Flaws

So recently I have become much more aware of a couple of my character flaws. The first is that I have a strong tendency to be far too critical with my opinions. Last night someone mentioned the Nooma series, and I launched into my criticism of it based on the one episode I had seen. It was really unnecessary, unhelpful and unedifying. I need to learn humility and greater simplicity in my speech.

Which brings me to a conviction about simplicity in general. I recently finished reading Richard Foster's Freedom of Simplicity, and he identifies an early stage in the process towards simplicity that (at best) I think I am in.

This stage is one of great honesty and sincerity, but it is not yet true simplicity. 'Sincerity is a virtue below simplicity,' said Fenelon. The reason is easy to see. The sincere have a deep concern for honesty and truth. Rectitude, fidelity, conscientiousness, impeccability - these all mark the sincere. And although all of these are great virtues, they have a certain self-consciousness about them: a concern to do right, to be right, to look right. Of the sincere, Fenelon says, 'They are always studying themselves, going over all their words and all their thoughts, and going back over all they have done, afraid of having said or done too much.'

The sincere are not yet simple. They have a kind of artificial rigor that makes us feel uncomfortable, though we cannot fault the virtue. They put us on edge and make us feel ill at ease. This often concerns us because they seem so spiritual, so determined to know God. We wonder if our discomfort stems from a resistance to God and his way. In reality, however, it is due to the fact that these deeply committed folk are trying too hard. They lack the ease, freedom, and naturalness that mark true interior simplicity. We would prefer less perfect people who are more at ease with
themselves. - Richard Foster

So how do you get there from here?

Poverty

So yesterday I picked up Ending Poverty In America, edited by John Edwards, Marion Crain and Arne Kalleberg. I wasn't quite sure what to expect but from the first article it attempts to rise above the infinite loop of useless partisan bickering with a refreshing assessment that maybe both have parties have part of the answer.

The myth and the antimyth [of the American Dream] parallel the conservative Republican and the liberal Democratic sides of the debate over poverty. This is a sterile game of blame. Conservatives tend to see individuals and families as responsible for their own predicaments; liberals often fault the private sector and government alone. Conservatives have their pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, the internal individual and family dysfunctions, and liberals have theirs, the external failed institutions. Imagine if, in this age of political stalemate between the extremes, conservatives who care and liberals who dare to listen would each bring their pieces of the puzzle to the table and assemble them all together. Then they would have a full picture of the problems of poverty. You cannot solve a problem without defining it, and if you don't allow yourself a complete definition, you will never approach a thorough solution. Connect the dots. - David K. Shipler

I am still in the beginning, but I would invite everyone who wants to have a more informed understanding of the nature of and potential solutions for poverty in America to join me in the reading. It feels a bit like a domestic version of Jeffrey Sach's The End of Poverty.

I still have a number of questions and doubts as I begin to read the book. For one thing, I'm not so sure the American Dream with its materialistic center is really the ultimate goal we should all be striving for. There's also this dangerous element of yearning to go back to the way things used to be, but that can never be. We live in a different world today, and we better be prepared to adjust to these new realities. Also, I'm not sure if we have the personal and national will to make the kind of decisions and sacrifices we really need to make to ensure a brighter future.

By the way, I went to the Mustard Seed to kill some time yesterday evening. They were closing so I didn't get a chance to ask at the counter, but I did not see a single book on poverty in the store. How far have the interests of the church strayed from those of Paul?

All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. - Galatians 2:10

The Bible v the Koran

The Economist has another fascinating article, this time on the Bible and the Koran. I found the section on biblical literacy to be particularly interesting:

Americans buy more than 20m new Bibles every year to add to the four that the average American has at home. Yet the state of American biblical knowledge is abysmal. A Gallup survey found that less than half of Americans can name the first book of the Bible (Genesis), only a third know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount (Billy Graham is a popular answer) and a quarter do not know what is celebrated at Easter (the resurrection, the foundational event of Christianity). Sixty per cent cannot name half the ten commandments; 12% think Noah was married to Joan of Arc. George Gallup, a leading Evangelical as well as a premier pollster, describes America as “a nation of biblical illiterates”.

Christmas Song

I remember hearing this song several years ago on Y100 and found it to be rather intriguing. It may be the only DMB song I have ever liked.

Set Me Free

This Christmas, my small group raised enough funds to "help secure freedom and transportation to a Safe House and provide for one woman or child for one year" with Shared Hope International. It was wonderful to participate in this endeavor and follow in His steps.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. - Luke 4:18,19

High On The List Of Things I Don't Care About

So I was watching the news this morning with my parents and one of the top stories was that Brittney Spear's young teenage sister is pregnant.

Um, I don't care.

The fact that the teenage birth rate increased last year for the first time in 15 years is something I am concerned about. The fact that the percentage of all U.S. births to unmarried mothers increased to 38.5% is also a concern. You probably didn't hear those numbers on the news though did you? Because nothing in this country matters unless it happens to a celebrity.

We don't care about unwed mothers and teenage pregnancy unless it happens to someone famous. We don't care about relief work in Asia and Africa unless it's done by Angelina Jolie or Nicole Kidman.

