Can you believe the national, rather, international froth whipped up by this Pastor Terry Jones in Florida saying he and his church were going to sponsor a Quran burning day? Unbelievable.
First let me clarify my position. I will address why later, but no, I don't plan on burning any Qurans.
What I want to know is how a church of some 55 people got the whole world stirred up into a frenzy? I mean, how did they find this guy? Seems like the media was looking for a pretext to sell some advertising. Seriously, if all 55 members (and if it is anything like the church I pastor, 20% are going to be absent for one reason or another) burned a Quran what kind of monumental atrocity does this amount to?
I have some observations to make about this whole tempest in a teapot.
1. Why doesn't the media get all upset when Bibles or churches or Christians are burned like in the Sudan or Indonesia or Iran or wherever else real atrocities occur? You never hear a word about it. Things far worse than a burned book occur every day to people who are of Christian faith and suffer injustice and violence with some losing their lives. Why isn't the media frothing about that?
2. This once again shows how INTOLERANT Muslims are. The media reports that large demonstrations in Islamic countries were taking place with threats of violence and retaliation. The top general of the U.S. armed forces feared burning Qurans would further endanger U.S. troops. Why isn't this angle picked up on? Muslims are the least tolerant people on the planet. Islamic countries lead the world in human rights violations. Somehow, Christians look like the bad guys in even this scenario.
Muslims can threaten the world and the media always gives them a pass. The Imam who said if the mosque planned to be built near ground zero was forced to move to another location it would result in increased violence. That my friend is a threat. Why is it never exposed as such? The Muslim can threated anyone and we look intolerant if we stand up to it? Give me a break.
3. Burning Qurans is a stupid idea for a lot of reasons. First of all, it is stupid to go provoking trouble. There is enough trouble out there, why create additional and unnecessary trouble? Save it for something that counts. Burning Qurans proves nothing. You haven't convinced anyone to change sides by burning a Quran, it is wasted effort. It is stupid because it furthers the stigma the media is trying to make stick to Christians everywhere. While Islamic terrorists are only a "few radicals" so we shouldn't characterize all Muslims as such, Christians always get the full blanket treatment. The militia that had most of its members arrested in Michigan some months ago were all characterized as "Christian." Actually none of them were and they didn't claim to be a "Christian Militia." However, the media would like the world to think Christians all play army in the woods and plot to overthrow the government. It's OK to profile Christians but not anyone else. Throw enough mud on the wall and some of it will stick.
4. I don't think Jesus would be burning Qurans. I know everyone has their own answer for "what would Jesus do?" but I don't see Him burning books.
Well, I don't know if you agree with me or not, but that's the way I have read this thing. In this war of ideas that we are presently engaged in, it will take a lot of intelligence, informed dialog, faith and behaving ourselves wisely. We can't play into our detractors hands. We must decide what hill we will die on defending what we hold dearest and let the rest go. There isn't room in our lives or enough resources to go doing and saying stupid things. Live smart. Live in faith.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
Perspective
Isn't it amazing when someone sits down and studies the obvious? We can all drift around assuming we kind of understand and have things in control when we haven't done the homework and the reality is, we don't know what we don't know. Then someone comes along and states the obvious and suddenly we have a point to draw perspective from.
As you might suspect, this blog post was inspired by a perspective I gained just today. How do you get perspective on the number "trillion?". What does trillion mean? Well, it's a lot of something. But since I don't run into a trillion of something on a daily basis(except bad drivers), it is hard to really appreciate what a trillion represents.
Here is the piece of perspective I ran into that I will share with you:
1 million seconds of time takes about 11 days to run out.
1 billion seconds of time takes 32 years.
1 trillion seconds of time takes 32,000 years.
Mind you, that is counting every second 24/7/365, not just the "waking hours" of the day.
Does that smack you between the eyes? Let's then give 32,000 years some perspective. If Adam and Eve the moment they were created from the dust of the earth (which Bible scholars believe was 8 to 10 thousand years ago) started counting 1...2...3...4...etc. they would not be one third of the way to reaching 1 trillion yet! It would take them 22,000 more years!
So, where was the last place we heard the word trillion tossed around like...loose change? Does this give you some perspective? Does this make you shake in your boots?
In the recent past, our country has descended into the pit of debt an additional 7 trillion dollars. Let's see, I am not too good at math, 7 x 32,000 = 224,000. Am I right? It is said that the United States of America carries a debt that including unfunded mandates, national health care, Social Security promises, etc., etc., of 107 trillion dollars. You do the math this time. The analogy is that if we paid back our national debt one dollar per second without sending another dollar (basically forever and ever) we would never pay off our national debt.
One thing that perspective can do for us is make the truth much more applicable to our lives. If this doesn't cause you to go to your knees in prayer, you might need a little more perspective.
As you might suspect, this blog post was inspired by a perspective I gained just today. How do you get perspective on the number "trillion?". What does trillion mean? Well, it's a lot of something. But since I don't run into a trillion of something on a daily basis(except bad drivers), it is hard to really appreciate what a trillion represents.
Here is the piece of perspective I ran into that I will share with you:
1 million seconds of time takes about 11 days to run out.
1 billion seconds of time takes 32 years.
1 trillion seconds of time takes 32,000 years.
Mind you, that is counting every second 24/7/365, not just the "waking hours" of the day.
Does that smack you between the eyes? Let's then give 32,000 years some perspective. If Adam and Eve the moment they were created from the dust of the earth (which Bible scholars believe was 8 to 10 thousand years ago) started counting 1...2...3...4...etc. they would not be one third of the way to reaching 1 trillion yet! It would take them 22,000 more years!
So, where was the last place we heard the word trillion tossed around like...loose change? Does this give you some perspective? Does this make you shake in your boots?
