Who's In Charge of Your '09

Wow!

In a little less than 8 hours another year will end and yet another begin.

Time seems to be careening by these days!

Are you pleased with the year you’ve just lived?

What do you expect in 2009?

Are you one of those who believe that, at the moment the big “O” is inaugurated, Camelot will begin? Or do you fear that the economic gloom of the past few months spells doom for years to come? Is your world collapsing all around you? Or are you like the Kid who woke up to find that a fertilizer truck had lost its brakes, and run out-of-control into his bedroom filling the room and several others in the house with its contents, and was later found digging through the manure explaining to his scolding Mother as he dug feverishly, “with all this horse poop there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere!”?

In times of transition such as we’re in today life really can be especially confusing. It always has been. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the Psalms of the Bible. These often brutally honest and frequently painful prayers and testimonials are candid glimpses of the many faces of life. One, in particular reveals the incongruities that have been a part of life since ancient times.
King David, is the writer of this, the 31st Psalm. At first it’s hard to determine whether or not he’s in a funk or simply reflecting on the kind mercy of his God and listing the trouble from which this merciful Lord has saved him. Halfway through the Psalm it’s clear he’s in trouble. He pleads with God, “Be kind to me, God I'm in deep, deep trouble again. I've cried my eyes out; I feel hollow inside. My life leaks away, groan by groan; my years fade out in sighs. My troubles have worn me out, turned my bones to powder. To my enemies I'm a monster; I'm ridiculed by the neighbors. My friends are horrified; they cross the street to avoid me. They want to blot me from memory, forget me like a corpse in a grave, discard me like a broken dish in the trash. The street-talk gossip has me'criminally insane'! Behind locked doors they plot how to ruin me for good. Desperate, I throw myself on you: you are my God!”

Then his mood changes again. He turns from pleading to praise, "What a stack of blessing you have piled up for those who worship you, ready and waiting for all who run to you to escape an unkind world. You hide them safely away from the opposition. As you slam the door on those oily, mocking faces, you silence the poisonous gossip. Blessed God! His love is the wonder of the world. Trapped by a siege, I panicked. 'Out of sight, out of mind,' I said. But you heard me say it, you heard and listened. Love God, all you saints; God takes care of all who stay close to him, but he pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone. Be brave. Be strong. Don't give up. Expect God to get here soon.” (Psalm 31: Selected THE MESSAGE)

The reason for this happy ending is in the pivotal belief expressed midway through the Psalm, “My times are in your hands …” (vs. 15)

“My times,” could just as appropriately be translated, “my experiences.” This troubled King, overwhelmed by the weight of life is strengthened by the thought that the course of his life is being managed by his God.

Are you encouraged this New Year’s Eve by the thought that God is in charge of “the times” – the 2009 and beyond – of your life? Or are you skeptical? Do you see good people hurt severely and think, “what’s wrong with God? Why would He let such a thing happen?” “If He lets them suffer He’s certainly not going to treat me fairly!” You could even see this as a flat contradiction to the idea that we have any degree of “free will,” and reconsider whether or not you want such a person meddling in your life. You could say with the singer, “ain’t nobody gonna run my life!” Or you can believe, with David, that regardless of how things appear, God’s gonna “get here soon.” Or to put it another way, “I’m gonna trust Him even though I can’t see Him or any evidence of His attention or love right now.”

Of course the evidence of such faith is in the way we go about living the “times” that are “under God’s management.” Are we digging through the “poop” expecting to find a pony? Or are we lamenting our situation and complaining that we can’t afford to buy a better house that isn’t on such a busy street.

The power of this idea that “our times” are “in God’s hands,” was vividly illustrated to me in my Aunt Ruth’s Christmas letter. She is my Mother’s Sister, the last survivor of three Sisters. She and her Husband, Jim, celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 2007. To honor this momentous milestone their Friends and Family gave them the gift of an Alaskan Cruise. They took that cruise this past June. I’ll let her tell you about it.

“It was a wonderful experience … very enjoyable. We had 3 days sightseeing along the way. First in Ketchican where we watched logging antics and visited a totem pole park. It was misty that day but we were dressed for the weather. Then we spent a few hours in Juneau. The most exciting thing we did was to ride a helicopter to the Mendenhall Glacier. It was well worth squeezing into the weather suits and heavy boots. When we got to the site, we had to have cleats attached to the soles of the boots, so we could walk on the glacier. It was informative. The guides were exceptional. Then we stopped at Skagway where we met our grandson … who drove us to old mining sites. Then we took the train ride to the summit. It was a long look down, but interesting.”

I’ve always been proud of my Aunt! I’m even more proud of her now! To put it into perspective she is, now that her Mother and Sisters are in Heaven, the Matriarch of my maternal ancestors. She’s no kid. But she did everything the cruise offered and more. Her comments on the risky stuff? “We were dressed for the weather;” “the most exciting thing we did was ride a helicopter;” the walk on the glacier was “informative;” the train ride along the edge of high cliffs was “interesting.” I’d like to think that I have inherited the gene that orients this great Lady to see life as something to be lived with enthusiasm and high expectations.

Now such an attitude is made up of something more than a certain sort of DNA. There’s faith in it. The cruise provides a wonderful metaphor for that faith. When you leave dry land and sail away on that adventure you make some rather risky choices. Probably chief among those choices is to dismiss the notion that the makers of the hull of the ship you’re now sailing in are better shipbuilders than the makers of the Titanic. I know some people who wouldn’t even set foot on a ship until they had a personal review of the blueprints and documentation of the seaworthiness of all materials incorporated into every square inch of it. Aunt Ruth hasn’t spent a lot of time “at sea.” Would she be prone to seasickness? Did she personally meet the Captain and crew? Had she had a chance to verify their qualifications to manage this vessel in which she’d be living the next several days of her life? What about the course the ship would take? Had they verified that all passageways were deep enough to accommodate a boat of this size? Some folks would want assurance that the great whales would not be harmed nor would their migration patterns be disturbed. Ruth and Jim could have stayed in their cabin out of the bone chilling mist rather than take in the logging competition and the Totem Pole Park. I doubt she’d ever been in a helicopter before. Why, at this stage in life, take such a risk? These choppers are not the most stable flying machines. And “squeezing into those weather suits and heavy boots.” Cruises are for relaxation and pleasure not high adventure! She could have, legitimately, spent her time in the cabin or on deck reading, napping, and taking in the scenery from the safety and comfort of her floating palace. But not Ruth. She’d put a bit of her time in the hands of the managers of an Alaskan Cruise and she was going to “seize” those days!

Our God, like the captain and crew of that majestic vessel, is often behind the scenes. But He has provided a passengers’ guide to the most satisfying experience of life on his watch and those who step out and live it, with his encouragement, guidance, and assistance will discover, with David, that “God takes care of those who stay close to Him.” As a matter-of-fact David writes, in another Psalm, “The Lord (God) is my Shepherd. I have all that I need.” (Psalm 23:1 New Living Translation)

Do you believe that? Do you believe that the one who manages “the times” of your life has made ample provision for every moment and all the eventualities of your life? Do you intend to live every moment, every day you have with an enthusiastic abandon that will appear risky to anyone who doesn’t believe that everything you’ll need has already been provided by the “Captain of your soul”? Will you live a risky life that provides God with plenty of opportunity to demonstrate His infinite power to all who observe? People of faith, “overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.” (Hebrews 11: 33 – 40)

I have little idea what faith will mean for me in 2009. But I intend to find out! “My times are in" the Lord’s “hands” and I expect the best!

Do you?

A Cosmic Salvage Operation 3.

The baby announced by the Heavenly Messenger tonight; our Rescuer; our Heroic Liberator; is Divine at the same time. The Angel said He is “the Lord.”

Anyone with the least understanding of Jewish tradition would know that an Angelic messenger, speaking of “the Lord,” would be referring to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Whether the Angel spoke in Hebrew, or Aramaic, made no difference. The “Lord,” is “God,” to Israel. “Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord, is one,” they declared in their Congregations routinely. Hundreds of times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures God implored His people to remember that “I am the Lord.” He is the Supreme Sovereign.

Radical as it may seem the Baby in the manger is being introduced as this Supreme Sovereign. Matthew, in telling of an earlier Angelic announcement of this Child’s birth, described the event as the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. This birth, he wrote, is what Isaiah promised when he foretold that the “virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1:23) With this Matthew leaves no doubt. An ancient Hebrew prophet, and a First Century witness to the life of the Child, Jesus, both knew and declared that the Child was Divine.

God has come to be “with us” in a new and intimate way. He would be one of us. Mysteriously, yet certainly, He would, by the brooding Spirit who stirred life out of the primal abyss, bring an embryo into existence that was, at one and the same time, Divine and human; the always existent Second Person of the Trinitarian God, and the Son of a virgin Mother. John, the Son of Thunder declared this as fact in the very first words of his biography of Jesus. “In the beginning,” he wrote, “ the Word – another name for the Child we’re visiting tonight – was with God. He was God. This same person was in the beginning with God.” He was not some sort of appendage to God. He was and always is “one” with God. “All things,” John insisted, “were made by Him. Without Him nothing created ever existed.” This “word,” he says later in the early lines of his story of Jesus, “became flesh and lived with us.” Think of it. God has become one of us. He’s lived with us. Fully human He lived as we do. He walked dusty roads. He learned to live with other people. He worked as we do. He enjoyed life. He suffered. He was, another writer insisted, “in all ways tested in the ways we are, with this difference. He did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) “God is with us” in the person of the Child announced to the Sheepherders this very night.

