Simple Respect

I had a Sociology professor in college once that said something I’ve always remembered. He told us that if we were considering marrying anyone that we should watch the way they treated the least important people in their lives. He said that was the way they would eventually treat us. That’s always made me aware of the way I treat the least important people in my life. I was blessed with a mother who can strike up a conversation with anyone. She taught me by her example to treat everyone with respect. I’ve tried to follow her example and I’ve tried to be kind to waitresses and counter people, mailmen and gas station attendants, homeless people I pass on the street and the nameless, faceless people I deal with on the phone. All of them are worth the same respect I think I’m worth.

I had a girlfriend years ago that hated the fact that I would strike up a conversation with anyone…especially waitresses. She ignored them and she called me a fool for being nice to them. Now I’m forever grateful that I didn’t marry that woman. I can see the truth of what my old professor had said. It is odd to me, as a single person, that we can marry someone and, in effect, say they are the most special person in the world to us only to later treat them like we would the least important people in our life. That’s another story though.

The point I want to make here is that people, all people, deserve our respect as fellow human beings. The Golden Rule in the Bible says to treat others how we would like to be treated. Similar sayings and proverbs are in most religions. Wise people of all cultures and in all ages have realized the truth of that principle. We’re all in this life together. We can make things easier for each other or we can add to the burdens of each other. How we choose to live, how we choose to treat others says more about us than about them.

The basic principle is that there are two ways of life… the way of get and the way of give. We can spend our lives amassing stuff and stepping on other people or we can realize that we are all connected and reach out to our neighbors. People that live the latter are the salt of the earth…they preserve it. That’s what everyone who calls themselves a Christian is called to do. It doesn’t mean selling everything and moving to India to serve the poor necessarily. It means to help those in your little corner of the world, those God puts in your path.

We all need a hand from time to time. That’s helpful to remember when someone comes to us needing a hand. We all need a little acknowledgement and praise from time to time too. It can often be a very simple thing, like a smile, that makes someone’s day go by a little easier. You can strike up a conversation with someone just to be friendly and to let them know you see them; that you hear them. It takes very little effort to treat people with respect and dignity and it adds something positive to the world. It can have a ripple effect through the people we meet and the people they come into contact with.

The bottom line is that we create the kind of world we have to live in. What kind of world do you want to live in? What kind do you want to pass on to your children? We all deserve to be treated with respect. Let that start with how you treat the least important people in your life. Life is hard enough already. When you see people…let them know you really see them. That simple thing will begin to change your world.

On Being Real Men

I had someone ask me once why I liked John Wayne so much... I told them that when he walked into a room you knew what he stood for. Love it or hate it...you could count on it. He didn't waiver or waffle, he didn't change what he believed depending on who he was talking to. He was a Real man. It may sound corny but he is still one of my heroes. I trust someone when I know where they stand and I know they are going to be there. I don't have to agree with them about everything but I have to know I can count on them. That kind of Honor is in short supply these days.

When someone tells you the truth about the present or the past it’s called honesty. When someone tells you the truth about their behavior in the future that’s called Honor. Honorable people have a code of conduct that they live by. You know you can count on an honorable person to keep their word. In that way even ones enemies can be honorable. There was a time when that was a common value. Too many ‘men’ place no value on that quality these days. Call me old fashioned, but I believe Honor is one of the defining qualities of a Real man. It is akin to Integrity. Integrity is holding on to your code of conduct no matter what comes. When the hull of a ship is ruptured or broken it is said to have lost its integrity. When you can’t count on someone to do what they say they are going to…they’ve lost their integrity.

I don’t know why men in previous generations held some values. I don’t know why many couldn’t cry or tell their loved ones “I love you”. Those things don’t make a man ‘weaker’. They establish him as someone secure in his own manhood. It’s is a source of strength to be able to do those things. I’ve often thought the so-called ‘Iron John’ movement was a joke. Those folks claim that men have lost their way since women are more independent these days. That’s’ a load of crap!! Being a real man was never about dominating women! The Iron John types teach men to be sensitive and cry. Men don’t have to cry to be men…they just shouldn’t be afraid to when it’s appropriate. That doesn’t mean it’s OK to be a sissy! A man should be willing to stand up for what’s right just because it’s right.

Men these days have dropped the ball miserably in being Real Men. We don’t expect the same things from ourselves and from each other that we once did. We’ve lost something in the process. When some of us look to the past to reclaim what it means to be a man, we often only see the mistakes that our forefathers made. Being a man was never about dominating or controlling the women in their lives, for example. That’s something fools do. Real men love Real Women and aren’t afraid to let them be themselves. Real men control themselves.

What Real men do is take responsibility for their actions, protect the ones they love, provide for those in their charge and set the example of being upright and honest in dealing with other people. Real men teach their sons how to treat women with love and respect. They teach their daughters how they should expect men to treat them. They give the loved ones in their lives a soft place to land when they fall. Real men aren’t afraid to love because they know that’s where real strength comes from.

OK…so I’m a dinosaur! I prefer the company of Real men to the limp-wristed, cry babies that run from their responsibilities these days. I also prefer Real women, those who don’t think feminine is a dirty word or a sign of weakness. This trend towards a unisex society is hurting all of us! It attempts to emasculate men and it forces women to step up and do what the men in their lives won’t.

Real mean NEVER hit the women and children they love. There is no excuse for that kind of unfocused anger. Real men support their children…whether they are married to their mothers or not. Real men teach their sons to be men by their example. Real men don’t try to be women either. It’s good to be a man! The occasional testosterone rush reminds of that. Women don’t have to understand that part of us. And we don’ t have to understand everything about them!! We should just learn to love and appreciate them…

Here endeth the lesson!

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is one of the most powerful concepts in the realm of human psychology. It is a cornerstone, if not ‘The’ cornerstone, of Christianity. To forgive is to release someone from their debt of offense. Without Gods forgiveness there may not even be a human race and there would be no Christianity. Without our ability to forgive each other most of our relationships would become impossible. Without our forgiveness for ourselves we would be unable to grow emotionally and spiritually.

The fact is that it is hard to know our own minds sometimes. We may not understand our own motivations for doing something. All of us make mistakes and we all sin. A part of our maturing process is to learn to forgive each other, and ourselves, for our mistakes and transgressions. To do so can help us in drawing closer to each other. Every one of us can recall times when we’ve wronged someone, maybe without even knowing why. Afterwards, when they forgave us, we felt closer to them than ever. Forgiveness can help to form life-changing bonds between people because it comes from love.

While it is a cornerstone concept in the Christian faith, it is often easier said than done.
We all have personal stories about someone who has wronged us and never apologized or asked for our forgiveness. Sometimes the hardest thing to feel towards someone who has wronged us is forgiveness. We have it in our power to choose to carry the offense as a burden or to forgive them anyway. Sometimes we do it just for ourselves…just so we don’t have to continue to carry the emotional baggage. To carry the feeling that we’ve been wronged only drags us down and hurts us. Forgiveness can release us from that burden. It can uplift both the forgiver and the forgiven.

Forgiveness is something God expects of all of us. In the Lords Prayer we ask that He “forgive us our trespasses AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US”. In other words, He’ll deal with us the way we deal with others. Forgiveness flows from mercy. Mercy flows from Love. Love flows from God. That is what Christianity is after all…a vehicle for conveying Gods Love to man. If you’re not forgiving your debtors…you’re missing the mark.

When Christ was asked how many times we should forgive someone for offenses to us His answer was…seventy times seven times. Just think about what God has forgiven you of and it seems a much smaller number afterward.

