The New Bigots

Much of our language today is borrowed from ancient Greece. For example, PHILOSOPHY means “love of wisdom”. PHILOS means “love” and SOPHIA means “reason”.

So...SOPHISTICATION means the “process or result of becoming cultured, knowledgeable, more complex, developed, or subtle”. Of course, we all would prefer to be seen as sophisticated. Its a highly regarded quality in today's culture.

One indicator of sophistication is the precise use of language. After all, language is an essential tool for conveying important ideas and values. Without precision we can not be confident our ideas are being correctly heard or understood. In fact, the improper use of language (knowingly, or unknowingly, redefine language in pursuit of personal selfish objectives) is THUGGERY. It is brutal and destructive to sophisticated society.

This is important. Please don't fade on me...America today is not very sophisticated. America is full of thugs.

A popular word today is BIGOT. In fact, a BIGOT is “a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people or ideas” A bigoted person “hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group”. Used precisely, BIGOT is an important word to express our disdain for destructive people...not unsavory ideas or behavior. Unfortunately, the term is most often used today to marginalize people and remove their views them from the marketplace of ideas. It seems the only bigots I know are the folks who call me a bigot. They are unable to debate ideas so they personally attack my character.

Or, TOLERANCE...the other favorite word of the Thug Class. “the willingness to accept feelings, habits, or beliefs that are different from your own”. But, of course, the only real tolerance demanded by thugs is the tolerance we extend to them.

The THUGS today fashion themselves to be arbiters of BIGOTRY while, at the same time,

professing to be models of tolerance. In both cases they have hijacked our language and co-opted our ability to communicate effectively in pursuit of sophistication. Since any attempt to remove distasteful ideas from public dialogue is the height of intolerance, the thugs declare the idea to be VILE. This is a new favorite word of the Thug Class. If an idea is declared VILE it cannot be tolerated. VILE is properly understood as “morally despicable or abhorrent; physically repulsive; disgustingly or utterly bad”. Unfortunately, for thugs, it simply means "something I don't like".

I'm not surprised that our ideas get lost in translation when we use language with such caprice. Phil Robinson (Duck Dynasty) is now the “bigot dujour” for the thugs and must be quarantined. Please understand that in a truly sophisticated society he is NOT a BIGOT. Nor, is he INTOLERANT. Neither are his ideas VILE. Mr. Robinson was asked his opinion of sin and offered it. Actually, not his personal view of sin...but his understanding of what his holy book declares is sin. It may have been distasteful to some, but it was not bigoted. Nothing in his statement implied a dislike for homosexuals. Nothing in his statement reflected a refusal to accept homosexuals.

One reason to call Mr. Robinson as BIGOT, rather than to simply declare his ideas distasteful, is to avoid having to explain or defend why we personally find them so distasteful. It allows us to claim in a dispassionate way that society has declared them to be so.  It is neither tolerant nor sophisticated. It merely reveals the users inability to argue the merits.

Which all reminds me of another word...HYPOCRITE...“a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs”.

Defending God

 

 

The Artist...

My son, Erik, is an artist. I’m not. He sees things for what they are…I see things for what they mean. Our relationship reflects this difference. We often communicate on parallel tracks that don’t converge.

Until last week…

Erik posted an interesting quote on his Facebook page: "Art no longer cares to serve the state and religion, it no longer wishes to illustrate the history of manners, it wants to have nothing further to do with the object, as such, and believes that it can exist, in and for itself, without "things" (that is, the "time-tested well-spring of life")." – Malevich

To which I responded: I have to think about that. Do ideas qualify as "objects"? I wonder how art even springs from the mind without some object.

So we had a conversation…

Erik says art is about creation, not about meaning or purpose. It is not created to last (although, sometimes it does).  It is not created to “say something” (although, sometimes it does).  It is created to “be”. He used the example of somebody walking through the forest and creating a particular formation out of the leaves…for no other purpose than the passion and pleasure of doing so. The wind will blow the leaves away momentarily but that has nothing to do with what was created. It is “art” and it “is” regardless of lifespan.

Art is not to be evaluated by how I feel about it (“serving the state or religion”). Art has value and integrity purely by virtue of its existence.

Hmmm…

I thought about the Sidewalk artists on Larimer Square. They spend hours creating masterpieces that will disappear with the first rain. Yet, their passion and pleasure knows no bounds. It is the “creation”, not the review.