Better still, tonight, even as I post these thoughts, the Child – Son of Man/Son of God – our Rescuer, Heroic Liberator, and Lord, is with the Father. Resurrected after His heroic death in a now magnificently glorified body He is in the “Heavens around us.” He and the Father we pray to in the words, “Our Father who are in Heaven – in the Heavens around us … always near – are one and the same person. They are of one heart. And that heart now has a human component for it enfolds the heart of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, our Intercessor; our Advocate – the one who “pleads our case” – our Companion; our Guide – is not only with God. He is God. He is, at the same time, the Son of Man. We are fully and perfectly represented in Christ. We are “reconciled” with the Father. There is no further question about the esteem with which God sees us! Nor is there any doubt as to His understanding of the human condition. He really does know “what makes us tick.” He knows where it hurts and comes as any loving Father but with perfect attention to care for us with a compassion and perception that comes from experience. His care is unrestricted or hampered. His provision for what we need fits us particularly and generously. There is no question! The prayer of Paul of Tarsus is a prayer the Father answers out of love for His Children and the Son; His Brothers and Sisters.

NO MATTER WHAT!! we can expect to be, as Paul prayed in his letter to Ephesian Christ-followers, “… strengthened with His power by His Spirit to the very core of our being … Christ living in our hearts by faith … rooted and stabilized in love we will be able to comprehend, with all Christ’s followers, how long and wide, how high and deep His love for us truly is.” We can now be “filled w/ all of the fullness of God.” Because of the conquest won by our courageous Hero we are now restored to full collaboration with our Creator/God just as our predecessors in Eden were.

So!? Now that we’ve been restored us partnership with our Creator/Lord what’s our next step?

We live as if it’s all true … NO MATTER WHAT!!

Mother Teresa said it well when she wrote in her journal, “Even tho’ I don’t sense His presence for long periods of time I will love Him like He’s never been loved before!”

Love Him, then, “with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength,” NO MATTER WHAT!!

A Cosmic Salvage Operation 2.

The rescuer introduced by the Angel that night over Bethlehem would be called Christ.

Christ?

Yes! A Greek word for “anointed.” The very one Jewish people longed for. Messiah! He would come in the tradition of a long line of chosen, Spirit-filled men. Prophets were anointed; chosen by God to “stand in the gap on behalf of His people,” to tell them what He wanted to say to them. Isaiah said, “the Spirit of the Lord is on me because He has anointed me to preach … .” Priests were anointed. They were the mediators between a sinful, rebellious people and the God they’d offended. Courageous men these. Their mission was a constant matter of life and death for the sin they sought atonement for was punishable by death and the sacrifices they carried into the Holiest place were the sole means by which they could be spared certain annihilation. Any glitch in the process would cost the priest his life. Kings were anointed. David, the Sheepherder was anointed while he was only a boy. Later in life he became not only a King but a fierce and powerful warrior; the champion of Israel in whose steps the promised Messiah would walk.

Yes this Child would be all of these things. God, who, “on a variety of occasions, and in many different places, spoke in ancient times through prophets,” would now speak through this Child. He would come to be known as “the Word.” He would teach with an authority possessed by no other. He would be a High Priest; the sole “mediator between God and mankind.” In the end He would become the “Lamb of God who removes the sin of the world.” He would be the King above all Kings. God would give Him a name, “above all names” before which “every knee would bow and every tongue confess that (He) Christ is Lord.”

We know now, He is the ultimate “anointed.” He is the “chosen”! He is “the one”! He is, as He routinely said of Himself, “the Son of Man.” The consummate “Hero”!

But is He really our “Hero”? Is this champion walking in the steps of David the destroyer of thousands?

Years after the night the Angel declared His name to be “Christ,” on the day of His trial, His judge asked Him, “are you a King?” He replied, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If it were my followers would have fought and prevented my arrest.” With this He affirmed that, in fact, Kingdoms were in conflict on that dreadful day.

The Kingdom of this world with which He fought, the kingdom He’d been in conflict with all of His life on earth, was a Kingdom of “pleasure seekers.” That day, on the cross He suffered immeasurably. The subjects of this Kingdom He battled, as the pain cried out for relief, offered him something to numb it. He refused. He’d come to suffer every nuance of all human pain. His mission was to bear every bit of my pain and yours. His body writhed with the torture of all who’d ever lived, then lived, or would live in the future. Never once did He turn from it. With infinite courage and fortitude He suffered all suffering and demonstrated in doing so that “travail,” leads to “joy.” He who goes out in the toil of the noonday sun to put seed in the ground comes in autumn to fill his barns with grain, celebrating the bounty of the harvest. These adversaries were sensationalists. “If you’re our King come down from the cross!” They were looking for proof of His power. “Show us!” they shouted! Give us a “sign.” “Wicked people who corrupt the good by their abuse and misuse of it look for proof,” He’d said many times of them. And now they sought to sabotage His mission by taunting Him into misusing His power to prove Himself. He knew such self-serving demonstrations would be inconsistent with the will of His Father. He would not. There would be a sign. But not the kind of sign they wanted. Frankly, when I revisit this event again and again I find myself wishing He’d have just come down from that cross for but a nano second; slapped the High Priest a couple of times; and leapt back on the cross. He couldn’t do such a thing. You and I both know that in doing so He’d have lost the battle. The sensationalists of this world would have won. Image would have become everything for Him and all would have been lost. But He refused to make His own vindication His business. It would be the Father’s to insure His glory.

The kingdom he battled that day, and all through His life, was a polyglot of power grabbers. The very cross he hung on was a grim reminder that Rome, that evil Empire, was the greatest power of the day. Crosses dotted the landscapes of all its regions. Stark terrifying reminders of the tyranny that no one had been able to break. Great men died on those crosses. Mighty men were reduced to whimpering wraiths; flayed remnants of someone’s hope that this barbaric oppressor might finally be overthrown. Our would be hero locked wills with this terrible instrument of denigration and execution on that dread day. Looking at His struggle through the eyes of the Officer in charge of the execution reveals what came of the contest. As Walter Wangerin Jr. so ably tells us in his marvelous book, Reliving the Passion, this soldier, a Centurion, commander of a hundred fighting men, had seen it before. Likely hundreds of times he’d heard them curse the Empire they hated. Their curses turned to groans, then pleading and whimpering. But this man was silent. He seemed to be on a mission. About six hours into it He cried out. It was difficult for the soldier to make out what He said.” “Eloi! Eloi! …” something. One thing was clear. He really wasn’t any different than all the others. He’d been hanging there for about six hours. Six hours into the execution the strongest of them would break …

“What was that?!” The Centurion spun around torn from his reminiscing by the loud shout! Megale phone!

A shout not of pain or despair or cursing. Nothing like you’d expect to hear from a dying man!

“It is finished!”

And then, suddenly, He died. The Centurion knew when a crucified victim was dead. This man was dead. He was not simply unconscious nor in some sort of comatose sleep. He was dead. “… but suddenly! That’s what rivets the centurion. It’s as if this man chose to go fully conscious straight to the wall of death and there to strike it with all his might and, in the striking, die. Aware of absolutely everything.” …

In awe of what he’d witnessed the Centurion declared, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

The Christ won the battle that day. The cross is, today, not a symbol of terror and tyranny but of hope. Death, too, has been conquered. We know because of His mastery of it that, through His victory, death’s “sting” has been drawn and thwarted. He is our Champion, our liberator, the Mighty Conqueror

… OUR HERO … THE ONE!!

NO MATTER WHAT IT WILL BE WELL FOR US … HE IS THE VICTOR! GOOD NEWS ... GREAT JOY!

A Cosmic Salvage Operation

How’re ya doin’?

I mean, really, how are you doin’?

Are you feeling the weight of endless 24/7 news of our nation’s drift toward another Depression?

Have you been personally plundered by the pirates of pension funds? Have you lost your job?

These are troublesome times!

Recently, Dallas Willard, formerly Chairman of USC’s Division of Philosophy, and a widely respected spokesman for the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus wrote this. “Jesus is teaching us to put our lives together in such a way that NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS IT WILL BE WELL WITH US.”

“No matter what … it will be well for us?”

Isn’t this kinda hard to accept when things seem to be falling apart around us?

Yet, the more I think about Willard’s words, the more I realize how similar they are to the message from Heaven on the night Jesus was born. The angel – the messenger – said, to the cowering Sheepherders, “I am bringing you good news of great joy which is for all the people.” These are words of cosmic significance. They are for “all people.” They’re also highly charged with promise. “All people,” will experience “great joy” as a result of what these Heavenly messengers are announcing.

Do you see the similarities? “No matter what … it will be well.” “I am bringing good news of imminent, great joy for all people!” Aren’t these both hard to accept given the circumstances in which they are spoken? Are they in any way connected to the teaching of Jesus.

A closer look reveals that the angel’s words are about more than what Jesus taught. They’re connected to who He is. This “joy,” the angel explained, is the result of a birth. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” This is the Child whose Father was told, by an angel, to call Jesus. And the “joy” would be a direct result of His birth.

