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The Slav's Blog about anything relating to the great game of baseball
- and other less important issues from outside the diamond.
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I agree with this wholeheartedly BTW. I wish they had cited the research for those who do not believe this to be true, because it is compelling. That doesn't mean that people who do not believe would read it, but.....I'm just saying.
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Is this tweet at least subtly racist, or am I missing something? Oh, I forgot, you can trash white folks until the cows come home, my bad. And we're supposed to have a conversation with folks who puke out shit like this? Please, spare me!!
What an amazing, awesome life story. Not a sports story and certainly not a baseball story, but if baseball is a game of redemption (and I believe it is) than we need to know what the word means. The definition is personified in the narrative of Chuck Colson's life story.
from Google:
re·demp·tion/riˈdempSHən/
Noun:
1. The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil: "God's plans for the redemption of his world".
2. A thing that saves someone from error or evil: "his marginalization from the Hollywood jungle proved to be his redemption".
Justice Fellowship Remembers Chuck Colson
by Ryan Sanders|April 23, 2012
Evangelical Christianity lost one of its most eloquent and influential voices on Saturday, April 21, 2012 with the passing of Charles W. “Chuck” Colson. After a brief illness, Colson passed away at a Northern Virginia hospital with his wife and family at his bedside.
Colson journeyed from obstructing justice to justice reform -- spending almost four decades as a champion for prison ministry, criminal justice reform and worldview teaching."
Justice Fellowship was founded by Colson in 1983 as an outgrowth of his ministry in prisons, Prison Fellowship. As he worked to help prisoners transform through the truth and power of Jesus Christ, Colson realized a second emphasis was also needed -- to help transform the injustices within our criminal justice system.
Colson’s call for alternative punishments for non-violent offenders was often effective because Colson’s conservative credentials enabled him to line up conservative legislators in support of what had traditionally been seen as a liberal set of reforms.
“…all my achievements meant nothing in God’s economy.
No, the real legacy of my life was my biggest failure—
that I was an ex-convict.
My greatest humiliation – being sent to prison –
was the beginning of God’s greatest use of my life…
only when I lost everything I thought made Chuck Colson a great guy
had I found the true self God intended me to be and the true purpose of my life.
It is not what we do that matters,
but what a sovereign God chooses to do through us.
God doesn’t want our success;
He wants us.
He doesn’t demand our achievements;
He demands our obedience…
Victory comes through defeat;
Healing through brokenness;
Finding self through losing self.”1
Redemption – it is an old word that hearkens back to a time when slaves could be bought by benefactors to be granted freedom; and when poor prisoners languishing helplessly in decrepit debtor’s jails could be released free and clear by someone gratuitously paying off their debts. Nowadays we tend to think of redemption as something we can do for ourselves, as in compensating for our failures by becoming more successful; or by overcoming our weaknesses through continuous self-improvement and self-control.
Over the years, I’ve met a lot of people around the world who saw in Chuck Colson a man who redeemed himself from the Watergate scandal by doing good for others. It took many of those people a few years to come to such a conclusion because they viewed his “jailhouse religion” as a gimmick that would not last very long. Admittedly, when I first heard Chuck Colson tell the story of his newfound faith I was among the skeptics. Yet there was something very compelling about his upside down view of God working more poignantly through human brokenness and weakness than through power and achievement. I soon realized that Chuck’s story was not that of a man trying to clamber and claw his way back into respectability and success. It was instead, a provocative story that saw him returning to the places of his own brokenness and humiliation – prison.
---- from Worldmag.com http://www.worldmag.com/articles/19419 Setting captives free
Remembering the life and legacy of Watergate operative, ex-con, and Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson | Emily Belz
WASHINGTON—When President Richard Nixon's knee-capper went to prison after pleading guilty to a Watergate-related crime, he touched off one of the most compelling stories of conversion and a redeemed life in the modern American church.
......
Colson started his career as a hard-nosed political giant whom Nixon once told to "break all the [expletive] china" to get a job done. But he became a giant for a generation of evangelical Christians. After serving time in prison, he founded Prison Fellowship, a Christian ministry to inmates and their families that has grown into the largest prison ministry in the world—with programs in nearly all U.S. prisons and in 115 countries. An avid writer and speaker, Colson also shaped the church's dialogue about religious freedom, culture, marriage, and abortion.
....
During the Watergate scandal, Colson's self assurance and religious apathy broke one night after a Christian businessman and friend, Tom Phillips, prayed for him. Phillips read this passage to Colson from C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity: "Pride always means enmity—it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God. ... As long as you are proud you cannot know God."
