The Perils of Protest---Harming Your Own Cause

There are many perfectly legitimate criticisms of Donald Trump.  Whether or not he is currently behaving circumspectly in regard to relationships with women, he certainly seems to have been inappropriate in the past.  He expresses himself in inflammatory ways causing embarrassment to our country and creeping us closer to open conflict with North Korea.  However, everything he does and says is not wrong.

Unfortunately, there is a liberal element in our society which seems bent on making him out to be the villain and idiot in every possible situation.  Things he says which are perfectly within reason are twisted in grotesque ways to seem nasty.  The current issue of condolence calls seems to be an example of this.

I listened to what Congresswoman Frederica Wilson had to say.  I have also listened to the video/audio released by one of the widows who received a condolence call from Trump.  He was compassionate, praised the fallen soldier, asked the widow questions about her family and invited her to visit him in the oval office if she was in Washington. 

Wilson, in addition to her earlier negative comments, is now declaring that she must be a “rock star” because Trump is paying attention to what she is saying.  I think it was her purpose to put herself on the national stage right from the get-go, and that she is guilty of using a widow’s pain for her own political gain.

Liberals need to back off and recognize that when they criticize everything, they lose the validity of all of their criticisms…even the legitimate ones.  Of course, this is also true of conservatives.  Although it wasn’t as extreme with Obama as it has been with Trump, conservatives made a lot of ridiculous jabs.  One which was especially offensive to me was the citing of Psalm 109:8  May his days be few; may another take his office.  That was a disgusting misuse of God’s word.  People may think they are being clever, when they are actually repulsive and harming the cause they seek to promote.

A couple of decades ago, I was on a three-county board for Health Systems Agency.  One evening when we were reviewing an application from Planned Parenthood, pro-lifers showed up for public comment and threw pictures of aborted fetuses on the table in front of those of us on the board.  There were others on the board beside me who were pro-life, and we were just cringing.  The person chairing the meeting actually said, “you are harming your own cause.”

When people feel so strongly about something that their emotions take over and rational thought disappears, they run the risk of torpedoing themselves and their position.  They look like madmen lashing out at every possible misstep on the enemy’s part, instead of targeting the specific problems over which they have a worthwhile complaint.

Both liberals and conservative are, and have been, guilty of this.  If this doesn’t stop, our society will dissolve into chaos as we shred one another.

A house divided against itself, cannot stand.  Abraham Lincoln

Protecting our Daughters

As parents, we have an obligation to protect our daughters from situations where unscrupulous males could prey upon them.  It isn’t just some creepy guy hanging out on the street corner who is a threat.  The creep may be a professional.

One of my daughters had lots of difficulties during her teenage years.  Our pediatrician recommended trying a psychologist who was new in town.  He told me the man had an extensive and lucrative practice in New York City, but that his wife was originally from Watertown and wanted to return to her roots.  They decided to maintain homes in both places.  She would live in the north country, and he would go back and forth working a day or two a week locally and the rest in New York City.  The pediatrician admitted that he didn’t really know anything about the psychologist, but his wife was a lovely person.

I was not going to send my vulnerable daughter to this person without checking him out myself first, so I made an appointment with him.  On the phone he told me that he did not normally counsel teenagers, but would meet with me and hear my concerns to see if he thought he could help.

His office was in the upstairs of an old Victorian house which seemed to be unoccupied except for his upstairs suite.  No one was in earshot, but that didn’t especially bother me initially.  I was seated about ten feet away from him, so I wasn’t ill at ease at first.  A rapid exit was possible if necessary.

I encountered the first problem when he was insistent that I tell him our family’s annual income.  I refused to do so, as this was none of his business.  I told him I did not see it as relevant.  He said he needed to know if part of our daughter’s problem was financial insecurity.  I told him that we were comfortable and that we had no financial worries, and in any event, we would never discuss such things with our children.  He then tried to impress me with how much he earned yearly.

After several more minutes of discussion, he asked me the bust size of all the women in the household….my daughter, her two sisters and myself.  I told him that had no relevance, at which point he stared me up and down and said that of course it did, and after all, “You are an attractive woman with no obvious physical defects.”

So clearly, I was NOT sending my daughter to this creep and the session was soon over.  I asked him how much I owed and pulled out my checkbook.  He told me that he could arrange for my insurance to pay for the session by saying I had come to him for something like “life adjustment” counseling or something similar.  I said, “No, I didn’t come for me.  I came to see if you were an appropriate person to whom I could send my daughter.”

I wrote the check and placed it on the table next to the door.  I was not about to walk up to him and hand it to him.  I was so angry that I actually considered dropping it on the floor, so he would have to stoop to pick it up.  I have sometimes wished that I had done that.

I reported all this to the pediatrician, who shook his head and said, “Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

A few months later, I read that the psychologist and his wife were divorced.  No surprise to me.

