Memorial Day as a kind of "Thanksgiving"

There are a pair of bumper stickers, one of which reads,
"To a Vet: Thank You", and its counterpart, "From a Vet:
You're Welcome." We already have an American holiday
known as "Thanksgiving", but perhaps Memorial Day can be
seen as a "thank you" holiday, too, this time not to God,
per se, but to those who have lived and died in helping all
of us to have all that we have...

Because it's a pretty great thing to be an American: Sure,
there is much in our history to be ashamed of, and things
in the present that need addressing; but if you think not in
terms of politics or philanthropy or "causes" or nationalism,
but in terms of what we HAVE as Americans, it begins to
become clear how good we've got it:

-- Unlike countries such as Congo, we've not had civil war
in more than 140 years
-- Comparatively speaking, our economy is stable
-- We (like many Western nations) are a nation of laws,
not burdened by Theocracies or tied to Royalty
-- Nearly anyone can find a job if they so desire, and many
Americans have their own businesses
-- Every single one of us can go into any public place and
find clean water, a restroom, and electricity
-- Geographically, we live in a climate that is generally
conducive to comfortable living
-- Every single one of us is free to speak and write as we
choose (generally), without fearing our government

The list goes on and on... We take SO MUCH for granted,
every single day... Food, water, transportation systems,
peaceful streets, decent schools, employment, freedom to
worship as we choose (or not at all), breathable air (for the
most part), local, city, state, and national Law Enforcement
organizations, technology and media, sports, entertainment,
colleges and universities by the hundreds, etc. etc. etc...

Sometimes, when my government does or says something
that causes dismay and disappointment, I'm not necessarily
"proud" to be an American, but I am always extremely GLAD
and profoundly thankful to be one...

Oprah as a TV preacher?

There's that darn WORD again!

An article appeared in "USA Today" this past week entitled,
"the divine Miss Winfrey?", talking about her prominence
not just as a talk-show host, but as (in some people's minds)
some kind of modern "guru"...

The key phrasing comes early in the piece:

"Over the past year, Winfrey, 52, has
emerged as a spiritual leader for the
new millennium, a moral voice of
authority for the nation."

MORAL ???!

Dictionary.com defines "moral" in these two ways, in the
context of this article:

1. Of or concerned with the judgment of the goodness or
badness of human action and character
2. Conforming to standards of what is right or just
in behavior; virtuous

The obvious question is this:
What "morality" does Oprah represent? Whose standards
of "goodness" and "badness" does she preach on her show,
in her magazine, books, and public appearances? By what
authority does she promote what is "right" or "just"?

In a pluralistic era in which the idea of any "absolute truth"
is shouted down, can *anyone* be said to be any kind of
"voice of moral authority"?? By whose estimation??

Later in the article, Oprah is compared to Billy Graham;
the comparison could not be more inappropriate:
Reverend Graham has unequivocally preached the authority
of the Bible and the deity of Jesus for nearly 60 years, and
his altar call is the same as that of John the Baptist,
2,000 years ago... to repent of one's sin and accept the
atonement of the cross and the hope of eternal glory.
Graham's message is the simple message of Christianity:
Self-denial, not Self-Realization, is the first step
toward the Truth...

With her "I have my truth, you have your truth" World View,
Oprah Winfrey is certainly no Billy Graham; and her
Relativism disqualifies her as an "authority" in matters
of morality...

Why the STARS lost

Well, it's May 1, 2006, and the STARS are not playing
any more hockey this year; there will be no Stanley Cup
for our beloved Dallas hockey club this season...

Even before the final goal in OT in Game 5, the analysis
along the lines of "what happened??" had already begun.
Clearly, the team that showed up for the Quarterfinals against
Colorado was NOT the team that had finished a record
year with 112 points, second in the West, and a number of
other significant statistics. It was NOT the team that
we STARS fans have been pumped up about since the
middle of October last year. It was not even the team
that the players themselves knew they were...

Even in the last 12 hours, with post-game interviews,
analyses by sports writers, and features on the evening
news, a mound of "breakin' it down" has already grown.
I've watched and read just about all of it, and while it
is all sadly interesting, it all comes down to just one thing:

DESIRE.

Coach Tippett was very succinct: "We just didn't get
the job done." While "Desire" doesn't, of course,
guarantee a Win, you cannot win without it. Being an
amateur hockey player myself, I can say first-hand that
when a team comes out on the ice and plays with DESIRE,
you can SEE it: Forwards forecheck hard; players race
to the loose pucks; the physical guys lay hits on the other
team and your skaters find open ice; your grinders dig
it out in the corners and your Defensemen push people
off the puck and keep the slot clear; your shooters find
the open net and your goalie comes up with those
amazing saves... In short, DESIRE causes each player
on the team to play with reckless abandon...

Indeed, Hockey is a TEAM sport, and just like an engine,
the TEAM is supposed to operate in harmony; when any
one part does not do its job, the whole system is thrown
out of whack.

There are (among others) 2 important "sayings" in
hockey: 1) The harder we work, the luckier we get;
and 2) Our best players have to be our best players.
Who's to "blame" for the puzzling flop that the end of
this year turned out to be for Dallas? The whole team.

When a hockey club comes out from the first puck drop
and plays with DESIRE, it's obvious; it's equally obvious
when they do not. While Colorado did enough things right
to win the series, they certainly did NOT go up against
the very best that the Dallas STARS have to offer, at
least, not until it was too late.

So have a great Summer, boys. We'll see you in the Fall.
Thanks for a GREAT year; we will always love our STARS.

Addicted to Oil??

With all the "pain at the pump" these days,
the price of gasoline in this country is on everybody's mind;
Oil has blown past $75 per barrel, and with the instability in
Iran and Venezuela, and the war in Iraq dragging on and on,
it doesn't look as if prices are going to drop any time soon...

Amidst all the rhetoric over this situation comes an interesting
sound byte from George W. Bush himself: He says Americans
are "addicted to Oil", and that that "addiction" has to stop,
because the "security of the American people" and "our way
of life" are at risk, blah blah blah...

I have a real problem with Bush's phrasing of the issue
in this way, for 2 reasons:

1. The Bush family has made a FORTUNE from the
Oil industry (COPY and PASTE these links into your Browser)...

http://www.americanpresident.org/history/georgehwbush/
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Br-Ca/Bush-George-W.html

... and some people have speculated that there may in fact
be some very suspicious, under-the-table connections
going on between the Bush family and powerful Middle East
oil barons...

http://www.meta-religion.com/Secret_societies/Conspiracies
/George_Bush/bush_bin_laden.htm

... but if Americans are "addicted to Oil", then doesn't the
fact that the Bush family has profited from that "addiction"
make the Bushes something along the lines of "Dealers"
or "Pushers"??

It's just a tad hypocritical to amass wealth by helping to create
a dependency on a certain substance and then to turn around
and tell your Customers to get over their "addiction" to it...

2. Americans are NOT "addicted" to OIL; they're addicted
to FREEDOM, to personal INDEPENDENCE... I sat at a
stop light the other day and counted all the cars going by
(large and small cars) that had only one person -- the driver,
of course -- in them... I quickly got to well over a hundred
before I stopped counting...

The fact is, the only REAL option for going where and when
and how we choose is the automobile (imagine going to
Sam's Club, or Home Depot, or out to a nice dinner,
on a bicycle); the only REAL option for automobiles
(and by "real" I mean mass-produced enough to be relatively
inexpensive) is the gas-powered engine; and the only
REAL system of distribution (to get a Fuel option
to cars that need it) is the current Gasoline infrastructure...

