Manhattan Declaration

Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience 

Christmas Spirit

Call to Christians (followers of the Christ of Christmas):

In the wake of the annual flood of anti-Christmas or pro-Christmas rhetoric that happens every year at this time, and the all too natural motivation to retaliate and make a statement of strength, I'm asking you to do something radical and risky - but very Christian.

Let's demonstrate the spirit of Christmas by spending more, not less, at the stores that are taking Christ out of Christmas.

Let's demonstrate the love of Christ and the Spirit of Christ by loving them unconditionally because our Lord "while we were yet sinners" [i.e. taking Him out of our entire life not just Christmas], He died for us.

But let's not necessarily shift our spending from Christ honoring stores. Let's demonstrate stunning grace and not make any stores demonstrate faith in exchange for our love and witness. Let's sacrificially demonstrate our love for the employees of the stores dishonoring Christ by spending something there, too. Let's all make a special effort to buy something from one of these stores and give what we buy to a Christ honoring charity.

Let the world know us by our love.

Is this all there is?

Every day I get up early to have prayer time. Some days it is very difficult to get up. Some days it is almost impossible. Some days my job invades my prayer time and, eventually, gradually it totally absorbs me – drawing me subtly from my quiet time to begin the day. I hate it when my day starts out this way.

Immediately after prayer time, my day begins. Usually, my day is full of hurry, noise, deadlines, meetings, disagreements, successes, failures, decisions, worry, and just plain chaos. Always, there is more to do than there is time to do it. Needless to say, I don’t often entertain thoughts of God during all of this. It just does not seem like God fits in all of that. It certainly does not feel like He matters. There seems to be a great disconnect between the work-day and the holy-day.

Cognitively, it makes sense to me that there is no reason that I can’t be just as spiritual while I’m at work as I am on Sunday morning or during my quiet time. But, experientially, the more I try to affirm that notion, the less spiritual my Sunday mornings and quiet times become, rather than my work attitudes becoming more spiritual. Can the transcendent not invade the common and transform it? Does the profane (common) have to weigh-down (cloud) the transcendent? Can’t my desk and keyboard be ‘on fire’ and ‘not consumed’ as holy ground? Perhaps the problem is that I don’t take off my shoes (i.e. recognize that I’m on holy ground)?

Recently I started a weekly discipleship time with a man in our church whom I’ve learned to respect. We meet each Monday evening immediately after work. The contrast between “work” and “faith” is never as apparent as it is at 4:00PM on Monday when I’m driving to my friend’s office. I try to pray while driving. I ask God to invade our time together, quiet my heart, and focus our attention on Him. Alas, even prayer is hard right after leaving work.

As Jim and I talk, pray, and share – slowly the transcendent takes over. The worries of the day melt away and priorities are again balanced. By the time I leave Jim’s office, I am transformed, the day is transformed, and I am renewed. Oh, that I could maintain that perspective, that spirituality, and that balance throughout the work day.

Every day I am confronted with the profane (i.e. common.) Life seems to contradict spirituality. The things I ‘have to do’ to live seem at odds with my faith – not like gross sin is at odds with my faith, but more like faith is irrelevant in the hustle and bustle of the ‘everyday’. There is a real tension between flesh and spirit.

When Pam and I got married, we adopted a mission statement for our family:

To recognize, experience, appreciate, and demonstrate in everyday living that He matters. (acrostic: R.E.A.D.)

We define “matters” in three ways (S.R.C.):

- substance

- relevance

- consequences


With that said, I have to admit that it usually seems more like He does not matter. (A side note: If He matters because ‘we’ determine it so, does that not make us ‘god?’ It seems that God should ‘matter’ regardless of our declaration.)

I wish I could say that we have it all figured out. There are days that I wonder if I even have a clue.

So is this all there is? Am I destined to do battle every day as faith and life collide? Is it possible to have a close walk with Christ while working, living, loving, and doing the everyday? What does the ‘abundant life’ look like anyway? What answers does Christianity provide when we are confronted with the mundane, the boring, the pressure cooker of life, or the chaotic?

I can remember as a child reading the stories of ancient Israel. It seemed so obvious to me that they would (or should) “remember the LORD.” How could they fall away? How could they get caught up in the pagan lifestyle which surrounded them? Wasn’t it apparent to them that their blessings were from God? How could they not follow God when they shared such a rich heritage? The stories of how God had supernaturally delivered them from bondage, how He had caused them to defeat their enemies who had superior numbers and armaments, and the rich way God had communicated himself to them surely would have been more than enough to keep their attention and to make them shun the common. Surely it was easy for them to remain faithful? Not!

