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January 31, 2014

Unclean, Unclean.....

[Sharp Eyed Watch, 2013, JA Van Devender]

Deuteronomy 14:7–8 (NKJV)

⁷Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. ⁸Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.

From Wikipedia " Rabbit Fever" F. tularensis

F. tularensis has been identified as the cause of human outbreaks in ancient Canaan in about 1715 BC and in 1075 BC. A long-lasting epidemic that plagued the eastern Mediterranean in the 14th century BC was also traced back to a focus in Canaan along the Arwad-Euphrates trading route. According to Siro I. Trevisanato, this epidemic contaminated an area stretching from Cyprus to Iraq, and from Palestine to Syria, sparing Egypt (due to a quarantine) and Anatolia (owing to effective political boundaries). Subsequently, wars are believed to have spread the same disease into central Anatolia, from whence it was deliberately introduced into western Anatolia, in acts constituting the first known record of biological warfare. Finally, Aegean soldiers fighting in western Anatolia returned home to their Greek islands, further spreading the same epidemic.

I did some hunting when I was growing up but, strangely enough, I was hesitant to hunt rabbits. No, contra Jimmy Carter's famous "attack of the killer rabbit", I was not afraid of being bitten by the fuzzy little critters, but the folk wisdom of my day made it sound like every third one of them would be infested by "wolves" (parasitic worm like organisms that spoiled the meat) or would kill you with "rabbit fever." This last was particularly scary to me because, again - folk wisdom, said that when you gutted the bunny that if it had the fever by then it was too late... you were infected and, of course pessimistic as I was, death was inevitable. It didn't seem to stop my dad. He had an old carbide coal miners head-lamp that he would wear as he went out at dusk and when he saw their beady little eyes sparkling in the beam, well, that was all she wrote. He lived until his eighties but I still don't like the idea of skinning a wild rabbit.

The Wikipedia article above supports the Deuteronomic injunction pretty well. Just about the time that Moses was reading the people of Israel God's riot act, the area was being plagued with rabbit fever. Who knows, God may have decimated those awful "giants" in Palestine that so scared the Israeli spies with a brand of biological warfare such that the Israelites could have walked all over them if their faith had been stronger. The bottom line of all this is, of course, that those old "clean/unclean" laws were not trivial, "merely" ceremonial components of God's providential care for His people.

Famously Jesus came to transition God's people into a New Covenant relation with their Creator/Father God. It was not a uniquely new Covenant but an extensively new one. The out pouring of the Holy Spirit was to be unto all nations and therefore the physically distinctive aspects of God's law, that which formed a boundary between Israelites and Gentiles, the wall of separation spoken of by Paul, were discarded. God's people were no longer to be distinct from those outside the pale by their physical circumcision, their dietary laws, their manner of dress and their Levitical worship. No, now God's people were to be distinguished by their active faith, the outworking of the Holy Spirit separating the sheep from the goats through the changed heart and dispositions that God's grace imparted to them. Interestingly this was brought home to Peter when he visited Cornelius' house in Acts and it was not Paul, but Peter who first enunciated God's changed relations with the world. This further highlights Peters sin which Paul confronted in Galatians.

The bottom line... it's no longer a matter of breaking God's law for me to eat a wild rabbit (or a domestic one), which still doesn't mean that it is a good idea.

I think the freedom that we have in Christ dictates that similar types of "judgment calls" be consciously undertaken throughout the spheres of our lives. Not everything that is lawful is wise. There is a place for a modified "clean/unclean" distinction in our Christian walk also. We know that such things cannot separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus but there is an obedience that should flow out of us that registers in "what is best for my Master?", "How can I serve Him best in this or that?".... Subjectively, this can sometimes include avoiding some things that are not, in and of themselves prohibited by God's law. There are some "games" that are more prone to dishonoring God than others. There is a difference between a "high stakes" poker game and a friendly "penny-ante" evening out with "the boys." If you have never put down a sizable bet on a poker hand then you are probably better off for not having done so. The energy/fear that accompanies such a bet is pretty far removed from trusting God and the passions that control you when the bet is lost ain't pretty.

