Sensing Something Wrong

When I was a young woman I worked the night shift for a couple of years.  Then I switched to the day shift, and after a couple weeks transition I was amazed one day to realize how good I felt.  I had so much energy and such a sense of well-being compared to a few weeks earlier, I was finding it hard to believe I had once taken feeling bad for granted.  Sometimes you feel so bad for so long you don’t realize how sick you are.  Our society is like that.  We are living thoroughly unhealthy lives in every area of life.  Our dietary habits are unhealthy.  Our sleep habits are unhealthy.  Our minds are full of disturbing junk.  Our relationships are unsatisfactory and sometimes on life support.  We lack nourishing family and community.  Our spirits are so parched we’re crying out.  Yet we’ve come to accept all of this as “just the way it is.”  We aren’t what we were made for nor enjoying what we were meant to be.  God save us.

Best Selling Self-Help Books

For the past 30 or 40 years there has nearly always been a self-help book on the bestseller list.  Some of the personal stories are quite astounding and very inspirational.  I’m very happy for the people who beat addiction or crime and now have a nice life.  I saw a television interview with such a man.  He beat crime and drugs by changing his thinking and his self talk.  Now he is a best-selling author with a family and a nice life.  Very inspirational, but I caught myself thinking “now what?”  So many addicts were very successful people with a family and a nice life.  They all said their life felt empty, meaningless and without purpose.  A meaningless life is painful and drugs numb the pain.  And I asked myself “Where is God in this success story?”  It is from God we achieve our sense of meaning and purpose.  He made us all for a purpose and He tells us what the purpose is.  Without that taproot of purpose I’m like a rose I planted that blooms great for awhile and then dies for lack of a root system.  Getting off drugs is wonderful.  Getting off drugs without God has its limits.  If my car has an empty tank and I need to make a 10 mile trip, I can push the car 10 miles and write an inspirational book about it.  I may receive loads of admiration for my feat in achieving the 10 mile push through sheer will power.  I can also fill my tank with what the car was made for and drive 400 miles in that time.

The Dark Side of Young Fiction

The school librarian spoke animatedly about the trends in young people’s fiction.  From the child witches and wizards of the Harry Potter series, through the vampire series, to the futuristic struggles for survival under tyrannical powers, themes of good and evil are explored.  In a naturalistic world, the supernatural in these books is not off limits.  The one thing seemingly off limits is God.  Heroes fight evil, love conquers evil, yet what defines good and what prompts sacrificial love without God as the author of  good and love and the supernatural?  Children have an instinctual appreciation of good and love and God, yet the latter is consistently absent.  Why?

Loving to be Happy

If you want to be happy, indeed if you really want to live life to the fullest, you have to love, love, love.  Dr. Smiley Blanton once said “Love or perish”.  We have to love God, love our neighbors, and love ourselves.  Everyone is familiar with the saying of Jesus that the greatest commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself.  What people aren’t familiar with are the last words of this quote.  The last words are “do this and you will live.”   If we love God, we will grow closer to Him.  As we do that, we begin to realize how much He loves us.  That gives us the confidence and esteem to be able to love ourselves.  As we provide for our legitimate needs, we fill our internal well to be able to give love to others.  All this love coming around through God, us and others and around again is the source of life.  This love is like water to a thirsty plant, like rain to the desert, like sunshine in a dark and dreary place.  Just as we would say our well watered plants are “growing happily”, our well watered souls are growing happily too.  And we are living, really living.

