Scott Fillmer » politics

Should Christians Rejoice over the Death of Osama Bin Laden?

Scott Fillmer — Mon, 02 May 2011 20:51:19 +0000

I suppose this is as good a photo of the day post as anything. I took this shot around 11:30pm ET last night with my iPhone and it about says it all. It’s probably the biggest news to hit the “war on terror” in 10 years, but last night as we the country awaited a rare (and almost scary, unknown, speculative, bizarre) live news conference at 11:30pm on a Sunday night I did not share the overwhelming “joy” that Geraldo Rivera had or the giddy, almost tailgate-ish rejoicing, in the street in front of the white house and at ground zero. Yes, it was a victory for the United States, yes, it was necessary in the same way it was necessary to rid the world of Hitler or the like, but a time to a time to jump up and down like the U.S. just won an olympic event? No.

On a side note… this “War on Terror” is unlike previous wars where we can clearly define a victor, or a even when victory has occurred. That’s because this war is not a war over territory, or resources, but ideologies and ultimately at it’s base root, it’s a holy war. Those who don’t see the religious side can parse out the war to a way of life, or political freedom, but ask an Israeli and you might get a different answer than the average Joe Smith waving a flag in front of the White House. Because of this, the war on terror will not end until the second coming of Christ.

The Wisdom of the Psalms

So, from a Christian perspective, I just don’t see anything that teaches us to be joyful in the death of an enemy. In fact, it says just the opposite in Proverbs 24:17-18. This section of Proverbs represents the “Thirty Sayings” of “the wise” as clearly indicated in Proverbs 22:20, which covers from Proverbs 22:17 to 24:22. Proverbs 24:17-18 is the twenty-eighth saying, and where 15-16 are aimed at the wicked over the righteous, 17-18 is talking about the righteous gloating over the downfall of the wicked. Maybe rejoicing in the street or on TV isn’t gloating but to me that’s just semantics.

17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, 18 lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him. (ESV)

On the practical side, verse 17 tells us not to rejoice when our enemy falls and verse 18 tells us why, because God may turn around and bless our enemy, making us even more miserable. If that isn’t enough, God actually tells us that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), and if God takes no pleasure in the death of Osama Bin Laden, than neither should we. The bible clearly indicates that God will “punish sin and vindicate his holiness and justice… but God also feels sorrow over the punishment and death of creatures created in His image” (ESV notes on Ezekiel 33:11). God would rather the wicked repent of their sins and live than die in their own sins without forgiveness.

Although this must be an almost impossible task for those who had family members killed on 9-11 (or the USS Cole or any of the other terrorist acts) by the hand of Osama Bin Laden, I find it hard to rejoice over the death of a (seemingly) lost and unrepentant soul. Rather we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44). As impossible as this may sound, Jesus gave us the example and did this very same thing as he went to the cross.

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Air Force One on Takeoff for Tuesday’s Election

Tumble — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 22:44:00 +0000

The photo of the day today is a shot I took of Air Force One on it’s takeoff run at Las Vegas McCarran Airport a while back. With the elections taking place tomorrow I thought this would be an appropriate shot, but we are also trying to get to a place where we can watch the Space Shuttle launch tomorrow as well, so it served two purposes today. If we get to the Space Coast I will post some photos on Twitter and here, but I am sure we won’t get as close to the shuttle as I was able to get here with AF1. For additional aviation photos you can check out some of my shots at http://www.planephoto.net as well.

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Does Freedom Mean Allowing Idiots to Burn the Quran?

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:19:41 +0000

I am truly amazed at how much press Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Florida is receiving for it’s planned burning of the Quran, or as they put it “International Burn a Koran Day” planned for this Saturday, September 11th. It truly shows how a message, any message good or bad, can spread in our world today. This is a 50 member “church” in a small town. Fifty members. How many millions of dollars will other churches (with far better messages) spend to get their message out, and much of the time with little effect. Our church, and many others like it, are helping to change lives locally, and all the way over in Africa, but that isn’t news of course.

