With the turmoil in Washington over the current spending bills, it is easy to miss the the serious psycho-political maneuvers by the powers of the current Administration. The critical thinking errors involved in this manipulation of the public consciousness are, "Assuming the Conclusion" and the "Either/Or" Fallacy. When millions do not see it their way, they respond with anger and clenched fists reminiscent of 1960s and 1970s student protests.
The entire Obama phenomenon was and is fed by the vacuum of values and vision left by the previous administration and the manufactured charisma of our first Digital Age President. "Change we can believe in" is a great moniker until we see the changes demanded - yes, demanded - by the comrades in power. "Hope and Change" and "A New Tone" are hailed around the world by nations and coalitions that are pleased to see America humbled and suffering.
"Assuming the Conclusion" is a fallacy many demagogues employ. Terms like, "Everyone knows..." and "We all need..." and "Fairness demands..." sound fine on their face, until you see the foundational ideological and political agendas. "Bipartisan" and "Putting aside the tired arguments of the past" sound great on You Tube; however, it is passionate and principled arguing that produced our Constitution and guarantees our freedoms in perpetuity!
When Obama calls for unity is is not the unity of real debate, but the lock-step "consensus" of the losers falling in line behind the victors. It is interesting to see current Democratic leaders say, "We won - therefore the Republicans need to get in line." Such language from a Republican would be termed Fascist (thank you Jonah Goldberg).
When ignorant Senators call for a Fairness Doctrine for talk radio, it is a sure sign that totalitarianism is on the rise. American history since 1735 is marked by real free speech. Even the most conservative courts have rebuked government attempts at censorship, apart from critical military matters. When we add up all the organs of communication available, there are more than enough ways for people to get information. The fact that conservatives have increased their influence over the last 20 years alarms the crypto-Marxists who feel they know what is best for the masses. By the way, the same folks who want Rush Limbaugh off the air refuse to place pornography filters on computers in public libraries available to children.
The Either/Or Fallacy is working overtime."Pass this bill, or else..." Or else what? The heart of our current crisis is the wicked alchemy of speculative greed and the bad government policies of the last 40 years. Calls for ethics and restraints must be matched with critical assessment of how to spend money. Obama promised a "line-by-line" assessment of spending - what we have in the Congress now is political pork on an unprecedented scale, including millions for leftist "community organizing" and local projects for Republican leaders.
Most members of Congress have not read the entire bill and there is no clear communication about infrastructure and job creation. There is also no "sunset clause" for "temporary government intervention." The tragedy of the last 75 years is that once a government program employs middle-class college graduates, it never goes away!
Instead of giving in to the Assuming the Conclusion and Either/Or Fallacies, how about spending $200-300 billion to help real people with housing and new infrastructure jobs while we seriously debate the long-term issues of ethics, growth and stability? How about asking the hard questions, including where to trim military spending and bloated government systems? How about an energy policy that really unites instead of divides, putting millions into Al Gore and T.Boone Pickens Ponzi schemes? We can judiciously drill for oil and develop new sources. We can carefully develop nuclear options (like Sweden - the darling of the Left) while working for a day that it will not be needed. What about new private/public partnerships to combat inner city and rural poverty and help insure that every able-bodied person can have sustainable employment? No more redlining by corporations. No more expropriation of private property by local commissions determined to end all development.
A final word on the deceptive communication currently en vogue in Washington. President Obama, there is one issue that you cannot have both ways. You cannot export death by paying for abortions overseas and claim you want to protect innocent life. You cannot veto attempts to protect babies in the birth canal and claim pro-life credentials. There are some issues that are right or wrong. We can help with family planning without promoting abortion - it is called birth control that prevents conception. We can protect unwed mothers - it is called adoption and community support. We must also, to paraphrase Bill Cosby, hold the fathers responsible. Freedom includes consequences.
To all thoughtful citizens - READ legislation proposed locally, statewide and nationally. CALL your representatives and voice your thoughts. NETWORK with others to agitate for real freedom. I invite my political opponents to do the same - let's argue with civility and passion and forge something better than the failed plans of both Right and Left.
