Merry Christmas!

We are having a good Christmas day here in the Hackman household. Uncle Lee is visiting from Michigan, and everything is more fun with Uncle Lee around.

We went to church last night and attended one service, and then worked the next. Good drama, music, and message. First rate stuff as always.

It snowed last night so we got a white Christmas.

The kids opened their presents with glee. The rest of the morning was spent with Kathryn, Jacob, Lee, and I chasing each other around in Halo 2. I had a moment of greatness. Uncle Lee was shooting at me from the ground and I couldn't get into a strafing position on my airborne banshee to take him out. With little life left, I leaped from the Banshee, landed on Lee, stuck a thermal grenade on him then dove for cover. It was glorious!

Later, Lee and I are going to see AVP II while my wife takes the kids to Alvin and the chipmunks.

However you spend this day, celebrating or not, I wish you the best for now and the coming new year!

Bush Protects Us

This pretty much sums up my view of how Bush perceives the military and public services.




















www.politico.com

More Reverend Billy!

Here is a great interview about what led Bill Talen to create the character of Reverend Billy. If you have not yet seen What would Jesus Buy? -go tonight! Wal-mart has thrown its mighty weight around to prevent this movie from hitting the screen. Stand up and be counted! See this film!

Again with the "right" beliefs

This video is amazing. Reverend Billy gets mocked and chastised by a priest for not believing the "right" things. The priest, in my opinion, is condescending and arrogant. Yet, here is Reverend Billy, who doesn't have the "right" theology speaking graciously to his accuser. I think Billy is hitting the mark on the message of gospel and kingdom much better than the priest.

Thank you Reverend Billy for preaching a message of justice. This seems to be a message our ministers have forgotten in their haste to coerce people into the right club.

Backward Utah Legislature

Senator Howard Stephenson, Republican-Draper takes rudeness and brazeness to an entirely new level. This only happens in locales where people are strict one party voters (republican or democrat) because people like Mr. Stephenson know they can do or say as they please without consequence.

He is making a proposal for 40 million dollars to be spent on educational software for the state of Utah. I am a professed geek, and I love tech, but I also know there is no gee-whizbang software out there that will solve Utah's ills. This money could be spent much better somewhere else. I wonder how Mr. Stephenson is poised to benefit from this.

However, the icing on the cake is his contemptuous attitude toward educators. Here is the article (Deseret News), but I will supply some of his choice quotes :

Stephenson said his proposal is not about controlling funding. It's about exposing teachers to cutting-edge tools that many don't know exist. "(Teachers) are not knowledgeable of what's available."

He said that in past education legislation, when funding is competitively available in the form of grants, educators go after them "like sharks fighting over a fish."

"(I've) learned that educators' drug of choice is grants — they smell grants, and they will move heaven and earth to qualify," Stephenson said.

"If we were to buy licenses and just pass them out they would mostly sit on a shelf, but when you give them their drug of choice they will focus in the optimum way to make sure it works," Stephenson said.

I used to hear statements of this quality come out of the leaders in Detroit when I lived there. They are on the other end of the spectrum - Democrats only. When one party rules, the people lose.

City of Draper, I understand that you will only vote Republican; but there are some Republicans out there who would be worthy to represent you.

Believe it... Believe it...Believe it

In my Orson Scott Card posting, SocietyVs had some great points about belief. He asserted that mere belief is almost pointless; it is the resulting action that counts. If a belief has no practical impact (i.e. it doesn't cause you to love your neighbor, or feed the poor) then he now places it in the category of "non-belief".

I resonate with that, because I was brought up in a Faith community that was all about having the "correct" beliefs lined up; but had little impact on those around us.

I forget what it is like to be in those circles, but I had a reminder today. I keep a channel on my reader open to Mormon Coffee. I rarely see eye to eye with these folks, but it can be an interesting read. Today their post brought home again how, to some Christians, it is all about the right checklist. Here is a passage from today's post. The blog author is responding to a question about how to share your faith with a Mormon without being offensive.