I suspect that they, too, had a problem with “the common” profaning “the holy.” How they should have behaved is only obvious to us as we review their heritage. Their daily lives were just like ours … full of distractions, noise, worry, success, failures, meetings, laughter, tears, and “stuff.” When we review our heritage, it is obvious (just like it is as we review Israel’s heritage) how we/they should have behaved.

Just like Israel did, I easily fall into a pattern of living where it seems less and less likely that God matters. And by living that way, we make it so and miss God and His Glory.

Mt. 15:6 b

Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition

Tradition (def): the way we get used to living; the norms and customs of our society.

Jesus said that we, by the way we accustom ourselves to living, can experience a life where God does not matter. That is exactly what happened to Israel. It is exactly what has happened and is happening to me. If I live as if God does not matter; should I be surprised if I have a life where God does not matter?

The other day, while they were experiencing a thunderstorm, I was on the telephone with my grandchildren. Each in turn shared their fear of the wind, thunder, and warnings of tornadoes that surrounded them that evening. The sound of the rain was noisily coming through the receiver as we tried to talk; they could converse about nothing else. Yet, rather than praying with them, or assuring them based on a faith response, all I did was make small talk and lamely reassure them that they would be okay. I acted as if God did not matter at that moment, and guess what? My grandchildren now have another life experience/lesson where they endured a life moment without the help of the living God. By my way of living, they now are (as I am) closer to having a God that does not matter.

In the Mt. 15.6, partially quoted above, there are two lessons: 1. the plain/obvious lesson, and 2. the hidden nugget or implied lesson:

1. Jesus scolds the Jewish leadership for generally putting their teaching and tradition above God’s commands, and specifically for making a distinction between personal relationships and their corresponding duties and our relationship to God. (I wonder if the general tenor of the challenged teaching is not really, “I’ve got more important things to do, I can’t take care of you or this right now.”)

2. When God’s word is effectual in my life, I will make no distinction between personal/everyday obligations and my responsibility to God.

If God does not have an affect in my “everyday,” He will not have any affect in my “any day” either. By acting as if there is a difference between how I live everyday and how I live on Sunday, I end up with a God that does not matter any day - even Sunday.

That is exactly my problem: I expect to have a God that matters all the time; but at work, He seems so remote, so unnecessary, and so irrelevant. I have made a distinction in and by my life between Sunday and Monday and have rendered God powerless in my life. And then I pray and ask God, “Why am I not closer to you? Why do you seem so distant?”

So I guess the burden here is on me. Will I live like He matters or will I experience a life where God is seen as powerless?

2 Tim 3.5: Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…

2 Tim 3.7: Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

And today, at work – how will I behave?

Is this all there is?

Perhaps, it is, if that is all I recognize and respond to.

Markers, Milestones, & Memories: a Walk in the Woods

Sam and I went hiking today in the woods. We followed some trails and had a real good time exploring on our adventure. As we went, we periodically arranged pine cones in the shape of an arrow along the path to point our way back out of the woods and to help us remember which way to go when the path forked.

When it was time to turn around and head back, it was very comforting and reassuring to see our markers that we'd left to help us find our way out.

As we worked our way along the path, I told him the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who built altars or piles of stones to record milesones on their journey with God. I described how comforting it must have been for them to come back across one of their markers and be reminded of the promises of God and to recall what they were doing at the time they constructed it.

It was one of the those unplanned moments where a spontaneous devotional just came out and it blessed both of us.

In the future, I think I can have fun with this devotional as I expand on the idea and help prepare Sam for a lifetime journey with our God.

What a joy it was to remember along the way ...

Heavenly Father, I pray that you make today's field trip a marker in Sam's mind that he will remember all his life and that he will frequently put down markers to help him recall and recount his journey with you.

Amen

The Living God

The Living God – an essay

One morning I was reading in 2 Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 16, “For we are the temple of the living God.” My mind got caught on the word “living” and I’ve been chewing on that word since that morning. Since I was a young boy I’ve heard or read the words living God many times and have glossed over the meaning. Essentially I think I regarded living to mean real as opposed to fake. Additionally, I think it held connotations of activity as opposed to the stone gods that were passive. In reality, I don’t believe I gave it much thought at all.

As I considered the word that morning, I considered that perhaps I had fallen short by not contemplating the meaning more diligently.

Historically there have been worshiped:

· Fire gods

· War gods

· Fertility gods

· Nature gods

But in the scripture God is revealed over and over again as the living God.

If the fire god[1] is known as the authority, source, and controller of fire, and the war god is known as the authority, source, and controller of war, and the fertility god is known as the authority, source, and controller of fertility, is the title, “living God” an acknowledgement that God is the authority, source, and controller of all of life and living (how to live) – how to experience life?