A final note: FDR was right when he said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Fear drains our creativity and hope. Fear wounds freedom and opens the door to dependency. Moving forward, we can prime the pump of American ingenuity and opportunity without crippling economic and social freedom. The real sacrifices needed are moral curbs on both greed and political lust for power at the expense of our populace. I challenge the Left to examine the values of Marxism in all its iterations. Stop lionizing Che and Fidel and be honest about the the failures of an over-planned economy and the thousands of dead dissenters. I challenge the Right to stop being naive about the "magic" of the market. Adam Smith made it clear that capitalism requires virtue and oversight to flourish. I do not want the government dictating executive pay; however, if companies refuse to change and produce competitive products (are you listening auto and UAW execs?), they must experience some of the consequences and the government must temporarily step in to care for workers victimized by greed and shortsightedness.
There is a way forward. Let's rediscover the virtues that framed our nation and the valor that has preserved it.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The Folly of Friendship with Evil
President Obama wants a new era of dialogue with the Arab/Muslim world. He is correct when he opines that the USA has often dictated policy. The problem is that this misguided humility ignores historical, moral and political reality. Foreign policy is crafted with our nation's interests in mind! Of course we have economic and ideological interests. US policy has been the fairest and most judicious of any nation's. We want Israel to live peacefully in secure borders and we want to insure a supply of oil for our economy. This is why we have been the only real "honest broker" in all the negotiations since 1949!
To speak officially with the current regime of Iran with no preconditions is stupid at best and subversive at worst. To suggest that Obama's Muslim background makes him better able to understand the enemies of Israel and the USA is naive and dangerous. First of all, Obama's conversion to Christianity technically makes him an apostate to Islam and a potential target for persecution and even execution. Second, the Islamic radicals are laughing all the way to their secret meetings in the mosques as they have found the perfect tool for their plans to destroy the West - however long it takes.
In the midst of Obama's interview with the Arab world, Iran continues to spew out Holocaust denial and set forth a policy of Israeli destruction. There is no reasoning with an evil, illegitimate and immoral regime that oppresses its own people and has designs on a new Islamic Caliphate embracing the world. Let me clear: there is no moral equivalence between Israel and the current leadership groups of the besieged Gazan/Palestinians. A two-state solution (with Nobel Peace Prizes) has been offered multiple time and rejected - by the Arab leaders who will not acknowledge Israel's right to exist. I am not saying Israel is blameless; however, their willingness to dialogue is on record. They have a lively democracy that includes Arabs in the Knesset. Their own Left has offered numerous solutions - then Hamas or Islamic Jihad or Al-Queda kill civilians, Israel retaliates and the fearful caterers to Islamic radicalism call on Israel to make concessions.
The real problem is that Obama's entire adult life has been in the ideological hothouse of radical political ideology, revisionist history and visceral self-hatred of America. He wraps himself in the Civil Rights cloak of the great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while rejecting the race-free, universal principles that led to real civil rights. Obama's advisors seem to be content to let Israel bear the blame for the "cycles of violence" (a euphemism for Islamic killing and Israel survival responses) and cater to parties still entrenched in the anti-Americanism of the 1960s.
I call on all thoughtful people to demand that our President stop apologizing for being an American and use our moral and military strength to begin real talks toward peace. Iran is welcome - if they renounce nuclear weapons, reject Holocaust denial and acknowledge Israel's right to exist. Short of these preconditions, they should be marginalized and we should support real efforts to topple a regime that does not reflect the beauty, grace, tolerance and wisdom of the Persian people. Lest we forget, it was a Persian Emperor who supported the building the Second Temple (539 BC) and restored the Jews to their land. Cyrus and Darius are honored by the prophets of Israel. Persian history, even after the Islamic rule began in the seventh century, is full of great toleration and cooperation among people of all faiths. Even the hated Shah allowed more freedom of conscience and religion that the current mad mullahs. I am not defending the oppressive rule of the Shahs imposed by the British and supported by the USA until 1978; however, I am suggesting that history demonstrates that there is a better way forward than the current vitriol coming from Tehran.