I don't think it absolutely sinful to appreciate certain artistic representations of the human body... however, I find Donatello's "David" repulsive while I am not uncomfortable with Michaelangelo's "David" at all. The first appeals to prurient interests almost entirely... the second, not so much, though I would not have a copy in my house of it either. Bernini's is a far better portrayal. The point is not trivial.

It is not "legalism" to consciously orient one's life along lines of "these things I can do without real concern... those things I cannot in anyway pursue... and in the middle are things which are subjectively, contextually determined." Sometimes we may actually find it God glorifying to undertake a course of action which in other circumstances would not do so at all.

The basic idea is this: God's righteous law, summarized in the Ten Commandments, furnish us with the outer boundary of actions and pursuits which must not be violated because to do so will not bring glory to our God at all. If we have been crucified in Christ then the law has no condemnation for us but it still functions to delimit our sphere of possible actions. That doesn't mean however that everything else is "hunky-dory". Judgments still have to be made within the sphere of God's lawful boundary. We ought to give a bit more thought perhaps to the principle of "clean/unclean" distinctions which should still be part of our visible witness to the world about us.

note bene: K. Barth has an excellent discussion on this approach to "law keeping" in his discussion of the Sermon on the Mount, Church Dogmatics, II.2 p. 685ff.

Posted by Gadfly on January 31, 2014 at 08:36 AM in Culture, Movies, etc., Discipleship, Ethics | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 30, 2014

An "Affluenza" Epidemic

[Image: Contrast, 2013, JA Van Devender]

Matthew 19:23–24 (NKJV)

²³Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. ²⁴And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Rich Kid Spared Jail In Horrific Crash

In all, 11 people were injured. (Four dead) Local authorities said the crash scene was the most horrific they've encountered. A witness for the defense, psychologist Dr. G. Dick Miller, blamed the boy's parents.

Miller testified that Couch was the troubled product of a broken home who got whatever he wanted from his wealthy parents and didn't understand consequences. Miller called the teen a victim of "affluenza," a rich-kid syndrome that led him to believe money solved everything.

Well, I suppose there is actually a measure of sense to this ruling allowing the kid to face 10 years of probation rather than 20 years in jail, contingent upon finishing a "rehabilitation" program in Southern California. I would grant an even larger measure of sense to it if the court had hauled his parents in, convicted them of criminal negligence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, fined them of virtually all their worldly possessions and then sent them to jail for 10 years or so. There's plenty of Biblical precedent for holding the parents responsibile for their children and someone, somewhere ought to be justly convicted for the prior theft, the debauched drinking and the subsequent injury and loss of life that transpired here.

The kid's defense was that he was a victim... that he was evidently controlled by the "affluenza" syndrome that lead him to believe money can "solve" anything... evidently it did in this instance, he's not in jail. Sad, beyon belief sad... and all too emblematic of a crazed social condition and obsession with material values.

Let's take "affluenza" out of the category of metaphor and posit it as a real syndrome. What would be its symptoms and cause. Symptomatically we would expect a fixed obsession with material prosperity as the root and measure of human life. Some dictator, I think it was Stalin, was asked about how he thought the Pope might react to his policies. Stalin asked "The Pope? How many divisions does he have?" - referring sarcastically to the Pope's lack of military forces. "Affluenza" measures everything by the supposed idea that worldly power, usually registered in wealth, is the only true reality and that all else is not only subordinate to it but ultimately determined by it. "Might makes right" and "History is written by the victors" are platitudes reflecting this root idea.

Every tribe and nation on this planet is afflicted with this syndrome. It is not only the wealthy that fall prey to it, the jealous poor are just as prone to its basic premises. Whether it is the arrogant son of an even more arrogant rich father or the servile, fauning flatter who hopes to manipulate those with the riches, the same evil impetus is at work. It is the god Mammon that controls their thinking and, unless the idol is smashed, will control their destiny.

The Kingdom of God is not closed to those who have this malady... but for those who are deeply infected it is, as Jesus said, hard for them to enter its gates. It is just so thoroughly embedded in our psyche. It is the lens through which we even view heaven, casting our vision in terms of "streets of gold." We remember the comedian who once said "I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better" and we nod amused agreement. To be poor is, in our mind, to be cursed... it is a condition of inferiority... it is obviously an indicator of failure... even our integrity is questioned because it is assumed that "karma" brings poverty on those who deserve it.

