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Nation and Society
Apathy
It
is truly a time of apathy. Did you
hear about the recent election in
The
election was a lead pipe cinch.
George Carr and Theresa Kinsell were unopposed in running for the county
Democratic committee. Each of them
needed only one vote
but not even the candidates voted so they both lost. -- Associated
Press
Sin
– Politics Corruption
The
recent savings and loan scandal could cost the taxpayers $200-300 billion. But don't worry
the entire amount will
be covered by F.D.I.C. (Foolish
Dumb
Innocent
Citizens). ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Cycle of Poverty
John Perkins
black
evangelist and social worker in Jackson
Mississippi
related a story
concerning a black woman who was trapped in poverty. She had ten or twelve kids
packed into a four-room house.
All her cupboard held was
cornbread. When Perkins encouraged the small
The answer began to surface
when Perkins observed that in the summer
while it was hot and humid
the woman
and her children tore wood off the outside of the house to use in their cooking
fire. You could look right through the whole house. It seemed stupid to tear up
the house when winter was just a few months away
so many of the people in the
community quit trying to be charitable. They began to blame the woman for her
own problems. To a certain extent
she was to blame
but Perkins recognized
that she was trapped in the cycle of poverty.
The root problem was that
for this woman and many folks like her
poverty had moved beyond her physical
condition to claim her whole mind. To the poor
poverty leads to thinking just
for the moment. It leads to an inability to think about the future because of
the total demand to think about survival in the present. It is a culture
a
whole way of life. Money can’t help until there is reason to have hope for the
future. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
National Righteousness
The instructive motto of the State of
Hawaii is a result of the influence of the Protestant missionaries who first
came to Hawaii in 1820. It expresses a great truth in the Hawaiian language: Ua
mau ke ia o ka aina I ka pono
which means
“The life of the land is
preserved in righteousness.”
Righteousness is what preserves a
nation
not a Declaration of Independence or a Constitution
and not even
Congress or its laws. What sustains and perpetuates a national identity is the
righteousness of its people-the reflection of their recognizing their need for
God
worked out in their relationships with one another. ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Social Action
Many non-evangelicals have criticized
evangelical Christians for not “caring
” that is
for what they perceive to be
too-little social involvement. In 1979 the Gallup Poll organization surveyed a
cross section of Americans. The facts speak for themselves.
The question was “Do you as an
individual happen to be involved in any charity or social service activities
such as helping the poor
the sick
or the elderly?”
The
affirmative response by religion was proportioned as follows:
Non-Church
Members 19%
Church
members 30%
Catholics
26%
Protestants
27%
Non-Evangelicals
26%
Evangelicals
42%
── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Social Action
William Booth could not sleep one
evening
so he went for a walk in the night. He walked down to the poor side of
Had Booth not left the security of his
own home
he might never have become aware of the needs of the homeless masses.
── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical Preaching》
Social Action
The following parody was written by
two Englishmen after converting to Christianity from Communism.
The
Socialist’s 23rd Psalm
The
Government is my shepherd
Therefore
I need not work.
It
allows me to lie down on a good job;
It
leads me beside still factories.
It
destroy my initiative;
It
leads me in the path of a parasite for politics’ sake.
Yea
though I walk through the valley of laziness and deficit spending
I
fear no evil; for Government is with me.
It
preparest an economic utopia for me;
By
appropriating the earnings of my own grandchildren.
It
fills my head with false security;
My
inefficiency runneth over.
Surely
the Government should care for me all the days of my life;
And
I shall live forever in a fool’s paradise.
── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Warfare
Wilfred Owen
a poet of the World War
I period
described in the lines below his attitude after seeing a friend gag
in a green field of gas fumes during an enemy gas attack. Owen himself was
killed in action a week before the armistice but left a legacy of poems that
decried the futility and horror of war.
“…If
in some smothered dreams
you too could pace
Behind
the wagon that we flung him in
And
watch the white eyes writhing in his face.
His
hanging face
like a devil’s sick of sin;
If
you could hear
at every jolt
the blood
Come
gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs
Bitter
as the cud
Of
vile
incurable sores on innocent tongues—
My
friend
you would not tell with such high zest
To
children ardent for some desperate glory
The
old lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro
patria mori
(Sweet and fitting it is to die for one’s country”— Horace
Country
Carl Schurz
a
nineteenth-century political reformer
put the statement: “My country
right or
wrong” into proper perspective: “Our country
right or wrong. When right
to be
kept right; when wrong
to be put right.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Poverty
Poverty
in America
A free lesson on how to escape poverty. Economist Charles Murray
author of the
book Losing Ground
offers a formula on how to escape poverty in
Taxes
Steve
Fronk spotted a great bumper sticker shortly before April 15th. It read: "Thank God we don't get
all the government we pay for!" ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
Ten
Commandments
"We
stake the future of this country on our ability to govern ourselves under the
principles of the Ten Commandments." – J ames Madison
4th President of
the United States
Greatness
Rudyard Kipling wrote in 《Recessional》 about
the British Empire:
Far
flung
our navies melt away
On
dune and headland sinks the fire.
