Today, January 19, 2014, is the day this year that the Southern Baptist Convention recognizes as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. This day is recognized on the third Sunday in January every year.
So what is the meaning of this day? Why do we need to take a day to recognize the sanctity of human life? The cause is, perhaps, the vast destruction of human life that is taking place today and every day everywhere in the world. What, are we having a purge? A genocide? Well, in a way we are. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Those numbers don't seem so harmful, do they? 22 out of a hundred isn't so bad.
Keep in mind that the most recent data shows that the approximate population of the U.S. is 313.9 million people. If we killed 22 percent of the population of America, around 69,058,000 people would die. That's a pretty large number of people. Of that number, the question becomes, "How many of those people can we afford to lose?" The answer? Zero. Say one of those people was the president of the United States. That would be a huge loss for our country. Odds are that some of them would be celebrities of sorts, musicians, artists, athletes, political leaders. That still leaves a lot of people left that only and handful of people knew. And yet, they were here. They were on this earth. And one cannot say that anyone is ever placed here without a purpose for his or her life.
Genesis 1:27 says that God created man in his own image. That means everyone. Everyone is created in the image of our Creator. We are all given a name, a body, a personality. A soul. And our creator knows us all better than we know ourselves. Have we really become convinced that that doesn't include people who aren't born yet? We hear a heartbeat. We give these people an age, even from one week. Loving parents begin to choose names and clothes. People plan their lives around these new, young people months before they are born. It's a part of life: new life.
The argument has been made that maybe this new life was unintended. Say you had a three year old child, and you were raising him or her on your own, and you just didn't plan on having this child. Does that justify murdering the child? By no means! Why should that change just because that child is only three weeks old? Just because you haven't seen the child, that doesn't make him or her any less a child.
Another argument made is that the mother can't provide for a child properly, or that it impedes the future of one or both of the parents. There are an estimated 3,000 adoption agencies in the United States, where couples who desperately want a child but for various reasons can't have one go to adopt a child. Where do you think these agencies get these children? Young parents with bright futures who have the courage put their children up for adoption, knowing that this is best for the child, the parents, and the couple who are prepared to raise the child, caring for and providing for him or her. The argument that abortion is the best solution is invalid for this very reason. Abortion kills one baby, but that is not the only life affected. There are physical, and always emotional consequences for the mother. Abortion is not the best solution for anyone involved.
Abortion is murder, and murder is a sin. If I am speaking to someone who has experienced this personally, you ought to know that fact. However, there's a whole lot more to it. Much the same way as a newborn baby, ill-equipped to care for ourselves, in Christ we are adopted as sons and daughters of God. Ephesians 1:3-10 tells us this much. Ephesians 1:7-10 tells us that it has been God's will to unite all things in Him in the fullness of time from the beginning. He does this through redemption and through forgiveness. Jesus died for every one of everyone's sins. That includes abortion. In Christ you are forgiven and adopted as a child of God.
If you haven't gone through this, understand the impossibility of understanding. It is not our place to ultimately judge anyone. Are we not all sinners? The importance of this day and all that it encompasses is that abortion is wrong. But the fact that abortion is so widespread doesn't change the fact that all sin is widespread, and it especially does not change the truth or the power of the gospel.
Today, we raise awareness of the consequences of abortion. Every day, we raise awareness of the consequences of sin. As we witness the war that Satan is waging against us, especially in this way, the mass destruction of human life, I pray that we would understand the power of the gospel, of Jesus. I pray that we would understand the infinite love of our Father, and most of all, I pray that we would see the sanctity of human life. Because every person has a purpose here and is created in the image of God. Therefore, every life is valuable beyond measure.
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." -Ephesians 1:7-10
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The Other Emancipation Proclamation: The Gospel
"It's a free country."
That's what people often say when told to do or not to do
something. It is a way of saying that one refuses to comply with rules or
expectations. America is a free country, so people don't tell other people how
to live their lives and everyone is okay. But is that what freedom really is?