Over and against all such symptomatic ravings stands the Savior's razor sharp truth: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God." Affluenza is the very opposite of being "poor in spirit". In fact, the cure for affluenza is and only can be "poverty in spirit" whether reflected in total absence of material possessions or not.

What this kid needs is not a rehabilitation clinic is Southern California. What this kid, and his parents, needs is a face to face confrontation with the living Christ, the Son of God, who is judge of all the world. He needs to face the reality of Hell and recognize that there is no material wealth that will purchase an individual even a taste of water in it, as evidenced by the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. This young man needs to see this world in terms of its Creator and his own life in terms of the One who can not only deprive him of his life but judge his soul immediately upon taking it from him.

These parents need to recognize that the gift of life given them in their son was as a measure of value, given to them by the true owner, who expects a return on investment and who will very much hold them to account for what they did with it when they had opportunity.

The Judge of all the world will do right. There is grace there... but it is conditional upon being cured of affluenza.

Posted by Gadfly on January 30, 2014 at 10:23 AM in Commentary, Culture, Movies, etc., Current Affairs, Discipleship | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 29, 2014

Dry & Barren Land....

[Barren Land, 2013, JA Van Devender]

Psalm 68:6

....the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

Judging from the news reports there were no surprises last night. In the President's State of the Union he declared that "wars and rumors of wars" will continue, that there are no prospects for cooperation amongst our elected leaders, and since all things will remain fixed in ideological divide, he will stubbornly attempt to do what he can get away with under the real or imagined latitude that he claims is his in "executive privilege".

In reading the reports of his remarks I was saddened by his continued attempts to reframe perceptions about recent world events. A man who has continually diminished our military options claimed that it was "American diplomacy backed by the threat of force" which forced Syria to give up its chemical weapons. This is astonishing chutzpah and blatant misdirection, if we simply remember the "lines drawn in the sand" that were repeatedly crossed with no visible repercussions at all. As Russia and China rattled their sabers and made it clear that they would not sit by if we put boots on the ground, he simply retreated into silence. As was well understood by the Syrian regime, the rebels fighting against it, and every other observing power, this president would not resort to military force in the Syrian situation. He didn't do it in Libya when our own people died and he had no intention of doing it there. There was no credible threat of force behind American diplomacy. The void was filled by Putin and Russia lays claim, legitimately, to the 'glory' of destroyed chemical weapons. A similar analysis would apply to his other claim about Iran's alleged concessions at the negotiating table. Iran is now the major player in the mid-East. That is the net effect that has culminated after ten years of warfare, billions in treasure and thousands of lives were simply written off. There is no honor to be found in his administration's handling of the Iranian situation.

That all being said, it is the accentuated policy of executive privilege that is my greatest concern. Once it becomes engrained, through precedent, that fiat power is at the president's disposal, then it is not a very great step to reduce the other branches to irrelevance. This is exactly what happened in the Roman empire when the first Caesars essentially arrogated to themselves the power of fiat (imperial) decree. Whether we agree with what this president does with this power or not, his emphasized policy in doing so should be roundly rejected, out of hand, by each of the other branches of government and every bureaucrat in government should disobey the orders as they come down.

This position, taken by this president, constitutes a major shift in the practice of government in this country. It is not the number of instances in which he has invoked this authority that is at issue. I know that other presidents have used it, perhaps more often. The difference is entirely that of what constraints are imposed on the power. Previous presidents have exercised this authority within a very narrow and generally constitutional mandate. Those constraints are what this president is proposing to cast aside. That is, or should be, a very scary thought.

I look at the political landscape and it appears barren of any immediate prospect of refreshment. This president is desperate to close out his presidency with something other than a "failed" adjective in front of it. That is a scary thought because desperate men will resort to desperate measures.

