Staggering Down The Morality Path Into Em Dash Trouble

This morning another Cal Thomas column greeted me courtesy of the Spokesman Review. He disconnectedly rambles and pontificates on adultery and the voice of temptation.

Gov. Sanford should have been familiar with the voice because of the Bible studies he attended. The voice began seducing humanity a long time ago... The voice told them that God knew that if they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil they would be like God.

Here he picks and chooses from the Bible. Adam was also told (and Eve knew of this and repeated it to the serpent), "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." They ate and did not die. So they were twice deceived.

Good marriages are the result of hard work. Forsaking all others is more than a wedding promise. It is a daily denial of one’s lower instincts. Temptation is everywhere. The key to overcoming it is to realize you are fighting an adversarial force that wants to destroy you, embarrass you and cause ridicule to be heaped on the God you claim to worship.

There is so much more to a good marriage than forsaking all others in a daily denial of one's lower instincts. I get the feeling he holds a pretty low opinion of people. There's temptation everywhere? Since Thomas speaks only of men throughout the column, just who is the temptation coming from? That danged Eve fooled me again!

I once asked evangelist Billy Graham if he experienced temptations of the flesh when he was young. He said, “of course.” How did he deal with them? With passion he responded, “I asked God to strike me dead before He ever allowed me to dishonor Him in that way.” That is the kind of seriousness one needs to overcome the temptations of a corrupt culture in which shameful behavior is too often paraded in the streets.

What's interesting about this is that throughout the column Thomas addresses this from the perspective of man acting of his own free will and suffering the consequences of his choices. Graham's answer is from the perspective that God "allows" him to stray. Graham asks that he suffer the consequences should God allow him to choose poorly. That sort of seriousness may work for whatever shameful behavior our corrupt culture--there's that low opinion of us again--parades in the streets, but it doesn't do much for the man, or woman, in the driver's seat.

Any man who has sought the help of God and other men in helping him to honor his marriage promises to his wife and children is a hero, especially in today’s morally exhausted culture.

What of the men--again, why are we only speaking of men?--who keep their marriage promise without any help? Are they not heroes? Maybe superheroes? Is our society that morally exhausted? (More low opinion.) Or does that type of news attract more viewers? What is the news anchor going to tease you with? "When we come back another governor is caught cheating on his wife." Or, "Another governor has remained faithful to his wife for yet another year bringing his grand total to 26 years of faithful marriage to the same woman."

You can never take a marriage — or the voice — for granted; it’s always on the prowl looking for new people to destroy.

Marriage is always on the prowl looking for new people to destroy? I don't think he meant to say that.

That's My Story...

Well, officer, while I was locking the door the key got stuck. I couldn't just leave it so I took the door off. Otherwise somebody could steal it.

Oh Yeah? Just Prove There's An Ulterior Motive

Despite the fact that Barack Obama's birth certificate shows he was born in Hawaii, there are plenty of people who think he was born elsewhere and want him to prove he is a natural born citizen. To help bring this to our attention there are at least five billboards across the country designed to capture our attention with the question, "Where's the birth certificate?"

I'm curious how some people are satisfied with the proof that answers the question of birth date, time and place for every other citizen of the United States with the exception of one man only.

Adolescent Humor

I took a break from installing new floor trim to watch four Mead High School cross country teammates, Josh included, play their second game at Hoopfest. They're a hoot to watch. They only shoot three-pointers (which are really two-pointers at Hoopfest). They don't intentionally foul. They don't call fouls. They have no attitude and ignore those who do. They lost this game 20-4 and had a ridiculously fun time doing so. In their first game the other team got upset because they paid good money to compete and Pen Island guys were playing soft instead of taking the game seriously.

Yeah, I couldn't resist getting at least one in.

Because It Affects Our Lives So Much

What with the many issues like war, poverty, climate change, health care, crime, etc., it's refreshing to see that we know what's really important to pay attention to.

Compared To The Mighty Mississippi

Last week I mentioned a cyclist who would be passing through here while riding from Seattle to St Louis. I gave him directions for getting on the Centennial Trail so he'd have a more enjoyable ride through Spokane. Apparently, he enjoyed the trail very much since he posted this on his blog.

Thanks Hank for telling me about the Centennial Trail!! It was a little confusing around the city, but going along the creek was amazing, thanks again!!

The creek?