was in protest of what I thought was an overtly left-wing political message on Webb’s new album “Mockingbird.” But I later deleted what I wrote because I came to the conclusion that Derek’s message actually deserved a little more serious consideration than I had given it. So that is why this has turned into a three part series. My initial response, however, was provoked in part by how the concert-goers received Derek’s lefty-friendly message. Consider, for example, the response from the crowd when Derek sang these lines:…
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The Gospel of Judas: A Transparent Fiction
What should we make of the discovery of this new Gospel of Judas that has been unearthed in the sands of Egypt? The media and unfortunately some biblical scholars of note would have us think that this document represents voices from the early centuries of Christianity that need to be given a hearing as we assess who the Jesus of history was. Bart Ehrman and Elaine Pagels are among those scholars of the opinion that earliest Christianity was not a monolithic movement. There were many different Christian groups in the first century, but we just don’t know much about the “other” groups because their voices were suppressed by the orthodox…
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Who’s afraid of Derek Webb? (part 1)
I just returned home from a Derek Webb concert. Derek’s venue was the Gypsy Tea Room near downtown Dallas in the area known by locals as Deep Ellum. Deep Ellum used to be the hip part of town, the place where all the young urban twenty-somethings would descend every weekend for dining, music, and club hopping. This once very popular center has declined over the past several years as most of the nightlife has moved to the new and trendy “uptown” area. If you have ever been to a Christian concert, you might have been surprised by this one. When I saw and heard the Marilyn Manson style death-metal band…
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Botched Abortions You Haven’t Heard About
The vaunted “safe, legal, and rare” abortions that we’ve heard so much about may be legal, but they are hardly rare, and in the following story are not safe either (that is, safe for the mother, since they are never safe for the baby). The F.D.A. has now received reports that six women in the United States died after taking RU-486, or Mifeprex. A seventh died in Canada. The two most recent deaths and two of the previous four underwent their procedures at Planned Parenthood clinics, a spokeswoman said . . . Since reporting drug side effects is voluntary in the United States, it is possible that more women have…
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Bart Ehrman on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”
Bart Ehrman has been making the media rounds with the publication of his new book Misquoting Jesus. Recently, he promoted his book on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” (click here and scroll down to “Bart Ehrman” to stream the video). (HT: Daniel Streett) I reviewed Misquoting Jesus on this blog a couple of months ago. In that review I made the observation that Ehrman often mixes in higher critical conjectures that do not have anything to do with the manuscript tradition per se. This serves his polemical purpose of undermining the reliability of the Bible, but it does not help the lay reader who is being introduced to the…