Missing Consequences

I became a Believer at the ripe old age of twenty-six, and my life has not been the same since. I wake each morning with a fresh sense of worth and value in my Lord that, in my previous life, I never had. I am comfortable in who I am and have a greater understanding of my strengths and my many weaknesses. But, I am also acutely aware of the vast differences in a life without Christ and a life with Christ, and it is these differences that prickle me more than most. I write this post as an observation and an opinion and not as a fact or as a truth.

I grew up in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts in a primarily Italian community. I am very much Italian as my mother was the daughter of a father, born and raised in Trentino, Italy, and a mother, whose parents were born and raised in Italy. My father, a Frenchman, was raised in this community and with these values as well. As a people, we were raised with an intense honor, traditional values and to be fiercely loyal with our word and our allegiances. With these came a string of immediate consequences to one's actions that served as parameters and accountability to behavior.

One such example is family. We, growing up, would say anything about anyone with the exception of one's mother and father. A word against either brought an immediate response which served as an immediate consequence and a future deterrent to such a poor choice of words. It was this consequence to, what we deemed, a poor action that served as a natural accountability factor to future behavior. And...it worked remarkably well.

What does this have to do with a life in Christ? Well, I have observed, over the years, that there are some missing consequences in western Christianity. We, Christians, in my view, need more natural consequences to our actions than we currently have. I have heard too many stories of Christians taking advantage of other Christians, and, in the name of forgiveness, never having to account for their poor decision or poor actions. I am, in no way, saying Christians should not forgive because they should, every single time.

What I am saying is that if Christians, and I include myself in this equation, had some immediate consequences awaiting our actions, and we knew of them and saw examples of them daily, we would think twice more about our current decisions leading to our current actions. I believe this to be true of general culture, as well. Part of our problem, across this time and culture, is that there are too many missing consequences.

As Believers, is it not all about our Lord? Every action taken, every word spoken and every thought entertained ...are all not for His glory? Someone, and I have long ago forgotten who, once said to me, "God's sovereignty does not negate the Believer's responsibility." And, I believe that to be true as it aligns nicely with what scripture commands each of us, "to work out our salvation with fear and trembling."

As I contemplate my walk with Christ, I seek more accountability to avoid being what I know I am, woefully addicted to myself. Without Christ, I am nothing, but with Christ, the world is possible as long as all that I do, say and think is for His glory. Blessings to all!

The Missing Element

I try to read the other side as often as I can. Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens all right from the extreme left and from the "there is no God" worldview. All of them write extremely well which lends to their success. But, I would like to posit two views produced by reading their works.

The first is this: their case is made more by their ability to write than by their logic, reason, and rational. In the case of Sam Harris, he writes in a clean and clear way that makes reading his book an enjoyable experience. Christopher Hitchens writes with a style that is attractive to today's "wow" crowd as he has little fear of offense and is quite content in shocking you. Couple this courage with an ability to write and you have an attraction. And, finally we have Richard Dawkins. Dawkins is a scholar who has an ability to write well. No more needs to be said.

My point here is that all of these authors are impacting because they write well, and not because they make any sense. Think of the things we humans have made popular over the years...pet rocks, silly putty, celebrity garbage, and the list goes on and on. Now, think of some of the things we have believed in over time. Things like the world is flat, Martians, the Lock Ness Monster, and this list goes on and on. The point is simple, belief in no God is one of the many beliefs mankind will try on and wear for a while, then throw away when there is no more use for it. Right now it is trendy and acceptable to write about it, but in the end it boils down to the same issue we started with...Dawkins, Harris and Hutchins have no answer to offer mankind other than their own. They, by claiming, first, that there is no God, and second, by claiming, even in the slightest of ways, that they have part of the answer are, again, falling out of the garden by trying to be like God. The attempt never changes; it is always the same with a different strategy, an attempt to be like God, and in the end, there will be no better array of answers than before.

My second view is this: as brilliant as these men are, and they are far brighter than I will ever dream of being, their writings all have the missing element. You know of the element of which I speak. You know... the one that delays you moments so you just miss that accident, the one that allows you to meet the friend at a time in a space that you were never going to frequent, the one where you lose your keys, and you never lose your keys, just long enough to miss a potentially disastrous situation and this list also goes on and on because we all can relate. This element is the mysterious, the fourth dimension, the consciousness... whatever name you want to give it. It is God in you and in me at work in our everyday lives providing for us in unexplained ways. As long as I have been alive there has been the unexplainable that can only be attributed to the Almighty.

