2008 January archive at Zeal For Truth

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Archive for January, 2008

Divorce: The Great Divide

Published by Sadie January 31, 2008 in General and Essays. 5 Comments

Today, my attention was drawn to an article detailing the ramifications of divorce and children caring for aging parents. In her article, The New Alone, Eliabeth Marquardt begins to confront the way the problem of divorce manifests itself for both children and adults. Too often today, divorce is touted as a better alternative for all parties involved than a bad marriage. Interestingly, the option of divorce remains a dilemma. Is it really better?

As a child of divorced parents, I’m just as tired as the next person of hearing doom and gloom statistics about the consequences of divorce. No person is simply a statistic waiting to fall into catastrophe based on the past. In fact, statistics indicate that half of all marriages end in divorce and the chances for divorce increase based on the length of time married, among other factors. Coming from a divorced family does not necessarily doom anyone to future failure. Thankfully, we all have free will and can make our own choices.

However, the past does affect the way a person makes choices and what a person learns. As such, it is important to understand the way that divorce affects both children and participating adults. Divorce is much more than the separation of a husband and wife, it is a great division of the family unit for parents and children. Often when parents divorce both parents turn to looking after themselves and their child/children. It’s not uncomment to see articles that share good information on helping children and parents handle divorce. These types of articles do a great job of discussing depression and psychiatry, yet they fail to address the change in world view that occurs when parents divorce.

Divorce is defined as the dissolving of a marriage agreement which united and created a new family unit. When the members of a family are involved in a divorce the unity of the family (no matter how dysfunctional) is broken. The adults learn to be independent from one another, and children learn to be independent of the family. A child whose parents divorce no longer hold a familial world view. Instead they learn to look out for themselves as they dodge the battles between warring parents, remarrying parents, and newly broken or blended families. Independence in and of itself is not bad, in fact at times it can be quite healthy and helpful. However, it appears that independence from the family unit and from the benefits of familial interdependence at a young age can be harmful for all parties involved, especially children. Whether anyone wants to admit it or not, divorce of the family unit and it’s consequences are not repaired or replaced over time.

Governmental Ministers of God

Published by Colin January 30, 2008 in Religion and Politics. 14 Comments

Editor’s Note: This article is written by zealfortruth.org contributor Chris Austere.

In my previous two articles, Axis of Evil: Disembodied Rulers? Parts I and II, we discussed how governments are sometimes used as agents of Satan’s kingdom. This should not be interpreted to mean that any present-day government is purely evil, however. In fact, scripture teaches that governments and militaries are God-ordained institutions.

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing (Romans 13:1-6, KJV).

In order to understand the role of governments and militaries, we must answer this question: what function does Paul say governments are to fulfill? Simply put, the role of government is to “execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” We could paraphrase this by saying governments are agents of God’s judgment.

In part II of Axis of Evil we looked at Ezekiel 28. This chapter speaks about the prince of Tyre, who was lifted up in pride because of his own wisdom. He thought of himself as a God rather than a man. What was the penalty of this sin?

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD (Ezekiel 28:6-10).

The agent of God’s judgment was a foreign army. This should alert all American Christians to the fact that even God’s chosen people were not immune from such judgment. Although I do not necessarily agree to the Christian leaders who said the events of 9/11 were the result of God’s wrath, such a scenario is not outside the boundaries of biblical possibility.

How Should Christians Respond to Government?
First of all, Christians should obey the law as long as such obedience does not interfere with one’s faith. Since Paul makes it clear that resistance of governmental authority is akin to resisting God himself, failure to submit to such ordinances violates Christian conscience. Secondly, Christians should honor governing bodies by paying taxes. And thirdly, Christians should pray for those in authority.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour (I Timothy 2:1-3)

This is where partisanship must be set aside. Yet in a society where people have a say in who is appointed to office, this is perhaps one of the hardest things to swallow. If we are not careful, we will neglect prayer for our leaders in favor of criticism. Heavenly citizenship is to be preferred over earthly citizenship, and those of the household of faith must realize that the exercise of the privilege of prayer is a much more effective tool in God’s hands than our vote. In the event that God is set to judge our nation, intercession could prevent it. If God would have suspended his judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of ten righteous people, how much more would he extend mercy to those who can boldly access his throne through Jesus Christ?

