Category Archives: Politics

Personal, Politics

Yes is Yes

Decisiveness is a quality lost in the world we live in.  There seems to be a new art in being able to say yes and no to the same question.  We don’t want to offend anyone so much we simply end up saying nothing.  I was raised in a household of loudness.  No idea was out of bounds if it was bespoken with conviction and subsequently backed up with facts.  Loudness was the attention mechanism and the concept was the substance.  But today, the weakest voices are the ones we seem to be listening to the most.

It is the little voices that cry out, “it is not fair”. Case in point: The idea that the current president was not elected by the people because he did not get the most votes.  While at first blush we think this is a travesty; it was not fair. Never-the-less it is still the best mechanism in the election of our highest office.  If it were not for the electoral college, only the most populated states would have it there way, while states like Montana would just be totally neglected.  It would be like two wolves looking at a sheep and deciding a menu. Our system says an unequivocal yes to the method of checks and balances in our government.  It may not seem “fair” to some (probably because they voted for the other candidate) but it is. No wonder it takes a super-majority of the Congress and two-thirds of the states to change the constitution.

You may not like the outcome.  You may have wanted to come out some other way.  But in retrospect, the election was an absolute “yes”.  There is no maybe. There is no, not really president: he is president. If you don’t like it, raise your voice and be loud but back it up with facts.

Life, Personal, Politics, Sermon Illustration

Viewpoint and disagreements.

1 Comment

With apologies to Dr. Henry T. Hodgkin a medical doctor and Quaker missionary in the early 1900’s, I wish to share with you a philosophy that he wrote just prior to the first World War.  He was a true pacifist and was feeling the brunt of the national ardor of becoming part of the War of all Wars. It speaks to me as what a Christian attitude should be.  I have taken a little license to paraphrase his text to bring common vernacular and understanding. It is primarily what kind of attitude one should have when confronted by someone with a differing opinion.

  1. I will always seek to discover the best and strongest points to any brother’s position.
  2. I will give credit for sincerity and persistence in opinion.
  3. I will try to avoid classifying him and assuming that his position is only because of a class or membership of which they belong.
  4. I will emphasize our agreements and convergence points.
  5. When others criticize, I will try to bring out favorable points.
  6. When there is misunderstanding, either I of him or he of me, I will go to him directly.
  7. I will seek opportunities to pray with him.
  8. I will try to remember that I may be mistaken and that God’s truth is too big for any one mind.
  9. I will never ridicule another’s faith.
  10. If I have been found criticizing another’s viewpoint, I will seek the first opportunity of understanding if my criticism is just.
  11. I will not listen to gossip and second-hand information.
  12. I will pray for those from who I differ.

Arguments rarely solve anything. It is when the rational and reasonable come together willing to listen and understand other points of view that change will happen.

Comments?

Church, Culture, Politics

Bias, intoloerance, judgement

1 Comment

For some this is old news, never-the-less, there seems to be a bias in what I see on TV.  Every show seems to want to out due the other in violence, sexual content, and even anti-Christian rhetoric. A couple of weeks ago one person on ABC stated, “It’s one thing to talk to Jesus. It’s another thing when Jesus talks to you… that’s called mental illness.”  There seems to be a tidal wave of prejudice and outright distain for conservative Christian belief.  But I contend that faith remains as the foundation to our civilization.

Prayer and listening to the urgings of God is a very large part of what makes the America which I love.  As it was for George Washington and through to our Vice President whom the “mental illness” jab was pointed. These prayers and listeners were the kind of people wo built our civilization, founded our democracies, developed our modern ideas of rights and justice, ended slavery, established universal education and now are in the forefront of the fight against poverty, prejudice and ignorance. And they are Christians.

To call yourself a Christian in our contemporary culture is to be showered by pity and a wry smile. Those who have a spiritual life are characterized as someone who needs to be re-educated or reprogramed. There is a soft-spoken, yoga posed, tolerance that looks to the next generation that will be taught the right way to think. And all the while they put bumper stickers on their Volvo with “Coexist.”

And that’s just for starters. If you are a Roman Catholic we’re accessories to child abuse, if we’re Presbyterian or Lutheran you are seen as intolerant to change and the world is predestined to be the way it is, if you are evangelicals we’re creepy obsessives who are uncomfortable with anyone enjoying anything more than decaffeinated coffee with your scone.

In a culture that prizes sophistication, non-judgmentalism, irony and detachment, it declares spiritually motivated lives as intolerant, naive, superstitious and backward.

The real story of today’s churches is a saga of millions of quiet kindnesses. They provide warmth, food, friendship and support for those who have the least to hope for.  The homeless, often in the grip of alcoholism, drugs, undiagnosed mental health problems, those whose lives have been torn apart and overwhelmed by multiple crushing blows are being helped and being helped by Christians.

Life, Personal, Politics

Current Culture is stealing our individuality

Time for my soapbox. Now, this is my opinion, but I have a problem with a culture that would say the giant collective has all the answers. It is a utopian vision of completeness in the here and now. The current culture pushes that there are answers to all the ills of our world and that answer is within reach through a change of culture. The philosophy being pushed by the current culture of self-sufficiency may well sound perfect, progressive, liberal, and people-centric. But with it this philosophy carries away with it control of our individuality. And that is what is so scary. As individuals, the more we provide the resources and authority to the establishment to do what they think is best, we also give up our own freedoms. Individually you don’t know what you are doing collectively.

Comments?

Politics

What next in Washington?

2 Comments

 

Well the election is over.  The Electoral College is soon to meet and make the official proclamation of Donald J. Trump as President.  He will be inaugurated in January.  So what does this mean to me?  The reality of it all is that no one man living in Washington will ever affect me as much as the God who rules the world.  A Scripture came to mind this morning and I would like you all to think about it.  It is from the Prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 1:10 “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

Whether you say it like Jeremiah or as Trump, it still means there is always in the life of nations and peoples a time to drain the swamp to allow new growth.  You may not like the new policies or mandates, I am still living in the confidence of a God  who is still in charge.  Let God deal with leadership and let the growth begin.

Some are natural worriers. They fret and wring their hands in anguish over the pending change.  But with any change there is disruption to the status quo.  The issue is that this election shows to me our nation is in need of a righteous judgement. It is not because there is a Republican or a Democrat living in a house in Washington, it is because the nation needs to acknowledge and return back to God.

I believe a nation of self-satisfaction and entertainment is in need of a little tearing down and the resultant building up.  If the lies and inbred deceitfulness of our government is not dealt with it will fall.

I believe our country is at a tipping point.  One side of the level is sin and the other is a return back to a God based morality.  It is the countries choice.  If we do not deal with evil, we will be covered over by it like a grave.  The nation needs to realize the choice and move the nation toward repentance and seeking God’s grace.

flag