Let’s use an analogy to explain what I mean. Imagine you were playing a game of chess and your opponent openly stated that he wanted you to move your rook to a certain point on the board.
If your IQ was above room temperature, you would probably be suspicious that he wasn’t trying to help you win the game.
Well, the same thing happens in fiscal policy. I quoted the Hill newspaper last year when some Democrats admitted that their top political goal was to seduce the GOP into a tax increase.
The Democrats’ counter-strategy is a bit more subtle, but has essentially been to find ways to make it very uncomfortable for Republicans to maintain such a rigid anti-tax orthodoxy — to ultimately force Republicans to break their anti-tax pledges and badly splinter their party. That’s what the Buffett Rule is about; that why Dems insist they won’t dismantle the so-called “sequester” — big cuts to defense and even to Medicare — unless Republicans agree to tackle deficits in a balanced way, i.e. by supporting significant new tax revenues. The results have been mixed. They’ve won a small number of GOP votes here and there, and vulnerable members are nowadays more likely to trash or dismiss Grover Norquist in the press than they were last year. But at a very high level within the Democratic Party, there’s a recognition that breaking the GOP on taxes is an absolutely crucial strategic imperative for defending safety net programs over the long term.
That’s a pretty clear statement. We have folks on the left who say they want higher taxes both to prop up big government and to cause internal damage to the GOP.
Unless, of course, they’re motivated by a belief in bigger government (high likely) or a suicidal desire to harm their own electoral prospects (highly unlikely since even I don’t think GOPers are that stupid).
I got to meet Tom Landry twice and I read his book back in the late 1970’s. What a classy guy. Landry Jones is one of the top quarterbacks in the country today and he was raised in a Christian home and he was named after Tom Landry!!! It is such a small world after all.
Today I am starting a series on Tom Landry. If you take time to read the details of his life you will be amazed.
Thomas Wade “Tom” Landry (September 11, 1924 – February 12, 2000) was an Americanfootball player and coach. He is ranked as one of the greatest and most innovative coaches in National Football League (NFL) history, creating many new formations and methods. He invented the now popular 4–3 defense, and the “flex defense” system made famous by the “Doomsday Defense” squads he created during his 29 year tenure with the Dallas Cowboys.
Landry won two Super Bowl titles (VI, XII), 5 NFC titles, 13 Divisional titles, and compiled a 270-178-6 record, the 3rd most wins of all time for an NFL coach. His 20 career playoff victories are the most of any coach in NFL history. He was named the NFL Coach of the Year in 1966 and the NFC Coach of the Year in 1975. His most impressive professional accomplishment is his 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985), an NFL record that remains unbroken and unchallenged. Also from 1965-1981 the Cowboys won 17 consecutive regular season openers, also an NFL record that remains unbroken and unchallenged. Under Landry the Cowboys had a record of 41-11 in regular season games in the month of Dec. from 1965–1982, and 24-4 from 1970-1979 to either clinch a playoff spot or build momentum to go deep on many championship runs, from 1966-1982 Dallas played in 12 NFL/NFC Championship games, a span of 17 years. More impressive is the Cowboys appearance in 10 NFC Championship games in the 13 year span from 1970-1982. Leading the Cowboys to 3 Super Bowl appearances in four years between 1975–1978,and 5 in 9 years between 1970–1978, and being on T.V. more than any other NFL Franchise is what spawned the title of “America’s Team”, a title Landry did not appreciate because he felt it would bring on extra motivation from the rest of the league to compete with the ‘Boys. The Cowboys also won 10+ games 17 out of 20 years from 1966-1985 including playoff wins, for a overall record of 226-95-2 in that span of 20 consecutive winning seasons.
Born in Mission, Texas, to Ray (an auto mechanic and volunteer fireman) and Ruth Landry, Tom was the second of four children (Robert, Tommy, Ruthie and Jack).[1] Landry’s father had suffered from rheumatism, and relocated to the warmer climate of Texas. Ray Landry himself was an athlete, making his mark locally as a pitcher and football player [2] Tom played quarterback (primary passer and runner, and also punter) for Mission High School, where he lead his team to a 12-0 record his senior season.[1] The Mission High School Football Stadium is named Tom Landry Stadium and is home to the Mission Eagles. He attended the University of Texas in Austin as an industrial engineering major. Landry had given thought to enrolling at SMU, but he knew that he would be away from his friends and family. The main driving force in keeping him from enrolling at SMU was the notion that it would be too long a travel for his parents to see him play college football.[2]
He interrupted his education after a semester to serve in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. Tom was inspired to join the armed forces in honor of his brother, Robert. Robert Landry had enlisted in the Army Air Corps after the attack on Pearl Harbor. While ferrying a B-17 over to England, Robert Landry’s plane had gone down over the North Atlantic, close to Iceland. It was several weeks before the Army would be able to officially declare Robert Landry dead.[2] Tom Landry began his basic training at Sheppard Field in Witchita Falls, and his pre-flight training would begin at Kelly Field, located near San Antonio, Texas. Tom’s first experience as a bomber was a tough one. A few minutes after take off, Landry realized that the pilot seemed to be working furiously, and it was then that Landry had realized that the plane’s engine had died. Despite this experience, Landry was committed to flying. At the age of nineteen, Landry was transferred to Sioux City, Iowa, where he trained as a co-pilot for flying a B-17 had begun. In 1944, Landry got his orders, and from Sioux City he went to Liverpool, England, where he was assigned to the Eighth Air Force, 493rd Squadron in Ipswich.[2] Landry earned his wings and a commission as a Second Lieutenant at Lubbock Army Air Field, and was assigned to the 493d Bombardment Group at RAF Debach, England, as a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber co-pilot in the 860th Bombardment Squadron. From November 1944 to April 1945,[citation needed] he completed a combat tour of 30 missions, and survived a crash landing in Belgium after his bomber ran out of fuel.[3]
Landry was known as a quiet, religious man, unfazed by the hype that surrounded the Cowboys, then being billed as America’s Team. A MethodistSunday school teacher, he would sometimes arrive for home games only moments before a noon kickoff after teaching an adult Bible study class in the morning. He was in a comic book promoting Christianity in 1973. Landry was active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Landry was a friend of the Reverend Billy Graham, speaking at many of his crusades. In fact, one of the suit coats Landry commonly wore was a gift from Graham.
