The Crumbling Dream of Global Democracy

I, like the increasing majority, read my news online. I am disturbed by my callous indifference to the latest report of terrorism in the Middle East. Afghanistan, Pakistan,..... today it was Iraq.....over a hundred dead in a suicide bombing. As a South African I have developed the ability to assimilate shockingly tragic news without flinching, because you hear the same type of report again and again.

But c'mon, it's absolutely crazy over there!

This last terror attack was motivated by the desire to disrupt democratic elections in the near future. It's amazing how people with a religio-cultural fervour do not want the masses to have their say. (or they don't believe in the accuracy of the process.)

The question rises in my mind: Is democracy going to win out in the end? Is the future of our planet democratic? Is democracy the best form of government for all the people of the earth?

My choice would be to spend the rest of my days in the center of the democratic universe: America. I, like most Westerners, have a healthy mistrust of office holding leaders. I have confidence that I won't abuse my own personal liberty. I am also prepared to accept the challenge of living amongst those who abuse their liberty and as a result create related socials ills. (materialism, greed, pornography, drug abuse...)

The American invention of democracy was in reaction to the collision between the European rights of kings, nobles and lords and the awareness of the rights of the individual sparked by the enlightenment and renaissance. The notion that I don't have to be a faceless peasant at the bidding of the local lord or an expendable pawn in a prince's army emerged out of a distinctly European experience.

Admittedly, world exploration and colonization exported these mindsets around the globe, but as the influence of the West diminished in places like the Orient, Middle East and Africa, it emerged that the villages of our world still valued the paternalistic leadership of elders and wanted to restore strength to their chiefs and kings.

You see, the awareness of the individual is not a given in every culture. I have observed the unity of the African community. (My apologies here if the weakness of my African anthropology proves offensive.) The village acts as one, if the chief is strong, then the community is strong, so the chief eats first and the women and children last, and nobody objects.

African democratic processes often miss the spirit of a private, secret ballot, because no other decision is made that way, why should we vote as individuals? Who gives me the power to decide to empower our traditional decision makers? I often feel that traditional African communities enshrined a desire for democracy in their communities simply on the basis of their majority over the controlling colonial communities. Where it not for the debt and trade links to their previous colonial masters, I think they would abandon the insanity of democracy altogether.

Is the middle east not in a similar struggle against our democratic idealism? Even moderates would probably be more confident in benevolent autocratic religious leaders than submit to the uncertainty of constitutional elections.

Biblical prophecy seems to predict the rise of a strong global autocratic leader with the power to reign in civil liberties and enforce conformity to sinister policies in the pre-apocalyptic period. Whether democracy is the mechanism used by such a leader to gain control is unclear, what is clear is that the spirit of liberty and democracy evaporates during the time of their rule. Further predictions indicate that this sinister power isn't broken by free and fair elections, but by the arrival of a liberating army under the command of King Jesus Christ.

Democracy will be dead and the all the people of the world will live in peace and justice. Go figure.

Reigning Cats or Dogs?

We have two kittens, now about 5 months old. The girl is "Sam" and the boy is "Luigi" or "King Louis the 16th"(which had a ring to it, despite the tragic circumstances of said king's demise), depending on which side of the Italian/French border you prefer. In spite of such fascinating names, the cats are inevitably referred to as "the boy cat" or "the girl cat."

It has been said that "dogs have owners, and cats have staff." Nothing epitomizes this maxim more vividly than watching my son Michael's voluntary servitude to whatever might be the kitten's pleasure. Bob Sjogren, in his book "Cat & Dog Theology" expands on the comparison between cats and dogs to describe the importance of adopting an accurate perpective on the meaning of life.

Bob argues that you get "dog" and "cat" people. Dog people view life as follows: "He loves me, died for me and he answers when I call his name, He must be God!" Cat people think differently: "He loves me, died for me and he answers when I call his name. I must be God!"

For Cat Christians, the ultimate reason behind all existence is their own benefit and blessing. Nothing makes sense or is worth fighting for if it doesn't ultimately promote my interests. Cat Christians will endure terrible hardship at times, but all with the understanding, that in the end, their endurance will be vindicated with an even greater reward.

Cat Christians will even wear the trendy "It's not about me." T-shirt if they believe it presents an opportunity for God to trust them with "next-level" blessing.

What if it pleases God's glory to throw you under the wheels of the truck instead? What if you are the martyr whose blood will become the seed of the church? What if your uncanny suffering is destined to stand as a testimony to unseen accusers as recorded in the book of Job?

