Hell's Angels Gone Soft

Canadians have always been known as mild-mannered the world around. Apparently even our gangsters have feelings...and gosh darn it, their feelings are hurt. They don't like being called murderers, pimps, thieves, drug dealers, thugs, and all around bad guys. It injures their delicate sensibilities and makes them feel sad.

Ontario's Hell's Angels have gone soft. I declare today "Rough Up a Hell's Angel" day. Kick a little sand in their face. It'll make ya feel good.

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Christian Worldview

Here's an interesting article on an important issue:

Worldview Boot Camp

Christian worldview is essentially a christian way of looking at all spheres of life. The evangelical church is anemic in this area. We teach, "Don't do drugs, or don't have premarital sex, etc", but these are specifics—empty rules.

The christian worldview is an apprehension of the world that stands on the absolute truth of God. It gives our existence meaning and provides us a track on which to run our lives. It underscores the fact that we are all made in God's image and that creation, though fallen, is still God's creation. It encourages us to be creative, expressing ourselves as only the image of God can. It encourages us to redeem society around us from it's fallen state. Rules and regulations don't do that. People chafe under the bondage of rules, but experience freedom through a coherent christian worldview.

Sadly, the evangelical worldview is often incoherent. We believe in the sanctity of life and rally to oppose abortion, but then wish AIDS on the homosexual community. We believe that all humans are equal and loved in God's eyes and yet sneer at and vilify an unwed mother.

Our inconsistencies do not go unnoticed. Shame on us.

Act of Worship

I visited the Pregnancy Help Centre in my city today. I was dropping off supplies gathered by my sunday school class as part of our annual christmas project.

Many people were involved in this effort. There is Ken and Judy who lead our class and encourage us to live our faith; there is Angela who organizes the effort to meet the needs of the needy; there is my wife who gathered up the offerings for the centre; there are the givers, the folks who took the time to fill the basket to overflowing; and then there's me, the guy who gets to make the delivery.

There is no better job than making the delivery. I get to see the reaction. There are very few things as rewarding as showing another person that they are loved. I get to bask, for a moment, in the genuine and heartfelt thankfulness expressed. It stirs my social conscience. I feel like I brought a little of Christ there today, but not just me. My community brought Christ there today and it was our act of worship.


Matthew 25: 34-40
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
    “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
   “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

RealLivePreacher.com

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RealLivePreacher.com is one of Salon.com’s top ten blogs and one of the most-read weblogs in the world. It's good stuff.

--greg.

Marriage in Canada

This week the Supreme Court of Canada has given it's opinion regarding four questions posed by the government regarding gay marriage. There is probably no hotter topic in Canada than gay marriage. For moral conservatives this is yet another erosion of the traditional institution of marriage—an institution fundamental to the well-being of society.

However, as important as this issue is, I have to wonder if there are other issues regarding marriage that hold as much as, or more importance than gay marriage. For instance, in the 1970s moral conservatives dropped the ball regarding the easing of divorce laws in Canada. We were assured that this would be beneficial to those people (especially abused women) who need to get out of a marriage quickly, but that it wouldn't erode the idea of permenance within marriage. This has not been the case. Shortly after that ruling divorce rates spiked. Today, nearly half of all marriages end in divorce. A full 80% of these divorces in Canada are based on a one-year separation. That is, if you and your spouse have lived separate and apart for one year with the idea that your marriage is over, then you can get a divorce. So 80% of divorces occur, not because of abuse or due to the unfaithfulness of a spouse, but simply because two people just don't want to be married anymore.

Marriage has become another throw-away in a fast food society. Unfortunately, there are serious social implications to this problem. As the family unit breaks up children are often the ones who suffer the most. They are shuttled between parents; custody battles often force children to take sides in their parents' war; parents may also suffer financially which in turn effects the children. It's a sad state of affairs. Unfortunately, since we have discarded the idea of permenance in marriage our future generations will continue to tie the knot with one foot in the marriage bed and one foot out the door. We cannot build a strong society if we continue to tear it apart at it's very foundations.

Divorce will always be with us, but if we make it a little harder maybe people will think a bit more before they take the plunge. Instead of relying on ever-changing feelings and romanticized ideas maybe they will take seriously the committments and covenants that they make.

'Till death do us part isn't always easy, but it's certainly worth it.

Oh Canada

Today is "wear your hockey jersey to work day" in Canada. We're going to wear our hearts on our sleeves and our favourite teams on our backs today with the hope that it will woo our prodigal heros back to the ice.

Canada, this is pathetic. I can only assume that this initiative was put forth by a beer company. Let's face it, the only serious issue surrounding the hockey lockout is that hundreds, if not thousands of NHL support workers are now out of jobs as a result of millionaire hockey players fighting with billionaire owners.

We take hockey far too seriously. If we would promote education as vigorously as we do hockey our children would be geniuses. However, we prefer stick wielding buffoons. We prefer hockey moms who lift their shirts and shake their breasts to mock 11 year olds on the opposing team and who throw hot coffee at young players. We prefer dads who berate and abuse their children when they don't "hussle" on the ice and who resort to physical violence with other parents. We prefer shirking our parental responsiblity to raise our own children by sending them away at 15 and 16 years old with the hope that they can achieve the near impossible goal of making millions of dollars in the NHL.

Oh Canada, we need to get our heads out of our puck pails and turn our attention back to things that benefit and strengthen society, not tear it down.

First Blog

So this is my first blog.

While watching the Michael Coren show the other night I discovered something important. Having both David Menzies and Andrew Krystal on the same discussion panel is much like adding together two numerically identical positive and negative numbers—it amounts to nothing.