Is Democracy A Failure in America?

According to a recent round of Gallop polls, our representatives in Washington, D.C. have an unprecedented opportunity to execute some important legislation before the end of the year.

Poll number one asked Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike where they stood on stricter background checks for individuals looking to buy a gun. The results were as follows:

83 percent of Democrats said they supported stricter background checks.

81 percent of Republicans voted to support stricter background checks.

80 percent of Independents thought stricter background checks were needed.

On issue number one, 81 percent of all voters polled were in support of stricter background checks, which should send a clear message to Washington that it’s time to pass better legislation regarding how Americans acquire handguns.

Poll number two asked registered voters if they believed that gay and lesbian workers should be protected from discrimination based on sexual preference. The results were as follows:

80 percent of Democrats were against discrimination in the workplace.

75 percent of Independents were against such discrimination, as well.

60 percent of Republicans were on board with equality in the workplace.

On issue number two, 73 percent of all registered voters polled said they opposed discriminating people based on their sexual preference, sending another clear message to our legislators that it’s time to eliminate discrimination in the workplace.

Poll number three asked registered voters if they were in favor of an established path to citizenship for illegal immigrants to America. Even on this heated issue there was considerable agreement on which course of action to take.

86 percent of Democrats were in favor of a path to citizenship.

88 percent of Independents concurred.

86 percent of Republicans (don’t adjust your screen!) agreed.

On issue number three, an overwhelming majority of 87 percent of registered voters polled were in favor of providing a path to citizenship for workers currently living in America illegally.

In our fourth and final poll, registered voters were asked if they favored raising the federal minimum wage to $9 per hour from its current $7.25 per hour.

91 percent of Democrats sad they were in favor of the raise.

76 percent of Independents agreed it is time to raise the minimum wage.

58 percent of Republicans concurred.

Overall, on issue number four, 76 percent of registered voters said they felt it was time to raise the federal minimum wage, and agreed to the $9 per hour figure.

In a true representative government, the next steps would be fairly straightforward. We elect people to go to Washington and make sure that our best interests are represented by passing laws that reflect those interests. Whether or not you agree with the four issues represented in the polls above, you can’t argue that the American people are unsure about those four issues. An overwhelming majority opinion is clear in all four cases, which means that there is a mandate to have all four issues passed into law.

It won’t surprise anyone who pays much attention to politics to learn that not a single one of these issues is likely to be addressed any time soon, and certainly not before the end of the year. If recent history holds, any version of these laws that might actually get through Congress would likely be so watered down as to be completely ineffective anyway.

What we have in Washington is an “us against them” mentality that pervades the entire operation of government. We have one small minority of one of the major parties that is currently dictating the agenda for that party, which is inexcusable. Party leadership should be held accountable by its membership and thrown out in favor of someone who can unite the party. That person must then make it his or her business to work with members of the opposition party to craft compromises that allow important legislation to pass into law.

This is not government.

It is certainly not representative government.

Whatever the reason, be it the corruption of our political system by the corporations that truly rule the world, or just an unwillingness for one of our two political parties to silence their backward-thinking minority and participate in governance, America's system of government simply doesn't work.




An outsider looking at America as a model of democracy would have to conclude that it is an ineffective system of government in a society where greed is the ultimate driving force. Money and special interests simply drown out the voices of the governed.

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Art of the 1980's

Celebrating the Art of the 1980's

Music of the 80's

There is no art form that ingrains itself in the heart and soul like music, and the 80’s were featured some of the all-time great icons of pop music. Madonna pushed the limits of socially acceptable stage shows with her “Like A Virgin” album, videos and tour.

 

 Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” earned him the title “King of Pop,” which he retains even posthumously.

Phil Collins was not only one of the top stars as a solo artist and as the lead singer of the band Genesis, he also became one of the top movie soundtrack talents.

 

 Hall and Oats were the most popular band of the decade after topping the charts repeatedly in the 70’s.

 

Billy Joel may be best known for his Piano Man hit from the 70’s, he established himself as one of the most popular singers of all time with his 80’s hits that included “Uptown Girl,” “The Longest Time,” “Innocent Man” and “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

Music often becomes the voice of a generation, and for those of us who were raised in the 80’s these artists represent the soundtrack of our lives. What’s more, their enduring popularity among the following generations shows that they reached a level of artistry that spans more than just their own era.

Movies of the 80's

Just as the 1980’s brought us iconic music stars, it was also a golden age of film. New technologies and visionary directors brought us an array of films that became multi-generational hits. Steven Spielberg laid the foundation of a career that would lead to his reputation of one of Hollywood’s all-time best with films like “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “E.T. The Extraterrestrial.”

 

George Lucas brought us the second and third films in his genre-busting “Star Wars” saga, the second of which, “The Empire Strikes Back,” is widely regarded as the best science fiction film ever made. 

