Ünday, Matamín 4th, 7703 (Tuesday, 02-08-2011) Cultural Post #9: The Problems With Human Cultures

*** Special Three-Part Series: #2 of 3:

"The Culture Of God Versus The Cultures Of Humanity" ***

“Nothing appears more surprising to those who

consider affairs with a philosophical eye than

the ease with which the many are governed by the few…”.
(David Hume)

“The best minds are not in government.

If any were, business would steal them away…”.
(Ronald Reagan)

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government,

except all the others that have been tried…”.
(Winston Churchill)

“Democracy means simply

the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people…”.
(Oscar Wilde)

“Government of the busy by the bossy for the bully…”.
(Arthur Seldon)

“A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where

fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine…”.
(Thomas Jefferson)

“Democracy is the only system that persists in asking

the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be…”.
(Sydney J. Harris)

“Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy].

Remember, democracy never lasts long.  It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.

There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide…”.
(John Adams)

“As i would not be a slave, so i would not be a master.

This expresses my idea of democracy…”.
(Abraham Lincoln)

“The best argument against democracy is a

five minute conversation with the average voter…”.
(Winston Churchill)

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary…”.
(James Madison)

“The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves…”.
(Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)

Today, in the second of a three-part series on the cultures of humanity versus the culture of heaven, i want to examine some of the aspects of democracy and explain why it is not — as a form of government — either heavenly or godly in its nature.  In tomorrow’s post (a theological post as are all Wednesday articles), i will examine the culture of heaven.  For that reason, i have placed several quotes in this article — most of which touch on problems with democracy as a form of government.

Let’s be clear about one thing: we know what the only righteous form of government is, because it is currently in effect in the Kingdom of God.  Since it is the form of government that God chooses to employ in His own Kingdom, then we can know that it is the form of government He intended humanity to inherit from Him.  That form of government is known as a “kingdom,” and democracy is about as opposite of a kingdom as one can imagine.  Hume argued: “Nothing appears more surprising to those who consider affairs with a philosophical eye than the ease with which the many are governed by the few…”.  This has long been one of my favorite governmental quotes, because it captures the fascination that people have with why they do things.

Why do people submit to other people?  Why is the phenomenon of influence such a powerful thing.  In the recent movie The King’s Speech, the king of England says to a girl who asks him what Hitler is saying with such great passion & fervor as they watch him on video, “i don’t know, but he seems to be saying it rather well.”  It is obvious that some human beings speak or act or lead or perform or whatever with an enormous power to enthrall others — whether that power be derived from personal charisma or penetrating intellect or beautiful movement or whatever.  People have the capacity to captivate one another, but that capacity is intended to be used to fascinate instead of captivate….

This amazing capacity to gain & hold the attention of others was intended be a good ability received from God to be used as a way of showing each other His myriad attributes (since no one human being can manifest all the various wonderful attributes of an infinite God), but — instead — it gets perverted by our enemy into a calculated & manipulative power grab in an attempt to provide ourselves security apart from God (a mirage if ever there was one) and then this perversion of the God-gift is distorted by those of us who are playing the role of “captor” as a way of feeding our own egos, feeling good about ourselves by masking our deficits, medicating our ills, & distracting ourselves from our pains, and exalting ourselves by assuming roles that are beyond our purview.  We even teach people in classes on speaking or dance or drama or whatever how to “get the audience to eat out of the palm of Your hand” or “have the people hang on Your every word” or any other number of euphemisms that we use to describe this manipulative power grab.  It was not intended originally to be that way….

No, but rather the ability to mesmerize one another with any number of skills, postures, gifts, etc. was intended by our Creator to result in a good, profitable, and beneficial affect on one another.  A kingdom, as we will discuss tomorrow, is the proper context and the only righteous form of a government that allows for each member of the kingdom to properly impress the other members in ways that support, inspire, affirm, etc. them while remaining in a proper posture toward God of humility, gratitude, and partnership.  When You wonder why some people can acquire or amass or keep power so easily over so many folks, remember that — as human beings — we are built to be able to both cultivate creation and to rule over that creation.  That is now — and has always been — both our mandate and our purpose….

So, why do people submit to one another?  Well, the reason for that must be understood as a divine coin of two aspects merged together: fatherhood and leadership.  i have not the time to go into either of these topics here, but these are the two great needs of every human being: family & society.  As social creatures who wither without the affection of Loved ones and languish without the ability to contribute, every person is designed to flourish in the Loving, secure, & empowering climate of a family and to contribute in the affirming, ordered, & creative context of a society.  Without these parameters, human beings are diminished: they know less about who they Truly are, they feel like less than they Truly are, and they act unlike who they Truly are….

These two great needs cause people to look to others for guidance, because all of us know intuitively that we are not complete within ourselves and — even if we were — there would be no one to appreciate it if we were indeed by ourselves.  Marriage is the fundamental building block of family, and government is the fundamental building block of society.  A father is the head of a household, and a king is the head of a government.  So, people look to others to give them what they need from both a father and a king, and — when they find someone acceptable to them for either or both of those roles (whatever they choose to call those roles) — they acquiesce to that person in the hopes that their submission will be rewarded with what they need….

In our American capitalist version of democracy, people view success in the private sector as more important than success in the public sector.  It is the opposite in countries that have governmental forms like socialism or communism.  This is why Ronald Reagan quipped, ““The best minds are not in government.  If any were, business would steal them away…”.  The idea is that private businesses derived from personal ownership (sole proprietorship), joint endeavors (mutually-owned, limited partnerships), or stock enterprises (publicly-owned, share-oriented corporations) can — and should (at least in many people’s minds) — pay more than public services derived from government (military, regulatory, social, or auxiliary agencies).  In a communist, socialist, fascist, or otherwise non-democratic, non-Republic type of government, the government wants the best & brightest workers to work in it for its purposes.  In Republics or democracies (or drug cartels or multi-national (what i call “super-national”) corporations like Microsoft, for that matter), the allure of freedom entices people to want to exercise their “right” to jump social strata and take advantage of the opportunity to move up the unspoken (or sometimes spoken) caste system and improve their lot in Life.  Most times, this happens by increasing their financial wealth (businesspeople or what the ancient world referred to as the merchant class), power profile (executives, for example), or anonymity index (the level of fame achieved by, for example, professional athletes in the days before the money was so extravagant).  Rabbi Paul argued for what he terms “profitable freedom,” but that kind of others-centric, self-control is rarely seen in democracies.

