Living in the World
Technology Famine

It is truly amazing how we see Olympic events from Beijing and other venues in China live. As we have commented many times, however, technology is not a zero sum game. It has taken a toll on individuals and cultures. Technopoly by the late Neil Postman is a great read from that standpoint. As you watch the Olympics and text you friends about the amazing competition, keep in mind this quote from Albert Borgmann from Power Failure: Christianity in the Culture of Technology:

Telephone and television are the technological devices that have weakened literacy and impoverished the culture of the word. Electronic machines have disburdened us of the demands of reading and writing. Once we had to impact our worlds through the work of writing or telling, and we had to gather our worlds laboriously from the promptings of writing and our fund of experiences and recollections. Now information is handed to us as readily available sights and sounds. Engagement with the world has been yielding to the consumption of news and entertainment commodities.

So, take a break from the events and write to your aunt [not e-mail, a hand written note] and read a good book. The written word written and read word will nourish you in an image sated world of entertainment.

Election 2008
Is Politics an Idol?

In Joshua 24: 14, 15, Joshua exhorts the Israelites to put away the idols their fathers served before they arrived in the promised land. He then utters that famous verse about whom to serve and he makes clear he will serve the Lord. The context is important. In verses 2 through 13 he recites the history of God’s covenant faithfulness to the Israelites. Therefore, it begs the question: Why would you not serve this God with the sincerity and faithfulness He has shown to you?

We all know the history of the Israelites. They were constantly unfaithful and they turned to idols for their worship. They did not always see the problem. After all, wasn’t the golden calf just a representation of our God? And, sometimes a compromise is warranted because of the people who live in and around you. A little synthesizing helps keep the peace. And isn’t keeping peace and harmony the goal?

In this Presidential election year, Joshua’s reminder should be taken seriously. If you are your house are serious about serving the Lord, it is time to cast off the idols and the gods they represent. They are sometimes hard to recognize because of the syntheses we all live with. We are, after all, modern folks and we have acquiesced to the way of life established by our forefathers. What are other gods that are substituted for or compromised with Jehovah in our day? How about the god of the Democrats…or Republicans? How about the god of civil religion? The god who recognizes all religions as true? The god of personal peace, the pursuit of happiness or personal prosperity? I am sure you can come up with many more…you own personal idols.

This is what makes the idol of politics so dangerous. We want our own little gods to be promoted through politics. We agree with the candidate(s) who will push our personal agenda(s). Maybe that is why professing Christians work so hard in the political process. But, you can work hard in preparing for disaster. Remember the words of our Lord in Matt 24:24-27? Both the wise and foolish man worked hard. In fact the foolish man could have worked two, three, you name the multiple, times harder than the wise man. The results were still the same. When you make bad choices hard work does not make them good choices. When the storms come, the good investment survives; the bad does not. The key is the foundation of the work…rock or sand.

Choose this day whom you will serve. And, in doing so put away the false idols and gods they represent. By all means vote, and campaign for the candidate of your choice if you are so desire. Some of you may be running for office. There is nothing wrong with that. It is whether you are building your future on the political process. Oh no you say. Examine yourself carefully…we all must…for the gods of this world are everywhere. Look closely at Jesus’ words again. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them…” is the premise of His rock building statement. The wise man listens to the Word. Are you?

Living in the World
Edwards on Sin

No, not that Edwards…John Edwards former NC Senator and professional candidate. He says he made a “mistake.” Nothing is indicative of the “spirit of the age” like redefining behavior. Edwards admits sexual dalliance as a mistake, but what about the lying about it. What was that? Another mistake or what everyone does in a circumstance where they have been caught? It appears that his trip to the west coast to meet his paramour was to keep his behavior private. Certainly not the actions of one who wants to come clean in repentance to obtain forgiveness. And, how about a revelation of his “mistake” on a Friday night of the beginning of the Olympics, was that an attempt to bury the news? He says he has asked forgiveness from his wife and God. John Edwards professes to be a Christian. None of us has the right to question another Christian’s repentance. But, we can question how actions are characterized and the sincerity of the revelation of behavior. For me, I intend to continue to look to the other Edwards for interpretations of sin and repentance.

Election 2008
The Political Christian

Christians are strangers in a strange land. Not, however, in the world of politics. We see Jim Dobson on television telling the world why he can or cannot vote for a particular candidate. The Evangelical vote is commented on, courted and analyzed by political pundits virtually every day. Liberal Christians [whatever that is?] are also a part of the current campaign probably because of Obama’s tie to the UCC. The press can only be concerned about these things because Christians have made politics a concern to themselves. Would it not be nice if Christians were known for the practice of their faith in word and deed that for their political involvement?

May involvement in politics be the Slough of Despond of the modern day believer on the way to the Celestial City? Is political activity distracting us from our real mission and making us more comfortable here in the world than we should be? Is this too other worldly? Yes, we are to reform the culture but is that to be through the political process? Should not our efforts be more firmly entrenched in making the church reflect the Biblical mandates of the church? The reformation of the culture comes through the reformation of lives which is the work of the Gospel. The church is the expression of Christ in this world until He returns. It is where the “already” is expressed. It is the supernatural institution created by Him for His worship and His work. Like Jesus, we change the world one life at a time.