“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” gave the youth of America a hero, one who wasn’t afraid to buck the system in favor of the freedom of self-expression. Bueller and his friends even take in an art museum, reinforcing this film as a work of art in and of itself.

“Driving Miss Daisy” is a proven and enduring classic, both on the Broadway stage and as a film that made Morgan Freeman sought-after actor. It addressed one of our culture’s biggest issues, that of defining people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.

Artists of the 1980's

The 1980’s also featured some interesting and influential visual artists, and what follows are some representative samples of the work of those artists. The works themselves are probably familiar, even if the names might not all be as familiar.

 

Jasper Johns

Keith Haring

William de Kooning 

 

Andy Warhol

Roy Lichtenstein

Authors of the 1980's

As much as music, movies and the visual arts have an impact on our senses, so, too do great books. Carl Sagan’s body of work regarding space and the human journey were ground-breaking and are incredibly influential even after his death. 

In the fiction realm, no author has ever captured the darker side of human nature the way Stephen King has, while Tom Clancy and James A. Michener also gained huge and sustained success with their detailed masterpieces. The writings of all three, and particularly King, have inspired a long list of films, as well.

To call Bill Cosby an author is to unfairly minimize his contribution to society, but he had a number of bestsellers in the 80’s. He was also the star of one of the top TV shows of the decade, “The Cosby Show,” and became an important voice of social activism for African-Americans, in particular. He remains one of America’s most beloved figures.

The End

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NBA Player With MS Inspires Aspiring Writer

The following interview and story was written by a former intern of mine, Zach Lewis. Zach has spina bifida, and is working hard to get out of his wheelchair and chase his dream of being a journalist. He found inspiration in the story of NBA player Chris Wright, and I hope you'll find Zach's piece inspiring, too. - Bill 

As he comes into the locker room from pregame shootaround, takes a drink from his water bottle and relaxes in the leather chair in front of his locker, newcomer Chris Wright seems like any other player just trying to make the Dallas Mavericks. However, it was nearly a year ago when Wright started experiencing things unlike any other player… things would leave him barely even able walk.

Last March while playing basketball over in Turkey, Wright was running sprints in practice. As he went down to touch the line, he slipped.

That slip would change his life.

"My foot gave out and I thought nothing of it,” Wright said. “I thought I just slipped, but eventually it got worse and I had numbness in my right foot, and then it started the next month to progress to the whole right side of my body. I lost basically all sensation, and I went to the doctor and that’s when they diagnosed me with Multiple Sclerosis,”

Multiple Sclerosis or MS is a neurological disease which impacts the brain and spinal cord when the protective sheaths around the nerves are damaged. Common symptoms of MS include numbness, fatigue, loss of balance, blurred vision, poor coordination and problems with memory and focus. In severe cases, MS can cause paralysis and there is no known cure.

Wright originally was told by Turkish doctors that his basketball career was finished but that thought didn’t sit well with him. He had two things that no doctor could give him: Faith in the Lord and the will to overcome.

"The doctors told me that (my career was over), but I didn't think so. I just knew it'd be a process, and when I got back, it'd be a good story," he said.

While in Turkey, Wright had to take cortisone shots for about 10 days before he could travel back home. He really wasn’t able to walk and wasn’t able to do too much on his own, but the cortisone shots relieved the pain so he could start getting back on his feet again.

“Then I took about two-and-a-half months off from playing just to get myself together and figure out what medicine I was going to use and figure out how I was going to go about things, because a few doctors told me that I wouldn’t be able to play again. So once I did that, I got back on my feet and started the process,” said Wright.

Wright disease is in remission. He takes a drug called Tysabri, which he says is the strongest MS medicine, and has not had an episode since the one in Turkey, which lasted two weeks. He also visits a specialist for a checkup every six months.

"(Tysabri) is an IV injection I take once a month, Wright explained. “It’s about a two-hour process and it’s something I have to do for the rest of my life. There's not a cure for MS. Can there be a relapse? Absolutely. But with the way I've been progressing and the way my body has been, it helps that I'm an athlete as well, it reduces the risk of that happening again. I just go from there and see what happens.”

The climactic moment in Wright’s journey came last week when the Mavericks called him up from the D-League and signed him to a 10-day contract. With that he became the first known NBA player to acknowledge having MS. Ironically, or as fate would have it, he was called up during MS Awareness Week.

"Everything kind of happened at the right time,” Wright smiled. ”It’s not a coincidence that I got called up during MS week, and I played during MS week, and I had my family with me when I got called up all during MS week.

His first field goal came against Cleveland when Wright scored two points while playing the final precious seconds in the Mavericks’ 96-86 victory.

"That’s why you believe in a higher authority,” he said. “And God blessed me, so I feel great.”

