NowTHINK!AboutIt

Avoiding Hackneyed...Making Sense

When Demagoguery Replaces Democracy

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When the religious can't make an argument, they resort to making laws.

Beliefs Are Unproven Ideas
That Can Only Be Accepted
By Faith

A New York Times article reports that the Trump administration is planning to burn $9.7 million dollars worth of contraceptives.

The contraceptives, stored in Belgium and part of the USAID program, “were destined for clinics in the poorest countries in Africa.” That is, until the USAID was dismantled leaving these stored drugs in limbo.

But what do you do with $9.7 million worth of contraceptives once the program under which they were commissioned is dismantled?

The answer depends on who you ask or better yet whose in control because, as far as I can tell, there was no discussion over the matter. [Read more…] about When Demagoguery Replaces Democracy

9 Reasons You Won’t Find God At The Center Of Government

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What's the difference between atheistic totalitarianism and theistic totalitarianism.

Any Kind of Totalitarianism Is Abusive
And Democracy Is The Correction

There’s really no difference between Atheistic and Theistic totalitarianism but before we discuss the two, a clarification.

The question here is not does God have a place in government but exactly how does He fit in.

  • Is He completely uninvolved as if He didn’t exist?
  • Is He in complete control imposing His rule and will on every aspect of human life?
  • Or does He provide the necessary information to enable us to figure things out as we go.

Those are the only three options, two of which are totalitarian. [Read more…] about 9 Reasons You Won’t Find God At The Center Of Government

This Week In Divorce – India’s Muslim Minority

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Did Jesus regulate divorce or cruelty?

It’s A Microcosm
Of The Culture Jesus Faced

On August 22, 2017, India’s Supreme Court banned the Muslim practice of triple-talaq also known as instant-divorce by which a husband could unilaterally divorce a wife instantly by simply saying the word “talaq” to her three times.

The law was so lax that sending the words by text or WhatsApp was sufficient to execute the divorce.

At one time, triple-talaq was the norm in other countries also but India is the last country to ban it by judicial decree. To quote US News:

…While judges or politicians elsewhere across the Muslim world, from Morocco to Indonesia, have managed to reform Islamic laws, bringing them under their own courts or codifying them, this never happened in India.

Until now.

The article also mentions that many of these instantly-divorced women become destitute and homeless.

Calling triple-talaq insensitive is an understatement. It was the worst kind of cruel. It’s banning was celebrated by the ladies.

I mention it here because this represents a modern-day microcosm of marriage practices in the first century. Males were dominant, capricious and arbitrary. Easy divorce was not only possible it was expected during Bible times and the outcome could be just as devastating. [Read more…] about This Week In Divorce – India’s Muslim Minority

This Week In Divorce – Illegal In The Philippines

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This Week In Divorce

From Wedding Costs
To Filipino Divorce

David Baker, a former daily newspaper journalist now working as an Anglican minister in Sussex, England, and writing for Christian Today – not to be confused with Christianity Today – bemoaned the amount of money spent on weddings.

He argues – almost intones – that Jesus never mentioned “at any stage” the many things we associate with modern weddings.

I’m sure you know the list:

White dresses, ushers, best men, confetti, bridesmaids, rings, hats, vintage cars, printed orders of service, bouquets, banns, registers, receptions, honeymoons, discos, speeches and very tall men who seem to stand at the back of every wedding service I take and eyeball me while refusing to sing.

Jesus also never mentioned toilet paper, and most of the people I know haven’t read too much into that. Thankfully! [Read more…] about This Week In Divorce – Illegal In The Philippines

5 Lessons From The Life Of King David

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Faith and action are synonyms.

David Never Waited
For Special Dispensations
From God

There are very good reasons David is one of the most popular figures in the Bible.

His story is long and spread out, which means you won’t read very far before bumping into him, but more to the point, it’s personal. We don’t have to wonder what David said or what he thought or how he felt. Many of those details are laid out for us.

It also never gets boring. It’s the stuff that inspires movies.

The history extends from 1 Samuel 16 to 1 Kings 2 (42 chapters) and much of it is repeated, with additional detail, in 1 Chronicles. All total, he is the focus of about 70 chapters and since God made timeless promises to David and his descendants, he is mentioned repeatedly throughout the Old and New Testaments afterward.

Additionally, large portions of the Bible were actually written by David and his son, Solomon.

  • David is credited with 75 Psalms
  • Solomon is credited with 2 Psalms (although he wrote over a thousand), much of Proverbs, Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes.

These portions of the Bible are still read and embraced daily. Psalms and Proverbs are the starting points for many devotions. Saying David is influential is an understatement.

In short, David is the reference point for personal-relationship with God. If you want to know what that relationship feels/looks like, David’s your guy.

He’s easy to identify with. He’s spiritual without being super righteous and human (meaning sinful) without being committed to evil.

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If we were to ask people which Bible personality they would like to emulate, David would probably top the list. Who wouldn’t want to be the little guy who takes on and defeats Goliath? [Read more…] about 5 Lessons From The Life Of King David