America

Welcome to the Truman Show; life in America 2016

By Joel A. Hess –

A couple of weeks ago, my kids enjoyed the movie The Truman Show for the first time. If you have been living with the Amish for the past year, I will summarized the movie for you. The film is about a man, Truman, who is part of an ultra-reality T.V. show that films him from his birth until death. It is set in a fake town underneath a large dome that even controls the weather. All the people except for Truman are actors. Everything is controlled except Truman. Truman’s life isn’t perfect; his dad traumatically dies in the surrounding sea and his first girlfriend disappears. Yet, overall he lives a fairly carefree and easy going life until he realizes it is all a conspiracy.

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Dare to Compare

By Jaime Nava –

A pastor friend posted on Facebook that a religion’s beliefs are in line with their founder. So someone calling themselves a Buddhist will follow Gautama Buddha and his teachings. Christians find themselves following Christ. Do Muslims follow the teachings of Muhammed, and do those teachings contain the violence we have seen from recent attacks? Fort Hood saw the deaths of 13 when a psychiatrist proclaimed “Allah Akbar” in 2009. The Boston Marathon was attacked by religiously motivated Chechen Muslims, killing 3 and maiming or injuring another 264 in 2013. San Bernardino suffered the deaths of 14 and another 17 injured at the end of 2015. Now we have Orlando with 49 dead and 53 injured. Are these people claiming to follow the teachings of the Koran, or are they on the fringe?

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A Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty?

By Caleb Keith –

Most of the people reading this probably haven’t heard of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty (LCRL). I hadn’t heard of the LCRL until this past summer, and it wasn’t until this last semester that I really understood what the LCRL is and what they do. As part of a research paper for my Christians and Ethics course this semester, I examined the LCRL and reviewed its functions in light of the classical view of Lutheran two-kingdom theory.

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Culture of Grover

By Jaime Nava –

Do you know your short, fuzzy pal, Grover? He’s the blue monster from Sesame Street. When he is caped, he is also known as Super Grover and even Super Grover two-point-oh. Grover has a trait in all his appearances. You see, he thinks he knows something when in actuality, he doesn’t. For example, he wears a professor’s garb, calls himself professor Grover, and wants to tell you about one of nature’s wonders: mailboxes! No, trees! (He’s corrected by Cameron Diaz). In one episode, Grover is the Music Monster, and he breaks down crying because he has to admit that he knows nothing and that he’s a sham. He had been trying to lead everyone into thinking he was a musical expert. Grover is the self-deluded non-expert who makes claims that are true because he says they are. It is rare for Grover to repent.

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Support Life, Democrats Never Lose Again

By Graham Glover –

As much as I wish it would happen, I doubt it ever will – the Democratic Party supporting the Pro-Life Movement. It boggles my mind why the party that so passionately advocates on behalf of the less fortunate, the outcast, and the voiceless, is eerily silent when it comes to the unborn child. But I’m not politically naïve, I get the underlying narrative that prevents this from happening, which is why I have no expectation that those who do not support abortion on demand will ever be given a role, much less a platform, in Democratic politics.

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Crunchy Conservatism

By Graham Glover –

It’s been 10 years since the nationally syndicated columnist Rod Dreher penned, ‘Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party)”. I was a fan of the book when it was published and am an even bigger proponent of the ideas Dreher is advocating today.

Yes, I am a Crunchy Con. And you, the readers of The Jagged Word, should be as well.

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When Logic Fails, Might Makes Right; Welcome to the Future of Amerika

By Joel A Hess –

When logic is no longer used to determine what is right, might is right.

Many are flabbergasted by the rise of Donald Trump. They can’t believe he says what he says and gets away with it. More than that, his harsh tone and outlandish Jerry Springer Show campaign only increases his popularity! Predictably, the knee jerk reaction by people who believe they have a right to never be offended by anyone is to protest – not argue – and sometimes violently. “Use your words,” our mothers used to say.

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America Is and Will Remain Great

By Graham Glover –

We still have a long way to go in the 2016 election cycle. We may think we know who the party’s nominees are, but if there is anything this election has proven, it is that this year is entirely unpredictable. I suggest you get comfortable and fasten your seatbelt, because there are a lot of twists and turns yet to come this election year. Nobody knows what America will wake up to on November 9th. Nobody. All we know is that anything and everything is within the realm of possibility.

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A Plea to our Next President

By Graham Glover –

We are less than 9 months away from electing the next President of the United States. After months of talk and preparation, the electorate and pundits are knee deep in the primaries. There are still a lot of votes to be cast, but I suspect that after the 15th of March we will have a pretty good idea of who the nominees are going to be for each party.

Like almost every other political prognosticator, I am at a loss for how the 2016 election is unfolding.

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The Word, The Womb and You

By Paul Koch –

Jeremiah 1:4-10 is simply a text containing the call of Jeremiah into the service of Yahweh. Now most of the major prophets have a section similar to this, and it is not terribly unusual as far as such calls go in Scripture. However this particular call of one of God’s great prophets contains a few nuggets that are worthy of our time to consider. This call establishes the credentials of the prophet. In other words, this little section at the beginning of Jeremiah’s writing establishes why we should listen to him in the first place.

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