What about the generations of Israelites that would die languishing under Eqyptian slavery waiting for Moses to be born? Where was their big redemption? How about the missionary who watches her children die of malaria before her own life expires after battling tubercolosis? Is her faith somehow deficient? Can every Christian expect to come back with a knock out punch in the 15th round after falling behind on points? Like ants crossing a stream, some have to die to build a bridge for others, and ensure that progress continues. How often has the kingdom of God been halted in it's expansion to indulge the comforts of a self serving Christian?

I know that insane leaders and cruel tyrants have used this very logic to motivate the sacrifice of followers to their corrupt ends. However, if our Savior's defining hour was the cross, why should we be such strangers to hardship if we claim to be His followers?

I suffer from a severe case of Cat Christianity. Like lymphoma, it keeps manifesting everywhere. Drilling down to the core of my motivations is harrowing. Why after so many years in God's kingdom do I lack nobility of spirit?

Emergent writer, Brian McLaren, wrote about a root cause of self serving Christianity. He says that many Christians have a fundamental flaw in their make-up. They got into this thing because they wanted to escape hell. This begs the question: at what point should " I don't want to burn in hell." evolve into " I want to lay my life down for God's glory, no matter the cost"? People who desperately want to escape the flames are the least willing to run into burning buildings to save others.

Fear filled preaching about hell has triggered a self preservation motivation for getting saved. We need to saved from selfishness and self absorption. We aren't called to simply escape hell and go to heaven, we are called to be reconciled to our God, live for His glory, and serve others with the ministry of reconciliation, no matter the cost.

The Beginning of Empowerment

The last two Sunday's messages have been a re-examination of the foundational teaching of repentance. We have learned about how many believers never live a healthy Christian lifestyle because repentance isn't fundamental to their conversion experience.

I made a personal commitment to Jesus after hearing the gospel preached in the eighties, and I often testify how I sinned more after my conversion than before. It seems as though the gospel had been reduced to a humanistic: "Just accept Jesus" before I darkened the door of the church that night. As young Christians, we were taught that if we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, He will progressively change our mind about sin and make us want to do good instead. As much as the Spirit plays a huge role in purifying our hearts, God cannot force us to repent from sin. The Spirit convicts, but we have to make up our mind to repent, and to follow through on that.

Why did repentance become so unpopular? In a world drenched with feel-good, popular psychology, the diagnosis of sinful practices requiring a humble acceptance of error and a radical course correction just didn't sit well with a generation hooked on self-expression. Caricatures of heavy-browed, finger-wagging preachers chastising their cowering flocks caused image conscious churches to wade into the swamp of democratically demanded affirmation.

While the church was softening it's message, society urgently attended to the empowerment of disadvantaged and oppressed people groups. Those seeking empowerment ranged from disadvantaged race groups, to women, the unskilled, to those pursuing alternative lifestyles. Few of these groups looked to the church for a pathway to empowerment. The irony is that the key to empowerment was lying fallow in the church.

Empowerment achieved can look suspiciously like the oppressed attaining the lifestyle of the oppressor. Those lacking self-determination looked over the fence of injustice and resolved to somehow obtain what the privileged had. The African-American wanted the respect and rights of the Caucasian, the women wanted the male privileges of high paying careers and freedom from the burden of homemaking, the unskilled worker wanted the wage and opportunity to relax that only the successful few enjoyed. The battle for equal rights for alternative lifestyles continues till today.

Just one question: Who said that a lifestyle equal to the privileged oppressor equates to freedom and empowerment? In my experience of apartheid South Africa, the oppressors were as disfigured and trapped as the oppressed. The oppressor has the further disadvantage of being blind to the golden cage. Most importantly, the oppressor has increased wrath stored up for the final day of judgment.

This gives rise to my premise. Empowerment cannot be achieved without God. Equality to a more privileged sinner might feather your nest, but how will that help if the whole tree is on fire?

You see, I believe that freedom isn't the absence of all authority. In fact, careful observation of history reinforces that freedom requires fences or boundaries to secure it. Without some final authority we are left with anarchy and without the rule of law, no-one is safe. It therefore stands to reason that empowerment can only occur through adherence to ultimate authority. In other words, if I comply with God's requirements, I escape all other oppressors and experience the freedom of having to bow only to my Creator.

I begin to comply with God's requirements by repenting from a sinful lifestyle. Therefore repentance is the beginning of empowerment. Forget the march to city hall, rather get a change of mind about the life God wants you to live.

Go Deep!

