Take Five

While lounging by the pool today, while the kiddies splashed away, I read the issue of World Magazine that arrived in our mailbox this morning.

Hey that almost sounds poetic...in fact, with a few tweaks...

While lounging by the pool today,
As the kiddies splashed away,
I read World Magazine that came,
to our mailbox in the rain...

...okay, so it wasn't raining, but I couldn't make it rhyme without using rain.

Anywho, one of their articles involved asking various "famous" Christians what their favorite books and movies were. They could name up to five of each AND no explanations were needed. Just list the top five.

So, I am picking the topic of movies today (we will do books another time) and am asking you, my vast blogship (meaning blog readership) to share your top five favorite movies.

Here are mine in no specific order. These are the movies that I could watch and enjoy at just about anytime in any mood.

1. Casablanca
2. Back to the Future Trilogy (I snuck in 3 with this one!)
3. Groundhog Day
4. While You Were Sleeping
5. You've Got Mail

Now, it's your turn. What are you're top 5?

Jesus Only

Lately, I have been reading from No Little People (have I mentioned that!!!) by Francis Schaeffer. It's a collection of his sermons. The one entitled "No Little People" is great if you are feeling "little" and "useless". It's great even if you are not feeling little or useless!

Last Sunday, as is our habit, we headed for The Divine Grind (the coffee shop at Grace Church which I hear is run by Scott Pearson's brother...but I digress) to read while Bethie is in Sunday School. I read the sermon "Jesus Only". It was powerful and helped me a lot.

The sermon is on The Transfiguration. Remember when Peter, James, and John went up the mountain with Jesus and met there with Moses and Elijah? The account in Matthew goes on to say:

"While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and behold, a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only."

Schaeffer says, "The passage is...saying, "Don't look at other men. Look at Jesus."

Here is a tidbit from the sermon under the title "Rivals to Jesus":

Having stressed that Jesus must be in the center of our lives, I want to mention four other things that we must be careful not to put there. The first is any totalitarian state or totalitarian church. If I have the perspective the disciples were told to have--"this is my beloved son...hear ye him"--there is no place for a totalitarian anything. Neither a church which puts itself between the individual and God, nor a state which demands primary allegiance has such a right. There is a legitimate place for both state and church, but not at the center. The center must be a Person.

He goes on to say:

The danger is more subtle in a religious setting, and especially in an evangelical setting, when manifested as a totalitarian, authoritative, human leadership. Because this too is often pressing upon us, we should be careful at every turn. There is to be human leadership in the church, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, but it is wrong for men, even good men, to take the center for themselves. Paul's mentality, as we have seen, was not this. Neither was John the Baptist's. Only the triune God may be central. The danger does not have to come from a Hitler or Stalin. It can come from a Christian who gets so caught up in the mechanics of leadership, that, unwittingly or not, he puts himself where only God should be.

If you want to know what the other three dangers are, you will just have to run right out to your local Northwestern Bookstore and buy it!

Oh, and I'm sorry that I put another picture of a "studmuffin" in my blog today...

A Righteous Dude

No more photos of studmuffins on this blog.

I've moved on to righteous dudes.

Just don't ask me why there are 5 of them. I have no idea how that happened!

U-2

Yep, U-2 is today's fallacy. Except it's not spelled that way. The Latin spelling of U-2 is "Tu quoque". But it means "you too". And, it is a type of ad hominem argument.

Basically tu quoque is an accusation of hypocrisy.

Here's an example:

Joe Camel: You really shouldn't smoke. It's bad for your health.

Surgeon General: What do you know? You smoke 3 packs a day.

The surgeon general in this case has used a "tu quoque" or "you too" argument. Whether or not smoking is bad for your health is the topic here and it is irrelevant whether or not the person saying it smokes.

But here's a more fun version with a fun link.

Bono: Christians around the world don't care about what's going on in Africa. They don't give nearly enough to relief work in Africa.

Critic: Well, you should talk, Bono, you spent $1700 to have your hat flown from London to Italy first class.

There you have it.

Tu quoque, an irrelevant accusation of hypocrisy.

Homina, homina, homina...

Homina.

