My News & Views

On Trust

2016-05-01T00:15:00.002-04:00

Jean P. Purcell

A Christian may write or tell of spiritual experiences hard for unbelievers to comprehend. One explanation for this is that the difficulty lies in an unbeliever's incapacity to experience what faith makes possible. Such an answer could seem arrogant. It also could mislead. Not every Christian experiences faith in identical ways.

An unbeliever can experience what they might call God without going further to explore what that means. In a frightening situation, I simply knew there was a Presence. After the crisis, no searching to understand unless, perhaps, in another crisis, the Presence was palpable.

When that happens to the Christian or the unbeliever, one message might be gleaned: Fear not.

Fear not, for I am with you. Be not afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will hold you up with My righteous right arm.

--Isaiah 41.10

Tussles of Faith

2015-12-13T13:36:00.002-05:00

Jean P. Purcell

Tussles of faith are bouts of strong questions to God, for understanding in complicated times. In tussling with God, I speak to him, not about him, and I believe he will give an answer. I don't know when or where, but an answer or insight will come. When that happens, I see again that myself alone could not reveal that. If you want another idea about tussles, I would say that mine remind me of my picture of Jacob wrestling with an angel. He was wrestling with God, with heaven. What prompted him was spiritual, earthly, and private.

I used to tussle with God much more than I do now. I learned over years he always comes through for me and others in the hardest times if one stays steady in faith and does not wrest the issue from God's hands. God has also surprised me with the way things have turned out when I have laid all on the line, by faith.

Look at the world now - every horrible thing we can think of, and more, is happening. In the not-so-distant past, a spreading tsunami killed 250,000 people. Life ended in seconds and a few hours for so many thousands of people. The earth itself is trembling, quaking, groaning, and records show this as nearly a current state around the world. Threats of global hunger, warming climates, and droughts bombard documentaries. I wonder, how can a young person bear such widely spread information or prognostication daily?

"Wars and rumors of wars" is biblical language, and the facts are in our faces, as has been the case for every generation. Now, however, the pace seems to pick up. Fear abounds over terrorist plots, globally. Paris killings happened only three weeks ago. It seems like yesterday. Then San Bernadino, CA, was hit less than two weeks ago, the second deadliest terrorists' attack since 9-11, I heard.

Media reporting often increases fears after the fact. We hear of many "first ever" and "never before" and other "worst ever" events. Geneva, Switzerland, had terrorist hunts last week. One journalist said that the city was on edge and "for the first time" officers in peaceful Geneva carried rifles openly. When I first visited Geneva, 1986, I noticed military vehicles on the grass alongside the runway. Inside the airport, officers walked with weapons at the ready, gripped double-handed, pointed sideways and down.

Harkening back to the Ottoman Empire, whose inroads in Europe were pushed back after WWI (the part played eventually by Turkey is interesting reading) today's terrorist militia aim for a new, global caliphate. They target civilians and military people and gain ground through terror cells. Intentions to bring about a global caliphate with mini-caliphates are deadly serious. However, as happened when Churchill warned about coming disaster prior to World War II, many hearing today's news refuse to believe that it could overtake "us." This is a view expressed by some leaders in the U.S. Yet, every "little" success by caliphate disciples advances control against freedom. Ignoring the actions of nation-grabbing enemies could transform the future in dark and vicious ways. Europe and America woke up almost too late, in Hitler's day.

Old wounds are often not allowed to heal in today's world. Louder voices and growing numbers of people today protest and seek revenge or citizen justice, while circles of suspicion expand. "We demand" is a theme now threatening university and community safety and, possibly, institutional survival sometimes. As has been said before, there is a big price to pay when ignoring damage done by small successes of chaotic actions.

Any of those reports can start another of my "tussles" with God, crying out to him in fear, complaint and questions. I am not alone in this. The biblical psalms are full of this. I read in them the same problems we learn about today, including the wicked prospering, the evil succeeding, the wealthy growing in power and ambition. I read of foolish people following what is wrong and good people suffering for it. I see strong chaos and weakening responsibility and duty.

I pray more as I read about Then, Now, and the Future:

"'Vengeance is mine,' says the LORD."
"Forgive your enemies," says Jesus,
"Pray for those who spitefully use you."
"Trust in the LORD and do not lean on your own understanding."
"...I am with you always," said Jesus.
He also said, "I am coming again, in the last days."

All war will cease. All abuse will end. All disease and pride will be finished. The Kingdom of our God will reign in a new heaven and earth. "Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord."

Are we ready for that great and glorious Day, you and I? Are we praying unceasingly, wherever we are, whatever we are doing? From such times flow the works of Christ in and through us, for us and for others. There will also be a Day of Judgment, no question about it. It will attend to wickedness done on the earth in high and low places; there will be no chance to bargain or seek parole. I do not know if the two days are one, and I do not need theological tussles about that, I am so relieved to say! I just know that only the Son of God, the Advocate, Jesus Christ, will stand with believers at his return and at the court of God's justice. Jesus paid the ransom for every person with faith in him. They "will not perish, but have eternal life."

It continually amazes that Jesus willingly laid down his life for us to be relieved of our stupid and evil sins...the ransom paid with his own life and blood. "By his stripes we are healed." He rose again from the dead, the First among many of his redeemed heirs and has promised that he prepares, even now, a place for us, "many mansions." The trusting homeless and the innocent abused might be the first among all. I have read how he honored with his attention the widow who gave to God the last of her earthly coins. I do not argue about anything, nor do I want ever to tussle again with the One who has made great and glorious promises to all of his children.

He gave me a new heart. He transforms my thinking. He forgave me my wrongs toward others. In addition, toward him, Almighty God, omniscient and glorious. He draws me with his love so deeply revealed through Christ, regarding his suffering and dying on the rugged, cruel cross of Calvary; he proved himself at the empty tomb. He proves himself every day to those who believe in him. "He [God] has given us everything we need for life and godliness through His Son... ."

I want to be among his throngs at my last moment or on that Last Day, however it happens. Meanwhile, I'm reading a book that reminds me that people near imprisonment, torture, and death...regular people...in Europe in 1938, finally knew that a terrible darkness was on its way and would soon engulf them and the way of life they had known.Then, Hitler's army was marching and flying closer and closer. Today, many real threats punctuate our days and loom closer in larger number. I want to be among those Christians facing the fearful future on earth with one eye on the glorious future God has for us. Nothing can kill our spirit and nothing can rob us of eternal life with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

On this day, I hope for an abundance of Amen to the enduring promises of God. May his Word go forth in power wherever it is read.

2015 Thanksgiving Alone?

2015-11-26T10:27:00.001-05:00

English: "The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth" (1914) By Jennie A. Brownscombe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Thanksgiving 2015: Thinking for the people of Paris. Thankful for experts that risk their lives to help save others. Thinking of Syria, hoping for refugees to find safe havens. This Thanksgiving Day, there are three of us at home in Maryland. Others in Massachusetts and Tennessee, as well as North Carolina. Older brother in nursing home since earlier this month, in North Carolina. Thankful for the family love that surrounds all.

Below, Thanksgiving 2012 thoughts, as true today for me in its essence as then, just after Hurricane Sandy. Fitting for this Thanksgiving 2015, after Paris attacks and other tragic events of these times.

*********************************************

My first Thanksgiving Day far from home, I had been living a few weeks, since October 31, in Geneva, Switzerland, because my husband had a new job. That day in Geneva and around the world, most people went about their usual routines with no thought of something called the American Thanksgiving holiday. The day's routine seemed upside down as my husband left for work. I went back to bed. You know, the blues. Thanksgiving. Alone.
     After a while, I reached for something to read, to lift my thoughts. Slowly, words from the psalms settled into my heart. I read them* over and over again.

When my husband walked into our apartment that evening, it was after 6 PM, Geneva time and just past noon EST - back home. Boo hoo! Our family members were probably gathering around tables for happy feasts--in Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Florida! There was a good evening meal I'd prepared for that night, when he walked in. And we gathered our two selves together and ate it with thanks!

*O God my Strength! I will sing your praises, for you are my place of safety (Psalm 59);

For wherever I am, though far away at the ends of the earth, I will cry to you for help...for you are my refuge, a high tower (Psalm 61).

*

This Thanksgiving Day is a time to remember people thrown into upheaval. It is a time to remember, with thanks, volunteers who serve others. It is a time to be thankful for survivors in Paris and for families of those who died in the attacks of hate. It is time to give thanks and prayers for those who guard and seek to protect cities and nations.

