The doctor said, "I'm sorry to tell you that you only have ________ time to live."
The scary thing is, in reality, countless people have heard those very words, and have had to process and absorb that information. The same sentence has been used countless times to try to prompt people to consider what they would do, given that information. The idea is to make people think about what is important, apparently.
Just suppose that the doctor (or whomever) has come to you and said, "you have 35 (or insert any number greater than 20, for instance) years to live." How is that accepted differently? Where is the peril? Where are the tears? Where are the desperate farewell speeches?
An initial question here is.....at what point do humanoids begin to consider the direction of the life they've been given? When do we start keeping score, and consider what is of real value? Maybe that answer changes radically from culture to culture, and maybe not. Either way, what elements are considered, and how is the "score" kept?
There is a time in everyone's life when they sit down and calculate the year they are likely to die. For instance, a young father of 28 living in 2008 would think to himself, "If I live to the average age of 80, then I will likely die around the year 2060." Sounds like a long way off, but it really isn't. Such calculations increase in instances the older one gets, but the point is, it helps to put a fine point on the notion that life, in human form, is ending for each person. Absorb that, and what follows is the inevitable assessment of the direction and value of said life.
Rather than talking about the "what if" scenario prefaced by "you only have (a short) time to live, maybe we all should look at the life we've been given and consider what we will do in it, given we will live a long and relatively healthy life. Maybe that kind of introspection is far more profitable to us in every day life.
Life is a gift from God. We did nothing to earn it, and we have no control over it. Eternal life is every bit as much a gift, and is made possible only through the work of Christ. It is from this perspective that we consider such things today, and everyday. Given this truth, and given that the whole of the Bible (a revelation of the nature and character of God) points towards the main point of our human existence being fully realized in bringing honor and glory to God, we must consider our lives, and the remainder thereof, in this context.
So, what will you do with your remaining years?
Such a question, left in just that state, is already framed in error. First of all, to say "my life" is to assume far too much. We don't own this life, regardless of what those sage crooners of the highly elitist group Bon Jovi say in their song, "It's my life." This implies an ownership that does not exist. God did not create humankind to be free to do as we will, answerable to Him only in extreme circumstances. All of humanity will save themselves a lot of grief and answer virtually every question when they all face the fact that we all were created by God, FOR God, to be worshippers of God both here, and in all eternity.
Now, persuading all of humanity of this fact will take some doing, and to the point, it will only happen after God has dismantled this earth and time, and at the great judgment, He has declared that "every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, that Jesus is Lord." Until that time, those who believe in Christ will be the only humans who stand a chance of finding the ultimate purpose of life.
Let's say that you are a person of 40 years of age. Half of your life is over -- already been lived. It's been a quick ride, full of ups and downs, mistakes and cherished memories. But now you are looking forward, and attempting to assess what lies ahead, and how you will face it all. Do I pay more attention to earning all I can while I can? Do I attempt to make big changes in my diet, my looks, my career, my goals? Do I continue on this path, or make a move to another one? Just like with children, the questions never end.
Take a deep breath and put things in perspective. The highest purpose of mankind is to bring honor and praise to God. The highest goal could easily be to get into the proper position with God, meaning, He is the Master, and you are the servant. He is the King, and you are the subject. As such, God is to be worshipped by His children, whom He has rescued from both their sin and His righteous anger against them, both now, and forever.
Bringing glory to God. Sounds kind of nebulous and undefined, doesn't it? Perhaps a more easily understood definition that has real handles on it is to say, "being available to God's will and subject to His good pleasure" is the goal of this life. While in human form, God uses His followers in the work that He is always doing, even while they are seeking to honor Him in daily worship. When this life and world is over, we will have all of eternity to offer Him sinless praise and worship, when His work is done and we're all home with Him. But for now, He is still about the business of bringing His "flock" into His fold, even as He steers this world towards it's ultimate end and purpose.
So back to the point: you have X number of years to live, which could be quite a while, or maybe not. What to do? Where to put the emphasis? What will count, and matter? What is right?
Purpose in life is not found in bank accounts or accomplishments. Purpose in life is found in being in right standing (position) with God, who is in control of all things. Where to live, what to do, where to put the emphasis and other questions are secondary at best when we realize that our greatest purpose is to bring honor and glory to God, as worshippers of His name. In most cases, we bring that honor to Him by being obedient servants, as we seek His glory, and not our own.
Many Christians have a problem wrapping their minds around the fact that Heaven will be an eternal concert of praise towards God. Why? Because we all are dreadfully ego-centric, and it cuts against the grain for us to dispense with the idea that anything in Heaven is not geared towards US. Teachers in churches ask children all the time, "what do you want to do in Heaven?" Some say they want to run and play, others want to fly. Adults often say they want to see departed loved ones, or to finally be at rest, or whole, or something along those lines. Few, if any, respond by saying, "I want to do nothing but sing in an eternal chorus of praise to God almighty."
We were not put on this earth to do "the work of the Lord." The Lord does His own work, and no work stands unless His hand is set to it. God never, ever, puts us "in charge" of anything. What we will be in eternity, we are here on earth -- worshipping servants of the Most High God.
So, teach, advertise, drive a truck, lead a business, crunch numbers.....it doesn't matter. That is not what this life is about. Those are just ways to put food in your mouth and clothes on your back.
Stay where you are, or relocate, live overseas, or a little of both......our position with God does not change.
Make a lot of money, or very little, it makes no difference. None of this has much to do with our main purpose.
With the time we have left on this earth, no better goal could be set than to find ourselves, everyday, in a proper position with God, worshipping Him through praise, acts of obedience, and being available to His good pleasure in this life He has given us.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Katrina Meets New Orleans, Part Two
How do "average" Americans stay afloat financially in 2008?
Well, the "average American" could do some history research and see how average Americans of the last century remained financially stable during the great depression, or during WWII, or during the advent of the industrial revolution of the early 1900's, or even during the revolutionary war.
Now, before our young-ish, know-it-all computer savvy, pencil-necked, spend-it-all current generation declares that the past is the past, and we must look forward, they may want to unplug, slow down, and take a look at the huge mess that they have created.
Just about the time WWII was winding down, the boomer generation was cranking up. The "boomer" generation was raised in a very different way and in a very different America than their builder parents were. Prosperity reigned. Farmers became industrialists. Businesses expanded, suburbs grew. Air travel suplanted rails and boats, and communication became global with improved phone and satellite technology. Kids no longer had chores to do. They began getting allowances just for showing up. College became something average people aspired to, and was paid for via the "loving parents" who wanted their children to have what they didn't have. One can only speculate that the builder generation felt that hard work, personal responsibility, and delayed pleasure were undesirable traits to have, so they made sure that their boomer babies were given free money, absence of guilt, and whatever their toady little hearts wanted right then, and right there. No delays, no penalities, no refusals.
Welcome to 2008.
America has the greatest, strongest, most reliable, most resilient economy in the world. The US of A sets the standard for all economic markets. Even today, when liberals are touting that our economy is at an all time low, and people are suffering and scraping by, we as a nation of people are solidly in the top 3% of the wealthiest people in the entire world (an annual income of $31,000 puts on in that top 3%). The DOW, an economic indicator, hovered below the 10,000 bench mark for decades, and now routinely remains in the 11,800 - 13,000 field, with minor blips here and there. This happened during the Bush administration, by the way. Go Republicans! Anyway, our economy is strong, vibrant, and able to handle far more than the doomsdayers want to politicize. So, what is this hub-bub about people starving, losing jobs, and hanging on by a thread? Go back to "no delays, no penalities, no refusals."
What has happend in the past 2 years has been coming for a long time. Call it "payday" for the idiotic financial practices of the boomer generation. Payday? Oh yes, dear reader, it is payday for the paycheck to paycheck generation who cannot fathom the notion of waiting, paying cash, and eschewing credit. Perish the thought!
Families headed by yuppy-ish, I-get-what-I-want parents have been long on stretching themselves to the furtherest extent, and short on practicing financial responsibility for a long time. What these spend today, pay (maybe) tomorrow people have done is created a situation for themselves where any sudden increase in any staple item would fell their financial house.
Translation? When one is stretched to the financial limit, and beyond, all it takes is a $1 increase in the price of gas to send the house of cards to the ground.
As for the title of this entry, when the hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the dim of mind wandered around in their immense ignorance saying, "how could this have happened?" It happened because a filthy city that was fully 6 feet under sea level, boardered by the Mississippi river, a huge lake to the north, and the gulf of Mexico to the south, was hit by a category 5 hurricane, but not without a good 5 days of prior warning. The ONLY thing that has always kept The Big Easy (what a name!) from becoming a huge pond are a handful of man-made, diesel pumps that bail out the ever-present water. How could it have happened, indeed. And now, people all over this great nation are crying, "how can this be happening?" Cry on, boomer babies, and spend away like it grows on trees.