Reagan was expressing the reality that, in America, the work government does isn’t as important as government allowing people to chase their own dreams (doing Your own thing), and, therefore & consequentially, roles of public service in governmental agencies are not deemed as impressive as roles of private ambition such as entrepreneurship, the traditional professions (clergy, law, & medicine), or entertainment (just to name a few).  This shouldn’t come as a surprise, because America has always been based on individual rights instead of the rights of the state (like on abortion, for example).  Slavery was overturned on the basis that each individual has inalienable rights from God and, therefore, should never be subjected to forced servitude of another (but more about that later).  One of the main points i am trying to make in this article is that the notion that people should be encouraged to do whatever they want is a bad idea.  It ignores too much reality to let people chase dreams without any grounding.  That may seem incredibly harsh, but i assure You it is not.  It is, indeed, the only Truly spiritual view….

Winston Churchill has been the first quoted as saying (so far as we know, anyway), ““It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried…”.  This statement belies another fundamental, worldly fallacy: namely, that we must settle for something inadequate, broken, and only slightly less tyrannical than its predecessors (never mind his assumption that a kingdom was a form of government that had been tried and found lacking & wanting and should be discarded).  Given Churchill’s background as an Englishmen and the arc of the governmental evolution that Great Britain had experienced by his day, it is not surprising that he eschewed & dismissed kingdom as a legitimate form of government.  The Truth is that democracy is not the worst form of government except all the others — it is simply worse (albeit much worse) than a thriving kingdom ruled by a benevolent king.  Referencing Hume again (or at least alluding to him), it is amazing to me that people will tolerate something as awful as a democracy or a republic when a kingdom is available to them.

However, the seeds of their tolerance lie in the fact that — in their minds (or perhaps experience in rare cases) — kings rule for their own benefit instead of for the benefit of the people.  What is ironic to me is that they want to chastise kings for this behavior and say that they would do it differently, but — in reality when they are given the freedom to do it differently — they use that freedom to do the very same thing: to benefit themselves primarily (through business or whatever) instead of benefiting others.  Everyone knows deep down in their hearts that a kingdom ruled by a strong, merciful, benevolent king would be the best option; we just doubt that there is anyone like that.  This is why David having a heart after God’s own heart was so important, and — no — that statement does not mean that David was perfect or never made mistakes.  It pertains to the fact that — despite his frailties, weaknesses, blind spots, bad judgments, immaturities, rebellion, and other faults or deficiencies — David ruled in a way that glorified God and benefited people.  This is why James contends that Love covers a multitude of sins, because it does according to the One Who determines what — if anything — covers sins.  By the way, this argument for democracy or something worse sounds suspiciously like the one now being rejected by the most thoughtful members of our democracy as a false choice argued by President Mubarak in Egypt.  For years, he argued that his tyrannical, repressionist, evil regime was not necessarily good, but it was certainly much better than the Islamofascist alternative.  No dice, Hosni, and no dice to You, either, Winston.  Nice try, though….

Not only does democracy place the rights of a free individual in a paramount position to the destiny of a Divine creation and also argue that it is good as less of an evil than any other alternative, but democracy is adversarial in nature — by design.  Democracy pits people against each other in competition as a form of Darwinian survival.  i’m never surprised that Darwin reached the absurd conclusions that he did, but i am not sure how any astute observer (unless informed by the mind of Christos & the illumination of the Holy Spirit) could come to any other conclusion after Living in a democracy all of his Life.  You can read my article on competition for more of my views on this (Ünday, Jāseph 27th, 6636 (Tuesday, 02-01-2011); Cultural Post #8: And The Winner Is….), but competition is satanic in both origin and nature.  Wilde laments, “Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people…”.  That is True, in the experience of most people.  Democracy tends to excuse people from caring for the indigent, the less-fortunate, the disabled, the elderly, minorities, and all kinds of other vulnerable demographics, because democracy is — at its core and in its heart — a selfish form of self-government more than it is a selfless form of societal government….

That kind of unchecked self-absorption, tunnel-vision, and insensitivity lead to vanity, conceit, & moral bankruptcy.  People who thrive in a democracy spiritually do so only because they allow someone (a grandmother, a disabled child, an unjustly condemned prisoner — someone) to call them to a higher purpose, but Y’shua Christos has already called us to a higher purpose.  It should not be that disciples of Y’shua have to have someone else call them to something when their Master has already called them to it Himself.  Seldon critiques, “Government of the busy by the bossy for the bully…”.  Democracy is a distraction that allows us to busy ourselves with activity devoid of lasting purpose, to improve our own lot in Life without benefiting others around us, and to move forward in terms of social mobility while leaving behind those to whom we are ordained to minister most.  It is disgusting to watch people move away from their extended families for a job promotion that brings more wealth-oriented compensation at the personal cost of broken relationships between grandparents & grandchildren, husbands & wives, and friends, of more work & less rest, and of an uprooting from the geographical, historical, & tribal heritage from which they emerge.  All of that destruction over a little, rotten, soon-to-be-gone carrot dangled by a boss who made the same stupid decision years before and now needs others to make the same mistakes in order to justify himself and feel less awful about it….

And while most people are distracted by the chance to be free and run wild headlong after their own desires, a mentality emerges to justify their pursuits (like Life, Liberty, & happiness — sound familiar?) despite the costs of those pursuits to everyone affected.  Thomas Jefferson put it this way, “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine…”.  Even in Greece and Rome, when the notions of republic and democracy were warping ahead at unprecedented speeds (despite the pull backwards by Caesars and such), there was a basic understanding that people had a station in Life determined by “the gods” and that to run counter to that was inviting ruin.  Now, however, running counter to the ordained path is not even taboo; in fact, it is admired.  The U.S.A. is currently mired in a cultural split with about 47% on either side and about 6% in the middle who swing rudderless between competing ideologies.  Mob rule, although the mob is absent conviction and a minority 6%.  Hey, that’s what happens when everyone’s vote counts the same: people cancel out people.  Stupid people cancel out brilliant people, bad people cancel out good people, extreme people cancel out reasonable people, ignorant people cancel out informed people, etc., etc.  Ever heard thing like “Everyone’s doing it, “ “that many people can’t be wrong, right?” or “the center holds”? Choose the better way: Love as a transient being with an eternal purpose….

