Walkin' the Tightrope

"Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." 1Corinthians 4:1



"For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. And cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" Matthew 25:29,30



I have been struggling and wrestling with the proper role of a Christian in modern American politics and culture. I read chapter four in 1Corinthians and come away initially with a message that Christians should focus on Christ and forget about everything else. This is true, per se, but I mean in the sense that there is no involvement whatsoever in the politics of the day. We should focus upon only serving others and ignoring the deeds and events of the day. I call this the ostrich mentality, or the "meek" school of Christianity, waiting to inherit the earth.

But I look at the broader picture in which Paul writes this letter (i.e. in context), and I think he was speaking to a proud church that had a lot of trouble casting away their love of money and power, much like modern America. In this context, the exhortation is to love Christ more than these other things.

I wonder how much legal authority the average inhabitant of Corinth actually possessed. The Roman authority left much local power alone, as long as they received their proper taxes and homage, they didn't interfere too much. So, did these church-members get to vote? Did they have any political clout? Any duty?

The reason I ask, is because in this country, we do have these things. And the counter-arguement to the "meek" school, is that we were given incredible bounty in this country and we are expected to do great things with that bounty because of it.

The "meeks" may argue that by spending their lives in poverty, serving others, they are growing the Kingdom and serving God's people. I agree. However, how many more people could you serve and help, if you were a man of resources and influence? The arguement is that of gaining as much influence in this world as you can, while still remaining a Christian, and using that influence and wealth to further God's will. It is a dangerous enterprise, but one worth taking.

If you are born with some measure of ability, wealth, station and influence, should you not use those resources to further the Kingdom? If you work hard and succeed in your life's work, shouldn't you use those resources? I don't mean to detract from the "meek". In fact I greatly admire their work and recognize the holiness of their dedication. But I think God calls us all in different ways.

We live in a country that has proven to be the most successful economic, and political experiment ever conducted by mankind. Second place is so distant, it is hard to measure the differences between contenders well enough to decide who gets the honor. We have been given much. The success of this country has been the greatest boon to worldwide Christianity ever to exist. Shouldn't our work for the Kingdom include preserving and perpetuating that which has provided so much? Don't we have an obligation as Christians to get involved and active in the governance of a free society, or risk losing it all?

Now, I have just crossed an invisible, but very important line, in that I have just created a Biblical justification for political activism. I am walking a tight rope, and if I lean too much to the left or right, I fall. We don't want clergymen running our government, but we can't have God divorced from our decision-making process any longer. I read scripture for wisdom, but have to be careful not to have my desires color my interpretations.

I was born a fighter by nature. I am contentious, argumentative, and strong-willed. Is it possible, that those are my spiritual gifts which God will use for His purposes? Or do I need to keep working on being meek? Some of my friends teased me that offending people was my spiritual gift. I laughed heartily at that, but inside I know there is some truth to it.

Do we focus on loving others to the exclusion of taking a stand, or do we start participating in a political process that gets messy and embattled and risk chasing away those that might otherwise seen some of Christ in you? Politics can be extremely contentious and very un-Christ-like.

Do we try? Or do we focus on other things? What about facing evil?

I have written in the past about my beliefs in fighting for what is right. I believe in standing up and resisting evil, with force if necessary. Is that me? Is it Biblical? Is it Pride?

I believe that is can be all of those things, and that only by putting my trust in God will I be able to stay on this tightrope.

Diabollos in the Press

I recieved a "devil’s advocate" perspective from someone I love and admire. I started to respond to that perspective and decided to just "blog" it, without revealing the source or directly involving that person. I think that person would appreciate it ;-)

Note in a previous post that I state that I believe that SPLC was started for honorable reasons and I say now that they probably perform honorable and valuable services still. I don't know. But I do know that their "Hatewatch" website is morally corrupted and dishonest, whatever the honor and valor their original intent may contain. I don't believe that the ends justify the means. Neither does God.

