While I was on vacation, others were posting some great stuff. Iowahawk had a funny, yet thought-provoking, post on why he is a Democrat. Let me share one of his many reasons:
I am a Democrat because I believe in campaign finance reform. Sadly, our politics are dominated by advertisements, paid for by the contributions of giant corporations. All too often, these drown out legitimate grassroots opinions, like the kind heard on TimeWarner-AOL-CNN, TimesCorp, or Disney-ABC.
In a similar satiric vein, Sergeant Stryker imagines Wesley Clark on Hardball.
On a more serious note, Clayton Cramer posted a nice summary of the main four Christian perspectives on war: pacifism, non-resistance, defensive war, and just war. While I am firmly in the just war camp, I believe a rational case can be made for the non-resistance and defensive schools of thought. The pacifists are just delusional in my opinion (I'll be glad to respond in detail if anyone disagrees, but first ensure you read the difference between pacifism and non-resistance). My only point of disagreement with Cramer is the claim that that some of Jesus’s disciples regularly carried swords. I can think of one example (Peter when expecting an attack on Jesus), but am not aware of any other cases. I don't think this changes Cramer's argument, but I don't think the case needs to be overstated. I will write Cramer and ask him to expand on this if he is aware of more examples of which I am not aware. Now there were many Roman soldiers who believed in Jesus (e.g., the Roman Centurion whose faith impressed Jesus Himself), perhaps this is what Cramer meant. At any event, while I may nitpick the details, I agree with Cramer's main points.
Cramer was really on roll while I was away. In another post, Cragmer manages to fisk Professor Volokh in a very convincing manner. Volokh is usually well reasoned, but everyone has a bad day. One of the better characteristics of the blogosphere is that people will fact-check (and logic check) your postings.
Well, sticking with my resolution of getting more sleep, I'm logging off for the night. Just in time to finish watching LSU win at least a share of the college national championship barring a comeback from Oklahoma.
Thanks for the reference, but the passage you quoted is the same example to which I referred. Peter (and one other disciple) took swords with them to Gethsemane and Peter used one in an attempt to protect Jesus. The impetuous Peter cut off the right ear of the high priest's servant when they came for Jesus, before Jesus stopped him. Jesus then healed the servant's ear.
So I still don't agree with the claim that some of Jesus' disciples regularly carried swords. I am willing to be shown otherwise, but it will take more than one example to support the strong claim that carrying swords was a "regular" habit amongst the disciples.
<i>"My only point of disagreement with Cramer is the claim that that some of Jesus’s disciples regularly carried swords. I can think of one example (Peter when expecting an attack on Jesus), but am not aware of any other cases. I don't think this changes Cramer's argument, but I don't think the case needs to be overstated."</i>
See Luke 22:35-38.