Perhaps the greatest thing about forgiveness is that it’s available to everyone. God offers it to us freely through the sacrifice of His son Jesus the Christ. And we all have it in our power to forgive each other and ourselves. It may not happen all at once. More often than not it’s a process, one that charts our spiritual growth. Where we fall short we can always go to God in prayer and ask for His help. When you have no love to give, you can always turn to The Source of Love. He will forgive us our debts and He will forgive others through us if we only ask…

Evolution AND Creation

Some aspects of the various theories of evolution seem logically sound and quite plausible to me. The basic concept of evolution has been around since the Greeks…that amazing culture that gave us so much when they began to think freely. What Charles Darwin did was observe and record the mechanism by which the theory might operate. Darwin, a keen observer with a very sharp mind, theorized that the mechanism by which human evolution might have taken place is ‘survival of the fittest.’ He observed that environmental pressures tend to weed out certain characteristics in the gene pool while favoring other characteristics. An animal more suited to cold weather is more likely to survive a planetary shift in temperature, like an ice age, than one not so well suited for example. I can buy that. There is still the sticky problem of one species of animal giving birth to a different species. Evolutionary theorists tell us that such changes happen gradually, over millions of years but they have yet to produce any fossil evidence of a real missing link. It could happen I suppose, but without any hard evidence it’s still just a theory.

What the survival of the fittest mechanism doesn’t come anywhere near explaining is Sentience. Sentience, self-awareness, consciousness, or whatever label ones gives the quality that sets human beings apart from animals makes us unique among living things on earth. Some scientists speculate that sentience might be an ‘evolutionary emergent’ quality. That is to say that when life begins to evolve into ever more complex forms, self-awareness naturally occurs. That is pure speculation with NO evidence to back it up. In fact the evidence seems to me to point the other direction. Human beings, if you buy the most commonly accepted theory of evolution, have been around maybe three million years. The dinosaurs were around some two hundred million years and there is no evidence that any of them became sentient in the process.

What happened to man is unique. Some will, no doubt, point out that we share 98 percent of our genetic make up with the great apes and they are just behind us in evolutionary development. They have been around as long as we have. If sentience is evolutionary emergent…why don’t they write books and build cities too? They are not just different in degree from human beings…they are different in kind. Any non-biased observer can tell you that. (Provided they don’t have a PhD to muddle their thinking!) Intelligence may well be evolutionary emergent but intelligence is not the same as sentience.

If evolutionary theory is true then something happened to mankind that made us different. We are self-aware. We are capable of understanding the universe around us. We can build cultures and create languages and we can pass on what we’ve learned through them. No other life form yet identified can do those things.

There was some moment in our development when we became self aware as a species. We might call it an, ‘Adam and Eve moment’. The emergence of the Human Spirit set us apart. At that point a new species was born. From here it might be possible to harmonize the Biblical account of creation with modern scientific thought. If the first hominid to become self-aware began to reproduce it is logical to assume that his offspring would have the advantage over other hominids in intelligence and eventually come to dominate. That would mean that all modern human beings had the same ancestor even if other hominids existed simultaneously for a time.

This is all just speculation on my part. I don’t believe there is enough information in the few pages of the Bible where the subject is addressed to speak dogmatically. I also don’t believe that evolutionary scientists have proven their case. There are too many holes in the best of their theories. Sometimes both sides seem alittle too entrenced to hear the other to me.

I think that children should be taught everything. Let them hear both arguments. Maybe it would be inappropriate for both arguments to be taught in a science class. That’s OK by me…send them to a worlds religions class too. Teach them everything!! The world they were born into is not black and white. It’s more complex than that. They’ll need good brains to navigate their way through it. They’ll need to be exposed to all the ideas to make up their own minds. I don’t think any of us should be afraid of education.

I DO believe education should include being taught the difference between right and wrong and they won’t get that in a classroom. They won’t be taught personal or social responsibility there either. It’s up to parents and churches to teach them the really important things. Instead of taking a hard-line stand on evolution versus creation, I think our time would be better spent on teaching our children to be decent people. We can best do that by our example…whatever our beginnings were.

Open for Business!

2005 has been an important year for my heart. The death of someone special to me caused it to slowly shut down long ago. It was as if I had put a sign outside of it: “Closed Until Further Notice”. In the last year I have lost more friends and relatives to death than ever before in my life. I know that’s to be expected as we get older, but it doesn’t make it any easier. One friend’s death, in particular, made an impression on me. A man in his nineties named Bill Copenhaver whom I had known for many years quietly faded off in his sleep. He was a blessing in my life. I don’t think I ever met a more decent, gentle, unassuming man. He was married to the love of his life, Mabel, for over sixty years. She died a few years ago leaving him alone and ready to join her. They were such an amazing example of life-long love… I stopped by the nursing home where he spent his last month the day before he slipped beyond the veil. I touched his forehead as he slept and, unintentionally, awakened him. We exchanged a few words. I told him that I loved him and he told me the same. He was one of those people that just made life easier to bear for me. His death reminded me of the saying: “Don’t cry because it’s over, Smile because it happened!” I did both at the same time… I’ve found that even in moments of darkness and despair there are moments of grace. Mr. Copenhaver helped me to realize that. This year has served as a kind of wake-up call for me to 'Carpe Diem'! I've set about to make some changes in my life. One of them is to open my heart more. I've been blessed to have had some great examples in life. Most of them have now slipped beyond the veil. I have folded the lessons they taught me into my life so a part of them lives on through me. I hope I can do them honor…

Smiting the Black Metal

Blacksmithing is one of the crafts that made modern life possible. It may even be ‘the’ craft that made modern civilization possible. It is as old as civilization. It’s been a part of most cultures for thousands of years.

Without an understanding and use of iron and steel, modern life would be impossible. After World War II traditional blacksmithing almost died out. It has been replaced by modern welding, machining and manufacturing processes. We can now make things faster, stronger and more uniformly than the local blacksmith ever could. Today mass production has insured that most everyone has the same ‘stuff’.

In making the transition, I think we’ve lost something too. In the United States we have the unspoken axiom that ‘newer is better’. When a new way to do something is developed the old ways are often largely forgotten. In an age when everything is going hi-tech, I think it’s important to remember where we came from and how we got here. It not only gives us a fuller understanding of why things are done the way they are, but it gives us an appreciation of the past and how our ancestors lived.

There are other cultures that hold different values. In Japan for example, when you take a job in say, a textile mill, you are required to learn the origins of the craft. In the case of textiles they are taught how fibers are obtained and woven, how plant dyes are rendered and utilized and how successive technologies gradually modernized the craft. They consider it important to understand how we got to where we are.

Some people in our society today can operate the most advanced computers but have no idea how to grow their own food or build their own homes. Our culture has seen many traditional crafts simply die out in favor of new ways. In sensing that we’ve lost something, making the transition to our modern mass-produced culture, many are turning their eyes back to the traditional ways. A whole new generation is rediscovering what it means to exercise their will in steel. Blacksmithing is being reborn. The anvil has been infused with new life by artists and craftsmen seeking to learn the old ways.

Tools that were once unidentified relics in dusty old barns, and skills that were once forgotten, are being rediscovered. Modern artist blacksmiths are preserving the knowledge for future generations. They are finding that they are limited only by their imaginations. And what some of their imaginations have produced would amaze you! Traditional philosophies once held that there were five basic elements in the universe…earth, air, fire, water, and wood. The blacksmith works with all of them and he also adds a sixth…his will. He creates something new and unique in the universe every time he forges. Everything he or she forges is, by definition, one of a kind.

I can tell you from experience that in the forge it’s easy to feel a deep connection to the elements. You become one with them. The joy one feels in using air, water, fire, wood and earth in creating something new is almost indescribable. It’s like putting your fingers on the pulse of creation. You learn its rules and its boundaries. You learn to move with it. You learn to stretch your own imagination and your own will. There is something primal in it that speaks directly to your soul. With every hammer blow you can also feel a connection with thousands of years of history and with the struggles our ancestors faced in getting us here. Some of us embrace the past and the old ways. Some of us still love the ‘low tech’ ways. We won't let them be forgotten. A new day is dawning on the hammer, the anvil and the forge!

