How to Boil a Frog

The common tale says you can’t drop a frog in hot water because he will jump out. However, if you put the frog in cold water and gradually heat it, the frog will allow itself to be boiled to death. This is a perfect analogy for what is happening to Christians in modern culture. The culture around us has been becoming more secular by increments for at least a century and maybe even longer.

This has been occurring in many areas, but the one that best illustrates it is women’s fashion. I recently saw a picture of a public Lake Michigan bathing beach in Muskegon from the late 1900’s. The women were basically covered from neck to ankle in form-disguising attire. By the middle of the twentieth century, women were still covering their torsos, but the suits had become more form-fitting. No one needs to be told how scantily clad many women are on today’s beaches. The postage stamp size patches on strings hardly qualify as attire, bathing or otherwise.

I am not a prude; my wife and daughters have worn and still wear what we like to call “modest bikini” fashions. But I find it difficult to attach the biblical term “modest” to a bikini. Christian women who wear them (and the men who go along) have allowed themselves to be deceived by the surrounding culture into thinking that such attire is acceptable. The Greek term translated “modest” literally means “not chaotic.” All you have to do is imagine the hormonal chaos created in a normal male upon seeing a woman in a bikini. Distraction, temptation and outright lust are almost inevitable. This is chaos.

Hold on; I am going to make a turn that may cause your head to spin: I think the same thing has happened in other areas of our Christian witness. Science is full of examples; reproductive technology is one. I honestly don’t know the exact point at which we should have called a halt to in vitro embryonic technology. Once we reached the point of creating embryos specifically for experimentation, we had certainly crossed an ethical line in my opinion. Few Christians are opposed to in vitro fertilization and re-implantation, especially for childless couples. Perhaps few realize that multiple embryos are fertilized and implanted; if more than one attaches to the uterine wall, excess numbers are culled – aborted in point of fact.

Politics is another area of concern. (You knew this was coming.) Again there is a perfect example. The trouble began with the removal of the Bible and prayer from public schools. Then religious expressions were banned from public areas. Then the Ten Commandments were “outlawed.” Last year Obama tried to force Catholic institutions to offer birth control. We learned in recent weeks that the IRS was asking certain applicants to reveal the subjects of their private prayers as one aspect of their investigation. It will be only a short time before some conservative preacher is hauled to jail for preaching “hate” from Leviticus or Romans regarding homosexual practices. (It has already happened in Canada.)

I read recently that Missouri (among other states) is attempting what is called nullification of federal requirements of gun control. They are being tricky, saying the feds can only impose their sanctions through the interstate commerce clause, so Missourians can have complete freedom with guns made and sold in Missouri. Some states have tried a similar tactic with Obamacare’s insurance mandate saying the state has the sovereign right to control commerce within its borders. In other words, people are finally getting a sense of the near boiling point of federal intervention in our lives, so they are jumping out of the pot.

Why couldn’t Christians do something like this with abortion, school prayer and other religious freedom issues? There are still states where Christians could wield majority power if they wanted to. Imagine “nullification” of Roe v. Wade. Christians often claim they want to do something, but the problem is too big and Washington is too far removed. State politics are more easily influenced. One need only consider the effect of the Tea Party movement to see that much can be accomplished through grass roots organizing. Despite the Obama win in 2012, many states elected conservatives to their state houses and the US House of Representatives remained under Republican control.

2016 seems like a long way off, but there will be mid-terms in 2014. In today’s political atmosphere, it takes a long time to build a really effective movement. If Christians really feel the heat, it is time they jumped out of the pot. The task is daunting, but nothing will change if apathy reigns. If we wait until the week before the election to get “involved,” our vote still counts, but we will have squandered an opportunity to effect real change. There is another fable about the mouse that fell into the milk bucket; he worked so hard to get out that he churned the milk into butter and was saved from drowning. Whether frog or mouse, the lesson is clear; if we do nothing, we’re cooked.

My Will Be Done

Some events force you to think about what really matters: a personal tragedy like a house fire that consumes all your possessions; a large scale disaster like Hurricane Sandy or wildfires in the West; the death of a relative or close friend; these can narrow your vision to the truly important things in life. Considering our mortality or the impermanence of things should make us introspective.

An event that is less traumatic but equally effective in making one think is drafting a will. My wife and I have just completed the process of updating a woefully outdated will. In the years that have passed since we wrote our first will, several things have taken place which made the process of rewriting more meaningful. Both of us lost our parents in the interim. In my wife’s case, the settlement of the estate was amicable – almost pleasant, if that does not sound too cheery for such a solemn affair. My mother’s passing, on the other hand, wreaked havoc on our family. We want our will to prevent that kind of result if at all possible.