If you are alone reading this, I am thinking of you and people I know who might be alone all day or far from home. I hope the Psalms will help you and them, too. Here's to a blessed Thanksgiving to you, for your life and hopes!

On Thanksgiving, 2012, I wrote: "There remains much work to do after the sweeping devastation of Hurricane Sandy. Volunteers and government workers continue to help. Still there are needs, and this holiday, through Facebook and Internet links, people hit hard by Sandy are being invited to others' homes to share Thanksgiving Day.
     "This Thanksgiving Day is a time to remember people thrown into upheaval, along with their homes. It is a time to remember, with thanks, those who serve, including volunteers who may not be home this Thanksgiving, and also the New York City mayor, New York state senators and NYC's representatives."


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A Memorable Smokies Break-away

2015-09-24T15:00:00.001-04:00

Hey there! My husband, Jim, and I are in the Great Smoky Mountains this week, having good days near Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Jim is giving a fresh look to all of his book manuscript, Hope of the Phoenix: How three presidents saved millions of refugees in a conflicted world. When not sleeping, I read, think, and do a little Internet surfing. We get together on our condo's patio that faces mountains - for refreshing change of pace every afternoon. We soak in the fresh air and watch more leaves turn their bright, dying colors.

This morning, I listened to Pope Francis's address to the U.S. Congress. I felt moved by the four Americans he chose for focus - President Abraham Lincoln (a man of peace and reconciliation), Martin Luther King, Jr. (a man of dreams and daring), Dorothy Day (a woman of social conscience and action on behalf of the poor and neglected), and Thomas Merton (a man of prayer and contemplation). All remained open to God and the work of God in individual and national life.

At lunch time, Jim and I went down the mountain to a barbecue lunch that was scrumptiously diverse. There were chicken and pork barbecue, baked beans with dark molasses taste (yum!), coleslaw, cold pasta salad, potatoes, and huge bread rolls. We did not taste everything, but I decided to dig in on the pork, baked beans, coleslaw, and pasta salad - four choices enough to take me well past dinner! Oh, and beverage choices including unsweetened and sweetened iced tea. I think of it as Tennessee Tea.

We sat beside a swimming pool across the way before taking a shuttle back to the top of the mountain with our heads full of interesting conversations with other "take a break"-ers on the shuttle, at lunch, and as we walked around and saw now-familiar faces. We learned that Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where we once lived, is being made into a national park. We'll try to get over there before we depart this gorgeous state of many family memories.

Now I'm ready to post a link to Jim's 2002 monograph, The Perils of Unresolved Humanitarian Problems, with preface update, now a 2015 Kindle Direct ebook.

Here's hoping you are getting ready for a relaxing weekend, or at least a few relaxing, contemplative, active hours. See you soon, friends.

SYRIA - Hearts go out to the country of Paul's day

2015-09-22T12:05:00.001-04:00

A zealot, Saul of Tarsus, in Jerusalem

In the first century when Jesus was born, a devout Orthodox Jew journeyed from Jerusalem's persecution of Christians to Damascus (Syria) to persecute more Christians. On the way the Lord confronted him. It was a conversion like all conversions to Christ--individual, unique, highly personal and transforming.

Paul, saved by God, goes to Arabia

Later, this man, once called Saul and then Paul as a devoted follower of Jesus Christ, went to Jerusalem and was not accepted by the apostles, because as Saul he had persecuted Christians.

He left for Arabia to study in what some call the school of the Holy Spirit. What was "Arabia" to Paul? N. T. Wright, in Paul, Arabia, and Elijah (Galatians 1:17) proposed that "Paul went where Elijah went. He went to Mount Sinai .... The word 'Arabia' is very imprecise in Paul's day, covering the enormous area to the south and east of Palestine; but one thing we know for sure is that for Paul 'Arabia' was the location of Mount Sinai."(See paragraph 11 in N.T. Wright article linked above.)

Mount Sinai, also called Mount Horeb, is on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. If N.T. Wright's reasoning is correct, that is where Paul went, that triangular, arid, desert region of Egypt, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

Paul travels back to Damascus

From Arabia, Paul returned to Damascus: "In the Galatian letter in 1:17-18 Paul clearly states that upon his return from Arabia he came back to the city of Damascus. Exactly how long Paul’s stay in Arabia lasted is not clear, but combined with his return visit to Damascus was a period of three years." (Tracing the Steps of Paul)

His visit to Caesarea, then Syria

Next, Paul went to Jerusalem, then Caesarea. Then, again, he went into Syrian regions:

"... Upon Paul’s departure from Caesarea, Luke tells us in Acts 9:30 that he was sent forth to Tarsus. It would be logical to conclude on the basis of his route that on his way back home to Tarsus this is when he stopped by different cities and visited brethren in the Roman province of Syria. Paul referred to this in Galatians 1:21." (Tracing the Steps of Paul)

Consider the capital, Damascus, then and now

Some say that Damascus existed 1,000 years or more before the birth of Christ, surviving takeovers by different empires. Three hundred years before the birth of Jesus, Damascus was a large Muslim caliphate. By the time of Jesus' birth, the Roman Empire ruled Damascus.

After the crucifixion of Jesus, and when Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, he could safely travel into Damascus; he was a Roman citizen. Damascus in those days was a thriving city of architectural, artistic, and trade interests.

The Christian community across Syria is one of the world's oldest, going back to the days of the Apostles. "... and there are Christians of today that speak Aramaic. In northern Syria, near the city of Aleppo, the historic Church of St Simeon Stylites stood...in the mountains west of Homs is the castle of Krak des Chevaliers, which was a fortress for the Knights Hospitaller during the Crusades." The castle is now badly damaged, bombed by government jets after it was used as a base by rebels in Syria's civil war. (Middle East)

In 2015, in the Syrian province of Hassakeh in February, hundreds of Christians are feared to have been kidnapped by the militants. Senior Christian clerics have also been kidnapped by unknown gunmen. Suspicion for the abductions has fallen on the Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate. "While their community faces a clear threat from the extremists of the Nusra Front and Islamic State, Christian men have been fighting in the multi-layered conflict - either alongside Kurdish militias or alongside relatively secular rebel factions, or government forces." (Syria's beleaguered Christians)

Christian and Muslim Syrians

The apostle Paul nurtured believers wherever he journeyed, including his travels through Syria. Christians today are descendants of millennia of Syrian believers in Jesus Christ. Only five years ago, Syrian Christians made up about 10%, or 4.4 million, of the country's population.

During on-going war and fighting in and beyond Damascus, neighborhoods are made into rubble and many sites destroyed, including the Aleppo mosque, northern Syria, shown below, debris hanging and repair seeming to lie far into the future, if at all.

Aleppo mosque in rubble. Photo source and ownership: Copyright (c) The Guardian. Share with attribution.

Damascus and Jerusalem

Damascus is an important history location to Christians around the world; it was where God began to teach a new Jewish disciple of Jesus Christ and to call him to preach to the Gentiles. That was the apostle Paul, once known as Saul of Tarsus.

Let's pray for peace in Syria and for the displaced Christians and Muslims. The persecuted are Christians who resisted threats and fled for their lives due to their faith and the ongoing conflicts in Syria. Let us pray for places of safe asylum for all, until they can return home in peace. May those who follow Christ be encouraged by those who meet, feed, and house them.

Jerusalem was the city where Paul, who had persecutied the church as Saul, was at first under strong suspicion by church leaders. Jerusalem was where Paul was tested and accepted as a true believer, willing to suffer for the gospel.

Let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem, beset on every side, yet helping Syrian refugees. Let us learn biblical teaching about Jerusalem, including prophecies, and watch and pray that all will be fulfilled.

For, "In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay." Hebrews 10:37

WHAT 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES KNOW OR DON'T KNOW ABOUT REFUGEE SOLUTIONS

2015-09-16T12:37:00.000-04:00

Friends:

I am guest blogger on the Hope of the Phoenix blog today. If you want to read, you can go here.

Tonight's CNN GOP Candidates Debate might tell us what present candidates on the GOP side of the 2016 presidential elections race know or do not know about refugee solutions.