Let me pause here and add that I am no theologian and am not seeking to go into the depths of theology here. I merely seek to speak in every day terms that all of us can relate to at one point in time. Now, back to my point.

These men refuse to discuss or acknowledge that there is anything unexplainable, according to each, all is explainable, and all that is not is attributed to chance or mere coincidence. But, if there is no divine power at work and in control, can there be chance?

Chance is luck, good and bad, an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon, a possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances, a gamble... but, chance is never merely nothing (please excuse the double negative). My question is clear: how can we possibly have chance if there is nothing but nothing out there? That would mean no chance or no coincidence; all would be physics, and the laws of physics never bend or offer a reprieve.

Physics is the science of matter and its motion. It is the science that seeks to understand very basic concepts such as force, energy, mass, and charge. It is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the world around us in conjunction with the universe behaves. But, one thing is certain, if this is all that there is then the entire world must behave as these laws physics dictate. For example, there is no chance in the laws of gravity. Gravity is gravity, end of story.

As you wake up tomorrow and begin another day, give great Praise to the God who is there and at work in you every moment of every day. Mere men, as bright as they are, can not dampen our faith in the Almighty. If you doubt His existence then simply ask Him to show you that He is real, that He is true and that He is there. Pray a simple prayer each morning before you go about your day, and God will not disappoint you. Blessings!

Culture, Change and Christian Education

Did Paul Revere change culture that night with his warning? Good question?

Dr. John Seel comments on Dr. James Hunter's thesis on cultural change when he writes:

"University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter argues that the common view of cultural change is sociologically ill-informed and consequently ineffective. Good intentions and increased activity are no substitute for an accurate understanding."

Dr. Seel writes, at length, about Dr. Hunter's ideas on cultural change. He believes Dr. Hunter has it right. I have written about Dr. Hunter's ideas here on culture before. Dr. Seel's views on Hunter are helpful; he writes regarding culture formation that it "works in the same way: it’s a historically informed dialectical process. Culture is both socially constructed and socially constraining. We make culture and are, in turn, made by it. Culture is the frame or story through which we live our lives. Everything is seen or explained through its lens. Culture includes the ideas, images, and institutions that shape a given society’s understanding of what is thinkable, sayable, and doable in a given time and place. It serves as an invisible matrix."

Hunter's posits that culture is formed by individuals and their networks. He writes...

“While everyone participates in the construction of their own private worlds, the development and articulation of the more elaborate systems of meaning, including the realm of public culture, falls more or less exclusively to the realm of elites. They are the ones who provide the concepts, supply the language, and explicate the logic of public discourse.”

Dr. Hunter, in addition, writes, “The power of culture is not measured by the size of a cultural organization or by the quantity of its output, but by the extent to which a definition of reality is realized in the social world—taken seriously and acted upon by actors in the social world. In modern society religious elites have an existence that is essentially meaningless to the economic, political, and cultural dynamics of advanced industrial society—a sideshow to the ‘real’ issues of the day.”

As for those of us who are Christian, we have, for too long, been content to create institutions and organizations that are built to stay inside the Christian culture, never venturing outside those walls. Now, years later, we awaken from our slumber and discovered that we are not current, relevant or taken seriously any longer by the rest of culture. Why?

Dr. Seel writes regarding Hunter's thesis, "Cultural change is top-down, not bottom-up, diffused through culture-forming institutions rather than the mass mobilization of individuals. Market populism—the combination of consumerism and egalitarianism—masks this process. Culture formation does not function as a mass consumer market. Culture is not the aggregate of atomized individual choices."

He goes on to add, "Instead, the gatekeepers of the reality-defining institutions frame the public metaphors and shape the collective imagination. These institutions, in turn, set the parameters for the private behavior and consciousness of the masses. "

What are those institutions that define reality, frame the public metaphors and shape collective imagination? Well, one of the most powerful is the school. It is the school that indoctrinates and enculturates students with the demands of society. It is the school that raises the next generation of leaders and workers. It is the school that sets the parameters for behavior and consciousness.

As Christians, we must recognize the power of the school. If we fail to recognize the power of the Christian school, we will fail in changing the direction of culture. Those who wish to change culture, long ago, recognized the power of the school, and that is why the battle for the school is so intense. All moral and godly referenced has been removed from our public schools, and for what? Tolerance, church and state and negative influence are some of the reasons given, but we all know the real reason...cultural change. And, in my lifetime...culture has changed.