To understand how this could be, “no matter what,” is to understand the other names given Him by the angel that night; “Savior,” “Christ,” the “Lord.” Each of them introduces a radical new view of reality. From this perspective the prospect of “joy” and “well being” looks more plausible.

“Savior.” Think about it. A “savior,” is a “rescuer.” A “rescuer,” is someone who considers the endangered thing to be worth some degree of risk. Rescuers often risk their lives to “save,” a victim. We would consider it less than wise if someone risked their life to save a rat wouldn’t we? A varmint like that is hardly worth it. When you look at it this way it’s apparent that we’re talking about the preservation and restoration of something of value. The angel’s announcement of a “savior,” was, in fact, the promise of a “salvage operation.” A “cosmic salvage operation” began that night.

There’s a story of a barn in Portugal that can help us understand this. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re familiar with the story. Several variations on it have done the rounds over the Internet. The facts are that this barn, on a vacant farm somewhere in Portugal, apparently of little or no value, had been kept meticulously locked. The frames on the large doors had been fortified and the doors were barred with heavy steel beams. In an apparent publicity stunt the person responsible for the barn and its contents had photographers come and arranged for an on-camera removal of the elaborate system of locks and beams. Behind the heavy doors were as many as 180 vintage automobiles. To the uninformed viewer they looked like junk cars. They were all covered with thick dust. Some were convertibles with the tops missing or folded away. The upholstery was worn and sometimes tattered. Tires were flat, if there were any. This was nothing more than a huge indoor junkyard. Or so it seemed. In fact the cars in that barn had been purchased over several years by a car dealer and stored there. They were “classic” automobiles. He knew their value and bought them with the intention of restoring them to their original elegance. The estimated value of those old cars, in 1960, was in excess of $35 million dollars. This car dealer was salvaging those fine cars.

We are, to our Creator, His Masterpiece. But we’ve lost our elegance. We are rusted. Our finish is tarnished and dust-covered. Our performance has been severely impaired by abuse, misuse, and disuse. We are to most observers, including ourselves, of little if any value. Jesus, however, the one by whom “all things that were originally made were made, sees us differently.” He sees what we were originally. He sees what the designer made us to be. He sees we’re of great value and, that night, He came to begin a “salvage operation.” He will pay whatever price necessary to restore us to the image the designer envisioned when He created us. The image He envisioned? Himself. So Paul of Tarsus would later say, “we are being changed from one degree of glory to another into the image of Jesus Himself.”

My Friends, this is a Makeover to beat all makeovers. It is, the “Mother of all Makeovers.” You are of infinite value to God your Creator. He is, on this night, paying the price of the eternal, regal life of His Son, to salvage you and restore you to the image of that Son who originally created you. You are that valuable to Him. If you trust Him with your life, “NO MATTER WHAT,” you will be salvaged – restored – one moment at-a-time – to the Masterpiece you were originally. That’s right! This very moment, right now, “NO MATTER WHAT,” you are being madeover in His likeness.

This is “Good News.” There is “great joy” in this. It is well with you!

Out of this World Power

Are you feeling a bit overwhelmed and powerless?

Did you vote for one guy and get the other?

Did you campaign for an initiative?

Did you have the thrill of seeing the majority of your fellow citizens supporting your initiative?

Have you since learned that those who opposed what you fought so hard to defend are filing lawsuits that will send the whole thing back to the self-serving powerbrokers who’re responsible for the whole thing in the first place?

Are some of your Friends in your Faith Community telling you to pray for those powerbrokers? Are they insisting that God is the ultimate authority and therefore supreme over all powers even those hostile to Him and what matters in His Kingdom?

Today I’ve been remembering some things that I find helpful. There’s an image that I’m recalling as I struggle with conflicting ideas surrounding the whole idea of power. You can see this image at

http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--12624426/sp--A/Ecce_Homo.htm

The contrast between power and powerlessness is vivid in this painting. Jesus of Nazareth, nearly naked, and bound; surrounded by the powerful and the privileged facing a mob demanding his crucifixion – the most horrendous, barbarous method of execution every practiced by humans – is the consummate symbol of helplessness.

Yet, in that very moment, when He is clearly at the mercy of the Governor, Jesus says this to him. “My kingdom, doesn't consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn't be handed over ... . But I'm not that kind of king, not the world's kind of king.” (John 18:36 THE MESSAGE)

“I’m not the world’s kind of King.”

What kind of King is He then?

For me the answer to that question is also the truth I need in the face of the powerlessness I feel today.

Wait! Don’t click me into cyberspace yet!

We, in our postmodern deference to feelings whenever faced with crucial decisions, are less and less convinced that there is such a thing as “truth.” So we run from any consideration that there might be. This poses a serious problem for any supposed Christ-follower. Jesus, Himself, said, “I am the truth.”

His “truth” stands front and center in the painting, “Ecce Homo” – “behold the man.” What He understood to be "truth" - the real meaning of things - was pitted against another "truth."

Who failed that day? Jesus or Pilate? Whose truth prevailed, His or that of the powerful in the world?

Please, put feelings aside for a moment. Jesus was crucified that day. Ironically, though, with His last breath, He claimed victory. “It is finished!” is the cry of a conqueror.

What gives here?!

What gives here is the essence of His “Other Worldly Kingdom.”

Three years before these confusing events Jesus and Satan -- the “Prince, the ultimate power of this World” -- met on another field of battle. It was a “desert place.” Jesus had been battling this enemy for 40 days. The struggle was so bitter that Jesus hadn’t taken time to eat at all during those days. What was at issue was precisely what interfaced on the porch of the Governor’s Mansion that morning in Jerusalem. Two powers toe-to-toe. How will the superior power prove Himself? At first Satan challenged one of Jesus truth claims. "If you are the Son of God," he taunted, "make bread out of the stones that are all around you." Satan's truth assumed that truly powerful men prove themselves by some sort of "power play." Jesus countered. Quoting an Old Testament document known as Deuteronomy He revealed the foundation of His truth, "Humans," He said, "do not live by bread alone. They live, too, by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." Jesus' life was about more than food. He lived for other-worldly things; for the higher purposes of the "Lord," the God who speaks His truth in the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures. In response, with a bit of sleight-of-hand, Jesus and the devil were transported to Jerusalem, to the highest tower of the Temple. Satan, again, heckled Him. “If you are God's Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “ ‘He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won't so much as stub your toe on a stone.’” Do you get the picture? Satan is insisting that Jesus prove Himself. In the Devil's world anyone powerful does spectacular things. If Jesus is really powerful he’ll prove it by demonstrating His powers. “Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: ‘Don't you dare test the Lord your God.’” He understood that the power at His disposal was not His alone. It was, in fact, the “power of God.” He refused to use God’s power, even though He’d been promised it, for His own advancement. Undeterred, “the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth's kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, ‘They're yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they're yours.’
Jesus' refusal was curt: ‘Beat it, Satan!’ He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.’" (Matthew 4: 5 – 10 THE MESSAGE) Jesus lived that “truth.” He did serve God with “absolute single-heartedness.” The ultimate authority in this “Other Worldly Kingdom,” is God the Father. Jesus would not misuse that authority selfishly. He would give absolute, single-hearted loyalty to His Father no matter what happened. So, that dreadful day, beaten until he could no longer be recognized; in pain so severe no language could describe it; humiliated and ridiculed like no one else ever was or ever would be, He trusted His Father with His destiny.

Do you remember the outcome? Whose truth was proven superior that day?

Saul “Paul” of Tarsus describes it all in detail.

"Though He – Jesus – was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
Instead, He gave up his divine privileges;He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.
When He appeared in human form, He humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2: 5 – 11 New Living Translation)

This is the “truth” that answers the question of our powerlessness today!

Christ-followers, we are citizens of a Kingdom of a different sort. “The kingdom of God, Jesus explained, does not come with signs to be observed or with visible display, nor will people say, ‘Look! Here (it is)!’ or, ‘See, (it is) there!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is within you (in your hearts) and among you (surrounding you).” (Luke 17: 20 & 21 Amplified) Furthermore, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22: 25 – 27 New Living Translation)

We are powerless by design. Citizens of Christ’s other-worldly Kingdom are, by nature, sacrificial servants. We must, Paul wrote, “have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” (Philippians 2:5) With Jesus as our Master, we Christ-followers will walk into every situation of life in just the same way He walked. We’ll live ordinary lives. Maybe not as carpenters, but as everyday people who are reliable, always show up, give whatever they do their best shot, lookin’ out for the other guy, especially the underdog, taking time to insure that the people we hang out with sense their worth, and always lending a helping hand. We’ll tell folks the truth even when they misunderstand and reject us because of it. The first person in our lives will be our King who just happens to be our Father, “the one in the Heavens around us.” And it will be evident, to all who observe our day-to-day lives, that He’s really our King. There’ll be an undeniable confidence in our stride, regardless of what’s going on. We’ll have an uncanny resilience. And those who’re paying any attention at all will know that our strength is supernatural. It’s not natural for humans to be like that. Especially when practicing Christ’s sacrificial love is costing them everything.