ATTN Retailers: Please Gouge More!

Published by Colin January 29, 2008 in General. 25 Comments

It snowed a lot this weekend. This is quite remarkable, as in Lane County, Oregon, we are lucky if we get an couple inches of cumulative snow each winter. However, we got a bit more than half a foot on Sunday morning.

Because I lead worship at church, my wife and I made it in to church early, long before it got very bad. But it still took us over twice as long (an hour) to arrive, driving 20mph for the last 6 miles. By the time church was over and it was time to head home, we were quite hesitant to make the drive, as the full fury of the weather was still upon us. We stopped by the local retail store to pick up some snow chains: sold out.

Naturally of course, the price on the chains was still set at regular price. While we were in church, their entire stock had vanished, and, having no other choice, we risked the drive home.

While this wasn’t a dire emergency, and we made it home alright without snow chains, I can’t help but be a little frustrated with the store. As opposed to the locals in town, whose streets would be cleaned by the time they needed to do their business on Monday, my wife and I had 30 miles to drive - much of it on country roads that would not see a sander for some time. We needed those chains considerably more at that moment than some that bought them, and we would have paid double or even triple the regular price to ensure that we got some.

But stores wont gouge - many to preserve good will with ignorant customers, but some (in my state) because we have price controls in emergencies: anti-gouging laws. These laws force the prices of essential goods down during emergences (despite huge spikes in demand), causing them to be handed out on a simple first-come-first-served basis, ignorant of individual need and severity of conditions.

In my case, it is entirely possible that the snow reminded folks to go out and buy snow chains for all their cars, simply as a preventative measure. In real emergencies, goods such as water, ice, candles, generators and gasoline can be sold first-come-first-served to people who may not even need them very much, or may not need a large quantity. If lawmakers would allow it, and companies would gouge appropriately, then the short supply of essential goods would be distributed according to need and the high prices would prevent people from taking more than is absolutely essential.

Just as I lamented with ticket scalpers, economic law is being completely ignored - to the detriment of the people who have severe need.

Book Review: Reaching Single Adults

Published by Jasen Tracy January 28, 2008 in Religion, Book Reviews and Christian Books. 9 Comments

The author of Reaching Single Adults: An Essential Guide for Ministry is Dennis Franck, who is a long time Singles Pastor in the Assemblies of God denomination. He does manage to keep his denomination’s particularities out of view however. The book is aimed at helping Evangelical churches to retain their single adults and to reach out to unchurched singles. The need for this book stems from the fact that singles are less likely to attend church than married couples.

Franck does a good job in providing an overview of the diverse single adult demographic. He gives five categories (some of which can overlap):

1) Never-married
2) Divorced
3) Widowed
4) Single parent
5) Separated (they are living as a single even if they legally aren’t)

These groups can have widely different needs and outlooks, and thus the challenge facing singles leaders is immense. Older, windowed singles often don’t identify themselves by their singles status, and there’s quite a bit of difference between a divorced 45 year-old who has kids with a never married 25 year old who doesn’t have kids.

Another strong point of the book is Franck’s contention that singles need biblical teaching that addresses issues from the singles perspective. This often is not done during the Sunday morning sermon, and sometimes it’s not easy or perhaps even advisable to do so in that environment.

Criticism
Franck’s general philosophy appears to be “build it and they’ll come.” He notes that churches that have ministries for single adults have more single adults attending their church than churches that don’t have singles’ programs. It may be true that singles programs help attract singles to churches (an assumption Franck makes while offering little support for it), however it’s precisely churches that already have a significant number of singles that are likely to start singles programs. Churches with few singles are not very likely to see impressive growth in the group simply by starting a targeted ministry.

Furthermore, I’m a bit leery of this marketing type of approach of determining a sub-group and then launching programs for it. I do think some group meetings are good, but many churches need to do a better job of integrating singles in to the life of the church as a whole. Franck is not against singles participating in the whole life of the church of course, but it’s a very minor focus of the book.