"In that kind of situation I think the best thing you can do is start asking simple questions. “What do you believe about the afterlife?” “What do you believe about the nature of God?” “What do you believe about sin and salvation?” “Do you believe your sins are forgiven?” “Do you have an assurance of eternal life?” You can read the full article here.

This is my opinion, and feel free to chime in, but I think a more effective mode of discourse is for the two people to ask questions together. In the above example, the questioner has the answer and the listener is being led (or coerced) down a given path to a set result.

Hans-Georg Gadamer argued that conversations that do not contain the element of surprise are not really conversations at all. When we begin a truly open dialogue, he said, we let go of the destination; we are not sure where we will be when we are finished. If one party is in control, then no exchange is taking place.

It would seem to me that if you are going to truly converse with someone, then the question must be self-reflective at the same time it is asked. Therefore, instead of asking questions intended to lead or pin someone, might I suggest these questions:

• Does my love for God cause me to love those around me, regardless of religious status, more or less?
• Does my faith cause me to become irritated with those who do not share my views?
  
• Has my faith caused my associations with those not in my faith to broaden or shrink over the years?
  
• Are my studies of scripture challenging any of my imparted views of justice, mercy, and kindness?
  

Evangelicals are so caught up with what people believe. If we want to change the world, we have to put away our formulas.

It is for freedom's sake that Christ has set you free!

What if a T-101 was sent back to protect Him?

What do you say??

This post will probably ramble because I am ill and an emotional mess at the moment. It is traumatic here in the Hackman household tonight.

We have two cats. The one, Duke, has started peeing on various things throughout the house. Last night he peed on a comforter and my wife and I vocalized in front of the children that we may need to get rid of him. Big mistake. They cried and pleaded, pleaded and cried.

I have no desire to get rid of the cat, but he has cost us hundreds of dollars this week. I am a school teacher on a tight budget, and it is really hitting us. Not to mention, we cant live in a house that smells of cat pee.

Tonight Duke peed on the couch. My daughter started sobbing. "Are we going to have to get rid of Duke?" I couldn't respond. She fell into my lap shaking and sobbing (she is 9). The whole family started to cry.

But what she said next through her tears brought down my world.

"Daddy... I don't understand [sob] I prayed so hard last night. I prayed [sob] and prayed [sob] that Duke would stop doing that.... What's wrong?" She could hardly get the words out.

I had no answer for her. Nothing.

I know there are bigger problems in the world. I know there are parents who watched their child die this evening, while they begged and pleaded with God to no avail. Countless prayers for relief from suffering go unheeded worldwide.

But when your daughter is in your lap weeping and brokenhearted and looking to you for an answer, it is hard to put anything into perspective.

I can hear her crying herself to sleep as I type this.

As much as she has church and sunday school and friends, the truth is that most of what she knows of God right now is transfered through me. Am I responsible for setting her up with false hopes? Is she praying desperately (right now) to a God who has no intention, or ability, to answer her prayer?

As as Father, I just want her pain to go away.

Orson Scott Card - You do not speak for me!

Today in the Deseret News, Orson Scott Card wrote a classic straw man argument in his defense of Mormonism and critique of Christianity (He actually makes his straw man talk). These kinds of arguments are made by all sides. We all do it, often without realizing it. Our thoughts seem so self evident, to us, that we cannot anticipate how it will be heard on the other side of the aisle.

Click to read the article here.

I wrote a response in the blog section of the article. Here it is:

The article, though well written, only convinces the convinced. He constructs what Christians believe, and then deconstructs it. Anti-Mormons do this all the time with Mormon theology. As a Christian, I have been told countless times by (some) Mormons what I believe.

For example:

-You don't believe in modern revelation-

Yes I do, I was raised charismatic!

-You believe God is made of 3 people-

No I don't, I have always known they are three distinct persons.

-You believe God does not have a body-

No, I don't CARE whether or not he has a body.

