I watched the greater part of Glenn Beck's interview with Ron Paul a couple of nights ago, and I have to admit, I absolutely agreed with him in his aggressive adherance to evaluating his political stands according to the Constitution.  He's the only candidate who has consistently done so. 

I even agreed to an extent with his analysis of our relations with Israel and the Middle East, particularly with our getting out of Israel's way and letting them take care of business!

But he is totally naive if he thinks simply withdrawing from Iraq and Afghanistan will end Islamic hostiity against us.  It is Islam's charter to literally take over the world.  They want to impose Sharia Law everywhere.  You have three choices:  1)  Convert; 2) Possibly as one of the "People of the Book" (i.e. Christians and Jews) to suffer dhimmitude, being subjugated and taxed; 3) Die.

While I enthusiastically agree with his Constitutional stand, I have to reject him as a candidate because of his position on the war.

I couldn't figure out what category to post this under, but I finally settled on "Faith & Family".  The truth is this has implications for a number of areas in our lives, culture and world.

I have been thinking more and more about how we use our land.  Now, I'm a conservative in my politics and my faith.  "Conservatives don't do environmentalism, Dave!"

Yeah, I know. 

Stereotypically, you're one extreme or another.  You're either a tree-huggin'-nature-deifyin'-environmentalist-whacko or you're a use-it-all-up-make-money-at-any-cost-it's-all-gonna-burn-anyway-conservative-capitalist-pig.  I have trouble with both extremes.

The extreme environmentalist fringe views our world without reference to a Creator who has ultimate control.  It's all about what we as mankind do, since it's probably founded on evolutionary theory.  I think some of them do want more and more control over our lives at the expense of our Constitutionally mandated freedoms. 

If they do adhere to anything spiritual, it really does tend to be pagan, deifying the "Earth Mother", etc. 

For obvious reasons, I just can't go there. 

Oh yeah, and I believe this whole Global Warming thing is a crock!  (Sorry, I just had to get that in)

With the conservative side (at least the stereotype), it really does seem to come down to "supply and demand" ruling everything.  Many Christians seem to have a possibly confused attitude, "Yeah, it's too bad that we're cutting down all those forests, but, you know, it's all gonna burn someday anyway.  This is the world.  God doesn't want us to get too attached to it.  He'll make it right in Glory."  In the meantime, use it up!  

Yeah, I have tons of problems with this view, too.  I'm a capitalist, but some people seem to view "supply and demand" (particularly the "demand" part) as if it's an inevitable mandate for whatever they want to do economically, environmentally, morally, etc.  I understand that, and I don't want the increasing controls of the socialistic Left in this country, let alone the old Soviet Union.  But as a Christian (and I think the Founders of this nation would agree), I do need to control and restrain my appetites.  Children demand many things; that doesn't mean they do or should get them! 

What to do?  Is it a middle ground I'm looking for?  A new (or revived?) conservative and Christian vocabulary that treats environmental issues seriously?

I have to start at my level with things I can understand.  I love my land.  Yeah, I mean rolling hills, hardwood forests, creeks and springs gushing out of limestone bluffs, mountains, wild trout, bream, whitetails, hawks, Carolina chicadees, wild irises, honeybees, dogwoods - okay, you get the picture! 

I also love what that land can produce if given a chance.  vegetables, grain, milk and other dairy products, wool, leather, etc.  And let's face it, a farm or ranch can be aesthetically appealing.

Now, for those of you inclined to belittle my romanticizing here, please understand, there's no doubt that as awesome as nature is, it's laws can be brutal.  Mountain lion's gotta eat; too bad about that fuzzy little rabbit!

And I also understand that farming and ranching is hard work.  My Grandaddy McCarty used to say something like, "They can talk about the good ol' days all they want.  But I see nothin' good about bendin' over all day cuttin' sprouts! [i.e. weeds among the rows of corn, tobacco, etc.]. 

For all that, our God gets plumb romantic, waxing poetic about the Natural Order He created as in Job 38:31 - 33

                Can you bind the chains of Orion?  Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, and guide
                the Bear with her satellites?  Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, or fix their rule over
                the earth?

Or in Chapter 39:19 - 21?

                Do you give the horse his might?  Do you clothe his neck with a mane?  Do you make him leap
                like the locust?  His majestic snorting is terrible.  He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his 
                strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.  He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; and he does
                not turn back at the sword. 

