Wednesday, October 14. 2020
I am very impressed by Judge Amy Barrett! She is brilliant and very "cool" in the way she is handling the grilling she is enduring for confirmation to the SC. And she is a charismatic Christian and a wife and a mother of 7 children!
Judge Barrett is also an originalist in her understanding and use of the US Constitution. She takes it at its common sense face value, not more or less. She looks for the original intent of those who ratified the Law of the Land. Most Judges today take an expansive, progressive view of the Constitution, seeing it as a "living" document subject to changing meanings over time, dictated by the needs and interests and demands of current culture.
All Christians should be originalists when it comes to the Bible. Increasingly, sadly, many Believers are forsaking that view and becoming progressives like liberal activist Judges.
Monday, October 12. 2020
Painful! It is very painful to me to watch the Senate Hearing about Judge Amy Barrett. The Democratic Senators insist on talking about policy matters, most particularly about the actions and motives of our President, the ACA and the Pandemic. They are politicizing the proceedings completely. They want to have her rejected at all costs. They are not talking much at all so far about the qualifications of Judge Barrett except to insist that she shall be a tool of the President, a weapon he wants on the Court to help torpedo certain legislation favored by Democrats. Conversely, I believe Democrats are hoping that Mr Biden will become President in order for him to chose Justices that will vote for what he wants. Both views are wrong for a very fundamental reason:
Legislation is made by the Legislators, not the Supreme Court Justices nor the President!
Why do liberals really resist Judge Barrett's confirmation so strongly? It is not simply because she is a conservative Christian who personally is anti abortion, but because she is an Originalist. As a SC Justice, she shall make her decisions based, not on her Religion, but primarily on the original intent or meaning of the words in the Constitution. Liberal Legislators know that many of their polices, to stand, require the support of liberal activist Judges on all levels who interpret the Constitution broadly. With out that, they fail.
Sunday, October 11. 2020
To many people, it is OK to be a person of faith, a Christian, as long as that faith is kept private. It must not be made public. Faith must not be made public. This is an absolute, even to those who do not believe in absolutes!
Nevertheless, it is common to hear politicians of every stripe say, in their speeches, "God bless America". It sounds good, but it does not really mean anything. Many people do not believe that there is a God. This throwaway line could easily offend atheists. That not withstanding, which "God" do these speakers mean? I never hear them say, "may the Lord Jesus Christ bless America". That, to many, would be sectarian and offensive to those Americans who are not Christians.
God, the God of the Bible, has and shall bless America when its citizens obey His Word, for example, on the subject of Abortion or Homosexuality. I do not recall many politicians calling Americans to do that. That would be mixing private faith with public policy. That is a no-no. But, it turns out, there is one major exception: Systemic Racism. Many people believe Racism and systemic Racism, like Slavery 150 years ago, are evil. That is a strongly held belief, a dogma. Their faith requires them to speak up and protest about it in the public square. For some reason the inconsistency of that mixing of faith with public policy escapes them. It is OK to them to do that. No one seems to have a problem with that.
But to many it would not be OK if Supreme Court Justice Barrett would let her Catholic Faith influence her decisions on the Bench. Many of the Justices have done exactly that through the years! But I do not think she will. She does not have to because she, as a Justice, would be committed to following the original meaning of the Constitution.
Sunday, October 11. 2020
The questioning of Judge Amy Barrett by the Judicial Committee begins soon. All elected officials, including the Justices and Ms Barrett, swear allegiance to the Constitution. It is "The Law of the Land". Everyone seems to agree Ms Barrett is a wonderful person and extremely well qualified to be a Jurist. But many Democrats have a major, serious problem with Judge Barrett and do not want her confirmed for the High Court. Why? Because of the way she interprets the Constitution. She has openly said she is an Originalist. She seeks the original intent of the words in the Constitution as the Founders and those who ratified the Constitution in1787 understood them. Taking this approach, she comes out with a different position on many subjects than those who, such as Justice Ginsburg did, take a far more expansive and liberal or so-called progressive interpretation of the Constitution.
