2009 March archive at Being Frank

Archive for March, 2009

Mar

I turned off all my lights, the planet has now been saved

By The Dumb Ox 46 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

So did you turn your lights off last Saturday night and save the planet?

I didn’t – in fact, I really wish I had multiple high powered aircraft searchlights at my house, cause I would have turned those puppies up full on Saturday night, and then basked in their glorious, power consuming shiny goodness.

Help me Al-bi Wan Gorenobi, you’re my only hope – please save us from GLOBAL WARMING (must always be said with a loud, dramatic voice).

I am actually quite annoyed, because I was led to believe that if we saved the cheerleader we would save the world, but it turns out that was a load of old bacon.

It’s kind of ironic really, when you think about it, that people who believe in man-made global warming want to symbolize their belief by spending a ritualized night in darkness – I am starting to wonder whether they actually realize that darkness is a powerful, timeless and internationally recognized metaphor for ignorance.

Let’s face it; Earth Hour is a load of mindless feel good drivel that helps a morally confused culture ignore the very real and very serious problems of this world, and instead focus all their energy and attention on saving the world from a non-existent threat that Al Gore told them to be scared of in a movie (and if it was in a movie it must be real right?) that he made himself.

And what a way to save the planet!

I know, let’s all turn our lights off for one hour, cause that’ll save the planet from GLOBAL WARMING.

What?

Turning your lights off for one hour achieves what exactly?

If you are a true believer in the gospel of Gore, it would be far more productive to have an hour of ritual cow sacrifices, because cows emit far more CO2 than humans do (they fart it) – okay, maybe killing them is a bit over the top (especially if you’re a member of the Green religion who thinks that animals must be saved at the expense of humans), so maybe instead we could have a “cork a cow day”, where we, well, cork cows, for a day to stop them emitting cow-made CO2.

The only problem is that corking cows isn’t really as sexy as turning your lights off for an hour while you eat tofu, recycle your sandals and reenact your favorite scenes from An Inconvenient Truth (I especially loved the bit where Al Gore stood there and talked a lot), or play a fun game of “guess the number of humans we have to eliminate to save the brown haired fungus licking beetle of northern Twizel”.

How arrogant and deluded have we become to now believe that we can actually save, or destroy, an entire planet – it’s times like this that chat acronyms come in really handy: LOL, LMAO, LOL, LMAO, ROTFL, etc, etc, etc.

Apparently Earth Hour managed to save the same amount of power that would be used by several average NZ households over a year, but I have a far better way of saving way more power than this – it’s called marriage counseling. You see, if you could save just ten NZ marriages, you would prevent ten NZ families from splitting up into 20 different households, and then using twenty different lots of resources and power, instead of only ten lots of resources and power.

“Oh, I never thought of that, I was too busy unscrewing all the light bulbs in my house to do any thinking – shouldn’t we verify this with Al Gore first though, he might not like it if we start thinking for ourselves – hmmm, this Kool Aid tastes good.”

It’s all fun and games to play let’s pretend we have no power for one hour every year, but how about we try living without any electricity for a whole night, or maybe a month.

It’d be real fun to spend your nights living in fear of exactly who or what was lurking in the darkness outside your house, and all the while knowing that you have no security alarm, and you can’t call the police because you have no phone.

And cooking, well you couldn’t use pollution-free cooking devices, instead you’d have to cook using carbon monoxide emitting open fires, and you would be at greater risk of food poisoning because you wouldn’t have any refrigerated storage.

Oh, and pray that you don’t get seriously ill, because you couldn’t call 111, not that calling 11 would be any help – where exactly is the ambulance meant to take you that is any more well equipped than your cold, dark powerless house is?

It’s both funny and tragic that the many people who blindly buy into the hype and ideology of Earth Hour never actually bother to stop and think about the full ramifications of what Earth Hour is proposing as a solution to the current enviromania.

The good news is that next year’s earth hour is being sponsored by the Mongrel Mob and the East Wing of Paremoremo Prison – who’d have thought that those boys would be right behind our major cities and towns deliberately blanketing themselves in darkness for an hour?

