The Daily Detour

Happy Halloween: Witches pick Hillary to win in '08?

Not yet, but they very well might.

Faithful friends, I'm back! I hope there are still some of you out there who will find your way back to The Daily Detour after my absence. Thanks for your patience.

In keeping with the spirit of Halloween, a recent poll of witches predicted the presidential match-up in 2008 to be Hillary Clinton and Wesley Clark versus Rudy Guiliani and Mike Huckabee. A witch's prediction of Hillary for president? That can't be good. Fortunately, they didn't pick the actual winner yet. But apparently, they were right in the last election.

It is easy to dismiss this poll as merely a light-hearted attempt at levity, not meant to be taken seriously. And that is where our culture is mistaken. Not in whether or not witches should be predicting any political outcome, but rather, in our appreciation of the para-normal in general. With the whole string of movies (30 Days of Night) and TV shows (Ghost Whisperer, Moonlight, etc...) saturating our weekly entertainment, we have begun to trivialize what is a very serious subject.

For those who don't believe in anything beyond the natural world, such cautions might be readily dismissed. On the other hand, even those of us who do believe in a supernatural reality have developed a certain cynicism about any inclination toward the para-normal. We forget the admonition from the Bible that "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" (Eph. 6:12).

I wonder, what would be different if we took the supernatural world as seriously as it really is?

Thanks again for your patience. I look forward to getting back into regular thoughtful conversation with you here on the blog.

Update from deep down in the rabbit hole

Friends, thanks for your undeserved patience during this unplanned extended hiatus. I just wanted to let you know that I hope to be back online very soon (tomorrow?), providing the usual engaging commentary from off the beaten path.

I'm slogging my way through the ever-piling projects, and I think I'm finally starting to see the light and the end of the tunnel. (Or, is that the headlight on the approaching locomotive? Yikes!) See you all soon!

Heading down the rabbit hole

For the two fans out there who missed Monday's edition of MMWR, my apologies. Just the latest symptom of my current case of insanity. :P The way I described my current condition, when recently asked to describe my life in the context of a weather pattern, was that the winds have whipped up in anticipation of a storm that is about to unleash its fury on all of us unfortunate souls who stand in its path.

Just a couple of quick updates:

We went to the doctor Monday, and Dr. Farr (who got some local press recently for his work) said Jean continues to make great strides with her recovery and rehab. She still has almost 3 more weeks of "crunches" (as Caleb and Andrew call them), but she is progressing well.

Also, I've been under the gun with the some project deadlines on multiple fronts, which is why it has been more quiet on the TDD front. Though not by my own desire, I have had to head below ground for a bit and decrease my usual blogging frenzy. But not to fear. I'm persevering through and see some light at the end of the tunnel. Until I reach it I am wondering, in the words of Morpheus, "just how deep the rabbit hole really goes."

Hopefully, I'll be back up for air soon. Thanks for your patience, perseverance, and loyalty during this rollercoaster that is my life.

Dalai Lama heads to Hoosier country

His holiness the Dalai Lama came to Indiana today and headed south to Bloomington for an interfaith service, as well as, the dedication of the Tibetan Cultural Center, founded by his brother. The schedule during his Indiana visit involves a teaching series, along with a number of other speaking engagements.

Whenever the Dalai Lama comes to visit I always find it intriguing that someone of such religious prominence on the world's stage would find his way to our cornfields. :)

For any of you in the local area, it's a great opportunity to hear the Dalai Lama and experience a worldview vastly different than that of Christianity. While we may share certain commonalities there are significant differences between Christianity and Buddhism which demand our understanding. To understand the Buddhist faith allows us to more effectively share God's Truth with the many sincere, yet misguided, devotees of that prominent religious faith.

And in other political news...it's the end of the road for Brownback.

Apparently, the political realities of a being a 2nd-tier presidential candidate have finally caught up with Senator Sam Brownback. He determined earlier this week that it was time to call it quits. As he described it, "My yellow brick road came just short of the White House this time."

