Marriage: "Civil Rights of Man" ?

Andrew Sullivan has, of course, been covering the Massachusetts ruling on gay marriage. Now you can ask my wife, I don't fall in perfectly with mainline conservatives on this issue. I don't exactly see what jurisdiction the government has in saying anything about marriage. Not that marriage is a sacrament, but it is an aspect of the Church, no? Wouldn't that be like the California Supreme Court ruling that Baptists have to let babies be baptized? On what authority? Who gave the power of giving in marriage to the State? What is this line of BS about marriage being one of the "basic civil rights of man" -- kata Sullivan? What's next? Communion being a basic civil right of man?

Sosa's MVP goes to Pujols, not Bonds

ESPN.com:

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- If Sammy Sosa had a vote for the NL MVP, he would've picked Albert Pujols over Barry Bonds.

"Bonds had good numbers and has a name in the game, but Pujols deserved the award more than anybody," the Chicago Cubs star told The Associated Press on Wednesday night after returning home to the Dominican Republic.

Bonds got 28 of 32 first-place votes and 426 total points from the Baseball Writers' Association of America in results announced Tuesday.

Bonds hit .341 with 45 home runs and 90 RBI. The San Francisco outfielder became the only player to win three consecutive MVP awards, winning his sixth overall.

Pujols finished second, receiving three first-place votes and 303 total points.

The St. Louis slugger's .359 average led the majors and he had 43 home runs and 124 RBI. Sosa said his countryman's accomplishments overshadowed those of Bonds and others.

"No player in the National League stood out more than Pujols in 2003," Sosa said.

This homecoming is special for Sosa because baseball commissioner Bud Selig and other Cubs players will hold a celebration Saturday to honor Sosa for becoming the first Hispanic player to reach 500 homers.

Sosa, who turned 35 on Nov. 12, hit 40 homers this year. His total of 539 puts him 10th on the career list.

What a load of crock. Okay, Cork-ey. Sure Pujols had a better BA than Bonds, but his homers were fewer. As for the RBI's, well, let's see Pujols RBIs number when pitchers stop pitching to him. Bonds is the most feared player in the game. Bonds also carried an entire team, which was supposed to be in a "reloading" year after their WS lost. The Cardinals were supposed to be "kickin' butt and takin' names." In the end, it looks like the Cards were kickin' their own and looking for names of new players.

Like him or hate him, when the game is on the line, you either want him on your team ... or you walk him. Now that is valuable.

Linux

Kristen and I were considering getting a laptop in the near future (read: between now and when we get one). One thing we do want is to have a DVD drive, so we can watch DVDs. We don't have a TV, don't really want a TV, but do want to be able to watch DVDs, so a DVD drive seems best. However, those who owe the DVD encoding, don't wish to share this knowledge with those who would like to make DVD software for Linux -- this hasn't stopped all Linux users, but I'd want to be ethical.

However, other than the DVD, does anyone have any praise or condemnation of Linux?

Man Pleads Guilty To Watch OSU-UMICH

From ESPN.com:

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A Columbus judge says he'll let an inmate stay in jail instead of moving him to prison right away so he can see the Ohio State-Michigan game on TV this Saturday.


Jeff Renne told Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard Sheward yesterday that he would plead guilty as long as he could stay in the county jail through the weekend. Inmates at the jail can watch TV, but it's off-limits at the Orient reception center, where they are held before they're moved to one of the state's prisons.


Renne was charged with forgery. He says if the Buckeyes win on Saturday, he'll still be "on cloud nine" despite being in prison.


Judge Sheward says he granted Renne's request because it's Michigan week and he thought he should do his part for the Buckeyes.

Hell Freezes over at Wheaton College

The smartest baptist evangelicals are now permitted to dance. Might Bob Jones University be next?

Class Notes

My class entertains me greatly. We've been studying Greek and Latin roots in Vocabulary, and I decided to teach them the Greek alphabet. In just two days, they have become really into Greek. They know the alphabet. They want to transliterate everything into Greek. It's very amusing.

Church Greeters

For a good while I've felt weird about having church greeters. It's nice having the Ushers to tell you when you can sit and to had you the liturgy, but greeters are there just to smile, shake your hand, and say, "hello". I could never figure out why it felt odd. I continued to re-greet the greeters, and Kristen and I even serve as greeters when the church calls us to, so I overlook the oddness.

But, I think I figured out why it feels odd. A church is supposed to be a family, going to church should be like going home, it should be homey. Back in the day, there were butlers and maids to greet you, take your coat, offer you a drink, etc.. Nowadays, we don't have that. You go to a good friend's house and sometimes you don't even have to knock. You can simply walk it, pour yourself a glass of wine, and join the group. That's how it was for Kristen in North Carolina, that is how it is in our Home Fellowship Group. Bill has often looked at me and said, "Now Mike, I'm not going to ask you anymore." After a few seconds of thinking, I realized he was talking about the wine. I was now a part of the group. I wasn't a guest, I could take wine at my leisure and not wait to be served.

We don't have greeters in our homes anymore. You find greeters in Wal-Mart ... that's why it felt weird to me in church.

B.T.A. and George Grant

Since I did decently on the analytical portion of the GRE, Kristen and I have been considering whether I should take the LSAT and go to law school. That, coupled with the possibility of looking at Lynchburg, VA as a future place to live, has been a source of much teasing as I joke with Kristen about going to Liberty Law School.