What Socialism Does to Hospitals

In all the healthcare debates, my prayer is that whatever we end up with, we will have something that glorifies God in our treatment of His children.  All humans need to be treated with respect as God’s much loved children.  They need kindness, dignity, compassion, and to be served with excellence.  In America I have volunteered and worked in several nonprofit hospitals.  Most of them were faith based organizations.  I saw a lot of people get first rate, compassionate care, and I know they never paid a cent for their care.  Thats how non-profit hospitals work.  They charge for the care they provide, but at the end of the day those who have no insurance or inadequate insurance end up paying according to what they can afford.  Many times that is nothing.  The hospitals write off the difference as part of their non-profit status.  What keeps them in business is the full pay patients who either have “good” insurance or pay a portion of their bills themselves because they can afford to do so.  What is likely to happen if we have a single payer system like England had for years, is these hospitals will be driven out of business and taken over by the government.  If they are government run, everything will be done with cost savings in mind.  And thats what is wrong with socialized healthcare, such as I lived with for years.  The care given is the minimum mandated by the national government.  The care is not based on values of love, compassion, kindness, dignity and respect, but on budgets and mandates. 

In this country some non-profit healthcare institutions rely on large donations for some of their revenue.   In a socialized system, the high, high taxes leave much less left over for donation.  After having more than half one’s income paid out in taxes, people tend to be in a less generous mood, even if they can still afford some additional generosity.  And lastly, since things are run by a government bureaucracy, its all about the good of the masses, not the good of the individual.  Read about the debates in England right now.  Doctors are being encouraged to consider first the good of society over the good of their patients.

Whereas some insurance companies treat people like statistics, at least the hospitals have maintained the ability to be more personal.  A good bit of that is lost if the hospital is a government hospital.  There is always a lot more mandate than money, and the stresses on the hospital show in the treatment of patients.  So, whatever the United States decides it wants to do, my prayer is the outcome will be something pleasing to our Heavenly Father, who is so concerned for persons, He knows the number of hairs on our heads and every tear we shed.  May we as a society be compassionate and kind, not a further coarsened culture.

Health Care Retort

I am just amazed at the media feeding frenzy over the health care town hall meetings.  People ARE angry.  But instead of analyzing why people might be angry, as the media usually analyzes the “why” of everything, they are in lockstep with insulting the people who are protesting.  Can you imagine the media insulting people who protested the war in Iraq, or anything else?

 

I think people at these meetings are afraid, because in the past,  the president has favored a single payer system similar to the NHS in England. Perhaps these bills aren’t yet a single payer system, but will possibly be leading to one if the private sector has to support yet more government underfunding and it bankrupts them. Our local hospitals are today in serious financial crisis because of medicare and medicaid cuts. They keep seeing patients, but are running out of funds to make up the difference between what the government pays and what it costs to treat these patients.

I lived with the NHS for six years, and could tell first person stories of what I saw and experienced in our local community. Yes, care is much more scarce and of lower quality. Taxes are much higher. Eventually, a two-tiered system developed because the NHS basically broke down. Its on the verge of breakdown again. It is this kind of a system people fear.

 

Instead of looking at these issues, the media is labeling and insulting the protesters.  Its a media retort instead of a report

American Idols

When people look at the second commandment, which forbids us to have idols before God, we tend to think of developing world cultures and the little wooden statues of gods.  We think this commandment no longer applies to our “advanced” culture, where we ”know” these little gods are meaningless.  But do we “developed” people have idols in our lives?  The biblical definition of an idol would be anything which takes the place of God in our lives.  That definition makes the question easier to answer, and more uncomfortable to face.  Its been said we could determine our idols by looking at our calendars and our checkbooks.  What gets our time and our money besides God?  Some people call their hobbies, habits or addictions their idols.  I think it goes much deeper than that.  I think as we look at the West, we will see several deeply entrenched idols.  Here are some I acknowledge.

“People pleasing” (which could also be called “political correctness”), means I make another person’s approval more important than God’s approval.  I will take the line of least resistance and refuse to speak truth, do the expedient rather than the right thing, or develop the habit of doing whatever I believe will please somebody else, instead of seeking God’s will and pleasure.

“Being somebody” means I want people to look up to me.  I may seek leadership in every situation, I may kill myself working harder than anyone else in order to get attention, I may seek celebrity status, try to achieve “success” (whatever that means), or try to climb the ladder of whatever tower its leaning on.  This keeps me from concentrating on what God desires for me.  This also keeps me from many opportunities to serve God and others, because far more opportunities to serve are quiet, unnoticed and unrewarded.