MSNBC is so corrupted that they should lose their FCC license. I truly believe that they are performing the equivalent task to crying "fire" in a crowded theatre, hoping that their cameras will be in place to catch the debauchery and chaos when people start trying to get out. Freedom always comes with a price. Freedom of the press means a freedom to disagree and criticize the government. I does not give them a right to lie. I realize that there is a lot of grey area here, but this issue is as clear as can be (I was going to say "black and white", but it seemed particularly ill-advised for the topic of this blog post).

I am concerned not for juvenile cheerleading for one side and demonizing the other, but rather calling out unacceptable behavior anywhere that I find it. If racism is bad, then it is bad for everyone. If racism is harming people somewhere, and your cause d’etre is to root out racism, then you actually HURT your cause if you cry “wolf”, when there are none present.

I also question whether “racism” really means the same thing that it used to mean. To me racism is where people are robbed of their God-given rights by others, due to nothing other than their ethnic identity. I don’t think it applies to picturing someone of a particular identity in your head for a stereotype. I am a white, WASP guy, and I have a lot of stereotypical habits and behaviors of such a guy. It is not racism to notice this, point it out and even to make fun of it. Our pop culture makes a living doing this. It is also not racism to notice, point out and make fun of other stereotypes. It is human nature to classify people. Our brains are simply incapable of NOT doing that.

Of course, I also think that derogatory humor to any individual or group is disrespectful, rude, very un-Christ-like, and unacceptable…and can be racism if taken too far. Anytime someone is derided and de-humanized it is morally wrong to do so as it is engaging in the sin of Pride, which is the father of all sins.

I also think that our brains are capable of separating the distinction of group tendencies and individuals that stand out from a group. In fact, that is the next refining step in how our brains classify things so that we can process. Our brains classify a particular person into a larger group for general and then starts to notice the differences between that global stereotype and the individual before us. This is no different that the entire classification system of plants and animals. You know, Kingdom, Phyla, whatever, whatever, Genus, Species, and all that business. It is a short-hand way of processing information. There is nothing wrong with that and it doesn’t need to be irradicated from our universe. It’s just the way people think.

I think there is an entire industry of people that Dinesh D’Souza, in his book "The End of Racism", refers to as “Race Merchants”, that keep the spectre of racism alive in the minority communities in order to stir them up into a frenzy to make them easier to manipulate. I will not try to argue that discrimination and racism don’t exist, but I think there is an entrenched lobby of people in politics whose vested interest in our society is to never let racism die. They don’t want King’s Dream to come true. They don’t want people to focus solely on the content of their character, because if they did, they would stop reminding us and everyone else the color of everyone’s skin.

I honestly don’t care what anyone’s skin color is, but I care very deeply about what is in their heart. I am culturally discerning. I think there is an objective truth about how the world works, and how it doesn’t work, and I think the evidence so plentiful that the opposition to my beliefs fairly stumbles upon it laying everywhere. I believe that objective truth is covered so deeply and comprehensively in the Bible. I also believe that the founders of this country tapped into it better than anyone has ever done in the history of mankind.

It is not racist to disagree with someone on a philosophical or political point, simply because your ethnicities differ from one another. It is not racist to think that Socialism is a failed and un-Godly belief system. It is not racist to disagree with Barak Obama. It is not racist to think that people shouldn't be given mortgages that they can't pay back. It is not racist to be resentful that our politicians are bailing out companies that should have been let fail. It is not racist to be alarmed at how much money is being spent, or to be afraid of the consequences of the government taking over private corporations, breaking private party contracts, setting up snitch email addresses for citizens to tattletale on their neighbors, trying to access private citizen's bank accounts or raise taxes too high.

This is just common sense, even of the Thomas Paine variety.

Our country was conceived in liberty. It is the only one on earth founded that way. I've made this point before, and I'll make it again. On the mother of all political spectrums, there is a continuum upon which the USA stands alone on one extreme side, and every single other form of government ever devised by man is on the other side of the scale. All of them.