Header: REFUGEE DECADE POLICIES DEVELOPED SOLUTIONS THAT ARE, SADLY, EITHER UNKNOWN, FORGOTTEN OR IGNORED BY PRESENT AND FUTURE U.S. LEADERS

Thanks to a friend's email this a.m., with photos including the one above, Jim Purcell...continue reading

"Is anybody there?" - Syrian asylum-seekers

2015-08-17T10:55:00.000-04:00

Does anybody care?

In Syria and beyond, turmoil continues, not least of it the fate of innocent citizens longing for peace and caught in the crossfire of warring parties. When help comes, it comes from humanitarian organizations and workers from non-warring parts of the world. The citizen workers also likely echo "Does anybody care?" It takes more than food and tents, the usual picture of refugees and displaced persons. It takes governments and policies, strategies and conviction followed by action. The United States should lead, as in the past, to make these innocents vitally important to the leaders of all non-warring countries looked to in the past. That is my view.

Here is part of the record that we, too, need to care about.

Today, attacks on asylum-seekers causes alarm in Germany.

Are Americans ignoring Syria's humanitarian crisis? Mort Abramowitz wrote that he thinks we are, and why he thinks so.

Similarly, "Who cares about Syria?" was Valerie Amos's opinion article in The Washington Post earlier.

Fred Hiatt wrote of a "defense of inaction in Syria," a provocative article about the record of current administration foreign policies.

Finally, but not least, is Thomas E. McMahon's letter to the Post in reaction to Valerie Amos's op-ed: How the U.S. can help Syria's citizens.

Furor over Planned Parenthood's "troubling insensitivity"

2015-08-04T12:51:00.000-04:00

The furor over uncovered Planned Parenthood secrets in the sale of body parts of unborn male and female babies has shocked nations.

Anyone speaking out against these newly revealed practices must know feelings similar to those of the prophet Jeremiah, as history repeats itself in disastrous and inhumane decisions. He was punished by a king and the king's ministers for prophesying as God had told him to do.

Jeremiah warned against the pursuit of false gods and self-interest. And God showed mercy in the delay of his wrath, repeatedly.

As I read Jeremiah, I realize that the same gods of self-interest are followed everywhere. After videos came out showing Planned Parenthood's practices of human body part harvesting, respectable-looking people went before cameras with words selected to gloss over the implications. A bill was introduced in congress, however, and reached the U.S. senate for a vote "yes," not to refund Planned Parenthood.

Senator Tim Kaine voted "no," issuing a statement intended, it appeared, to blur the significant illegalities within Planned Parenthood that violate conscience, morality, and ethics:

     "For many women and families across the country, Planned Parenthood health centers are their only source of high quality health care. That’s why I voted against legislation that would deny more than 2.5 million Americans important primary care services. For years, activist groups like the Center for Medical Progress have sought to create controversy around Planned Parenthood as a way to reduce women’s access to health care. While the recent videos released by this group highlight a troubling lack of sensitivity on the part of a few individuals, moving to unilaterally defund Planned Parenthood is not the appropriate reaction'” (Augusta Free Press).

Enough other senators joined Mr. Kaine in voting "no" to the bill to defund Planned Parenthood, thereby defeating it. They illustrate a fatal weakness of this nation's increasing tolerance for gross crimes against unborn human beings, growing the way every living person continues to develop into physical maturity, starting inside the mother's womb.

Sen. Kaine's comments reflect the respectability that is on show, like a rose, for an agency that profits billions of dollars from tax revenues and hundreds of millions from abortions, annually.

Other facts cannot be changed. First, the lives of unborn children were violently taken in abortions, due to other violence, rape and incest; then, the lives of unborn lives were aborted "for any reason or for no reason"; now, up for discussion is the careful harvesting of unborn infants' organs for "caring" reasons.

Their power, however, cannot touch women who receive their health care at places other than Planned Parenthood, by choice. Women who choose not to use Planned Parenthood record a win every time.

In Jeremiah's day, appealing people that acted with guile eventually had to be silent, as God closed off every escape.

To sow death and deception means, I believe, a terrible reaping ahead, a whirlwind. I would not want to experience such a day.

"...they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind"...(Hosea 8:7).

The Gospel, first, always

2015-07-25T00:39:00.000-04:00

Jean P. Purcell

Noah Webster (1758 – 1843 ) is a well-known American historical figure remembered for his significant contributions to American letters - including spelling books and his word dictionary, as well as literary criticism, political writings, journalism, and reviews.

He is rarely, however, mentioned as a deep-thinking Christian believer. I wonder how many people have heard that he was. I recently realized his Christian calling when I read a letter he wrote to a friend in Boston, dated 1809. It has gripped my attention for many days. It is called "The Peculiar Doctrines of the Gospel, Explained and Defended." It is about the preeminence of the Gospel.

Noah Webster was troubled by the first place churches were giving to the doing of good works. The Gospel had, if you read his text, almost been laid aside. The same mistake causes concern among some of us today.

Webster provided a convincing case for us who are of churches, to urge re-assessment today, and in strong, unapologetic words. Webster described a creed based on good works as "...a rock on which perhaps more intelligent men are shipwrecked than on any other."

Such a creed, he stated, is overturned by this one defect: "that no man destitute of a principle of holiness, or a supreme love and regard to his Maker, can perform the moral duties, in the manner which the laws of God require."

He explained why man's motives if "destitute of a principle of holiness, or a supreme love and regard to his Maker cannot be pure; they cannot spring from the right source; nor will any man, without a higher principle than a mere regard to social happiness, ever be able to perform all the moral duties with steadiness and uniformity."

Those words immediately remind of Jesus' answer to what is the greatest commandment:

"...The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."

He continued, "And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."

The Lord answered (Mark 12: 29-31; also Matthew 22, Luke 10) as it is written in the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:5), which a scribe or lawyer of the day would have known, "love the Lord thy God."

The Christian's chief aim is to follow and obey that command, to love the Lord our God fully, with all that we are. We set our eyes firmly on this goal of love for the Lord. His love for His world, as shown in its utmost in the fullness of time in Jesus, the Son, gives all that is good for this world and for its people, who are created by God. All that is good follows from such love. The Source of the spark and the fire of love and life never changes. He is love.

Also by Noah Webster, The Value of the Bible and excellence of the Christian religion

Week in Review: Rainbow Union, First Ghoul Award, Quote of the Week

2015-07-18T13:37:00.000-04:00

Jean P. Purcell

Week's End
My post at week's end was a tough one to get right, and I jumped too soon to publish it. However, some readers read around the disorganization and got the point. I corrected the problems.

This post about history, marriage and rainbow union is in final form: New name for new status of same-gender unions

Ghoul Award
The report of Planned Parenthood harvesting organs of unborn children earns Planned Parenthood (PP) a Ghoul Award because of the company's continued social and medical ethics violations.
(Disturbing information on video) I found to be morbidly chilling the the video of a cool PP rep talking over her lunch and red wine about doing abortions with care to preserve organs for body harvesting* - -whether to "crush (the infant body) above or crush (the infant body) below."

*Ed. Note: Such euphemisms need to be discarded.

Quote of the Week
James Willingham, writing about the Bible:

"...a process is now beginning to take place which will restore the freedoms, the depth of thought, the wherewithal to deal with the incomprehensible future now rushing upon us, and all because the intellectual book is coming back into view among the people of this land."

New name for new status of same-gender unions

2015-07-16T14:51:00.000-04:00

Jean P. Purcell
Commentary
Religion, History > Marriage

Marriage is to be held in honor - Hebrews 13:4

Marriage is a unique term for a unique life union--male and female. In Genesis, the first book of the Tanakh, God revealed a plan to be realized through His creation. It would come through two, the first male and female. They were to become "one flesh" in a true "fit," an intimate biological and social relationship designed and equipped for procreation. This word of God established marriage, original human and biological complementarity, two genders obviously and functionally different.

In the book of Hebrews, thought to have been written about 70 AD, the Greek word pronounced gamos, and equivalent to English word marriage, was used, among earliest references to marriage. Over time, civilizations developed. As tribes and nations (States) formed in the West, there were religious leaders who abused power, affecting multitudes. The "separation of church and state" became a goal so that the Church could not dictate to a nation how or where or if to worship God; and the State could not dictate to the Church about its freedom of religion.

