The Parable of the Talents Redux

The current United States government can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, “Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.”

The master was full of concern. “Surely you exploited the poor while increasing your wealth. You have been greedy in handling this money and only concerned about yourself. Because you now have more money than you need, I will take your money and give it to those you exploited. You really should do a better job of spreading the wealth around.”

The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, “Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.”

The master said, “Not bad, my middle class friend. I’m glad you have all you need. Because you don’t make more than $250,000 per year, I will try very hard to let you keep what you have earned. These are tough economic times, however, and I may need your help going forward. We all need to tighten our belt, you know.”

Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, “Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.”

But the master replied, “You poor and unfortunate servant! Life has treated you so unfairly. Don’t worry; I’ll make sure you get everything you need as long as you vote for me in November.”

Then he ordered, “Take the money from the servant with ten bags of silver, and give to the one with the one bag of silver. To those who use well what they are given, we will take away their abundance. But for those who do nothing, we will make sure to give them enough to keep them depending on us. Now tell the greedy servant to stop complaining and get back to work. We have a country to fix.”

Tiger and Jesus, Part 3

More and more people are weighing in on Brit Hume's comments about Tiger Woods and his need for a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The following is a post from Cal Thomas on Thursday, January 7th.

The secular left — and some self-described Christians — criticize Brit Hume, the Fox News commentator, for suggesting that the solution to Tiger Woods' problems is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Hume made his remarks on "Fox News Sunday." Disclosure: I also appear on Fox News.

Hume said, "My message to Tiger would be: Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world."

That is a message shared for 2,000 years by those who follow Jesus of Nazareth. It apparently continues to escape the secular left that Christians feel compelled to share their faith out of gratitude for what Jesus has done for them (dying in their place on a cross and offering a new life to those who repent and receive Him as savior). In a day when some extremists employ violence to advance their religion, it is curious that many would save their criticism for a truly peace-bringing message such as the one broadcast by Brit Hume.

Criticism of Hume has taken two forms. One is that it is hubris to presume the Christian faith is superior to other faiths. The other criticism is that Hume used Fox as a pulpit and if he wants to preach he should resign from the network and go door to door like a Jehovah's Witness.

Tom Shales, a TV and culture critic for The Washington Post, wrote, "Darts of derision should be aimed at Hume, not at his employer or at Fox News as a social force." Shales said it's, "worth a Google or two to investigate the origins of Hume's seemingly newfound fervor."

Shales discovered that the "cause" of Hume's conversion was his son's suicide in 1998.

Many people can testify to an event that leads them to focus on the meaning of life. For me, it was being fired from a job in which I had placed my "faith" that success would bring peace and purpose.

People use the name of Jesus Christ every day. For many, it is employed as a curse. Few seek to silence those who blaspheme using His Name. Speak ill of the Prophet Muhammad and you risk a fatwa and crazies storming your house. Speak ill of Jesus Christ and no one will come to your door. He may be the last "religious" figure one can still crucify without penalty, at least in the short term.

Christians like Hume are not trying to impose anything on anyone. They know the difference Jesus has made in their lives and they care enough about others to want to share His message in the hope that other lives will be similarly transformed.

When he was president, Jimmy Carter shared his faith with South Korean President Park Chung Hee as the two rode in a limousine on the way to the airport. The New York Times ludicrously editorialized about a possible violation of church-state separation.

It was Jesus of Nazareth who accurately predicted the hostile reaction to people who spoke well of Him. He said, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me." (John 15:18-21)

You can read more of Cal Thomas' posts at http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas1.asp

Not Judgemental, Just Relieved

It seems I'm not the only one who thinks Tiger Woods is in need of a Savior (see my December 14th post). Fox News' Brit Hume recently said essentially the same thing on the air. The reaction by others to Hume's comments has been predictable.

The following is a post from Ann Coulter's blog yesterday. While I don't claim to agree with Ms. Coulter on everything (especially her delivery), I think she does an admirable job presenting the Gospel in a clear way to our post-Christian culture.

Someone mentioned Christianity on television recently and liberals reacted with their usual howls of rage and blinking incomprehension.

