The New Religion

The latest issue of Time Magazine (11 March 2012) has an article about living single, a growing trend in America. What I found troubling is the following highlighted statement:

"Living alone helps us pursue sacred modern values--individual freedom, personal control and self realization" (p. 62).

There are two matters that concern me in this statement:

1. Have we redefined what is sacred? Is this the "new sacred," replacing the "old" values? And what are these "sacred modern values" based on? I would say personal, arbitrary preferences.

2. In looking at the 3 items that are now "sacred", we see that they are all about self...self gratification, self-direction, self-idolatry. The new deity is self.

This is a sad commentary on where we are as a nation. What's next? Will we change our currency to read "One nation under self"?

Let's return to the old values; let's return to the God of the Bible.

Not surprised

A well known scientist has written about how he's convinced there is no God, which hardly comes as a shock, as the scientific community tends to deny what can't be seen. It has come out that this same scientist has been repeatedly seen at a strip club. My point is not to demonize the guy, but to simply point out the logic of his position. If there is no God, then there's no accountability, and one is free to act any way one pleases. Live for self-gratification, after all, there's no final judgment. This is the ugly truth of atheism. While there are moral atheists, I suspect that living by society's rules is simply their personal preference. But if they decided to be anarchists, they would be living the logical outcome of a worldview that excludes God. This is, I suspect, the nasty reason why a non-God position is so popular to some skeptics. The alternative position is the biblical worldview that says God exists, and it matters how we live. Not that perfect compliance will save us; we're saved by grace, in spite of our faults, a gift given to those who are willing to receive it, who admit there is something Higher than themselves.

Don't demonize religious beliefs

Belief in the sanctity of life (among other hot topics) is not a political view among evangelical Christians, despite political implications. It is first and foremost a religious conviction based on an embrace of biblical truth. And while interpretations differ, those who derive from Scripture a pro-life view are not trying to be political. They are trying to convey an ethical position that has implications for individual behavior.

Muzzling Chaplains

The Catholic Archbishop to the Armed Forces has issued a letter to be read in chapel services by every Catholic military chaplain regarding the government's intrusion into how Catholic hospitals operate, which would force them to provide for abortion and birth control against their religious convictions. This is not a political matter, but a spiritual one. We need to stand with our Catholic friends on this. The Pentagon is at fault. As a Chaplaincy Ecclesiastical Endorser, I can state that should CCCC chaplains fail to live up to our standards, their endorsements would be withdrawn and they would be separated from military service. The Pentagon knows this, yet they are usurping their authority knowing chaplains serve a higher authority. Catholic chaplains may read the required letter anyhow and face official reprimand, or resign in protest...and if the military persists, they could lose all their priests over this matter. Chaplains swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution; I wish they were covered by it. Let's go over everyone's head and pray about this.

On the Cross and the Giving and Receiving of Criticism

On the Cross and the Giving and Receiving of Criticism

Your eulogy

I do a lot of funerals for non-church going people, which is a way of giving both comfort in time of need and of holding out hope, by preaching the Good News. In other words, it is a subtle form of evar of evangelism, which I take seriously.

At many of these funerals, people get up and give eulogies that are often bittersweet. The saddest ones make no mention of God, faith, or church. It appears that God simply hadn't been a factor in that person's long life; or if faith was a part, it didn't seem to be important enough to mention.

I wonder at your funeral, will your faith in God be mentioned at all when you're eulogized? Or will your friends and family just talk about your job, hobbies, vacations, and folksy stories, without a single mention of faith-matters? What might that indicate regarding your commitment to Christ?

The Road Ahead

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself;
and the fact that I think I am following Your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please You
does in fact please You.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, You will lead me by the
right road though I may now nothing about it.
Therefore I will trust You always, though I may seem
to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will
never leave me to face my perils alone.
-Thomas Merton