THE COMPASSION CONUNDRUM

June 26, 2014

Perhaps I’ve been involved too long in various and sundry benevolent ministries.  But it is a painful fact that there are people who really aren’t interested in working.  I remember being thoroughly cursed by a fellow seeking help who told me he needed a job but hadn’t been able to secure work.  I informed him I thought I could help him out.  I immediately got on the phone and called a member of the church who had told me he was looking for help (this was during wheat harvest).  The member told me to send him straight out.  He had a job if he wanted it.  Instead of thanking me, it made the man furious!  He spewed some amazing invective at me before storming out.  He obviously didn’t want a job, he wanted a hand out.

My observation is that many of those “Will Work for Food” signs aren’t real sincere. However, the purveyors of the signs know that a sign saying “Really not interested in working, Just Want Your Money” probably won’t draw a great deal of sympathetic help. So, if I reward those who, in a sense, may be working at not working, am I really doing them a favor?

Through the years I’ve personally tried to operate on the principle of “It’s better to be ripped off a dozen times than to refuse to help that one person who really needs it.”  Consequently, I’ve been taken a number of times.  I know I have.  And that’s okay.  God will sort all that out.  But beggars on corners are, in my opinion, a different moral challenge.  They are, straightforwardly, saying “Give me something for nothing.”  For the most part, they are making no pretense of working to improve their lot other than standing for hours with their hands out. 

The entrance/exit to the Walmart store in Muskogee has become a favorite place for beggars.  A man or woman, dressed in a bright work vest (ironically) for safety’s sake, is stationed there on a raised yellow-painted lane divider from mid-morning till late evening every day.  They stand there in the heat or cold or wind.  The wait at the traffic light allows them to catch the vehicles exiting left onto the street from the parking lot.  The signs they hold will vary – “Need Help”; “Can’t find work”; “Children need food”.  The posture they adopt is remarkably similar – shoulders slumped, eyes lowered  (but not enough to keep them from checking the line to see if someone has rolled down their window).  One is fairly elderly – his sign says he is in his seventies.  Others appear middle-aged.  Interestingly, they’re often smoking a cigarette (raising the natural question, “If you’ve got money to buy cigarettes…). 

Their presence has raised a number of questions in my mind.  Do they have to register with the police?  Does Walmart regulate their presence?  Since they all wear the work vests it makes me think someone is requiring it.  Do they have certain hours when certain beggars beg?  Is it like shift work?  Is there some kind of pecking order in regard to who gets dibs on the times when traffic flow is the greatest?  Is there someone official to settle squabbles over who gets to beg when?  Curious minds want to know...

What kind of money do they generate in a day?  Do they get to keep it or have to hand it off to someone else?  In India, for instance, the children who beg are closely watched and beaten if they don’t turn over the money they receive to their handlers.  Is it that way with these folks?

My observation, based on sitting at the light waiting to turn left, is that most vehicles don’t give them anything.  I have no idea what percentage does.  Obviously, it is great enough to be worth it to the beggars to stand out there day after day.

I’ll confess, I rarely give them anything.  That is the result of a set of conflicting emotions that generated the title for this little blog – the Compassion Conundrum.

I do feel sorry for them.  To be honest, I’m also a little angry at them and probably a little resentful too.  I feel sorry for them because it has to be the pits to be a beggar.  Maybe I’ve got too much false pride, but I would rather starve or freeze than stand there with a sign trying to mooch money off people.  Maybe they’re not, maybe they are, but I would be embarrassed and humiliated.

I’m a little angry at them for a couple of reasons.  Scripture and common sense say “get a job.”  Paul will tell the Thessalonians in 2 Thess 3:10 – “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”  A minimum wage job is still a job.  You’re earning your way.  You may need some extra help, but you’re working and contributing to society, not leaching off of it.  Since the Garden of Eden (Gen 3), man is to earn his keep by the sweat of his brow.  That’s honorable and right.  Standing and looking pitiful with a sign in your hands contributes nothing to anyone except you.

I’m also a little resentful because, frankly, beggars make me feel guilty.  Am I stone cold hearted because I won’t help these unfortunate individuals?  Am I not showing them agape as I should?  Am I being selfish and self-centered?  I really don’t think so.  But I resent being made to feel guilty because I have something and they don’t (and, oh by the way, I worked for it).

You see, to me, here’s the compassion conundrum.  If I give that beggar a dollar or two, it may assuage my conscience, may make me feel good about myself for a minute, but is it really the right thing to do?  If I, in a sense, reward an individual for not working, am I not motivating him/her in the wrong direction?  Are we really doing him/her a favor, and pleasing our God in the process, when we hand over some cash?

Just asking…    

WHEN THE FEDS COME MARCHING IN...

June 23, 2014 

What happens when you create a totalitarian state with no moral compass?  I believe we’re in the regrettable process of finding out.  The nightmare that is our federal government continues to bulldoze its way through or over the Constitution as well as state’s and individual rights.  If you love liberty, you know this cannot end well.