Many people would define freedom as living under absolutely no authority. People believe freedom is the right to do whatever we want with no consequences and no dissent. If one is truly free than there are no rules and expectations that have to be met; we can run wild and do as we please whenever and wherever we feel like we want to.
In 1863 with the establishment of the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves in the south were declared free. By no means did that mean they had the right to do whatever they wanted to do without justification or consequence. The opposite was true in reality. For a century after that, people of African-American descent were considered less than what they were- people, that is to say.
This is, in many ways, an accurate analogy to freedom as it stands today. To
me, freedom is exactly the opposite of having no authority. Freedom is the act
of submitting to God’s authority. Much like the slaves in the 1860s, freedom is
being released from slavery. In Christ we are free from sin, death, and hell.
We are free from God’s wrath, which is what we deserve. We are free to live in
such a way that glorifies the only one who truly deserves the glory: our one,
true, living God. Before we have Christ in our lives, sin owns us. We are under
the control of sin, and that is how we live. We don’t know any better because
we are in darkness, and we do not know light. Through God’s grace Jesus came
into the world and not only gave us light, but taught us how to be lights and
to walk in the light.
In the Civil War era, slaves very rarely knew how to read. If you put a sign in front of them that said, "You are free," they wouldn't know what to do or how to respond. Sometimes Christianity works the same way. We know we are free from sin, but we don't know what the next step is. One solution I can think of is to thank the one who freed us. Our job when we are freed is to glorify God in everything we do. If the only thing we ever received from God was salvation, we have to understand that what we have been given is more than we deserve.That alone should always be enough to tell us what the freedom we have been given should be used for.
In the Civil War era, slaves very rarely knew how to read. If you put a sign in front of them that said, "You are free," they wouldn't know what to do or how to respond. Sometimes Christianity works the same way. We know we are free from sin, but we don't know what the next step is. One solution I can think of is to thank the one who freed us. Our job when we are freed is to glorify God in everything we do. If the only thing we ever received from God was salvation, we have to understand that what we have been given is more than we deserve.That alone should always be enough to tell us what the freedom we have been given should be used for.
The answer is not in being free to do whatever suits us in the flesh. When one understands the depth of the love of the Father, what they want most is to please Him. Because sin is still a part of the world we live in, sometimes our "want to" seems broken. It is hard to admit the fact that we don't always do the best job of honoring God, but we need to understand that we have been forgiven and we are free. Though on this earth we will never be perfect, we become more like Christ as our faith in him grows, and we are always free from the power of sin even though we aren't always free from the presence of sin. Through this process we become more and more free from the presence of sin until the day of glorification when we will stand before God in Christ's righteousness alone. That is true freedom, and it comes not when we rebel against authority, but when we submit to the authority of God.
"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God." -1 Peter 2:16
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Everyday Resolutions
Happy New Year! Did you make any New Year's resolutions?
The question people frequently find themselves being asked has a wide range of answers. For some, the answer is, "No, I didn't want to disappoint myself." More often, however, most everyone has at least one thing every January 1st that they would like to change about themselves. One might hope to lose a certain amount of weight or earn a certain amount of money, or acquire some other item of monetary or sentimental value. Perhaps one would like to make a certain amount of friends or go to a certain event, or do something that they could only do once in a lifetime.
Whoever you are, you more than likely have something you don't like about yourself, and you want to fix it. So you write it down on January 1st, and depending on how much you really want it, work at it until you cross it off your list. Or perhaps you made a list, but you just never got around to actually doing it. That is often the case. So why do we do this? Well, most people explain it by saying that it's a new year, and thus it is a new start: a clean slate, if you will. "We've revolved around the sun one more time than we had 365 days ago. Time to start over!"
What's the point? If you have to reset yourself every 365 days, it seems to me that all the days before that didn't count for anything. If you changed for the better in 2013, why would you want to regress so you could 'start over' in 2014. Why not just work with what you have? And if that's the case, why do you have to wait 365 days between?
