Caesar Is Lord

Rush played a clip of Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee,

The Fifth Amendment speaks specifically to denying someone their life and liberty without due process.  That is what HR-2 does and I rise in opposition to it, and I rise in opposition because it is important that we preserve lives, and we recognize that 40 million plus are uninsured.  Can you tell me what is more unconstitutional than taking away from the people of America their Fifth Amendment rights, their 14th Amendment rights, and their right to equal protection under the law?  This bill is constitutional, and it protects the constitutional rights of those who ask the question, "Must I die, must my child die because I am now disallowed from getting insurance?"

Apparently, medical insurance has been Constitutional right all of this time (see here). For consistency sake, would not car insurance also be a Federal Right? After all, it was the Left that compared the two to begin this debate. Why stop there? Why not insure every home owner? In fact, don't I need a home, and therefore the government should buy me one?

Whether you are Prolife or Prochoice, if she is going to be consistent, why does she stand with the party that takes away the Fifth Amendment rights of unborn children. So apparently, the Media and the Left get to control the frame of the debate by arguing that it is unconstitutional to repeal Obama Care. So if it is repealed, does that mean she could take the Right to court because the Constitution is being violated?

It is quite ironic that the number of murdered children in this country that could have received proper medical care, the right to due process and the right to life, reached 53 million as opposed to her made up number of 40 million uninsured. But as my friend likes to say, "Inconsistency is the sign of a failed argument."

But all of this only critiques her own inconsistencies. The fact is, the Left can't even begin to justify their assumptions and presuppositions. For instance, why is Caesar Lord? Where did the Right to Life come from? How did the State become the source for the right of insurance or life? Why do insurance companies have to insure anyone?

What is stopping Left-wing owned companies from doing the very things the Left wants the government to do? I have a friend who believes that companies should do business differently by doing things like profit sharing, etc. That's fine. So why not start a business doing just that instead of forcing by law his ideas of how things should be? Why is it just assumed the government has the right to do what the Left wants and force the rest of us by the power of taxation to pay into their giant insurance scheme? (which would be illegal in any legitimate company)

But in all of this, my same friend can't even begin to explain why government has the right to exist. It is just assumed because to attempt to justify his position would bring him to a reality that he must suppress. The answer is simple. God exists, but we don't like God. Since man is an idolater, we must replace God at all costs. In this case, it is with the State.

Quote of the Day

Things are good when you know your wife enjoys listening to things like the White Horse Inn. Today my wife shows me at lunch time a clip of John McArthur's rebuke of Joel Osteen. In it McArthur says something about your best life now.

"In his definitive book, Your Best Life Now, and that ought to be a dead give away since the only way this could be your best life is if you're going to hell.

Lord's Prayer Messsage

Once again I have had the priviledge to preach at Gospel Fellowship in Shallow Water, KS. The message is on the first half of the Lord's Prayer. Click here to listen if you are so bored you have nothing else to do.

Where Sin Abounds by Robert Gonzales

After many interruptions, I have finally finished Robert Gonzales Jr.'s book, Where Sin Abounds. Since I do not have the ability to write a real book review, I won't. Instead I will just offer a few comments both positive and negative.

Robert Gonzales is Academic Dean and Professor of Old Testament Studies at Reformed Baptist Seminary. He contributes to the school's blog and also to the Reformed Baptist Theological Review. His style of writing may raise the bar of our reading level, but never to the point where he loses the reader.

In the positive, although the book at times quotes Hebrew terms which may perhaps scare the reader, the book is a fantastic read for anyone wishing to gain insight into the Book of Genesis. Most commentaries overlook the spread of sin among the Patriarchs while blasting away at the primeval world. But as the first sentence says in the Introduction,

A primary function of Scripture is to impart a proper understanding of sin.

With this in mind Dean Gonzales surveys the depths of sin and its downward spiral in the book of Genesis. The strength of this book is that he does not stop at Genesis 11 simply because the narrative seems to narrow in on one particular covenant family in the history of redemption and break from the earlier chapters. Instead, Gonzales shows the many parallels and surveys the depth of sin in the patriarchal family in a thought provoking and refreshing way. There were many times I found myself saying, "I never saw that before, but isn't that just what I do today!" As Gonzales states on pages 258-9,

But the reader should equally note that the seeds of human sin planted in Eden's garden grow into vines that spread beyond the parameters of the primeval narrative and bear much evil fruit in the patriarchal narratives. Adapting Fretheim's own language, it is striking the extent to which the more emphatic themes of chs. 1-11 are further developed in chs. 12-50, wherein human society in general and the patriarchal community in particular continue to sin and experience God's curse.

He also makes a concluding statement on page 256,

The patriarchal narrative leaves the reader with the impression that not merely humanity but even God's people left to themselves would eventually come to ruin. Only intrusions of divine grace (common and special) or judgment (punitive or remedial) can stem sin's rising tide.

You will learn much about your own sin as you look at the lives of the patriarchs.

The negative in this book is the foot notes. Almost every page is filled with them, and I mean filled. Many pages have more foot notes than the main book. What is difficult is that many of the foot notes are worth reading while many simply offer more technical information. This can be quite frustrating if you are one of those, "I just have to read every word on the page," type of person. Nevertheless, this negative may not actually be a negative for people who love that kind of thing.

All I really can say about this book is that you need to go buy it and read it and enjoy it. It is most certainly worth your time.