Apparently, mob rule was deemed acceptable, because the founders were smart enough to institute a sharing of power and a dissemination of responsibility (often referred to as “a system of checks & balances).  Well, how’s that system of checks & balances working out for Ya?  Did it keep the bankers from ruining Your 401(k) or Your mortgage value or Your job stability in the past five years?  Has the distribution of power amongst the three branches of government or, more recently, presidential term-limits made it more likely that imperfect people will work together and solve problems?  Has the concept of accountability kept our governmental systems free of bureaucratic red-tape, fraud, corruption, constituent abuse, systemic lethargy, etc.?  Checks & balances are a human attempt at a divine solution: judgment.  The problem is they don’t work for any number of reasons — not the least of which is a lack of what i call “useful authority” (which means that authority must be used as a part of a broader understanding of leadership and not alone as a method of manipulation).  For example, in America people often refer to the courts as their “justice system” when there is no such thing.  Justice is not the purview of human beings — we are not capable of administering “justice.”  We do not have a justice system — we have a “legal system” that is adversarial in nature, punitive or rehabilitative in responsiveness, retributive in restoration, and vengeful in administration.  Nothing about any of that smacks of justice.  Thank God that He does not allow any of us to dispense justice.  Sydney Harris remarks, “Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be…”.  i would submit to You that neither the powers that be nor the citizens have either the right or the information to ask that question….

All of this leads to the inevitable conclusion that anyone can see from all previous democracies: they fail.  John Adams described the inescapable deduction thusly, “Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either [aristocracy or monarchy].  Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself.  There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide…”.  Yes, democracy eventually fails, just as every other human form of government eventually is toppled by passionate people thinking they have stumbled across something new — something that is, this time let’s all hope, bound to work.  People think communism failing proves it doesn’t work — and they’re right to an extent.  But democracy doesn’t work long-term, either.  The fact is that no system of human government works.  As Psalms 2 contends,

“Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing ?  The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name) and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!”  He who sits in the heavens laughs — the Lord scoffs at them.  Then, He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.  I will surely tell of the decree of YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name): ‘He said to Me, “You are My Son — today I have begotten You.  Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as Your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.” ’ ”  Now therefore, O kings, show discernment!  ake warning, O judges of the earth!  Worship YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name) with reverence, and rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son that He not become angry and You perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled.  How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

In this realization that democracy is essentially a vanity indulged by ignorant youths and idealistic aged, there emerges a “Live & let Live” kind of attitude.  Just let me be free, and leave me alone.  This is the heart of the libertarians: no masters.  Their view ignores the obvious (that there are indeed masters, and everyone has at least one — in fact, in a democracy, most people have multiple masters instead of just one, and we all remember what Y’shua said about trying to please more than one master) and doesn’t take into account that there should be masters.  Slavery is not immoral.  Yes, i am aware of what i just asserted.  Western people have been educated and conditioned to think that slavery is immoral, but it is not immoral.  Bad masters and bad slaves are both immoral, but the notion of slavery itself is not immoral.  As long as people have been extant, there have been voluntary forms of slavery in varying degrees from indentured to permanent.  And — if You are pro-democracy — You can’t argue that slavery is immoral, because that would mean You deny people the right to go their own way and make their own choice to enslave themselves to something or someone.  Today, Americans are primarily economic slaves, although more abhorrent forms of slavery exist all over the world from the sex trades to gangs in chaotic places in anarchy to the repression of religions like Islam.  Abraham Lincoln used to say, “As i would not be a slave, so i would not be a master.  This expresses my idea of democracy…”.  Well, Abe, i guess You missed it, then, because You were called to be a master when You were created.  The only question is not whether or not You should have been a master, but over what and over whom.  We all have a Master — even kings.  Clearly, being subject to a master is not ungodly or evil or any of that nonsense.  Being subject to a master is a right and proper thing — as long as it is ordained by God Himself.

This leads us to the last arc of this particular post and the segue to tomorrow’s post: ruling.  Is there anything worse than ignorance regarding how to rule?  Can there be anything worse?  Churchill was right about something when he said, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter…”.  The knowledge of how to properly rule is essential to a ChristLife as a disciple of Y’shua.  It is indispensable to being of benefit to others.  It is vital to glorifying God.  We will touch on the basics of how to rule in tomorrow’s post.

Some assume that there is a place somewhere that rule is unnecessary.  For example, James Madison used to flippantly say, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary…”.  Uh, yes, Jamie, angels do need government, or did You forget that Lucifer is an angel and took a third of the angels with him in a rebellion?  How absurd.  If any beings need governing, it is angels.  Granted, there are no perfect people, but everyone needs governing — especially children who are heirs and will grow up to administrate the family fortune (You) and especially the servants to those heirs (angels).

One of my favorite quotes is by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, “The best government is that which teaches us to govern ourselves…”.  Amen.  God teaches us ultimately to regulate ourselves by first submitting to His government in our Lives as our King.  LORD Y’shua is our Master.  The Holy Spirit brings us into alignment with Him and instructs us as our teacher in the ways of righteousness.  It is with the context of a kingdom that freedom finds its profitable result of submission to righteous authority for the purpose of beneficial government.  Democracy leads to a selfish kind of self-indulgence that is only satiated by more & more excess and less & less denial.  It is critical that we understand the difference between the culture of Heaven and the cultures of this world in which we Live….

Covday, Matamín 3rd, 7703 (Monday, 02-07-2011) 3P Post #9: The Culture Of Democracy (Part 1 of a 3-Part Series)

*** Special Three-Part Series: #1 of 3:

"The Culture Of God Versus The Cultures Of Humanity" ***

“And Y’shua was casting out a demon, and it was mute.

When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.

However, some of them said,

"He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons."

Others, to test Him, were demanding of Y’shua a sign from heaven, but

He knew their thoughts and said to them,

"Any kingdom divided against itself is laid to waste, and

a house divided against itself falls…”.
(The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 11:14-17)

“In those days there was no king in Israel;

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes…”.

(Judges 21:25)

“The king's heart is like

 channels of water in the hand of the YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name),

for Adonai turns the king’s heart wherever He wishes.

Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but

YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name) weighs the hearts.

To do righteousness & justice is

desired by YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name) more than sacrifice…”.

(Proverbs 21:1-3)

In today’s Philosophy/Politics Post, i want to lay out the beginning of a case that will probably get me hung (figuratively, i hope) in the court of public opinion.  However, i think that it is important that someone articulate what i am going to assert in the hopes that maybe Americans will come to understand both why they should rethink their values and also why that process should not lead them to embrace anti-American values.

i have wanted to write these things for a long time, but the timing has never seemed right to me.  However, with the revolution in Egypt underway, it has brought a context that may make this information a bit more palatable and, perhaps, useful.

i write from the perspective of the Kingdom of God.  Unashamedly, i admit this bias in all of my perspectives.  It is a paradigm that colors all of my thinking.  As an American citizen, i have grown up with three citizenships: 1) Texan (for Texas is still a Republic), 2) American, & 3) Heavenite.  i consider myself to have the Holy Grail of citizenry with these three in my pedigree, but that does not mean they are all perfect.  Only the Heavenly citizenship is perfect; the other two have flaws.

