Always Reforming

The midterm election cycle of 2018 was one of the more tumultuous in recent memory, which is saying something!  In the end there was only a moderate amount of upheaval as some new faces and new ideals replaced old ones and the House went to the Democrats.  One of these new faces, one that has been both news-worthy and meme-worthy, is that of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  As has been the case with her face, her name and faux pas have basically been unavoidable for the last few months. Ocasio-Cortez's election is significant because her victory represents more than just the triumph of a particular political campaign in New York's 14th congressional district; her victory signals a new political epoch.  She represents the rise of a generation fully willing to embrace political and economic ideals that directly contradict the principles upon which this country was founded. There is much that is compelling about Ocasio-Cortez, both to Millennials and previous generat...

A legendary director has passed.  Many average film watchers may not know the name  Bernardo Bertolucci , but his extensive career was full of accolades and his work continues to be influential.  As news of his passing spread across the web, the crying emojis and RIPs spread like ripples in a pond.  Film critics and self-proclaimed movie buffs everywhere are mourning the passing of our one the great filmmakers of cinematic history.  I, too, mourn his passing, but not for the same reasons.  I mourn his passing the way that I mourn the death of any unrepentant sinner.  I mourn because I know that he is not resting in peace.  I am happy to say that I have never seen a Bertolucci film, so I cannot speak to his talent as a director, but regarding the content of his films, I will admit that Bertolucci was ahead of his time, but not in a good way.  You see, Bernardo Bertolucci was basically a glorified pornographer.  He pushed the bounda...

We find Oliver (Oly to his friends) travelling down 77 South, nonplussed and road-raging. He was having one of those days.  He had felt exhausted as soon as he had torn himself from his pillow and he had already had a long day before the Eastern Time Zone reached 9:00 A.M. He was annoyed with the sun in his eyes.  He was annoyed with the inane radio show hosts.  He was, above all, annoyed with his fellow motorists crawling down the expressway.  Obscenities and fossil fuels filled the air as impatient drivers fought bumper-to-bumper traffic in a doomed attempt to make it to work by 9. "Just my luck," he thought aloud. Oly dreamt of having a job to which he could be late, and, accordingly, was en route to a job interview at an IT start-up.  It was not the most prestigious job opportunity in the world, but it was significantly more prestigious than the burger-flipping he had been doing for the decade since his high school graduation. As he checked the cl...

St. Augustine of Hippo. That was the full Christian name of my now deceased cat.  I loved that cat. It was also the name of a well-known bishop and author who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries.  He is widely-respected, having been "sainted" by the Catholic Church and also being considered a spiritual father by the Reformers and even many modern Evangelicals.  John Calvin, for instance, quotes from Augustine extensively in his Institutes , many times wresting back Augustine's authority from his Catholic opponents who claimed it for their own positions. Like emo kids in the 2000's wearing tee-shirts adorned with the images of Bob Marley or The Ramones, we sometimes agree with famous theologians without ever really knowing what they taught.  Not wanting to be "that guy," I recently decided to read one of Augustine's works.  Instead of reading The City of God or Confessions , cuz, who has time for that, I decided to start with something much...

Celebrities from Taylor Swift to LeBron James to Brad Pitt and Leo DiCaprio  are once again out spreading the message of the importance of voting (apparently they feel that being famous qualifies them to have an opinion; alas, a platform is no replacement for knowledge!).  These Hollywood types are trying to rile up the youth (a familiar statist and socialistic tactic) of this nation, a demographic that is traditionally progressive, but that rarely votes.  Millennials especially have distanced themselves from the political process, despite being highly-opinionated and strong-willed. The message being propagated is that everybody has a voice.  Everybody, we are told, has not only the right, but the responsibility, to vote.  Everyone has a civic duty to help decide public policy and who our civic leaders will be for the next 2, 4, or 6 years. But is that true? Should we encourage every eligible person to vote? Does an 18-year-old, fresh out of high school,...

One of the most difficult things in the world for humans to do is to receive admonition .  Admonition is painful.  It is repugnant to our pride.  Fallen human nature simply does not like to be told that it is wrong and/or ignorant.  Because we have this natural (read "fallen") predisposition, receiving admonition is one of the premier signs of wisdom.  He who knows the most knows just how little he knows, while he who thinks he knows everything has yet to figure how much more there is left to know! Enter 2018. Receiving admonition is especially difficult in an age where our god is Self and our creed is Follow your heart .  Our culture has trained us to be self-centered and belligerent, so being corrected is hardly something we're prepared to take.  I have rights!  I have a voice!  When being true to oneself is the summum bonum, receiving admonition is worthless or even immoral. So much conflict resolution training, whether it be for the...