Why so many problems begin with frustrated desire

Every day, headlines assault us with troubling news. These recent titles from a local news website are just a small sampling:

• Two Shotgunned to Death [source]
• Joyriding Gang Member Slain; Crash Injures Family [source]
• Local Soldier Dies in Afghanistan [source]
• School Gets Tough on Commencement Outbursts [source]
• Wife Gets $184 Million in Divorce Ruling [source]

From international to household warfare, roadway to classroom outrage, and mortal to financial loss, such stories reveal our fallen, human propensity to sin.

The cause of these impulsive, sinful outbursts is no secret: When we want what we cannot get, we lash out.

What causes fights and quarrels among

The editors of Leadership journal have posted another incisive commentary on the state of the Church today in their Out of Ur weblog. It’s about how we (in the Western church) have turned the gospel into a pimping enterprise. There’s nothing really new here, it’s the same complaint Bonhoeffer had about “cheap grace.” But the language is, well, provocative. From church planter Jonathan Yarboro:

Today I felt my heart lifted even as my gut was wrenched. Kurt Eichenwald, writing for The New York Times, ditched a traditional rule of journalism by becoming a compassionate part of the story. And The NYT pulled out all the stops, backing him every step of the way. Three cheers for Eichenwald and the NY Times!

Update 12/30/05: Kurt Eichenwald updates us on the aftermath his series of articles have at least temporarily wrought in the online pedophiliac camworld. From the article: “The shutdown of the portals, all of which have been in operation for at least four years, came days after an article in The New York Times described how minors, often with the assistance of their online fans, had begun operating pay pornography sites featuring their own images sent onto the Internet by Webcams.” Child Pornography Sites Face New Obstacles (New

In the Paris News story about the Assembly of God church shooting in Sash, Texas, Debbie Wolfe is quoted, remembering the scene when Sash A/G pastor James Armstrong was killed by the gunman:

“Brother Armstrong’s wife crouched down beside their travel trailer, and I know the man walked back and forth several times shooting. The Lord protected her.”

Can I tell you I am bothered when folks say this?

Does Mrs. Wolfe really mean to imply that God was not protecting Rev. Armstrong? That God was not protecting the other three who were murdered this Sunday?

Not really, I really don’t think that’s what she means.

But the words say it, and people who aren’t native speakers of “church talk” hear a different message than she’s intending to send. (For my part, I think she and others like her simply mean, “The outcome should’ve been different, but God must have had a different purpose