Commonly Grounded

Loving our Muslim neighbors unconditionally

2010-08-23T12:06:00.001-06:00

As usual I do not follow the news. As usual there are some things that refuse to be ignored. I suppose that's a good thing.

Apparently the Mosque near ground zero is one such thing. Frankly I just don't get why people are so worked up about it. But then, since I stopped following the news, and especially since I stopped listening to the political talking heads, it has become increasingly difficult to understand why people get so worked up about a lot of things. It's amazing how different things look when you're not being constantly harangued by the frantic, hand waving purveyors of doom and gloom.

Anyway, I could write a blog post putting forth my feelings about the whole thing, but someone already took the time to write an excellent blog post about it. This is what I would write (I just wouldn't write it as well).

Loving our Muslim neighbors unconditionally

Treadmills

2010-08-05T11:43:00.004-06:00

In a (now not so) recent post I said that everyone should stop everything until they know and understand their place in relation to God. I want to expand on that because I think it's absolutely critical that we get this. Most of us, if we're honest, do not live lives that are full of peace, joy and love. Oh we might have moments of bliss, brought on by a moving song, a great movie, or some religious ritual. We might have the occasional feeling of satisfaction when we've done a good deed or reached out to a hurting person. We might catch glimpses of glory in nature, or in a moment when a relationship is actually working well. But, by and large, most of us, in the words of Thoreau, lead lives of quiet desperation. Let's face it, heroic moments in a movie, complete with stirring soundtrack and professional editing, never seem quite so heroic when we're the ones facing sickness or debt; a looming temptation to sin, or a relationship that brings much more pain than joy.

When faced with these realities of life, what do we tend to do? If we're not inclined to any sort of spiritual faith, or belief in some sort of god, then we might, like Sisyphus, simply hitch up our pants and start pushing the boulder back up the hill. Grab some happiness where it can be found and just get on with the business of living. If we're of the Christian persuasion, or, I imagine, of most any other religious persuasion, I think we do the same thing. We hitch up our pants, get on whatever religious treadmill we happen to currently be in possession of, and start getting with the program. And, if you hadn't noticed, there are a lot of different treadmills.

There's the treadmill of right doctrine. There's the treadmill of right living. There's the treadmill of healthful living. There's the treadmill of theology. There's the treadmill of political action. There's the treadmill of church attendance (or avoidance). There's the treadmill of good works. There's the treadmill of a daily devotional and Bible reading. There's the treadmill of family values. There's the treadmill of Sabbath keeping. There's the treadmill of obsessing over end time prophecy and last days events. There's the treadmill of rediscovering and restoring long lost "truths". There's the treadmill of spiritual formation (the spiritual disciplines). There's the treadmill of missions. There's just no end of treadmills. Many of them are perfectly fine (and necessary) things, as long as we don't expect them to actually take us somewhere. Funny thing about treadmills is that, great as they are for strengthening and toning our bodies, they don't actually get us to any real destination.

So here we are, huffing and puffing along on whatever treadmill we happen to currently be on, and one day we look around and realize we haven't gotten anywhere. Oh, we might have conquered a particular sin, or discovered some new (or long lost) religious truth. We might have established a habit of regular church attendance, or we might have set ourselves free from the chains of the institutional church and started our own house church. Hooray! Hallelujah! But when we're quiet, when the trials of life hit, we realize we're no more peaceful or happy or at rest then we were when we started on the treadmill. And, just maybe, we're actually a little less hopeful, a little more questioning, a little more cynical.

So what do we do? We start looking around, we might do some Google searches, we might read another book, we might find another spiritual teacher, we might find a different church, we might start our own church, in short we get a different treadmill. And then we're back on there huffing and puffing and working that treadmill for all it's worth. Because this time, by golly, we've found it. This is the holy grail, this is the secret, this is the pathway to God. Maybe, just maybe, if we work this treadmill hard enough God will finally stop being disappointed with us. Maybe we'll finally stop feeling guilty and condemned for not being good enough. Maybe our dad will finally think we're a beautiful young lady or a brave and strong young man. Maybe our grandpa will finally think we're a good enough Christian. Maybe our mom will finally get off our back and stop nagging at us all the time. Maybe we'll finally stop being terrified that when we face the judgment seat of Christ he's going to shake his head sadly and turn his face from us forever.

Tell me something. Has it worked for you yet? How many treadmills have you tried? What treadmill are you currently working? Did you just start on this treadmill all bright eyed and hopeful, or are you getting ready to get off your current treadmill because it just doesn't seem to be working like it used to?

Think about it. Really think about it. And then think about this.

A parent considering adoption gets a picture and description of a little child from some other country. In their hearts they know this child belongs in their family. So they set into motion the legal proceedings to complete an adoption. Nothing that child can do can prevent those legal proceedings from taking place. In fact, before that child even knows the parents exist that child might already be legally adopted and have a place in the family. It might still be weeks or months before the child is actually brought home. It's not the child's choice, there is nothing the child ever did to earn that adoption and there is nothing the child could do to prevent it from taking place.

That's you. You're the adopted child. There's not a treadmill in the world that could get you adopted in the first place, and there's not a treadmill in the world that can keep you adopted (or get you unadopted for that matter). It's not up to you. In fact it happened before you were even born. Here it is in black and white from the pen of Paul:

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He's the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

Ephesians 1:3-10 (The Message)

And just in case you don't like The Message, and also because there are some cool things highlighted by another version, here is the same passage from the TNIV:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Ephesians 1:3-10 (TNIV)

In the light of this passage let's think about some of the reasons we might get on a treadmill.

So God will bless us? We've already been blessed with "every spiritual blessing in Christ".
So God will accept us? He not only accepted us, He CHOSE us before the creation of the world.
So we can be a part of God's family? We've already been adopted. It's a done deal.
So we can be holy? Well, that's exactly what He chose us for, "to be made whole and holy by his love" as the Message has it. We don't make ourselves holy, as should be obvious to anyone who's tried that treadmill for any length of time.

I wish like everything I could just end this right here. If I could end it right here, and if you actually believed what I'm telling you, then that would be wonderful and no more would need to be said. But of course the believing bit is the hard bit isn't it? Some of us, if we're honest, just don't really believe it. It seems too good to be true. And some of us immediately start thinking that if it's true then everyone would be saved (I wonder what that says about us if that's our first thought?).

So to wrap this up let's look at one of the most excellent summaries of the gospel in the whole Bible.

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. -2 Corinthians 5:14-20 (TNIV)

Holy Spirit, give us ears to hear the truth. Help us to finally accept who we really are and stop trying to get somewhere on our own steam. Help us to get off our treadmills. Open our eyes so we can see that we're already in the lap of our Papa. Jesus dove headfirst into the darkness of our alienation, grabbed hold of us and brought us back into the circle of love, the other centered dance of the Holy Trinity.

Who does Christ's love compel? Us (that includes you).
Who did Christ die for? All (that includes you).
Therefore who died? All (that includes you).
Who can be regarded in the same old way? No one (that includes you and everyone else).
Who was reconciled to God in Christ? The world (that includes you).
Whose sins are not counted against them? I'll leave that one up to you to figure out.

I implore you, I beg you with everything that is in me, to stop trying to reconcile yourself to God. You (YES YOU) have already been reconciled to God in Christ. So again, I implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.

This is not something you actively do. This is not some frustrating game God is playing where Jesus fulfills a legal transaction but it doesn't actually become real until you reach out under your own power and take the promissory note from his hand. In that model, even though it reveals a lot of beautiful truth, your reconciliation is still dependent upon something you actively do (reaching out under your own power and taking the promissory note).

The difference is so subtle that it's almost invisible, but the ramifications are huge. So huge in fact that we have entire faith traditions (i.e. Calvinism and Arminianism) built up over the centuries due to the natural outgrowth of philosophical paths which started out just a little bit off the mark on this point.

No, being reconciled is not something you do, it is in fact the cessation of doing anything at all and the acceptance of the fact that the "doing" has already been done. Yes, I know the word "acceptance" has an active component to it. I think the English language simply fails us here. A student of Greek might help us out by talking about the different voices (active, passive, middle). I'll just wrap it up by returning to the original metaphor of the treadmill. Instead of slogging forward trying to obtain something that's always just out of reach, and instead of stepping off the treadmill and chucking the whole thing altogether (Atheism), just stop and let yourself fall off the back of the treadmill where you'll finally discover that you are right where you've always been, in the embrace of the Trinity.

Then and only then, only when you know who you are and where you are, will you be able to start truly living. Then and only then will repentance and baptism and forgiveness and taking up of crosses and discipleship actually start making sense. Only then will you be able to actually get back on some of those treadmills, not as a way to find inclusion in the triune life of God, but as someone who is held, with every step, in the unfailing embrace of the Trinity.

I can't take it anymore

2010-06-15T14:29:00.000-06:00

I try not to read or follow the news. I definitely stay as far away from politics as I can. Still, no one can live in a complete vacuum. As such I am aware of the oil spill in the gulf. I am going to say something in response to this tragedy. I don't care that it might not be reasonable. I don't care that it might not make common sense. I just don't care. This is not political, because as you would know if you knew me I no longer can tell the difference between our political parties and don't have even the tiniest amount of faith in any party or politician. OK here goes:

I am green. I guess I was green before I knew there was such a thing. I identify more with the Sierra Club than I do with the country club. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, more than that I literally grew up living in the wilderness. I guess you could say my dad is one of the last remaining mountain men. It's only been through living so far away from there for so many years that I've begun to realize just what wilderness means and how important it is to me that it continue to exist and that it be protected.

I have tried in the past to conform to the religious right and the conservative politics that I thought were my "Christian" duty. I couldn't do it. I don't care how much sense it makes. I don't care if conservatism can be successfully won and argued in a logical debate. I just don't care. I don't care that I'm having a knee jerk, bleeding heart, tree hugging, save the whales, idealistic reaction. I honestly don't care. You can make all the arguments you like about the necessity of offshore drilling or drilling in Alaska. I heard them all. Heck I've argued them myself. They may even be good arguments. I don't care.

I'm not interested in logic. I'm not interested in what's best for our country or our economy. I don't even care if the result is we all revert back to 3'rd world living conditions because we can't sustain our way of living without raping the land. To HELL with our way of living. I mean that literally, because I honestly believe that's where God will send our way of living at the last day.

In Genesis 1 God told our ancestors to "be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of the Earth. (The Message)". For too long certain elements of Christianity have heard the traditional King James type translation of that verse and have used it as an excuse to exploit God's good works of nature for their own advancement without any thought to protecting, respecting and cherishing it as the thing of beauty and grandeur that it is.

I think we Christians ought to be sold out for a few things. Not everyone can do everything of course, but to the point of personal sacrifice and beyond here are some of the types of things I think we ought to give our lives for.

1. Fighting Aids in Aftica.
2. Fighting poverty all over the world.
3. Fighting racism in our own hearts and minds and in our own back yards.
4. Standing in solidarity with the poor and persecuted all over this world.
5. Working for reconciliation between ethnic groups, religious groups, and other groups that need it.
6. Reconciliation with first-nations.
7. Standing against corporate greed and consumerism in favor of the environment.

Ok. Just had to get that off my chest. Now I'm off to figure out how to put some action to all this talk.

It's an Oak... No, it's a Maple

2010-05-28T10:59:00.001-06:00

I was reading a popular Christian blog this morning and the following statement jumped out at me.

Most books are easily-verified, easily fact-checked. A book discussing a particular doctrine can be easily held up to the Scripture and seen immediately to be true or false.

I suppose it must be really nice to actually believe that. I suppose in some ways the Christian life would be a lot simpler if the Scriptures were actually a concise doctrinal treatise written in our own contemporary language by authors who were born and raised in our own time and place. I know that in the Christian world we certainly have such books and every major era of history has certainly produced their own versions of such books. If I were so inclined I could hold up a book to something like Calvin's Institutes or Barth's Church Dogmatics and see quite easily if it were true or false in relation to a particular theologian's interpretation of Scripture.

I think it is certainly true that the Christian Church has been able to agree on a basic foundation of common fundamental beliefs. We can all pretty much agree with the Apostles Creed or the Nicene Creed. We can even pretty much all agree on the basics outlined by C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity. However, there are very few books that discuss doctrines at the basic fundamental level contained in the creeds or Mere Christianity, and those books that are at that level certainly don't cause anyone to desire to hold it up to anything, Scripture or otherwise, to see if it is true or false.

No, the books the blogger is talking about are books that deal with doctrines that are not universally agreed upon within the Christian community. These might be books that deal with doctrines that are unique to, or at least uniquely interpreted by, a particular denomination, or they might be books wherein a particular theologian, scholar or layperson is arguing for something unique to themselves or their own smaller group. Thousands upon thousands of these types of books have been written, read and argued about for the last 2 thousand years. While it is certainly true that anyone can hold one of these books up to the Scriptures, it is also true that the conclusions drawn as to its truthfulness or falsehood will be quite varied and will have more to do with the examiners place in a particular tradition or denomination then it will have to do with the examiners ability to know exactly how to correctly interpret the relevant passages of scripture.

My point is this. If the Holy Scriptures had been intended to be the basis for a comprehensive Systematic Theology we would not have these thousands of books espousing their own particular interpretations of doctrine. But since we do, and since the debates, arguments and holy wars continue unabated, I think I will throw down the following, sure to be contested, statement (actually it's already been made and contested).

Apparently the Scriptures were never intended by God to be the basis for a comprehensive Systematic Theology and set of doctrinal statements.

Certainly the Scriptures contain exactly what God desired them to contain. And certainly they are completely sufficient for His purposes. I suppose it's just possible that in our thirst for knowledge and understanding we have focused so intently on the botanical structures of the individual trees that we have lost our ability (to some extent at least) to see the beauty and grandeur of the forest as a whole.

What's with all the beeping?

2010-05-03T14:00:00.000-06:00

I've been reading Tim Challies blog from time to time lately. I find it's a pretty good balance to my usual diet of heterodoxy . I think all in all he is amazingly gracious given his milieu.

Anyway, a recent post of Tim's (having nothing to do with 'doxies of any sort) captures the frustration I'm sure many of us feel in this always-connected world of smart phones, email and the scintillating thumb-dance of the chronic texters.

If you can fit it in between sending that email, checking your voice mail and texting your pal about the latest youtube craze go check it out.

Later, I'm getting beeped.

Fine Tuning

2010-03-31T13:24:00.004-06:00

I've been fascinated lately with thinking and reading about the origins of life (or "OOL" as my betters refer to it), and the fine tuning of the universe necessary to give rise to and/or support life. I think there isn't much argument about the fact that our universe is incredibly fine tuned. You certainly don't need to subscribe to ID (Intelligent Design) to accept that fact. In fact I'd guess about the only partaker in the origins arguments that don't need to make a big deal about fine tuning might be the YEC or OEC (Young/Old Earth Creationist) camp. I think some Theists, certainly some Christians, probably believe that God holds the universe and life together in some sort of magical/supernatural fashion which doesn't really need fine tuning, just lots of magic powers.

Just in case anyone wasn't sure, I am a Christian, and I do believe that God has lots of "magic" powers. I just happen to think that it's becoming abundantly evident (to me at least) that one of two things is true. Option one is that God created a universe and life in a literal Genesis 1 and 2 kind of way but gave it every appearance of being much much older than it really was, with every evidence that some sort of big bang happened, and with every evidence that some sort of really long evolutionary process gave rise to life via common descent. Option two is that God created a universe that actually began with some sort of big bang and actually did give rise to life through a really long evolutionary process via common descent.

Either option is equally plausible since God, being God, could pull off the deception in option one so well that it is indistinguishable from option two. You'd just have to wonder why he would do such a thing.

I like this clip of Richard Dawkins talking about fine tuning. I think his points are very good ones.

I think the most interesting thing about his remarks is that he summarily dismisses any sort of Theistic role in the origins of the universe and of life, stating that it can be quickly dismissed because it is just a regression and passes the origin question back up the line (who created God?). He also dismisses a science fiction theory that this is all some sort of "Second Life" simulation for the same reasons (who created the Programmer?). The theory he doesn't dismiss is the multiverse theory which, instead of falling prey to regression, seems to fall prey (to me at least) to infinite expansion.