Columbus day weekend was a shocker for sport lovers across Boston. The Red Sox: swept out of the play-offs by the Angels! Now what? Are we forced to support our rival Yankees against the resurgent West Coast teams? Not likely. Rather, I suspect the subject of baseball will all but disappear from New England conversation until next summer.

What about Brady and the Pats? Are you kidding me? Somehow contriving to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory! I get the feeling that the monkey on Brady's back is his reputation rather than his repaired knee. The Broncos QB, Orton, who looks like Mr. Unassuming and probably won't marry a supermodel; played like the seasoned pro, while Brady desperately tried to engineer the old magic to no avail. Sure he did OK in the first half, but the long bombs exploded on the turf, and were it not for zippy Wes Welker grinding out the yards, the game would have been over long before the end of regular time.

I mentioned football in Sunday's sermon. I compared the fisherman Peter's return to the deeper water after an unsuccessful night on the sea in Luke 5 to the resolve of a receiver to dash into the end zone one more time to catch the elusive ball and win the game. In tough times we must still position ourselves within reach of opportunity and expect success, especially in response to Jesus command to "go deep."

My family and I went deep when we passed through "the eye of a needle", leaving our life in South Africa behind to go into the deeper water of the USA, expecting a great catch! It has been hard work just getting to and staying in this "end zone" of opportunity. The game is well into the fourth quarter and we need a touchdown to go to extra time. Like Randy Moss I feel like the ball just hasn't been there for a pass completion.

I will keep running into the end zone, continue sailing into deeper water to let down my nets. My hands are raised, my head is lifted, I know my quarterback has His eyes on me.

Mojave Madness

I'm not sure, but I think there is an endurance motor race through the Mojave Desert called Mojave Madness. The madness of a bunch of bikers looking for some extreme fun is nothing compared to the supreme court battle raging over a memorial cross erected by and for war veterans in a national park.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6266291/Mojave-Cross-memorial-to-WWI-dead-violates-first-amendment

Some "bright spark" is suing for the removal of the cross because it is offensive to war veterans of other faiths and it violates the separation of church and state. As a result, the cross has been boxed like an IKEA flat-pack until the court case is over and a decision is made. Hah! This is what made America great!

I understand the first amendment. I think it is a critical part of making America's the best form of government on the planet. By the way, being better than other methods of government does not mean we have a perfect system of government!

Nevertheless, I think that many right wing conservative Christians are wasting their breath trying to argue for a Christian State and Christianity as the state sponsored religion, (or is it Church sponsored State? I dunno.) The fact is, every national population will consist of a percentage of people that don't believe that Jesus is Lord and Saviour. Those people must be governed with justice and be given their human and civil rights to prevent human authorities from inevitably exploiting the weak and limiting the liberty of the ignorant or the minorities.

Having said that, I have seen crosses across the South African landscape. They are serene, sometimes stirring reminders of the pioneering spirit that established a form of civilization in the wilderness. They are expressions of the devotion, trust and dependence on God that enabled some of our predecessors to endure hardship.

It is important to note that these crosses, just like the one in the Mojave desert, are not critical to the mission of the church or the advancement of the Christian cause. One can again argue whether the cross is the best symbol to serve the message of God's love. If Jesus had been hanged instead of crucified, would we be arguing about a "gallows and noose" on a rocky outcrop?

My point is that I think that the agenda to strip this nation of all physical reminders of an undeniable Christian heritage is pathetic. I can only imagine how a traveller or a tourist would ridicule at the current sight of what must look like a confused apology for the passionate determination of a God-fearing veteran who wanted to remember and celebrate the faith of his peers that endured the fire of war.

So the Buddhist couldn't erect their own monument nearby? Hey, as religions go, I think Buddhism is a very virtuous, peace-loving faith system. But was America built on it's principles? Did countless American soldiers find comfort and strength in Buddha as they shivered in the trenches of war? Do Buddhists even believe in war? C'mon people! Get real.

Having said all that, I think we can either leave the cross alone or sadly, take it down. Whatever satisfies the wisdom of the court. But will someone PLEASE get rid of the IKEA lollipop!

Worth fighting for

I have become aware of a prevailing attitude amongst locals during our first year in Massachusetts. When people learn that we have stayed here for some time, they cynically ask "So what do you think?' It's as if they expect us to burst out sobbing and say, "It's terrible here, we hate it! It's so cold and miserable!" The few people who know anything about Cape Town say: "You left that...for this?"

