My wife and I are old. We are the people most at risk of death from the Corona virus. To top it off, two of my three sons died as young men. My father died when I was a teen. My wife’s father died when she was a teen.

Most people go through life with the mistaken belief that the really horrible things in life always happen to other people. My wife and I don’t have that luxury. So, as we watch the Corona virus spread, we are looking death in the eye. It is not my intention to go for sympathy here. It is not my intention to get morose. Because, the simple fact is that ALL of us are facing death. For my wife and me………it is just much more immediate…….more tangible.

If you are young, you still hold on to the myth of your immortality, your invulnerability. The world is your oyster. The pandemic is an invitation for you to explore these assumptions……….because you are just as mortal as I am.

So the question for today……..the question for you specifically…… is this:

“When you look at death…….your own death……..what do you see?”

Skip over the technical details. Will it be fast or slow? Will I see it coming? Will I suffer? These things are transient. Ultimately, these details are unimportant.

The real question is ………..”When I die…….what next?”

If you are a secular humanist or an atheist, then the honest answer is nothing. When you die, the complex biochemistry that runs your brain will stop. The lights will go out. Then nothing…… Black nothing.

If you practice one of the many forms of “designer religion”……..that is, a belief system that you have figured out on your own: “the goddess within”, “nature is my God”, “I’m going someplace beautiful!”, “I’m a good person”…….. then either you alone have figured out the greatest secret of the cosmos, or you are wrong. Realistically……you are wrong.

If you accept one of the 3 dominant faiths on the planet……. Judaism, Islam, or Christianity. Then you look forward to paradise…….provided that you meet some conditions.

I believe that there is enough solid eyewitness testimony of the resurrection of Jesus to prove that he is supernatural.

So when I die, what comes next for me is eternity…………spent with a guy who taught two fundamental rules: love God and love your neighbor.

In a word……when I die, things get better……..a whole lot better.

Does your belief system give you that hope?

“You believe in God believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

Jesus, NIV

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Jesus, NIV

This post is intended for adults and is not suitable for children.

We were created as sexual beings. Sex is a critical feature of who and what we are. Physically, it is determined at conception and it influences us every day, possibly every minute of our lives. We can try to ignore or deny it. We can try to manipulate it. We can enjoy it………or we can go to war over it. We can use it as it was intended……..or we can abuse it.

The division of humankind into men and women happened very early. It was clearly a key part of God’s plan. The sexes are physically distinct……they are functionally distinct……..but they are also emotionally and psychologically distinct. “Men are from Mars….. Women are from Venus”. We compliment each other. Each sex fills a giant void in the other. In a word, we strengthen each other. A well matched man and woman are stronger than 2 well matched men or 2 well matched women. It is not my intention to dive into the entire LGBT argument today……..it is far too big of a conversation and I will come back to it someday……maybe when I’m a little stronger and smarter.

Today, I want to address sex globally. The Bible spends a great deal of ink on the subject of sex. Sex and money are arguably the most commonly discussed topics in the Bible. Sex is clearly very important to God. He could very easily have created us as asexual beings. When we needed or wanted a child, we could just “bud” one off of our back, like a Hydra. Simple, effective, no social complications, no STDs to worry about. There would be no sexual harassment, no gender wage gap, no glass ceiling. So……why sex? You could say that it’s important to keep the gene pool stirred up. But, I believe that God made sex, the mandatory blending of two unlike people, because he knew it would strengthen us and because he knew that we would be happier that way.

Sex is designed to grow our society, but also to improve the quality of our individual lives. Sex is a tool……..an extremely powerful tool.

I’m a woodworker, I have a shop full of tools, just ask my wife. Some are simple and limited……..like my screwdriver. Others are extremely powerful…….like my tablesaw. As a general rule, the more powerful the tool is, the more dangerous it is. I will never cut off a hand with my screwdriver; but, I could do it in a heartbeat with my tablesaw. So…….there are rules. The rules are there to make my work more effective, to make it more enjoyable, but, primarily, to protect me from my tools. The more powerful the tool, the more numerous the rules. The more powerful the tool, the more restrictive the rules. The more powerful the tool the more horrific the consequences of breaking the rules. The rules are not arbitrary. The rules arise from the nature of the tool. I cannot negotiate with them. I cannot redefine my way around them. If I ignore a rule, because I don’t like it, that changes nothing. The consequences don’t go away.

There are rules in the Bible that cover the use of the tool that is sex. There are actually quite a few. The key one, however, can be summed up in one line:

Sex rule #1: Sex is for husbands and wives.