Sometimes it is the “shock-and-awe” that makes a message go viral, and their message, Terry Jones’ message, has reached every corner of the earth at this point thanks to Hilary Clinton, Gen. David Petraeus, Attorney General Eric Holder, CNN, Fox News (Orlando), and every high profile person who mentions the Quran burning. Even the Vatican (multiple times) and the White House has weighed in, all giving semi-credibility to this tiny little “outreach center” and their “look at us burning” party.

Other churches have tried this, like the one in North Carolina who created a sign that said “The Koran Needs to be Flushed” and was later forced to leave the SBC. If you dig into “Dove World Outreach” you will see they are a “church” who is mainly focused on the “shock-and-awe” of Islam, not on teachings of Christ and Christianity.

What I haven’t read in any of these reports however is that no matter how much stupidity they claim as their own, the lack of any true sensical Christian message they offer, and the Adolph-Hitler-Natzi-like event this seems to be, this country has fought to allow these freedoms, even if we don’t like them. We don’t fight for only those freedoms we like, but for all freedoms within the law. What would dilute their message today is to heavily vet “Dove World”, Terry Jones, and their other fifty members. Their Facebook page alone is enough to discredit them, and their “about” information for their church shows no focus on any doctrinal beliefs of Christ, yet, today, shock-and-awe wins out.

I do not use the term “idiot” lightly. The dictionary definition says this is “someone who acts in a self-defeating or significantly counterproductive way”, and this is exactly what this group of 50 are doing, in many different aspects, but, in this country, they have the freedom to act like idiots, and others in turn have the freedom to condemn their actions as idiotic.

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The Pop-Culture Glenn Beck Religion and Theology

Scott Fillmer — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:22:23 +0000

Linus in his great wisdom instructs Lucy well, sound theology is a great comfort to the mind, but I wonder how that would be written in the 21st century. I try to read a small dose of poetry every day in my quest to understand this complex and powerful form of literature, and this one, “Theology” by Paul Laurence Dunbar was so funny, sad, and true, I had to share it today. Some days it seems there is such a Christianity culture shift going on in our country that Christians themselves are trying to re-write what it means to be a Christian.

The New Hipster Christian

Each generation sort of does this and re-defines how they see the Church and tries to make it their own, which is fine, better to revive and revitalize the church than leave it all together (which many young people have done too). The danger is when we re-write the Gospel message to meet our pop-culture needs, and turn Christianity into our own personal Jesus (as Depeche Mode put it about a decade ago). Christian theology isn’t something a generation can choose to define, it was defined for us, by Jesus himself.

A recent article in Christianity Today by Brett McCracken entitled “Hipster Faith” (also from his book Hipster Christianity) put it so well. This pretty much nails it.

It’s [hipster Christianity] a world where things like the Left Behind book and film series, Jesus fish, and door-to-door evangelism are relevant only as a source of irony or nostalgia. It’s a world where Braveheart youth-pastor analogies are anathema, where everyone agrees that they wish Pat Robertson “weren’t one of us” and shares a collective distaste for the art for Thomas Kinkade. The latest incarnation of a decades-long collision of “cool” and “Christianity” is in large part a rebellion against the very subculture that birthed it.

It’s a rebellion against old-school evangelicalism and its fuddy-duddy legalism, apathy about the arts, and pitiful lack of concern for social justice. It’s about a rebellion against George W. Bush-style Christianity: American flags in chruches, the Ten Commandments in courtrooms, and evagelical leaders who get too involved in conservative politics, such as James Dobson and Jerry Falwell.

They prefer to call themselves “Christ-followers” rather than “Christians.” They cringe at the thought of an altar call, and the prospect of passing out tracts gives them nightmares.

Nothing is inherently wrong there except I do find that the “hipster Christians” do not give anyone the respect they deserve, like the aforementioned Dobson and Falwell, but I don’t see them giving due respect to hardly any of their “elders” per-say. They may disagree with the method (I always hated the thought of door-to-door myself) but much of their theology is very sound. We all far pray to our own culture, it is just part of being alive. You can follow me and my exploits around on Twitter just like you can McCracken, but where do we get our theology today.

