Want to know which national retailers celebrate Christmas, and which really don’t? For the second year in a row, Focus on the Family is sponsoring a “naughty and nice” list at their Stand for Christmas website. You can vote and post comments at the website. The top three Christmas family retailers: Bass Pro Shops, Cabellas, and Lands End. The three most offensive: Gap, Banana Republic, and Best Buy. Lane Bryant was the most negligent toward Christmas. Being openly pro-Christmas during the Christmas season is good business. It is also likely profitable since 72% of people prefer “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holiday.”
Category: culture
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Porn Pandemic Panel Presentation
From the folks at PornHarms:
The War on Illegal Pornography has a “first” to announce – a live online conference on pornography in which YOU can participate. On December 9th at 11:00 AM Eastern, you will be able to watch this important event right on Facebook and can ask questions of our panelists. RSVP to the event here so we can keep you updated.
The event, Pornography Harms: An Untreated Pandemic Features:
- Dr. Donna M. Hughes, professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Rhode Island. Professor Hughes is a leading international researcher on trafficking of women and children. She will discuss how pornography leads to sex trafficking.
- Dr. Patrick Fagan, Senior Fellow and Director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. Dr. Fagan will discuss The Effects of Pornography on Individuals, Marriage, Family and Community.
- J. Robert Flores, former Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and former deputy chief prosecutor in the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Flores will discuss the need to prosecute obscene hardcore adult pornography.
You will be able to submit questions online to the panelists during this one-hour presentation. The event will be broadcast live on one of our Facebook pages, http://www.facebook.com/PornHarms. RSVP to the event here and invite your friends.
The editors at NR have put together an excellent article on The Defense of Marriage, here. As the authors state, we’ve lost sight of the fundamental purpose behind marriage — protecting the formation of our next generation. Well worth the read for anyone interested in the same-sex marriage debates.
On a subsequent O’Reilly show, liberal NPR analyst Juan Williams was explaining the importance of not stereotyping everyone within a religion because of the violent acts of some members of the religion. In the course of his argument, he said that when he’s on a public flight, he worries when he sees people on the flight whose dress makes it clear that they are devote Muslims.
I’ve been on many flights since 9/11, and on numerous occasions since then have experienced the same concerns. If I watched Mr. O’Reilly’s show and heard the statement, it would’ve registered as a yawner … a statement of the obvious. As Mr. Krauthammer points out, this admission by Mr. Williams wasn’t too terribly different from Mr. Jackson’s admission years ago that when he hears footsteps approaching him from behind at night, he’s relieved when he sees it’s not a young black man. In the case of Mr. Williams, there was one big difference with this admission — the consequence. NPR promptly fired him.
Never a shrinking violet, Mr. Williams explains here why he’s none to happy with NPR’s punishment. That liberals are intolerant of dissent is nothing new. That federally funded NPR is a bastion of liberals and Washington DC group-think should only be a surprise to someone who doesn’t listen to NPR. What is, however, somewhat surprising, is how, accordingly to Mr. Williams, the leadership at NPR militantly opposes anything that even gives the appearance of cooperating with conservatives. I could care less about any of this if NPR was a private entity, supported by the fruits of its own labors. However the fact that my tax dollars support these left-wing wind bags makes it chaffing. In 1994, I hoped that one of the “Republican Revolution” results would be the defunding of NPR. Mr. William’s timing is perfect. Hopefully a 2011 Republican Congress will take note and act accordingly. O’Reilly is making the same point here.
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What really is an “Extremist”?
On a recent episode of “The View”, apparently Bill O’Reilly offended a couple of the host ladies for stating that the 9/11 terrorist acts were done by Muslims. The ladies argued that it wasn’t Muslims, it was “Extremists” that killed the Americans and then stormed off stage.
So what is an Extremist? Webster’s dictionary defines an Extremist as “advocacy of extreme measures or views,” and extreme as “going to great or exaggerated lengths.”
How does one become an extremist in their faith? Is it that they live and obey the teachings, practices and principals of the founders of the religion? If so, then what is the argument presented by these ladies?
The founder of Islam is Mohammed. The founder of Christianity is Jesus Christ. It is my understanding that Mohammed killed or at least gave instructions to kill. Jesus did neither. I have read by some Muslims that Mohammed killed in self defense. Jesus ordered Peter to put away his sword in self defense on the night of His arrest.