Colson said in his bestselling memoir Born Again that the passage described him exactly and precipitated his conversion. Prominent members of The Fellowship—Doug Coe and Sen. Harold Hughes—discipled him in his early faith, along with Reformed theologian R.C. Sproul. When Colson's conversion became public, many doubted the sincerity of Nixon's "hatchet man." One columnist wrote, "If he isn't embarrassed by this sudden excess of piety, then surely the Lord must be."
In June 1974 Colson pled guilty to attempting to spread damaging information about Ellsberg and obstructing justice. The judge sentenced Colson to one to three years in prison. At the time Nixon sent him a handwritten note saying Watergate would become a "footnote in history," and the country would remember Colson fondly. Though Watergate isn't yet a footnote, Nixon was right about Colson's reputation.
At a federal prison in Alabama, Colson the inmate found a small but steadily growing Christian group within the walls, as he recounts in Born Again. Upon his release seven months later, he decided to start a prison ministry. The logo since Prison Fellowship's earliest days has featured a bent reed, referencing Isaiah 42:3: "A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not snuff out." It reflected Colson's belief that no one—not the most hardened criminal nor the most egotistical Washingtonian—was beyond hope.
Prison, on the other hand, was not rehabilitating, Colson said he learned, but rather a "steady, gradual corrosion of a man's soul."
"A lot of people falsely accuse Chuck of being overly political—but Chuck's whole emphasis has been to say that the root problem is a spiritual problem," said Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and a close personal friend. George and Colson wrote a column together for many years in Christianity Today. "He was an evangelist at his deepest heart ... but he realized that preaching the gospel is not just dropping tracts from a blimp."
As Prison Fellowship got off the ground in the late 1970s, the Moral Majority also formed, and criminal justice wasn't on the agenda. "When Chuck would go around and talk about prisoners and prison reform, it was a splash of cold water," said Cromartie. "Chuck was pricking the evangelical conscience" and making sure that "the most forgotten people in our society" weren't forgotten. He later began Justice Fellowship, a public policy arm to push for criminal justice reforms.
When people think of Colson, "First they think of Watergate," said Robert George. "They'll think of Chuck as an activist, an organizer, and institution grower. What is often overlooked is Chuck as an intellectual leader" springing from his "high view of the relationship of reason and faith."
In 2010, Colson, Robert George, and Timothy George (no relation) composed the Manhattan Declaration, a statement of the church's values on marriage, religious freedom, and abortion that half a million people since have signed, including evangelical, Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican leaders.
Colson penned the now well known last lines of the Manhattan Declaration: "We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."
In his final speech, he challenged the Wilberforce audience concerning public hostility toward Christians, saying, "If things are bad, don't think it's going to be solved by an election. It's going to be solved by us."
But he warned his audience not to listen to caricatures of Christians: "We're also seen as wanting to impose our views on people. Don't let them tell you that. We don't impose anything. We propose. We propose an invitation to the wedding feast, to come to a better way of living. A better way of life. It's the great proposal."
I wanted to get into the story of Josh Hamilton and how great it was during the World Series, but of course, the Rangers did not cooperate by exiting early so I had to wait for another opportunity.
Winning the American League MVP award seems like a good enough second opportunity.
It is, in almost every way that I can see, a story of redemption.
Just like the Michael Vick story.
Just like your story.
Just like my story.
In many ways, it is in fact intertwined with "The Greatest Story Ever Told".
It's a story we should never tire of hearing about.
Regardless of who the story is about.
A British evangelist by the name of Leonard Ravenhill once said:
"The wonder of the grace of God is that God can take an unholy man out of an unholy world, make that man holy, then put him back into that unholy world and keep him holy in it."
That is the story of both Michael Vick and Josh Hamilton. Period. End of story.
Both are practical demonstrations of the gospel of the grace of God!
The frustration that comes from those who lie in wait for a relapse, so they can sit in judgement -- like God among men -- and say "gotcha", miss the point.
The point is made poignantly by Mr. Ravenhill in a sermon titled 'It is Finished' made shortly before his death in 1994.
In it Ravenhill refers to the phrase 'It is Finished' as the 'three most important words in history'. Further, he refers to these words as 'The Greatest Words Ever Uttered, By the Greatest Man That Ever Lived'.
Those are pretty bold statements. Let's see how he backs them up.
Again, going down that road the people mocked Him - that's what the Bible says. "They that passed by reviled Him wagging their heads." What a bunch of dumb, blind, senseless folk. If Caesar comes down the road they bow the knee and say, "Hail, Caesar."
