Tim,
I would like to thank you. I have been reading this blog for quite some time, and it is one of my favorites. You are insightful, articulate and seem to be grounded rather well spiritually. Thank you for the comments you have given, they have at time been very uplifting to me (in a spiritual sense) when I have been struggling. May Glod richly bless you and all your endeavors.

Just a thought, since you've been blogging on the organic trend; There have been claims that women today have earlier onset of menstruation than they did fifty-some years because of hormones in foods and the environment.

It seems to me that several other factors, including better nutrition and also a changing racial demographic could better explain this fact. African-American women are shown to start menstruation over a year earlier than caucasians, and their percentage of the population has increased over the past 50 years.

I still buy organic milk when I buy the stuff. However this seeming misinterpretation of data has always bothered me. I can go through and give some support via links after I get off work if anyone is interested.

Salut Tim. :)

Do you tiptoe through tulips or crush them underfoot?

Have you any experience in dealing with/teaching teenage Christians? As one of them, I'm looking for ways to make my peers (and myself!) treat Christ as the treasure He is. In the end, it's God that does the growing but knowing what kind of water to use helps. Drama is looking like an interesting option.

Reading a lot of C.S Lewis lately. Great stuff. Love the way he set up the first three chapters of Mere Christianity. Hoping the rest will be just as good. :)

Oh, one more thing! When you first replied to my question about "Why Won't God Heal Amputees?" with the blog on it, I was very pleased with what you wrote. Even more so after a conversation I had last night. A buddy of mine is struggling pretty hardcore with the world right now (He's a skeptic and has just suffered a big loss) and I showed him the blog. Apparently, it made a lot more sense that I did. :D

That's all!

My first post here, my thanks go out to the site owner for allowing me to post. Christians have taken a lot of hits lately. As one who has pulled his head down out of the way in the past I now find that I need to stand tall and make contributions when I can.

Bad things happen when good people do nothing. I watch as people convert to "Islam" news and other media outlets hammer good christian folk mercilessly, because they are Christian believers.

You can not teach children or influence others by being afraid to be called names or denounced because of your faith. People need sincere and believing leaders, not skin deep pretenders.

I guess that I never understood how deep the hatred is for Christians and also for this country is in the minds of some of its citizens.

It really is time for good folks to demand real positive change, stand up and fight the good fight, lead by example not by rote. I hope that good folk remember how this nation became as great as it is.

My mother is a left of center Michael Moore believer. She spoke recently very derisively of neo-cons. I reminded her that the values she raised me to believe in and follow are now considered those of a neo-con. She had never thought of it that way. Tied up in political rhetoric, she had forgotten those values her parents and she and my father instilled in me.

Steve

I apologize: this will be a longish response, given the number of excellent points raised.

SY: Thanks so much for the kind words! Words cannot adequately describe how kind and encouraging your simple thank-you is. I'm glad you're here, and quite pleased to "meet" you.

I so wish I could have you all over for dinner and a party.

Ryan: Excellent question! So good, in fact, it will have its own entry shortly.

Perry! So good to hear from you again! I try to stay out of the tulips altogether, actually. ;-)

One of the thing which really helped me in my teen years (and early twenties) was to find a cool and fun group of other believers. There were some very rewarding things which came out of that. Pray and ask God to help you find one.

Drama sounds like it could be fun too, but my experience is that many people are drawn to drama (the discipline) who are also drawn to drama (as an approach to life). I don't know if that's different in Christian drama groups, though, so don't let me put you off it.

Yes, indeed, CS Lewis rocks. ("Screwtape" is quick, insightful, and enjoyable. I also enjoyed Hugh Ross, and many people say good things about McDowell.) I think, given your request, I'll write something in the future about my own teenage years and "conversion".

And if you (or your friend) have any other questions, you're more than welcomed to send me e-mail privately at "blog" at this domain name. Or post an anonymous comment here: even off topic. I may not know, but if there's anything I can say which could be helpful, I'll do my best.

(And perhaps visitors here who pray might want to offer a prayer or two for Perry's friend.)

I'm very glad to have you here.

To Steven Anderson: Welcome, friend!

Christians have taken a lot of hits lately.

