Western Civ To Go

Posted By admin on February 26, 2010

by Teri Ong

I experienced a profound moment of self-realization last Friday. Shock of self-realization might be more accurate. The cause? Photographs– recent photographs– photographs taken by a professional photographer who came with her daughter on our London tour last November. Photographs taken barely three months ago. That means– if you haven’t guessed– that they show me as I really am – right now!

I wasn’t the only group member electro-shocked to a higher level of consciousness by the candid and, yes, graphic pictures of old age. My husband realized that he hasn’t had a “good hair day” in over 30 years, and has taken some drastic measures to tame his perpetually wayward cowlicks. What’s worse for me, though, is that he said some of the aforementioned photographs of me “endeared” me to him! That’s as bad as the grampa on the old Haley Mills version of The Parent Trap telling his middle aged daughter that she had “accepted the coming of age with grace and dignity.”

For at least the past two years I have sincerely wondered why the clerks (no spring chickens themselves!) in my favorite stores have regularly asked, “Are you one of our seniors?” I don’t feel like a “senior,” so I assumed that I really don’t look like one either. Bad assumption! Now I know why they ask!

I have tried to keep my outlook on life exactly that– an outlook. The eyes of my awareness gaze OUT of the sockets on my face, and as infrequently as possible do they gaze AT it. That way I can look out on the world with a thirty-something mind and ignore the fact that I have a fifty-something face and body. Ironically, I am teaching a creative writing class this semester and we just finished discussing the relative merits of realism versus fantasy! (I think I prefer fantasy.)

My husband admits that he only uses a mirror so he doesn’t cut himself shaving. Obviously, he hasn’t even used it for combing his hair in years! I only use one so I get the anti-wrinkle cream in the right spots. But looking at the photos (does the camera ever lie?), I am thinking I might as well save my time and money. I think the anti-wrinkle regimen is a lost cause.

A psychiatrist I heard on the Dennis Prager “happiness hour” on the radio offered a compelling view of the way life works. He (I didn’t write his name down because I was driving at the time) postulates that as we go through life, we spiral up a staircase through repeated phases of dependency, mastery, grandiosity, and feeling small in a big world. Interestingly, a man in his 70’s called in and said that he was very despondent over the fact that he felt increasingly small and couldn’t see that he would ever pass back to the mastery phase. The doctor said that he has observed that women have a harder time with the early stages of aging (presumably when the bloom of youth has faded and blown away like the flowers of the field in Psalm 103), and men have a harder time with the later stages of aging (when they no longer have the physical and mental agility for the demands of life in the workplace like in Ecclesiastes 12).

When it comes to looks, I never attained to the “grandiosity” phase, but as I gazed on the unforgiving photos of myself, I realized that I am now beyond feeling small in the world of attractiveness and am into the dependency on lotions and potions, as one of my daughters says.

One of my favorite Christian speakers, Bernadine Cantrell, a stunningly beautiful woman nearing 70, observed, “It’s easy to look like a million, if you’re worth a million!” (Which she does and is.) That means it’s nigh unto impossible for me, seeing how I never looked like a million, and I’m not even worth a hundred! I praise God for the daily grace shown to me by a loving husband who understands that “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,” stress fractures and all. He married me in the first place because he understood that “charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,” and was willing to marry “a woman who fears the Lord,” who was certainly neither beautiful nor charming. (Prov. 31:30) Like writer George MacDonald, he is able to see in his wife’s face the”beauty of youth (what tiny bit there was of it) shining through the grace of old age.”

So what’s to do? As the Apostle Paul said, I am left to “strive for the masteries…” as lawfully as I can! I’ll pray as MacDonald did in his Diary of an Old Soul (Jan.1),

Lord, what I once had done with youthful might

Had I been from the first true to the truth,

Grant me now old to do with better sight

And humbler heart– if not the brain of youth.

So wilt Thou in Thy gentleness and ruth

Lead back Thy old soul by the path of pain

Round to his best– young eyes and heart and brain.

I include here a short skit I wrote for the creative writing class I am teaching. I also deals with the subject of aging.

The Age of Relativity

by Teri Ong

Scene: In a science lab that looks vaguely like a kitchen. Two middle-aged lady scientists in lab coats are working at a bench (counter). Teri is looking in a microscope.

Teri: (with a start) Did you see that?!

Linda: (nonchalant) See what?

