Fear and Trembling, by Soren Kierkegaard, is about the faith of Abraham, and the nature of suffering.

Kierkegaard calls Abraham the father of faith.

How can we appreciate what it must have been like for him?

Well, how much less do we love alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or money than Abraham loved his son?

Kierkegaard writes, about self control, “That there may be some who need coercion, who if given free rein would riot in selfish pleasure like unbridled beasts, is no doubt true, but one should show precisely that one is not of their number.”

Discipline. Self control.

 

This is interesting.  A Christian high school has sued the University of California system for refusing to accept classes that have Christian teaching.  Can their be a clearer restriction of the freedom of religion?  I've said it before and I'll say ita gain, the value of the Ten Commandments is the rule of law given by a supreme being.  Bank on it.

 

HT Polipundit.

 

--TenForUS

It is amazing how much more fun you can have when God is at the center of your life.  I started coaching my little set in soccer last night.  14 years ago I started coaching my oldest boy.  I wanted to win then.  Now, I just want to have fun.  I bet we win more games just having fun, when winning was all I focused on.  I'll keep you posted.

 

--TenForUS

A friend of mine likes to challenge our behavior as being too comfortable.  We zip through life missing the essence of our existence, because we are focused on our existence.  Over 200 years ago a group of men stepped out of the comfortable life and took a chance.  They reasoned that a nation founded on biblical principles and precepts was the best possible government.  They put their lives and fortunes at risk to create the United States of America.  They took a chance on God.  Shouldn't you?

 

--TenForUS

If you have a plan to prepare leaders for tomorrow it is usually viewed as a good thing.  But, not if the leaders are Christians.  World Magazine Blog has a comment up on an article by the LA Times called Grooming Politians for Christ. Now more than ever we need to re-educate ourselves on the principles upon which our nation was founded.  The rule of law, granted by God.  The foundation was laid with the Ten Commandments.

 

--TenForUS

Last year our church baptised 13 people.  The following Sunday, the pastor noted that fact and wondered aloud if that number wasn't low for a church our size.  Well, that started a few of us praying each week for baptisms.  This year we baptised 27 people.  God answers prayer.  You just have to remember what you prayed for.

 

--TenForUS

Dennis Prager has another column up on Judeo-Christian values.  This one contrasts the "religion" of the Left, materialism, with Judeo-Christian values.  He addresses the relativism of poor, but does complete the aurguement with Jesus' quote in Matthew 26:11, "For you always have the poor with you;  Read the entire column here.

 

--TenForUS

 

It was estimated that 200 people jumped from the top of the World Trade Centers after the terrorist attack. The attackers reduced them to something less than human, simple mass.

 

Take a 125-pound object (perhaps a grandmother, loved by all who knew her).

Put it in a building, say 1300 feet high.

Reduce it to mass.

125 pounds / 32.2 ft/sec² = 3.88 slug (slug is the mass unit, her real name could have been Madeline, or Ella, or your Grandmother’s name).

 

And give it to gravity.

 

How long did it fall?

Y= 1/2at²

1300 ft = ½ (32.2 ft/sec²) t²

1300/16.1 = t²

t = approx 9 seconds owned by gravity.

 

How fast would it be going at the end?

V = at = 32.2ft/sec² x 9 seconds = 290 ft/sec = approx 200 miles/hour

But it wouldn’t have gotten over about 125 mph because of air resistance.

 

How hard was the impact of the object?

That force is given by a particularly impersonal equation

F = ma

A lot of people cared about her, but she is now reduced to the little m.

The acceleration due to falling is 32.2 feet/sec², but the acceleration stopping is much greater.

Let’s say the concrete and little m compressed 4 inches, or .25 feet.

125 mph = 183 feet/sec

How long to go 4 inches?

183ft/sec = 2196 inches/sec, to go 4 inches = approx .002 seconds.

Acceleration is change in velocity over change in time

So from 183 feet/sec to nothing in .002 seconds is about 91,500 feet / sec²

 

The mass is 3.88 slug. The acceleration is 91,500 feet / sec²

So the force is 355,020 pounds.