“Self-fulfillment” is another idol.  Seeking our personal happiness, well-being, fun and excitement, and meaningful relationships, becomes an end in itself, rather than the outcome of seeking God and His will for my life.  “I Did it My Way” is the statement of faith of too many of us idol (self) worshippers.

Materialism is the most all-encompassing idol of the Western World.  Not only do we spend an inordinate amount of time ammassing wealth, we chase our tails keeping up with the Joneses.  Another form of materialism is seeking our security in anything material or worldly such as financial plans, science and medicine, or the government instead of seeking it in God.

Ultimately, none of the things listed above satisfy us.  That is because we are looking for something else to fill our need for relationship with God.  The idols won’t fulfill us anymore than we can live solely on candy.  We just need to be aware that God and His desires for our lives have to come absolutely first.  If He is not first in our hearts, we will just eventually “run out of gas”.  Look at the celebrities we see all over the television and newsstands.  How happy are they, really?  How many messed up relationships, addictions and mental health issues do we see among the rich and famous?  If celebrity, money and success brought happiness, you’d think these folks would be happier than average people, and instead they seem to actually be less happy.  As an old saint once said “Only the love of God will satisfy the hungry heart of man”.  Anything short of the love of God, whether it be the love of people, the love of attention, the love of possessions, the love of material security, or the love of self, is as hopeless as having a little wooden statue for a god.

Human Rights

During all the hoopla about human rights at Durban II, one can’t help but wonder where human rights come from.  Who decides what rights people should have?  Do the majority decide as in a democracy?  If they do, their numbers give them the strength to decide for the minority.  Do the elite decide rights as happened in communist dictatorships, monarchies and other central governments?  If we believe some rights are due to all humans, where do we get that idea?  Is it just an arbitrary human decision that changes with times and cultures?

In the United States our founders decided certain rights were “inalienable”, meaning not needing explanation and not to be taken away.  Do people today realize our founders believed life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were bestowed upon us humans by God?  Today when so many people disbelieve God, question God’s existence, or otherwise live as though He doesn’t exist, where do they get the authority to declare what is a human right, who gets rights and under what circumstances?  Its just the opinion of the majority isn’t it, the tyranny of the powerful.  Without God, thats the best we get.

Without God, the right to life is determined by the powerful against the weak.  If the weak are a nuisance, they can be dispensed with.  Look at abortion, infanticide of disabled babies, euthanasia and the like.  Without God liberty is nonexistent.  Without God, there is no pursuit of happiness for all, just pursuit of self-interest by the powerful.  Without God, human rights is as arbitrary and changeable as the winds of cultural fad.

Vermont’s “Gay Marriage”

What I really never hear anymore is a discussion on the reasons why the government got involved in marriage in the first place.  After all, we see that marriage historically was usually a religious and family ceremony.  The state’s interest has always been in its future.  It is concerned with the generation to come and the continuation of the society and culture.  The state’s interest has been protection for children by binding fathers to their responsibility to them, and protection for mothers who do make economic sacrifices in order to have children.  Since homosexuals cannot bear children TOGETHER, the state has no interest in their marriage beyond some kind of recognition and a sharing of whatever financial advantages the state confers on married couples.  Considering the financial advantages are supposed to result in offspring who become citizens of the state, the financial advantages which go to homosexual couples result in nothing for the state at all.

Homosexual couples can and do adopt children.  However, they adopt children who will consequently never know what it is to have both a mother and a father.  We already have a couple generation’s experience with what happens when children are raised without fathers.  The societal breakdown is so great that if anything, the state might consider even greater incentives to heterosexual marriage in these communities.  But to grant the incentives of marriage to a couple who can neither produce children nor provide mother and father or even grandmother and grandfather to children, is simply an investment with no return on the part of the state, however “fair” it may appear.

Cultural Disintegration

I haven’t written a blog in weeks.  I’ve just been the literary equivalent of “struck speechless”.  I was summoned for jury duty early this month, and selected for a jury to hear a murder trial.  The defendant was charged with second degree murder in the death of a girlfriend’s 22 month old son.  It was the most eye-opening, horrible, horrific case I’ve ever heard, and I’m still having dreams about it.  Its one thing to read about our society’s pathology and quite another to see it up close and personal.