International laws later borrowed from ancient biblical records regarding marriage. However, in time secular States, and their courts, decided to mess with that. Although the word marriage in English was used as early as the 13th century to define the sacred covenant union, wedding, within the Church, the State saw benefits in taking authority over weddings and marriage, and it eventually had to be State-approved or registered. The Church (representing religion) would be required to participate under the State's laws affecting religion.

The tables were turning.

In 1653, under Oliver Cromwell's leadership (Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, 1654-1658), the State did a remarkable thing: "During the Nominated Assembly or ‘Barebones Parliament’ of 1653, ...the conducting of marriages was taken away from the clergy altogether ..." (History of Parliament - emphasis added).

Marriage union contracts had to be authorized through justices of the peace.

Jump forward 300-plus years to the U.S. in the summer of 2015, where four of the seven justices of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) erased marriage as it was created to be. They ruled to change its foundational identity.

It seemed that four Supreme Court justices thumbed their noses, figuratively speaking, at sacred texts, covenants, records, history, and tradition. SCOTUS ruled a restructuring and a redefinition of marriage. To many inside and outside the Church, this seemed no less odd than redefining the heart to include the spine, ignoring science; because to include same-gender unions as marriage is to ignore biology.

This monumental event, this claim to remake what marriage is by passing a law, this delusion that what marriage is and how it works on basic levels can be changed...the ruling ignores the obvious: marriage always assumes the physical/biological ability to procreate, due to the obvious male-female physical differences; that always is the case, barring medical problems. (Hence, fierce contraception debates.) To include under marriage those legal unions that, by type, are incapable of procreation within the union is to go outside the meaning and function of marriage.

So here is what should happen now, given that marriage is between male and female:

A new term should be created for now-legal same-gender unions.

The precedent arose on the summer evening, 2015, of the Supreme Court ruling. In LaFayette Park, across from the White House, same-gender and transgender people celebrated in front of a White House display of full rainbow lighting across the White House facade.

The LBGT community symbol is the rainbow. With the rainbow union victory by four on the Supreme Court, rainbow union gained a legal standing. That standing was what same-gender union proponents and supporters celebrated in front of the rainbow-lit White House the evening of the SCOTUS ruling.

Marriage is a specifically and distinctly man-woman union. It is not rainbow-identified or -symbolized. Marriage does not disparage singleness; it does not judge the divorced; it does not judge anyone. Marriage is the term theologically and historically for the male-female life covenant.

Rainbow unions need their own name that distinguishes them from man-woman unions, marriage.

From Genesis 1: 27, 28:
So God created man in his own image...; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it....

Related: Changes in Marriage Law, 19th Century

Comments invited.

If Marriage were the Apple. . .

2015-07-03T07:58:00.004-04:00

My View Today

A few days ago I wrote here about the pendulum swing of public views. In Wait for It. Wait for It. . . I held that change will swing back. I also said that those who want change in different cases will need to work for it with others. I don't expect to see a change in the recent U.S. Supreme Court's majority (though not a complete one) marriage redefinition.

In the U.S. Supreme Court case of Obergefell et al. v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health et al., Justices Kennedy, Sotomayor, Kagan, Ginsburg, joined Chief Justice Roberts in favor of Obergefell et al., same-gender marriage. Dissenting were Justices Scalia, Alito, and Thomas.

In David Post's column June 29, 2015 in The Washington Post, he discussed problems with the Supreme Court making the decision. He wrote that while pleased with the law's change, he was "considerably less delighted that we arrived there because 5 Justices of the Supreme Court have so decided the matter." That may be the basis of any future court cases.

Fox News anchor Bret Baier asked former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson about his view on the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) decision favoring redefinition of marriage. Mr. Olson stated his agreement with the ruling and said that a legal denial of marriage to anyone of one's choice would be equal to denying equal, unsegregated education.

The two are incomparable. Marriage, from the beginning, has been a male-female covenant blessed by God and a bond of multi-generational families; public education is an institution intended to benefit people alone and in community. Both marriage and education are important, yet they are in no basic way the same in function, purpose, history or meaning.

This is one of the problems with arguments on either side of this issue: mixing apples and oranges in reasoning. Mr. Olson's argument has a problem in that it is based on the proverbial apples and oranges flaw--two unlike things being treated as alike and equal: marriage the apple, education the orange.

Since I first posted this commentary, there has begun an investigation into reports that the largest and wealthiest abortion-providing U.S. organization has been harvesting body parts of unborn children for sale for use...research, organ transplant, other. To what shall that be compared? With what arguments and comparisons will some in media and medicine deny, explain away, or...wait for it...defend or try to justify what is alleged in this case?

Related reading: New Name for Same-Sex Unions

Wait for it. Wait for it....

2015-06-27T10:01:00.002-04:00

My View Today

+* The conduct of the republican party in this nomination is a remarkable indication of small intellect, growing smaller. They pass over . . . statesmen and able men, and they take up a fourth rate lecturer, who cannot speak good grammar.

Ah, the times they are again a-changin' - and for better or worse depending on your beliefs, as the U.S. approaches another presidential election, November 2016.

Recent Supreme Court decisions have disappointed many. The abandonment of centuries of fact and law about marriage as God created and established it. . . I found to be the most difficult to hear.

The recent massacre of nine Christians at a historically black church--during a Bible study and prayer meeting--in Charleston, SC, was horrifying news only days earlier. It stirred up the usual reaction to grief, to find a subject to run to, in this cases the racism debate. Yet, my ears rejoiced upon hearing how the church and surviving families, with a judge's help, quickly poured cold water on any spark of revenge and hate: "We are people of faith," they said. Their living faith saved a city, I believe. Ferguson and Baltimore needed such outspoken people of God.

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) tries to change the meaning of marriage--an insult to beliefs of biblical Christians, Tanakh Jews, moderate Muslims, and others. The SCOTUS unwillingness to allow unborn human life into the human rights arena is another example. We wait, work, and pray--for it will depend on prayer--for that change which, I believe, will come during or after my earthly lifetime.

I read somewhere recently that what one generation or flow of generations sees as being good often gets a different reading in later light of day. As this happened in the Dred Scott case, many Americans pray and work for it to happen regarding unborn human life and marriage as it has been defined since the beginning of time and for the good of centuries of civilization.

The White House was lit up last night in palette colors to reflect the president's approval of the SCOTUS marriage opinion. It was the night after I saw a movie about the White House being gunned, bombed, and claimed by terrorists. I reminded myself after the movie that the White House was almost destroyed by enemy troops in the 19th century.

Things have always changed in exterior displays. Some have always tried to rewrite history.

The point here is that such displays are not new: the later-reversed Dred Scott SCOTUS decision to deny rights and full human citizenship; I think, too, of the record of Booker T. Washington, who ignored criticism that he was not "standing up for his people" and continued his work with white citizens for more black employment after slavery; I think of the inspiring perseverance of people in every kind of life-threatening fight, including the Holocaust and the current terrorist attacks spreading--all remind that nothing of earthly decision or pressure goes on forever, whether legal, moral, or anything else. The gullibility of some and the steadfastness of others makes the difference, one way or another.

Historically, Americans are not a despairing people. We may continue to lose our way for a decade, a century, or centuries; yet, eventually God's strength in today's powerless and weak will gain higher ground for all. It never fails.

Wait for it. . . the tide appears low now, yet the tide always rises. Human thought and feeling are not dead toward defending faith principles and the laws that grew from the Judeo-Christian faith. The more free speech reflecting traditional beliefs is ridiculed, the lesser the distance to change, to reversing for the better.

I will wait for it, and I will urge grandchildren to wait for it. I will encourage them to hold onto their faith in God and a desire to serve and please God. I will encourage them to shun revenge and anger and patiently to speak their beliefs when and where they want to, and to prepare themselves for flashback.

Another matter in which I hope to influence others is that when I hold my beliefs--by faith in God and how I understand the age-old, scriptural ways--I do not lack compassion for others, although I hold different views. I refuse to fear accusation, dislike, disapproval, or hatred directed at me because of my beliefs. As the interim pastor of the Charleston, SC, church said, "We (Christ-followers) are different." We do not retaliate, and we obey God's requirement to forgive. This does not rule out legal justice in our time, if it will come, or divine justice that will, inevitably, come to all--a humbling truth.

In my view, the only way to resist the temptation to be afraid when accusations come is to make sure of one's beliefs, why they are so, and to forge ahead, secure in one's principles while holding respect for the life of every other human being and his or her right to hold and express--even as you do--their views. This freedom from fear of verbal or physical retribution is under threat today, if not by law then by inference and the flow of public opinion.

