Government

A modest proposal for the refugee crisis

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

I don’t post often, but with the recent talk about Christian responses to Syrian refugees, I wanted to offer my humble proposal.

Most of the discussion seems to revolve around to issues: security at home and love for the refugee. It seems to me both could be handled by working with Middle Eastern nations to provide a Middle Eastern alternative.

Providing a safe, secure place for refugees in the Middle East would solve most of the debate. US involvement would allow us to love the refugee. By making sure the facility is safe and clean we could provide a pleasant, temporary home for those displaced by war. By employing them in the care and upkeep of the facility we could also address the human need to work, allowing them to keep their dignity. Finally, by establishing the location in the Middle East we allow for a smoother resettlement of refugees after the war.

On the homefront this also loves our next door neighbor by addressing real security concerns. With attacks in Canada, Europe, and now the US, the concerns of our fellow Americans cannot be boiled down to simple racism. There concerns are based upon real events, not the perceived ‘otherness’ of refugees.

It strikes me that we did something similar in Africa during the last Ebola crisis. The US Military rapidly deployed and built facilities to house and care for the sick. Certainly we could do the same thing in the Middle East, working with a host nation.

Of course this suggestion isn’t without challenges. The greatest challenge maybe finding a Middle Eastern nation to help. However, we must have some leverage we could use to persuade allied nations to support this action.

So, to recap, establishing a refugee center in the Middle East would love the refugee by providing for the safety, security, and eventual return whom, while also loving our next door neighbor by providing security for the homefront.

Cal Thomas on Revival & Glen Beck

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

Revivals don’t ratify the earthly aspirations of humanity, including selfish political agendas. They are about glorifying God. Too many modern Christians have it backward. In a real revival the Lincoln Memorial event would have been a result, not an attempt to cause a revival. People would have assembled who had already repented in private. They would not have bemoaned a decline in American “morality,” but instead have fallen on their knees or faces and cried out in genuine repentance and humility.

via WORLDmag.com | Community | Blog Archive | Genuine revival.

Christianity is very much about personal repentance.  When the Christian is more concerned with the sins of the ‘nation’ or Politicians than our own, personal sin, we become the people Jesus warned us about.

“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
(Matthew 7:3–5 ESV)

And Glenn Beck Shall Lead Them | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

At his rally last weekend on the Washington Mall, Fox News host Glenn Beck brought 240 clergy onstage. Harkening back to the Revolutionary War, Beck called the group a “Black Robe Regiment.” He said the clergy “all locked arms saying the principles of America need to be taught from the pulpit.”

via And Glenn Beck Shall Lead Them | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction.

As politically conservative as I am, I don’t thing the pulpit is the place for the ‘principles of America.’  Further, the tradition of Western Civilization which gave us the ‘principles of America’ came from Scripture–the Judeo Christian ethic.  Perhaps, if Mr. Beck and Co. desire a revival that leads to traditional public virtues, we need to preach repentance and disciple the repentant.

Christianity should alter the way we understand with and interact with the world around us.  That includes our politics.  However, preaching politics doesn’t renew minds nor transform lives.  Also, Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world–America was founded on Christian principles, but that does not make us Christ’s Kingdom.

Want to transform the moral fabric of society?  Then, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2 ESV)

Immigration

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

We have 1st generation immigrants in our congregation.  They came, legally, from Mexico.  As I’ve gotten to know them, they have little respect for illegal immigration.

I know a Pastor in LA, an immigrant himself.  He’s shared with me the frustration he feels when he preaches in english (to a hispanic congregation) and when he suggests illegal immigration doesn’t follow the Christian ethic.  He’s shared the hostility he’s experienced from other immigrant Pastors who don’t agree with his convictions on legal immigration and assimilation.

Today I read this.  I have to say, I don’t get it.  To support amnesty for illegal immigrants (regardless of their home of origin) seems to be rewarding criminal behavior.  I know the arguments, I just think they all ignore this clear concept:  if you reward bad behavior, you get more of it.  This is precisely what has happened.  In the 1980’s Pres Reagan granted amnesty to illegal immigrants.  Now we’re discussing doing it again.  So, apparently, our immigration laws are meaningless.  Sneak in, keep your head down, and eventually you’ll be forgiven.