Theology, Get it Wherever You Like

So they/we get theology from CCM (Christian Contemporary Music), and the pop-trends of the day. The latest craze that includes us older generations with Glenn Beck (see Beck Wants to Lead, But Will Evangelicals Follow? and a great article by Dr. Russell Moore God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck, and for another look, And Glenn Beck Shall Lead Them). Beck calls for a return to God, and then on Chris Wallace’s program (see video) Beck made it quite clear that he totally understands the Gospel message, and the differences between the LDS Church (Mormon Church) and Christianity. Sometimes it seems that the only ones who can’t see the difference, and there are plenty of differences, are us Christians.

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

I guess the question is, who are we looking to for our theological base and teaching, Beck? I don’t want to just pick on Beck, I like his show. While he is a super pop-culture-talking-head and has many good points, should we really be taking our theology from Beck? He would probably even say that’s not a good idea. Luckily, Christians today can go right to the source and skip all the middle men. The unchanging God of Abraham is still there for us. We are the ones who change, not Him.

I was going to post the poem, “Theology” by Paul Laurence Dunbar here as well but this post is too long already, so look for it in the next post shortly.

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Protesters for Tax Day Tea Party in Auburn Photos

Scott Fillmer — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:49:55 +0000

Today all across the country people came out to protest the taxes and spending our government started months ago and has continued into present day. After flipping through the mainstream media outlets, even CNN, I have determined that they just don’t get it. They portray this to be a GOP or Republican thing and they are so far from understanding that people are fed up with our government overspending, growing larger and larger, and more importantly today, ever-increasing the taxation (in various forms) its citizens.

The media downplayed the Tax Day Tea Parties as insignificant and just noise that only a few loons from the far right would attend but in city after city thousands of people have gathered to say enough is enough. Even the Texas governor this morning said he was personally going to three different Tea Parties in the state of Texas, and as governors go, Texas holds a mighty powerful position in the Union.

It started out with large cities like Boston and Atlanta but soon enough there were small rural towns, and yes, even Auburn University, who played host to a local Tea Party. Below are just a few of the images from the Tea Party in Auburn today out in front of the University library. Sadly, even the signs were censored as you will see below. One of the guys holds up the sign that says “Stop Over Spending” was told he could not hold up his sign, which originally said “Stop Obama Spending”. He was made to cross out the Obama reference and told he couldn’t say that?

I guess Bush did do a bit of spending before he left office but come on, this guy should be able to hold up a sign that has the word Obama on it? Like no one ever made a sign that had BUSH on it with far more hateful things than that. Oh well, such is life in 2009.

Here are some of the photos from today’s protest (thanks Deb).

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I Voted Today, Did You? The Fate of the USA Rests With You

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 18:08:15 +0000

Today both Deb and I used the freedom we have in this country to vote. I hope you did as well, it is one of the things that makes this country great. Doesn’t matter who you voted for, just as long as you exercized your right to vote.

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Jill Greenberg Photos of The Manipulator Political Pornography?

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:26:39 +0000

Sometimes it really amazes me who is called a photographer and who isn’t. Photography takes on many many forms from journalist to fine artist and everything in between. When one photographer is able to garner the spotlight of the news for political purposes, such as what Jill Greenberg has done this week with her photo shoot with John McCain, purposely misleading her client, has done harm to the profession of photography for all photographers.

Outside of that, for someone to manipulate an image to the extent that Jill Greenberg has done, takes photography out of the work and inserts something else. One person put it on the news last night, what Jill Greeberg has done is political pornography, which is an insult to pornographers. I was so disgusted by the images she posted on her website and that were shown on Fox News and CNN that I don’t know how anyone can call her a photographer. In the end, at least the Atlantic Monthly has apologized for her representing their magazine, but they shouldn’t have to do that, a photographer should work in a professional manner, no matter what the subject.

The editor of The Atlantic Monthly said Monday he is sending a letter of apology to John McCain after a woman the magazine hired to photograph the Republican presidential nominee posted manipulated pictures from the photo shoot on her Web site. Photographer Jill Greenberg, who is vehemently anti-Republican and expressed glee that the photos would stir up conservative ire, took pictures of McCain for the cover of The Atlantic’s October issue.