Since joining the Mavericks, Wright continues to inspire and motivate not just his teammates but the entire organization.

"It’s incredible that he’s able to fight through it and be fit and still play professional basketball,” forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "That’s a great story and I think everybody’s happy for him. It’s inspirational, so hopefully he’ll be OK for a long time. He seems like a really stress-free and a cool dude, and we wish him the best and hopefully he can succeed.”

Head coach Rick Carlisle also had praises for the 6-1 guard.

"It shows determination and an element of resourcefulness, which I think is a very important quality on any NBA team, to have as many resourceful guys as you can,” said Carlisle. “I know he's very pleased to have this opportunity. And it's going to give inspiration to others that may have similar conditions."

Since his diagnosis, Wright has learned about MS. His desire is to be one of the advocates for the disease and also help raise awareness as well. Wright wants to help raise the necessary funds so that one day doctors may find a cure for a disease that causes the nerves in the central nervous system to degenerate. He knows many people look up to professional athletes and views them as role models.

"I knew I wasn’t going to shy away from my story, because my story is part of me, and I didn’t know the impact that it would have, but I’m glad that it’s inspirational to a lot of people,” Wright explained. “And I’m definitely going to get heavily involved with MS and try to bring as much awareness and notoriety to it as possible. It’s a big platform for me and it’s something that I definitely cherish. One of my goals was to get here and to finally be on an NBA team, and to just show people with MS and give people hope that they can do what they want.”

Wright has since been released by the Mavericks, but wherever his next basketball home is he will continue to inspire others with similar setbacks to work hard to overcome as they chase their dreams.

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Christianity Applied Chapter 5: What Is Heaven, Anyway?

I vividly remember the time it occurred to me to ask my mom what it meant to go to Heaven. We were driving to my grandparents’ house in San Antonio, and we were probably a block or two away. I’d been thinking about it for much of the drive from our home in Houston, and I finally just spit it out.

“Mom, what do we do in Heaven?”

The fact that I so vividly remember asking the question but have absolutely no recollection of the answer is probably telling, but I was legitimately concerned. Do we all sit on clouds and play harps for eternity, as is depicted in so many paintings? That seems a little boring. I mean, I like harp music as much as anyone, but eternity is a long time and doing pretty much any one thing for that long would have to wear on a person . . .er . . .angel.

Do we return to Earth to visit the living, perhaps setting up interviews with additional ghosts who will convince evil-doers to change their ways via glimpses of the past, present and future?

One of my favorite TV shows growing up was Michael Landon’s “Highway To Heaven,” so perhaps we have the option to come back as travelers, wandering the world working miracles and doing good?

Do we hang out with our loved ones who went before? If so, are we all old and stooped, or do we get to live in Heavenly equivalents of our youthful bodies for all eternity? What fun would it be to sit around on clouds, so old we can barely stand to just sit?

As we have done with all of our questions, let’s take a look at what our ancient ancestors had to say about this complex question.  That won’t take long. The Old Testament says almost nothing about an afterlife of any sort.  Generally, there are passages about going down to sheol , which was simply the place of the dead, not just the good dead or the bad dead, but the dead.  Most of the time, when the word heaven is used it clearly refers to the sky, not an afterlife residence.

Actually, the New Testament isn’t much help, either. Almost all of what we picture about heaven or hell is the cultural picture we've accumulated over time.  Scripture does mention angels (the word literally means “messenger”) but there’s no indication that angels are good people who’ve died and been rewarded with harps and wings.  There’s nothing about sitting on clouds.  Even some of the things that are mentioned in scripture are more likely to be metaphorical, figurative speech rather than literal descriptions of a physical attribute.  The reference to streets of gold is one example of that.  They are mentioned in Revelation 21:21 where it says that, "the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass."  Gold can be pure, but it is never transparent.  Obviously, poetic speech is intended here, not literal facts.

We build stories and jokes around the heaven we want, instead of the few hints we find in the Bible.  For example, at funerals people often talk about seeing those who have died earlier when you get there.  It’s comforting to talk about how Mom will be welcomed by Dad, whom she has missed terribly since he died five years ago.  There are old gospel songs that sing about seeing Mom when I die.  But in Matthew chapter 22, Jesus is asked about a case of a woman who was widowed and married repeatedly.  Whose wife will she be in the afterlife is the question put to Jesus.  He replies that there is no marriage in the afterlife, but people will be like angels, which seems to mean that angels live independent, perhaps asexual, lives.  Some people would picture an unending life without sex (as they have been subjected to it) as heavenly – others would picture life without sex as hell.