People are losing their homes. People are losing their second homes, their third homes, their 3,000 square foot homes in elite neighborhoods that they could never afford, their homes that they intended to "turn over" for an easy profit. If these boomer babies had bought homes that they could actually afford, and worked hard to pay them off early (saving tens of thousands in interest, like their builder parents did) they would be sitting back now, relaxing on their paid-for decks, smugly indifferent to the so-called "housing crisis," fully aware that their credit and financial status is impervious until a real crisis comes along, and even if that happens, they may survive that well too. Take a history course: there were millions of people in the Great Depression that went through it with little discomfort, mainly because they entered that time with low debt, or no debt. That one factor alone carried hundreds of thousands through without a scratch. Forget job skills, or money put away......just having no significant debt was enough. Today, boomers and X'ers think that anything less than $10,000 credit debt is not significant.
People can't afford to fill up their tanks. Boomers and their younger bretheren can't afford to fill up their 12 mpg, blinged out SUV's because they spend hundreds a month in interest payments on their electronic gadgets, their plasma screens, their elaborate vacations, their designer shoes and pants, their 22" dubs that they had to have on said SUV. Funny thing is, today, with gas at over $4 a gallon, all those pretty SUV's are still zooming up and down the roads, speeding merrily along, burning fossils with one blonde driver on a cell phone, without a care in the world. You may now see 2 mopeds on the road, instead of 1, but that's about all the adjustment you see in your driving world. People still gun it from every stop light, drive 80+ on the interstate, and race through suburb streets as if escaping a nuclear blast.
Food prices are "soaring." Well, an industrial, capitalist society does run on fuel, so if gas prices rise $2 a gallon in 2 years, then yes, banana's are going to cost 10 cents more per pound. Soaring? Expect such extremist language from the democrats who run the liberal media, in the hopes that they can get their candidate in office. Are restaurants closing? No. Are people still eating out? Of course! Are boomers, especially late boomers, and extra-especially X'ers going to actually begin cooking? Heavens, NO! No on is starving, and no one is shutting off their cell phones, or their children's cell phones, or refusing to rent movies, or game boys, and so on. Obesity is still a national problem, and will continue to get worse. Despite "soaring" prices.
Our current national financial situation can only be good for those who have never practiced financial responsibility in their lives. Conservative financial methods will either be adopted, or forced financial adjustments will bring the spend, spend, spend generation to their collective knees, eventually. Meanwhile, the godless liberal drive-by media will continue to tout these, poor, suffering spend-easy's as victims, duped by ruthless lenders, unable to help themselves. Be that as it may, when an entire generation of Americans cannot afford even a rudementary rise in gasoline prices without financial ruin, there are greater issues than price per gallon. Would lower gas prices be nice? Of course! But if that happens quickly (not likely without more domestic drilling and refineries) the spender generation will have learned nothing.
Immoral lending practices are not the problem. If you can afford to buy a $100,000 home, you should have enough sense to know how to borrow, spend, and lend responsibly. Even this author knows that an ARM or Balloon loan is a poor choice at best, as interest rates can change dramatically in less than a year. Consumers are not being duped. Lenders are responding to the incredibly irrational and selfish nature of this no delay, no penality generation by offering them exactly what they want: immediate gratification, and let tomorrow take care of itself.
Irresponsible consumer spending has been a national problem for decades. Few save, few invest, few put aside money for emergencies. Most spend all they make, spend it quickly, and borrow without any forethought about paying back. The paint themselves into a financial corner, and then whine when that practice bites them in the butt. Live on the ragged edge, and eventually, you take the fall. Live conservatively, and you ride out times like this with little guilt or pain. Which do you want?
Stupidity rises with ego-centrism and selfishness. America is losing its conservative, hard working, sacrifice now for a better future, past. Americans have been sewing to the wind, and are now reaping the whirlwind. Americans have denied themselves nothing, and now with a minor economic bump, have nothing. IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE. How could this have happened? How could such a ignorant question be asked?
Conservative, responsible, no-debt economic practices may deny those who follow them of some things in the here and now, and they may seem boring and old school, but those who are of that school are laughing NOW at the spoiled, selfish, it's-all-about-me, generation that is losing their homes, selling their SUV's, and breaking out the cookware, hoping for a miracle.
The miracle would be this -- pay off your debt while denying yourself of all the useless and worthless pleasures you've enjoyed for so long, and get those pimple-faced morons who do nothing a J O B and make them pull their weight.
Heck, while you're at it, sell the plasma, buy some good walking shoes, and spend some time with your kids in the evening while getting some needed exercise.
It couldn't possibly hurt more than losing that 3rd home.
Well, the "average American" could do some history research and see how average Americans of the last century remained financially stable during the great depression, or during WWII, or during the advent of the industrial revolution of the early 1900's, or even during the revolutionary war.
Now, before our young-ish, know-it-all computer savvy, pencil-necked, spend-it-all current generation declares that the past is the past, and we must look forward, they may want to unplug, slow down, and take a look at the huge mess that they have created.
Just about the time WWII was winding down, the boomer generation was cranking up. The "boomer" generation was raised in a very different way and in a very different America than their builder parents were. Prosperity reigned. Farmers became industrialists. Businesses expanded, suburbs grew. Air travel suplanted rails and boats, and communication became global with improved phone and satellite technology. Kids no longer had chores to do. They began getting allowances just for showing up. College became something average people aspired to, and was paid for via the "loving parents" who wanted their children to have what they didn't have. One can only speculate that the builder generation felt that hard work, personal responsibility, and delayed pleasure were undesirable traits to have, so they made sure that their boomer babies were given free money, absence of guilt, and whatever their toady little hearts wanted right then, and right there. No delays, no penalities, no refusals.
Welcome to 2008.
America has the greatest, strongest, most reliable, most resilient economy in the world. The US of A sets the standard for all economic markets. Even today, when liberals are touting that our economy is at an all time low, and people are suffering and scraping by, we as a nation of people are solidly in the top 3% of the wealthiest people in the entire world (an annual income of $31,000 puts on in that top 3%). The DOW, an economic indicator, hovered below the 10,000 bench mark for decades, and now routinely remains in the 11,800 - 13,000 field, with minor blips here and there. This happened during the Bush administration, by the way. Go Republicans! Anyway, our economy is strong, vibrant, and able to handle far more than the doomsdayers want to politicize. So, what is this hub-bub about people starving, losing jobs, and hanging on by a thread? Go back to "no delays, no penalities, no refusals."
What has happend in the past 2 years has been coming for a long time. Call it "payday" for the idiotic financial practices of the boomer generation. Payday? Oh yes, dear reader, it is payday for the paycheck to paycheck generation who cannot fathom the notion of waiting, paying cash, and eschewing credit. Perish the thought!
Families headed by yuppy-ish, I-get-what-I-want parents have been long on stretching themselves to the furtherest extent, and short on practicing financial responsibility for a long time. What these spend today, pay (maybe) tomorrow people have done is created a situation for themselves where any sudden increase in any staple item would fell their financial house.
Translation? When one is stretched to the financial limit, and beyond, all it takes is a $1 increase in the price of gas to send the house of cards to the ground.
As for the title of this entry, when the hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the dim of mind wandered around in their immense ignorance saying, "how could this have happened?" It happened because a filthy city that was fully 6 feet under sea level, boardered by the Mississippi river, a huge lake to the north, and the gulf of Mexico to the south, was hit by a category 5 hurricane, but not without a good 5 days of prior warning. The ONLY thing that has always kept The Big Easy (what a name!) from becoming a huge pond are a handful of man-made, diesel pumps that bail out the ever-present water. How could it have happened, indeed. And now, people all over this great nation are crying, "how can this be happening?" Cry on, boomer babies, and spend away like it grows on trees.
People are losing their homes. People are losing their second homes, their third homes, their 3,000 square foot homes in elite neighborhoods that they could never afford, their homes that they intended to "turn over" for an easy profit. If these boomer babies had bought homes that they could actually afford, and worked hard to pay them off early (saving tens of thousands in interest, like their builder parents did) they would be sitting back now, relaxing on their paid-for decks, smugly indifferent to the so-called "housing crisis," fully aware that their credit and financial status is impervious until a real crisis comes along, and even if that happens, they may survive that well too. Take a history course: there were millions of people in the Great Depression that went through it with little discomfort, mainly because they entered that time with low debt, or no debt. That one factor alone carried hundreds of thousands through without a scratch. Forget job skills, or money put away......just having no significant debt was enough. Today, boomers and X'ers think that anything less than $10,000 credit debt is not significant.