Did anyone even notice that this woman is Canadian? There seem to be so many non-U.S. citizens that seem to want to influence the election, and these are the tactics I guess are needed to do just what she has done, but she has done a true dis-service to all photographers at this point. If you look at it from a blogging perspective or google, she has accomplished exactly what she wanted… to create a fire storm of media attention (and bloggers, see Jill Greenberg Is Not Afraid To Dump All Her Clients At Once, Low blow, The Atlantic should have Googled Jill Greenberg before hiring her, and Fallout From Jill Greenberg’s McCain Images just to name a few) to her disgusting manipulations of the photography profession.

What new mountains of paper work will form from her stunt that will have to be signed, released, political backgrounds checked and so on. Most photographers I have met would never behave in this manner at all, and I am glad she doesn’t represent me or any photographers that I know. So that is my rant on the business of photography. I have yet to find someone on either side of the political isle that is willing to defend her actions, I hope none arise.

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Internet Smear Campaign Against Sarah Palin is Crazy

Scott's Misc — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:16:34 +0000

Sarah Palin is currently undergoing a smear campaign on the Internet like I have never seen before. It is really just incredible to see how sharp the attacks on Palin are and how baseless these smears are in real facts. Is there a good reason for this? Is the left, far left, democrats, independents, people in general really that scared of this woman?

I will have to agree with a recent blog post I read (see Politics and… by Fluidity) that this all shows our divisions, but they can’t be expected to just go away with someone like Palin, she stands for something, she isn’t luke-warm. I just hope Palin doesn’t read blogs like bloggers do.

Still, I have not seen any of the hatred being spewed out over Joe Biden, no one is just killing themselves to be the first to get nude photos of Obama or McCain only Palin of course since she is a woman. Are these people disappointed that she is not some homely looking feminist woman that only wears a pants suit while telling everyone to just get along? To these bloggers I say, you really don’t get it. This is what middle America wants. A smart woman that can buck the system, raise her children, have a moral basis, doesn’t look like some butch tree hugger, and can relate to the “regular” person who deals with life’s problems just like she does. And while we may not all be a part of middle America, it encompasses a lot of people in this country.

Find the dirt, the naked photos, the illegitimate children, the affair, the miserable part of Palin’s life if it exists. You know what, maybe it actually doesn’t? People today are so quick at trying to pull out all the skeletons from the other person’s closet, who cares about the ones piled up in their own house.

A total and complete denial, disregard, ignorance of Matthew 7:2-4 when dealing with those in public view and even those who are not. Yes, she should be ready for this, this is politics in America in 2008, but how much defamation of character, libel, slander, and vilification should one person expect to be able to handle?

Matthew7:2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

At least Obama yesterday came out and said to back off, that her family should be off limits as is the case with most candidates. Blogs today can give any nut job a voice, which actually is great, that just means that I have the same freedom to post whatever I want on my own blog (of course I may be one of those nut jobs too). I at least make an attempt to post verified facts, and if it is an opinion, I try to say so, or at least make it obvious. The bloggers are on an all out smear campaign of Palin based in totally false statements and no basis of fact. I hope people who read these “news” stories or blog posts realize that and try to look at her candidacy objectively for what it is, a down to earth person who is now knee deep in the dirt of politics, at least that is how I see it here on this blog.

The real funny thing to me is that all these people that keep posting all these terrible things about Sarah Palin are really just helping her cause and ultimately her campaign. The graph from Google Trends above is just the start (look at the bottom graph, flat line to a straight line up). “They” are all talking about her. Blogs, news, radio, tv, commercials, the coffee house, the water cooler, they are talking about her as the possible VP, and this just empowers her in today’s media.

Not totally the same thing but I can’t imagine people doing this to Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis? I understand she was not running for VP, but she was a woman in politics? What about the two democratic woman that came before Palin? I have respect for them just the same, but it doesn’t seem to go both ways on the Internet today. So if you want to empower her in the media, just keep talking about Palin. I don’t see it helping Biden? What do you think, how much slander should one politician have to handle? All of it I guess.

