Stuff I think. By Bill O'Neill. Since 2003.
Bill O'Neill
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Homepage: http://www.billonotes.com
Posts by Bill O'Neill
Joy Jones for VT State Rep
Sep 8th
I’m supporting Joy Jones for Vermont State Representative in Addison-Rutland 1 serving the towns of Shoreham, Whiting, Orwell and Benson. I hope you will too.
Leaving it to the young to lead
Sep 7th
We are leaving it to the young to lead in sharing their faith. Thank God that there is a young generation of men like those in this video who are truly strong and of good courage, stepping-up in ways that men and women who are twice their age would prefer to ‘live a good life’ and hope to ‘rub-off’ on others like some sort of ‘saving lint’.
This video is making the rounds on Facebook and MySpace. It is a very impressive presentation from a small group of young Christian guys who are clearly fed up with the glaring inconsistency among people who profess to be Born Again Christians and yet go forth to present images and information on their social networking pages that belie same.
If you are not a Christian and have been turned off by the hypocrisy that you witness on Facebook and MySpace pages from friends who proclaim Christianity you have every reason to be confused. All I can suggest to you is do not rely upon witness testimony. Rely solely upon the Bible. Get a copy and read it, perhaps starting in the Gospel of John. Locate a church in your community that is Gospel-centered and then seek the fellowship of those who, at the very least, seem to be set apart. It may be a challenge but it will bring eternal rewards.
VT Gov Race: Hurry Up & Wait
Aug 27th
Those distant shouts of political joy you hear are emanating from the Brian Dubie/Phil Scott GOP gubernatorial campaign HQs in the Green Mountain State tonight. This is all on the heels of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Peter Shumlin’s decision on Wednesday to declare victory and then today’s decision by second place finisher (within a state-required two percent margin) Doug Racine to request a vote recall.
The Addison Independent online story confirms Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Racine’s decision to call for a primary election recount today. While not a surprise, this does call the question as to what the political impact shall be.
With no unity around a Democratic candidate, there were more than a few people with proverbial checkbooks open on Wednesday ready to start to restore the Democratic race’s cash but were faced with an unanswerable question, “To whom shall I write this check?” The flurry of excitement that the morning after an election engenders was a missed opportunity for the Democrats. While they will have their day of unity at some point within the next two weeks, you have to wonder how they can catch up to the Dubie/Scott ticket.
Unopposed in the primary, GOP candidate and sitting Lieutenant Governor Brian Dubie, holds the enviable position of flush cash reserves and no clear opposition from the Democrats out in the trenches in the near-term.
Washington County’s State Senator Phil Scott defeated Mark Snelling, the son of former Governor Richard Snelling and brings to the ticket a lot of attention from people who assumed that the Snelling brand would offset Scott’s central Vermont strength with statewide support. In a settled race, this point would likely have little shelf life, but not this year.
Yuppie No Match for Senior, Handbag, Airbag
LAUGH BREAK: A senior citizen fights back with her pocketbook. And the horn-honking Yuppie gets bagged.
Airbag replacement: thousands. Grandmother’s response: priceless.
Or, Bullwinkle, “Yuppie with horn versus senior with handbag equals airbag and giggles.”
Paul Washer on Taking the Message to the World
Aug 20th
Paul Washer on the seven great requirements of the Christian missionary preaching from the Gospel of Luke. And Washer should know of missions -- he’s dedicated his life to Christian missions for many years.
The first of the list of seven requirements is that a prospective missionary “must be totally, absolutely, and completely convinced of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Relevant Christians?
Aug 20th
Check out Phil Johnson in this Pyromaniacs article on youth in Christianity today and [Ir]Relevant Magazine’s odd role and misshapen mission.
Evangelical young people have been systematically indoctrinated with the notion that being cool is infinitely more important than being doctrinally sound or morally upright. Relevant Magazine is one of the chief culprits in that campaign.
Johnson raises some great points in his blog article, not the least of which is it’s article’s title, “Chasing Cool and Becoming Lukewarm.”
I’m listening R.W. (Bob) Glenn’s five-part sermon series on the cultural mandate of the Bible called What is a Biblical Christian? It’s such a fat subject I am going to need to listen to them again (explained away, to some extent, by my fat head). There is so much in Glenn’s series that could help explain “the chase” Phil Johnson describes that so many professed Christians, lost in the world and of it, are living in a land of legalism.
If you’d like to also like to hear Phil Johnson’s amazingly gifted preaching of God’s Word, please check out this link at GraceLife Pupit.
Vermont not “OK” with cross
Aug 17th
Do you know what makes this “Vermont” story all that more interesting to me? I had to go to an “Oklahoma” news source to find it. Greetings from Vermont.
The battle is on between religious freedom and land use laws around the country. The Oklahoman reports in NewsOK that here in Vermont a couple of Roman Catholics wish to maintain an illuminated cross of substantial size, twenty four feet, at a chapel they built for their very large family and the general public. State and local authorities say “no.”
Vermont is a state that is replete with tested paradoxes that illuminate the following:
- a liberalism that can be anything but tolerant if provoked
- a natural beauty that trumps property rights any day of the week
- a minimalist set of gun laws defyingly amidst very low crime, and
- a tolerance for every possible belief except those considered to be Christian.
This restriction on religious expression in Vermont is not an isolated story in the news ether. A Greek Orthodox church, destroyed by terrorism on 9/11 at Ground Zero, remains unbuilt, buried under governmental red tape. Meanwhile, a battle rages in that same neighborhood regarding a governmentally fast-tracked victory mosque.
My Biblical Christian view is one that clearly departs from that of the Vermont plaintiffs’ pertaining to that of “divinely inspired Dozule crosses.” My viewpoint difference does nothing to diminish my interest in fairness, even within the paradox called Vermont.
What Do You Say?