People can't afford to fill up their tanks. Boomers and their younger bretheren can't afford to fill up their 12 mpg, blinged out SUV's because they spend hundreds a month in interest payments on their electronic gadgets, their plasma screens, their elaborate vacations, their designer shoes and pants, their 22" dubs that they had to have on said SUV. Funny thing is, today, with gas at over $4 a gallon, all those pretty SUV's are still zooming up and down the roads, speeding merrily along, burning fossils with one blonde driver on a cell phone, without a care in the world. You may now see 2 mopeds on the road, instead of 1, but that's about all the adjustment you see in your driving world. People still gun it from every stop light, drive 80+ on the interstate, and race through suburb streets as if escaping a nuclear blast.
Food prices are "soaring." Well, an industrial, capitalist society does run on fuel, so if gas prices rise $2 a gallon in 2 years, then yes, banana's are going to cost 10 cents more per pound. Soaring? Expect such extremist language from the democrats who run the liberal media, in the hopes that they can get their candidate in office. Are restaurants closing? No. Are people still eating out? Of course! Are boomers, especially late boomers, and extra-especially X'ers going to actually begin cooking? Heavens, NO! No on is starving, and no one is shutting off their cell phones, or their children's cell phones, or refusing to rent movies, or game boys, and so on. Obesity is still a national problem, and will continue to get worse. Despite "soaring" prices.
Our current national financial situation can only be good for those who have never practiced financial responsibility in their lives. Conservative financial methods will either be adopted, or forced financial adjustments will bring the spend, spend, spend generation to their collective knees, eventually. Meanwhile, the godless liberal drive-by media will continue to tout these, poor, suffering spend-easy's as victims, duped by ruthless lenders, unable to help themselves. Be that as it may, when an entire generation of Americans cannot afford even a rudementary rise in gasoline prices without financial ruin, there are greater issues than price per gallon. Would lower gas prices be nice? Of course! But if that happens quickly (not likely without more domestic drilling and refineries) the spender generation will have learned nothing.
Immoral lending practices are not the problem. If you can afford to buy a $100,000 home, you should have enough sense to know how to borrow, spend, and lend responsibly. Even this author knows that an ARM or Balloon loan is a poor choice at best, as interest rates can change dramatically in less than a year. Consumers are not being duped. Lenders are responding to the incredibly irrational and selfish nature of this no delay, no penality generation by offering them exactly what they want: immediate gratification, and let tomorrow take care of itself.
Irresponsible consumer spending has been a national problem for decades. Few save, few invest, few put aside money for emergencies. Most spend all they make, spend it quickly, and borrow without any forethought about paying back. The paint themselves into a financial corner, and then whine when that practice bites them in the butt. Live on the ragged edge, and eventually, you take the fall. Live conservatively, and you ride out times like this with little guilt or pain. Which do you want?
Stupidity rises with ego-centrism and selfishness. America is losing its conservative, hard working, sacrifice now for a better future, past. Americans have been sewing to the wind, and are now reaping the whirlwind. Americans have denied themselves nothing, and now with a minor economic bump, have nothing. IT MAKES PERFECT SENSE. How could this have happened? How could such a ignorant question be asked?
Conservative, responsible, no-debt economic practices may deny those who follow them of some things in the here and now, and they may seem boring and old school, but those who are of that school are laughing NOW at the spoiled, selfish, it's-all-about-me, generation that is losing their homes, selling their SUV's, and breaking out the cookware, hoping for a miracle.
The miracle would be this -- pay off your debt while denying yourself of all the useless and worthless pleasures you've enjoyed for so long, and get those pimple-faced morons who do nothing a J O B and make them pull their weight.
Heck, while you're at it, sell the plasma, buy some good walking shoes, and spend some time with your kids in the evening while getting some needed exercise.
It couldn't possibly hurt more than losing that 3rd home.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Disciple Musings, part I
"And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.'" Luke 9: 23- 24.
In this post we take a decidely religious turn and deal, in part, with the topic of being a disciple of Christ.
Much has been written and said on what it means to be a disciple. In the time when Christ was actually walking the earth, His "disciples" were actually referred to as followers. There were many kinds of followers, from casual to close, and the 12 disciples were among the closest, even though most scholars believe that there were many others who remained unnamed who heard and saw basically everything John or Peter did. Anyway, these men who were close to Jesus went from followers, to close friends, to believers, to disciples, to apostles, all within a time frame of roughly 4 - 5 years. It was a difficult time for them and their ability to see all that Jesus was teaching and showing them was limited, at best.
Fast forward about 2,000 years and today, a "disciple" of Christ is more commonly known as a Christian, which means "Christ-follower." To say that we are a disciple of Christ simply means that as a follower and believer in Christ, we study, examine, and try to imitate His life and teachings. In a sense, we are students of our Lord, but students extreme - we want to become absorbed in all that He is, all that He said, all that He represents.
So, when Christ was speaking to both His disciples and the crowd around and said that a disciple must "take up their cross daily..." He was using a word picture that would help them understand many things about being a disciple. Perhaps this one reference can help a great deal in the on-going search for what a true disciple is to be.
First, we must ask, "what did the cross represent?" Here is a short list with some explanations:
1. The cross represented sacrifice: No matter how zealous we want to be, we can never sacrifice ourselves like Christ did. We may give up things, make resolutions, and modify our behavior, but His sacrifice was both totally complete, divine, and beyond the scope of any human endeavor. The people in South America or elsewhere who have themselves placed on a cross at Easter or some other holiday are only making a mockery of Christ's death. His sacrifice for all humanity was for He alone, and no other. All that happened in that act cannot be contained in all the books in all the libraries in the world. Christ knew this, even as His followers would in a few years, but at this time, He was referring to the need for His followers to make daily sacrifices of self will for God's will. The cross represents sacrifice and since no one who follows Christ can truly follow someone or something else, it requires daily tuning of our hearts and minds to put us in proper position to His leadership.
2. The cross represents obedience: Christ willingly went to His death to fulfill God's ultimate covenant with mankind. He gave His life as part of the plan that existed before the world began. This was no "on the fly" decision or adjustment. God always has, and always will fulfill all His plans and purposes. He is a God of order and design. Christ was taunted with the option of taking another route, but then He would be sabotaging His own plan He designed with the Father. In reality, there was no other option and Christ exemplified His obedience to the Father, which signified unity and cohesion. When we as disciples of Christ obey God, we are signifing that we are in unision with God's soverenity. Christ was saying in these recorded verses that to deny our own will and take up God's will, we symbolize where our aligence is, and who our Master is. This daily act of obedience to God's will aligns us with the Father's master plan for this world.
3. The cross represents death: Everyone who hung on a cross died. Some died that day, many others died days later. Christ died within hours due to His horribly tortured condition. When Christ said to take up the cross daily, He was saying that we must die to our own desires, dreams, and carnal thinking. It is not amazing that a non-disciple will think more about themselves than anyone else. People who are narcissistic and self absorbed are not acting in a surprising way. When self is in command, self is served. When Christ is in command, self must die and Christ must live in self's place. It's an easy thing to explain, but a highly difficult thing to live out.
4. The cross represents pain: Mr. T predicted "pain" Rocky in the 3rd installment of that series, and Christ was telling His disciples that they would experience pain in their following of Him. The pain could be physical, emotional, spiritual, but there would be pain. It's not exactly a fun reality to be hit with, but living in a constant war between living for ourselves and living for Christ exacts a toll upon any disciple. Only Christians experience this. No one else is in the process of sluffing off one master while trying to give their all to another. Most of the disciples would eventually be tortured and killed for following Christ. Christians in America today will suffer nothing more painful than just seeking the will of the Father over any other. However, that too, is painful. It's not to be taken lightly and courage in this particular reality is something cultivated, rather than found all at once and forever.
5. The cross represents shame and embarassment: Christ was stripped on the cross, but the pictures and drawings we often see display a more modest depiction. It was a shame to be found so guilty as to deserve the cross. The nakedness was just icing on the cake for the prosecutors. The cross was where the most despised and hated criminals went to meet their punishment. For Christians, living in a world that does not want to follow Christ, nor hear His name, we are seen as shameful, despised, and in truth, some of the more zealous detractors would like to punish Christians in the worst way. As a disciple, many will feel shame like Peter did when He denied Christ out of fear of shared punishment. We often feel shame for putting ourselves first, or denying the chance to do good in God's name. We may feel embarassed when we are accused wrongly, or even more when we are rightfully accused of wrong when we knew better. It's quite a thing to have non-Christians rightfully point fingers at us when we act like non-believers. Christ was telling His disciples to take up that fact of shame and embarassment and move on with it.