The irony is that the power of such love is undeniable. The man half-naked on the porch that day in downtown Jerusalem is the victor. He, “the Son of Man will be – is – seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.” (Luke 22: 69 New Living Translation) His representatives, like Himself, are suffering servants. In the First Century their sacrificial love overturned a great empire. They did not need an alliance with the “prince of this world” any more than their Master did. They were rarely spectacular about anything they did. Spectacles maybe, but rarely celebrities. Subsequent generations of Christ-followers graced the lifescape of Centuries with a nobility, generosity, and creativity that lead to one of the most exceptional epochs in human history. To this very day, suffering notwithstanding, they are, as one great man described them, people “who have been made new by Jesus Christ, and in whom what they want to do and what they ought to do are one and the same thing ... Spirit-lead people who are the happiest, most lovable, and most creative people in the world.” (Sam Shoemaker)

People like this are never “powerless”! They’re too busy making the most of every breath of life they’ve been given; sharing with folks they love a joy they find even in their travail!

Live Generously ... It's the Right Thing to Do Part 4.

Have you noticed that our journey along the path of history has taken us away from the question of national behavior and brought us face-to-face with a special Community and their practices? This Community is an ever growing company of Christ-followers we know as the Church. The nation they lived in was Rome. It was a worldwide Empire ruled by an Emperor who was viewed as a deity. This community had no say in how things were done in the Empire. Unlike us, on the eve of a national election, they could not look at several possible leaders and choose the one they wanted based on whether or not he or she would honor principles important to them. They were stuck with what they had for leaders and if they resisted they were crucified. It was that simple. But something quite remarkable happened. They practiced this principle of “generosity” in a tireless commitment to the “sacrificial love” of Jesus in their dealings with each other and their world. And their world was radically changed as a result.

Charles Colson, a lawyer once implicated in the notorious Watergate scandal that spelled the end of Richard Nixon’s political career, now a devout Christ-follower and founder of a renowned ministry to prisoners known as Prison Fellowship wrote about the revolutionary influence of this generous movement. His book is titled The Faith. In it he writes, “ … consider the inexplicable (to the world) love and sacrifice Christians modeled in Roman times when devastating plagues arrived. … (A)t the onset of a plague, the wealthy fled to their country estates. But Christians believed each human being was made in the image of a loving God. Instead of fleeing, they ministered to plague victims, often at the cost of their own lives. Their tending to the sick increased the survival rate of plague victims by as much as two-thirds, and this witness attracted many new converts. By acting on the teachings of Christ, without regard to their own welfare, these Christians progressed from being a small sect to the dominant cultural group.” Dominant cultural group? They grew in numbers and influence so radically that the once great Empire was
Christianized and survives today as the widely diverse and worldwide Christian Church. And, still, the practice of “generosity,” in the form of Christlike “sacrificial love” is their trademark.

In “Guardian,” September 12, 2005, Roy Hattersley wrote, “Faith does breed charity. We atheists have to accept that most believers are better human beings.” He went on. “Late at night, on the streets of one of our great cities, that man – a Salvation Army Captain I know – offers friendship as well as help to the most degraded and (to those of a censorious turn of mind) degenerate human beings who exist just outside the boundaries of our society. And he does what he believes to be his Christian duty without the slightest suggestion of disapproval. Yet, for much of his time, he is meeting needs that result from conduct he regards as intrinsically wicked.
Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags and - probably most difficult of all - argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment. Good works, John Wesley insisted, are no guarantee of a place in heaven. But they are most likely to be performed by people who believe that heaven exists.
The correlation is so clear that it is impossible to doubt that faith and charity go hand in hand. The close relationship may have something to do with the belief that we are all God's children, or it may be the result of a primitive conviction that, although helping others is no guarantee of salvation, it is prudent to be recorded in a book of gold, … as "one who loves his fellow men". Whatever the reason, believers answer the call, and not just the Salvation Army. When I was a local councilor, the Little Sisters of the Poor - right at the other end of the theological spectrum - did the weekly washing for women in back-to-back houses who were too ill to scrub for themselves.
It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian or, better still, to take Christianity à la carte. The Bible is so full of contradictions that we can accept or reject its moral advice according to taste. Yet men and women who, like me, cannot accept the mysteries and the miracles do not go out with the Salvation Army at night.
The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make them morally superior to atheists like me.”

What Hattersley cannot grasp is that the Spirit of Christ who compelled the 1st Century Jewish Passover pilgrims to follow this God-man changes human hearts. Those changed hearts become like God himself. For them, as Tolstoy put it, “what is good and bad change places.” It is, for them, the “right thing” to be generous. To give until it hurts. Men and women filled with the Spirit of Christ become, increasingly, like Jesus and instinctively practice His “sacrificial” brand of “love” because they have His heart.

For almost 39 years I have believed and insisted that, if the Church of Jesus Christ, Christ-followers wherever they may be found, truly had their hearts changed until the sacrificially loving Spirit of Christ unquestionably determined the guiding principles and real practices by which they lived, any politician offering welfare carrots to the electorate would find he or she had no audience. He’d be beating a dead horse and getting nowhere. For there would hardly be “a needy person” to be found.

It may sound idealistic. But before you dismiss my proposition completely remember. A ragtag band of ordinary folk from Palestine started a movement that, without raising a sword or rousing support for a Liberationist Revolution, transformed an Empire and continues to multiply into the billions on the principle that God will “bless – treat lavishly, generously – all the families of the earth through a people who, like Him, live generously and do so because they’re convinced they are their “brother’s keeper.” Our nation and our world is being transformed by this movement. Jesus of Nazareth is bringing “abundant life” to more and more millions all the time. The “poor” are hearing “Good News,” as they did while He walked this earth. Liberty is a gift of our God. He’s been setting people free since the beginning of time. He will do so now. The most significant thing that can happen this Election Day is a Church wide resolve to reassume responsibility for “feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, housing the stranger, clothing those who need clothes, caring for the sick, visiting the prisoner, bringing Good News to the poor, and sight to the spiritually blind, offering freedom to the oppressed, and extending, to all who will receive it, the Grace of God. This resolve, sealed by genuine repentance for the wrongs we have done, and a new determination to do what is right in the eyes of God, will, more than any other change, make this nation more and more the land our Founders dreamed it would be.
God will bless America but only if we do the right things.

It begins with generosity.

Live Generously ... It's the Right Thing to Do Part 3.

Well they didn’t go Home right away. They continued to live in this Community enjoying fellowship and learning more and more about Jesus from those who lived with Him and learned from Him. It took severe persecution to move them out.

When the “dispersion” had cleared all but some of the Apostles out of Jerusalem you might expect there’d be changes. People returning to their Homes or settling in other parts of the world would resume the lives they’d known before. It would be pretty much normal life in an oppressive “dog-eat-dog” world. But not exactly. As-a-matter-of-fact they still practiced this re-discovered principle. Not much later many of the Christ-followers who remained in the region near Jerusalem were hit with at least one famine. There’s reason to believe there were several similar instances. In this one case the scattered, growing Church took it upon themselves to provide for the needs of these stricken fellows. Saul “Paul” of Tarsus personally conducted a fund-raising campaign. In his second letter to the Corinthians Christians he writes, convincingly, about how this principle of “generosity” would apply to the Christian Community. His instruction takes up most of two chapters, 2 Corinthians 8 & 9. He begins by telling about how one group put the principle into dramatic practice. “I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.” Inspired by such generosity he addresses the Christ-followers in Corinth. “You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.” Apparently these Corinthians were better off than the Macedonians. “You've got what it takes,” he writes. Yet he insists that they “do what (they) can, not what (they) can't,” reminding them that, “the heart regulates the hands.” The funds he’s raising must be given from hearts that are like the heart of Jesus Himself. Not “stingy” but willing to “give it all away,” if necessary, out of sacrificial love. And he reassures them that, “this isn't so others can take it easy while you sweat it out. No, you're shoulder to shoulder with them all the way, your surplus matching their deficit, their surplus matching your deficit. In the end you come out even. As it is written, Nothing left over to the one with the most, Nothing lacking to the one with the least.”

He concludes with one of the most powerful challenges to Christ-followers concerning the way they use their wealth. “Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.
God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.
This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.
Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!” (2 Corinthians 8 & 9 Selected Passages THE MESSAGE)

Wow!

This is as articulate a statement of the principle as you’ll find anywhere. The generosity of God is most clearly demonstrated in the practice of Jesus. He gave to the point of radical personal sacrifice. This “sacrificial love,” is the mandate He gives to His followers. “Love one another the way I love you.”

Live Generously ... It's the Right Thing to Do Part 2.

Of course an immediate and valid question would be, “But how does this apply in the modern milieu?” Our nation is far more vast and diverse and our economy, as well as the world’s economy, is far more complex. Can these principles really be applied?

Let’s look at the history of this practice among the people of God. The answer is there.