I was so glad that I had scoped out the situation before sending my daughter upstairs in a deserted house with an opportunistic predator.

The Validity of Scientific Inquiry

I know that it is popular to believe that religion and science are in opposition to each other, and that no thinking person would also believe the “myths” of the Bible.

My view is that God is a rational being and that he created the universe and all that is in it to function according to rational and knowable principles.  Science is an attempt to discover those principles and is in no way contradictory to a belief in a Creator and Sustainer.

A little research on the history of the laws of physics places beginning concepts as emerging about 600 years BCE.  Interestingly, this is also the era in which the book of Jeremiah was written.  A passage I read recently seems to refer to the laws of physics.

If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant....(Jeremiah 33:25-26)

The point of the passage is not the fixed laws, but the fact that the Lord will always be faithful to the people of Israel and the descendants of David.  But, his faithfulness is as firm as the laws governing day and night and heaven and earth.  In other words, He is acknowledging that he has in fact set up fixed laws…principles which govern the world we observe around us.  He is not asking us to believe in some magical or mystical elements that bring about the order we see.  He is not saying that someone pulls the sun across the sky behind his chariot.  He is saying that there are fixed laws which bring about the sunrise and sunset each day.  We know now that day and night are governed by the movement of planetary bodies.  God already knew that, of course, and knew we would one day figure it out.

He also understands the mysteries of subatomic particles and of dark matter and energy.  He doesn’t mind if we try to figure out his “fixed laws.”  Belief in him and scientific inquiry are perfectly compatible.

I believe anyone who genuinely seeks TRUTH will eventually be confronted with God himself.

On Forgetfulness and Donuts

I am pondering forgetfulness which is an increasing issue as we age.  Notice, I said “issue” and not “problem.”  I think too much is made of seniors being forgetful.

Recently I had an eye doctor appointment.  I thought it was going to be for a refraction, but it turned out to be a dry eye check.  They claim that I just had a refraction in April.  I do not remember that.  I thought the dry eye check was in April.  I wondered how I could have forgotten, but then I started to think, “why would I remember?”  I have had dozens of refractions in my life…why would I remember that one?

I have eaten thousands of breakfasts, lunches and dinners in my life….why would I remember what I ate yesterday?

I have made the bed thousands of times in my life.  Have I made it yet this morning?  Guess I’ll have to run down to the bedroom and look.  Yesterday when I found the bed made, I couldn’t remember doing it.  Turns out there was a good reason for that….my husband had slept so late that he felt obliged to make it.

Have I paid the utility bill this month?  Well, if I remembered to write it down in the checkbook, I have a reference.  I have paid that bill hundreds of times, so why would I bother to remember this one?

Why did I come in this room?  I must have come for something….but I have been here so many times before.

Of course, it is annoying to forget, but by the time one is in her 70s, there are so many things floating around in her brain, and some of them are so much more important than others.

I don’t remember the names of some people I have met, but I still remember my family and close friends, and if you give me long enough, I can pull out most of the names I need to know.  It might be 24 hours after I have greeted the person in some generic way, but eventually it comes.

Last night, the final Jeopardy question was about Caesar’s Commentary on the Gallic Wars.  I memorized the first few sentences in high school Latin class about 56 years ago.  I can still quote it…Gallia est ommes divisa in partes tres…  So obviously there is some meaningless trivia lodged up there pushing out some more recent memories.

Speaking of breakfasts….which I remember doing a few paragraphs back….I would remember if I had been to the donut shop and had a “headlight.”  That is my favorite kind of donut.  I have discovered in traveling around that not all Dunkin Donuts carry headlights, and sometimes they go by a different name or aren’t made quite the same way.  My local donut shop covers the top surface of the donut with chocolate frosting and then puts a medium size blob of white cream on top.  I have had them with skimpy little blobs.  Recently I had one with an absolutely enormous covering with a thick layer of the white cream all over the top of the donut.  I actually cannot remember where that was. 

AHA!  I just took time to reread this and apparently my brain was working on it in the background….I had that donut at a rest stop on the NYS Thruway, and there was so much white cream that I shared it with my husband.  I do remember life’s significant moments.

Worth Dying For

As a young person, I read and heard stories of martyrs.  I pondered the whole notion of dying for a cause.  I heard people say they would be willing to die for the cause of Christ.  It seemed so noble.  But at some point in my teens years, I decided that any cause worth dying for, must also be worth living for. 

Life is actually a process of dying slowly.  If a person is not willing to make daily sacrifices for the cause they claim to hold dear, I don’t want to hear any nonsense about their willingness to die for that cause.  For example, I have heard parents say that they would do anything for their children….even die for them.  If those same parents smoke around their child who has asthma, I say “bologna!”   You aren’t willing to die for your child, if you aren’t willing to make daily sacrifices of your own wishes and desires and habits for the sake of the child’s well-being.

Long ago I memorized Romans 12: 1-2   I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  That is the King James Version.

