Category: Current Events

Climate Promise Fulfilled

I’m surprised there is another Presidential action I can applaud. Trump has led the US out of the Paris Climate Accord. I applaud Trump’s courage to stand against the special interests of evil and the ideological rant of the Left.

While some feel the science is debatable, this was clearly not a scientific decision. Perhaps climate temperatures are rising beyond normal deviations; maybe human actions have something to do with it; possibly the net effect of a rise in temperature would be more negative than positive, and the list goes on. (It should be noted that the Left, even with its manipulation of the data and the attempts to shut down debate, has yet to conclusively show the veracity of their claims on any one of these issues.)

But the issue was never climate, and Trump’s speech laid out the real issue instead. The real issue has always been an attempt to redistribute the wealth of the productive sector of humanity to other countries, with “a little” to line the pockets of the distributors, of course. (I may stand corrected on this: the bottom issue may indeed be what Ayn Rand pointed out over 45 years ago already –the destruction of the industrial revolution. See her article “The Anti-Industrial Revolution, published 1971. But the method chosen to achieve that end is redistribution of wealth and crippling of production – the hallmarks of the Paris Climate Accord.)

Are there free market ways to combat pollution and its negative consequences? Yes. And as was said today, America will be happy to lead by example. Our chances of doing so are a little greater now than they were yesterday.

Disturbing Research!

Barna (and Summit Ministries) has published a very disturbing study of America’s Christian culture. And if you’re the kind of person that needs to be able to put your finger on the cause of why our world’s in the shape it’s in – it’s in there!

The research report is entitled “Competing Worldviews Influence Today’s Christians.” Here’s a snippet of what they found:

“Here are a few notable findings among practicing Christians: 61% agree with ideas rooted in New Spirituality; 54% resonate with postmodernist views; 36% accept ideas associated with Marxism; 29% believe ideas based on secularism.” Here’s a few of the specific examples given: “almost three in 10 (28%) practicing Christians strongly agree that ‘all people pray to the same god or spirit, no matter what name they use for that spiritual being…;’ Almost one-quarter of practicing Christians (23%) strongly agree that ‘what is morally right or wrong depends on what an individual believes…;’ only [ ! ] 13 percent of practicing Christians strongly agree that ‘a person’s life is valuable only if society sees it as valuable.’”

(View the entire story at: https://www.barna.com/research/competing-worldviews-influence-todays-christians/.)

Culture is a reflection of the religious and ethical views of a society. Christians are called to be a light to the world, to uphold truth to those who are, or want to be, in darkness. Indeed, as the world so spitefully acknowledges, western civilization rests on the core truths long espoused by the Christian. Yet, “almost one-quarter of practicing Christians (23%) strongly agree that ‘what is morally right or wrong depends on what an individual believes,” not on what God has said. If a quarter of those who should be setting the tone for society have lost their way, how can we blame society? That 13 percent of society would see a person’s life as valuable only if the crowd does is disheartening, but that 13 percent of Christians say that is appalling!

Have they never heard of the Bible?

In ancient history, the Israelites had a long history of ‘doing what was right in their own eyes.’ It never served them well, always leading to oppression and defeat. But God told them if they would turn to Him for leadership, and repent (that is, change their ways) and follow Him consistently, He would “heal” their country.

Our actions are mimicking those early Israelites. Our results are no better than theirs. Perhaps it’s time we see if God’s invitation is still open and His promise still true.

A Half-step Forward?

The House has just passed the “repeal” of Obamacare. What a mixed bag of thoughts this brings!

As a health-care bill, who knows for sure what surprises lurk beneath the surface. Pelosi’s quip about passing a bill so you can find out what is in it is as true for this bill as most others. But one thing is already obvious; this bill will no more lead to a free market in health insurance than the last one. As former president FDR said about Social Security, once an entitlement is given, details can change, but the entitlement remains.

For weeks now, it’s been obvious that the Trump presidency, at best, will not lead to fundamental change in Washington. There is simply not the support, by either political party, to challenge the underlying principles driving the elite. Even the Freedom Caucus lacks the political will – and, I’m afraid, the ideological savvy – to challenge the socialist ethos of the day.

The most Trump has been able to change so far has been to start shifting the beneficiaries of our tax money from “her gang” to “his gang,” get rid of some of the worst decisions of the last eight years (thereby allowing pipeline construction to start/continue, e.g.), and rile up the enemy something fierce (e.g. Soros’ minions, the college Left, and the media.)

True believers in Trump posit things are on the right track and chide the Republicans for not being more enthusiastic. To achieve long term goals requires strategy and compromise, they say. Others might wonder if we’ve seen this before – minus the tax charts and Proposition 8 initiatives – and expect it to fade (i.e. be co-opted) rapidly.

It’s considered a truism by political scientists that governments – even tyrannies — rest on the consent of the governed. The one thing that can be said for sure is, those of us who value freedom must redouble our efforts of convincing others if we wish to prevail.

And – most important – 2 Chronicles 7:14 must become our guiding star.

Post-Truth

I happened to watch the CBS program “Full Measure” on February 26, 2017. The program made the point that almost nothing on social media can be believed. It is manipulated and faked, including even the comments, ‘likes,’ etc. This is done by the major social media giants, by governments, by companies, by everyone. The claim was that much of the stuff was untrue, not just biased.

The program decried the situation, declaring that people “used to know the difference between the National Enquirer and the New York Times.”

There was no mention of the fact this is an example of evil being hoisted on its own petard. The NYTimes never raised a voice to defeat the philosophical voices proclaiming there is no such thing as truth, that truth was a construct of “old, white men.” These voices came first from the ivory towers of Ivy League schools, but practiced – with full support of the NYTimes — by governments, especially starting with FDR and LBJ. The few voices proclaiming the idea of “truth” were routinely ridiculed, marginalized by academia, by newspapers, by teachers and novelists of all sorts.

This has led to a situation where the Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year is “post-truth,” as in post-truth society. When the concept of truth is debunked and denied, how do you expect the practice of truth (of integrity) to survive? It’s been killed, along with God, by Nietzsche and his friends last century. Correction – longer ago than that. That was just the cultural version of an act that happened 20 centuries ago. Back then, a government official flippantly asked the question “What is truth?” then ordered the state execution of the embodiment of the answer. Today, the effects of that action by Pilate have finally worked themselves out in culture.

Unfortunately, since intellectuals destroyed the handle – truth – by which to interpret the current situation of untruths, there is no way left to identify what’s happening. Like a blind and deaf man in a burning house, they feel the heat, but cannot identify the fire. Is it any wonder that Webster’s dictionary picked the word “surreal” as its word of the year?