So in order to live our lives as Freely and as Independently
as we want/need to, gas-powered cars are the only CHOICE
we all have! If America is "addicted" to Oil, it's because
the CAR COMPANIES are not providing Americans with an
affordable, practical ALTERNATIVE... Don't BLAME American
drivers for oil consumption when no viable alternative exists...

A trashed environment, the deaths of thousands of soldiers,
strained relations with countries to the East and South of us,
spiraling gas prices... all so that a relatively few companies
and those connected to them can enjoy tremendous fortunes...

It's a shame.

The Mind-Brain Problem

A central point of the Scientific Materialism view
is that the Brain and the Mind are one and the same,
that the Mind is merely the emergent result of the
physical processes going on inside the Brain...

In the "reality" conversation between Morpheus and
Neo, in the first Matrix movie, Morpheus sums up
this view by telling Neo that what we can see or feel
or touch -- what we tend to call "Real" -- is merely
electrical signals being interpreted by our Brains...

"Interpreted..." by whom? The ACT of Interpretation
seems to indicate intention and purposefulness, things
typically associated with a Mind; but the things that
a Mind DOES cannot BE the Mind itself... Thoughts don't
"think" themselves, and eletrical connections in the
Brain don't "interpret" themselves... Something ELSE
must be doing the interpreting... So according to
Morpheus' statement, the Brain is doing one thing
(carrying on these electrical connections) and
something ELSE, the Mind, must be "interpreting" them,
assigning to them Meaning and Value and Context...

The reality of this "something else" seems
inescapable and immediate. Those who say that the
Mind vanishes when the Brain dies have absolutely
no proof that this is the case, and are assuming, a priori,
that the Brain is a necessary condition for the Mind;
it is just as possible that the Mind is "released" when
the Brain is dead, and indeed, many people have reported
what are called "Near Death Experiences" in which
their Minds have indeed seemed to be disconnected from
their clinically dead Brains...

The Scientific Materialist will staunchly refuse to
accept these cases, however, choosing instead to defer
to the "mysteries" of Mind that we "still do not
understand", which, of course, sounds much more like
a FAITH statement than a scientific conclusion;
and his refusal to even consider the possibility of a Mind
which may exist beyond the Brain just may well be a
non-scientific mixture of Fear and Rebellion...

But the real trouble with saying that the Mind and the
Brain are the same, and that the Mind vanishes when
the Brain dies, is that this position reduces all
Human Beings to mere animals; the only "reality" is
PERCEPTION...

We may speculate about the SOURCE of the Perception,
but NOTHING can be said to be "real" beyond the
machinery that is my Brain; not Truth, not Beauty,
not Love, not Justice, not even YOU.

Christianity is Different

The celebration of Easter by Christians around the world
affords us the opportunity to consider, once again, why
Christianity is different from every other "religion"
known to the human race:

Basically, religions fall into two broad categories:
Those that are MAN-centered and those that are GOD-centered.
Like other major religions, Christianity, of course, falls
into the latter; but even in that category, Christianity
is extremely unique:

1. Christianity maintains that the chief end of Man is to
"glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (so say the ancient Creeds)...

2. Christianity asserts that Man has chosen his own will
over the will of God, and in so doing, has separated himself
from the God who made Man...

3. Christianity revolves around the Incarnation, God
invading Time and Space, debasing Himself by taking on
the form of a Man -- Jesus -- in order to clearly manifest
Himself to the human race...

4. ...Indeed, the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth,
according to the records, traveled throughout the region
claiming -- in explicit terms and to the disgust and outrage of
the religious establishment of His time -- to literally
BE God, and history records numerous miracles (i.e., a
stunning command over Nature, including Death) to prove it...

5. "The Dying God", in Jesus, was the first and only instance
known to Man where MYTH became FACT (instead of the other
way around)...

6. In allowing Himself to be killed, Jesus spurned any notions
of a political agenda and instead made it clear that His mission
was to be the sacrificial Lamb of God, taking away the Guilt
of Sin, once and for all...

7. Witnesses tell of the miraculous, bodily resurrection
of Jesus, and (some months later) His incredible Ascension
up into the sky and out of sight...

Every other religion, world view, and philosophy known to
Man wants to convince you either that Man must do something
to "earn" favor with God, OR, scrapping that altogether,
emphasizes "enlightenment" or "balance" or "Nirvana",
renaming Evil as "negative energy" and even going so far
as to say YOU (we ALL) are "god"...

Believe what you like, and take the profound RISK that
you may, in the end, be horribly mistaken; but what you
CANNOT do is maintain that Christianity is simply one
among MANY world religions.

It is, quite simply, in a category all by itself.

So I ask you, on this Easter, where is YOUR God?
Mine left behind a strip of grave clothing, an empty hole
in a Jerusalem hillside, and a charge to believers
to go make Disciples...

The Matrix Generation

If you have not seen "The Matrix", you may not be aware
of how the Future is changing right before our eyes...
In fact, "The Matrix" is actually a trilogy of movies which
(in a nutshell) explores the idea of "Man over Machine",
and in the process, reveals more about what it means
to be Human...

The "Matrix" trilogy is a deeply philosophical treatise,
really, on the Nature of Reality and the Metaphysics
with which such a study is concerned. I have a copy of
the entire 10-CD set of the "Matrix" productions; on
one of the CD's, a number of prominent philosophers,
writers, and thinkers talk for over an hour on the
philosophical and religious implications raised by this
trilogy... The conversation is fascinating, and it
has had a direct impact (along with other things I
have been reading and studying for almost 3 years
now) on Reality, God, Truth, and the Beginning and
End of All Things...

There is no easy way to encapsulate all the material
and themes presented in the "Matrix" trilogy;
You simply MUST see the three movies; open your mind,
ponder what you see and hear, and think deeply
about the basis of everything you say you believe,
indeed, the very makeup of the entity you call YOU...

Those of us -- Christian or non-Christian, religious,
agnostic, or just plain ambivalent -- who fearlessly
embrace that journey are being referred to by many
sources as "The Matrix Generation", as compared to
"The Baby Boomers" or the "X-gen'ers"...

It is WE, and most certainly our KIDS, who will usher
in the next paradigm shift in Humanity, developing
and assimilating such things as molecular
nano-manufacturing, genetic engineering, and
massive robotic automation at the atomic layer.
The science behind these profound changes is
already underway, with products already appearing
on store shelves based on GNR (Genetics,
Nanotechnology, and Robotics) technologies...

Where is GOD in all this?
THAT, my friend, is the question of the millenium.

If you'd like to participate in a CHAT with me
on this subject, go ahead and click the "Comments"
link, below, and let's talk!

AMWAY Christianity

Before I became a Christian, I used to wonder what the point of becoming a Christian was; and with so many World Views out there to choose from, why would any thinking person choose one that seemed to place so many restrictions on them, once converted?  Aside from apologetic arguments, WHY would someone become a Christian?  What does "being a Christian" even mean, anyway?


I still wonder that, or, at least, I wonder what it must look like to someone who watches Christians, and the Church, and what might be termed "popular Christian culture"... 

People "get saved" and then... what? Join a local church? Okay, and then... what? Start "spreading the gospel"? Reading the Bible? Praying? The lines of specificity begin to blur not long after the "praying the sinner's prayer" and getting "baptized" at the local church, or so it would seem...

The most common answer you're likely to hear, though, is surely the call to Evangelism:
Go out and "share the Good News" with others! But.... toward what End??  If Christian faith is, as they say, "more than just 'fire insurance' ", then what IS it?

This evangelistically-minded approach of "signing people up to sign people up to then go out and sign people up" strikes me as resembling one of these "pyramid schemes"... I half-jokingly call it "Amway Christianity", where you are likely to hear, "come to our meetings and learn all about the 'program'...!"  But from that point, what to do -- how to go about this -- is much less clear, and the new Believer is more often than not left to fend for himself as he attempts to discover what the Christian life is all about...