The more I thought of this, the more it seemed that it was a valid line of thought. Jesus himself said, “I am come that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly.” John 10:10. And in John 3:16 I read, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Life seems to be the point. Living seems to be the point.

I wonder how often “living” is the thing we think of when we consider our faith. When I listen to our hymns at church, it seems that the verses that get the most emphasis have to do with later, after the second coming or after death. The verses of hymns most often skipped over (since we love to do the first and last verses of hymns if we sing them at all) are the verses having to do with the Christian life. We seem to be focused on getting people saved and then waiting until heaven, just like in the hymns, skipping over the Christian life. Even our favorite opening witnessing line is, “if you were to die today, do you know where you’d spend eternity?” as if “out there” is the sole focus of our faith.

When Jesus was confronted by the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, He challenged them for focusing so much on the “after we die” discussion when it was apparent from God’s declarations about Himself that He is the God of the Living.

But what does this all mean? Does it matter to make this distinction?

As we met with my family for the holidays, Glenn (my son who is about to deployed to a war zone again) was there with us for a short time. It was heavy on my mind that we should gather around him, as a family, and pray for God’s protection and watch care over him as he goes off to war. But we didn’t. We only made small talk and discussed things of relatively little importance. No prayer. A few days later, after he had returned to his base (perhaps signaling the last time we’d see him for 15 months), the rest of us met again for the Christmas dinner and of course we prayed before the meal. It occurred to me that we spent more time praying over the meal than we did over Glenn … and I think we (especially Glenn) missed out on something of the life of God because I didn’t press for the prayer time over Glenn.

It occurs to me that it is in those opportunities to believe God and respond to Him (exercise faith) that life exists and is either common or holy, is either mundane or exciting, is either fleeting or eternal. Perhaps the title Living God has something to do with our relationship to Him as we live (touch life).

Heavenly Father, help us to invite you into each of our living experiences. I pray that you infuse each of our interactions, and thoughts, and attitudes, and expressions of life with your Life.



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[1] It is not my intent to compare the living God with any false gods, but rather to review how the terms are used and to consider if there is any merit in looking at the words through a slightly different lens. Sometimes the exercise of dissecting a phrase can yield fresh, rich new insights. There is, of course, no real comparison between the false gods referred to above and the Living God of the Bible.

Rhyming Back to God

What follows is merely an observation, not necessarily biblical, but I feel fairly certain that it is not unbiblical, if that makes any sense.

God said, “Let us make man in our image …” and there are many opinions on what the image means.

One of my favorite opinions says that image means imprint, that God put His imprint on us when He created us and that only He can fill the spot that is left by the imprint. We try to find things to fill that spot, but it is reserved for God and anything less than God will be unfulfilling and unsatisfying. I don’t know why for certain, but I like that one.

Another opinion is that the image is God’s reflection in us that is to reflect back to God – the way we glorify Him. In other words, the more we are like him – contain and reflect his image – the more we glorify Him.

I get the sense of an echo when I think of the second opinion above. God’s character and nature reflected back to God like an echo. Another analogy might be a rhyme. The idea that we can rhyme back to God in the melody of creation and life is attractive to the poet in me. It seems more than just a coincidence that David, the song writer and poet (a man who made rhymes), was called a man after God’s own heart.

Okay that is the setup; what follows is the observation that I feel is interesting and challenging, but which I don’t necessarily feel is strictly biblical.

In Hebrew poetry, there is no rhyme. Or is there? (More on that shortly) In Hebrew poetry, the second phrase repeats the thought or sentiment of the first using different words.

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;

He heard my cry for mercy. Ps. 116:1

another example:

The LORD is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid? Ps. 27:1

Both sentences of the phrase say the same thing, they just use different words. The rhyme is not in what it sounds like, but in what it means. (Is that spiritual rhyming?)

I love that. Just like we are to echo back to God his character in us, the man who was called the man after God’s own heart, wrote poetry that echoed back the first thought in the second. What a testimony! I wonder if a man after God’s own heart might mean that his life rhymed back God’s character to God.

In Western poetry, the second phrase repeats a word or phrase that sounds like a word or phrase of the first. It merely has to sound like the first. The words or phrase can have an entirely opposite meaning, but as long as they sound similar, they satisfy the rhyme.

Oh, how much that represents contemporary spirituality and ideas of faith. As long as our lives approximate or sound like they are on track, it is okay. Instead of echoing back the real thing, trying to reflect the glory of God, we are content to be only an echo that sort-of, sounds like the original.

In the past few years, our song rhyming has gotten even sloppier in that words no longer have to have the same sound at all – they can just be close (and sometimes not so close).

I find that to be very convicting because I find it to be very true about me.