 

How many other times had she dealt with a number that large?

Perhaps this, said with little arms outstretched:

“Grandma, I love you this much!”

 

Why the Math?

Because it is so impersonal. Actual living people - endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – who love and are loved were treated like objects in an equation using the math of Allah.

 

She was put into an equation by the meanest, vilest creatures to ever crawl the face of the earth. It was easy for them to reduce her to something less than human because they think all who do not bow to Allah are less than human.

 

How could they believe that?

 

[8.17] So you did not slay them, but it was Allah Who slew them, and you did not smite when you smote (the enemy), but it was Allah Who smote, …

[8.22] Surely the vilest of animals, in Allah's sight, are the deaf, the dumb, who do not understand.
[8.55] Surely the vilest of animals in Allah's sight are those who disbelieve, then they would not believe.
[9.123] O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).

If only something like this could be added:

Matthew 5:43 Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult you and persecute you,

 

Love.

 

“I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for.”

So said Howard Dean, before things got really ugly.

 

John Adams said, in his first inaugural address, in 1797:

“In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous, and independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good.”

 

A party wanting power for its own ends, not for the good of the nation?

Heard anything like that lately?

 

Howard Dean was on “Face the Nation” this weekend. He said ''it looks like women will be worse off in Iraq than they were when Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq. That's a pretty sad commentary on this administration's ability to do anything right.''

 

"The biggest terrorist in the world is George W. Bush!"

If he thinks that it’s so important for Iraq to have a U.S.-imposed sense of freedom and democracy, then he needs to sign up his two little party-animal girls. They need to go to this war."

 

Was that Howard? No, Cindy Sheehan. Hard to tell, though. Both are undignified.

 

How many Cindy Sheehan’s were protesting in Saddaam’s Iraq, Howard? Did they demand to see Saddaam when their sons were taken in the middle of the night? Did they protest when their daughters were raped? Camp outside one of the palaces?

 

Howard, John Adams was talking about you.

You don’t care about America as much as you care about power.

 

Narcissism. Can you diagnose that, Dr. Howard?

A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem.

Look in a mirror.

 

We call on peaceful Muslims not only to condemn the terrorist attacks, we call on them to help end the attacks, and provide information to help our authorities catch the attackers.

 

In the near future I will be launching Revealed Glory, an online site for art that glorifies instead of revolts.  If you are a Christian artist looking for an outlet, or know of one, please send me an email at tenforus@mwelshco.com.

 

--TenForUS

I talked with some old timers about the annual outdoor baptism and communion service.  Since 1941 the service has not been rained out.  Amazing!  I also found out that last Sunday, it was raining so hard you could not see to drive less than a half mile away.  God is awesome.

 

--TenForUS

According to Jay Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice in an interview with Hugh Hewitt, John Roberts will likely reverse cases such as the loss of the Ten Commandments in Kentucky.  I like this.  Read the rest of the interview here.

 

HT:  Hugh Hewitt

 

--TenForUS

What would you do for 9 more seconds?

The distance a body falls in 9 seconds is given by the formula

Distance = -1/2 (32.2ft/sec²) 9 sec²

The distance comes out to 1304 feet.

1304 feet is about the distance that people jumped after the planes hit the World Trade Center.

For just 9 more seconds of life.

The New York Times counted 50 people taking the extra 9 seconds in photographs and videotapes.USA Today estimated 200 people took the extra 9 seconds.

Count slow

Life        1          2          3          4          5          6         7          8     9         Death

9 seconds x 200 people = 1800 more precious seconds of life.

People on the ground were killed by the falling bodies.

George Bush thought a war to end the increasingly aggressive Islamic fanaticism was worth fighting.

Cindy Sheehan met with President Bush and said, "I now know he's sincere about wanting freedom for the Iraqis. I know he's sorry and feels some pain for our loss. And I know he's a man of faith." 

She has since met the likes of Michael Moore. Now she is full of hate.