Because I believe in the Bible, believe in Jesus as my Savior, believe in Creation and the Creator, believe in Hell, believe in separation from God through sin, believe in the 10 commandments, believe in His resurrection…does this mean I am an extremist? I often wonder for those who have never studied Christianity, if they interpret a Christian Fundamentalist as someone who is living and obeying the laws of the Old Testament only. Wouldn’t that then make me a Sadducee or Pharisee instead?
For an interesting article of the differences between Mohammed and Jesus, see here.
It’s one thing for school administrators and legal elites to serially discriminate against Christianity in the public sphere. It reaches an entirely new and much more dangerous level when our peers, as reflected in our courtroom juries, follow the lead in discriminating against the free exercise of Christianity.
In Knoxville, Kentucky, a jury recently held that a public school could prohibit its 5th grade students from studying and discussing their Bibles during recess. The federal judge overseeing the case upheld the jury’s decision. A ten-year-old student and some of his friends had been studying and discussing their Bibles during recess. A student complained and the principle prohibited any further Bible studies at recess.
Prejudice against Christianity from a federal judge in the form of allowing such content based discrimination isn’t surprising. A jury from the American heartland upholding such blatant discrimination is a cause for concern. Full story here.
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How America views God
In today’s USA Today, there is a large article on a survey done by Baylor University. The premise of the survey was to get an understanding of how Americans view God to be.
9 out of 10 Americans believe that there is a god. But of those, how do they view god? The survey categorized 4 categories describing god based on the views of how people view god:
– Authoritative (28%)
– Benevolent (22%)
– Critical (21%)
– Distant (24%)
* The remaining 5% they categorized as Atheist / Agnostic
Personally, I would have liked to have seen additional questions in the survey to identify if their god is the Biblical God. Perhaps questions like:
– Do you actively read the Bible?
– Can you site scriptures for each response provided?
I would imagine that the majority of those 9 of 10 people replied to the survey questions about who / what is god with statements that began with “I think that god…” or “I believe that god is…”. It’s one thing to say that there is a god. But it’s a completely different question if they can identify that god with the God of the Bible. In other words, how many people base their views of what the Bible says about God versus those who have made up their own image of a god.
A small group of North Carolina attorneys are working to pass special regulatory protections based upon sexual orientation and “gender identity,” which would include pedophiles, transsexuals, polygamists, and anyone else based on their stated sexual orientation or gender identity. They’re attempting to amend the code of ethics that governs licensed attorneys in NC. These radicals within the North Carolina State Bar are advancing regulations that would make it unethical for North Carolina attorneys to take “sexual orientation or gender identity” into account when hiring or when chosing which clients to represent. The full text of the pending amendment is as follows:
While employed or engaged in a professional capacity, a lawyer should not discriminate on the basis of a person’s race, gender, national origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. This responsibility of non-discrimination does not limit a lawyer’s right to advocate on any issue.
After initial protests from attorneys, the Ethics Committee subsequently added a paragraph that these requirements “reflect the aspirational goals of the legal profession.” The NC Bar Ethics Committee approved the amendment. NC Bar leadership is presently accepting public comment on this amendment and is scheduled to vote on it later this year.
This amendment ought to be soundly rejected. It is based on a radical moral philosophy and it discriminates against those who adhere to Judeo-Christian views.
Some claim that this amendment is intended to protect homosexuals. While this amendment would accomplish that, it goes far beyond that objective. By extending the ethical guideline to “sexual orientation,” the authors draw a circle of protection well beyond homosexuality to include all forms of sexual orientation, which includes pedophilia, polygamy, bestiality, sadomasochism, necrophilia and every other form of sexual deviancy. If this amendment was intended to protect only homosexuals, the amendment is incompetently drafted. Since this draft was promulgated by a committee of intelligent and experienced attorneys, one can presume these few attorneys intend the Bar to impose radical social philosophy regarding human sexuality on all practicing attorneys in North Carolina.
To make sure the point is not missed regarding the scope of this amendment, the authors of the amendment tacked on “gender identity.” “Gender identity” involves a behavioral and philosophical system, distinct from “sexual orientation” and from “gender” itself.