The stat that 44% of American adults are single is proclaimed on the book’s back cover and is quoted throughout the book. This is quite a bit misleading however as it is arrived at by counting everyone over the age of 15 as an adult. The reason given for this definition is that some states allow marriage at 15.

Franck spends over half the book discussing various models of singles ministry and all the people and resources that are needed to run them. It becomes quite a bit repetitive at times, and the ideas are often not that useful for smaller churches. For instance, a church of 300 people is not likely to be able to support a Singles Pastor, nor be able to field a large team of volunteers to assist in such a ministry.

Final Opinion
How churches interact with singles (and the somewhat overlapping young adult group) is an issue that I’m interesting in. However, I didn’t find this book very useful or interesting, and would probably only recommend it to someone who was planning to start a singles ministry at their church and who had never lead anything before.

Weekly Links: Cloning, Intelligent Design Debate and More

Published by Colin January 25, 2008 in Current Events. 19 Comments

Sex may soon no longer be necessary. But will the babies have souls? And speaking of babies, we’re suddenly having a lot of them, and having fewer abortions. For more discussion on the cloning debate - see our forums.

Religion
On Sunday January 27, Christopher Hitchens and Jay Richards will debate Atheism vs. Theism & the Scientific Evidence for Intelligent Design, at Stanford University.

What it’s like to NOT understand God’s Word

Politics
“Jane Roe” Endorses Ron Paul

Huck’s staff to work for no or little pay.

More Links
Italian couple not allowed to name their child Friday.

The Album is Dead: billionaire Mark Cuban says digital singles are the future. To capitalize on this, artists should forget about albums and “create a ’season’ of release of [single] songs, much like the fall TV season.” By the way, the Smashing Pumpkins have decided to pursue this format releasing a digital collection of four songs called American Gothic.

FCC auction

Published by Kenneth Martens January 24, 2008 in Current Events. 0 Comments

Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is auctioning more than $10 billion worth of broadcast spectrum. There’s just one problem: this property is already in use. This $10 billion package of frequencies makes up channels 52 - 69 on your TV dial. The FCC is forcing all TV broadcasters to vacate these frequencies by February 2009.

The rationale for this sounds good: by switching to a new digital TV standard and by eliminating channels 52 - 69, we can free up lots of frequencies for new uses–including a nationwide public service network. The only problem here is that those frequencies are already being used. The government is forcibly taking those frequencies away from current broadcasters.

That’s not quite fair, though. After all, the broadcasters don’t own those frequencies, they just license them from the FCC. If the FCC declines to renew their licenses, they should have no cause to complain. The FCC gives and the FCC takes away. Right? But that raises the question: why don’t the broadcasters own the frequencies they use? How did we come up with a system that views the spectrum as public property which can’t be owned but can merely be regulated and licensed? Why not allow ownership?

Radio frequencies should be considered property just like any other natural resource. Whoever first identifies the natural resource and puts it to use should be considered its lawful owner. We can still keep the FCC around to arbitrate disputes between broadcasters, but there is no need for a heavy-handed regulator. We need a more hands-off approach. That’s proven to work before. For example, the FCC’s decision to leave the 2.4 GHz range unregulated has allowed all sorts of innovation to flourish–most significantly, wireless internet.

In the coming days the auction of the 700 MHz spectrum will likely bring in billions of dollars. When you hear the news, consider the hidden assumption: the government has sole ownership and ultimate authority over a critical natural resource. Ask yourself this question: is this compatible with maximum liberty?

Jesus’ Actions

Published by cchrisr January 23, 2008 in General. 37 Comments

The art of interpretation is one of the most interesting things for me to study. The way that ideas are changed and transformed over time confirms the idea that interpretations are not as stable and timeless as some claim them to be. In John Caputo’s latest book, What Would Jesus Deconstruct?, he outlines briefly one such transformation which I will elaborate here.

Everyone today knows the acronym WWJD–What Would Jesus Do?, but few know its roots. Today, it is generally used as a stick with which Christians beat others (and each other!). It is used as a tool for promoting one’s own ideology and means something radically different in Colorado Springs than in Seattle. It actually first surfaced as a subtitle to a book written in 1896 and was first used to advocate what became known as the Social Gospel movement (from which we get today’s Sojourner’s movement).