By the way, the heavenly citizenship of which i refer is not a religious citizenship in a church or a denomination or anything like that.  i am not Catholic or protestant or Jewish or Islamic or Satanic or New Age or Hindu or Zoroastrian or a Scientologist.  Those are other kinds of citizenship than heavenly.  However, they are frequently thought of as heavenly — as is sadly portrayed from various points of view in many historical movies such as The Kingdom Of Heaven.

Having laid that foundation, this post will briefly touch on topics relating to the culture of American democracy.  It will not be easy for many Americans to read or accept, and it will not be pleasant for non-Americans to embrace, either.  That is as it should be; my aim is not to please either side, but rather to faithfully represent an alternative viewpoint from one whose citizenship in not in any earthly root.

The arc of this post will be to discuss both contemporary and historical events and catalysts in the context of three kinds of government: Religious, Civic, & Kingdom.  i am part of a kingdom and see it as the only rational form of government.

Revolutions are not just movements that redraw maps; they are wide-reaching, centuries-encompassing events that take generations to play out and shape the political, cultural, financial, etc. landscape for an epoch or beyond.  The West is still reeling from the impact of the American & French revolutions, and those were shaped profoundly by the earlier protestant religious revolt against the Catholic church and the Irish revolt against the English monarchy (just to name a couple of key influences).  Trace back further, and You can unpeel the history of revolutions like an onion.  Indeed, all of Western society is still reeling from the pursuits of the Greeks and the conquering of the Romans, for that matter, but it goes back much further than all of that….

In this context of seeing the history behind the underlying movements, Egypt should not surprise anyone.  Indeed, the more amazing phenomenon is not the political altering of Egypt’s form of government so much as the impact that social media like Facebook and Twitter are playing in that altering.  Only this year, the founder of Facebook was chosen as Time’s Person Of The Year (cf. the article at http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037183_2037185,00.html for a fascinating insight into “the Facebook Age”), since he has created the world’s third-largest country by networking a twelfth of all humanity together.  To know that Japan first embraced Twitter and to realize that their culture can say 140 words (since words are denoted by characters in Japanese) instead of a mere 140 characters gives You some idea of the impact that causes Twitter to be much more than just a quip site.  Beyond social networking sights, the emergence of WikiLeaks and the network of sleuths, anonymous hackers, & spies that follow the leadership of founder Julian Assange as an arbiter of transparency has chilling ramifications with humanistically-rooted tendencies.  Then, there is the rise of opinion-journalism from FOX News and MSNBC to Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report that correlates to the fall of “objective” journalism (as if there ever was such a thing in the first place).  The plague in Egypt is not occurring in a vacuum; it is happening in a Petri dish….

Revolutions change things forever — not just for a moment.  We would all do well to understand that at the beginning of this article.

Regarding the more immediate implications of the African revolutions (for example, that of Algeria many years ago in the 1970s, then 1980s, and beyond and that most recently erupted in Tunisia a few weeks ago), Islam has played a central role.  Many people i know in the U.S. are worried about the rise of Islam, but i see that as a distraction from the real issues to be addressed.  From the perspective of a kingdom, Islam is no threat.  Why?  Because Islam is a religious form of government.  It seeks, fundamentally, to govern society from a religious pretext.  The facts are that the religious pretext of “Mohammed” and the myth about him is: 1) religious (i.e., not Truthful and based in Love but rather based in fear — as are all religions by their definition), 2) cultural, and 3) reactionary.  None of these are good bases for a foundation of governing….

Due to this religious pretext and the instability of the foundation of Islam (from being a lie to being untenable), Islam is divided against itself: radical, violent purists & extremists versus “peaceful” interpreters, Sunni versus Shiite, assimilation versus domination, etc.  If You are a citizen of Heaven and if Y’shua is Your Master, then You know that a house divided against itself will not stand and that a kingdom divided against itself will come to ruin.  It is only a matter of time, and the end is not in dispute.  So, Islam is a red herring.  It will fall; indeed, Egypt may be a harbinger of its undoing globally.  Why?  Because, the Egyptian problem is one of secular nationalists versus religious purists, and this is in a country that is neither Arab nor Persian.  The myriad of possibilities is fascinating, but every sign points toward further fracture of Islam instead of some great galvanization….

So, from the view of religious governments (like Islam), one may look back over great rivers of history and see that they do not last in the long term.  Religion indicates fear, by definition, and it is not a basis for a government that will last.  In response to this, humanity developed less religious, more “moral” types of approaches.  The two most common in Your Lifetime would be democracy and socialism (not to be confused with communism; communism is atheistic in its roots, while socialism is “moral” from a belief in a deity in its roots).  These approaches developed in order to try and get away from government by a “mandate of heaven” (as the Chinese used to say).  They wanted to govern based on humanistic compassions instead of heavenly ones…. 

Fox's 2008 Super Bowl Version of The Declaration of Independence

The nature of democracy, for example, is self-determinism.  Democracy is rooted in rebellion from authority.  That is precisely the genesis of the United States of America.  Yesterday, in preface to the Super Bowl, the reading of the Declaration of Independence by famous athletes was championed as a good thing.  The problem is that the Declaration of Independence is a temper tantrum, albeit an understandable one.  The fact that the king of England was a jerk and a terrible ruler does not just excuse the rebellion.  The Truth is that the king was wrong and so were the American colonies.

Despite that Truth, the idea of democracy is that every man should be allowed to determine his own destiny.  Accordingly, freedom is the chief virtue of democracies, because it is the mechanism by which people may most successfully seek out their individual destinies.  That is not a good thing.  i know that Americans believe it is a good thing, but it isn’t.  People should not pursue their own interest without regard to the history of their families traditions or their ancestors giftings or skills or their tribe’s ways.  People should not try and establish their own destinies — for men are not capable of doing so in a beneficial way to their posterity.  To determine Your own way is what the Scripture defines as “sin,” literally, and — yet — it is the chief ambition of Americans and the most cherished use of freedom.