In Revelation chapter 21 there is a description of heaven.  This is the only place where gates of pearl are mentioned and it is the roots of our expression about the pearly gates.  Each gate is made from a single pearl and there are twelve gates.  It sounds like it would be difficult for St. Peter to be the gate keeper when you read that there are three gates on each side of a square walled city, 1500 miles on each side. The questions quickly arise: What all have we dreamt up about heaven over the years?  What descriptions in scripture are poetic speech, and which are factual in some way?  The wisest approach may well be that suggested by Reinhold Niebuhr, who said that we shouldn’t worry a lot about the furniture of heaven or the temperature of hell.

The question in everybody’s mind is, who ends up in each destination, who is in glory, who is in torment?  Or, put differently, what do I have to do, how good do I have to be, to go to heaven?   There are a wide variety of suggested answers to those questions.
   
As a child, I heard a lot of sermons about the straight and narrow path to heaven and the broad superhighway to hell.  Maybe you did, too.  Many people understand that only a small portion of humanity will be saved in heaven - and that hell will have a much larger population.  The most extreme form of this view says that there will only be 144,000 souls in heaven.  That number is based on Revelation 14:1- 4 where verse three speaks of “the 144,000 who have been redeemed from the earth.”  What doesn’t get mentioned very often is that the next verse says that these are people who have not defiled themselves with women -  and they are all virgins.  Reading this passage as an exact and literal description of heaven’s citizens  is not good news for almost all of us.  However, nowhere else are we told that non-virgins need not apply!  In Revelation 7:4, we're told that there will be 144,000 from the tribes of Israel.  Perhaps we're to understand this as an additional group, bringing the total to 288,000.  Even so, this is a pretty small number, roughly two people out of every million of all the people who have ever lived.  That would be 600 people in the whole US today.  I think if that were really the situation, a lot of people would say, “why even try, if the odds are that steep and you have to either be a Jew or a virgin?” 

Obviously, I think claiming that 144 thousand or 288 thousand are all that will be going to heaven is a misuse of scripture; in fact, it’s manipulative and toxic.  Preaching that tiny number to be saved will either motivate people with great fear and anxiety to do exactly as they are taught, or cause them to give up on God in despair.  But, we can see that taking these small numbers as exact really is a misuse of the Bible.   Chapter 7 in Revelation also says, “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.” (Rev. 7:9)  A great multitude, too big to count, from every race, every ethnic group, every nation, and every language – that's truly massive and truly inclusive.  It also agrees with other scriptures that describe God’s dream, God's hopes and plans for the creatures he made in his own image.

Many of us are familiar with John 3:16, which reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  The next verse is just as important, but less often quoted,  John 3:17 NRS  "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him."  God's intent, God's purpose in sending Jesus is not to condemn, but to save.  It doesn’t say, "For God was so disgusted with people that he sent his only Son, that whoever never heard of him or didn’t obey him in every detail, would be in terrible agony for time without end.  You mess up some time in your 70 years and God will make you pay with excruciating pain for thousands and thousands of years." 

Think about how Jesus lived his life.  He didn't go around condemning people.  He went around healing people, feeding people, comforting and blessing people.  Think about how Christ loved outsiders, how he hung out with day laborers, prostitutes, thieving tax collectors, crazy folks, lepers, and the poor.  We tend to see Christianity as a religion that limits God's love to people on the inside, to the believers, to those who belong to some specific group.  What if we saw Christianity as a religion where people spend a lot of their time and energy in the same way that Christ did?
   
How good do we have to be to have God's approval?  The eleventh chapter of Hebrews has an interesting list of people who had that approval.  There's Abraham, who told people that his wife was his sister and let Pharaoh add her to his harem.  Abraham gave up on God's promise of a son and took a concubine to have a son.  There's Rahab who worked at the world's oldest profession, Samson the womanizer, David the murderer and adulterer, and Jephthah who sacrificed his own daughter.  These are people who are held up as examples of those who had God's approval.  How good do we have to be?  This list should impress us with God's unimaginable mercy and forgiveness.
   
How merciful is God?  While Revelation mentions 144 thousand Jews being saved, Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, chapter eleven, verse 26, that all Jews will be saved.  That's pretty audacious!  What about people who aren't Jews, and who have never heard of Jesus?  Turning again to Paul's letter to the Romans, we find in chapter two that "14  When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. 15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts."  Emil Brunner noted in his commentary on Romans that everybody knows something about right and wrong, or good and evil.  This passage offers a lot of hope for those who instinctively seek to do what's right and who love their neighbor as themselves.   This passage also reminds us that God's favor doesn't rest on one nation alone, or on one culture or ethnic group.

There are some texts in the Bible that stretch God's mercy and pardon beyond our ability to comprehend.  1Timothy 2:3-6 reads, "This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6 who gave himself a ransom for all."  This passage clearly says that God wants everybody to be saved.  With overflowing love God pursues each and every one of us, the good and especially the bad.