Father in heaven, help me to rhyme back to you the real thing. I pray my life redounds to your glory by magnifying Christ in my life and not something that merely, sort-of, sounds like Christ. I want it to be the real thing.

Because of who Jesus is … Amen.

Eyes to See (repeat)

Sensitive to the eternal – “… with the Lord, every day is packed with eternity and eternity is impacted every day.” II Pet. 3:8 (dgw)

In the biblical account of Jacob’s ladder, Jacob exclaims, “Surely the Lord is present in this place and I did not know it!” or perhaps, and at least, “There is much more going on here than I supposed!” Gen. 28:16 (dgw)

Here is an example from my experience:

The American Indian would express a fear of photographs that we often casually dismiss: “The camera will steal my soul,” he said. I would very insensitively imagine that he could think that the camera actually captured something of his and transferred it to a piece of paper. “How silly,” I would think.

God forgive me.

Consider that what he meant is that the camera will somehow rob him of the mystery that is every individual – that he will somehow be diminished after having been photographed. Prior to being photographed, he can be unique, feared and respected, perhaps even legendary; a photograph, however, would emphasize his similarities to everyone else and he could then lose (at least some of) the distinction (the mystery) that was previously his.

A photograph would presuppose that he always is as he appeared at that moment – and he knows that his complex dimensions can never be captured in one or even one million photographs. He knows that to be human means to change. He knows that tomorrow, he will not be the same – but the photograph will be the same; and others’ image of him will be locked in that photograph, i.e. who he was, and not in the dynamic of who he is.

Indeed, is that not “stealing his soul?”

Have we not also stolen his (our) soul by reducing such a rich, thoughtful, and complex concept to a mere caricature?

The above illustration is representative of the way I feel that I respond to all of life and faith: superficially accepting or dismissing items that have far more meaning than easily or commonly understood.

Terms like eternal life, kingdom of heaven, salvation, judgment, and repentance have far more (and sometimes less) meaning than commonly understood. These terms have obtained a super-definition that we all assume is universally understood. We then use these terms as if we all understand them and then shallow, lifeless communication is all that follows.

Father, forgive me for so carelessly and callously handling your words (and Word.) Teach me to carefully and tenderly regard other’s ideas and opinions and to be open to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and teaching. I pray that I never assume that I know the meaning of a term and then dismiss what I can learn from careful scrutiny. In the Spirit of your Word: Jesus, amen.

Beyond words...

Something to Ponder

Three Gifts For Hard Times

by William J. Stuntz

Sanctity of Marriage ...

Perhaps I can best make a case for the sanctity of marriage if I make every effort to nurture and cultivate my marriage. I must not take this critically important relationship for granted.

Pam and I have committed to participate in at least one marriage enrichment class or seminar annually as one of our steps to make sure that we don't suffer shipwreck in our marriage.

22 z Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Ephesians 5:22-33

Redeeming Love Has Been My Theme And Shall Be 'til I Die ...

“There is fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains.
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.
Wash all my sins away, wash all my sins away.
And there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away.

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood shall never lose its power
’Til all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.
Be saved to sin no more, be saved to sin no more.
’Til all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more.

E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be ’til I die.
And shall be ’til I die, and shall be ’til I die.
Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be ’til I die.

When this poor lisping, stammering tongue lies silent in the grave,
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.
I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.
Then in a nobler, sweeter song, I’ll sing Thy pow’r to save.”

- William Cowper

... it seems to me that we really seldom do anybody much good excepting as we share the deepest experiences of our souls

Frank Laubach wrote in "Letters By A Modern Mystic,"

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We used to sing a song in the church in Benton which I liked, but which I never really practiced until now. It runs:

“Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am thine.”

It is exactly that “moment by moment,” every waking moment, surrender, responsiveness, obedience, sensitiveness, pliability, “lost in His love,” that I now have the mind-bent to explore with all my might. It means two burning passions: First, to be like Jesus. Second, to respond to God as a violin responds to the bow of the master.

In defense of my opening my soul and laying it bare to the public gaze in this fashion, I may say that it seems to me that we really seldom do anybody much good excepting as we share the deepest experiences of our souls in this way. It is not the fashion to tell your inmost thoughts, but there are many wrong fashions, and concealment of the best in us is wrong. I disapprove of the usual practice of talking “small talk” whenever we meet, and holding a veil over our souls. If we are so impoverished that we have nothing to reveal but small talk, then we need to struggle for more richness of soul. As for me I am convinced that this spiritual pilgrimage which I am making is infinitely worth while, the most important thing I know of to talk about. And talk I
shall while there is anybody to listen. And I hunger – O how I hunger! for others to tell me their soul adventures.
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Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. Lu. 8:18

Identifying with "Letters By a Modern Mystic" by Frank Laubach.