Gender identity (otherwise known as core gender identity) is the gender(s), or lack thereof, a person self-identifies as. It is not necessarily based on biological fact, either real or perceived, nor is it always based on sexual orientation. The gender identities one may identify as include male, female, both, somewhere in between (“third gender”), or neither.
Gender identity is most typically associated with transsexuals and is a recognized psychological disorder. See here. Transsexuals and cross-dressing involve issues of gender identification.
Gender identity is also part of the post-modern and critical legal theorists vocabulary where one’s gender, like assertions of truth, is portrayed as an arbitrary and subjective experiences at best, and often these theorists portray gender identification as a tool of subjugation and oppression. It is necessary to view gender identification as a means of oppression in order to justify ethical guidelines designed to prohibit discrimination based on divergent views of gender identity. Gender identity is anathema to the Biblical concept that God intentionally created men and woman unique from each other and that God chose each person’s gender.
This radical “ethics” amendment would compel members of the bar to neutrally view the sexual choices of those we hire and those we chose to represent. Similarly, NC attorneys could not refuse to associate, hire or represent based on someone’s philosophy of gender. This would certainly protect cross dressers, transsexuals and men who would prefer to use the ladies latrine in my office. Since members of the NC judiciary are licensed attorneys, its unclear what effect this regulatory requirement would have on rulings in NC involving sexual orientation and gender identity.
It’s also worth noting that there’s no exemption based on employer. Attorneys on staff for ministries are not exempted. I represent a number of national, Christian ministries in my private practice. These clients would not appreciate my bringing a cross-dresser or openly homosexual attorney into their Board meetings to provide counsel.
While some members of the NC State Bar leadership apparently have radical beliefs regarding human sexuality and gender, other’s to include myself do not. This amendment would label it unethical to discriminate with and for whom we use our professional talents, because of their sexual practices and beliefs regarding gender. While some may disagree with my Judeo-Christian beliefs regarding human sexuality, there is not a compelling justification for labeling such beliefs unethical. In fact, I do not believe there is any justification for imposing this such a radical moral view of human sexuality on any attorney. Ironically, many forms of “sexual orientation” that would fall within the scope of this “ethics” rules are still felonies in NC. This amendment would open the door to prosecuting attorneys if they adhere to their Judeo-Christian beliefs. It would also stigmatize those who reject radical views of human sexuality.
It’s unclear who or what motivates this effort. I am not aware of problems within the legal profession that these amendments would address, let alone that a majority of NC practitioners would agree should be addressed. These are highly political and disputed public policy issues. Instead of addressing practice of law concerns in NC, this appears to be a transparent attempt to obtain the credibility of a state bar organization to endorse one side in a disputed political and moral debate while suppressing the other side. The NC Bar should steer clear of this debate regarding human sexuality and gender identification and let it be handled in the legislature and courts of public opinion. The State Bar should not impose an ethical obligation to conform our law practices to align with one side on these contested issues.
UPDATE March 2011: See NC SCt Rejects Bar Leadership’s Ethics for Sex and Gender
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Theirs is the kingdom of heaven
At her blog Holy Experience, Ann Voskamp shares touching thoughts and photos from her walk through a shanty town in Guatemala in her essay the one word that fixes a broken heart, this broken world. It’s worth the read …
During my Army officer training, I used to wonder whether being a leader was more of an art form than a learned skill. Now, twenty years later, I see the same issues and questions about leadership present themselves repeatedly, if somewhat more subtly, in the business world. I’ve concluded that leadership is a like being a quarterback — there are natural, intangible, non-replicable characteristics of some leaders, and for others it’s more learned. From what I can tell, there’s a key difference between leadership and management and no matter how well someone naturally leads, experience only improves the ability to lead. The abilities to analyze problems, communicate clearly, listen well, and instill confidence are important traits for both managers and leaders. Nearly anyone can be taught to manage, however, and at some level, leaders have to understand management if not practice it as well. All managers do not and need not lead though. In fact, in my experience, many if not most managers are not leaders. I believe leadership requires at the upper levels — political, business and military — traits that really cannot be taught. It’s either there in some form or it’s not, kinda like the ability to throw a spiral 50 yards on target.
The essential leadership attribute is the ability to cast a vision that others want to pursue. That attribute itself depends on two traits: the ability to envision something better for the group one is called to lead, and the ability to communicate and share that vision in an effective manner. President George W. Bush had vision with regard to foreign policy in the Middle East, however, he was nearly incapable to communicate and cast that vision for a majority of our fellow citizens to follow.