The one constant he is impacted with, though, is the mission to go out and get more people to the meetings, so that they too can be signed up!

Well, that assessment is admittedly somewhat satirical, but the question remains, what is the STUFF of Christianity? What are we all doing here?  There was a Microsoft commercial on TV awhile back, showing a group of office workers gathered silently around the conference room table, and someone finally pipes up and says, "Who called this meeting?"

METAMORPHOSIS

It seems clear that the broader theme of Scripture regarding the reason to become a Christian - indeed, God's design for each of us - is summed up in Romans 12:1,2...  Here we are told to present ourselves to God for the process of METAMORPHOSIS, quite literally, a complete and total TRANSFORMATION from one kind of being into a wholly different kind of being.

This CHANGE is fundamental, disruptive, and often counter-intuitive (at least at first). And the wording of the original text -- so say the scholars -- conveys the idea of "Present Progressive", so that it really should be read as, "be BEING transformed..." You get the idea that something like Character Change should be what we are all about, daily, as a primary Focus...

As I have thought about this for a number of years (since becoming a Christian), a systematic view of the nature of this Change has emerged; these are the Changes that are supposed to be going on INSIDE us, and coming out of us, and this Change is, itself -- ultimately, displaying the Glory of God -- the POINT of becoming a Christian at all:

LOVE
This is the bedrock. It is the reason there is a Universe at all; it is the reason why Jesus took on human form and subjected Himself to the profound humiliation of the cross; and it is the ONLY motivation for, and guide for, being a Christian in the first place.  If we are not daily, passionately, profoundly all about Love, real Love toward the real people in our lives, then we are liars to call ourselves Christians.

Love is not a feeling; it is a verb, and Love is far greater than "Faith" and more important than "Hope".  One might think we should be hearing far more discussion among Christians about what Love looks like and how to do it, in practical ways, every single day of our lives...

Forgiveness
Being put back into a right relation with God -- which then necessarily forces us to work toward right relations with those around us! -- Forgiveness is the difficult practice of giving up our desire to "put that guy in his place"... Because he, like me, is a sinner and frail and weak...

Humility
...because we will not be forgiven, ourselves (of our many and egregious sins) if we do not. A long, hard look in the mirror, and a keen awareness of our OWN depravity, makes Forgiveness SO much easier...

Wisdom
Daily living requires decisions, and wisdom gives those who have it the ability to make sound decisions. A proper respect for God is, we're told, the beginning of wisdom; and we are instructed to search for wisdom as if we were searching for hidden treasures.

We spend so much time in our Bible studies, prayer groups, church activities, home lives, political causes, work, recreation, etc., and amid the bustle, it's critical to ask ourselves, "Is there CHANGE going on inside me?"

--Do I really LOVE God?
--Do I really LOVE the people closest to me, and people in general (ALL people)?
--Have I really forgiven So-and-So for what he/she did/is doing to me?
--Have I ever really been broken in half over my own horrible sins? Did that experience
result in reconciliation, or just self-soothing?
--Do I study the Bible, and supporting Christian literature, in order to acquire
Godly wisdom? Am I a Fool, instead?

So enough with signing people up to sign more people up... The actual "program" of Christianity is mostly about the really TOUGH road of Character Change.  It's going to be a struggle, and painful at times, but in the end, that METAMORPHOSIS is the only reason to become a Christian at all.

Everything else is just Religion.

The MYTH of Private Faith

In one of my favorite movies, “The Matrix”, the character Morpheus
says to Neo, “there is a difference between knowing the path and
walking the path…” With that line in my head (I just watched
“The Matrix” again the other night), I was struck this morning as
I read in James 2 that “faith without deeds is dead”.

Like other mysteries of the faith (e.g., the precise nature of the Trinity)
which are often hotly debated, discussions of “Faith and Works” tend to
stir up our emotions and spur us to take sides… Here’s my own take
on the symbiosis between these two priorities, given in the form of
2 Statements and a Response to both:

“My relationship with God comes first”

While my personal, private relationship with God is certainly “Square One”
in my faith, there is a subtle, dangerous tendency, I believe (given the evil
human heart) to detach that relationship from any outward actions which
should stem from that relationship. The Bible is very clear when it tells us
that “deeds” (“works”) MUST accompany faith, and indeed, that our “faith”
is stone-cold DEAD without them.

Mathew 5:23,24 tell us that if we are making our offering to God
(private faith) and there recall that our brother has something against us,
WE are to take the initiative, get up, and go be reconciled to our brother
(“deeds”), before coming back to the altar.

James 2:14-17 makes it clear that wishing someone well (we might even
add “praying for them” – private faith) while failing to meet their physical
needs, is “dead” faith.

1 John 4 is even more direct, noting that whoever “says he loves God”
(private faith) but then hates (or fails to love) his brother is a liar; the
glaring theme of this passage is that a true love for God results in a
genuine love for those around us.

So the idea that we can think of our private relationship with God in one
context, and the way we treat other people, or how well we control our
tongues and our passions, in some other context, is profoundly mistaken.

“I can do nothing in and of myself; it has to be God”

The book of James is sometimes used to support the idea that real
Justification is a combination of what God has done and what WE do
(“good works”). Side-stepping that debate for now, the point I want to
make here is that there is, perhaps, a subtle “passivity” that can creep
into the heart of a Christian, as we “wait” for God to act through us.

Scripture overwhelmingly portrays those whom God calls “righteous” as
people who take action, who don’t wait around for additional
“spiritual growth” (private faith) before they engage the Disciplines and
before they reach out to those around them.

As an (admittedly rather silly) analogy, picture this: If my backhoe is
nice and clean, the tracks are solid, clean, and in good repair, and
the gears and hydraulics are all greased up and ready, but I never
actually DIG anything with it, what good is it? I may marvel to myself
at what great shape my backhoe is in, but if I never take action and
USE it for the work it was designed to do, the whole reason for having
it to begin with is meaningless.

Hebrews 11 talks about “faith” and immediately frames the discussion
in terms of great saints who went out and DID something about their
faith; Paul writes about running a race, rejecting evil, exercising
self-control, praying and sacrificing and arguing for the faith, and much
more, all of which are concrete actions which should typify our approach
to what we say we believe. James even notes that a prostitute was
considered “righteous” by God for her actions (hiding the spies)…

Do our actions play a part in our salvation? I’ll let the theologians and
biblical scholars hash that out; but the idea that “we can do nothing” is
perhaps little more than a veiled excuse to sit back comfortably and
merely “talk the talk”… As I read the Scriptures, the charge to those
who believe, it seems to me, is to get busy; Love is a VERB, and when
we are busy loving and serving those closest to us, we ARE doing
something about our faith (and God changes us in the process).

There is an expression that says, “People don’t care how much
you know until they know how much you care”. In the same way, genuine,
biblical Christianity exists precisely at the juncture of our devotional
approach to God (through Jesus) and our serving relationships to
those around us. Anything else is “dead” faith.

Fighting for "Christmas"

Well, it's Christmas time again, and the same old hubaloo over
how to greet one another during this season of "peace on Earth"
has cranked up all over again.

This year's headlines bring a bit of a new twist: Apparently some
conservatives are so put out by what they view as "political correctness"
that they are calling upon their lawyers to mandate the "proper" greeting
in the streets... Some of the details appeared this week on CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/18/christmas.holiday.reut/index.html

What could be more ludicrous than an attempt to use the LAW to force
others to say the words YOU want to hear... Sadly, such efforts do FAR
more to allienate people than they do to generate any kind of
"good cheer"... Yet another example of the "Us versus Them" mentality...