"I fear I have not wanted some of them to think me religious for fear I might cease to be [taken seriously]."

20 Ways of Avoiding Consumptive Society

In the book Freedom of Simplicity, by Richard Foster is a list of 20 things to aid you in your struggle for simplicity.

1. Join the revolt against the modern propaganda machine.
2. Pray to not acquire more or desire it.
3. Resist planned obsolescence.
4. Reject any junk mail you can.
5. Stress quality of life above quantity of life.
6. Value music, art, horticulture, significant travel, and books.
7. If you are too busy to read, you’re too busy!
8. Discover prayer as an evening entertainment.
9. Learn the wonderful truth that to increase quality of life means to decrease material desire, not vice versa.
10. Turn your back on all high-pressure competitive situations that make climbing the ladder the central focus.
12. The Fruit of the Spirit is not push, drive, climb, grasp and trample.
13. Never put happiness at center stage.
14. Make recreation healthy, happy and gadget free.
15. Encourage cooperative games and play.
16. Learn to eat sensibly and sensitively.
17. Go without food for one day a week and give any money saved to the poor.
18. Eat out less.
19. Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status.
20. Stop trying to impress people with your clothes and impress them with your life.

A final word:
“Simplicity does not mean cheapness. Simplicity resonates more easily with concerns for durability, usability and beauty.”

(edited from Jonathan Bailey's blog)

What Will I Be Caught Doing Today?

I was challenged by reading the following:

"I tied my horse to a sapling & went quietly into the woods & to my astonishment I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was ye Crisis, & the cause of the country, of humanity & of the world."

"Diary and Remembrances" by Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden

I thought, "What will others catch me doing today that might encourage their faith?"

Ain't it the truth!!!

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I fear that many people seek to hear God solely as a device for securing their own safety, comfort and righteousness. For those who busy themselves to know the will of God, however, it is still true that "those who want to save their life will lose it." My extreme preoccupation with knowing God's will for me may only indicate, contrary to what is often thought, that I am overconcerned with myself, not a Christlike interest in the well-being of others or in the glory of God.

Dallas Willard

Convicting ...

Today's preacher must argue against the self-serving pragmatism of postmodernity. The gospel does say that through it you find your life, but that first you must lose your life. I must say to people, "Christ will 'work' for you only if you are true to him whether he works for you or not. You must not come to him because he is fulfilling (though he is) but because he is true. If you seek to meet him in order to get your needs met, you will not meet him or get your needs met. To become a Christian is not to get help for your agenda but to take on a whole new agenda -- the will of God. You must obey him because you owe him your life, because he is your Creator and Redeemer. - Tim Keller, from a contributing chapter of The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching

He is not a tame lion.

Save the Embryonic Humans

*Save the Embryonic Humans!

March 7, 2009 by Fredi D'Alessio

by Deacon Keith Fournier

With the stroke of a Presidential pen human embryos will become property, capable of being “manufactured” like a commodity and available to be used as spare parts.

 

Catholic Online

  

We must speak for human embryonic Life as we speak for all human life. We must expose and oppose this new form of genetic slavery wherein an entire class of human persons is being labeled as property to be used by those who are more powerful.

... Karol Cardinal Wotyla, spoke to the U.S. Bishops. His ominous observation was republished in the Wall Street Journal on November 9, 1978:

  

“We are now standing in the face of the greatest historical confrontation humanity has gone through. I do not think that wide circles of the American society or wide circles of the Christian community realize this fully. We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel and the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of divine providence. It is a trial which the whole Church… must take up.”      And take it up we must. The task is huge and the implications beyond what we can begin to expect. The challenges we face in undertaking this task include the insults, accusations and calumny of even our fellow citizens. We will, for example, be accused of being against progress and even “anti-science”, when nothing could be further from the truth. We are simply Pro-life and believe that science exists to serve the person, the family and the common good. Science, after all, can become a force for evil and our common history has shown how that can occur when the human heart and capacity for making the right choice has been so clearly corrupted. 

On Monday, March 9, 2009, President Barrack Obama, whose election offered the promise of “hope and change”, will hold a signing ceremony where he will sign one more Executive Order against life. This one is expected to remove all restraints from the use of the always deadly process of extracting stem cells from human embryonic life for experimentation. It will also open up the funding of such lethal efforts with Federal tax dollars. This is so even though research has clearly demonstrated that other types of stem cell research, for example the use of adult stem cells which can be extracted with the consent of the donor and which do not kill, have produced even greater promise and results. In addition, cells derived from fetal chord blood have shown significant promise but have received little or no attention or research support. 