Posted by Gadfly on January 29, 2014 at 09:24 AM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 28, 2014

He Had A Hammer.... Pete Seeger, RIP

[image: Against The Wall, 2012, JA Van Devender]

Ezekiel 33:31–33 (NKJV)

³¹So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; .... ³²Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. ³³And when this comes to pass—surely it will come—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

He, or at least his music, was as much a part of our atmosphere as the scent of pine trees and woodsmoke themselves. We grew up with "If I Had a Hammer..." [see and hear it HERE], the bitter-sweet lyrics of "Where have all the flowers gone..." sensitized an entire generation to the futility that attends ill managed war, and "Turn, Turn, Turn" will forever haunt my mind as I read Ecclesiastes 3. The darling of the Hippies, he was pretty much not one. Rather, he was just "one of us" with a different take on life. At different times he wore skinny suits and skinnier black ties set against a rumpled white shirt that never knew an iron. His blue jeans showed just enough ankle to show that white socks were never out of place even with black shoes. It was not a cowboy hat that covered his head, though his music was sung by countless twangy, nasal disciples who did. His identity was with the working poor.... or better yet, the poor that wanted a job, wanted to be left alone to work their job, and he did not have any truck with those who took advantage of them.

He was, in his own way, a prophet, a preacher and a problem (with a head nod to the lyrics of the Kris Kristofferson song). His religion was essentially that of Emerson, filled with the spiritualism of the deep woods and not much else, and his politics was that of sympathy, and equally, not much else. There is no mistaking his courage. To stand at the height of World War II when Jim Crow and the KKK were very much alive, and to exhort people to "lick Mr. Hitler" so that we can turn to the imperfections of this country and make it such that never again would someone be told "You can't ride this train 'cause you're a Negro" was walking a fine line indeed. He was essentially telling us, the American people, that while Hitler had to be stopped, that we needed to address the plank in our own eye also before we got all puffed up about it.

That took guts... no wonder that later on he ran afoul of McCarthy and his witch hunters.

Prophets are either loved or hated... rarely are they listened to. Like the passage above where the musician plays the song and sings the lyrics but the people hear the words but do not do them, it took blood, anger and generations of bitterness before Seeger's basic message became the prevailing wisdom. He was honored, feted and guaranteed a place in the highest eschelons of musical respect and he lived to see some of his dreams come approximately true.

He represented well an America that is passing with him, when honest common sense spoke truth that could not be ignored even if it wasn't obeyed.

I commend his spirit to the Judge of all mankind as all that can be done. There are honest sinners in this world whose lives have added to the texture of our journey. Seeger was one and all I can do is pray for the Lord to have mercy on his soul.

Thanks Pete for caring... and singing... and making a difference... even if it took a long, long time to bear fruit.

RIP

Posted by Gadfly on January 28, 2014 at 09:16 AM in Culture, Movies, etc., Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 27, 2014

Laugh-In For Billionaires....

[Image: Meditation, 2012, JA Van Devender]

Something somewhat psychedelic in honor of the old hippie herself.

Proverbs 9:13–16 (NKJV)

¹³ A foolish woman is clamorous; She is simple, and knows nothing.

¹⁴ For she sits at the door of her house, On a seat by the highest places of the city, ¹⁵ To call to those who pass by, .... ¹⁶ “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here”;

Life is hard for Billionaires, I hear. Imagine the stress... the unremitting anxiety that comes from knowing that the entire world depends on your next financial move. The burden of responsibility is so great, you know. You identify so keenly with those poor souls beneath you in the economic food chain. You are touchingly aware that some of them exist on incomes of less than even a million dollars a year. Some of them cannot even afford to travel first class much less own their own corporate jet. All these poor folks live fragile lives, hanging on to what comforts they have been able to scrape together by the way that you and the other folks in the room, make financial decisions and decide where the nations are to be directed in the next phase of economic movements. Presidents and Prime Ministers await, with bated breath, for your considered, altruistic, what's best for the world, decisions.

The pressure.... the pressure... I need some relief. I need someone to tell me how to relax... how to drift into tension relieving bliss... if only for a few moments!

What I need is..... wait for it.... Goldie Hawn! [See HERE and numerous other places on web]

Folks, you just can't make this stuff up. For those of you of a certain age, it is almost too easy to imagine what "Laugh In" hosts Dan Rowan and Dick Martin would have done with this idea. In my mind's eye I can see Arte Johnson, dressed as the German spy, peering through the leaves of the potted plant, saying "velly interesting." Goldie Hawn, talking to men whose annual incomes exceed that of many national governments, and telling them they ought to chill out.

