Monthly Archives: January 2011

January 29, 2011 · 12:51 pm

Jan 29, 1861 – Jan 29, 2011 Happy 150th Birthday to the state of Kansas!

On January 29, 1861 – 150 years ago today – Kansas joined the Union as a free state by vote of Congress. This was a tumulus time – right after Abraham Lincoln had been elected president on Nov 6, but before he took office on March 4th. The news of Kansas becoming the 34th new state was buried by the news that other states were seceding from the Union, and the status of forts in the south – such as Fort Sumter. One of the reasons that Kansas finally entered the Union as a free state was because so many southern congress members were resigning their seats so the no vote did not show up. The Civil War was about to start in April of 1861. The New England Emigrant Aid Society (1854-), in Boston, had talked many men into becoming Kansans so that Kansas would not have slavery in it. 20K of the 30K eligible Kansas men would end up fighting in that terrible war that resulted in the end of slavery.

The Kansa Indians who resided in Kansas were moved to smaller and smaller reservations, and then to Oklahoma, as homesteaders were given 160 acres (there was a $10 filing fee, and an agreement to improve the land for 5 yrs) when the homestead act passed in 1862 – helping to populate the state.

Some of the events to celebrate Kansas Day – a toast to Kansas – at 7 PM EDT – right before the Kansas-K-State basketball game that Kansas is going to win. The Free State Brewery in Lawrence and a facebook event is making this a national event. There is also people making Kansas Day Cakes, which are a lot like birthday cakes, and there are many events of educational nature that are scheduled.

Kansas Stamp Issued Today

Wandering children of Kansas away,
By mountain, by desert, or sea,
Feasting or fasting, at prayer or at play,
Whatever your fortunes may be,
Open the doors of your hearts to the breeze,
Prairie winds never are still,
Hark to the surf in the cottonwood trees,
The breakers that boom on the hill.
Open your soul’s windows-let in the sun-
The prairie sun gay with delight.
Where’er your wandering pathways have run,
Come home tonight.
“A Song for Kansas Day” by William Allen White

Christianity in 2011 – Take 2

I wanted to make sure that I actually said what I intended to say from my last post.

The modern world provides us with many tools to do things that were not available in the world that the Bible was written in.

Instant communication to all nations on a social network is an example of this. In a few hours and an affordable plane ticket I can be in India with somebody pounding on my taxi wanting a few rupees. I can make a micro-loan over the internet that can give a poor family a new income.

On the other hand, a politician can press a button and make an entire city disappear, or a terrorist can put a vial of cheap poison in a city’s water supply, or blow herself up at a Sunday service with a homemade bomb.

JFK is correct that technology (not government, I am not talking about government here, I am interested in technology) can make life miserable or wipe out disease (like Malaria or Polio).

What does the gospel have to say to the billions of people who are on earth who are poor in 2011?

Christianity in 2011

50 years ago this month JFK, in his “Ask Not” speech had this to say about the modern world:

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe—the belief that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God

(by the way the whole speech is worth rereading).

Right.

So now it is 50 years later and there has been no apocolypse and no utopia. Pretty much there is a ton of good that is not being done and a ton of bad that could be done but is not. Technology itself has improved dramatically in those 50 years – and the ability to cheaply kill and cheaply rescue lives has also greatly increased.

How should this impact us as Christians? How is this different from being a Christian in the first century?

I am looking for a conversation here. I will continue this line of thought if anyone comments.

Bye

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January 2, 2011 · 3:28 pm

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

About 3 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year. This blog was viewed about 58,000 times in 2010. If it were the Taj Mahal, it would take about 7 days for that many people to see it.

In 2010, there were 13 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 647 posts.

The busiest day of the year was January 19th with 461 views. The most popular post that day was The 27 Amendments to the United States Constitution.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were eureferendum.blogspot.com, google.com, search.aol.com, facebook.com, and search.conduit.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for 27 amendments, the 27 amendments, 27 amendments to the constitution, all 27 amendments, and what are the 27 amendments of the constitution.