bierkergaard

So I am listening to KYW News Radio 1060 AM broadcast out of Philly the other day while driving around Central Pa. (I keep in the loop with Philly out here in the hinterlands) and what comes on the radio as a commercial? One of those spots with a deep-voiced announcer touting Lancaster Arts . Thought it was an interesting juxtaposition. Philly is no NYC, but it is a world-class city. It suffers by comparison, being in-between New York City and Washington D.C. Like Khloe Kardashian compare to her sisters. Philly is viewed as a cultural Mecca and Lancaster is viewed as just some equivalent Afghani dusty town. Well take off the turban and put on the top hat. Lancaster is putting on a show! Lancaster is ripe with art, like fruits from the tree and vine of culture. And not just agri- and horti-. Sorry, that is a recycled joke from one of my pieces from my illustrious days as a snarky columnist for The Snapper (Millersville University's student newspaper). I am green with my jokes. Fig

I read "Love Wins" by Rob Bell yesterday at Borders. I had an evening event to talk about college planning at HACC-York, so I stopped in and read the book in the afternoon. I buy my share of books from Borders so I felt no guilt. Maybe I should have? I just did not feel right purchasing a book that is heterodox. It is one thing to be non-Christian...at least the cards are on the table. It is another to claim a work is Christian, but then do sleight-of-hands theological tricks. I use that term deliberately and carefully. Rob Bell essentially makes the argument that God cannot abide having human beings consigned to Hell/Lake of Fire for an eternity of suffering for sins committed while on earth AND be loving. There are two key verses in the New Testament that expose Bell as a false teacher: Rev. 21:8 "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fi

I shopped at COSTCO tonight for our my thrice yearly shopping experience there. My wife, who I call the "COSTCO Queen" usually is the one who shops for us. But, I back her up. She loves COSTCO...it is the one store that Lancaster County has where she liked to shop before moving here. Since I am not much of a shopper by nature, I like that I can go to COSTCO and buy enough food and goods for about three months. The downside is that I don't like crowds...not in an anxiety or panic-stricken way...I just get frustrated by how slow people move. Like getting stuck in crosstown traffic. Especially, on weekends when COSTCO hands out samples. People act like a swarm of seagulls fighting over a French Fry. COSTCO is a retail operation that maximizes quality and quality, and is generally more affordable than other stores. Plus, they don't treat their workers like like Amishmen treat their horses (i.e. Walmart). Speaking of Amishmen, it appears like COSTCO has special parking s

On Sunday we were at a street fair in Hoboken, NJ. Hoboken is a hop, skip, and a jump to NYC (or a $40 cab ride at least) but is in itself a pretty cool town. Its claim to fame seem to be two mainly. It is the disputed place where baseball was invented and the hometown of Frank Sinatra. The street fair was replete with the aromas of cuisines from all over the world...plus American originals like deep- fried Oreos. I almost bit but walked away from the stand. I was more fascinated by how it would taste as a curiosity. In the midst of the crowd, were people in these bright yellow shirts walking with signs that Judgment Day is May 21, 2011. Harold Camping and his followers have been wrong so many times about the end that if this were the Old Testament era, they would likely be stoned. While these zealous souls think they are being prophetic, they are just pathetic. Kind of eschatological Charlie Brown's trying to kick Lucy's Armageddon football. It would be better for this flu

Is it possible to love one's enemies and kill them? I think it is...here is my take on the death of Osama. In our war--and it is a war--against militant Islam, we can err in two ways. The first error is to have a sense of joy and jubilation in killing our enemies. The second error is to not deliver death to those who have indiscriminately and unjustly destroyed human life and take glee in doing so. While the U.S. is far from innocent in our militarism, only the most warped individual would think that somehow those caught in the Twin Towers collapse, the Pentagon, and the field in Pennsylvania, deserved their fate. They were innocent victims. Justice demanded a response. The bullet in Osama's brain, like Hitler's, was well-deserved. It hardly compensates for their crimes but in a world where accounts often cannot be settled, it is a farthing of a down-payment. God will mete out final justice and enforce it eternally. "Vengeance is mine" promises the Lord. Yet, t