More on Robertson

Check out these two sites for more on the Robertson flap:

aka Pastor guy echoes many of my concerns although with more maturity and tact. Furthermore, a debate has broken out in his comments section over the correctness of Robertson's remarks.

Then read Time magazine's editorial response on how Robertson's remarks only help Chavez.

Again, I'm not a fan of Chavez and I rarely find myself in agreement with Time Magazine's editors, but on this issue I think their dead right.

Confessions of a former virgin

This weekend, The Forty-Year Old Virgin opened in theaters across the country. Peter Chattaway offers both a testimonial and an interesting review of the film at Christianity Today Movies. While I probably won’t go see this film, it does raise questions about our cultures obsession with sex and the stigma associated the “V-word”.

While, thankfully, I did not have to wait forty years (only 24 years, 10 months, 17 days and 19 hours ;-), I certainly have felt the peer pressure, stigma and temptations associated with being an adult virgin. I’ll confess that I did lie about my virginal status at least once during my high school days, although I don’t think I convinced anyone. Attending an evangelical college like Taylor helped in that most of my peers were also virgins. Nonetheless, the pressure and temptation to have sex outside of marriage was enormous.

The benefits of waiting until my marriage to have sex far outweigh the social stigma I endured as a virgin. Isn’t ironic that in the wake of the sexual revolution, sex has become dangerous and even lethal. Yet in a monogamous marriage relationship between two people who waited for their wedding night, sex is safe, doesn’t require latex, and is dare I say “Spectacular!”

Pat Robertson needs to shut his pie hole!

It has been a while since I've had an evangelical cringe moment (defined as a moment when you are embarrassed to be an evangelical because of what someone or some group says in the media spotlight in the name of evangelicalism). Even the the Southern Baptist Convention managed to stay out of the limelight this year.

So leave it to Pat Robertson to make up for this cringe deficit by publicly advocating the assassination of Venezuela's leftist-leaning president, Hugo Chavez.

"If he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson told viewers on his The 700 Club show Monday. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war."

I don't like Chavez's politics or foreign policy anymore than Pat does, but I don't think the US should just bump off the heads of state Sopranos style over a war of words. Mr. Robertson's words fail to demonstrate the love of Christ and gospel of grace that he purports to represent.

Thanks to Pat's latest diatribe, the mainstream media will once again dredge up all the other cringe-worthy comments by Mr. Robertson (and Mr. Falwell) to reinforce the stereotypes of the "religious right" as bunch of ignorant, bible-thumping, violent, homophobic bigots. The time is long over due for evangelicals to pull the plug on The 700 Club and Robertson.

Friday Night Lights (Tennessee Style)

As I mentioned previously, I had not attended a high school football game since I was a freshman in college (14 years ago). I have wanted to do this for some time, but since I’m not from the area, I had a limited knowledge of the local sports scene. Finally, an opportunity presented itself when Daniel Carr invited me to come see his alma mater play their county rival in the season opener (and his sister-in-law knows how to put on a good tailgate party). This weekend is being called week zero of the prep football season.

The weather is a bit warm for football still (upper 90s), but otherwise the atmosphere was very similar to the high school games of my youth -- Air horns, cow bells, and angry parents (although I don’t believe I heard any profanity directed toward the referees). The crowd was enthusiastic. Someone handed out inflatable clapper sticks (my girls have already figured out that they can use them as swords). I also remembered, too late, why so many people bring cushion seats to use on the hard concrete bleachers. My tush still hurts.

The game itself was a close one. The Smyrna Bulldogs started off strong, but fumbled in the red zone. They managed to score the first touchdown, but missed the extra point. Later they would fail in a two-point conversion attempt. Overall their offense was plagued with conservative play calling – too many unsuccessful run plays up the middle. Luckily for them, their defense was up to the task especially in the final minutes of the game. The LaVergne Wolverines had a pretty impressive passing attack and kept the game close. They trailed by 2 points in the final minutes remaining of the game and just fell short of pulling the upset.

Prep football is big in Tennessee (although not as big as in Texas) and is definitely a cultural experience.

This blogging thing is really cool!

I am amazed at the response I've received from those of you who have visited. It has been good to hear from old friends (Jason, James, & April).

If your interested in starting your own blog, all you have to do is click on the Blogger icon at the top. Its free and easy to set up. The hard part is posting. Some days your inspired and other days your not.