Leadership is a skill. By itself, it’s value neutral. George Washington, Genghis Khan, Thomas Jefferson, Lenin, Churchill, Hitler, and Reagan each were able to motivate many to pursue a vision for tomorrow. Leadership also does not guarantee success. Robert E. Lee had a vision and a powerful way of motivating his followers to commit to his vision and to make the ultimate, final sacrifice to fulfill that vision. I just finished reading Killer Angels (great book). The brief description of General Meade’s war council after the first day of battle in Gettysburg is an antithesis of leadership. Lee led his troops to a catastrophic defeat. Great terrain and strong leadership by his subordinates meant Meade won despite his pathetic leadership. Longstreet had a much better vision for the Confederacy at Gettysburg and was in fact a generation ahead of the rest of the world in understanding how technology changed the art of war, but thankfully for the Union, Longstreet could not communicate that vision well enough to get Lee to follow it.
Leadership is rare in any sphere of activity. It is too often sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. In politics, it is also often subordinated to the fickle will of the electorate. In any event, with all respect due to the sacred trust of the Office of the President, leadership is currently non-existent in our White House.
President Obama was certainly one of the best received news media candidates in modern history, and certainly of my lifetime. The product of a biracial and bi-cultural marriage, the buzz was that he would transcend race, something many Americans are eager to see — a post-race country. Early in his own campaign, then Senator Biden lauded then Senator’s presentation and demeanor. As the general campaign unfolded, candidate Obama promised a third way. Not only would he lift the nation to transcend issues of race, he would transcend partisan politics, a redundant phrase if ever there was one. Regardless, he cast a vision and he clearly could communicate well. With the worldwide economic meltdown in the final stages of the national election, Oprah and many others in and outside the media saw a strong leader, even a secular savior.
After a year and a half, it appears no one is satisfied with President Obama’s leadership. To the contrary, it appears that most are resigned to the fact he is not and likely will never be a great leader and as a result, his administration will not likely accomplish great things. To the contrary, it appears his party and thus his administration is on the verge of an electoral disaster in the upcoming midterm elections. In his essay The Unengaged President, Mark Steyn details how President Obama fails at fundamental leadership tasks.
There are some areas where it should be easy to have a vision, any vision really, that’s easy to share. The government’s role in exploring the limitless depths of the universe is one of the softballs of chief executive vision casting, or at least it should be. The age of explorers … There’s something fundamentally contagious and exciting about our insatiable curiosity. If curiosity contributed to the fall of mankind, it also is responsible for our endlessly seeking to overcome the next frontier.
Even if Obama fails at the more mundane tasks of domestic and international leadership, a new leader and a new way should be able to communicate a new vision for the new millennia — new vision for pressing outwards the boundaries of human knowledge and exploration. No chance. One of the very few government agencies that captures the imagination … Provides hope in a more interesting tomorrow, inspires fantasy and fuels the imagination of every child that has dreamed of visiting planets or floating through space … NASA. The recently disclosed Obama imprimatur on our space agency: NASA Chief: Next Frontier Better Relations With Muslim World. The ironies are too many and to painful to dwell upon. NASA as an outreach tool to some of the most oppressive regimes in the world, none of whom have a space program? How does that fit with NASA’s mission over the past 50 years? It doesn’t. Regardless of agency purpose or history, it’s also a horrid “fit” for outreach. While in early medieval times, the middle east was at the forefront of innovation and learning, the modern Islamic states have sat on the sidelines during the last two hundred years (or more) of western science and technology advances. See here, here and here. Why “reach out” with our most scientifically advanced agency? Finally, the notion is simply goofy. NASA’s mission is space. Outreach to foreign states and terrestrial people groups aren’t really what astronauts “do.” That’s what the State Department is for. In any event, hardly a compelling vision. Better no leadership than misguided leadership.