Consider the citizens of Israel in a little different setting. Thousands of them, some born Jews, others of them converted to Judaism, but all of them living in the First Century Roman World, have come together in Jerusalem for Passover. It’s been an unusually eventful pilgrimage for them. A man, Jesus of Nazareth, whom some believed to be Messiah has been crucified. Some claim He’s been raised from the dead. One of his followers declared publicly, powerfully, that the news of Jesus’ Resurrection is true. His proclamation was extraordinary. Thousands of these pilgrims were convinced that his words were true. They knew he was inspired as he spoke. He and his fellows, men and women, were actually filled with the Spirit of God. They believed in Jesus and claimed Him as their Messiah. Though these converts to Christianity were pilgrims and would soon be returning to their Homes all over the Empire they couldn’t bring themselves to leave right away! They had to hear more about this Jesus. So they stayed. And Luke, an investigative reporter, tells us that all the Christ-followers living in the surrounding area took unusual steps to accommodate them. “(A)ll the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met. (Acts 2: 44 & 45 THE MESSAGE) Do you get the picture? Later in his account of what went on during these remarkable early days of the Christian Church’s History Luke writes, “The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, ‘That's mine; you can't have it.’ They shared everything. … And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person's need. (Acts 4:32 – 35 THE MESSAGE)

Granted we’ve not yet entered the world of modern commerce. But we have looked at a people who, though not a Nation, were an extension of Judaism; converts from multi-national backgrounds, once devoted to the Jewish faith, now Christ-followers. The people of God, they instinctively honored the principle that “generosity inspires generosity.” God’s been generous with you. Share the wealth!
Let’s look a little farther into the history of this practice among the people of god. What happened when all these pilgrims went Home?

Live Generously ... It's the Right Thing to Do! Part 1.

Does God really care about all the hoopla that’s been generated by this Election over the past, well, nearly four years since the last Election?

Actually He does. King Solomon tells us – Proverbs 14:34 – that “Godliness makes a nation great, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” This wise man, given his wisdom by Jehovah the God of Israel and considered by many in his time to be the wisest of all men, knew that there was a “right” way for people to live. He knew that this “right way” was not simply for individuals. It was the path God intended nations, also, to follow. Nations that rejected this “way of God” did so to their peril.

Facing the final days of our Election we Americans must understand that to deviate from the way our Creator designed for Nations will lead to our “disgrace.” We will become the object of ridicule among all nations. But we will, too, fall from God’s favor. What is right or wrong as it relates to every issue we might want to discuss is a most critical question we must ask as we make our decisions tomorrow.

Obviously this is not the forum nor do we have the time to consider all of those issues. But one of them involves our care and concern for the less privileged and marginalized in our Nation and the world.

The fifth book of the Bible, Deuteronomy, is an extensive discourse by Moses, the great Leader of Israel during their Exodus from Egypt. He is outlining the principles and policies that will be their “Constitution,” if you like, when they become a Nation. He talks about so many things. He reminds them that their God is the one and only true God. He reminds them of God’s favored treatment of them. He talks about God’s commandments and principles and how crucial these are to their quality of life. There’s to be one place of worship. Any semblance of disloyalty to God or His decrees must be eradicated. God and God alone is worthy of their allegiance. Moses talks about practical things meticulously. He talks a lot about money. He speaks in strong tones. He’s conveying commands given to him by God. He is telling the people of Israel what is the right way to handle money matters. For example, he explains that every seven years all debts the Israelis owe one another must be forgiven. With outsiders it will be different. With each other it’s all forgotten. “You may collect payment from foreigners, but whatever you have lent to your fellow Israelite you must write off.” (Deuteronomy 15:3 THE MESSSAGE) Now this is generous! However it is not optional. It must be done this way! But there’s more to it. In the very next paragraph he commands, “There must be no poor people among you because God is going to bless you lavishly in this land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, your very own land. … When you happen on someone who's in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God, your God, is giving you, don't look the other way pretending you don't see him. Don't keep a tight grip on your purse. No. Look at him, open your purse, lend whatever and as much as he needs. Don't count the cost. Don't listen to that selfish voice saying, ‘It's almost the seventh year, the year of All-Debts-Are-Canceled,’ and turn aside and leave your needy neighbor in the lurch, refusing to help him. … Give freely and spontaneously. Don't have a stingy heart. The way you handle matters like this triggers God, your God's, blessing in everything you do, all your work and ventures. There are always going to be poor and needy people among you. So I command you: Always be generous, open purse and hands, give to your neighbors in trouble, your poor and hurting neighbors.” (Deuteronomy 15: 4 – 11 THE MESSAGE)

Always be generous! This is the point. Generosity is a right attitude! A “stingy” heart is destructive.

Generosity is a principle God practices. God’s way is always the right way. If He gives away His wealth lavishly then His people must do the same.

In the next paragraph Moses makes one more application of this obviously serious principle. “If a Hebrew man or Hebrew woman was sold to you and has served you for six years, in the seventh year you must set him or her free, released into a free life. And when you set them free don't send them off empty-handed. Provide them with some animals, plenty of bread and wine and oil. Load them with provisions from all the blessings with which God, your God, has blessed you. Don't for a minute forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, redeemed you from that slave world.” (Deuteronomy 15: 12 – 15 THE MESSAGE) God has blessed you! Share the blessing with others, even your slaves! Remember, you were slaves once and would still be if it weren’t for God’s generosity in liberating you!
As we wrestle with questions about what’s right for nations – our nation in particular – these excerpts from Moses’ National Policy speech are of major importance. We must manage our wealth with full recognition that we have prospered because of God’s favor. We have been blessed. God has been most generous with us! Let’s be generous. God’s been lavish with us! Let’s be lavish in our dealings with our own “poor” and the “poor” of the world! We live, by God’s determination, in a land of plenty. There is abundance. We will do well to live, as Moses suggested, generously; with “open purses.” Share the blessing – your bounty – with others, even your slaves! For that matter Moses even included foreigners, widows, and orphans among those who must be included in the generous sharing of their bounty. God told Abraham, their Father, that He intended to pour out “blessing” upon “all the families of the earth,” through him and his progeny. He meant it and expected that they would take Him seriously. Broadly inclusive generosity is His way. If it’s His way it is the right way.

Vote "Yes" on California Proposition 8

Today I received the following from a Friend ...

"I am voting NO on prop 8. There shouldn’t be a law how people should marry. Prop 8 is unconstitutional and there are people that want to marry the same sex and we shouldn’t take away there rights. Most of my family is voting no on prop 8 including some of my co-workers from work.
People should re-examine on prop 8 and Vote “NO” on Prop. 8 ….please"

This is my response ...

My Friend,

"Thank you, for including me among those you’ve written to concerning this critical Proposition. You’ve been forthright and courageous in your acknowledgment of your position on the matter and I applaud that.

While I do not share your views, and will take some time to express mine, I assure you that I respect your right to Vote as you deem wise.

My Friend, I'm concerned about some issues implicit and explicit in this Proposition.

First of all it is necessary to deal with the real question we’re being asked. The proposition itself states simply, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” There is nothing new here. For centuries Civilizations of every stripe have given “marriage between a man and a woman,” special status and unparalleled protection and privileges. The reasons are simple. It is the only relationship that can propagate our species. And it is the relationship best suited for the nurture, development, and training of Children.

The Attorney General’s decision to add the proviso “Eliminates Right of Same-sex Couples to Marry,” as a preamble to the simply stated Proposition is inaccurate and misleading. This proposition is not about a “right.” Marriage is not a “right.” It is a relationship. It is a relationship of specific human entities. Marriage is a man and a woman bound together in a way no other combination of human entities can be bonded. And it has, in itself alone, the exclusive properties necessary to the propagation of our species. Furthermore it has responsibilities no other relationship can fulfill. I've already noted that no other relationship can perpetuate our species. No other relationship can care for and train human offspring as well as a Father and a Mother. Moreover no other relationship embodies the qualities of our Creator nor exercises His authority over all Creation as well as Man - Male and Female in a "one flesh bond" - can. For these reasons it is in our best interest as a species to provide this unique relationship with unique status, privileges, and protections. Civilizations both primitive and advanced have given it such status, privileges and protections. Our civilization, which has advanced beyond anything ever formerly achieved, would be taking a disastrous step backward to remove its exclusivity.

By introducing the word “Right” into the preamble to this Proposition the Attorney General has been dishonest. No rights will be violated if this Proposition becomes a part of the California Constitution. Homosexual couples are already free to co-habit if they wish. It is against the law to in any way interfere with that right. If a Landlord refuses to rent to a same-sex couple he or she can be sued. If a same-sex partner is hospitalized the other partner cannot be deprived of complete access to their partner at any point during the treatment of their loved one. Same-sex partners can designate their possessions to their loved one in a Last Will and Testament if they choose. Furthermore discrimination in the workplace – the marketplace for that matter – due to sexual preference can, and often is, punishable by law. The Civil Rights of homosexuals are as carefully guarded in today’s America as those of any other citizen. And if they’re not there is provision in the law for redress.

The question of Constitutionality is also a misrepresentation of the issue. Marriage is not specifically addressed in the Constitution. Only recently has there been any question how to define it.

Constitutionality is, however, a major issue here but for a completely different reason. Those who oppose the Proposition – who Vote No on 8 – ignore and neglect a major Amendment to the Constitution. Their rhetoric flies in the face of the FirstAmendment, denying certain Citizens the Freedom of religion and speech.

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” Christianity, along with Judaism, and Islam expressly declare homosexuality to be a violation of God’s will for human life and a perversion of human sexuality as well as a denigration of the persons engaged in it. To not only allow, but sanction and elevate to the status of Marriage, such behavior is to legislate against specific religions. Such legislation is expressly unconstitutional. There are to be “no laws respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise.” In other words Congress – and all branches of government – are to “keep their hands off of” religion, its free exercise, and its pronouncements no matter how distasteful they may be to others. This same protection is, of course, extended to those who disagree with their pronouncements and have strong words of their own.