Thursday, October 8. 2020
Compare the Political Positions of the Republican Party with those of the Democratic Party. They differ greatly and no one will agree with everything written about either Party. Using the Bible, go through each topic and decide which ones are most Biblical. Prioritize them. That shall help you to decide for whom to vote.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_the_Democratic_Party
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_the_Republican_Party
Tuesday, October 6. 2020
The Bible has a lot to say about "the poor"- 110 times in the ESV (and uses the word "poor" 170 times in the ESV)
Often in the current discussion about Race, verses in the Bible about Poverty and the Poor are used. Let us be clear. In the Bible, the main cause of poverty (defined as destitution not due to ones fault) is oppression by rich, powerful or unscrupulous people. Such oppression is evil and condemned in the Bible. Poverty is also caused by death, war or natural disaster. None of this has to do with skin color. These verses are not about race or systemic racism as such. There are many passages instructing us to care for all the poor, whatever their color. We miss all this very important Biblical teaching and the response it calls for when we substitute for Poverty the problem of "Racism".
Tuesday, October 6. 2020
Lately, I have been reading a chapter a day from the Book of Jeremiah. God was using the Prophet to announce the coming, horrible disaster that would destroy Israel and Judah. Why? Both nations were awash in idolatry. Altars to foreign gods were everywhere. God saw this as spiritual adultery because the people continued to profess their loyalty to Him while they worshiped their idols at the same time!
I hear and read about Racism and "systemic racism" a lot, every day. In evangelical magazines and blogs, Pastors are urged to use the Bible and preach about it. Churches are urged to protest and fight against it. But here is the thing- there is nothing about Racism or systemic racism as such in the Bible. But there are pages after pages about idolatry, the worship of false idols. It is overwhelming, the most serious sin in the Bible. God hates idols! Now that is something we must preach about and seek to overcome! When we do that, I think we shall be confronting the problem of Racism. Many Christians are idolators, the same as the ancient Hebrews. Many of us worship God and simultaneously we worship Money, the Stock Market or the Economy or Technology or Sports or, these days, most of all we worship the Government and its power or we worship our Nation itself [the list goes on]. Jeremiah would preach the same message today as he did centuries ago. The same destiny awaits America as it did for Israel and Judah if we do not heed that message!
Saturday, October 3. 2020
I appreciate and am encouraged by the positive response to my decision to reactivate this Blog. I pray it shall be helpful. It shall be rather different than previous posts- more political and more involved in current events. Of course I shall still be seeking to learn and share what I believe to be Biblical and Christian. And I welcome positive comments, with the proviso that I shall reject any that I deem are out of line, ie- sarcastic, mean or otherwise unhelpful or nasty.
Friday, October 2. 2020
My recent self-chosen goal has been to search a Period of American History to find evidence of God at work. What have I looked for? Justice! God is all about love and that love motivates Him to seek Justice. There is far more in the Bible about the latter than the former. Justice enacted is love fulfilled. Justice is two sided: God has compassion on all those who suffer from oppression (stealing, exploiting, extorting, defrauding, persecuting, violating, enslaving, etc.) He seeks their deliverance from that oppression, securing their well-being and care. The other side of God's Justice is restraining and bringing retribution to those who are guilty of that oppression. Jesus spoke of the two-fold Justice or Righteousness of God more than any other prophet and it is taught in the New Testament far more than in the Old.
As Evangelicals, we believe that God works in our individual lives. Many are thankful and satisfied for just that; but, it is also true that there is much more happening in the world. We need to see God active in the world around us, past and present! God is involved in Organizations, People Groups, Nations and various "Movements" around the World. He is busy pursuing Justice in all these places.
During the 50 year Period between the Civil War and WWI, all kinds of social, political, economic events, good and bad (or more often, a mixture of both) happened. Doing Providential History, the following is a list of some places I see God, the King, at work during this Period-
Reconstruction during the 10 years immediately after the Civil War ended
The work of the Freedmen Bureau and the American Missionary Association
The passing of the 14th and 15th Amendments
Both the Abolitionist and Suffragette Movements, the latter focusing on the Rights of women
Efforts to help Native Americans
Massive efforts to care for the Urban Poor (mostly Immigrants)
Labor Movements
The Temperance Movement
Conservation Movement (National Parks)
The list could go on. The material documenting these developments is very extensive- far more than I can cover in these short postings.
One major takeaway from this Study is that inasmuch as God was working in all these venues, than we can and should seek to work with Him in His work in similar areas today.
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