For those of us who are believers, we have to understand that salvation isn't a one-and-done thing. When we're born again, it's just like that. We're like infants and we need to grow. That's what sanctification is. It's the constant process of becoming more like Christ. One keyword there is 'constant.' You don't wake up one day sanctified. You don't die sanctified. It's a process that you go through every moment from the instant you receive the Holy Spirit. That's the way our 'resolutions' should be. You should wake up every day and ask God to change you today, and to make you more like Jesus.
It's great to write your goals down. I have my own New Year's resolutions, and I would encourage you to have at least one, because no one here is perfect. For that very reason, we should not be content to stay the way we are. God is I Am. He never changes; He is eternal and constant. We are not I Am. We are constantly changing in our lives, and we should make it our goal to strive for sanctification. Don't settle for complacency at any point in your life.
You should also keep in mind that you're not ever going to be able to 'fix' yourself. But the Holy Spirit is constantly at work in your life, and as you grow in your faith you should, and will see change in your life. So every day should be a resolution. Remember to do everything you do for the glory of God, and every day you should keep pressing on toward the goal.
Once more, happy New Year!
"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:7-14
The question people frequently find themselves being asked has a wide range of answers. For some, the answer is, "No, I didn't want to disappoint myself." More often, however, most everyone has at least one thing every January 1st that they would like to change about themselves. One might hope to lose a certain amount of weight or earn a certain amount of money, or acquire some other item of monetary or sentimental value. Perhaps one would like to make a certain amount of friends or go to a certain event, or do something that they could only do once in a lifetime.
Whoever you are, you more than likely have something you don't like about yourself, and you want to fix it. So you write it down on January 1st, and depending on how much you really want it, work at it until you cross it off your list. Or perhaps you made a list, but you just never got around to actually doing it. That is often the case. So why do we do this? Well, most people explain it by saying that it's a new year, and thus it is a new start: a clean slate, if you will. "We've revolved around the sun one more time than we had 365 days ago. Time to start over!"
What's the point? If you have to reset yourself every 365 days, it seems to me that all the days before that didn't count for anything. If you changed for the better in 2013, why would you want to regress so you could 'start over' in 2014. Why not just work with what you have? And if that's the case, why do you have to wait 365 days between?
For those of us who are believers, we have to understand that salvation isn't a one-and-done thing. When we're born again, it's just like that. We're like infants and we need to grow. That's what sanctification is. It's the constant process of becoming more like Christ. One keyword there is 'constant.' You don't wake up one day sanctified. You don't die sanctified. It's a process that you go through every moment from the instant you receive the Holy Spirit. That's the way our 'resolutions' should be. You should wake up every day and ask God to change you today, and to make you more like Jesus.
It's great to write your goals down. I have my own New Year's resolutions, and I would encourage you to have at least one, because no one here is perfect. For that very reason, we should not be content to stay the way we are. God is I Am. He never changes; He is eternal and constant. We are not I Am. We are constantly changing in our lives, and we should make it our goal to strive for sanctification. Don't settle for complacency at any point in your life.
You should also keep in mind that you're not ever going to be able to 'fix' yourself. But the Holy Spirit is constantly at work in your life, and as you grow in your faith you should, and will see change in your life. So every day should be a resolution. Remember to do everything you do for the glory of God, and every day you should keep pressing on toward the goal.
Once more, happy New Year!
"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:7-14
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Perfect Gifts
I stood before my choir family just days ago giving them a last-minute Thanksgiving speech. With the extra time we had, I asked them as a group to share some things they were thankful for. They went down the line, some pausing to think, others answering immediately. Nice things were said about faith, family, food, friends, and football. Anything you can think of, these kids mentioned. The last person spoke and I was about to close things out when a voice from the back said, "What about you?"
It hadn't occurred to me that I might need to say something. I hadn't given it a lot of thought. In the few seconds I had to think, I found myself suddenly overcome with emotion.
"There's just so much," I finally said. Several people nodded their heads in approval. I went on to name just a few things that I was incredibly thankful for, but there was so much I didn't say. I thought back to the beginning of the month, when I first made my Thanksgiving proposition. I issued a challenge to several of my friends, that from November 1st to Thanksgiving day to write down one thing each day they were thankful for. I accepted the challenge myself, and I must say it helped me tremendously.