Teri: Something just went by the window super fast!

Linda: Nah– You’ve been looking into a microscope too long! It was probably just a bird flying by that you saw out of the corner of your eye.

Teri: No, I’m not kidding! Come over here! (Cross to a window, motion for Linda to come too) Something weird is going on. See what I mean. It’s like everything out there is going too fast. We’re in here and everything is normal, and then out there everything is just — whooosh!!! Can you believe that?

Linda: I don’t know. It looks pretty normal out there to me.

Teri: Maybe you’re right. Maybe I have been looking in this microscope too long.

Linda: What are you working on, anyway?

Teri: Sub-atomic particles.

Linda: That’s pretty ambitious.

Teri: Oh, I don’t know. I think I’m doing pretty well. Last week I saw a quirk.

Linda: Don’t you mean a quark?

Teri: No, it was definitely a quirk. I discovered that every time I close my left eye, everything in the eye piece goes fuzzy. It’s definitely a quirk. (Linda rolls her eyes and goes back to writing an equation on a pad.) What are you working on?

Linda: I’m working on the problem of relativity.

Teri: Oh, wow! Who’s getting married?

Linda: What!?

Teri: You said you were working on the problem of relativity. Whenever there are new relatives, there are usually problems.

Linda: No, not that kind of relativity. You know, E= mc2. Actually, we’re kind of working on the same thing.

Teri: (whips her head around) There! It just happened again. Everything just sped up out there!

(Coming back to the lab) Oh, sorry. You were saying we were kind of working on the same thing. How’s that?

Linda: You remember, the E is for energy and that is the basis of atomic structure.

Teri: If E is for energy, then m-c-squared must stand for ME times Calories squared. That’s the best way to get energy in my book. (Picks us a sub sandwich wrapped in a paper that says “Sub-Atomic”)

Linda: I don’t think those are the kind of sub-atomic structures Einstein had in mind. (Shakes her head) It really stands for Mass times the Speed of Light squared.

Teri: (nods head thoughtfully) So what is the “problem” of relativity?

Linda: In order to get very far into outer space, we would need to travel very fast. We would need to get as close to the speed of light as possible, but as you get closer to the speed of light, mass increases.

Teri: (looks down at her plump figure, and crosses to the window again) So that’s what’s going on! Everything IS moving faster and faster, and that is why I am getting bigger and bigger. You’re right! It IS a problem. What did you say happens, again?

Linda: The mass of a body increases as it approaches the speed of light.

Teri: (hugging Linda and jumping up and down) You’ve just unlocked the secret of the universe!

Linda: What!?

Teri: Don’t you see? For years, everyone has wondered why it seems like life goes faster and faster the older you get. It doesn’t just SEEM like it’s going by faster– it IS going by faster. And it isn’t really going by faster because we’re getting older; it’s going by faster because we’re getting bigger.

Linda: I think Einstein said it the other way around– a body increases mass the faster it goes.

Teri: Whatever! It doesn’t really matter. Think about it this way– You know how it is when you are young– little that is– time goes by really slowly. It takes forever to get from one week to the next– especially if you are in school or are waiting for your birthday. Am I right?

Linda: Well, yeah– I suppose so.

Teri: Just stay with me now. Then you get a little older and an little bigger, and time starts going by a little quicker. A whole semester goes by and you think, “Wow, that went by pretty fast.”

Linda: (deeper in thought) Yeah– I guess so.

Teri: Then you’re an adult, you get married, you have kids. You get a little bigger in the process. And time starts really moving. Before you know it, your kids are graduating, getting married, and having kids themselves. Whooosh! It starts going by in one big blur.

Linda: (more positively) Yeah! Yeah!

Teri: Then you’re a grandma, and…

Linda: (even more excited) You get a little bigger yet– and time is really speeding by

Teri: Now you’re with me! I knew it wasn’t my imagination. Things ARE going faster out there.

Linda: It must be all those sub-atomic particles we’ve been eating!

Teri: You’re sure to get the Nobel Prize for this! It explains so much!

Linda: (dejected) No– it won’t work. There’s a problem. My mother spends all day sitting in her recliner watching game shows and she says time is going by a lot slower. (Shrugs in disappointment)

Teri: (grabs her arm) But think about it. What happens when we get really old? We shrink, right? We get shorter; we shrivel up; our muscles atrophy. And then, I hate to mention it, but, you know, when, ah, time stops moving altogether, you pretty much shrink back to, well, nothing. (Very excited) It all makes SO much sense.

