Opus 2023-014: The Right Foundation

What does it mean to live by faith?

First I think I need to explain this to non-believers, non-devout Christians and non-orthodox Christians.  To be honest, you don’t have a clue.  Also to be honest, even the devout have often not thought through what it means.

What it does not mean,
    Faith in your fellow man
    Faith in democracy
    Faith in reason
Those are all good, but not what devout Christians mean.

Living by faith means we realize we can never fix ourselves or the world.  We must trust in God to do that and that involves getting started by trusting in Christ to forgive our sins.  Then we follow the path that God has laid out for us and trust Him to make the difference around us.

It means that we are honest even when it looks like the act of a loser.  We live in faith that God is in charge and will make it work.  It means we forgive and go the extra mile.  Our choices are not made based on cold calculation but on faith in the character of God.

There is also a sense in which we face the future with optimism.  Things do not seem to be going well in our country.  The people who are running things hate God, the Constitution, the rule of law, justice and liberty.  They hate us.  They have control of all the public voices and forces.  All we have is God and a call to live faithfully.

I am gambling that it will be enough, if not for the country then at least for those who are faithful.  Pray, obey and trust.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-013: The Habit of Holocaust

How would we rank the Holocausts or attempts at genocide of history?

I am not thinking of the common movements of tribes and peoples who pushed weaker cultures off their land.  The group pushed off tends to move a bit and push another bunch off.  That has been going on around the world since God pushed Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.  I am talking about the organized, systematic annihilation of a weaker group by the dominant culture.

Most people who know which end of straw to drink out of have heard of the Jewish Holocaust.  They may be deniers.  They may have been in the cheering section.  They still know about it.  If we were going to rank these tragedies the Jewish Holocaust is mainly useful in setting a standard for the others since it is the best known.

The Noble Savages of North America were participants.  The Iroquois destroyed at least eight other tribes in their area.  I think it is possible that the Cherokee ended up in Georgia to escape the depredations of their indigenous brothers.  Then came the Trail of Tears.  Some groups face repeated problems but it is not genocide.  

We have the Armenian holocaust of the early 20th century.  According to the Turks who did the honors, it didn’t happen, or, if pushed, will say it wasn’t as bad as portrayed.  I think the methodical murder of over a million people qualifies as more than just a misunderstanding.  

When you think of mass murder don’t leave the Communist party out.  Which one?  It doesn’t really matter.  It could be the kulaks of Ukraine, the peasants of China or the middle class in Cambodia.  Dead is dead.  In shear numbers the Communist version of socialism dwarfs the efforts of the Nazi version.  Both tried hard.  If you show up on their radar at the wrong time it is the end of the road.

The October 7 slaughter is fresh in our minds.  Compared to other atrocities in history the numbers are a bit small.  It comes into this discussion only because it is one step in the historic jihad holocaust.  If you go back in history this has been a 1400 year effort to eradicate the Jews.  We ignore it at our peril because it isn’t really just the Jews.  Everyone who is not a Muslim is on their list.  

How many other holocaust can we think about if we range through history?  My guess is that the list would be long and most we would not even know about because the receiving group of genocide does not write the history books.

Stay alert and pay attention.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-012: Reminders

I am often reminded of my unworthiness.  Sometimes I see it myself and beat myself up.  Other times I am told about my failures, time and time again. And the problem with that is not that I was a failure, but that the reminder is given with such glee and joy. The purpose of the reminder is to drag me down and to destroy me.

When God reminds me of my failures, and inadequacies, it is for an entirely different reason. It is to encourage me to improve. It is to make me want to do better. God’s reminders are from love not from hostility.  That makes all the difference in the world.

You can come at this from different directions but they should all start with I Corinthians 13.  For those who missed that Sunday School class, it is the love chapter.  Here is is from the NASB:

(1Co 13:4-8a NAS77) Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails...

Some of the words that might apply are rebuke, correct and reprove.  They all have to do with pointing out errors but they are to be guided by the love described in I Corinthians.  They have a purpose:  Not to tear down but to build up.