The Sacred and the Profane

Knowing what a culture or society holds sacred goes a long way towards understanding the heart of that culture. This is something anthropologists and archeologists understand but it is something that most of the rest of us give little thought to. In the United States of America the motto we print on our currency is: In God We Trust. That sentiment has been foundational in the development of our nation. It doesn’t mean that every individual believes in the same god, or believes in God at all. It means that, as a nation, as a people we hold it important to recognize God as having the central position in the affairs of men and in the unfolding our history. Just read the personal writings of any of the founding fathers. They called on God to direct them in forming a new nation, to bless and protect it every step of the way, and they gave Him credit for its successes.

The affirmation that God exists is written into the Declaration of Independence, one of our ‘sacred’ documents. It says: We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these rights Governments are instituted among Men…

It was considered a ‘self-evident’ truth that there is a Creator and that He is responsible for endowing men with the birthrights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Holding that as a sacred truth has guided us into building the greatest nation in the history of the world.

Those that don’t want even the notion of God in their lives are making a concerted effort to erase all mention of Him from public places these days. They have twisted the intention of the Constitution to separate all levels of government from any form of religious values. That was not the intention of the founding fathers at all. Their intention was to prevent the formation of a state religion. To legally impose any specific religious beliefs on the citizenry is a violation of the First Amendment. To deny anyone from even mentioning their own religious beliefs in a public setting is also to violate the intent of the First Amendment. The founding fathers believed that all Americans, that all human beings, should be allowed to explore their religious beliefs for themselves. They also held that belief in God was a necessary common value for a strong and stable society. That much is evident in their writings.

It seems the only values we are supposed to share these days are the politically correct ones. When some Hollywood celebrity wants the spotlight they’ll make a show of telling us exactly what cause of the day is. Some endangered moth may need saving somewhere and the only source of help could be an actor whose only real talent is in pretending to be other people for the entertainment of strangers…and making obscene amounts of money for it. If they were born with the genes that make them attractive that could replace even the need for talent of course. They may be completely morally depraved but they can convince themselves that they are decent people if they can sponsor a telethon or a thirty second commercial urging us to spend our money on ‘the cause’. (No need to spend their own money when they bring their fame to the table.)

The one value that many of them, and others that crave the spotlight, don’t want to be reminded of is the belief in God. You see believing in God can make people uncomfortable. It can demand that they actually be a decent person instead of just appearing to be for the camera. That is the very reason it is so important that we maintain a common belief in God as a sacred value.

America has been guided by the principle that all people are entitled to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness for over two centuries. Our Creator is central to that principle. Americans have spilled their own blood in every part of the earth to bring those rights to our fellow man. At the heart of our culture has always been the truth that there is a God. From that flows the truth that we have a purpose and a destiny. To believe that we are accountable to a higher source, that we will be called on to answer for, not just what we do in life, but also what is in our hearts, can go further than any camera in modifying our behavior. Whether each individual believes it or not isn’t important. It sets the bar higher for all of us. It can make the world a better place. Our generation is paying a high price to learn that. If we are to survive as a republic we’d better learn it because where nothing is sacred, nothing is stable. Our founding fathers knew that. They considered it a sacred duty to put God in the very heart of our culture. Whether He remains there or not is up to us.

Spiritual but not Religious

“I’m spiritual but not religious.” That’s a common thing to hear these days. More than a few people who will tell you they are ‘spiritual’ are hard pressed to tell you exactly what it means though. These are folks who have tried to find their own path in life and with it, their own set of beliefs. ‘New Age’ spirituality has grown up since the sixties. It’s now almost main-stream in its appeal. I believe the main reason for that is the failure of traditional churches to deliver the true teachings of the scriptures. The most important part of true teachings is the example of righteous men and women of faith. It is what we do that speaks louder than anything we say…

Catholic and Protestant ‘Men of the cloth’ have almost turned hypocrisy into a sport. It’s commonplace these days to hear of their sexual, emotional and even physical abuse of their followers. Financial abuses are even more commonplace. Even those who aren’t guilty of such abuses often appear to be nothing more than superstitious, narrow-minded bigots. Instead of living the life and ‘walking the walk’ of what they claim to believe, many seem to spend most of their efforts in arguing subjects they have little or no expertise in. There are men of the cloth that preach racism, hatred and intolerance as a part of 'the' faith. Family members, friends and neighbors have turned on each other out of sheer hatred...over matters of faith. Parents have abused their children and Husbands have abused their wives all in the name of God.. So many sins have been committed in the name of God it is a wonder any non-believers listen to Bible thumpers at all! The watered-down and distorted teachings that most churches preach and the hypocrisy filled examples of 'Christian' faith do little to draw anyone to true conversion.

What society is left with is a spiritual void that many non Judeo-Christian traditions have rushed in to fill. It is a misnomer that ‘New Age’ beliefs are new. Most are comprised of a hodge-podge of very old native traditions. The worship of nature, or aspects of nature, are a common theme. The desire to be made privy to some body of secret knowledge is another common theme. Central to many of them is the belief that through ones own efforts one can evolve or ascend to a higher state of being. What they all have in common, from a Biblical perspective, is that they are all false teachings. They have a kind of spirituality but it is a counterfeit spirituality. The problem with a counterfeit is that when you have one you stop looking for the real thing. Just imagine that someone owes you money and pays you in counterfeit bills. You think you’ve been paid…until you take it to the bank.

A religion is typically an organized body of believers with a specific body of beliefs that defines relationships. It defines our relationship with God. It defines our relationship with other human beings. It gives us a direction for ourselves in our own life. And it gives us a world-view into which everything else finds a context. To be ‘spiritual’ is to be aware of, to interact with, and to be guided by the non-physical aspects of reality...i.e. the spirit realm. (These are, admittedly, imperfect, working, definitions but they serve to make one think about the terms.)

A counterfeit religion leads us away from the truth by giving us a false, or inaccurate, world-view. It is, by definition, a lie. A counterfeit religion causes us to expend our energies in a wasteful or useless way. Any kind of religion or spirituality that tells us we are OK just the way we are is false. Just look around at the way we are! Any religion or spirituality that causes us to focus solely on ourselves is a counterfeit. The 'enlightened' old man on the mountaintop doesn't make the world a better place.

A true religion points us to the true God and His will for us. A true religion makes us look at ourselves. A true religion urges us to become better people. A true religion urges us to look beyond ourselves and help our fellow man. We are all in this together... A true religion makes us, and our world, better. A counterfeit causes us to focus only on ourselves.

It has been my experience that people who claim to be "spiritual but not religious" are usually focused only on themselves. That focus doesn’t make them better people and it doesn't make the world a better place. It squanders their energies instead of directing them into real spiritual growth. A counterfeit religion doesn’t direct people to God, it directs them away from God. A counterfeit spirituality may very well be in touch with the spiritual realm of existence...but not with the right spirits. If you look anywhere but to God for guidance, for spiritual help, for comfort, or for truth…you are practicing a false religion. You are practicing a lie...spiritual or not.

Black and White

If only we could tell the bad guys from the good guys by their black and white hats things would be so much easier. The world is rarely that simple. But then again some things are black and white.

Once again Americans in the service of arms are in harms way in foreign lands. There are people who, in good conscience, oppose the war. They have that right. It is a right that was deeded to them by men who fought and died for it in wars past. Some quote things like: “If war is the answer, it must have been a stupid question!” That, in itself, is overly simplistic and more than a little stupid. Sometimes war is the answer. Sometimes economic and political pressures don’t have their desired effect. Sometimes all diplomatic efforts fail and nations are left to slug it out. There’s always a bully in the schoolyard who won’t get the message any other way. That is what it boils down to.

War has served to end political oppression over millions of people. It has served to end slavery. It ended the genocide of European Jews. It ended Nazism and Japanese imperialism and it has freed enslaved peoples the world over. For whatever other reasons this one is being fought, it is serving to bring freedom to people who have never known it in their lifetimes.