President Obama, stand with Israel and our nation will be blessed. Participate in her demise and you will hasten ours as well.
To speak officially with the current regime of Iran with no preconditions is stupid at best and subversive at worst. To suggest that Obama's Muslim background makes him better able to understand the enemies of Israel and the USA is naive and dangerous. First of all, Obama's conversion to Christianity technically makes him an apostate to Islam and a potential target for persecution and even execution. Second, the Islamic radicals are laughing all the way to their secret meetings in the mosques as they have found the perfect tool for their plans to destroy the West - however long it takes.
In the midst of Obama's interview with the Arab world, Iran continues to spew out Holocaust denial and set forth a policy of Israeli destruction. There is no reasoning with an evil, illegitimate and immoral regime that oppresses its own people and has designs on a new Islamic Caliphate embracing the world. Let me clear: there is no moral equivalence between Israel and the current leadership groups of the besieged Gazan/Palestinians. A two-state solution (with Nobel Peace Prizes) has been offered multiple time and rejected - by the Arab leaders who will not acknowledge Israel's right to exist. I am not saying Israel is blameless; however, their willingness to dialogue is on record. They have a lively democracy that includes Arabs in the Knesset. Their own Left has offered numerous solutions - then Hamas or Islamic Jihad or Al-Queda kill civilians, Israel retaliates and the fearful caterers to Islamic radicalism call on Israel to make concessions.
The real problem is that Obama's entire adult life has been in the ideological hothouse of radical political ideology, revisionist history and visceral self-hatred of America. He wraps himself in the Civil Rights cloak of the great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. while rejecting the race-free, universal principles that led to real civil rights. Obama's advisors seem to be content to let Israel bear the blame for the "cycles of violence" (a euphemism for Islamic killing and Israel survival responses) and cater to parties still entrenched in the anti-Americanism of the 1960s.
I call on all thoughtful people to demand that our President stop apologizing for being an American and use our moral and military strength to begin real talks toward peace. Iran is welcome - if they renounce nuclear weapons, reject Holocaust denial and acknowledge Israel's right to exist. Short of these preconditions, they should be marginalized and we should support real efforts to topple a regime that does not reflect the beauty, grace, tolerance and wisdom of the Persian people. Lest we forget, it was a Persian Emperor who supported the building the Second Temple (539 BC) and restored the Jews to their land. Cyrus and Darius are honored by the prophets of Israel. Persian history, even after the Islamic rule began in the seventh century, is full of great toleration and cooperation among people of all faiths. Even the hated Shah allowed more freedom of conscience and religion that the current mad mullahs. I am not defending the oppressive rule of the Shahs imposed by the British and supported by the USA until 1978; however, I am suggesting that history demonstrates that there is a better way forward than the current vitriol coming from Tehran.
President Obama, stand with Israel and our nation will be blessed. Participate in her demise and you will hasten ours as well.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Betrayal
Well, we are one week into the regime of President Barack Hussein Obama. Already there are causes for great concern, not just for conservatives, but for all who value timeless principles and the future of our Republic. Principled, thoughtful people have been triply betrayed. First, Obama's radicalism is destructive to our future and we must oppose several policies that are about to be implemented. The new administration is betraying all the devout voters who trusted that the President would still sanctify life and moderate some of his rhetoric and support traditional families. It turns out that his "guns and religion" disgust toward regular folk really does reflect his attitudes and values and that the pandering to evangelicals was mere window-dressing. Already we see
* The export of death by Executive Order. Liberals cannot see that economic freedom and opportunity stabilize populations, not draconian abortion efforts.
* Ending torture is good, but closing Gitmo without a plan and opening civil courts to military matters are reckless and self-destructive plans.
* Economic policies with no specifics or substance and with the record of 20th century history that refutes them all! Some intervention is needed, but not indefinite deficits and national control of the world's greatest economy. Why are we now more liberal than France and constructing socialism even as many nations are dismantling some facets of their centralized economies?