Landry married the former Alicia Wiggs on January 28, 1949. The Landrys were married for 51 years, prior to his death and had three children; a son, Tom, Jr. and daughters Kitty and Lisa (d. 1995).[5]
Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute.
The federal government is spending more per household than ever before. Since 1965, spending per household has grown by nearly 162 percent, from $11,431 in 1965 to $29,401 in 2010. From 2010 to 2021, it is projected to rise to $35,773, a 22 percent increase.
INFLATION-ADJUSTED DOLLARS (2010)
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Source: U.S. Census Bureau, White House Office of Management and Budget, and Congressional Budget Office.
The charts in this book are based primarily on data available as of March 2011 from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The charts using OMB data display the historical growth of the federal government to 2010 while the charts using CBO data display both historical and projected growth from as early as 1940 to 2084. Projections based on OMB data are taken from the White House Fiscal Year 2012 budget. The charts provide data on an annual basis except… Read More
Authors
Emily GoffResearch Assistant
Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy StudiesKathryn NixPolicy Analyst
Center for Health Policy StudiesJohn FlemingSenior Data Graphics Editor
In this article below you will see that the American people do not want Obamacare but yet it is being crammed down their throats and all the regulations that go with that too. Sickening Regulation by Michael D. Tanner Michael Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Leviathan on the […]
Gerard Matthews wrote on March 21, 2012 in the Arkansas Times: Children cannot be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Young people can stay on their parents’ health insurance plan until they are 26 years old. Preventive services, which will ultimately help control health care costs, have been added to some plans at no […]
Michael Cannon on Medicare and Healthcare In his article, “Medicaid and the consequences,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, March 20, 2012, (paywall), Brummett admits, “Medicaid will break the bank of state government if we don’t do something.” However, he never gets around to saying that Obamacare is going to ruin the state financially. It will expand this failing […]
On March 19, 2012 Jason Tolbert pointed out that the Democrats in Little Rock were using Obama’s talking points concerning Obamacare, but it appears to me that they go down with the ship according to the mood in the country. Take a look at this fine article from the Cato Institute. In this article below […]
Setting Biden Straight on Obamacare’s Anti-Conscience Mandate Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Mar 3, 2012 Vice President Biden didn’t get the story quite straight. As the Obama Administration reels from the backlash for Obamacare’s anti-conscience mandate that forces religious employers to provide coverage and pay for abortion-inducing drugs, Biden yesterday set out to convince America that […]
It seems that government was in control of the desert then we would have a shortage of sand as Milton Friedman used to quip. You Keep Using the Word ‘Affordable.’ I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means. Posted by Michael F. Cannon The federal government gave a $10 million “affordability” prize […]
Uploaded by HarrysRetroArchive on Aug 7, 2010 The stooges join the “Women Haters” club and vow to have nothing to do with the fair sex. Larry marries a girl anyway and attempts to hide the fact from Moe and Curly as they take a train trip. Director: Archie Gottler Cast: Marjorie White, A.R. Haysel, Monte […]
Religious Liberty: Obamacare’s First Casualty Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Feb 22, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/22/morning-bell-religious-liberty-under-attack/ | The controversy over the Obama Administration’s anti-conscience mandate and the fight for religious liberty only serves to highlight the inherent flaws in Obamacare. This conflict is a natural result of the centralization laid out under Obamacare and will only continue until […]
Religious Liberty: Obamacare’s First Casualty Uploaded by HeritageFoundation on Feb 22, 2012 http://blog.heritage.org/2012/02/22/morning-bell-religious-liberty-under-attack/ | The controversy over the Obama Administration’s anti-conscience mandate and the fight for religious liberty only serves to highlight the inherent flaws in Obamacare. This conflict is a natural result of the centralization laid out under Obamacare and will only continue until […]
Somebody will pay. You can bet on that. Obama’s Political Prophylactic Posted by Roger Pilon “White House compromise still guarantees contraceptive coverage for women,” reads theWashington Post headline coming out of President Obama’s press conference this afternoon. Trying to tamp down the escalating political storm his administration created three weeks ago when it ruled that, under Obamacare, employers with […]
_____________________________________________________ I would like to respond the idea of a single payer healthcare system by quoting from David Hogberg’s article “Free Market Cure – The Myths of Single-Payer Health Care.” He notes: A single-payer health care system is one in which a single-entity — the government — collects almost all of the revenue for and pays almost all of […]
Sports always came easy for Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones. Everyone wanted him for their team. Everybody loved him. He had friends, girls– the world was at his fingertips. Yet he still desired more.
From the I Am Second movement (iamsecond.com) meant to inspire people of all kinds to live for God and for others.
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I have a lot of respect for Landry Jones. I love the points made at the end of this article concerning scriptures in the Bible that apply to Christians dating.
Jan/Feb 2011 Dating Game Jill Ewert
“You tell it. You’re so much better at telling it than me. I always leave out too many details.” Landry Jones scoots back deeper into the couch in the middle of FCA Area Representative Kent Bowles’ sports room. He’s surrounded by everything a college athlete could find comforting: a ping pong table, framed college football jerseys, a gumball machine and his girlfriend: OU shooting guard Whitney Hand.