Today was technically the last day of the challenge. I woke up this morning and began searching through my Bible, as I often do, hoping to find a good message for today. I came across the passage I used to start the challenge, with the key verse being 1 Thessalonians 5:18. It gave me the inspiration to issue a new challenge, directed at everyone.
I'm not saying you have to keep a formal list, although that's what I'll be doing and it might be fun. You could post it on your various social network accounts. I did that as well, and I thought it was pretty cool to see less that dishonors God on Twitter and more that brings glory to Him. However you would prefer to keep track, even just in your head, is fine. It doesn't have to be a daily thing, but it can be if you want to do it that way. All that matters is that whenever you think of something to be thankful for, be thankful for it.
It has become evident to me in the past 28 days that the things we should thank God for are endless. There shouldn't be a deadline on your thankfulness, and we shouldn't have to set aside a day for it. Every day is a gift from God, so why not thank Him for it? James 1:17 is one of my favorite verses, and it says that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. If we focus a little bit more on that, we'll have a better perspective in general and we will be better living out our purpose, which is to glorify God.
If you do accept the challenge, pass it on. The goal is to bring honor to God in all that we do. He has given us so many great ways of doing that. Start thanking Him for it. And as you stuff yourself with stuffing and gobble down some turkey, keep in mind what the purpose of Thanksgiving really is, and don't forget to give thanks.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." --1 Thessalonians 5:18
It hadn't occurred to me that I might need to say something. I hadn't given it a lot of thought. In the few seconds I had to think, I found myself suddenly overcome with emotion.
"There's just so much," I finally said. Several people nodded their heads in approval. I went on to name just a few things that I was incredibly thankful for, but there was so much I didn't say. I thought back to the beginning of the month, when I first made my Thanksgiving proposition. I issued a challenge to several of my friends, that from November 1st to Thanksgiving day to write down one thing each day they were thankful for. I accepted the challenge myself, and I must say it helped me tremendously.
Today was technically the last day of the challenge. I woke up this morning and began searching through my Bible, as I often do, hoping to find a good message for today. I came across the passage I used to start the challenge, with the key verse being 1 Thessalonians 5:18. It gave me the inspiration to issue a new challenge, directed at everyone.
I'm not saying you have to keep a formal list, although that's what I'll be doing and it might be fun. You could post it on your various social network accounts. I did that as well, and I thought it was pretty cool to see less that dishonors God on Twitter and more that brings glory to Him. However you would prefer to keep track, even just in your head, is fine. It doesn't have to be a daily thing, but it can be if you want to do it that way. All that matters is that whenever you think of something to be thankful for, be thankful for it.
It has become evident to me in the past 28 days that the things we should thank God for are endless. There shouldn't be a deadline on your thankfulness, and we shouldn't have to set aside a day for it. Every day is a gift from God, so why not thank Him for it? James 1:17 is one of my favorite verses, and it says that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above. If we focus a little bit more on that, we'll have a better perspective in general and we will be better living out our purpose, which is to glorify God.
If you do accept the challenge, pass it on. The goal is to bring honor to God in all that we do. He has given us so many great ways of doing that. Start thanking Him for it. And as you stuff yourself with stuffing and gobble down some turkey, keep in mind what the purpose of Thanksgiving really is, and don't forget to give thanks.
Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." --1 Thessalonians 5:18
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
A Perfect Morning in an Imperfect World
I woke up this morning, and would you believe it? The sun was shining. I made the conjecture that everyone else in the world who woke up this morning witnessed the same thing.
I proceeded to get ready for my day, noting the fact that I was taking a warm shower and putting on clean clothes. I turned on my favorite Chris Tomlin CD, noting that I was in a house with electricity and proceeded to open my Bible, which someone so graciously translated into my language so I could have my own copy of the word of God. I found myself looking through the book of John, and happened to come across one of my long-time favorite verses, which is John 16:33.