Mar

More questions than answers

By James the Least 14 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I had, shall we say, an “interesting” lunch last week. I was sitting beside a colleague who I knew to be Christian. In the interests of making some polite before-lunch conversation, I asked him if he had any plans for the Easter break coming up and whether he’d be “doing a lot of church?” His response, and the ensuing conversation, surprised more than somewhat. He looked at me and said: “We don’t really celebrate Easter as that’s more of a Catholic invention.”

…

Now, through some follow-up questions, I established that he is (what I would term) a “by the Book” Christian. By that I mean he literally believes that everything you need to know about God and the Faith is in the Bible (without the Apocrypha). So, when he said Easter was a Catholic invention, he clarified to state that of course he believes in the death and resurrection of Christ – the celebration of it was a Catholic merging with pagan beliefs (which we’ve done a lot of apparently) and was all wrong from a biblical perspective.

How have we got it “wrong”, you might ask? Well, Christ was in the tomb for three days and nights, apparently, so that must mean he was actually crucified on a Thursday. I noted that Friday, Saturday + Sunday = 3, but he said that Scripture says it’s three nights. Also, he noted, the original text actually refers to “a Sabbath” rather than “the sabbath”. Jews, according to him, use the term “Sabbath” to mean “a holy day”, and so it might not have even been a Sunday that he rose. The main thing, from his perspective, is that the Bible is explicit on the time and date that the events of the Passion occurred: it was during Passover, third hour of the day etc. So, he has issues with that.

Now, I have never actually met a real-life Christian who literally believes everything they read in the Bible as being true. I’ve also recently been talking to some of my friends who have either converted from other denominations, or who left the Catholic Church only to rejoin her years later. In talking with these friends, I’ve been trying to get some insight into, not so much the Protestant mindset, but what “they” actually believe about “us” and why.

One of those friends lent me a book, “The One Minute Apologist” by Dave Armstrong. It contains “essential Catholic replies to over sixty common Protestant claims”. I’ve been reading it and thought I may as well take this opportunity over lunch to see if I could find out more about what this colleague believes I believe.

But I was at a loss to adequately explain to him, and to our other co-workers taking part in the conversation, answers to some of his claims/questions that I hadn’t heard before (and that weren’t really covered in Armstrong’s great book.) As I was unable to “phone an apologist friend” at the time, I thought I’d post some of his queries here and use the power of Being Frank to maybe provide some answers in case you come across similar questions from your friends (of if he asks/claims such things again).

When we set up Being Frank, this was the kind of educational stuff we had in mind, so I’m really keen to see how this works! Feel free to answer any of the claims you like in the comments – I’ll definitely be checking back in!

Claim 1: Prior to Original Sin, there was no death of any kind. Including that of animals. So, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were vegetarians. They had to be, because animals cannot die. But when they sinned, death entered the world. So, we eat meat now because of our fallen nature.

Claim 2: Scripture is 100% accurate. Methuselah did live to be 969 years old (obviously, he hasn’t read our previous debate on the topic). The Flood wiped out the whole world. etc. So, I asked him how he reconciles the fact that we don’t obey a lot of the old laws in Leviticus and Numbers etc. His response was that there was actually two types of law – Mosaic (of Moses) and Levitical (of the priests). Christ, through the new covenant, kept the Mosaic Law (basically only the 10 Commandments) and did away with all the levitical law…and the need for priests at all!

Claim 3: Papal Succession is a myth. There is no unbroken line of Popes back to Peter. If there was, who was the second Pope? I didn’t have Wikipedia on hand to tell him it was Pope Linus, but he refuted that it even was there in the first hand. He also noted that even given the power to bind on earth to St.Peter, it stopped with him. I said if Peter had the power to bind on earth, and he then said to (Linus) “you now have power to bind on earth once I’m dead”, would that in itself be binding? His response? “There’s no proof Peter ever did that to anyone.”