* The planned destruction of the traditional family, with policies (straight from the White House website itself) designed to trump the individual state's regulation of marriage and pander to the LGBT elites.
* Environmental policies that will hasten our serfdom. This regime is committing the "Either/Or" fallacy on a grandiose scale. We can become more green - AND drill for more oil. We are burning cleaner coal and diesel than ever, AND investigating new energy sources. We do not need to remove millions more acres of our land from potential productive use.
* Moves to end secret ballots for union elections. Why don't we just invite Jimmy Hoffa to come back and rule?
This list, alas, can go on almost ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
There is another betrayal, just as serious, that thoughtful folks must consider in order to place all these disturbing decisions in context. This is the betrayal of principles by both Bush Administrations, especially with the economy and immigration. Democrat or Republican, until the 1930s and especially the 1960s, living within our means was the aim, if not always the practice. Local and State governments actually had some resources of their own. Democrats and Republicans have always disagreed on some budget priorities, but all affirmed a real budget. Beginning with the failure to reign in spending and regulate our borders, and ending with the "Business Buddy Bailout" of 2008, thoughtful people have been betrayed. Why is legal immigration so difficult, along with insistence that our friends south of the border obey our laws?
The third betrayal is found in a Congress (and Californian Legislature) unable to regulate itself or control its lust for power. Wall Street helped hasten the current crises, but they were aided by a Congress that pushed loan policies so unrealistic that the warning signs since the late 1990s were simply ignored. The fact the Clinton appointees made tens of millions off these bad loans barely registers in a media so enamored with Obama and still nursing visceral hatred of Bush.
Triple betrayal: Bush's failures, Congressional lunacy and Obama radicalism - all dome while we amuse ourselves to death and wonder what happened.
There are positive ways forward that transcend party lines and narrow ideologies and will not please all conservatives or progressives. In the next entry I will propose plans that can take us "back to the future" as we reaffirm our timeless values and take quantum leaps forward.
* The export of death by Executive Order. Liberals cannot see that economic freedom and opportunity stabilize populations, not draconian abortion efforts.
* Ending torture is good, but closing Gitmo without a plan and opening civil courts to military matters are reckless and self-destructive plans.
* Economic policies with no specifics or substance and with the record of 20th century history that refutes them all! Some intervention is needed, but not indefinite deficits and national control of the world's greatest economy. Why are we now more liberal than France and constructing socialism even as many nations are dismantling some facets of their centralized economies?
* The planned destruction of the traditional family, with policies (straight from the White House website itself) designed to trump the individual state's regulation of marriage and pander to the LGBT elites.
* Environmental policies that will hasten our serfdom. This regime is committing the "Either/Or" fallacy on a grandiose scale. We can become more green - AND drill for more oil. We are burning cleaner coal and diesel than ever, AND investigating new energy sources. We do not need to remove millions more acres of our land from potential productive use.
* Moves to end secret ballots for union elections. Why don't we just invite Jimmy Hoffa to come back and rule?
This list, alas, can go on almost ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
There is another betrayal, just as serious, that thoughtful folks must consider in order to place all these disturbing decisions in context. This is the betrayal of principles by both Bush Administrations, especially with the economy and immigration. Democrat or Republican, until the 1930s and especially the 1960s, living within our means was the aim, if not always the practice. Local and State governments actually had some resources of their own. Democrats and Republicans have always disagreed on some budget priorities, but all affirmed a real budget. Beginning with the failure to reign in spending and regulate our borders, and ending with the "Business Buddy Bailout" of 2008, thoughtful people have been betrayed. Why is legal immigration so difficult, along with insistence that our friends south of the border obey our laws?
The third betrayal is found in a Congress (and Californian Legislature) unable to regulate itself or control its lust for power. Wall Street helped hasten the current crises, but they were aided by a Congress that pushed loan policies so unrealistic that the warning signs since the late 1990s were simply ignored. The fact the Clinton appointees made tens of millions off these bad loans barely registers in a media so enamored with Obama and still nursing visceral hatred of Bush.