6. The cross represents Identity: Christ spoke of the shared cross with His disciples long before He actually carried His own. Christ's admonition to take up the cross was at least, in part, an admission of a shared journey. Christ put the will of the Father ahead of His own will. In so doing, He set the example for His followers to put God's will ahead of their own. This is all about getting into the proper position with God. We must see God as the Master, and ourselves as the subjects, before we can proceed any further. He is not a part time God, or an occassional God, but the one true God of all the universe, and everyone in it.
When Christians "take up their cross," they are in fact taking up their identiy within Christ. They are subjecting themselves to His Lordship and ownership over themselves. They are acknowledging that in order to be His disciples, they must deny themselves of their own will and live for the will of the Father.
What "taking up the cross daily" DOES NOT mean is:
1. A little "doing without"
2. Some temporary sacrifices
3. Looking the other way sometimes
4. Forgiving others for some wrongs
5. Putting up with some mild persecution
Taking up our cross daily, as defined by Christ, is not about us so much as it is about acknowledging the work of Christ, understanding our proper position with Him, and understanding that if we are going to share in the life He offers, we will also share in the pain, shame, and difficult obedience He offers as well.
We are always right to exalt God more, to assume everything Christ taught had spiritual implications first, and to know that our efforts and work means nothing in comparision to our devotion and obedience to our loving Lord.
And remember - we cannot love Him any more than we know Him. More on that next time.
In this post we take a decidely religious turn and deal, in part, with the topic of being a disciple of Christ.
Much has been written and said on what it means to be a disciple. In the time when Christ was actually walking the earth, His "disciples" were actually referred to as followers. There were many kinds of followers, from casual to close, and the 12 disciples were among the closest, even though most scholars believe that there were many others who remained unnamed who heard and saw basically everything John or Peter did. Anyway, these men who were close to Jesus went from followers, to close friends, to believers, to disciples, to apostles, all within a time frame of roughly 4 - 5 years. It was a difficult time for them and their ability to see all that Jesus was teaching and showing them was limited, at best.
Fast forward about 2,000 years and today, a "disciple" of Christ is more commonly known as a Christian, which means "Christ-follower." To say that we are a disciple of Christ simply means that as a follower and believer in Christ, we study, examine, and try to imitate His life and teachings. In a sense, we are students of our Lord, but students extreme - we want to become absorbed in all that He is, all that He said, all that He represents.
So, when Christ was speaking to both His disciples and the crowd around and said that a disciple must "take up their cross daily..." He was using a word picture that would help them understand many things about being a disciple. Perhaps this one reference can help a great deal in the on-going search for what a true disciple is to be.
First, we must ask, "what did the cross represent?" Here is a short list with some explanations:
1. The cross represented sacrifice: No matter how zealous we want to be, we can never sacrifice ourselves like Christ did. We may give up things, make resolutions, and modify our behavior, but His sacrifice was both totally complete, divine, and beyond the scope of any human endeavor. The people in South America or elsewhere who have themselves placed on a cross at Easter or some other holiday are only making a mockery of Christ's death. His sacrifice for all humanity was for He alone, and no other. All that happened in that act cannot be contained in all the books in all the libraries in the world. Christ knew this, even as His followers would in a few years, but at this time, He was referring to the need for His followers to make daily sacrifices of self will for God's will. The cross represents sacrifice and since no one who follows Christ can truly follow someone or something else, it requires daily tuning of our hearts and minds to put us in proper position to His leadership.
2. The cross represents obedience: Christ willingly went to His death to fulfill God's ultimate covenant with mankind. He gave His life as part of the plan that existed before the world began. This was no "on the fly" decision or adjustment. God always has, and always will fulfill all His plans and purposes. He is a God of order and design. Christ was taunted with the option of taking another route, but then He would be sabotaging His own plan He designed with the Father. In reality, there was no other option and Christ exemplified His obedience to the Father, which signified unity and cohesion. When we as disciples of Christ obey God, we are signifing that we are in unision with God's soverenity. Christ was saying in these recorded verses that to deny our own will and take up God's will, we symbolize where our aligence is, and who our Master is. This daily act of obedience to God's will aligns us with the Father's master plan for this world.
3. The cross represents death: Everyone who hung on a cross died. Some died that day, many others died days later. Christ died within hours due to His horribly tortured condition. When Christ said to take up the cross daily, He was saying that we must die to our own desires, dreams, and carnal thinking. It is not amazing that a non-disciple will think more about themselves than anyone else. People who are narcissistic and self absorbed are not acting in a surprising way. When self is in command, self is served. When Christ is in command, self must die and Christ must live in self's place. It's an easy thing to explain, but a highly difficult thing to live out.
4. The cross represents pain: Mr. T predicted "pain" Rocky in the 3rd installment of that series, and Christ was telling His disciples that they would experience pain in their following of Him. The pain could be physical, emotional, spiritual, but there would be pain. It's not exactly a fun reality to be hit with, but living in a constant war between living for ourselves and living for Christ exacts a toll upon any disciple. Only Christians experience this. No one else is in the process of sluffing off one master while trying to give their all to another. Most of the disciples would eventually be tortured and killed for following Christ. Christians in America today will suffer nothing more painful than just seeking the will of the Father over any other. However, that too, is painful. It's not to be taken lightly and courage in this particular reality is something cultivated, rather than found all at once and forever.
5. The cross represents shame and embarassment: Christ was stripped on the cross, but the pictures and drawings we often see display a more modest depiction. It was a shame to be found so guilty as to deserve the cross. The nakedness was just icing on the cake for the prosecutors. The cross was where the most despised and hated criminals went to meet their punishment. For Christians, living in a world that does not want to follow Christ, nor hear His name, we are seen as shameful, despised, and in truth, some of the more zealous detractors would like to punish Christians in the worst way. As a disciple, many will feel shame like Peter did when He denied Christ out of fear of shared punishment. We often feel shame for putting ourselves first, or denying the chance to do good in God's name. We may feel embarassed when we are accused wrongly, or even more when we are rightfully accused of wrong when we knew better. It's quite a thing to have non-Christians rightfully point fingers at us when we act like non-believers. Christ was telling His disciples to take up that fact of shame and embarassment and move on with it.
6. The cross represents Identity: Christ spoke of the shared cross with His disciples long before He actually carried His own. Christ's admonition to take up the cross was at least, in part, an admission of a shared journey. Christ put the will of the Father ahead of His own will. In so doing, He set the example for His followers to put God's will ahead of their own. This is all about getting into the proper position with God. We must see God as the Master, and ourselves as the subjects, before we can proceed any further. He is not a part time God, or an occassional God, but the one true God of all the universe, and everyone in it.
When Christians "take up their cross," they are in fact taking up their identiy within Christ. They are subjecting themselves to His Lordship and ownership over themselves. They are acknowledging that in order to be His disciples, they must deny themselves of their own will and live for the will of the Father.
What "taking up the cross daily" DOES NOT mean is:
1. A little "doing without"
2. Some temporary sacrifices
3. Looking the other way sometimes
4. Forgiving others for some wrongs
5. Putting up with some mild persecution
Taking up our cross daily, as defined by Christ, is not about us so much as it is about acknowledging the work of Christ, understanding our proper position with Him, and understanding that if we are going to share in the life He offers, we will also share in the pain, shame, and difficult obedience He offers as well.
We are always right to exalt God more, to assume everything Christ taught had spiritual implications first, and to know that our efforts and work means nothing in comparision to our devotion and obedience to our loving Lord.
And remember - we cannot love Him any more than we know Him. More on that next time.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
One Wright Makes Many Wrongs
Can enough be said about Jeremiah Wright and his association with Barak Obama?
Hardly. But let us begin with the Reverend Wright.
Racism and bigotry is a fact of the human existence. We will always have both on this earth as long as there are more than 2 races of people. At it's core is ignorance and unfounded hatred, but that does nothing but fuel it. Unfortunate, and a stain upon the human race at large.
Racism is not regulated to any one particular race. Racism rears its ugly head among all people groups and nations. To hate or despise another human being because of the color of their skin is a sure sign of unintellectual thought. That is why racism should be eschewed.
No one ever born had any control over their assigned gender or race. Therefore, no one has any more reason to be ashamed of their gender or race, any more than they have a reason to be proud of the same. It's just what God has given you, and you can do nothing about it.