Linda: (hopeful again) Let’s write it up. We’ll submit it to the American Journal of Geriatric Relativity.

Teri: No problem here! I can wait till next week to work on the problem of fur-on-me’s.

Linda: Don’t you mean “fermions?”

Teri: Who cares about fermions? I want a fur-on-me. With life going by faster and faster, I might get cold without one.

Linda: Let’s get to work!

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By admin on February 2, 2010

Counter-cultures

by Teri Ong

London is certainly a place that is at once multi-cultural and cross-cultural. We met a woman from an eastern European country who had learned English from an American teacher. As a shop keeper in London, she was faced with the difficulty of not only translating her thoughts into English– but even further into “English English.”– and even further, of making herself understood with her own particular national accent in a society full of a multiplicity of national accents.

Christians are citizens of God’s kingdom, and more specifically, ambassadors for God’s Kingdom in a foreign land. We learn to speak the language of Ouranos (heaven) so we can be good representatives of our King. But since we were brought up in Cosmos (world), our old accent sometimes distorts the pure tones of Ouranosian, and sometimes we find it difficult to think in the language of our new country. Even with this difficulty, we know that when we became God’s own, we were transferred from our old kingdom and were made full citizens of the new (Colossians 1:13). We understand that we are not Cosmosian-Ouranosians. One cannot have dual citizenship in God’s Kingdom, because to be a friend of the World is to be an enemy of God (James 4:4). We cannot be hyphenated citizens in that sense.

Hyphenated citizenship is a big issue in America. What is a Mexican-American, or an African-American? Is there such a thing as an Irish-American or an Italian-American? What about a Canadian-American or a British-American?

The issue of hyphenation is now creeping into the body of Christ. The question was raised in Joseph Cumming’s article, “Muslim Followers of Jesus,” in the December 2009 issue of Christianity Today. Cumming poses the question; “The evangelical community accepts that Messianic Jews don’t need the label ‘Christian.’ Is the same true for Muslim background believers, or is Islam too radically different?” In other words, is there such a thing as a “Muslim Christian?”

Cumming equivocates somewhat, but I thought that he missed the main point– Why would someone want to be known as a Muslim follower of Jesus? It seems to me that the main reason would be that such a person could answer “yes” to the question, “Are you a Muslim?”, when the issue comes up in an oppressive society where only Muslims have any freedom of movement. But such a person could at the same time cling to the hope of the Gospel as provided by Jesus.

This scenario raises a series of questions in my mind:

1. Is such a person desiring to be a secret believer like Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea? Or is this person desiring to be an underground believer? There may be legitimate reasons for flying under the radar of the authorities, but will such a person bear up or recant when faced with discovery? Naaman was given clearance, so to speak, from Elisha to continue to serve his boss, who happened to be the king, when the king went into the pagan Temple of Rimmon. But the passage implies that Naaman wouldn’t have been there is he didn’t pull official guard duty on worship day. It wasn’t a place he would go voluntarily just to keep up appearances. (II Kings 5:18-19)

2. Doesn’t being a Jewish Christian (if one were to use the term) have more similarities with being an American Christian or a Chinese Christian, than with being a Muslim Christian? A Jewish Christian who continues to celebrate national feast and holidays is not necessarily at odds with New Testament belief and practice. If, some day, temple sacrifices were to be resumed, it would be unbiblical, and therefore un-Christian, to participate in such an observance because Christ fulfilled all sacrifice for sin. But when a believer’s national heritage and practice of its traditions don’t violate New Testament teaching, there is nothing wrong with participating in them. The Apostle Paul had this in mind (at least partially, I believe), when he wrote about not judging how people celebrate holidays (Romans 14).

There should be no problem at all when believers want to maintain a connection with their nation, tribe or tongue. It is not wrong for American believers to celebrate Independence Day (which my husband jokes is probably the same day as British “Thanksgiving”). It is not wrong for English believers to celebrate “Boxing Day” (or probably even Guy Fawkes Day!). I think it is an entirely different matter, however, for Muslims who have professed Christ as savior to continue to pray toward Mecca and celebrate Ramadan. Those are not merely cultural or national observances; they are religious practices at odds with New Testament teaching.