And what can be said about a God who creates a garden and enjoys a pleasant stroll there "in the cool of the day"?

He made it and us of the same "stuff", except we have that vital spark, the imago dei so that, among other things, we can have dominion, stewardship over and tend  this, His creation.  As such, we are inextricably connected to the Creation.  We are to make our living from the earth.  God set up a gloriously beautiful and intricate system - even in its fallen state - whereby we can draw life and sustenance from it.

Even the horribly tragic story of the first murder attests to this connection when God confronts Cain with his brother's slaying:  "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground."

We belong here.  We belong here as much as the hawk, the dogwood, the whale, that mountain.  We aren't some mere infestation on the "Earth Mother", nor a result of evolutionary determination.  We are privileged to be here; it's a gift.

But with this gifting comes responsibility.  I have to believe that His placing Adam in the Garden to cultivate and tend it - have dominion over it, didn't imply allowing his appetites to run amok, thus abusing it.  

Am I saying I think no tree should ever be cut down?  Does this mean we can never mine for metals and other minerals?  No more houses built?  No more businesses?

Hey, people have got to live!  They need shelter!  We have to have means of transport.  We have to have ways to fuel those means of transport.  

But do we really need one more strip mall, one more Wal-Mart (No, I'm not altogether anti Wal-Mart), because, Oh my gosh, it will save me ten minutes driving time from having to shop at that other one!  

Christians, you and I live in a society and culture that has, I believe, become so idolotrously devoted to prosperity, convenience and the sating of our appetites, that we don't see anything wrong with one more strip mall, one more ugly subdivision at the expense of farm land, one more stand of hardwoods cut down in order to plant more profitable pines . . . one more mega-church building complex with all the self-contained services of a small city.

I'm afraid we've become so artificially insulated from the reality of our connectedness to the created order that many of us don't appreciate fully just where that loaf of bread ultimately comes from, that bunch of carrots, those eggs, or that pot roast.  We continue in our consumption, our never-ending pursuit of pleasure, convenience, bigger, better, faster . . . 

"Hey, we can't all go back to the farm!"  No, but somebody had better!  I read in one of our North Carolina agricultural periodicals the other day that we're not only losing farm land at an alarming rate but the average age of farmers themselves is going way up.  We need more youngsters willing and able to get into farming!

That's kinda hard when the average suburbanite family has no more idea about agriculture than some vague since of nature that comes via HGTV and the price they have to pay for lawn maintenance, let alone growing a tomato.

And there's mounting evidence that that mass produced,  processed food is bad for you.  I recently learned, for example, that since 1910 and the beginning of the mass production of white flour (i.e. separating the wheat germ with its highly nutritious but quickly spoiling essential oils and the bran leaving the white endosperm that allows for convenience and a long shelf life), the rise in diabetes, cancer, heart problems, etc. have risen dramatically.  Jesus refers to Himself as the vital Bread of Life.  That makes no since if you're thinking of Wonder Bread!  But if you're eating freshly milled whole grain bread you've baked yourself, then His methaphor takes on a whole new meaning!  Suffice it to say, it's nutritionally phenomenal, and it tastes (and smells) great too! (For a fuller discussion of this, I refer you to Brad and Sue Becker's company website, www.breadbeckers.com.  Read her article "Do Not Eat the Bread of Idleness".  I also suggest Dr. Jordan Rubin's book The Maker's Diet).

This has implications (Constitutional ones, too!) for our zoning and tax laws.  And what about legalized theft?  Remember Kino vs. New London, CT?  How can you grow food if your dirt-rich and comparitively cash-poor when the local zoning board decides to basically tax you off your property in order to give it to some entity that will give them more revenue? 

I'm actually praying about getting my own piece of land, possibly raising organically grown vegetables and some livestock, and beekeeping.  Yeah, I'm good at dreaming; that's why I'm praying about it and asking God to help me to be a good steward of what I have now, i.e. my own little vegetable garden at my house.  Gotta start somewhere!  

And what about our priority to win souls to Christ?  Don't we run the risk of placing environmental concerns over the obvious need to share Hiim with those for whom He died?  Yeah, it can be a risk.  But I believe that is a needless dichotomy, an either/or that God doesn't endorse.  What about both/and thinking?

