Thank God!

This may not come as a surprise to many, but my rants are often filled with "dooom and gloom" news and scary scenarios. But I want to take this Thanksgiving opportunity to strike a different chord.

I've made a LOT of mistakes over my lifetime, and I've got a truckload of regrets. I'd offer some of them to you, but you probably have plenty of your own. Oh, well; our crosses to bear. But I make it a personal point to thank God daily that the crosses I bear are insignificant in comparison to the one His Son took in my stead. More on that in a bit.

Now, there are many people who say they don't believe in God, and I'm sure they're convinced they are right. Logically, they can't prove He doesn't exist, and there will be literal Hell to pay if they're wrong. There has never been conclusive proof that God is a mere figment of the imagination, and there is plenty of historical, logical and circumstantial evidence to indicate that He does indeed exist.

Okay; the skeptics (you know who you are) reading this are rolling their eyes. They don't believe historical evidence because, hey, we're so much smarter than ancient people were. I mean, they didn't even have the internet! These people are so intelligent in their own minds that they will quickly tell you, for example, that spiritual beings are impossible. Why? Because they haven't seen any? Logic would conclude that unless you know everything there possibly is to know, you cannot be absolutely certain there is no God. But if you did know everything, wouldn't that mean you were God, thereby contradicting your own thesis (and because the one true God - by definition - cannot be wrong, it would also make it impossible for you to be God - oh, the quandary)? Besides, as anyone who watches the current "reality" TV hits Ghost Hunters and Ghost Lab comes to realize, there are things that are difficult to explain via our normal experiences (you'll have to judge their credibility for yourself). Besides, the Holy Bible tells us clearly that there are ghosts and that a spiritual dimension exists. It is sheer arrogance - and foolishness - to deny even the remotest possibility that such things are true.

Actually, some of the greatest minds in history predate the computer age, and most were absolutely convinced of a greater being. Brilliant minds such as Socrates, Archimedes, Shakespeare, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Bacon, Luther, Calvin, Adams, Franklin, Washington and others were the inseminators of the great civilization we now take for granted, because they developed their truly great ideas without all the electronic noise and instantaneous research assistance we have available to us. They had little but the writings of their contemporaries and their predecessors to go on, and the (quiet) time to dwell on those concepts. They each, incrementally, carried those thoughts and added their own, building idea upon idea, until we finally arrived at this tremendous yet tragic moment in history wherein we seems to have lost our philosophical roots and turned away from our spiritual grounding.

Ken Ham, the founder of Answers In Genesis and the Creation Museum once said something that I have never forgotten. He was speaking of the danger of great civilizations forgetting their moral foundations. He asked the audience, "How long does it take a civilization to descend into savagery?" After a pause, he offered the answer to his question: "One generation."

His point was that when parents stop teaching their children how to be good, eventually no one will remember how to be good, and other behaviors willgradually fill that void until there is no good left. It is when a great and successful civilization leaves behind its foundational values and virtues that it begins its decline; and that descent incrementally speeds up because each successive generation of parents has less of that foundational ,moral base to pass on to their children.

In the beginning stages of a cohesive society, parents teach their children the acceptable behavioral standards strictly, because they - often coming out of bad times themselves - recognize the importance of those virtues that kept them steady. But parents naturally want their children to have a better (often misinterpreted as "easier") life than they had; they work harder and make sacrifices so their children won't have to work so hard or make so many sacrifices. And over each generation, the parents get a little more lenient with their children; see them in an increasingly softer light; and eventually become less effective teachers themselves. They spend so much time working - away from their family - that they spend less and less time with their children as parents; to make up for their absence, they try instead to become their childrens' friend. As cultures improve their lifestyles there is less imperative for the parent/friend to put hard demands on their children, and the estranged parents try to avoid further alienating their kids.

Part of this loss of essential and personal instruction includes teaching them the foundational values in a context the kids can actually see. It's one thing for a child to grow up watching - and helping - his father work and sweat in the fields and his mother toiling in the kitchen and tending babies, and to observe and experience firsthand those virtues in action; it's another thing to have your earliest memories of some daycare facility, and only occasionally hearing of what a tough day your Dad had at the office, or that your Mom had to deal with customers at the shop all day. And rather than being the social center of the family and community, Church - if it's in your experience at all - becomes only a place where your parents drag you to hear boring sermons with Old English quotes you cannot comprehend, or it is a place where you go to hang out with your friends or watch skits involving some old, bearded dudes climbing mountains, wearing dresses and dodging imaginary thunderbolts.

As our culture (for want of a more accurate term) leaves behind our connection to God, our "culture" becomes exponentially less cultured and more coarse. Any "good" we see coming from most folks today is only the vestige of the virtues (genuine kindness, generosity, selflessness, humility, faith, etc. -- the kind we show when we think no one is looking) and values (friendship, loyalty, trustworthiness, courage, etc.) which were once so common that they influenced every sphere of society. As we turn away from God's basic principles for the good conduct of the human race, we race toward the savagery Ken Ham spoke of. And most people have no real concept of how depraved people can get when it's "every man (and woman) for themselves."

