Opus 2016-151: Cornerstone Consideration: Better Slurs Than Censorship

One of the cherished liberties that we have enjoyed in this country is what we call the Freedom of Speech.  It is the second protection from an oppressive government that the Founders wanted to emphasize.  It came only after the freedom of religion. 

Second Amendment to the Constitution

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

That freedom is under heavy attack by the elites of the country.  That would include anyone in power who could be made insecure by you saying what you think.  It could be the President of the United States.  It could be your child’s kindergarten teacher.  It takes many forms from attempts to regulate the internet to “safe zones” on university campuses. 

I read an interesting column in World Magazine on this issue.  It might be worth your time.  One point was to acknowledge the dangers involved in free speech.

"'Free speech' is a positive value with some negative effects. Censorship is a negative value with a negative effect."

Notice that even though free speech might hurt your feelings, censorship can take away your freedom to act and the knowledge to know when to act.  Freedom has a big up-side against a small down-side.  Control has nothing but negatives.

The conclusion the author come to is that we need less control, not more.

“In the long run, it’s better to allow bruising slurs than to ban them, for, when words go on the chopping block, the ax doesn’t know where to stop.”

If the only speech you are protecting is what you agree with then there is no freedom of speech just freedom to quote, and then you get into plagiarism. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-150: Election 2016: Trump Endorses

Donald Trump has endorsed Renee Ellmers in a North Carolina primary race according to the Washington Times.  If you are like me that didn’t send out any alarm bells but that changed as I read the article. 

Ellmers is an example of the seduction of power.  We elect people because of where they “stand” and then they do an about face.  She was once endorsed by the Tea Party for her position on spending and size of government.  Another betrayal.

“She has made clear that she no longer thinks of herself as her constituents’ representative to Washington; instead she thinks of herself as Washington’s representative to her constituents,” Jenny Beth Martin, chairwoman of the Tea Party Patriots fund, said.

The article focused on her support for amnesty and allowing illegals to stay in the country.  It also says she is actively pro abortion.  She is not favored in the primary but it shows the willingness of Trump to move in the opposite direction than I want the country to go.

The jury is still hung in my mind.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-149: More Than Nazis

Most people are aware of the evil of the Jewish Holocaust perpetrated by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.  Not as many consider the Armenian Holocaust that the Muslim Turks inflicted on the Christian minority of the Ottoman empire.   In reading Laura Schlessinger’s book on the Ten Commandments she got me thinking about how often there are “holocausts” and we don’t consider the frequency. 

“The many tens of millions of murders of the Stalinist era, the Third Reich, communist China, and the killing fields of Cambodia, to name only a few are blatant testimonials to godless chaos and cruelty.” pp. 32-33

These are just the ones we are aware of if we have done any reading or thinking.  These are just in the last hundred years.  These are just the ones that made the news.

How many deaths does it take to rate as a holocaust?  We have other words for them today:  Ethnic cleansing, genocide, abortion.  Does the destruction of the welfare system or drugs qualify?  Do we run the danger of desensitizing people by calling too many things holocausts?

It is important to note the anniversaries for the Jewish and Armenian holocausts.  It isn’t because these groups are any more important than the Ukrainians or Cambodians.  It is because they are more familiar.  It is because they remind us of the evil that is perpetuated by certain regimes.  It is to make us aware of what is going on today in the Middle East and in parts of Africa.  Maybe we need to have special days to mark more of these atrocities.

I expect to see it again.  I won’t be surprised if devout Christians are rounded up someday in America.  There is a saying about eternal vigilance being the price of liberty.

Here’s to vigilance.

Schlessinger, Dr. Laura and Vogel, Rabbi Stewart.  The Ten Commandments. 
    New York:  Cliff Street Books, 1998.

homo unius libri 

Opus 2016-148: Basic to Inquiry

I am reading a book I picked up called The Ten Commandments by Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Rabbi Stewart Vogel.  They are writing from the point of view of serious believers and although their insights come from a Jewish framework I find a lot of solid teaching.  I am also listening to podcasts by Dr. William Lane Craig who is a Christian philosopher.  He travels the world to debate well known critics of a theistic view of the world.  Sometimes he really gets my attention.  Other times he is so ethereal that I just listen with one ear.  There are times when philosophers are too smart for their own good.  Us normal people wonder what is so important to them.

One of the consistent truths that I hear or deduce is that even the hard sciences start from a position of faith.  They don’t call it that and don’t see it but it is still a position of faith.  There is a place where they are forced to say, “We don’t know”.  One of the memes that I am hearing in these discussions and the science fiction I read is that physics is coming to a place where we may not be able to learn much more.

This brings me to what Schlessinger and Vogel had to say.

