Since the beginning of the Obama administration my email inbox has filled daily with alarms about outrage and betrayal. It seems that every day our nation is on the verge of total dissolution.
“There are no check and balances. There is no Constitution. The enemy is everywhere, controlling everyone and if you don’t forward this email to your local list of like minded voters you might as well join the blue helmeted Belgians that could come marching down the street at any moment!”
These emails don’t just come from the disaffected and marginalized fringe. I get the same emails from most local politicians in my party of choice. (That’s what I’m calling the GOP these days.) The only difference is they want my time and money as well as my email list.
In our defense, mainstream Democrats weren’t much different in the last eight years. In one sense, they are reaping what they sowed. “Those who demonize and criminalize shall be demonized and criminalized.” It’s the first rule of politics.
So just in case you care about current events but don’t want stain your reputation or ruin perfectly good friendships in the process, I’m offering a short list of truths that I’ve found helpful over the last twenty years. If you apply these truths you’ll be effective in the arena of ideas, avoid saying the most ridiculous things and possibly actually make a difference in the world.
JIM'S 10 MAXIMS TO HELP YOU NOT BECOME
A RIGHT WING (OR LEFT WING) NUT
1. Things are always way more complicated than they sound.
2. American voters are not by and large "idiots" – for that matter neither are foreign voters.
3. No more than 3 people can collaborate together without someone else knowing about it.
4. You are not the only person who has heard about this.
5. If no one else seems upset about something there's probably a good reason for that.
6. If your point of view was really the majority opinion the laws would be different.
7. People who don't agree with you love this country just as much as you do.
8. All media is biased; even the media you trust . . . and that's ok.
9. Almost all research is agenda driven, even the research you like.
10. The real reason nothing changes is because things are basically the way people want them to be.
These are the maxims that I follow to stay in the game, stay relevant and not look like a raving lunatic. Maybe they’ll be helpful to you as well.
Look, as Christians who are called to work in government, we have to keep things in perspective. Our job is to promote justice, encourage mercy and forgiveness and walk humbly before God.
This is the God whose inexorable plan has come to pass and will ultimately continue to unfold. Yes, my side might not win today but that doesn’t mean that God lost. In fact, this is as good a time as any to square my side more fully with the three goals I mentioned above.
Anybody up for that?
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Movies I Like: The Day the Earth Stood Still
Over the weekend I got to see “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” The movie is a loose remake of the 1951 classic movie and I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars. The story is interesting because it flips the script on human beings by treating them as helpless before the alien invaders. This is exactly the kind of movie I would have never seen as a kid. No movies with aliens, monsters or dinosaurs allowed. It’s too bad because this movie is a great study on the person and nature of Jesus Christ.
I have to say one reason the comparisons stood out so clearly to me was because I had just finished listening to Francis Chan’s Easter sermon on podcast earlier that day. If you hang around me very long you’re bound to hear about Chan, the Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley. Chan has a raw, honest way of calling people to follow hard after Christ.
On Easter Sunday, Chan went chapter by chapter through the gospel of John demonstrating how Jesus was a radical leader bent toward challenging the prevailing culture. Chan made it clear the Jesus we know - the one sitting on a rock and petting sheep - was nothing like the real man who came to earth with a plan to invade and crush Satan’s kingdom.
In the movie, the aliens send one of their own, Keanu, played by Klaatu Reeves - wait reverse that – to carry out the alien’s verdict to kill all humans and wipe evidence of our presence from the planet in order to save it. It seems we have made such a hash of things that the alien observers have decided we need to go. These aliens are not all powerful but compared to us they might as well be. The humans never have a chance.
And that’s where the interesting emotional twist set in for me. For some reason, I rarely feel utterly powerless. Maybe it’s because I’m a rich American. Maybe it’s because I’m inexperienced. Maybe it’s just bad theology that taught me that I get to make a choice as to whether I want to be saved or not. Even in the areas where I have faced almost constant failure I still feel like if I just try harder I could succeed.
When Jesus came He confronted a world packed with agendas. But they meant nothing to him. The Romans weren’t even relevant to his plans. The religious, church-going crowds were so confused most of them didn’t even see who he was. He blew right by them. The outcast, unloved and screwed up knew they could do nothing to make Him care about them. Those were the ones who mattered to Him.
But He came to say what he said. He taught anyone who would follow Him. Then He gave up His life. No one took it from Him. They didn’t affect his plan in the least bit. He was like Klaatu.
This is why all art is so useful to us humans. You could teach me that Jesus came to judge and redeem the world but a story lets me enter into the experience in a whole new way. I know people who are trying to follow the Lord Creator by removing things from their lives. I think that’s a dangerous path to follow. Yes, we need discernment but we need to recognize that all creative expression can tell us something of the story of God and our place in it. I don’t want to miss that experience.
I have to say one reason the comparisons stood out so clearly to me was because I had just finished listening to Francis Chan’s Easter sermon on podcast earlier that day. If you hang around me very long you’re bound to hear about Chan, the Pastor at Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley. Chan has a raw, honest way of calling people to follow hard after Christ.
On Easter Sunday, Chan went chapter by chapter through the gospel of John demonstrating how Jesus was a radical leader bent toward challenging the prevailing culture. Chan made it clear the Jesus we know - the one sitting on a rock and petting sheep - was nothing like the real man who came to earth with a plan to invade and crush Satan’s kingdom.
In the movie, the aliens send one of their own, Keanu, played by Klaatu Reeves - wait reverse that – to carry out the alien’s verdict to kill all humans and wipe evidence of our presence from the planet in order to save it. It seems we have made such a hash of things that the alien observers have decided we need to go. These aliens are not all powerful but compared to us they might as well be. The humans never have a chance.