Recent reports have heralded the discovery of what may be an alternative to the deadly process of extracting embryonic stem cells and killing the embryonic human person in the process. They have led to hopes of using what are being called “induced pluripotent stem cells”, or iPS cells. These can now be produced by activating genes in adult cells which “reprogram” them and do not require the use of dangerous viruses or involve the taking of a human life. However, the signing of this Executive Order is expected to open the door not to the promotion of these life friendly alternatives but rather to the unlimited production of human embryonic life which could then be killed and used. 

With the stroke of a Presidential pen human embryos will become property, capable of being “manufactured” like a commodity and available to be used as spare parts in experimentation which has produced no discernible scientific results. Make no mistake, every so called “extraction” of embryonic stem cells kills a living human embryo. 

In 1987, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Holy See issued its important teaching entitled “Instruction on Respect for Human Life in its Origin and on the Dignity of Procreation”. Among the many questions it answered with absolute clarity was: “What Respect is due to the human embryo, taking into account his nature and identity?” The answer given by the Magisterium: “The human being must be respected - as a person - from the very first instant of his (her) existence.” 

Unfortunately, the prevailing view of human rights entrenched in American judicial precedent and legislation denies the equal protection of the law to the human embryonic person. American law refuses to recognize that human embryos have a right to life and a right to a future. There are a number of differing philosophical arguments offered to promote the lie that these fundamental rights are conferred by positive civil law rather than by the Natural Law. Most of these arguments reserve the use of the concept of “person” to those humans who are deemed to somehow be “independent” and/or “autonomous”. They are also promoted by people who now call themselves “medical ethicists”. These folks have substantial academic degrees and professional pedigree and sit on Advisory Councils. 

Some of these new “ethicists” try to make a distinction between “potential” and “actual” human persons and relegate the child in the womb to the category of being only a “potential” human person. Others view interdependency as a negative and insist on independence and “autonomy” as a criterion for any human rights to ever attach. Some equate the human embryo’s  dependency on the mother as a form of “non-personhood”. Still others propose a progressive notion of consciousness as indicative of a growing presence of “personhood”. A few concede that human embryos are human beings but deny they are persons. We find all of these ideas in the field sadly referred to these days as “Bio-Ethics” even though such positions are anything but ethical. We find them in textbooks being used to teach the subject to future medical practitioners. (See, e.g., Singer and Kuhse, “Bioethics”) 

One of these “ethicists”, Michael Tooley denies the child in the womb should have any rights at all. His rationale evolved over time. In each version, as scientific research cast serious doubt on his claims, he conveniently shifted his ground to reach the same conclusion. Yet, human embryology and developmental biology affirm that a human embryo is not distinct in kind from a human being, but a human being at an early stage of development. Even prior to implantation, a human embryo is a unique living human being with the genetic constitution and epigenetic primordial that continues to develop throughout his or her life. However, the right not to be killed in the womb, the right to be born and the right to participate in human relationships are rejected for these little persons. Human embryonic lives are reduced to what one astute Catholic philosopher and lawyer, Robert George, called a “pre-personal way of being human”.      The idea that people can be less than persons is now being applied to other stages of human development outside of the womb. The disabled (physically and mentally), the aged and the infirmed are increasingly denied the protection of the law. There is an emphasis on individual rights over relation and autonomy over solidarity. The late Servant of God John Paul wrote in “The Gospel of Life” concerning what he called this “remarkable contradiction”. He further elaborated: “…the roots of the contradiction between the solemn affirmation of human rights and their tragic denial in practice lies in a notion of freedom which exalts the isolated individual in an absolute way, and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to others and service of them.”(Par. 19) This counterfeit notion of freedom also views comatose human beings as no longer worthy of being called “persons”. Their caregivers are encouraged to stop giving them food and water. Seriously ill children are viewed as interlopers who should not continue to use medical and social resources. Whether the criteria for being recognized as a human person is a satisfactory level of brain function, an agreed upon notion of self awareness, non-dependency, individual autonomy, or some similar “acceptable” level of physical or mental capacity, this reduces the human being to a human doing, valuable not simply because they are members of our human family and gifts to be received but based upon their functionality and subject to deadly treatment once they are no longer of economic value. 