He says this not because he doesn’t want to tell the story himself, but because he’s humble about it—almost sheepish—and he doesn’t want to blow his own whistle.
“OK,” says Hand, her grin widening by the second. She can hardly wait to dive in and brag on Jones’ brilliant scheme.
“Landry is not my walk with Christ, and I don’t want to be in that position in his life, either. I never want him to love me more than he loves Jesus.” – Whitney Hand
They’d both arrived on the OU campus as freshman in 2008 and were immediately attracted to each other when they met through orientation and began running in the same athletic circles. Jones tested the romantic waters all summer and into the fall by jokingly asking Hand on dates, comments to which she’d always reply with rolled eyes and a playful, “Oh, shut up.” But when October rolled around, Jones decided to take a legitimate shot.
“No, I really want to go on a date with you,” he’d said. When she agreed, Jones knew he had one chance to sweep her off her feet.
Hand tells the first date story with animation. “I met him downstairs in my dorm, and immediately he tells me that he forgot his wallet at his parents’ house in Oklahoma City, which is, like, a 30-minute drive.”
She rolls her eyes.
“I’m like, ‘Are you serious?’”
Jones stares at the floor, grinning. She glances over at him, smiles and continues the story.
“We get there, and he’s like, ‘Wait here.’ So, he ran inside and left me waiting in the car. I actually called one of my friends and told her, ‘He forgot his stinking wallet!’ But then he came back outside a couple minutes later and told me to come in.”
Hand got out of the car, followed Jones through the front door and was completely shocked to find flowers and a candle-lit dinner waiting for her. Granted, it was only Raising Cane’s Chicken, but that just made the story even more interesting.
“He didn’t know that I absolutely detest fast food,” Hand reveals.
In an environment like that, though, the menu was of little concern. She’d been wooed. And while the actual relationship wouldn’t take off until three months later due to the interruption of another potential suitor from Hand’s hometown (a story for another time), it was the start of what has now been a 2.5-year dating relationship between the Sooner stars.
Officially dubbed “the First Couple of Oklahoma” by the local press, Landry Jones and Whitney Hand, both Christians since childhood, have watched as the Lord has used their time together to both bless and challenge them in life, sports and faith.
“We’re not dating experts, but the Lord has taught us so much through being together,” Hand says. “Whatever He shares with us, we want to share with others and help them grow in their faith, too. We believe that right now we’re a better witness for Him together than apart.”
Two years ago when their relationship began, neither Jones nor Hand would have guessed that they’d be called to support each other through two major injuries: one Hand suffered herself and the other sustained by then-OU starting quarterback Sam Bradford.
It was the fall of 2009, and the two athletes had been dating for almost a year. On Sept. 5, Jones, just a redshirt freshman, was called onto the field to replace Bradford, who had injured his throwing shoulder. It was an event that put tremendous pressure on Jones as he was forced to lead one of the nation’s most prominent college football programs, and he needed support.
As the faithful girlfriend, Hand utilized her position to speak words of God’s truth to Jones and encourage him. What she didn’t realize was that the favor would need to be returned just two months later when she would experience a season-ending injury of her own: a torn ACL.
Following his girlfriend’s example, Jones began speaking Scripture and godly encouragement to the discouraged shooting guard.
“I don’t think I would have made it through this injury as spiritually healthy without Landry,” says Hand, who had started her college career as one of the top freshman in the nation. “When Satan spoke lies throughout the injury about me not being good enough, being forgotten or being replaced, Landry came back with, ‘No, this is what the Lord says. This is what Jesus thinks of you.’ And that just spoke to my heart so preciously. It was like Jesus was teaming up with Landry to love on me.”
It was a defining time for them both individually and as a dating couple. By walking together through two of the most significant challenges athletes can face, they learned lessons about perseverance, patience and selflessness.
Now, looking back, they realize that, as tough as they were, the challenges only made them stronger.
“You have to fall in love with Jesus first before you can love another person correctly.” – Landry Jones
“It’s helpful to reflect on it now and be like, ‘OK, we’ve gone through an ACL injury and a tough season together. How bad could it be?’” Jones says. “I think one thing Satan tries to do is to get us to forget the hard times we’ve gone through and the lessons we learned from them. By going through them together, we can help each other remember those times and see that we can endure other things, too.”
Words of godly truth, however, would be more likely to fall on deaf ears if they weren’t spoken by someone who truly understood an athletic mind.
According to both Sooner stars, a shared understanding of sports has been an asset to their relationship, helping them not only through the career-marking challenges, but also the day-to-day irritations of sports.
“Because we’re both athletes, we’re able to be on the same page on a lot of things,” Jones says. “Whitney can come over and tell me that she had a bad practice, and I’ll be able to say, ‘Yep, I know where you’re coming from. I know that feeling, and it stinks.’”
Hand nods in agreement.
“It helps so much that he doesn’t just say, ‘Oh, it’s OK. You’re still great.’ He really understands. And when he comes back from practice and says something like, ‘Man, I wasn’t accurate today,’ I can totally relate. It’s just a different level, and it’s a huge blessing from God.”
Inevitably, though, learning to date in a godly manner has involved more than spiritual encouragement. As part of the Christian dating experience, Jones and Hand have had to face familiar battles like the one for sexual purity, and both admit to struggling with appropriate boundaries.
After early difficulties in what Hand calls their “infatuation stage”—the time in which neither could do wrong in the eyes of the other—both began being discipled and involving the accountability of others in order to maintain godly standards.
“We realized we needed help,” Hand says. “Our struggles had really put a cloud on everything and even affected how we performed in our sports. It was just an ugly domino effect.”