That word reminds me of The Honeymooners because Ralph Kramden used to say it a lot.

It also reminds me of the next form of bad reasoning.

So, sit back and enjoy Lesson 2 of Fallacy Academy.

The "Ad Hominem" attack.

"Argumentum ad hominem" literally means "argument against the person". Thank you, Wikipedia.

An ad hominem argument is attacking a person's character or motives for believing something, rather than to disprove his argument. Instead of attacking the message, you attack the messenger.

Here's a made up example:

Person 1: You can't believe little Bobby when he says that Michael W. Smith is the greatest singer ever.

Person 2: Why's that?

Person 1: Because little Bobby was homeschooled.

Okay, maybe that was a bad example. But the reasoning is also bad...it's an ad hominem argument.

I challenge you to give me a better example.

25 Years Ago...

25 years ago today it was a Sunday and it was Father's Day.

Here is a picture of the present that God gave Terry for Father's Day.

What a great gift!

H B 2 Chris!

HCTB not TCBY

Here Come the Brides (the first season) is now out on DVD!

What is Here Come the Brides, you ask?

"Only the best TV show ever created," answers 9th grade Linda.

Every Friday evening in 1969, my friend Dawn would come over to my house. We would make snacks at 6:00 to be ready for the 7:00 to 8:00 hour that HCTB was on.

Then, the channel was switched and we watched Dawn's favorite show from 8:00 till 9:00. That show was, of course, Star Trek.

After that, in the 9:00 hour it was none other than "Love, American Style". (Mostly because there wasn't anything else on that interested us!)

Why did I like HCTB so much?

Because of this guy...

29 Years

Guess what I did 29 years ago today?

I married Terry Dugan.

Yea for me!

Happy Anniversary, Mr. D.

A Red Herring

Aaron has started a "Pomo Preschool" on his blog so I wanted to start a school, as well. Mine will be called "Fallacy Academy" and I will try to offer you insight on how to recognize bad reasoning...the only problem with this class is that when you are done with it, you will be able to point out MY bad reasoning.

I will start with a red herring. (Don't ever say that to a waiter).

First of all, according to Wikipedia, a red herring, also referred to as a kipper, is a dried, smoked, herring. The curing process turns the fish red. (What would we do without Wikipedia!)

A red herring was used by people who trained hunting dogs. They would put out a scent they wanted tracked and then, draw a red herring across the track to train the dog to stay on the scent and not be distracted.

So, a red herring is when an irrlevant point is introduced to an argument to divert attention from the topic at hand and win the argument...in other words, you change the subject.

I've heard this argument used a lot in the past year and always fell for it...


Linda: There was something unbiblical about what was said at church last night.

Anonymous Person: Well, first of all, you are aware, aren't you, that there is no such thing as a perfect church?

At this point, Linda became distracted from her original point of talking about what she thought was wrong, and began discussing whether or not there was a perfect church! She followed a red herring.

Here's another one:

Linda: Someone actually told us that as the husband is the head of the wife, the pastor is the head of the church.

Person: Well, don't you think that the husband is the head of the family, I do.

Red herring...we are now discussing husbands.

The red herring argument is one of my favorites mostly because I like its name. I think I will use it more often.

So, a red herring is an introduction of an irrlevant point to an argument to avoid the question and win the argument.

News From the "Other" Border

Here's a cute little forward I got yesterday. Rather than to flood your e-mail boxes with it, I thought I would post it for all the world to see!


The flood of American liberals sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week, sparking calls for increased patrols to stop the illegal immigration.


The unflinching arrogance of the Bush Administration is prompting the exodus among liberal citizens who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray, and agree with Bill O'Reilly.


Canadian border farmers say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, animal-rights activists, and Unitarians crossing their fields at night. "I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota. The producer was cold, exhausted and hungry.


"He asked me if I could spare a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn't have any, he left. Didn't even get a chance to show him my screenplay."



In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. So he tried installing speakers that blare Rush Limbaugh across the fields. "Not real effective," he said. "The liberals still got through, and Rush annoyed the cows so much they wouldn't give milk"


Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals near the Canadian border, pack them into Volvo station wagons, drive them across the border and leave them to fend for themselves. "A lot of these people are not prepared for rugged conditions," an Ontario border patrolman said. "I found one carload without a drop of drinking water. They did have a pleasant little Napa Valley cabernet, though."