BTW, you are invited to leave comments and you don't have to be a blogger to do so. Just choose the "OTHER" option. Nothing is requrired of you.

I'm going to a high school football game tonight - I haven't done this in 14 years. The game promises to be a good one. Two Rutherford County schools (Smyrna and LaVergne) are opening their seasons with their biggest rivalry. Imagine if Tennessee played Florida in game one (instead of game two or three) or the Titans opened the season against Indianapolis. I'll be tailgating with a bunch of church folks. Should be fun.

Also on tap this weekend, Janell and I plan to attend the annual Shakespeare in the Park production - this year its A Winter's Tale. I am not familiar with the play, but these productions are always top notch.

What I do at Vandy. . .

When telling folks what I do for a living, I often get blank stares. Most people don't understand what an archivist does. So I'm posting a link to our new and improved website. We call it a digital library because it provides access to a variety of resources, some electronic, and to digital versions of our finding aids. The site is still in its infancy. We plan to add resources and other enhancements as we move forward. Currently, I've been putting most of my energy into the International Neuropsychopharmacology Archives section. Have a look around. It may help you to understand what I do.

A Theology of Grace from . . . . Bono

Here's a very cool excerpt from the book Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas (Riverhead Books). You can read more at Christianity Today or you can check out the book at Amazon.com

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Bono: I really believe we've moved out of the realm of Karma into one of Grace.

Assayas: Well, that doesn't make it clearer for me.

Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It's clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the universe. I'm absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that "as you reap, so you will sow" stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I've done a lot of stupid stuff.

Assayas: I'd be interested to hear that.

Bono: That's between me and God. But I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I'd be in deep shit. It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.

Pictures of my girls

As promised, here are some pictures of the girls taken this past June while on vacation.

The Monday Morning Blog

Its been another "action packed" weekend at the Nord abode. Here's some highlights:

I took Friday off and played nine holes of golf with a very patient Daniel Carr. I can pitch and putt okay, but my slice is killer.

Saturday, we packed up the kids and went to Nashville's first ever Free For All event. Sponsored the same folks that do Freecycling, the idea was for people to bring stuff to exchange. Unfortunately, we waited in a long line for almost an hour and most of the stuff was absolute junk. Taylor found a Christmas ornament and Addy found a Monsters Inc. toy. As a reward for the kids' endurance, we made an ice cream run afterwards.

Then we did the bi-monthly family shopping trip at Sam's. As usual we bought more items than were on our list and feasted on samples.

Our church rented out a community swimming pool Saturday evening for a Luau. Highlights include Addy (our resident 2 year old thrillseeker) jumping off the diving board three times without a flotation device. She had help from her dad, but is able to swim short distances underwater. Her older sister isn't so brave, but is making some progress as well. Janell and I enjoyed several games of volleyball with the adults - Volleyball has become the sport of choice at our church with games every Sunday evening as well.

I have heard from a few of you this weekend. Thanks for the comments. I will try to post pictures of the girls sometime this week.

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Visit the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress website provides some excellent multimedia resources from the turn on the twentieth century including video of Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Check it out here.

I used several clips in my class last night. See sky scrapers under construction and street vendors being hustled by New York police. See the wreckage of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. See the ruins of San Francisco after the great earthquake. Lots of fascinating stuff!

Supporting our troops . . .

On my way in to work this morning I was flipping through the radio stations and happened on this report on NPR Group Helps Injured Marines Return to Civilian Life. Normally I flip on through such reports because of the left-leaning political agenda behind them, but this one was different. It moved me. Here are a group of people making a difference in the lives of men & women who've put themselves in danger's way for us and tasted what it means to sacrifice. I don't know if these people have a religious motivation behind what they do or not, but I salute them. Check out their website Semper Fi Fund.

This got me thinking about what I can do to support our troops. Prayer is a good start - I'm not very disciplined in this, but I could certainly do more. Speaking out in support of the troops and in support of their work would be another way. I don't want to wear my patriotism on my sleeve (or on my car bumper) - nor do I blindly support any action taken by my government. I, however, do sincerely believe their cause to be just and noble. I'm proud of them, the work they do and the way in which they represent this nation. So how else can I support the troops? Perhaps with monetary support for funds like the one mentioned above. Or how about volunteering with a support group - visiting veterans at the local VA? I don't know what I might do, but I want to be more mindful of these men and women, more thankful for them, and more supportive.