Racism is being used right now for despicable purposes by "accusers", or "diabollos" in Greek. This is the very word for "devil". If capitalize the word, we talk about the Father of Lies, the Devil himself. Satan.

Bearing false witness against your neighbor, was not placed last on the list of Ten Commandments because it wasn't important. It causes terrible damage to a person's reputation and ability to function in polite society.

This behavior by the political left is an attempt to keep me quiet, or pay a hefty social price for opposing their agenda. It is intimidation, 101.

I am angry about it. I am justifiably and righteously angry about it, and I think everyone should be as well.

Less Berserk, but still concerned...

Check this out. And for a better coverage on local news, here.

This was on Fox News' "The Fox Nation", website, and blogroll. Right here in Tucson, an Hispanic man promoting Obama's healthcare reform, interrupts a Tucson Teaparty townhall of their own and, when confronted, he elbows one of the Tea Party members in the face. This man was escorted out by police and then interviewed. He claimed that the hall was filled with "angry white people".

This is part of the leftist strategy to blame everything on the "angry white people". If you disagree with the current President, or Congress in any way, you are labeled a racist and a hatemonger.

I am going to Gabby Giffords' townhall meeting tomorrow. I sure hope this guy doesn't show up with his friends looking for trouble. There are going to be a lot of Tea Party types at this townhall and a lot of concerned citizens.

Does anyone else see this and tremble, as I do? I've read about stuff like this going on in history books, but this is live. I pray for peace and sanity amongst all of those involved.

Update: Channel 13 took a much less sensationalistic approach and didn't even mention the incident. I think this was much more responsible and fair to the Tea Party group. I wonder why they never mentioned the elbow incident? Draw your own conclusions. I am still scratching my head on that one.

Berserk, Part II

I ran into this link and a whole new world has been opened to my eyes.

Check it out. It is a watch group for "haters", apparently like me. It is run by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Like all liberal groups it seems to have started innocently enough, but they have been radicalized to a fever pitch and are resorting to the same sort of stuff that sent me over the edge in the last post.

Well, they are claiming in this article that the whole incident with the AR-15 rifle was staged by a right wing hatemonger racist and then proceeds to link together, with innuendo and breathy statements; Ernie Hancock, The Arizona Viper Militia, William Kostric from New Hampshire (the guy who was on Chris Matthews' show and showed up at a NH Obama event with a pistol on his hip), Timothy McVeigh (yes, the OK bomber), and Randy Weaver.

Now there may be some truth to some associations here, but keep in mind, not once did they mention that the guy with the rifle was black, and they spent an aweful lot of publishing "inches" herding the cattle towards the "racist" conclusion for the whole lot of protesters. The little tidbit about the black protester doesn't fit that narrative, so they leave it out. I'm not arguing that this stunt wasn't staged or that the guys involved are a little 'fringy' when it comes to guns. But they cannot be racists or white supremicists when a black man is the one carrying the rifle.

Here is some of the actual interview. And here is an actual article that reports some facts. Note that this guy is part of several anti-government groups that critics claim are racist, but he has never felt unwelcome. Hmm. Racists that don't care that he's black? Maybe their not racist? Maybe they are gun nuts. Maybe they are anti-government, but, by definition, they are not racist.

The SPLC website insinuates racism in every article about the Minutemen on their webpage too. Including this article about two hispanic men, one of them a Minute Man, arguing about the proper tactics for solving the illegal immigrant problem in this country. How can an issue where native hispanics are on the side of secure borders and a sane immigrant policy and members of the Minutemen, be an issue about race?

Indeed. How can an issue about the Second Amendment to the United States be about race? How can an opposition to Socialism be about race? Why is it that ANY disagreement with a Democrat these days means that you are a racist?

