a lesson from history's knucklebrains

I read this passage in my Systematic Theology textbook just now, and was reminded of some of the popular responses in the American Church to the election of our two most recent Presidents. The last one caused a lot of us to have to eat our hats. The current one, well, it's far too early to tell how history will remember him. But we can be pretty certain that the nigh-deification we've been seeing is at best misguided, and at worst idolatry.

We need to be careful as to what we identify as God's providence. The most notable instance of a too ready identification of historical events with God's will is probably the "German Christians" who in 1934 endorsed the action of Adolf Hitler as God's working in history. The words of their statement are sobering to us who now read them: "We are full of thanks to God that He, as Lord of history, has given us Adolf Hitler our leader and savior from our difficult lot. We acknowledge that we, with body and soul, are bound and dedicated to the German state and to its Führer. This bondage and duty contains for us, as evangelical Christians, its deepest and most holy significance in its obedience to the command of God."¹ A statement a year earlier had said, "To this turn of history [i.e., Hitler's taking power] we say a thankful Yes. God has given him to us. To Him be the glory. As bound to God's Word, we recognize in the great events of our day a new commission of God to His church."² From our perspective, the folly of such statements seems obvious. But are we perhaps making some pronouncements today that will be seen as similarly mistaken by those who come a few decades after us?

-Excerpted from Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology (2nd edition) (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998)

Now I'm not in any way comparing the President to Hitler. I'm not comparing the last one to him, either. I'm simply pointing out that, with both of them, a lot of evangelical Christians acted as though they were the anointed ones of God, when in fact they're just men. The religious zeal of the German Christians for Hitler is but an extreme example of the folly inherent in such conclusions. Let us act more wisely going forward.

¹ Quoted from Berkouwer, Providence of God, pp. 176-77.
² Quoted from Karl Barth, Theologische Existenz Huete (Munich: C. Kaiser, 1934), p. 10.

who is chius, anyway?

I have no idea who Chius is. All I know is that he lived in or around ancient Pompeii, had an unfortunate dermatological condition, and managed to fall out of the good graces of some smart ass with a disregard for public property.

That's right, ol' Chius was the subject of some ancient graffiti. He's not the only one in his town to befall this fate, either. Turns out Pompeii was chock full of graffiti, much of which shows strikingly how little man has changed since ancient times. Here are some of my favorites:
(sources: 1, 2, 3)

O Chius, I hope that your ulcerous pustules reopen and burn even more than they did before!

Pyrrhus to his colleague Chius: I grieve because I hear you have died; and so farewell.

Whoever loves, go to hell. I want to break Venus' ribs with blows and deform her hips. If she can break my tender heart, why can't I hit her over the head?

Atimetus got me pregnant.

Litus, you are a mediocre man.

Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men’s behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!

We pissed our beds. I know, O Host, we were wrong.
Ask why? There was no chamber pot.

On the 9th of November Quintus Postumius invited Aulus Attius to have homosexual intercourse with me.

Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan!

Someone at whose table I do not dine, Lucius Istacidius, is a barbarian to me.

Here Harpocras has had a good fuck with Drauca for a denarius.

Watch it, you that shits in this place! May you have Jove's anger if you ignore this.

Myrtis, you do great blow jobs.

We two dear men, friends forever, were here. If you want to know our names, they are Gaius and Aulus.

At Nuceria, near the Roman gate, is the district of Venus. Ask for Novellia Primigenia.

I screwed the barmaid. (written on a tavern wall)

Theophilus, don’t perform oral sex on girls against the city wall like a dog.

Marcus loves Spendusa.

Celadus the Thracian gladiator is the delight of all the girls.

I have buggered men. (written on someone's house)

If anyone does not believe in Venus, they should gaze at my girlfriend.

Secundus likes to screw boys.

I screwed a lot of girls here.

Sollemnes, you screw well!

If anyone sits here, let him read this first of all: if anyone wants a fuck, he should look for Attice; the price is four asses.

Epaphra, you are bald!

Phileros is a eunuch!

Samius to Cornelius: go hang yourself!

Epaphra is not good at ball games.

Secundus defecated here. (written three times on one wall!)

Apollinaris, the doctor of the emperor Titus, defecated well here.

O walls, you have held up so much tedious graffiti that I am amazed that you have not already collapsed in ruin.

This is not a place for idlers. Leave, you who have nothing to do.

four loves

The love for equals is a human thing – of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing – the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing – to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy – love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured's love for the torturer. This is God's love. It conquers the world.

– Frederick Buechner

QE for the SG

At least he tried to put a positive spin on it. In other news, I laugh too much in internet conversation.

some weekend lolz

Apparently English food is a big joke to the rest of the world. If I say something's good or bad, people say, "Oh, you should know, being the authority on good food and everything." But English cuisine doesn't get enough credit; we're actually quite talented. Who else could take any vegetable at all, boil the living shit out of it, and turn it into complete mush devoid of any taste whatsoever?

- Peter "P.K." Meyer

thefreakkingdom: Why is it that robots always become homicidal when they develop artificial intelligence?
thefreakkingdom: is that the benchmark for real intelligence? The desire to kill?
CalebJDuck: lol
CalebJDuck: apparently
thefreakkingdom: except Short Circuit
CalebJDuck: yes, but i'd be hard pressed to argue that he was really all that intelligent
thefreakkingdom: He did laugh at Steve Guttenberg, after all
CalebJDuck: haha, indeed
CalebJDuck: i rest my case

TomDixon22: I heard that John Kerry was using Friendster...that's the first time I heard of networking sites
TomDixon22: so I specifically didn't sign up
CalebJDuck: haha
CalebJDuck: that's like when Belding started wearing a Buddy Band

Landrouge: ill pull a goldenberg
Landrouge: and complain about this soup
CalebJDuck: lol, what?
Landrouge: ill be a jew
Landrouge: and complain

What makes you think human beings are sentient and aware? There's no evidence for it. Human beings never think for themselves, they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told - and become upset if they are exposed to any different views. The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their 'beliefs.' The reason is that beliefs guide behavior, which has evolutionary importance among human beings. But at a time when our behavior may well lead us to extinction, I see no reason to assume we have any awareness at all. We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion.

-Ian Malcolm in The Lost World by Michael Crichton

Above: The only photograph that shall ever be used on this site to depict my sister-in-law, Lauren Ruggiero. And as for the smack down you promised, bring it on, my little friend, bring it on...