This Thanksgiving, I suggest we take time to look at our lives and where we're headed as a nation. There is so much going wrong, and it will only get worse unless each one of us does whatever we can to make things better. And more importantly, think on those good things that still remain. Be thankful for what you have, not envious of what someone else has. Be grateful for whatever health you have because you won't always have it. Be thankful for solid friendships based on trust instead of favors. Thank God for all the bad things that He allowed you to survive and learn from, and from all the terrible things which didn't happen to you or to those you love.

Be most thankful for the love of Jesus Christ, who - though He is King of kings and Lord of lords - surrendered Himself to the severest cruelties that the human mind could devise, so that He could conquer sin and Death itself, and deliver us from the condemnation and judgment of a perfect God, into life eternal in His own house. And that's infinitely better than 72 imaginary virgins.

For those who actually read this far, I also thank you. Now, pass it on. and Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving and misgivings

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have to say that this is my favorite holiday (Note that this is a contraction of the term holy day). I like it because there isn't the pressure of providing gifts, no need to set up a bunch of garish and cartoonish decorations. (OK, some folks do put up cartoonish turkeys and Pilgrims, but it's not a cultural 'requirement' like Christmas.) It's a day to share time and a hearty meal with (hopefully) those you love to be with. Most of all it should be a day to remember from Whom all your personal blessings come from, and Who can also take it back in a literal heartbeat when He's given you enough rope.

For those who may not be aware of some of the essential Thanksgiving lore (no thanks to the public school system), allow me to offer a few tidbits, and hope you'll investigate further into the basics of our distinctively American culture and help fight off the encroaching cultural illiteracy we are surrounded by in this generation.

- The Pilgrims -- originally called Separatists -- came to the New World to escape religious persecution. King James severely punished any who turned away from the Anglican Church (aka Church of England). With them were also other less-religious settlers whom they generally got along with.
- The Pilgrims were originally bound for Virginia, but were drawn by weather and sea conditions to the Massachusetts coastal area they called Plymouth.
- The Mayflower Compact (voted on and ratified by the settlers before they landed) is considered the first documentation of self-government for the American people, and was the precursor for the Constitution. It was a solemn covenant which stated the purpose for their exodus from their native land ("In ye name of God, Amen. We...having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith...")
- Because they arrived at Plymouth in December, the settlers were ill-prepared for this new and harsh environment. Nearly half the settlers died during that first winter (1620). The Pilgrims (a biblical term for a sojourner; someone seeking a new homeland) generally got along well with the native Wampanoag tribe, thanks mainly to an Indian named Squanto, who had been to England with previous trappers and fishermen and had learned to speak English. (Imagine the 'coincidence'!) With his and the other Indians help they got through the first winter, teaching them to plant crops and hunt game.
- By springtime the colony was establishing a foothold, having built homes and planted crops. Governor William Bradford called for a celebration to offer thanksgiving to God, following the biblical example in Deut. 26:10 ("I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O Lord, hast given me."). They welcomed the Indians to their 3-day celebration.
- The Pilgrims originally tried a socialistic approach, but it failed because it removed incentive and put the colony in danger of starvation. When they switched to the principle of private property and basic capitalism, the colony flourished.

As you enjoy your own feast, please take the time to appreciate all that came before, preparing the way for your own bounty and freedom. Remember that we rarely get back what we willingly surrender. And remember, especially, to thank God for all you have, and for all the bad things that haven't happened to you.

Learn more about the holiday at http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=17984

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Now for a less appealing aspect to the holiday.

I have long been a supporter of President Bush, but when he's wrong, I won't hesitate to call him on it (let's see if liberals have as much intellectual honesty).

Today, President Bush "pardoned" two turkeys, saving them from ignominously feeding at least a few humans. Meanwhile, two decorated former US Border Patrolmen --Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean -- sit in federal prison, one in solitary confinement and the other having been beaten by other prisoners. Their crime? doing their duty to protect our border and put criminals away.

Instead of celebrating America's bounty in freedom with their families, they languish as two of America's political prisoners. They were persecuted at the express direction of the Bush Administration, and every sort of chicanery and government resource was used to secure their convictions. The jury was misled into believing they had to come to a unanimous vote, even though at least some jurors wanted to acquit them. The federal prosecutor withheld facts about the drug smuggler Aldrete-Davila. In fact, the feds searched for him in Mexico to convince the guy to come back as a witness for the prosecution! Head prosecutor Johnny Sutton even gave the dirtbag a 'get out of jail free' card and paid all his expenses, including a first-class stay at the hospital (on the taxpayer's tab) while being treated for his butt-wound. Aldrete-Davila thanked the US taxpayer by being caught again for smuggling hundreds of pounds of drugs.

To add further injury, while the officers sit in their cells, their families face immense fines even upon their release. The vindictiveness of this crime against America's defenders should not be allowed to be forgotten.

If you've got a little free time to spare, consider dropping a line to the White House and your representatives urging the President to display at least as much mercy toward Ramos and Compean as he did for two turkeys.

As you celebrate Thanksgiving, keep in mind what your government is capable of doing to anyone - including you - if for some unexpected reason you should get in its way. Apparently, it doesn't even matter if you're one of the good guys.

Find out more at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/may/15/pardon-ramos-and-compean/ and http://ramos-compean.blogspot.com/