I cannot imagine a more ludicrous scenario. These men, in all seriousness, understand themselves as being the future of the world. They represent, in their own minds and far too often, very accurately, the heads of an invisible empire connected through financial webs that will exercise real power and influence, using politicians and other lesser mortals, regardless of their political stances, ambitions or actions, as so many pieces in a chess game that will determine the shape of the world. That's how they perceive themselves.

They sit there, like potentates in their gilded chairs, and listen to the court jester... Goldie.

Above them though sits a True King, ... in Whose service they are unwillingly chained for the most part. Though they deny Him yet He reigns and in true Psalm 2 fashion they can shake their fists as often as they wish, but their plans are inconsequential compared to His. They cannot control Him, nor the forces at His command... and the source of their true stress, the real reason they find themselves so taut and anxious, is that down deep, they know that they truly don't control anything and the best they can do is roll the dice and hope that what they desire actually comes about.

Goldie's meditations are not going to help them in the long run I imagine.

It's hard to pity a multi-billionaire, but I try, and there are some stirrings of it there.

At least I don't have to put up with Goldie Hawn.

Posted by Gadfly on January 27, 2014 at 07:45 AM in Commentary, Culture, Movies, etc., Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 26, 2014

Preparation for Worship: A Strange Place to Be

[Image: Right In Between, 2012, JA Van Devender]

Sermon Text for Today:

Mat. 5:4 - "Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted!"

There is not much to commend in the image for today other than the subject matter. It's cluttered and without any interesting patterns or color juxtapositions, but what it displays is amusing and somewhat thought provoking.

This a view from the Jim Beam Distillery grounds just south of Louisville, Ky. To the right and to the left of this little fundamentalist, tee-totalling church are the stark black (for aging purposes) warehouses in which countless kegs of whiskey are stored in towering racks several hundred feet high.

Every Sunday morning, I imagine, this little congregation gathers on this patch of land that they have stoutly resisted selling to the distillery, and there, in the face of the testimony to worldly power and sometimes debauchery that "demon rum" can bring, they meet and worship their God.

I am no tee-totaller by any stretch of the imagination but I admire this little church and I find it thought provokingly amusing to see where God has placed them.

Christian suffering which leads to Christian mourning has something in common with this. On either side of our "church" stands the worldly edifices of secular thought. Pain and misery in this world cannot be ignored. The secular world constructs two massive towers of thought about it.

The first is Stoic indifference or mystical transcendence. As far removed from each other as those two things are they unite in this: pain and misery and sufferings are to be endured and transcended. They are, in the scale of things, nothing, without meaning, This is the pathway of worldy "heroism" or Buddhist submersion in the divine. This is "ostrich head sticking in the sand" stuff.

The other massive edifice is secular utopianism, where misguided souls, motivated more by prideful over-estimation of their own capacities than anything else, believes that by just "working harder' we can fix it... we can end suffering... we can all "just get along." This is sheer foolishness.

In the middle, having their own little plot of land, accessible only by a single, narrow little driveway, stands the Christian church, with its truth about suffering and its grieving, mourning, over it. Only the redeemed, born again, super-naturally equipped and Holy Spirit inhabited, Church of Jesus Christ approaches the problem of suffering, the problem of evil with the right frame of mind - grief - and the right expected outcome - hope. Only the Christian Church knows what it means to be comforted in grief, whether ourselves or in others, and what it means to be blessed in suffering and grief.

We stand alone, between two towering, black buildings, which represent the power of worldly thinking, .... we stand... alone... and worship the God who causes ALL things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to HIS purposes.

Amen.

Posted by Gadfly on January 26, 2014 at 06:59 AM in Devotional Meditation, Discipleship, Ethics | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 25, 2014

The Good Life

[image: The Good Life, 2012, JA Van Devender]

Deuteronomy 30:15–16 (NKJV)

¹⁵“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, ¹⁶in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.

Otis Redding's classic "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" comes to mind thinking of this image. It's not a bay but a river and it's not a real "dock" but what the hey... the "grooove is the same, man."

Redding's lyrics are essentially about loneliness and unfulfilled searching but the actual effect is to produce a somewhat nostalgic longing. We would sort of like to be there with him, watching that tide roll in and the watching it roll back out again. It is such a satisfying idea... to be completely relaxed... no one harping at us to hurry up and go buy something or look at something or get this or that done. The loneliness seems like a small price to pay for peace.