An even bolder claim is made two chapters later.  1 Timothy 4:10 NRS  "For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe."  The phrase "savior of all" certainly claims again that God doesn't have a favorite race, ethnic group, or nation.  When "Savior of all" is followed by "especially of those who believe" then the surprising thought expressed is that God is also the Savior of unbelievers, as well.  Some people read this passage and understand it to say that all people, both unbelievers and believers, will be saved.  That's certainly a radical interpretation, but with that in mind, read the scripture again.  ". . . we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." 
   
We find the same sort of pronouncement in Titus 2:11.  "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all."  In this text, too, we can hear the concept of universal salvation.  You might protest, "But that isn't fair.  Evil people should be punished and good people should be rewarded." I agree, it isn't fair, but it's a risky thing to ask God to be fair.  We might not be as good as we think we are.  Don't pray for God to be fair, pray for God to be forgiving! 
   
"But it isn't rational," you may say.  Again, I agree.  It isn't rational.  But it wasn't rational for God to choose a tiny, weak, and flawed people to be a light to the nations of the world.  It wasn't rational for God to repeatedly forgive the people of Israel despite all of their complaining, railing against God, and generally being ungrateful pains in the neck in the wilderness of Sinai.  It wasn't rational for God to come in the flesh of a poor peasant in a dirt water town in the boondocks of a conquered country.  And it isn't rational of God to forgive us for ignoring our Lord Monday through Saturday and then complaining if worship takes more than an hour out of our Sunday! 

Be glad that God isn't rational. 

Before we complain that God might save someone who is less deserving than us, we need to be very glad that God is merciful and generous, and that God can choose to do whatever God wants to do without being restricted to fairness or logic.
   
Don't fret that someone who doesn't deserve it might make it to heaven.  Don't worry about that one bit – because it is bound to happen!  After all, you will be there!  The Apostle Paul explained the good news of the gospel this way.  He told the folks in Corinth, "in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them."  God was doing the reconciling, not us.  God wasn't counting up their sins and keeping score.  That's good news for all of us.  "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth forever." (1 Chronicles 16:34, among several texts)
   
Scripture gives us various descriptions of who is going to heaven, but the overarching theme of the Bible is that God has loved us from the beginning, God has been patient beyond belief, and God has pursued us and forgiven us of terrible misbehavior.  It is God's prerogative to draw the circle around the saved – and God will draw the circle larger than we would.  Don’t focus too much on heaven.  Don’t be so preoccupied with heaven that all you think about is whether you will get there.

Don’t be so preoccupied with the future that you fail to live in the present.  Some people are so focused on their final destination that they fail to enjoy the journey.  Returning again to the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, we find an interesting description of where heaven is located. "2 I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 I heard a loud voice from the throne say, "Look! God's dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God." This passage says two intriguing things.  First, rather than us "rising" to heaven, heaven descends to earth.
 
Second, instead of us going to live with God, it says that God will live with us. This isn't the way heaven is portrayed in our culture, as some sort of escape off to an eternal vacation.  The passage goes on to talk about transformation."4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.5 Then the one seated on the throne said, 'Look! I'm making all things new.'"  Madeline L’Engle noted in her book, The Rock That Is Higher, “Heaven is wherever and whenever God is present; when he is present within us, then heaven is within us. . . .  It is that place where our souls continue to be taught to grow in love and wisdom.”  L'Engle proposes that the verses in Revelation refer, not to a distant future in a distant place, but to a possible immediate future here and now.  God's place is with humankind says Revelation.  L'Engle says, yes, within us.  That does indeed, "make all things new."  It makes us new.  It makes how we see the world new.  It makes how we see other people new.  It makes how we treat each other new.

We can be so wrapped up in looking for salvation later that we fail to live in salvation now.  We can be so heavenly minded that we’re no earthly good.  God isn’t out to get you – God’s out to save you.  We don’t get what we deserve – we get forgiven!  "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endures forever."
Finally, as we struggle to comprehend what Heaven might be like, we can listen to the words of Jesus Christ, who, when asked about the kingdom to come responded, "Nor will people say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' Don't you see? God's kingdom is already inside you." (Luke 17:21)

It seems to be a defining characteristic of the human race that we enjoy intertwining our history with our mythology and then conflating the two. The popular vision of Heaven that we see in Christian book stores, on stained glass windows and even on greeting cards is little more than an example of this phenomenon, as we have seen. With that in mind, we are better served by focusing on the here and now, on getting ourselves right with our God and leaving the afterlife, whatever that may be, to Him.

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A Daddy's Love Letter To His Daughter

Until I became a father in June of 2011, I never really thought too much about the passing of time. I have lived for thousands of days, and as I am a mere 41 years old as I write this it is reasonable to assume that I will live for many thousand more. Some always stand out as special, such as anniversaries, reunions, birthdays and holidays, but overall life was a long string of days passing as they would, and I never concerned myself too much with counting them. 