A brief study on the history of what has come to be known as "Christmas"
quickly weakens the rather more conservative position on the holiday:
This particular time of year has, for hundreds (perhaps thousands) of
years been more about themes surrounding Festivals, Sun worship,
the Solstice, and other myths, legends, and customs than it has about the
birth of Jesus. Even the abbreviated "Xmas", far from "taking Christ out
of Christmas", is merely Greek language "shorthand" for the exact same
thing, used often among 16th century Christians (or "Xians" !)...

Here are some sites to look at, when considering the REAL story of
Christmas (there are many, many more):

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/holidays/christmas/real.html
http://wilstar.com/xmas/xmassymb.htm

So why all the fuss? Why are some in our society so "offended" by the
expression "Happy Holidays" instead of the more traditional
"Merry Christmas"?

Lots of reasons: People love their traditions, and are saddened to see
them being eroded, particularly religious ones and particularly if the
reason has to do (at least in their minds) with "political correctness".
Christmas is perhaps the one most near and dear to the hearts of many
"traditionalists", and self-defeating as it might be, a law suit is perhaps,
at its root, really a process of mourning the death of something held dear
and even considered sacred.

I think, though, that there is a valuable lesson to be gleaned from this:
Since the history of this holiday has relatively little to do with the Western
idea of "Christmas", and since the early Church was actually the party who
originally appropriated the date of December 25th from the pagans (along
with many of the pagan mythologies and traditions), and since there is so
LITTLE to be gained from legal action, or even the relentless clashes on
televsion and radio... I think the REAL reason for these "culture wars" has
more to do with Pride than anything else.

What is the problem with greeting someone with "Happy Holidays!"
instead of "Merry Christmas"?? Do we understand that to the ears of
someone (say, the grocery store clerk, the bus driver, the bank teller, etc.)
who may not believe that Jesus was (is) the Savior, this greeting may be
offensive? And if we ask ourselves WHY we don't want to modify our
greeting so as not to offend, what is our answer? What do we GAIN by
digging in our heels and putting up our fists while proclaiming,
"Christmas is about CHRIST!" ???

As an example, if somone wants to be called "African American", as
opposed to "black" or "colored" or "negro", they may not, in fact, be
asking for a factual recognition of their personal heritage: A (white)
person, of British heritage, having come from a long line of Brits who lived
in, say, South Africa, may come to the USA for a job, and find themselves
working next to a (black) person whose family has remained in, say,
Atlanta, for the last 160 years... Tell me, of the two, which one should be
called "African American"??

Either one! If either of these persons wishes to be called
"African American", tell me, what is the problem with that?? Keeping in
mind consideration for other people, and genuine humility and
compassion and a desire to SERVE other people, what is the issue
with deferring to their wishes?

The same goes for "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays".
If America is anything, she is a country where Pluralism is welcomed and
encouraged, and if the waitress replies, "yes, Happy Holidays!" to my
"Merry Christmas", well then, that's just fine with me. Jesus was born to
trash the "culture wars" and to condemn the Snobs
while restoring the Snubbed.

For those who claim the true Gospel as their own,
THAT is the reason for the season.

The language of Polarization

Not long ago, televangelist Pat Robertson made public statements
to the people of Dover, PA, warning them of possible "disasters"
in their "area" and that "God might not be there" for them when
(if) those disasters strike...

The issue at hand was the fact that the local school board had
been summarily voted out of office in a recent election for having
supported the teaching of Intelligent Design in the local public
school system.

Read the details here:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/10/religion.robertson.reut/

Robertson has made provocative statements before, including
calling for the assasination of the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez
not long ago... While it may be easy to write off Robertson as
something of a nut-case, it's not hard to see that he has a lot of
company in the "Us versus Them" space...

Conservative Christians have, for years now, been pounding the drums
over social issues such as prayer in public schools, the teaching
of evolution, abortion, gay marriage, etc., and their general solidarity
in politics has weighted the Right so heavily that even those who share
one or two fundamental beliefs of theirs get lumped together in the
category of "radical religious Right"...

The net result is that many modern "Christian soldiers" look and sound
far more like soldiers than they do Christians. The true Gospel of
Jesus has been exchanged for Bibles-Bullets-and-Biggotry, and the
love of human beings is not only left behind but even made fun of
in some circles of those who say they are followers of Christ...

The battle cry for "victory" on social and political issues (and we could
add economic, environmental, military, and others) -- associated loosely
(and illegitimately) with the Faith -- has evolved into an entire language
of Polarization that condemns all who disagree to the "fires of hell"...
Looking at their faces and listening to the not-so-subtle hatred in the
voices of theses types, it's not at all hard to see why "the world"
(and the more moderate among us) want nothing whatsoever to do
with anything even remotely associated with Angry White Conservatives,
or with this whole "Christianity" business...

Contrast this approach to the modus operandi of Jesus, who purposely
sought out the liars, the adulterers, the cheaters, outcasts, murderers,
etc., and who had a special love for children because of their innocence
(not because "ya need to get 'em started young...")... HIS approach
was to love these people, to build personal relationships with them, to
speak to their hurt and confusion and hopelessness -- as well as their
need for repentence -- with an attitude of lifting up not pushing down...

And He violently reacted against those of His time who were "clean"
on the outside yet filthy on the inside, who held the "right" political views,
and who were more interested in the "issues" of the day than in the
people around them...

It's WAY past time to refocus on beating swords into plow shares...
We need to mimic Jesus by looking at people -- ALL people -- as Souls
whom God loves passionately... People need to see and hear that same
love for them in us, regardless of their beliefs, values, socio-economic
status, politics, sexual orientation, spiritual/physical condition, or
anything else that puts them in a different box than "us"...

There is nothing "Christian" whatsoever about the "Us vs. Them" view
of any other human being or group of human beings.
We are to love them ALL.

2000 Dead in Iraq

In the movie, "The Last Samuri", the Emperor -- referring to
one of his warriors who had died in the heat of battle --
said, "it was a good death." He meant, of course, that this
warrior had died honorably, the way a warrior would want
to die, fighting for a cause he and his brothers-in-arms
believed in and would gladly give their lives for...

Today's news is splattered with the sad toll that 2,000
US military members have been killed in Iraq, inspiring
many of us to ask the obvious questions:

WHY? For what PURPOSE? And what have those tragic
deaths GAINED for us and for the world?

Die-hard Conservatives will say, "It's all a part of the
(so-called) 'War On Terror' ", and, "War is ugly; if these
people were going to wail and moan about dying while
on duty, they shouldn't have signed up..."

Well, side-stepping the lack of Compassion in those
types of comments, consider these two thoughts:

1) The Bush administration did NOT, originally, go
into Iraq under the banner of "the War on Terror"...
The "cause" was, instead, "WMD", which is
now a "dark humor" joke in just about every comedy
outlet we have, and on tv, and in the papers, and at
many coffee machines in offices around the country.

Bush did a classic bait-and-switch with Americans,
changing the "mission" mid-stream and going back to
his que-cards: "War on Terror...", "noble cause...",
"defending our freedoms...", etc.

US service men and women are now over there dying
for that little shell game...

2) Even IF Bush had continued his success in Afghanistan
(post-9/11) by then turning to Iraq and saying, "you're
next", and had presented to the American public credible
DATA demonstrating that Iraq is some kind of way-station
for terrorists and their deadly tools and processes, he
would STILL, at this point, have to give an accounting:

What have we GAINED by the deaths of these 2,000
military personnel? That figure does not even include
the many hundreds, perhaps thousands more who are
maimed, injured, or traumatized by the war in Iraq...

Whatever else she might be or might have said (or be
saying), and whoever else she might be associating with,
Cindy Sheehan raises an excellent and poignant concern:

What "noble cause"??