Yet here is the most interesting tidbit: WWJD was self-reflective. In other words, the object of the question was oneself not others. The book’s story centered around a man who had lost everything walking into a well-known church and (rather politely) asking the pastor this question before falling down dead. The rest of the book details the changes the people in the church undergo as they become more active in their world. During the first chapter in which this man asks these questions, nobody knows who he is. In some ways, he resembles the author’s idea of Jesus being a character living in the slums as he helps as many people as possible instead of being a “good Christian” attending church.

So now, what would Jesus do? I can only answer that for myself, not for others. Can you also stand in the accusative (grammatical case, not legal position) and answer this question?

Attack of the Business Cycle: Why More Rate-Cutting is Killing the Economy

Published by Colin January 22, 2008 in Current Events. 11 Comments

America is likely entering its next great recession and pottential depression.

Ben Bernanke has chosen to undergo some of the most reckless Fed policies of the modern era, as today the Fed cut interest rates by .75 points - demonstrating to the whole world that it is in panic mode about the short-term future. Yesterday world markets dropped drastically as the rest of the world, still heavily tied to our currency and government, realized their mistakes as well.

Most people presume these cycles are completely natural fluctuations in the market - isn’t that why we have the Fed in the first place? To speed up and slow down the economy so we all have an easy ride? Or, even more ignorantly, isn’t this all just a result of corporate greed and vice?

It may be surprising, but the second one is partially right.

The Anatomy of a Crisis
The Federal Reserve has virtual monopoly control over interest rates and currency creation. When interest rates are low, more people can get their hands on large sums of money and use it to invest and consume, stimulating the economy. However, because the money is so easy to obtain, many people in all classes and professions (whom the market would never have permitted to acquire it) malinvest. Poor people buy houses they cannot afford, middle class people buy properties and start businesses and wealthy people invest in new (and riskier) ventures. And consumer spending skyrockets, making it all seem justified. It creates a massive economic party that everyone is invited to.

But the money was too easy, and those who obtained it for little cost went and did dumb things with it. The poorer people who extended themselves to their maximum debt to buy a house, are the quickest to topple. They lose their house, or have to make massive lifestyle reductions and can no longer spend gobs of money on the junk that the middle-classes were peddling to them. The middle-class businesses that the wealthy invested in fail, and massive amounts of money disappear into dust and ruin.

While these groups were obviously responsible for their bad decisions, it was the easy money that was initially created by the fed that is ultimately to blame.

Analogies to the Crisis
Like any party - the drinking, sex and revelry all feel good in the moment, but in the morning it brings sickness and regret at best, and at worst, you wake up next to the biggest mistake of your life. So too does the Fed, by the very practices which are intended to bring growth, actually sow the seeds of recession, depression and financial crisis.

Milton Friedman once wisely compared the easy money of Fed creation to a drug addict. To avoid becoming sober and dealing with the physical, emotional and psychological consequences of abuse, the user continues to get high - desperate to avoid reality and live in a fantasy world. The addict knows that when he goes off the drugs, he will have to face the accumulated consequences of his lifestyle. They may last years, even be permanent, but he will be better off in the end by sobering up.

If the market determined interest rates, then as soon as investments began to sour, the rate would be increased by private banks to ensure that they were not losing money. Corrections would be small, localized and manageable. With one institution, and one oligarchical board controlling the essential mechanism of the economy, we are merely passing time until a major collapse. Interest rates and currency management, like all goods, services and prices, cannot be controlled by even the wisest of men and must be left to the market to determine to avoid the poor driving of the Fed.

Here Come the Effects of Inflation
The Fed Rate cut has other drastic effects which hasten the coming of the bust period. Part of the mechanics of lowering the rate, is to liquidate debt. That is to move virtual dollars into physical ones. More dollars chasing the same amount of goods and services causes prices to rise and brings inflation. During the initial boom, this is great - everyone has more money to throw around. But soon the market realizes this and prices shoot up, causing a decrease in living standards and economic activity.