Lo
all our pomp of yesterday
Is
one with
So
too
will
Tradition
Traditions are often an attempt to
either protect us from something that can harm us or keep us in the place where
we are most likely to do well. Not all traditions are so characterized
and
some are nothing more than outmoded responses to situations that no longer
exist. Nevertheless
this old saying remains true: “Never tear down a fence
until you find out why it was built.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Tradition
”The seven last words” of a dying
church are: “We never did it that way before!” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Tradition
Nothing is more deadly in a church
than an attitude that might be expressed as
“Come weal or woe; our status is
quo.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations for Biblical
Preaching》
We should behave toward
our country as women behave toward the men they love. A loving wife will
do anything for her husband except stop criticizing and trying to improve
him. We should cast the same affectionate but sharp glance at our
country.
J. B. Priestley.
Patriotism is not a short
and frenzied burst of emotion but the long and steady dedication of a
lifetime.
Thomas Jefferson.
The Pledge of Allegiance
is not a verse composed by the Founding Fathers of our republic. It was written
especially for children in the summer is 1892 to commemorate that year's
celebration of Columbus Day in public schools through out the country.
The pledge first appeared
in print on September 8
1892
in The Youth's Companion
an educational
publication. In its original form
it read: "I pledge allegiance to my
Flag and the Republic for which is stands -- one nation indivisible-- with
liberty and justice for all."
Its author was Francis
Bellamy
an assistant editor of The Youth's Companion
who intended it
for a one-time recitation. But its immediate popularity transformed it
first into an annual Columbus Day tradition and then into a daily classroom
ritual. It became one of the earliest verses memorized by students. Since its
debut
Bellamy's pledge has undergone two major alterations. In 1923
the
National Flag Conference of the American Legion replaced the somewhat
ambiguously personal "my Flag" wording with the more explicitly
patriotic "the Flag of the United States of America." And in 1954
President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill that added the words "Under
God."
Charles Panati
Extraordinary
Origins of Everyday Things (Harper Collins)
in Reader's Digest.
A fellow heard about an
operation which would enable him to get a new brain. He went to the hospital
where the surgery had been perfected and asked the doctors what was in stock.
"Well
" they said
"here is an excellent engineer's brain--a
finely honed
precise bit of gray matter. It will cost you $500 an ounce."
"What else?" the
man wanted to know.
"This
" they
told him
"Is a lawyer's brain--a collection of shrewd
tricky little gray
cells. It is $1000 an ounce."
"Is that all you
have?"
"No
" they said.
"Here is a doctor's brain
packed full of anatomical knowledge. It is
$5000 an ounce."
"I don't
know
" the fellow said. "Don't you have anything else?"
The doctors looked at each
other then motioned for the man to step over to a covered container.
"This
" they said in hushed tones
"is a legislator's brain. It
costs $250
000 an ounce."
"Wow!" exclaimed
the fellow. "Why so expensive?"
"In the first
place
" the doctors told him
"it is hardly used. In the second
place
do you realize how many legislators you need to get an ounce of
brains?"
Quoted by James Dent in
Charleston
West Virginia
Gazette.
An elderly gentleman was
sitting on a park bench
basking in the sun
when another elderly fellow sat
down. They looked at each other for a moment but did not speak. Both men sat
there
staring straight ahead.
After a while
one of them
heaved a big
heartfelt sigh.
The other jumped up
immediately and said
"If you're going to talk politics
I'm
leaving."
Bits & Pieces
June 24
1993
p. 7.
The Best of Will Rogers
Will Rogers was many
things -- cowboy
part Cherokee Indian
entertainer and tart observer of the
American scene. From December 1922 until his death in August 1935
he wrote a
column about anything that caught his interest. Although the following comments
on government
politics and the state of the nation were made half a century or
so ago
they are as timely as today's newspaper. Some things never change.
I love a dog. He does
nothing for political reasons.
Congress is so strange. A
man gets up to speak and says nothing
nobody listens and then everybody
disagrees.
Never blame a legislative
body for not doing something. When they do nothing
they don't hurt anybody.
When they do something is when they become dangerous.
I really can't see any
advantage of having one of your party in as President. I would rather be able
to criticize a man than have to apologize for him.
It's no disgrace not to be
able to run a country nowadays
but it is a disgrace to keep on trying when you
know you can't.