I couldn't tell from watching the news this morning how millions of teenage girls in this country are coping with unexpected pregnancies, if there has been progress in Darfur or how many people in Iraq have electricity. But I know that Britney Spear's sister is pregnant.

"And judge you from the card-castle comfort of America." - Incubus

God help us.

I Hate Christmas Parties

The Chatham Holiday Party was very nice last night. But I still couldn't help thinking of this Relient K song from time to time.

Dominic The Donkey

What the . . . ? I have heard this song twice now on the radio over the last week. Fortunately, I have not been close to firearms in either instance. What is wrong with the world? I don't want to hear any songs about Italian Christmas donkeys.

More On Mike

It's true that Mike Huckabee is not experienced in foreign affairs. But, as he says, he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

The United States' strategic interests as the world's most powerful country coincide with its moral obligations as the richest. If we do not do the right thing to improve life in the Muslim world, the terrorists will step in and do the wrong thing.

It is easy to be a peace lover; the challenging part is being a peacemaker.

I think I need to read through the article a few times to digest it, but he doesn't strike me as ignorant on international issues. And I appreciate his awareness of the value of humility in international diplomacy, something the strutting and staggering current President has not understood.

The United States, as the world's only superpower, is less vulnerable to military defeat. But it is more vulnerable to the animosity of other countries. Much like a top high school student, if it is modest about its abilities and achievements, if it is generous in helping others, it is loved. But if it attempts to dominate others, it is despised. American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out.

He also does not have an infantile fascination with the institution of democracy and rugged individualism.

Although we cannot export democracy as if it were Coca-Cola or KFC, we can nurture moderate forces in places where al Qaeda is seeking to replace modern evil with medieval evil. Such moderation may not look or function like our system -- it may be a benevolent oligarchy or more tribal than individualistic -- but both for us and for the peoples of those countries, it will be better than the dictatorships they have now or the theocracy they would have under radical Islamists.

I find it interesting that Mitt Romney now seems to be taking an angle that Huckabee isn't conservative enough. Hmmm. If the liberals don't like him because he's too conservative, and the conservatives don't like him because he's too liberal, that probably means he's right about where I want a candidate to be. I'm a little concerned though about his campaign hiring Reagan's former campaign advisor. Unlike many of my fellow Republicans, I do not share in the near idol worship of Reagan.

The Flaw of Electability

One of the things that really annoys me about the current mentality of politics is the sort of untouchable aura given to a candidate based on their "electability." So, if candidate A is inferior in nearly every way to candidate B but is currently more popular or better-known and thus "more electable" they are ahead in the polls and credited in the media as a nearly invincible winner. And people go along with this. They may really like candidate B or C, but the media says candidate A is going to win and they just go along with the self-fulfilling prophecy. What a joke! (It's like saying you have to be a Yankees fan just because they have the most money and are most likely to win the World Series.) WE, THE VOTERS WILL DECIDE WHO WILL WIN, NOT THE MEDIA WHO PROCLAIMS A WINNER TWO YEARS BEFORE THE ELECTION!

Fortunately, we are seeing cracks in this unsubstantiated early proclamation of a winner by the media. The cover story of Newsweek this week was "Holy, Huckabee!" who I believe is now second in national polls and is probably the candidate that would make Giuliani the most nervous. (I asked people at lunch a couple weeks ago about running mates. Someone suggested a Huckabee-McCain ticket. I think that could work.) Today, I went over to the Economist and they share that Hillary no longer looks invincible.

Wow, imagine that. I never knew she was invincible to begin with. I would laugh all the way to Washington if we get to next November and Hillary and Guiliani are both watching things at home while Obama and Huckabee are preparing for election night.

Delicious

Just your standard Sunday afternoon of made-from-scratch baking at the Chef Lamp Shack. Mmmmm. Tasty!

The World Was Not Worthy Of Them

My heart and prayers go out to the friends and families of the young YWAM missionaries who were murdered by a gunman in their training center near Denver.

Legends

Grrrrr!!!! I just missed the opportunity to meet "Wild Bill" Garnier and Edward "Babe" Heffron at Barnes and Noble today. In case you do not recognize the names, they were two members of the Easy Company, 101st Airborne in WWII as featured in the HBO documentary, Band of Brothers. When I got a call with a heads-up that they were going to be there, I was on my way to get my car serviced as my check engine light had mysteriously come on this morning. By the time I got out and got to B&N, they were gone. So disappointing. They do have a new book out Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends and there is a column of signed copies at the store.

The End of Cheap Food

There's a very interesting article in the Economist on "The End of Cheap Food." So, sort of like we should beware of unintended consequences?

The Glory of God

Okay, theologians, I need you to weigh in on something. Two quotations have been bouncing around my mind recently.

The glory of God is man fully alive. - Saint Ireneaus

and

A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell. - C.S. Lewis

So are these statements contradictory or are both true and need to beld in tension with each other? Can the glory of God ever be added to or diminished from? Or is it simply a matter of how fully or dimly we are aware of and appreciate it?

New Leader?

Huckabee's run continues. He is now polling in first place in Iowa.

Similarity

So, I have noticed a certain similarity in the forecasting abilities of meteorologists and economists. They have accurately predicted 9 out of the last 3 snowstorms and recessions, respectively. That's okay. I don't really want either.