If the priest comes, they stand in awe. But, you see, He not only was, He IS. In this mad, insane, world in which we live, HE STILL IS DISPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN.
We shouldn't put our tongue in our cheek and say this in a whisper. We ought to shout this from the house top. To a world that is groping in darkness we ought to proclaim with a trumpet voice, "It is FINISHED,
you can't buy salvation,
you can't crawl on your knees through the holy city,
you can't go on a pilgrimage,
you can't offer your righteousness,
there is nothing you can do, but bow in humility and confess and accept it."
So it really is a simple process -- this redemption thing.
Have faith, be humble, repent or confess of what you did wrong and and turn away from it.
Seems to me like that is the process that both guys have gone through and are continuing to go through daily. It's between them and God at this point. Not for us mere mortals to come between.
We all should have our own problems to work on don't we?
In his book "The People of the Lie" author M. Scott Peck walks through some of the issues. And they are a bundle of paradoxes.
I started reading this book (highly recommend it to all) when the Vick issue initially came to a boil and I am fortunate that within our church family and community groups we hear about and examine these issues routinely.
I don't pretend to have total understanding of all the issues, however, in the process of examining, I feel like I am coming to a better understanding than I had before. For that, I am very grateful.
In the Introduction of the book -- titled "Handle with Care" -- Peck makes some rather bold declarative statements about evil, recognizing it and dealing with it.
The first thing he says is:
- This is a dangerous book
- evil people are easy to hate
- remember Saint Augustine's advice to hate the sin but love the sinner
- Remember when you recognize an evil person that truly, "There but for the grace of God go I"
- We cannot begin to hope to heal human evil until we are able to look at it directly
- judgments need to be made about people
- such judgments cannot be made safely unless we begin by judging and healing ourselves.
He concludes by saying the "battle to heal human evil always begins at home. And self-purification will always be our greatest weapon."
He goes on, in the last chapter titled "The Danger and the Hope" to talk about
The Danger of Making Moral Judgement:
Even atheists and agnostics believe in Christ's words: "Judge not, that ye be not judged.".....
If we examine the matter closely, however, we will see that it is both impossible and itself evil to totally refrain from making moral judgments. And attitude of "I'm OK; you're OK" may have a certain place in facilitating our social relationships, but only a place.
Was Hitler OK? Lieutenant Calley? Jim Jones?...
What kind of father would I be if I discovered my son cheating, lying or stealing and failed to criticize him? What should I tell a friend who is planning suicide or a pateint who is selling heroin? "You're OK"? There is a such a thing as an excess of sympathy, an excess of tolerance, an excess of permissiveness.
The fact of the matter is that we cannot lead decent lives without making judgments in general and moral judgments in particular....
You and I go through our day making decisions that are judgments, most of which have moral overtones. We cannot escape from judging.
The sentence "Judge not, that ye be not judged" is usually quoted out of context. Christ did not enjoin us to refrain from ever judging. What he went on to say in the next four verses is that we should judge ourselves before we judge others-not that we shouldn't judge at all.
"Thou hypocrite." he said, "first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."
Recognizing the potential for evil in moral judgments, he instructed us not to always avoid making them but to purify ourselves before doing so. Which is where the evil fail. It is the self-criticism they avoid.
The Dangers in Perspective:
The major threats to our survival no longer stem from nature without but from our own nature within. It is our carelessness, our hostilities, our selfishness and pride and willful ignorance that endanger the world. Unless we can now tame and transmute the potential for evil in the human soul, we shall be lost.
And how can we do this unless we are willing to look at our own evil with the same thoroughness, detached discernment, and rigorous methodology to which we subjected the external world?
The Solution?
Peck touches on the need to recognize the concept of Banality of Evil -- noted by Hannah Ahrendt in her book about former Nazi Adolph Eichmann -- and it's close link to the deception -- in many cases the self-deception -- of The People of the Lie. Peck notes in conclusion in the final chapter
A Methodology of Love:
...we are all in combat against evil.
...if our passion is great enough, we may even be willing to blow ourselves up in the process of "stomping out" evil.
But we run up against the old problem that the end does not justify the means.
If we kill those who are evil, we will become evil ourselves; we will be killers. If we attempt to deal with evil by destroying it, we will end up destroying ourselves, spiritually if not physically.
What to do then?....we must begin by giving up the simple notion that we can effectively conquer evil by destroying it.