Anything outside of this is recreational sex…….and recreational sex…….while it is great fun……… is dangerous. Sex rule #1 is there to protect you from the dangers of recreational sex. It is not there to ruin your fun. It is a loving father trying to save you from pain.

So………if you:

Run a board into the table saw from the wrong side> kickback> your hand getting pulled into the blade> amputation> trying to get by with a stump instead of a hand for the rest of your life.

Engage in recreational sex> unwanted pregnancy> abortion> killing your daughter…….. possibly the only child you will ever have.

Sex rule #1: Sex is for husbands and wives.

An annoying rule……..it will keep you from having some fun……it will also keep you from getting herpes or aids……..it will also keep you from having to decide someday whether or not to kill your child.

I’m 66 years old…….you will have to trust me on this…….if you restrict sex to your husband or your wife………when you are older than dirt and look back, you will have missed out on nothing.

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Moses, NIV

“It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman .” But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.

Paul, NIV

Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Paul, NIV

The ten commandments are a good solid moral code. In fact, they are accepted by Jews, Muslims, and Christians. This makes them the most widely accepted moral code on the planet. No other moral code even comes close. Even if you are an atheist, they are the best guide for living that you could choose.

Today, I’m going to focus on one of them:

Do not lie.

Pretty basic. Don’t say something that is not true. Don’t say you paid the rent……..if you didn’t.

The trouble is that there are some gray areas around the edges.

The “little white lie”……… It’s little, not a matter of importance. It’s white, it doesn’t harm anybody. So what’s the big deal?
There was an ad on TV where Abraham Lincoln’s wife asks the ageless question, “does this dress make me look fat?” He tells the truth………and suffers the consequences. The little white lie typically doesn’t harm the other guy. It can, however, harm you. You risk losing the other guy’s trust. You risk easing into bigger, less white, lies. Better to say nothing at all or diplomatically tell the truth. But, the little white lie is not the main thrust of today’s post.

The question of the day is this:

Is it a lie, if I ignore something that is true? …..a truth that is inconvenient because it interferes with me getting what I want…….a truth that could cost me something valuable, if I acknowledge it.

Is it a lie if a Republican ignores the damage that guns do in our society or the trauma of an unwanted pregnancy?

Is it a lie if a Democrat ignores the 3000 children killed every day by abortion or the legitimate right of a law abiding citizen to own a gun?

What is the purpose of the truth and why is it so important that God included it in a fairly short list of rules? Truth operates in two realms. Internally and externally. Internal truth is the set of ideas that guide our every step. If you allow yourself to believe things that are not true, you will make bad decisions and you will do things that are wrong. Ultimately this is self destructive. Internal truth guides us to live a life of integrity. External truth is the things that we say and do in public. It governs how we interact with others. If we are to live among other people, they need to be able to rely on what we say. If we violate the truth often enough, others will lose trust in us. This makes us ineffective……even if we are telling the truth……..this time. Truth is important…….because without it, we cannot make good decisions, we cannot communicate with one another, and we can’t reach a consensus and move forward as a society.

The debates around gun control and abortion rage on. Why?

I believe that ignoring a truth that you don’t like is the same as lying. The debates over gun control and abortion rage on because both sides are lying by ignoring truths that are inconvenient to them and their appetites.

God gives us the ten commandments because he knows that we need them. They are not there to ruin our fun. They are designed to protect us…….. from others……..but more importantly from ourselves.

So we need to have the courage to face all of the truths that are out there………even the ones that restrict us……..even the ones that interfere with our appetites.

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus, NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Paul, NIV

We hear a lot of stuff every day. In an election year this is especially true. Much of what we hear appeals to our emotions. Much of what we hear appeals to our desires. Modern marketing has turned this into a science………the science of manipulation.

When we encounter a piece of information, we often ask questions.

What will this cost me?
Can I profit from this?
Does this make me happy, sad, angry?
What will my friends say?
Does this mean I’ve done something bad……..or good?
What are the implications for my future?

In a word…………how will this affect me…….and my family?

These are good questions. But, they are not the first question that we should ask. The first question should be….is this true? Because, if it’s not true…….the other questions are irrelevant. It is shocking how easily those who would manipulate us manage to slip a piece of information past that first essential question.
Just today, I saw a post, that was put up by a friend of mine. The post compared conservatives to Nazis. I am generally conservative. I zoomed straight into angry mode………without ever asking the question, “is it true that I am like a Nazi?” In case you have any doubt…..I am not a Nazi……..and neither are you. The post was manipulative and it was untrue. It required no further analysis.