This much is black and white to me. Osama Bin Laden and his kind are pure evil. In acts of cowardice they commit mass murder without provocation. Some will argue it’s not cowardice if you’re willing to commit suicide in the act… It ‘is’ cowardice to murder unarmed, innocent people who don’t know you’re coming even if you die in the process. I’ve heard liberals say we should try to understand them. ‘We’ are the ones who need to learn tolerance…not the men who murder innocent people in the name of their religion. That attitude is far worse than simplistic and stupid…it is collaborating with evil! That too is black and white.

Saddam Hussein was an evil dictator. He and his regime deserved to be toppled…and killed. Whether he was linked to the 9/11 mass murders or not, whether or not he had weapons of mass destruction (something believed by many administrations in many nations for years)…he deserved to be toppled. Whether or not we should be the ones to do it may be a question but the bigger question is, if we don’t do it…who will?

The innocent men, women and children who suffered under his regime didn’t deserve the atrocities they were subjected to… This man used poison gas on his own people and invaded his own neighbors. His men raped, pillaged, burned and stole whatever they wanted. They killed and destroyed things…just because they could.

The innocent men, women and children who are dying every day in Afghanistan and Iraq don’t deserve it. Sometimes we forget about them in the mix. The soldiers and marines who are dying every day so far from their homes don’t deserve it either. At least they have the consolation of dying for something they believe in. They are spilling their own blood to set oppressed people free. What higher value can we have as Americans?

There is a price to pay and we all end up paying a part of it. The soldiers and the innocents who die pay the greatest price. So too the families who are torn apart, the children who will never know their fathers and mothers, the friends and relatives who will never see their loved ones again…they all pay a price. It tears marriages apart. It inflicts harm on almost everyone it touches in some way. The psychological damage that war inflicts on its survivors is almost immeasurable.

No mother or father would want to lose a child in any way…much less to lose one in war. It is simplistic to think anyone in their right mind ‘wants’ to go to war. But Thank God there are always men and women willing to do so even knowing the price they may pay. By their actions, the sights and sounds of freedom are being seen and heard in places where they’ve never been known.

Maybe we are creating a new generation of terrorists. It is irrational hatred of Americans and Jews that fuels our enemies and, by definition, no rational arguments will sway them. But we are giving many, many others a taste of freedom. The psychological effects of that are immeasurable too…

Jesus the Christ taught us that: “No man has greater love than to lay his life down for his friend”. That’s what soldier’s and marines do every day. The least we can do for them is to support them in any way we can. And no…I don’t believe you can support them without wanting them to win and to complete their task. The American military has fought to secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves, for our posterity and for our fellow man. That’s an American value and it, too, is black and white.

Sacrifice

Close your eyes and imagine for a moment that you’ve raised a pet calf or lamb since it was a newborn. You’ve fed it by hand with a bottle and later with solid food every day of its life. You’ve cared for it through sickness and health. You’ve protected it from predators. You’ve sheltered it from bad weather. You’ve named it and it knows the sound of your voice. It comes to you when you call. It is a part of your household…a part of your family.

Now imagine that you are told you must take a knife to its throat and take its life for some wrong you’ve done.

When the moment comes you clasp your hand over its mouth and raise its head. You slide your other arm over it and put the blade of your knife to its exposed throat. You have to firmly hold it in place while you press your knife to its flesh. It doesn’t move because it trusts you. You then feel the flesh rip open as you draw your knife across its throat opening its veins and arteries; its esophagus and wind pipe. You hear it cry out and feel its body shudder in your hands and arms. Blood spills from its throat. You feel the shock and the terror it experiences at its life being taken by a trusted caregiver. You hear it gasp for its last breath and you feel the life pour out as blood spills over the ground at your feet. You have to tighten your grasp to hold it in place. In a few moments, that seem longer, it finally relaxes and goes limp as the last nervous reflex is spent. Its lifeless body slumps in your arms.

You’ve just taken a life to pay for something you did… Disobedience is something you now realize earns death. You feel the loss of the pet you’ve raised since birth. It had to die because of your disobedience. It took your place. The seriousness of your act is pressed home by the life you’ve just taken to pay for it. That’s how a sacrifice should feel…personal.

Now imagine that the very Son of God steps out of eternity into a mortal body to walk among us. His love for us is so great that He offers Himself up as a sacrifice for our disobedience. A part of the Eternal God who created everything we can perceive, who created you, a speck of dust, on a planet that is one of billions in a galaxy that is one of billions in an unimaginably endless universe. You, this speck of dust, are so important to God that He was willing to submit to that cruelty, to that humiliation, out of love…for you. Disobedience to Gods law is that serious. That is a part of the Gospel, the Good News, of God to mankind.

To accept that sacrifice, to feel the loss personally, to accept responsibility for the actions that demanded it…that’s what we are called to do in calling ourselves Christians. Our calling goes beyond that though. Our calling is to return to obedience to our Creator. That’s what repentance means…to return to obedience. He gave us His law as a gift for our good. His law is proof of His love for us. Our obedience to His law demonstrates our willingness to accept His authority in our lives. Obedience was never intended to ‘earn’ salvation…it's not a salvation issue…it's an issue of Love for our Creator. It’s also an issue of love for ourselves and our fellow man. Breaking Gods laws often ends up hurting someone else and it always ends up hurting us.

Sin, disobedience to Gods law, is so repugnant to Him that He wants to impress it upon us in the most precious thing we have…our life’s blood. It is our blood that is demanded after all. His love for us is so great that He gave His own in our place.

That act doesn’t do away with the need to keep the law of God…it does away with the penalty for breaking it. The sacrifice of Jesus the Christ doesn’t do away with the need for Gods law in our lives. It was not a license to disregard it. We are still bound to obedience to God. Our disregard of Gods law is disrespect for Christ’s sacrifice.

Christ’s very first words when He began His ministry were: ”Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” He’s already made the sacrifice. He gave His life's blood to give you the chance to atone with God. What are you prepared to do for Him?

Idolatry

It is something of a psychological comfort for human beings to construct images of God for themselves. It makes the universe, the unknowable, feel within our grasp…within our control. Most forms of idolatry aren’t in stone, wood or metal. They are in our minds. We can construct images of a higher power, a great spirit, in our mind and worship what we have created without the aid of a piece of stone or wood. We can give our image whatever characteristics and whatever names we desire.

The mystical traditions of many cultures believe we can gain some measure of control over a thing, or a being, if we can find it’s true name, it’s secret name. This is somewhat akin to waking up in the morning to find hair growing out of your knuckles, your eyes turning red and a funny taste on your tongue. The first thing you want to know is: What do I have? You go to your doctor and he examines you. After consulting his library, and looking appropriately serious, the doctor comes back and says: You have Lycanthropy! (Now, you have no idea that your doctor has just told you that you are a werewolf…) You are relieved to hear that there is a name for what you have because if there is a name for it, then we must have some control over it. You see naming something is a kind of idolatry. We limit a thing by naming it. We can now pigeonhole it and, instead of dealing with the real thing…we can deal with our mental image of what it is. You might say the control is all in your head.

Every culture on earth, throughout the ages, has created an image of God, or gods, in their belief systems. That image may fit whatever ideals the people have at the time. Some gods are bloodthirsty, some fickle and some very unsympathetic. In our own modern culture we are encouraged to turn to our own ‘higher power’, our…god, “whatever we conceive that to be”. The gods of the world reflect the values of the men who conceived of them. We, humans, usually conceive him to be something we’ve seen in the natural world…a part of creation.