This theory is a clever one in that it tries to remove the basis for the fundamental questions. It basically says: "fine, since you're always asking where X came from or what caused X or what came before X, we'll make the questions moot by positing an infinite number of universes, all of which could be tuned in completely different ways.". With this theory our universe could have been "birthed" out of a singularity in another universe which was in turn birthed in a similar fashion and so on ad infinitum. When someone asks "how likely is it really that our single universe, ancient and massive as it is, could have been fine tuned enough for life?", this theory can say "well, given an infinite number of universes it's not so hard to believe that 2 or 3 of them might just happen on the right tuning."

So let me get this straight, you dismiss the notion of a God infinite in scope and duration as the causal explanation for the universe, but accept the notion of a multiverse infinite in scope and duration. I'm afraid it's still just another regression. Even though you've made it infinite in scope and duration, doggone it I still just can't help asking where the multiverse came from, what caused it to be, and why.

In which I apologize to King George and others

2010-02-18T11:12:00.001-06:00

Let me start by saying that I'm glad to be an American. I have a feeling that if I were blessed enough to have been able to spend significant amounts of time in a variety of other countries I'd still be glad to be an American. It certainly seems like a lot of people from other countries feel that way given the level of immigration into the USA over the years. But (and you knew there was one) I feel I need to set the record straight on a few things.

Down through the centuries a lot of things have been done in the name of God, Jesus or Christianity. A lot of things have been done in the name of a variety of deities, but since I'm of the Christian persuasion I'll limit my discussion to that arena and let others deal with the rest. Under the banner of the Christian God (in one form or another) countless wars have been fought, and more often than you might think the wars were between groups or nations that both believed they were fighting for, or at least with the blessing of, the very same God. Beyond taking to the field for God and Country, ordinary folks, calling themselves Christians, engaged in the genocide of indigenous populations, slavery and various other questionable activities, apparently without seeing any contradiction.

Now, let me point out again that all of these things are part and parcel of human history, and have taken place under the banner of any number of deities and belief systems. In fact some of the worst have taken place under the banners of no-god-at-all, or even anti-god (think of the Soviet Gulag's, or the Cambodian Killing Fields). But again, my issue is with those who would do such things under the banner of the God I happen to worship and believe in.

I should also point out that all of these things were being done in the name of Christ long before there was ever a United States of America, so not only should we be careful about thinking this is a particularly Christian issue, we should also be careful about thinking this is a particularly American issue. But again, since I'm a Christian and an American, I'll limit my remarks to so called Christian America.

The New Testament of the Christian Bible has a fair amount to say about government, rulers, politics and war. It is by no means a primary theme, but it does pop up from time to time. What many people might find surprising is that right down the line, every time the issue pops up, you'll find that the New Testament seems to be in direct contradiction to the traditional viewpoints of many Americans, especially those on the religious right, regarding this nations founding, its status as a "Christian" nation, and many of its subsequent actions.

If, as many have said, this country was founded by Godly men under God's direction, then you'd think we'd find some evidence in the New Testament that this could be so. In fact, the very opposite is what you'll find. Never, in the entire New Testament, does God endorse or encourage people to rise up against their governing authorities. This country came into being on the basis of a revolution against its own government. The clearest and longest statement in the entire New Testament regarding the attitude a Christian should have towards their government is found in Romans 13:1-7.

Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

I don't think I need to say much about that passage. A quick comparison of the circumstances surrounding the birth of this nation with that passage has got to make you squirm a little.

There has been a long standing argument in this country between the left and right, the Christian and the non, about whether the founding fathers were, in fact, Christians, or whether they should more properly be considered Deists. Strangely the lines seem to be drawn exactly opposite to what logic would dictate. In light of the passage above, I could quite imagine a Deist penning the Declaration of Independence. I could quite imagine a group of Deists, or even of Atheists, holding up the banner of "Self Evident" truths, or "Inalienable Rights" and rising up against a government they felt was tyrannical. I could even imagine God working out his purposes through that group of revolutionaries. What I can't see is how anyone who has actually read their New Testament and determined to follow Jesus could march under that banner and take the lives of their fellow men, especially when you consider that the "enemy" also considered themselves to be Christian, and also considered themselves to be fighting for God and Country.

Let me quickly point out that I'm not questioning whether the leaders, or the commoners, who fought on either side of the Revolutionary war were devout followers of Jesus. I'm sure many of them were. I'm sure many of them honestly believed that what they were doing was the right thing to do.

Moving on from there things only get worse. It has been said repeatedly, from stump speeches and pulpits, that this is a Christian nation, founded by Christians and meant to be a beacon of Christian evangelical light to the darkened world. I must protest. Very little about the way this country was founded looks even the tiniest bit like Jesus. Very few of the actions surrounding this countries founding look like the actions of people who are following the path and the words of Jesus. Wasn't it Jesus who said the following?

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. --Luke 6:27-36

Can you honestly imagine Jesus advocating that his followers rise up in violent revolt against their rulers? Can you honestly imagine that Jesus would lead his followers to systematically wipe out an indigenous population in order to take the land for His glory (stay with Jesus here, we'll deal with the Old Testament another time)? Can you honestly imagine that Jesus would lead his followers to build much of "his" country on the backs of slaves? No, these are not the actions of those who are truly following Jesus, these are at best the actions of human beings. These are the kinds of things that humans have always done. The founding of this country was no worse and no better than the founding of most other countries down through history, in fact it was, quite simply, very much like the founding of most other countries.

So yes, for my part, as a United States citizen, I am quite willing to apologize to old King George for revolting against him. I am quite willing to apologize to the Native Americans for the genocide and theft enacted against them. I am quite willing to apologize to the slaves, and all of their families and descendants, for the atrocities committed against them. But, on the other hand, as a citizen of the United States the passage from Romans applies directly to me and I will be the best citizen that I can be.

Ultimately, however, my truest citizenship is in the Kingdom of Jesus, and Jesus quite pointedly said that his kingdom was "not of this world" -- John 18:36.

This is how the world will end

2010-01-21T09:47:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I borrowed that title from The Elms. Check out what they're doing for Haiti. Help them out if you can.

But before you do that I'd like to ask you to watch this video. There are a lot of people running around making claims about how and when the world will end. What's especially sad is the tendency of Christians to get involved in all of this speculation. Just in my lifetime, the stated time of the end has come and gone more times than I can remember. The "Left Behind" series is mere child's play compared to the meticulous eschatology I was taught to cull from the apocalyptic writings of Daniel and The Revelation. But to what end? It only brought fear.

So, what with all the earthquakes, pestilence and war. What with the rumblings of the beast and the whoring of Babylon. What with all the wild eyed prophets crying out "the time is near". Let's go back to the feet of our master. Let's listen to the words of Jesus. What was it that He actually said. I think this message is right on the money. Take a listen.

We could all do with another listen

2010-01-18T15:08:00.002-06:00

MLK Dream

Confessions of a Recovering Seventh-Day Adventist - Part 1

2009-12-14T15:54:00.007-06:00

UPDATE - 05/26/2010: I've decided to remove this post because it no longer reflects my heart. There are actually a lot of posts here that no longer reflect my heart, especially if you go back to the time that this blog was mostly about politics. I'm not removing them because I want this blog to serve as an expression of my journey. For that reason I suppose I should leave this post here but I just can't. Maybe I'll rewrite it one of these days.

I'm leaving the comments. I think they're valuable.

I hear you (and I see you too)

2009-11-19T16:50:00.001-06:00

You may have heard the true story or seen the short film, Cipher in the Snow, about a teenage boy who gets off the bus one day, collapses in the snow, and dies. It turns out that this boy was dead long before he died there in the snow. At least he was dead to those who walked past him every day in school, and even to his family at home. He was invisible, inaudible, a ghost haunting the periphery of so many lives, but for lack of being noticed he finally just accepted his status as a non-being and went away.

In orphanages of the past, and even those of today in some parts of the world, another type of ghost haunts the margins of life. Little babies lie in soundless rows. They weren't always so, at first they cried just like all little babies do, from hunger, or a wet diaper, or maybe just because they wanted to be held. But after awhile when no one came to pick them up and share their life, they fell silent. They became soundless and invisible. Little ghosts gazing up at a featureless ceiling. Their hearts still beat, their lungs still drew breath, but for lack of being heard their voices went away.

We can now begin to unravel the horror that is inflicted upon the human being when it goes unnoticed and unheard. Through the study of children from hard places, researchers can tell the tale of mental, physical, emotional and spiritual damage upon a developing mind and body when a child is denied a voice. Be this through abandonment, abuse or any of a number of situations, a child who is not seen, heard, touched, held and doted on by a loving parent or caregiver simply does not become a whole person. In some sense the child just isn't "real".

The good news is that when such a child, even when they are older, even as an adult, is able to be led back through the stages of development by an understanding caregiver, they can be, as it were, reborn. Neural pathways that were once thought to be set in stone, or forever lost if not forged in early childhood, can be re-created. When the child is given a voice, is seen and heard and touched and held and guided back through those missing stages, then they can begin to become real. Just like the Velveteen Rabbit becomes "real" through the attentions of a child, an invisible ghost of a child begins to solidify into flesh and bone and become real through the attentions of a loving foster or adoptive parent.

If you are prone to notice such things, you will perhaps have begun to notice some parallels to the Christian story. Jesus, who had existed forever in loving relationship with his Father and the Spirit came "in such mean estate" and was incarnated (put on flesh and bone). Jesus became one of us, He became one with us. Jesus was sent here for one primary reason, to make all of us "real". We, who through our loss of relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit had becomes orphans without a voice, were adopted by the Father. Jesus through his death would become a hopeless, voiceless, corpse, just like those babies lying in the orphanage. But, through His resurrection, we were all reborn and through His ascension we can all be guided back through the missing stages of development as we are reunited through the bonds of adoption into fellowship with our Father through the Father's Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

A simple reading of the Gospels illustrates this story over and over from so many different angles. Paying attention to who Jesus spent most of His time ministering to speaks volumes. Jesus ministered to the Cipher's in the Snow. Jesus loved on the outcasts, the unclean, the ones without a voice, those people on the margins of society. Those ghosts haunting the brothels and bars, driven to accept their status as non-beings, were the very ones Jesus smiled at. The very ones Jesus had lunch with. Jesus didn't always touch those he healed, but if you notice he touched the lepers.

I remember back in the 80's when we were all so scared of Aids I worked as a waiter in a restaurant. One of my regulars was a gay man dying of Aids. You could see it on his body and in his eyes. He was a walking corpse. Back then it was scary stuff, but I remember when I would clear his dishes off his table something would not let me show my revulsion or fear. Something drove me to stand right beside him, look him in the eye, smile at him, talk to him and, most importantly, grab his dirty dishes firmly with both my bare hands instead of using a towel. I was no saint at the time, not by a long shot, but somehow I just knew that what he needed more than anything else was for someone to see him as a person with dignity. He needed someone to see past the ghost and the corpse and actually see him as real. Someone to listen to his words and give him a voice.

Some people, my wife chief among them, heeded the impulse to treat me like a person instead of a ghost. Jesus did the work. He provided the love and the rescue. He came to lead us back to the Father. And now that we're seated with Christ, all of us whether we know it or not, in the heavenly places, the Holy Spirit gives us those impulses to hear, to see, to incarnate the ghosts haunting the margins of the world. They're just as alive in Christ as anyone else is, but they just don't know it. Just like a child adopted from a Russian orphanage doesn't know it's alive until the adoptive parent comes and takes them home.

We, all of us who know we're alive, should stop everything we're doing. Drop everything. Sit down and think about the fact that we're actually seated at the table with Jesus. We're seated with Him at the right hand of God. We, who once were dead, are now alive. We were captives and we've been set free. We were orphans and we've been brought home to the most amazing family in the universe. We were snot nosed brats who squandered our Fathers wealth in "riotous living" and when we came back home we were welcomed with a party the likes of which have never been imagined. We shouldn't think another thought, or say another word, until the joy and freedom of that knowledge completely drives out everything else. And only then. Only when we realize just how incredibly free we actually are, and realize that nothing we ever did or ever could do would earn us our place in the Father's family. Nothing we ever did or ever could do would lose us our place in the Fathers family. Only then, out of that joy and that freedom, start to look around. Start to listen. Start to notice the ghost's and the corpses. Start to notice the orphans. Start to notice the voiceless. They're everywhere. In Beetlejuice there were two humans who had to come to realize they were actually ghosts. This world is haunted by ghost's who don't realize they're actually human.

How does an adoptive parent bring the child back to reality? By giving them a voice. By seeing them ("Mommy, Mommy, look at me!"). By holding them, and touching them, and guiding them back through the missing stages of development. The parent uses their mouth, their eyes, their hands, their feet, their whole body is poured out as a sacrifice of love for the child. Jesus does the same for all of us who've been adopted by the Father (That's ALL of us by the way). He uses all the parts of His body just like the adoptive parent. But think about it, His body is you and his body is me. His body is that whole body of people who realize they're alive in that freedom and that love.

The Author of Cipher in the Snow was a teacher in the boys' high school. It was discovered that the boy had listed this teacher as his favorite teacher. The teacher sadly realized that he had hardly known the boy existed. He ends his story with the following words.

I've never forgotten Cliff Evans nor that resolve. He has been my challenge year after year, class after class. I look for veiled eyes or bodies scrounged into a seat in an alien world. "Look, kids," I say silently. "I may not do anything else for you this year, but not one of you is going to come out of here as a nobody. I'll work or fight to the bitter end doing battle with society and the school board, but I won't have one of you coming out of there thinking himself a zero."

Somehow I think the consummation of all things won't be until Jesus' body, his whole body, refuses to let a single person come out of here thinking themselves a zero. If that takes another hundred years, or even another thousand, it will nevertheless be so. For that light is the light of all people and the darkness will not overcome it.

When all other lights go out

2009-07-30T16:25:00.002-06:00

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:16-19

I'm sure you'll remember Frodo making his way through Shelob's lair. If ever there was a dark place that was surely it. What he needs is a light, and not just any light, he needs a light that can cut through the oppressive darkness around him and bring hope and courage to his frightened heart. It is then, when all seems hopeless, that he remembers the voice of Galadriel and reaches for her gift to him. When he holds it up, he calls on the name of Elbereth Gilthoniel, the kindler of the stars.

Our road will certainly take us through dark places, it will even take us through the valley of the shadow of death itself, and what could be darker than that dread road. But when we are in the darkness we would do well to pay attention to the gift we each carry, for we do indeed carry the light of the kindler of the stars.

In him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:4,5

What are you looking for?

2009-05-13T12:17:00.006-06:00

You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.
-- St. Augustine

I still haven't found what I'm looking for.
-- U2

This goes out to all my fellow seekers. All those wild eyed men (and women) poring over dusty tomes. Sitting at the feet of wise men and teachers. Searching, ever searching, for some hidden truth, some mystical formula, some forgotten knowledge that will finally slake the unquenchable thirst. That will finally answer the questions and the mysteries surrounding our life in Christ.

For some of us it's a desire for holiness, a desire to live the life of Christ. We read the Bible, we hear the sermons, and we realize that we fall short, far short, of what we're "supposed" to be.

For some of us it's a desire for theological consistency. We wrestle with different models of the atonement. We try to wrap our minds around the doctrine of the Trinity. We struggle to make sense of the sovereignty of God.

And for others it's a desire to go beyond head knowledge. To somehow translate those words of truth we have memorized into an actual experience of knowing God. We know ever so much about God, but He seems a million miles away and so incredibly disconnected from the realities of daily life.

And so we search, we seek, we embark on quest after Knightly quest for our particular Holy Grails. Only far too often we are carried forlornly back to La Mancha instead of riding victoriously back to Camelot. The latest book starts with so much promise, but fails to deliver in the end. The newest teacher gathers them in by the thousands, but the words just somehow fail to translate into lasting change or a satisfying peace. Sometimes we think maybe it's our theology. Maybe if we became a Calvinist, or a Quaker, or Eastern Orthodox, maybe that would do the trick.

Well, I for one have had just about enough. Over the last month or two I've put down most of my theological tomes. I've laid aside the latest McSpirituality books. I've resisted the allure of doctrinal sparring matches (mostly). And I've begun to discover something that was right there all along; it wasn't hidden, it wasn't buried in ancient texts, it hadn't been lost through the vagaries of time, it didn't need 10 steps to find or some guru to point it out, I've begun to discover the presence of Jesus.