But that doesn’t seem to matter today.

We live in a world where truth has lost its importance. Our culture places more value on the question, “will this get me what I want?” than on the question “is this true?” Years ago, in college, I had a friend who was studying, of all things, journalism. He wrote an article for the paper…….and the title line was grossly misleading. We called him out on it. He said that the purpose of the title was to get you to read the article. The fact that it was untrue was unimportant, as long as it accomplished his goal. Today we call this “clickbait”…….and you can’t pick up your phone without seeing it.

I see the world from a conservative perspective. But I still try to weigh every thing I hear against the standard of truth. Years ago I asked the question. “Is this whole God, eternity, heaven, hell thing true?” Because, if it’s true, whether I agree or approve is irrelevant.

Here is what I came up with:

The Bible says it is true.
Jesus says that the Bible is true.
If the death and resurrection of Jesus are true…….then Jesus is superhuman.
So, if Jesus is superhuman……that is…..if Jesus is God, then the entire God, eternity, heaven, hell thing is true.

So the critical question……..the most important question of your brief life……..considering the heaven, hell, eternity issue……is this:

Is the resurrection of Jesus true?………because, if it is, then the whole heaven, hell, God, eternity thing is also true.

Dozens of witnesses saw Jesus after the resurrection.
11 apostles died gruesome deaths rather than recant.

And that is good enough for me.

While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Luke, NIV

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Jesus, NIV

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord ,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Paul, NIV

FYI……. This was written before the coronavirus outbreak.

I always told my kids. The first step in solving a problem is to accurately identify the problem. If you come up with a dozen brilliant solutions to a problem, but it’s not the real problem, you get nowhere.

Spoiler alert……. What follows is not going to make you happy. You may disagree, because you don’t like it. But it is the truth.

The planet is getting warmer………deal with it. The right says it’s a temporary anomaly……… I’ll believe that and I’ll buy you a beer…….a nice cold one……. when it cools back down.

All Gore tells us that it’s Global Warming caused by CO2. As much as I dislike the guy, I have to give him half credit here. His book “An Inconvenient Truth” is halfway right. The planet is getting warming……but the problem is not CO2.

If you look at an historical graph of global temperature, you can see that the curve is fairly flat until about 1950, give or take. From there on we have inexorably warmed up. Something changed in 1950……but what? Either there was a sudden change in some critical determinant of global temperature or we crossed a threshold.

I believe that we crossed a threshold. Al Gore says it was the CO2 level. I say that CO2 is just another symptom of the real problem.

The real problem is overpopulation. In 1950 the world population was 2.5 billion…….. today it is almost 8 billion. Let that sink in. In my lifetime the population of the planet has TRIPLED. Just look at the traffic on the interstate and you can see this for yourself. Yes, we eat more meat. Yes, we drive more cars. Yes, we produce more CO2 and methane. But, the root problem is not greenhouse gasses. The root problem is overpopulation. I used to worry that we would someday reach a population level that the planet could not feed. I now realize that we have already passed a population level at which the waste that we produce has overwhelmed the Earth’s ability to absorb it. We have poisoned the Earth……..with CO2, methane, fluorocarbons, plastics, antibiotics, pesticides, etc….and we crossed that threshold around 1950. Being environmentally sensitive is a good thing. But, do you really believe that putting a solar panel on your roof is going to solve the problem of a world population that triples every 50 years?

We need to stop wasting our time worrying about graphs that superimpose global temperature and CO2 levels and start worrying about graphs that superimpose global temperature and population.

The solution is fairly straightforward. We need to get back to a global population of about 2 billion. Unfortunately, we are not going to do it. We will spend enormous resources on projects that will grow the population rather than decrease it.

Oddly enough, the ecosystem of our planet is an amazing equilibrium and it will adjust……..it will ultimately fix global warming…….without our help. The Earth will fix global warming by itself……..not because of; but rather, in spite of, our best efforts……..in spite of the best efforts of science and technology.

Enter, overcrowding, antibiotic resitant “super bugs”, deadly viruses, and the dearth of new antibiotics…….the so called “post antibiotic era”. We are headed for a devastating worldwide pandemic. Every 5 or 10 years we have a near miss. And…… unfortunately…..this is not just inevitable………it is necessary ……..for the survival of the Earth…….and, ironically, for the survival of our species.

