Ancient Truth | Modern Sound

Maybe you are like me and the election didn’t go the way you hoped, so you are wearing black this week and writing a new pledge of allegiance:

I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the divided states of America
and to the republic that I don’t understand
one Obamanation
under God’s judgment
with licentiousness and lack of judgment by all

Yeah, I know, a little over the top.  I was watching the election coverage until I went to bed, and I thought of this pledge parody as I was falling asleep.  I thought, “Should I get up and write this down? … Nah!  I don’t care if I remember it or not.”  Nonetheless, I remembered it in the morning and posted it on my FaceBook account.  Isn’t that thrilling.

Maybe you are not like me at all, and instead you are riding on a wave of optimism and hope that springs from Barack Obama bringing a fresh start to our nation.  You are hoping for change to believe in!  Maybe you are one of America’s 51% who cast a very happy vote for this (previously) unknown senator from Illinois.  If you are, then you are probably very hopeful for the kind of change that he will inspire in our great country.  (and you probably didn’t make it reading further than my pledge.)

I can’t imagine the mess we would have woken up to on Wednesday if McCain had won.  People would have been violently angry, and I think the morale of the nation would have been at a new all time low.  I think there would have been massive public despair and disillusionment.

On the other hand, there seems to be a bounce in the step of many people right now, people are feeling hopeful and optimistic.   Happiness and joy are contagious, and whether we want to admit it or not, many of us who are disappointed in the outcome of the election are feeling the ripple of euphoria from the “other side.”  Things actually seem pretty bright.

This doesn’t mean that my grave concerns have gone away.  The grave concerns are front and center, but the problem is that McCain didn’t really answer those concerns much better than Obama.

Some Concerns:

1. I am troubled that Obama is so rabidly pro-abortion, but McCain is not much more of a defender of the unborn when it comes right down to it. Both of them support funding Planned Parenthood.  ‘Nuff said.

2. I am troubled that Obama wants to raise taxes on the people who already pay the most taxes, and “spread the wealth around.”  The government does not need to be in the business of playing Robin Hood.  On the other hand, McCain had the crazy idea to buy the bad mortgages and he supported the financial bailout package, and that’s not much better.  I would love to have a president who understands economics better than I do, someone who knows what a budget is, and knows how to stay within it.  We were not going to get that either way the election went.

3.  I am troubled that Obama is perceived to be a pacifist.  I don’t want the Commander and Chief of the United States Military to be perceived as a pacifist.  I want him to be perceived as a crazy mean dog that you better not mess with, or he will bite your face off.  I sleep better at night with a well trained pitbull in the yard than a cute little Yorkie.  On this issue, McCain wins hands down.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE:
But, there are many good things about Obama winning the election.  The optimistic sense of hope is actually a beautiful thing, and not something that I have seen much of in my lifetime.  It feels like our black brothers and sisters are standing a little taller, and I hope that translates into a better sense of citizenship and responsibility.  Whether we want to admit it or not, this is a global culture, and the world is excited to see Obama win the election.  This could translate into a more favorable world opinion, and that would be helpful in many ways.  We need to be thankful for the good things, and accept the leader that God has given us.  We must learn how to honor Obama and we must pray for him to be a good and wise leader.

 Please join me in this prayer today.

In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray:

LORD, have mercy on us and grant us peace, fill us with Your loving-kindness and thankfulness for the salvation of our souls and our lives.  We ask for the peace in this world, for healing in our nation and for the unity of all peoples.

For our President-Elect, Barack Obama, for the leaders of the nations, and for all in authority, we pray to the LORD.  We humbly ask that You would give them wisdom and direction.  We ask that you would turn their hearts toward the protection of the weak and the helpless.  We ask that You would allow them to see the wisdom of Your will and Your Law, and that they would be given a heart to understand it.  We ask that you would actively restrain the evil that they are allowed to do by Your mighty and powerful hand.

We thank You, Almighty God, for Your grace and abundant blessings to this nation.  May we be good citizens and faithful stewards of all You have entrusted us with.

AMEN

Believe in God?
Most people believe in God (even the ones who say they don’t.)  Everything around us implies that someone made it.  No matter how far you zoom out (the entire universe) or how far you zoom in (the inexhaustible detail of the micro-universes inside every atom) there is amazing design and purpose.  It is very difficult to sustain belief for even a moment that all of this happened by chance.  None of us believe that given enough time a million monkeys at typewriters would eventually compose the Book of Genesis. Time, plus chance, plus monkeys …  just equals a bunch of dead monkeys.

God in Nature
There is evidence surrounding us for the existence of God . Things like the universe having a consistent and purposeful design, it seems as though a creative mind put it all together.   Mankind has had a basic moral code that transcends cultures and history, it seems as though we have come from a common creative imagination.  History appears to have a progressive and purposeful direction, it seems as though an author has been behind the larger story. It would even seem that we are all inclined to spiritual beliefs and motivated to worship something higher than ourselves.  Although all of these arguments can be rationally smashed upon the rocks of philosophy, there is still some nagging truth at the center of these ideas that will not go away, and points us to God.

God Speaks
Of course the general revelation of God through creation is not the end of it.  God has revealed Himself through many messengers and prophets.  God spoke to Moses through a burning bush, he spoke to many others through angels, He spoke to others in visions and dreams, and through these people He gave us His Word.  The Law.  The Bible.  He gave us specific revelation that tells us who He is, who we are, and how He wants us to live our lives.  This is good, because without His specific revelation to us, we humans tend to think that throwing virgins into volcanoes is the best way to worship.

Too Many Gods
Some people will despair  at the thought of who the true God is because there are so many different ideas, and who can know which one is right?  Let me propose that there are really only two answers to this question, and everything else is a matter of emphasis.  Either God is a knowable person, or He is an unknowable abstraction.  Either God is the God of Genesis through Revelation (The Jewish God who is fully revealed to us in Jesus Christ), or God is the impersonal pantheon of Hindu manifestations of Brahman.  These are the only two choices.  Every religion goes back to one of these two, Islam is a Christian heresy and Buddhism is a Hindu atheism, etc.  So, don’t fool yourself into pretending that there is no point in seeking God because of all the disorganization of organized religions. (more…)

What are you thinking about?
All day long, every day, there are reoccurring thoughts.   We all have them.  Hardly five minutes can go by without a nagging return to the same old refrain.  Usually, they are things that we can’t really do anything about.  Vanity issues like the way we look (height, weight, hair, clothes, teeth, complexion, etc.) or our mortality (health, exercise, diet, death, our heart, sickness, etc.), desires and obsessions (food, drink, sex, friendship, loneliness, etc.), or even basic day to day survival (career, getting work done, paying bills, money for the things we need, both now and in the years to come), it might even be guilt over something that we have done (or are doing).  I’m talking about the kind of things that nearly drive us to despair.  The thoughts that constantly get in our way, and keep us from doing what we are supposed to be doing.

It’s different for everyone, although I think most of us have a combination of a few of these things working together to keep us discouraged.  I’ll let you know one of mine, even though it is embarrassing.  I’m hoping that by sharing it, some light will be shed on the subject.  (deep sigh) (more…)