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Showing posts from 2017

A Bar is not the Way to Grow

City Council is in the process of considering a change to the existing ordinance as it relates to the sale of alcohol in non-residential establishments. There has been some healthy debate on this topic, but the more debate I hear, the more I fear that most people do not understand what is really being considered. I also get the impression that even some council members do not understand this proposal. There are a handful of restaurants in Union that serve alcohol; the law allows that, and no one is considering changing that in any way. To hear people defend this new proposal, though, one would think those of us in opposition are trying to keep restaurants from serving beer. That is not the case. We are not pushing to become a dry city, nor are we trying to get restaurants to stop serving alcohol. The current law in Union forbids the operating of an establishment for the primary purpose of consuming alcohol; the proposal before Council would change that. If the ordinance

Theological Divergence on the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist: Luther Versus Zwingli

The Protestant Reformation was a time of religious awakening around the world, giving rise to new denominations, new Bible translations, and new heroes to admire. It was an era characterized by a new boldness to attack the papacy, exposing powerful men for their corruption, and castigating the entire church, calling into question anything and everything that originated from the Vatican. Amid all the clamoring to present new interpretations to timeless Scripture were men with larger-than-life personalities who were often quick to vilify anyone with whom they disagreed. Many of these emerging scholars agreed with each other on the major tenets of the Reformation, but they would quibble over the minutia, evening questioning the salvation of their near-likeminded opponent. Two of these reformers who found themselves at odds with each other were Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli. Their main area of disagreement: the presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. Both men agreed that

13 Reasons Why Not

The Netflix original series 13 Reasons Why has been a big topic for young people. The show is about a high school student who commits suicide, but first recorded cassette tapes as a sort of suicide note for the people she blamed for leading her to take her own life. People have billed this show as something designed to teach students about the horrors of bullying, and if that is the case, it would be an important tool. However, if that is the case, this show has greatly missed the mark. Since the main character Hannah Baker left thirteen reasons why she took her own life, I will offer thirteen reasons why this show should be ejected [1] . 1.     This is not What we Want to Teach Kids . If the point of this show is to demonstrate that bullying is unacceptable and can lead to suicide, that would be a good thing. But this program glorified and glamorized everything wrong with society. While trying to teach a moral, it threw morality to the wind. 2.     Language.   I may sound