Well, I remembered Dr. Grant blogging that his good friend was the dean at the school, so I decided to check it out. Upon looking at the "Welcome from the Dean", the source of their friendship became clear. They must be members of the B.T.A. -- Bow Tie Association. Actually the picture of Dean Green is pretty good, which makes two guys who can pull off the bow tie.

Friends

I miss Rachel and Rick a great deal all the time, and wish we could just jet off and see them. Since they've been engaged, it's been even worse. At least we have telephones!

CBN?

A favorite professor of mine extends his academic endeavors past the walls of academia ... and the chat rooms on espn.com. He writes a quasi-regular article (that is, you know an article is coming, but not the day -- hmm, sounds the Second Coming. Okay, okay, okay, sorry ...) in the Austin American-Statesman. In his most recent column, which he told me cut a portion that he found important to his argument, he took on the issue of God(s) and War. In his discussion of General Boykin he refers to CBN.

Will someone, who does have a T.V., please enlighten me about CBN. They aren't necessarily heretics like those at TBN, right? Are they wacky, extremely Zionist, dispensational, Christian fundamentalists?

GRE

Some time ago ... or about two weeks, I took the GRE and have had negative feelings about it every since. I actually had good reason to be doubtful about it. First, I really didn't prepare that well, which is my fault, and I really didn't care that much. Of my top schools, only three (Indiana, Colorado, and UChicago Div.) require the GRE, yet my others (Div: Yale, Harvard, Duke, Emory) don't. Also, the handy-dandy computerized GRE gives you the results of two of three tests: the Verbal and Quantitative (i.e., Math). Those had low results. Looking at my percentiles, I actually did better on the Verbal than Math ... by percentile. By raw score, my Math was about 90 points better. However, the score was rather low, I felt a little bad, but tried not to dwell on it.

The third test, the analytical writing, I had no idea about. I felt pretty good about it, but then again two summers ago I felt good about my Const.Law papers, and my TA's felt differently. The Analytical sections used to be something similar to the games section on the LSAT. I suppose they want to measure you're ability to analyze -- hence the name. Now, they have turned it into two essays, of which the prompts I cannot tell as I signed a statement saying so. However, one takes the form of a one-line statement:

Example: Augustine was a fricken genius and the Catholics and Orthodox need to take him more seriously.

At which point, you would need to write an essay taking some sort of position, supporting it, answering potential counter-arguments, etc...

In the second essay, you are presented with an argument of about two or three paragraphs. It usually has something to do with graduate school, being a graduate school exam. Here you are to critic the argument, take note of strong and weak points, evaluate the logic.

Both of these essays are out of 6 points. If you download the PowerPrep software the ETS gives you, they have a section with examples of each type of paper, from 0 (poor) to 6 (highest). Then, the two scores are averaged. Since this requires real graders, you have to wait a few weeks to receive the scores. My arrived today. I received a perfect 6.0, scoring the 95th percentile. This made me feel A LOT better. Like I actually got something out of the GRE, besides a humbling courtesy of the Verbal and Math sections.

Regarding Two Peter Leithart Posts

First, this post:

Obedience, Scripture says, is better than sacrifice. By analogy, moral purity is better than ritual purity. This analogy plays a big role in the gospels.

Then, I wonder, should those disgruntled with the ECUSA look past the ritual unpurity -- in their eyes -- of the Catholic Church in favor of Rome's moral purity -- or at least their willingless to call sin "sin" and do something about it?

Second, this post:

Jim Jordan suggests that Daniel 2-7, written in Aramaic, is a fulfillment of the promise/threat of tongues (from Isaiah), and that this passage authorizes translation of Scripture into various languages. Which leads to several thoughts:

1) As Jordan points out, translation was not done until the intertestamental period, and is still not done by Muslims. Refusal to translate seems to be particularly connected with old world/old covenant systems (like Islam). The written word is kept close, hidden away, but with the coming of the new covenant the written word is spread abroad in many languages. This fits with the characterization of the post-exilic period as an "ecumenical age," the age of the oikoumene.

2) The postmodern suspicion or critique of translation seems to be a reversion to a pre-Pentecostal mentality. For instance: The linguistic tribalism celebrated by Stanley Fish and other postmodern theorists. As I noted in an earlier post, Babel has become a dominant postmodern metaphor; which is to say, the reversal of Pentecost is a key postmodern theme. Social and linguistic fragmentation is inevitable when the Spirit withdraws, for the Spirit is the one who marries one to another.

For the first time, I think I'm in disagreement with Dr. Leithart, or maybe only Jordan. While I think that translations are permissable and perhaps helpful, I think that working from the original language is best and I do have grave suspicions about translations. When you work with a translation, you are interacting with a translator, not the text or original writer. The more I read of Paul's letters the more I think that most translations miss a tremendous amount. Even the "scholarly" NRSV is crap. In reading the Greek or Latin (for other church writers, e.g., Augustine), you can see the words which become weighty theological terms. Also, what authority does a translation have? In regards to Jordan's point of Daniel 2-7 being written in Aramaic, what's the point? And the NT was written in Greek ... ooh. Maybe this means we won't live Hebraic, covenantal lifestyles, but I don't see how a portions of scripture being written in different languages is a mandate for translations?