A friend of mine just made me aware of one of the latest bizarre, egregious, overreaches for which our federal government is becoming increasingly infamous.  This doesn’t pertain to shoving LGBT “rights” down our throats or throwing open our borders to whomever wishes to come across or seeking to punish the owners of the Washington Redskins for refusing to change the team’s name, this, believe it or not, pertains to the problem of  “regional haze.”  

The Environmental Protection Agency brought suit a couple of years ago against utility companies in Oklahoma that produce electricity by burning coal.  This federal agency, which, like the IRS, Homeland Security, and others is absolutely running amok, demanded that the utility companies follow a government mandated plan to reduce “regional haze.”  Understand, this demand has nothing to do with public health.  Let me repeat, this demand has nothing to do with public health.  This is not about the release of toxic chemicals or carcinogens into the atmosphere.  This has to do with visibility at national parks and wildlife areas being reduced because of haze.  A haze which, the EPA claims, may be exacerbated by coal burning power plants.

I’ve lived in northeastern Oklahoma for nearly nine years now.  Believe me, haze in the atmosphere is a part of life here, particularly in the heat of summer.  It has everything to do with lots of greenery and stifling humidity.  You could eliminate every coal burning plant in the state and the haze is not going away.  If you’ve travelled to Tennessee and visited the beautiful Smoky Mountains, the natural haze is a part of their beauty.  As we travelled to the Smoky Mountain National Park last Fall, we passed at least two coal burning plants that had been closed down. Hundreds of jobs were lost, but I wonder if “regional haze” was reduced at all.  There certainly seemed to be plenty of it when we were there.

Here’s what’s really frustrating.  The state of Oklahoma already had a plan in place that would more than meet the requirements set by the EPA.  And it would do so at a considerable reduction to the estimated one billion dollars the federally mandated plan is going to cost to implement. When Oklahoma Gas and Electric and the Attorney General of Oklahoma filed a joint appeal to this order, arguing that steps were already in place to meet its mandates, the tenth circuit court of appeals in July of last year ruled in favor of the EPA’s right to impose its federally mandated plan on the state.  In May of this year, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal to that decision.

The result?  Because the EPA and federal courts arbitrarily rejected the state’s plan, which among other remedies would have used low-sulfur coal to reach emissions goals, again, at a much cheaper cost to consumers, under the federally mandated plan utility bills will increase a minimum of fifteen percent.  Many estimates see utility costs as much as doubling.  Oklahoma residents will bear an increased financial burden because a federal agency decided to throw its weight around.  We, in Oklahoma, are, in a very real sense, being taxed by a bunch of federal bureaucrats who arbitrarily decided it was worth billions of dollars (Oklahoma is not the only state affected by these regulations) to, maybe, reduce the “regional haze” in our national parks.

How much longer can this nation afford this type of abuse?  Those on limited incomes who live in Oklahoma are going to be forced to pay higher electric bills for no good reason!  Why should a set of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. have the right to force Grandma to pay an additional twenty to fifty dollars a month, just because they can?

We are seeing more and more of these power grabs by an out of control federal government.  States and individuals find themselves without recourse. Millions of voters can have their say on a moral issue such as gay marriage, and a single federal judge can dismiss those votes.  A state can institute its own regulations regarding emissions from electric generating stations, which produce a result within federal guidelines, and have a federal agency reject that plan and institute its own.  

I have read about totalitarian regimes – Stalinist Russia or Castro’s Cuba.  I never imagined I would live in one.  We are moving in that direction at a frightening pace. If states and individuals in this country don’t fight relentlessly against a federal government that greedily seeks to control every aspect of our lives, from the amount of salt in our food to the moral values we hold dear, the day is coming when this will no longer be the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Our lives will be dictated by legislators, courts, and bureaucrats whose god is power and whose moral code is rooted in a rebellion against the laws of God.   

Check your history books, friends.  This will not be a pleasant place to live.

Who is YHWH?

June 12, 2014

 

I listened to some talking head on television the other day opining about Phil Robertson and his stand on homosexuality.  She declared that Phil’s stance against gay marriage was a political one rather than a religious one.  He was simply using religion as a cloak to give legitimacy to his prejudices.  After all, she said, true Christians are embracing homosexuality and the whole LGBT agenda.  They believe that God accepts all and loves all.  Therefore, Phil really can’t be a true Christian.

To be honest, what she said frightened me on a couple of  levels.  One, her remarks spoke to what I believe will be a new angle in the attack on Christians who oppose the LGBT agenda for legitimization.  The new angle?  Those in opposition really aren’t Christians.  They’re bigots using Christianity to advance their homophobic causes.  Two, the assertion that “true” Christians support, not oppose, the gay agenda speaks to a deliberate campaign to marginalize and disenfranchise those who would argue the bible, and thus God, stand in opposition to legitimizing homosexuality.  Those who would take that position are being charged with misrepresenting what the Scripture teaches on the subject.  According to many mainstream Protestant denominations God has no problem with homosexuality, only the kooks and nuts do.

This brings me to what I believe is a central question in this ongoing battle:    

Who is YHWH?  What is He really like?