That's what I've been looking for all along. That's what brought me into this crazy, mixed up thing called Christianity in the first place. The presence of Jesus. And I've found that when I'm in the presence of Jesus I'm not nearly as worried about all those other things that used to cause me so much consternation. It made me realize that I'd been making an idol out of information. Even though I knew at some level that information about someone is not at all the same thing as an intimate relationship with that person. I realized that all my questings were just the religious spirit raising it's ugly head, trying successfully to obscure the true object of my hearts desire.

This morning as I was having a morning drive-time communion with Jesus this all became so clear. I was reminded of a period of time when my daughter was 5 or 6 years of age. She used to have something that I called night-terrors. I don't know if that's what they really were, but it was the best explanation I had for it.

In the middle of the night she would start crying and calling out in severe distress. I would go into her room and she would be sitting up in bed, eyes wide open, and in a complete state of agitation. I would ask her what was wrong and she would say something like: "You know. You know what I need. Where is it? You have to give it to me." She would continue to insist that there was something that she needed and that it was critically important that I get it to her. Only she would never say what it was she needed. It was very frustrating. Nothing I could do would comfort her. All my attempts to soothe her and hug her would be rejected and she would lash out in anger and fear until finally she would tire herself out and go back to sleep.

I knew, because I understood the difficult circumstances at the time, what was going on psychologically. I also knew that what she most needed, and really the only thing that would help, would be for her to accept my soothing. To relax in my arms and feel safe in the fact that I was never going to leave her or forsake her. Even though her world didn't always make sense, there was peace and safety that only I could give her, but I couldn't force it on her. She had to accept it from me.

Isn't this just what we do? We chase after God, demanding that He conform to our systems of thought. Demanding that He make sense out of everything. Taking the Holy Scriptures, that wonderful collection of stories, letters, poems and apocalypse, and turning them into a systematic theology in which we grant degrees and with which we ferret out the faintest inklings of heresy. We see our own failures and think it must be up to us to figure it all out. Paint by numbers holiness. Orthodoxy for Dummies. Surely we can learn enough about it all to finally find some peace, some ease, an end to our ceaseless quest.

Are you tired of it too? Tired of seeking after those elusive answers that somehow always seem just out of reach? Jesus said that if you seek you will find, if you knock it will be opened. What have you been seeking for all this time? If you haven't found it, maybe you're not seeking for the right thing. If the door hasn't been opened, maybe you're not knocking at the right door.

These days when my daughter is sad, hurt or confused, she comes right to me. She asks questions and she listens to the answers. She hugs me and accepts my hugs. She takes comfort from me. She believes that my heart towards her is good. Even though her life is still difficult, even though she still goes through heartache and pain, I no longer see her casting about anxiously for something that isn't there. No longer does she scream in the night while her comforter stands open armed in front of her.

Listen to these words of the one who wants to comfort you. The one who stands there open armed while you scream into the night.

You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want.
--John 5:39-40 (The Message)

Now don't go running straight to the NIV, the RSV or the KJV to remind yourself of how it reads there. You know who you are and you're just like me. Don't do it. Stay here with this. Let the unfamiliarity of the translation be an opportunity for Jesus to actually break through to your heart. Read it, mouth the words, imagine Jesus right there with you saying the words. Hear him. Let him speak.

Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer: "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people. Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."
Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. "The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."--Matthew 11:25-30 (The Message)

Again, stay with these words. Forget about dragging out your other translations or your commentaries. Resist all those familiar urges. Jesus is speaking to you. Right now. Listen to his words. Hear them. Really hear them. Rest your head on his shoulder... accept his hug... hug him back... breathe, relax, repeat.

Thoughts on a passing

2009-05-11T10:55:00.005-06:00

I got this little reading this morning. It came at a perfect time. I just had to share it, and some thoughts I had.

Our next door neighbor passed away recently. Doyle was in his eighties, so it wasn't as tragic as it could have been I suppose. Still, he left behind a wife who had already lost her first husband.

We had gotten to know the two of them somewhat. We would visit them from time to time. We would look out our kitchen window and see his white head as he sat in his recliner reading the paper, watching TV or chatting with his wife. Now the white head is gone and, as E and D have both said, it just won't be the same anymore.

We don't ever get used to death do we? Somehow we know, at a basic, fundamental level, that it's just not right. At the memorial service we overheard Doyle's sister say, over and over again: "It's shocking, it's just shocking". And it is, isn't it? Even though Doyle had been very sick for a couple of months, even though he was in his eighties, even though realistically it didn't come as a big surprise, still, it is shocking.

But here is something even more shocking: "Since we humans have flesh and blood (and are subject to death), Jesus himself became flesh and blood, Jesus took on our humanity, so that by his death he could break the power of that grim reaper who holds the power of death —that is, the devil— and free all of us who all our lives were held in slavery by our fear of death" (Hebrews 2:14,15). Now the devil still holds the power of death, and he will until the end of this age, but the devil's power is broken. Death no longer has any mastery over us. Now death is just stepping from one room into another. One moment I'm here talking with you, the next moment I'm in the other room talking to Doyle. And before long we've all stepped into the next room.

Through the looking glass... Through the wardrobe... Back to Eden... Back home.

As John Eldredge has said, "we get the whole thing back". Everything that matters. We let go of it, we go out naked and empty-handed like we came in, but we get it all back, new and restored. And so much more.

We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. (T. S. Eliot)

Look, I am making all things new! (Jesus of Nazareth)

See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come. (Song 2:11–12)

I was walking in the woods and fields behind our house one evening four months after Brent’s death. My heart was so aware of the loss—not only of Brent, but in some ways, of everything that mattered. I knew that one by one, I would lose everyone I cared about and the life I am still seeking. In the east, a full moon was rising, bright and beautiful and enormous as it seems when it is just above the horizon. Toward the west, the clouds were turning peach and pink against a topaz sky. Telling myself to long for eternity feels like telling myself to let go of all I love—forever. It feels like accepting the teaching of Eastern religions, a denial of life and all God created. We lose it all too soon, before we can even begin to live and love. But what if ? What if nature is speaking to us? What if sunrise and sunset tell the tale every day, remembering Eden’s glory, prophesying Eden’s return? What if it shall all be restored?

(Desire, John Eldredge. p. 107–8)

Ignorant Bliss vs. Smug Satisfaction

2009-04-20T08:29:00.003-06:00

Had I not clicked on that "news" link this morning I would still be blissfully ignorant of the latest internet phenomenon. The name Susan Boyle would still be completely unknown to me.

In my defense, as soon as I got far enough into the article to realize it was about some unwitting insta-celeb getting their 15 minutes via youtube, I stopped reading. I did not, and will not, go watch the video. I did not, and will not, ask my co-workers if they have seen it. The whole sad affair will leave my mind minutes after I click the "Publish Post" button, hopefully never again to be remembered.

As such, my smug satisfaction is still intact. I can still claim to be immune to the freeze dried pop culture (just add hot water and stir). But, had I just not clicked that link I would be blissfully ignorant of this "story". I would not even be posting this confessional right now. And that, my friends, would be so much better.

Dared to Love

2009-02-25T10:59:00.003-06:00

I ran across this today and just had to share it. I was held captive by the kingdom of darkness for quite a lot of my life, and it is definitely a lonely and desperate place. Now that I've been rescued I am increasingly aware of my heart going out to those who are still there.

I was reminded again today of the tendency some of us Christians have of putting time and effort into trying to change the world through politics, military might and other power structures of this present age. Maybe there is a place for that, I don't know, I just know that the way Christ and the Apostles went about turning the world upside down had nothing to do with politics, earthly kingdoms, military might or the law. It had everything to do with coming alongside the hurting, the outcast, the orphan, the widow and the poor. With bringing them help and healing. With winning them, one by one, through personal love, effort and prayer, out of the kingdom of darkness and into the glorious light of freedom in Jesus.

I don't think the author of this post will mind my sharing it here. I'm putting the link here to the original post, but I'm also including it here in full.

Anyway, without further ado...

==============================================================================

I recently attended Times Square Church in New York City and went on a one day mission trip to a local shelter. At the shelter, we handed out leaflets and conducted a church service. At the end of the service, we asked if anyone wanted to come up for prayer. A slender, attractive lady with long straight black hair, standing about six feet tall, was toward the end of my line. Earlier during the service, a friend pointed her out to me and told me she was a transvestite. She was standing alone in the back of the room in the doorway during the service. I struggled accepting her/him inside my small moral box. But as she got closer to me in my line, I heard God tell me, "My Kingdom is for all. All belong to me. I died for all. I dare you to love her as I do." When it was her turn for prayer, I looked into her eyes. Tears had caused her mascara to run down her cheeks. In that moment, I knew that she needed someone to accept her, embrace her, and love her. As I held her hands in prayer, they trembled and I could feel the world's cruelty that was placed on her. She sobbed in shame and humiliation. Her words were few.

Outcasts are real people with feelings just like us. They try to hide a lifetime of hurt, cruelty, and violence underneath their mask. Only a compassionate heart can see through their mask. They lead vulnerable lives in an angry world resulting in a lifetime of self hatred. God longs to hold and comfort them. True tragedy is when people, like this transvestite, never experience a love that God has for them. The main type of love they experience is when someone uses them and then spits them out.

All of us are no different. We are all in the process of becoming. When God's grace and compassion strikes us, we become more like God – who wants to hold and comfort our hurt, rejected and lonely selves. With His embrace, we are all allowed to become.

Once a man and now a woman
No where can you fit in.
You're swept into the world's gutter
Because the world just sees your sin.

You live outside my moral box
You've strayed so far away.
You don't fit in my living room
In Suburbia, U.S.A.

When I can't see beyond the mask
The world put over you;
I've stopped the process to become like God
Whose love you never knew.

I cannot know my fullest self
Unless I see beyond your sin
And bring to you the love of God,
The lifter of your chin.

I pray today for courage
For myself and fellow outcasts;
That we shine through our blindness
With a love that forever lasts.

Musing by Dean Robinson

Human or Dancer?

2009-01-30T08:35:00.003-06:00

It would seem from what I'm posting here lately that I've been immersing myself in pop-culture. Actually nothing could be further from the truth. I've really been avoiding radio, TV and the internet quite fastidiously. Still, for some reason, I keep coming across these little gems that just hit a nerve. This song is a really good example of that. Unfortunately I can't embed this particular video so you'll have to click the link.

Human - The Killers

Personally, I think the answer is quite clear. We're human of course, but if that's all we are then we are truly to be pitied (of course, if all we are is human then who would do the pitying?). But "when we dance", as Sting so eloquently puts it, "angels will run and hide their wings". When we dance (or sing or write or love unselfishly) we tap into something glorious, something transcendent, something that proves we can't possibly be simply human.

How 'bout a little Dylan

2009-01-23T08:47:00.002-06:00

When yer head gets twisted and yer mind grows numb
When you think you're too old, too young, too smart or too dumb
When yer laggin' behind an' losin' yer pace
In a slow-motion crawl of life's busy race
No matter what yer doing if you start givin' up
If the wine don't come to the top of yer cup
If the wind's got you sideways with with one hand holdin' on
And the other starts slipping and the feeling is gone
And yer train engine fire needs a new spark to catch it
And the wood's easy findin' but yer lazy to fetch it
And yer sidewalk starts curlin' and the street gets too long
And you start walkin' backwards though you know its wrong
And lonesome comes up as down goes the day
And tomorrow's mornin' seems so far away
And you feel the reins from yer pony are slippin'
And yer rope is a-slidin' 'cause yer hands are a-drippin'
And yer sun-decked desert and evergreen valleys
Turn to broken down slums and trash-can alleys
And yer sky cries water and yer drain pipe's a-pourin'
And the lightnin's a-flashing and the thunder's a-crashin'
And the windows are rattlin' and breakin' and the roof tops a-shakin'
And yer whole world's a-slammin' and bangin'
And yer minutes of sun turn to hours of storm
And to yourself you sometimes say
"I never knew it was gonna be this way
Why didn't they tell me the day I was born"
And you start gettin' chills and yer jumping from sweat
And you're lookin' for somethin' you ain't quite found yet
And yer knee-deep in the dark water with yer hands in the air
And the whole world's a-watchin' with a window peek stare
And yer good gal leaves and she's long gone a-flying
And yer heart feels sick like fish when they're fryin'
And yer jackhammer falls from yer hand to yer feet
And you need it badly but it lays on the street
And yer bell's bangin' loudly but you can't hear its beat
And you think yer ears might a been hurt
Or yer eyes've turned filthy from the sight-blindin' dirt
And you figured you failed in yesterdays rush
When you were faked out an' fooled white facing a four flush
And all the time you were holdin' three queens
And it's makin you mad, it's makin' you mean
Like in the middle of Life magazine
Bouncin' around a pinball machine
And there's something on yer mind you wanna be saying
That somebody someplace oughta be hearin'
But it's trapped on yer tongue and sealed in yer head
And it bothers you badly when your layin' in bed
And no matter how you try you just can't say it
And yer scared to yer soul you just might forget it
And yer eyes get swimmy from the tears in yer head
And yer pillows of feathers turn to blankets of lead
And the lion's mouth opens and yer staring at his teeth
And his jaws start closin with you underneath
And yer flat on your belly with yer hands tied behind
And you wish you'd never taken that last detour sign
And you say to yourself just what am I doin'
On this road I'm walkin', on this trail I'm turnin'
On this curve I'm hanging
On this pathway I'm strolling, in the space I'm taking
In this air I'm inhaling
Am I mixed up too much, am I mixed up too hard
Why am I walking, where am I running
What am I saying, what am I knowing
On this guitar I'm playing, on this banjo I'm frailin'
On this mandolin I'm strummin', in the song I'm singin'
In the tune I'm hummin', in the words I'm writin'
In the words that I'm thinkin'
In this ocean of hours I'm all the time drinkin'
Who am I helping, what am I breaking
What am I giving, what am I taking
But you try with your whole soul best
Never to think these thoughts and never to let
Them kind of thoughts gain ground
Or make yer heart pound
But then again you know why they're around
Just waiting for a chance to slip and drop down
"Cause sometimes you hear'em when the night times comes creeping
And you fear that they might catch you a-sleeping
And you jump from yer bed, from yer last chapter of dreamin'
And you can't remember for the best of yer thinking
If that was you in the dream that was screaming
And you know that it's something special you're needin'
And you know that there's no drug that'll do for the healin'
And no liquor in the land to stop yer brain from bleeding
And you need something special
Yeah, you need something special all right
You need a fast flyin' train on a tornado track
To shoot you someplace and shoot you back
You need a cyclone wind on a stream engine howler
That's been banging and booming and blowing forever
That knows yer troubles a hundred times over
You need a Greyhound bus that don't bar no race
That won't laugh at yer looks
Your voice or your face
And by any number of bets in the book
Will be rollin' long after the bubblegum craze
You need something to open up a new door
To show you something you seen before
But overlooked a hundred times or more
You need something to open your eyes
You need something to make it known
That it's you and no one else that owns
That spot that yer standing, that space that you're sitting
That the world ain't got you beat
That it ain't got you licked
It can't get you crazy no matter how many
Times you might get kicked
You need something special all right
You need something special to give you hope
But hope's just a word
That maybe you said or maybe you heard
On some windy corner 'round a wide-angled curve

But that's what you need man, and you need it bad
And yer trouble is you know it too good
"Cause you look an' you start getting the chills

"Cause you can't find it on a dollar bill
And it ain't on Macy's window sill
And it ain't on no rich kid's road map
And it ain't in no fat kid's fraternity house
And it ain't made in no Hollywood wheat germ
And it ain't on that dimlit stage
With that half-wit comedian on it
Ranting and raving and taking yer money
And you thinks it's funny
No you can't find it in no night club or no yacht club
And it ain't in the seats of a supper club
And sure as hell you're bound to tell
That no matter how hard you rub
You just ain't a-gonna find it on yer ticket stub
No, and it ain't in the rumors people're tellin' you
And it ain't in the pimple-lotion people are sellin' you
And it ain't in no cardboard-box house
Or down any movie star's blouse
And you can't find it on the golf course
And Uncle Remus can't tell you and neither can Santa Claus
And it ain't in the cream puff hair-do or cotton candy clothes
And it ain't in the dime store dummies or bubblegum goons
And it ain't in the marshmallow noises of the chocolate cake voices
That come knockin' and tappin' in Christmas wrappin'
Sayin' ain't I pretty and ain't I cute and look at my skin
Look at my skin shine, look at my skin glow
Look at my skin laugh, look at my skin cry
When you can't even sense if they got any insides
These people so pretty in their ribbons and bows
No you'll not now or no other day
Find it on the doorsteps made out-a paper mache_
And inside it the people made of molasses
That every other day buy a new pair of sunglasses
And it ain't in the fifty-star generals and flipped-out phonies
Who'd turn yuh in for a tenth of a penny
Who breathe and burp and bend and crack
And before you can count from one to ten
Do it all over again but this time behind yer back
My friend
The ones that wheel and deal and whirl and twirl
And play games with each other in their sand-box world
And you can't find it either in the no-talent fools
That run around gallant
And make all rules for the ones that got talent
And it ain't in the ones that ain't got any talent but think they do
And think they're foolin' you
The ones who jump on the wagon
Just for a while 'cause they know it's in style
To get their kicks, get out of it quick
And make all kinds of money and chicks
And you yell to yourself and you throw down yer hat
Sayin', "Christ do I gotta be like that
Ain't there no one here that knows where I'm at
Ain't there no one here that knows how I feel
Good God Almighty
THAT STUFF AIN'T REAL"

No but that ain't yer game, it ain't even yer race
You can't hear yer name, you can't see yer face
You gotta look some other place
And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin'
Where do you look for this lamp that's a-burnin'
Where do you look for this oil well gushin'
Where do you look for this candle that's glowin'
Where do you look for this hope that you know is there
And out there somewhere
And your feet can only walk down two kinds of roads
Your eyes can only look through two kinds of windows
Your nose can only smell two kinds of hallways
You can touch and twist
And turn two kinds of doorknobs
You can either go to the church of your choice
Or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital
You'll find God in the church of your choice
You'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital

And though it's only my opinion
I may be right or wrong
You'll find them both
In the Grand Canyon
At sundown

=============================================================

Amen!