When I have shared the sad outcome of my mother’s passing with a few people, I have been shocked to learn that such family disasters are not that uncommon. A close friend is currently experiencing the meaning of “no good deed goes unpunished” with his family. Another friend narrowly escaped a tragic outcome a couple years ago. Almost everyone has a tale of the family squabbles that erupted after the passing of a loved one. A well written will won’t necessarily stop all the possible creepiness that oozes from the woodwork at such times, but it certainly can set down ground rules that may help avoid some.

Solomon wrote repeatedly about the vanity of collecting things that would eventually be passed on to others. He is right to warn against clinging to things that have no eternal value. However, on the other side of the coin is the wise distribution of whatever things may remain after one’s passing. Warren Buffett has resolved to leave nothing to his heirs, wishing that they make their own fortunes (or not). Some parents bequeath all their estate to charitable causes because they agree with Buffett or they realize that inherited wealth would ruin children who are irresponsible. We have three equally mature and dependable children, so we are dividing everything equally between them. Each person must determine what is best in the given circumstances.

A will is a virtual necessity for everyone. Dying intestate (with no will) leaves the distribution up to the state; that is unlikely to be the wisest choice in any situation. There are online services that promise legal wills for very low rates. I suppose they would be better than nothing, but my wife and I chose to hire an attorney because this is a situation where what you don’t know really can hurt you, or more accurately, hurt the ones you love and leave behind. A young lawyer at our church has a home based practice which allows her to charge substantially less than a typical law firm. This put personal legal assistance within our financial reach and gave us a degree of confidence an Internet document could never match.

The over-arching lesson the Bible teaches about money is that believers must give due consideration to its use. Creating a spending plan (budget), limiting debt, saving for emergencies and giving generously to the work of the kingdom are all good behaviors at any stage of life. Executing a will is just as important because it will assure the wise continuation of your wishes after you leave everything behind. You can’t take it with you, but you can dictate where it goes when you leave.

Vive la difference

If I hear one more person say there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats I may not be able to restrain myself any longer. A dear friend who is otherwise a thoughtful, concerned conservative uttered the damnable phrase just last week. I fail to understand how anyone with even a modest grasp of the big picture can make such a ridiculous statement.

Rush Limbaugh has coined a label for these people; he calls them “low information voters.” His theory is that either through disinterest or misapprehension this group accepts the sound-bite menu and talking point drivel of the major media outlets. Rather than taking the time to become better informed, they base their opinions on the six o’clock news headlines. This behavior leaves them with a very small slice of the news, and that slice is tailored and trimmed to fit the larger progressive narrative which colors all their reporting.

I agree with Limbaugh’s theory that Obama was reelected only because a significant number of otherwise conservative leaning voters fell into the category of low information voters. I would add that there are also many conservatives who have become frustrated by the gridlock that stifles even honest and true conservative politicians who do get elected. For my part, I think gridlock is the best we can hope for and not a bad thing considering the unappealing nature of the legislation which is being held up.

To make any real progress politically, American traditionalists, Constitutional republicans, Tea Partiers or whatever one calls us must not fall for the lie that there is no difference between politicians or parties. Given the current state of things in Washington D.C. the differences between parties are striking. Both sides are composed of flawed human beings, so there will be similar incidents of misfeasance and even malfeasance, but that does not make the two morally equivalent. The larger questions of what kind of government we want and what set of moral values we support do not have the same answers for both parties.

One could say that the Nazis and the Allies were both driven by flawed people. One could say that the Pharisees and Jesus’ disciples were imperfect representatives of their respective ideologies. But in neither case could one say that there were no differences between them. The same thing holds true in today’s political landscape. The two parties are seeing a different horizon, marching to different drummers if you will.

The entitlement mentality and moral relativism of the typical Democrat platform is worlds apart from the limited government and traditional morality of most Republicans. The willingness to shred the Constitution and legislate by fiat demonstrated by progressives is diametrically opposed to the vision of the typical conservative. Do conservative spokesmen make bone-headed statements? Of course they do. Will they occasionally fall prey to base instincts? Certainly. Did Jesus defrock Peter for his misunderstanding the program? Did Paul excommunicate the Corinthians for their indiscretions? No and no.

Sarah Palin’s Independence Day Facebook post draws a striking parallel between our situation and the picture of Orwell’s 1984. Huxley predicts something similar in Brave New World. Are we becoming so tired of the lies and scandals in government at all levels that we are retreating into a low information haze? Instead of Soma, are we taking a drug called Apathy or Fatigue with the same disastrous results. Jesus has called us to be working until he returns. One aspect of that work is to remain salt and light, preserving what we can save and revealing the dangers of things we cannot save. There is a difference among politicians; we must keep the light on those differences.