The Supreme Court of California overstepped their bounds and legislated from the bench when they legalized – legislated for – homosexual marriage. Legislation is the private domain of legislatures. What’s more their actions constituted a breach of the Constitution. By their action they set the stage for the silencing of those who are opposed to such an arrangement; who insist on the right of protest and disengagement from any civil activity promoting the cause of those who seek moral consent for homosexual behavior. You may protest, as others have, that this is an overstatement – fear-mongering. I know better. I was born in Canada. Today, in Canada, same-sex couples can marry. Pastors are being censured, and successfully prosecuted for opposing these marriages. Faith-based Social Service agencies are being sued, because they consider homosexual practices inconsistent with their religion’s values, and driven out of business by excessive fines and restrictions that run counter to the very reason for their existence .

A vote against Proposition 8 is support for the dismantling of Marriage. It is, as well, the only aspect of this issue that is, truly, Unconstitutional."

Life, Faith, Family ...

I am not Catholic!

But I must say that my Catholic fellows in The Faith have certainly “gotten it right” in their definition of the crucial issues in this year’s election.

So you’ll understand where I’m coming from in this I urge you to go to the link below. View the video. Surf through the various resources on the site. Think through the issues at stake.

http://www.catholicvote.com/default.aspx

Life … Faith … Family.

These, I agree, are the crucial matters facing us with Election Day ’08 just 5 days away.

Think about it.

Life. The essence of Biblical beginnings. Judaeo-Christian teaching says, of humankind, that early in Creation God “breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living being.”

Life. It is the essence of the foundation of our Nation – our Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” The first of these? The unalienable Right to Life.

What is more foundational than this? And yet, today, we are faced with the very real possibility -- the everyday reality -- that some would-be leaders, who pretend to be champions of our cause as living beings, will not defend this basic right in certain instances. Life begins at conception. The preservation of that life, from conception to natural death, is the first responsibility of civilized government. Like my Catholic Brothers and Sisters I cannot endorse the selection of elected officials who will not accept that responsibility. Someone’s “right to choose” whether or not to accept that responsibility must be seen as a right only in the sense that we humans are granted, by our Creator, the right to choose a course contrary to the one He’s mandated to us. Serious, far reaching consequences follow such a choice. Any leader who is disingenuous about the gravity of this matter and refuses to protect the most vulnerable of us is not worthy of our trust. For, you see, the next question that must be asked of someone who will not defend the unborn on grounds of viability and conflicting rights is, “When I am old and more costly to my society than I am perceived to be worth and an inconvenience to my loved ones and neighbors will you defend my ‘right to life’? And only a fool would expect a different answer for himself, in his dotage, than for an “unwanted, unborn child.”

Beyond this the matter of Sanctity of Life raises concerns regarding “Quality of Life.”

Here is where the gravity of “Faith,” is apparent.

Nowhere is it clearer, than in Judaeo-Christian Scripture, that we are “our Brother’s Keeper.”

Jesus, the Founder of Christianity and Master of all who follow Him, came, He said, “to serve.” He demonstrated this by washing the feet of His tired and footsore followers and then, hours later, dieing for their redemption. People of Christian Faith are the ones most aware of this and best prepared – for the Spirit of this Servant Master resides in those who follow Him – to practice the Christ like care of one another modeled in this remarkable, Divine man. The quality of life that they seek, not only for themselves but everyone, is described by their Master as, “more and better life than they’ve ever dreamed of.”

A leader worthy of our trust recognizes this and provides every incentive; throws all the power of his Office into preserving the freedom of such people to bring true justice to all. He or she sees that an energized populace, guided by Faith, and inspired by a God-given love, will effect a higher quality of life for the greatest number. The true leader will see that such grassroots, Faith inspired movements do so far more effectively and fairly than massive bureaucratic entities. He or she will see how futile it is to siphon more and more popular resources into the purses of managers, so removed from the hard work that produced those resources that they have no sense of the worth of it. Such a leader will see how the bureaucrat has little to motivate him or her except the quest for greater power and more of someone else’s wealth. He or she will insist on the uncompromised observance of the Constitutional Amendment asserting that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …” insisting that this means “hands off of religious matters,” and all out effort to guard against any limitations to their “free exercise.”

People of faith, in return, will diligently pursue the highest levels of adherence to the things they say they believe. For those of us who claim to follow Jesus this means we will truly “Love the Lord our God will all our hearts, souls, minds and strength.” He will be the first person in our lives. His ways will be our ways to such an extent that any observer will know, without our claiming any allegiance, that we “have been with Jesus.” It further means that we will “Love our neighbor as ourselves.” And again, it will be clear to all who see what we’re like that we are Christ-followers in every single aspect of our lives.

This brings us to Family.

The Judaeo-Christian understanding of Family, which most of the Founders of our Nation embraced, assumes certain things. It assumes the truth of the Creation Story in which God made humankind in His “image.” This creative endeavor resulted in a couple – a human being with two counterparts just as the Divine Creator is made up of three distinct yet inseparable persons – to whom God gave the mandate to “be fruitful” and “fill the earth” with their kind. It assumes that this is the one and only relationship which can be recognized as the “one flesh bond” known biblically as “Marriage.” It further assumes that such an arrangement – one man and woman with Children – is what is meant by “Family.”

We, as Christ-followers, believe this to be not only our view but a view of Marriage and Family that has been upheld in many faith traditions and civilizations throughout history. We expect our leaders to provide an atmosphere that fully encourages and allows the uninterrupted conduct of such Family life and defends against any encroachment on its free expression.

My Fellows in Faith!

Please understand! We cannot expect our leaders to take this more seriously than we do. Nor can we expect them to defend things that we are not willing to work diligently to preserve!

We have let Marriage deteriorate among us! We have auctioned if off for such things as “irreconcilable differences.,” “loss of feeling,” “personal space,” even “the Kids” whose well-being is sacrificed in the bargain. We have opted for the politically correct identification of every imaginable form of living arrangement as “Family,” when everyone, especially those caught in the web of hurt involved, knows that its anything but what they long for. And then we wonder why a faithless society can let go of it so easily.

We’ve let it go to the lowest bidder! Why are we surprised?

As we pray for leaders who will honor these values – Life, Faith, and Family – let us remember our Lord’s command and “humble ourselves … seek (His) face … turn from our wicked – evil – ways.” Only then can He, “hear our prayer and heal our land.” For to restore the healed land to His people He must be assured that we’ll keep the trust this time!

LifeLog - 10.03.2008 - For the Sake of Marriage - A Third Letter to a Senator

In the Summer of 2006 the U.S. Congress considered a Marriage Protection Amendment. In the months leading up to the debate and vote I wrote 3 letters to our Senators.
Now, over 2 years later, our Senators and Representatives having failed us in this matter, and Judges acting like inconsiderate demagogues, disregarding the will of the people, and legislating rather than applying the work of the legislatures, “we the people” are faced with the grim reality that if this critical work is to be done we must do it. We must pass Constitutional Amendments in State after State that establish once-and-for-all “Marriage,” as consisting of “ the union of a man and a woman.”
Because I recognize the magnitude of what is before us now in California and ultimately across the nation I’ve chosen to re-post the 3 letters originally posted in May and June of 2006.
My highest hope, of course, is that an Amendment to the Constitution of the united States will ultimately be achieved. But for now the Amendment of our State’s Constitution is the challenge we face. May God grant us courage, determination, and success!

Senator, I am writing, yet again, to urge you to thoughtfully consider supporting the Marriage Protection Amendment to our Constitution. In the two previous letters I’ve written I have openly acknowledged the influence my faith has in this matter. As a follower of Jesus of Nazareth I am deeply convinced that the understanding of Marriage as exclusively “the union of a man and a woman,” is a Divinely established absolute. Any attempt to redefine it will prove destructive to our nation and our race.

Even as I acknowledge my beliefs as the foundation of my conviction on this matter I must also insist, again, that reason moves me just as strongly. The Judaeo Christian worldview presumes that its tenets are more than religious matters. They are ultimate and final revelations of what is. They are metaphysical. It is reasonable, then, for us to conclude that our existence as a race; the quality of our existence; the “nature” of things “human;” is highly dependent on “the union of a man and a woman.” I’ve already stated how obvious this is in previous correspondences.

This union alone is the means by which we reproduce. To suggest that the petrie dish can be the new reproductive theatre is to reveal how utterly shallow our thinking has become. It is no less vacuous – and presumptive – than the notion that when we use pre-existent material to produce what appears to be new life forms we’ve “created life.”

I’ve also shown, previously, that the “union of a man and a woman,” when it is healthy, provides the best environment for the growing of robust offspring.

To deprive this “union” of its exclusive and protected status in our society because it is sometimes found to be unhealthy is no less foolish than to abandon our advances in medical science and throw open the door to every form of alternative medicine because our system has failed to provide us with perfect health. We have a good thing. Let’s expend our resources to make IT better.

These glaringly obvious reasons for protecting Marriage, as we’ve traditionally understood it, are not the only rationale for such action. We must also accept the importance of gender to our race and to the very essence of life as we know it. Gender matters.