I know, there are lots of assertions (possible inconsistencies) here in my ramblings and a dearth of evidence and proof.  That's why I say I'm very much "in process" on all of this, a little afraid of too much dogmatism.  Some of this is still raw, unrefined.  Again, that's why I'm praying a great deal about this so that God will guide my thinking - I'll mess it up otherwise!  
  
Gosh, now I feel this urge to go hug a tree!


                

So I'm with my mom and dad in the back of our '62 Ford Falcon stationwagon driving Route 66.  We're on our annual roadtrip from California back to my parents' home county in Tennessee.  And, yes, I'm old enough to remember driving Route 66 just before the completion of Interstate 40.  Town names like Dagget, Ludlow, Amboy, Winslow - yeah, I've stood on a corner in Winslow, AZ! - and Tucumcari have meaning to me!

Say you're my dad.  It's hot - it oughta be!  You're in the desert of western Arizona and it's July!   You can't afford a car with air conditioning yet!  You see a sign informing you that the next gas won't be for another, say, 200 miles.  Look at your gas gage; should you pull over, or do you keep pushing through?  At $0.25 a gallon, it won't break the bank, but you want to make Gallup, NM by 5:00 P.M.  Okay, it's cutting it a little close on the fuel, but you decide to keep rolling.

But wait, about fifty miles into it you see a sign for "Rattlesnake Zeke's Snake Farm and Petting Zoo" or "Big Chief's Genuine Indian Curios".  You can get off the highway in thirty miles the sign tells you.  After that, it's another twenty miles to Zeke's and Big Chief's on a "convenient" side road. 

Is there a gas station there?  Doesn't say.  But, hey, you've been driving awhile and you and your wife could use a break.  Your little boy (me!) would get a kick out of it for sure and certain .  You can probably visit these fine establishments and still just make it to the next fuel stop, even if Zeke and Big Chief don't have any gas.  What do you do? 

I think this is a pretty good analogy for how we and many in the Christian sub-culture approach not just the holiday season, but time in general.  We've all got twenty-four hours in a day and seven days in a week, no more, no less.  How do we manage it? 

How often do you and I look forward to just getting through this season?  One more party to attend - oh yeah, and I said I'd bring an entree'!   That list of presents I've got to buy, but what about that mall traffic? Darn,  I haven't gotten started on my Christmas cards yet!

Any of that sound familiar? 

Look, folks, time is sacred, and just as He uses ordinary stuff like wine and bread, and - oh yeah - plain-Jane folks like you and me to get wonderful and holy things accomplished, likewise, He wants to use our time, too!  I mean think about it, the second Person in the godhead, the direct agent in the creation of all that is, Jesus, the Son of God is born into a peasant family in the Roman province of Judea - what the average Roman soldier probably thought of as a hardship tour!  His human lineage was from the royal house of King David himself, but, obviously, the family had fallen on considerably harder times since the good ol' days.  No palaces, no servants, no royal robes - the point is, He didn't get over!  God Himself becomes one of us!!!

I know, you've heard this before, but I wonder if we've lost a good deal of our capacity to truly enter in and celebrate this fact due to our inability or unwillingness to correctly manage - and sanctify - our time.

So here's my prescription:  Just as we had to be careful about how we planned out our trip on old Route 66 when I was a boy, so we've got to be careful and intentional in our use of time.  If we would look forward to and gladly celebrate the memory of  His first coming, we must learn to say yes to some things, no to others, as well as learn to hear the word no!

Are the expectations of our family and friends, our culture's (or our own) truly of God?  It's not to say that going to Zeke's is wrong per se, but if doing that causes me to run out of gas or to get so close to it that getting to my ultimate destination (i.e. Gallup, NM) becomes overly stressful, then I'd say that isn't a good thing.  So what about one more party?  What about all those gifts?  What about all those cards?

"But , Dave, it's not Christmas without ________________!"  

Really?

Is __________ about what God thinks, or is it about what you, or your family, or your sub-culture thinks?  If you and I are going to re-claim the Christ in Christmas, it has to do a great deal more with allowing Him back into our schedules - with controlling those things we can in our schedules -  than it does with meeting all kinds of expectations.   What about going to church and celebrating that Advent service with God's people?  What about gathering with some family and truly good friends - ones who don't weigh you down with distracting expectations - to pray, eat a meal, and remember with gratitude our Saviour's wonderful gift?  Or what about taking that special CD with the Christmas songs on it you so love - the one that, when you're in the company of others, you have to restrain the tears of joy and gratitude welling up inside you -  why not pause, set aside just a little time to be alone with God, play those songs, and weep with joy, hands lifted in the air to the One who gave Himself and keeps on giving Himself for you?