This is shouting down the opposition, straight up. There is no question that there is a concerted effort on the part of leftwing groups to shout down and intimidate people by calling them racist and anything else they think will stick. What they are doing is just fanning the flames. Reporting the truth will have a way of weeding the radicals out. We live in a conservative country. People don't particularly like radicals of any stripe and by reporting incidents dishonestly, they press has no credibility whatsoever, which makes people cynical and easy prey for propaganda.

Now, i could write some conspiracy theory on that one too!

Chris B. was a gun-rights enthusiast that wanted to bring his issue, front and center and get attention. We can argue whether he made a good decision or not. We can argue about how comfortable or how worried we are about people carrying guns openly in Arizona. But we cannot call Chris B. a white supremiscist racist or consider him part of any such group. And we cannot intelligently discuss this incident with the information that the mainstream press gave us and we cannot have anything resembling intelligent conversation by calling everyone that disagrees with Barak Obama and the Democrats racists.

There is no there, there. I understand the politically driven leftist groups like SPLC will always distort things to make their points, but MSNBC, CNN, and all of the others have no excuse. Why did all of the salient information only come a week or two later from AZ Central.com? Why isn't this in the mainstream?

Maybe more on this one...

Berserk

I haven't written in a few weeks because of some rumblings in my head. But I saw this and went berserk.

Tell me I am not driving off of the cliff. This may be the most blatant propaganda I have ever seen in this country in my life. It is unbelievable. I never would have thought that I would see this. It is the stuff of Hollywood fiction or from fascist countries, not America; not my country. This is like the Gleiwitz Incident that the Nazis used as a pretense to invade Poland. This demonization of one’s political enemies is hard to call anything but evil. No good can come of it and the people involved are despicable.

Luckily, there were other new organizations that filmed it and, because of YouTube, email, blogs and the internet we can decipher the truth. But what about in the near future as technology gets better? Will the powers that be find a way of controlling the airwaves in America so that we only see the kind of stuff that MSNBC puts out in this hit-piece?

Follow the link to AZ Central web page for the original story for more complete footage of our rifle-bearer.

Notice the MSNBC focus on only the rifle and pistol, carefully avoiding any glimpse of the man’s skin or face. Then they flash to a completely different guy (a white guy), wearing a similar colored shirt, with the full frontal shot, giving the impression that the guy with the rifle and the guy talking to the reporter is the same guy (it is not). Then they use this entire segment to talk about how people in America are angry that we have a black President, and about white supremicists and how these protest groups are generated by hate groups. This is classic bait and switch of street magicians, Herman Goebels and Josef Stalin. Scary stuff.

Now let's draw some imaginary lines between some things that have happened recently and see if we have the makings of a conspiracy theory;

1. Now imagine the White House is making a call to the producer to "suggest" such a piece.

2. Imagine the party with a super majority offering to bail-out the failing leftwing newspapers and declining news outlets.

3. Imagine that news outlet is owned by a couple of left-leaning mega-corporations like GE and Microsoft.

4. Imagine that at least one of these corporation stands to make billions of dollars in a massive Cap and Trade bill just passed by Congress (GE).

5. Imagine an enthusiastic cooperation between the makers of the news and the reporters of the news (here, here, here to wretch and here to get a summary and perspective) to promote and support their grab of power and make it all seem like sunshine and apple pie.

How far off am I? I have never been a fan of conspiracies, but this is happening in front of us. I don’t necessarily think it is as sinister as I am alluding to, but it looks really bad and sets the stage for someone to do it later if no one stops it. Am I crazy? At the very least, the brazen appearance of impropriety should make people blush, should it not?

If this was all, I would agree that I am probably crazy. But add to that the unbelievable decision to have the government own two of the three auto makers and bail out major banks and own them and then pass a stimulus bill, flirt with cap and trade and then push a health care agenda, all while the economy is reeling, makes one check one's head at the door does it not? Am I awake? Is this really the America I grew up in? Then you add the White House snitch line, the emailing "corrections to misleading stories" to people than never registered to the White House page (were they on a "list" acquired by the snitch line?), and Napolitano's profiling of radicals that includes pretty much 90% of the GOP and you have the makings of a HUGE conspiracy theory that we are supposed to ignore?

