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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

It’s the Economy, Stupid!

We are witnessing a serious downturn in the United States economy right now and it is going to make life interesting and challenging for a while. Why is this happening and what do we, as Christians, do about it?

This economic problem is not a sudden thing. It has been building for quite some time. Matters that factor in include the lack of a gold standard for our currency, corporate greed, lack of integrity in the leaders of corporations, government and the private sector, government that doesn’t know how to control itself trying to pretend that it can control the economy. People taking their focus off of God and putting their hope in money and things only build on the problem.

Why are we having this problem and what is the solution?

I’m only going to focus on one aspect of the problem because if we get this issue back in the proper place, everything else will be resolved.

Love of Money
The biggest problem is greed. People have taken their focus off of loving and serving God and trusting in Him and have chosen to put their trust in their money and possessions. Until we get God back on the throne, we will flounder, blunder and watch our wealth disappear.

Paul wrote to a young preacher Timothy. In his letter he reminded Timothy of the danger of focusing too much on money. I Timothy 6:6-10 says: But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. [1]

Everyone seems to think that having more money and being able to control it will solve all of their problems. Therefore, they focus on getting more money instead of serving people. Granted, it is a lot easier to buy food, shelter and clothing with money than without it. The problem is that money can be taken away faster than it can be acquired. People who are rich have realized, like people who are poor, that happiness isn’t in having money or things. Happiness is the peace we have knowing that we are forgiven and have eternal life with Jesus Christ. You can’t find enough money to buy that kind of peace.

Proverbs 11:28 says – Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.

Proverbs 23:5 reminds us – Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.

Again and again, the Bible reinforces what any observant person can now see. Money and wealth can’t be trusted. It can be taken away faster than it can be gained. It can take as long to build as the World Trade Center and then be taken away as fast as the World Trade Center on 9-11. If we hope in our money and possessions, what are we going to have when a hurricane, earthquake, fire, flood or other tragedy takes them all away?

In Mark 8:36-38, Jesus said, What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Surviving a Crisis
So what do we do while the economy is going through all of this turmoil?
Christians who are focused on God and their relationship with Jesus Christ will stay calm, continue working, keep their spending within their income and survive with peace and security. People who lose their focus will panic and experience great grief as they watch their “god” of money disappear before their eyes.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had proclaimed in Matthew 6:19-21“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Let’s focus on His admonition and find our peace and hope in who He is in us instead of the money.

[1]All Scriptures are from The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Mk 8:36-38). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Monday, September 8, 2008

They have it all wrong!

I was just thinking about all of this arguing over abortion, homosexual lifestyle and marriage, pornography, pedophilia and a host of related issues and I want to tell you that they have it all wrong. We have been trying to stop a tree from growing by cutting the branches instead of going to the trunk and focusing on the root.

Why do we have men raping women? Why do we have women displaying themselves to men for the purpose of sexual arousal? Why do we have men seeking young boys or girls for sexual encounters? Why are so many young people having sex on dates and then wondering what went wrong when the girl gets pregnant? Why do they all of a sudden feel remorseful, after she is pregnant and say that they wanted to get married first when they are already having sex? DUH!

Why do we have men having sex with other men, thinking that it is more desirable than sex with a woman or women pretending that sex with each other is more desirable and that such behavior is "inherited"? What gene are they propagating through heterosexual relationships that creates a homosexual person? (After all, it is biologically impossible for homosexual couples to reproduce. Therefore, any such "gene" would be eliminated in one generation because there would be no siblings to carry it on to future generations.) DUH!

The trunk issue is about sex outside of marriage.
When we argue over sex, we are right to determine that life begins at conception. We are right to acknowledge that sex inside the marriage relationship is preferred. However, we fail to point out that abstinence before or outside of marriage is the real solution. Instead we get caught up in the woman's rights, homosexual's rights, and freedom of speech "rights" of pornographers. We don't want to confront the world with the idea of a moral absolute, so each person tries to deny that anything is wrong, until it is done to them and then they complain because they now have a "problem"! DUH! What is the "TRUNK" of this issue?

Lets look at the branch that contains the entire abortion issue. Those who try to justify abortion by arguing that a woman has a right to choose never demand that she have the right to choose to say, "NO" to sex outside of marriage. We seem to think that a person who isn't having sex, whether married or not, is abnormal. We seem to think that a woman only has a right to "choose" after they have become pregnant. How much of the abortion problem would absolutely disappear if men and women saved sex for marriage? DUH!

Regarding the branch of sexually transmitted diseases: People who are sexually active outside of marriage often wonder if they have caught a disease after some encounter. They then have to go to the doctor, admit that they were having sex outside of marriage and hope he can cure this problem that they just acquired. Much fuss is being made about a cure for AIDS. I have the best solution in the world! Would we save ourselves a lot of embarrassment, guilt, health problems if we saved sex for marriage? The fact is that if we saved sex for marriage, AIDS and all other sexually transmitted diseases could be "cured" - totally eliminated from our world in one generation. DUH!

Regarding the branch homosexual behavior and homosexual marriage, if we were to reestablish that sex is between a husband and wife, and live by that mandate, there would be no homosexuality and related diseases, "marriage" or rights issues, etc. There would also be a mass elimination of almost all pedophilia and child pornography issues! Think about how many children would be able to grow up without having to remember some past event when an older man (or woman) violated them in a sexual way! DUH!

I'm not done yet. How about the branch of the child pornography/pedophilia problem? The ALCU wants to defend the right of pedophiles to commit this atrocious crime, yet the people and press call FOUL when someone violates a child. We don't want child molesters living in our neighborhood, yet no one seems to think that we need to make more noise that sex outside of marriage is wrong, whether with an adult or child. Wouldn't it make more sense to teach adults that sex is between a husband and wife and no one else? DUH!

The root of the issue is whether we believe God's standards or not.
When you trace the tree trunk down to the roots, it's all about God. Is God the all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere present creator of Heaven and Earth? Is God the creator of mankind, marriage, sexual relations, etc.? Is God the absolute authority on what is right or wrong, or does he allow each of us to try to figure it out for ourselves?

My understanding of "God" means a superior, absolutely powerful, source of knowledge, supreme being. God created us. He knows how He designed us to work. He knows what is best for us. He is the only one who is qualified to establish what is right and what is wrong. There are no exceptions. God's way is always the right way. Any other way is questionable at best, or downright wrong.

How much pain do we have to suffer before we realize that God is a lot smarter than we are? How long before we realize that His way is always the right way and that our way is flawed, faulty, full of problems and pain?

When we try to decide for themselves what is right or wrong, we get into conflicts. How do you establish that what another person believes is right for them to do is wrong? If a pedophile believes he is right, then by the world's logic, who can tell him he is wrong? If a rapist or prostitute think what they are doing is alright for them, how do we help them to see that what they are doing is wrong?

The root of this problem is to get back to following God's standards and stop trying to make up our own as we go along. God's way is not cruel, harsh, hurtful or demanding. His way is loving. It gives us greater freedom. By conducting our God's way, we spare ourselves from the embarrassment, pain, guilt and shame that our way often leads us to. God's way is unselfish. Our way is often very selfish, at the expense of another person's rights or freedom.

When are we going to start pointing out to the world that their selfish sexual sin is hurting them much more than by doing it God's way? DUH!