And "what ever happened to Mike Huckabee?" That's the question put up on my latest Romney post by one of our regular TDD readers. A fair question indeed. After all, Chuck Norris has endorsed him, so what's not to like? :) Lest you think I'm jesting, Mike Huckabee is a very solid candidate that any conservative Christian could solidly support. Unfortunately, however, he faces the same dilemma that eventually caught up with Sen. Brownback--namely, the struggle to break out of the 2nd-tier of candidates and move to the front of the presidential pack.

So, what's the Christian to do when we witness many of those candidates who share are fundamental worldview struggling to gain traction. Anyone's participation in the electoral process is an individual decision. Who we vote for can be determined by a variety of factors. Whether we vote at all should not even be a part of any conversation by those who are privileged to live in the United States.

As I suggested back in June, in evaluating any political candidate, I am something of an idealistic pragmatist. That is to say, there should be an effort to try to strike the balance between principled ideals and the pragmatic politics of electability. The marriage of conviction and electability must go hand-in-hand for any reasonable assessment of a candidate's viability.

This is where qualified candidates like Sen. Brownback (and eventually, I predict, Mike Huckabee) often come up short. They may have convictions that are consistent with my own Christian worldview, but their ability to get elected seriously compromises any viable chance they may have to exercise those convictions in the desired public office. I would love to see Huckabee move to the front of the pack, and while there appear to be hints of such a revolution, I seriously doubt he has enough electability among the masses to contend with the front-runners for any length of time.

So, we are left to consider those who have a reasonable shot at being elected. As I said earlier this past week, I believe Dr. Grudem makes a pretty compelling case for Mitt Romney. Unless something changes in Guiliani's values and Fred Thompson's popularity, Mitt Romney be the one that best fits the bill. That said, there's still alot of time, so those of us who are anxiously watching from the sidelines are in no rush to cement our decisions. (I think that non-committal conclusion may be the politician in me talking.)

UPDATE: It seems my non-committal approach has put me in good company with the other Christian conservative leadership in this country.

"Now, that's some mighty tasty lemonade, Rush."

On Monday, I referenced that Rush Limbaugh has recently turned lemons into lemonade with his latest publicity maneuver. I don't think even he realized the impact of his idea.

Recently, he received a letter from Senator Harry Reid and 41 other Democratic senators demanding an apology for comments he made on his weekly radio broadcast that were interpreted as being unpatriotic. In a turnabout, Rush has turned the letter to gold. He put the letter up for auction on eBay and it has brought in a whopping $2.1 million. On top of that, Rush had agreed to personally match whatever the final bid was. All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides scholarship assistance to the children of Marines.

If you'll recall, I mentioned that Rush had put a challenge to the Democratic signatories, challenging them to match the final bid dollar for dollar. The assumption was that they would be willing to demonstrate the kind of support for our military that their letter of reprimand would have assumed. To date, it doesn't appear that any of them have taken Rush up on his challenge.

Not that such a response is the defining measure of one's patriotic devotion to our troops. But it does cause one to wonder how seriously such Democratic leaders are about personally supporting our troops. Public pronouncements of support of our troops, while simultaneously speaking out against the war, often muddies the issue. And there is no match for the financial support of any cause. As the old adage goes, "If you want to see what someone cares about, take a look a their checkbook."

"City May Open Site for Users to Shoot Up"

No, I'm not making this current headline up. This latest example of cities having to deal with the devolution of society is reminscient of the post I did on Vancouver and Calgary. Only this time it's San Francisco.

So, what do you think? Is this a right step toward dealing with the growing addiction problem, or is this simply a step closer to culturally-sanctioned criminality?

In further developments on Romney's evangelical effort

Hugh Hewitt, who recently penned an endorsing book on Mitt Romney, highlights on his blog another evangelical coup for Romney. Dr. Wayne Grudem, an evangelical theology professor and the former head of the Evangelical Theological Society, makes his case over at Townhall.com for why evangelicals should support Mitt Romney.

On a personal level, I have always found Dr. Grudem to be a person of the highest personal and theological integrity. In graduate school I had the privilege of taking a number of classes from him and have always been impressed by his character and intellect.

After reading Dr. Grudem's column, I must confess I found it particularly compelling. Not necessarily because of any personal affinity I may have for my former professor, but more so, because he makes a politically pragmatic assessment without compromising conservative and theological fidelity.