(Thanks to Andrew Rilstone for reminding me of this one)

I'm still here

2009-01-13T19:30:00.002-06:00

On the off chance that anyone actually swings by this blog from time to time I want to assure you that I am still around. I have just been going through some things that are really deep, difficult, profound and amazing.

I have wanted, many times, to write some things up but I just don't feel like I am ready to do so yet. I'm afraid that if I write something up here I will, in some way, cheapen or denigrate what is taking place within me.

The rubber has met the road, so to speak. The God I serve has promised that he who has begun a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (see Philippians 1:6).

There was a time of refreshing. A mountain top experience of joy as I discovered what my Father God really thought of me and the healing and restoration he had planned for me. There was much healing and restoration - much joy and peace. After this, inevitably I think, come times of testing and fire. Times when the great "I AM" must become a consuming fire and begin to burn out the impurities that remain. A time when HE says: "You have rejoiced when I took you into the beauty and peace of my restoration, now will you remain in me when I send you back into the battle? Will you count it all joy when I let the enemy, the world, and the flesh have a go at you?"

I DO count it all joy. I DO say with confidence that I will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.

A Psalm came to mind as I was writing this. I want to share it with you. This is Psalm 46:

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolation's he has brought on the earth.

He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.

"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

This is the word of our Lord: Jehovah Sabaoth - our Lord of Hosts, Adonai - our Sovereign. Thanks be to God.

Kingdom Centeredness

2008-12-09T15:47:00.004-06:00

There is an essay taking shape in my head. Today I thought I might set out to start writing it. Well, it seems someone else beat me to it, at least partially. So, instead of re-inventing the wheel I invite you to click on over and read this excellent piece on Kingdom Centeredness.

http://www.gregboyd.org/essays/kingdom-living/kingdom-centeredness/

Let's Rock

2008-12-04T12:01:00.004-06:00

How about it, are you ready to rock?

Ready for some more?

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

...The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Of U2 and Dandelion Seeds

2008-10-30T07:58:00.006-06:00

I've been listening to U2 the last few days. I popped in The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree and as always I find myself carried away by the shimmering wash of The Edge's guitars, the surging heartbeat of Clayton and Mullen, and the passionate wails and whispers of Bono.

I want to run
I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls
that hold me inside

I want to reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

My wife and I were watching one of their concerts on TV and we both agreed that U2 just might be the greatest Rock and Roll band ever. They certainly have had incredible staying power and seem to reach across a multitude of boundaries. So what is it, we wondered, that is different about them? What is it that causes them to stand, after so many years, head and shoulders above the rest? We concluded that with U2 you find something that transcends the genre of Rock and Roll.

Rock has always reveled in an unflinching and uncompromising dance with the realities of life. Rock musicians have always seemed to live in an honest relationship with the apparent demands of the world. Their unwillingness to turn their backs on the siren's song have led to the long parade of those who epitomized the "live hard, die young" lifestyle. For after all, if this life is all there is, who has better captured the essence of life than the rock star? Who has been more honest and more true then those strutting little gods who, wielding their instrument as a weapon, demand that no desire will go unfulfilled and that no experience will go untried.

And so we come to U2 and we discover something so similar but yet completely different. With U2 we find despair but also hope, doubt but an enduring faith, longing and desire for something so much more than the gratification of the flesh, an honest attempt to deal with social injustice and, at every turning, the discovery of grace and redemption. When Bono wrings every drop of emotion from his soul he gives it as a gift to the crowd. His baring of the soul is not that of the vampire, feeding on the adulation of the masses. His is rather the dance of a wild prophet who cannot keep silent, crying in the wilderness for the ear of God and the salvation of His people.

I'd like you to read something now. It doesn't have anything to do with U2 or with Rock and Roll, but yet it has everything to do with the essence of what I, at least, see and hear in them. It has everything to do with the hope that is within me and within everyone who has tried to make sense out of this tragic, mysterious, beautiful life.

Please read Dandelion Seeds and cry awhile with me.

Promise of Light

2008-10-08T10:01:00.005-06:00

There's a whisper on the wind.
A word, spoken in long ages past
Still echoes down the pathways of time.

There's a face behind the mask.
An image, formed from the ancient stone
Still haunts the deep places of the mind.

There's a story in the heart.
A tale, woven in the golden branch
Still speaks by the fire at night.

There's a song among the stars.
A tune, drawn from the minstrels harp
Still hints at the promise of light.

Out of the depths

2008-09-22T07:58:00.003-06:00

Past blog entries have attempted to express my feelings of freedom and joy at finally being out from under the weight of oppression and depression that had characterized my entire life. Maybe a lot of people can't relate to the incredible feeling of having a weight lifted off one's shoulders. I have heard stories all my life of people being set free by Christ but could never understand what it meant. I was always jealous of those people which would usually lead to cynicism. "Oh sure you're free, just wait until the shoe drops and then we'll see how free you really are."

Well, for me it's been about 6 months since this journey of freedom began. I'm not saying that I never screw up, but I can declare with confidence that I now know what it means to be free and can proclaim in the words of the Jesus: "So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed".

Several years ago when I was probably at the lowest point of my life, a time when my life was almost completely out of control, I wrote the lyrics to a song. These are the words of a tortured soul, the words of someone who has come almost completely under the control of darkness, who is attempting to fill with depravity that emptiness that can only be filled by the bread of life.

I don't share these words to depress anyone, or even to evoke pity, I think these words were really a cry out of the depths, a cry of hopelessness, fear and rage; the cry of a creature of the night compelled to slowly devour itself and others in order to satisfy the hunger within.

verse 1:
It's the blood child, it's the blood
don't you see it, don't you know

It flows through your body
like wine or like fire
and it won't ever leave you alone

You can cry all you like
for the peace of the night
but the truth is a scream or a moan

It's the night love, it's the night
can't you feel it, can't you see

Its whispers seduce you
with words soft and warm
but it won't ever let you be free

You can run to the light
crave its withering might
in the end it is just you and me

chorus:

In the end it is just you and me
two souls stranded so far from home

Wandering hopelessly, helplessly
tired and alone
in the end it is just you and me

In the end it is just you and me
feeding hungers that mock and consume

seeking solace in pleasures that
fade all too soon
in the end it is just you and me

verse 2:

It's the pain child, it's the pain
don't you see it, don't you know

His strength is your master
he bends your free will
and you dance like a clown in his show

You can struggle and fight
to be free from his might
but in dreaming your feet are too slow

It's the rage love, it's the rage
can't you feel it, can't you see

It pulsates within you
a sensual flame
that strains in your chest for release

You can bring them all down
make them kiss the cold ground
in the end it is just you and me

repeat chorus:

Now the words of the Psalmist make so much sense to me.

Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.
If you, LORD, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Psalm 130:1-6

Shine On...

2008-09-16T12:13:00.005-06:00

Richard Wright (1943-2008)

Of Logs, Specks and Duty

2008-08-29T13:16:00.010-06:00

With election season upon us I think what I have been listening to lately is very appropriate. No, don't worry, I'm not getting involved in politics again. Far from it actually. What I've been listening to and thinking about is actually prompting me to be even less interested in politics than I have been recently (which lately has been very little).

The call rings out across the land: "Christians everywhere unite. Let's win this country back for God". My response a few months ago would probably have been one of passionate agreement with that sentiment. Yeah, lets go, lets mobilize the troops and get out there and vote in people who will return this country to its "City on a Hill" status like it was in the "good old days".

Good old days eh? Hmm, when exactly were the good old days? Maybe a year or two in the 1950's? Umm, no, we still had segregation then. Maybe back in the 1700's or 1800's? Umm, wrong again, we were wiping out Native Americans and enslaving Africans back then.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't turned into some America hating Communist. For all its faults, past and present, the United States has always gotten a lot of things right and has always seemed willing to learn from its mistakes (albeit very slowly and very painfully).

But, let me get to what I think is the most important point here. And that is the question of what relationship the Christian Church should have to politics and political power. Well, the simple answer is: "NO RELATIONSHIP AT ALL!" Now that I've got your attention let me explain. The Christian Church is the body of Christ. Its job is to represent Christ to those around it. Jesus never once attempted to compel behavioral changes or morality through any type of force, physical or political.

Jesus lived in an empire that was every bit as immoral, sinful and hedonistic as ours could ever hope to be; He lived in a part of the empire that was rife with political dissent and dreams of throwing off the rule of the Romans. But yet he never advocated the use of power to change behavior or got involved in politics for any reason, even "good" reasons.

So on to what I've been listening to and the point of the title of this post. I've been listening to a sermon series by Gregory Boyd (senior pastor of the Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul MN) from back in 2004 (another pretty highly charged political time). The series is entitled "A Myth, a Cross and a Sword" and resulted in a book called The Myth of a Christian Nation. I've been listening to and reading Greg's stuff on some other subjects and have found it to be life changing. When I discovered his take on politics mirrored the feelings I've been having lately it was a bonus. In this series Greg Boyd lays out, far better than I could, a compelling take on the relationship between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdoms of the World. Capped off by a call to pay more attention to the logs in our own eyes than the specks in the eyes of others, and to remember that our duties, especially to those outside the Church, are those of healing, help and honor, rather than condemnation and compulsion.

Check out the sermon series here: The Cross and the Sword.

If you are daunted by the task of listening to them all try starting with this one, I think it is a good summary of the whole: Is the Church the Guardian of Social Morality?

My Wife the Servant/Warrior

2008-08-22T15:56:00.003-06:00

I realized last night during several conversations with my wife that she was perhaps the most important tool God has used (and is using) in my healing and coming back to life. I've always known that her tenacity and strength were astounding, but I guess it's only been lately that I've realized just how important she has been in this process. My wife provided a refuge, a place of safety and security in a tangible way, that I had never known before. We know, once we are well enough to grasp it, that God is our refuge and our strong tower, but oh how important it is to have that represented to us by someone in our lives that matters.

Safety and security are things that I never experienced in my life before now. My life has been one of uncertainty and fear, always waiting for the hammer to fall, for someone to leave, for some disaster to strike. I've never been able to trust in God because I never had his trustworthiness and fidelity modeled by the important people in my life. Someone who grows up without a father would have a hard time relating to God as a father, in the same way someone who goes through life never knowing what it is to trust will have a hard time having faith and trust in God. That has been my experience for nearly as long as I can remember, a complete block when it comes to trust and faith in God. I have been consumed with worry, doubt and fear my entire life, which has resulted in anger and even hatred towards God as I blamed him for all of the horror that I saw around me and all the abandonment and betrayal that I felt from the experiences in life.

My wife told me from day one, really without knowing the original source of her promises, that she would never leave me or forsake me. Then she proceeded to live and demonstrate that promise through the ensuing years of rough emotional upheaval on my part. My reaction to the prospect of getting married was a full blown anxiety attack that lasted almost a year, followed by depression and related medical issues that lasted for several years. Only recently has the healing started taking place to the point where I am no longer a dead man walking. Only recently have I been able to pray to God, to trust in God, to worship God, to hear from God, to read his word, to actually understand and grasp the astounding love of God that led him to embark on the perilous and risky endeavor of winning and wooing his lover and bride (that's me, that's us) back to himself.

It was actually a perilous and risky endeavor for God from the very beginning. To bring into existence created beings (Angels, humans, etc.) that were free to follow their own paths, to choose whether or not they trusted or loved their creator. Free to turn on him and plunge the universe into unspeakable horror and danger if that was their choice - which they did. And then, as if that wasn't enough, God chose to prove his goodness and his love to the very beings that had turned their back on him. Instead of smashing his rebellious creation into non-existence and starting over, or forcing their devotion with the iron fist of a dictator, he chose to pursue his errant and adulterous bride all the way to the gates of hell and beyond and rescue her from the very jaws of death. And to do this, Jesus came in the body of an unglorified man and defeated death, and the lord of death (Satan), by inserting himself, as it were, between us and the executioner (Satan) and taking the death blow meant for us.

I can grasp and understand this, really for the first time, because I've had someone do this kind of thing for me in the physical realm. My wife took on a perilous and risky endeavor when she chose to bind herself to me in marriage and pledged to never leave or forsake me. It was a very risky thing to do. She would endure emotional pain and sacrifice and hardship because of it. She could have suffered betrayal and the loss of everything. But she counted the cost and chose to pay the price no matter how high it turned out to be, all for the sake of love. She pursued me to the gates of the hell I was in and beyond. And, as a willing servant/warrior for God, she brought me out of that darkness and into the light. What a spectacular demonstration of God's love, to give sacrificially for someone else. By doing so my wife acted as the hands and feet of God and brought me to life so that I can in turn bring others to life. They in turn can do the same for others. The healing will spread like ripples in a pond as the kingdom of God continues to rescue those being stolen, killed and destroyed by the thief (Satan).

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. --John 10:10

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. --Romans 5:8

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. --John 15:13

Here's to Rabbit Holes

2008-08-20T12:33:00.005-06:00

A few months ago the faint, pink hues of dawn began to appear in the skies of my consciousness. I began to be aware of the unfamiliar, but very welcome, sensations of life. Around this time I wrote my brother an email. I'm not sure I was aware at the time I wrote it of the germination taking place within my heart. In that email I shared with my brother a waking dream, perhaps a vision, that I'd had. In the dream...

I was wounded and crawling across a battlefield. There were dead and dying everywhere, the blood and gore was sickening, and all seemed lost. I crawled on and on dragging myself through the filth, hardly able to breathe, nearly paralyzed by dread and fear. Every second that passed I expected to be my last, with every movement I expected to feel the death blow as the enemy, in the full brutality of his obvious victory, claimed me as another victim. Then, from somewhere, came an impulse: "Look Up". I did.

For the first time in a long time I looked up and saw what I would have seen at any point had it occurred to me to look up instead of focusing on the horror and the filth on the ground beneath me. There He was, the Warrior King straight out of Revelation, sword and all, with his battle host surrounding him in the full splendor of inevitable victory. The battle wasn't lost. The enemy wasn't winning after all.

I looked across the wide expanse of the field of battle and there were so many wounded... crawling... heads down... completely unaware of the victory over their heads. I looked down and my gaze was caught by the putrid panoply spread beneath me. The bright hope of morning was dimmed into the dismal gray of coming night. The Warrior King faded quickly into a memory of light, a faint image at the margins of thought. I was wounded and crawling across a battlefield.

