Category: News Commentary

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100730/house-bill-seeks-to-permanently-ban-abortion-funding/index.html

I was reading this week that our President and Congress still cannot get their heads around the truth about abortion.    While the house is thankfully introducing a bill to clearly end federal funding for it, a good step forward, the Senate was opening the way for more foreign aid for it.   The position of our Declaration of Independence is crystal clear.   We are “entitled by our Creator” to the “right to life..”

When will we figure out that children seldom arrive on the wings of convenience?  They are not like weekends at the beach or raises in pay; universally welcomed at the first news of their coming.    But they are much more like education or regular workouts; hard work, sometimes not very convenient but more than worth the effort in the long view.    How many baby boomers who were quite happy to have taken part in an abortion when they were young to avoid a visible pregnancy, now with the wisdom of age in regard to the value of children, wish they had not done so?    How many women’s lives have been scarred by the memories of the death of an unborn in this way?

Personally, I think that abortion is also the worst enemy of economic growth in America over the last four decades.    The economic and demographic picture would be so much healthier without it.  The Northeast would not be emptying of people nearly as much.   Colleges would not be in a cut-throat competition for diminishing students.   Social Security would not be going bankrupt.   Store-keepers would have younger customers who spend money.    Every business person and teacher should be pro-life out of pure economic self-interest, if for no other reason. 

The Bible’s position is clear.  God’s creative power was at work in our conception and in our formation in the womb.   Every child is a unique and valuable creation of God, whatever the circumstances of conception, whatever the accidents of development in a broken world (Rom. 8:18-25). 

“You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Ps 139:13 NIV).

“This is what the Lord says — he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you” (Isa 44:2).

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jer 1:5).

It is up to us to learn to value the children that God allows us to conceive as God values them.

http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Oswego-Church-collapses-but-memories-remain/JSijb-ftPkCAV8-MVti2dQ.cspx?rss=1543

Street vendors sold hotdogs in the empty building’s shadow and people celebrated with loud music at a local festival on nearby streets.    The church looked so normal.   Yet without warning, St Louis Catholic church in Oswego, NY, partially collapsed to the pavement this past weekend.   Fortunately no lives were lost in the immediate catastrophe. 

The more I have viewed pictures and read about it on the internet, the more I have been haunted by the thought.    On one level, I suppose, it is just the story of another closed and unsold church, neglected for years that simply reached the point of architectural instability.   It sounds so mundane.  

But I see it differently.  From my vantage point, this historical exclamation point is a powerful symbol of a much more crucial and deadly collapse that happened without much notice many years before; a collapse that is being repeated all across America today in churches Catholic and Protestant.   The paper reported tersely that the church closed ten years ago because of a decline in parishioners.   That is the real collapse, the death of a congregation by withering away.   How many souls have missed the way because that light has been darkened?  How does that happen?   Can it happen to our church as it has to St John the Evangelist in Syracuse and many others?

A visible collapse like this one makes us all stop and think about it.   Now I know that church attendance can be a tricky subject.  Demographic, competitive, leadership and location factors certainly play a role.   Something as simple as a building with no parking could doom a congregation to decline during the latter 20^th century.

But the factor in potentially losing a church to neglect that troubles me the most is one that we can do the most about, or can we?   I’m afraid that closed and neglected church buildings are a sign that Americans do not value anymore what our forefathers who built these churches valued.    The sign of it is that weekly, we trade in our heritage of faith for Sunday entertainment, leisure, travel, shopping, or sports.   So though we claim to be Christian, we are no-shows repeatedly.  These other things are more fun and satisfy our eyes’ desire to see new things and our insatiable craving for pleasure; but they leave our souls starving.    The predictable result is that our moral values are unfortified with deep reasons from the wells of faith; our children do not learn the didactic stories of Scripture; and we are left without the comfort and support of a family of faith.  

In contrast, our forefathers understood what David meant when he said, “You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!” (Ps 68:35 NIV).  That is why they invested, often heavily in making the place of his praises majestic.   If we do not understand their investment of money, labor or time in attending, perhaps we should ask if we are missing something, before the church we look to as home collapses from inside.    Much later someone will raze the external skeleton and no one will be left to mourn.

“The Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.” (Ps 96:5-6)

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100501/ariz-gov-modifies-immigration-law-after-criticism/index.html

I spoke with a local beef and crop farmer the other day.  From what I read, I think he’s pretty typical of many Northeastern farmers– retirement age, runs his farm mostly with a little family help.   He would like to hire some help but whom?   He commented that most of his neighbors– family dairy farmers use immigrant help.   Local trunk farmers do also.  So we like cheap and plentiful food but need workers to produce it.  

It is situations like this throughout the country in various industries plus the large young unemployed population in Caribbean countries and Eastern European countries that drive the situation in Arizona and other border states.   But the long and short of it is that if we like to eat, we had better like welcoming immigrants.   It is hypocritical in the highest way to like the benefits of their work and then discriminate against them as we currently do.

What I really don’t understand is why conservative Christian groups are often among the anti-immigrant crowd.   Yes, crossing into the country illegally is a crime and that issue should be addressed.    But persecuting the workers already here and failing to address the underlying employment situation is not helpful.   Plus, the Bible principle from the OT is crystal clear.  And it could not be simpler:   “‘When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Lev 19:33-34 NIV).   So once the worker is here, we are to apply the golden rule and treat him well, even as we treat each other.

It’s easy to be critical of the status quo.  What are some suggestions? 

Certainly we need a much more workable working permit system.  As soon as it is easier to get a legal permit than to risk your life coming in illegally, illegal immigration will dwindle to a trickle.  If a person is caught near a border coming in illegally, deport them and make them ineligible for a legal permit for 3 years.    The way northern cities are losing people, they could use some immigrants just to occupy the houses and keep the teachers employed.   (Otherwise the whole Northeast will be tearing down blocks like Detroit.)  

States such as Arizona are worried about crime.  I suggest that they recognize that when young men go places without wives, crime goes up.   Allow them work permits that allow them to bring families honorably.  Crime will plummet; guaranteed.

However, we also need a way to deal with immigrants who have been here illegally for years.   My own idea is a decreasing fine.   Start with a high fine of say seven thousand dollars for an immigrant discovered to be here illegally who cannot prove they have been here a year.    Then for each year they can prove they have been here, the fine goes down in recognition of the service they have rendered to our economy in that time frame.   If they can prove they have been working here 7 years or more, the fine bottoms out at $500.   If they pay the fine themselves or with the help of friends, they will be granted legal working permits.   If not, they will simply be deported and must wait three years to apply to re-enter.   This assumes there are not entanglements such as marriage to a citizen or children who are citizens. 

Steps like these will help us reform our immigration laws in ways that truly welcome immigrants.