Not only do Americans embrace self-determinism, but they actively try to spread the contagious disease to other parts of the world.  It would be unforgivable to spread a contagious disease in any other context; in fact, we call that biological warfare.  Never has that description been more accurate than with democracy, for with democracy it is a corporeal disease that is carried by people as an idea instead of a viral disease that is carried by people as an illness.  George W. Bush became president, and one of his campaign promises was to not engage in nation-building.  Then, he was elected and burdened with 9/11, and nation-building became, to him, a necessity of war…a supporting of democracy where it had already taken hold, a preaching of it where it had not, and an implanting of it where it was perceived as the antidote to Islam or any other malignant form of government.  Why?  Because, as he said incessantly, people deserve to be free (which they do, by the way) and they yearn to determine their own destinies (which they do, by the way).  i would just like it noted for the record that self-determinism is the root of democracy, and those of You with eyes to see and ears to hear will recognize that self-determinism is — in the most literal and purist form & sense — sin.

Now, communism is even more diabolical than the moral forms of government (like democracy or socialism) or any of the preceding religious forms of government (like primitive cultures embraced in places like China, India, Egypt, the Americas in the native populations and cultures, or basically anywhere else).  Why?  Because communism tries to strip away religion and morality.  Whereas other forms of government are blindly groping in the dark for an ethical compass, communism despises ethics and tries to work strictly off power, productivity, etc.  It is a heartless form of government with no foundation of any kind except random, illegitimate authority….

That is why it is so offensive to the human spirit, because even the human spirit recognizes the need for spiritual grounding in government.  And that leads us to tomorrow’s post: The Culture Of Heaven….

Finday, Jāseph 30th, 7703 (Friday, 02-04-2011; 3FA Post #8: A Prayer Of Identity

“Thus says YWHW (Blessed be His Holy Name),

‘Stand at the crossroads, and
See & ask for the ancient paths — where the good way is — and walk in it;

And You will find rest for Your souls.’ But they said, ‘We will not walk in it...’.”

(Jeremiah 6:16)

Lots of people have asked me for the various rituals i have employed in my family over the years.  So, i'm going to use Fridays (for a while and also while reserving the right to comment about something else anytime i want) to post some of the things i have created to Bless, instruct, remind, or otherwise impact my family.  For today's post, i am going to post a prayer that i attempt to pray most every day before i leave my house.  It is my way of trying to remind myself of who i am and align myself with my divine family.…

A Prayer for Abraham’s Family

Holy Father Abba, Holy LORD Y’shua, & Holy Spirit of Truth...

i Love You

Please Grant us Favor with You, and

Please Extend that Favor we have with You as Your sons & heirs

into the Relationships with which You Bless us so that

we May be a Blessing to Others from You

For i submit myself to You today — both for Your Glory, Holy Father, and also for the Benefit of Those with whom

You ordain to put me into Contact

Holy YHWH (Blessed be Your Holy Name),

You show great forbearance and patience to me, and

it is Your unmatched & exceeding kindness that leads us to repentance, so i submit my whole being to You today — Spirit, Soul, & Body — for Your conversion of me to Your Thoughts & Your Ways in order that my motivations & my practices may be aligned to You

Indeed, LORD Most High, i submit to You

my Entire Identity & Purpose & Destiny, for

Truly — in You — do we Live & Move & Have our Being

Abba, as Your Consecrated, Sanctified, & Wise Son,

i receive Your Correction as my Delight that Brings me Your Joy,

i acknowledge Your reproofs as

the path to Righteousness & the Way of Life, and

i embrace Your Paternal Discipline as a sign that

You Love me as Your Legitimate Child & Heir

Bless me Today, Almighty Creator, to bear much fruit for You,

so that Your Appointment of me may

Result in a Pleasing Testimony for You, and

May You find faith in me as

i walk in a Manner Worthy of the High Calling…

The calling which You have Entrusted to me

in LORD Y’shua the Anointed

May i Thrill You as Your BeLoved Son

in Whom You are Well-Pleased, so that

You May be able to say to those around me,

“This is my BeLoved Son!  Listen to him…,”

and that when You call me home with You,

You may greet me at the reckoning  by saying,

“Well Done, My Good & Faithful Servant”

God of Abraham (our Father),

Isaac (the Promise), &

Jacob (Israel – who walked with a limp),

Men who lied, whined, & cheated while

being afraid, selfish, & deceitful in their immaturity,

You alone, O God Most High, are Good…

Your Lovingkindness is everlasting…and

You are faithful to all generations 

Blessing us with Your Life to share in Your work

Speak to me and i will listen — Speak to me and i will Live…

if You will but only give me

Your Eyes to Both See & Perceive and also

Your Ears to Both Hear & Understand...

Selah & Amen

May You be richly Blessed in Your use of this prayer....

Gräsday, Jāseph 29th, 7703 (Thursday, 02-03-2011); Personal Post #8: Isolationism

“The lonely one offers his hand too quickly to whomever he encounters…”.
(Friedrich Nietszche)

“When You close Your doors, and make darkness within,

remember never to say that You are alone — for You are not alone;

Nay, God is within, and Your genius is within.

And what need have they of Light to see what You are doing?”
(Epictetus)

“Language has created the word “loneliness” to express the pain of being alone, and

the word “solitude” to express the glory of being alone…”.
(Paul Tillich)

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty…”.
(Mother Teresa)

“The surest cure for vanity is loneliness…”.
(Thomas Wolfe)

There’s a lot of talk these days about “protectionism,” “isolationism,” “nativism,” and like terms.  Part of that is due to President Bush discussing these thing on his recent book tour, part of it has to do with the ongoing immigration debate domestically, part of it has to do with the current global financial crisis and the True-color tendencies it normally evokes in people, part of it has to do with the unrest in Africa & the Middle East, and there are other factors, too.  In any case, i want to discuss today what i call “personal isolationism.”

As a human being, i am not any more immune to hurt, betrayal, injury, or any other emotional experience than is anyone else.  As a normal person, i am not any less defensive, protectionistic, or guarded than is anyone else.  All of us have conditioned tendencies to keep people “at arm’s length” or at a distance.  It’s partly human nature and partly conditioned response, but we tend to believe that to be more alone is to be more safe — at least as it regards other humans.  We know intuitively that we may not survive the lions and pythons and alligators, but at least we won’t die by gunshot.  So, we wall ourselves up, amass ammunition, devise strategies, & restrict access to ourselves in an attempt to make ourselves safe.  It’s basic Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs type stuff….

i am committed to not doing that any more than i absolutely have to do.  Obviously, there is a balance between the need for safety and the need for exploration.  Of course there is a balance to that, but there is also a danger in drawing Your circle too tightly….