That all changed when my daughter, Riley Diane Ingram, was born just four days before my own birthday in late June. All of a sudden I had a daily reminder that time was passing, as each and every day I saw noticeable changes in my amazing little girl. Perhaps the fact that her birth coincided with the high school graduations of my two oldest nieces, with whom I have always been very close, but I suddenly became acutely aware of the passage of time. It was hard to believe that the two little girls whom I loved so much were no longer little girls at all, but young women going out into the world on their own. It was even harder to believe that my own little girl would one day do the same.

And so each passing day, each passing hour, really, has become an event. I take careful notice of every little change that occurs daily, knowing that these moments are the most precious of my life. I know that one day I will do as my sisters now do, and long for one more day of my daughter as a little girl. I try to keep that in mind as my business and responsibilities threaten my time with my girl, and I try to remember that nothing is as important as every single book I read to her, every tiny little tear I wipe from her cheek and every giggle I elicit by tickling her belly.

These are the things that matter, and they are in altogether too short a supply.

No matter what I do, one day it will happen. One day my precious little angel will walk out the door, move into her own space, walk down an aisle with someone she loves, take brave new steps into a world that is nowhere near as reliant on her Daddy as the one she currently occupies. And while those will all be joyous occasions to be celebrated, they will also be days that diminish my heart and my soul in some small way. For as happy as I will be to see her move out into the world and embrace her hopes and dreams, I will also long for these days, when the best thing is the world to her is sitting in her Daddy's lap and reading a storybook or watching Sesame Street.

In the past, my past before Riley, many days were not particularly special. Many came and went without particular notice, just another spot on the calendar to be reached and passed en route to another such day. But now every day is an event, something to be treasured above all other treasures. Each day is an opportunity to see my amazing little girl grow up a little bit more, maybe learn a new word or discover something new in the world. Try as I might, I can't squeeze any more days of Riley's childhood into her life or mine, but I can pledge to do everything in my power to make each day as special and as meaningful as possible for this budding new life.

I hereby make that pledge.

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Why Republicans Talk About Abortion

First of all, yes, there are a significant number of Americans who are concerned about abortion. Mostly they are concerned about other people possibly having an abortion, but there it is. There are people who honestly feel that abortion is murder, no matter whether it happens five minutes after conception or six months into the pregnancy. It's a polarizing issue, one that almost everyone cares about to one degree or another. That's why every time election season rolls around we are subjected to another round of abortion talk even as the economy founders, Libya is on fire and we fight wars on multiple fronts.

I don't mean to belittle those who are concerned about the lives of children, merely to offer a perspective on why an issue that is really not government business takes center stage during an election year. It may be the ultimate oxymoron that the part of "small government" seems to want to be in on every appointment between a woman and her doctor. Republicans have cow-towed to the extremists from the Tea Party to the extent that they now come out against contraception, seemingly wanting every sexual encounter between a man and a woman to result in a child. As inconceivable as that is, there is a reason why that's the case.

Simply out, Republicans don't want to talk policy when the cameras and recorders are on.

Let's start with education, which is near and dear to my heart both as a former teacher and as someone with a young daughter who will be starting school in a few years. Republicans have already done much to undermine public education, which they don't believe in at all. They don't want government to pay for education on any level because they believe those who deserve a good education can afford to pay for it. They don't seem to understand that the vast majority of Americans are not born with a silver spoon up their butts, and they don't seem to be able to find an inner city school to visit in order to learn a different truth.

Make no mistake, the No Child Left Behind legislation was nothing more than a thinly-veiled attempt to de-fund public schools, starting with the poorest first. They set a high standard for receiving federal money, without which poor schools cannot function, with standards so high that it's unlikely those poor schools will be able to achieve the necessary academic scores to receive the funding they so desperately depend upon.

The end result? Many poor schools are shut down, meaning the next closest schools are overcrowded. The best teachers leave for richer districts where they can have smaller class sizes and the higher pay that tends to go along with a stronger class of students from more affluent parents. So the students who need the best teachers are stuck with the last people who are actually willing to take the jobs, meaning they are handicapped instead of given the additional help they need.

Enter the voucher system, which would be the final nail in the coffin of poor public schools. A voucher system would allow parents who actually have the money and resources to transport their children to the closest white bread district to do so, thereby leaving only the absolute poorest students to fend for themselves in schools that can't even afford to provide minimal technology or even reasonable qualified staff to work with their students.

This is all according to plan for Republicans, who don't believe in public schools. But the last thing they want to do is go toe-to-toe with a Democrat and defend their position, so they talk about abortion and get the conversation completely off track.