There can be no debate that we were all once human embryos. We all lived in the first home of the whole human race, our mothers womb. For the Christian, we further profess that the Son of God, the Incarnate Word, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, was a human being, who, in the embryonic stage, lived in his mother’s womb. At every age and stage of our “human-being- ness”, be it in the womb, as an infant, as a child, an adolescent, an adult, in our times of illness, in our old age, we have always been dependent on others and vulnerable. This is what it means to be a human being. The emphasis of the proponents of the culture of death on independence and autonomy informs a worldview that Pope John Paul II taught threatens the “…entire structure of human rights.” (Gospel of Life, Par. 19) 

So, we must rise and suffer the indignities of being verbally pilloried, accused of being anti-science” or “impeding progress”. We must speak for human embryonic Life as we speak for all human life. We must expose and oppose this new form of genetic slavery wherein an entire class of human persons is being labeled as property to be used by those who are more powerful. In conclusion, I speak specifically to my fellow Catholics; we will be at the front line. Why? Because our Church has been absolutely clear in her unbroken teaching on the dignity of every human person, including what the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently called “embryonic persons”. Be ready to be called, as happened recently in response to our opposition to the appointment of dissident Catholic Kathleen Sebelius to the HHS, “Catholic Extremists”. The late beloved Servant of God John Paul II called it and he was indeed prophetic: “We are now facing the final confrontation between the Church and the anti-Church, of the Gospel and the anti-Gospel. This confrontation lies within the plans of divine providence. It is a trial which the whole Church… must take up.” 

Gems of Theology (by Ray Stedman)

What is Time?

Time consists of three dimensions: Past, Present and Future. We cannot experience it in any other way. But though we usually list it as past, present and future, the actual flow of time is the reverse. It comes out of the future, through the present, into the past.

The Future is the source. The Future is unseen, unknown, except as it continually embodies itself (makes itself visible) in the Present. The Present is what we see and hear and know. It is ceaselessly embodying the Future, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. It is perpetually revealing the Future, hitherto invisible.

The Future is logically first, but not chronologically. For the Present exists as long as Time exists, and is coexistent with Time. Time acts through and in the Present. It makes itself visible only in the Present. It is in the Present that the Future becomes a part of human life, and so is born and lives and dies in human life.

The Past, in turn, comes from the Present. It does not embody the Present. On the contrary, Time, in issuing from the Present into the Past becomes invisible again. The Past proceeds silently, endlessly, invisibly from the present.

But the Present is not the source of the Past which proceeds from it. The Future is the source of both the Present and the Past. Back of the Present is the Future out of which the Present comes. The Past issues and proceeds from the Future, through the Present.

The Present therefore comes out from the invisible Future and perpetually and ever-newly embodies the Future in visible, audible, livable form, and returns again into invisible Time in the Past.

The Past acts invisibly. It continually influences us with regard to the Present. It casts light upon the Present. That is its great function. It helps us to live in the Present which we know, and with reference to the Future which we expect to see.

Who is God?

God consists of three persons: Father, Son and Spirit. We cannot experience him in any other way. But though we usually list him as Father, Son and Spirit, the actual experience of God is different. We first meet the Son, by means of the Spirit, and then the Father.

The Father is the source. The Father is unseen, unknown, except as he continually embodies himself (makes himself visible) in the Son. The Son is who we see and hear and know. He is ceaselessly embodying the Father, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. He is perpetually revealing the Father, hitherto invisible.

The Father is logically first, but not chronologically. For the Son exists as long as the Father exists, and is coexistent with the Father. The Father acts through and in the Son. He makes himself visible only in the Son. It is in the Son that the Father becomes a part of human life, and so is born and lives and dies in human life.

The Spirit, in turn, comes from the Son . He does not embody the Son. On the contrary, God, in issuing from the Son into the Spirit becomes invisible again. The Spirit proceeds silently, endlessly, invisibly from the Son.

But the Son is not the source of the Spirit which proceeds from him. The Father is the source of both the Son and the Spirit. Back of the Son is the Father out of which the Son comes. The Spirit issues and proceeds from the Father, through the Son.

The Son therefore comes out from the invisible Father and perpetually and ever-newly embodies the Father in visible, audible, livable form, and returns again into invisible God in the Spirit.

The Spirit acts invisibly. He continually influences us with regard to the Son. He casts light upon the Son. That is his great function. He helps us to live in the Son which we know, and with reference to the Father whom we expect to see.

An Evening with Elie Wiese

I'm Waiting For My Real Life to Begin

The Station

It's the end of "Sanctity of Human Life Week" - this essay has been burned into my mind since I read it thirty plus years ago.

The Station

What life are you waiting for?

Sanctity of Life Week - What life am I waiting for?

Awesome sound! Signature Sound!

Oh What a Savior

Kung Fu Panda

From the movie "Kung Fu Panda"

Shifu: Master! I have... it's very bad news! 
Oogway: Ah, Shifu. There is just news. There is no good or bad. 
Shifu: Master, your vision. Your vision was right! Tai-Lung has broken out of prison! He's on his way! 
[pause] 
Oogway: That *is* bad news. 