Look up you damn fool. LOOK UP!

That was the story of my life. Crawling, defeated, sidelined, wounded, doomed to repeat the same mistakes and follow the same road day after changeless day, year after senseless year.

Writing that email to my brother marked a turning point. I wonder how he would like being compared to Morpheus from the Matrix? I believe it was God's great pleasure to use my brother in just that way. To offer me a choice and an opportunity to unplug from the dream state of false existence and be reborn into that otherworld, that real world, that dangerous but free Kingdom of God where I can be trained to infiltrate the darkness and wake more sleepers to life.

I have followed the white rabbit. I have chosen the red pill. I've stuck my hand in the mirror. The doors of perception are being cleansed, everything is beginning to appear as it is: infinite (to paraphrase William Blake).

Alexander Solzhenitsyn 1918 - 2008

2008-08-04T07:58:00.003-06:00

The world has lost a great light. Thankfully this light was a writer and his words are still with us. Here is a tiny sample.

To such consciousness, man is the touchstone in judging and evaluating everything on earth. Imperfect man, who is never free of pride, self-interest, envy, vanity, and dozens of other defects. We are now experiencing the consequences of mistakes which had not been noticed at the beginning of the journey. On the way from the Renaissance to our days we have enriched our experience, but we have lost the concept of a Supreme Complete Entity which used to restrain our passions and our irresponsibility. We have placed too much hope in political and social reforms, only to find out that we were being deprived of our most precious possession: our spiritual life.

----

No one on earth has any other way left but -- upward.

Harvard Address - June 1978

Made-up Things

2008-07-28T08:11:00.011-06:00

Hither if I have come through earth and air,
Through fire and water--I am not of them;
Born in the darkness, what fair-flashing gem
Would to the earth go back and nestle there?
Not of this world, this world my life doth hem;
What if I weary, then, and look to the door,
Because my unknown life is swelling at the core?
(George MacDonald, "The Diary of an Old Soul")

I must confess something rather embarrassing: not too many weeks ago I had fallen under the spell of the village atheists. I was reading their writings, and listening to their debates, all with the intention of proving to myself how silly they really were, and how superior my Christian worldview was from the standpoint of logic and reason.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the ivory tower, I discovered to my horror that they were making sense. Taken purely from the standpoint of logic and reason they make some powerful and convincing points. Sure, the Christian apologists who debate them make very powerful and convincing points as well, but the atheists have a trick up their sleeve which, to me anyway, trumps the apologists and wins the debates. You see the atheists get to play both sides of the table while the apologists only get to play one.

The atheists use arguments from reason and logic, but their trump cards are the arguments from emotion. The atheists seem to share a level of anger and hatred towards God that borders on the psychotic. They level charges against God with all the fury of a lover scorned and all the hurt of an abandoned child. And it is here that I ate the apple. For I too have long struggled with anger towards God for all of his seeming injustice in allowing the pain and heartache of this world to continue unabated.

The natural result of this anger seems, almost universally, to be a planting of the seeds of doubt. We try so hard to force the universe into something manageable or predictable. We take refuge behind the study of science. We try to find shelter beneath the comforting gaze of the goddess of reason. We deny the basic truth that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward, or we abandon all pretense and wallow in the muck and the mire.

And here, after years of struggling with faith, after wasting so much time trying to make God fit into the mold I had created and the box I had formed, I came to the end. And at the end I discovered the beginning. A light was shining in the darkness but I had not understood it. Not understood it that is until I was stabbed through the heart by the truth of the story and the reality of the myth. As I lay there in a stupor, under the spell of the village atheist, drunk with the maddening wine, I remembered...Before the silver cord was severed, or the golden bowl was broken; before the pitcher was shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well. (Ecclesiastes 12:6)... I remembered.

I remembered the Creator because I remembered His creation. I remembered the numberless stars scattered like a symphony of light across the heavens. I remembered the sundering sea with its eternal invitation to pass beyond the edge of the world. I remembered the ancient forest and the lord of ageless wisdom that resides within some hidden realm. I remembered that I was fearfully and wonderfully made... in the secret place. That I was woven together in the depths of the earth. (Psalm 139:14,15)

I remembered my true home; a home I had never seen, but a home whose story was written on my heart. A story, a myth if you will, about a King and his Son. A story about a princess looking and longing for her white knight. A story of loss and betrayal, and of rescue beyond the gates of hope. And the story rings true. The myth that is written deep into every fiber of creation, that awakens a longing so exquisite as to be almost painful, resonates with a verity that goes beyond the realm of thought and word and finds its anchor in the very bedrock of the universe.

Yes, the pain is real. Yes, the sadness is real. Yes, the tears are real. Yes, the horror and disease and loss is real. But in what story are they not? And in what tale that stirs the heart do the heroes not live happily ever after?

The Lord of the story, the great Prince of the myth, came and knelt at my side as I lay bespelled and touched my face. He healed my heart and spoke my name. And at the sound of that voice I awoke and I remembered, and remembering I turned my back on the shadow and turned my face towards the glorious light. In the words of a great traveler who went before me on this road: "Here I stand, I can do no other".

All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one thing more to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things -- trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play-world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. (C.S. Lewis, "The Silver Chair")

Exit Stage Left

2008-07-18T13:09:00.009-06:00

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. (William Shakespeare, "Macbeth")

I have recently decided to stop being a player (actor) and walk with God. Well, you say, I thought you'd been a Christian all your life. Yes, I suppose that is true, but I have recently begun to discover that although I may have given lip service (and even some guilt induced public service) to being a Christian, actually walking with God is something else entirely. I can't take a whole lot of credit for this new insight, God has been amazing in the way He's shaken up my life and shown me a spiritual dimension that I had heard of but never experienced.

One of the ways God has reached out to me is through a couple of sermons I've listened to over the last few weeks. One sermon was in a church that we attended out of the blue (a cool story in and of itself) and the other was on the radio. Now I've been listening to sermons on the radio and in churches practically my entire life, but I've heard more from God in the last month than I've probably heard in the 40 some odd years leading up to this point. This reflects poorly on me not God. He's been chasing me down the entire time, I've just been actively (and inactively) resisting Him the entire time.

Both sermons just got right up in my face and exploded, exposing me for the fraud and poser that I was. They were tailor made for me. God showed me that I have been acting, playing a role, strutting and fretting my hour upon the stage. I was given the script as soon as I could begin to comprehend language. I was given the costume as soon as I got out of baby clothes. I learned how the person I was to portray should walk and talk, what he should and shouldn't eat, what he should and shouldn't drink. I learned how to apply the makeup, and where my mark was on the stage. I even learned how to work with the props.

Just imagine me, for instance, walking into church. Someone approaches me and our eyes meet. We both know our parts so well. Hands are extended and clasped. Those special smiles form the faces into works of saintly art. And the lines are spoken.

"Good morning brother, it's good to see you, how are you doing?"

"Well hello my friend, I'm doing great. God is good isn't he? He's really blessed me this week."

"That's great to hear. Yes, God certainly is good."

Now that's a steaming load of poo and we both know it, but we've learned our lines well and we speak them with highly practiced sincerity. Never mind that our lives might actually be spiraling ever downwards into hopelessness, that we might be about ready to lose control and crash in a fiery spectacle. No, we're good little players, surely it would be wrong to admit that God is about as real to us as the painting on the wall, and seems about as strong as the felt Bible characters in the kid's classrooms.

I suppose two of the main things I learned was that when portraying a Christian you had to "share your faith" and do "good deeds". Oh the guilt that was induced in me by those seemingly simple concepts. I was already painfully shy and was never gifted with the healthy self image that so many others around me seemed to possess. The thought of approaching people I didn't even know and "sharing my faith", or of putting myself out there to do "good deeds", was simply terrifying to me. But, I had to do it. If I didn't it must mean I wasn't really a Christian. It must mean I didn't have enough faith.

And fear would win so often. And every time fear won, my self-image got worse. Every time fear won my guilt would increase. As the guilt increased it became immobilizing and suffocating. A vicious cycle of promises to do good deeds and share my faith, followed by predictable failures to really be the "strong" Christian that I knew I wanted to be. Still I played the role, I put on my mask and kept trying to go to church and pretend that I was something, when I knew that what I really was was a miserable failure, and certainly an incredible disappointment to God. If those saintly characters who seemed to have it all together knew what I really was like they'd certainly be appalled. Why was it so easy for them?

And so we come to the present day. We come to a time in my life where I had grown so tired of pretending, so weary of the cycle of falling away and coming back. So ready to just sit down and quit. Here, at the ending of all things, I am finally so exhausted that I am able to hear the voice of God. And what is it that He tells me? What is the amazing revelation from the Almighty? Well, amazingly enough, they are thoughts, words and ideas that have been right in front of me my whole life. They are even written down in the Bible.

When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: 'Father, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your son ever again.'
But the father wasn't listening. He was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time. (Luke 15:17-24)

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. (Matthew 4:18-20)

OK, so what's the big revelation here you might ask. Anyone who's been in church for any length of time has heard or read these verses. Yes, that is true, I have certainly read these verses many times in my life. But now something is different. God is showing me something I have never understood before. God is the actor, and by actor here I don't mean someone who is pretending, I am referring to another meaning for the word. God is the the one who takes action. Whether I am tired and desperate and making my miserable way in an effort to find God, or whether I'm just going through life doing my job, God comes to me. He does it, not me.

And notice what Jesus says when he calls my name: "Come, follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men". Do you see it yet? He doesn't say: "Go, do good deeds and share your faith, in order to prove that I've made the right choice in calling your name". He doesn't say "Go take a bath. Sober up and get right before I'll give you a hug and a kiss and some new clothes".

So there it is, so simple, but yet the sense of freedom is so exhilarating. It's not about doing stuff, playing a role, pretending to be something you're not. It's just about following Jesus. Listening to him. Talking to him. Spending time with him. The other stuff, the good deeds and sharing your faith stuff? That will take care of itself. That's the promise of Jesus. "Follow me and I will make you a fisher of men".

Do you feel like a fisher of men? No? Well, I don't either yet, but that's OK. It's not up to me to become a fisherman, or even to "act" like one, Jesus will make me one. Do you feel worthy to wear those nice clothes over your smelly skin and that ring on your dirty finger? No? I don't either, but it sure feels nice. And I've got a sneaking suspicion that the longer we wear these things the cleaner we're going to become underneath them.

Have you?

2008-07-11T15:11:00.010-06:00

Do you know about the highlands of the north, how their mystery and beauty enchant? How they weave a spell on the heart of a man, how they hold him and won’t let him go?

Have you seen how the trees crouch low, huddling close to the refuge of earth? Maybe they’re trying to stay hidden from the embittered wrath of winter, or maybe they’re already so close to the skies that they don’t feel the need to strain and grasp for the airy heights like their cousins down away in the lowlands.

Have you smelled the sweet pungency of pitch and of earth mixed with the gentle incense of flowers and grass? Has it washed over and through you on the wafting and waves of an ocean of pure azure sky? Have you savored the rumors of distant high meadows or a wildwood in a valley long hid? Has the scent lured and beckoned you further and higher to its fount at the birthplace of dawn?

Have you heard the silence that beckons you to enter in and listen, to discover that it’s not so silent after all? There’s a bird over there, and a creek in the meadow, there’s a rustling that recedes in the grass. There’s a gust as it whispers to the crag in its passing, and sighs to the tree tops before it moves on.

Have you felt the chill breeze off the glacier on your face while the heat of the sun warms your back? Have your feet ached with a mixture of pleasure and pain as you plunged them deeply into a frigid stream of startling clarity, newborn that very day from its icy womb on the side of the mountain? Have your hands felt the nuances of time immemorial on the cheeks of the ancient rocks, or the gnarled strength of a branch that spent much of its life grappling with the backbreaking weight of snow and the ferocious gales of winter?

Have you tasted the nectar of beauty distilled, and aged over eons of time? Have you savored the essence of illimitable joy from the wilds of this unbridled land? Have you stopped in your tracks and remembered an echo of time-splintered light, a hope, a longing, and a yearning desire. This taste, this taste so painful in its sublimity, is but a dilution of the true draught, this sound but a faint echo of the true laugh and this ineffable beauty is but a pale shadow of the true home.

A New Direction

2008-07-08T14:24:00.005-06:00

Heretofore, my usage of the term "common ground" has been primarily political in nature. That is now changing. Politics has begun to seem like "Groundhog Day" to me. The same characters, the same arguments, the same name-calling, the same empty promises, on and on ad nauseam. Therefore, I am choosing to leave politics to those with the stomach for it and change the focus, not only of my musings, but of my entire life, to things of transcendent and eternal importance.

I will still vote, and I will still try to stay somewhat informed, but I have realized that focusing so much time and attention on politics has been harmful to me in many ways. It has served to take a lot of my time, attention, and energy away from the things that matter (God, family, relationships) and waste it on an arena that is inherently contentious, negative and (it usually seems) beyond hope.

Hope, now there's something that matters. I hope for and desire so much more than my life has consisted of until now. I'm beginning to realize that the enemy of my soul has conspired to make me content with substitutes. For so many years, and in so many different ways, I have wasted countless hours pursuing things that don't really matter. Things, to coin a phrase, that "rust and decay". My life has been one of desperate searching and grasping for meaning and belonging, but time after time I have stopped short of the true objects of my quest and settled for cheap imitations.

By the grace and power of God, the Father of all that is Holy, the maker of Heaven and Earth, I choose life. Life as it was meant to be lived. Life in pursuit of beauty and joy. Life in the arms of God, not in the embrace of some enervating simulacrum, fleeing from the hound of heaven.

My brother, may his crest never fall, recently reminded me that the glory of God is man fully alive. What chance do I have of being alive? What chance is there that the desires of my heart will be met? Is there a chance in Hell of tasting Heaven? What can make me whole again? That's right, you know the next line: "Nothing but the blood of Jesus".

Some thoughts on marriage

2008-05-16T07:51:00.005-06:00

Recent events have led me to reflect on the institution of marriage. What is marriage? What is its purpose? What does it have to offer society? What is it about marriage that causes a lot of people to want it even as they reject its historical meaning and seek to turn it into something unrecognizable? As luck would have it, while I was thinking about this, I happened across an excerpt from a newly published book by the recently deceased Elizabeth Fox-Genovese entitled Marriage: The dream that refuses to die. I've lifted some quotes from the excerpt that really hit me. I highly recommend reading the entire excerpt here.

"More sadly yet, too many children understand that they were never the primary purpose of a marriage that was intended to further the happiness of adults. Many adults do nothing to correct this perception, and their preoccupation with their own happiness — whatever it may cost others — echoes the theme of obsessive love that dates back to Tristan and Isolde."

"And it does not help that the women’s movement, in its campaign to free women from primary responsibility for children, has effectively demoted the care for children to work fit only for servants."

"We have indulged ourselves with a culture that puts the individual — “me, me, me” — first at the expense of all competing obligations. Under these conditions, binding ties dissolve into matters of personal choice that may change without warning or concern for the consequences to others."

"Beyond the pages of fiction, and not always within them, things did not automatically end so well, and in real life, they took a high toll on children."

"Yet only the obtuse can fail to recognize that the diverse members of our society cannot possibly all have what they want at the same time, and in many cases not even sequentially."

An Evangelical Manifesto

2008-05-12T09:19:00.003-06:00

I'm in the process of carefully reading this manifesto. I dislike the word manifesto, with its historical/political connotations, but I suppose the title will do a good job of capturing peoples attention.

Unless I find something really objectionable I plan to sign it. So far I like the things it has to say and the way it says them.

Highly recommended reading. Check it out.

Iron Sky

2008-05-07T07:35:00.001-06:00

This looks like something to keep on the radar screen.

Combating the warmongers

2008-04-30T12:35:00.005-06:00

A well known musician, one with outspoken political views, recently made the following statement in relation to the war in Iraq.

One would hope we'd have made more progress than we have combating the warmongers.

If you think about it this statement could have been made by someone like Toby Keith or by someone like Roger Waters. Two artists with radically different views on the war in Iraq and on the war against the Jihadists in general.

In fact this statement was made by one of those two people. How you interpret the statement and who you think made it speaks volumes.

By the way, I positively adore Roger Waters music, am going to his concert in a couple days, and fully expect to love it completely. I don't even plan to take offense when he disses my country and my president.