Presently, President Obama’s failure of leadership is a good thing. We do not want him assisting us with charging uphill at the center of the line in Gettysburg. There are enough really troubling things going on in this Country — a liberal Congress that without strong liberal leadership is bankrupting the country with out of control spending; federal district court judges cavalierly overturning well grounded electoral results on highly charged public policy issues (Arizona, California), Muslims building a $100 million mosque on the location where fundamentalist Muslims destroyed the largest symbol of western capitalism (which the Islamic states reject). It can always be worse and it would be worse, much worse, if Obama was a strong leader. He’s clearly a political elite, hardcore 1960s liberal. We should give thanks and praise that as such, he has turned out to be a bit of dud on the leadership front. It could be much worse.
“Pornography is the drug of the millennium and more addictive than crack cocaine.” … And while most people may think of men when they picture purveyors of pornography, women are joining their ranks in droves. A big part of the problem – for both men and women – is the easy accessibility of porn. Thanks to the Internet, it’s not even necessary to leave your house. Anonymity feeds temptation.
A survey conducted in 2003 by Today’s Christian Woman found that one out of every six women, including Christians, admits struggling with an addiction to pornography.
Full story here.
The increase in female porn consumption is based on the increasing percentage of woman who were children during our Internet porn culture. That culture continues. The acceptance and consumption of porn is a trend that will likely strengthen unless and until large numbers of people openly speak out against it. The effort begins at home. Our culture ever increasingly emphasizes and encourages the sexualization of youth. It’s not uncommon to see grade school girls wearing skin-tight clothes and overtly sexually suggestive branding, e.g. Victoria’s Secret short shorts with JUICY in block print across the buns. It common for teenage girls to dress in skin-tight and/or low-cut clothes. It’s practically accepted as normal for young females to leave little to the imagination. What only two generations ago was considered virtue is now deemed a social liability by many.
Reforming our culture starts with reforming our relationships at home. A girl should not learn that she is loved and valued by how much “skin she has in the game.” Daughters learn much of their worth and sense of self from their father. Are we raising daughters of Eve, princesses of the living God, or are we aiming to raise “cool” and popular girls in a porn saturated culture? God grant us the wisdom to love and guide our daughters in our small, daily decisions. Are we raising sons who value and look for Godliness in girls, or do they see their father ogling the short shorts? Do they know from our computer caches and histories the internet pages being visited in supposed secrecy? The sin of the fathers visits itself on the next generation. Rot and disease spreads and infests. Our struggles are not just our own. God give us the strength to raise a better generation.
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God Bless America
Without God’s blessing, no effort, no person, and certainly no nation will prosper.
We continue to enjoy God’s grace. Though we systematically ignore God in our schools and in the vast majority of our public assemblies, indeed, it’s effectively illegal to corporately acknowledge God when our public institutions are in session, yet he continues to bless our nation. We practice our faith without interruption and largely without deterrence. The tax code incentivizes giving to our faith institutions. We evangelize without penalty or prosecution. The average American enjoys a standard of living unheard of in the history of mankind. Starvation is unheard of within our borders. Obesity is one of the leading if not the leading health risk. The books of the world are a click of a mouse away, and countless books are a short trip away to view for free in a library. The greatest music and best entertainment of the world are all immediately accessible. Access to education is universal. You can visit any portion of our continent with little preparation if you have the means to travel. We can visit most places of the globe and the biggest impediment in the vast majority of places are the requirements of the host country. Every community has healthcare, running water, and sanitation. We take entirely for granted those things that hundreds of millions of people world-wide only dream about having.
On July 4, 1776, the success of this democratic experiment was anything but certain. The most certain thing was that if they failed in their efforts against the then world superpower, each signatory to the Declaration of Independence would pay with his life and most likely his family’s wealth as well. Countless many have sacrificed their life so that this American effort can continue and prosper.
We are doing far too many things quite wrong now — our fundamental denial of our Creator and his relevance to how we govern and live, and from that denial pours forth a font of misfortune and evil. We threaten to unravel or squander what has been given to us. But today is not a day of mourning or lamentations, it is a day of celebration and for thanks for what our forefathers have sacrificed to create this land of liberty and abundance and for God’s blessings. By God’s grace, this nation will continue to prosper.
God bless America! Happy Fourth!
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We lost on Jeopardy …
Most the world did not have a World Cup team to cheer for. Major countries and several significant ones failed to even qualify, e.g. China, India, Russia. While we’re competing fiercely with each other, this Century may bring about a fundamental change in how and with whom/what we compete. I believe that by 2050, we’ll be discussing whether the robots (or manufactured people) will soon beat the world’s best soccer team in a match, if it hasn’t already happened by then. According to the NY Times, it looks like we’re already losing to the not-quite-AI machines in TV game shows, or soon will be. A virtual Vanna White may be turning placards for HAL soon enough.