It looks to me like any
man that wants to be President in times like these lacks something.
They've already started
arguing over who will be the speaker at next year's conventions. What they
better worry about is who is going to listen.
There should be a
moratorium called on candidates' speeches. From now on
they are just talking
themselves out of votes.
A President-elect's
popularity is the shortest lived of any public man's. It only lasts till he
picks his Cabinet.
The promising season ends
on Election Day. That same night
the alibi season begins and lasts for the
next four years.
Our government is the only
people that just love to spend money without being compelled to
at all. But
the government is the only people that don't have to worry where it is coming
from.
Last year we said:
"Things can't go on like this!" And they didn't -- they got worse.
In Washington
yesterday
everybody I tried to talk to was a Presidential candidate. Both Houses spent all
week arguing politics. Did you ever figure it out? They are the only people
that are paid to do one job and do every other one there is but that.
Lord
the money we do
spend on government
and it's not a bit better than the government that we got
for one-third the money 20 years ago.
This inflation was brought
on by the actions of many peoples of the whole world
and its weight will be
lifted by the actions of many peoples of the whole world
and not by a
Republican or a Democrat.
With old inflation riding
the headlines
I have read till I am bleary-eyed. We are living in an age of
explanations
but no two things that have been done to us have been explained
twice the same way
by even the same man.
When it comes to a
showdown
Washington must never forget who rules -- the people.
The Best of Will Rogers
1979 by Bryan B. Sterling
Crown Publishing
Inc.
NY
NY.
Definitions of Political
Systems
Communism: You have two
cows. The government takes both of them and gives you part of the milk.
Socialism: You have two
cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
Fascism: You have two
cows. The government takes both cows and sells you the milk.
Nazism: You have two cows.
The government takes both cows
then shoots you.
Bureaucracy: You have two
cows. The government takes both of them
shoots one
milks the other
then
pours the milk down the drain.
Capitalism: You have two
cows. You sell one of them and buy a bull.
In a democracy
everyone
has two cows
then a vote is taken
and whatever the majority decides to do
you do
and that's no bull!
Pulpit Helps
August
1992
p. 8.
The penalty that good men
pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than
themselves.
Plato.
In 1883 in Allentown
New
Jersey
a wooden Indian -- the kind that was seen in front of cigar stores --
was placed on the ballot for Justice of the Peace. The candidate was registered
under the fictitious name of Abner Robbins. When the ballots were counted
Abner won over incumbent Sam Davis by 7 votes. A similar thing happened in
1938. The name Boston Curtis appeared on the ballot for Republican Committeeman
from Wilton
Washington. Actually
Boston Curtis was a mule. The town's mayor
sponsored the animal to demonstrate that people know very little about the
candidates. He proved his point. The mule won!
Our Daily Bread
November 3
1992.
No illustrations yet.
The Function of Human
Government
The general function of
human government
as instituted by God
may be said to be threefold: to
protect
punish
and promote.
a. The Function of
Protection: The moment Adam sinned it was obvious that civilizations would need
some form of restraint and rule to protect citizens from themselves. An example
of this function is seen in Acts 21:27-37 where Roman soldiers step in and save
Paul from being murdered by his own enraged countrymen in Jerusalem.
b. The Function of
Punishment: Both Paul and Peter bring this out. Paul writes that duly appointed
human officials are to be regarded as God's servants to "bear the
sword
" that is
to impose punishment upon criminals (vv. 3
4). Peter
tells us that governors are "sent by him for the punishment of
evildoers" (1 Pet 2:13
14).
c. The Function of
Promotion: Human government is to promote the general welfare of the community
where its laws are in effect. Paul commands us to pray for human leaders
"that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty" (1 Tim 2:1
2). New King James Version Notes
Thomas Nelson
p.
1152
1 Peter 2:13
Our
Responsibility to Human Government
It is impossible for a
believer to be a good Christian and a bad citizen at the same time. As children
of God our responsibility to human government is threefold:
a. We are to recognize and
accept that the powers that be are ordained by God. "Let every soul be
subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from
God
and the authorities that exist are appointed by God." (Rom 13:1) This
truth applies even to atheistic human governments unless
of course
the law is
anti- scriptural. In that situation the believer must obey God rather than man
(Acts 4:18-20). In fact
when Paul wrote those words in Romans 13:1
the evil
emperor Nero was on the throne. See also Titus 3:1.
b. We are to pay our taxes
to human government (Matt 17:24-7; 22:21
Rom 13:7).
c. We are to pray for the
leaders in human government. "Therefore I exhort first of all that
supplications
prayers
intercessions
and giving of thanks be made for all men
for kings and all who are in authority
that we may lead a quiet and peaceable
life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the
sight of God our Savior" (1 Tim 2:1-3). New King James Version Notes
Thomas Nelson
p. 1270
We are to take
responsibility for the right ordering of civil society without falling prey to
the idea that it is within our power to build the Kingdom of God on earth.