Many of You may either doubt or outright disagree with this next statement, but i am an introvert.  i have always required several hours a day of being alone in quiet to function properly, and i have a great deal of that now that i am divorced.  A friend of mine said to me the other day, “You seem “better” than You have been in a long, long time…”.  i thanked him and said that i feel “better” than i have in a long, long time.  There is a healthy affect (at least for me) that comes from acknowledging my introvert personality and honoring that by being quiet.  my favorite days are days when i wake up and don’t speak until well into the afternoon; i Love those days.  my favorite times are when i can just be alone for hours upon hours studying or writing or shooting baskets or whatever.  When i don’t get enough time by myself, i get cranky, frazzled, and lose my way.

However, there’s also a danger to being alone too much — especially for an introvert like me.  While i genuinely enjoy people and the mutual, contributive, & interactive exchange we have when i’m with them, i have learned about myself that i can come to depend on that interaction (and, therefore, on them as people) too much.  i do enjoy people and social situations, as long as i don’t feel out of place, unvalued, or uninterested by the circumstances.  The fact that i enjoy people (although not as much as being alone) has caused some trouble for me in my Life.  Friends have remarked to me all my Life how intense i am relationally and how much energy it takes for them to engage with me in a friendship, partnership, or other kind of relationship.  Although it seems to me most of the time that they testify to being more invigorated by our relationship than drained, i know that i require a lot of people.  And, generally speaking, i give them all i have of myself, which requires a lot of me, too.  While i wouldn’t have it any other way, i have had people who dearly Loved me (and still do) choose to walk away from me just because they couldn’t handle the level of mutual investment that is exchanged.  Even as an introvert, i am a human being and, therefore, a social creature who needs social interaction with others to thrive physically, emotionally, & spiritually.

i am writing this today to let You know a couple of things: 1) i need time with You, 2) i need time away from You, and 3) i need, most of all, You.  For example, this Blog has been a tremendous Blessing due to the interaction it brings me through comments, personal emails, and other forms of interaction.  Thank You for participating in my ChristLife and giving me the chance to participate in Yours.  It means a lot to this old introvert….

Crēday, Jāseph 28th, 7703 (Wednesday, 02-02-2011); Theological Post #8: Acknowledging The Tools Of God's Redemption All Around Us

“For God has shut up all mankind together in disobedience,
in order that He might show mercy to all.

O, the depth of the riches & the wisdom & knowledge of God!

How inscrutable are His judgments!  How unsearchable are His ways!

For, “Who has known the mind of the LORD?  Who has been His counselor?”

Or, “Who has given Him anything and made Him pay it back?”

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

To Him be the glory forever! Amen…”.

(Rabbi Paul, Paul’s Letter To The Roman Ekklesia, Chapter 11:32-35)

i should probably just apologize now for repeating myself in theological posts.  Everything has been distilled down for me in the previous recent years to just a handful of important grasps, and one of those is the diamond of redemption.  i use the description “diamond,” because all of God’s dealings with humanity are like diamonds: they are beautiful, but they are uniquely so when viewed from any of an infinite number of angles.  For example, You can set a diamond in the middle of a room, and everywhere You walk will yield a different view of its beauty — because of the different refractive angle of the Lighting in that position — than anywhere else in the room.  So it is with YHWH (Blessed be His Holy Name).

So, i’m going to apologize now for constantly mentioning in this Blog the matter of redemption (along with several other themes) that have become the basis for my understanding of the Almighty and my relationship with Them.  Hopefully, You will be able to gain something from my posts anyway….

This week, i started dabbling with reading the condensed version of The Search For Significance by Robert McGee.  It is a great book, and it has come highly recommended to me over the years from numerous people whose opinions i trust.  Even so, i’ve never read it until now.  When people give me a book, i wait.  i wait until Abba prompts me to read it, and — when i do read it in His timing — it is usually incredibly poignant and profoundly impacting.  In the past few years, i have stopped deciding what to read, and now i just let Him decide that for me.  So, in case any of You ever give me a book, don’t be offended in any way if i don’t immediately read it.  i wouldn’t normally open a bottle of precious wine right away, either, but — rest assured — it will be consumed….

McGee writes in the first chapter (i’m reading the condensed version) that he came to a point where acknowledging the hurt in his existence is what allowed God to provide him with the comfort he needed.  What a great example of redemption and so many other things from God, and — when i read that this week — it hit me again how grateful i am to Abba for how He treats me.  Maybe the only thing worse than not having access to something You need is not even knowing the thing to which You need access….

For me, i went for years coping with my circumstances instead of entrusting myself to Abba.  What do i mean by that?  Well, let me unpack it a bit for You….

As someone who counsels people and receives regular affirmation from them that my counsel is insightful, helpful, & profound, let me say here that i know about coping.  i am familiar with all kinds of coping (both in others and in my own self): the development of various coping “mechanisms” to handle certain types of situations, the preference of certain kinds of postures to navigate different kinds of interpersonal interactions, the dependence on a number of activities, substances, or other distractions to mask the voids in our personal reservoirs, etc., etc.  In fact, in my own Life, i have come to a place where i no longer view myself as either “high functioning” or “highly capable.”  Instead, i now describe myself — in my natural abilities — as “highly adept at coping.”  What i mistook all of my Life for a good thing (the natural capability to function reasonably well no matter the situational circumstances) has now become apparent and known to me — in my opinion — as my greatest personal weakness.  i know that we are all taught to aspire to suchness, but i believe this to be an evil thing: the ability to function "well" (as defined by society) without depending on God and instead while depending on ourselves.  That, to me, seems clearly now to be what i have done most of my previous existence.

By contrast, my Master (Y’shua, the Savior of humanity) never depended on Himself and certainly not instead of depending on Abba or the Holy Spirit.  A large part of what i think LORD Y’shua intends to teach me on this next leg of our journey together is how Live out His ChristLife in me while i learn to — by a new nature — default to depending on Him instead of defaulting (in my old nature) to depending on my own coping skills.  It is not something to which i look forward in terms of the suffering involved, but it is something to which i look forward in regard to glorifying Abba, maturing as His son & heir, pleasing my Master, and being useful to others.

One of my favorite passages in the New Covenant reads thusly: “For You have been called for the purpose of doing right & then suffering for it, since Christ also suffered for You thereby leaving You  an example to follow in His steps: “He committed no sin nor was any deceit found in His mouth,” and — while being reviled — He did not revile in return and — while suffering — He uttered no threats, but rather He kept entrusting Himself to the One Who judges righteously…” (1^st Peter 2:21-23, NAS).