Scripture does that for me.  I am aware of my unworthiness before God.  When I meditate on His attributes there is no other way to come to it, but as I read verses describing those attributes I come across the statement that God is love.  Being unworthy is not the issue.  That is a given.  The other side of that coin is I am worthy of God’s love and worth Jesus dying for.  What an uplifting way to look at my failures.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-011: Free Markets Start with Us

We need more free market capitalism and less crony capitalism.  There are some very vital differences.

Free market capitalism sees the prosperity possible in sharing the wealth.  Henry Ford did not want to make inexpensive cars to get rich.  You could do that many ways but he saw an untapped market.  He wanted inexpensive cars to that his workers could afford to buy them.  He would get rich from their prosperity.  It was the economics of scale.

Free market capitalism understands that more wealth can be generated if you have a healthy middle class.  They spend money.  That means you can make money.  Everyone benefits.  The key word is generated.  When the masses do better, everyone does better.

Crony capitalism is based on greed.  Your goal is to get as many of the marbles as you can and at the same time deny marbles to others.  You figure there are only so many marbles and you want them all.  In stead of making more marbles you scramble for what someone else created.  

Free market capitalism believes in generating wealth.  Crony capitalism thinks the only way to gather wealth is to take it away from someone else.  

One of the great barriers to returning to the free market is the entitlement mentality that has overcome America.  It seems like everyone believes that deserve a special deal and that someone else should pay for it.  They never read the story of the Little Red Hen.

You can’t change everyone else.  Your calm voice and consistent example might open a few eyes.  Like free market capitalism, if everyone opened a few eyes eventually there would be enough vision that we could walk down the street without everyone running into walls.  Change those you can.  Be kind to those you can’t.  Remember being kind does not mean financing their irresponsibility.  

If enough of us become part of the solution then we can fix the problem.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-010: Bluster and Character

A conversation was going on in the next room and I could not get away from it.  At one point someone said that there were few women who would die for their children today.  I am not sure that is true.  Most parents would say they would die for their children and would mean it when they said it.

The problem is they won’t give up their Mercedes for their children.  They won’t live in a smaller house for their children.  This is the problem with our children today.  It isn’t that their parents would not die for them but that they will not live for them.

It is relatively easy to make glorious, idealistic claims.  The sad thing is that most of the key choices in life are not roof top proclamations but deep heart priorities.  Few people would rob a bank but when a clerk gives them too much change they walk out of the store quietly.  Children watch the daily character of their parents.  They may be temporarily impressed by bluster and loud claims but that quickly wears off and produces eye rolls more than security.

Pay attention to the small choices.  It may not change today but it will certainly mold tomorrow.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-009: Should-a-Beens: God and Cats

I would love to see God herd cats.  He could read what they have for minds and anticipate every movement.  He could have a half-dozen whips for each cat and know just where to snap it.  

He could do it.

I think He does.  It is probably a good illustration of how He both holds the universe together, listens to all our prays and works out His master plan.  I have no idea what that is like but He does it anyway.  Last time I checked He did not need my advice or approval.

You should find that comforting.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-008: I Wish

Squirrel!

My mind has a hard time staying focused.  Here is the squirrel trail (rabbit trail, vectors, RAM, etc.) of the morning.

In the shower I was soaping up and noticed some rough skin which is checked by the dermatologist on a regular basis.  

That made me think about skin cancer.  People die of skin cancer but most don’t.

I observed that I don’t seem to get it on my back in spite of my youthful attempts to get a glorious tan.  I worked on it.  Even though I got to where I could work outside without a shirt all day and not get burned, I never developed the glorious tan that others seemed to get with occasional exposure.  Life is not fair.

That got me thinking about how we are all so different and no matter how hard we try we may not be able to match what others do.  That can be a good thing or a bad thing.  Often it depends on our attitude.

Attitude leads to a whole new rabbit trail.

homo unius libri