Obamafacts

2008-04-30T08:08:00.004-06:00

Fact 1: Senator Obama's old pastor, Reverend Wright, made a variety of controversial statements in his recent press club speech. This fact is easy to prove since the entire contents of the speech are readily available and have been aired, re-aired, and discussed incessantly.

Fact 2: Senator Obama, at his press conference on Tuesday, denounced and distanced himself from his former pastor. His desire was clearly to show that he did not support, believe in, or share the thoughts, attitudes and opinions of his former pastor. This fact is also easy to prove for the same reasons as fact 1.

Fact 3: The statements and sentiments of Reverend Wright that Obama specifically took issue with, and tried to distance himself from, are statements and sentiments that Reverend Wright has made repeatedly over the last several decades. This fact is also very easy to prove since these are the very statements and sentiments that have been aired and re-aired so many times since this whole controversy began.

Fact 4: Senator Obama made the claim in his news conference that the thoughts, ideas and sentiments of Reverend Wright, as expressed in his speech before the press club, were somehow those of a different person than the Reverend Wright whom Obama until recently praised as his friend of 20 years, his pastor, his mentor, his adviser, the officiator at his marriage and the baptizer of his children. Again, all of this is unquestionably true and very easy to prove.

So, what can we deduce from an examination of these facts? What does the relationship between these two men, taken in conjunction with their most recent statements, tell us about the man who is asking us to vote him in as our next president? I'd say we have to conclude one of the following:

1. Senator Obama was deceived by Reverend Wright. Reverend Wright was somehow able to portray himself to Obama over the past 20 years as someone completely different than who he obviously is.

I think we can all agree that this is extremely unlikely given how intelligent the senator clearly is. There is simply no way Reverend Wright could pull this off. Besides that, Obama has been directly confronted about these issues going back quite a while now and would certainly have checked it out for himself. He would have discovered the deceit and denounced his pastor long before now if this were the case.

If, however, it is true that he was deceived and remained unaware of it for 20 years, that certainly disqualifies him from being president. Not only that, it disqualifies him from pretty much any position of public trust.

2. Senator Obama never actually listened in church, read the bulletins, or listened when they had private conversations. Somehow he managed to remain completely oblivious, over a period of 20 years, to the clear thoughts, ideas and sentiments of Reverend Wright.

If Senator Obama is so oblivious that he managed to miss all of this over 20 years, and even missed it over the last several months when the whole country was watching Reverend Wright on YouTube, then he is clearly not qualified to lead the local PTA, much less the country.

3. Senator Obama made a calculated decision over the years to associate himself with Reverend Wright and his church in order to reap the political benefits of doing so, which clearly helped him get started up the political ladder. He never actually shared the divisive thoughts, ideas and sentiments of the pastor or the church, but simply used their association for his own purposes and is now having to deal with the (somehow unexpected?) fallout from that as best he can.

Given what we know about the type of person who would go into politics, this option unfortunately seems more plausible than the first two. If this option is true then Senator Obama is simply another opportunistic, calculating, lying political hack. And, if that is true, then given the choice between two such politicians (Hillary and Barack) it seems quite clear that Hillary is the better choice. She is better at it, more experienced at it, and has the dubious fortune of being married to the best of the best. Lets face it, Bill could, and did, skate through scandals like this in his sleep.

For Senator Obama, getting caught in a deception (which this clearly is), is very damaging given who he is portraying himself to be. The Clintons have perfected the art to the point that when Bill stood before the entire nation and lied through his teeth (and was caught at it) we just kinda went "aww shucks, there's our guy".

4. Senator Obama shares, and has for many years, many of the thoughts, ideas and sentiments of Reverend Wright, but is smart enough to know that he would never stand a chance of being elected president if that became known.

Given some of the senators past statements and certain passages in his book, some of his other associations with people such as William Ayers, and given the content of various speeches by Mrs. Obama this option is also fairly plausible. Lets face it, Senator Obama's voting record puts him as far left as possible and the thoughts, sentiments and ideas espoused by Reverend Wright are fairly well in line with the far left.

There are a couple problems if this is the case. First, such a person could never be elected president (at least not yet) if this were known. Second, if this is the case then Senator Obama is guilty of cold, calculated, deceitful manipulation of the American public and his denouncement of his former pastor is nothing more than a lie. And, if Reverend Wright is not in on the whole deceit of the public (which doesn't seem to be the case now) then after being cast aside by Obama he can definitely make life pretty difficult by simply exposing Obama for what he actually is.

If it comes down to duel by oratory between Obama and Wright I think my money might be on Wright.

My personal opinion is that the truth lies somewhere between options 3 and 4. I don't think Senator Obama is stupid or gullible enough for options 1 or 2 to be the case. Unfortunately Barack Obama stood before us and claimed that the truth was option 1 or 2. So your are left with two choices.

1. Take Senator Obama's own word for it that he is so completely naive and oblivious that he somehow either missed all of this or was deceived.

2. Reach the conclusion that Obama is at best a calculating, opportunistic, deceitful political hack or at worst a dangerous, far left radical whose plans for this country are certainly not in line with the bulk of the population.

Either way you look at it you can't possibly vote for him. Frankly when you apply this whole exercise to Hillary Clinton you can't vote for her either. To the extent that the electorate wises up to this the party leaders had better be formulating a plan B as quickly as they possibly can or their chances for winning the White House are pretty much nil.

Now will the electorate wise up to this? Something tells me the media's complicated love-quadrangle with Obama, Wright and Clinton are going to wise the electorate up whether the electorate wants to be wised up or not.

If I were an ideologue

2008-04-23T07:51:00.002-06:00

If I were an ideologue or an opportunist, say along the lines of Al Gore, I'd be strongly tempted to take hold of stories like this one and start my own climate-change religion. There's money to be made in the prophet-of-doom racket, fame to be won, perhaps even a Nobel prize or an Oscar.

But I guess I'll decline the opportunity that is presenting itself and content myself with a few smug nods as the man-made global warming scam becomes harder and harder to prove and the true-believers become more zealous, fanatical and fundamentalist every day. I'll shake my head in sadness as their holy sacraments, such as CFL's and Ethanol, turn out to be poison and ashes rather than body and blood.

The engine of commerce is quite literally running out of gas. Hunger is on the rise as food is stolen from the mouths of children and sold to the distillery. The Church of Blessed Greenness came up like a harmless, furry little woodland creature, but has since grown fangs and embarked on its holy inquisition. Woe to you peoples of the earth, you were mesmerized by the oracles of Gaia, but the prophetic words have led you to the precipice of doom. Let the sleepers awaken, let them take up once again the free tools of their enterprise. This is a moment of destiny, choose well whom you will follow.

How does your garden grow?

2008-04-01T09:03:00.002-06:00

In case you've been living in an alternate reality somewhere and hadn't yet realized the magnitude of government ineptness, I offer up this (guaranteed to make your head explode) article as exhibit A.

In my opinion the government really should Farm This Out.

This time he didn't come back

2008-03-05T09:05:00.006-06:00

I had this black leather briefcase kind of thing which was filled to bursting. There were books of arcane lore, pads of graph paper, character sheets worth at least a GP, a few lead miniatures and, my pride and joy, a multi-compartmented box filled with dice of various shapes.

Upon arrival I would carefully unpack my bag, setting everything out in its place for easy access. Appropriate record albums (yes, the big black disc things) would be ready to set the mood, and the requisite snacks and sodas were stocked and awaiting consumption.

The guys would begin to come in and take their places, bragging on past exploits and full of anticipation for the adventures that awaited. For awhile there was even a girl in the group, she played an Elven Ranger of course. Come to think of it, she might have just been a product of our wishful thinking.

Oh it was a joyous time. Life as an underweight, pimply faced, teenager didn't hold a lot of opportunity, but in the game anything was possible. Dragons were slain, fair maidens were rescued, treasures of unthinkable value were discovered and entire kingdoms rose and fell beneath the skill of our swords and the might of our magic.

But now the master of the dungeons has fallen and no scroll or incantation can bring him back. We owe him a lot and I hope he isn't forgotten. So this is my farewell: may your sword never rust, may your boots never wear out, and may the king welcome you to drink at his table.

---------------------------------------------

Now go here for a word from a true master.

Goodwill from Angelina Jolie

2008-02-29T08:39:00.004-06:00

I was incredibly pleased and surprised to read this editorial by Angelina Jolie in the Washington Post. It is surprisingly balanced, reasoned and thoughtful. I suspect her views on Bush and the war are similar to most of those coming out of Hollywood and the left, but she is able to move beyond ideological rhetoric and address the reality of the situation as it is today.

I've been bemoaning the fact that my recent postings haven't had much to do with "common ground". Thanks Angelina for being a credit to your Goodwill Ambassador role and giving me something like this to post about.

Am I a non-normie? Are you?

2008-01-14T16:40:00.000-06:00

I ran across a very interesting site recently, it's called non-normie.com. I have to say that a lot of the information on the site makes a lot of sense. I also have to say that I may be a bit of a non-normie myself.

I'd really recommend that people head over there and take a look. I'm not going to say I agree with everything there, but since I have quite a lot of experience with the subject matter I have to say it makes a lot more sense than a lot of us are going to want to admit.

Oh, by the way, be prepared for a TON of political incorrectness. But, as you will find, that is rather necessary and probably quite refreshing.

Biting the Invisible Hand that Feeds You

2008-01-03T16:44:00.000-06:00

Running around in the back of my mind for quite some time now has been a curious little thought. I take it out and play around with it every once in awhile, but have never given it the attention it deserves. In this post I intend to finally let it see the light of day and perhaps flesh it out a bit.

In college I had to take what I thought was an inordinate amount of economics classes. I did fine, got straight A's and all of that, but always found the whole "science" to be rather obvious. I think I referred to it as the "well duh" science. One of the people I learned about was a fellow by the name of Adam Smith. I'm sure most people who have taken a history or economics course have heard of Adam Smith and the free-market economy he espoused in his well known treatise The Wealth of Nations. I'm not really interested in regurgitating Adam Smith but what I am interested in doing is examining the rather strange road we seem to be headed down. A road that pays ardent lip service, at the least, to free-market economics but at the same time seems intent on (perhaps inadvertently) destroying its foundations.

At its most basic a free market is one where people offer up goods and services in exchange for as much money as they can get for them and people buy goods and services as cheaply as they are able. Things like quality modify the perceived value of the goods and services and over time competition serves to balance things out in an almost magical way. This magic was named the Invisible Hand by Adam Smith and the term Laissez-faire denotes the idea that the economy should just be allowed to act.

Here in the United States most people seem to accept the idea that we should have a free-market economy, and to a large degree I suppose we still do. But, the strange thing that has been happening for a number of decades now is that more and more money is being taken through taxation by the government without the government giving back something of equal value in exchange. Originally the idea was for the government to give back things like roads and schools and a military in exchange for the money it took. If this exchange were even close to being equal in value one could probably say that it fit, at least to some extent, into a free-market economy. The problem, of course, is that the government doesn't even attempt to give back anything of value anymore. Sure we have roads, schools and a military, but the government is doing a horrible job of producing those things in an efficient fashion and most of what it takes in doesn't even go to goods and services that have any value.

What the government is doing more and more over time is taking money through taxation and not giving back any goods and services at all. Instead it is giving that money to other people to spend on goods and services through all sorts of welfare, aid, grants etc. or is giving the money to producers of goods and services via subsidies without asking for anything back. The intentions behind all of this government largess are certainly good and noble for the most part but they have the unfortunate side affect of undermining the ability of the "magic" to balance and control the economy.

Lets contrast a free-market economy with socialism and communism. I will use the term socialism for the sake of convenience from now on, but the things I describe may technically be associated with only one or the other system. Socialism at its most basic is a system where the government controls the means of production. In a pure socialist system there would be no private ownership of property or of businesses. The government would instead own and control all property and all means of production. In other words, the government would own and control all the houses, land, hospitals, factories and schools and would, in essence, be the "employer" whom everyone would work for. In the Utopian vision of socialism everyone would work for the simple joy of working, thus providing the goods and services necessary for the functioning of a society. These goods and services wouldn't cost anything but would be freely available to everyone.

In reality, however, every attempt at pure socialism has failed due to the innate selfishness of mankind. Most people, discovering that they are no longer responsible to provide their own homes, food, clothing and so on, will understandably be tempted to sit around and enjoy themselves rather than working at some job simply for the joy of contributing to society. As such it is always necessary for the government to coerce people in various ways into performing the necessary tasks. Thus, in socialism, you find yourself working because you are forced to but without any tangible rewards for performing the work, or even more importantly for performing it well. Whereas in a free-market economy people are only paid if they work and can increase their pay by working harder and/or smarter. Thus a persons innate selfishness is a powerful component of the "magic".

Now on to the main point I am trying to make. More and more in this country we find the government being asked and expected to provide a way for everyone to have more or less equal access to all goods and services. You would think that the logical solution to this would be to move more and more towards socialism, and indeed that is a charge that is often levied by conservatives and libertarians in our country. What I have noticed, however, is that many times this isn't the path that is taken. Instead we have a situation where the government seems to act more like a benevolent grandparent. Instead of taking over and controlling various industries and service providers like it would in socialism it instead leaves them in private ownership but either gives the individual receiving aid the money to pay for the goods or services or pays for them on behalf of the individual.

Now, that seems like a pretty nice deal for the individual, but where did the benevolent grandparent get that money. It got the money by taking it from other individuals or by taking it from the providers of goods and services. Now if the government were providing the goods and services directly, as in socialism, at least you'd have some sort of consistent system set up. But when you ostensibly have a free-market economy but yet you have this powerful force stepping in and taking money without giving anything back and giving that money to other people, directly or indirectly, to pay for goods and services, you have a very strange amalgamation of capitalism and socialism. It is my contention that this amalgamation, as it continues to grow, will destroy the necessary underpinnings of our economy.

Let me illustrate my contention by examining two very real problems that have been created by this amalgamation: higher education and health care.

Public, K-12 education in this country is socialized, for all practical purposes, so the government actually is the provider and the employer. In this we at least have a consistent system, although the argument about quality suffering under socialism can easily be made in regards to public education. Higher education, however, is still a much more private enterprise. But, the government still is expected to provide assistance to all sorts of people who can't afford to pay the price for higher education. Instead of socializing the system the government simply offers money through various programs to those deemed worthy of receiving it. The unintended consequence of this is that the price of higher education invariably rises due to the unnatural influx of money into the system. This rise in prices is the natural result of a free-market, but since it isn't due to natural, free-market, causes it can't be regulated by the "magic" and the government has to increase the amount it puts into the system in order for people to be able to afford it. This, as you can see, turns into a an unnatural spiral of increasing costs which can only be fixed by either removing the unnatural influx of money or socializing higher education entirely.

The same thing is at work in our health care system as more and more people are being given money by the government to pay for their health care via Medicare, Medicaid, Chip, prescription drug benefits and other types of government aid. Again, as money is unnaturally inserted into the system, costs inevitably rise due to market forces and the "magic" is unable to regulate the system. When we look at all of the proposed fixes to the problem most simply involve the government handing out more money to help people pay for health care. As we have seen, this will only make the problem worse, and again the only solution is to remove the unnatural influx of money or completely socialize health care.

Let me emphasize the fact that socializing health care or higher education means that universities, hospitals, labs, pharmaceutical companies and even your neighborhood doctors office would all be owned and operated by the government.

Another unintended consequence of the government taking money through taxes and giving it to people to pay for goods and services is the impact it has on those from whom the money is taken. If you are an individual who can afford, perhaps barely, to provide for your own education and health care, the removal of more and more of your income through taxes has a multiplied effect. The immediate effect is that you have less money to spend on education and health care, not to mention everything else. The secondary effect is that when the government gives that money to someone else to pay for education or health care it results in the cost of those things further increasing. As you might imagine, the logical outcome of this is that more and more people will move from the ranks of those able to pay their own way to the ranks of those needing assistance. And also, as the costs increase, the threshold at which people become eligible for the aid rises which also adds more to the ranks of those receiving the aid. We are left with an almost comical scenario: on the one side are the ever increasing ranks of those who are receiving an ever increasing amount of aid, on the other side are the ever decreasing ranks of those who are paying ever higher amounts and who are also paying ever more in taxes since the ranks of those who can pay costs and taxes are decreasing and the costs and taxes are increasing because of the growing ranks of those who can't pay the costs and taxes and thus receive the ever increasing amounts of money to pay the ever increasing costs from the ever decreasing ranks of those who have to pay ever increasing costs and ever increasing taxes... well, you get the point.

