Obedience and Rebellion

The Bible teaches the children of the people of God to be obedient to their parents [Ex. 20:12] And it teaches adults to be obedient to rightful earthly authority---the laws of man that are in accordance with the love of people and the common good [1Pet 2:13-14]. Obedience and respect for rightful, loving authority is wise. It preserves peace and prosperity and provides for the greatest happiness. Rebellion against loving authority is described as foolish in the Bible. Anyone who has loved a child knows this.

But respect for tyranny is cowardice. Tyranny must be overthrown because, by definition, it is founded upon and motivated by power, not love; and everything must eventually come to lo love. Tyranny hates and fears freedom because freedom is not under its authority.

Every enemy of this nation wants us to be divided against ourselves. The Russian interference in American affairs has division as its primary aim. Radical Islamists delight to see us railing against each other in hatred and wallowing in the vomit of our debauchery and irresponsible living. Our enemies know that a united democracy is strong, but, as John Adams said, democracies have a tendency to commit “suicide” by carrying freedom into licentiousness and entitlement, making us weak in our division and selfish competition for pleasure and comfort. Jesus said a house divided against itself cannot stand. We must be united in our love for God and in God's love for all. We must remain responsible and strong.

Some Thoughts on Jews, Christians, Joy and America

Jews seem to be a joyful people group. Their celebrations flow in joyful music and their traditional dances are ebullient. The list of Jewish comedians is astounding:
 https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=vetHXKfxMKfHjwSCqr7YCA&q=jewish+comedians&btnK=Google+Search&oq=jewish+comedians&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i131j0l9.1514.6208..6664...0.0..0.187.1973.2j15....2..0....1..gws-wiz.....0.1ESd3R3ZI60

Their religion, traditions and cultural bonds were strong enough to enable them to maintain their identity for two thousand years without a home land, scattered over the earth. They rank as the most intelligent people on earth.  Though they comprise only .2% of the world's population, they earned 22.5% of the Nobel awards. They have historically been, I believe, one of the most persecuted people groups, yet have consistently enhanced the cultures they have inhabited, bringing humor and advancements in the sciences and arts. Both Christianity and Islam grew from the roots of Judaism; yet Christianity has lived harmoniously and respectfully with it; Islam, obviously, not so much. It's important to note here that the Judaism and Christianity of the Koran have fundamental divergences from those of the Bible.
America's democracy is deeply rooted in Judaeo-Christianity; a fact that cannot be rationally disputed. Our Founders were men who knew and respected the Bible; and the religion that they strove to protect from state regulation and looked to to provide the psycho-spiritual maturity in which democracy could flourish was undoubtedly Christianity in its various denominations and manifestations. It was the predominant or exclusive religion of the early American settlers and colonists. https://wallbuilders.com/the-founders-as-christians/
Anyone who has deeply studied the Bible can attest to its unifying and liberating power--a fact that elucidates its harsh exclusion by all tyrannical governments [something all free people should take note of]. Our Founders recognized that the religion of the Bible could protect a populace from tyranny; even theocratic tyranny. It was the desire of our early ancestors that Americans be acquainted with the Bible that motivated the institution of free public education: so that voters would know when and if the amended laws of our nation were straying from its [the Bible's] principles. [Google "The Old Deluder Satan Act"] All the original American universities were seminaries geared toward ministry training, and many of the Framers were clergymen.
These roots have formed and sustained what many believe to be the greatest nation on earth, providing unprecedented freedom and prosperity. In light of what history reveals about the risings and fallings of nations, and particularly the dreadful suffering associated with  humans trying to govern themselves and maintain some semblance of peace; bloody revolutions that produce nothing better than what was revolted against; it seems foolish for Americans to so lightly regard these roots and this foundation laid by our Founders and to take so lightly their wisdom about the importance of religion as a necessary pillar of democracy. Where and to whom are these important facts of our history being taught? In public schools? In the universities? How far can we drift from the foundation of our Founders--the foundation that has provided unprecedented blessings for humanity--before we begin to experience the societal pathologies that have plagued so many nations before us, and that plague so many cultures on the earth today? Where are children being taught that they have a dark component of their personalities--a "sinful nature"--that must be overcome by the grace and power of their Creator? How many of these children are being taught rather that they should feel good about themselves--have high "self-esteem" --despite the fact that they can be selfish, lazy, or downright mean at times? How much innate human pathology can be dealt with "nicely"? What is going to constrain the innate pathology so obvious in history and in daily life if not a personal, freely chosen devotion to the God Who created us all, loves us all, and commands us to love each other, even our enemies? [Matthew 5:44].
I fear for America because of the secular slide--more like an avalanche--into struggling for rights and ignoring responsibilities; pursuit of more and more pleasure and comfort; feeling entitled to being served and catered to by the State; or simply vegetating in the hypnotic captivity of  entertainment, media and technology--man-made things that obliterate the beauty of nature and drown out the quietness of soul so necessary for enlightenment and life-enhancing human interactions. I pray for ongoing awakening. I hope we don't have to suffer too much before it happens.