The Judaeo Christian story of creation contains an often understated – if not overlooked – view of humankind. The Creator, in His musings, says, “Let us make man, in our image, like ourselves… .” Note the plural pronouns. The Creator is talking to Himself as if He were “Them” selves. It is, in this conversation, that Christians find the first glimpse of the Trinitarian nature of God; a perfect union of three quite distinct persons; Father, Son, and Spirit. This plurality within the unity of the Creator has to be addressed if we want to fully understand how much gender matters to us. The story continues. “So God created man in His own image,” we’re told. But one telling isn’t enough. It’s repeated. “In the image of God He created him,” Then it is repeated again. In the second repetition we encounter the gender factor. “Male and female He created them.” Man, like the Creator, is plural. “In His own image … He created THEM.” Like the Creator, man has distinctive components; two distinct persons in perfect unity. There is something about Woman that is godlike. There is something about man that is godlike. Unique, distinct in their individuality, they are designed to be one; united; together reflecting completely the “image” of their Creator.

Having completed this masterpiece of His creative work God gave “man” as “male and female” their mandate. We’ve already seen the command to reproduce in that imperative. We’ve also considered his instruction to “fill the earth” with their kind. Still there remains another critical aspect to the assignment. It is “rule.” The Creator gave authority to both the man and the woman in a single imperative. Authority, as God originally established it, was to be exercised by man and woman in perfect union; like the union within God himself.

This is profoundly significant to our discussion of Marriage. Not only is Man – as Male and Female – to carry on the creative work of their Creator through reproduction and nurture. They are to exercise His authority over all that he has made and continues to make. In each aspect of their assignment their distinctives emerge. In reproducing themselves men and women play an undeniably distinct role. Likewise their role in the nurture of offspring is unique. As we might expect, in their fulfillment of the command to “rule,” they demonstrate unique understanding and exercise different yet equally valuable capabilities. These distinctives stand out and are essential in parenting. But, just as importantly, they are seen in the loving, knowing, and managing that goes on in all of life.

You don’t have to be a genius to see that what was intended originally has long ago fallen into disrepair. As someone said, “there is … a sword between the sexes.” Much of the disagreement about Marriage today is the result of the immense difficulty men and women have understanding and relating to each other. But, again, we would be foolish to abandon, without further effort, the quest to recover what might have been and may yet be.

In her review of a 1991 book on “Men and Women in Conversation,” Ruthe Stein, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle says, “This book – written by a linguistics expert so you have to believe she knows what she’s talking about – could be the Rosetta Stone that at last deciphers the miscommunication between the sexes.” She is reviewing Deborah Tannen’s, You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. In the Preface to her book, Dr. Tannen, Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University, writes, “Recognizing gender differences frees individuals from the burden of individual pathology. ... If we recognize and understand the differences between us, we can take them into account, adjust to, and learn from each other’s styles.” Later, she cites, Erving Goffman, whose career in the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago, the National Institute of Mental Health, the University of California, Berkley, and the University of Pennsylvania, spanned three decades from 1952 to 1982.

“In our society in all classes the tenderest expression of affection involves displays that are politically questionable, the place taken up in them by the female being differentiated from and reciprocal to the place taken up by the male. Cross-sex affectional gestures choreograph protector and protected, embracer and embraced, comforter and comforted, supporter and supported, extender of affection and recipient thereof; and it is defined as only natural that the male encompass and the female be encompassed. And this can only remind us that male domination is a very special kind, a domination that can be carried right into the gentlest, most loving moment without apparently causing strain - indeed, these moments can hardly be conceived of apart from these asymmetries.’
Gender is a category that will not go away. ... it is ‘one of the most deeply seated traits of man’. We create masculinity and femininity in our ways of behaving, all the while believing we are simply acting ‘naturally’. But our sense of what is natural is different for women and men.”

These behavioral scientists are telling us that gender is here to stay. There are significant distinctives. These distinctives when understood; encouraged to fully develop; and mutually respected and valued can make humans better together than they will ever be in isolation from one another. Even in our interactions and associations outside the Marriage “bond” our unique “sense of what is natural” sets the stage for complementary partnerships that make for more complete fulfillment of ourselves and our life purpose than we could ever realize independently.

In the University Of Utah’s S. J. QUINNEY COLLEGE OF LAW, Journal Of Law & Family Studies VOLUME 6 NUMBER 2, A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D., MBA, MPH, writes about Gender Complementarity and Child-rearing: Where Tradition and Science Agree. (Dr. Byrd is President of the Thrasher Research Fund and Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine with appointments in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and in the Department of Psychiatry. In addition, Dr. Byrd has an adjunct appointment in the Department of Family Studies.) His choice of the term “Complementarity,” is especially significant to my purpose here. It stresses our interdependence as Male and Female and shows how our influence, in partnership with one another, can be so much more profound than when we try to keep the Creator’s mandate alone, or in a partnership that ignores our need of both male and female.

“… Complementarity,” Dean notes, “is readily observable in differing parenting styles of mothers and fathers. Not only are fathers' styles highly complementary to the styles of mothers, but research indicates that the fathers' involvement in the lives of children is essential for optimal child-rearing. For example, complementarity is provided by mothers who are flexible, warm and sympathetic, and fathers who are more directive, predictable and consistent. Rossi's research (1987) noted that mothers are better able to read an infant's facial expressions, handle with tactile gentleness, and soothe with the use of voice (p. 113). Fathers tend to emphasize overt play more than caretaking. This play in various forms among the young appears critical for later development. (Yogman, 1982).
A study authored by Marissa Diener, (2002) at the University of Utah, demonstrated that babies (12 months old) who had a close relationship with their fathers seemed more stress resistant than those who did not. Babies who had secure relationships with their fathers used more coping strategies than those who did not. Her conclusion has fascinating implications: ‘there may be something unique to fathers that provides children with different opportunities to regulate their emotions’ (Broughton, 2002 p. Al).
Male and female differences emerge in ways in which infants are held and … in which mothers and fathers use touch with their children. Mothers more frequently use touch to calm, soothe, or comfort infants. When a mother lifts her child, she brings the child toward her breasts providing warmth, comfort, security and protection. Fathers more often use touch to stimulate or to excite the child. Fathers tend to hold infants at arms length in front of them, make eye contact, toss the infant in the air, or embrace the child in such a way that the child is looking over the father's shoulder. Shapiro notes that each of these "daddy holds" underscores a sense of freedom (1994).
Clarke-Stewart (1980) reported differences in mothers' and fathers' play. Mothers tend to play more at the child's level. Mothers provide an opportunity to direct the play, to be in charge, to proceed at the child's pace. Fathers' play resembles a teacher-student relationship--apprenticeship of sorts. Fathers' play is more rough-and-tumble. In fact, the lack of this rough-and-tumble play emerges disproportionately in the backgrounds of boys who experience gender disorders. Additionally, Clarke-Stewart notes, the benefits of this rough-and-tumble play have appeared in child development areas extending from the management of emotions to intellectual and academic achievement. Interestingly enough, fathers' play is related to the development of socially acceptable forms of behaviors and does not positively correlate with violence and aggression, but rather correlates with self-control. Children who ‘roughhouse’ with their fathers quickly learn that biting, kicking and other forms of physical violence are not acceptable. Children learn how to recognize and manage highly charged emotions in the context of playing with their fathers, and such play provides children with opportunities to recognize and respond appropriately to emotions (Cromwell & Leper, 1994).
There are gender differences in parental approaches to discipline. The disciplinary approaches of fathers tend toward firmness, relying on rules and principles. The approaches of mothers tend toward more responsiveness, involving more bargaining, more adjustment toward the child's mood and context, and are more often based on an intuitive understanding of the child's needs and emotions of the moment. Gilligan (1982) concluded that the differences between paternal and maternal approaches to discipline are rooted in the fundamental differences between men and women in their moral senses. Men stress justice, fairness and duty based on rules, while women stress understanding, sympathy, care and helping based on relationships.
The critical contributions of mothers to the healthy development of children have been long recognized. No reputable psychological theory or empirical study that denies the critical importance of mothers in the normal development of children could be found. Recent research validates the importance of fathers in the parenting process, as well. Studies such as that conducted by Pruett (1987) concluded that six-month old infants whose fathers actively played with them had higher scores on the Bailey Test of Mental and Motor Development. Parke (1981) noted that infants whose fathers spent more time with them were more socially responsive and better able to withstand stressful situations than infants relatively deprived of substantial interaction with their fathers. A second female cannot provide fathering. In fact, McLanahan and Sandefur (1994) found that children living with a mother and grandmother fared worse as teenagers than did those adolescents living with just a single parent. Biller (1993) concluded that men who were father-deprived in life were more likely to engage in rigid, over compensatory, masculine, aggressive behaviors later. His research, based on more than 1,000 separate sources, demonstrated repeatedly the positive effect of fathers on children.
Pruett (1993) summarized the highly acclaimed work of Erik Erikson, one of the most esteemed developmental psychologists in the world, who noted that mothers and fathers love differently. A fathers' love is characterized by instrumentality and more expectancies, whereas a mother's love is more nurturing, expressive, and integrative. Mothers care for their young. Fathers baby sit. Mothers nurture. Fathers negotiate. Fathers focus on extra-familial relationships, social skills and developing friendships. Adolescents who have affectionate relationships with their fathers have better social skills, exude more confidence, and are more secure in their own competencies.”
( Complimentarity Source http://www.narth.com/docs/gendercomplementarity.html )

Senator, gender matters. Whether in the home; the neighborhood; at play or at work; in educating or in governing we, men and women, are better together than we are apart. The best parent, the finest mentor, the most beneficent leader is a Team. Partners, male and female, reflecting the nature of their loving, wise, and powerful Creator, complementarily loving, enlightening, and guiding.

