Where in the bible does it say “Money is the root of all evil.”?

Answer: nowhere! As usual, the left maliciously twists a passage of scripture, in this case preying on biblical illiteracy in an attempt to convince casual Christians that their religion supports socialism.  The true quote is this one, from the New Testament book of Timothy 6: 10 “For the love of money (and all it buys) placed before the love of God (in reality) is the root of all kinds of evil.”

Got that? If I may translate the proper quote into modern English: “Your life will be a shitstorm if you put materialism ahead of righteousness.” It does not condemn money or posessions as inherently evil in any way – it simply warns you not to sacrifice righteous behaviour in the service of protecting posessions. So don’t feel guilty if you have achieved financial success, especially if you strive to live a righteous life. A righteous life should indeed be rewarded – and  a religious person would tell you, if a righteous person is not rewarded in this life, he/she will be in the hereafter.

More here.

Two Questions an Atheist Can Never Answer

1) How did the universe begin?

2) How did homo sapiens gain self-awareness?

With love,

-Flaggman-

“The Earth is Fine” – George Carlin on the Neurotic-Religious Cult of Environmentalism

The best George Carlin routine I’ve ever heard. Enjoy!

Words of Wisdom in an Age of Stimulus: Milton Friedman on Spending

With an extremely busy and challenging few months ahead with my business, and a home life that includes raising two energetic little boys aged 1 and 3, I’m putting Flaggman’s Canada on hiatus until Summer 2009. I apologize to my loyal readers, and I look forward to returning later in the year. In the meantime, in this age of “Stimulus Spending”, read the timeless wisdom of the late, great Milton Friedman, and commit it to memory:

There are four ways in which you can spend money.

1) You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you’re doing, and you try to get the most for your money.

2) You can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I’m not so careful about the content of the present, but I’m very careful about the cost.

3) I can spend somebody else’s money on myself. And if I spend somebody else’s money on myself, then I’m sure going to have a good lunch!

4) Finally, I can spend somebody else’s money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else’s money on somebody else, I’m not concerned about how much it is, and I’m not concerned about what I get. And that’s government.

National Post’s Stinson & McParland: A Year in Stupid Science

A new Flaggism: Science helps create 90% of that which is good; but 90% of science is simply crap. Mucho evidence in this hilarious year-end piece from National Post editorial board members Scott Stinson and Kelly McParland, ‘”Dumb studies 2008: A year of confirming the incredibly obvious”. Highly recommended for a fun New Year’s read!

All the best for a great 2009.

In Defense of The Lord’s Prayer

As part of this age of stupidity and denial, a coalition of busybodies, politically-correct liberals, Christianity-bashers, Jew-haters, and radical atheists continues to wage war against what is, to me, the most obvious of all overarching facts of modern Western history: that the sustained periods of freedom, innovation, fairness, justice, and prosperity that have been enjoyed in our gilded age were created and defended by the Judeo-Christian moral code, and by leaders who were strong believers. Today’s battle by these folks: the Jihad being waged by Dalton McGuinty and Ontario’s governing Liberal Party against The Lord’s Prayer. Curmudgeonly liberal-minded Jewish commentator Larry Zolf does a nice job defending the centuries-old daily recital here. The Oakville Beaver did a hilarious re-writing of the prayer back in February, found here.

I fear that the vast majority of those who believe it should be expunged from public life have never stopped to consider exactly what The Lord’s Prayer actually says (a hint: you won’t find a single sectarian word). Here it is:

Our Father, who art in heaven,  Hallowed be thy Name.

(Yes, indeed, it accepts the concept of a singular supernatural God, which horrifies atheist absolutists, but should offend no one else.)

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.

(A call for man to work towards making life in this world as heavenly as possible – the noble aim of every idealistic public servant, whether religious or not.)

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

(Humility, contrition, and forgiveness: what controversial concepts!)

And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.

(A reminder that doing the wrong thing is highly seductive, and that doing the right thing requires strength and guidance.)

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.

(Another call for humility – a reminder that there is something much bigger and stronger than our own egos, intellects, and material desires – a message any politician needs to hear few minutes.)

Amen.

(That’s a religious word. AHHHH!)