“Our ears can only hear certain sound frequencies.  Our eyes can only discern certain-size objects and certain wavelengths of light.  We are limited, mortal creatures.  To believe that only that which we can see, hear, or touch is the extent of what is possible is a product of our arrogance and our tendency to worship our own egos.  God is greater than form and beyond our sensory abilities.  That we finite beings cannot fathom either the divine or infinity does not give evidence against God’s existence, only evidence that there is more beyond ourselves.” p. 26

Believers in science make a big issue of mocking Christians because we believe in a God that is bigger than we are.  They claim that belief in God is just a defense mechanism for people who are too dumb to think and too weak to stand on their own two feet.  To be honest it is kind of like assuming that you see the same colors as a dog just because you don’t know any better.  It is like ignoring that a cat can run around the house in the dark.  It is basing the universe on your own limitations. 

As they say, such a view of reality is a “product of our arrogance”.  And ignorance too.

Schlessinger, Dr. Laura and Vogel, Rabbi Stewart.  The Ten Commandments.
       New York:  Cliff Street Books, 1998.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-147: Ignoring the Problem

A long time ago Alistair Begg was talking about the apostle Paul’s comments on spiritual warfare.  He said Paul doesn’t try to present a case for the existence of the devil, he just assumes it.  I can’t find the reference at his point but Hebert Schlossberg maintained that one of the assumptions we should have is that there is a spiritual realm and we are battling in it.  Remember the well known statement of C.S. Lewis about the devil.  He said there are two mistakes people make.  They either totally ignore him or give him too much attention. 

The problems that our world faces are based on spiritual malnutrition, not material shortages.  Take world hunger.  People are starving to death all around the world.  It isn’t because there isn’t enough food to feed them.  The problem is governmental coercion and personal selfishness.  It is in distribution and management, not production.  The same case can be made for most shortages.

How about unemployment.  Obviously there are some big issues but one of the contributing factors is an unwillingness to work.  It always amazes me then young men who seem alert and capable ask me for money outside a store when across the parking lot there is a sign saying, “Now hiring”.  Two things are necessary for a person like this.  They must be willing to work and willing to cut their life style to match their income.

We do live in a physical world.  There are physical needs and demands.  Those are real.  Our problem comes when we forget the spiritual forces and priorities that propel how we deal with those demands.  Saving is wise.  Hoarding is destructive.  Feasting is glorious.  Gluttony is a sin.

As long as our leaders and teachers refuse to address the spiritual we will continue to be like natural water, always running down hill and following the path of least resistence. 

Schlossberg, Herbert.  Idols for Destruction.  Nashville:  Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1983.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-146: Headlines: Interested?

My wife worries about a lot of things and her condition is aggravated because she often believes what she hears on the radio.  She should know better.  She claims to know better.  She still worries a lot.  Recently she heard that mortgage interest rates were going up in June, at least in California.  Could be.

With that in mind I thought it was interesting that in Great Britain they were looking at lowering interest rates again.  The story is in The Telegraph.

In April the British seemed to be paying 2.41%.  One thing we know about interest rates, they will change but no one knows if it will be up or down.

Of course if you are not buying or selling a house this is not as earthshaking as the way that the price of fresh vegetables is increasing.  I buy a lot more apples than houses.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-145: Evolutionary Tangent

Evolution by chance?  Really?  I took this tangent because I just finished dropping my wife off at the airport.  I arrived at my breakfast spot and began my worship with meditation on the Lord’s Supper.  One of the first things that comes to my mind is the safe trip I just had.  Today I had a moment of awe that my old clunker had made it again.  Think of how many moving parts your car has.  How many have to fail for the car to fail?  Think of the times your car has just stopped.  A broken timing belt will do it.  Once a loose wire to a coil did it.  A crazy driver on his phone could do it to you.

It doesn’t take much to stop a simple machine like a car.  You say a car is not simple?  It is when you compare it to the human body that some claim is the product of evolution.  It doesn’t take much to mess up the whole process.  Have you ever tried to install software and missed one step?  Have you ever tried to send an e-mail and get one letter wrong?  Now look at a string of DNA.  It makes your password look like a kindergarten project.

Evolution is a theory that had logic behind it.  When I was a kid it made sense.  Of course when I was a kid I thought that Roy Rogers could actually shoot his revolver from a running horse and hit something.  Darwinian evolution through natural selection is an attempt to explain the questions of “Where did we come from?” and the bigger question of “What is the purpose of life?”  Since the reality is much more complicated than Darwin could imagine his theory is full of holes and flaws.  It is just a theory and real science will look at new knowledge about the complexity of life and say, “Back to the drawing board.”

Might I suggest,

(Genesis 1:1 KJV)  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Take it from there.  That is a starting point but if you don’t start at the right point you never get anywhere.

homo unius libri