To put it another way, without a catastrophic pandemic, or something very much like one, the planet Earth and mankind are doomed.

This is nothing new, the black plague, and the Spanish Flue killed significant percentages of the population, in some areas up to 50%. The coming pandemic will need to be worse than that to solve the problem.

Read “The Stand” by Stephen King or “Rainbow 6” by Tom Clancy for a preview.

So for the secular humanist, you have one of two futures to look forward to on this planet:

Global Warming with all of its consequences including mass extinction, food and water shortages, mass migration, wars over resources, coastal flooding, drought in the northern plains, etc.

Or

Global pandemic…….. sort of a catastrophic biologic “reset”.

And that is the best that science and secular humanism have to offer. We will try hard to delay these bad outcomes……but with the global population exploding…….16 billion humans by 2050…… realistically, the consequences of global warming will likely accelerate rather that slow down.

But

The Bible offers a third possibility……a divine “reset”. The Bible teaches that this Earth will come to a catastrophic end and that each of us will move on to one of two “new worlds”……one pleasant…….the other…….not so much.

Of all of the available options………the pleasant world after the “divine reset” of the Bible………… paradise………. is by far the most appealing to me.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” 

John, NIV

I’m a woodworker. I build custom furniture that ranges from high end craft to art. Often a piece requires hundreds of operations. And sometimes………near the very end……..something goes wrong. Maybe I miscalculated. Maybe there was a defect in the wood that was buried until I cut my way down to it. Maybe a component just broke as I worked on it. Suddenly, I find myself looking at piece that I have put an enormous amount of effort into……and there is a flaw. Maybe it’s tiny………maybe it is catastrophic.

What do I do?

There really are only a few options. Repair the flaw, minimize it, or toss the whole thing into the fireplace and start all over. Sometimes, I leave the flaw and consider it a part of the character of the piece. I have done all of these things.

I am not surprised that God visited us as a carpenter. Jesus would have been very familiar with the flaw that shows up toward the end of the process of creating something. After an enormous amount of work, this thing that he was building is flawed. He would have had a similar set of options when he assessed his flawed creation……fix it, minimize it, ignore it, or burn it down and start all over.

There is another angle to God’s dilemma. When you build something beautiful and special, you become attached to it. It is very hard to destroy something that you are attached to……… something that you have put a lot of effort into. I have thrown pieces into the fire. But, that is rare. I reserve that for flaws that are truly catastrophic. More often, I work hard to salvage the piece. Often this takes a lot of effort, but I keep at it until I have a piece that I can send out of the shop with pride.

Surely, God must face this same decision………every day. This world, his creation, is seriously……. perhaps catastrophically flawed. Ironically, the flaw flows from his original design concept. Create man, give him free will, and let him build a relationship with you. But, we have taken free will……..and abused it. The result is a world of beauty, love, kindness, hate, murder, deceit and more.

What does God do?

Fix it? Take away our free will. God could dictate our choices for us and only allow us to do the things that are good. The problem is that we would become a society of automatons……pre-programmed to love God. And, you and I both know that you cannot force somebody to love you……. because, even if you could, the love would be meaningless. Love must be freely given……..by choice. We must freely choose to love God……. otherwise it is meaningless.

Burn it down and start all over? This is a very attractive option. Except for the fact that, in addition to wanting us to love him, God loves us……with a passion that we cannot even imagine. I believe that God’s love for us is so all encompassing that destroying us is an option that is just not on the table. I hope that I am right about this.

Minimize and Ignore it? Of all of God’s options, this one is the most improbable. But, thankfully, it is the one he has chosen. God leaves the flaw in place and through the sacrifice that he, Jesus, willingly choose to make, he ignores it. He even goes one step further. Once we have recognized and accepted his gift……his personal sacrifice………God minimizes our flaw until even he can no longer see it. It’s a win-win deal. We spend eternity in relationship with our creator……..which was, after all, what we were designed for. God enjoys his creation free from any perceptible flaws. The price that God paid to achieve this is hard to imagine.

And I am grateful.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

David, NIV

Don’t worry………this post is not going to be a long detailed confessional. Just let me say that I have done things that I regret. Some were honest mistakes, some were disagreements, some were bursts of anger, and a few were just plain old fashioned evil. Like it or not, this is true for all of us.

We all do things that are wrong………..and sometimes we do things that are straight up evil.