They certainly have! But it's more society which I'm worried about. Our job has classically been to do things which we think will not be rewarded in this lifetime. To hear you say such things ("I now find that I need to stand tall and make contributions when I can") is precisely what brought me to do this in the first place. Thank you, friend!

And since I don't believe in a radical political takeover by force, I view my role as helping explain what policies work, what policies help people, why our religious outlook matters deeply -- both internally and to society -- and why the Judeo-Christian worldview and ethics are worth understanding and keeping.

So speech, and telling the truth as best as I can see it, is pretty much my only "weapon".

My mother is a left of center Michael Moore believer. She spoke recently very derisively of neo-cons. I reminded her that the values she raised me to believe in and follow are now considered those of a neo-con. She had never thought of it that way. Tied up in political rhetoric, she had forgotten those values her parents and she and my father instilled in me.

Great tact!

So many, many of my friends are in the same boat. We have parents who are drifting further and further left (as they did though the 60s and 70s), into increasingly radical doctrines, and we seem unable to get through to them.

There's something in the water, I suspect. ;-)

Dennis Prager is fond of pointing out that many "liberals" have one set of values that apply to their personal lives (good values, actually) and a completely different set they advocate politically. He chides them: "You should preach what you practice!"

But we've been cowed into buying into relativism: Sure, that's true for me, but who am I to say what works for other people? (And sometimes, that's a entirely fair statement! But not to the extent we have taken it.)

As you say, blind fear of the dreaded "right wing" is driving many of them into stranger and stranger territory. (Like we've never seen that tactic used before!) Never mind that this horrifying "right wing" which is mostly composed of people like their own rather mundane and loving children -- advocating, as you point out, the values they once taught us were sensible and good.

So, as you might gather from the length of my response, I entirely sympathize with your situation.

It isn't our job to "win". It's our job to stand up and make large chunks of the culture hate us by being as honest and loving as we can, through speech and service. I hate to put it that way -- and undoubtedly many will respond positively to that, too. But we serve and follow a man who warned that if we try to do good and be honest, and if we stuck to him, we will be vociferously opposed by many, including many of those closest to us.

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household.

To an extent, it's always been true that there were tensions within families, but generally clan-groups fought together against external threats. Today, the rifts we see are primarily intra-family, and, as Jesus said, are mostly ideological -- at their core, they are debates about nothing other than Judeo-Christian values and beliefs.

By chance I heard from a friend Jesse Jackson was appearing on Fox news yesterday, the O'reilly factor, so I tuned in. I am still trying to figure out how Mr. Jackson became, and is referred to as a reverend. Maybe someone here can offer the history.

Outside of that segment San Francisco values was highlighted. I was disgusted to the core with the segment that showed the desecration of the last supper and the San Fran fools prancing in their wierdness around the streets. However the most intriguing question was asked by Mr. Oreilly,

Is this the America you want?

To the point. Precisely, dead on.

It can not be said any better. When good people do nothing, these things are what happens. How do parents think when they see their children dancing around the streets in leathers and sado masochistic outfits? Pride? A Kodak moment?

God created two of most everything, and two wonderful creatures in his image, man and woman. Evidently the creator found the need for two exquisite creations, not just one.

Tim is right, the truth is a powerful weapon. It must be wielded every day, not left in its shell and taken out when we think it is needed, then it may be too late. Is this the America we want?

By chance I heard from a friend Jesse Jackson was appearing on Fox news yesterday, the O'reilly factor, so I tuned in. I am still trying to figure out how Mr. Jackson became, and is referred to as a reverend.

Interesting question, Steve. If I recall correctly, there was something unusual about the "Reverend" Jackson's degree, but it may also be that I'm mixing him up with someone else.

Hey Tim,

If you're taking requests...how about Christians, their children and the question of Santa Claus?

:)

I don't know if anyone else has heard of this, but there was an issue here in Oro Valley, AZ (about 30 min from me where my parents live) where Walmart was given financial incentives to put in a store/mall. Nothing against that in particular, however there was a great deal of dishonesty among the board, pushing the issue against popular sentiment and assuring us that the incentives would not be brining in a big box store. It now seems that what happened might violate the AZ constitution. I was wondering if anyone heard of similar issues happening in other parts of the country.

There's an interesting article on link
Megan McArdle's blog about altruistic punishers.

It seems to touch on some of the psychological issues which Tim has run up against at one time or another.

grr. there.