It occurred to me as I read it that I had in fact had a perfect morning. Today is, in fact, my fifteenth birthday. I could hardly think of any tribulation I might currently be having. That, however, is when it occurred to me that not everyone could say the same. As of that moment, countless people were starving or cold or sick and dying. People were losing loved ones. So many people in so many places were hurting in some way. Even as I write this, I am aware of that fact.
The idea that kept coming to mind was the doctrine of common grace. I kept thinking about how, regardless of who you are or where you are, you got to see the sun shine today. You got to look outside at all of the beautiful things God made. Although it's true that not everyone had a great day today, I'm sure that anyone in the world could think of a situation that could be worse. Why is that?
I like to think of what my camp pastor this past summer, Matt Carter, had to say on the subject. He said, "For those of you who are in Christ, this world is as close to hell as you're going to get."
That's the most exciting news I've ever heard! As believers, we have assurance that we're going to heaven someday, where we will be in the presence of God (Revelation 21:3). Nothing in the world can possibly do any real damage to us, because it is all temporary. Any tribulation in our lives is going to end sooner than we can imagine, and we will be in a place where everything is perfect because there is no sin.
In John 16:33, we are told that we are going to have tribulation. It's guaranteed in this world. The key there is that it will be in this world, but that Jesus has already overcome this world! He overcame sin and death, so that those who are in Christ will spend eternity not in this world, but in the New Earth in the presence of the one, true, living God. I think that's a really good reason to take heart.
The point of what Jesus is saying here is that we shouldn't focus on the struggles of this life. It goes back to Philippians 4:4. We should rejoice always because of the promises that God has made, knowing that he will keep them and that we are so incredibly blessed. As you go through the next few days (and the next few decades), keep in mind just how blessed you are. That way, when you wake up tomorrow and the sun is shining again, you can have one more thing on an endless list of things to be thankful for, God's grace being at the top. As you enjoy your holiday and as you go back to your 'normal life,' take heart in the fact that Jesus has overcome the world.
Happy Thanksgiving!
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." --John 16:33
I proceeded to get ready for my day, noting the fact that I was taking a warm shower and putting on clean clothes. I turned on my favorite Chris Tomlin CD, noting that I was in a house with electricity and proceeded to open my Bible, which someone so graciously translated into my language so I could have my own copy of the word of God. I found myself looking through the book of John, and happened to come across one of my long-time favorite verses, which is John 16:33.
It occurred to me as I read it that I had in fact had a perfect morning. Today is, in fact, my fifteenth birthday. I could hardly think of any tribulation I might currently be having. That, however, is when it occurred to me that not everyone could say the same. As of that moment, countless people were starving or cold or sick and dying. People were losing loved ones. So many people in so many places were hurting in some way. Even as I write this, I am aware of that fact.
The idea that kept coming to mind was the doctrine of common grace. I kept thinking about how, regardless of who you are or where you are, you got to see the sun shine today. You got to look outside at all of the beautiful things God made. Although it's true that not everyone had a great day today, I'm sure that anyone in the world could think of a situation that could be worse. Why is that?
I like to think of what my camp pastor this past summer, Matt Carter, had to say on the subject. He said, "For those of you who are in Christ, this world is as close to hell as you're going to get."
That's the most exciting news I've ever heard! As believers, we have assurance that we're going to heaven someday, where we will be in the presence of God (Revelation 21:3). Nothing in the world can possibly do any real damage to us, because it is all temporary. Any tribulation in our lives is going to end sooner than we can imagine, and we will be in a place where everything is perfect because there is no sin.
In John 16:33, we are told that we are going to have tribulation. It's guaranteed in this world. The key there is that it will be in this world, but that Jesus has already overcome this world! He overcame sin and death, so that those who are in Christ will spend eternity not in this world, but in the New Earth in the presence of the one, true, living God. I think that's a really good reason to take heart.
The point of what Jesus is saying here is that we shouldn't focus on the struggles of this life. It goes back to Philippians 4:4. We should rejoice always because of the promises that God has made, knowing that he will keep them and that we are so incredibly blessed. As you go through the next few days (and the next few decades), keep in mind just how blessed you are. That way, when you wake up tomorrow and the sun is shining again, you can have one more thing on an endless list of things to be thankful for, God's grace being at the top. As you enjoy your holiday and as you go back to your 'normal life,' take heart in the fact that Jesus has overcome the world.