How about the economy? What ever happened the to Conservative Party, the one that cares about balancing the budget and smart spending? The answer is that it completely sold out to big corporations, ranging from pharmaceuticals to big oil to the military industrial complex. They have dedicated themselves to giving tax cuts to billionaires under the guise of helping job creation, which ignores the fact that even though the richest 1% of Americans control 90% of the country's wealth they stubbornly refuse to create jobs . . .in America. They're creating plenty in Third World countries where children will work for a nickel a day.

Instead of defending that economic policy, of course, Republicans talk about abortion.

The bottom line is, no matter what the policy in question might be, Republicans can't sell it to the masses who determine who will win a given election. Instead they have to find a polarizing issue that excites their base, which will vote for them no matter who they run. That's about 25-30% of America, which is not enough to get elected. To win the middle Republicans work hard to make sure it's more difficult for college students, minorities and the poor to vote, they redistrict Democratic districts to try and stamp out Democracy wherever possible, and they use weapons of mass distraction, counting on the inattentive public to swallow whatever the latest news cycle spews out on Fox News or Rush Limbaugh's radio show.

Was Barack Obama born in Hawaii, as his birth certificate proves?

It's not about the birth certificate, it's about making sure those who will swallow such a ridiculous story aren't paying attention to the fact that their next paycheck will be smaller if Mitt Romney is elected because he wants to give more money to those poor multi-national corporations that employ fewer Americans each year and pay very little (if any) American income tax because they keep their headquarters in a post office box in Dubai.

That's why Republicans talk about abortion.

Are a lot of Americans worked up over the issue of abortion? Sure. You can go out on the street and find people who believe that when a woman has her period and eggs go unfertilized that it's a form of murder and they should be put to death for it. There are crazy people at the fringes of every issue you can imagine.

Rest assured, however, that the candidates and elected officials who use abortion as a primary platform issue are not interested in forcing women to have children every time they have sex,  and they're not interested in forcing rape victims to bear the child of their attacker. They are interested only in one thing.

They want to make sure you're not paying attention to their policies on issues that will actually impact your life on a daily basis. The vast majority of Americans believe that abortions should be safe, legal and rare. Most importantly, that should be left up to the woman in question, her doctor, her family, her religious mentor, and whoever else she decides to include . . .not not the government.

Abortion is a weapon of mass distraction for the Republican Party.

Nothing more.

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Christianity Applied Chapter 4: Is Jesus The Only Path To Salvation?

Christianity Applied

 Chapter 4: Is Jesus Christ the Only Way?

One of the toughest questions facing modern religious thinkers today is the question of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.  Keeping in mind that Jesus himself was a Jew, and was not trying to create a church around his own teachings, is it necessary to believe in Jesus as the one and only path to salvation in order to be saved?

Admittedly, I struggle with this concept. What, exactly, is salvation? What do I need to be saved from? From the wrath of an angry god, hell bent on punishing me for the sins he knew I would commit before I was born?

Since our goal here is to find ancient answers to modern problems, let’s start by bringing forward the concept of salvation that Jesus and his followers would have understood.

When the topic of salvation comes up, we almost automatically think about going to heaven – or worry that we might be going to hell.  Often, there’s a certain amount of uncertainty and anxiety.   

Those who are very certain that they're going to heaven can seem a bit smug to others around them; therefore, we tend to avoid the topic of salvation. 

Let’s begin by looking at salvation in the Old Testament and let’s try to do that with fresh eyes – without assumptions. The Hebrew word that is translated “salvation” means rescue - especially rescue from sickness, trouble, distress, fear, or from enemies and violence. When the Hebrews were in Egypt, salvation meant rescue from slavery; freedom from bondage.  When the Jews were in Babylon, salvation meant rescue from exile. 

For example, after passing through the Red Sea and escaping from slavery in Egypt, Moses and the Israelites sang, "The LORD is my strength and my might, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him.”  (Exodus 15:2) In Psalm 118, the psalmist sings about being in danger and about being rescued by God. “Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me in a broad place. ¹³ I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me.  ¹⁴ The LORD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. (Psalm 118:5, 13-14)In these examples, and all through the Old Testament, salvation is something that happens in this life, not after the person dies. 

The Jews were saved from bondage in Egypt.  They were saved from exile in Babylon. The next major crisis for them was occupation by foreign armies, first the Greeks and then the Romans. The Pharisees decided that the reason the Jews weren’t being saved from the oppression of Roman occupation was because of the sins of the people.  There are two striking aspects of all of this.   First, salvation is always in terms of the here and now, not some destination after death. Second, salvation is usually communal, not individual.