It is inevitable that at some point everyone will be on the same side of the equation and the system will have collapsed. The unfortunate reality is that since this whole process has been underway for several generations and may go on for a few more, by the time the system is completely unsustainable there will already be so many people who have grown accustomed to having a benevolent grandparent (government) taking care of them that fully socializing the system will be the only solution deemed acceptable.

I believe that very few people in this country have any desire to live under a socialist system. I also believe that very few people, even those on the left and in government, really want to move us into pure socialism. Oh sure, there are a few radical types that want that, but by and large I think most people are horrified at the idea of living under socialist or communist rule. I think most people, even the supposed elites, just don't realize that socialism and capitalism are like oil and water, ultimately you have to pick one or the other. I think people, with the best of motivations, want a more equal and egalitarian society where you don't have the pitifully poor on the one hand and the ridiculously rich on the other.

People just don't realize that by taking the seemingly obvious road of providing government assistance and regulation of the monetary system through taxation that we are only making the problems we are trying to fix worse and ultimately will have to experience a very painful transition back to free-market capitalism or succumb completely to socialism. It is necessary, although difficult, to approach these types of problems by looking at real results instead of at good intentions.

In a later post I will discuss the interesting proposition, which I believe to be true, that a free people, largely unhindered by taxation, are better able, and more willing, to help those in need then any large, ponderous government could ever be. You only have to look at the amazing things done by churches, charities and even the super-rich philanthropists, to see the truth of this statement. Imagine how much more they could do if unhindered by a huge burden of taxation and regulation by a government that is horribly inefficient and whose very act of redistributing money ultimately destroys the entire economic system and magnifies the very problems it seeks to fix.

The Constitution - a Recipe for Greatness

2007-11-27T09:16:00.000-06:00

Spectacular article on the Constitution using the Department of Education as an example. Look for this passage and read the paragraph containing it over and over again: "They seek to emulate our successes to the extent that they are forced. We seek to emulate their failures because we find them attractive."

This Great Society of ours, with mostly the best of intentions, seems intent upon normalizing the entire nation into a forced equality across every spectrum of life. Unfortunately the laws of nature seem to be such that a forced equality pulls everything down to the lowest common denominator. Excellence never could be forced by fiat. It is only when the possibility of failure, and its consequences, is allowed to counterbalance the ability to succeed through perseverance and character that the human spirit is challenged to shake off the dreary banner of mediocrity and strive for greatness.

Oh, this is good!

2007-09-25T08:36:00.000-06:00

This is a spectacular paragraph. Just had to copy it down. Read the whole post in context here.

==========================================
THE PLAIN FACT IS THAT THE HARD LEFT has always had a fascination with fascism. They don't want diversity -- they want conservatives to SHUT UP! Whether they were making excuses for Lenin or Stalin and their brutish successors, went sweet on Cuba's Castro, Nicaragua's Ortega or now Venezuela's Chavez, they are irresistibly attracted to those opposing freedom. Why do you think they want talk radio to be "balanced" (i.e.: turned off) with the Fairness Doctrine? Because in their heart of hearts they think they know better than anyone else. They want to do what they want to do in the public sphere without being questioned. Period. American liberalism is awash in this sentiment, which makes having rational discussions about national issues difficult if not impossible.
==========================================

I've got to find something to balance out the rather one sided nature of my recent postings. I wish someone on the left would say or do something positive so I could try to get back to a little more "common ground".

Madmen and the madmen who love them

2007-09-25T08:08:00.000-06:00

Can someone please explain the love affair between actors and Hugo Chaves?

I'm frankly surprised that I haven't seen images of Hollywood actors kissing up to this guy. Perhaps its because somewhere in their ego-addled brains they realize that if it weren't for the might of the U.S. military they hate so much their freedom to bite the hand that feeds them would come to a rather abrupt end and they'd probably be left, quite literally, hanging out to dry.

How the mighty have fallen

2007-09-05T07:26:00.000-06:00

Hillary in '68

Isn't it sad how idealism and positive activism are eclipsed by pride and a lust for power.

I know this story was supposed to be a love-fest, and truly it was compelling in that regard, but ultimately it can't hide the ugly truth. Already the cravings for fame and power were becoming visible.

Why won't we see this story in the NYT?

2007-07-23T08:23:00.000-06:00

For the answer simply read the story.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article2121006.ece

There are many in the United States, I'm sorry to say, who are so intent upon seeing Bush humiliated that they are more closely allied with Al-Qaeda in Iraq then they are with the decent people of Iraq. Oh, I know they wouldn't want to put it that way, I know they aren't actually in favor of the atrocities being committed by the Jihadists, but truth be told they need Al-Qaeda to keep committing those atrocities.

If the insurgents are defeated that means that Bush will have been victorious, that he will be seen as a winner. That is something the left simply cannot tolerate. The left is deeply, deeply invested in the United States failing in Iraq. Iraq is their Vietnam, their holy grail. It is their chance, as they see it, to regain the power and influence they had directly following their victory (our loss) in Vietnam.

I honestly don't know if Bush did the right thing by going into Iraq. I have privately struggled for years with that issue. I can certainly say that I have disagreed with Bush about many things, most especially his stance on Illegal Immigration. But something had to be done, and many things still must be done, in our struggle against radicalized Islam and Terrorism. This was laid on our doorstep, we did not ask for it.

Have we made mistakes in the past? Yes. Will we make mistakes in the future? Yes. Do we just roll over and give up because things are hard? No! We deserve better, this world deserves better, than to be led by the weak into the jaws of the lion. One thing Bush and Blair will never have to worry about is being called weak. At least when it comes to their leadership in the fight against Terrorism.

The war being waged by the radical Islamists is a fight to the death. That much anyone who looks honestly at the situation can see. It doesn't much matter what we do or say, they have vowed to destroy us and our way of life. Pretending the danger doesn't exist won't make it go away. Trying to appease those who hate our very existence won't make any difference. We either fight them now, in Iraq, or we fight them somewhere else. War has been waged against us. Our options have been taken away. Peace, as much as we desire it, is not in the cards for quite some time.

Now is the time for the land of the free and the home of the brave to defend its freedom and prove its bravery. Yes, we've been sissified by years of feminism and other liberal dreck, but we haven't been completely emasculated. Not yet anyway.

John Edwards - how did we survive without him?

2007-07-12T11:51:00.000-06:00

I took the following directly from John Edwards web site at: http://johnedwards.com/about/issues/

"Every day, 37 million Americans wake in poverty. Our response to that reality says everything about the character of America. John Edwards has called for a national goal of eliminating poverty within 30 years, with policies rooted in the core American values of opportunity for everyone and responsibility from everyone. We can reach that goal by creating and rewarding work, strengthening families, helping workers save and get ahead, transforming our schools, expanding access to college, breaking up areas of concentrated poverty, reaching overlooked rural areas, and expecting people to help themselves by working whenever they are able."

Now correct me if I am wrong, but does this not sound extremely conservative? Surely these can't be the words of one of the most liberal of presidential candidates. John Edwards apparently understands and approves of the traditional economic values that have made this country great. So, why is it that even though he makes such sensible and logical suggestions I have this feeling that his actions, should be become president, would be in direct opposition to these ideals?

I suppose we need look no further for the answer to that question then to some other words of John Edwards. We can find these words on the same web site where John Edwards gives his solutions to poverty: http://johnedwards.com/about/issues/poverty/

Create 1 Million Stepping Stone Jobs for Workers Who Take Responsibility.
2 points about this. First, who foots the bill for these jobs? The government of course. Second, if it is necessary to have illegal immigrants in order to fill the countless menial jobs in this nation why on earth to we need to create additional menial jobs? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the jobs done by illegal immigrants stepping stone jobs? I can assure you they were for me and many others that I know as we made our own way out of poverty.

Raise the Minimum Wage to at Least $7.50.
The only jobs that pay minimum wage are the "stepping stone jobs" mentioned earlier. I won't engage in the minimum wage debate here, you can find that debate in spades elsewhere. Suffice it to say that raising the minimum wage is nothing more than a "feel good" opportunity for politicians to make them think they've done something worthwhile.

When I got tired of working for minimum wage I did what I had to do to work my way up the pay scale. It wasn't easy, but I did it completely on my own with no help from anyone, least of all the government. I can assure you that many minimum wage jobs would simply cease to exist if they were forced to pay higher wages. This is not because the business owner is greedy, but because they can barely afford to provide the job as it is due to the myriads of other hurdles placed in their way by well meaning politicians such as John Edwards.

Strengthen Labor Laws
By this John Edwards means strengthening and encouraging labor unions. I shouldn't even have to say anything more about this idea.

Create Second-Chance Schools for High School Dropouts
This is one of my favorites. Last time I checked, anyone who wants it has a second chance to get their diploma. But, I suppose John Edwards thinks we need a new government program, at tremendous tax payer expense, to provide a service that already exists.

So, if you think about it what John Edwards is saying is that we should encourage people to work, we should reward them for working (I think that's called a paycheck), and we should allow them to get a high school diploma. Well, that's just brilliant isn't it? I am positively stunned by the ability of John Edwards to get to the heart of the matter and find such insightful solutions. I say run, don't walk, to cast your vote for John Edwards.

Such a common sentiment.

2007-06-17T16:46:00.000-06:00

I read a quote today. It is such a common sentiment. It just doesn't make sense. I mean think about it for awhile.

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

- Steven Weinberg

Wise words

2007-05-15T07:51:00.000-06:00

Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you're being had.

- Michael Crichton

Dawkins Reviews - a blast

2007-05-15T07:43:00.000-06:00

I discovered this blog awhile ago and have been really enjoying it. Lately there have been some reviews of a book by Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) which are just spectacular. I highly recommend reading all of them which you can do right here.

Hope

2007-05-11T08:30:00.000-06:00

Seems like nastiness has been an epidemic lately. Sometimes I am tempted to give in to despair. Rather than giving in to despair we need to be reminded that this is not all there is. There is something more, something better, something truly hopeful. Here's a little ode to that hope.

================================================================

When despair has done its worst.
When despite has had its
way and the earth lies wounded
and bleeding in the
embittered fist of
its unholiest of foes

still beauty will endure.

A shimmer of light in the darkness.
The distant echo of wild
unfettered laughter
reminds us that the
Lord of the Forest rides
even now
and the Kingdom of Summer
will not always be

shrouded

in the mists

of a dream.

Scary stuff

2007-05-11T07:58:00.000-06:00

Is this guy for real? I have to admit that I find this kind of thing very appealing. I also have to admit that I find it very scary. I think balance is needed in this area as it is in all areas of life.

I think many conservatives are way off base when it comes to environmental issues. The idea that God made us stewards of the earth, and therefore we are free to rape it for our own profit, is strangely reminiscent of the attitudes of slave owners who felt their right to own slaves was given them by God.

On the other hand, the devaluing of human life by these radical environmentalists is equally misguided. There is a huge difference between human beings and the other forms of life on this planet. As the clearly superior race we have the capacity to value and protect our own race and also to value and protect the entirety of the earth. Conservatives and Christians should be leading the environmental charge while remembering the special position of human beings as children of God.

Speechless

2007-04-20T16:33:00.000-06:00

I don't know what to say. Check out this though. Be sure to read the opposing viewpoint.

Hostages released, what does it mean?

2007-04-05T08:22:00.000-06:00

The British hostages held by Iran have been released. Thankfully no bloodshed was necessary. Now it is time for the inevitable analysis and political spin.

As might be expected there will be roughly two versions of the story. Which version you accept will likely be determined by your choice of news sources if you are a mere follower or your political leanings if you take a more active role in filtering information.

To assist you in your own analysis here are two initial versions of the story. One from a left leaning news source the other from a right leaning news source. As you might imagine the left leaning news source paints Iran in a more positive light and the right leaning news source paints Iran in a much less favorable light. As you might also imagine the U.S. is much more of a good guy in the right leaning story then it is in the left leaning story.

So without further ado or commentary here are the stories. I'll leave the reader to decide which one is more appealing (I wouldn't dream of asking you to decide which one is more true...).

Left Version

Right Version

Behold the shining future

2007-04-05T07:41:00.000-06:00

Just in case you ever doubted the slippery slope arguments check out this story. I have no beef with the hospital mind you, I have a beef with people who refuse to see where supposedly "progressive" ideals are leading us.

Just last night I had the pleasure and privilege of holding a friends newborn bundle of joy. The thought of a child like that being abandoned by their parents is incomprehensible and extremely sad.

Children are, quite literally, precious. They are our future. What has happened in supposedly advanced and civilized nations to reduce children to an inconvenience that can simply be dropped in a slot somewhere? I'll leave the answer unspoken. I think it should probably be obvious.

British hostage crisis

2007-04-02T12:59:00.000-06:00

I just read a good piece on the British hostage crisis. It's neither a hawkish cry for retribution nor a dovish appeal to capitulation, which means there is actually some interesting information available to help you draw your own conclusions on the correct course of action.

This is one of those situations that truly test a nation’s leadership. So much is at stake and the costs, of action or inaction, could be astronomical. Citizens are screaming, and rightly so, for some sort of action. The whole world is watching and, as usual, they are divided into camps. One camp will denounce Blair as a warmonger, and a Bush stooge, if he takes a hard line. The other camp will denounce him as a spineless weakling if he does anything other than take a hard line.

It's not exactly the note Blair wanted to end his prime ministership on I suppose. But then, this is what leaders are there for. They are there to lead. They are there to make the tough and many times unpopular decisions. No matter what he does it will be unpopular with a lot of people.

Bush is a great example of that unpopularity: there is no way that Bush could ever make everyone happy in such a polarized world and thus he has never attempted to do so. Does that make him a good leader? I think in a way it does. History alone will tell us whether his decisions worked out for the best (assuming that history doesn't get rewritten by those with an opposing agenda).

"Do the right thing” we shout, when what we mean is "do what fits my agenda". I'd suggest that we really think about our agenda's. Think about what they really mean in the world we actually live in. This is not a social experiment where we play around with cultures, nations and people like so many chess pieces. This is a world of flesh and blood where your agenda (be it right-wing or left-wing) is going to get that flesh wounded and that blood spilled.

Conflict is inevitable. Even if we attain the utopia of the Federation, there will still be Romulan's and Klingon's intent on spoiling the party. As long as this earth lasts blood will be spilled; that appears to be the price the earth exacts from its inhabitants. That doesn't mean we have to like it, nor does it mean we have to take it lying down. It means we stand in the face of the beast and make every drop count for something.

The age-old struggle against tyranny and oppression goes on whether we choose to see it or not and it will go on until human nature no longer contains the seeds of selfishness, greed and a lust for power. Our agenda's mean nothing if they deny this fact. They hold no value if they remain ignorant of the human ability to be inhuman. It has been said that freedom is not free and I believe it to be true. The price of freedom is, and always has been, measured in blood.

Honor the blood of the fallen. Do not hastily add to its flow. Count the cost very carefully. Pray that you don't live to see the times of testing, but if you are tested do not be found wanting. What is it you stand for? No matter the intentions what are the actual results of your agendas? This requires wisdom. This requires courage. This requires strength. This requires that we stand, against all odds, against all hope, stand.

Will we make it?

2007-04-02T12:17:00.000-06:00

Read this and you might be tempted to think we are doomed. However, go on and read the comments and you'll see that however daft the educational institutions might be the people still have some common sense. Let's hear it for common sense.

If you have a kid in school don't think for a second that they are getting anything even remotely resembling a well balanced education. In fact they're probably being fed all manner of insane PC drivel at the expense of real social studies and history. It's up to us as parents to either pony up the cash to send our kids to "real" schools or see to it that we educate them at home. I suppose the school might do an OK job at the three R's (although even that is up for debate), but I'd suggest taking a cold hard look at what they're being taught in other subjects.

They're our kids. Offering them up to be sacrificed on the altars of political correctness, moral relativism and multiculturalism ranks right up there with child abandonment and child abuse in my opinion.