When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing loudly that they fear retribution from conservatives. Rumors have been circulating about the Bush administration establishing re-education camps in which liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer and watch NASCAR.


Liberals have turned to sometimes-ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have taken to posing as senior citizens on bus trips to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans disguised in powdered wigs, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior-citizen passengers. "If they can't identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we get suspicious about their age," an official said.


Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage and renting all the good Susan Sarandon movies. "I feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said. "How many art-history majors does one country need?"


In an effort to ease tensions between the United States and Canada, Vice President Dick Cheney met with the Canadian ambassador and pledged that the administration would take steps to reassure liberals, a source close to Cheney said. "We're going to have some Peter, Paul & Mary concerts. And we might put some endangered species on postage stamps. The president is determined to reach out."

The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way

Here is a passage from Francis Schaeffer's book No Little People. Don't forget to run right out and buy this book...

From the sermon entitled: "The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way":

The central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, not the old Roman Catholicism or the new Roman Catholicism, not the threat of communism, nor even the threat of rationalism and the monolithic consensus which surrounds us. All these are dangerous, but not the primary threat. The real problem is this: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, individually or corporately, tending to do the Lord's work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them.

Mud Pies

▪ Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. ▪

From The Weight of Glory
C.S. Lewis

I'm in the Lord's Army, Yes, Sir!

I know that the church is a body.

And, I know that the church is the bride of Christ.

The Bible says this directly.

But, the only place I can find the church being called an army is in the great, old, Sunday School song.

A shiny, new quarter to anyone who can find where the church is called an army?

Not the metaphor of Christians being like soldiers.

I mean where the church is called an army.

Googled

As many of you know, I have been doing a lot of googling lately. Yes, Steve and Diane, I am done with my google fast. It was wonderful.

I decided to google my name and see what people had been writing about me.

The advanced search led to these four results. I had no idea my life was so interesting and that I lived in so many states.

First blog entry: Linda Dugan, Mom nobody cool was born on my birthday either..that was from my daughter Linda_Jane (someday I hope we can meet!)

Second blog entry: Spaying and neutering your pets and adopting from shelters and rescue groups, in my opinion, is the only logical solution to the overpopulation of pets in our country. Linda Dugan. Hastings, Neb. (I'm very concerned about the pet population in Nebraska, as you can tell).

Third blog entry: Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel - WEST MELBOURNE -- Linda Dugan was eating French toast strips in her car outside her office Thursday when she saw a small plane nosedive toward the trees across the street. (I suppose you didn't know that I just can't get enough of those french toast strips...and, yes, I sneak them in my car, but I had to momentarily stop eating them when I saw that plane nosedive). And, I love Lauderdale in the winter.

Fourth blog entry: Nurse Now Hiring for LTC Facility FT RN/LPN MDS Coordinator Excellent Benefits, Insurance & 401K. Call Linda Dugan @816-229-6677 BLUE SPRINGS CARE CENTER...(I just needed a little extra spending money for french toast sticks, so took on the headhunting job for the Blue Springs Care Center).

What in the World?

I just learned that Ray Comfort (www.livingwaters.com) has gotten into trouble for counterfeiting one million dollar bills (in the form of a tract with the way of salvation written on the back).

One little problem. Scratch that, two big problems. One, there is no such thing as a million dollar bill, so how could you counterfeit something that doesn't exist. And, b, I've never seen currency with the Four Spiritual Laws on the back!

Laughter is the Best Medicine

I found this web page (engrish.com) on a tip from Ben T's blog.

Not that I would ever make a mistake if I were in a different country trying to speak their language.

Not that I would ever be in the Dominican Republic ready to drive a little Fiat (but that's another story) to a underground cave/lagoon landmark called "los tres ojos"...the three eyes.

Not that I would ever go to the Spanish speaking doorman at the Sheraton in Santo Domingo looking for directions and say, "Donde esta los tres osos?" (Where are the 3 bears?)