What about salvation in the New Testament?  Consider the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector.  Remember, a tax collector was seen as a traitor to his people.  He worked for the Romans, collecting their very high taxes. Whatever he collected over and above the Roman demands became the tax collector’s income, and Zacchaeus was a rich man.  It’s no wonder that he was especially hated by his fellow Jews.  He was an outsider among his own people.  Now, Zack did something strange.  He climbed a tree.  Generally speaking, grown men don’t climb trees.  People dressed in loose robes don’t climb trees.  And rich government officials with considerable power don’t climb trees.

 Jesus spotted Zack up in the tree and called him down, and then Jesus did something strange.  Here is a good example of how God pursues us.  Jesus invited himself to dinner with a traitor who worked for the occupying forces.  In those days, to sit at the dinner table with someone strongly implied your approval of them. Jesus invited himself into the tax collector’s home and into his life.  The crowd was upset about this. Zacchaeus was not a righteous man.  You aren’t righteous when you’re actively participating in a system that oppresses and crushes people.

But look at what happened.  Zacchaeus pledged to give half of his wealth to the poor.  Fifty percent is a whale of a lot more than a ten percent tithe!  He went on to say that if he had defrauded anyone, he would return four times the amount.  The requirement under the law of Moses was much less.  According to rules in Leviticus and Numbers, if the restitution was voluntary, the guilty party was to pay back the amount taken plus twenty percent.  Zacchaeus went far beyond any legal requirement and plunged into the territory of enormous generosity.

Repentance isn't just a change of heart; it bears fruit! Lots of fruit!

At this point, Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house.”  “[Zack's]‘being saved’ refers to a conversion, to be sure, but not in any private sense. Not only is his household involved, but also the poor who will be beneficiaries of his conversion, as well as all those whom Zacchaeus may have defrauded. His salvation, therefore, has personal, domestic, social, and economic dimensions. Writing about this story, John Calvin said that Zacchaeus is “changed from a wolf, not only into a sheep, but even into a shepherd."

Just as in the Old Testament, there is a communal aspect to salvation in this story.  Salvation came to the house.  Jesus didn’t say, “You'll join me in heaven someday.”  He said that salvation had arrived - right then.

There are other times when Jesus talks of salvation, not in the future tense, but in the present tense.  Once, when a distraught father was told by friends that his daughter had died, Jesus told him, "Do not fear. Only believe, and she will be saved."  (Luke 8:50 NRS)  Jesus didn’t mean that she was going to heaven.  He was saying that she would be restored to this life.

On another occasion, he told a blind man that he had healed, “your faith has saved you.” (Luke 18:42 NRS) Not will save you, but has saved you. Similarly, in the book of Acts, we're told that day by day the Lord added to the early church “those that were being saved.”  Not those who will be saved, but those who were being saved.  Not only does this passage in Acts indicate salvation in the present, but it also refers to a process when it says, “were being saved.”

Paul, in Philippians, also speaks of salvation as an ongoing process.  He told them (Philippians 2:12-13 NRS) “. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  “It should be clear from this passage that Paul's understanding of salvation is different from what many of us have learned in church. Salvation is not a matter of never sinning, or never touching those we consider unclean. Nor is it a matter of having our sins taken away and joining the ranks of a comfortable middle-class congregation. Salvation consists, rather, in the joy, freedom, and partnership we experience when God's grace sets us free from the powers of this world, not so that we can flee this earth, but so that God can use us ‘to work for God's good pleasure’”

What does salvation in this life, today, here and now look like?  For Zacchaeus, it meant realizing that Jesus didn’t condemn him but loved him.  It meant that he was accepted by his God.  It meant that his heart was filled with generosity and freed from greed.  It meant that he had a new relationship, not only with God, but with his neighbors. Salvation means to be set free from our fear, to be saved from our compulsions and addictions and other self-destructive behavior, to be rescued from emptiness, meaninglessness, and despair. Salvation means being rescued from fruitless ways of life such as the cycle of insult and revenge, hatred and fear.   Salvation in the present is a journey, a process, a continuing transformation that brings “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.” (Philippians 4:7 NRS)  Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10 NRS)Salvation now is about participating in God's saving love for all creation, living in an adventure called the Kingdom of God. It’s a lifelong journey. It’s about being rescued from a life that is disconnected from God and being part of a fellowship that supports us and travels the journey of faith with us.

Given this definition of salvation, we return to our original question of whether or not Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation, and the answer is clearly a resounding yes . . .for Christians. But is Jesus necessarily, the only path to salvation? Just as clearly, the answer would be no . . .for every other adherent to faiths and beliefs that are not based upon Jesus. 

To those who feel that Jesus may be the only way, and are disturbed by any other possibility, simply refer back to the two most important commandments. If we love others as we love ourselves, we should be able to embrace our differences as well as our similarities. 

Is it so strange to believe that God can find many different ways to communicate with His people?

There's an old saying that when God draws his circle around the saved it will be much bigger and all-encompassing than the circle you or I would draw.

Thank God for that!!

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