Is it just coincidence that the church has seemingly deteriorated as the Christian has taken on a greater role in politics? As we have taken more interest in who is our President than who are the bishops, we find bishops who are not in line with Biblical standards. Look around carefully. See how much worship has changed; how less people read Scripture and Scripture is exposited in a corporate worship service; the renewed attacks on justification by faith; the boldness of the new atheists; the general worldliness of churches in how they operate; and the lack of holiness and virtuous living among church attenders; all since politics became important to Christians.

The politicization of what passes as evangelical Christianity today is not the sole cause of the church’s malaise today. But, one must acknowledge that the zeal for things political by believers has diverted their time, energy and treasure from the work of Christ’s Church. Every Christian knows Christ said “seek ye first the Kingdom of God”. Yet, we seem to look “first” to things of this world for the solution to what we believe are the world’s ills. We know better…sin is the ill of the world. And, for sin there is only one solution. And, that solution is not found in the state house or the White House.

Ask your Christian friends who are headlong into politics how their hard work to have someone elected their civil magistrate fits with St. Peter’s identification of Christians as aliens and sojourners in this world. Cultures that are Christian are not founded upon politics but upon the preaching, teaching and living out of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ through His embassy in this foreign country…the Church. This is not our home and we should be working more diligently for the homeland than for a land that belongs not to us and is passing away.

Election 2008
Christian as an Adjective

Both Presidential candidates profess to be Christians. This points out the problem with the adjective “Christian.” What exactly does it mean in the realm of politics? Can a politician be a Christian politician if he wants to raise taxes to a confiscatory level? Or, how about one who believes global warming requires drastic action that empowers international tribunals to regulate energy consumption in the US? How about one who is against the death penalty, or turn it around and say one who is for the death penalty?

For “conservative” [another questionable adjective!] we easily draw the line on abortion, homosexual marriage, the usual shooting fish in a barrel subjects. But, in the real world of political action it is much harder to draw lines. Is a judge who enforces no-fault divorce a Christian? Can a politician who wants a high or low minimum wage a Christian? Does a Christian politician promote more off shore drilling for oil?

These social issues do not easily translate into a test of Christian belief. Why? Because except for moral behavior based on Biblical warrant, these types of decisions are based on individual conscience informed by Christian principles. If the Bible teaches on a matter with sufficiency and clarity it alone binds the conscience of the believer. If not, then the Christian has liberty to decide what is the right course of action. And, the clarity thing is, well, not clear within the church. My RP friends believe in exclusive psalmody in worship; my Baptist friends believe in believer baptism; my dispensational friends believe in pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture of the saints. Are they not Christian friends?

There are two forces at work here that complicate matters. The first is our extreme egalitarian democratization that allows us to believe we have a better idea than anyone else. We believe each and every one of us is able and entitled to discern the good, the true and the beautiful just because we breathe and live in the USA. The other is the failure of the visible church to display unity over what Biblical belief binds the consciences of the followers of Christ. The church in its fractured state knows not what it believes and, trying to accommodate to the world, is making up what it believes as it goes. If we cannot understand Biblical Christianity in the church how can Christian be applied as an adjective to those operating in the world…especially our politicians who represent Caesar not the church?

Summer 2008
The Era of Irresponsibility

To quote Gomer Pyle, “Golllllie!” it’s been over two months since I posted. A busy travel schedule combined with a busier work schedule has kept me out of cyberspace. And, a lot has happened since 27 May 2008. BO has the nomination; the SCOTUS has determined that folks in Washington, DC, as well as all of us who want to can keep and bear long and short firearms; several banks have failed; the Buccos are on their way to another losing season tying a Major League record; Stiller camp has opened; and the Olympics are still on for China without boycott…so far.

I mention the last item because of the air quality in Beijing. When we were in Beijing in 2001, it was apparent that something would have to be done there to allow world class athletes perform at high levels. It was like being in a newsreel of Viet Nam. Everything was grey and hazy, the air burned you eyes and stuck in your throat and it smelled like bacon grease. This was before the games were awarded to China for 2008. Everyone was complaining about the human rights violations in the PRC as a factor for not awarding such a prestigious event to the Chinese. But, no one was talking about the air quality and we could not understand that.

Well, we see the Chinese solution now. Shut down all the factories and limit automobile traffic for several weeks before the games in the hope the air will clear. Typical of the PRC…present unreality as reality. Like the Three Peace Church…the state run church in China. It is an attempt to create the impression that there is the freedom of religion in China. But, it is not the reality of the situation. 52 weeks of every year…except this one…the Chinese people are subject to chocking pollution because there is no planning [factories and power plants are placed in the middle of residential areas] or pollution controls. This is one reason that the “global warming” cult is not going to harness man made pollution without the co-operation of China as well as India.