‘Toured the Burj in this U.A.E. city. They say it’s the tallest tower in the world; looked over the ledge and lost my lunch.’
This is the quintessential sort of clue you hear on the TV game show “Jeopardy!” It’s witty (the clue’s category is “Postcards From the Edge”), demands a large store of trivia and requires contestants to make confident, split-second decisions. This particular clue appeared in a mock version of the game in December, held in Hawthorne, N.Y. at one of I.B.M.’s research labs. Two contestants — Dorothy Gilmartin, a health teacher with her hair tied back in a ponytail, and Alison Kolani, a copy editor — furrowed their brows in concentration. Who would be the first to answer?
Neither, as it turned out. Both were beaten to the buzzer by the third combatant: Watson, a supercomputer.
For more see: What Is I.B.M.’s Watson?
Everything’s made in China? Apparently, not enough babies. At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, it may be more accurate to say that China is very efficient at copying. It appears they’re also copying some of the manifestations of the modern market economies, namely, plummeting birth rates.
USA Today recently reported on the declining birth rates in Asia. A society needs a birth rate of 2.1 to sustain its population levels. Of course, Communist China’s “one child” per family policy and brutal repression of its people don’t help the region’s demographic prognosis.
This pattern of reproductive decline to dangerously low levels is common to most developed economies. It’s also dangerous for the indigenous cultures. The failure to populate leaves the native population vulnerable to being populated by other groups, such as through mass immigration or by war. The problem is that most advanced economies have also adopted increasingly burdensome social welfare mandates that require a large base population to sustain a smaller number of infirm and elderly. Kind of like how families in not-so-long-ago agrarian economies had to have a enough children to tend the farm and care for the parents as they aged.
As shown below, most of Europe, Japan, and the former Soviet Union are each in a demographic death spiral. As also shown, the Islamic countries are “red-hot.” Interestingly, the Muslim fertility rates in Western Europe maintain the same high levels. Between those rates and Europe’s massive immigration of labor to sustain their social welfare states, the Muslim world should be poised to “take” Europe and much of Asia, accomplishing by birth and patience what Muslims have been largely unable to do through centuries of war.
While nose diving demographics is common throughout the developed world, the USA is one of the few advanced economies whose fertility rate does not forecast civilizational suicide. That and other cultural issues led Canadian Mark Steyn to write America Alone, whose thesis is essentially that the West is in a losing, long-term struggle against Islam and that the US is the last best hope for western liberalism. Another commentator, Joel Kotkin, is coming out with a book, The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, that is quite bullish on our nation’s future. Real.tv interview here.
A student at Stanford, Michael Shanks, has posted an excellent analysis with the Stanford Humanities Lab online on the aging populations in advanced economies. His section on fertility rates and population aging looks at the data and its implications more closely. The map below shows life expectancy by country. Not surprisingly, the advanced economies lead the world in average life expectancy.
This information further underscores that the 21st Century will be quite interesting and challenging. The advanced economies and most the West, will feature declining and aging native population bases and correspondingly strong pressures for greater immigration. The demographics also suggest further cultural clashes between the advanced liberal democracies and Islamic nations, unless Islam rids itself of radical and violent elements and pursues moderation. Between changing demographics, technology shrinking the globe, artificial intelligence and robotics, and genetic engineering, it will be a century unlike anything we’ve seen yet.
To nuke the BP hole shut or not to nuke it, that may be the question. What a mess, and forecasting models predict the Gulf Stream could bring the black mess to the Carolina shores just in time for summer …
How quickly we go from chanting “drill baby drill” to “cap baby cap.” This recent spill in the Gulf of Mexico has suddenly given much more weight in my mind to the environmentalist concerns regarding drilling in environmentally sensitive areas. It’s easy to view eco-objections with a cynical eye, suspecting the latest sky-is-falling claim is the latest subterfuge to handicap market capitalism in favor of socialism and centralized planning or something even less coherent. That’s easy to believe since so often that’s exactly what’s going on – the inconvenient truth is that the environmental claims are too often simply wrong or divorced of context. Nonetheless, creation is from God and entrusted to us. Environmentalism should not be a disputed issue amongst Christians — it’s required of us to manage and care for what God has entrusted to humanity. We owe it to our Creator as well as to future generations to preserve and protect the environment in reasonable and sustainable ways.