Are we to throw up our hands - to regard the problem of evil as being inherently insoluble? Hardly. That would be meaningless. It is in the struggle between good and evil that life has its meaning - and in the hope that goodness can succeed. That hope is our answer: goodness can succeed. Evil can be defeated by goodness. When we translate this we realize what we dimly have always known: Evil can be conquered only by love.
It sounds so simple, so obvious. Then why don't we practice what we preach more? The problem is that although a simple concept in theory, it is difficult to put into practice. Peck calls it a "paradox" and a "dynamic balance of opposites" or a tightrope walk between making easy versus difficult choices.
He compares it to the paradox parents face raising a child. If a parent rejects all misbehavior, that is unloving. But to tolerate all misbehavior is equally unloving. A parent walks a fine line between tolerance and intolerance. Sometimes strict in the use of the rod, sometimes flexible. Peck notes that "an almost godlike compassion is required" or the patience of a saint at the very least.
It is not an easy thing to embrace ugliness with the sole motive of hope that in some unknown way a transformation into beauty might occur thereby. But the myth of kissed frogs turning into princes remains.
Peck states that the first task of love is self-purification. A difficult first step indeed. Many of us do not like to take a long, hard look in the mirror. We deceive ourselves. But the benefits are as follows:
When one has purified oneself, by the grace of God, to the point at which one can truly love one's enemies, a beautiful thing happens. It is as if the boundaries of the soul become so clean as to be transparent, and a unique light then shines forth from the individual.
Who wouldn't want that? Peck admits that the results of this approach are not perfect. The "effect of this light varies". Some are encouraged by it and change the course of their behavior (as Vick and Hamilton appear to have done) but even in failure there can be success.
...those who hate the light will attack it. Yet it is as if their evil actions are taken into the light and consumed. The malignant energy is thereby wasted, contained and neutralized. The process may be painful to the bearer of the light, occasionally even fatal. This does not, however, signify the success of evil. Rather, it backfires. As I said in The Road Less Traveled, "It was evil that raised Christ to the cross, thereby enabling us to see him from afar."
BEAUTIFUL!!!Timeless themes really. Good will conquer evil. The Truth will set you free. Love never fails.
In further explaining how this methodology of love allows good to conquer evil Peck quotes the words of an old priest who dealt with the issue on the front lines everyday.
"There are dozens of ways to deal with evil and several ways to conquer it. All of them are facets of the truth that the only ultimate way to conquer evil is to let it be smothered within a willing, living human being. When it is absorbed there like blood in a sponge or a spear into one's heart, it loses its power and goes no further."
The willing sacrifice of another is required to absorb the evil. Peck asks the question of whether this absorption of evil corrupts the good person. What would then be gained by this seemingly meaningless trade-off?
He admits that he does not know exactly how this process occurs, but he believes that it does. The victim becomes the victor.
He quotes C.S. Lewis: "When a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
....I know that good people can deliberately allow themselves to be pierced by the evil of others - to be broken thereby yet somehow not broken - to even be killed in some sense and yet still survive and not succumb. Whenever this happens there is a slight shift in the balance of power in the world.
Amen to that.
And that's why I continue to find these stories to be remarkable and timelessly beautiful to observe.
One of the human virtues that people seem to struggle the most to define and develop in themselves and those they lead is humility. In a sense in sports it is a real dichotomy. Athletes have to be strong mentally and project great self-confidence outwardly, yet be humble on the inside. It's easy to say that you are humble and have humility, but hard to get a real handle on because they are opposing forces.
Many athletes, when they begin to have success and reach the higher levels of their craft, develop an attitude that screams "it's hard to be humble when you are this good". Personal vanity gets the better of them. True humility allows your actions and your successes to speak loud enough about the type of person you are. But many athletes feel that is not enough and they have to enhance things with public displays of false pride.
The great author C.S. Lewis framed this virtue when he said, "Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less." Framing it in this light, humility is the absence of personal vanity. Being humble in spirit and confident in the knowledge that you are not only doing well, but you are doing right.
HUMILITY - Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble." - 1 Peter 5:5
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis
Unfortunately, post inauguration, I fear this is the direction we may be heading. Although, to be fair, the Bush administration is clearly reading from the same playbook. They talk the conservative talk at times, but more often walk the big government walk.
A pro-European economic way of thought, more socialistic less capitalistic. More government intervention and tinkering rather than less. One of the most dreaded phrases in the English language--"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help"--becomes reality rather than a casual joke.
Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem is an economics professor at the University of Michigan, Flint. Among other issues, he covers the auto industry with a rightful dose of skepticism....Why is GM (and Ford and Chrysler) seeking taxpayer subsidies when Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Kia, BMW, Daimler, Hyundai and other foreign nameplate producers, who are facing the same contracting demand and credit crunch quietly weathering the storm, are not? Because the latter have costs structures that haven’t been made obsolete and uneconomic by ludicrous union demands. And, of course, they make cars that Americans want to buy.
