Racism Plays A Part

Is Barack Obama black?
Who should care if he is? Reading this Newsweek article, you would think that it was written in the 1960's if you judge it only by the amount of racism in it. Set aside the fact that a black man is running for president and has a good chance of winning. That wouldn't have happened in the 60's.

When someone starts singing the praises of one race over another (any race), MLK's "Dream" speech comes immediately to my mind: "...judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Some might think that he only meant that in the context of black skin being a liability. But if you're judging Barack Obama to be the best candidate for president based on the color of his skin and not on the content of his character, then you are promoting racism as surely as those you would call racist. This post is no rip on Obama, he seems to be a man of some character. But whatever happened to our goal of a color-blind society? Is Barack Obama a black man? Or is he just a man? Your answer to that question might reveal something to you about yourself.

Yay, Tarvaris Jackson Sits.

Vikings Coach Brad Childress made my day by benching Tarvaris Jackson in favor of veteran QB Gus Frerotte. Like I said in my previous post, Jackson is the weak link in the chain that is the Minnesota Vikings. Frerotte won't be a miracle worker and he'll make some mistakes, but I'll take him any day over Jackson. If only this had happened two losses ago!

Vikings Heartbreaker

I came into this season saying I'd be disappointed if the Vikings didn't at least take the NFC North division, after a couple of key acquisitions appeared to fill in the weaknesses remaining from last year. But one glaring weak spot is still Tarvaris Jackson at QB. Man, if we had any kind of a passing game, we could have put the colts away today. Instead, with the Favre-less Packers going 2-0 and the Vikings dropping to 0-2, I gotta wonder: Is it too early to say, "There's always next year"?

Go To Church, Go To Hell

While reading the story of a church whose sign read, "I kissed a girl and I liked it. Then I went to hell.", what bothered me most wasn't that the sign is offensive to lesbians (and it is). What bothered me most is that the song sucks and now I have it stuck in my head. Just kidding.

What really bothers me most about it is that the sign suggests that the way to not go to hell, is to refrain from wicked behavior (aka "sin"). Refraining from wicked behavior is a good thing, but it's too late to use that as your plan to avoid hell. Romans 3 says,

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²²This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

Note 3 things:
1) All have sinned, so it's too late to avoid hell by being good.
2) We are justified freely "by His grace", not by our behavior.
3) This righteousness is from God, and it's "apart from law".

The church sign is so misleading that maybe it should have read, "Come to our church if grace doesn't appeal to you - We'll judge you by your works!"

Seriously, try not to sin, but don't think that will keep you from hell. Instead, revel in the fact that Jesus died for you to keep you from hell. And that plan works!