Claim 4: We don’t have baptism in the Catholic Church. We have “infant sprinkling” which is based on a flawed concept from the Middle Ages that witches would steal babies and children away before then can be baptised. Hence us “sprinkling” as early as possible. I noted that Scripture commands the apostles to “go forth and baptise all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” But, said he, they still need to come of their own volition and make the decision themselves. Also, he noted, baptism doesn’t provide Salvation. Christ does.

Claim/Question 5: this started with the classic “you worship the saints and Mary”. I responded that I/we don’t, and all we’re doing is asking for them to pray for us just as we do to those still on Earth. His question was then how do we know that saints are in Heaven? I responded that the process that exists – of proving a number of miracles have been granted by that saint praying for your cause – proves that. He said it doesn’t.

There were some other goodies, but I think those 5 are a good start. Any thoughts?

Mar

Do we need to wake up?

By eyeWitness 33 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Is militant Islam a real threat to our country and the world? Should we be more pro-active about this threat as Christians? Our western and Christian values, freedoms and democracy are something we take so much for granted in New Zealand we hardly recognise they are anything but ‘normal’. We certainly don’t contemplate they will be taken away any time soon, like they have been in Iraq, Sudan, Burma and other countries around the world. Our generation has never had to fight for any of these things so half the time we forget to recognise their value at all.

On Thursday night last week I went to a lecture by Baroness Caroline Cox, a life peer of the House of Lords for her humanitarian work. She is an amazing woman who has been in and out of the “no-go” areas of Sudan, Burma and other countries where the people would otherwise go unaided.

Her visits included buying freedom for Dinka and Nuer people from the heavily Christian southern region. Se has been sentenced in absentia by the National Islamic Front to imprisonment for illegal entry into the Sudan. In Indonesia, she was shot at by jihad warriors. Brave!! She has risked her life countless times.

This is an extract from an interview printed in FrontPage Magazine by Judy Lash Balint

“Coming from the killing fields of various regimes–many because of Islam, I began to study Islam,” Cox says. In fact, she studied so many areas first hand that she co-authored with her colleague Dr. John Marks, a powerful little book , entitled “The ‘West’, Islam and Islamism. Is ideological Islam compatible with liberal democracy?” (Civitas, London, 2003) Co-author Marks remarked to reporters that “there are many who don’t understand the nitty gritty about what Moslem culture is really about.”

The Baroness expressed her sensitivity to the dangers of Islamaphobia, but quickly added that she is greatly concerned by the “radicalization” of the Moslem population in Great Britain.

Baroness Cox explained that as in many European countries, the demographic reality means that many members of Parliament are now “deferential” to the growing numbers of Muslim constituents. British Foreign Minister Jack Straw has 8,000 Moslems in his district, noted Dr. Marks.

Dr. Marks, with advanced degrees from both Cambridge and London Universities, says groups like the Islamic Foundation speak openly about creating an Islamic state in the United Kingdom. “We know they have links in British universities,” he claims. Marks reminded reporters that Prince Charles had given the foundation his seal of approval during a visit to a Foundation sponsored institute last year.

Cox concludes her chat with the Jerusalem based journalists by giving a little lesson on Sharia law, after she was asked whether Western societies can co-exist with the Islamic legal code.

“Sharia law is not compatible with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it does not allow freedom to choose and change religion, you can become a Muslim, but if you stop being a Muslim and you convert out, you run the risk of the death sentence for apostasy. It does not permit equality before the law, as between men and women, Muslims and non-Muslims.” A simple, straightforward answer from a straightforward woman who speaks and acts from deep conviction.

We are so hung up on not judging anyone or anything that it practically translates into not holding any opinion at all – simply acceptance of everything. But is it just this attitude that allows threats to our freedom and values in through the backdoor?

The exact opposite of what I would ever wish to do is incite hatred against any individual in our New Zealand community, any person created in the image of, and loved indelibly by, God. In saying that, we still have to stand up to ideologies, belief systems and actions that are incompatible with our Christian beliefs. Often I am proud of our Church for making public statements on things which will inevitably create a backlash against it. It stands firm on its values and refuses to embrace relativism.