The question is now this: is this cultural change better? Your answer to that question will mean everything to your children, their education and the future culture they walk into as adults. At Westminster we are engaging culture for the sake of the gospel and in order to train our students properly for the battles that they will all face in the current culture. Our hope is that we can be used by a Holy God to turn culture back into one that puts God in His proper place...first in all things.

Please read Dr. Seel's article in its entirety; it will be time well spent! Blessings!

The Future is...Flat?

According to Thomas L. Friedman, the world is flat and so is the future. As I read his book, The World is Flat, I am intrigued by his assessment of the future. He writes that "it was never good to be mediocre in your job, but in a world of walls, mediocrity could still earn you a decent wage. You could get by and then some. In a flatter world, you really do not want to be mediocre or lack any passion for what you do."

If Mr. Friedman is right, that the future will be filled with global competition, then we better prepare our students for this future.

Mr. Friedman writes of the advice he gives his own children regarding this flat future:

"Girls, when I was growing up, my parents used to say to me, "Tom, finish your dinner - people ... are starving. My advice to you is this: Girls, finish your homework - people ... are starving for your jobs. And in a flat world, they can have them, because in a flat world there is no such things as an American job. There is just a job, and in more cases than ever before it will go to the best, smartest, most productive, or cheapest worker - wherever he or she resides."

Is he right? At the moment, he seems more right than wrong, but does it really matter to those of us who walk in Christ? I would have to say...absolutely. We are commanded to care and to be the best, smartest most productive workers that there is and all for His glory. Mediocrity should have no place in the Christian or ever be a goal of the Christian for one simple reason: we are to be reflections of Him. He is never mediocre.

Mr. Friedman may be right; we, in America may not be ready for this flat world, but, we, Christians, should, not only, be ready, we should, also, not be surprised. It is as scripture states:

Zechariah 14:9
The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

Sleep and Education

Today's students need more sleep. I stumbled across an interesting article highlighting the importance of sleep to the brain. The article states,

"that while we are peacefully asleep our brain is busily processing the day’s information. It combs through recently formed memories, stabilizing, copying and filing them, so that they will be more useful the next day. A night of sleep can make memories resistant to interference from other information and allow us to recall them for use more effectively the next morning. And sleep not only strengthens memories, it also lets the brain sift through newly formed memories, possibly even identifying what is worth keeping and selectively maintaining or enhancing these aspects of a memory. When a picture contains both emotional and unemotional elements, sleep can save the important emotional parts and let the less relevant background drift away. It can analyze collections of memories to discover relations among them or identify the gist of a memory while the unnecessary details fade—perhaps even helping us find the meaning in what we have learned."

Many of today's students engage in email, blogs and chat rooms until the wee hours of the night, and most come to school weary. Now we find out that they also come to school with a brain still trying to catch up on the copying and the filing of the day's memories.

The study goes deeper into the importance of sleep.

"But sleep’s effects on memory are not limited to stabilization. Over just the past few years, a number of studies have demonstrated the sophistication of the memory processing that happens during slumber. In fact, it appears that as we sleep, the brain might even be dissecting our memories and retaining only the most salient details. In one study we created a series of pictures that included either unpleasant or neutral objects on a neutral background and then had people view the pictures one after another. Twelve hours later we tested their memories for the objects and the backgrounds. The results were quite surprising. Whether the subjects had stayed awake or slept, the accuracy of their memories dropped by 10 percent for everything. Everything, that is, except for the memory of the emotionally evocative objects after night of sleep. Instead of deteriorating, memories for the emotional objects actually seemed to improve by a few percent overnight, showing about a 15 percent improvement relative to the deteriorating backgrounds. After a few more nights, one could imagine that little but the emotional objects would be left. We know this culling happens over time with real-life events, but now it appears that sleep may play a crucial role in this evolution of emotional memories."

As more research is done, sleep becomes even more important, not just to memory but to learning as well, as the authors of this article, Robert Stickgold and Jeffrey M. Ellenbogen exclaim.