 

This is actually a very spiritual concept and it got me thinking about my life. Psalm 139:14 says “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well”. I’ll take this to mean I am not the artist, but I am the art. As with any work of art, there is innate value and integrity in me simply because I am God’s workmanship created out of His own passion and pleasure.

Yet God, in His providence, has chosen to let me participate in my own creation each day. Lamentations 3:22-24 says “The Lord’s loving kindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.  “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” My life is a canvas that is re-created every 24 hours. Every second represents a brushstroke on the canvas of my life. When I lie down to sleep at night I can review what was created. I can look at each brushstroke and discern the author. Was it me…or was it God? The blessed news is self-evident. If I would like some of those brushstrokes renewed I only have to wait until morning and a new canvas is presented to me.

I woke up this morning with a great deal of anticipation. What will my life look like this evening, after a day at the canvas? I actually began thinking in terms of “seconds”. Is God painting this moment, or am I?

My life has become very exciting and dynamic…all because my son helped me think differently.

 

 

 

 

 

Holy Ground

Carl von Clausewitz, in his Principles of War, said Terrain offers two advantages in warfare.

·        The first is that it presents obstacles to the enemy's approach.

·        The second is that obstacles in the terrain enable us to place our troops under cover.

The importance of this principle is difficult to overestimate. The ground upon which we stand will either serve our own cause or it will serve our enemy’s cause. This is so universally true that virtually every nation incorporates Terrain into their Principles of War.

 I fear the Body of Christ (in America) has given up the terrain in the most critical battle of our time and we are in danger of losing. That battle is for the very souls of men. We have chosen “Culture” as the terrain upon which we fight rather than “Jesus Christ.”  So…we will lose. After all, if we manage to successfully redeem the culture…will we have successfully seen a single soul redeemed?

So we battle gay marriage…or abortion…or, whatever.

God has not called us to win the culture for Christ. In fact, we are supposed to be “counter-cultural”. The raison d’etre for the church in the world is found in Matthew 28:19-20. ”Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” We are commissioned to make disciples. Then, we teach these disciples to observe God’s commandments. We seem to want to do it the other way around.

If we don’t focus our energy on Jesus getting into people there is no possibility that the Holy Spirit can get into people. And, what is the possibility that people…without the Holy Spirit…will devote themselves to the things of God? It’s why they look at us funny when we say gay marriage is wrong.

I’m not suggesting we disengage…far from it. In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus tells us “you are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house”. 

I am suggesting we retake the terrain that will assure victory. We get back on the very ground of Christ but we do not employ traditional weapons like politics, law, or public opinion. We adapt a strategy of counterinsurgency. We build relationships of trust that allow us to become beacons of hope. Our very lives should reflect the transforming glory of Christ. This means we have to get up every morning and give the battle to the Lord (1 Samuel 17:47). We then allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead us. I don’t mind suggesting that this is the hard way. A lot of us don’t want to work that hard.

America once stood on Holy ground. The will of God was a dominant thread in our cultural fabric until the 1950’s. We never dreamed of contesting these issues. Somehow, as a nation, we gave up the sacred terrain and are now fighting for our lives on the Devil’s turf. We can’t win…unless we reclaim the Holy ground. How? 2 Chronicles 7:14 says  “If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

This is our ground. Don’t stand any place else…
Ever wonder how we tumbled so far…so fast?  The United States use the following nine principles of war: Objective –Offensive –Mass –Economy of Force –Maneuver –Unity of Command –Security –Surprise –Simplicity –

Well, terrain is not one of them. Ironic?

Run to the battle!

When Creation Goes Wrong: Isaiah 6:3

We live in a fallen world. When sin entered our environment it was tilted off its Divine axis and has been spinning off in its preferred direction ever since. It wasn’t always this way…

Psalm 33 tells us “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made; and by the breath of His mouth all their hosts. Many of us recall that when God created our world it was “good”.  God said so 6 times in Genesis.  Romans 1:20 states, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” Isaiah 6:3 literally reads, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the fullness of the earth is His glory.”
The Charles Colson Center reminds us that creation is still “good” and reflects the image of God. However, “Evil attaches itself to creation like a parasite and ravages it. Sin deforms the world and makes a caricature of it. Good things are abused by sin, but they are not utterly destroyed. Even in the most perverse situations, the goodness of creation remains intact and always shines through”.
In simple Norwegian term…once our world discovered it could do things our own way, rather than God’s, opportunities for self-destruction were opened up to us. Most of us know there are very few ways (sometimes, only one) to get something right but countless ways to get something wrong.

This is why it is so difficult to get things right. And, we should never be surprised when we (or somebody else) get things wrong.

