Two Dissimilar Items of Interest

The first item I would like to bring to your attention is this article on the biblical illiteracy of the general "Christian" population especially the youth. I don't understand how people can claim to be God seeking people and not have read what he wrote. I think that part of the problem is that people don't seek truth about anything anymore. If something can't be learned without really trying, it appears that most people don't really think they should learn it. This quote from the article sums it up pretty well.

In general we spend far less time reading anything at all in this culture, much less dense and demanding books like the Bible. Not long ago I met with a student who was struggling in one of my courses. When I asked her what she thought the trouble was, she replied, in a tone suggesting ever so slightly that the fault was mine, "Reading a lot is not a part of my learning style." She went on to inform me that students today learned more by "watching videos, listening to music, and talking to one another." She spoke of the great growth she experienced in youth group (where she no doubt spent a lot of time watching videos, listening to music, and talking with people), but her ignorance of the Bible clearly betrayed the fact that the Christian formation she experienced in her faith community afforded her little to no training in the actual reading of Scripture.

The next is a video by a scientist that did experiments to see what happens to plant when exposed to ever increasing amounts of carbon dioxide. It is definitely worth the watch.

Olympic Flowers

Normally I wouldn't care much about who designed the bouquets that the Olympic winners receive. And I personally think they are rather ugly. But since my social justice radar is on these days, I found this story interesting. Just Beginnings is the business/charity that is fulfilling the 1800 winners bouquets. The thing that makes it interesting is that Just Beginnings offers a training program for people with multiple barriers to employment. The trainees might be ex-cons or abused women. After the the training program is completed, the participants have a marketable skill. Some of them work at the Just Beginnings store. I think this is a great way to give people a hand up instead of a hand out. You can read more about it here.

Got Jobs?

According to an e-mail I received from Rep. Kay Granger, "And after all that spending [referring to the stimulus bill of a year ago], unemployment rates are still sky high with the economy shedding 20,000 jobs in January alone. In fact, Texas had 1.6 percent fewer jobs in December 2009 than we did in February 2009. This has only led to more Congressional calls for another stimulus package. Only this time they will call it a 'jobs bill.'"

If we allow this "jobs bill" to pass, we are fools who will get nothing but trouble for it. I love this quote that I found on Caffeinated Thoughts.

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. -Dr. Adrian Rogers

Birmingham Planned Parenthood on One Year Probation

This news article made me glad/excited and sad/angry at the same time. It is an article about the video below (by Live Action) and the state of Alabama's reaction to it.





According to the article,

After the tape was released last year, state health inspectors reviewed clinic records and found that nine minors, ages 13-15, had received abortions without proper verification of parental consent since November 2008.

In one case, health officials said, a 15-year-old received an abortion even though the person claiming to be her mother did not appear to be and presented questionable records, including an expired Alabama driver's license. Inspectors said Alabama birth records show a different person as the girl's parent.

There were also concerns about reporting child abuse. One of the 13-year-olds who received an abortion reported starting having sex at age 12 and having three partners in the previous year. She was back at the clinic for another abortion four months later and said she had now had four sexual partners in her life.

"A reasonable person would suspect abuse or neglect of this 13-year-old child, based on the above," inspectors wrote. "Neither the Registered Nurse, the Medical Doctor, nor any other Center staff reported the suspected abuse or neglect to the authorities as required by law."

According to the Code of Alabama, minors must present clinics with a consent form and verify that the signature on the form is that of their parent or legal guardian. The code requires the minor to sign the form as verification, but the clinic's forms don't have a space for that.

I am glad that Live Action's Mona Lisa Project is making an impact. I am glad that the state of Alabama is taking action (though I think it should have been harsher than a 1 year probation).
But the thought of all these rapers of young girls not being brought to justice brings me to tears. The thought of a 13 year old having 2 abortions is so sad.

Please join me in praying prayers of confession and repentance for our nation.

Social Justice Research

In thinking about and researching my questions on social justice, I have been reading this post by Peter Greer and Phil Smith the authors of The Poor Will Be Glad. Here are some paragraphs that highlight the complexity of the subject and how our good intentions can have bad consequences.

After the genocide [in Rwanda], Jean seized an opportunity to begin a small poultry business to provide his neighborhood with eggs. He managed to scrape together funds to purchase several fowl, and his business grew. Later, a church in America “adopted” the village where Jean lived and worked. The church decided to donate clothes and supplies. They also imported eggs from a neighboring community and gave them away. Suddenly, this one village was flooded with surplus eggs. It is not difficult to imagine what happened to Jean’s business: people went first to collect the free eggs and bought Jean’s eggs only when the supply of free eggs was depleted. The market price for eggs plummeted in Jean’s village and, as a result, Jean was forced to sell his productive assets, his chickens.

The next year, after Jean had left the poultry business, the church that had supplied the free eggs turned its attention to another disaster in another part of the world. Jean’s community had no capacity to produce eggs locally and was forced to import eggs from a neighboring town. The cost of these eggs was higher than the eggs Jean had sold, so both Jean and his village were hurt economically by the good intentions of one American church.

Have you ever donated your used T-shirts to your local thrift store? Often these are bundled and shipped to Africa. This business of secondhand Western clothing, called the mivumba trade in East Africa, decimated clothing production in countries like Uganda and Zambia that previously had thriving textile industries. Several other countries, including Nigeria and Eritrea, have imposed significant tariffs on foreign imports to avoid a similar fate. It is hard to comprehend that our used T-shirts could harm local producers on another continent, yet the American church must learn to be aware of such consequences in our increasingly interconnected world.

Many Governments

American Vision has an interesting post today about the many governments. It is worth a read. Here are a couple of quotes to whet your appetite.

To deny the validity of the many governments and the responsibili­ties that each has under God, would be to deny the authority that belongs to each of them in the realm of their activity. If we as individuals neglect our personal governing duties, then we can expect the state to assume the role of all other legitimate governments and claim to be the sole gov­ernment, while labeling all others as counterfeits. Therefore, to see the state as the only governing institution “is destructive of liberty and of life.”

Institutions and civil governments are made up of people who are governed by the condition of their hearts. If the heart is in rebellion against God, we can expect undisciplined and ungovern­able people. If the heart has been made new in Christ, we can expect a people who will govern their lives according to the governing principles of Scripture.

Social Justice Question 1

I have been thinking for some time about justice and how it applies to socioeconomic issues for some time now. I made my self a list of questions so that I could crystalize my thoughts. So far I have only answered the first one to my satisfaction.

1. What is justice? Justice is allowing people to experience the rewards or consequences (both legal and natural) of their actions regardless of their socioeconomic status. For example, if a person commits murder, they should have the legal punishment even if they are rich or famous. A natural example would be something like this: If you drink and drive, you are more likely to crash your car. This consequence happens as a natural result. An example of a just reward would be getting the prize if you fairly won the race.

Here are the rest of my questions:
2. Is this true of countries as well? What are the natural economic consequences and rewards of various political systems, religions, and corrupt practices when looking at countries and peoples as a whole?

4. What economic system(s), religion(s), etc. are prone to produce prosperous countries?

5. Mercy is negating just consequences because you empathize with the other person or find that there extenuating circumstances. For example, an abused woman might be given a reduced sentence for murdering her husband. How much mercy can be injected into a system without collapsing the system? We cannot allow all criminals to go free or to get a minimal punishment no matter how sorry we feel for them. We would be foolish to never punish our children no matter how sad it makes us. Is it true of all systems that justice must only be sprinkled with mercy?

6. How do these ideas apply to the poor especially in other countries?