Evangelicals and Catholics
Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium
1994.
From the Desk of:
Don Genereaux
Honorable Secretary of
Agriculture
Washington
D.C.
Dear Sir
My friend
Dan Hansen
over at Honey Creek
Iowa
received a check for $1
000.00 from the government
for not raising hogs. So I want to go into the "NOT RAISING HOGS"
business next year.
What I want to know is
in
your opinion
what is the best kind of farm not to raise hogs on? And what is
the best breed of hogs not to raise? I want to be sure that I approach this
endeavor in keeping with all government policies.
As I see it
the hardest
part of the "NOT RAISING HOGS' program is keeping an accurate inventory of
how many hogs I haven't raised.
My friend Hansen is very
joyful about the future of the business. He has been raising hogs for twenty
years or so
and the best he has ever made on them was $422.90 in 1968
until
this year when he got your check for the $1000.00 for not raising 50 hogs.
If I get $1000.00 for not
raising 50 hogs
then would I get $2000.00 for not raising 100 hogs? I plan to
operate on a small scale at first
holding myself to about 4
000 hogs not
raised the first year
which would bring in about $80
000.00; then I can afford
an airplane.
Now another thing - these
hogs I will not raise will not eat 100
000 bushels of corn. I understand that
the government also pays people not to raise corn and wheat. Would I qualify
for payments for not raising these crops not to feed my hogs I will not be
raising?
I want to get started as
soon as possible as this seems to be a good time of the year for the "NOT
RAISING HOGS" and "NOT PLANTING CROPS" business.
Also I am giving serious
consideration to the "NOT MILKING COWS" business and any information
you would have on the endeavor would be greatly appreciated.
In view of the fact that I
will be totally unemployed
I will be filing for unemployment and food stamps
and was wondering how long that process takes.
Be assured
Mr. Secretary
you will have my vote in the upcoming election.
Patriotically yours
Don Genereaux
P.S. Would you please
notify me when you plan to give out the free cheese again?
Unknown.
An atheistic materialistic
society's epitaph
in the words of T.S. Eliot
may read
Here were a decent godless
people: Their only monument the asphalt road And a thousand lost golf balls.
Today
the exalted status
of economics in our public debate is being challenged in some rather intriguing
places. For example
Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley recently
observed
"If America is to decline
it will not be because of military overstretch.
Nor the trade balance
Japanese management secrets or even the federal deficit.
If a decline is underway
it's a moral one."
Former Education Secretary
William Bennett sees evidence of such decline in research identifying the most
serious problems in public school classrooms. In 1940
running in the halls
chewing gum
and talking in class headed the list of teacher's disciplinary
concerns; today
robbery
rape
alcohol
drugs
teen pregnancy
and suicide are
most often mentioned. Bennett argues
"If we turn the economy around
have
full employment
live in cities of alabaster and gold
and this is what our
children are doing to each other
then we still will have failed them."
Bennett believes one way
to improve our national debate is to counterbalance
the Commerce Department's
index of leading economic indicators with a collection of some 19 "leading
cultural indicators" including the divorce rate
the illegitimacy rate
the violent crime rate
the teen suicide rate
and even hours devoted to television
viewing. While these cultural variables are only crude indicators of our
nation's social health
they do provide a more complete
and more accurate
empirical assessment of the condition of American society than is available
from economic variables alone. Using economic variables -- even under-utilized
variables like business productivity and hourly compensation rates -- it is
difficult to explain public opinion polls showing that a majority of Americans
believe the quality of life in America has declined over the last three
decades. To understand such perceptions
one has to consider that since 1960
violent crime has risen 560 percent
illegitimate births have increased 400
percent
teen suicides have risen 200 percent
divorce rates have quadrupled
average SAT scores have dropped 80 points
and the proportion of children
living in fatherless families has increased three-fold.
In essence
then
Bennett's leading cultural indicators are to our national debate what
statistics like saves
fielding percentage
and earned run average are to
baseball: reminders that economic production (or run production) isn't
everything. Indeed
a society which manages to make great gains economically
but fails to progress in the cultural areas outlined by Bennett is likely to be
no more successful in the long run than the 1931 New York Yankees. That
ballclub
which featured sluggers like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig
scored more
runs (1
067) than any other team in major league history. But New York still
finished 13 and one-half games behind the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1931
American League pennant race
in large part because the Yankees' lousy pitching
more than offset run-scoring prowess.
Family Policy
June
1993
pp. 5-6.