I also like Phillips’ translation:  With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him.  Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God remold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets his demands and moves toward the goal of true maturity.

God does not ask most of us to be martyrs in the traditional meaning of the word.  He does, however, expect us to die daily…be a “living sacrifice.”  This means obedience to his good plan for us, even when we don’t like it or don’t understand it.

I read an article yesterday in Christianity Today which was written by a lesbian, who still has such inclinations, but also understands that in obedience to God, she must resist the temptation to act on those inclinations.  She is living out the daily sacrifice of her desires in order to conform her mind and body to what is acceptable to God.

I know people who have left marriages and married someone new stating that “God wants us to be happy.”  Nope!  God wants you to be holy.  He wants you to sacrifice your desires and have your mind transformed.  Don’t follow the pattern of this world!  If you have to die a little every day in order to be obedient, so be it.

We all have inclinations and urges that are wrong…..anger, pride, fear, feelings of worthlessness, temptation to gossip.  We may read books, listen to music, watch television, or have friendships we know are not suitable for a mind that is being transformed for God’s purposes.  If we are a “living sacrifice,” we need to learn to die daily.

Obedience to God may mean a dramatic death, but it will more likely mean the slow process of surrender to his purposes in daily life.

Puerto Rican Heartache

My heart aches for Puerto Rico and the suffering of the people following Hurricane Maria.  So many in Puerto Rico live in poverty normally, that I can’t imagine what it must be like now.

I have visited Puerto Rico twice.  Both times, it was in connection with an arm of our church denomination.  My husband serves on a board that makes loans to Puerto Rican churches to purchase buildings and renovate them or buy land and build new churches.   While there each time, we visited multiple churches and had opportunity to interact with attendees of some of the churches.  On one occasion, we attended a church potluck dinner, which was a chance to eat “normal” local dishes as opposed to what one might find in a restaurant.

We stayed in lovely hotels on the beach, but across the street there were people living in cardboard boxes.  Poverty was too obvious to be ignored.  One day we rented a car and drove from San Juan to the southern part of the island.  The situation was even worse there.  I came home sad for what I had seen.  Certainly, I was encouraged by the spirit of the people in the churches, but once you are outside of the tourist area, the rest of the island is depressing.  I felt helpless, because the need was so enormous back then.

What now?  The island is destroyed.  People are without food and water and basic sanitation services.  Relief efforts are hampered by highways being impassable and ports not yet safe for ships to enter.  On the mainland, anyone could rent a truck, fill it with supplies and drive it to a needy area.  Power companies from unaffected areas can come in and help.  But we are talking about an island!

I am suggesting that anyone, who has the ability to do so, could make a contribution to an agency they know will provide relief without skimming too much off the top for administrative costs.  I have read recently of some celebrities making major donations, but I wish more of them would step up.  Does someone really need a private jet or an enormous diamond when there is so much human need? 

 

Information coming out of Puerto Rico is still scant.  I do not know how people I have met have weathered this.  I am praying for the people of Puerto Rico, and especially for those in the churches I have visited.  May God give them strength and provide for their needs.

Is the World Going to End on September 23rd?

Is the world going to end on September 23^rd?  Well, yes….obviously, for some people it will.  For others, it will end sooner, and for some later.  One of the fascinating things about life is that it ends for everyone, and very few people know when that end will come. 

Neither does anyone really know what tomorrow will bring.  Will Kim Jung Un have sent us the “gift” he has been promising?  Will the Yellowstone super volcano blow and wipe out everything west of the Mississippi?  Will another hurricane smash into the east coast or Florida?  Will I fall down the stairs and break my neck?  Do I unknowingly have an aneurysm that will rupture while I am eating dinner?

I wish all the supposed prophets would stop making specific predictions and contriving something from the signs they believe are in the heavens.  My understanding of a prophet is that he/she is someone who speaks truth into a situation.  This does NOT necessarily involve attempts at predicting what will happen five days from now.  Those assertions are not truth….they are guesses.  Only God knows what the future holds.

He has made some promises which are truth and will happen.  He will return.  Those who know and love Him will be taken to heaven to live with Him…either at the time of their death or when He returns.  But, He has very purposefully not told us when.  When John wrote Revelation, there were things he heard which he was specifically told not to record.  I suspect this may be because it would have made coming events too obvious to us.  God did NOT want us to know, so please stop guessing!

What God does want is for all to repent, acknowledge His son and enter into a loving relationship with Him.  If we knew the future, it would be tempting to live in sin until the very last moment and “repent” then.  God does understand human nature.  He knows our weaknesses.  He wants us to come to Him because we love Him and genuinely desire to serve Him.  He knows the intents of our minds and hearts.

Matthew 24:42-44 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.  But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

I guess since he is expected on September 23^rd, it will not be then. 

Hmmm….I wonder if the “prophets” making the predictions have copies of the Bible that are missing these verses.