This passage has been affecting me for all of my Life, but never more so than in the past few years as my Life has taken a turn toward maturity and the commensurate suffering that must accompany such a movement.  i was taught all my Life — as a part of the conditioning of the world upon me with its free education in coping mechanisms and the incessant pressure of its structural systems and the cultural labs in divination-oriented protocols of manipulating people and on and on — that suffering was to be avoided at all cost.  Now, i am finally aware of those indoctrinations, and i know why my enemy taught me so and conditioned me thusly as a child: so that, as an adult, i would not be familiar with the very weapons that could undo his hold on me.  Those divine weapons are both defensive antidotes and, simultaneously, offensive destroyers: Truth, dependence on God, Love, suffering while practicing righteousness, hope, communion with Abba (sometimes called “prayer”), receiving discipline from my Father, acquiring the mind of Y’shua Christos (or, in other words, what King David called learning God’s thoughts & ways), rest from works of my own, gardening with the Holy Spirit (to, of course, cultivate His fruits in my ChristLife instead of the weeds of the world for both others to enjoy and to sustain me), and many more (like understanding destiny, learning to navigate creation as a steward instead of a user, etc.).  i never heard any talk of these things in any substantial way in the world, and the church didn’t discuss them in any meaningful way, either.  And, yet, there it is — in black & white: “For You have been called for the purpose of doing right & then suffering for it…”.

But now, as scales are beginning to fall from my eyes and the Grima Wormtongue is being banished to rouse Theoden from his trance, i am beginning to understand the place of suffering.  It is a tool that Abba uses to teach us to depend on Him — not in order to avoid suffering, but in order to endure suffering for His glory and for the benefit of others as we become not just conquerors but "more than conquerors."  Knowing that i have been called for the purpose of doing righteously & then suffering for it used to greatly vex me, but no longer….

Instead of addressing suffering or easing discomfort or altering unhappiness or any other thing i would desire to change by learning to cope even better within the confines of my own abilities, Abba wants to teach me to depend on Him whatever the circumstances and, in doing so, find myself glorifying Him as my Father and being beneficial to others who might be within a close enough proximity to somehow witness my ChristLife in action.  A big part of that turn is acknowledging that everything around me — even the hurts, pains, deficits, and other markers of experiences of suffering that adorn my existence like cave drawings or tattoos or street signs mark a previous culture or reflect on the outside of a person what they hold valuable inside or show the correct route to take in order to arrive at Your desire destination, respectively — are just tools in the hand of a redemptive Creator to reveal destiny, clarify purpose, and draw us closer to Him in deeper intimacy, a more cherished closeness, and a more abiding security.  The things that have happened to me, around me, in me, outside of me, through me, for me, against me, etc. — those things have not surprised God.  They have not snuck up on Him and caught Him off His guard.  They are not making Him nervous as He frantically scurries about to figure out how to handle this new revelation.  No, on the contrary, they were accounted for long ago, before the enemy was even privy to Your coming or aware of the grace God would deposit into a broken world via Your journey & experience.

Paul writes, “For God has shut up all mankind together in disobedience, in order that He might show mercy to all…”.  His point is that mercy can only come when disobedience is made manifest, and God is neither afraid of disobedience or lacking in mercy.  In fact, He relishes the chance to address one with the other.  Indeed, redemption draws near when disobedience stirs up things.  You can almost hear God mockingly say to our enemy, “Bring it, Luci.  Stir things up!  Incite whatever You want!  I AM here to respond with a balm of mercy to Your wounds of rebellion and brokenness of disobedience!”

Let us be grateful to God for His great Love toward all of us.  Let us acknowledge our circumstances as His personal playgrounds of grace.  Let us embrace suffering as His key to becoming who He designed us and destined us to be.  Let us mature in His kind salvation and bask in the severity of His Love.  Let us share with each other our stories of diamond-like redemption that shine with the attraction of His warmth, photosynthesis, & Light, our experiences of literally watching bad morph into good before our very eyes in the presence of our God, our enemy, & our witnesses, and our journeys of perfectly paced rest that accomplishes more than all our combined works could ever merit when stacked in death next to the Life of our Master Y’shua….

Selah, and Blessings to You from the LORD Most High today….

Tuesday, 02-01-2011 (Ünday, Jāseph 27th, 7703); Cultural Post #8: And The Winner Is….

“A competitor will find a way to win. Competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves just that much harder. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up. It's all a matter of pride…”.
(Nancy Lopez)

“It’s all a matter of pride…”.  Indeed.

Well, the Grammys are coming up shortly and the Golden Globes have been awarded as the Oscar nominations have just been announced.  The world is abuzz with awards…

A close friend of mine used to work at a sporting goods company that does the bulk of the trophies, medals, plaques, etc. for local schools, little leagues of various sports, and other groups.  i remember him telling me one day how disgusted he was with parents who came in to order awards.  Seems that parents were coming in to his store after the championship games and ordering their individual kids trophies that were larger and more gaudy than the actual championship trophies awarded to the actual winners of the league.  Same thing with individual awards: parents were ordering medals or whatever was given to the MVP of the basketball tournament (or whatever), but they were ordering more ornate or impressive versions than the school sprang for on the actual awards.  So, i asked him what i thought was a very logical question: “Well, but You don’t do them, right?”  He answered, “O no, we make them.  If they’re willing to pay for them, then we make them.”

Astounding....

Over the years, i have seen the nature of awards change.  Now, there are awards that are only selected by the fans and devoid of any “judges” input such as the MTV awards.  Then, there are mixed computations like that of Major League Baseball, where the fans’ votes count but can be augmented or figured alongside the All-Star Manager’s input.  Of course, many of the older awards are still based on record sales or an Olympic panel of judges or on the evaluations of their peers in their respective industry or whatever, but it begs the question: Who decides what constitutes an award.

i remember a conversation i once had with an Ivy League official who was courting me to study in his graduate program.  He was a department chairperson, and he was offering me a spot in his department with an eye toward a teaching position when i finished my Ph.D.  When i asked about the entrance requirements and standardized tests, he explained that Ivy League schools don’t take standardized test scores.  Later, he informed me that none of the Ivy League schools are “accredited,” because who — he wondered — would accredit them?  In his words, all the people who have the expertise to advise the Ivy League schools work at them, so no one at an Ivy League school was going to listen to a panel of junior and community college presidents tell them how to teach.  It was a fascinating conversation to me, and i learned a great deal that day about evaluation.