God is NOT a part of creation. Scripture reveals that God is outside of creation. Some things about Gods nature can be gleaned from His creation…His sense of beauty for example. But we should never limit God by anything in creation. If you are a person of Judeo-Christian faith your image, your conception of God, ‘should’ come from one source…the Bible. In reality many ideas about God, even for most Christians, don’t come from the ‘Revealed word of God’. Many of our conceptions come from human traditions. Many that come from human traditions are a form of Idolatry. None of our conceptions should contradict what is revealed in scripture. We aren’t going to ‘get it’ perfectly…but we should always strive to understand Who God is and what His values are. Believers should reflect The One True Gods values…not the other way around.

It is ironic that many professing Christians that wouldn’t dream of bowing down to a false god, do so regularly. They bow down to a god, not revealed in the scriptures but one, conceived of by human beings and taught in human traditions. Such is the concept of a god who would allow a newborn child who dies, or a person who dies in a culture or time wherein the Gospel is unknown, to suffer in an ever burning Hell-fire. That is not the Just, Righteous, Merciful God revealed in the scriptures. That is someone’s image of god based on a misunderstanding of scriptures and on a counterfeit spiritual tradition. We are never going to fully understand Gods nature, not as mortals anyway, but the things we need to know have been revealed to us.

What we believe about God matters because we act on our beliefs. Where we get our concept of God matters because any source other than the scriptures ‘can’ lead us into idolatry. There is only One God and to understand His nature we must study the scriptures. That’s where He reveals Himself to us…

Does your god reveal your values or does your life reflect Gods values?

Intimacy

It is a part of the human condition for us to reach out to other human beings. We seem to need to connect with, at least, one other human being. It seems to me that, that need, is a part of our nature, in our ‘spiritual DNA’ if you will. Maybe we need to make connections to help us define who we are for ourselves. It could be that we need someone to accept us for who we really are and not for the face we show the world. It could keep us from getting lost. Maybe we sense our isolation on such a deep level that it drives us to seek out other human beings like fear of the dark drives us to seek out the light. Or maybe we just need another human being to bear testament that we’ve been here. I think of the human heart like a seed with a hard shell. It needs the proper environment and nurturing to break open and become greater than it is. I think we need to grow. Whatever the need is, it causes us to crave intimacy with another human being.

To be completely vulnerable to another human being, to trust someone so completely that you absolutely ‘know’ you’re safe with them…that’s the dream. It’s a powerful thing, intimacy. It has the power to totally transform one who gives ones self over to it. The problem is that while we seek it, we still tenaciously cling to our autonomy. It’s an odd paradox of the human condition that, while we crave intimacy, we fight against it at the same time. It’s a paradox that each of us has to come to peace with. If we are to ever truly make the deep connection with another person that we seem to need, we have to learn to let our barriers down. We also need to learn to put someone else’s needs before our own. That’s just another way to define love. If we don’t do that…we just end up sabotaging what we hope to build.

Love, trust and letting one’s defenses down, those things aren’t easy to achieve. Even calling our inner barriers ‘defenses’ means we sense a kind of battle going on. If you sense no attack…no defense is necessary. Life on earth with other human beings teaches most of us not to trust, so we erect barriers to protect ourselves. But the barriers we erect make us feel our isolation even more acutely. The barriers themselves can drive away the very people we seek to be intimate with. We then may conclude that the barriers protected us! It can become a vicious cycle.

To completely trust another human being…how do we learn that? All I know is that it goes against everything experience has ingrained in me. Looking through the window from here on the outside it does look warm in there, but at what price I wonder?

This much I know…Love and trust are the cornerstones of what most of us hope to build. I also know that the firmest foundation one can build on is God. How one could build without God as the foundation is beyond me. That would be like building a house on shifting sand…or trying to plant seeds on a sidewalk.

Seeds need a ‘growth friendly’ environment to break through their barriers. They need good soil, water and sunshine. They somehow seem to ‘know’ that they can be greater than they are if they can just break through their own barriers. Witness the lowly acorn… It can push up a sidewalk to become a mighty oak tree. But it has to take that first step.

I suspect that we need to make intimate connections to know what it is to grow beyond ourselves. It may be only the first step in coming to understand what is possible. We are all connected after all. Possibly the biggest stumbling block to individuals, and to humanity is not realizing that. It takes courage, it takes love…it takes a ‘growth friendly’ environment, but God’s promise is that it can be done.

The Sabbath Day

Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy… That’s how the forth of the Ten Commandments begins. Most Christians today believe that the need to obey the Commandments was done away with by the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ. What His sacrifice did, in fact, was do away with the penalty for breaking Gods Commandments. (Sin is the transgression of Gods law.) Christ didn’t come to do away with the law, He came to fill it to its fullest measure. You shall not murder became more complete when Christ taught that even to hate one’s fellow man was a violation of it. You shall not commit adultery became more complete when Christ added to it that even to lust after someone elses spouse violated the commandment. In a like manner, a spiritual dimension was added to the Sabbath commandment. We are not only to cease from our daily labor in it, we are to do good in it; we are to seek to feel the presence of God in it.

The Sabbath Day was made for man, for our good. One cannot argue that the law of God is for our own good and simultaneously argue that we need not observe it anymore. That makes no sense.

The Sabbath serves to remind us that God created the universe and everything in it…including us. The Sabbath foreshadows the 1000 years that Christ will reign on earth when He returns. It reminds us that we can do nothing of ourselves for our own salvation. Salvation is a gift from God. Keeping His commandments is not a salvation issue…it is an issue of Love. God says, “If you love Me…Keep My Commandments”.

The Sabbath is a temple in time. It is Holy time. Only God can declare something Holy…set apart for His special purpose. I sometimes wonder what God would have done if, when He told Moses to remove the sandles from his feet near the burning bush because the ground he stood on was holy, Moses had said, “I don’t want to take my sandles off here, I’ll take them off over there!” (I doubt we would know the name Moses today if that had happened. )

God has declared The Seventh Day Holy. Man has, in effect, said: “We don’t want this day Holy, we’ll make tomorrows holy instead!” That’s not obeying God. That is choosing for ourselves what is good and what is evil…the same sin Adam made. The traditions of men are never on a par with the Law of God. God is clear many times over in scriptures…He will accept only the worship He commands and none other.

The Sabbath is a gift to us. It’s not a work as some would claim. It’s just the opposite. It is a time to step out of our daily concerns and allow God to work in us. The Sabbath is new every week, it is a reminder, a guidepost of Gods Way. Keeping it isn’t a burden…it’s a joy!

Those who see it as an outdated burden only for Jews are missing out on one of Gods great blessings to mankind. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy…it was made for you after all!

Lift Your Eyes

Oh that men would look to the Most High God... If only we would yield ourselves to His will. We would find the peace that has forever eluded our race. We would find the happiness that has only existed in our dreams. We could find that ‘Better Way’ that our songs and poetry tells us about. We could come out of our solitary existence and know that we are a part of something so much greater…

The Bible, the Revealed Word of God, shows us that there is a beginning, a purpose and an ultimate destiny to history. It reveals to us that there is a spiritual dimension that interacts with our world and has affected our history. God, our Creator, reveals to us that there is a right way to live to achieve health and happiness. He reveals His laws to us so that we may know that right way. God reveals to us there is missing dimension in human psychology and that there is an evil intelligence working against us. Without understanding these revealed truths mankind operates in the dark. The sad fact of human nature is that mankind doesn’t even want to know these things. Human beings want to put, even the knowledge of, God out of their minds. That knowledge stands witness against the purposes of the human heart. Our very nature rebels against the way of our Creator.

Yet another blow was struck against the Way of God recently. The Ten Commandments, the law of love, so offend the godless that they can’t tolerate even the sight of them. The supreme court of the land has yielded to the twisted reasoning of those that make war against the truth. It doesn’t matter much at this point. Even most of those who claim a knowledge of God have put the law of liberty out of their minds. The Ten Commandments have become only a symbol…a dying vestige of the truth they represent.

This is only one small voice amidst the rush and throng of humanity. I use it to say this: Beware…The God of Heaven will not be tossed aside. The Creator of the universe is still on His throne. He sees, He cares, He rewards the obedient and He punishes the unrepentant. His purposes will be served. One day every knee will bow to Him. Every tongue will confess that He is God.