I urge any of you to actually read the bills that our elected officials can't or won't and then convince me that I am wrong.

Have any of you read any part of the HR 3200 bill? If you read ANY part of it you will start down the road I am on right now in a hurry. There are parts of that bill that give the Federal government the right to go into your bank account at any time of their choosing for their purposes.

Check this link out if you want to read some of it in summary form.

Click here to read the actual bill in its original if you don’t believe what you read in my previous link (you won’t), and then see that it is a true and accurate representation of what’s there (it is).
Talk me down. Pull me back from the ledge…or hold my hand and let’s all jump together…

My buddy shared with me this Viktor Frankl quote, which I love;

"We have come to know man as he really is. After all, man is that being who
invented the gas chambers of Auschwitz; however, he is also that being who
entered those gas chambers upright, with the Lord's prayer or the Shema
Yisrael on his lips."

I believe in the extraordinary evil that ordinary people are capable of, and I believe that in the extraordinary good that the least of us are capable of and all in between. I believe that putting power into people's hands is a temptation to evil that many cannot resist and our only defense is not to limit the number of people that have power in our society but rather limit the amount of power any one person or group of people can have.

The size of government must shrink. Depending upon which political party is in control when the music stops and the dictator is here, some of us will be looking for the door. We are all designing our own gas chamber now. I, for one do not want the choice between the designer and the angelic grace of those singing praises to God while being gassed. I want to sing angelic praises to God in a free country and leave the same freedom to my children.

A study of "Common Sense", by Thomas Paine, Part I

I am reading "Common Sense" all the way through for the first time. This is hard for me to admit, because I consider myself fairly knowledgable of American History and of our country's founding in particular. But I have never read the document from front to back. I have referenced parts of it, but not gotten the totality of the document in my head or appreciated its brilliance or impact in any meaningful way before.

Now that I have, I am floored by the document. I have been quite literally stunned by reading it. I have come to passages that have forced me to put it down and ponder it for a week or more. I am still not done reading it. Each day that I read it, I need a couple of more to digest and think about it. It has been a slow read, but a rewarding one.

A couple of thoughts have come to me while reading it;

1. Why has this document not been read, in its entirety, by every high school student in America? This pamphlet literally changed the course of human history and it is part of our national heritage. It defines who we are as a people and should be a constant reminder to all of us as to where we come from. The reason why is that it is a boldly Christian document. Much like the Mayflower Compact, what little of it is in our children's history books are expunged from any explicitly Christian references. This is simply not acceptable. Non-Christians can benefit greatly from the arguments presented and understanding the document in the Christian context in which it was written. If their belief system is true, then they have nothing to fear from an historical document that contains Christian references.

2. It is time to discuss the themes and concepts of this document in a modern context and have a real and intelligent discussion of ideas in our polity. Politics in this country has degraded to an almost insufferable level. It seems that there is an inverse relationship between the length of the news cycle and the intellectual heft of the discussion and thought behind the discussion. We are in very real danger of losing our country to a semi-permanent political class of politicians and power-brokers that do not have the best interests of our children's posterity at heart when making decisions. We have a media that is so ignorant of our country's origins that it doesn't even know what it doesn't know, and a population that has been weened from the very font of liberty, which is our heritage, by a mindless march towards some ethereal concept of "equality". Our country was founded upon Liberty, not Equality. And it still runs in our veins, I am convinced of it.

I have decided to write a series of essays on my thoughts while reading Paine's great work. As always, my intent is to provoke thought and discussion. If our political debates in this country were as high-minded and intellectual as those that our founding fathers had, we would find ourselves in a much better place than we can see today, I am convinced. So I am attempting to do my part by investigating how we got here in the first place.

