Opinions Matter

What I learned about our President yesterday during his two so-called news conferences was this: If you disagree with him you are somehow inferior and non-consequential and secondly, the voice of the people – even the minority – is trivialized.

It appears, when it comes to “change”, if I don’t agree with his definition of change, my voice does not count. The Republican voice does not count, the conservative voice does not count. We will get his idea of change shoved down our throat with little discussion or debate. As we all know, most, if not all, the government bureaucrats did not even read the stimulus bill before voting on it!

I also learned that even though our President calls on the American people for sacrifice, apparently that same level of sacrifice is not required of the government. Even though he indicated in a prior speech that government too must “tighten its belt” in these tough economic times. Hence a $300,000 “mistake” fly over for a photo-op is okay and another $300,000 or more trip to MO to say what he said on prime time television is okay.  Sure, squelch bonuses for the banks, fire company presidents because they don’t do what you want them to do, resist banks from paying back their bail-out funds, but go ahead and squander tax payer money on petty ploys to promote your agenda.  Is no one really paying attention?

I have an opinion. Some, a fairly large “some”, people have opinions that differ with the current administration. But apparently that does not matter. Of course, if we all were gay, or transsexual, or pro-abortion, or anti-gun, or pro-immigration I suspect our voice would be heard with joy. But to disagree – that marginalizes you as non-consequential and uninformed.

It is a sad day for America when we have a one party government and an administration that cares little about the other side’s voice. Perhaps Mr. Obama should look at the numbers again and realize he won his position not with an overwhelming majority of the popular vote, but barely over 50% of the popular vote. That means that a large segment of the population may not agree with him. To ignore that portion of the population borders very close to arrogance.

Opinion’s matter, even if we may be “waving tea bags.”

The Sack Lunch

I  want to get back to the concept of “evil” and God, but right now, I’d like to share a couple thoughts and an email from a friend.

As a country, I don’t believe we do enough for those who sacrifice so much to defend our freedoms. Mostly, when I think of freedom fighters, I think of the military personnel. But there are more….our local police force, our firemen, those who serve in special functions such as SWAT teams or bomb squads.  They all put their lives on the line every day to defend our basic and fundamental rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”  So if the story below inspires you…take action. Pick up a lunch check if your in a restaraunt with special heroes, stop them on the street or in the store and say “thank you” or demonstrate your appreciation in some other way. I do.

Now, here is the story.

The  Sack Lunches

I put my carry-on in the luggage  compartment and sat down in my 
assigned seat.  It was  going to be a long flight. ‘I’m glad I have a 
good book to  read Perhaps I will get a short nap,’ I  thought.

Just before take-off, a line of  soldiers came down the aisle and 
filled all the vacant seats,  totally surrounding me.  I decided to 
start a  conversation..  ’Where are you headed?’ I asked the soldier  
seated nearest to me.

‘Petawawa.  We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, and then  
we’re being deployed to Afghanistan

After  flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack  
lunches were available for five dollars.  It would be  several hours 
before we reached the east, and I quickly  decided a lunch would help 
pass the  time..

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard  soldier ask his buddy if he 
planned to buy lunch.  ’No,  that seems like a lot of money for just a 
sack lunch. Probably  wouldn’t be worth five bucks.  I’ll wait till we 
get to  base ‘

His friend  agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers.   None were buying lunch.  I 
walked to the back of  the plane and handed the flight attendant a 
fifty dollar bill.   ‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers.’  She grabbed  
my arms and squeezed tightly.  Her eyes wet with tears,  she thanked 
me.  ’My son was a soldier in   Iraq  ; it’s almost like you are doing it  
for
him.’

Picking up ten sacks,  she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers 
were seated.   She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like  
best – beef or chicken?’

‘Chicken,’ I  replied, wondering why she asked.  She turned and went to  
the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner  plate from 
first class.  ’This is your  thanks.’

After we finished eating, I went again  to the back of the plane, 
heading for the rest room.  A  man stopped me..  ’I saw what you did.  I 
want to be  part of it.  Here, take this.’  He handed me twenty-five  
dollars.

Soon after I returned to my  seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down 
the aisle, looking  at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was 

not looking  for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on  
my side of the plane.  When he got to my row he stopped,  smiled, held 
out his hand, an said, ‘I want to shake your  hand.’

Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood  and took the Captain’s hand.  
With a booming voice he  said, ‘I was a soldier and I was a military 
pilot. Once,  someone bought me a lunch.  It was an act of kindness I  
never forgot.’  I was embarrassed when applause was heard  from all of 
the passengers.

Later I  walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs.   
A man who was seated about six rows in front of me  reached out his 
hand, wanting to shake mine.  He left  another twenty-five dollars in 
my  palm.

When we landed  I gathered my  belongings and started to deplane.  
Waiting just inside  the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put 
something  in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a  
word.  Another twenty-five  dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the  soldiers gathering for their 
trip to the base.  I walked  over to them and handed them seventy-five 
dollars. ‘It will  take you some time to reach the base. It will be 
about time  for a sandwich.  God Bless You.’

Ten young  men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their  
fellow travelers.  As I walked briskly to my car, I  whispered a prayer 
for their safe return.  These soldiers  were giving their all for our 
country.  I could only give  them a couple of meals.

It seemed so  little…

A veteran is someone who, at one  point in his life, wrote a blank check

made payable to ‘The   United  States of America ‘ for  an amount of  ’up 
to and including my life.’

That is Honor, and there are  way too many people in this country who 
no longer understand  it.’  

 

Does It Matter?

There is little doubt that my life is not an exceptional witness for Christ.  If I put my life up against some of my friends or family, I would pale in comparison.  I don’t always say the right things, think the right things, or do the right things. Often, my testimony would be far from glorifying and certainly not point people to Jesus, whatever that means.  However……

When it comes to work I try exceptionally hard to do things right as well as the right thing. That is one area where I can actually control most if not all of my actions and emotions. Not that I always keep things under control, but most of the time I do and that’s a good thing since most of the people I work with are not believers.  Yet, one of them is.  And here’s my beef. Not criticism so much as a genuine beef.  I’ve run into this thing before and it really galls me. This person is consistently late for work. And I do mean consistently.

An acquaintance of ours, many years ago, at our small group study made this observation. Now note – this person was in his early thirties at the time.  He stated that after reading his employment contract at his new job, it dawned on him that his new employer expected him to be there every day and on time every day.  He’d never thought timeliness was that big of a deal before, hence his seeking a new job. This time, the employer made it clear that not showing up for work on time was not acceptable. I was flabbergasted that it was just now dawning on this guy that showing up for work on time each day was important!

I’m sure there are a good many things I do at work that might chip away at my testimony. But not showing up on time will never be one of them. As I learned many years ago, being on time is the ultimate in personal responsibility. And YES, it does matter!

Now…all that having been said….I’ll move to another area – the “Christian” people who are customers. At times, it is almost embarrassing to be a believer when I see how some act and speak in a retail environment. The other day, one lady I was waiting on was very curt and condescending as she wore her bright read t-shirt with “Christ is Alive” printed boldly on the front.  I was well tempted to say, “Ma’am it might be best if you left that shirt at home!”

Yes, it’s hard to wear our testimony 24/7 and to do it in such a way that is honoring to Christ and a positive attraction to those around us. Perhaps there are times when I should stay indoors and not risk chipping away at the credibility of the gospel. After all, it does matter. But I know that getting it right all the time is not practical, at least I don’t think it is. But again, it does matter. So at least being sensitive and aware is great beginning. Heck, it good be a good ending as well.

Good and Evil – The Source?

I would expect that most people would agree with this statement: Nothing happens in the world or to individuals that is not filtered through the hands of God. Whether that filter is described as God allowing something to happen or God creating the calamity itself. Of course, there are certain ramifications to that last concept.

Often when chaos of any sort strikes an individual, a community, or a nation, in general terms there are two basic questions coming from two basic groups. Some will ask, “Why did God do this?”  Others will ask, “Why did God allow this to happen?” Even though those questions may emanate from both believers and unbelievers, are they not really asking the same question?

Without trying to employing circular reasoning, why does it seem unfathomable to most evangelical Christians that God created evil? After all, if he did not, who did? In the garden of Eden, there was a tree. A tree of the “knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:9).”  Who planted that tree? What was the source of the fruit of that tree – it was good and evil? What was the basis of that knowledge when referring to good and evil?