Happy Thanksgiving!
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." --John 16:33
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Whether you're an avid reader or not, you've probably, at some point in your life, been so consumed in a book or story that you just could not put it down, or so engulfed in a TV show that you couldn't take your eyes off of the screen. But if you are really aware of what you are reading or watching, you might think a little more about doing just that.
If you've ever been to a fun house, you've probably looked into a fun house mirror. If you're like me, those mirrors probably scared you a little bit because of what they do. They reflect just as a normal mirror does, but they distort it. In the article The Case for Good Taste in Children's Books*, Meghan Cox Gurdon says that adolescent books tend to reflect the world in a similar way. And it seems that the problem affects a much larger group of people than just those adolescents.
The two words 'young' and 'impressionable' always go together pretty well. But the messages that society is sending can affect every individual regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, and religion. For example, you might hear of an unspeakable crime and dismiss it as nothing because it's normal. You might be in the midst of tragedy with no hope but you don't look for more because it happens all the time. "That's how it is," you might say, or maybe, "That's real life."
But what makes it real life? It's probably not something you've experienced close to home before, so why should it seem so normal to you? If you think about it, it's probably something you heard in a song or read in a book or seen on TV or in a movie. What you typically don't realize is that that's just a worldly portrayal of 'real life,' and that it is commonly very distorted.
The creators of these distortions have presented several argument. One of the arguments is that these portrayals really are 'real life.' People suffer through similar problems every day. But statistically speaking, the amount of people going through these novel-worthy problems is a lot smaller than you would think. And for the small percentage of people that really do have similar life experiences, why would they want to read a book or watch a show about it? This argument implies not only that it doesn't frighten the majority of people because they have experienced something similar, but also that they would enjoy reading about it or watching it on TV.
Does a foster child want to watch a show about the crazy life of a foster child constantly on the run? Is it beneficial to them? What about a person with a personality disorder or a physical disability? Why would they want to be in constant contact with the exaggerated, sometimes comical portrayals of people similar to themselves? What about you? Is it healthy to fill your mind with such things? The answer should be pretty obvious. You shouldn't have a distorted view of the world or of real life.
So does that mean that literature and television should be completely filtered and clean? Not necessarily. In real life there really are scary things like pornography and violence. They really do exist, and there is no hiding that. The problem comes when you are inferring from what you read or watch that that's all there is. Gurdon compares this issue to Caravaggios' portrait of David and the head of Goliath. The image would be very dark and grotesque if not for the rays of light. Much the same way, we return the distorted portrayal of the real world back to a clear image with light, which comes from God alone. He shines light into our dark world and he is the good we find here. In order to have the light in your mind, you must fill your mind with good, and not with the distortions of the world.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things." -Philippians 4:8
* Imprimis, 42:7/8
If you've ever been to a fun house, you've probably looked into a fun house mirror. If you're like me, those mirrors probably scared you a little bit because of what they do. They reflect just as a normal mirror does, but they distort it. In the article The Case for Good Taste in Children's Books*, Meghan Cox Gurdon says that adolescent books tend to reflect the world in a similar way. And it seems that the problem affects a much larger group of people than just those adolescents.
The two words 'young' and 'impressionable' always go together pretty well. But the messages that society is sending can affect every individual regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, and religion. For example, you might hear of an unspeakable crime and dismiss it as nothing because it's normal. You might be in the midst of tragedy with no hope but you don't look for more because it happens all the time. "That's how it is," you might say, or maybe, "That's real life."
But what makes it real life? It's probably not something you've experienced close to home before, so why should it seem so normal to you? If you think about it, it's probably something you heard in a song or read in a book or seen on TV or in a movie. What you typically don't realize is that that's just a worldly portrayal of 'real life,' and that it is commonly very distorted.