Warning!  You may step on some toes!  For all of your good intentions, folks at work, or in your family may think you're being rude or just plain weird.  Oh well!  Don't go out of your way to offend people, but if  having a quiet evening at  home or at church, truly enjoying God's gift and giving back praise and worship to Him offends, too bad!   Besides, deep down, I'll bet many of them wish they could do the same thing.  Maybe you'll set a trend!  What'd be wrong with that?

So slow down!  Take the time to enjoy Him this Christmas.   It's OK.  Really!

Okay, it's been several months since my last (Read "only"!) post.  Then, I was concerned with the increasing division(s) within our country.  Since that time, I believe things have only worsened.  The cultural divide is expressed in a myriad of facets within our culture, the Constitution and the law - what I dealt with in the last post - education, religion, to name just a few. 

Because the Secular-Progressive (aka Leftist or Liberal) worldview is predominantly atheistic, it is devoid of any notion of objective, transcendant right and wrong.  And even if there is such a thing, we simply are unable to ascertain what it is.  They will tolerate, therefore, a myriad of whacked-out, foolish positions, even if they in their heart-of-hearts find some of these views silly or distasteful,  because the only absolute to them is that there are no absolutes (which is in itself self-contradictory).  To allow themselves to believe in absolutes is to admit that they may just be responsible to Something (or Someone) greater than themselves, and they can under no circumstances have that!

The Secular-Progressives (SPs) ultimately believe that man is perfectable, that Utopia is possible, if only people were educated (with the "correct" doctrine of course!) and had the right individuals in leadership.  I have to counter that the burden of proof lies with them:  in 4,000-odd years (?) of recorded human history, please tell me, SPs, where the data are to support your ultimate contention that man is perfectable or is basically good?!!? 

This has profound effects on our ability to wage this Global War on Terror.  Take a look at Europe.  They are good deal further down the SP Road than we are, and they are in very real danger of being overrun by Islam and Sharia Law.  Because they are post-Christian and have largely abandoned the values and ideals of Western Civilization, they have nothing substantial, nothing that can unite them that's worth fighting for.  In short, they have no backbone.

You SPs can gather in your conclaves and suck down your lattes, believing that the real threat to you and the world is the existence of "unenlightened", reactionary views like mine that hold to the original intent behind the founding documents of this country.  You can believe that all you need do is revise (albeit un-Constitutionally) the structures of our laws and institutions in order to achieve the "greater good" of your ultimately Utopian worldview.  But you can't escape reality!  The world just doesn't work like that.

Unfortunately, my fear is that you'll wake up to reality when it's too late. 

The threat from Islamo-fascism is very real.  The likes of Ahmedjinezad, al-Sadr, or a bin Laden don't care whether you're a dove or a hawk like me.  Never doubt it, their goal is to take over the world!  You may hate the very idea of this war being characterized as a religious war.  So what?  Whether you like it or not, that's how they view it.  These people aren't crazy; they're simply behaving consistently with the dictates of their founder. Unlike you, they adhere to a belief they regard as transcendant.  And, like it or not, it gives them backbone and motivation to fight.  You SPs believe in - what? - yourselves?  Mankind?   And here it is again, Utopia?!!?  If that's what you believe in (or some facsimile thereof), then, like Europe, you have nothing that's real, and therefore nothing that's worth fighting for.  In short, you have no motivation, no backbone.

The thing is, many of us do still believe in the values that formed our country in the first place and that they're worth fighting for.  I fear that your frequent and often un-Constitutional assaults on these values are sapping our strength to wage this war effectively.

SOOOOO. . .

Let me make this seemingly radical proposal, taking what I said in the last post a step further:  If you all don't like the idea of the founding principles, values, etc. that folks like me adhere to, then why don't you do the decent thing and leave instead of trying to illegitimately and illegally hijack the country?  Is it too crazy of an idea that we might very well be heading for a Constitutional crisis that could have us revisiting secession?