The Reverend Wright must not believe this logic. His comments, of which only a few have surfaced to date, reveal an angry, bigoted, racist man who used the pulpit to spew his ignorant, hate-filled speeches, so as to spur on racism among his congregation, and the world. He committed many "felonies" in doing so. To utter such language and hate from the pulpit is an affront to God, and God will judge that, be assured, just as He will judge those who would lie, misrepresent, and use that desk for personal gain.
Perhaps some would like to control the outcries against Wright by saying that he was "exposed" to racism in his past, and so his anger is somewhat justifiable. Rubbish. Wright may have been exposed to some racism in his distant past, and he may not have. It is not a sure thing. Millions of black Americans lived right through the final era of limited rights and never knew what it was to be called a name or be rejected from employment due to their race.
America has slavery in its past, and there is no denying that fact. But maybe Rev. Wright, and the black American community at large, needs to examine a few other facts as well.
1. America was founded, primiarly, by white males. American has been led, predominately, by white males ever since. The vast majority of business, political, and social institutions in America are either led by, or controlled by, white Americans. There is a erronous thought among some minorities that another race other than the white race "built" America. Such thinking is decrepid at best. To this day, the gender and race that most determines who is elected to the Presidency is white males. If that bothers Wright, then so be it, but it does not change the FACTS. America is a country founded, established, and run by white Americans.
2. America is predominately white. No way around that one! Census polls have shown the black community as representing somewhere between 10 14% of the total population. Most reliable estimates place the black population at 12%. Reverend Wright needs to let that number sink in and make mathematical sense to him. Fully 88% of all Americans are something other than black. The Hispanic population falls somewhere in the 12% category as well, even as census bureau leaders admit that counting all the illegal aliens of hispanic origin is problematic, at best. The Asian community seems to maintain a 6 - 8% ratio, even for the past 2 decades. And of course, there are other small pockets of many other races represented in America as well. The latest surveys indicate that the white community still holds a commanding lead at somewhere around 68% of the total American population. Of course, some liberal elements forecast radical, sweeping changes in those census statistics, but at best, they are wishful thinking, at least, for the next century.
3. There is more slavery in Africa today than ever existed in colonial America. A simple perusal of the many humanitarian agencies working in Africa will establish that the slave trade is alive and well on the continent of Africa, but there is a twist. Today (and for some decades, at least) there are literally millions of black Africans held in slavery by.....wait for it.....black Africans. Of course, those held in slavery are mostly women and children, and the type of slavery ranges from prostitution to work farms for political leaders, but the Reverend Wright shouldn't be bothered with such facts, right? Maybe this is part of the "culture" there and we shouldn't interfere. Again - rubbish. No one truly knows how many slaves were bought and sold in colonial America, but the numbers are generally believed to be below one million. Also, fully 90% of all white Americans alive during our slavery history could not afford to own even one slave, let alone many. What did happen is that many white farmers would "rent out" black slaves held by a few very wealthy white owners to help on their farms during peak work times. And the number of white Americans who would refuse to own a slave, even if their finances allowed, was 10 times more than those who ever owned or rented a slave.
4. Speaking of Africa, genocide is a large part of the fabric of life in Africa, even to this present day. When was the last time genocide was experienced in America? Oh wait....um.....NEVER. Well, to be honest, abortion is our only foray into genocide, but that happens across all racial and economic boundaries. The Reverend Wright made comments that the Bush administration and white America has been practicing "genocide" via the Iraq war, and the drug trade. Rubbish, rubbish, and more rubbish. Perhaps the highly experienced Mr. Obama could make another trip to Kenya and view the vast mass graves of all the Kenyians who were slaughtered in past months because they were not Muslim. Perhaps he and his chap Mr. Wright would like to go together, and take a pleasant tour of Sudan and count all the corpses who met their fate at the hands of other black Africans. Instead......SILENCE. Why? Could it be that there would be nothing to say or feel other than shame? Double standard, indeed.
5. The leading cause of death among young black males between the ages of 15 and 23 is other black males. You got it Rev., murder! Young Black males are far more likely to meet their demise at the hands of another black male than any other form of death. This sobering statistic has been true for decades as well, but somehow, the apologetic liberal press refuses to publish such information. The black American community knows it well, but refuses to talk about it too. Wonder why? Who would be to blame then?
The Reverend Wright, who is undoubtedly paid VERY well by the members of his church, and who lives in a very comfortable home and drives a nice car and can afford insurance, groceries, and clothing as well as any other American making an annual income exceeding the national average, finds it almost impossible to stomach this great nation that sends more aid, more missionaries, and more resources in general to those people of the world who are most starving and destitute, including his preferred "home" of Africa. Funny, he has visited his alleged "home," but refuses to move there and prosper as he has here in America. Wonder why? Could it be that he knows that the opportunities he has had here, and the freedom, and the predominately Christian environment does not exist anywhere in Africa? (maybe he knows more than he lets on!)
White Americans are going to HAVE to stop apologizing for being white, and they are also going to have to stop fretting over what a few of their ancient ancestors may or may have not done to or with slaves in colonial America. The black American community has yelled loud and long, and so loud and long that it may be that they have lost sight of the radical changes on their behalf that white America has initiated. Black Americans are also going to have to come to a point where they stop blaming all their ills on the white leadership that runs America and look to within their own race for solutions and answers.
The Reverend Wright (recently "retired," with his church under investigation by the IRS...hmmm) is an angry, ignorant black bigot who needs to get a new perspective and some sound education, or he needs to buy himself a one-way ticket to his "homeland" and see what kind of life he can eek out there. One way or the other -- but that kind of radical, hate-filled racism cannot and should not be tolerated in America.
And the Wrights of this nation had better watch out too -- that so-called reverse racism, when exposed for what it is, and exposed for it's far reaching pervasiveness, will awaken a huge, white giant that will not be pleasant.
As for Obama, at the time of this writing: Funny how he has taken a page directly from the Clinton playbook for policical posturing -- deny, lie, misspeak, and distance.
BHO will be eating those words soon. Bon appetite!
Hardly. But let us begin with the Reverend Wright.
Racism and bigotry is a fact of the human existence. We will always have both on this earth as long as there are more than 2 races of people. At it's core is ignorance and unfounded hatred, but that does nothing but fuel it. Unfortunate, and a stain upon the human race at large.
Racism is not regulated to any one particular race. Racism rears its ugly head among all people groups and nations. To hate or despise another human being because of the color of their skin is a sure sign of unintellectual thought. That is why racism should be eschewed.
No one ever born had any control over their assigned gender or race. Therefore, no one has any more reason to be ashamed of their gender or race, any more than they have a reason to be proud of the same. It's just what God has given you, and you can do nothing about it.
The Reverend Wright must not believe this logic. His comments, of which only a few have surfaced to date, reveal an angry, bigoted, racist man who used the pulpit to spew his ignorant, hate-filled speeches, so as to spur on racism among his congregation, and the world. He committed many "felonies" in doing so. To utter such language and hate from the pulpit is an affront to God, and God will judge that, be assured, just as He will judge those who would lie, misrepresent, and use that desk for personal gain.
Perhaps some would like to control the outcries against Wright by saying that he was "exposed" to racism in his past, and so his anger is somewhat justifiable. Rubbish. Wright may have been exposed to some racism in his distant past, and he may not have. It is not a sure thing. Millions of black Americans lived right through the final era of limited rights and never knew what it was to be called a name or be rejected from employment due to their race.
America has slavery in its past, and there is no denying that fact. But maybe Rev. Wright, and the black American community at large, needs to examine a few other facts as well.
1. America was founded, primiarly, by white males. American has been led, predominately, by white males ever since. The vast majority of business, political, and social institutions in America are either led by, or controlled by, white Americans. There is a erronous thought among some minorities that another race other than the white race "built" America. Such thinking is decrepid at best. To this day, the gender and race that most determines who is elected to the Presidency is white males. If that bothers Wright, then so be it, but it does not change the FACTS. America is a country founded, established, and run by white Americans.
2. America is predominately white. No way around that one! Census polls have shown the black community as representing somewhere between 10 14% of the total population. Most reliable estimates place the black population at 12%. Reverend Wright needs to let that number sink in and make mathematical sense to him. Fully 88% of all Americans are something other than black. The Hispanic population falls somewhere in the 12% category as well, even as census bureau leaders admit that counting all the illegal aliens of hispanic origin is problematic, at best. The Asian community seems to maintain a 6 - 8% ratio, even for the past 2 decades. And of course, there are other small pockets of many other races represented in America as well. The latest surveys indicate that the white community still holds a commanding lead at somewhere around 68% of the total American population. Of course, some liberal elements forecast radical, sweeping changes in those census statistics, but at best, they are wishful thinking, at least, for the next century.