Triple betrayal: Bush's failures, Congressional lunacy and Obama radicalism - all dome while we amuse ourselves to death and wonder what happened.
There are positive ways forward that transcend party lines and narrow ideologies and will not please all conservatives or progressives. In the next entry I will propose plans that can take us "back to the future" as we reaffirm our timeless values and take quantum leaps forward.
Monday, December 29, 2008
The Possibilities of 2009
Now that we are weary of the "Best of 2008" programming, it is time to turn our attention toward the future. As I write, prognosticators and popular pundits are all making predictions and hedging their bets at the same time.
Instead of giving predictions, I offer possibilities. I recognize the potency of human choice and the permutations that flow from our decisions. Looking at history, have you ever imagined a world
* Where Hitler is accepted into Art School and becomes a successful part of the bohemian scene in the 1920s instead of the demonized dictator of a Nazi regime that results in over 50 million deaths?
* Where the Great Powers negotiate instead of mobilizing in 1914?
* Where Pope Pius XII speaks out loudly and specifically against the Holocaust of European Jews and calls on Catholics everywhere to resist this evil policy?
* Where The Palestinian Authority leaders unambiguously guarantee Israel's right to exist in secure borders and the PA and IDF begin joint operations to root our Hamas and Islamic Jihad?
OK, such are my counterfactual musings on a cold winter's night.
What about 2009? What are the possibilities ahead for the USA? Here is a sampling of possible futures, contingent on the choices of women and men in authority - AND the pressure applied by concerned citizens.
* If we finally agree that guns and butter cannot mix perfectly, let's cut domestic spending by 10%, make sure our military is effective and strategic (there is 15-20% that can be cut without a loss of effectiveness), and call on all Americans to produce more than they consume, we could have the greatest turnaround in economic history. Will this happen? Probably not. Too many politicians and robber barons want our populace on a new road to serfdom.
* If we construct Welcome Centers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas and LEGALLY invite, assess, categorize and integrate our friends who want to be part of our land, we can end the fear and violence and reaffirm the rule of law. Will this happen? Well, the Democrats cry "justice" and want cheap votes and the Republicans cry "free markets" and want cheap labor. Another opportunity we will miss. Besides, we cannot allow US citizens to receive the same in-state tuition benefits that "undocumented" students receive, can we?
* What if millions of Americans call for economic and moral accountability from their elected officials? How about an end to secret sessions, back-door deals and the violations of human and property rights by petty dictators? How about balanced budgets, clear communication, the end of union aggrandizement and corporate rapaciousness? Can this happen? YES! Many voices raised in unity DO make a difference. Countless ordinary neighborhoods are transformed as block-by-block people unite against gang violence, corporate redlining and hopelessness. Imagine hundreds of informed and passionate citizens insisting on an end to both egregious eminent domain policies and the payola schemes of developers!
* What if We insist on private-public partnerships to rebuild infrastructure? There is so much to be done and we need the creative genius of the academy and business and the proper oversight of government to coalesce. Bridges, roads, tunnels, wildlife preserves, sensitive habitats, urban renewal - all need attention. Here is a novel thought - let's stop looking to Washington, D.C. for every solution and re-empower local and state authorities and citizens.
It is too simplistic to say, "let the market run itself." Even Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations in 1776 and the intellectual father of modern capitalism, spent a a large portion of his work affirming the private and public virtues necessary for free enterprise to flourish! Unrestricted capitalism is not a solution. It is also illusory to think that a collectivist-statist economic policy will work. Whatever the ideology or language, an over-controlled economy does not ensure long-term freedom and opportunity. The answer? Real government oversight of the ethics, policies and processes of corporations, but not government administration or micromanagement.
My real hope for 2009 is that all thoughtful people will take an honest look within and without and find the courage to face reality and work sacrificially to solve the consequences of our unbridled greed and selfishness. These problems are beyond the Left-Right shouting on cable television. The great Russian author and dissident, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, challenged his hearers at Harvard University: "The line between good and evil runs down the center of the human heart."