In my next post I will start with the Christian character of the work, and why it should be encouraging to Christians, and informative to others and should not be threatening to those that do not share that faith. The work is in no way outdated or irrelevant in today's political climate which will come as a surprise to some and relief to others. My desire is for every American to read "Common Sense" and revive our national consciousness of our heritage for which we have so much to be thankful.

An Ass for a Lion, or a Lion for a Lamb?

"One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in
kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently
turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion." - Thomas Paine,
Common Sense

I cannot think of a proper modern corellary for socialism, but there is a truism here in the making. Paine argued forcefully and eloquently against monarchy. We need a modern Paine to argue forcefully and eloquently against progressivism-statism-fascism-communism-socialism-ism-ism. The only difference is that Paine had to make allowances for the occasional good and righteous king that was actually a boon to his people. No collective form of government ever known to mankind can make such a claim.

Everyone can concieve of a church group or small, community of worshippers whom are persecuted and hide in the shadows, sharing their wealth, skills and fortunes in a relationship of love. This is a picture of the early Christian church. If we could guarantee that all people were dedicated, committed Christians that lived their faith and never disagreed upon interpretation of scripture, I think we could make this form of government work to some degree.

Meanwhile, back on earth, people are sinners. They are prideful, greedy, dishonest, cruel, inconsiderate, and many other wonderful things. Even if they weren't, there are points of disagreement even within a single Christian denomination that would drive men to compete and attempt to dominate and win the argument, even under the best of circumstances.

If this is the best that we could do within a single worldview, a single religious denomination, where one could assume the most consistent agreement upon right and wrong, and general decision-making, then what hope does any nation of millions have? What hope does our nation made up of millions of disparate and diverse backgrounds, faiths, philosophies, and worldviews? What possible hope have we for this imaginary utopia, promised by slick politicians? None.

In fact, what socialism is, and all of its variation-isms, is an attempt to create utopia - or heaven - here on earth. Is that not the dream of the socialist paradise? No one gets hurt, everyone has enough money and food. Everyone has a comfortable place to live. Everyone has respect for each other and they all get along great. Isn't that what the socialist promise is?

This is a direct attempt to create paradise on earth. Perfection, created by Man. It reminds me of a passage in Isaiah,

"But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my
throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the
recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I
will make my self like the Most High." Isaiah 14:13-14

This is the overreach of Lucifer talking. Heaven cannot be constructed on earth by any men, and those that claim that they can must be guarded against, for they are ravenous lions. What socialists don't want to face is that everyone isn't respectable, kind, good, decent, honest, peaceful, loving, and respectful of others. In fact few are this way.

Socialism preys upon the pride of men, and that inner beast that says to himself, "I'm a good man". It preys upon this notion and lets every man believe that he is good, and therefore so are most others. It is only a bad few that spoil the pot for the rest of us. If we can just round those fellows up and put them somewhere, you know, where they can't hurt anyone any longer, then we can get back to this business of making the perfect nation.

We can create a nation in our own image. Devised by men, created by men, ruled by men, better that the rest of us. That is how it works.

The smarter, connected, or just luckier few, start seeing themselves as better than the others and we can make decisions for the "great unwashed", the "dumb rednecks", or whatever pejorative term you would prefer. They become the intelligencia and start designing this utopia for the rest of us. The problem they have is that it decsends into cronyism and mafia-style relationship peddling like every other form of tyrannical government ever to stain the soil of this earth.

Like I said in previous posts, as far as types of government or political spectrums, there is the United States of America, as created by the Founding Fathers on one side the fence, and every single other form of government ever devised by man is on the OTHER side of the fence. All of them.

Socialism promises ease and comfort for the least of us. It promises dignity, respect, material security. It promises to be our paschal lamb. What it delivers is a ravenous beast that cannot easily be caged once it is released. No socialism isn't monarchy and delivers not an ass for a lion, but rather a lion for a lamb.