While there is time, while you draw breath…turn your heart to your Creator. If you do that your eyes will be opened to the thousands of miracles He performs every day all around you. It is only in Him that you’ll find the love for your fellow man that makes life worth living. It is only in Him that you’ll find real life at all. Freedom doesn’t lie in lawlessness…that’s the way of chaos and destruction. Freedom lies in our willing obedience to our Creator.

Our Witness

Most Christians will tell you they believe in putting sin out of their lives…but most couldn’t tell you the biblical definition of sin. The Bible, the revealed Word of God, says that sin is the transgression of Gods law. The cornerstone of Gods law is the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the only part of scripture actually written by the very hand of God. He spoke them directly to the people of Israel assembled at the foot of mount Sinai. They heard His voice and were terrified. They asked Moses to intercede for them and the law of God became known to many as the law of Moses. They remain the law of God however, and yes, they were written in stone…

The ninth of the Ten Commandments says: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” (KJV) Other scriptures tell us plainly that God hates lies and that no liar will enter His Kingdom. The spirit of the ninth commandment goes beyond lying however. Christ expounded on the commandments and taught that the spirit of the commandments also binds us.

Any attempt at deceiving others in thought, word or deed is a part of bearing false witness. While there are many honest Christians that would not overtly lie, there are those that would turn back the odometer on their car or not disclose a fault in a home they want to sell. There are those who would attempt to deceive by not speaking up when they should. There are those who rationalize cheating on their taxes or taking advantage of others in other ways. These are also attempts to deceive others and they are contrary to the spirit of the ninth commandment. That makes all of them sin.

Perhaps the most common practice of bearing false witness against ones neighbor is gossip. It can seem innocent enough simply to pass on a story one heard about a third party. In a court of law that would be referred to as ‘hearsay’ and would be inadmissible as evidence against a defendant. To speak ‘against’ any other person without first hand knowledge of their actions is gossip. Gossip is, however harmlessly intended, a violation of God’s ninth commandment. By gossip we can harm the reputation of another person in ways that they can’t even defend against.

As Christians, we should control what comes out of our mouths. What comes out of us should always be truthful. It should never intend to deceive. It should never be hurtful and it should never be used to tear down another person. (That doesn’t mean we should never correct someone for doing wrong. In correction, however, the goal should be to uplift someone…not tear them down.)

Search your heart and ask yourself if what you are saying or doing is an attempt to deceive someone else. Does what comes out of your mouth harm or uplift others? What comes out of you is a reflection of what is inside of you. Is it the province of light…or darkness?

Scripture teaches us that Satan is the father of deception. As Christians we should put all forms of deception out of ours lives as an act of worship to The Most High. Our individual walk with God should be one wherein we seek to become more like Him on a daily basis. His Holy Spirit will lead us into becoming more like our Father IF we listen to it… We have the freedom of choice.

With Outstretched Arms

There is a joke about the afterlife to the affect that when the subject of the joke dies he goes to hell. He finds that he is there condemned to an eternity of having his arms and hands held outstretched at his sides among all the other inhabitants of hell. They are all unable to use their hands to feed themselves. To make their condition worse they are all within arms reach of a banquet table filled with all the finest foods and beverages. Each tries to eat and drink and are all unable to do so. Hence they are all miserable. It seems they are only concerned with getting for themselves in hell.

The picture then changes to Heaven to find a similar scene. The inhabitants there also have their hands and arms held outstretched at their sides. They too are within reach of a banquet table filled with an unimaginable feast. But in Heavens scene the inhabitants are full of joy and laughter. The difference is that in Heaven the inhabitants use their outstretched hands to feed one another.

Now the world has distorted the images of Heaven and hell beyond all recognition of the Biblical images revealed to us, but the joke still contains a good lesson. There are two ways of life, the way of get and the way of give. Both ways are open to us. We have the freedom to choose which way we live, no matter what condition we find ourselves in. The fact is that, no matter how miserable a condition we find ourselves in, we still have it within our power to choose. We can choose the way of getting and seek only for ourselves. Or we can choose the way of giving and thereby uplift others.

Uplifting can be something very simple, like telling someone to have a good day or offering them a drink of water when they are thirsty. Or it can be very profound, like showing mercy or offering forgiveness. Uplifting always involves reaching out to someone else. In reaching out to someone else we acknowledge their existence and their value. In reaching out to someone else we open ourselves and in so doing can be transformed.

While I know that Jesus the Christ was resurrected and now intercedes for us with God the Father as our high priest and is no longer on the cross, I can’t help but to think of Him with outstretched arms hanging on the cross. He reaches out to us, showing mercy and forgiveness. He redeems us, seeing something of value in us, something God deems worthy of eternal life. He set us an example of how to live. He lived the way of give until He gave His last breath…for us.

Each of us has the power to choose the way we meet life, as solitary individuals intent only on getting for ourselves, or as reaching out to others and, in so doing, uplifting our fellow man and becoming a part of something much bigger. God offers us the choice, what we do with it is up to us.

Reverence...

The third of the Ten Commandments states: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name. (NIV)”

Now, most American Christians will tell you that simply means ‘Don’t cuss.’ That is not the intent of the third commandment at all… It’s intent is much greater in scope.

Anyone who calls them-self by the name of God represents Him on earth. Anyone who claims to represent God, anyone who takes His name, had better make every effort to live a life without blemish, because everything they do is a reflection of God to believers and non-believers alike. For those who claim Christ as their savior to represent His name with anything but the utmost reverence is, at best, disgraceful and, at worst, can also be a sin. The name of the Most High should always be borne with reverence.

This is an age where nothing is held in reverence anymore. The common and the profane have been elevated and brutish, cynical and sarcastic attitudes abound. Everything, every value, every hero and every institution are fair game for the lowest kind of attacks these days. It is shameful and it is dangerous to have a society wherein nothing is sacred. Where nothing is sacred, nothing is stable. That is the kind of place America is quickly becoming.

As Christians we are called on to be the salt of the earth. Salt is that which preserves the world. In some American Christian circles, it has become commonplace to take the most powerful name under Heaven, Jesus the Christ, (Yeshua ha Meshia for those who think there is some magic in the original language) and lower it to whatever is selling at the time. Coke is the ‘Real Thing’ so Christ becomes the ‘Real Thing’. ‘Got Milk?’ has become ‘Got Jesus?’… To drag His name down to pop culture is a sign of disrespect. It is not one of reverence, it is a misuse of His name and it does inestimable damage to the image of God.

For those who make the name Christ and Christianity a laughing stock to the world by their behavior and their language there is a stern warning. Behaving in such a way as to reflect badly on the name of God serves as a stumbling block to many non-believers. Of those who are such stumbling blocks it is said that “it would be better if a mill stone were tied around their necks and they be tossed into the sea…” We are called to be a light to the world! In representing God…we should always be on our best behavior. We Christians should clean up our behavior and our language like true Ambassadors for Christ…not defile the name of God by using it irreverently. We should be setting the example for the world…not lowering the standards of our own behavior to fit into it…

"If the salt has lost its saltiness…how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

For Erica...

Erica Michelle Marie Green was identified this week after being known for years only as "Precious Doe." Her body was found near an intersection in Kansas City in 2001. A few days later, her head was found nearby, wrapped in a trash bag. It had been cut off with a pair of hedge clippers. Erica had been severely beaten by her mothers husband in the days before her murder. Her mother, Michelle M. Johnson, and her mothers husband, Harrell Johnson, have been charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child. Erica had been brought to Missouri by a mother she barely knew, after living with Betty Brown, who raised Erica from infancy until April 2001.

