The Rights of Man

Modern society has come to view a “right” as meaning something a person wants to do.  We hear the word “rights” bantered around rather flippantly, usually taken to the personal level.  I have a “right” to be angry.  I have the “right” to do this or that.  I have a “right” to have something that someone else already has.

The proper idea of rights flows from those three words in our Declaration of Independence (penned by Thomas Jefferson) which states that one function of  government’s is not to impune the “inaleinable rights” of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.  This is not a call for hedonism, but a call for government to not interfer with those rights.

Yet, clearly, Jefferson saw that these “rights” were broad concepts not detailed listings.  He would be aghast at the expansiveness of government “entitlements”, which forcibly takes the property of one person to give to another.  He would be shocked at the compacting of religious expression that has encroached from the federal to state to local area.  He would be weeping for the complexities of the federal laws that overlap and intertwine and impact the daily lives of every citizen.  America today is not the nation he would have desired or even dreamed.

The call to “rights” in the Declaration is not a a call to hedonism, but for order, to safeguard the universal rights of all men (and women), and to offer freedom instead of oppression. The preamble clearly states that the purpose of the Consititution is to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.

Today, we have lost the true concept of freedom.  a scant 40 years ago a liberal democrat said “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.  In our day and age of “rightism”, the reverse has become true.  People are asking not what they need to do but what the country should do for them.  This will be the death of the republic and Jefferson’s dream of democracy.

Mistakes I made in ‘08

The end of the year is a time of retrospect and looking forward and blah, blah, blah.

Let’s face it.  No one really wants to think about their mistakes, errors, failures, and “on-purposes”.  We like to believe, and maybe some of think, that we are good people.

Ask most people and they will say something like – “I’m a good person even though I…” 

I think that comes from our inherent desire to be balanced.  Experts always talk about how good it is to be balanced – in our investments, in our work-home time, in our rest-activity.  It is a logical step to put that in our moral life and to start to look at this as a scale.

OK – I watched a little porn but then I shoveled the neighbors driveway.  I lied to my wife about why I was late (it wasn’t a train or traffic or an accident, I was just thoughtless) but I played with the kids.  I stole some pads from work but I put a dollar in the Salvation Army pot at Walmart.

We have a local case here in Saginaw where a woman who was convicted of drug-dealing and escaped from prison, was captured a number of years later out on the coast where she was now a middle-class wife/mother and doing no harm.  She might have even been doing some good like being active in the PTA .  The watercooler discussion is “should she go back to prision”?  

My daughter has moved out of her Hannah Montana phase, but there was a song she played that had this recurring line “Everyone makes mistakes”.  That is true, but it does not exonerate or excuse.  My mom used to say “if everyone were jumping off a cliff, would you jump too?”

I never told her this but at times I have jumped off that cliff, and on the way down I yelled “but everyone else…”

So, I am trying not to yell “but everyone else” because doing what we are supposed to do does not make up for doing what we failed to do. Recognizing that we did wrong and what flaw in our character allowed for that, and then resolving to address that character flaw, will help.

So here’s my list of what “mistakes” I made in ‘08

1. I did not trust God enough
2. I did not repent enough
3. I did not love others more than myself enough.

You really didn’t think I would be tranparent enough to give the specifics?

Hmmm – guess I’ll have transparency to next year’s list.

Why I write

I was checking out the site and noticed that I had 17 comments.  

Well this got me a little excited because, well, 17 people had actually read this blog and commented.

Then came the disappointment – they were all spam, mostly for stuff my wife wouldn’t appreciate though the guy from “cellphones-r-us” said he looked forward to reading more and I had a nice style.  Think that was sincere?

Anyway, I have this fantasy (was going to say secret but it is about to no longer be secret except no on reads this blog so it WILL be secret, ok, maybe unbroadly known) that I am the next great undiscovered writer whose work is “discovered” after I die.  It is kind of a romantic fantasy, since I don’t write fiction – have about 10 books with great first lines – and my prose is, well, pretty topical and more sermonatic (my kids would probably say “lecturematic”) so my living on in the minds of men past my grandchildren (when I have some) is probably not going to happen.