Then, there were the awards i got and didn’t get in school.  As an elementary school student, i remember the outside competitions that we had with all kinds of activities from sprints to skills-oriented contests like punting a football to flying kites, and how we were generally awarded colored ribbons for first through sixth place and then everyone else (yes, everyone) got a purple “participant” ribbon.  Even then, i remember being ashamed to receive such a mockery.  Later, as a successful basketball player at all levels, i was among the highest-scoring players in Texas my junior & senior years and had numerous scholarships available to me for basketball.  The funny thing was how political the awards were among the coaches.  They took their player being selected to the all-state team (or some lower level) as a personal commentary on their coaching ability, and a player at a losing school wasn’t awarded no matter how good he or she was in relation to the other players.

Even in the pro sports now (which are the constant object of incessant talk radio), a great player is penalized for his team being poor.  A great quarterback may not make the hall of fame if he didn’t win a Super Bowl, while an average quarterback is lauded for all-time if he wins but one and just doesn’t make mistakes as a game-manager.  In baseball, a pitcher is judged on wins and not on his personal performance.  It makes one wonder whether it is better to be lucky and be an average player on a great team or to be great and enjoy being great while serving a tightwad owner or finicky fan base or other less desirable situation.

In high school, i was a freshman on my school’s One-Act Play roster.  We had a great group of amateur thespians, a hilarious play, a wonderful drama coach (like high schoolers need any coaching in drama), and a supportive administration.  At the regional competition, i did my normal performance for which i had been awarded All-Star Cast every competition.  When the judge came over to tell us we had gotten third and, therefore, missed the State meet by one place, he said something very interesting to us and then to me.

His first comment was, “Well, i couldn’t decide between You guys and one of the two other schools.  i mean, clearly i think the best school was head-and-shoulders above the other two of You and that You two were head-and-shoulders above the other schools…but i just couldn’t really decide which one of You deserved to go on and which one didn’t.  So, i flipped a coin, and You lost…”.

Honest to god, Dude — just shut the @!^% up.  You get the “award” (pun fully intended) for “Most Likely To Sound Like A State Trooper” (since i’m talking about my high school days).  Needless to say, i was appalled at this “judge’s” decision-making process.  Then, he proceeded to go over the “notes” (as they are called) with our group of what he liked and didn’t like.  Afterwards, he began his notifications to us of our individual awards, and he started by saying something to me.  He said, “Mr. Kuhn, i want to start with You…”.  my heart, i confess, began to beat a little faster, since i already didn’t like the putz….

“You,” he said, “are very gifted.”  Hmmm…maybe this guy isn’t so bad, after all….

“i thought You were clearly one of the two best actors here, along with so-and-so (from the winning play).  And, similar to Your school’s dilemma, i couldn’t decide which one of the two of You should get Best Actor.  However, he’s a Senior, and this is his last year.  You are just a freshman and will have three more shots at it, so i gave him Best Actor and You All-Star Cast.  However, i want You to know i don’t make any distinction between the two of You and think both of You should major in drama in college…”.  Yep, i knew it — a definite putz….

In the early 1980s, when skateboarding seemed to be taking off, and then later in the 1990s, when extreme sporting really hit big, ESPN began a competition called “The X Games.”  In the 2000s, i served as a Board member for an outreach based on a skate park to help give kids productive ways to spend their time.  One of my favorite things about the skating culture was the lack of competition and the mutual encouragement of the people who just wanted to enjoy one another’s company, fellowship, & skills without grading one another.  They were each other’s biggest fans, and they Loved celebrating accomplishments without resorting to assigning rankings.

When i was a missions major in college, i remember my missions professor trying to convey to my class one day that competition is one of the great evils of the world.  Of course, i couldn’t be bothered (at that time) with such nonsense!  i mean, seriously, competition bad?  Who thinks that?  Funny, because now i totally agree with him.  i see competition as a satanic form of devaluing humanity as opposed to how most people see it as a healthy way of recognizing achievement.  O, You want proof?  Yea, like i couldn’t see that one coming….

Well, i suppose my proof is in the damage done to people, but that’s anecdotal and i can already see the gnashing of teeth and hear the moaning of vicarion parents amongst the protests of the gifted children that such “stories” don’t prove anything.  So, i’ll refrain from a debate on that, except to say that i doubt that Adam & Eve competed with one another, but i do remember a fellow named Cain being obsessed about it.  Ring any bells?  Yea, i rest my case….

Anyway, there’s a new book out called Tiger Moms, or something like that.  And we can’t get anything done in this country, because we constantly jump from one election cycle to the next without taking a pause to govern in between.  And art has been commoditized, commercialized, and confiscated so that it is now judged by record sales and page views and pop paparazzi coverage instead of by how much it moves us and how much it informs us and how much it provokes us to become better.  And junior high kids are the subject of national rankings while Little Leaguers play on ESPN and preteens compete on Disney and fifth-graders who are abnormally average routinely kick the snot out of trailer park idiots with a host that can’t decide whether or not to go formal or hillbilly.  And somewhere, a helicopter mom or dad is buying a trophy that’s bigger than the championship team trophy that says “1^st Place in our hearts” while it overtakes the room and dwarfs the homemade pottery made on a quiet Saturday by the family.

Remember, this is a cultural post.  And i don’t like our culture — or at least certain parts of it.  Here’s a suggestion, Sparky.  Get Your kid off the couch and Love them whether or not they can dunk a basketball.  Let them know that playing sports or getting all A’s has nothing to do with whether or not You Love them and that they have a place in Your home and heart both now and in the future.  Take care of them when they need it, release them when You can safely let them roam, and make sure they can always look back and see You ready to rescue them.  Threaten them regularly with the severest of kisses if they misbehave and only score 36 points in the hockey game instead of Your goal of 43.  And maybe, just maybe, when they grow up, they won’t need prescription meds when You come to their mind….

Remember, this is a cultural post.  And i don’t like our culture — or at least certain parts of it.  Here’s a suggestion, Sparky.  Get Your kid off the couch and Love them whether or not they can dunk a basketball.  Let them know that playing sports or getting all A’s has nothing to do with whether or not You Love them and that they have a place in Your home and heart both now and in the future.  Take care of them when they need it, release them when You can safely let them roam, and make sure they can always look back and see You ready to rescue them.  Threaten them regularly with the severest of kisses if they misbehave and only score 36 points in the hockey game instead of Your goal of 43.  And maybe, just maybe, when they grow up, they won’t need prescription meds when You come to their mind….

i’m not overtly saying the points today as much as i am hoping You might get them without me having to spell them out, but — if You need me to spell them out — then just ask in the comments.  Bottom line: God doesn’t want Your best — He wants You, because You’re His best….