In other words, the inflation is not about to commence, but was started after 9/11, after the dot com bust and after the housing bust. Its effect has merely been staved off by even further inflation.

These most recent rate cuts are only going to heap more negative consequences on the economy. We’ve dealt with the last three busts (dot com, 9/11 and housing) by behaving this way - by taking another swig from the inflation bottle and toasting to our health. The consequences are compounding, growing and will soon bring this country to it’s knees. Do we have the courage to stop now, deal with the consequences, and return to a normal and prosperous economy?

Forgiveness, Justice, and the Death of Jesus

Published by Jasen Tracy January 21, 2008 in Religion and Philosophy. 6 Comments

You have probably heard a common Christian argument that goes something like this:

God is completely holy and cannot abide the presence of sin. Since God is also completely just, He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. He cannot simply forgive sin without there being some sort of satisfaction for sin (this argument typically focuses on personal sins, and not original sin).

We of course, can do nothing ourselves to either earn forgiveness by works or by punishment we suffer. God then sent Jesus, who suffered the penalty for our sins, and therefore we can have forgiveness through faith in Jesus. God is still holy and just because Jesus’ death takes away our sin and sin is punished.

An example of this is a well-known email that has made its rounds around the world. It depicts God as a judge who finds the defendant guilty. He then takes the penalty on himself, and is then able to pardon the defendant since the offense had been paid for. The idea is that if God had simply pardoned the defendant without there being a penalty paid, then God would be unjust judge that allowed sin to exist without punishment (implicitly endorsing it).

My question is: how exactly is it just that the innocent is punished for the guilty? Furthermore, with the whole Trinity concept, Jesus is God. So, not only is an innocent party punished, it’s actually the party the was wronged that is punished (defining sin as an offense against God). But somehow, this innocent and wronged party (the Trinity) couldn’t, or perhaps wouldn’t, forgive us until He had been had taken the penalty Himself.

I understand from the perspective of grace, but how can it be termed just?

Weekly Links: Lew Rockwell a Racist?

Published by Colin January 18, 2008 in Current Events. 15 Comments

We’ve discussed, at length, the racist newsletters with Ron Paul’s name on the front. However, Reason magazine, in a true show of journalistic zeal, has continued to prod the issue and discovered the very real possibility that the newsletters in question were written by none other than Lew Rockwell.

[Paul] told CNN last week that he still has “no idea” who might have written inflammatory comments such as “Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks”—statements he now repudiates. Yet in interviews with Reason, a half-dozen longtime libertarian activists—including some still close to Paul—all named the same man as Paul’s chief ghostwriter: Ludwig von Mises Institute founder Llewellyn Rockwell, Jr.

This would be a double-edged sword for Paul. On the one hand, it would demonstrate quite clearly that he had no hand in writing the letters at all. However, Rockwell is well known to Paul, and it demonstrates a potential lack in oversight on behalf of Paul. It is still very realistic that Rockwell was doing much of this unknown to Paul, as part of his own agenda:

The newsletters’ obsession with blacks and gays was of a piece with a conscious political strategy adopted at that same time by Lew Rockwell and Murray Rothbard. After breaking with the Libertarian Party following the 1988 presidential election, Rockwell and Rothbard formed a schismatic “paleolibertarian” movement, which rejected what they saw as the social libertinism and leftist tendencies of mainstream libertarians. In 1990, they launched the Rothbard-Rockwell Report, where they crafted a plan they hoped would midwife a broad new “paleo” coalition.

Reason also obtained the following statement from Tom Lizardo, Paul’s chief of staff during much of his congressional campaigns:

Last week, a statement was prepared by Ron Paul’s press secretary Jesse Benton, and approved by Ron Paul, acknowledging Lew Rockwell as having a role in the newsletters. The statement was squashed by campaign chairman Kent Snyder.

More Politics
Huckabee’s boldest God-talk yet: “amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards.”

A 5th Amendment case: Porn, passwords and rights in the Internet age

And then Some
Hannah Hannah Montana Montana: body doubles anonymous.

20 Reasons to Read Good Christian Books

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