Fun and Children

I've been thinking about fun and children. Children don't want to just have fun in your presence; they want to have fun with you. They want you to have fun with them.  And fun can not be faked. It can, however be allowed--made space for. Children invite you to enter into their world. We can be so lost in our adult-polluted minds that we lose our ability to enter their world. This is very sad. Jesus said if we are unable to be like children we will not know the Kingdom of God. When a child approaches you, you are either trying to invite him into something or shut him out of something. Both are important and necessary. There are things children must be shut out from. But if we are not careful, we will be shutting them out for selfish reasons--because we don't want to be distracted from our problematic adult mindset. We are lost in our "adult" minds--perhaps worrying about something or planning some activity, or dreading something, or bothered by the responsibility of watching after a child.  So we miss an opportunity to be free and innocent---like a child. We try not to miss too many of these opportunities. Missing them makes aging more difficult. It's hard to look back on missed opportunities to be free and innocent. Better perhaps not to look back, but rather look around---for a child!

Freedom and Responsibility

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams, 2^nd President of the U.S.

Freedom without individual responsibility [which is the result of consciously chosen psycho-spiritual maturity] devolves toward tyranny. This is true because immature or unenlightened humans are selfish and feel entitled; conditions that, when prevalent in a society move it toward chaos, division and lawlessness. And when the populace gets frustrated with lawlessness, it longs for a strong hand to take charge and set things right. This is why it can be quite satisfying to see a strong parent sternly take charge of unruly children and sit them in the corner until they come back to a place of civility and respect for their elders. [This is not abuse. It is good parenting.] And the same principle applies in the hearts of citizens who see their culture being overrun by selfish, entitled adults who are primarily concerned with their “rights and privileges.” Indignation can rise to the point of desiring a strong hand of law and government to intervene and make people behave. In the early 1970's I asked a German woman who had married an American soldier and moved to the U.S. “How could a man like Hitler rise to power?” She replied “Oh, he made the streets safe to walk again.” The chaos that arises from immature, immoral, selfish and entitled citizens cries out for a powerful, suppressive government—in other words, tyranny. And we do not get to determine what morality is any more than we determine what is healthy or unhealthy for our physical bodies. We did not create our bodies; and we do not create morality. Just as healthy and unhealthy phenomena are innate to our bodies [and we violate their principles to the detriment of our physical health] so also, principles of morality are innate to humanity. We can discover those principles [the main concern of true religion and the best philosophy] but we cannot determine them any more than we can determine the physical principles by which the universe operates. Man always degenerates when he elevates himself above his Creator or, more secularly, when he begins to believe that he can redefine the eternal principles that generated the possibility of his existence.

Everyone suffers when anyone is irresponsible. Freedom is contingent upon individual responsibility. And freedom is costly, as those in Syria who took a stand for it can dreadfully attest. I think it is generally true that those who have lived entirely in a free society are sorely tempted to undervalue it and fail to appreciate its rarity and fragility—thus the tendency toward societal “suicide” that John Adams wrote about in the quote above. We are privileged in our time with freedom to access information via the internet that would have taken our ancestors a college degree to assimilate. And we can see now, more clearly than ever, what is happening in other nations on this earth; and compare them to our own. Perhaps this can enable us to value and protect what we have in a way that John Adams could not have anticipated.

We are free, but we are not entitled. And if we fail to be individually responsible, we have no right to demand anything of anyone. We are gifted with life, but we don't determine the principles by which it becomes a blessing or a curse. Humility enables us to discover those principles; and maturity manifests as the willingness and ability to submit to them. Jesus is the very embodiment of these eternal principles.