Some of our misdeeds we justify. We decide that they were wrong…….but that they were worth it. Some of them we recategorize………we simply decide that they weren’t wrong after all. We are very good at this. We take something that is wrong, but that we really enjoy, want, or even need. We redefine it as OK ……and from them on we can enjoy it free from guilt. This, of course, is dishonest…….and the most destructive lie……is the one you tell yourself. There are those among us who have carried this to the point where just about anything that they want is OK. “If it feels good do it!” We call this hedonism.

But, for most of us, when we do something wrong, we know it’s wrong and we feel an unusual type of pain…….guilt. Guilt is not very popular in our culture. We are continually told that we should be tolerant……..and when you come down to it, guilt is just intolerance that we have turned inward. This attitude toward tolerance and guilt is something that our culture has gotten wrong. Tolerance can be a good thing…….but it can also be bad. It all depends on just exactly what it is that you are tolerating. Tolerating harmless annoyances from our neighbors is good. Tolerating Hitler in the 30’s was bad. It all depends on where the thing that you are tolerating is leading you.

Same story with guilt. Guilt can be good or bad……..depending on where it leads you. Guilt that leads you to abandon behavior that hurts others or yourself is good. Guilt that leads you to improve the way you treat others is good. Guilt that keeps you stuck in a bad place is bad. Guilt over something that you cannot undo and cannot learn and grow from is bad.

Good guilt is a gift from God. It causes you to examine the mistake that you have made, to learn from it and to grow. It can also lead you to make amends and help others heal.

So, if you are feeling guilty about something that you have done, you need to have a good hard look at the situation….perhaps share it with somebody wise. You must see if you can learn from it and grow, or help others to grow from it. If you can, then you are dealing with Godly guilt and you should pray about it and act on it. If you can’t learn from it, grow from it, or help others because if it, then you are dealing with destructive guilt…….confess it, then drop it and move on. Bad guilt has a way of dragging you down into more bad decisions.

Guilt is just like any other form of pain. If the pain causes you to pull your hand out of the fire, it is good. If the pain doesn’t cause you to act to improve the situation, then it is counterproductive.

For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Paul, NIV

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you a free from the law of sin and death.

Paul, NIV

“If you have your health, you have everything.”

I have heard this over and over again all through my life.
I have even accepted it as wisdom.

But, it’s really not true.

Don’t get me wrong……..health is extremely valuable. We all want to be healthy. You really can’t appreciate health until you lose it………or until you deal with someone who has lost it…….or with someone who has much more of it than you. You can’t really appreciate health until you get old. In the last few years I have dealt with all of these situations.

Health is a really big deal……… perhaps the most important thing………in this temporal world. But, in the face of eternity, health is inconsequential. In paradise, we will all be perfectly, eternally healthy. We will be at our physical peak……..maybe in our mid 20’s. Our weight will be just right, no pain, no weakness, no disability, no suffering. Not only will our cholesterol be just right………it will be irrelevant.

So, if you take the long view, we will spend eternity in perfect health…….. except for our extremely brief stint here on Earth. This, of course, assumes that you get to paradise. For those who don’t get to paradise, I can’t promise you eternal health. In fact, the best descriptions of “non-paradise” are discriptions of physical suffering…….. eternal unhealthiness at best……..or black nothing at worst.

What it comes down to is this. From an eternal perspective, we can be either healthy or unhealthy. And it will have nothing to do with our weight, our cholesterol, or our blood pressure. It will have nothing to do with whether we have heart disease, cancer, mental illness, arthritis, or physical disability today.

It will be the result of a simple binary choice that we each must make. Because, like it or not, paradise is a conscious choice that is completely in our hands. You either accept forgiveness from Christ………or you reject it. You either recognize Christ……or deny his divinity. One choice leads to paradise. The other leads to non-paradise. One choice leads to healthiness. The other leads to unhealthiness.

So……..the only really important question that you need to answer at your annual checkup is this one:

Are you saved?

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

Jesus, NIV

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord ,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Paul, NIV

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Isaiah, NIV

America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles…….there is no question about it. Our founders protect other faiths and set up an even playing field for all. But, at their core, the founders were Christians and set up a government based on Christian principles.

Separation of church and state is a phrase that we hear a lot…… but it is not found in the Constitution or in the Declaration of Independence. What the Constitution does say is that there can be no official state sponsored religion and that the government cannot interfere with the practice of any religion.

And yet, in the name of “separation of church and state”, Christianity has been slowly driven out of the public space.
Part of this is due to the failure of the Christian community to live the Christian life……. Love God & Love your Neighbor………but a lot of it is driven by a small vocal minority of atheists…….and their attorneys.