In the last couple of days the Supreme Court got a lot right…although it feels very wrong. SCOTUS ruled against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It also ruled it did not have standing to determine the correctness of Proposition 8 in California. In this context of deferring to autonomy of the states it makes perfect sense that SCOTUS also ruled a part of the Voter Rights Act unconstitutional.

The decisions make me feel “dirty” mostly because I happen to oppose Gay Marriage and favor voter rights so I’m very disappointed. But’s let’s take a step back…

Haven’t most of us always maintained the best government is the one closest to the voters? This would certainly prefer state authority over federal authority. So…why am I so frustrated? I go back to my theology of a fallen creation…and the propensity for getting things wrong. What do we do when we get the feeling that everybody around us is getting it wrong (disregard the obvious lack of humility)? What do we do when our most trusted and cherished institutions can’t be trusted?

We can remember that creation is still right. Sin has simply made it very difficult to see the goodness. So…let’s go back a moment. We know that marriage was designed for a man and a woman. It is still that way because this is God’s intent. Sin hasn’t changed this Divine institution. Sin has only made it more difficult to recognize. We should still adhere to the original intent.

I’d like to declare myself “Hispanic”. I believe, with the approaching legislation over immigration and amnesty I might benefit by being Hispanic. I will surely have a problem when somebody looks at me and says “but you look so Norwegian”.  But…only if they pay attention. In the same manner, there are homosexuals who want to get married. They can say they are married. The law can declare they are married but…if we pay attention…we have to say “it doesn’t look like marriage”.
So…I’ve taken a more phlegmatic approach to this disappointment. These decisions do not threaten my foundations…because the foundations of my existence are not rooted in this world. As the old spiritual says;

This world is not my home
I’m just passing through
My treasure is laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.

Let me assure you…wherever “Somewhere beyond the blue” is, marriage means the same thing it always has.

"What are you doing here? 1 Kings 19

Is it possible to know, for sure, that we are exactly where God wants us?

I believe so...but we have to pay attention.

When we read the account of Elijah running from Ahab we learn a great lesson. We should recall that Elijah  killed all of Ahab's false prophets. The king was so angry when he received the news that he sent a messenger to Elijah to tell him "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow."

So, Elijah ran away...

He was sitting in a cave when God came by and asked "what are you doing here?" Of course, Elijah had his answer prepared. He said "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." Now, this was a great answer but it was a good answer to a different question. God didn't ask "why are you here?" God asked "what are you doing here?"

Big difference...
 
But, God is gracious. So, instead of telling Elijah to answer the question He asked it again. This time He took Elijah aside in order to get his undivided attention. He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Same answer...it was still wrong. So God sent him back to where he came from.

If we listen...eliminate the cacophony that fills our lives...we might hear something. We might hear God ask "what are you doing here?" But, we need to step aside. You see, God was not in the wind or the fire. God was in the silence. Too often we identify God in the wonderful things we do for Him rather than in the silence that "is" Him. And, if we aren't careful, we'll give the wrong answer just like Elijah did.

"What" not "why"

You see, God created us for certain purposes. God created Elijah to be a prophet. To whom would he prophesy while he was alone in a cave? The clear implication is...Elijah was in the wrong place. Not because of "why" he was there but because of what he couldn't "do" there. He was a prophet. He had to be where he could do that.

God could probably understand "why" Elijah was in the cave but that wasn't the point.

So...when we allow God to ask us "what are you doing here?"...we are allowing God to help us figure out if we are in the right place. If what we're doing is precisely what God created us to do...we are in the right spot. Why move? I'm not suggesting another spot couldn't be just as right. I'm just saying this spot is right. It's also important to note is not exclusive to geography. Its just as applicable to our spiritual journey. When our spirits are in a dark place we may want to listen for God's question.

When we consider changing location we need to be certain our reasons are not connect with "why" but are firmly grounded in "what".  Some of the most dubious reasons for changing locations have to do with "why".

• My wife and I have grown apart
• I don't like my boss
• My grandkids live back east
• The weather here is terrible
• I'm tired

Each reason may have merit but none of them answer God's question.
 

The High Ground: Psalm 121

 One axiom of warfare says "the high ground" offers a strategic advantage. Another axiom infers strategic advantage can be neutralized by superior firepower. A logical conclusion will suggest if you cannot occupy the high ground...bring a bigger gun.

A wise warrior always keeps an eye on the high ground...

