Let’s Compare: God and Politics
Former New York City mayor Ed Koch, the day before the 2008 Iowa Caucus: “I’ll confess now that I will be silently praying to God that Hillary wins tomorrow and thereafter, even though I know it is foolish to think the Almighty – in whom I believe – intervenes in elections. Ridiculous, but who knows?” (Emphasis added)
The Apostle Paul, Romans 13:1: “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (ESV. Again, emphasis added.)
As my friend Matt pointed out, “I love that the guy feels comfortable enough to say ‘I pray’ and not sound crazy… but not comfortable enough to say ‘I believe in prayer.’ Guess what… Doing something you don’t believe works sounds crazier than believing in it.”
Feeling Old
This statistic made Joe Carter feel old:
…based on U.S. Census Bureau statistics, 25 percent of all Americans alive at this moment have never known a world without the Internet and Internet access. That represents 75 million Americans who consider going online as natural as turning on the TV or cooking something in the microwave oven.
I suppose, then, it makes me feel doubly old, because of the comparison they use… I can remember a time when my family, growing up, did not have a microwave. In fact, I remember that at that time, “TV dinners” were not something you microwaved, you cooked them in the oven. And you couldn’t have cooked them in the microwave even if you’d wanted to – the packaging was all made of aluminum foil… (And it tasted like it, too!)
Godly Grief vs. Worldly Grief
I read this news story and couldn’t help but think of 2 Corinthians 7:10, especially when I read the bolded part:
A woman apologized Friday for a “bad decision” in helping her 6-year-old daughter win tickets to a Hannah Montana concert with an essay that falsely claimed the girl’s father died in Iraq.
A false essay won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to a sold-out Hannah Montana concert.
Priscilla Ceballos said she hadn’t intended to mislead the contest sponsor but got caught up in helping her daughter “realize her dream of seeing Hannah Montana.”
“Instead I brought so much negative attention to my family,” Ceballos said, reading a statement on NBC’s “Today” show. “Please accept my heartfelt apology and please do not punish my child for my mistake.“
It is truly heartbreaking that someone in this situation considers the worst part of their sin to be not the sin itself – lying, and causing her daughter to lie. Rather, she considers the worst part her sin to be one of the just consequences – negative attention. Isn’t that simply replacing a sin of lying, with one of pride?
It is also very telling that she does not consider her child, who wrote and submitted the essay, to have also made a mistake.
Proverbs 22:66 Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it. (ESV)
Commentary on Western Civilization
It’s the morning after the Iowa caucuses, the first “official” step toward choosing the next leader of the free world.
The #3 most popular news story on CNN this morning, according to their “Most Popular” sidebar, is a story on the caucus titled Obama, Huckabee win in Iowa. When did we stop capitalizing titles? But I digress…
The #2 most popular story on the same site? An analysis of the election titled Huckabee up, Clinton down.
And the #1 most popular story on CNN the morning after the Iowa caucuses? The story that the most people are reading? Britney Spears taken to hospital.
It’s all about priorities.
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