Thoughts On Baptism!
Heath has posted an excellent piece on baptism and how John Piper’s church is considering the acceptance of baptism by those of us who believe in infant baptism. Go here for more. The problem always seems to arise among the baptist. Whereas, those of us who believe in infant baptism, are willing to accept those who are believer’s only baptist, they are not willing to accept us and our views. Such a view is wrong because it divides the body of Christ. John Piper is correctly trying to find a middle ground between the two camps, even though he believes infant baptism is NOT baptism. He knows there are strong brothers and sisters in the larger body of Christ who do believe it IS baptism, and by excluding them from the local church, i.e., the baptist church, they are in effect excommunicating brothers and sisters from the body when our views do not merit such an action.
The Rich Pay More Taxes!
Just some truth against the class warfare that is put forth by the left. Here is a graph that shows how much taxes the rich actually do pay. I’m grateful for the rich. We need the rich just as much as we need the government, if not more. The rich, and their desire to invest money, helps keep the economy healthy and strong. When they, the rich, take their money elsewhere, that is when the economy weakens. While I am not rich, I do see the need for the wealthy in our society. In fact, it would do us well to remind everyone of this, and the opposite truth, the rich need to poor. All sectors of society are important.
Here is what Rush had to say:
Now, we’re told the rich paid more taxes because they made a greater share of the money. That’s true. “The top 1% earned 22% of all reported income, but they also paid a share of taxes not far from double their share of income.” In other words, the tax code’s already steeply progressive. Yes, even at 35, 36%. And what this proves is the old adage that when you lower taxes, you get increased revenue. Listen to these numbers. “In 1990, the richest 1% were 14% of the nation’s income. They paid 25% of all taxes. In 2000, they paid 37%. In 2005, they paid 39%; and 2006, 40%.” So since 1990, the rich, top 1%, richest 1% have paid from 25% in 1990 to 40% in 2006 of all income taxes. The richest 5% in 1990 paid 44%. In 2000, they paid 56%; in 2005, paid 60%. The top 10% now pay 71%. But the big number is the top 50% are paying 97.1% of all taxes.
Go
here for the rest of the story.
Capital Punishment
Neil has an excellent article on ineffective arguments against capital punishment. This is worth the read. He shows the silliness of the “Jesus would forgive them” argument, as well as other silly claims used against capital punishment. He also has an excellent article on some of the semi-effective biblical arguments against capital punishment.
Go Big Oil
IBD reports that Bush is attempting to remove all barriers from extracting oil from the shale out in Colorado. The potential for oil there is unfathomable, roughly 800 billion barrels of oil. That would be enough oil to keep us supplied at current rates for about 120 years. It’s three times the oil that Saudi Arabia has. We could be completely free from foreign oil. Only the Democrats will not let that happen. They have come out and said “no.” Not only “no”, but the theologically damned “no.” I hope we give them the boot, both politically and theologically in November.
As for the picture at the top… It has no bearing on this post, other than I thought it looked neat.