To counter the temptation, they turned to the Word of God, their churches, their FCA teammates and, most importantly, the Holy Spirit.
“As our relationships with Christ grew both together and apart, our desire to please Him became greater than our desire to please each other physically,” Hand says. “He helped us realize that we weren’t married and couldn’t act like we were. He loved us enough to ask us to stay pure so that He could bless us in the future.”
Jones and Hand with the OU FCA leadership team
FCA SOONER STYLE
Landry Jones and Whitney Hand have been dynamic parts of the FCA Huddle at the University of Oklahoma since arriving on campus. They both attend the Tuesday-night Huddle meetings and speak frequently at local FCA events.At a recent ministry outreach for young female athletes hosted by Central Oklahoma FCA Area Representative Sarah Roberts, Hand shared her and Jones’ dating story, including her battle with idolatry and placing Jones in a position above Christ in her life.
“It was something that all the girls really needed to hear,” Roberts said. “She was so honest with them about her personal struggles, and that made such a difference. God is really doing something special by bringing Whitney and Landry together.”
Through events like these, the FCA staff in Oklahoma are making an eternal impact on the lives of athletes and coaches. And with the help of athletes like Jones and Hand, their reach is only being extended.
“Landry and Whitney are tremendous blessings to the entire community,” said FCA Area Representative Kent Bowles, who works directly with the OU Huddle. “They are constant reminders of how God orchestrates all areas of our lives for His glory. These guys love the Lord first, and, because of that love, they are truly growing closer to Him and to each other as well.”
For more information on FCA in Oklahoma, visit okfca.org.
Their stance of purity paid off in more ways than one, blessing both their relationship and the lives of those observing it.
As OU athletes, Jones and Hand know they’re on a platform—one that is only heightened by their relationship. Instead of shrinking back from the public, the “power couple” has embraced their status and used it as an avenue for ministry by showing those around them not only two individual models of Christ, but also one example of a Christ-centered dating couple.
“It’s not what you’d expect, but when guys ask me if Whitney and I have done anything and I say no, they usually say, ‘I respect that,’” Jones says. “I know I shouldn’t say that it’s a weird response, but it is in today’s culture. But it goes along with what I’m finding out about Christ in general. More people really want to know about Him than you’d think.”
It’s something that the two Sooners take to heart: the fact that, through their relationship, they get to tell others about Jesus Christ. It’s become a great desire for them both and yet another shared passion.
They agree that they’re living blessed lives of position and influence and that they have a significant chance to make a difference for the Lord. The fact that they get to do that together is just icing on the cake.
But it’s not the cake itself. That, of course, is Jesus.
“It’s something that we’ve struggled to learn, but we both have come to understand that no other person can completely fulfill you—only Jesus can do that,” Hand says. “And until you know who you are in Christ and understand His love for you, it’s going to be difficult for you to love another person correctly. You’ll always be putting them in a position they weren’t designed by God to hold in your life.”
Says Jones, “I would agree with that. You have to fall in love with Jesus first before you can love another person correctly. As it says in the Bible, you can’t be unevenly yoked. For guys especially, because we’re so visual, we might see a girl and want to date her, but, if she’s not a Christian, it’s not going to work out.”
For Jones and Hand, it goes back to the analogy of running the race together—pursuing Christ side by side at the same pace and remaining focused on Him. And, when it comes to dating advice, both cite Matthew 6:33 (NIV)— “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”—and point to the greatest commandment of loving the Lord above all else.
“I want to be more in love with Christ than I am with Landry,” Hand says. “If Landry and I were to break up, I wouldn’t want my walk with Christ to disappear with him. Landry is not my walk with Christ, and I don’t want to be in that position in his life either. I never want him to love me more than he loves Jesus.”
In a candid moment, Jones looks over at his girlfriend and beams at her. The wheels of revelation turn in his mind as he sees more of Christ being revealed through her.
He can’t put it any better than she did, and he wouldn’t want to. He likes to see her shine. It’s part of the selfless thing he’s learned through the dating process. Instead, Jones embraces the chance to encourage Hand and support her point.
“Yeah, that’s great. Definitely take her advice.”
She smiles back and receives the support with gratitude.
Mission accomplished.
DATING ADVICE FROM THE WORDDating is a tricky subject, but it’s one that must be addressed. While the Bible may not offer black-and-white dating instructions, it does give clear commands regarding proper conduct in relationships. If we follow those instructions, we can be sure that we’ll find success in dating regardless of the relationship’s outcome.As a starting point, we encourage you to read the following Scriptures, which can serve as basic tips for how to date in a Godhonoring way:1. Matthew 6:33 – Seek God above all else. Staying focused on Him and letting Him guide your thoughts, words and actions is the most sure-fire way to achieve victory in any area of life, including dating. Read His Word daily, pray and prioritize your time alone with Him even as your social calendar fills up.2. Matthew 22:37-38; Romans 12:10– Love Him and love others. Keep in mind that relationships involve other people who are also God’s beloved children. Put Him first and then put the other person’s best interest second. If an action you take would displease God on their behalf, don’t do it.
3. Proverbs 15:22 – Seek wise counsel. In dating, you will experience new challenges as the emotions, habits and choices of two people come together. Put yourself under the influence of godly advisers who can help you remain above reproach and make wise decisions.
4. Ephesians 5:11; James 5:16– Stay accountable. Dating will expose you to areas of strong temptation. Keeping your struggles a secret is a guaranteed way to set yourself up for failure. Enlist the help of a Christian friend or mentor who can ask you tough questions about your conduct.
5. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18– Don’t be weighed down. The Bible says that believers should not be “yoked” with unbelievers, and it does so for good reason. As Christians, we are clearly set apart as vessels of God’s holy light in a dark world. If another person does not have that light, according to Scripture, they are walking in darkness. While we should still love them through Christ, we should not be bound together with them or with anything that would dim the light of the Lord inside us.
When done the right way, dating can be a great experience. If you choose to enter into a dating relationship, see it as a way of growing in your relationship with Christ. Take the opportunity to learn about serving and honoring another on behalf of the Lord, about pointing others to Him, and about further discovering who God created you to be.
Again, there’s no formula for dating, but there are basic instructions we can follow that will help us survive the process and enter into marriage without unnecessary emotional baggage and with our godly integrity and purity intact. Our only role is to say yes to the Lord and stick to His plan.
Coldplay Performing Mylo Xyloto/Hurts Like Heaven @ AAC Dallas June 22, 2012
Chris Martin was brought up as an evangelical Christian but he left the faith once he left his childhood home. However, there are been some actions in his life in the last few years that demonstrate that he still is grappling with his childhood Chistian beliefs. This is the second part of a series I am starting on this subject. Today we look at Coldplay’s songs that deal with death and the search for meaning and purpose of life.
On June 23, 2012 my son Wilson and I got to attend a Coldplay Concert in Dallas. It was great. We had traveled down from our home in Little Rock, Arkansas earlier in the day.
Coldplay performing “Glass of Water.”
Back in 2008 I wrote a paper on the spiritual themes of Coldplay’s album Viva La Vida and I predicted this spiritual search would continue in the future. Below is the first part of the paper, “Coldplay’s latest musical lyrics indicate a Spiritual Search for the Afterlife.”
Coldplay’s latest musical lyrics indicate a Spiritual Search for the Afterlife
In Coldplay’s latest songs you can see that something has changed about the focus of the band’s song writing. What is going on? The internet has been full of speculation concerning the radical lyrical change in the latest Coldplay work compared to the previous 3 albums.
Russ Briemeier of Christianity Today: “What does it all mean? With so many questions posed, a single interpretation of this album is virtually impossible…
Yet taken collectively, there is no ignoring the fact that spiritual themes are prevalent throughout the album. Viva La Vidaseems to be about coping with death in a world corrupted by sin, temptation, and war. Though it never goes deeper than mentioning God or referencing a specific theology, the lyrics often yearn with hope and love for a better world—utopia or heaven, it’s up to your interpretation… Viva La Vida is often provocative, spiritual, and seemingly on the verge of identifying a greater Truth, asking and inspiring many questions without providing the answers.”
The Spiritual Search for the Afterlife
Many of Coldplay’s latest songs mention God and other Biblical themes such as dealing with death, and the afterlife and the shortness of life. It seems to me that Coldplay has focused on spiritual issues in their lyrics but they are still in the process of working out all the answers and still formulating their religious belief systems. Here is a sample of their latest works:
In the song “Glass of Water”:
Oh he said you could see a future,
inside a glass of water,
With riddles and the rhymes
He asked ‘Will I see heaven in mine’
Ooooh, oooh, ooooh …
Possibly searching for the path to Heaven or hoping after death heaven is the destination. It reminds me also of the song “42” that says, “You thought you might be a ghost, You didn’t get to heaven but you made it close.”
(Coldplay performs “42”)
In the song “Now my feet won’t touch the ground”:
Now my head won’t stop
You wait a lifetime to be found
Here someone maybe searching for you instead of you searching for someone else? Could it be a way of saying that God is searching for you in a sense? In the context of the rest of the album that may not be such a bad interpretation.
The song “42” states,
Those who are dead are not dead
They’re just living my head
And since I fell for that spell
I am living there as well
Oh…
Time is so short and I’m sure
There must be something more
This is the same question that Solomon asked 3000 years ago in the Book of Ecclesiastes. He knew there was something more. The Christian Philosopher Francis Schaeffer noted that Solomon took a look at the meaning of life on the basis of human life standing alone between birth and death “under the sun.” This phrase UNDER THE SUN appears over and over in Ecclesiastes. The Christian Scholar Ravi Zacharias noted, “The key to understanding the Book of Ecclesiastes is the term UNDER THE SUN — What that literally means is you lock God out of a closed system and you are left with only this world of Time plus Chance plus matter.”
Solomon had all the resources in the world and he found himself searching for meaning in life and trying to come up with answers concerning the afterlife. However, it seems every door he tries to open is locked. Solomon found no lasting satisfaction in riches (Ecclesiastes 2:8-11), pleasure (2:1), education (2:3) and his work (2:4). None of those were able to “fill the God-sized vacuum in his heart” (quote from famous mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal). That reminds of the Coldplay’s words in the song “Lost”: “Every river that I tried to cross, Every door I ever tried was locked.”
Moreover, what looms over Solomon’s search for meaningful answers is his upcoming death. It seems that Chris Martin has thought a lot about this point too. Martin said in an interview shortly after the release of the album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends that the title came from the band’s life experiences which included some losses of life of close family members. Martin has also said that his favorite song is about this same subject and it is called “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by the Verve.
Solomon rightly noted, (in Ecclesiastes 7:2-4) “It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die, and you should think about it while there is still time. Sorrow is better than laughter; it may sadden your face, but it sharpens your understanding. A wise person thinks a lot about death, while a fool thinks only about having a good time.” In the song, “The Escapist,” which shares tract 10 with the song “Death and all his Friends,” Coldplay notes:
And in the end
We lie awake
And we dream
We’ll make an escape
Is this an escape from Death? Since this song follows the song “Death and all his Friends,” it seems that would be the case.
Death and all his friends
This is a tribute to Queen…
Coldplay – Death and all his friends from the album Viva la Vida ..