Perhaps we too need to wake up to the fact that Islamic groups have very complex strategies which are incompatible with democracy and educate ourselves and our leaders a bit more about it?

Mar

How do we reduce teenage pregnancy? Advertise abortions on television!

By On the Road 50 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

There is something inherently wrong and gravely dangerous about a recent proposal in the UK to allow abortion and condom advertising on PRIMETIME television. But, just to be safe, they have restricted it to only programs that are aimed at children over the age of 10. Read the story here

“BCAP considers that rule should fulfill two policy objectives – to allow post-conception pregnancy advice services the freedom to advertise and to ensure that advertisements for those services make clear whether the service refers women for abortion.”

The above quote says it all: the advertising is to promote abortion, and if you are going to take part in this advertising, but not promote abortion in your clinic, then you have to say so explicitly. This is because delay in procuring an abortion could have severe medical consequences. What is failed to be mentioned is the almost guaranteed severely negative physical and psychological consequences of actually having an abortion.

So, in thinking how this would play out – would they use children to promote their experience of abortion? Or, how about the use of condoms? Because, that would certainly appeal more to the 11-15 crowd, seeing their peers doing it on television and all.

All this is ‘an effort to halt high rates of teenage pregnancy.’ So, lets promote the use of condoms (inherently saying you should be having sex to an 11 year old) to avoid you getting pregnant. BUT, if you do get pregnant, we will offer you advertising on how to terminate that pregnancy in the easiest, most desirable way possible. They are shooting themselves in the foot – how can society be so blind to the ineffectiveness of this type of approach?! Could it be the same groups pushing for changes such as these, are the ones with President Obama in their back pocket?!? These are also the same groups which will have the abundant funds to produce such advertising – while those who oppose abortions (and thus do not reap the blood money), will sit by the way side, not able to produce such expensive advertising.

I hope and pray these changes to the advertising rules are not put into effect.

Mar

“‘No TV and No Beer Make Homer ‘ something something”.

By Methuselah's Beard 1 Comment

Categories: Being Frank...

How time flies. It only seems like yesterday we were celebrating the start of a new year, and now the year’s a quarter gone and it’s only a couple of weeks before we get to celebrate Easter.

Time doesn’t quite seem to fly during Lent. 6 week is a long time to go without eating or doing your favourite things. Accordingly my Lenten sacrifices have changed several times already. It’s not that I haven’t tried – I really have! Sometimes you need a break though… a little holiday within Lent. And not just Sundays either. Oh I know Lent’s not meant for holidays but I’m not perfect. And I’ve made up for it by giving up other stuff. I’m sure that’s partial credit right there.

I used to think that instead of giving up stuff I could do something extra (good) that I normally wouldn’t do. Who do I help when I give up stuff anyway? (Myself and souls in purgatory are answers I already thought of). So being extra charitable, or helping out with more work around the house, or being nicer to my co-workers, surely that would be better?

But no, I’m on the path of self-improvement now. To better myself and better prepare myself for Easter I should practice more self-denial, which I intend to do of course. Next Lent.

And for the rest of this one too of course.

Mar

Raise the Alarm

By Filia Day 57 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Notre Dame Catholic University has asked President Barak Obama to speak to its graduating class this year. Not only that but it has decided to honor the new president with a Doctor of Laws Degree.

Now I immediately wonder: What are they thinking???? This is a man who, in word and deed, refuses to uphold life on such issues as abortion and stem cell research. The Church’s moral teachings are clearly in complete opposition to his social policies so why is a CATHOLIC institution inadvertedly supporting Obama by allowing him to speak and honouring him with a doctorate? Giving the University the benefit of doubt, one could think that perhaps they were trying to do some kind of apostolate with Barak Obama. However, I don’t think this is the best way to go about it as it could potentially confuse the catholic students in attendance (not to mention the catholic populous at large!). For example, one could think that because Obama is being honoured by the university, they too have the right to support him (in political terms), which the American Bishops have clearly condemned.

Good on Bishop D’arcy for protesting. Below is an article from Catholic Online outlining what the Bishop has done and his reasons.