It is only the strong of faith who will, I believe, withstand the pressures to yield to popular opinions of the day. It is not too late to seek that strength from God. I am thankful for the Supreme Court justices who, this week, refused to bow to the times, the trends, and the politics before them--to hold steady. They did not lose in the very important arena of honor.

You might be interested in reading: New Name for Same-Gender Marriage
___________________________________________________
+Publisher of quote at top of this post -- *The New York Herald, referring to Abraham Lincoln's nomination by the Republican National Convention for president (May 19, 1860).

The greatness of Napoleon, Caesar or Washington is only moonlight by the sun of Lincoln. His example is universal and will last thousands of years. . . . He was bigger than his country--bigger than all the Presidents together . . . and as a great character he will live as long as the world lives. --Leo Tolstoy, *The World newspaper, New York, 1909.

*Source for New York Herald and The World quotes: Front matter, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2005.

"We are people of faith." - Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, Reacts

2015-06-22T12:53:00.000-04:00

Christian Faith

Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, has been at the front of news since it suffered an attack last Wednesday evening. A group was meeting in fellowship to pray and study the Bible with their pastor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, also a state senator. A visitor in the group sat with them for one hour before drawing out a gun and killing nine people, including the pastor, and critically wounding others.

In reaction, some, including media, worried that the most common recent reactions to such tragedies--protests growing into violence--would be the case; because the congregation of the church is historically black and the attacker who killed on Wednesday night is white. (Investigation into the shooter's behavior showed evidence of racist motivations.)

However, the remaining church members quickly united in a rare example of faith. Amid their pain and the shocking awareness that evil had entered their church in deadly disguise, they chose to rely upon God. The church has called the slain Christians "the Mother Emanuel Nine."

From USA Today online (with video), the words on Sunday of interim pastor Rev. Norvel Goff:

"A lot of people expected us to do something strange and to break out in a riot.

Well, they just don't know us. We are people of faith....

"The blood of the Mother Emmanuel Nine requires us to work until not only justice in this case, but for those who are still living in the margin of life,
those who are less fortunate than ourselves, that we stay on the battlefield
until there is no more fight to be fought."

Our nation hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for cleansed hearts in spiritual revival. Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, shows signs of the spark of revival that through the ages has often ignited from events of persecution.

Before Memorial Day Supper: Problem-solving how to produce Free Documents for Subscribers only

2015-05-25T10:14:00.004-04:00

HOT DOGS

APPLE PIE

CHEVROLET

IT'S MEMORIAL DAY- REMEMBER AND HONOR

I'm working today and also remembering my brother, Gerald C. Primm, who flew a P-38 fighter plane in World War II and returned safely after a few more than his allotted missions over North Africa and places I still do not know about. After his first plane was shot down, he named his second "L'il Jean." At about three years old, I received such an honor!

To honor in Memory all now gone who Served. To respect in the Present the Service of all!

I am working today from my home not far from Washington, DC. Blogs travel all over the world, and I enjoy connecting with my blog readers from the U.S., Russia, China, the UK, Ukraine, Europe, South Asia, and other places.

This document has been prepared as a trial for my subscriber-access-only page, intended for duplication on my new blog, Author Expert. But the subscriber link is not ready yet. That's one of the things I need to figure out...with help.

I intend for this to be a free "hidden" file for subscribers only, and I'm not yet sure how to do that successfully. I could create a downloadable PDF file for subscribers only, yet I'm not sure how or where to place that, "hidden," on my blog, yet.

Another problem to solve is how to set up a second sign up list on my blog. I leave it there while I research how to solve that problem.

Why do I want to do this project? I want to build a subscriber list and help build trust with them. Anyone subscribing for "inside" information from an author expert is likely to be serious about reading what my experience has to offer.

The first tech phase is to install a subscriber list only for my free document once every six weeks. Once the technology is worked out, I will be able to connect with more authors than ever.

Helpful comments and good advice are invited!

The First Lady at Tuskegee University Commencement and Media Uproar

2015-05-13T12:17:00.002-04:00

The fact that Mrs. Michelle Robinson Obama chose to expose private experiences of racism at Tuskegee University gave some people in the media opportunity to feature yet another incorrect, selective impression of what was really said; so-called Right-wing, Conservative, Moderate, Liberal, and Left-wing media outlets faced choices about how or whether to take the opportunity to quibble with each other over the week-end.

The First Lady is, one would deduce from reports of her remarks about race in the address, either a very angry woman who narrowly interprets every perceived non-black imposition upon her, or she is a woman who chose to share her pain with an audience with which she identified.

Before writing what I intended to be a post about "an angry First Lady," I read the full prepared text online. Her personal examples, whether her memory enlarged them or served her accurately, were a small portion of an inspiring and thoughtful speech that drew on one of many sources of Tuskegee University pride--the determined and skilled Tuskegee Airmen of WWII.

From reading history and memory, I know that First Ladies have attracted journalistic attention--Martha Washington and Abigail Adams were generally admired by their observers, although I recall reading somewhere that Martha was criticized for having some "means--or 'independent means'--of her own." Stories of Mrs. Lincolns' real or invented flaws and weaknesses abounded in her days as First Lady, regarding every personal tragedy she and her husband suffered.

I remember the ridiculing fun made of Lady Bird Johnson's "beautification program," responsible for the beauty along national highways across the country today. I recall hateful reports about Pat Nixon (and shameful for major newspapers that published them) during the last weeks of her husband's presidency. Then followed, after President Carter's term, revulsion expressed toward Nancy Reagan's formal gowns, her "Just say 'No!'" (to drugs) campaign, and her donor-supported replacement of chipped White House dinner china (likely in use today), among other "failings."

Jackie Kennedy's White House restoration project and her expensive Paris-inspired clothes, then Rosalyn Carter's focus on mental health programs and Laura Bush's original "Books on the Mall"--these largely escaped the customary inane criticisms by First Lady-watchers.

I assume that Michelle Obama knew this historical perspective and more before she took on the role of First Lady. I am sure she was informed of the role's potential for media-instigated havoc or favor toward wives of presidents. I hope that she will ignore the current uproar by media about a small fraction of her Tuskegee speech's content, when she "went personal in a negative warning" in a public venue. The selective reporting aimed to cause reaction was part of power-averse media or suspicions of "doing good in unusual ways," as well as, historically, hypocritical (at times) aversion to certain "backgrounds," usually rich, poor, "connected or no connected," or different in style.

Today's First Lady is surely aware that some people in media across the spectrum of political leanings, and their publishers or producers, enjoy the "Let's you and him (or her)fight." They start an argument, spice it up a bit, deliver it, and watch what happens in the eating up of it, as watchers and readers jump in to slug it out in the soup of snippets, angles, innuendo, a few facts and truths, and bold-faced lies.

I respect the media, nevertheless, as I respect the First Lady role. Sometimes, as with the current presidential line-up developing for 2016, they get it right, really big time. If only we can get the full story from them, without the blurred angles, we will depend on them a lot. This is why, in my view, the media competitors had better have a wide-lensed, non-partisan (as much as possible) and discerning public.

Read the Tuskegee University commencement speech by First Lady Michelle Obama and learn for yourself.

A Prayer for Baltimore

2015-04-30T11:01:00.003-04:00

At dawn as she began to rise

To a brand new, hope-filled day

She knew she was wounded, yet full of pride,

Wanting a brand new way.

"It's only part of her that's hurt,

Only that street, that corner, that place."

Yet Baltimore knows that all of her

Feels the wounds, the cutting injury to her fine face.

The world is watching, this is true.

The world waits to see if Baltimore's own

A right spirit will pursue.

Angels of Baltimore, O God,

Are there your will to obey

As the city starts each and every new morning

Help all like Mary and Daniel to trust you, I pray.

Lead us, Lord. Lead us in your righteousness.

Make your way plain before our face.
Amen.

Angels of Baltimore

2015-04-29T16:16:00.000-04:00

I believe that angels are at work in Baltimore, where these events have been happening in recent days:

In the Grays' neighborhood, the death of Freddie Gray in police custody sparked peaceful protests soon overtaken by riots, looting, arson, and attacks on police this week, from Saturday to Wednesday. The mayor of Baltimore misspoke by saying on camera, prior to a riotous night, that others would be given "space to destroy."