I wonder if my immigrant friends are the only legal immigrants who don’t understand this push to reward illegal immigration.  I wonder if other legal immigrants are asking themselves what the point of following the rules was.

Of course, as CNN’s article makes clear.  Even for the Evangelicals, it is not really about love–it’s about politics.

But evangelical leaders are also working to convince Republicans that the party will lose Hispanic voters — a fast-growing bloc — if they take a strident line on immigration.

The Southern Baptist Convention‘s Land said that Hispanics, like non-Hispanic white evangelicals, generally take a conservative approach to social issues like abortion and gay marriage, but that they often vote for Democrats because of the immigration issue.

a great question

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

By Cal Thomas, in World Magazine:

What makes the ruling and the march ironic is that the 1973 court, in essence, downgraded a human fetus to the level of nonperson, while the modern court has invested “personhood” in corporations. Does anyone else see a contradiction or at least a moral inconsistency in these two rulings?

via WORLD Magazine | Personhood | Cal Thomas | Jan 26, 10.

I hadn’t really thought of this inconsistency.  While I’m not sure it really is a new inconsistency, it is inconsistent.  Why ascribe rights to corporations as legal persons while denying rights to the unborn, who are actual persons?

Bad Economic News

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

WORLD Magazine | Todays News, Christian Views.

You probably have heard the discouraging December jobs report:  85,000 jobs lost and 661,000 not even looking for jobs.  The ongoing economic malaise is of concern to me for a few reasons.

Of course there is giving.  Ministry relies upon donors, we don’t sell a product or a service.  With fewer folks working, that means less to donate–which impacts what a ministry can or can’t do.  So, we must be wise and faithful.  Wisdom dictates we focus our limited resources on our core mission–making disciples.  Extras can, and should be shed.  Faith dictates that we trust God to provide for that core mission.  In other words, we don’t stop teaching Sunday School because we’re afraid we can’t heat the building.  We teach and trust God to provide.

The declining economy, while stealing donations from non-profits, also means more people in real need.  Our food pantry and benevolence fund has seen much more use over the past year than in the 6 that preceded it.  Already we’ve spent our budgeted benevolence, and will begin taking benevolence offerings to continue meeting needs.  It’s kind of a catch-22, more people need help but there is less to help them with.  Again, loving people is core mission stuff–so we continue to do so, trusting God to provide.

Additionally, there is the spiritual concern for the flock.  Some don’t know how to handle money problems in a Christian manner.  Some will ask, ‘Why me?’ Others might decide to blame God.  One of a Pastor’s great challenges is to help folks see these times are a purifying opportunity.  As businesses and ministries must shed extras and refocus on core mission–so, too, must Christians.  What an opportunity to realize how much time and money we invest in that which is ultimately fleeting.  What a chance to refocus my whole life upon that which is eternal.

Overall my hope is to set an example of wise faith:  not wasting resources, but also not doubting God’s continued provision.

In the mean time, I’d love for our government to do one thing:  make the US the most attractive place to do business.  Doing so, I believe, will do more to invigorate the economy than any number of stimuli or bailouts.

Tax Dollars at Work

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

“Our goal is to promote health and save lives with this information,” said Daliah Heller, assistant commissioner for the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use Prevention, Care and Treatment.Asked why the handout tells people how to shoot up, Heller said, “From a health perspective, there is a less harmful way to inject yourself.”

via Heroin for dummies – NYPOST.com.

Drug addicts need help.  I’m not convinced teaching them how to shoot up is the help they need.  I mean, do we produce brochures on safer bank robbing, car jacking or kidnapping?  Of course not.  Yet, for some reason we’ve convinced ourselves that handing out needles and teaching folks how to shoot up is helping them.

Maybe we should be finding better methods of getting folks off of drugs, and perhaps instilling Judeo-Christian values in children from cradle on might help prevent some from even getting started.