Yes, it is insanely cold in winter, but how about the dozens of South African professionals that continue to move to Canada? Talk about cold! Do they get asked the same questions?

For now, the snow has a mysterious charm for us, and the foliage of spring, summer and fall is spectacular. I have enjoyed opening my car window as I drive through the tree-lined suburbs of Boston. There is a similar tree-lined avenue near our previous home in Cape Town. I often took visitors to our area along that route, just for the scenic value. In Norwood, MA , nearly every street looks like that!

Having studied some of the revolutionary history of Boston, the natural beauty of New England has spurred me on to conclude that "It was worth fighting for."

If a bunch of colonial fat cats back on their damp island were seeking to dominate and extract tribute from my bountiful new world, I might have been willing to grab my musket in the name of freedom if no other reasonable recourse were possible.

I feel a kindred spirit with the patriots in my reason for being here. I felt a call to this part of the world because a new fight for freedom is raging.

The revival fires of the Great Awakening which stirred up the appetite of independence and freedom from an exploitive and spiritually compromised British Empire created an America with freedoms that are still unique in our world today. Unfortunately, the steamroller of secular thought and the successful discrediting of Christian leadership is creating communities without a sustainable upliftment dynamic. If we don't fight for the soul of the emerging generation, America will descend in world influence and make way for the dominance of other cultures who may not have a Christian foundation.

Fortunately, many leaders and churches are fighting the good fight, reaching this generation with contemporary methods. However, Massachusetts and the East Coast needs more prevailing churches to secure freedom for this densely populated, beautiful part of the world.

A Dragon in the Daffodils

Philosophers want to understand the meaning of life-to prevent useless pursuits and to make sure our limited time on earth is well spent. They desire to strip back the layers of reality to reveal the essence and core of existence. Despite their best intentions and excavations, empirical evidence cannot provide an adequate foundation for thought. As a result, every philosopher, every theorist, relies on presuppositions. Flaky, unprovable theories that undergird some of the most powerful arguments raging in the forums of contemporary society.

A dominant humanist anthropological presupposition is that human beings are inherently virtuous. It is a contagious optimism about the nature of people that argues that the deviant or criminal behaviour that ruins our societies is as a result of circumstantial pressures on an innocent human disposition. This theory disregards the account of the disobedience and resultant corruption of the human nature of our progenitors in Eden.

According to humanism, people do wrong when they are subject to poverty, poor parenting, hunger, disease, lack of recognition or lack of opportunities to thrive. Social saviors set about remedying these ills and believe for the possibility of a perfect earth in which all these evils are gone.

This theory has had a huge impact on the philosophy of education. Rather than leading a child to redemption, educating them into a biblical worldview, all while catering for the sinful nature through discipline, the humanist view believes in the innate goodness within a child. Each child is seen as a seed in the garden of goodness, simply needing the right conditions to grow. The seed is pure, so every child is encouraged to express themselves with only socially acceptable behavior as a limiting guide.

Unfortunately this garden of human virtue has a terrible occupant. The daffodils are being trampled and chewed on by an untamed dragon called the "sinful nature". It is present in every child, even in the majority that manage social acceptability. On the other hand, the delinquents present a curious challenge to humanism While humanists struggle to categorize and remedy "bad seeds" their failure to acknowledge the dragon in the daffodils will guarantee the failure of any humanistic effort to create a new world.

Ultimate purpose

Humanism is the major force in shaping law and morality in Western society. The subject of my previous posting is offensive to the humanist mind, because, to the humanist, the comfort and prosperity of humans is the highest goal of existence. That doesn't sound like such a bad life philosophy does it? I think conservative Christians too eagerly vilify humanists. They are genuinely trying to make a better world.

However, some humanists do away with any belief in God. They cannot contend with a supreme being who may interfere with their man centred ideology. That's a problem. There is a God. I refuse to enter the debate of whether there is a God. It's like the ink of a pen writing about the non-existence of the very paper it is writing on. Relatively recent* developments in the sinful arrogance of man have developed a world view in which no God exists.

*The context of "recent" is millenia past.

Another more populous group blend the Christian religion with humanism, bending God's love into an adapted form of humanism. In this hybrid form of the faith, Jesus becomes the world's greatest human rights activist. The international trend towards the upliftment of the poor and diseased is noble and vital, but it has provided an excellent middle ground between Christians and humanists. This middle ground is the construction site of an entirely new theology which is being taught and caught in churches worldwide. As a result, new Christians are more likely to be introduced to Jesus the Relief giver than Lord Jesus the Saviour.