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Results of Rick Warren Interview With Obama and McCain?

Scott's Misc — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 14:09:09 +0000

Sure, this is old news by now since the interview was a few days ago, but I am still thinking about the how and why of it all. From Saddleback Church in Lake Forrest, CA on Aug. 16, 2008, pastor Rick Warren interviewed the two Presidential candidates (AP Photo/Alex Brandon of McCain, Warren, and Obama left) on live, nationally broadcast television.

On a night that had just about nothing on other than the Olympics, Fox News and CNN both carried the interview live from Saddleback Church (see full written transcripts from the interview here). From other fellow faith based blogs, I knew the interview was coming, but I think it ended up being larger than anyone originally thought. So what was the result?

Prior to the interview, Warren contacted many of his fellow pastors to ask their opinion of what questions he should ask the candidates. Those pastors then blogged about it, asking their readers what they thought Warren should ask. I read a ton of blogs (see my faith based blogroll here), so watching this progress through the Internet was interesting.

I have read everything from pandering from the evangelical far far right to blasting of corruption of everything by Rick Warren from who knows what side, to down right condemnation of Warren and his life (see Rick Warren warranted). [The only reason I actually referenced that post is to show a point of view that is how some feel in the "mainstream", from outside a faith based circle. His statements are by no means backed up by fact and basically is just a dig at Warren, but he isn't alone.]

Did We Learn Anything from the Warren Interview?

So, did we learn anything from this. Was your vote changed? You still had two choices before and two choices after, and I have to admit, I was flipping on the commercials over to the rip roaring woman’s marathon (shown in its entirety). I have to say, the questions were not the typical stump speech softballs. There were some softballs thrown, but the questions were different, as they should have been, but I don’t know if I really gained any insight into McCain or Obama that I couldn’t have already guessed.

The initial results show that evangelicals were favorable of McCain’s answers. Well that is hard hitting news there. I did like several of his answers to questions I probably wouldn’t have heard without the interview, but does that change a person’s vote, or was it even supposed to?

So, What’s The Point? Did We Change Our Minds?

I guess what I am trying to figure out is, what is or what was the point? I know Warren said to be able to fairly show the sides of two people running for the most powerful office in the world that we don’t normally get to see… but is it going to change your vote?

I have a lot of respect for Warren, and I don’t always agree with him or some of the other super-star pastors of our time, but he did get a commanding audience, he pulled at least a solid few hours of prime time news, his church got a lot of publicity, he probably sold a few more books, and Constantina Diá-Tomescu of Romania became the oldest woman to ever win the gold in the woman’s marathon.

Rick Warren has done something that many churches are just unable to do, reach an audience capacity on a nation wide level, even internationally on this venue, and for that, I think his work with this interview and other avenues he has followed are well worth it. There are many people that have a smaller reach, but a reach that I couldn’t possibly have (one example being Ragamuffinsoul, he just does things I couldn’t do in the faith).

But… did anyone make a meaningful commitment to Jesus Christ? Well, I guess that wasn’t the point.

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Christian Photographer Who Refused Gay Wedding Lost Lawsuit

Scott's Misc — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:34:36 +0000

In January 2008 Elane, a freelance photographer who owns Elane Photography, refused to shoot a gay wedding between two woman and was later sued by Vanessa Willock for discrimination against a person’s sexual orientation. Elane has now lost the lawsuit and is appealing the ruling by the New Mexico State Human Rights Commission.

So, anything goes now, it’s official. Now I understand from the start of this article that I live in Alabama, where I would probably be sued if I did take wedding photography of a gay marriage, but this is just over the edge. This article is not about gay marriage, really. It is about the freedoms you have as a small business owner, and citizen of this country called America. Today, most of you are almost automatically bias and on a “side” depending on your current life situation, but still, this is really out of hand.

Vanessa Willock vs Elane Photography [HRD# 06-12-20-0685]

This morning while getting ready for service, I started reading my usual list of blogs and news articles when I came across the most ridiculous story I have seen in quite some time. In New Mexico there is a woman who has a wedding photography business called Elane Photography.

