Paul is Not the Author of Hebrews!

Yes, I think I have established this. I don't know who wrote Hebrews, but I believe I can prove Paul did not write Hebrews.

In Acts, we have the story of Paul teaching in Ephesus before his departure. As the Bible says "As Paul went on and on.." a young man named Eutychus fell out the window and died. Paul went and raised him from the dead and then went back to teaching for the rest of the night. Obviously, Paul had no concerns about being long winded and was certainly not worried if these people had anything else planned that night as this story shows. Time was not a factor for him.

(Side note: There is a hilarious Apologetix parody of a Judas Priest song about this story. It's called "Listening After Midnight" and is on their Adam Up CD.)

Anyway, in Hebrews 11, the author clearly states that "Time does not permit me to tell of Barak, Jepthah......". The author of Hebrews is clearly concerned about available time and that cannot be the same man in Acts 20.

I rest my case.

Veggie Tales: The Best

I am a great fan of the Veggie Tales video/DVD series. I have seen almost all of them (as of this writing) except for the most recent Larry Boy DVD, the How To Draw DVD, and some of the recent silly song compilations (I've also not seen the repackaged versions of some of the Bible stories). Therefore, I am going to give you what I believe the Top 10 are and a brief reason why (I will not include the Silly Song compilations in this list as they should be judged seperately in my view).

10) Lord of the Beans. A great sendup of "Lord of the Rings". Great silly song with Larry as an "Elvish" impersonator.

9) Summo of the Opera. I love the story of Saint Patrick on this DVD in addition to the bizarre combination of Japanese theater and Rocky.

8) Duke and the Pie War. Unfortunately, the baby Moses story is a little slow, but the rest of the DVD does very well.

7) Madame Blueberry. Sometimes a simple story works best and this one about thankfulness is still memorable nine years after it came out. Contains the classic Silly Song "His Cheeseburger".

6) Josh and the Big Wall. Even after ten years, this story of Joshua's battle over Jericho still resonates with truth. "Song of the Cebu" is still one of the all time best Silly Songs.

5) King George and the Duckey. If you thought there was no way to tell the David and Bathsheba story to children, you would be wrong. This tale of the tragedy of selfishness still has chilling effect with the song line "Oh, King George, You are that man!". The opening segment of the "Englishmen Who Went Up the Hill and Took All the Bananas" is hilarious as well.

4) Lyle, the Kindly Viking. Classic casting: Mr. Lunt as Ophelia from Hamlet (well, Omelot in this version). Great story of kindness (not to mention another of my all time favorite silly songs: Larry's High Silk Hat).

3) Gideon, Tuba Warrior. Admittedly I just saw this one, so in the future I might lower its ranking, but I loved this one. Believe it or not, Billy Graham appears in this one (as a stick figure - Don't worry, its respectful). Also, I can't get "Lance the turtle, Aloha Lance, Lance the turtle, Dance, Dance, Dance" out of my head.

2) A Snoodles Tale. You might just cry after this lesson on self-esteem. "Oh, Oh, you and me in our Sport Utility Vehicle....." is a silly song that will grow on you the more times you see it. Also, a great bizarre mixture of Victorian England and Disco.

1) The Ballad of Little Joe. A Western Bible story. Really! This old west retelling of Joseph's story is nearly flawless (including Larry's great line "Desperados! You better come to your senses" as outlaws are tying him up). Also contains my wife's favorite silly song: "Belly Button"

The rest of the Veggie Tales stories are great too. Any Top 10 list that Dave and the Giant Pickle (another great DVD) does not make, means that you have a great group of DVD's ahead of you.

America: Has It Ever Been A Christian Nation?

Great Question. Here are some of the arguments for both sides of this issue.

For Yes: We have historically had a very high church attendance percentage; Christian revivals including the two Great Awakenings, the 1858 Prayer Revival, and the Jesus Movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's; the Spiritual nature of some of the early colonists like the Pilgrims and the Puritan (who are not the same group as many believe); the Christian impulse behind the abolitionists and womens suffrage groups of the 1800's; our effort at Prohibition that, while failing in many ways, did come out of largely Christian influence; the number of Presidents that either directly claimed Christianity or whose writings and general governing philosophies (e.g. Washington, Lincoln) lead many to believe they were Christians.

For No: Slavery and the following racial segregation; the mistreatment of the Native Americans; the influence of Deism on some of the early Founding Fathers (e.g. Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine); the failure of Prohibition to be effective; the rising Drug trade and other forms of crime; the general lawlessness which characterized parts of the Old West; the complete greed of some early colonists (e.g. the Jamestown settlers) and 19th century businessmen who subjected their workers to slave-like conditions.

I believe the best way to say it is the following: America is the closest example of a genuinely Christian nation that one can find in all of history. The style of our government (while having some roots in pagan cultures) reflects more closely Christian values than any other form of government that has been designed. However, this does not mean that all Americans have been Christian or that our application of Christian values has been perfect (and even sometimes we have been completely non-Christian about it).

The above statement will not win any prizes for articulation of thought (awkward as it is in places) yet I believe it is a more balanced view of American thought than simplistic extremes of some Christians ("Every last Founding Father was a Christian") or the simplistic extremes of our cultural elite today, which includes many historians ("The Founding Fathers were largely Deist and divorced their religious views from implementation of their political philosophy") or the simplistic extremes of America haters ("They were all maniacal psychopaths").

It is not really an accurate statement to say that "America is a Christian nation" as the no evidence above will expose. It is also not accurate to say that "America has never been a Christian nation" as the yes evidence above exposes. The term "A Christian nation" is somewhat subjective and all of American history shows that true Christianity and Paganism (often disguised as Christianity) have been at war since Day One of our history. No better example of this conflict exists than the personal war that went on inside Christopher Columbus. He had a Christian vision of the purpose of his voyages yet succumbed to the Pagan influence of greed for gold once he got to our shores. Another great Contrast in this areas is the differing saga of the Jamestown colony and the Plymouth colony. The former emphasized greed and the latter emphasized God.

The war between Christianity and Paganism continues today in America, as it likely will until the day America ends.