On a Fox News panel discussing Tiger Woods, Brit Hume said, perfectly accurately:

"The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don't think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian
faith. So, my message to Tiger would be, 'Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the
world."

Hume's words, being 100 percent factually correct, sent liberals into a
tizzy of sputtering rage, once again illustrating liberals' copious ignorance of Christianity. (Also illustrating the words of the Bible:
"How is it you do not understand me when I speak? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my words." John 8:43.)

In The Washington Post, Tom Shales demanded that Hume apologize, saying he had "dissed about half a billion Buddhists on the planet."

Is Buddhism about forgiveness? Because, if so, Buddhists had better start demanding corrections from every book, magazine article and blog posting ever written on the subject, which claims Buddhists don't believe in God, but try to become their own gods.

I can't imagine that anyone thinks Tiger's problem was that he didn't
sufficiently think of himself as a god, especially after that final putt in
the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year.

In light of Shales' warning Hume about "what people are saying" about him, I hope Hume's a Christian, but that's not apparent from his inarguable description of Christianity.

Of course, given the reaction to his remarks, apparently one has to be a regular New Testament scholar to have so much as a passing familiarity with the basic concept of Christianity. On MSNBC, David
Shuster invoked the "separation of church and television" (a phrase that also doesn't appear in the Constitution), bitterly complaining that Hume had brought up Christianity "out-of-the-blue" on "a political talk show."

Why on earth would Hume mention religion while discussing a public figure who had fallen from grace and was in need of redemption and forgiveness? Boy, talk about coming out of left field!

What religion -- what topic -- induces this sort of babbling idiocy? (If
liberals really want to keep people from hearing about God, they should give Him his own show on MSNBC.)

Most perplexing was columnist Dan Savage's indignant accusation that Hume was claiming that Christianity "offers the best deal -- it
gives you the get-out-of-adultery-free card that other religions just
can't."

In fact, that's exactly what Christianity does. It's the best deal in the
universe. (I know it seems strange that a self-described atheist and "radical sex advice columnist faggot" like Savage would miss the
central point of Christianity, but there it is.)

God sent his only son to get the crap beaten out of him, die for our sins and rise from the dead. If you believe that, you're in. Your sins are washed away from you -- sins even worse than adultery! -- because of the cross.

"He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by
nailing it to the cross." Colossians 2:14.

Surely you remember the cross, liberals -- the symbol banned by ACLU lawsuits from public property throughout the land?

Christianity is simultaneously the easiest religion in the world and the
hardest religion in the world.

In the no-frills, economy-class version, you don't need a church, a
teacher, candles, incense, special food or clothing; you don't need to pass a test or prove yourself in any way. All you'll need is a Bible (in order to grasp the amazing deal you're getting) and probably a water baptism, though even that's disputed.

You can be washing the dishes or walking your dog or just
sitting there minding your business hating Susan Sarandon and accept that God sent his only son to die for your sins and rise from the dead ... and you're in!

"Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9.

If you do that, every rotten, sinful thing you've ever done is gone from
you. You're every bit as much a Christian as the pope or Billy Graham.

No fine print, no "your mileage may vary," no blackout dates. God ought to do a TV spot: "I'm God Almighty, and if you can find a better deal than the one I'm offering, take it."

The Gospel makes this point approximately 1,000 times. Here are a few examples at random:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8.

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in
Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23.

In a boiling rage, liberals constantly accuse Christians of being
"judgmental." No, we're relieved.

Christianity is also the hardest religion in the world because, if you
believe Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead, you have no choice but to give your life entirely over to Him. No more sexual
promiscuity, no lying, no cheating, no stealing, no killing inconvenient old people or unborn babies -- no doing what all the other kids do.

And no more caring what the world thinks of you -- because, as Jesus warned in a prophecy constantly fulfilled by liberals: The world will hate you.

With Christianity, your sins are forgiven, the slate is wiped
clean and your eternal life is guaranteed through nothing you did yourself, even though you don't deserve it. It's the best deal in the universe.

You can read more of Ann Coulter's posts at http://www.anncoulter.com/.