A good teachable moment for Sam (and for me).   We humans want to live as if there is no "good" or "bad" ... but we can't.  We inherently know the difference.

However, I doubt that "Kung Fu Panda" is a reliable source to quote when defending the faith :)

Making Time?

Making time,

Saving time,

Killing time,

Wasting time,

Doing time,

Marking time.

I wonder if "eternal life" is one way of expressing my existence in a way that transcends time? ... where I escape the clock?  ... when my life makes a difference far in excess of the seconds invested?

"With the Lord a day is like a thousand years..." 2 Peter 3:8

My Mom! Newspaper Story Yesterday

72-year-old woman succeeds at holding crippling disease at bay

BLOOMINGTON -- Dee Werry walked from the leg extension machine to the leg curl machine. She was stooped forward and to the left side and took small steps. But that didn’t slow her down. As she walked determinedly from machine to machine — while chatting with her attentive personal trainer, Chris Hallam, who walked beside her — fellow exercisers less than half her age spotted her, smiled and stepped out of her way.

It’s Dee-Time at Gold’s Gym in Bloomington. Dee-Time is 1:30 to about 5 p.m. almost every Monday, Wednesday and Friday when the 72-year-old Bloomington woman is at the fitness center to lift weights, walk up stairs, stretch and do water exercises.

“People look forward to seeing Dee walk through those doors,” said Shannon Wahls, 37, of Bloomington, who befriended Werry about a year ago after they began working out at about the same time. “If it’s 1:40 and she’s not here, we start to wonder ‘Where’s Dee?’”

But Werry is more than a nice older woman who weight lifts. The retired businesswoman exercises to battle a rare disease. And she’s succeeding.

Read the rest of the story here:

Wow!

About Face Regarding the Israel Conflict

As I first heard about the Israeli's response to continued rocket launches into Israel, I thought, "Sure!  I can't blame them for wanting to see the rockets stopped.  We would not tolerate even one rocket being launched into America."

But the more I see the callous disregard for the innocent, my opinion has turned 180 degrees:

At the moment my contempt for the enemy exceeds my concern for innocent children, my actions then reveal that I have really begun to worship a foreign god and certainly not the God made known by Jesus Christ.

Am I really sure what spirit I am representing when I support what is going on in Gaza right now?

Luke 9:51-56

I'm beginning to learn that one's true god (or value system) is revealed in the furnace.

Matthew 6:25-34

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. 

English Standard Version

John Piper Reciting Romans 8

Eyes to See?

Sensitive to the eternal – “… with the Lord, every day is packed with eternity and eternity is impacted every day.” II Pet. 3:8 (dgw)

In the biblical account of Jacob’s ladder, Jacob exclaims, “Surely the Lord is present in this place and I did not know it!” or perhaps, and at least, “There is much more going on here than I supposed!” Gen. 28:16 (dgw)

Here is an example from my experience:

The American Indian would express a fear of photographs that we often casually dismiss: “The camera will steal my soul,” he said. I would very insensitively imagine that he could think that the camera actually captured something of his and transferred it to a piece of paper. “How silly,” I would think. 

God forgive me.

Consider that what he meant is that the camera will somehow rob him of the mystery that is every individual – that he will somehow be diminished after having been photographed. Prior to being photographed, he can be unique, feared and respected, perhaps even legendary; a photograph, however, would emphasize his similarities to everyone else and he could then lose (at least some of) the distinction (the mystery) that was previously his.

A photograph would presuppose that he always is as he appeared at that moment – and he knows that his complex dimensions can never be captured in one or even one million photographs. He knows that to be human means to change. He knows that tomorrow, he will not be the same – but the photograph will be the same; and others’ image of him will be locked in that photograph, i.e. who he was, and not in the dynamic of who he is.

Indeed, is that not “stealing his soul?”

Have we not also stolen his (our) soul by reducing such a rich, thoughtful, and complex concept to a mere caricature?

The above illustration is representative of the way I feel that I respond to all of life and faith: superficially accepting or dismissing items that have far more meaning than easily or commonly understood.

Terms like eternal life, kingdom of heaven, salvation, judgment, and repentance have far more (and sometimes less) meaning than commonly understood. These terms have obtained a super-definition that we all assume is universally understood. We then use these terms as if we all understand them and then shallow, lifeless communication is all that follows.

Father, forgive me for so carelessly and callously handling your words (and Word.) Teach me to carefully and tenderly regard other’s ideas and opinions and to be open to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and teaching. I pray that I never assume that I know the meaning of a term and then dismiss what I can learn from careful scrutiny. In the Spirit of your Word: Jesus, amen.

 

Everybody's Doing It!

Everyone else seems to have a blog these days.   So I guess I'll try to see what all the hubbub is about.