The threatening pollution of our local shores, reminds me of the only poetry contest my wife and I entered together … of course B.C. (Before Children). We didn’t win any prize but enjoyed working on it together …
Ocean calling
Lift your head, come and see,
God’s fingerprints reflected in me.
Both of us are filled with life –
a delicate, magnificent gift.
Come to the shore, stand with me,
where miracles are plain to see.
Gulls, surf and sand crab frolic
together, in one of life’s dances.
Gentle waves’ music
wash away
time and burdens.
Come friend,
my shores are open
and share with me
in the beauty of life.
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Childhood Connections
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you rise. Dt. 6:4-7
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Eph. 6:4
The pathologies of Godless living are undeniable and undeniably negative. Humanism, post-modern thought, and institutionalized secularism produce wrecked lives, broken families, and crushed hearts. Lifelong relationships are increasingly rare. The post-modern culture seems inherently hostile to whatever is good and lasting. Relationships with the living God of creation seem increasingly rare and certainly not appropriate for public discourse in “well educated” circles. God is now deemed personal and subjective, and better done in isolation. We’re a mobile, fractured society. We’re easily fractured from each other and ever increasingly fractured from our creator and sustainer God. People from “less developed” areas of the world comment on how we retreat into our closed garages and live inside, isolated from our neighbors and rarely in contact with our families. The body of Christ is thriving and growing most outside “developed” nations.
As people increasingly accept the post-modern paradigm that truth is a subjective experience, the institution of the church suffers. Churches that try to stay “relevant” to the culture and liberalize their theology become irrelevant and die or simply become moral social action clubs. The intellectual elites increasingly view the Bible with hostility. The church in Western Europe approaches extinction.
The family also suffers. Divorce is now accepted as normal. Increasingly, young people decide against marrying and opt instead for co-habitation and increasing numbers of children are born out of wedlock and increasing percentages of children are raised without fathers in the home. Earlier terms had pejorative terms for what we now accept as normal. Reproduction rates across most of Western Europe have fallen below replacement levels. The same was recently reported for the native US population. Within our hermetically sealed suburban homes, family connections are also suffering as we spend more time each year plugged into the latest electronic stimulation and less time each year plugged into each other.
There is an ever increasing body of evidence that these pathologies, particularly the breakdown of the family, have very negative effects on our children, and as a result, on society. Another recent commission of experts has drawn the same conclusion. Of note, this analysis also demonstrated the critical importance of a father’s involvement in the lives of his children.
LARGE AND GROWING numbers of U.S. children and young people are suffering from depression, anxiety, attention deficit, conduct disorders, thoughts of suicide, and other serious mental and behavioral problems. Why? What can be done to reverse this trend? In this pioneering report, the Commission on Children at Risk, a panel of 33 leading children’s doctors, neuroscientists, research scholars and youth service professionals, draw upon a large body of recent research showing that children are biologically primed (“hardwired”) for enduring connections to others and for moral and spiritual meaning.
Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities, order here.
DadsWorld.com reports:
Children with involved Fathers are more confident, better able to deal with frustration, better able to gain independence and their own identity, more likely to mature into compassionate adults, more likely to have a high self esteem, more sociable, more secure as infants, less likely to show signs of depression, less likely to commit suicide, more empathetic, boys have been shown to be less aggressive and adolescent girls are less likely to engage in sex.
I have a confession to make…in an ever-growing culture of sound bites and video clips, I find that my life reveals “clips” that show a side of me I prefer not be known. In my role as pastor and missionary, I want people to see nothing but a courageous, faith-filled follower of Christ. My hope is that no one can see my occasionally faltering faith. Perhaps I have done a good job so far… or have I? So whether those clips have been observed or not, I have a confession I must reveal.
Before I make my transparent admission, let me tell you about the last 24 hours. Here’s the gist – I have been pursued by a loving God to face a weakness in my walk with Him. Yesterday, after a 40-day ordeal with our aging mini-van, the car broke down again. (What’s sad is that I merely drove it away from the auto shop that just finished repairing the problem. Just 10 miles down the road…viola! ) Trust God is all things? At that moment to any observer the “clip” of my life would reveal anything but a man of faith. I’m amazed to realize how God gets most of the blame for a car not running. Been there and definitely done that!
