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Prince Edward Island
Rabbi Shmuley gives a brief overview of his visit to Prince Edward Island with his family
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Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Rabbi Shmuley gives a brief overview of his visit to Prince Edward Island with his family
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Israel Under Fire
Israel Under Fire
Hugo Chavez calls Israel a “genocidal state”. Rabbi Shmuley discusses the state of Israel’s relationships with the rest of the world, as well as Obama’s lack of support for Israel.
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General McChrystal should Not be Fired
General McChrystal should Not be Fired
Rabbi Shmuley, conferencing in from a vacation with his family, discusses why he feels it is a grave error to have fired Gen. McChrystal.
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Thursday, July 02, 2009
The Paradox of Evangelicals - NY Times Op Ed
By invoking the story of King David and Hebrew rather than Christian Scripture to discuss his infidelity, Governor Sanford is consciously identifying with Jewish rather than Christian notions of righteousness.
In Christianity, the ideal, like Jesus, is perfection. But the whole of the Hebrew Bible does not contain even one example of a faultless individual and thus defines righteousness by the constant struggle to act morally amid a predilection to do otherwise. King David, Governor Sanford is saying, like many charismatic leaders and unlike Jesus and Paul, had an untamed libido. But he ultimately repented and was restored to G-d’s favor.
The paradox of American evangelicals is that they are Christian on the one hand and political conservatives on the other with utterly opposing views of redemption. Christians believe that no one is blameless and all must therefore ride the coattails of a perfect being into heaven. But conservatives espouse the gospel of personal accountability. The state cannot save them. Man must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow and not by welfare alone.
Governor Sanford knows his only hope of survival is to demonstrate to his constituents that he blames no one but himself for his transgression and takes personal responsibility for reorienting his life. Jesus may love him but his wife seems to hate him. A savior may get him into heaven. But only personal accountability will keep him in the statehouse. And so Governor Sanford quotes Hebrew scripture with its strong emphasis on individual choice.
By contrast his wife seeks “the wisdom of Solomon,” which was most on display when the great king personally adjudicated between two parents, one, a rascal who is prepared to exchange her beloved for a complete stranger (sound familiar?), the other, a martyr, prepared to give up personal bliss to save her offspring. Jenny Sanford makes it clear that she has all but sacrificed womanly aspirations to happiness on the altar of motherhood.
After quoting Psalm 127, “Sons are a gift from the Lord,” Mrs. Sanford tells us that she will “continue to pour my energy into raising our sons to be honorable young men.” That is, men who are not anything like her opinion of her own husband. Because, while men may not be perfect, only a scoundrel would use that as an excuse to cheat on his wife.
Originally published at NY Times Online
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Thursday, July 02, 2009
caliah
You’re clearly right Shmuley on this count and this gov is wrong.
And he’s not JUST a cheater I am afraid, but he thinks he is a sophisticated one. Parallels and parables work to instruct and inform when truth is the aim, but if someone thinks he can use something profound to explain some inconsistent thing that was done willfully he has no clue and should have just said nothing in the first place.
Last night, I learned about El Qanna - The good kind of jealousy that God has towards us. I think in learning from that, we all should be very concerned against anything that separates us the from God first and our spouse second. Judging by the breathtaking lack of concern for the sanctity of marriage, the spiritual adviser that Sanford had he just does not seem have great regard for the whole counsel of God.
If you (as a spiritual adviser) really cared for someone, their life and family, you’d chase them back to where they should be with stick if need be.
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Thursday, July 02, 2009
rwgreen
I wonder what faults Rabbi Shmuley considers Job commited. I can’t think of any. The guy was a little mysterious.
In any case I agree that Governor Sanford looks for perfection. Jesus did complain at length of hiprocasy and I do remember that Representative Sanford and Senator Newt Gengrich were two that were pressing Bubba for impeachment. Of course Representative Sanford’s actions did not go as far back then as they did this time but is that important? Newt was fully involved in adultry while pressing impeachment for Bubba. -
Saturday, July 18, 2009
caliah
Shmul: “Christians believe that no one is blameless and all must therefore ride the coattails of a perfect being into heaven.“
No, its not quite like that. Its more like accepting that someOne or something CAN atone for our sins. You know, like the preconditions and reasons for sacrifices in the Old Testament?
God is sovereign in His ways to reveal Himself to different people in different times and in different ways. Just as long as He does not (seem) do things that are ought of His character according to the Bible. That then would be another (g)od.
Three Things God Can’t Do
# He cannot lie.
# He cannot learn.
# He cannot force you to love Him.Four Things God “Doesn’t Know”
# He doesn’t know a sin He doesn’t hate.
# He doesn’t know a sinner He doesn’t love.
# He doesn’t know an alternate path to His Throne but through His son.
# He doesn’t know a better time to accept Him than now!
this list from K-house: http://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/567/ -
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
paul55br
I think caliah has a good point there.
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