When it comes to the original languages of the Bible, most of us are on the outside looking in. We depend a great deal on interpreters and language specialists to translate words and their cognates in a way that makes sense. To some degree, we are all at their mercy when it comes to moving the original languages to our English language. Hence, tools like dictionaries, commentaries, lexicons, and software tools, help us sort out issues. Nevertheless, when reading translations of the Bible, their is little doubt that theology has impacted the translation. Which is completely natural, at least, I think it would be. But that should not prevent us from examining things to see if the translators got it right. In spite of all of that, there are still “problem” passages that cause us to pause and wonder – “What does this passage really mean?”

I came across such a passage when reading Isaiah again. It resides at Isaiah 45:7 and it reads

I (God) form light and create darkness, I make well -being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.

As you might guess, “calamity” is the key word and the nub of the issue. It can be translated in a variety of ways including distress or evil. The Hebrew word ra, ro-ah is the root word, can have various meanings dictated primarily by context - the way we interpret most words.For example, ”blue” can be a color or it can mean melancholy.  In Is 45:7, when we look at the word ro-ah, it is in apposition to “well-being” or shalom, which makes calamity a rather perfect interpretation. God creates both well-being and calamity. The well-being is the comfortable part of the verse, calamity is not so comfortable. For a comparable reference see Amos 3:6.

There are a couple of other words that come into play when trying to understand the power of the verse in Isaiah. One is tobe(tove) which means “good” as in the tree of the knowledge of goodand evil, the other is “bara” which means to create as in “In the beginning, God created….”  Tobe is not the word used in Isaiah 45:7 to describe well-being  However, bara is the same in both Genesis 1:1 and the Isaiah passage.  A point that should not be ignored.

When I read this passage, my mind was overflowing with things I’ve heard over the years about bad things happening to good people. Somehow, we go to great lengths to use “allow”, “permits”, or “grants permission”, etc. when deciding how we might explain calamity when it invades a person’s life or slaps a community along side the head.  We stretch our vocabulary to find words that somehow will let God off the hook for any responsibility. “Providence” is probably the best one. Never, at least in my experience, would you hear someone say “God created this calamity” unless it is to ascribe the event as a punishment of evil.

Is it that hard, or that wrong to say what happened is God’s doing? Or are there things that happen outside his knowledge or his sovereignty? Now don’t misunderstand, I am not attempting to validate the concept that God created moral evil. But we must examine the origin, based on the Genesis account and this one in Isaiah, along with others. As I expressed in the beginning, nothing happens that is not filtered through the hands of God. NOTHING if we believe in God’s sovereignty.   Job is a good example.

Whether we examine the context of God’s impending use of Cyrus to bring Israel’s enemies to their knees or today’s current climate of impending socialism and the liberal agenda regarding abortion and stem cell research -  two concepts that may be rightly considered evil – none of this is happening outside God’s sovereignty or his will. That gives me cause to wonder.

The “Eye of God”

Have you seen it?   Did someone send an email to you with the “eye of god.”

Have we lost our collective minds to think for a minute there is some magical power in the “eye of god”? Is this a desperate people’s way of trying to reach out to the Almighty and somehow make a connection?  Are we so famished for the power of God’s word and the intimate presence of his Holy Spirit that we choose to grasp at images and ascribe to them some mystical power?

No wonder there is no collective voice from Christianity. No surprise that even though it bristles the hair on the back of our neck, President Obama may speak truth when he says that America is no longer a Christian nation. 

Perhaps, like me, you read these emails and think…I’m going to delete it. Then you think, “what if it’s right?” It says “whether I believe it or not” pass it on.  If I don’t pass it on will people miss out on a blessing because of my failing faith in the “eye of god?”  Is it a source of miracles or merely a wish-machine?  The email uses both. Of course it cannot be both. Either it is a source of miracles or it is a wishing well where we cast a thought into the universe and hope for fulfillment.

Poppy-cock!  There is no power in a picture. God may indeed counsel us with his eye upon us (Ps 32:8) but to think there is some giant eye in the sky fulfilling those words is a bit immature. Jesus encouraged us to have child-like faith, not childish faith. 

Okay, I’m done ranting.  Decide for yourself.  Here is the photo and the email.

This photo has done miracles in many lives.  
Make a wish … you have looked at the eye of God. Surely you will see the changes in your
life within a day.!
Whether you believe it or not, don’t keep this mail with you. Pass this at least to 7 persons.
This is a picture NASA took with the Hubbell telescope.
Called “The Eye of God.”