The defendant was a 28 year old man who has four illegitimate children by four different mothers.  He hasn’t been the ideal father.  His oldest daughter has been raised by his mother because the baby’s mother was only 14 at the time she gave birth.  That child is now with her natural mother, who has finished school and is able to support her.  His second child has been raised partly by his mother and partly by the baby’s natural mother.  The third child is with its natural mother.  The fourth child is being raised by relatives because its mother is in jail.  According to the defendant, “I don’t pay bills, I don’t do housework, I don’t take care of kids.  Its not my responsibility.”

The defendant really lives everywhere and nowhere.  He has usually had more than one girlfriend at a time, friends, and always the fallback of his mother’s home.  He might show up at a girlfriend’s house at midnight and stay the night, or stay over with a friend, or sleep at his mother’s house.  He truly has no address.  Sometimes he has a job, and sometimes he doesn’t.  He has been arrested several times for assault against a girlfriend.

The child who was murdered belonged to one of his girlfriends.  The baby had been reported to Child Protective Services twice before, and the cases were closed for “invalid report.”  There is currently a lawsuit against CPS, who truly let this baby down.  By the time of the second report, the child had broken ribs, cigarette burns, numerous bruises and welt marks.  At the time of the second report, the defendant was “in a relationship” with the baby’s mother…whatever that meant, as his relationships were clearly not monogamous.  It was reported, however, that he disciplined the baby by hitting it with a belt–as young as 18 months!!

The baby’s mother hasn’t exactly a stellar record, either.  She was involved in slugging matches with the baby’s natural father when the baby was newborn, and he moved out by the time the baby was a couple months old.  Mom worked at various times and at various jobs, and whenever she was at work she had multiple backup babysitters–neighbors of all ages and backgrounds, relatives, numerous cousins, friends, etc.  Some of the homes appeared ok, some were “trap houses” where various illegal activities were taking place.  The only stability was the paternal grandma who took the baby for 48-72 hours whenever she had days off from her job.  She kept the baby with her overnight during those times.  She was one of the reporters of the child abuse.   It appeared that the baby’s mom took him off milk at 5 months of age and he had rickets, as well as all the evidences of overt abuse noted above.

The morning the baby’s mom left her baby with the defendant, she was going to a doctor’s appointment because she believed she was pregnant with the defendant’s baby.  According to the medical examiner, the baby died of either a massive blow or crushing injury to the abdomen, a couple of hours after the mother left.  What the jury couldn’t know was whether the defendant was simply angry at being left with the baby and manhandled it, or if he was engaged in deliberate child abuse.  The baby had all the usual marks seen before as well as some recent head traums and cerebral edema.  There was confusion about who was abusing the baby, exactly when the abuse took place  and the possibility that  more than one person had been abusing it.  Anyway, the defendant was convicted of manslaughter, the baby’s mom was convicted earlier of child abuse and serving a five year sentence, and the baby, of course, is dead.

What still haunts my dreams is the unconcern expressed by both the baby’s mother, and the defendant.  They were like hollow, unfeeling people.  As a fellow juror noted, she had also grown up in poverty, but this was a culture shock to her, because in her day poor people loved their kids.

Both the defendant and the baby’s mother grew up without knowing their father, and indeed lived in homes where the male influence was either absent or revolving.  In the case of the baby’s mother, she didn’t know either of her parents, and was very much the same kind of  “village child” her dead baby had been.

When I was in college I studied sociology, psychology and criminal justice.  What we learned over and over was that children need stability and two parents.  The face of poverty is most often a female headed household.  Children with no dad are lower achievers, and children who grow up in homes with revolving men are more likely to experience violence, and be violent themselves.  I doubt this information is any less true today.

Soon after the trial was over, I saw a headline stating for the first time the majority of babies born in America are born to unwed mothers.  God help us!!!!