We're Singing HOT, HOT, HOT

Yep, that's us. The thermometer is once again supposed to reach up near one hundred degrees farenheit, but we may actually get some rain today. When the grass is all brown, boil orders are put into effect in neighboring towns, and everyone cheers when the building is hit by heat lightning because of the prospect of the rain that may come with it, it is time for the draught to end. I actually went outside and did a rain dance the other day, although I don't know that it has helped much. I guess I could look on the bright side, though, as there is lots of sunshine to cheer things up and keep any depression away.

A Nice Religion

I read this article in the World Magazine the other day and found it...well...depressing. Unfortunately, from what I have personally seen and experienced, I think it is rather true . There seems to be a large focus among Christians of merely being nice people. We seem to forget that there is a God who is very real and is not merely a good icon to remind us to do good stuff and to be moral. The article refers to it as "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism": doing good things to make ourselves feel good while believing in a god who is far away, uninvolved, and basically powerless and impertinent in the real world. In that religion, the most important commandment is merely to "be nice." The subjects of sin, punishment, and redemption are left for the most part untouched because they are not nice to think and talk about. In reality, we should be doing that "good stuff" because there is deeper meaning behind it than just feeling good: a very involved, pertinent God who shows us great mercy and grace.

Tigger's Voice is Forever Silent

Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger, died today. In addition to being the voice of one of the most loved (and bounciest) animals in children's literature, he was also "a master ventriloquist...and an inventor who held 30 patents, including one for an early artificial heart he built in 1963." Winchell was quite a talented man and he will be missed. I suppose all that is left to be said is, "TTFN!" (ta-ta for now)

An Issue of Terms

Okay, just to clarify things a little: The United States of America is not a democracy but a democratic republic! The difference? In a democracy all of the people vote on everything, and hence there is always majority/mob rule. In a democratic republic the representatives that the people elect vote on the issues, thus allowing more voices to be heard. Of course, there is always the problem of the elected officials not listening to their constituents, but, since their term is not life-long and not hereditary, they can be removed from office in the next election, if not sooner. So there you have it.

And So It Ends

I finally had the chance to go and see what may end up being the biggest movie of the summer, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It is definitely the darkest of all six of the Star Wars movies and much better than Episodes I and II, but it still didn't strike me as being worth seeing more than once. The special effects were definitely made to be seen on the big screen and were awesome to watch, but the acting was awful and the dialogue was weak. The only reason I went to see it was to finish up the saga. I was raised on the original trilogy and had seen the first two prequels, so going to see the last one was really a no-brainer.

One thing that really stuck out at me was a line near the end of the movie when Anakin and Obi Wan have their encounter on the volcanic planet. Obi Wan Kenobi tells Anakin that "only the Sith speak in absolutes," or something along that line. Throughout the Star Wars tale the "power" of the force is split into two distinct sides: the "light side" and the "dark side." The Jedi, the good guys, use the light side of the force while the Sith, the bad guys, use the dark side. There is always a clear, absolute distinction between the good and the bad with no gray areas. Then one of the main Jedi says that only the bad Sith split it up in absolutes that way. I found that to be rather ridiculous, and also rather offensive as I myself believe in absolutes.

An irony I saw in the movie was the fact that Anakin's attempt at saving Padme's life by going to the dark side ended up being the very thing that killed her in the end. His doing the wrong thing for the right reason ended up causing more grief that there would have been otherwise.

Well, that is my take on the movie. For some reason I do not feel the same despair at seeing the Star Wars saga coming to a close as I did when the final Lord of the Rings movie came out. For me, there just wasn't a very strong connection with the characters or the story line.

More Than a Debate

No matter how much it is discussed, I believe that abortion is still an issue that is very much overlooked by many people. The basic question behind the debate of whether abortion is right or not and whether it should be kept legal is: "What exactly are the unborn?” Are they individual human beings from the time they are conceived with a life worth protecting and preserving? Or are they simply a small mass of tissue that is part of the mother's body, and thus up to her whether to let it live and develop or to have it killed? It is a question that needs to be answered.

Biologically, the fetus is unique from the moment of conception from any other human being, including its mother, with its own distinct DNA. In fact by about day 22 the heart starts beating and moving blood around the little body which is often of a different blood type than that of the mother. Its brain waves begin at around forty days of gestation.

Being a tiny mass of cells does not make the fetus any less a person since size is not a criteria for being considered a human being. We don't say that Michael Jordan, being as tall as he is, is any more human that a small child--he is merely at a different stage of growth and development. Neither does that level of development determine how "human" a person is. In fact, people are continually developing and changing both mentally and physically. Does that mean that a twenty year old is any less a person than a sixty year old? No, just different.

An individual's location and environment do nothing to change his or her personhood. Where someone is does not determine what they are. A person is the same regardless of whether they are in the middle of the Sahara desert, in the midst of a snow storm in the Arctic, or traveling in a space shuttle outside of the planet's atmosphere. Likewise, the 8 inches of birth canal that separate an unborn child from a newborn do not determine what or who they are.

How dependent a person is on others to survive does not make any impact on whether or not they are an individual human being, either. There are people in nursing homes and hospitals throughout the world who could not survive except through the help of other people, yet their humanity is not questioned. Being independent is not a criterion for being human.

An infant, no matter how small, is an individual human being with a life worth preserving, and needs to be recognized as such. The right to life is not something that is given by the choice of any human being, association, or government, it is a natural right endowed upon all of us by our Creator. Abortion is one thing that should not be overlooked by anyone. Fetuses are more than a debate; they are individual, unique people.

Hey, ya'll! I'm baaack!

Don't panic, I have climbed back onto the face of the earth after falling off of it and am now returned from my blogging hiatus. It is great to be once again back inside of an air-conditioned building staring at a computer screen while my fingers play out a tattoo on the keyboard. Life has been a little crazy lately, but hopefully things will start feeling relatively "normal" once more, whatever that means. I have to go for now, but never fear, don't despair, Becky's here!