Another fantasy is that I could live off my writing.  I have looked into this and used to have a pretty impressive pile of rejections (was saving them as part of the first fantasy but got tired of carting them around and needed space to store the Christmas lights).  My son is trying to do that, and I have every belief that he will succeed.  I give up too easily, which is why I only write this blog once in a while and probably whey it is only read by spammers (or at least commented on by spammers).

So, if not for greatness, for posterity or for income why do I write?

Don’t really know except for two reasons: first, just in case my fantasies do come true and second is that writing makes me think more than television and watching television helped me get fat.  I rarely get the urge to eat while I am writing but always get the urge to much when some show is on.  

It also gets me out of housework.  This is because we honor writing as not as inert as listening to music. What sounds better – “Honey, I’m in the middle of writing something” or “Honey,  just as soon as this song is over”. 

I do wonder, though, how long will a blog page last and if that will interfere with my fanatsy?  Will never know that either.

Weary with me self (a poem)

have been struggling with things moreso lately  

and this struggle has me tired

I have grown weary with a lot of things in this world.  

Weary with politics.  

Weary with work.  

Weary with failures and the lost dreams of me youth

and most weary with me self.

But that should be expected

we battle and lunge with life but have only so much energy

(even God rested on the 7th day)

but we think we are god(s) and don’t need rest

don’t need to look around or at our selves

and then the weariness comes

and we realize that we are really weary with me self

and it is time to take a break

to get a little unwearied

Don’t Worry, Be Joyful

I say “be joyful”, because joy is a much deeper sense than happiness.

Happiness fleets, like losing a pound on a diet only to regain it back again when you drink that pint of water, then lose it again the next time you use the bathroom.

Joy comes form within.  It is a gift from God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is the “something” that Christians should exhibit – if they really consider that He is in control.  It should not have an effect on our psyche, those of us who claim Christ as Lord and Savior, who wins the next election, what the Dow is at the end of the day, or our pay at work.

All is from God and all is God’s and He can do as He sees fit and everything, even that which we deem as “bad” is from God – so we should be joyful no matter what.

Now, to the world, this reaction would have them sending us to the local Mental Health center.  But to God, this is the response He wants from us and He has His Hand on us.

So, why worry, be joyful.  It is a more pleasant way to be and a much more fun than fretting.

“good men not only fall into sin, but have their relapses”

Was reading Gen 20 where Abraham comes to the King Abimelech and gives his wife Sarah to Abimelech, telling him she is his (Abraham’s) sister. Abraham did this because he was afraid that Abimelech would kill him to take Sarah.

Gill’s commentary has this quote “good men not only fall into sin, but have their relapses”. Gill was commenting on Abraham’s equivocation and deception. Abraham did not lie, but he certainly did not tell all the truth relevant to the issue – Sarah was his half-sister (the gene pool was a lot cleaner back then so it was an acceptable practice to marry that close a relative).

It is interesting to me, both in Scripture and in my life, that we can know, see, feel, be touched, witness, and experience the power of God but run from it when we would be best to trust it.

We don’t conquer sin when we are saved. Sin has been conquered in us. We still have great propensity to fall into sin and not even see it coming until we are in the middle of it. Some never see it at all.

And we are terrible lesson learners. That is the relape part.

There is a growing approach to addiction and mental illness – the recovery model. The point of the recovery model is that your condition does not own you or control you. You recover yourself, no longer defined by what you are diagnosed with but by the person you are.

Christians are recovered sinners. We are no longer defined by our sins, but defined by Christ.

The recovery model also recognizes the concept of relapse. That you will probably will struggle with that control and sometimes you will lose, but you can also recover from that loss.

If THAT does not define the Christian life, than what else does. We become “good men” through Christ, but still have our sin struggle: “not only fall into sin, but have their relapses”

The great advantage we Christians have is that our recovery is under the control of God and not ourselves. We submit to Him, He does His Will in us and He is glorified and we are recovered.

That is the light at the end of the tunnel for me and I cling to it – often.

Verse to ponder:

Gen 20:11 Abraham said, “I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.

How Can He Do That ?