The picture of man's intended destination, painted in Scriptures, especially in eschatological prophecy, is one of peace and contentment... though, I don't believe inactivity is the primary lifestyle. Voicing the in-most desires, the barely articulated or even recognized longing that resides in the hidden recesses of that complex entity called Man, the prophets saw a day when the "lion would lie down with the lamb", when the last enemy to be destroyed was "Death" itself, when every valley would be exalted and every mountain laid low. The absence of frustration, conflict, and death is accentuated by the total fulfillment of our human potential, the removal of all hindrances to our development, and the final clarity of truth. Justice would at last reign, things would be as they "ought to be" even if, in our fallen-ness we cannot clearly articulate just what that means. We know that evil will be judged, abolished and condemned and righteousness vindicated, perpetuated and commended, but again, how that is going to actually work out, well, we have only the dimmest perception.

Say what you will, but the longing for that is what put folks like Otis Redding on that "Dock of the Bay" and that is, at root, what every human being seeks with lesser or greater intensity. We are all searching... for that which will furnish those things mentioned... and failing to find it, in this life, in this fallen world, is the great witness to the futility of Man to discover and attain the good life through his own resources.

But the sheer fact of the desire... the longing... the wishfulness... the nostalgic maudlin whining that men and women exhibit when they find themselves so "sitting" is proof in my mind of our corporate unified heritage. It transcends human races and social orders... it is as human as our minds themselves. It unites us to each other and to our common ancestor Adam. What we aspire to is what he had and what he lost. It was God's grace that kicked him out of that garden after he fell. If he had eaten of that tree of life we would be condemned to live forever in unfulfilled sadness. It was God's grace again which sent a New Adam to undertake a new trial and, upon victorious completion of it, establish us, we who know Him, in hopeful expectation of our desires being at last satisfied. What one man's sinful act took away another man's one act of righteousness restored.

So... the longing prompts us to seek... the passage above confronts us with a fork in the road. One leads to Redding's dock... and no further. One starts at Redding's dock and bids us to arise from our self-pity and wishful thinking and follow the path of God's Kingdom. Here is life and death, every man must choose between them, and there is no third option.

The "Good Life" is not only possible, it is inevitable. But not everyone shall know it.

Posted by Gadfly on January 25, 2014 at 09:22 AM in Devotional Meditation, Discipleship | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 24, 2014

"Teaching the World to Sing..."

[Dockside Flowers, 2010, JA Van Devender]

Colossians 2:8–10 (NKJV)

⁸Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; ¹⁰and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

Slow news week. One can only ponder the same things for so long and the irritation level begins to approach dangerously close to bitterness. Yet another day in the single digits (temperature) and I read this morning that "Industry is Awakening to the Threat of Climate Change!" Hmmmm, OK, I imagine Coca-Cola, being concerned with a bottom line, has a stake in the question. Now, I wonder if they are actually sweating the predicted warming or are they more concerned about the panting partisans and their image as being "hip." Either way it is about the bottom line so I will watch this one a bit more closely. When mega-nationals start taking climate change seriously, as in investing billions to offset its effects, then I will be a lot more inclined to be anxious. Till then, it's hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The phenomenon of climate change commandos does interest me though. It's interesting how a "philosophy" can so engage the mind as to set a significant segment of the population against the entire human race, and I believe such is the case with the more radical groups in this movement. There are some, perhaps a signficant percentage, who view the human specie as a cancer, ruining the planet and as such it should be curtailed, perhaps even extinguished. I wonder how they view their own future in this regard but I suppose there is some utopian election that they're commending. As a friend of mine once used to say quite often, "Arch, they're not all locked up you know!"

What I am focusing on today however is just the "power" of an idea.. of a philosophy, if you will, to energize and motivate people to extraordinary deeds... sometimes good... more often it seems, pretty bad.