Yeah, that seems whacked, paranoid, and scary, but this world is a scary place, and there's no amount of denial and wishful thinking that will change that fact.  You can't continue to berate our founding principles without there being some profound and potentially harmful consequences for us all.

Think about it!

I chose the category "Media & Culture" for my first venture into blogging and hope it accurately reflects what I'm about to write.  This could be a little broader in scope, so I hope you will extend some tolerance to a newbie!

As a Christian, a passionate conservative, a soldier, and an American, I grow increasingly alarmed at what I'm seeing happen to my country; I fear we are more deeply divided than we were in 1861 with as little or even less possibility for compromise.  On the one side, you have folks like me who actually believe that there is such a thing as objective truth, that words have meaning in order to communicate that truth.  It is therefore axiomatic to me that documents such as the Bible contain meaning - original intentions - of authors spanning centuries in time, and  that their collective intentions and meaning can be ascertained by readers centuries later if they will respect this and take seriously grammar and usage, as well as the historical context.

I hold the same view when it comes to documents such as our Constitution and its heart and soul, the Declaration of Independence.  The Founders had certain intentions when they penned these documents, and it seems obvious to me that we ought to show respect for that meaning, since they comprise the founding charter and "rule book" for who we are, our values, and how we the people, both those in the government and those who are governed, are to conduct ourselves. 

On the other side, namely the Progressive and Secular Left (or Liberals), you have a dominant culture that doesn't seem to believe there's anything like objective truth, and even if such a thing exists, you can't sufficiently ascertain that meaning, and therefore can't honor "original intent" in the Constitution, let alone the Bible.

If the two sides are going to engage in productive debate, we have to at least agree on some common ground.  I may believe that the Framers intended one thing in the 1st Ammendment, for example, and they may stand by another conclusion.  But at least we're both in agreement that something like original intent exists, and we're therefore in the same "ball park".   But consider this:  If the Steelers and Patriots, for example, show up at the stadium for a game, they need to both agree on the basic rules of that game they are about to play (hopefully football!).  What would happen if a referee decided that the offsides rule was out of date, and threw it out, particularly on a crucial play?  Fans would have his head! 

And yet we are treated to "reasoning" like this on a regular basis from liberals in our courts, legislatures, and the executive branch on matters far more vital to our nation than the results of a football game.  That referee may think the offsides rule is out of date and stupid (Maybe it is!), but it's his job to make the best effort possible to call the game according to the rules that are in force at that time.  So it should be with justices.  So it should be with legislators and executives.

What I'm saying is this:  Those who do not adhere to the idea that the Constitution and the Declaration contain the values and rules, the covenant, if you will, between those in government and the governed may call themselves many things, but  they are no longer Americans!

Yes, I mean exactly what I say:  They are not Americans!  I'm not saying they are necessarily evil, horrible people, but they are no more Americans than I am a Liberal.  Clubs and organizations have rules and philosophies that state who they are and how they will conduct business.  If you wish to be a member of a particular club, then you agree to its rules, or seek out another club - no hard feelings!

Now, our Constitution does contain the capacity for revision, an orderly process for making changes in the way we do business; it's called the Amendment process.  The problem is, these folks, overwhelmingly on the Left, all too often won't follow the rules for orderly revision, but instead seek change illegitimately via litigation or judicial activism.  Such changes, though having the form of law are substantively illegal, un-Constitutional (e.g. Roe v. Wade, Kino v. New London, CT, etc.).  I further assert that those black-robed arbiters of the law, though adept at opining in flawless "legalese", citing common law and precedent, are themselves guilty of lawlessness.  In their contempt for the very document they are sworn to uphold - a document penned as a remedy for tyranny - they are  guilty themselves of engaging in a tyranny every bit as offensive and obnoxious - no, more so - as that exercised by His Majesty, King George III and his parliament.

Un-Constitutionally conceived laws, amendments, and rulings, if allowed to stand, threaten our nation far more than Al Qaeda or any other external enemy.  "It's not the economy, stupid!"  Neither our Declaration nor our Constitution are holy writ, but they do contain the essential values and founding principles of who we are as a nation and a people, our identity.  "It's the identity thing, stupid!"

There can be no compromise on these principles.  Thus we have two nations, and I honestly fear "E Pluribus Unum" is threatened.