3. There is more slavery in Africa today than ever existed in colonial America. A simple perusal of the many humanitarian agencies working in Africa will establish that the slave trade is alive and well on the continent of Africa, but there is a twist. Today (and for some decades, at least) there are literally millions of black Africans held in slavery by.....wait for it.....black Africans. Of course, those held in slavery are mostly women and children, and the type of slavery ranges from prostitution to work farms for political leaders, but the Reverend Wright shouldn't be bothered with such facts, right? Maybe this is part of the "culture" there and we shouldn't interfere. Again - rubbish. No one truly knows how many slaves were bought and sold in colonial America, but the numbers are generally believed to be below one million. Also, fully 90% of all white Americans alive during our slavery history could not afford to own even one slave, let alone many. What did happen is that many white farmers would "rent out" black slaves held by a few very wealthy white owners to help on their farms during peak work times. And the number of white Americans who would refuse to own a slave, even if their finances allowed, was 10 times more than those who ever owned or rented a slave.
4. Speaking of Africa, genocide is a large part of the fabric of life in Africa, even to this present day. When was the last time genocide was experienced in America? Oh wait....um.....NEVER. Well, to be honest, abortion is our only foray into genocide, but that happens across all racial and economic boundaries. The Reverend Wright made comments that the Bush administration and white America has been practicing "genocide" via the Iraq war, and the drug trade. Rubbish, rubbish, and more rubbish. Perhaps the highly experienced Mr. Obama could make another trip to Kenya and view the vast mass graves of all the Kenyians who were slaughtered in past months because they were not Muslim. Perhaps he and his chap Mr. Wright would like to go together, and take a pleasant tour of Sudan and count all the corpses who met their fate at the hands of other black Africans. Instead......SILENCE. Why? Could it be that there would be nothing to say or feel other than shame? Double standard, indeed.
5. The leading cause of death among young black males between the ages of 15 and 23 is other black males. You got it Rev., murder! Young Black males are far more likely to meet their demise at the hands of another black male than any other form of death. This sobering statistic has been true for decades as well, but somehow, the apologetic liberal press refuses to publish such information. The black American community knows it well, but refuses to talk about it too. Wonder why? Who would be to blame then?
The Reverend Wright, who is undoubtedly paid VERY well by the members of his church, and who lives in a very comfortable home and drives a nice car and can afford insurance, groceries, and clothing as well as any other American making an annual income exceeding the national average, finds it almost impossible to stomach this great nation that sends more aid, more missionaries, and more resources in general to those people of the world who are most starving and destitute, including his preferred "home" of Africa. Funny, he has visited his alleged "home," but refuses to move there and prosper as he has here in America. Wonder why? Could it be that he knows that the opportunities he has had here, and the freedom, and the predominately Christian environment does not exist anywhere in Africa? (maybe he knows more than he lets on!)
White Americans are going to HAVE to stop apologizing for being white, and they are also going to have to stop fretting over what a few of their ancient ancestors may or may have not done to or with slaves in colonial America. The black American community has yelled loud and long, and so loud and long that it may be that they have lost sight of the radical changes on their behalf that white America has initiated. Black Americans are also going to have to come to a point where they stop blaming all their ills on the white leadership that runs America and look to within their own race for solutions and answers.
The Reverend Wright (recently "retired," with his church under investigation by the IRS...hmmm) is an angry, ignorant black bigot who needs to get a new perspective and some sound education, or he needs to buy himself a one-way ticket to his "homeland" and see what kind of life he can eek out there. One way or the other -- but that kind of radical, hate-filled racism cannot and should not be tolerated in America.
And the Wrights of this nation had better watch out too -- that so-called reverse racism, when exposed for what it is, and exposed for it's far reaching pervasiveness, will awaken a huge, white giant that will not be pleasant.
As for Obama, at the time of this writing: Funny how he has taken a page directly from the Clinton playbook for policical posturing -- deny, lie, misspeak, and distance.
BHO will be eating those words soon. Bon appetite!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
How NO Can Be Positive
Children are not designed to raise their parents.
This basic premise seemingly is lost among America's parents, at least for the past 3 decades. Ever since America became industrialized, families began moving from the farms to the cities to work, and then around the late 50's, those families began spreading out into urban areas to live where there was more room and cheaper land. This is now what we call the suburbs. With all this moving from farms to the 'burbs, and the relative enrichment of the average American family, came a trend where parents had less contact with their children, and their children had less contact with any kind of responsible work around the home (or farm). In the past 2 decades, one would be hard pressed to find more than 1 in 1000 children to youth-aged children who have ever performed a "chore." Whereas in pre-1940 America a child might work side by side with their parent(s) around the homestead for upwards of 4 hours a day, in post 1960 America, the average child has less than 30 minutes of meaningful contact with either parent a day. It is how even that meger time is spent that is the most disturbing.
The trend in parenting today is to ask the child for advice, direction, and permission, which is exactly opposite of the way it is supposed to be. Quick reference to the previous paragraph would require the need for clarification in that, while families of the past spent more time together, including working together (on farms, etc.), that was no guarantee that all children of the past were reared in a more orthodox fashion. However, having great exposure to the "builder generation," this author can attest to the evidence of traditional, orthodox parenting among those raised prior to the 1950's. Another way of saying this is: among the builder generation, children who ruled over their parents were as unusual as polka dotted zebra's. Hard to find.
Unorthodox parenting is based upon the situation where children are greatly involved in their own rearing, including decision making. This comes about from parents who have shallow resources to pull from for parenting skills, and their deficit of skills is greater than that of their parents. You see, the more financially prosperous America becomes, the more lax and detached parents become, and the more children suffer from too much prosperity, too little work, and too many decisions to make as a child. This article is not an attempt to blame prosperity for spoiled, lazy, and disrespectful children, but merely to show an obvious correlation.
Orthodox parenting understands that the adult parent is in charge of all facets of the child's life, and therefore makes all the decisions for that child, based upon their greater wisdom and intelligence. Orthodox parenting is geared totally towards preparing the child for a responsible, productive adult hood, even if that means the child has to "endure" temporary loss of freedom or delayed satisfaction. Orthodox parenting knows full well that if the child is left to decide, they will almost always, in almost all situations, choose what is easiest, quickest, and least beneficial for them, based upon immediate need gratification and limited knowledge.
Unorthodox parenting is based upon the need to quiet or appease the child in their time of need, which as it turns out, is just about 24/7. This type of parenting shares the child's lack of vision into the future, and merely tries to deal with the here and now. Unorthodox parenting puts the child's immediate needs far above their future needs, and simply "hopes" the future will come to them in a safe, sensible way, with all problems smoothing out in the process.
Unorthodox parents tend to:
This basic premise seemingly is lost among America's parents, at least for the past 3 decades. Ever since America became industrialized, families began moving from the farms to the cities to work, and then around the late 50's, those families began spreading out into urban areas to live where there was more room and cheaper land. This is now what we call the suburbs. With all this moving from farms to the 'burbs, and the relative enrichment of the average American family, came a trend where parents had less contact with their children, and their children had less contact with any kind of responsible work around the home (or farm). In the past 2 decades, one would be hard pressed to find more than 1 in 1000 children to youth-aged children who have ever performed a "chore." Whereas in pre-1940 America a child might work side by side with their parent(s) around the homestead for upwards of 4 hours a day, in post 1960 America, the average child has less than 30 minutes of meaningful contact with either parent a day. It is how even that meger time is spent that is the most disturbing.
The trend in parenting today is to ask the child for advice, direction, and permission, which is exactly opposite of the way it is supposed to be. Quick reference to the previous paragraph would require the need for clarification in that, while families of the past spent more time together, including working together (on farms, etc.), that was no guarantee that all children of the past were reared in a more orthodox fashion. However, having great exposure to the "builder generation," this author can attest to the evidence of traditional, orthodox parenting among those raised prior to the 1950's. Another way of saying this is: among the builder generation, children who ruled over their parents were as unusual as polka dotted zebra's. Hard to find.
Unorthodox parenting is based upon the situation where children are greatly involved in their own rearing, including decision making. This comes about from parents who have shallow resources to pull from for parenting skills, and their deficit of skills is greater than that of their parents. You see, the more financially prosperous America becomes, the more lax and detached parents become, and the more children suffer from too much prosperity, too little work, and too many decisions to make as a child. This article is not an attempt to blame prosperity for spoiled, lazy, and disrespectful children, but merely to show an obvious correlation.