This the type of "philosophy" against which Paul calls forth our wariness. Once you accept certain premises as foundational... "people are bad, nature is good" .... the degree to which those ideas can move you to action will be hedged only by cowardice, inertia or circumstances. The "Nihilists" of the late 19th & early 20th centuries had much in common with the environmental zealots. They actively built bombs, killed political figures and sought to undermine human institutions. They saw the spread of "government" and "industry" in terms of power structures that worked against the human spirit and therefore had to be eliminated if man was to burst forth in a new age of freedom and fulfillment. The "revolution" of the 1960's-70's had a similar basic theme. Youth rose up against the "establishment" and protests ranged from colorful flower children parading and singing to "underground" movements aimed at inflicting damage and death.

Underneath it all is a basic "philosophy", what Paul calls "the tradition of men" which is always "according to the basic principles of the world." No matter what the intent, whenever man starts with observations, deductions, evaluations, analysis of "this world' and orders his thought according first and foremost from its "basic principles" what one will arrive at is "philosophy" as Paul speaks of it. Not all philosophy has to follow this path and there is a Christian philosophy, but that which Paul warns against is that which starts with the world, assumes the supremacy of its principles, and reasons from there, judging all other ideas by their conformity and submission to those principles, and then the outcome will be a perverted truth at best and a damnable lie at worst. Either way, it can have great power... it can move millions... and it will be judged as a work of Satan.

There is one central, foundational premise from which all reasoning is to begin and against which all other ideas are to be judged: "In Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the God head, and in Him alone is man complete, and He it is Who is over all principalities and powers." With that thought it is possible, in hope for the planet and for humanity on the planet, to deal with environmental issues and do so apart from blowing up buildings or advocating that we all turn back to the stone age in our living accomodations. With that controlling principle governing us we can distinguish between political agendas and discern which have merit and which are only contributing to further ruin. The answer to a philosophy which is grounded in the basic principles of the world is not to deny the possibility of man's reasoning and philosophy altogether. Rather the answer is to understand our call to dominion under Christ and to develop our philosophy in accordance with truth as it has been revealed. Then the true principles of this world will be discerned as hidden but nevertheless active. Then the Word will govern not only our hearts but our thoughts.

This is freedom and this is the Kingdom of God.

Posted by Gadfly on January 24, 2014 at 09:00 AM in Christian Apologetics, Commentary, Culture, Movies, etc., Current Affairs, Discipleship | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 23, 2014

Reflections....

[image: Reflections, 2010, JA Van Devender]

Proverbs 27:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹ As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.

From todays NYT

Now, after Mr. Horstmann has spent more than $500,000, much has changed. Cape Wind, the wind farm’s developer, won a court case over an important approval on Wednesday but is still caught up in legal and financial wrangling and faces a tenuous future. And even if the project is completed, most of the investment and jobs for supplying the parts will go not to American companies like Mass Tank, but to European manufacturers.

What's true for individuals is true for nations also. What's in their heart reveals their nature.

The off-shore wind-mill farm proposed for the Cape Cod seascape is legitimately debatable. There are pros & cons to the entire idea. There may or may not be significant threats to birds in the massive blades whirling slowly in the near continuous breeze. The environmental effects of huge pier foundations to support the massive structures may or may not alter the tidal characteristics. Certainly the sheer beauty of the seascape may be diminished. We have no absolutely clear idea about how it will help the power grid. All these things are debatable.

What is absolute fact is that this entire idea is keyed to the environmentalist program that is so passionately pursued by the current administration and its allies in congress. Whatever its risks, these same folks consider it negligible compared to the absolutely horrible, near catastrophic effects envisioned by the expanded Keystone pipeline. What is also absolutely true is that a major aspect of the economic 'strategy', if such it could be called, over the past four years was to pour money into the private sector in order to promote jobs and encourage investment.

Yet here we have a threatened industry in a state that is so firmly fixed in the liberal camp that it is nearly impossible for conservatives to gain a hearing on university campuses there, finding that the promises made by the politicians, even after a half-million dollars have been invested in it, are not going to be kept. The components that this company would have built is, instead, going to be built in Europe.

In the image above the 'bent' tree trunk reflected in the water accurately reveals the heart of the tree itself.