Ecclesiastes 1
Published on Sep 4, 2012
Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 2, 2012 | Pastor Derek Neider
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Ecclesiastes 2-3
Published on Sep 19, 2012
Calvary Chapel Spring Valley | Sunday Evening | September 16, 2012 | Derek Neider
Coldplay 6-22-12 Dallas, TX Best Opening.MOV Published on Jun 23, 2012 by jaimenolga 1 of Don’t miss the second song of this clip!! It was incredible! (One eye watching you song was great.) Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News […]
Coldplay Live in Dallas – Lover’s in Japan Ball Drop Published on Jun 23, 2012 by TheRyanj64 Live From the American Airlines Center in Dallas Texas June 22, 2012 Coldplay – Lover’s in Japan Ball Drop Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show […]
Coldplay – Yellow (Live) @ American Airlines Center Published on Jun 23, 2012 by Crwdickerson Coldplay Performing Yellow @ American Airlines Center Dallas June 22, 2012 Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News Sports Lifestyles Comments (0) 3/11 Chris […]
Coldplay “paradise” Dallas Texas 6/22/12 ( Floor View ) Published on Jun 23, 2012 by ccam cher Awesome concert Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News Sports Lifestyles Comments (0) 9/11 Chris Martin was brought up as an evangelical […]
Coldplay – In My Place (Live in Dallas) June 22 2012 Published on Jun 24, 2012 by maimiaa Coldplay performing at American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News Sports Lifestyles Comments (0) 7/11 […]
Viva La Vida Published on Jun 23, 2012 by TheRyanj64 Coldplay’s Viva La Vida at American Airlines Center in Dallas on June 22, 2012 __________ Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News Sports Lifestyles Comments (0) 5/11 Chris […]
Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto/Hurts Like Heaven (Live) @ American Airlines Center Coldplay brought confetti, lights and thousands of fans to the American Airlines Center; see photos from their colorful show Photo Gallery News Sports Lifestyles Comments (0) 2/11 Published on Jun 24, 2012 by Crwdickerson Coldplay Performing Mylo Xyloto/Hurts Like Heaven @ AAC Dallas […]
Coldplay-DALLAS-2012-”Opening, Mylo Xyloto, and Hurts like Heaven!” Published on Jun 24, 2012 by ColdplayDALLAS2012 1:10 is where the concert starts! Sorry for the shaking and sound audio! It was really loud! AND AWESOME! Please THUMB UP and COMMENT if u went to this coldplay concert! And I also hope that this will get a few […]
Uploaded by emimusic on Feb 28, 2009 Pre-VEVO play count: 22,581,204 Music video by The Verve performing Bitter Sweet Symphony. ________ At the 4.40 mark in the clip below Chris Martin identifies the best song ever written in his estimation: What does the song mean? Here is a thought off the internet: This song is […]
As far as I know they have never done an interview together. Therefore, I have included separate interviews that they have done below and I have some links to past posts I have done on them too. Gwyneth Paltrow & Robert Downey Jr. on Jonathan Ross 2010.04.23 (Part 1) Coldplay: Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland […]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said Friday that the Obama administration is pursuing restrictions on political speech through whatever means possible, including bypassing Congress and the federal judiciary.
“What they haven’t been able to achieve through the courts or Congress, they’re already attempting to achieve through regulations,” McConnell said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute.
He quoted Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod’s comments from earlier this week in New York, where he expressed his hope that the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on campaign-finance reform in the Citizens United case could be overturned after the election.
“I hope that one of the things we can do, when we win this election, is use whatever tools are available, up to and including a Constitutional amendment, to turn this back,” Axelrod said.
McConnell went on to list several actions the administration has taken to curtail political speech:
September 2009: The federal government warned health insurers that mailing customers about the potential consequences of President Obama’s health reform plan may be illegal.
March 2012: The National Organization for Marriage accused the Internal Revenue Service of leaking its confidential tax information after the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign posted IRS documents stamped with the words “OFFICIAL USE ONLY” on its website. The documents revealed that Mitt Romney had donated to the National Organization for Marriage.
June 2012: The IRS revoked the tax-exempt status of Emerge America, which works to train Democratic women candidates, effectively forcing the group to disclose its donors. Observers say the decision could foretell similar action against larger groups, including the conservative Crossroads GPS and the pro-Obama Priorities USA.
McConnell said liberals have always faced an uphill climb in American politics, and as a result, many have resorted to “obscuring their true intent, pursuing through regulation and the courts what they can’t through legislation, or muzzling their critics.”
“My own view has always been that if you can’t convince people of the wisdom of your policies, then you should come up with some better arguments. But for all its vaunted tolerance, the political left has consistently demonstrated a militant intolerance for dissent,” he said. “The minute we allow ourselves to be convinced that some people stand outside the protections of the First Amendment, we’re all in trouble.”
Francis Schaeffer discussed modern films and how they showed the state of man. That is why I like Woody Allen’s films so much. He knows what the big issues are in life and even though he present the right answers he does grapple with the right questions. Michelangelo Antonioni heavily influenced Allen and below is a picture from one of his best well known films.
<The Kobal Collection
Blow-Up (1966). Michelangelo Antonioni created waves with his first English-language film when he turned his camera on swinging London as personified by a cocky fashion photographer (David Hemmings) who believes his lens has accidentally captured a murder.
Allen’s observation: “Not in the same class as the other films, but interesting to see.”
Learning to Cry for the Culture Let’s remember Francis Schaeffer’s most crucial legacy–tears.
