Good morning and welcome to the weekend!  I apologize for missing last week, and hope you weren’t too disappointed.  I did receive a few emails, but here’s the situation – I blog every week mainly because its fun and gives me a good outlet to write some thoughts down. If you don’t get an email, its not because you were taken off the list or because anything is wrong.  I am not a professional writer, so from time to time I take a break and don’t post anything.  Today’s blog will actually be pretty short. I’m supposed to be taking in the Word at my church’s men’s retreat, but instead find myself sidelined by illness.

So, a brief post now follows about the week, what I read, saw, heard and what’s worth passing along…

The biggest “news” of the week hit yesterday when old (recordings?) of Donald Trump leaked out to the press.  They feature extremely lewd comments (probably not endorsed by Jerry Falwell, Jr….we think).  I get the question on a regular basis “have you decided whether you’ll vote for Trump yet?”  Just when I think I’ve convinced myself, and I’m around 95% read to pull the trigger and “safeguard our supreme court” (hahaha), something like this happens and makes it all the more odious to even enter the voting booth. He isn’t making it easy, is he?!

Shifting gears, this is a bit of philosophical mumbo-jumbo, but in an interesting piece posted on the American Conservative, and reposted by Mohler later in the week, you can see some intramural outrage among liberal (communist?) philosophers over one man’s opinion on homosexuality. I think the point here is not that the guy they’re denouncing is correct as much as it is that whenever someone argues anything opposing the liberal dogma on homosexual behavior, they are denounced violently and not simply argued with in an academic manner. The merits of an argument are no longer considered or dealt with, they are simply denounced as hate-filled homophobes who must be tossed from their philosophy chairs. It is intolerance in the name of tolerance.  Of course I saw this in my own undergrad days in many a philosophy course. So nothing surprising, but here we’re seeing it spill over into the public discourse, and its not simply a professor shouting down an intelligent student, its prof. vs. prof.   The response by the left is seen as possibly communist because of the manner in which rationality and true arguments are tossed to the wind. Two legs bad, four legs good! 

This is a perfect segue: France plans ban on pro-life websites.

From the Wall Street Journal: Ohio State Is Showing a Historic Lack of Mercy. Pretty interesting stuff here statistically.  I’m not even a big football guy, but as a sports fan in general, stuff like this is fascinating to me.

Speaking of fascinating, this one caught my attention for you weekend readers: Younger adults prefer to get their news in text, not video, according to new data from Pew Research.

In what was probably one of the best blogs of the week, Ray Ortland is blunt: Sunday Soccer and Small Christianity.  Here’s an excerpt:

Christian conversion is not God sprinkling his pixie-dust blessing on our typical routines. It is a paradigm shift for the whole of our lives, with new categories and new capacities. We see this throughout the New Testament.

Book Reviews: Tim Challies looks at Sarah Young’s new sequel to Jesus Calling. 

Tomorrow night is debate number two between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Here’s the SNL from last time. People seem to think Mike Pence won the VP debate, and since no one really cares, the libs in the media were fine conceding that one. They did not, however, concede it based on the principle of arguments and what the men expressed – it was all about how they expressed it.  Kaine was said to have interrupted so much that he shot himself in the proverbial foot. Pence was said to have dodged all the questions that would have forced a defense of the indefensible GOP nominee.

From the Twitters:  A century of presidential elections, in one GIF

And, because I missed the week where I’d get to blog on the Ryder Cup, check this one out (ICYMI): Ryder Cup heckler makes putt to win $100 bet – video

Also ICYMI: Glenn Beck apologizes for endorsing Ted Cruz

NOSTALGIA: Photos: BlackBerry Over the Years: Smartphone maker will stop making its own phones as sales dwindle

Last week Ligonier released their ‘STATE OF THEOLOGY’ (in America).  It’s a very well put together large sample of people’s opinions and thoughts on theology and doctrine in America. Of course there are a few shocking things in here, and others not so shocking. For those of you who think we’re basically a Christian nation, well, you might have a hard time getting through it.  This basically shows that not only are we not basically a Christian nation, but that most of those who are self-proclaimed evangelicals don’t know the first thing about what they believe.

Sometimes its good to keep in touch with what some of these movie/tv stars say and do, as a reminder of what worldview is behind their behavior. Such is the case here: Andy Richter Is ‘Eternally Grateful’ His Wife Aborted His Child.

Gosh darn it – why are those Honeycrisp Apples so expensive???!!  Basic economics, Watson!

For you book lovers: 13 Ways Book Lovers Make More Time for Reading.

Tim Challies defends video games – no really! 

In the past week, two prominent men died. Shimon Peres, the former Israeli PM, and Arnold Palmer, one of Golf’s greatest heroes.  You’ve likely read and watched videos all about this, but a few linked stories above in honor of their passing seemed fitting.

HAHAHAHA!  To save their sinking city, Venetians are dressing like pirates and chasing cruise ships

Interesting final bits……new bible series without anything but the text……uber is researching vertical takeoff vehicles……new archeological discoveries dating back to the reign of Hezekiah…that whole water thing on Europa……Similarly silly questions……the Weiner-in-Law (what a messed up family!)……Obama’s fancy headgear……cool interactive map of middle earth.

That’s it!  Go enjoy the weekend!

PJW