Oh there are reasons... good, sound, legitimate reasons.... we are told. And I don't doubt that they are good reasons. But the point is, in this article, all of the factors that are now pushing for foreign procurement were not hidden under some basket years ago. Like what appears to be a continuing trend (remember the Solar Power companies the fizzled a few years back with the executives golden parachutes supplied with tax payer dollars) the decision making process in these matters is almost entirely impetuous and reactionary. There is no discernable 'strategy' that I can perceive. There is "let's try this and let's try that" shot-gun initiatives that sound good on the campaign trail but are flimsy beyond comprehension when examined closely. It is environmentalism & economic stimulation 'on the fly' with virtually no attempt at sober assessment and out-year planning. When the primary determinant on policy is the political consideration of the next upcoming election (cf. Benghazi, the Surge), then any resulting strategy will be essentially a two-year scan. Spend money now... if it show progress, take credit for it in the campaign. If it doesn't work, the public will have forgotten about it anyway, and after all, it's only money that we are spending.

This particular situation in Massachusetts is problematic across the board and I am not persuaded that these windmills are a good idea but neither am I implacably opposed to them. What I am implacably opposed to is the way these things are happening.

Contrast this with the building of the Panama canal. Yes it was hotly debated... Yes there was political corruption and double-dealing, especially with the South American nations. But the project itself... the massive technical and economic considerations that went into it... furnished jobs that reflected a clear set of goals and a strategy to achieve them.

This is what is so discouragingly lacking today. And what it "reveals" is that our nation has no real idea of how to solve its problems. Our leaders seems only concerned to tread water and retain power. That is not the character of the leadership we need.

Posted by Gadfly on January 23, 2014 at 08:43 AM in Commentary, Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 22, 2014

It was not exactly as we see it now......

[image: FlowerSketch, 2010, JA Van Devender]

Ecclesiastes 7:10 (NKJV)

¹⁰ Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.

Guilty as charged!

I cannot absolutely correlate it with advancing age but I am aware that every "older" generation has been accused of this vice: that of continually looking back through rose colored glasses and saying "ah yes, it was better then."

I know the Israelites, at one point looked back "fondly" on their time in Egypt, as ludicrous as that appears to us. I grew up with adults talking about those "...*&%$)($!@ communists" who were destroying this country by what they were teaching in college and what those "fools" in congress were doing to the nation. In hind sight they were prophetic to some extent... but their view of the "good ole days" was decidedly myopic. They were right about the dangers... but they wouldn't admit that some stuff needed changing.

The natural tendency, I think, to look back on the past is because there is a past to look back on. Young people are immune to this. They, in one sense, don't have a past and so they look, if at all, only to the future and they cast on it their own particular hues. Today's cynical youth don't expect much of the future and many of them, therefore, don't think much of themselves. But the older one gets the more inclined one is to look back on the days when life was simplier because of youth and therefore the world was "brighter." This is not wise, as the Preacher duly notes above.

Here is the rub. What if the past truly was better? There is that scriptural injunction to "return to the rock from which you were hewn..." (Isa. 51:1) There are times when one should and must look back to better days and repent of the choices, foolishness, perversions which have stripped our days of joy and robbed our nights of peaceful sleep. Sometimes it is wise to ask "how did it come to this?" It may be wise to ask, but we have to be willing to hear the answer.

There is one absolutely true thing we can say about the present that makes it better than the past, in every conceivable fashion. We are closer to the Lord's return now than we were then. (Rom. 13:11) That may be all we can say but it generally is not the case. No matter what we are going through, the Lord in His providence, has advanced the circumstances of His creation in such a manner than though we are capable of inflicting and experiencing great evil, yet we are also abundantly equipped with means to endure and persevere in it. I like air-conditioning... and hot showers... and reliable cars.... far superior medical care... etc. Not everyone has those things but the access to them, across social demographic lines, is so far superior to 50 years ago that it is astonishing. And when you see the present day, with our abundant luxuries, as a prophet would have seen it in a vision 3000 years ago, then you can understand why that prophet might have interpreted our times as being absolute heaven on earth, or conversely, as hell on earth if he saw the evil we inflict on others.

So the wise man was wise. It's best not to spend too much time looking over our shoulder. The present is all we have to work with at the moment. The future belongs to the Lord and the past shows us the road that we are on.... what is left but to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our Lord.

I'll try not to mention the "good ole days" any more than absolutely necessary... if you will also.

Posted by Gadfly on January 22, 2014 at 09:11 AM in Devotional Meditation, Discipleship, Ethics | Permalink | Comments (0)

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