John FischerMarch 19, 2007He was a small man—barely five feet in his knickers, knee socks, and ballooning white shirts. For two weeks, first as a freshman and then again as a senior, I sat in my assigned seat at Wheaton College’s chapel and heard him cry. He was the evangelical conscience at the end of the 20th century, weeping over a world that most of his peers dismissed as not worth saving, except to rescue a few souls in the doomed planet’s waning hours. While Hal Lindsey was disseminating an exit strategy in The Late Great Planet Earth, Francis Schaeffer was trying to understand and care for people still trapped on the planet in The God Who Is There.Francis Schaeffer was hard to listen to. His voice grated. It was a high-pitched scream that, when mixed with his eastern Pennsylvania accent, sounded something like Elmer Fudd on speed. As freshmen, unfamiliar with the thought and works of modern man, we thought it was funny. As seniors, it wasn’t funny any more. After we had studied Kant, Hegel, Sartre, and Camus, the voice sounded more like an existential shriek. If Edvard Munch’s The Scream had a voice, it would have sounded like Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffer, who died in 1984, understood the existential cry of humanity trapped in a prison of its own making. He was the closest thing to a “man of sorrows” I have seen.
I grew up with a Christianity that was predisposed against sorrow. To be sad was to deny your faith or your salvation. Jesus had made us happy, and we had an obligation to always show that happiness. Then Francis Schaeffer came along. He could not allow himself to be happy when most of the world was desperately lost and he knew why. He was the first Christian I found who could embrace faith and the despair of a lost humanity at the same time. Though he had been found, he still knew what it was to be lost.
How different from the perception of conservative Christians held by so many people today! Today, the Religious Right is caricatured in society as a theocratic movement with no concern for the poor and downtrodden. Of course, such an ugly stereotype, presented as fact in a spate of pre-election books ranging from American Theocracy to Thy Kingdom Come, overlooks crisis pregnancy centers, humanitarian work, and generous giving to causes sacred and secular by members of the Christian Right.
Schaeffer’s Way
However, like most stereotypes, this one of politically engaged conservative Christians contains a painful element of truth. Too often we confuse our agendas with God’s agenda and demonize our opponents in a desperate attempt to score political points. What’s ironic is that many of today’s culture warriors look to Schaeffer as the man who fired the first shot.
Yes, in two of Schaeffer’s later works, How Should We Then Live? (1976) and A Christian Manifesto (1981), he took a strong stand against abortion and euthanasia and even called for serious measures, including political intervention, to stop what he saw as impending cultural suicide. But to conclude that this invocation to war was Schaeffer’s crowning achievement is to truncate the man and his work.
Though his last words may have resounded like a battle cry to the next generation of Christians locked in a culture war, everything leading up to them said something else. Schaeffer’s work is ultimately not a call to arms, but a call to care. Those who have taken up arms and claimed him as their champion have gotten only part of his message.
Schaeffer never meant for Christians to take a combative stance in society without first experiencing empathy for the human predicament that brought us to this place. Those who go back only as far as A Christian Manifesto—without also understanding Escape from Reason (1968), The God Who Is There (1968), and Death in the City (1970)—are doing Schaeffer’s life and work a great disservice. The later Schaeffer cannot be divorced from the former.
Weeping over the World
Schaeffer was the first Christian leader who taught me to weep over the world instead of judging it. Schaeffer modeled a caring and thoughtful engagement with the history of philosophy and its influence through movies, novels, plays, music, and art. Schaeffer was teaching at Wheaton College about the existential dilemma expressed in Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film, Blowup, when movies were still forbidden to students. He didn’t bat an eye. He ignored our legalism and went on teaching, because he had been personally gripped by the desperation of such cultural statements.
Death in the City is the book of Lamentations in the Old Testament applied to America. It is all about weeping over the death of a culture. Schaeffer saw the most brilliant thinkers and artists of his day as trapped under what he called a line of despair—in a lower-story hopelessness without any access to upper-story revelation. Schaeffer taught his followers not to sneer at or dismiss the dissonance in modern art. He showed how these artists were merely expressing the outcome of the presuppositions of the modern era that did away with God and put all conclusions on a strictly human, rational level. Instead of shaking our heads at a depressing, dark, abstract work of art, the true Christian reaction should be to weep for the lost person who created it. Schaeffer was a rare Christian leader who advocated understanding and empathizing with non-Christians instead of taking issue with them.
Francis Schaeffer was not afraid to ask why, and he did not rest until he had an answer. Why are our most brilliant thinkers in despair? Why is our art so dark? Why have abortion and euthanasia become so easy on the conscience of a generation? What process of thinking has led to this ultimate denial of the value of human life? Though some may disagree with his answers, no one can gainsay the passion with which he sought them.
The normal human reaction is to hate what we don’t understand. This is the stuff of prejudice and the cause of hate crimes and escalating social evil. It is much more Christ-like to identify with those we don’t understand—to discover why people do what they do, because we care about them, even if they are our ideological enemies.
Jesus asked us to love our enemies. Part of loving is learning to understand. Too few Christians today seek to understand why their enemies think in ways that we find abhorrent. Too many of us are too busy bashing feminists, secular humanists, gay activists, and political liberals to consider why they believe what they do. It’s difficult to sympathize with people we see as threats to our children and our neighborhoods. It’s hard to weep over those whom we have declared enemies.
Perhaps a good beginning would be to more fully grasp the depravity of our own souls and the depth to which God’s grace had to go to reach us. I doubt we can cry over the world if we’ve never cried over ourselves.
To be sure, Francis Schaeffer’s influence has declined in recent years, as postmodernism has supplanted the modernity he dissected for so long. Schaeffer is not without his critics, even among Christians. But perhaps, in the end, his greatest influence on the church will not be his words as much as his tears. The same things that made Francis Schaeffer cry in his day should make us cry in ours.
Singer-songwriter John Fischer has recorded 12 albums and is the author of 15 books.
In 1955, Schaeffer founded L’Abri fellowship, “where individuals have the opportunity to seek answers to honest questions about God and the significance of human life.”