My question to those who wish to make this prayer illegal in the public square: which of the sentiments expressed is offensive to you? If you’re intellectually honest, you’ll say: the acceptance of the concept of God. If you’re a muddy-thinking liberal, you’ll say: “it’s not offensive per se, but, you know, like, separation of church and state, right?” If you’re a knee-jerk secular Jew, you’ll say: it’s a Christian prayer, can’t you see? (no, I can’t…Jesus must be between the lines). If you’re a conventional soulless non-practicing-Christian-Canuck, you’ll say: we don’t need these old concepts and corny sentiments, and go back to getting your news from Jon Stewart and your moral compass from Gray’s Anatomy.

Light Blogging Alert: A New Flaggman Awaits

As my wife and I ready to welcome our second child into the world this weekend, my blogging will be shuffled aside for a while. With so many big things happening in the news – from John Manley’s honourable bipartisanship, to the upcoming all-out assault on Jim Flaherty leading up to the next budget, to the American media’s inevitable hand-wringing over their wishful-thinking self-denial over what’s really happening in the Republican Presidential race (that Mitt Romney is running away towards a clear, dominating victory), to the meltdown to anarchy in the world’s deepest money pit (Gaza), to the rapid civilizing of society in Iraq, to the probable conclusion of one of the most remarkable feats in football history – the perfect season of the New England Patriots – there’s a lot that I’ll be missing out on. But there’s no greater call in life than the proper raising of children…so, despite a growing readership that now averages about 150 visitors a day, I’ll have to slow it down for a while on Flaggman’s Canada.

If you want to do something good…make a donation to the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust. Administered by Sam Harris – an Atheist blowhard academic who can’t seem to make the simple distinction between good religion and bad religion – this cause nonetheless proves that, just as good people are capable of evil acts, foolish people can be capable of great works.

Merry Christmas, Canada!

To my Christian visitors:

MERRY CHRISTMAS! And may God bless you with a great 2008.

Christians in North America created a society welcoming to all, and have allowed us Jews the freedom to practice our faith, without restriction, for centuries now. For that, as a student of history, I am eternally grateful. Societies like this simply never existed before; I encourage my fellow Jews to understand this better, appreciate the gift that has been granted, and work towards its preservation into the future. Most importantly: never, ever support the “Civil Liberties” creeps who seek to homogenize our society into a sludge of unrecognizable sameness.

Let Christmas be Christmas; if this bothers you, the problem is you.

Words of Wisdom: Mark Steyn on thugs & their fainthearted enablers

The brilliant Mark Steyn – author, columnist, pundit, radio and TV fill-in host, humorist, musicologist, and the world’s most-read conservative Canadian citizen – understands the way the world works. In a recent National Review back-page “Happy Warrior” column, Steyn uses the venerable far-left folk musician Pete Seeger’s recent repudiation of his former hero, Joseph Stalin, to expose a universal truth:

Explaining how Stalin had “put an end to the dreams” of a Communist utopia, Seeger told Ron Radosh that he’d underestimated “how the majority of the human race has faith in violence.” But that isn’t true, is it? Very few of us are violent. Those who order the killings are few in number, and those who carry them out aren’t significantly numerous. But those willing to string along and those too fainthearted to object and those who just want to keep their heads down and wait for things to blow over are numbered in the millions. And so are those many miles away in the plump prosperous Western democracies who don’t see why this or that dictator is their problem. One can perhaps understand the great shrug of indifference to distant monsters. It’s harder, though, to forgive the contemporary urge to celebrate it as a form of “idealism.”

Yes, this pretty much jives with my view of the world – throughout most of history in most places, the most amoral, egotistical, uninhibited, and psychopathological rise to the top. This tiny group of thugs reach the highest levels of power by coming to the understanding that the vast majority of their countrymen will sit idly by in fear, or actively enable out of self-preservation. It was only through the impetus of Judeo-Christian monotheism – which taught the world that fighting against injustice and oppression in the name of a higher, unknowable power, is our moral duty – that the world was able to break the cycle of psychosis, and create civil societies in at least part of the world, for at least some period of time.

Steyn’s observation leads to both optimism and despair: hope, because the tiny speck of humanity  that creates most of the violence could, if confronted and not appeased, be easily dealt with; despair, because the natural inclination of men not influenced by traditional Judeo-Christian morality is to satisfice away all thoughts of resistance. And, as traditional Judeo-Christian morality dwindles in influence, especially amongst the West’s educated elite, the thugs will simply press further and further ahead in their ego-driven quests to satisfy their unquenchable thirsts.