It might have happened without those shocking words, that rioters would set fire to buildings, steal cars, and drive them through large fires set in the middle of public streets. Destruction ran rampant as police were told to hold back. Young men played a dangerous game of risk and disobedience against any good hidden in them.

Yet, I believe that angels are at work in Baltimore, and there is reason to believe that and to believe that they have aided men and women of that city in recent days. I think of the many courageous men and women of Baltimore as I think of Daniel (Belteshazzar), Hananiah (Shadrach), Michael (Meshach), and Azariah (Abed-nego). Their homes were in Jerusalem, which Babylon's king, Nebuchadnezzar, attacked. He took them captive and commanded his chief official to give the men Babylonian names. It's all part of biblical history.

Daniel and his friends' problem was not police, jobs, food, or a place to live. Their problem was being forcibly separated from everything familiar to them and their faith. Nebuchadnezzar did not respect their ways, but one of his men helped them. Otherwise, the men faced difficult choices every day, death threats, and temptations to give up.

Finally, their loyalty to God angered the king so much that he had them thrown into a fiery furnace. Through its open door, onlookers saw the figures of the four men and an angel with them. The king and his minions saw this and could hardly believe their eyes.

Daniel and his friends came out of the fiery furnace with no burns or any smell of smoke on them or their clothes.

I believe that everyday in Baltimore many men, women, and youth are like Daniel and his friends. Many of them are in churches where they and their ministers continually pray and reach out into their community and neighborhoods. They are like the light that Jesus spoke about and the salt that keeps things from rotting. Angels are with them, helping.

Recently, some Baltimore gang members from the Crips or Bloods walked into a church where people had been praying and were meeting to discuss how to help quiet the city and make it safer again. The pastor reported that gang members said they wanted to help.

Jesus loves rioters and He loves gang members. He calls them to join Him.

Maybe, like Ricky Cruz's New York City gang, Crips and Bloods members in Baltimore will realize that Jesus loves them. Maybe they will realize this as they try to help the churches bring calm.

Billy Graham said of the angels and the Mighty Savior: The Bible says that God “will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11). It also teaches that the angels–although they are largely unseen–watch over us and work for our good. ...God surrounds us with a host of angels to protect us and go before us. Even when hard times come, Satan can never snatch us away from their protection....While the angels are real, we are not to become preoccupied with them or to worship them, (for)... only Christ saves us....“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). [end of quote]

I believe that God has put His angels in and over Baltimore. They are helping people of Baltimore determined to help the city rise from its ashes of Monday night's destruction. God's Son, Jesus, the Mighty Warrior (Zephaniah 3:17) is helping His own. The city may have more troubles, yet we pray that it will pull together peacefully.

Today the Baltimore O's played the Chicago White Sox before an empty baseball stadium. Fans were barred, due to the previous night's violence. So today, the team's fans stood outside the gates and watched the game. Their manager, Buck Showalter, spoke well of the team in the post-game press conference. "I want us (the team) to be a rallying point for our city," he said.A reporter later commented: "No one was in the stadium but the world was watching."

I believe God is watching and has appointed angels to help the city of Baltimore. I believe that one day God will reveal the silent and unseen victories there in recent days, including spiritual ones. All of God's victories will one day be revealed...including, I hope, souls of more people set free.

Baltimore Burns Tonight

2015-04-27T22:02:00.001-04:00

Baltimore, called "Charm City" by its fans and promoters, has its charms. But tonight, Baltimore is in flames. Baltimore city councilman Nick Mosby said the furor in Baltimore is due to failed policies of decades. This is reminiscent of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's views that many dependency-creating policies that began in the 1960s would result, in the long-term, in deeper dependency for future generations.

Whether or not the problem in Baltimore tonight is due to failed policies of decades, it's too late for a policy change that could help Freddie Gray, who died over a week ago after an arrest in Baltimore.

Some would say that Baltimore has a chance IF the truth is told about what happened in the events around the death of a young man, 25 years old, a week after a rough arrest. After his arrest and handcuff restraints, his ride in a police van was rough and without seat belt security, although he was crying out in pain. Who knows what happened after that? A week later he was dead. When the on-going investigation results are made public, perhaps some calm can begin to return to the city.

Then, the arrests and prosecution of any police responsible for the injuries and death of Freddie Gray must begin. Meanwhile, the delays toward stopping the ensuing rioting and putting in a curfew (scheduled to begin tomorrow night) give an appearance of failure due to political concerns.

As I watch the reporting from Baltimore tonight, I see what appear to be members of the looted community picking up debris in the streets and sweeping glass and trash out of the way. This is an event that deserves media attention and respect. Those people doing that cleanup area are among what Baltimore calls "Baltimore's Best." They and others like them are, I believe, a big part of the hope of Baltimore.

A big part of Baltimore's hope, I believe, are the merchants in the area being covered on television now. What will happen in their communities without them is unknown. Their businesses are being destroyed as we watch, and police have, oddly, been told to hold back.

These thoughts come to mind: Is this about Freddie Gray? Are city merchants perceived by rioters to be "rich" and they see themselves as "poor" in comparison? "You have a job and I don't, so I'm gonna burn down where you work"? "You have a car, and I don't, so I'm gonna steal and burn your car." I have no idea if such thoughts are on the mark in Baltimore's chaos tonight. But I cannot help wondering why people would burn down stores in their own city.

I cannot understand why people feeling injured decide to injure others that have no connection to their situation. Meanwhile, the latest report is of a senior citizen retirement center on fire and a church's new community center under construction...has been set ablaze. Baltimore's skies tonight are fire-red over many areas.

I live within 40 minutes of Baltimore, and that's a short drive for us. We go straight north on I-95 to Camden Yards, the Orioles' baseball team home stadium. My family has enjoyed for many years the Inner Harbor, Camden Yards, ESPN Zone, and other old and new landmarks. The restaurant choices suit any budget or taste. I've marveled at the array of fresh foods at Lexington Market, also looted last night.

Baltimore is a multicultural city that descendants of early immigrants from Africa and Europe are proud to claim. We share a sad bond tonight with Baltimore, an intense anguish that on this evening of the day of Freddie Gray's funeral...Baltimore is burning.

Stop Bad Fan Behavior-Indian Wells 14 Years Later

2015-03-13T13:44:00.003-04:00

I turned to the sports pages this morning for early thoughts on Terps basketball tonight in the Big Ten Tournament.

But my eyes wandered to a side-bar tennis article about Serena Williams and the Indian Wells (California) BNP Paribas Open. This year marks Williams' return to the tournament after 14 years of deliberate absence.

Serena was a teenager booed from the crowd during play at her last Indian Wells appearance. Her father heard racist remarks. These hurt her young sensitivities and her dad's mature feelings. He said that she should never play Indian Wells again. And she hasn't. Until this year.

How Serena decided to make a return is a family story. She talked to a reporter about the decision being influenced partly by the urging of sister Venus, a film about Nelson Mandela, and the quality of forgiveness, in her words, where she noted Mandela's reconciliation ideas. "'In order to forgive you have to be able to really let go of everything,' she said. 'I went through something that wasn’t the best for me. Trying to get over those nerves of coming back and how will I feel and what’s it going to be like. I have to experience that. When you do forgive and you do try to let go, you have to let a lot of those emotions go as well.'”

Tennis fans at Indian Wells this year might have changed and matured in character and morals. They should make an unusual effort to show, clearly, a determined welcome for Williams now. An unsportsmanlike few in a crowd can make any sports competition turn sour and unfair, as well as nerve-wracking for players and onlookers.

Looking back, the losers 14 years ago were the rude few among the multitude at Indian Wells; they lacked the ability to appreciate the dynamism of two powerful players, sisters trained by their father and on their way to the top of their sport, amid a growing sports-like openness to all skilled players.

The beauty of the Williams story is that a close family, talent, focus, hard work, world-tennis championships--and yes, faith and prayer--have enthusiastically outdone the foul shots of insult and injury. When good does not give up against evil, good overcomes even on playing courts, or grass, and in the bleachers.

Good fans should spurn bad fan behavior of whatever kind. The bad behavior should not go unnoticed by sports officials anywhere. Fan entry rule #1: Throw hidden alcoholic drinks, drugs, and ingrown prejudice in the trash where it belongs, outside the sports arena.