Even hard line evangelicals will be surprised to hear the accusation of humanism woven into their ultimate purpose of "saving lost souls at all costs" . The ultimate purpose of God isn't to get people saved. If that were so, then one person in hell would mean that God's control over creation has been compromised and an eternal tragic failure has occurred. The ultimate purpose of creation is the glory of God. Our redemption and fellowship with Him is for His pleasure. I hate to say this, but a hell full of departed souls will not detract from the glory of God at all.

I can hear the humanists seething....

Our greatest peril

While preparing to present the "Becoming a Contagious Christian" course, I watched a series of curbside questionnaires in which random people were asked to comment on their belief in God and how to get into heaven. Why was I not surprised when the responses were typically post-modern, ranging from rambling agnosticism to a determined opposition to a biblical world view?

A core aspect of resistance to the gospel message is the denial of the "setup" to the gospel. The "setup" refers to prevailing conditions that make the advent of the message of salvation necessary and good. If a grubby fireman manhandled you while you were walking down main street, you would be upset and demand an explanation. If the same fireman manhandled you as he rescued you from a burning building, you would receive the gesture in an entirely different way. What we believe to be the prevailing conditions of our times has a huge effect on how we receive the gospel. People are prepared to acknowledge the possibility that all of mankind is in extreme peril. However they are not prepared to entertain the idea that the holiness of an unseen God should be their greatest concern.

As crazy as this sounds, with all the threats of disease, war, poverty and other social ills, the greatest threat to mankind's enduring prosperity and blessing is the Creator Himself.

People would say "Surely, if a such God exists, then a biblical version of Him would be loving and forgiving?" Why should he be regarded as our primary concern in a world of earthquakes, floods, crime and the like? The answer to that question lies not in the portals of heaven, but inside ourselves.

The problem exists in the tendency of every person to believe in his or her own tailor-made brand of virtue. I'm referring to the inner accountant in all of us that will not rest until we justify our iniquities to somehow "balance the books" and remove any moral debt we may owe. We have re-educated our consciences and validated every instinct, desire and drive that emerges from the human heart, calling it "expression" and an aspect of individuality.

Our refusal to accept and submit to a divine moral code has ruined or removed our "compass" and without knowing it we have steered our "vessels" onto a warpath against God. He has remained unchanged and He signals us with the terms of peace, otherwise known as the gospel. Unless we accept his terms, this war will be our Waterloo.

In the mood

As a member of an immigrant family growing up in South Africa, I can look back on certain levels of disconnection that occurred over three decades of separation from my birth country.

One of the most curious symptoms of our self imposed exile was loss of extended family perception. My father was an only child who lost his parents before my "conscious" years. Yes, as a contented child with an active private imagination, I was socially comatose till I was about 11 years old. The awkwardness of puberty finally provided the smelling salts to jolt my awareness of others to an acceptable level.

A few of dad's aunts paid us visits in the African sunshine. One such aunt survives to today, and provided a wealth of genealogical information on a recent visit my Dad and I paid her in England. Another aunt, Annie (as in get your gun!) now deceased, was a gregarious, chain-smoking, irresistible character. She was a real toughie, hardened by life in the industrial north of England. Her gritty, straight-talking humour made her all the more endearing. No amount of self indulgence or tactless commentary could tarnish her charm.

My mother came from a large family that had been emotionally removed from our world through a series of alienations involving death, step-parents, and probably the divide between Catholic and Protestant. In the end we were truly a nuclear family in a new land. In many ways, moving my wife and children to the USA is a deja vu experience. Hopefully the first experience will enlighten the second.

On occasion during my childhood, I remember my mother talking about trying to pull back the curtain of isolation that she found herself behind. Her intention was to write letters to family and, more specifically, friends. Back then, snail mail was the only mail. Letter writing was by hand as the word processor was not a domestic accessory. Typewriters were for professional typists or writers. As a result, letter writing was time consuming and almost ritualistic in nature. The expense of time continued long after the posting of the filled envelope, as weeks would pass before a letter reached it's overseas destination.

The rigour of communication through letter-writing prompted my mother to speak of the need to be in a "letter-writing mood". As a matter of fact, the absence of this "mood" provoked years, yes, years of procrastination. The procrastination would finally be interrupted by an avalanche of guilt when an intended recipient beat her "to the draw" and send her a letter first.

The absence of the "letter writing mood" is the only way I can account for the silence on this page. The fact that my life seemed trapped in an impenetrable moratorium for months is a factor. But it would be poor to use as an excuse. I should write more in times of less business.