"This country is not worth dying for," she says. She insinuates moral equivalence between America and the terrorists, and says we are fighting for Israel.

But what would she say to Casey Sheeham if she had just 9 more seconds?

Would Michael Moore prepare the script?

Would she tell her son his life was worth her agenda?

Pity all the poor mothers.

Is John Roberts an Establishment conservative?  Christopher Levenick examines  the implications if Roberts puts the brakes on the current SCOTUS use of the establishment clause to drive religion out of the public square. I hope it is true.  We need to return to reason and less emotion.

 

--TenForUS

Oh, Bertrand. Have you been the most wrong man in history? (Apologies to Neville Chamberlain).

 

In 1936 Bertrand Russell wrote:

 

“If women are to have sexual freedom, fathers must fade out, and wives must no longer expect to be supported by their husbands. This may come about in time, but it will be a profound social change, and its effects, for good or ill, are incalculable.”

 

Well, no, not anymore.

 

George Will recently wrote:

Detroit, which in 1955 was the nation's fifth largest city, recently fell, for the first time in a century, out of the list of the 10 largest, replaced by San Jose. Detroit is America's saddest city: cattle could be grazed in vast swaths of depopulated neighborhoods. Suffering from a vanishing middle class, and vanished fathers of the 70 percent of children born out of wedlock, the city's decline may be irreversible.

 

70% of children in Detroit are born without the presence of fathers.

Fathers there have faded away, set an open course for their own freedom, simple surrogates. Crime is rampant. Detroit, like many cities, is dying. The crime index for Detroit is twice the national average, the second worst city in the country.

 

Would Bertrand make the connection?

 

Bertrand even predicted part of the mechanism to rid inner cities of fathers:

 

If, as is increasingly happening where wage earners are concerned, the state takes over the duties that have hitherto fallen upon fathers, marriage will cease to have any raison d’etre and will probably be no longer customary except among the rich and the religious.

 

Of course, in the 60’s and 70’s the state took over the duties that had hitherto fallen upon fathers. Government is a poor substitute for a supporting father.

 

Bertrand also said  “religion is based primarily on fear.”

 

I wonder how much of the irreversible decline of Detroit is caused by fear?

 

Luke 20:25 - And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.

 

Our children don’t belong to Caesar.

 

--Mike Fulford

The Skeleton Key, (not awful, actually… but not good) is a movie about voodoo, or hoodoo, a variation of voodoo.

The hoodoo is like a magic placebo. It can’t hurt a person …unless they believe.

In the end, of course, Kate Hudson believes.

Oh, the horrors of misguided belief.

But it was hard. The really bad character says, near the end, “People nowadays don't believe like they used to. You have to get them all riled up."

 

Air America started broadcasting last year to compete with conservative talk radio, specifically Rush Limbaugh. They thought their liberal message just wasn’t getting out, that if people would just listen, they would believe. And if people believed, they would hate George Bush just as much as they did. They wanted to get America “all riled up.” Apparently CNN and Public TV and radio weren’t enough.

 

This is from the New York Post:

 

August 6, 2005 -- State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer yesterday opened an investigation into the Bronx social-services agency that made $875,000 in bizarre loans to Air America radio…

The highly unusual loans to the left-wing radio network were made by the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club…

 

Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club is almost entirely funded by government grants. Its annual budget is about $10 million.

 

Air America agreed to repay the loan. They have so far paid back $50,000 (sort of) and will pay the remainder some time in the future.

 

Liberals have it hard today. When Cronkite said, “…and that’s the way it is”, well, that’s the way it was. He didn’t have to worry about things like truth. Truth was what he said it was, nothing more, nothing less. Today the truth can be easily verified. Lies, too.

 

The Air America radio network isn’t doing well. It has very few listeners, even in New York City.

Al Franken isn’t getting paid, and other employees have sued for back pay. Imagine if the Rush Limbaugh show got a loan from the Boy’s Club. People would have been “all riled up.” We would see stories on the news every hour.

But the pop media hasn’t even reported on Air America’s scandal.