This is a news story that came and went without much notice today. How the title ‘Mother’ could be used in reporting it makes me sick to my stomach. This woman and her husband are pure evil. There was a time when I would have wanted to take their heads myself. I've come to the point where I'm only heartsick by people like them now. One day even their memory will be forgotten. They will be dust under the feet of the righteous in the Kingdom of God. It's the children they abuse and murder that I care about now. Dear God...how could someone do this to a child?

My heart cries for Erica and all the children God has entrusted to adults that have abused and neglected them...then tossed them away like garbage. The world is full of such stories. Most don’t even make the news. Most are forgotten by the world as we go about our daily lives.

I know that NONE are forgotten by God. He will see to it that Erica knows His love.
Erica will breathe again. She will know the love she was denied in her short life. She will have a family that will treasure her and always be there for her. She will…because our Savior, Jesus the Christ, conquered death. She will be resurrected and made whole because Jesus the Christ is coming back.

All of the children, all of the human beings that have faced short miserable lives and been forgotten in their graves will breathe again. They will know the love of God. There will be no more tears or sorrow because the former things will have passed away.

For now...while you breath, while it is in your power...Love your children…Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

Jesus the Christ is coming back.

Creation vs. Evolution

It is ironic to me that so many Christians go to such efforts to prove the various theories of evolution are only scientific fantasies to displace God from His throne. The argument rears its head every few years somewhere. To begin with, it is arrogant to think that God needs us to defend Him. It seems to me to be just another effort to elevate our own status. God doesn’t need our help Thank You very much…

There are various theories of Creationism too, other schools of thought within Christianity itself. Each believes they are correct, and the others wrong, even though they read the same Bible they have come to understand it differently. That in itself is a red flag to me.

Perhaps the most ironic thing is that the people who are the most insistent that their version of the creation story is the correct one only want to prove that the Bible is the revealed word of God. They don’t really want to ‘Do’ what it says… If they spent as much time actually living a ‘Christ-like’ life as they spend in gathering evidence for, and making their arguments, it would draw so many people to the faith from their example that churches would overflow. Why someone would spend so much time and energy on ‘proving’ that the Bible is the Revealed Word of God and then not make every effort to live by it’s precepts is beyond me?

Personally, I don’t get worked up over the issue. The Bible is not a book about ‘How’ God created the universe…It’s a book about ‘Why’. Science can’t answer many ‘why’ questions, but it is excellent at answering the ‘How’ questions. Both science and faith work best when they play to their strengths. ‘How’ God created the heavens and the earth is a subject not many human beings would be ready to understand even if He did reveal it. He inspired a very short version of the creation story to be recorded in the Bible. The focus of the story seems to be to point to Him as the ‘ultimate cause’. Once again, it is not ‘how’ He did it that’s important to the story.

I don’t really have a strong opinion one way or another about the issue. I tend to side with a version of creationism, but I’m not married to it. God could very well have used some form of evolution to achieve, at least part of, His purpose. The fact is that I’ve believed the scriptures said one thing quite clearly at times…only to come to believe they meant something different later. I honestly think the creation story is the wrong place to take a stand. It’s the wrong line to draw in the sand. I think our energies as Christians could be better used elsewhere. Instead of arguing with scientists we could show them, and everyone else, a better way to live by living it. That would be living proof that the Bible is the Revealed Word of God...

Irons in the fire

New experiences and pursuits in life often teach us the lessons we need to learn, if we take the time to look deeper into them. I’ve learned to see life from the perspective of a student, a teacher, a follower, a leader, a warrior, a scholar, a hunter, a fishermen, a carpenter and a gardener, to name only a few. I’ve never been an artist until I took up blacksmithing a few years ago. Blacksmithing has also given me a perspective on life I’ve never had before, the perspective of a creator.

I see junkyards completely differently now. I now know there is no such thing as junk. There are only discarded things that the right eyes haven’t seen yet. You see, when you look at something with the ‘right eyes’, you see it for what it can become. A scrap of steel is no longer just a scrap of steel. With the right heat and pressure it can become almost anything. It could become a tool under the right hand, or perhaps kitchen utensil or a piece of architectural hardware. Perhaps it could become a work of art. You have to first see it with the right eyes… Next you have to apply heat to transform it into a malleable material. Then you apply your will between an anvil and a hammer. The rest is up to your imagination!

Blacksmithing is unique among the arts in one respect. You make your own tools. In most arts you use tools someone else has made to create your vision. In blacksmithing you often envision creating something that can only be made with a certain tool…so you create the tool first. That reminds me of a short story by Hermann Hesse I read once. In the story, a young man had a conversation with a priest about soldiers and war. The priest told him that, like a carpenter, God uses some as hammers, others God grooms and corrects as His servants. Like the blacksmith, God makes His tools out of the same materials and uses them to create His art.

It is little wonder to me that blacksmiths were once revered. They were the alchemists that commanded the forces of earth and water, air and fire. Without them civilization, as we know it, would not exist. Iron and steel, like everything else we know, was created in the stars. There is something romantic about that. To know that the fundamental building blocks that make up…me…were created in the same processes makes me feel connected to creation in an intimate way. To be able to manipulate iron and steel with air and fire and water makes me feel connected to The Creator. When I create a work of art out of steel, I put a part of myself into it. When I look at it…I am reminded of that that part of me that it represents. I can’t help but wonder if God sees us in that way somehow.

I once saw life as a warrior. I saw in it the opportunity to bring glory to myself…by destroying. That’s what a fighter does, he dreams of destroying for his own glory. In some ways it is ironic that martial arts, created to kill the ego, first inflate it. But like the line in the movie, “Enter the Dragon” wherein the bad guy says of martial artists…”we forge ourselves in the fires of our own wills”…martial arts too, ultimately transform the practitioner…IF the practitioner takes the time to look deeper into the art. As a blacksmith I dream of creating, not just for my own glory, but to bring glory to my creation. That too tells me something about my Creator.

In Blacksmithing when you want to weld two separate pieces together, you have to heat them both up until the area where they are to join becomes malleable. Then you apply flux on the area and lightly hit the two sides together before applying force. Then you make the line that distinguishes them as separate pieces disappear, and they become one. Surely there is a life lesson in that!

I’ve only begun to learn the lessons blacksmithing has to teach me. I’ve found a new passion in the forge. I want to plumb it's secrets and learn its lessons. I’ve certainly felt the heat and the blows of the hammer in my own life. Perhaps I can come to understand something more about my Creator and about myself if I look deeper. Only time and the forge will reveal those secrets...

Back to the anvil!

True Faith

The Roman Catholic Church, the largest religion on earth that lays claim to Jesus the Christ, also lays claim to being the final authority in theological matters within the faith. They do not pretend that the Bible is their ultimate authority. In the hierarchal form of their church government the Pope is the head of the church and he speaks for Christ.

There have been great abuses in that form of church government historically. If the Pope makes a declaration on a theological matter, there is no higher authority to which to appeal because he speaks for God. Because of the abuses of that form of church government Martin Luther, and others in the Protestant reformation, appealed to the authority of the scriptures. The Catholic Church had gotten so far off that track that it needed a major shake up. The ultimate authority in theological matters for Protestants became the scriptures.

There are many Protestants today that will tell you that what they believe comes from the Bible. Many will, in fact, insist on it. It is true enough that the Protestant Reformation began with the motto: “Sola Scriptura”. But the fact is, a great deal of what most Christians believe is not found anywhere in the Bible.

What actually happens is that some person or group interprets what the Bible says and ‘that’ is what is then taught as being ‘only the Bible’. One group will assert that a particular teaching is correct and point to the scriptures to justify their view and another will point to the scriptures to prove just the opposite.

There are a lot of misconceptions about the ‘faith once delivered’ among Christians. The truth is, traditions from non-Christian sources have been grafted into the faith for centuries. The result is a religion that is far different in some of its principles and practices from the one that Jesus the Christ taught. The Protestant churches today have gotten so far off track that they now need a major shake up.