"Adding to the excitement, recent discoveries show that sleep also facilitates the active analysis of new memories, enabling the brain to solve problems and infer new information. In 2007 one of us (Ellenbogen) showed that the brain learns while we are asleep. The study used a transitive inference task; for example, if Bill is older than Carol and Carol is older than Pierre, the laws of transitivity make it clear that Bill is older than Pierre. Making this inference requires stitching those two fragments of information together. People and animals tend to make these transitive inferences without much conscious thought, and the ability to do so serves as an enormously helpful cognitive skill: we discover new information (Bill is older than Pierre) without ever learning it directly.
The inference seems obvious in Bill and Pierre’s case, but in the experiment, we used abstract colored shapes that have no intuitive relation to one another, making the task more challenging. We taught people so-called premise pairs—they learned to choose, for example, the orange oval over the turquoise one, turquoise over green, green over paisley, and so on. The premise pairs imply a hierarchy—if orange is a better choice than turquoise and turquoise is preferred to green, then orange should win over green. But when we tested the subjects on these novel pairings 20 minutes after they learned the premise pairs, they had not yet discovered these hidden relations. They chose green just as often as they chose orange, performing no better than chance.
When we tested subjects 12 hours later on the same day, however, they made the correct choice 70 percent of the time. Simply allowing time to pass enabled the brain to calculate and learn these transitive inferences. And people who slept during the 12 hours performed significantly better, linking the most distant pairs (such as orange versus paisley) with 90 percent accuracy. So it seems the brain needs time after we learn information to process it, connecting the dots, so to speak—and sleep provides the maximum benefit."

If you want to help your child in school start with making sure they get a good night's sleep. It will do wonders! Blessings!

Happy Veterans Day

In the month of November1919, President Wilson proclaimed November 11th as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with these words: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of thosewho died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

Veterans Day evolved in many ways and was celebrated on different dates over the years. Finally, on September 20th, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed Public Law 94-97, which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of November 11, beginning in 1978.

Veterans Day continues to be observed on November 11, regardless of what day of the week on which it falls. The restoration of the observance of Veterans Day to November 11 not only preserves the historical significance of the date, but also helps bring attention to the original and significant purpose of Veterans Day: A celebration to honor all of America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good of the United States of America and its friends and allies.

As the day disappears into night, please join me in praising God for our veterans and all that they have done for our country. Thank you and Happy Veterans Day!

My Take on the Election

I was not surprised by the results of last night's election. My congratulations go out to President-elect Obama, and, as a Believer, I will begin to pray for him daily. I see him as an intelligent articulate man and hope that he will lead our country properly. I have not believed most of what was told to me about John McCain, and will extend that same courtesy to President-elect Obama, and that gives me hope. History was made on this night, and it is an event that all Americans should enjoy and celebrate.

There are many espousing today on what happened last night, so I will throw my two cents in and reveal my thoughts on what I think happened last night and what has happened over the last four years.

There is a debate raging currently on whether this is a center-right country or a center-left country. In my opinion, to assume that this is a center-left country or that the country is going to become a center-left country is a short-sighted assumption. First, the country is still a center-right country...case and point: California passed the ban on same sex marriage. Last time I checked, California was still the most liberal state in the country, and this ban still passed quite easily there. Second, all of us age and mature and when we do we move right. You can be extreme left and mature and still be left but your movement is right. And, that is something that will never change. If there is an attempt to push policies that are extremely liberal and left there will be consequences, and my sense is President-elect Obama knows that.

Last night the people spoke! Some have said it was a rejection of conservatism, but I believe it was a rejection of President Bush, the war and the fuel for the economic engine of this country. Conservatism is alive and well and still the majority. Approximately 20% of voters identified themselves as liberal while over 40% identified themselves as moderate or conservative. Also, people are sick of foreign oil being the only fuel that drives our economy. Republicans have done little about that in eight years; people are ready to give someone else a chance.

Speaking of Republicans, over the last eight years, Republicans have had the power, and Christians have given them a free pass on most issues. We defended them because we felt they represented us, but no party should represent us as Christ is our only representative. Evangelicals gave the Republicans new found power and this power corrupted them. Republicans were quick to compromise in their selection of candidates and ran many unprepared pseudo-conservative candidates up for office. Many were elected and now many have been found guilty of various violations; I believe it is because of their failure to understand the reason they were elected in the first place. It was not because they were Republicans; it was because they were supposed to be conservative, and, sadly, many were conservative only in name. Conservative became a new synonym for Republican and meant less and less until...judgement day, November 4, 2008.