WHY did her son - and the sons and daughters of 1,999
other parents - have to go and die in Iraq?? Are these
2,000 deaths "good deaths"???

It's just a question, Mr. President. I dare you to look those
parents square in the eye and honestly respond to the questions
they're all asking as they grieve over their losses...

Racism in the Party

Today's news brings to us yet another indication
that SOME in the Republican Party, and its
Conservative figure-heads, just do not GET IT
when it comes to Racism:

A prominent figure in the Party, Bill Bennett, had
this to say on his weekly radio program recently:

"If you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that
were your sole purpose -- you could abort every
black baby in this country and your crime rate
would go down... That would be an impossibly
ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do,
but your crime rate would go down," he said.
-- quoted from a piece on today's CNN.com

OK, if anybody actually needs to EXPLAIN to
Mr. Bennett why this kind of comment is profoundly
and deeply Racist, then he is nowhere near as
smart as I used to think he was...

The fact that he's right now trying to spin it as "taken
out of context" further undermines his credibility.
A public apology from Bennett, and a quick termination
by the radio station of this person, needs to happen
immediately, to make a statement to African-Americans
everywhere that this kind of obvious Racism simply
will not be tolerated.

Bush: The Good, The Bad... and Iraq

I feel the need to come right out and make something clear:

I do not now, nor have I ever, supported the war in Iraq.

President Bush missed a prime opportunity to "spin" the
invasion of Iraq in its only positive light: That the US
(and some of its allies) were going to go into Iraq and kick
down any damn door it chose to, to FORCE compliance with
the UN Resolutions on Weapons of Mass Destruction; once
that mission was complete, we should have gotten the h---
out of there...

Instead, Bush made two fatal errors:
1. Insisting (or having Colin Powell wear the egg on his
face on behalf of the president) before the UN that
there was credible "evidence" for WMD in Iraq...
2. Changing the mission, once WMD were not found, to
some "noble cause" that has now cost the US nearly
two THOUSAND lives and BILLIONS of dollars,
with no end in sight...

He could have easily chosen FAR better:
1. "We have no idea for sure if there really are WMD
in Iraq, but I tell you what, we're going in with guns
blazing to find out; when WE are satisfied, we'll leave..."
2. "Our mission is complete; no WMD, and we'll continue
to keep Hussein in our cross-hairs, taking covert action
against him when our interests are threatened".

Since when did America become the "chosen people",
carrying out some crusade to plant Democracy in every
nation on earth?? So we don't agree with Theocracies,
and we think Freedom is to be prized above all else;
Fine, but a Foreign Policy guided by an approach that
says "free elections or it's Bunker Busters for YOU!"
is nothing short of Imperialism.

I voted for Bush, and I still like everything I know
about him in terms of his character as a man and his
faith in Jesus Christ; but the flag waving and the
Sousa marches and the party allegiance have steadily
faded in me as the stream of news stories of carnage
and futility in Iraq continue...

And my estimation of Bush's leadership abilities has
taken a nose-dive in the wake of Katrina, which
demonstrated how pathetically lacking this Administration
has been in overseeing the agencies which exist to
respond to these types of catastrophies...

No president is perfect, and I'll take a Bush over
a Kerry any day... But past ALL the labels, accusations,
suspicions about "liberal media bias", etc., Leadership
means (among other things) keeping those you lead
up to date on what's going on and what your PLAN is
to accomplish the objectives. It also means having
CONTROL over what your government is doing...

Finding BLAME over Katrina

The devestation in the Gulf Coast states over the past week
or so continues to dominate media headlines; the images of
destruction, death, violence, and suffering are both captivating
and heart-breaking...

And the anger over all of it has, not surprisingly, inspired
passionate outbursts from every angle, from the mayor of
New Orleans to journalists on the scene to rappers participating
in fund raising events...

Where should BLAME fall in this terrible situation? If you'll
permit the opinions of one lone voice out in the void of this
online community, here are my own thoughts on that subject:

GOD
I wrote a respsonse to the Tsunami, in Asia, a short while back,
so I won't cover the issue about Natural Disasters again; the
Universe was cracked and broken by Original Sin, and will
never be healed until the New Heaven and New Earth are
brought into existence (this, along with literally SEEING God,
is the Great Hope of the believers...)

I will say one thing loosely related to this, however:
If a person chooses to live in a city that is half a dozen feet
below sea level, and if that area of the country is subject
to hurricanes on a routine basis, I don't see how GOD can be
blamed when "nature" does its thing and lives and property
are destroyed...

George W. Bush
Here's the hot one: Blame the "GUB-ment" when national
tragedy strikes... It's a "25-meter target" scenario (you military
types know what I'm talking about) that doesn't take a whole
lot of thought or analysis, and provides a great hook on which
to hang all the pain, suffering, and anguish; it makes us all "feel"
better to vent, and Bush is an easy mark for those emotions...

HOWEVER, I am compelled to generally agree with those who
say Bush should have done more, sooner:

1. The meteorologists were predicting devestation for DAYS
before landfall... PLENTY of time for the Administration to
craft a Response plan and be at the ready the moment it was
possible to a) mobilize the military to restore order and stem
(the highly predictable) looting that ensued, b) release the
emergency supply pods stationed around the country, as
part of the Homeland Security infrastructure, for precisely
these kinds of events, c) air-drop MRE's and other food, water,
blankets, toiletries, etc., to any place needed, and d) to commandeer
local and state Public Safety resources, under some kind of
emergency federal mandate, to get help to precisely where
any help might be needed...

2. Instead, what we saw was the same sort of mass confusion
and slowness to respond in the past week that we saw when 9/11
happened... So despite the creation of a cabinet-level office
to protect the country, and despite the failures from 9/11 that
should have taught this Administration how to RESPOND to
national emergencies, we have -- 4 years later -- the same
inability to ACT, quickly and efficiently, as we had then...

3. At a minimum, the President should have gotten on a helicopter
and been on the scene the very moment it was possible for him
to do so; he's got people everywhere to protect him and to pull him
away if a military emergency seemed attached to the situation in
the Gulf states... short of that, his mere presence down there, nearly
as soon as the hurricane died down, would have been huge...

It has come to light in the past week that the "perfect storm"
of a levee break combined with a severe hurricane, which would
inflict devastation to the magnitude we've seen this week, is
something that had been studied and reported on numerous times
in the years leading up to Katrina... but NOBODY did anything
about it, not the Army Corps of Engineers, not the state of LA,
not FEMA, not Homeland Security (FEMA is part of HS), not
ANYBODY who might have been able to implement a plan to
build up the levee... And to say that this type of scenario was
"never envisioned", as Homeland Security's Michael Chertoff
is saying on the news, is ludicrous: The reason you HAVE
this type of department in the government is specifically so that
it WILL "envision" any and all possible scenarios! Even a
junior high school student can think along the lines of, "gee,
what would we do if X happened..." !!

It seems like every time large-scale tragedies
strike this country, the powers-that-be are shown to have been
totally unprepared for those events....

Read more along these lines here:
http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/

The Mayor and the LA Governor
But the federal government is a giant, 800-pound elephant that
moves incredibly slowly; state and local authorities should ALSO
have had their OWN Emergency Response plan. They should
ALREADY have had answer to questions like, "how would we
maintain law and order in the event of massive flooding" and
"how would we evacuate 200,000 people" and "how can we work
in conjunction with neighboring states to set up evacuation
centers", etc. etc.