Can't argue against that logic. But many in Washington will.
The current failures in our economy were not failures of the free-market system itself. They were failures in industries that were the more highly regulated industries. The hedge funds (lightly regulated) were the canary in the coal mine to some degree in that they focused attention on the crisis long before our elected leaders and officials did. If these officials had taken preventative measures when these early-birds were sounding the warning bells, instead of focusing their attention on other, less pressing matters, we would not be in the situation we are in.
If we continue to reward failure rather than success, this thing could get really ugly.
You can file this under "Even a broken watch is right twice a day" or "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile" but many of Bushies comments (made at the Manhattan Institute) were right on the mark. Too bad his administration did not live by these values instead of simply parroting them in a speech once in awhile. The results on Election Day might have been very different.
1. Joey Bart 6-2, 215 C Power arm and a power bat, playing a premium defensive position. Good catch and throw skills.
2. Heliot Ramos 6-2, 185 OF Potential high-ceiling player the Giants have been looking for. Great bat speed, early returns were impressive.
3. Chris Shaw 6-3. 230 1B Lefty power bat, limited defensively to 1B, Matt Adams comp?
4. Tyler Beede 6-4, 215 RHP from Vanderbilt projects as top of the rotation starter when he works out his command/control issues. When he misses, he misses by a bunch.
5. Stephen Duggar 6-1, 170 CF Another toolsy, under-achieving OF in the Gary Brown mold, hoping for better results.
6. Sandro Fabian 6-0, 180 OF Dominican signee from 2014, shows some pop in his bat. Below average arm and lack of speed should push him towards LF.
7. Aramis Garcia 6-2, 220 C from Florida INTL projects as a good bat behind the dish with enough defensive skill to play there long-term
8. Heath Quinn 6-2, 190 OF Strong hitter, makes contact with improving approach at the plate. Returns from hamate bone injury.
9. Garrett Williams 6-1, 205 LHP Former Oklahoma standout, Giants prototype, low-ceiling, high-floor prospect.
10. Shaun Anderson 6-4, 225 RHP Large frame, 3.36 K/BB rate. Can start or relieve
11. Jacob Gonzalez 6-3, 190 3B Good pedigree, impressive bat for HS prospect.
12. Seth Corry 6-2 195 LHP Highly regard HS pick. Was mentioned as possible chip in high profile trades.
13. C.J. Hinojosa 5-10, 175 SS Scrappy IF prospect in the mold of Kelby Tomlinson, just gets it done.
14. Garett Cave 6-4, 200 RHP He misses a lot of bats and at times, the plate. 13 K/9 an 5 B/9. Wild thing.
2019 MLB Draft - Top HS Draft Prospects
1. Bobby Witt, Jr. 6-1,185 SS Colleyville Heritage HS (TX) Oklahoma commit. Outstanding defensive SS who can hit. 6.4 speed in 60 yd. Touched 97 on mound. Son of former major leaguer. Five tool potential.
2. Riley Greene 6-2, 190 OF Haggerty HS (FL) Florida commit.Best HS hitting prospect. LH bat with good eye, plate discipline and developing power.
3. C.J. Abrams 6-2, 180 SS Blessed Trinity HS (GA) High-ceiling athlete. 70 speed with plus arm. Hitting needs to develop as he matures. Alabama commit.
4. Reece Hinds 6-4, 210 SS Niceville HS (FL) Power bat, committed to LSU. Plus arm, solid enough bat to move to 3B down the road. 98MPH arm.
5. Daniel Espino 6-3, 200 RHP Georgia Premier Academy (GA) LSU commit. Touches 98 on FB with wipe out SL.
2019 MLB Draft - Top College Draft Prospects
1. Adley Rutschman C Oregon State Plus defender with great arm. Excellent receiver plus a switch hitter with some pop in the bat.
2. Shea Langliers C Baylor Excelent throw and catch skills with good pop time. Quick bat, uses all fields approach with some pop.
3. Zack Thompson 6-2 LHP Kentucky Missed time with an elbow issue. FB up to 95 with plenty of secondary stuff.
4. Matt Wallner 6-5 OF Southern Miss Run producing bat plus mid to upper 90's FB closer. Power bat from the left side, athletic for size.
5. Nick Lodolo LHP TCU Tall LHP, 95MPH FB and solid breaking stuff.