I run into this question a lot when I am reading or hearing about people doing things that they disagree with or stand in opposition to. Sometimes I can understand, like the army conscript or done under duress (like torture).

No, not those case scenarios but the times when done consciously or purposefully.

Two recent examples of this came close to home recently.

The first was the revelation of writings by the head of the Anglican (Episcopalian) Church that he clearly did not agree that homosexual behavior was a sin, but that he would teach it was because this was what the tenets of the church say and he is obligated, as the head of the church, to teach that.

On a more local level, I just read where a couple I know who are baptist in doctrine agreed to be the god-parents of a baby being baptized by another denomination, fully knowing that this church teaches baptism as an element of salvation.

In the case of the Archbishop it was to keep his job. In the case of the couple it was not to offend some friends.

One has to ask where has the backbone of people gone? Where is the strength of conviction?

We live in such PC times that we are becoming so wishy-washy that the fear of offending others is more important than the Truth of the Gospel.

The saddest part is that people are going to an eternity without God because we are too afraid of losing our relationship with them now. One wonders what is the worse sin – their offense against God or our offense against them.

Olympicmania strikes me

I just realized that I have caught Olympicmania.

I thought I was immune but as I was sitting here I realized that I have been staying up later and later each night watching the “games”, following the results, checking the results the next morning, and wondering what will be on tonight.

The clue that I caught it should have been when Sunday afternoon when I went to the cell phone store and didn’t want the clerk to hurry up because there was a badminton game between China and Japan on the TV in the waiting area.  I may have even told the clerk to “take your time” or “just a minute”.  Jill made me leave before the results, saying something about my head and a racket if we didn’t get out of there.

One thing nice about Olympicmania is that a lot of cares get set aside for the moment (as well as a lot of household chores).  Entertainment can be a great pacifier.

Anyway,

Future Weather

Yesterday, the forecaster on the local weather station said it was going to be 80 degrees all week.  Yes, the same high every day.  He also said it would be dry (meaning no rain) for the rest of the week.

Today the high is predicted as mid-seventies and the chance of thunderstorms the rest of the week.

Predicting the weather is risky and tricky business.  From what I have been reading, even the flapping of a butterfly wing can cause a change.

So how can we predict what the weather and temperature will be like in a decade, a 100 years?

We cannot.

During the Gulf War when all the oil rigs were on fire and pouring huge amounts of black smoke I remember “computer models” indicating this would create a “green house” effect that would bring a catastrophe such as the melting of the ice caps OR a new ice age (depended on the model).

Well, neither happened.

Let’s keep that in mind the next time we hear some politician calling for massive spending or regulation for some industry to stop global warming or global cooling.  The law of unintended consequences usually prevails in those matters.

Groups as family

It is 6:15 AM and I am in the lobby of the motel awaiting the rise of the rest of my family.

Yes, we are on a little vacation in Northern Michigan.

The weather has been beautiful: warm and sunny (though we had a short downpour last night), but it has been a nice vacation so far. Only a couple of bumps (trying to make those important decisions about what to go where and when and who, etc.).

It is a fascinating process to watch “group” decisions work their way out. More fascinating when it is a multi-age, multi-agenda event. The family is a “group” that is put together not for a project or a purpose, but thrown together through the providence of their birth or marriage. Sometimes it is a beautiful thing to watch, othertimes get out the raincoat and boots!

It has been pretty beautiful so far. We are all learning about give and take – mostly giving, and that is probably the biggest lesson for the youngsters. The younger we are the more we take and the less we give and it these times that important lessons about learning to give – meaning the world is not centered on you but that you are part of, an element of, the world around you.

Unfortunately, there are lots and lots of people who don’t learn this until they are older (I really started to realize this in my late 20s when I got married and started having children – children are insipid in their selfishness and stingy in their giving – look at the effort given to make a baby smile or stop crying!). There is phenomenon out there called “kidults” – adults who have clinged to the taking stage and have not embraced the giving stage.

We have few of those in our family. Most likely many families do. So just invite them to a big family vacation where they will be thrown with everyone else for a few days and make sure there is a little child or baby or two. Might make them move from less kid to adult, might not, but it will sure make for some memories.