But more specifically, I hold Ray Nagin and Kathleen Blanco
(mayor and governor, respectively) the MOST responsible for
their inadequate response to the disaster (and if the governor did not go
on record, prior to the disaster, screaming to the Feds to strengthen
the levees, then she should be ashamed...). Neither Nagin or
Blanco demonstrated ANY kind of Preparedness, and worse,
BOTH of them had RESOURCES that could have been utilized
immediately after the initial impact to save lives by getting people
out... The picture of HUNDREDS of school buses in a New Orleans
parking lot -- unused, and now flooded -- is an amazing sight,
especially given the story of one courageous young man who
"stole" one of them, on his own, and drove about 75 people
300 miles to safety...

The NYPD also offered to come to N.O. to help maintain law
and order; Nagin declined. Instead, he went to the media and
let loose a profanity-laden tirade against the Federal government,
while some his citizens looted, others remained trapped in their homes,
and many died in those first critical few days...

AGAIN, given the fact that the severity of the disaster was predicted
several days in advance, the do-nothing response of these two
Louisiana elected officials is utterly disgraceful and inexcusable.

Churches, Charitable Groups, and Citizens
Tell me this: Why do the secular Entertainment groups, right now,
have (or have had) no less than THREE (at my last count) fund-raising
events scheduled, to be televised nationally, while the Christian
communities and organizations -- while responding through their own
Giving campaigns -- are largely silent? Surely one of the Christian
record labels can muster enough resources to televise a fund-raising
event that say to the world, "Hey, Jesus cares about what is going on
in New Orleans"??

Now, I already have read about roughly 6 distinct, organized efforts
from the Church to reach out with all kinds of help, and I'm FAR more
interested in one-to-one assistance ("here, sir, take this water... take
this box of MRE's... please, sir, you and your family follow me over here
to this area where there are cots and you can all sit and rest...")...
I'm just wishing, along the way, that we could see more of a PUBLIC
response to these types of things...

And if every single CHURCH that was NOT in the affected areas would
EACH take in as many victims (and their families) as they could,
a dozen in some cases to possibly *hundreds* at larger churches with
more resources, and if the PEOPLE in those churches converged on
the church to SERVE those victims, the burden on the "gub-ment"
would be far less severe... MORE IMPORTANTLY, though, it would
send the message that Love is, indeed, the center of the
True Gospel...

The victims themselves (some of them)
If you chose to stay in harm's way when you could have gotten out
(i.e., had somewhere to go and the means to get there), then your
suffering is your own fault (though no less pitiable). And if you
take advantage of the Chaos to LOOT or SHOOT or ABUSE,
then you are a CRIMINAL and nobody has any sympathy for you
(except insofar as your debauched Soul needs Salvation, as we all do...)

-----

Our nation has once again shown its Weaknesses to a watching world.
While we pray for the victims as they suffer through this (and as we
send our financial assistance, supplies, and even volunteers) to that
part of the country, we are ALL coping with the thoughts that our
vaunted reputation as "the greatest nation on earth" has, once again,
been a bit tarnished by such events...

A "relationship" with God??

Some fellow readers-of-Lewis and I have been discussing
what the concept of having a "relationship" with God might mean...
My position is that if there IS such a thing, it is *profoundly* different
from any other "relationship" we have, so much so that it needs
its own word!

Check it out: HIGHLIGHT, and then COPY this Link...
cslewis.drzeus.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3052
and then PASTE it into your Browser "address" (or "location") field...
Hit ENTER and read the thread...

Feel free to post your Responses here, or there in the Forum
(you can submit your comments as "Anonymous", or use your Name)...

An American Icon Dies

Today we have the news that Peter Jennings,
longtime anchor and newsman with ABC,
has succumbed to cancer and has died.

Like many Americans, the news caught me
by surprise this morning as I sit here drinking
my morning coffee. Peter Jennings was the
ultimate newsman, setting the standard for
delivering an entertaining package that
included not just "the news", but a great deal
of style, thoughtfulness, and wit.

As I read today's news story, however (on CNN),
I was struck by a quote that Dianne Sawyer
attributed to Jennings:

"There is no absolute truth in the world
for every group of people."

This shouldn't surprise me, really; I had no
reason to believe that Jennings was a conservative,
much less a Christian, but the glaring declaration
of a concise Metaphysic like that sort of gripped me.

Picture things from his perspective: He was a
world traveler, by profession, and found himself
(over the decades of his career) in just about every
human context possible, from wars and famine to
abundance and celebration, and from religious and
political extremes to unbelievable wealth and
abject poverty. He interviewed proponents of
just about every World View on the planet, and
(from what little I know about him) he was an
avid reader, and a "stickler for details".

If *anyone* had a front-row seat on the idealogical
landscape of Humanity, it was Peter Jennings.

No Absolute Truth??
But here is the thing to keep in mind:
IF all he meant by that comment was that people
cannot AGREE on what is Absolute Truth -- that
sect "A" passionately holds belief "X" while
sect "B" (just as) passionately holds the exact
opposite belief "Y", then he is right; but there
are a vast number of reasons (some important,
some just plain silly) for that disagreement.

But IF, on the other hand, he was making a
metaphysical pronouncement on the nature of
Truth -- that there IS no Absolute for All people
in All places at All times -- then he either never
really thought that World View all the way out
or he clearly identified himself as a Humanist,
fundamentally believing that one can cobble
together one's own "truth" and then live out
our lives by it without fear that we might be WRONG
(because who's to say what "wrong" means??).

Because of his broad Viewer base, Peter Jennings
probably had (and will continue, to some degree, to have)
a big influence on the minds of those who watched him.
These kinds of comments, by someone like him, just
might help to cement that "sense" or "feeling" in the
general American population that there really IS no
"absolute Truth" and that we indeed ARE free to
"make it up as we go along"...

One of the problems, though, with that World View
is that NOBODY really believes it! The homosexual
who passionately chooses that side will then turn and
utterly REVILE the person who believes that homosex
is an Abomination to God; the so-called "abortion rights"
people will turn around and lend their efforts to "right
to die" campaigns; and many people who discount any
absolute sense of Morality will turn right around and
call this or that act "immoral" or will make some kind of
vague appeal to "moral duty".

And one other point: NOBODY -- nobody! -- holds any
position to be "The Truth" (e.g., "there is no absolute
truth...") without firmly believing that that position is TRUE,
and that its exact opposite (e.g., "there IS at least one
Absolute Truth...") is FALSE. In other words, if you
passionately believe that proposition "X" is the truth,
you ALSO necessarily believe that proposition "NOT X"
is NOT the truth (or, is False).

A Call to American Christians
The reason Mr. Jennings could get away with such
blatant declarations of RELATIVISM is that he lived
in a country where Relativism is the reigning Metaphysic,
AND where those who have the Courage to declare
that there ARE Absolute Truths are branded as "Extremists".

This is one of the luxuries of Freedom, especially of Speech.
Public declarations of that type in other countries could
result in public disgrace and perhaps even torture and death;
but in America, comments like this indicate -- to me, anyway --
that the Church must continue the Battle for the Mind,
especially the minds of our younger generations.

"...Speaking the Truth in Love..." we are admonished; and so
it ought to be: Our LOVE for those around us ought to awaken
the desire in them to know more; then the REASONS for the Faith
must be well-grounded and defensible.

We may not be able to change popular beliefs in the broader sense,
but perhaps we can influence Minds to consider Christ, one at a time...

Tsunami : Where was GOD?

The recent Tsunami in Indonesia – killing more than 150,000
people (and still counting) and causing massive destruction in
that region – again brings to the attention of the world
the age-old question:

If there is a “God”, and if He is Just as well as Almighty,
how could this have happened? Where is GOD???

This Blog entry won't presume to offer an answer.
I would, though, like to offer up some thoughts and musings:

Did GOD cause this to happen?
Either God ACTIVELY caused this terrible disaster, or He
PASSIVELY allowed it to happen (assuming, of course, that
you believe God exists at all, and that He could have
prevented it if He chose to...).