Now, we face four years of Democratic reign. What will it bring us? Past history tells us that power corrupts, and with all three branches under Democratic control, I am no more confident than before, but one things is for sure...there will be no one else to blame after four years. People are pragmatic and when promises are made and believed and those promises become the wave that puts a party in full control, watch out if those promises are not filled. Pragmatic people have short term memories and jump ship quickly. I heard a sound bit of a woman crying about how good it will be not to have to worry about paying for gas or paying her mortgage. Hmmm, never heard President-elect Obama make those promises, but, in the shark-infested world of politics, it does not matter because that is what she expects and, if not delivered, well, I will just leave that to your imagination.

There is one final issue that greatly troubles me. I do not know if this country has become callous to this issue, or if that many Americans do not believe it is an important issue. The issue I write about is abortion. I am disturbed that it was not really an issue. We did not hear much about it, we did not talk about it or allow it to be a factor. I believe it is one of the most important issues of our day, and, if left unchecked, it will eventually produce other ugly manifestations that will remove the value of life from the sick, the elderly and the mentally handicapped. I often wonder how PETA can fight so hard for the lives of animals yet make no fuss over abortion. I wonder how environmentalists fight so hard for a parcel of land to keep a spotted owl alive, yet lift not a finger for the unborn. I am praying for President-elect Obama's stance on this issue to change.

As I close, I do not ascribe to those who say that this country will turn to socialism, change the Constitution, and remove freedom of speech. Those are alarmists who have not read the book of life. I know the end; Christ comes to claim His bride and reign forever. As Believers, lets live as the Bible instructs, trusting in our Lord, and if we do, I am confident all will be well!

Who Are We Today?

Who are we today? Are we different than who we were yesterday? Wilfred M. McClay attempts to answer these questions and others in his excellent article, Who Are We Today.

McClay begins his examination with the questions that we all are asking ourselves as this election draws closer. It does not matter who you are voting for because all of us are asking the same questions about each other.

"Why are we this way? Perhaps we can thank (or blame) those fiercely introspective New England Puritans, who made soul-searching into an art form with their copious diaries and gloomy declension narratives and thundering jeremiads, all animated by a profound sense of mission, of an “errand into the wilderness” that could not be permitted to fail. Or J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, whose proclamation that the American was to be a “new man” amalgamated out of the elements of the old ones offered a vision of America that has run, in various forms, like a brilliant ribbon through the nation’s entire history.

Or perhaps we should look to the lofty expectations of the Revolutionaries and the Founders, who proclaimed a Novus Ordo Seclorum, saw the new American nation as a successor to Rome, and wondered, with Alexander Hamilton, whether it was “reserved to the people of this country” to decide for all humanity “whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice.” Or to Abraham Lincoln’s more pithy description of his nation as “the last best hope of mankind,” a phrase suggestive of a secular errand just as fraught with ultimate significance as the Puritan one."

Have we really changed or are we the same as we have always been?

"Human nature has not changed. The human heart is filled with endless chaotic yearnings, most of which point toward mirages and dead ends; but what it most yearns for is something that will give it definition, direction, meaning, focus, something that brings the formlessness of life to the sharpness and clarity of a point—that brings redemption to life’s wasted time. The illusions of popular culture will never provide that, and some people will eventually be driven to look elsewhere. There are needs that one can’t understand, or even see, until the moment is ripe for them; and then they emerge. That is part of the mystery of character, and of new beginnings.

It is also important to recognize that many of our current problems arise out of distortions and misuses of otherwise good ideas and things. Multiculturalism takes a generous inclusiveness and makes it into a hard-and-fast principle of social separateness. Postmodernism takes a healthy skepticism and makes it into a dogma of weightless agnosticism. Dogmatic secularism reintroduces the very ideological coerciveness it once claimed to rescue us from, and thereby undermines the genial tolerance that is the chief virtue of a secular state. Openness to immigration and to the peoples of all nations has long been one of the defining features of American life—but not when that openness comes at the expense of the very idea of American citizenship and of a coherent and historically grounded national culture. Even our astonishingly toxic and corrupt popular culture tends to be defended by reference to gold-plated principles: free markets and free expression."

So, what is his point?

"The point is that without the right countervailing or balancing forces at work in our society even the best principles may become pernicious. The corruption of the best can give us the worst. And in all cases, the countervailing forces that we need are fundamentally conservative ones, deriving not from clever abstractions or legalisms pulled out of the air, but out of a high respect for the accumulated wisdom of previous generations and the sheer momentum of lived experience—which is to say, from common sense. "

You must read the entire article to capture its brilliance! Happy Reading!