Does such a concession undermine Wednesday's caution about Romney's Mormon influence? Some may see it that way, but I don't necessarily think so. We should still be aware of the realities of Mormonism. But I would agree with Dr. Grudem's reasoned distinction between the specific theological differences of Christianity and Mormonism, combined with the moral and social similarities between these two worldviews. Dr. Grudem's column may not sway your perspective on Romney's candidacy, but it is certainly worth some thoughtful consideration as the realities of the political contest heat up.

God v. the Doctors and the manipulation of medicine

With modern medicine being what it is, who needs God, right? On the contrary, with God being who He is, who needs medicine? We've seen this line of thinking before, with parents rejecting life-saving medical options for preventable diseases in favor of Divine intervention for healing. And then being anguishingly baffled when God does not intervene.

Now it seems that even non-religious parents are "getting religion" when it comes to basic medical care. For a variety of reasons they have opted for religious exemptions for their children for procedures like essential immunization vaccinations.

A couple of thoughts come to mind about this trend. First of all, for non-religious people to claim exemptions because of "deeply held religious beliefs" has less to do with spiritual fervency and more to do with ethical integrity. Religious or not, making those kinds of erroneous exemptions is synonymous with twisting the truth on one's W2 tax form and claiming false exemptions.

Secondly, it does raise the deeper issue of where the tension is between God's miraculous intervention on behalf of the infirmed, and utilizing available medical technology to pursue healing. Though we may want it otherwise, God does not always step into our affairs in some kind of supernatural way. And yet, this inaction does not necessarily imply inability. Rather, God has already provides means for healing that do not require a supernatural action on His part. To rely on my family doctor does not suggest a lack of faith on my part. Like most tensions in life, it's not an either/or arrangement. Instead, it is the symbiotic relationship between the unique times when God chooses to employ supernatural means within our human context and the working out of the natural order that God already established.

That is why, for example, when Jean went in for surgery on her knee, we chose to pray that God would intervene and bless Dr. Farr's wisdom and ability to facilitate a meniscus transplant, while at the same time trusting that Dr. Farr's years of medical school were not wasted. To those who would expect God to always do a miracle, I can appreciate their fervency. But I often wonder, why would God intervene miraculously if He as already provided the natural means to arrive at the same end?

Speaking of...Romney's working on his image with Christians

With the presidential election looming on the horizon, Mitt Romney is working overtime to court that substantial voting bloc. He's smart for taking this approach with the conservative Christians, because he understands that any aspiring politician ignores that group to their political peril. And he's making headway, as conservative blogger, Hugh Hewitt, indicates with his latest book.

This is not a new issue. We've brought it up before. And yet, it will continue to resurface throughout the remainder of this presidential contest. Why? Because people take religious beliefs (or lack thereof) very seriously. As I've said before, our religious beliefs represent some of our most deeply-held convictions. For the biblical Christian they inform our fundamental decision-making in life, including who we choose to represent us in government.

For the thinking Christian, his Mormon beliefs should, at the very least, give us pause. Unfortunately, most people assume the common mantra that Mormonism is just like Christianity. And yet, how often have we taken the time to really look at the core beliefs of Mormonism.

What do Mormons believe? These two articles from the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute give a brief overview of Mormon beliefs, as well as, addressing Mormon's common claim that Mormonism is really no different than Christianity. They are worth pondering.

It may be easy to dismiss the two samples above, suggesting "Of course, a Christian apologetics site would paint Mormons in such a way." Possibly, but I would encourage those of you who genuinely want to uncover the truth about what Mormons believe to take the time to thoroughly explore the difference between Mormonism and Christianity. At the very least, it would be an interesting and educational venture. :)

Does this mean that Romney is unqualified to be president? Certainly not. But no matter who we elect to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we should at least know who we're getting. If religious convictions do influence all other aspects of one's life, the distinctive differences between a Christian and a Mormon in public office may be more far-reaching than most uninformed would-be voters realize.

UPDATE: The word on the street is that Romney may be hitting the Mormon issue head-on in an upcoming speech. If so, it will be interesting to see the response from Christians, Mormons, and the public in general.