Instead of giving predictions, I offer possibilities. I recognize the potency of human choice and the permutations that flow from our decisions. Looking at history, have you ever imagined a world
* Where Hitler is accepted into Art School and becomes a successful part of the bohemian scene in the 1920s instead of the demonized dictator of a Nazi regime that results in over 50 million deaths?
* Where the Great Powers negotiate instead of mobilizing in 1914?
* Where Pope Pius XII speaks out loudly and specifically against the Holocaust of European Jews and calls on Catholics everywhere to resist this evil policy?
* Where The Palestinian Authority leaders unambiguously guarantee Israel's right to exist in secure borders and the PA and IDF begin joint operations to root our Hamas and Islamic Jihad?
OK, such are my counterfactual musings on a cold winter's night.
What about 2009? What are the possibilities ahead for the USA? Here is a sampling of possible futures, contingent on the choices of women and men in authority - AND the pressure applied by concerned citizens.
* If we finally agree that guns and butter cannot mix perfectly, let's cut domestic spending by 10%, make sure our military is effective and strategic (there is 15-20% that can be cut without a loss of effectiveness), and call on all Americans to produce more than they consume, we could have the greatest turnaround in economic history. Will this happen? Probably not. Too many politicians and robber barons want our populace on a new road to serfdom.
* If we construct Welcome Centers in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas and LEGALLY invite, assess, categorize and integrate our friends who want to be part of our land, we can end the fear and violence and reaffirm the rule of law. Will this happen? Well, the Democrats cry "justice" and want cheap votes and the Republicans cry "free markets" and want cheap labor. Another opportunity we will miss. Besides, we cannot allow US citizens to receive the same in-state tuition benefits that "undocumented" students receive, can we?
* What if millions of Americans call for economic and moral accountability from their elected officials? How about an end to secret sessions, back-door deals and the violations of human and property rights by petty dictators? How about balanced budgets, clear communication, the end of union aggrandizement and corporate rapaciousness? Can this happen? YES! Many voices raised in unity DO make a difference. Countless ordinary neighborhoods are transformed as block-by-block people unite against gang violence, corporate redlining and hopelessness. Imagine hundreds of informed and passionate citizens insisting on an end to both egregious eminent domain policies and the payola schemes of developers!
* What if We insist on private-public partnerships to rebuild infrastructure? There is so much to be done and we need the creative genius of the academy and business and the proper oversight of government to coalesce. Bridges, roads, tunnels, wildlife preserves, sensitive habitats, urban renewal - all need attention. Here is a novel thought - let's stop looking to Washington, D.C. for every solution and re-empower local and state authorities and citizens.
It is too simplistic to say, "let the market run itself." Even Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations in 1776 and the intellectual father of modern capitalism, spent a a large portion of his work affirming the private and public virtues necessary for free enterprise to flourish! Unrestricted capitalism is not a solution. It is also illusory to think that a collectivist-statist economic policy will work. Whatever the ideology or language, an over-controlled economy does not ensure long-term freedom and opportunity. The answer? Real government oversight of the ethics, policies and processes of corporations, but not government administration or micromanagement.
My real hope for 2009 is that all thoughtful people will take an honest look within and without and find the courage to face reality and work sacrificially to solve the consequences of our unbridled greed and selfishness. These problems are beyond the Left-Right shouting on cable television. The great Russian author and dissident, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, challenged his hearers at Harvard University: "The line between good and evil runs down the center of the human heart."
Friday, December 19, 2008
The Advent of Hope
Advent is the Season of Hope as Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. Over time, this momentous event of Divine humility has been commercialized, romanticized and sanitized - but the power of the Babe of Bethlehem is never eradicated.
Voltaire prophesied that the Bible and Christianity would be dead by 1850. The faith is dying a slow death in the West, even as it grows exponentially in the rest of the world. Non-Western missionaries are re-evangelizing the lands that originally brought the good news to them.
Why does Advent tug at our hearts? Why does Christmas still speak to millions, even in moments of cultural and economic turmoil?
