Buying the poor for a pair of shoes

Last night we heard Jim Wallis, the author of God's Politics and editor of Sojourners, speak at a nearby church. He critiqued modern politics and offered an alternative which focused on hope, common ground, and bi-partisan solutions. He quoted from Proverbs, "Without a vision, the people perish." His experiences have taught him God is personal but not private. The prophets of old were quite clear that God was very political in his concern for justice, the poor, and the oppressed. He ended with this thought, "We are the ones we've been waiting for." He also quoted my favorite Irishman! There is a quick interview online at the San Francisco Chronicle. Thank you Eric for the link.

I read the book of Amos this morning. These words are ringing through my head, "Listen, you who swallow the needy and destroy the poor of the land! ... buying the needy for money and the poor for a pair of shoes. ... Enough! I will make all this crush you." Buying the poor for a pair of shoes...Wallis called a budget a moral document which shows our priorities. Fox ran a story Saturday night called "Tsunami: Story of Tragedy and Hope". They interviewed a woman who has devoted her life to rescuing children from the slave trade. The tsunami wiped out the last ten years of her work. Children are now easily being bought and sold again. For the price of a pair of shoes? Fox also told of a group in the Bay Area who worked through World Vision to purchase a home for a Srilankan family that lives on less than a dollar a day.

I just bought Quicken 2005. It's free after a rebate.

Intelligent Design

I haven't given the origins of life much thought lately but if I end up in academia I probably should. Today, in the NY Times there was an interesting and short description of intelligent design without the religious fervor that most often plagues other descriptions. It may require logging into NY Times but that isn't too much trouble. The four basic arguments include:

1. We can often recognize the effects of design in nature. For example, Mt. Rushmore was clearly designed whereas the Rockies seem much more random and undesigned.
2. The physical marks of design are visible in aspects of biology. For example, Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, once wrote that biologists must constantly remind themselves that what they see was not designed but evolved.
3. There is no good explanation for the foundation of life that doesn't involve intelligence.
4. In the absence of any convincing non-design explanation, we are justified in thinking that real intelligent design was involved in life. Design should not be overlooked simply because it's so obvious.