In the recent past, our country has descended into the pit of debt an additional 7 trillion dollars. Let's see, I am not too good at math, 7 x 32,000 = 224,000. Am I right? It is said that the United States of America carries a debt that including unfunded mandates, national health care, Social Security promises, etc., etc., of 107 trillion dollars. You do the math this time. The analogy is that if we paid back our national debt one dollar per second without sending another dollar (basically forever and ever) we would never pay off our national debt.
One thing that perspective can do for us is make the truth much more applicable to our lives. If this doesn't cause you to go to your knees in prayer, you might need a little more perspective.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
I Agree
This is another blog installment that was inspired by a blog I ran across on CNN.com. I am posting a link that I hope you will take a moment to to this article and read. http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/09/07/tf.quit.drinking.friends/index.html?hpt=C2
Understand that I am not endorsing this person's lifestyle or language but I recommend reading this article to point out the fact that it is logical to come to this conclusion even if you are not a Christian. Drinking and Evangelical Christianity were once largely mutually exclusive terms. Growing up in church I was taught that drinking alcohol was simply not part of a Christian's life. As far as I am concerned, that teaching has kept me in good stead for 51 years. Not one dui, under age drinking citation, or alcohol related offense has ever been perpetrated by me. Not a single cent has gone to purchase any alcoholic beverages saving me untold thousands of dollars not only in the non-purchase of such beverages but related costs such as accident damages, taxi fares, jail bail, and the like. To me, I think it is smart to not drink all the way around. The upside of drinking? Can't think of anything worth the risk. There simply is no compelling argument to drink. Any pleasure I might get from an alcoholic beverage I can certainly get from something without alcohol. I have NEVER heard anyone say, "I make my best decisions after I have had a few drinks." Why is that?
All of the logic aside, which by the way is plenty enough for me, the Christian testimony aspect of the argument to not drink is also very important to me. I feel drinking alcohol lessens the effectiveness of my Christian testimony. Let's say, I drink a few drinks and despite my attempts to be disciplined about it, I get a little tipsy, or a lot tipsy or just plain drunk. Seeing I have a history of a lack of discipline around food this is not unimaginable. Is this a great way to represent Christ? What difference am I demonstrating that Christ makes in my life? Even not being "tipsy" am I giving Jesus the advantage by holding an alcoholic drink in my hand? I don't think so. By the way, it isn't good to abuse food either, it also lessens my testimony but let's not get sidetracked.
The odd thing? I have been in this person's shoes (the person who wrote the article) many times, most of those times it was a Christian person questioning why I do not drink. Who cares? Why does it bother anyone else? Why is this strange? Is drinking alcohol the admission to a secret society that I don't belong to? The situation is really odd to me.
Does not drinking make me a better person than someone else? Not in God's eyes. It might make me a more productive person or a more responsible person, or less likely to commit an alcohol related crime or stupid decision, but not of more worth to God than the skid row bum. Simply, not drinking alcohol makes me a better me. It makes me closer to the person I want to be. I am not perfect, most likely won't ever completely be perfect but one less area to screw up in is a good idea for me.
So, to those who can live without alcohol, I applaud you. I know there seems to be some leeway in this area as a Christian, but there being so little benefit and so much risk, why? Keep an open mind and heart to the possibility. I think it is a better way.
Understand that I am not endorsing this person's lifestyle or language but I recommend reading this article to point out the fact that it is logical to come to this conclusion even if you are not a Christian. Drinking and Evangelical Christianity were once largely mutually exclusive terms. Growing up in church I was taught that drinking alcohol was simply not part of a Christian's life. As far as I am concerned, that teaching has kept me in good stead for 51 years. Not one dui, under age drinking citation, or alcohol related offense has ever been perpetrated by me. Not a single cent has gone to purchase any alcoholic beverages saving me untold thousands of dollars not only in the non-purchase of such beverages but related costs such as accident damages, taxi fares, jail bail, and the like. To me, I think it is smart to not drink all the way around. The upside of drinking? Can't think of anything worth the risk. There simply is no compelling argument to drink. Any pleasure I might get from an alcoholic beverage I can certainly get from something without alcohol. I have NEVER heard anyone say, "I make my best decisions after I have had a few drinks." Why is that?
All of the logic aside, which by the way is plenty enough for me, the Christian testimony aspect of the argument to not drink is also very important to me. I feel drinking alcohol lessens the effectiveness of my Christian testimony. Let's say, I drink a few drinks and despite my attempts to be disciplined about it, I get a little tipsy, or a lot tipsy or just plain drunk. Seeing I have a history of a lack of discipline around food this is not unimaginable. Is this a great way to represent Christ? What difference am I demonstrating that Christ makes in my life? Even not being "tipsy" am I giving Jesus the advantage by holding an alcoholic drink in my hand? I don't think so. By the way, it isn't good to abuse food either, it also lessens my testimony but let's not get sidetracked.
The odd thing? I have been in this person's shoes (the person who wrote the article) many times, most of those times it was a Christian person questioning why I do not drink. Who cares? Why does it bother anyone else? Why is this strange? Is drinking alcohol the admission to a secret society that I don't belong to? The situation is really odd to me.
Does not drinking make me a better person than someone else? Not in God's eyes. It might make me a more productive person or a more responsible person, or less likely to commit an alcohol related crime or stupid decision, but not of more worth to God than the skid row bum. Simply, not drinking alcohol makes me a better me. It makes me closer to the person I want to be. I am not perfect, most likely won't ever completely be perfect but one less area to screw up in is a good idea for me.
So, to those who can live without alcohol, I applaud you. I know there seems to be some leeway in this area as a Christian, but there being so little benefit and so much risk, why? Keep an open mind and heart to the possibility. I think it is a better way.
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