So, the world will appear in China and have a we-are-the-world love festival of athletic competition. Reporters from around the world will be there and shown the government approved and sponsored “highlights of China” . The protesters will be kept at bay, reporting of negative stuff will be monitored and prohibited and generally we will see on TV the Disney China. When the world leaves the human rights violations will continue, the pollution will be turned on and Bible based Christianity will continue to be persecuted. Everyone who visits, and doesn’t get snoopy, will have had a good time. The Chinese will not be responsible for what they are really doing.

But, hey, that’s where we are. Did you notice the US government is bailing out some folks from the sub-prime mortgage mess? What? Every week I see publication of foreclosures on mortgages in the Clearfield County Legal Journal. What about those folks? For as long as I have been practicing law, lenders and borrowers always bore responsibility for bad loans or bad decisions in obtaining a loan respectively. Times have changed. Now banks that should not have loaned and borrowers who should not have borrowed are being rescued by Uncle Sam…that is you and me by the way. These Ninja loans [no income no job application] were ill conceived and a predictable disaster. Who would make such a loan? Who would take such a loan? How did either party expect them to be paid?

The government is rewarding bad behavior. Oh, but the financial markets are in turmoil over this “crisis” and we must do something. More banks will fail and more folks will lose their homes. So, we are all collectively responsible for the bad decisions of a few. What a terrible precedent. Which bad decision will next be rewarded by a government rescue? This is the Era of Irresponsibility. We can’t allow anything bad happen to anybody even if it is the result of a foolish choice they made. No one is responsible for their behavior any longer…be it the PRC or the sub-prime lenders and borrowers. Let’s reward all behavior for it shows our concern, compassion and tolerance for all people. I guess I’ll call Judge Ammerman and tell him to take the rest of the week off.

The Problems of America
Kosovo

Kosovo is not really a problem…it may very well be in the future…but it is indicative of a big problem—what I call the Kosovo Principle. Kosovo is part of Serbia. On 17 February 2008, Kosovo’s Parliament declared independence from Serbia. For some time the US has been pushing for Kosovo independence and of the very next day recognized Kosovo’s sovereignty. Why? Because it has as a majority that is Muslim. They are mostly ethnic Albanians who have a murderous and drug cartel pedigree. Yet, it seems that they must be independent. Never mind that Kosovo is the heartland of the Serbian Medieval state or that it contains many of the artifacts and architecture of Christianity that define Serbia’s contribution to the common heritage of Europe. That is no longer important. And, therein lays the problem.

The cultural elite and those puzzled about the world of Islam are joined together to do two things. One is to do away with the ancestry, heritage and history of western Europe. The “new” Europe rejects all that is specific and distinctive about its common heritage both on a country to country basis and as European in general. Like Eva Peron’s “new Argentina” the “new” Europe is just that…new and without connection or remembrance of the old. Second is to curry favor with what are deemed to be “moderate Muslims who have no common cause with the “old” Europe. This premise is, like most based on western loathing, is extremely questionable. The Kosovo Liberation Army [KLA] of ethnic Albanians have trained at al-Qaeda camps and al-Qaeda operatives have fought along side the KLA in their terrorist campaigns against Serb targets. Hardly are these the Muslims of the “moderate” stripe.

Hatred of Serbia is driven, in part, by the recent Balkan wars. But, it goes deeper than that. Recently, I was in Cyprus. There, the Turks have occupied northern Cyprus since 1974. They even call the occupied zone the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Why has there not been a solution found? It is a religious standoff…Eastern Orthodoxy versus Islam. There is night and day difference between the two areas. The northern sea areas, only 50 miles from Turkey, have been settled by Turks building new homes overlooking the water. But, the rest of the north is sub-standard compared to the south. When the Turks moved in whole villages were abandoned and remain vacant even today.

Can Greek and Turkish Cypriots live side by side? They had for many years. But, a solution is hard to forge when the religious question intrudes. Greek Cypriots driven out of the north lost home and hearth and until recently could not even return to visit. The leaders of the west have no affinity any longer for the traditional Judeo-Christian cultures that lead to the development of Europe and the US. So, in places like Serbia and Cyprus, the “old” ways are willingly sacrificed because the cultural elite say those ways are passé and the Casper Milquetoast world leaders want to find a way to get along with Muslims to avoid future terrorist attacks.

Here is the principle. Cause enough problems as an ethnic group distinct from the heretofore dominant cultural group through intimidation and violence and you will be rewarded. The fact that you want to split up a county to do so is o.k. because we have to recognize that we live in a “new” world and the “old ways” have to go. No heretofore sovereign state is immune. So, ethnic Albanians in Serbia should have their own republic. Black North African Muslims should have their own states in France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. And, in the US, we struggle with the illegal Mexican immigrant problem. Why not give southern California, Arizona and New Mexico to them? Farfetched? When we fail to understand that the US is more than a “proposition about freedom” but is a culture of shared virtue, language, history, beliefs and law, such an outcome is as possible as the Republic of Kosovo. That’s the Kosovo Principle.