SOUTH BEND (Catholic Online) – Along with thousands, we have been regularly visiting the Web Site of the Diocese of Fort Wayne – South Bend awaiting the expected statement of the Most Reverend John M. D’Arcy concerning the controversial decision of the University of Notre Dame to have President Barack Obama not only speak at the commencement of the University but to honor him with a Doctor of Laws Degree.

We were informed yesterday, as were many Catholic and other news sources, that such a statement would be forthcoming. We now present this statement in full. It appears on the Diocesan Web Site. We note that with his courageous and uncompromising defense of life, the Bishop also referred to the clear language contained in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishop’s statement “Catholics in Political Life”.

We express our deep appreciation and respect to Bishop D’Arcy. We invite all of our readers to pray for Bishop D’Arcy as well as for “Our Lady’s University”. Finally, we invite all of our readers to pray for the end of the Culture of Death in America and to work to build and spread a new Culture of Life and Civilization of Love in its place:

Concerning President Barack Obama speaking at Notre Dame graduation, receiving honorary law degree March 24, 2009

“On Friday, March 21, Father John Jenkins, CSC, phoned to inform me that President Obama had accepted his invitation to speak to the graduating class at Notre Dame and receive an honorary degree. We spoke shortly before the announcement was made public at the White House press briefing. It was the first time that I had been informed that Notre Dame had issued this invitation.

“President Obama has recently reaffirmed, and has now placed in public policy, his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred. While claiming to separate politics from science, he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life.

“This will be the 25th Notre Dame graduation during my time as bishop. After much prayer, I have decided not to attend the graduation. I wish no disrespect to our president, I pray for him and wish him well. I have always revered the Office of the Presidency. But a bishop must teach the Catholic faith “in season and out of season,” and he teaches not only by his words — but by his actions.

“My decision is not an attack on anyone, but is in defense of the truth about human life.

“I have in mind also the statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops in 2004. “The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” Indeed, the measure of any Catholic institution is not only what it stands for, but also what it will not stand for.(emphasis added)

“I have spoken with Professor Mary Ann Glendon, who is to receive the Laetare Medal. I have known her for many years and hold her in high esteem. We are both teachers, but in different ways. I have encouraged her to accept this award and take the opportunity such an award gives her to teach.

“Even as I continue to ponder in prayer these events, which many have found shocking, so must Notre Dame. Indeed, as a Catholic University, Notre Dame must ask itself, if by this decision it has chosen prestige over truth.(emphasis added)

“Tomorrow, we celebrate as Catholics the moment when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, became a child in the womb of his most holy mother. Let us ask Our Lady to intercede for the university named in her honor, that it may recommit itself to the primacy of truth over prestige.”

Mar

Injustice on my doorstep, hope in the Eucharist

By Tuppence 3 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I just spent the afternoon listening to the heartbreaking story of a Liberian refugee here who was denied refugee status and was separated from his wife and three kids about four years ago in Sierra Leone. It’s frustrating because it’s not money that would help him – it’s just and fair actions by the government that would help. He would get killed if he went back to Liberia…and instead he has to hide here illegally. A construction engineer, he could be very gainfully employed, but instead he’s begging on the streets.

I went to Mass afterwards and the priest was really inspiring…his whole personna, his whole being was so obviously committed to Christ – and to justice for the poor in the way he spoke in his homily. Right down to how he presented the Eucharist to each of the faithful…it was not just some stoic holding of the Eucharist while saying ‘Body of Christ’, he placed very firmly the Eucharist right in front of my face and was like “THIS…IS the body of Christ…” and you can’t help but be like “Wow, yes, amen!” Beautiful stuff.

I’m not sure what to make of all of this. Except that at the Church there was a big banner that said “Tout homme qui croit en Lui, ne perira pas.” In English, that’s ‘All who believe in Him will not perish.’ I couldn’t help but take hope in that scripture, in the fact that this Liberian, whether I can do anything to help him or not, will be one of the first in the Kingdom of Heaven…he won’t perish.