New Tolkien Book

2007-03-26T11:51:00.000-06:00

I am incredibly excited about the upcoming release of the new book by J.R.R. Tolkien, given to us by its editor, and Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien.

I don't know how it is that I am just finding out about this; better late then never I suppose. I've read the short version of this story in the Silmarillion and the longer version in Unfinished Tales and remember being completely captivated and enthralled with the tragic tale. To have a full narrative version of the story is truly a gift.

Christopher Tolkien's life has been one of dedication to his father's legacy and also to his father's many fans. What better way could there be to wrap up nearly a lifetime of loving devotion. Thanks Christopher.

An Amazing Man

2007-03-20T09:40:00.000-06:00

I had the privilege of working with Paco. I am proud to consider him a friend. I wish I had a tenth of the strength he has. Read some of his story here.

It is very good to be reminded that sitting here reading and writing about the Iraq situation is a far cry from actually being personally involved.

Finally a solution

2007-03-13T07:31:00.000-06:00

Oh, OK, now I understand. Glad we could get that straightened out.

This is just WRONG!

2007-03-06T17:50:00.000-06:00

Just a little something for all you multicultural, moral relativist, types to chew on. Sometimes evil is evil. Sometimes bad is bad. Sometimes you can look at another culture and say: "You know what, that's just wrong!".

Well, I'm not afraid to say it. This is so many kinds of wrong I don't even know where to start.

Next time someone starts equating conservative Christians in the United States with conservative Islam ask them to take this story, and so many others like it, into account. There is no comparison and anyone saying there is is certifiably nuts.

News Flash. Stop the presses.

2007-03-02T10:02:00.000-06:00

And people are just figuring this out? You read the story and you'd think this was some major revelation. Give me a break. It shouldn't take a genius to figure out the connection between promiscuity and the spread of Aids. Those of us with traditional values have been saying this since day one but all we've received is a deaf ear or ridicule for our old-fashioned morals.

Take this statement: " These factors, researchers say, explain how North Africa, where Muslim societies require circumcision and strongly discourage sex outside monogamous and polygamous marriages, has largely avoided AIDS. They also explain why the epidemic is far more severe south of the Sahara, where webs of multiple sex partners are more common, researchers say."

What needs to be added? What more needs to be said? Thankfully they didn't use a Christian society as an example, if they had it would never be reported because, after all, attaching anything positive to Christianity is all but forbidden in the mainstream media.

All that being said I'm very happy to see stories like this, especially in a paper like the Washington Post. They deserve major kudos for having the guts to print such a story. It seems as if abstinence has become a dirty word, a politically incorrect word, I'm happy to see it reported positively for once.

Stop the train

2007-03-01T08:58:00.000-06:00

Can I be allowed a bit of sarcasm? Read this and see if you agree with me that this legislator is not exactly qualified to be quibbling over words and phrases.

My thoughts exactly

2007-02-23T17:06:00.000-06:00

This is perfect. More commentary to follow.

Brits pulling out of Iraq

2007-02-22T16:27:00.000-06:00

So the recent news is that some British soldiers are being pulled out of Iraq. According to Tony Blair and President Bush this is a good thing, a sign of success in the region they were stationed.

According to certain politicians and pundits, however, this is actually bad for the President. They make hay of the irony of the British troops pulling out at the same time as Bush wants to send more American soldiers.

So which is it? Is it a positive thing that should make Bush look good or is it a negative thing that should make Bush look bad? I'll bet your answer to that question would be very easy to predict by anyone who knows you well, which leads me to make a couple of points.

First, why is everything viewed through the lens of politics? Why is it that when dealing with the facts of the British pulling out of Iraq the single most important thing on everyone's mind is how it reflects on Bush and his policies? Can't we just call a spade a spade sometimes?

Second, doesn't it trouble you that your answer to the question I posed would be so easy to predict? What does that tell you about yourself and the countless others (including me more often than I'd like) who don't seem to have the capability for original thought.

Finally, doesn't it bother you that we have two primary groups of pundits, politicians and people who have squared off against each other over the Iraq situation. The pro-war side is adamant about their position. To them there must be success in Iraq because that will prove that they were right. The anti-war side is equally adamant about their position. To them there must be failure in Iraq because that will prove that they were right. The one side can't afford to have us lose in Iraq and the other side can't afford to have us win. And what is the primary motivation behind both sides? You guessed it: politics. The winners (of the political game, not the war in Iraq) get all kinds of political points and the losers (of the political game, not the war in Iraq) get to hang their heads in shame. Long term issues like national security, what it means to be a good citizen of the world and, gasp, what's best for Iraq and other places like it don't seem to really matter much.

For an example of what we should be doing, by which I mean thoughtful, reasoned and civil debate, head over and check out a debate between Frank Gaffney and Tony Campolo on the campus of Eastern University. Just scroll down till you find the links from February 19 2007.

Will the real democrats please stand up

2007-02-21T10:04:00.000-06:00

I consider myself to be an independent conservative. However when it comes to big-oil, big-pharma, big-insurance and the like I'm probably a bit more populist. I was getting pretty tired of the business-as-usual Republican cronyism and even though I cringed at the thought of Democrats in power in these uncertain times I thought maybe there was a chance for some free thinking and populist change. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be on the agenda.

It looks to me like nothing much is really going to change. Oh, the Dems will pay some lip service here and there but ultimately money talks regardless of which side of the aisle you're on. Seems like they're pretty much a one-trick-pony at this point. It's pretty sad when failure in Iraq and the humiliation of Bush/Cheney is your sole reason for existence.

I'm willing to be convinced that the Democrats have more to offer than hoping and plotting for failure. Sure, maybe we are destined to fail in Iraq. It is, after all, not completely up to us. The Iraqi's do have a say in the matter as well. But playing politics with the lives of the Iraqi's and the lives of our soldiers is pretty pathetic. Show me some leadership. Show me some original thinking. Show me that you really are interested in seeing this world become a better place for all humanity and that you have the patience and strength to truly fight for the underdog no matter how difficult, painful and time consuming the fight may be.

Some of the inspiration for this little tirade came from here.

Betcha this gets your attention...

2007-02-20T21:08:00.000-06:00

A news story today about a premature baby 22 weeks of age being born and surviving got me to thinking. I'm not going to go the predictable route of using this as an argument against abortion. I'm instead going to use this opportunity to make a different point.

I'm going to imagine that there are two people reading this post. One is a committed Christian right-to-life advocate. The other is a committed Progressive right-to-choose advocate. I am going to pose two positions and I want your honest opinion.

1. To the lefty: given that a baby born at 22 weeks can survive outside of the womb aren't you compelled to change your stance on the issue of Abortion? Isn't it true that its getting a lot harder to maintain that abortion is not the taking of a human life?

2. To the righty: be honest, if your 14 year old daughter was raped and became pregnant could you actually look me in the eye and tell me that you'd force her to carry that baby to full term and then either keep it or give it up for adoption?

These are honest questions, and if you are intellectually honest you each have to admit that there is a conflict raging inside you when you give the answer that your belief system forces you to give. But, you will obviously give the answer your belief system forces you to give. You have to don't you?

Now look at each other. You aren't so different after all. You're each making decisions that your strongly held beliefs force you to make. Kinda makes you think doesn't it? Maybe the Christian isn't the only one with "Religious" beliefs. Maybe the Christian isn't the only one being a "fundamentalist", towing the party line and subscribing to "group think".

As for the choice perspective, I'm pretty sure you're not taking that side because you want to see babies killed. I'm pretty sure you really believe that you're advocating for the greatest good to society and humanity.

I'd just like to ask you both to be open minded and when faced with advances in science don't shrink in fear behind the barricades of your agenda's and your groups. Whether that science seems to challenge creationism or whether it seems to challenge the practice of abortion don't be afraid of it. Because after all, the truth can withstand any amount of scrutiny.

Righties With Attitude

2007-02-20T14:34:00.000-06:00

Maybe this is old news, but it sure got me going. I am referring to Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) as defined by a researcher named Robert Altemeyer. The blog entry which introduced me to this was obviously written by an ardent fan of old Bob. The blogger proceeds to use the RWA ideas to gleefully paint everyone outside of the enlightened left as psychopaths or worse.

Admittedly this is pretty scary stuff and if it were legitimate we might have real cause for concern. I'm no psychologist, but I bet I could craft a survey that painted the left in an equally bad light.

Left or right taken to an extreme pretty much ends up at the same place. Ultimately it comes down to applying the "final solution" and eliminating those pesky elements of society that stand against what is "obviously" the correct path. Whether you are a Marxist, an Anarchist or a Fascist doesn't much matter when your movement gains the critical mass and those standing in the way have to be dealt with.

So come down from your snobby ivory towers and admit one thing. The constitution and bill-of-rights laid down by the founding fathers of the United States was brilliant in recognizing the dangers of any group, right or left, gaining too much power or thinking too highly of themselves. The dangers inherent in human beings are inherent in ALL human beings regardless of political persuasion (and yes that includes YOU). History proves that point quite nicely.

Finally, a couple of pieces I found that counter the RWA premise are here and here.

God who?

2007-02-19T12:20:00.000-06:00

Another good link from Rick. I've read a few items from Father Morris and am always impressed. He's not afraid to tackle some serious issues.

Check it out.

Iraq - some history

2007-02-19T12:04:00.000-06:00

The Iraq war is, admittedly, a bit of a quagmire. I am personally upset with the actions of Congress lately who seem to see the Iraq situation as a blank check for propping up their political careers.

Somehow cutting and running just seems wrong, but on the other hand what will happen if we stay the course? Do the American people have the stomach for sticking it out as long as it takes? Fed a steady diet of demoralization from the Media and the leaders in Congress it doesn't seem likely.

All I seem to hear, on both sides of the issue, are sound bites. Emotional appeals are completely trumping an honest examination of the situation. I guess that's the society we live in. Give it to me in 5 minutes or don't bother me. Guess that goes for Iraq as well.

Enough whining, let's dig a little. How about a little Iraq history lesson for starters. And you might be surprised at the conclusion given what you think you know about me.

Congress or Circus?

2007-02-17T11:05:00.000-06:00

Good link from Rick

He says: "To be honest, it does lean towards the right, but it does admit the use of soldiers and families as props by BOTH sides of the aisle. Now, if we can honor current soldiers and veterans for their sacrifice and their service without using them to prop up what should be a intense, logical, well-reasoned, objective debate, we'd get a lot further discussing the merits or flaws of any proposed policies."

I couldn't agree more. Real debate assumes the possibility of swaying your opponents opinion. The posturing of our politicians doesn't seem to hold out much hope of that. Instead it's a competition of melodrama's. And that goes for both sides. Blech!

Let's lean a bit left

2007-02-16T10:30:00.000-06:00

I did say common ground didn't I? Well, to counter what may seem to be a lot of right-leaning posts let's head over to the left a bit. Capitalism and free markets are very important and history has certainly shown their superiority over socialism and communism. That being said, unfettered freedom will inevitably be taken advantage of and the robber barons can be just as damaging to free society as a rapacious dictator.

I've been reading an excellent book which illustrates the damage that can be done by these robber barons. The book is Internal Combustion by Edwin Black and the accompanying web site provides a variety of compelling tidbits.

Setting the Record Straight

2007-02-16T08:49:00.000-06:00

Let's face it, religious fundamentalism has taken a beating lately. In many ways the beating may be deserved. The Jihad being waged against decent, freedom loving people by religious fanatics may cause the non-religious to step up their attacks on other religions such as Christianity.

How does Christianity compare with other religions in the news today? Does it have a better track record or has it also had a history of oppression and violence? If you came up through our school systems, watch TV and movies and listen to the various voices of the media you likely think it has a rather sordid history.

I believe this view is actually a complete lie and distortion and invite you to examine the truth of the matter in this great little article.

Unprotected

2007-02-15T08:42:00.000-06:00

There's a problem with the messages young people receive about sexuality in the United States. When you add political correctness into the mix you have a recipe for disaster. A book has recently been written which sheds a lot of light on this issue from the point of view of a psychiatrist who works in the mental health clinic of a large university. A well balanced review can be read here.

A Parable

2007-02-14T13:49:00.000-06:00

Imagine if you will a family living in a neighborhood torn by violence. The father decides to hire a security guard to protect his house and his family. As the days go by the security guard successfully defends the family from a variety of attacks.

Time goes by and the family becomes comfortable and happy in their house, safe from the attacks of roving gangs. As they become more comfortable they start watching the actions of the security guard from time to time. They notice that sometimes he has to use force to repulse the gangs. Sometimes an attacker will be hurt or even killed. This begins to trouble the family. They express their concerns to the security guard. "Can't you be less violent? Is it really necessary to hurt or kill these attackers?" they say. The security guard assures them that although he doesn't want to hurt anyone sometimes it is necessary. The family accepts this for a time.

After many years the parents have died and the children are now in control of the house. They have forgotten what it was like to live without the security guard and have become increasingly obsessed with the sometimes violent actions the security guard must resort to in order to defend them. They decide that this can no longer be tolerated so they begin giving the security guard specific instructions, limiting his actions against the attackers. The guard does his best to comply, but at times he has no choice but to use firm action against the attackers in order to defend the family.

The family finally have had enough. They begin to ridicule the security guard, calling him intolerant and a lover of violence. They become enamored with the roving gangs and begin to think that perhaps it is their own fault that the gangs are so violent. Perhaps if they didn't have such a nice house and live in such comfort the gangs would not be so intent on harming them. Perhaps it is partially the security guards fault for being so cruel and violent in his actions against them. In the end, when it is clear that the security guard will not obey their instructions to cease from harming the attacking gangs they fire him and he is forced to leave his post.

That very night a gang attacks the house. They find the family gathered around the television laughing at a show portraying security guards as ignorant, intolerant fools whose only desire is to stand in the way of poor misunderstood gang members. The gang tortures and kills the family in a horrible fashion and takes the house for themselves. Within months the house is dirty, run down and indistinguishable from the other houses in the neighborhood. A person visiting the neighborhood would never know that once the house was well kept and that in it had lived a safe and happy family.

Amazing Grace

2007-02-14T08:38:00.000-06:00

Now here is a story worth telling and, hopefully, a movie worth watching.

Sen. Barack Obama Apologizes for Saying U.S. Troops 'Wasted'

2007-02-13T15:47:00.000-06:00

Click here to read the story

I know what you're saying. Here he goes bashing someone in spite of everything he said earlier. Well, surprise, I'm not going to bash Barack Obama for saying what he did.

I'm just going to ask a question. Must we parse every word and nuance of every politician? Why do we and the media hold them up to such impossible scrutiny. I mean, lets face it, we all know exactly what Barack Obama thinks about the Iraq situation. No amount of backpedaling is going to change that. And why should he have to backpedal? What's next, will he have to go into rehab claiming that some drug or alcohol addiction caused him to say what he said?

I don't think Obama hates soldiers or truly wants to diminish their heroism or courage. I don't think any reasonable person would think that. He was attempting to make it clear how much he opposes the President and got a little carried away. Sure words mean things, but good grief give people a break.

It's really quite simple. Obama opposes the war in Iraq and he opposes the President. If you agree with him then maybe you vote for him. If you disagree with him then you certainly won't vote for him. If we can't get past every little slip-up and judge politicians on the bulk of their words and actions then we won't get anywhere. We'll just spend all our time sniping back and forth about the latest gaffes instead of focusing on the major issues.

First Post

2007-02-13T13:29:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I just have to write. I find a news article or a blog entry or hear something on the radio and I just have to write about it. I find myself composing emails and then throwing them away because I don't really have anyone I want to spam. So now I'll just write things here and no one will have to be bothered with my ravings.

I'll let people know it exists, and maybe they'll stop by from to time or subscribe to the feed. Quite likely no one will ever read this, but that's OK. It will just be my journal. Maybe in a few hundred years when a new breed of Archaeologists are sifting through the digital rubble of our civilization someone will read it and get an insight into what one person, at least, was thinking.

If I have an agenda it is to find common sense ideas that rational people everywhere can agree on. People are so caught up in their politics and agendas. They spend their days hunkered down with fellow ideologues lashing out in fear-inspired hatred at those who don't share their views. That needs to stop.

If you're a lover of freedom and democracy lets figure out what we have in common, realize there are a lot of forces in the world howling for our destruction, and stand united against those forces. If you're not a lover of freedom and democracy then hopefully you will find something here to change your mind.