Generous

Proverbs 11:25 says "A generous man will prosper; / he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." (NIV)

I have recently, through the example of a friend, had the privilege of better learning the joy and freedom of generosity. It is freeing to realize that our possessions are not our own, but that they belong to God. And trusting in His provision as we seek Him, it is a wonderful thing to begin to see the freedom we find as we loosen our grip and freely give. I do not believe the amount we give and the amount we have are a zero-sum game. In other words, giving does not simply subtract the amount given from the giver. Yes, we will have to sacrifice if we let God form us into generous people, but I believe that it need not feel like we are simply losing something. We may experience reciprocal generosity, and we will see more of the peace of being able to trust in God as our generous provider. "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."

Driscoll on 2 Peter 1:3-4

1 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV):

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."

Here's Mark Driscoll's take on this passage from a sermon last May in his sermon series on 1 and 2 Peter:

“When anyone tells me that Christianity is a great religion, I freak out. I absolutely blow a gasket. I can barely remain in my own skin. It’s not another religion. Religion is about control, religion is about fear, religion is about punishment, religion assumes all you have is this evil, rebellious, sinful, hard-hearted, stubborn, stiff-necked old nature. We have to control you, we have to intimidate you, we have to manipulate you because deep down, the longings of your heart, the desires of your soul, the appetite of your will is just only evil, continually, all the time. Regeneration says absolutely not. You have the Holy Spirit, you have a new nature, you have brand new, fresh, passionate, free desires. What’s happen is this. Some of you will say ‘But I’m tempted.’ There are lesser desires, what he [Peter] calls ‘sinful desires’ in the world. Your flesh and the world will conspire to tempt you to settle. Some of you, that word desire, you’re like ‘that’s right, desire is bad.’ No, it’s not. Desire is the answer to sin, not the cause of it. When you sin, it’s because you have too weak of desires. When you sin it’s not because you are passionate, it’s because you are not passionate enough! You’re settling—sex, food, money, gambling, alcohol, fornication, adultery. Christ, passion, joy, freedom, happiness, enthusiasm, are so much better than these little temptations, these petty pleasures, these wicked temptations that want us to settle for something or someone other than Jesus. See some of you come here and you come from these religious backgrounds and say ‘Don’t have passions, don’t have desires, don’t get excited, you’ll get into trouble.’ No, you won’t, you’ll get into worship, and that will keep you out of trouble.”

Amen! Here's the video of the entire sermon if you've got a little spare time:

CODE Pink in Cairo: Pledges to Deliver Hamas Letter to Obama

The Politico has a video of CODE Pinks recent theatrics in Cairo, including a pledge to deliver a letter from Hamas to the President. Outrageous beyond belief...

Great Books Excerpt of the Day

From Alexis de Toquevile's Democracy in America, Volume II, Section IV, Chapter 6: "What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear."

"It cannot be absolutely or generally affirmed that the greatest danger of the present age is license or tyranny, anarchy or despotism. Both are equally to be feared; and the one may proceed as easily as the other from one and the same cause: namely, that general apathy which is the consequence of individualism. It is because this apathy exists that the executive government, having mustered a few troops, is able to commit acts of oppression one day; and the next day a party which has mustered some thirty men in its ranks can also commit acts of oppression. Neither the one nor the other can establish anything which will last; and the causes which enable them to succeed easily prevent them from succeeding for long; they rise because nothing opposes them, and they sink because nothing supports them. The proper object, therefore, of our most strenuous resistance is far less either anarchy or despotism than that apathy which may almost indifferently beget either the one or the other."

1 in 7 Gitmo Releasees Return to Terror

Welcome to another addition of "The Most Absurd Item of the Day." Yahoo News reports on a Pentagon statement that reveals that seventy-four, or one in every seven released enemy combatants returns to terrorism. King Solomon said it best:

Like a dog that returns to its vomit Is a fool who repeats his folly.

Saudi Arabia's First Beauty Pagent

By Saudi standards, Sukaina al-Zayer is an impressive--she is the first woman to win Saudi Arabia's "Miss Beautiful Morals" contest.

"The idea of the pageant is to measure the contestants' commitment to Islamic morals... It's an alternative to the calls for decadence in the other beauty contests that only take into account a woman's body and looks," said pageant founder Khadra al-Mubarak.

It's almost endearing, except for the fact that woman are treated like second class citizens in the Kingdom...

SCOTUS Opening: Souter to leave the Court

President Obama gets his first chance to replace a sitting justice on the Supreme Court. Yesterday evening, NPR announced that left leaning associate justice David Souter will retire at the end of the Court's term in June.

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder blogs on some possible replacement picks. Any thoughts?