If He did cause the disaster (that is to say, He did it),
it would not be too hard to conclude He is an evil, vindictive,
and horrible Power. If He did not directly cause it to happen,
then He obviously did allow it to happen.

Why? How COULD He? How could He allow the senseless
and random mass destruction of human life, and the
subsequent horror of the disease-ravaged aftermath?

Are those lives MEANINGLESS? A person is born, grows
to be a teenager, and then, one day while walking down the
sidewalk in a coastal town in Thailand, a great wall of water
crashes down on him and destroys him? Was that Life
– that PERSON – created only to be destroyed in some
twisted, "Great Cosmic Drama" of God’s design??

For that matter, is it FAIR that every single person born is
– according to the creeds of Christianity – “born into sin”, and
“a sinner from birth”? I’m “guilty” before I’ve ever even
DONE anything, subject to God's eternal Wrath for rejecting
a Person I've never met, who paid a Debt (of Sin) I didn't
know I had?? This is FAIR??

Comparative Possibilities
The following sentence combinations are offered just as
a way of sparking Thinking along these lines...

A. God MAKES every event in this world happen, directly
CAUSING all events
B. God only ALLOWS every event in this world to happen

A. God INTERVENES in the physical world, altering the
outcomes of given events
B. God does NOT intervene in the physical world; He lets it
“run its course”

A. Man has, to a great degree, the FREEDOM to CHOOSE
how events will go
B. Man does NOT have true Freedom; God, or “the gods”
determine everything that happens; Men are merely pieces
on some "Great Cosmic Chessboard"

A. God gives Men the “dignity of Causality” (Pascal) in the
events of this world
B. God works toward INFLUENCING the CHOICES of Men

A. Natural Disasters happen because SIN “broke” the Universe
and set it on a crash course for inevitable destruction
B. Natural Disasters happen randomly, without purpose
or meaning, and are just cold, impersonal Facts about the
nature of the physical Universe that must be accepted

A. God works to “woo” humans to CHOOSE Him while they can
B. Satan works to convince humans that they can make their
OWN Destiny (and that all this “religion” talk is nonsense,
espoused only by the weak-minded among us)

One Possible Answer: The Crashing Bus
Imagine a bus full of people going over the edge of a cliff, a
burning mass of twisted metal, plunging toward the inevitable
CRASH in the ravine far below…

That is the post-Original-Sin Creation we live in, and
God works to rescue as many from the bus as He can… as will
accept His offer of Salvation of their own free will… tragically,
most of the passengers are in complete DENIAL of the
condition and fate of the bus…

Death, disease, murders, rapes, natural disasters…
These things are all part of the destruction-in-progress
condition of the Crashing Bus, and while God obviously
“allows” it, He did not CAUSE it to be that way, and is working
feverishly to save as many passengers as He can who
– again – respond to His call with their Free Will…

His objective is NOT to save the BUS, but the people inside it…

The Big Question: FAIRNESS
For me, the PROBLEM OF PAIN comes down to
a question of FAIRNESS:

Is it FAIR to, say, a 1-yr-old Girl that her filthy uncle
rapes her? Is it FAIR to a 4-yr-old Boy in Sri Lanka that his
life ends by being crushed by a wall of water? Aren’t THOSE
souls – far too young to have committed any “sins” and
not at all justifiably culpable for anyone else’s – of any WORTH
to God? Were THOSE Souls brought into existence merely
to play “bit” parts in God’s tragic "Great Cosmic Drama"???

Perhaps part of the ANSWER comes down to a limitation
on our understanding of “FAIR”. GOD understands things
completely and perfectly. GOD is, in the last analysis,
ALL-Powerful and ALL-Wise and ALL-Knowing; we do not
know what He knows, nor can we see what He can see.

SURE, it seems UNFAIR to us in the here-and-now; but part
of what makes God God is that He is SO far above us in His
understanding and SO much more broad in His perspective...

TRUST IN THIS: In the END (the REAL end, the
End of All Things), GOD Himself will have set everything right;
EVERYTHING will – in the end – be precisely as it “ought” to be…
will be made “Fair”… and/or, our concept of “Fairness” will
have been made perfect, and we will SEE things much
the same way God does (though not completely, of course)...

Is this really so hard to understand?

Picture this: My two kids come into the living room and see
dozens of Christmas presents. After all are handed out,
one child notices that the other not only received “MORE”
presents, but that the other’s presents were “BIGGER”.

The child begins to make complaints along the lines of
“FAIRNESS”. But only the parents understand “Value”;
only THEY know that the child complaining about “Fairness”
actually received not only the very thing they so desperately
wished for, but also the presents of far greater VALUE, while
the child with the “most” presents actually received less,
in terms of “Value” (and perhaps not exactly what they wanted…
maybe Wal-Mart had no more left…).

The complaining child has only a child’s perspective on
“Value”, and the invocation of “Fairness” was made imperfectly
and without all the necessary Data… the parents patiently try
to explain things from the more mature perspective…

Perhaps it’s that way with God: IF we begin with a bedrock
of His immutable character – All-Wise, All-Knowing, All-Powerful,
and Everywhere-Present – it is not too difficult to stop
demanding “Fairness” and to simply, with His grace,
do TWO things in response to horrible Tragedies:

Fall on our knees and worship the Almighty
and
Reach out in Love and suffer with/serve the Needy


MAY GOD's MERCY FALL ON ALL OF US

The FLAP over CHRISTMAS

Every year around this time, it's the same old thing:
Christmas becomes a referendum on Religion, Government,
Free Speech, Truth, the Constitution, and TOLERANCE.
It seems the Secular Humanists and Liberal Freethinkers
have stepped up their offensives this year, as the cacophony
over CHRISTMAS – with its patently “religious” themes –
has reached something of a fever pitch...

I'm not an Attorney, nor a "real" Philosopher, and I don't
pretend to be an expert on interpreting the Constitution
of the United States; I also do not have an Historian’s
grasp of the evolution of CHRISTMAS over the years...

But I feel compelled to publish a few thoughts relating to
the fact that the nearly 2000-year-old Tradition of celebrating
the birth of Jesus has, in modern times, morphed into yet
another fierce political struggle in this country, adding to
the din in the Public Square over “religion”, Free Speech,
and the political “greased pig”, Tolerance...

I’ll do this by gathering my comments around four words:
Democracy, Fairness, Segregation, and Eternity…

Democracy
www.dictionary.com defines “Democracy” as (paraphrasing)
a system of representative government driven by the
Rule of the Majority. This is precisely what we have in
America, and the recent “Red State / Blue State” elections
make this concept graphically clear.

The framers of the Constitution had the Church of England
in mind when they wrote the infamous First Amendment,
intending to prevent the Federal government from
ESTABLISHING an "official" religion AND to prevent the
squelching of any EXPRESSION of religion by the Citizenship.

But when the will of the Majority (Democracy) effectively
prohibits the “speech” of the Minority (Free Expression),
and when Government appears to be endorsing one viewpoint
over others, what is a Citizen to do?

Here’s an idea: Get Out The Vote. Even local governments
(states, counties, municipalities, sheriffs, mayors, etc.)
are all ELECTED by the will of the people. Citizens have
a good deal of power in deciding who governs them (and how)
on the Local level; Democracy is a hands-on effort that
allows voters to affect CHANGE in what goes on in
the politics of our communities.

Fairness
Where did the idea come from that says that governments
(and school boards and county courts and mayors’ offices, etc.)
need to – MUST! – at all times demonstrate “Fairness” in the
Public Square? Who made the Public Square a political
“pageant” of Faiths, World Views, and Political Agendas?