She was asked to shoot a wedding between two woman (one being Vanessa Willock, a professor at UNM) in New Mexico. When she refused to take the job saying she only shoots “traditional” weddings, she was sued.

Ok, nothing new here in this day and time I guess. Sad, but typical. In this country now, anyone can sue anyone for any reason at all, but one big difference in this case, she lost. The NM Human Rights Division found her guilty and required to pay damages. (See now also the Elaine Photography Case before the Human Rights Commission in the State of New Mexico, and their Final Ruling, see also the Alliance Defense Fund Fact Sheet for Elane Photography.)

Vanessa Willock Was Laying in Wait, it Seems

The gay couple who wanted Elane’s photography services, filed this complaint, but it looks like she was just waiting for someone to turn her down. Turns out of course that along with working for UNM, Ms. Vanessa Willock is also an EEO Compliance Representative with the Office of Equal Opportunity.

What does she do there? She investigates claims of discrimination and sexual harassment for the state, and to top it off, she is also a member of the Diversity Committee at the University of New Mexico. All that begs the question of the motives Willock has or had when trying to hire this photographer and a case could be made that she was just waiting for someone to say no!

New Mexico Now Picking Your Clients?

Last time I checked we still lived in a free country? This is not some big organization under equal opportunity laws, this is a two person husband and wife photography business. I don’t know anyone that does freelance work that is required to take a job, but now the state of New Mexico is telling this couple what business clients they have to accept!

News West 9: The state Human Rights Commission ruled in April that Elane Photography violated the Human Rights Act by discriminating against Vanessa Willock on the basis of sexual orientation.

Willock contended Albuquerque photographer Elaine Huguenin told her that she photographed only traditional marriages.

I don’t really care what the issue is pertaining to, how in the world can the state tell a two person business what clients they can and can’t take. I know there are a ton of photographers who have refused certain jobs for one reason or another. What happened if the “minister” refused to marry them (unlikely I know, they would have hand picked her) on the basis of Paul’s letter to the Romans or something. Is the state going to “force” religious institutions now to marry people just because the state says it is ok?

Any small business can be sued for any reason if they refuse their services to anyone now I guess. What ever happened to “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone”? Guess those days are long gone and the only thing that remains is the actual sign on the business door.

A free marketplace dictates that if one business refuses, another will receive that business. You know, Supply and demand, expenses, profit, all that business type stuff. Obviously the money is less important to Elane Photography than the issue, so just take your business somewhere else. Do we have to sue EVERYONE now?

New Mexico Getting Slammed for Good Reason

I guess this is where New Mexico wants to be. Apparently there are also 20 others states that have these types of refusal laws in place. You take one tiny, and I mean TINY minority (the gay population is said to be around 2%) of any kind, doesn’t matter what it is, their rights supersede those of everyone else. There are so many issues with this particular case it is hard to know what to pick on, but leave it up to the bloggers and they will do a good job as always. So, blogs and news sites galore are slamming New Mexico for good reason. Just to name a few, we have:

and it really just goes on and on. I am sorry, but how stupid are these people on the New Mexico commission or the state in total for putting these ridiculous laws in place and for telling a two person business what clients they have to take. Not only is the state telling me how to run my business but they are requiring someone to do something that is against their religious principles in favor of something that most people in this country are against in the first place.

Have You as a Photographer Ever Refused a Job?

So, I know there are tons of Christian Wedding photographers out there. Are you going to do a wedding because the state tells you to? I really don’t care what the issue is, gay marriage, the intelligence level of the bride/groom, green men from mars, who cares, you own your own business so you can take the clients you want to take, right?

Well, the suit is now up for appeal and The Alliance Defense Fund‘s appeal asks the state district court to reverse the commission’s decision and dismiss Willock’s complaint.” Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and Ms Willock will have to pay for her own expenses and this won’t set a precedent across the states, making it illegal to not work, if that is the choice you make.

Update :: You can also see additional information at Willock vs Elane Photography Refusing Gay Wedding Update