CADRE Comments

Today is the 50th Anniversary of the great "I Have A Dream" Speech by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a great moment -- one that rightly ought to be honored.  However, we must remember that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's, thoughts were not borne in the atheistic or secular vacuum that today's media would lead you to believe. Rather, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian. He was a Reverend; a preacher of God's holy Word. And his beliefs grew out of that great Biblical foundation of thought that has its base in the Bible.  Of course, with today's rise of the gay rights movement, some think that gay marriage is an extension of the things taught by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. The think that King's ideas about "justice" require that marriage rights be extended to gays and lesbians (and bisexual, and transgender, etc., etc.) And, since King advocated so passionately for equality, one might initially be inclined to think th...

I have been mostly absent from CADRE recently, as I have been devoting a lot of time to teaching and adjusting to life in a new community. I have some new posts in the works, including a review of Michael Licona's book on the resurrection. But as it is Martin Luther King day, I want to repost an excerpt from one of his essays that I find powerfully moving (it is from "My Pilgrimage to Nonviolence"). It is especially so in light of an astonishing fact I learned yesterday: according to the book by Arthur Raper, The Tragedy of Lynching , from 1889 to 1929 a black person was either hanged or burned alive every four days. MLK was undoubtedly aware of these facts. How could anyone in his position in their right mind want peaceful reconciliation with the white man? King gives the reason in this passage: In recent months I have also become more and more convinced of the reality of a personal God . True, I have always believed in the personality of God. But in past years the idea ...

I know Black History Month is over and Martin Luther King, Jr. day was weeks ago but belatedly I would like to honor his legacy by quoting at length a remarkable passage from one of his essays. Whenever I despair about the state of the world and the immensity of human cruelty, these words inspire me to hope, and remind me that such hope cannot be based upon faith in human goodness, but only the power of God's love: In recent months I have also become more and more convinced of the reality of a personal God. True, I have always believed in the personality of God. But in past years the idea of a personal God was little more than a metaphysical category which I found theologically and philosophically satisfying. Now it is a living reality that has been validated in the experiences of everyday life. Perhaps the suffering, frustration and agonizing moments which I have had to undergo occasionally as a result of my involvement in a difficult struggle have drawn me closer to God. Whatever...

As we approach Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I have been thinking about U2’s song Pride (In the Name of Love) (hereinafter, " Pride "). The song, of course, concerns MLKJr. (According to U2 Sermons , U2 formerly ran a video of MLKJr giving his “I have been to the mountaintop” speech during the playing of the song.) However, the lyrics of Pride are quite apparently not exclusively about MLKJr. Unfortunately, I have found little over the Internet where Bono, U2’s lead singer who penned the song, has commented in-depth about Pride . In fact, I have found only one instance where Bono, who is a professing Christian and whose Christian faith is one of the motivating factors behind his humanitarian acts , has commented about the song. In an article entitled Hit Song Breakdown: Pride - U2 , the unnamed author quotes from Bono’s statements about Pride in a Rolling Stone interview (with emphasis in the original). Although Bono is a glorious douche bag, I do love his music and will def...