The Dissatisfaction of Francis Schaeffer (Parts 1 and 2) | Thirteen years after his death, Schaeffer’s vision and frustrations continue to haunt evangelicalism. (March 1997)
Here is an episode of Schaeffer’s film series that discusses the philosophic movies that show man’s desperation:
E P I S O D E 8
How Should We Then Live 8#1
I saw this film series in 1979 and it had a major impact on me.
T h e Age of FRAGMENTATION
I. Art As a Vehicle Of Modern Thought
A. Impressionism (Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas) and Post-Impressionism (Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat): appearance and reality.
1. Problem of reality in Impressionism: no universal.
2. Post-Impression seeks the universal behind appearances.
3. Painting expresses an idea in its own terms as a work of art; to discuss the idea in a painting is not to intellectualize art.
4. Parallel search for universal in art and philosophy; Cézanne.
B. Fragmentation.
1. Extremes of ultra-naturalism or abstraction: Wassily Kandinsky.
2. Picasso leads choice for abstraction: relevance of this choice.
3. Failure of Picasso (like Sartre, and for similar reasons) to be fully consistent with his choice.
C. Retreat to absurdity.
1. Dada , and Marcel Duchamp: art as absurd.
2. Art followed philosophy but came sooner to logical end.
3. Chance in his art technique as an art theory impossible to practice: Pollock.
II. Music As a Vehicle of Modern Thought
A. Non-resolution and fragmentation: German and French streams.
1. Influence of Beethoven’s last Quartets.
2. Direction and influence of Debussy.
3. Schoenberg’s non-resolution; contrast with Bach.
4. Stockhausen: electronic music and concern with the element of change.
B. Cage: a case study in confusion.
1. Deliberate chance and confusion in Cage’s music.
2. Cage’s inability to live the philosophy of his music.
C. Contrast of music-by-chance and the world around us.
1. Inconsistency of indulging in expression of chaos when we acknowledge order for practical matters like airplane design.
2. Art as anti-art when it is mere intellectual statement, divorced from reality of who people are and the fullness of what the universe is.
III. General Culture As the Vehicle of Modern Thought
A. Propagation of idea of fragmentation in literature.
1. Effect of Eliot’s Wasteland and Picasso’s Demoiselles d’ Avignon
compared; the drift of general culture.
2. Eliot’s change in his form of writing when he became a Christian.
3. Philosophic popularization by novel: Sartre, Camus, de Beauvoir.
B. Cinema as advanced medium of philosophy.
1. Cinema in the 1960s used to express Man’s destruction: e.g. Blow-up.
2. Cinema and the leap into fantasy:
The Hour of the Wolf, Belle de Jour, Juliet of the Spirits, The Last Year at Marienbad.
3. Bergman’s inability to live out his philosophy (see Cage): Silence and The Hour of the Wolf.
IV. Only on Christian Base Can Reality Be Faced Squarely
Questions
1. Explain what “fragmentation” means, as discussed by Dr. Schaeffer. What does it result from? Give examples of it.
2. Apart from the fact that modern printing and recording processes made the art and music of the past more accessible than ever before, do you think that the preference of many people for the art and music of the past is related to the matters discussed by Dr. Schaeffer? If so, how?
3. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds… With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” Emerson wrote this over a century ago. Debate.
4. How far do you think that the opinion of some Christians that one should have nothing to do with philosophy, art and novels is a manifestation of the very fragmentation which is characteristic of modern secular thought? Discuss.
Key Events and Persons
Beethoven’s last Quartets: 1825-26
Claude Monet: 1840-1926
Poplars at Giverny, Sunrise: 1885
Paul Cézanne: 1839-1906
The Bathers: c.1905
Claude Debussy: 1862-1918
Wassily Kandinsky: 1866-1944
Arnold Schoenberg: 1874-1951
Picasso: 1881-1973
Les Demoiselles d’Avignon: 1906-7
Marcel Duchamp: 1887-1969
Nude Descending a Staircase: 1912
T.S. Eliot: 1888-1965
The Wasteland: 1922
John Cage: 1912-1992
Music for Marcel Duchamp: 1947
Jackson Pollock: 1912-1956
Karlheinz Stockhausen: 1928-
Sartre’s Nausea: 1938
Beauvoir’s L’Invitée: 1943
Camus’ The Stranger: 1942
Camus’ The Plague: 1947
Resnais’ The Last Year at Marienbad: 1961
Bergman’s The Silence: 1963
Fellini’s Juliet of the Spirits: 1965
Antonioni’s Blow-Up: 1966
Bergman’s The Hour of the Wolf: 1967
Buñel’s Belle de Jour: 1967
Further Study
Perhaps you have seen some of the films mentioned. You should try to see them if you haven’t.Watch for them in local art-film festivals, on TV, or in campus film series. They rarely return nowadays to the commercial circuit. The sex and violence which they treated philosophically have now taken over the screen in a more popular and crude form! Easier of access are the philosophic novels of Sartre, Camus and de Beauvoir. Read the titles Dr. Schaeffer mentions. Again, for the artwork and music mentioned, consult libraries and record shops. But spend time here—let the visual images and the musical sounds sink in.
Listening patiently to Cage and Webern, for example, will tell you more than volumes of musicology.
British star Elena Baltacha talks ahead of the Moorilla Hobart International. The Scotswoman, known as “Bally”, is one of many top international players competing at the WTA AO Series event in the Tasmanian capital. She faces Tamarine Tansugarn in Thailand.
Death is an acquired trait.
On the plus side, death is one of the few things that can be done just as easily lying down.
Federal Spending Is Growing Faster Than Federal Revenue
The Daily Hatch 