Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado is proposing a 10-cents-a-bullet tax on ammunition purchases in his county in order to make up $500 million budget deficit. He says of the tax it “is as close as possible to a sin tax”. Now it is not only unpopular to be a gun owner it is a “sin” in line with drinking, smoking, and gambling (the typical targets of “sin” taxes)? I love Illinois more and more every day. If ever we were going to ship all the libs off to an island and let them self destruct, Illinois is a ready made liberal bastion of idiots.

Taken from the April 2007 issue of America’s 1st Freedom

the price, by aaron jackson

hammer comes down, spike rips the skin
blood drips from His hands and mine
pain withstood to forgive my sin
precious blood found nowhere in kind

blood drips from His hands and mine
i am the instrument that brought pain
precious blood found nowhere in kind
i do it again and again

i am the instrument that brought pain
the hammer bloody and cold
i do it again and again
my soul is not cheaply sold

the hammer bloody and cold
pain withstood to forgive my sin
i do it again and again
hammer comes down, spike rips the skin

I started reading Richard Dawkins‘ latest book, The God Delusion, today. I’ll save most of my comments for later posts because I really need to digest the full meal before I start to speak to the individual courses.

For now I want to talk about the probability of God. Dawkins creates a spectrum of probability on which he asserts each person falls in reference to the existence of God. My question is, at what point on the spectrum does one cease to be a Christian (assuming that we are speaking of the Christian God, which Dawkins is not necessarily assuming at this point)?

1. Strong theist, 100 per cent probability of God. In the words of C. G. Jung, ‘I do not believe, I know.’
2. Very high probability but short of 100 per cent. De facto theist. ‘I cannot know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there.’
3. Higher than 50 per cent but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning towards theism. ‘I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God.’
4. Exactly 50 per cent. Completely impartial agnostic. ‘God’s existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable.’
5. Lower than 50 per cent but not very low. Technically agnostic but leaning towards atheism. ‘I don’t know whether God exists but I’m inclined to be sceptical.’
6. Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that hie is not there.’
7. Strong atheist. ‘I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung “knows” there is one.’

Obviously four and below are out of the question with three quite probably included also, but what about two? Dawkins suggests that there are many religious people in the “1″ category and few in the “7″. Of course, he then goes on to explain how ridiculous it is to be in the “1″ and how wonderful it is to be in the “7″, but that is to be expected. What I find fascinating thus far with Dawkins is that he relies solely on these “1″ type Christians to formulate his defense against them. It seems that to his mind, there is no such thing as a thinking Christian.

Incidentally, I am a “2″.

I watched the trailer for Amazing Grace months ago, and knew immediately that it would be the third movie in my triple-play of must-see inspirational movies (the others being Chariots of Fire, and Shadowlands), then last week my Dad emailed me that he had seen it and that I needed to get to the theater.

The movie tells the true story of William Wilberforce and his battle to abolish the slave trade in Great Briton. The movie takes its name from the famous song written by John Newton. Newton was an ex-slave trader turned repentant Christian that was instrumental in helping Wilberforce decide if he should take on the task of fighting the slave traders.

Amazing Grace starts Iaon Gruffudd (pronounced Yo-wan Griffith) as William Wilberforce, and Albert Finney as John Newton. Interestingly, Nicholas Farrell who stared as Aubrey Montague in Chariots of Fire, also plays a part in Amazing Grace as Henry Thornton. Iaon Gruffudd has been on my top actors list since his starting role in Horatio Hornblower. Albert Finney has been on my top actors list since his 1970 portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge in Scrooge.

Perhaps the most poinent moment of the movie is when Newton says to Wilberforce, “There are two things I know if my life. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great savior.” While we should celebrate the accomplishments of men like Wilberforce, the real celebration should be for the Man Jesus Christ whose sacrifice on the cross can give every human being the right to say, “I once was lost, but now I am found.” Truly, Amazing Grace!