The same is true in life...The metaphor suggests "the high ground" in our ...lives is those places where threats and danger lurk. So, as an example, if we give temptation the high ground in our lives temptation will likely prevail. By way of illustration, this could mean purchasing a bundled cable plan that includes adult channels.

I think you get it...and there is a lot a high ground surrounding our lives. We become aware of more threats from the high ground every day. The IRS, The NSA, the Supreme Court, an impotent and principally challenged Congress, the Department of Justice, an imperial executive. Each of these is contributing to the erosion of our liberty and security.

Why do I make this point? Because most of us can remember a time when these institutions were the surest guarantors of our liberty and security. A natural sense of fear and panic rises within us when we realize the truth. Where do we go when our traditional protectors abandon us?

In Psalm 121 David says "I lift up my eyes to the mountains (the high ground)—where does my help come from?" In other words, when David surveyed the high ground around him he saw significant threat and couldn't help but wonder..."what do I do now?"

Without missing a breath he answers his own question. "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep."

There are times when our traditional defenses are no longer trustworthy. One great paradox of America is that our institutions have so dependably safeguarded us that we felt comfortable trusting them...to the exclusion the greatest source of security...God. Well, our traditional sources of security have now occupied the high ground and have become a threat.

So what do we do? We appropriate superior firepower...which would be God...and neutralize the threat. The good news is, God is available and...that's where we should have been all along.

Blessings...

Dear God...

Dear God...

Dear God...

Dear God...

Dear God

Dear God

Psalm 139: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139 says “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made”.

Perhaps Dr. Kermit Gosnell never read through the Psalms. He stands accused of “beheading” 100 babies born alive during late term abortions at his Philadelphia abortion clinic. As a matter of record he is on trial for the killing of one woman and seven babies.

If these allegations are true my sensibilities are assaulted by such news particularly since it is so morally disgraceful. But, for those who lack a fully formed moral system, it is also illegal…

The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, enacted August 5, 2002, extends legal protection to an infant born alive after a failed attempt at induced abortion. It was signed by President George W. Bush. In effect, the bill:

• Defines a "Born alive infant" as "Person, human being, Child, Individual"
• Gives rights as a human to any child born within the United States.
• "Born Alive" is defined as the complete expulsion of an infant at any stage of development that has a heartbeat, pulsation of the umbilical cord, breath, or voluntary muscle movement, no matter if the umbilical cord has been cut or if the expulsion of the infant was natural, induced labor, cesarean section, or induced abortion.

Our congress deemed this law to be of sufficient merit that it passed both houses without dissent. My question to you is…if you are a Christian…could you, before Christ, vote for a politician who would oppose the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002?

In the Illinois Legislature a similar bill…with the identical definition for “born alive”… was being deliberated. A nurse named Jill Stanek testified before the Health and Human Services Committee that she had discovered babies were being aborted alive and allowed to die in soiled utility rooms. One baby was accidentally thrown into the trash.

One senator opposed the bill…four times. Among his reasons?

1.      "Physicians are already required to use life-saving measures when fetuses are born alive during abortions."

2.      “We live in a pluralistic society, and that I can't impose my religious views on another.”

3.      “I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith at all”.

Does this politician represent you?

I wonder?

Easter

Humanism: The inability to move beyond reason, to faith, is a disability caused by a stubborn mind and a hardened heart. It results in spiritual atrophy and, eventually, death.

Easter is "World Humanism Day", the one day when the only effective vaccine against unbelief is delivered to all mankind!

Links in a Chain

Just in case I begin believing it’s all about me...

St. Mary's Church is located in old East Berlin and claims to have held Sunday worship every week since it was built in the mid 1200s...even during the reign of atheist communism. I wandered the aisles and read the countless names on the walls...the faithful who prayed and labored to ensure the Gospel would reach Lee Thompson some 700 years late...r. I sat in one of the pews and felt as though I might be invading the sacred space of saints who came before me.

A hundred years before the building of this blessed church Bernard of Clairvaux was busy founding 163 monasteries throughout Europe. He wrote several hymns, including

Of Him Who did salvation bring,
I could forever think and sing:
Arise, ye needy, He’ll relieve;
Arise, ye guilty, He’ll forgive.

To shame our sins He blushed in blood;
He closed His eyes to show us God:
Let all the world fall down and know
That none but God such love can show.

Ask but His grace, and lo, ’tis given!
Ask, and He turns your hell to heaven;
Though sin and sorrow wound my soul,
Jesus, Thy balm will make it whole.

Hmmm! Perhaps a little spiritual humility is in order…?