Internet Gambling: Why, if at all, should we care?
July 30, 2006
“If an adult in this country, with his or her own money, wants to engage in an activity that harms no one, how dare we prohibit it . . . .”
So argued Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) earlier this month as the House of Representatives was set to approve the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act. If passed by the Senate, an outcome that may be in jeopardy, the Act would prohibit most forms of internet gambling and make it illegal for credit card companies and banks to transmit payments to online gambling companies.
I suspect that a majority of Americans not only would agree with Mr. Frank in principle, they might concur that the government ought not seek to ban internet gambling. According to a recent poll apparently commissioned by the Poker Players Alliance, 67% of American adults believe that the federal government should not “be managing Americans gambling behaviors on the Internet.” So, why is it that more than three out of four of Mr. Frank’s colleagues disagreed, as the House of Representatives passed the Act by a vote of 317-93?
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Exploring the Illusion of Buddhism
July 27, 2006
Recently, my daughters and a few other neighborhood girls set up a lemonade and cookie stand. Business was brisk notwithstanding a price of 25 cents per 9 ounce cup. The afternoon was made even more enjoyable by the fact that parents from four families gathered around the stand, lounging in chairs or on the grass and talking for several hours.
During this time, I had one long conversation with my neighbor's father that was particularly interesting. He is a retired professor of Japanese religion and comparative religion, a Quaker, and a former Presbyterian minister. It also seemed clear based on several statements that he has thoroughly adopted a postmodern perspective on truth.
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A Pretense of Knowledge
July 24, 2006
Economist Walter Williams argues that Congress, when it comes to economic matters, not infrequently acts under a pretense of knowledge and beyond its intellectual capabilities. (See Pretense of Knowledge, Washington Times, July 23, 2006.) His lead example of such folly is Social Security law, which indiscriminately forces workers to set aside for retirement with no inquiry into whether any given worker might otherwise devote those funds to more productive uses.
I am sympathetic to Williams’ perspective. In fact, not long ago, I would have enthusiastically embraced it. I suppose it is this past enthusiasm that makes me uncomfortable today.
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The Meaning of Life (courtesy Woody Allen)
July 22, 2006
Movie critics tend to agree that Woody Allen’s Match Point is his best film in years. It is a tale of rotten characters, striving to satisfy their greed and lust, all the while fearing that they may be so unlucky as to lose both. Their universe is random, ruled by luck. It is beyond comprehension that there might be a just and moral order guiding human life. Seems like a box-office winner, right?
Rather than focus on Match Point, I’d like to turn back the clock to 1989, when Allen gave us another great film, Crimes and Misdemeanors. In it, Allen forthrightly grapples with the question of whether this is a just and moral universe. He seems to conclude that you can’t have meaning in life without God, but you can’t have God without guilt. So, which do you choose: God and meaning, or a universe empty of meaning and guilt?
Read Crimes, Misdemeanors & Injustice
Nothing Ventured, Everything Gained
July 22, 2006
I had the unique opportunity a couple months ago to attend a men’s retreat at a friend’s church. I took a plane into Washington on Friday, and my friend and I drove to West Virginia to spend the weekend with ninety men. The retreat was rolling along like most retreats do: praise music, a good speaker, coffee, small talk. But that was not my goal for being there. I had a unique opportunity, and I knew it.
I made my move in the first small group breakout session. The group leader asked us to talk about where we were in our walk with God. Everyone gave the expected answer: place of employment, marital status, kids, and tenure at the church. Then they stopped.
When it was my turn, I took a different approach.
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A TV Revealed Me
July 22, 2006
As I settled into my Grayling hotel room last week, I set about the task of filling my time. Though I usually avoid the easy choice, that night I turned on the television. I spent the next several hours wearing out the batteries in the remote control. Though nothing was interesting enough to hold my attention, “everything” was sufficient to keep the power on.
As I passed, paused, or stopped on channels, I included myself in the group of people who had decided to watch that program. I hung out in the “company” of many target audiences: food lovers and nature lovers, housewives and athletes, investors and children, twenty-year old boys and history lovers.
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What are they teaching in middle school art class these days?
July 22, 2006
Imagine that your eighth grader comes home from school, excitedly sharing what he learned in art class that day. Initially, you’d probably be pleased that he was excited about anything to do with school other than girls or sports. But what if the focus of that art lesson was the intentional exposure of your son to a New Age religion that deifies light and color? What would you do?
Read Curing What Ails the World: Colors, Computerization and Christ
About the Authors
July 22, 2006
The HIS EVIDENCE blog is authored by Ramsey Wilson and Mike Hill, two ordinary men striving to serve an extraordinary God, who enjoys doing extraordinary things in ordinary lives.
RAMSEY WILSON
I am blessed to be the husband of 8+ years to a woman much too good for me and the father of two amazing little girls. For nearly two years, I have served my three ladies, and my God, as a homemaker.
I am a Centurion of the Wilberforce Forum and co-founder and president of Truth and Grace Ventures. In my prior life, I practiced antitrust law in Washington, DC and Detroit, MI.
You can learn more about my personal testimony here.
Contact: ramsey@hisevidence.com
MIKE HILL
Hi. Glad you stopped by the blog. I am 43, have been married for 11 years, and have been given the gift of three wonderful sons: 17, 9, and 7. I was raised Catholic, joined the Episcopal Church in 1994, and am currently in the process of finding a God-fearing, bible-believing, evangelical church to call home. I was saved from my old self, which was pretty much a wreck, and made new in Christ on April 8, 2000. I still do incredibly sinful, stupid, and dangerous things. I'm working on it.
Last fall, God asked me to write a monthly article for my church newsletter. Those articles will be posted here as well. Some posts will come from my frequent attempts to reform my Darwinist, liberal, pantheist, relativist friend. Any rebuttals to my views on those issues would be especially appreciated.
I currently work as a Six Sigma process improvement consultant in the Detroit area. I have a MS in polymer science and am joining an MBA program in the fall of 2006.
Contact: mhill4@twmi.rr.com