The creators of these distortions have presented several argument. One of the arguments is that these portrayals really are 'real life.' People suffer through similar problems every day. But statistically speaking, the amount of people going through these novel-worthy problems is a lot smaller than you would think. And for the small percentage of people that really do have similar life experiences, why would they want to read a book or watch a show about it? This argument implies not only that it doesn't frighten the majority of people because they have experienced something similar, but also that they would enjoy reading about it or watching it on TV.
Does a foster child want to watch a show about the crazy life of a foster child constantly on the run? Is it beneficial to them? What about a person with a personality disorder or a physical disability? Why would they want to be in constant contact with the exaggerated, sometimes comical portrayals of people similar to themselves? What about you? Is it healthy to fill your mind with such things? The answer should be pretty obvious. You shouldn't have a distorted view of the world or of real life.
So does that mean that literature and television should be completely filtered and clean? Not necessarily. In real life there really are scary things like pornography and violence. They really do exist, and there is no hiding that. The problem comes when you are inferring from what you read or watch that that's all there is. Gurdon compares this issue to Caravaggios' portrait of David and the head of Goliath. The image would be very dark and grotesque if not for the rays of light. Much the same way, we return the distorted portrayal of the real world back to a clear image with light, which comes from God alone. He shines light into our dark world and he is the good we find here. In order to have the light in your mind, you must fill your mind with good, and not with the distortions of the world.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things." -Philippians 4:8
* Imprimis, 42:7/8
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
America: Strength In Adversity
I was thinking about the significance of today’s date when a
question came to mind: If I could have a conversation with the men who started
this country, what would I tell them? What questions would I have? Would I
complain about our country as it stands today? Would I simply say thank you? Or
would I tell them with pride about our strength in adversity? I envisioned a
conversation with men such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin
Franklin, and so many others, and it went a little bit like this:
What do you get when you combine a bunch of impoverished farmers
and tenacious self-governed men, throw in a seven page government, and add a
plethora of patriotism? That’s the first question I would have for the
brilliant men that fought for and envisioned a great union. I would then
proceed to tell them the tales of our pits and peaks, the best we’ve given, and
the extent of our loss.
I would start with the impact of the government they built in the
short amount of time that they had. How could they possibly have known that
seven pages of well thought out statements of how to run a country would last
all these years? Who would have guessed that people who couldn’t even find the
importance of bathing could write up a document that would be the government of
the greatest country in the world? Even now, with the nearly ridiculous
technology of today, we use that old document.
I would have to explain 1861, when our own country was divided
over something that now seems completely absurd. The very notion of one man
owning another is ludicrous to our culture. I would mention 1865, when one of
our country’s greatest presidents was killed by an acrimonious southerner: the
first presidential assassination. I would talk about how the twentieth century began
with World War I. I would tell the tales of the way we drafted the bravest men known
as “heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than selves their country
loved and mercy more than life,” and how they fought side by side, brothers
among brothers, with the British to protect what they, our founding fathers,
believed was self –evident.
I would speak of Korea and Vietnam,
Iraq and Afghanistan, and all the other places our country’s best have gone for
freedom and liberty’s sake. I would talk about the omnipotent God in whom we trust
and believe and how he has protected us even as evil has unleashed its fury on
us, much the way it did when two commercial jets crashed into our World Trade Center
and left their shrapnel in our hearts forever. I would tell them how we
wouldn’t rest until we had been avenged, and we were successful. I would
explain the wars that followed, and the life lost every day since the signing
of the Declaration of Independence for the cause of life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
I would thank them profusely for
their unprecedented example. This group of men did something no one had ever
even attempted before, and I would have to say they did an amazing job. With
only words on paper and a love for something they could hardly understand, they
created this nation, and that same love has kept it alive through all of these
hardships and all of this time.
I would end by saying proudly that it’s
been a long, tough journey, and it’s not over yet. We’ve fought long and hard;
we’ve won and we’ve lost. We’ve mourned as a nation so many times and fought
through so much adversity. We’ve made some compromises along the way, and some
of our values have reformed with the rest of civilization. However, this is our
home. This is one nation under God. This is the United States of America, the
land of the free and the home of the brave.
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