Then it happened…a long time friend drove up, offered help. However, I politely dismissed his help due to the tow truck on its way (and partly out of embarrassment). He drove away and I sat back down in the van waiting for the tow truck. (I think the driver and I are on first name basis now!) After a few minutes I decided to text the would-be Good Samaritan to thank him for stopping and offering help. But at that moment, he drove up again, jumped out of his car and declared he was not going to leave me stranded. There in the pouring rain, he assessed the problem and sought to make the minor repair to get me back on the road.
After some elbow grease and finding the right tools, the van’s engine purred back to its rustic self. My friend had accomplished what he set out to do. He even followed back me to the auto shop to drop off the car. (I felt this was my only option since the gun shop was closed!) And then he offered me a ride home. Later that night I reflected on the fact that while I was playing the blame game with God, He Himself was already in motion to show His power and care for me. My friend embodied Christ’s love in the flesh for which I am very grateful.
This morning I listened to another long time friend teach from Matthew 6:25-34 about trusting God in all matters rather than worry. This was a timely encounter with God on the subject. As I reflected on this truth I discovered that the last 24 hours revealed a great weakness in my walk with Christ.
So I have a confession (actually two):
First – there are times in my walk with Christ that I act like a Practicing Atheist. Yes, really! I view God as if He does not have control of anything in this world. He might as well be powerless to work on my behalf. Then He sends a Good Samaritan by to prove His power. But that’s not all…
Second – there are times in my Christian experience that I become a Brooding Agnostic. I see God as if He doesn’t care about my circumstances. “Hey, Lord, we’re having a crisis here, jump in anytime you desire…preferably now!” Have I dropped down on His list of priorities? Was I ever on it? Then He sends a Good Samaritan by to show how deeply He cares for me.
There – I confessed it. Now what? Train my heart to trust God: trust Him more, trust Him deeply. In Matthew 6:26 we read the words of Christ “Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.” (The Message)
Today, I’m just learning to be a trusting follower of Christ and be “careless in the care of God.” How about you?
My youngest brother just graduated from high school, and like his brothers, he plans on serving his country in the US Army, which awarded him a scholarship to study engineering in college while training to be an officer.
I admire and support his decision to commit to officer’s training; I don’t though envy him though. It’s not because the US is in a land war in Asia; it’s because the future looks so uncertain for purposes of planning a career … we may hardly comprehend or even imagine today what our economy and technologies will look like in 40 years.
The rate of change only continues to increase. The world in 2000 AD looked nothing like the world of 1900. I’m afraid 2100 will be even more dramatically removed from what life in 2000 was like. The founder of www.howstuffworks.com, Marshall Brain, hasa thoughtful essay on this topic titled Robotic Nation here.
National Review comments in their May 3 edition:
We have been hearing for some time — about a century — that we shall soon have robots to take over low-level manual tasks, leaving the human population free to write sonnets, compose symphonies, or paint in oils. Perhaps there is something to it: Researchers at the University of California – Berkeley, have just demonstrated a robot that can fold towels. There’s some way to go yet, though, before all drudgery is purged from our lives: The mechanical marvel takes an average of 25 minutes to fold one towel.
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More bad news for our kids …
Not only are we piling up lots of debt — trillions and trillions — for our children to pay off, apparently, we’re birthing fewer and fewer children to pay it in the future. Fittingly, during the year where we’ve cast off constitutional constraints and moved deliberately to the European social welfare state model, we are now also adopting for the first time their birthing practices, ie our birthing rate has fallen below the replacement level. See here. The social welfare state with a declining population base is economically unsustainable absent massive immigration, which creates its own set of problems and instabilities.
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Sexless Humans …
I’m not at all against technology; it makes life more predictable and safe and often more interesting. It can, however, also detract from the pleasures of life. For example, the PDA is great technology, but it can take away from family time and family communications. Technology can also take away from what it means to be human. Here’s an instance where technology may do both. The UK’s Daily Mail reports that “scientists” opine: Sex will not be used to have babies in just 10 years, as couples turn to IVF
Maybe the Luddites were on to something?
Sapphire Sky 