This is a question I tackle with great reservation.  Why?  First of all, it seems the height of hubris for any finite being to seek to answer such a question about an infinite being.  How can the creature possibly grasp the nature of the Creator?  It is a task that would appear to me to be, for a multitude of reasons, impossible.  Secondly, the more I study and think about the nature of God, frankly, the more inadequate, and even frightened, I feel.  Treading on holy ground requires you take your sandals off (see Exodus 3) and recognize the imperfections and flaws of your humanity.  I have no desire to misrepresent or in any way denigrate YHWH.

Having said that; I feel constrained to address this subject.  The nonsense being asserted on a daily basis concerning the nature of God must be responded to.  Is He the fiendish, cruel, vindictive, hateful God of the Westboro Baptist Church?  Is He the grandfatherly, toothless, harmless, tolerant to a fault Being portrayed by most liberal Protestant clergy?  Is one right and one wrong? Or are both pictures heretical misrepresentations of His nature?   Finding the truth in this matter is critical.  Our understanding of the character of YHWH will undeniably affect our perception of His will for mankind as reflected in the Bible.

Allow me to share a couple of observations concerning the nature of God, which make me, and may make you, a little uncomfortable.  However, I believe they are very pertinent to this discussion.

The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:20 – For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So what does His creation tell us about Him?

Generally, we look at creation for the attributes that make us comfortable with Him.  Like every other believer, I love to extol the glories of this universe.  The breathtaking beauty of far off galaxies and nebulae as seen through the eyes of the Hubble Telescope; the awesome glories of the Grand Tetons or the Grand Canyon; the bewildering and amazing varieties of life inhabiting the seas; all speak to a Being of overwhelming creative genius.  We are blessed with a world filled with seemingly infinite gifts of beauty placed here for our benefit.

But if I look with an honest eye at this creation, I also see another side of the Creator’s nature.  He has placed us on a world that is, undeniably, a violent and dangerous place.  Life, with all of its beauty, hangs for most creatures by a tenuous thread.  We tend to turn away from the harsh reality that death, often violent and bloody, is a part of life.  Disney’s representation of the animal world deliberately underplays the role of beak and tooth and claw, underplays it, I believe, because the reality makes us uncomfortable.  God created a world where billions of creatures die every day that others might live.  Pain and suffering are as much a part of His creation as beauty and life.  That is a fact.  To deny or ignore it is to turn a blind eye to a critical aspect of what His creation reveals about His nature.  He clearly wants us to understand that life, our life, is neither cheap nor easy.  Am I overstating it to say He has placed us in a world where, in a very real sense, we must fight for life?  There is clearly a side to our Creator that is not exactly cute or cuddly.

I believe too many have a tendency to read Scripture as they view creation – with the proverbial rose colored glasses.  We love Psalm 23 and John 3:16, and rightfully so.  They are beautiful affirmations of our God’s love and care for us.  They are reassuring and comforting.  Many in the realm called “Christian” today wish to accentuate this side of His revelation to us.  Great emphasis is placed upon His grace, mercy, and kindness.  The self-described “progressive” religionists would have you believe that sin is no big deal.  God is in the forgiveness business.  Selfishness, greed, and sexual sin are buried and forgotten beneath the comforter of love.  Our God is the big Teddy Bear in the sky. Just cuddle up in His arms.  Everything will be okay.

On the other hand, Scripture’s relentless depiction of God’s implacable justice tends to be ignored or explained away – except for its exploitation by atheists.  It’s almost as if there is a tacit agreement among Christians that we will turn a blind eye to the harsh judgment and violent justice God metes out in Scripture.  Once again, I fear it is neither healthy nor profitable to ignore what God’s word clearly does not.  Why would His word be so explicit about His often violent judgment against those who rebel against Him unless He wants to make it clear that offending Him is not a wise thing to do?  From causing the earth to open to swallow the followers of Korah (Numbers 16), to requiring the life of the newborn son of David because of his adultery (2 Samuel 12), to smiting Herod Agrippa with worms because of his acceptance of worship as a god (Acts 12), the message of God’s word is He does not take sin lightly.  He punishes sinners.  Harshly.  This may make some uncomfortable, but it does not make it less true.

God is the God of heaven.  He is also the God of Hell. 

I believe that people who are downplaying the dangers of blasphemy, idolatry, and sexual sin in this day and age are making a huge, and tragic, mistake.  They are choosing to ignore the complex nature of an infinite Being who is as just as He is gracious.  Their deliberate ignoring of His absolute demands for obedience and loyalty are temporally and eternally unwise.  Scripture could not make it clearer that there will be a horrifying price to pay for disobedience and disloyalty.

We have a divinely given blessing to share with the world the message of God’s love in Jesus Christ.  We also have a responsibility to share with the world the consequences of disrespect and disobedience shown toward Him.  We may enjoy sharing the one and find it challenging to share the other.  Welcome to the world of Jeremiah and Paul.  But we do the world no favors if we allow it to bully us into silence on issues of eternal consequence.