Orthodox parenting understands that the adult parent is in charge of all facets of the child's life, and therefore makes all the decisions for that child, based upon their greater wisdom and intelligence. Orthodox parenting is geared totally towards preparing the child for a responsible, productive adult hood, even if that means the child has to "endure" temporary loss of freedom or delayed satisfaction. Orthodox parenting knows full well that if the child is left to decide, they will almost always, in almost all situations, choose what is easiest, quickest, and least beneficial for them, based upon immediate need gratification and limited knowledge.
Unorthodox parenting is based upon the need to quiet or appease the child in their time of need, which as it turns out, is just about 24/7. This type of parenting shares the child's lack of vision into the future, and merely tries to deal with the here and now. Unorthodox parenting puts the child's immediate needs far above their future needs, and simply "hopes" the future will come to them in a safe, sensible way, with all problems smoothing out in the process.
Unorthodox parents tend to:
- Ask the child what they want to eat
- Ask the child what they want to wear
- Ask the child if they want to be punished
- Ask the child to be nice
- Ask the child to listen to them
- Ask the child to help around the house in vague, indefinite ways
- Be inconsistent in punishment and enforcement
- Whine to their children when they misbehave
- Attempt to strike deals with their children
- Break down easily and give in to the child's demands
- Try to "buy" love from their children by offering gifts or lienency
- Avoid "embarassing" their children at all costs
- See only good in their own child, but all the flaws in other children
- Accept disrespect and hatred from their children
- Give up and walk away from situations where the child is pressing an issue
- Display no real skills in parenting
Orthodox parents tend to:
- TELL their child what to eat, feeding them sound nutritionally balanced meals
- Tell their child what to wear, enforcing decency and good taste
- Tell their child the rules for punishment, and then stick to them
- Tell their children to behave
- Expect comformity to their rules and regulations
- Understand that no child will repeatedly choose what is best for them
- Set boundaries that only benefit the child in the long run
- Say no, mean no, and stick to no when "no" is the appropriate answer
- Understand that they are in charge, and not the child
- Let their children know that they as parents do not live for their children, but are merely responsible for raising them properly so they can move on and be responsible adults
- Allow loving discipline to win the child over, not temporary gifts
- Be determined to make their child see that they are not the center of the universe, but merely another "cog in the wheel" of life, and should always act accordingly
- Teach their children to always respect adults, especially seniors
Quite a contrast, isn't it? But who raises their children by the points of the second, orthodox list? Very few indeed, which is why we now live in a generation of selfish, disrespectful, lazy, immoral, and short sighted adults and children who will, in turn, raise children worse than themselves.
God help us.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Exalted
Super Bowl 42 is now history, and history keeps repeating itself.
In this much lauded pantheon of pigskin portentions, a single victor emerges, and a single, vanquished team leaves the field of play defeated and dejected. Amid all the chaff and celebration, a single player and solitary coach are lifted to the podium set in the middle of the field, as announcers grope for the proper words to celebrate these proxies representing the entire organization that now basks in the glow of fading glory.
Does anyone see beyond the lights? Does anyone reason further than the statistics? Does anyone question the real significance of it all?
The NY Giants truly played a giant of a game, defeating the seemingly undefeatable New England Patriots in the super-fest we call the Super Bowl. Further analogizing the Giant theme, shades of David and Goliath could be seen in the pre-game musings over who would surely be the victor, and who would be defeated. And who could argue with the recent historical evidence? The Patriots were having a cinderella season, with 16 victories, and no defeats in their season. They had proven to be a formidable force in the NFL, showing almost effortless ability to win against any foe, using their seemingly endless roster of talent at will. Much like the Mike Tyson of old, they walked into the ring of competition with visible confidence and unrestrained ability. As the season unfolded, opposing teams quit asking if they could win, and began asking themselves how to lessen the impact of their given loss to the 'Pats. They were truly the golden child of the '07 season.
The Giants, by comparison, struggled early with two consecutive losses and trouble brewing in the upper ranks of management. As sports writers are known to do, there were early rumblings of a troubled and loss-ridden season for the Giants. However, true to their blue-collar metaphor, they dug in, began to play as a team, and eeked out victory after victory. As post season approached, they were not the favored team to win their conference, but even then, they rose to the occassion and found themselves looking like the spoilers who stole a heady invitation to the game's biggest party. We'll call them the Rocky Balboa's of '07: quaint, raw, awkward, but determined.
The details of the game will be forgotten by both time and this author, but the analogies that present themselves in relation to life in general must be explored, for they are too profound to ignore.
Modern American sports exist to laud and exalt victory. In more recent decades, the American and world public find themselves in a constant search for a hero to exalt above all else, for it is not enough to praise a winning team, but we must also (at least here in the western part of the world) find that one individual on a team to praise above all else. It would seem that those who "bring us the news" cannot focus upon a team, so they search for someone, a lone person, to pin all their ink upon for the consuming public. We should be insulted at such poor logic, but instead, the public follows along like a donkey chasing the proverbial carrot. Is it not enough that only the ultimate victor gets all the attention, but we also have to pull from a talented team the supposed pinnacle of their talent, in the form of one person?
It says something very disturbing about American culture, this endless search for "the top" athlete and team. It begs more questions than the unthinking masses want answered.
Tom Brady, quarterback of the Patriots, was spoken of more often than anyone else in the organization, from the coach, to the owner, to all the other players. When all the comments and comparisions and air time his face received are added up, one would assume that he was the team, and all the other uniformed men were there just to make him look good. But he's not the first to receive these accolades, and he will certainly not be the last. But to spend too much time on this particular subject is not the focus of this article.
All of the victories of this past season prepared the Patriots for only one thing: further victories. They forgot how to lose. Matter of fact, given that the sentiment described above is accepted by most in the NFL, few teams or individuals are prepared to lose. Wise 'ol Andy Griffith once said to Opey, "Winnin's easy....it's losing that builds character." Andy was right, but no one in American sports is listening to him, and even fewer of the millions of sports fans are either.
In our "Winning is Everthing" society, we are losing more than just a few lessons. We are losing our ability to accept life as it is, with victories and defeats boardering the road of life. We are foregoing valuable lessons that help to mold us into better people, and a better culture. We are exalting one another, rather than the one God and Lord who only deserves such a place in our lives.
Tom Brady may be a fine man, but he looked utterly confused and average, if you will, when faced with an on-slaught of fierce defensive linemen who were determined to give him a helmet headache. Eli Manning, who must tire of the monkey on his back, looked like what he really is in football, and that is -- an average athlete who continues to try while becoming incrementially better at his position. He was unprepared to be the victor, and Brady unprepared to be the loser. But both men deserve appropriate accolades for playing well within their respective teams, and for making it as far as the super bowl. And so the question: Why do we not view these games in this way, rather than "victor takes all?"
It all goes back to being exalted. We, as humans, were not designed and created to EVER be exalted. In fact, you might say that being exalted is the antithesis of our very nature. We were created to exalt the one true God, and to be instruments of praise and adoration towards our creator and Savior. In reality, we were designed to be devoid of any praise or adoration ourselves, and so when we seek to exalt one another, or even ourselves, we are committing a heinous sin against God, mainly in the form of idolatry. This goes for even something like exalting a president, a quarterback, or an entertainer. Look at the lives of certain young, female singers to witness the ill effects of exaltation upon them and their health. In short, exaltation for humans is caustic at best, idolatry at worst. We are to project the praise (towards God) and never to receive it. Not even from each other.
Lessons learned from the recent super bowl?
2. No one, anywhere, wins all the time. To be unprepared to lose is to live outside of reality.
3. There really is no "I" in TEAM. Here in America, we would do well to celebrate the collective effort than to exalt the select individual.
4. No human is ever to be exalted. We were not designed to receive praise, and if we attempt to do so, we void our warranty, as it were.
5. Ultimate victory (as we try to define it) is a fairy tale soon forgotten, devoid of meaning or substance. What lasts is the character that is built as we each strive towards achieving the goals (hopefully) God has set before us. It's all those bumps and bruises that refine us, and not the victories. In reality, a supposed victory is in the travel, not the destination.
6. When, will we as a society, begin to see striving and work ethic as and end unto itself? Will we lose anything if we forego the notion that all things must end in a final showdown?
7. Another year, and another super bowl. May it be a year when fewer exalt one, and more exalt the only One worthy of our praise.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The Ideal World
Aristotle's Golden Mean philosophy touted that the middle ground was the place where the better good could be found in any disparate disagreement. He felt that in most cases, if a disagreement could be plotted on a line, the best compromise would be somewhere in the middle, rather than on either end of the extreme. This is a rather basic human reaction that avoids extremism and embraces unity, so no prize to Aristotle for being terribly innovative.