The Secular Humanists, the Liberal Democrats, the Atheists
and Agnostics, and all of similar persuasions, have gotten a
good bit of Media exposure with what amounts to WHINING
over these issues; at CHRISTMAS time, the Whining grows
loudest as they protest figurines of the Baby Jesus on the lawns
of local government buildings, police stations, etc…

But if local officials are elected by the local Majority, shouldn’t
the Will of that local Majority prevail? If MOST of the citizens
in County “X” want to see Baby Jesus at CHRISTMAS time
on the lawn of the county courthouse, where do we get this
silly notion that “offending” the detractors creates a political
mandate to censor the Majority?

Segregation
Someone may reply, “Fine, but what would you do if the Majority
changed their affections and suddenly YOU were the Minority?
What would you do then? Do you want to see (protected) displays
of Satan worship on the county courthouse property?”

I will tell you: I would work very hard, locally, to prevent such a
state of affairs, but if it did come to be, I would either find it
within myself to “tolerate” my environment as I continued to
work toward Change, OR, I would MOVE and find communities
that DO reflect my Values and Beliefs.

There is, for example, a school board in the upper Northwest,
I’m told, that is FORCING students to take a class in Islam,
complete with required Muslim clothing and "mock" prayers
to Mecca 5 times a day...

I would not stand for that; I would pull my kids from that school
in a New York Minute (after attempting to persuade the local
school board to reverse that biased policy).

I’m sure most parents would do the same. And I’ve been a bit
amused by reports that a large number of Kerry supporters are,
or are seriously considering, moving to Canada in the wake of
this past election…

And there are efforts all around us to promote one Agenda
over another: Consider this story, about a young feller who
feels he must worship Satan:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/10/24/uk.devilworship/index.html

And of course, the so-called “Religious Right” is, in my opinion,
under heavy attack these days:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/149/41.0.html

So what, then? Are we becoming a nation rushing toward
deep divisions – SEGREGATION – into “Red vs. Blue” regions,
and into factionalized states, counties, even neighborhoods,
along the lines of collective Values and Beliefs?

It seems obvious that we are already far down that road…

Eternity
As a Christian, I am very concerned about the danger
of placing too much emphasis on political “victories”.
Even IF we believe that traditional, Judeo-Christian values
are the foundation of our country and the basis of our
system of laws (and that’s a VERY big “if”), we must
continually ask ourselves, what are we GAINING by
aggressively pursuing political causes that only alienate
the World and make the message of Jesus even more
repugnant to those who need to SEE it in us?

It only adds to the problem when Christians, rebuffed in
the political arena, then turn around and say of their
political opponents, "they're just rejecting Christ!"...

Injecting GOD into the Public Square does nothing to advance
the Great Commission nor the Great Commandment:
Jesus did not say, "Go ye therefore and form
Political Action Committees and get George Bush elected",
nor did Jesus say "Love the Constitution with all your heart
and soul and mind..."

What are we so AFRAID of? Why waste time and money
exploiting Politics, printing Tracts, fighting on Talk Radio, and
commandeering School Board meetings (among other things)
in some "fight" against "The World" when those fights DESSIMATE
the Love we are supposed to share, even in politics?

You don't BLUDGEON someone into considering Jesus,
and you don't shove a Tract in their hands and shout, "Trust Jesus!"
over your shoulder as you run as fast as you can the other direction...

We need to return to a focus on ETERNAL Values. Sure, we ought
to be involved in political efforts, but as good stewards, rendering to
Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, and all with an attitude of Worship
toward God and Love toward our fellow men…

And we accomplish the MOST through respectful, intelligent, patient
conversations (perhaps over coffee, perhaps over a nice dinner)
in which we plant the seed of Truth and then pray that the Holy Spirit
waters the seed…

In the end, this old World (left to itself) will never understand the Faith.
Attempts to coerce familiarity will only breed contempt, and the truths
of Christianity will only seem foolish to those who are perishing
(1 Cor. 1:18,21,23,25).

Into this cacophony steps JESUS: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God...
Prince of Peace... (Isaiah 9). MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Only ONE "Truth"?

As mentioned in a previous article, modern thinking
HATES the "Exclusivity" of the Christian message:
That Jesus Christ is the one and only way for Mankind
to be reconciled to God. The popular mindset of
Postmodernism says, as Oprah Winfrey said to a Christian
guest of hers recently, "I'm fine with your faith statements
as long as you don't say YOUR faith is 'true' and MY faith
is 'false' "...

But notice the fundamental Presupposition that is at
the heart of this mindset (which, by the way, is something
I think most of modern society "feels" more than "thinks"):
There Can Be No "One Truth".

Not only is THIS, itself, a Truth Statement, but it denies
outright its opposite, that there just very well MAY be
"One Truth" which applies to all people everywhere.
A legitimate Quest for Truth must not begin by presupposing
its conclusions...

So it would seem that even the Postmodernist wants to talk
about "Truth" in absolute terms. OK, fine, so the next
question usually is, how then can any ONE individual arrive
at "Truth"? Volumes have been written by thousands of thinkers
over thousands of years on this philosophical subject, of course,
and a serious Quest for Truth takes most of us a lifetime;
but consider this:

MOST of what we assert to be "True" is based on three things:
Reason (is the statement Reasonable; does it "hold water"
Logically), Authority (does the person making the statement
have the Credentials and Credibility to do so), and
Eye Witness accounts (what did the person making the statement
SEE or HEAR or TOUCH). Using these rudimentary tools, we
follow the EVIDENCE (the sum total of the three) until we
reach a point of, "Beyond Reasonable Doubt" (as in court).

When we have arrived at "Truth", using these methods, most
of us continue to examine our Case, looking for holes,
building support for the weak spots, and being willing to modify
parts of the Case when better Evidence presents itself.
But having done so, we become far more comfortable using the word
"Truth" because we've actually DONE some "homework" on the issue...

So what is at the heart of Postmodernism's loosely-held
belief -- their "truth statement" -- that There Can Be No
"One Truth"? Well, in addition to the probability that
most modern "thinkers" have not actually gone to the trouble
of researching and solidifying their World View (the Media
are among the most vocal preachers of today's "Collective Relativity"),
I believe it has to do with three things:

1. They do not realize that the very ACT of believing
"X" to be TRUE must mean, then, that its exact opposite,
"Y", is FALSE. You simply can NOT believe that two
absolutely OPPOSED positions might BOTH be true; and...

2. ...they are uncomfortable with this, because it begins to
fly in the face of their basic "truth statement" (i.e.,
There Can Be No "One Truth"). Quite simply, they lack the
Courage to stand up and say to anyone else, "You are Wrong".
They call that kind of stance "Extremism", a charge which
carries a lot of weight in a post-9/11 world...

3. But I believe the REAL reason is this: Postmodernists know
in their hearts that a real BELIEF in a real God (who really
has put His moral law inside us and will hold us Accountable)
would mean that they must set aside their own agendas and
pursuits of pleasure and/or fulfillment and focus instead on
worshipping this God and obeying His Will.

In a word, they are UNWILLING to do this. The first sin in
the history of the Universe, committed by Lucifer, was PRIDE:
"Not Thy Will but MINE be Done..." And it is this "back that
breaks but never bends" which constitutes the basis of the
assertion that "There Can Be No 'One Truth' ", because One Truth
means Obligation, a bowing-down, a yielding of an assumed
"right" to determine "one's own truth".

Even Christians must "die" every single day to this natural desire
to assert one's own will over the Will of God. With the help and work
of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we Christians are all a "work in progress".
Who does the Postmodernist have to help him?

And is banking EVERYTHING on the weak assertions of Relative Truth
worth the RISK if, in the end, they're proved horribly WRONG??