This month I am reading Jeremiah. It is a history of a time when the people of Israel voluntarily walked away from God. Then a lot of bad things happened. Jerusalem and the temple were wrecked. Their nation was destroyed and they were exiled to Babylon. Jeremiah describes this as God’s punishment for Israel’s abandonment of God. Ultimately, Israel returns to God. God then heals Israel and sends them back home.

If you look at the history of the United States of America, you can see a long period when we thrived. We grew from a bunch of rebels angry at the strongest nation on the planet to become the strongest and most prosperous nation on the Earth. But, I would argue that America is now past her peak. National debt, Abortion, Extramarital Sex, Sexual fluidity, our toxic politics, hate, constant war, drugs, the entitlement culture, the poisoning of the planet……..these are all symptoms of the downhill slope that we are entering.

We have also seen two eras of our public life……..the Christian era and the post-Christian (secular humanist) era……..the first era when we recognized God’s authority (even if we didn’t follow it) and the second era when the only authority is “whatever we want”. An unborn child is a human being……only if it suits our needs. A man is male and a woman is female…….only if they want to be.

You can call it coincidence if you wish, but it is hard to deny that America thrived as a Christian nation and is beginning to fail as a secular humanist nation……………Just as Israel failed when it walked away from God.

I believe that a national revival………a return to our Christian roots is the key to rescuing America. We need to return to plan A……..which was working. And phoney, superficial posturing won’t do it. It must be centered on love……..for God and for our fellow man. In Jeremiah, Israel turned around and recovered………so can we.

Or we can continue our experiment with secular humanism. The secular humanists keep telling us that they have the solutions to our problems. They say give us more time and resources……….step a little further away from God………..and we will fix it all………you can have whatever you want. But the problems keep getting worse. And we keep listening to them.

There are promises in the Bible too. I keep coming back to this one.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

God, NIV

As for me………..plan A sounds pretty good.

When I was a kid, one of my mom’s recurrent lines was:

“If Sammy jumped in a mud puddle, would you?”

Sammy was my friend and we had lot of fun. And we landed in our share of mud puddles. Fact is, I think that Mom had forgotten how much fun mud can be. I’m 66 years old now and generally avoid mud. In looking back, mom was right. But, today, I hear lines that are the opposite of Mom’s line often.

They go something like this:

“OK, yes, I used the handicapped parking spot………but lots of people do.”

Or

“Yeah, I let my kids watch half dressed people on TV…….but it was on network TV in prime time.”

Or

“Abortion is legal…..I won’t interfere with the choices of others.”

What it comes down to is this……. Mom was right. Just because “everybody is doing it” ………doesn’t mean that it’s right. I had my own version of Mom’s line. In these situations I used to tell my sons “that makes it common……..it doesn’t make it right”.

We live in a world where two things are happening.
There are people who are working very hard to make things common that were once wrong. The result of this is that we have come to accept as normal things that are not good for us. Then we are told to be ”tolerant”…….in other words to sit down and shut up when somebody tries to tell us something that just isn’t right.

The media is complicit in this. The amount of murder and mayhem that we and our children ingest in one evening of prime time TV is amazing. The movies are even worse. There are images that harm me that are trapped in my head from movies that I watched 50 years ago……..from magazines that I looked at as a teen.

And we tell ourselves that it’s all okay…….. that it’s normal. And it is…….. normal that is……normal in the statistical sense that 95% of us do it. The trouble is that we have come to accept that ”normal” means OK………or even good. The fact is that ”normal or common” ………and “right” are completely unrelated. The first is statistical concept. The second is moral concept.

Just because it is common does not mean that it is right.

I believe in God as described in the Bible and I highly recommend Him to you.

But, even if you don’t believe in God, the Bible is still the best moral code that we have. It is far superior to the flexible “home brew” moral code that most of us use.

Love God
Love your neighbor
Don’t lie
Don’t steal
Don’t murder
Honor your parents
Sex is for husbands and wives
Don’t covet
Take the day off on Sunday

It is going to take strength of character to stand up for what is right……..in the face of what is normal. But, it is necessary….
in order to protect yourself. It is even more critical to protect your children and grandchildren from ”normal”. Because “normal”………is getting worse every day. Can you imagine what “normal” will look like to your grandchildren when they are adults? In my lifetime, we have gone from “Andy of Mayberry” and “The Walton’s” to “Criminal Minds” and the Joker. Where will Hollywood take us next?

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

Paul, NIV