Please accept the responsibility given you by the Founders. Be the voice of reason in the conversations of government. Tell the people this truth. Give them the opportunity to debate the issue of Marriage Protection authoritatively. Set in motion the process by which our United States can do their part in the ratification of this necessary Amendment.

For the Sake of Marriage - A Second Letter to a Senator

In the Summer of 2006 the U.S. Congress considered a Marriage Protection Amendment. In the months leading up to the debate and vote I wrote 3 letters to our Senators.
Now, over 2 years later, our Senators and Representatives having failed us in this matter, and Judges acting like inconsiderate demagogues, disregarding the will of the people, and legislating rather than applying the work of the legislatures, “we the people” are faced with the grim reality that if this critical work is to be done we must do it. We must pass Constitutional Amendments in State after State that establish once-and-for-all “Marriage,” as consisting of “on the union of a man and a woman.”
Because I recognize the magnitude of what is before us now in California and ultimately across the nation I’ve chosen to re-post the 3 letters originally posted in May and June of 2006.

Senator, my name is Jim Denison.

This is the second letter I have written urging you to thoughtfully consider supporting the Marriage Protection Amendment to our Constitution. It seems incongruous, to me, that something so obvious needs to be re-established as a value by our society. But it does. And I respectfully ask you to support this Amendment – “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.” – since our Nation’s inception, an unwritten principle of our union. In so doing you will be emphatically affirming the exclusive place of an institution from which people who make up these United States derive their very lives.

In the previous letter I acknowledged my faith in Jesus of Nazareth and my unconditional loyalty to Him. Without question my concerns about marriage spring from my belief that they are His as well. He flatly stated, more than once , that “marriage” as “the union of a man and a woman,” is the Creator’s idea. He insisted that anything other than this is destructive. So, honestly, what I am addressing in this second letter, is rooted in the Judaeo Christian understanding that marriage began, “in the beginning.” That its nature and purpose in human society was defined, by our Creator.

The Creator’s mandate for marriage is found in the Creation story. “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth … .” In the first letter I wrote that “marriage” consisting of the “union of a man and a woman” is the only relationship by which we, are “fruitful and increase in number.” This letter is about “filling the earth.” It’s about the duplication of ourselves until the earth is filled with quality people, like ourselves, God’s creative masterpiece. It’s about growing people capable of keeping the next mandate – “subdue the earth and rule over everything in it.” Despite Reconstructionist attempts to redefine Family, I insist that the “union of a man and woman,” is the only relationship in which our kind can be reproduced, and the best environment for the nurture and training of people capable of fulfilling our specie’s mandate.

The fifth of the 10 Commandments Yahweh gave to his people is, “honor your Father and your Mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” This is, as someone else observed long ago, the first Commandment with a “promise.” The promise is simple. Long and good life follows respect for parents, male and female. Given that this is the Creator's Commandment, and His original condition for "parenting" is the one flesh bond He established, I presume that the promise is contingent on the condition. Do we want to live well and long? Do we want our fellow Americans to live well and long? Then we must honor our "Father and Mother" and the "union" that made all of this possible. We must encourage them. We must protect their "union." We must give it all the exclusivity and privilege it has enjoyed and more. We must inspire our parents and all parents living in this "union," to remain loyal in their love. We must enable them to maintain and strengthen their bond in ways that will empower them to grow Children of high character, and inspire their Children to honor them by accepting their training and following their examples.

Senator, as I noted in the previous letter, this goes beyond faith and religion. We must see it as metaphysical. It is about our “reality as a whole.” And, because it is about “the real nature of things … it is (among) the most fundamental and most comprehensive of inquiries … .”

Realistically, the “traditional Family” is the best environment for the cultivation of love and life. We’ve learned this by trial and error. Like all “good” science, we’ve observed what works and doesn’t. Our laboratory has been real and sometimes very painful life. But we’ve discovered that some things work better than others. With each discovery we’ve improved our efforts to build loving and nurturing Families. To our credit, despite improvements, we’ve not given up on the continual quest for even better marriage and parenting practices. Also, to our credit, we’ve never lost sight of the fundamentals; “what 'brung' us here.” We’ve recognized what Steven Covey, in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, calls the “P/PC Balance – the balance between production and production capability.” We’ve not, at any time –‘til now – given even passing consideration to “killing the goose that lays these golden eggs.” (Covey’s metaphor) We’ve simply assumed that the relationship that’s “gotten us here,” is not to be compromised. Why would we, now, even think of lifting the special status and exclusive benefits we’ve always given to this relationship?

The evidence is extensive that the “traditional Family” is the best environment for the growing of healthy human beings. You, Senator, may be familiar with the “TESTIMONY OF BARBARA DAFOE WHITEHEAD, PH.D, CO-DIRECTOR, NATIONAL MARRIAGE PROJECT RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY, BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR AND PENSIONS SUBCOMMITTEE ON CHILDREN AND FAMILIES: U.S. SENATE.” Ms. Whitehead, referencing fragments of this “extensive evidence,” testified:

“Today, thanks to resurgent scholarly interest in family structure, we have a large body of social science research on marriage and its effects. Overall, the available research evidence persuasively demonstrates the advantages of marriage for children, adults and the society. Though it is impossible to cover the entire scope of the research in this limited space, let me summarize key findings.”

Summarizing Ms. Whitehead’s testimony even further, for my purposes in this letter, I note her citation of these “benefits to children.”

“Marriage -- especially if it is low-conflict and long-lasting -- is a source of economic, educational and social advantage for most children. Researchers now agree that, except in cases of high and unremitting parental conflict, children who grow up in households with their married mother and father do better on a wide range of economic, social, educational, and emotional measures than do children in other kinds of family arrangements.

According to some researchers, growing up with both married parents in a low-conflict marriage is so important to child wellbeing that it is replacing race, class, and neighborhood as the greatest source of difference in child outcomes.

Children from intact families are …
--far less likely to be poor or to experience persistent economic insecurity. In fact, if it were not for the demographic shift from married parent families to other kinds of family structures in recent decades, the child poverty rate would be significantly lower. For example, according to one study, if family structure had not changed between 1960 and 98, the black child poverty rate in 1998 would have been 28.4 percent rather than 45.6 percent, and the white child poverty rate would have been 11.4 percent rather than 15.4 percent.
Children who grow up in married parent families are …
-- shielded from the economic effects of parental divorce. Estimates suggest that children experience a 70 percent drop in their household income in the immediate aftermath of divorce and, unless there is a remarriage, the income is still 40 to 45 percent lower six years later than for children in intact families.
Children from intact married parent families are …
--more likely to stay in school. According to a 1994 research review by Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur, the risk of high school dropout for children from two-parent biological families is substantially less than that for those from single parent or stepfamilies.
Children from married parent families …
--have fewer behavioral or school attendance problems and higher levels of educational attainment.
--They are better able to withstand pressures to engage in early sexual activity and to avoid unwed teen parenthood, behaviors that can derail educational achievement and attainment. They are significantly more likely to earn four-year college degrees or better and to do better occupationally than children from divorced or single parent families.
--Warm, responsive, firm and fair parenting helps to promote healthy emotional development and to foster emotional resilience in children.
Parents, stepparents and grandparents in all kinds of family arrangements can, and do, manage to establish emotionally warm and secure environments, often against daunting odds. However, parents in long-lasting, low-conflict marriages are …
--more likely to have the time, resources, relational and residential stability to co-parent effectively.
On average, children reared in married parent families are …
--less vulnerable to serious emotional illness, depression and suicide than children in non-intact families.
Further, because parental divorce is such a commonplace childhood experience, with close to four out of ten American children going through a parental divorce, it is an advantage to grow up in a low-conflict married parent household undisrupted by divorce. As the American Academy of Pediatrics notes, the effect of divorce on children is more than a set of discrete symptoms. It can be a “long searing experience.”
Finally, in their own future dating and marriage relationships, children benefit from the models set by their married parents. Children from married parent families …
--have more satisfying dating relationships, more positive attitudes toward future marriage and greater success in forming lasting marriages. According to a nationally representative survey of young men, ages 25-34, commissioned by Rutgers’ National Marriage Project in 2004, young men from married parent families are less likely to be divorced and more likely to be married. Among the never-married young men surveyed, those from married parent families were more likely to express readiness to be married than young men from other kinds of family backgrounds. In addition, young men from married parent households have more positive attitudes toward women, children and family life than men who grew up in nonintact families.”

As I previously noted, Senator, you are, quite likely, familiar with this testimony. Unfortunately many Americans are not.

Once again I urge you to accept the responsibility given you and your Colleagues by the Founders. Be the voice of reason in the conversations of government. Tell the people the truth. Give them the opportunity to debate this issue authoritatively. Set in motion the process by which our United States can do their part in the ratification of this necessary Amendment.