In the political world here in the U.S., our traditional two party system has often been at odds with each other, but rarely have the opposite ends of the spectrum been so far removed from one another. In a political field where both sides are hosting runners leaning unnervingly to the left, there is a voting public that is growing ever more polarized on issues that tend to encourage such. While blue and red candidates try to posture themselves as liberal or conservative, using hackneyed tools that long ago should have been abandoned, the American public is waging their own campaign for liberal and conservative positions in churches, schools, and city halls. It is almost as if the public, and the people hoping to represent them one day from the oval office, are at opposite ends of a spectrum too.
One only has to peruse the various right and left wing Internet news outlets to see that a ground level war is being fought for rights to speech, assembly, and expression. Every day, news blogs are pregnant with stories of Christian pastors and activists who have been arrested, imprisoned, fined, and harassed for sharing their faith, telling their story, or speaking their view on any social issue. A pastor in Wichita Kansas was arrested this past summer for walking on a side walk while a so-called "gay fest" was being held in a park bordered by this same side walk. He was not shouting, name calling, expressing lewd gestures, or intoxicated, unlike many of the participants in the "gay fest." A youth in a high school in Colorado was suspended because he ignored threats of punishment if he did not cease to wear T shirts with Christian logo's on them. When he cited the fact that students routinely wore T shirts with alcohol and drug logo's on them, he was told that the school made policy, and not him, and maybe he needed to find a school that accepted his "radical" beliefs. A Christian in North Carolina made a habit of speaking to patrons walking in to the local Abortion clinic on the sidewalk, encouraging them to consider another choice. He was breaking no laws, but when the boyfriend of one patron decided to assail this Christian, the assailant was not only allowed to get away by local police, but was never charged with a crime. Stories far worse than these are as common place in America today as hamburgers. Meanwhile, gay activist groups, ACLU junkies, and atheists are protected, encouraged, and forgiven cart Blanch by law enforcement, judges, and lawyers, while they rail on, sometimes physically, largely unchecked, as they attempt to beat into society their radical, liberal views and beliefs. There is no longer any "Bible thumping" going on in America; soon it may be considered a crime to carry one.
Are the politicians paying attention to this ever-widening chasm between those that are politically, socially, and morally liberal and conservative? Do they have any clue that America is losing its moral compass, while extreme liberal groups and individuals gain a huge voice in public forums, news outlets, and judicial institutions? Can it be that Clinton, Huckabee, and Obama (to name a few still in it) seek to find that Golden Mean, hoping that in the middle, they can secure success?
The obvious answer is that for at least the past 4 decades, politicians running for President have always tried to doctor up their actual position on the liberal/ conservative continuum so as to look centrist, when in fact, most have a permanent residence closer to the extremes. Hillary has never in her life stepped foot within a hundred miles of the middle of the political road. Obama touts himself as the change agent, and yet his true political stances (the few he has revealed in his dearth of political history) are overtly old school liberal. Huckabee, McCain, and Giuliani all would be considered liberal conservatives by the conservative base, and yet they speak often of Reagan as if they are following in his footsteps.
The problem with watering down the image and message is that as politicians seek that elusive Golden Mean, they are being both dishonest and cowardly. It used to be said in political circles that in order to be elected, a candidate from either party needed the flexibility to reach those in the middle of the political spectrum while maintaining a grip on those at the end. That exercise was almost always a losing proposition, as those in the middle weren't fooled, and the base wasn't humored. So, why do politicians, even in this current election epoch, refuse to come out and be forthright, honest, and proud of their true political address? Maybe they don't feel they can trust the American people to honor their honesty. And maybe that says something about the state of those who portend to represent us.
America, like a big slab of concrete, has already passed the cracking stage, and now has entered the separation phase, where opposing sides begin to move away from each other, allowing the chasm to widen and deepen. As politicians run polls to try to determine which side offers them more potential votes, they are losing sight of the bigger picture: someone, from one party or the other, is going to have to live up to their false advertising and seek to bring unity to this nation, using the basic tenets of the constitution as their foremost tool, rather than use the office of president to smear their private, political leanings upon the face of those they represent. America can stand fights among left and right wing political extremists, but it cannot stand a growing gap between extreme views in the public sector.
In an ideal world, a conservative (or liberal) politician would state openly their true views, without shame, and then promise to govern according to those views while they seek to work with everyone who does not share them.
Maybe that's the same ideal scenario every citizen needs to adopt.
In the political world here in the U.S., our traditional two party system has often been at odds with each other, but rarely have the opposite ends of the spectrum been so far removed from one another. In a political field where both sides are hosting runners leaning unnervingly to the left, there is a voting public that is growing ever more polarized on issues that tend to encourage such. While blue and red candidates try to posture themselves as liberal or conservative, using hackneyed tools that long ago should have been abandoned, the American public is waging their own campaign for liberal and conservative positions in churches, schools, and city halls. It is almost as if the public, and the people hoping to represent them one day from the oval office, are at opposite ends of a spectrum too.
One only has to peruse the various right and left wing Internet news outlets to see that a ground level war is being fought for rights to speech, assembly, and expression. Every day, news blogs are pregnant with stories of Christian pastors and activists who have been arrested, imprisoned, fined, and harassed for sharing their faith, telling their story, or speaking their view on any social issue. A pastor in Wichita Kansas was arrested this past summer for walking on a side walk while a so-called "gay fest" was being held in a park bordered by this same side walk. He was not shouting, name calling, expressing lewd gestures, or intoxicated, unlike many of the participants in the "gay fest." A youth in a high school in Colorado was suspended because he ignored threats of punishment if he did not cease to wear T shirts with Christian logo's on them. When he cited the fact that students routinely wore T shirts with alcohol and drug logo's on them, he was told that the school made policy, and not him, and maybe he needed to find a school that accepted his "radical" beliefs. A Christian in North Carolina made a habit of speaking to patrons walking in to the local Abortion clinic on the sidewalk, encouraging them to consider another choice. He was breaking no laws, but when the boyfriend of one patron decided to assail this Christian, the assailant was not only allowed to get away by local police, but was never charged with a crime. Stories far worse than these are as common place in America today as hamburgers. Meanwhile, gay activist groups, ACLU junkies, and atheists are protected, encouraged, and forgiven cart Blanch by law enforcement, judges, and lawyers, while they rail on, sometimes physically, largely unchecked, as they attempt to beat into society their radical, liberal views and beliefs. There is no longer any "Bible thumping" going on in America; soon it may be considered a crime to carry one.
Are the politicians paying attention to this ever-widening chasm between those that are politically, socially, and morally liberal and conservative? Do they have any clue that America is losing its moral compass, while extreme liberal groups and individuals gain a huge voice in public forums, news outlets, and judicial institutions? Can it be that Clinton, Huckabee, and Obama (to name a few still in it) seek to find that Golden Mean, hoping that in the middle, they can secure success?
The obvious answer is that for at least the past 4 decades, politicians running for President have always tried to doctor up their actual position on the liberal/ conservative continuum so as to look centrist, when in fact, most have a permanent residence closer to the extremes. Hillary has never in her life stepped foot within a hundred miles of the middle of the political road. Obama touts himself as the change agent, and yet his true political stances (the few he has revealed in his dearth of political history) are overtly old school liberal. Huckabee, McCain, and Giuliani all would be considered liberal conservatives by the conservative base, and yet they speak often of Reagan as if they are following in his footsteps.
The problem with watering down the image and message is that as politicians seek that elusive Golden Mean, they are being both dishonest and cowardly. It used to be said in political circles that in order to be elected, a candidate from either party needed the flexibility to reach those in the middle of the political spectrum while maintaining a grip on those at the end. That exercise was almost always a losing proposition, as those in the middle weren't fooled, and the base wasn't humored. So, why do politicians, even in this current election epoch, refuse to come out and be forthright, honest, and proud of their true political address? Maybe they don't feel they can trust the American people to honor their honesty. And maybe that says something about the state of those who portend to represent us.
America, like a big slab of concrete, has already passed the cracking stage, and now has entered the separation phase, where opposing sides begin to move away from each other, allowing the chasm to widen and deepen. As politicians run polls to try to determine which side offers them more potential votes, they are losing sight of the bigger picture: someone, from one party or the other, is going to have to live up to their false advertising and seek to bring unity to this nation, using the basic tenets of the constitution as their foremost tool, rather than use the office of president to smear their private, political leanings upon the face of those they represent. America can stand fights among left and right wing political extremists, but it cannot stand a growing gap between extreme views in the public sector.
In an ideal world, a conservative (or liberal) politician would state openly their true views, without shame, and then promise to govern according to those views while they seek to work with everyone who does not share them.
Maybe that's the same ideal scenario every citizen needs to adopt.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)