Some Christian sects have pointed to such things as Christmas and Easter as having pagan origins and no relationship to the teachings in the scriptures. These are some of the more obvious extra-biblical traditions that have been grafted into Christianity. But there are even more subtle teachings than those that permeate modern Christianity.

Teachings rooted in non-biblical traditions have been handed down for so long that they are most often not even questioned. They serve to cloud the true nature of the God revealed in Holy Scripture. Some teachings even contradict the principles revealed to us so completely that they would be recognized as anti-Christian to the first century church.

It’s difficult to examine the foundations of ones beliefs, especially when we grow up assuming them to be true so completely. It is in our nature to only see, that which supports what we already believe, and to not-see what is contrary to what we believe. For the sake of intellectual and spiritual honesty, however, I believe every aspect of our faith bears close scrutiny, especially our preconceived ideas.

Some will argue, quite correctly, that the Holy Spirit leads us to the truth. Without the Holy Spirit we can’t understand the true depth of the scriptures. It’s also true that there are other spirits that will readily lead us away from the truth. We are told to try the spirits to see if they speak the truth. The only test we have is to use the scriptures as our foundation. The true Holy Spirit would never lead us in a way contrary to the scriptures. God has given us both to guide us.

If something is found to be contradictory to the scriptures it should be discarded…no matter how engrained it has become. The motto of every honest Christian should be “Sola Scriptura”. The Bible should be the “sole basis of authority”. Tradition that does not find its roots in the history or principles of scripture should not be considered a part of the faith. Any ecumenical creeds should also be judged in that light. The Bible continually warns of false teachings finding their way into the Body of Christ. The only true authority of the church arises out of the principles and practices found in the scriptures. Anyone who teaches otherwise should be considered suspect. Anyone who teaches something contrary to the principles in the scriptures should be considered a false teacher…no matter how sincere.

One of the biggest misconceptions in modern Christianity is that God and Satan are somehow equal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Satan, is a created being that rebelled against God. He is completely under Gods authority. There is no equality between good and evil. God allows Satan and evil to exist as they suit His purposes.

Stemming from that misconception is the notion that God is somehow in competition for the souls of man. Many believe God is desperately trying to save as many people as possible, and anyone who doesn’t accept Christ as their savior is hopelessly lost. If that were the case God would be losing miserably because the vast majority of mankind has not accepted Christ. People that believe this misconception unwittingly elevate Satan in status. The God of the Bible is absolutely supreme in power and authority. God opens the hearts and minds of man in degrees. He is working with all human beings and calls them in His time.

Some people will tell you that even infants who die without knowing Christ are doomed to an eternity in hell-fire. They take one or two scriptures out of context to come to such misunderstandings. The god that that view describes is not the God revealed in the Bible. The God of the Bible is revealed to us as a just, merciful and loving  Father in many, many scriptures. No fair minded judge on earth would condemn an infant in such a way, and there is no way the God revealed in the scriptures would.

Every teaching asserted by a church should be true to the principles laid down in scriptures. In other words, it should fit into the Big Picture harmoniously. The principles of eternal love, mercy, justice and humility should guide our understanding of all scripture.

Another guiding principle is 'obedience to God'. What God does not want is to create another Satan, another spirit being that rebels against Him. So, if it comes down to a choice between obeying God…or rationalizing why we don’t have to…go with obedience. Christ obeyed His Father unto death... If you love Him you’ll keep His commandments. Love is not what you feel…it’s what you do. And when it comes to someone else’s obedience to God, let them work that out with Him. You do what you understand. God didn’t create us, or call us, to sit in judgment on whether someone else receives the gift of eternal life. He'll do that himself.

Always keep in mind, the Bible is not a book of theory or philosophy. It is not a book to simply be read and walked away from...or studied, for the sake of studying. The Bible is a users manual. When you read it, and come to understand something, you need to put those things to practice in your life.

Ultimately the Bible was written to each of us personally. We should take what God reveals to us from it and work to improve our own lives. If every Christian would do that, the example it would set for non-believers would draw them to the church in droves. God called us to walk humbly with Him and to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling, not to take it for granted. When one is focused on the beam in ones own eye…one has very little time to find the motes in others.

Where others are concerned…be ready to always to give an answer for what you believe. Love them like you love yourself. Forgive them when they wrong you. Feed them if they’re hungry. Clothe them if they’re cold. Visit them if they’re lonely. And be there when they need a hand. Treat them they way you would like to be treated. Always remember that love isn’t just what you feel…it’s what you do. You can’t go wrong with those principles. Live those and you’ll get it…

Uri Hofi

Today I met a Master Blacksmith. Some say Uri Hofi is to blacksmithing what a modern Beethoven would be to music. Hofi was trained in blacksmithing by Grand-Master Alfred Habermann but he added his own contribution to the art and asked why things were done the way they were. Why hold the hammer that way? Why stand at the anvil that way? Hofi has refined the art in many of his own ways.

I must add here that he is not a man without some controversy. Some claim that Hofi is a simply product of the marketing of Tom Clark, the late founder of the Ozark school of blacksmithing in the US. Many say that Hofi takes credit for things he had nothing to do with..like the 'so-called' Hofi hammer. To be sure there are other masters of the craft that are just as good, and some better than Hofi. We have many here in the US that are masters in every sense of the word. These controversies don't take away from the fact that Hofi has helped spread the art of blacksmithing to a new generation. For that alone he deserves some credit.

Hofi is a seventy year old, Israeli citizen, who calls himself a Hippie. He uses the term to mean that he is in touch with life. He loves flirting with the ladies! He says he doesn’t pay any attention to time and he doesn’t waste any energy on anger. He says to waste time on such things is just stupid. He teaches his students to draw on their own experiences, all of them, to express their creativity in iron. I didn’t quite know what to expect from this old gentleman. What I learned was was a unique perspective on smithing and on life.

Hofi's focus in blacksmithing is on the simple, the basic. He has elevated basic skills to perfection the way only a master can. He studied the Discipline of his art before he struck off on his own tangent. That’s something too many people who call themselves ‘artists’ haven’t done these days. He says without mastering the basic skills you can’t bring the images in your mind into existence in iron.

The real artist creates a love for the art in his students by sharing his own passion. This, Hofi has done. I am fortunate to study with one of Hofi’s students…William Bastas. William is an instructor at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas. It's one of two schools in the US where blacksmithing is taught for college credit. William has studied under several masters of the craft. He is a believer in the stream of consciousness approach…he follows his thoughts wherever they take him. That's allowed him to come into contact with his own creativity. William has turned his life into a journey of understanding and creating. He freely, and happily, shares everything he finds to ignite the passion for his art in others. After meeting men and women like Hofi I can see where William gets his passion. He, too, is on the path to mastery. He may not have Hofi’s years or his ability to make things look so simple but he is well on his way. One day he will. I told Hofi that William was carrying on in his spirit. His reply was that William 'is' his spirit... I can't imagine a nicer complement from a teacher to his student.

The Talmud says: “Find thyself a teacher.” Hofi found Habermann; William found Hofi and I found William. Such men and women are an inspiration. People like these are true teachers. People like these draw you to them. They draw you into their passion and it becomes contagious. I’ve been fortunate in my life to know a few teachers like them.

Smiting the black metal dates back to Tubal Cain in the Bible. It's written he forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Without blacksmithing there would be no modern world. It was instrumental in building civilization. Blacksmithing almost died out after World War II. Modern welding and machining has replaced the need for most of it. The world could have lost an art almost as old as humanity.

Metal artists like Habermann, Hofi and the several masters of the craft we have in the US have revived the art and it has found new disciples like William Bastas to preserve it and pass it on. The circle of life becomes complete by passing on one’s passion to the next generation. Alfred Habermann did that. Hofi is doing it. William is too. Hofi travels the world to spread the Habermann school of blacksmithing. William does it from the halls of a community college.

Today I had a good day. Today I heard echoes of Alfred Habermann. Today I met a Master Blacksmith.