Netanyahu Heard, Iran Exposed, American Leadership Absent, Radical Faith Growing

2015-03-04T17:23:00.000-05:00

The formatting has a mind of its own with this post. Thanks for bearing with it.
Note: I realized as I wrote this post, listened to and read analyses and comments on PM Netanyahu's speech that we are in "worse shape" as a nation than I thought. Yet, as one Twitter member, @ethicapolitika, expresses his view, I agree that this age is no worse than others. Now is our opportunity to understand prior generations more and admire them even more....

I appreciate very much that the U.S. congress and the world have heard the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu speak about Iran's nuclear arms development. The PM's concerns are now fully known. Unlike what some would have us believe, his was not the first "foreign" speech before the congress, and as he follows the example of Winston Churchill.

What I learned

What I learned from Israel's prime minister is that he takes Iran's post-revolutionary history into his calculations, a consideration that seems contrary to U.S. leadership approach. Iran intends not only to produce nuclear weapons but also intends to enrich its uranium in-country. Iran intends to maintain ts global jihad in its plans. Their words, read by Netanyahu, prove this.

Changes must happen n the context of nuclear arms negotiations with Iran

The U.S. negotiations in Geneva continue within the context of Iran’s label of the U.S. as “the Great Satan” and its chanted: Death to America! They continue within the context of Iran's insistence that sanctions now in place be lifted and no further sanctions added.

The U. S. needs to reverse what has been given away so far in efforts to "win" in negotiation. "Winning" is key for this administration in the U. S., however, and there is not likely to be a Wisdom Awakening, humanly speaking.

"A Negotiated Agreement OR War--the Only Options Left"

This claim is not true. The U.S. has more than two options: "negotiate OR go to war, " and to use a middle option would not be "the end of the world."

We could allow the Iranians to walk away and return another day, while sanctions remain. Not likely, however, due to the "winning" factor.

Nehemiah in Persia

Nehemiah, a figure of Israel's history, was a Jew in exile in Persia, a land where Iran is now. He served Persia's King Artaxerxes hundreds of years ago, in the BC Era. He was at the palace at Shushan when returning exiles told him about Jerusalem, the city's walls-their equivalent of homeland security--destroyed.

Nehemiah wept at this news and prayed fervently to be able to help. The king agreed, and answered other requests of Nehemiah: (1) letters of passage and (2) a letter to the king's forest manager; "instructing him to give me timber for the beams and for the gates of the fortress near the Temple, and for the city walls, and for a house for myself.”

Nehemiah said: "And the king granted these requests, for God was being gracious to me."

A nuclear-focused Iran from military perspective

Iran changed radically in 1979 when the Shah was deposed and outcast. The incoming caliphate changed the country and 36 years later is ready to be a nuclear-arms Iraq. Sanctions have worked to a point regarding today's Iran. IAEA oversight, as Netanyahu mentioned, has not worked fully, due to Iran's resistance of it. The U. S. appears ready to drop sanctions.

American strength, like Jerusalem's walls of old, crumbling regarding Iran and Middle East

American strength needs rebuilding in character as well as confidence and service. I would like U.S. leaders at executive and congressional levels that know how to be wise about nuclear armament questions everywhere in the world. That's the hope, but reports today say that will not happen regarding Iran.

Middle negotiation option with Iran could help rebuild America

But, this middle option is not likely to happen. Good for Iran, bad for the U. S., Israel, and others.

Finally...

Regular Americans should have spoken up earlier; but "should'a, would'a, could'a," as Hillary Clinton once said about one of her controversial actions.

I think now of the biblical Habakkuk. this situation now "is what it is." Habakkuk's final word was that if the worst happened he would maintain his hope in God.

What gives you and me the urge to follow these events carefully and to write or speak about them? First, it is basic to think and to learn for ourselves; second, we are not alone in our views. That does not mean they are correct, but it means that they just might be reasonable. Third, we care about this country and the world.

Prepare to Listen to P.M. Netanyahu Speech before the U.S. Congress

2015-02-26T13:37:00.001-05:00

Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Tuesday, March 3, 2015 is the date scheduled for the American people and others around the world to hear more from the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu. His views and hopes regarding Iran and Israel have a wide audience as Iran claims to negotiate with the U. S. on its preparations for the development of a nuclear weapons program.

The context of current U.S. negotiations with Iran
The context of U.S. negotiations includes Iran’s never-retracted label for the U.S. as “the Great Satan” and its ally, Israel, as “Little Satan.” Iran long-ago chanted against the U. S. and Israel: Death to America! Death to Israel!

U.S. history with Iran since its 1979 revolution should inform American thoughts. In these days, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tries to negotiate successfully with Iran on its nuclear weapons development, with disappointing results thus far.

Soon after the Iranian revolution, 1979, American citizens were taken hostage and were not released until early 1981. I was in Washington, DC, when the yellow ribbons of welcome clung to trees and rooftops, especially around the White House and Farragut Square. The American spirit of strength, hope, and resilience seemed to fill the streets.

Two years later, 1983, Iran branded its imprint on our history again, in a bombing attack on the U. S. Embassy in Ain el-Mreisseh, Lebanon, killing 52 people. The explosion reached the ambassador's desk, according to reports.

As noted decades later by U. S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly on the 30^th anniversary of the attack: The bombing of Embassy Beirut in 1983 opened a new chapter (emphasis added) in America’s history in the Middle East. The first of what would be three attacks on Americans, and Lebanese colleagues in Beirut in 17 months, it was a bloody rite of passage. (April 13, 2013)

America remains in that chapter of history with Iran. The American people are at risk, and this fact goes against how we wish to think. Our politicians and officials will make existentially wrong decisions if they ignore who and what Iranian leadership is. The religious-political government has never taken back its vows against the United States of America. At this moment, it prepares the capability to wreak unthinkable destruction. Its inflexibility in “diplomacy” reinforces this view.

If Diplomacy, Negotiate from Strength
Originally, I expected the Secretary of State to negotiate firmly against Iran’s nuclear weapons development, allowing only for domestic use of nuclear power.

I now think that his meetings with Iranian officials, if they continue, can at best only delay an inevitably bad outcome. Stopping an Iranian nuclear weapons program appears to be a lost or, worse, discarded goal.

However, there may be some in congress who could convince others to take second look at diplomatic circles and speak up more for the U.S. to do whatever it takes, short of war, to halt Iran’s preparations in that area.

Netanyahu's Role from a Jewish Historical View

Preparing to listeni to P.M. Netanyahu’s speech before the U.S. congress, I returned to the biblical book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was, in his day, Jerusalem's hope for leadership. His strategy, in rebuilding the war-torn walls of Jerusalem, employed wisdom against those who declared themselves his enemies.

Nehemiah's prime enemy was named Sanballat, and at first, regarding Nehemiah, he “was angry and greatly enraged, and he mocked the Jews.” (Neh. 1:1) (See Iran's record, above.)

Later, as Nehemiah's work progressed, Sanballat and company threatened the Jews. (See Iran's record.)

Unsucessful with that, they plotted and prepared to make war on the Jews.
(Consider Iran's avowed plans.)

Still unsuccessful, Sanballat and company resorted to negotiation efforts (see above, Iran and U.S.):

“Let’s meet in one of the villages, at Ono.”
("Let's meet in Geneva" equivalent today.)

Nehemiah's enemies sought meetings five times, and five times Nehemiah refused.

(Not in the record above, because Nehemiah believed the enemy's mocking and threatening words.)

The enemy prepared to fight. (See Iran's record, above.)

Then was when one of Nehemiah friends proposed safety behind closed doors of the house of God.

Nehemiah refused his friend, too.

Nehemiah continued to work, true to his mission to rebuild the walls, doing it with intense loyalty

to God and his people.

When the Nehemiah 's people completed the work, the surrounding nations feared.

(Then, their eyes were opened.)

Is it too late?
Is it too late for the U.S. to make clear once and for all that meetings with Iran must return to the original starting point--no nuclear weapons development for Iran.

Iran’s mocking and threats usually, if not always, join the U.S. with Israel. The U. S. is strong and Israel’s situation amidst Arab enemies is tenuous. Israel is the prime enemy; therefore, weaken Israel by discouraging and removing U.S. as Israel’s ally. (Sanballat and company all over again.)

Unlike a great leader, the U. S. appears to court a better relationship with Iran in spite of “Death to America!” threats. Ignore the mocking, the threats, the preparations for attack…agree to meet more and more. Every delay is a move against the U.S. mission and goals, not against Iran’s.