The birth of a baby is a universal good. It resonates with our desire to see the next generation flourish.
Baby Jesus' parents were hard-working artisans living as a minority in a huge Empire. Their struggles with taxes, shelter and liberty touch the psyches of many in our world.
A dying, paranoid dictator tries to kill Jesus and does not care about the trail of blood and tears in the wake of the soldier's swords. From the Armenian massacres to the Kulaks, from the Holocaust to the Cultural Revolution, from the Killing Fields to Darfur, we see the innocent caught in the snare of ideological totalitarians.
The coming of the Wise Men to see the toddler Jesus reminds us of the universal message of Christmas.
The angelic choirs heard by humble shepherds helps us to remember that those who are condescended to and despised by elites are often the recipients of the greatest insights.
Jesus is announced as Lord and Savior. He is not praised for being a guru, a prophet or a rabbi. He is the final word in the Divine plan of salvation for all people. It is here that Christmas becomes "uncomfortable." As long as we speak in inclusive, pluralistic generalities about universal love and peace, Christmas is "safe."
Jesus of Nazareth was born to die. The creche of Bethlehem became the Cross of Calvary. The Savior announced by angels became the Suffering Servant announced by the Prophet Isaiah hundreds of years earlier. To receive the message of Christmas is to receive Christ as God Incarnate, the Lord of heaven, who, for our sake, humbled himself, took on our nature, died for our sins and arose bodily from the grave offering real hope.
The hope of Christmas is not only the hope of heaven for those who believe. Advent hope fuels our present partnership with God to see justice, love and peace begin to reign now. Advent hope means that humility is the pathway to honor, meekness is the road to majesty and forgiveness is the doorway to a better future.
I invite all who read this to take another look at the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and consider the invitation of God to join Him and all the faithful of every nation to love and serve one another.
Merry Christmas!
Voltaire prophesied that the Bible and Christianity would be dead by 1850. The faith is dying a slow death in the West, even as it grows exponentially in the rest of the world. Non-Western missionaries are re-evangelizing the lands that originally brought the good news to them.
Why does Advent tug at our hearts? Why does Christmas still speak to millions, even in moments of cultural and economic turmoil?
The birth of a baby is a universal good. It resonates with our desire to see the next generation flourish.
Baby Jesus' parents were hard-working artisans living as a minority in a huge Empire. Their struggles with taxes, shelter and liberty touch the psyches of many in our world.
A dying, paranoid dictator tries to kill Jesus and does not care about the trail of blood and tears in the wake of the soldier's swords. From the Armenian massacres to the Kulaks, from the Holocaust to the Cultural Revolution, from the Killing Fields to Darfur, we see the innocent caught in the snare of ideological totalitarians.
The coming of the Wise Men to see the toddler Jesus reminds us of the universal message of Christmas.
The angelic choirs heard by humble shepherds helps us to remember that those who are condescended to and despised by elites are often the recipients of the greatest insights.
Jesus is announced as Lord and Savior. He is not praised for being a guru, a prophet or a rabbi. He is the final word in the Divine plan of salvation for all people. It is here that Christmas becomes "uncomfortable." As long as we speak in inclusive, pluralistic generalities about universal love and peace, Christmas is "safe."
Jesus of Nazareth was born to die. The creche of Bethlehem became the Cross of Calvary. The Savior announced by angels became the Suffering Servant announced by the Prophet Isaiah hundreds of years earlier. To receive the message of Christmas is to receive Christ as God Incarnate, the Lord of heaven, who, for our sake, humbled himself, took on our nature, died for our sins and arose bodily from the grave offering real hope.
The hope of Christmas is not only the hope of heaven for those who believe. Advent hope fuels our present partnership with God to see justice, love and peace begin to reign now. Advent hope means that humility is the pathway to honor, meekness is the road to majesty and forgiveness is the doorway to a better future.
I invite all who read this to take another look at the Gospels of Matthew and Luke and consider the invitation of God to join Him and all the faithful of every nation to love and serve one another.
Merry Christmas!
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