And that’s where the interesting emotional twist set in for me. For some reason, I rarely feel utterly powerless. Maybe it’s because I’m a rich American. Maybe it’s because I’m inexperienced. Maybe it’s just bad theology that taught me that I get to make a choice as to whether I want to be saved or not. Even in the areas where I have faced almost constant failure I still feel like if I just try harder I could succeed.
When Jesus came He confronted a world packed with agendas. But they meant nothing to him. The Romans weren’t even relevant to his plans. The religious, church-going crowds were so confused most of them didn’t even see who he was. He blew right by them. The outcast, unloved and screwed up knew they could do nothing to make Him care about them. Those were the ones who mattered to Him.
But He came to say what he said. He taught anyone who would follow Him. Then He gave up His life. No one took it from Him. They didn’t affect his plan in the least bit. He was like Klaatu.
This is why all art is so useful to us humans. You could teach me that Jesus came to judge and redeem the world but a story lets me enter into the experience in a whole new way. I know people who are trying to follow the Lord Creator by removing things from their lives. I think that’s a dangerous path to follow. Yes, we need discernment but we need to recognize that all creative expression can tell us something of the story of God and our place in it. I don’t want to miss that experience.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
I'm an extremist? I wish!
No doubt you’ve heard about the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assessment that became public in the last week. The “assessment” dated April 7, 2009, was issued by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the DHS and titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.”
The document alerts law enforcement officials that “rightwing extremists” may exploit Americans who have strongly held beliefs on issues like Christianity, U.S. sovereignty, the loss of American jobs and the 2nd Amendment. In a town where people are willing to get upset about anything, except what really matters, this is has been treated as a national crisis.
I'm not too upset about this report. For one thing, I went to UNC, and, as Tom Tancredo found out this week, where conservatives have long been violently blamed for everything wrong with the world for decades now.
Secondly, they are partially right. Of course everything they said about Christian conservatives could also be said about left wing radicals, and has been many times - by many of my fellow Christian conservatives!
In a country the size of the United States, there are a certain number of unstable people. In my experience, they fall across all political and religious perspectives. If you doubt this, pick your favorite public figure, someone famous, now search them on You Tube and see how many whackjobs out there are criticizing them. There are radicals all over the place.
The problem with the U.S. isn't that there are radicals. It's that we've lost the ability to recognize any validity in other perspectives. We're all saying, "How dare anyone call ME a radical! But look at that teenager over there in a headscarf . . . I hope someone's watching her, tapping her phone, and reading her email.”
Why shouldn't a poorly educated liberal American analyst with no conservative friends be afraid of people like me and you? Right wingers have killed in America in my lifetime and if our ignorant DHS analyst wants to paint with a broad brush, how is he different from the conservative right winger who doesn't think liberals can be Christians?
Here's the thing, I WANT to be a radical. I want to live just like a radical. I want to follow in the footsteps of a radical who hung on a cross because the religious leaders thought he was a traitor and a heretic.
I grew up in a country where everyone called themselves Christians but they hated people who didn't look like them and chose to kill unborn babies for convenience. My people spend a few millions to help the less fortunate (when they aren't lecturing them on responsibility) but spend trillions to make themselves more comfortable. My country has 6% of the world’s population but 25% of the world's prisoners. Why would anybody want to claim to be in the majority in THAT country?
The problem with America isn't that some idiot thinks right wingers are dangerous, it's that nobody thinks Christians are dangerous. But as I look around I am seeing just a glimmer that the next generation is ready to stand up and live full out for Christ, while the critics complain about their tattoos. God bless them, maybe one day Christians will again be as feared as the one they claim to follow.
The document alerts law enforcement officials that “rightwing extremists” may exploit Americans who have strongly held beliefs on issues like Christianity, U.S. sovereignty, the loss of American jobs and the 2nd Amendment. In a town where people are willing to get upset about anything, except what really matters, this is has been treated as a national crisis.
I'm not too upset about this report. For one thing, I went to UNC, and, as Tom Tancredo found out this week, where conservatives have long been violently blamed for everything wrong with the world for decades now.
Secondly, they are partially right. Of course everything they said about Christian conservatives could also be said about left wing radicals, and has been many times - by many of my fellow Christian conservatives!
In a country the size of the United States, there are a certain number of unstable people. In my experience, they fall across all political and religious perspectives. If you doubt this, pick your favorite public figure, someone famous, now search them on You Tube and see how many whackjobs out there are criticizing them. There are radicals all over the place.
The problem with the U.S. isn't that there are radicals. It's that we've lost the ability to recognize any validity in other perspectives. We're all saying, "How dare anyone call ME a radical! But look at that teenager over there in a headscarf . . . I hope someone's watching her, tapping her phone, and reading her email.”
Why shouldn't a poorly educated liberal American analyst with no conservative friends be afraid of people like me and you? Right wingers have killed in America in my lifetime and if our ignorant DHS analyst wants to paint with a broad brush, how is he different from the conservative right winger who doesn't think liberals can be Christians?
Here's the thing, I WANT to be a radical. I want to live just like a radical. I want to follow in the footsteps of a radical who hung on a cross because the religious leaders thought he was a traitor and a heretic.
I grew up in a country where everyone called themselves Christians but they hated people who didn't look like them and chose to kill unborn babies for convenience. My people spend a few millions to help the less fortunate (when they aren't lecturing them on responsibility) but spend trillions to make themselves more comfortable. My country has 6% of the world’s population but 25% of the world's prisoners. Why would anybody want to claim to be in the majority in THAT country?
The problem with America isn't that some idiot thinks right wingers are dangerous, it's that nobody thinks Christians are dangerous. But as I look around I am seeing just a glimmer that the next generation is ready to stand up and live full out for Christ, while the critics complain about their tattoos. God bless them, maybe one day Christians will again be as feared as the one they claim to follow.
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