It's puzzling why any Secretary of State would not believe Iran’s threats and publicly admit them.

Face the Unimaginable

I am convinced that to think that Iran's goal of nuclear weapons is impossible to reach or can be weakened by delay is a false assumption.

I think we have solid reasons, based on decades of publicly available reports, to believe that many Iranian people want peace and change, that they hope and pray that the U.S. will not play dangerous, yielding diplomatic games with Iran. Many hope that the U.S. will show clear resolve, even if an agreement cannot be reached and sanctions on Iran continue, with continued inspection efforts.

I want to hear Prime Minister Netanyahu's perspectives about these serious matters on Tuesday.

Here's the Rub about Piling On Brian Williams

2015-02-14T12:55:00.001-05:00

It's possible or likely that Brian Williams, NBC news anchor, never tried to imagine the disgrace he set himself up for in lies and exaggerations about his war-journalist experiences.

He "deserves it!" sums up rationale for ridicule being heaped on him now. All he has done of good or right is pretty much over-laid by his lies, now admitted.

Having placed himself in fictional harm's way under RPG fire over a war zone (Iraq? Afghanistan? both?), he "asked for it!" Cliched phrases like "How the mighty have fallen" are figuratively post-it-noted onto the man's tall yet now-denuded pedestal.

Causes of public anger, resentment, and scorn against Brian Williams are part of the general sense of being conned, bamboozled, and flimflammed by a trusted public figure. It's not the first time for public shock and disgust, and again to be taken in raises the same feelings of being a chump, a mark, or a sucker--each a fast poison to any residual feelings of respect.

Some say that pride proved the downfall of Brian Williams; as Mark Twain said, "Human pride is not worthwhile; there is always something lying in wait to take the wind out of it."

But here's the rub, the obstacle in the way, the question that comes to mind about continual piling on: "How far can this go without destroying a person?" Maybe I take this too seriously; perhaps the butt of the joke learns to laugh at it, too, at himself. I just can't imagine that ever happening here.

The first reaction that the public wants from the offender, Williams in this case, is a combination of not only honesty and admission (key words here) but also of true remorse, repentance, and confession. Fake attempts are unacceptable, and people will carefully watch and listen for proof, as much as possible, of the real thing.

"At what point forgiveness?" For those who forgive doing so puts an end to ridicule or harsh humor; judgments no longer satisfy or entertain. To forgive does not always mean to forget. You might forgive the stalker, but you do not forget that he still tracks you with a loaded rifle, to give a strong example. I believe that to ignore important information about present dangers or realities would be foolish.

Forgiveness is an act of grace.

This time of high emotional reaction has an end; I hope for that. Yet, if that end can be or will be depends greatly on Brian Williams. The hope I see is an "If." If he exchanges the familiar mantle of authority for an average man's mantle of humility in the fog of his own war, then I see hope for restitution for him...of some kind if not a professional one.

For now, the public still sees Brian Williams caught in a danger zone; his colleagues and fans remain angry, disillusioned, and hurt by what he did. I hope that Brian Williams has true friends of strong character from whom he will seek frank, personal appraisal, disregarding public reputation for now.

Otherwise, I opine, obstacles to his and his profession's good will multiply long after these piling on days.

Here's Why Nothing Unique from the President at National Prayer Breakfast

2015-02-06T15:52:00.006-05:00

On the morning two days after the world learned of film showing a Jordanian pilot being set on fire, alive, by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), President Obama informed National Prayer Breakfast attendees in Washington, DC: “Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place..." (full quote here).

Let's look at the imagery of "on a high horse":

"The combination of ...

being high off the ground when mounted on a great war charger,

looking down one's nose at the common herd,

and also being a holder of high office

made it intuitive for the term 'on one's high horse'

to come to mean 'superior and untouchable'."

I try to imagine General George Washington--born in Virginia colony, subject of England's King George III and military leader of the colonies' revolt against the king--on one of his high horses (perhaps Nelson or Blueskin) announcing that royal over-reach was "not unique."

If the U.S. President, Barack Obama, had been president in 1939 or 1940, would German Christian pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer have been reminded that Hitler's regime was "not unique"?

If the president had been in office when Pearl Harbor was bombed by followers of the "sun god," would he have noted that surprise attacks were "not unique"?

The wrongs the president outlined (including slavery) have been bravely fought against to the point of shedding of blood and loss of life, ultimately winning abolition in the western world. (Meanwhile, anti-Jewish sentiment rises in Europe and on U. S. university campuses, as presented in this report.)

The president's "high horse" comments have already diverted attention (hence this post) from crises at hand, where a large portion of the world is increasingly threatened by ISIS/ISIL and others beyond Iraq and Syria. Yemen recently fell to ISIS, whose self-published goal is the destruction of all "infidels" (non-extremist Muslims included).

The president made a factual point: Savagery by any name is not unique among evils and sins in the world. Yet, he did not take call out the present savagery and state firm intent to rid the earth of its terrors for this and future generations. ISIS--and other terrorists shouting "'Allahu Akbar'...a jihadist war cry dating from its declaration by Islam’s prophet Muhammad when he made an aggressive proto-jihadist foray on the Jews of the Khaybar oasis"--does not hold back. Neither should the United States and other civilized nations with different power standards.

President Obama reportedly readies himself to approach another powerful high horse, the U. S. Congress, regarding new military actions.

This topic gets "curiouser and curiouser." And yet there is nothing unique about powerful leaders that rely upon delay, finding it extremely difficult to face the import of what is happening not only far away but at home. I would not want to be on the president's horse, yet it is the one he wanted. Similarly, congressional members fought for their high positions. The big choices are never easy for those in whom historic decision powers reside.

The News Alarms and the Good Transcends

2015-01-25T14:10:00.001-05:00

The Washington Post comes to our house every day. We know it is likely to be full of sad news front to back.

Our TV brings in many news sources, all telling of dissension and disaster, threats and fright. They do this 24/7.

News magazines in waiting rooms forecast the future of nations, climate, governance, militia, families, and more, often with dark predictions and falling hopes.

Life and death, good and evil happen in human events. We are reminded of this every day. Some see or live within it daily.

Christians today around the world realize that much of the world's news resembles in nature the Roman-ruled world of Jesus' years on earth. In earlier years, from Genesis to Malachi, it was much the same: the earth filled with turmoil, relatively few years of peace anywhere in their experience.

“You took my sin and shame. Forever I will bless Your Holy Name.” These words run through my mind, from a song I cannot find.

Good News is eternal, intended for all the world to know, all that Jesus taught by words and deeds.

Those who put their trust in God through His Son have the good news, the gospel, that over-rides and eclipses the distressing news of the day and the night. This good news brings hope to all nations: God made a way for all to come to him through his Son, and they shall not perish.

God’s Word goes forth in power in every language. “God spoke to me in my own language,” said a young man that had lain wounded from a self-inflicted gunshot, a failed attempt at a revenge-killing against the one who had killed his father.

Someone took a Bible to the young man in hospital. The Bible was printed in a language different from his own, yet a language he knew. He read it, and then God spoke to him about his future.

“God spoke to me in my own language,” he said later. It was the language of his family, tribe, and tradition, not in English, the Bible he had been given.

God told the young man that the effects of his wound would heal—against the most-assured medical predictions. Sure enough, the young man walked out on his own two feet from that hospital. He walked out a healed man with a transformed heart. The desire for revenge left him, replaced by God. I heard him speak of these things, “live” in his country, along with others with whom he serves the Lord today in Ethiopia and, as years have passed, possibly elsewhere, as well.

Isaiah wrote:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations” (Isaiah 61:1-4).

Jesus read those words soon after his 40 days in the desert. This is the record in Luke’s gospel:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place* where it was written, (*Esaias/Isaiah 61)

^“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say unto them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4:17-21).

Religions vary, “but the Word of the Lord stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8); 1 Peter 1:25) with power to save. Every soul that is in darkness, prison, sickness of the mind or body in which it dwells; every soul that despairs, without hope in this world, God knows perfectly: “…the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint” (Isaiah 1: 5).

John the Apostle wrote:

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne

and the beasts and the elders:

and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;saying with a loud voice,

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,and honour, and glory, and blessing.

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,

Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever

(Revelation 5:11-13).

*****

Scripture source: King James Version (KJV) of the Bible--public domain