-You follow the Nicene Creed-

Nope again, have never read it, never seen it, and hardly heard of it till I moved out here.

-You are a product of Platonism-

Goodness gracious, the simplest of web searches will show that major chunks of Christianity not only reject this, but aggressively fight it.

I am glad Mr. Card's article gives a shot in the arm to (some of) his Mormon brothers. However, it does not fly outside the Mormon circle for the same reason anti-Mormon stuff doesn’t fly with Mormons.

"The main point of disagreement between Mormons and traditional Christianity is that we believe in the biblical God — the God in whose image we were made, the resurrected Christ with a perfect body of flesh and bone — and they don't." - Orson Scott Card

Spoken like a true Anti!

I can sympathize with Mormons who resent being painted with blunt broad strokes by Antis – It is not pleasant on our end either.

I have always felt it is unwise for a Christian to go to another Christian to learn about Mormon theology. I equally believe a Mormon will get an incorrect view of Christianity if they seek out a Mormon for their information.

What is really wrong with our schools?

On a semi-regular basis, the talking heads on the evening news will discuss what is wrong with American education. If you scan through your paper, there is usually an article or two addressing the topic. What is common, in these talks and articles, is that there is always someone with strong opinions WHO HAS ZERO CONTACT WITH CLASSROOMS. Their solutions are similar to Aristotle's view on gravity, they are based on anecdote, observation, and logic - not experience. By dropping two balls of different weights, Galileo quickly showed that Aristotle's assumptions regarding gravity missed the mark.

This is my 17th year teaching. I have taught in public and private, rich and poor. There are numerous problems I see in education, yet they are rarely addressed by those in power.

Imagine this: I decide to switch careers and head back to college. My goal is physics. I have never taken a class before, but I am eager to start. I go to the registrar's office.

"Hmmmm... you seem to be about 40 years old," she says. "You would look out of place with a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds in Physics 100. Let's put you in a first year graduate program. You would look less out of place there and it would allow you to work with people at your own life stage."

Of course this sounds absurd. This could never happen. Yet, it happens in schools across America everyday.

In the example above, I would, in reality, be put in a Physics 100 class; perhaps a 200 if I tested out. In addition, I would not move on to a higher level of Physics instruction if I failed the previous class. Many classes have pre-requisites.

If I were put into a graduate level physics class as a novice, would I not feel a great sense of frustration? Irritation? Hopelessness? In addition, what would the Professor do with me? His vocabulary and instruction would be too high for my level. Should he stop instruction every 10 minutes so he can work with me? Does he "busy" the other students so he can attend to my level of need? Do I have any hope of catching up to the rest of the class in this disjointed arena when I skipped over the 5 previous classes?

To me, this is one of the great issues facing schools today. Most schools in America place students according to age. This hobbles the students who want to move forward and frustrates the ones who need more time. This causes both ends of the spectrum to misbehave. Bored, but for different reasons.

This is not as big an issue in wealthy areas where students tend to be more homogeneous. But in schools like mine, where most students come from poverty, the variance in student abilities can be enormous.

I teach a sixth grade class. By law, and by the tests hanging over my head, I HAVE to teach the sixth grade core. Few of my students are ready for it. I have a handful who can nearly read at a sixth grade level. Below that I have an even spread... all the way down to the kindergarten level. How does a kindergartener read a 6th grade textbook about the life of a protist? Two-thirds of my class cannot do their times tables. They have to think hard for a solution to 12-7.

Ex-educators, who lead workshops teachers have to attend, tell us that to succeed here we must differentiate our instruction. That means "Teach to each child on their level". The folks who lead these workshops BAILED from the classroom. I tend to not regard their advice highly. In any case, the math simply doesn't work. How do I teach six subjects to 33 different students? in six hours? at 7 different grade levels? everyday? effectively?

You will often hear proponents of the present system say "Every child has a right to instruction at their grade level." I disagree. I say every child has a right to instruction at their learning level.