 

I guess they don’t think enough people are “riled up” enough to listen.

I had the pleasure of being a part of a great tradition this afternoon.  For 233 years Kiokee Baptist Church has met next to a spring fed pool in the woods of Columbia County, GA. on an August Sunday to honor Christ in baptism.  Today 35 people plunged into the cool clear water. 

 

We carry cell phones and drive trucks and SUV's, but today we are the same as the first settlers to this area.  We sang, we prayed, we celebrated. Old, young and everything in between.  There are many more now than then, but if you changed our clothes, it would be timeless.

 

After the baptism, we moved to the ampitheater for The Lord's Supper.  As we began to sing a gentle rain began to fall between the trees.  No one moved.  We all just kept singing.  Once again, my mind wandered off to the 1770's and how unchanged things were with all of us gathered on an August Sunday.  As the rain stopped and the cool freshness of the early evening drifted in, the pastor compared the gentleness of God in the rain falling softly through the leaves to His gentleness in caring for us.

 

For a brief afternoon, we were all in heaven.  Y'all come. Its worth the trip.

 

--TenForUS

Filmmaker Jason Apuzzo writes a column in Townhall about the coming wave of anit-American films.

Maybe we should. It worked for music.

 

HT Powerline

 

--TenForUS

High Schoolers Cheat, But Want More Demanding Work is the headline on a CNSnews story.  Why do they want more demanding work if they can't handle what they have now?  Perhaps they feel the need to increase their ability to cheat.  Moral relativism and decay causes this.  We learn to cheat in school and take it into life with us. We cheat on our taxes, our spouses and our employers.  But we can't cheat God. 

 

--TenForUS

You know a cool thing about the Ten Commandments?

No one ever adds, “…if you don’t get caught.”

Every man rule has that addition.

Cheat on your taxes? Sure, just be clever, and “don’t get caught.”

Cheat on your spouse? Go ahead, just be discreet, and “don’t get caught.”

Lie? Steal? Run a red light? Be smart, lucky, quick, and “don’t get caught.”

Because men are clever, discreet, smart, lucky, and quick.

Aren’t we?

Well, smart enough to know what is written on our hearts.

 

And who wrote it.

 

Hebrews 10:16 - This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

 

--Mike Fulford

 

Under God is a one hour video that examines God;'s role in our nation's founding.  You can see a preview here.

 

--TenForUS

Thanks to the folks over at Blogads for naming TenForUS as one of the "Great Blogads."   You can see the ad here. 

 

TenForUS

The foundation is the Ten Commandments.  Know it, Show it, Live it.

 

--TenForUS

NO PEDDLING

NO SOLICITING

NO HANDBILLS

That is a list of rules (commandments?) on very faded signs surrounding the old Regency Mall in Augusta Georgia.

 

Regency Mall closed several years ago. It has now been fully abandoned. The windows that aren’t boarded over are broken.

 

It was once a beautiful building. Bustling with activity.

 

Now it is dead.

 

While it lived no one peddled.

No one solicited.

No one passed out handbills.

 

But people fought. There were intimidating groups of young men prowling inside and out. Women became afraid to shop alone.

 

One of those young men kidnapped, raped, and murdered a young woman. She was returning to her car after shopping.

 

The same young man killed Regency Mall.

 

Maybe they just posted the wrong rules.

 

--Mike Fulford

Coming soon to TenForUS is a new area of our site called Revealed Glory.  In this area we will focus on how we, mankind, express our vision of God in the context of the 1st and 2nd commandments.  I am sure you will enjoy it.  Check back oftern for updates.

 

--TenForUS

Dennis Prager has another installment in The Case for Judeo-Christian Values and why we, society at large should be working hard to protect them. Here is the money graph:

 

Read it, learn it, and teach it to your kids.  Values matter.

 

--TenForUS

Coral Ridge Ministries has assembled a large and knowledgeable group to explore the role of God in the founding of the nation.  The format is a TV shoe and it is airing on WGN at August 6 at 7 PM Eastern.  For more information click here.

 

--TenForUS