This line of thought should raise one more question in the Christian’s mind: what are the limits on national and cultural observances for the Christian? I don’t think we have carefully thought through when it might be necessary for citizens of Ouranos to withdraw from the celebrations of Cosmos. Should German-Christians celebrate the culture of drunkenness during Oktoberfest? Should Brazilian-Christians celebrate moral debauchery during Carnivale? Should American-Christians celebrate the occult during Halloween? Perhaps I should say a word about the overweening culture of materialism associated with almost all holidays in America.

It used to be that “truth, justice, and the American way,” stood for nothing anti-Biblical or anti-Christian. But as we have continued our descent into “pride, greed, and the approbation of wicked lifestyles are the American way,” the day may not be far off that there will not be such a thing as an American Christian, except as it refers to the place of one’s birth.

In ethnically and religiously diverse cultures, blended appellations might sometimes be useful. For example, one might need to describe a member of Indian society as an Indian Hindu, or an Indian Buddhist, or an Indian Christian. But to hyphenate two opposing religious belief systems is not the same thing as hyphenating a nationality with a belief system.

I believe Christ will gather His Bride, as He said He would, from every tongue, and tribe and nation. That is preciously evident to me whenever I visit our Christian friends in London. I have met Belgian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Dutch, South African, Australian, Hungarian (etc., etc.)– Christians, on our numerous visits to the U.K. Sooner or later, I am sure I will run into Saudi Arabian Christians, Iraqi Christians, and even Afghan Christians. But right now I do believe that being the semantic equivalent of a Muslim Christian– a “Muslim follower of Jesus”– seems about as reasonable as being a “Christian follower of Zeus.”

Reference:

Cumming, Joseph. “Muslim Followers of Jesus?” Christianity Today, December 2009, pp. 32-5.

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags:

Posted By admin on January 19, 2010

What the Dickens!

By Teri Ong

While I was in London, President Obama was in Oslo, Norway accepting his Nobel Peace Prize. I was gratified to see that some European protestors were uncharacteristically taking him on for his lack of substance. Sadly, there were no protests when we caved in on the man-made global warming issue, clearing the way for President Obama to enact environmental policies by executive order, thus by-passing congress and any last vestige of the will of the people.

Our greatest problems are not tied to excessive greenhouse gases, use of non-renewable energy, or even global swine flu pandemics. Our greatest problems are tied to human depravity. The great Victorian-era English authors such as Charles Dickens, George MacDonald, and Elizabeth Gaskell understood the connection between sin and social degradation, and were not afraid to take it on in their novels. Victorian sensibilities had been aroused in no small part by the efforts of William Wilberforce and his compatriots who, once slavery had been abolished, wanted to use their influence and resources to “improve the morals of England.”

I was reminded of Dickens’ portrayals of 19^th century London when, on my way to visit an antiquarian bookseller, I stepped on a very loose paving stone which gave way and covered my shoes and stockings with mud. Scenes of fine carriages full of upper class people splashing mud and muck on unfortunate street urchins and anyone else who happened to be standing in the wrong place lurched into my mind. In general, the streets of London are much cleaner nowadays, as is the air quality, but moral degradation is as bad as ever.

In Dickens’ day the industrial revolution had created a class of unskilled workers who were willing to work for minimal wages. After all, some money for some kind of work was better than no job and no money at all. Prior to mechanization, these same workers would have been employed in agriculture or in semi-skilled cottage manufacturing jobs. If there was no work during times of economic downturn, whole families might become unemployed, leading, of course, to rampant homelessness, malnutrition, and disease.

The British government enacted various laws to “improve” the lot of the poor. These attempts included the “Poor Law” which created residential (and pestilential!) facilities known as poor houses, where workers had worse conditions and lower pay than if they had had private sector subsistence level work. Lack of sanitation, poor nutrition, over-crowding and 16 – 18 hour work days led to much disease and early death. However, the government that “provided” for you in life would also provide for you in death. If you died in a poor house, the Anatomy Law donated your body to science for dissection so your family would not have to bear the cost of burying you. (I wonder if something similar will be included in President Obama’s vision of “end-of-life” planning for American senior citizens.)

Lisa Toland, in “The Darker Side of A Christmas Carol,” stated, “Many of London’s poor chose the streets to beg and prostitute instead of the government’s supposed discerning benevolence.” (Christianity Today, Dec. 09, p. 44-48) Historically, there are many examples of bureaucratized altruism being subsumed by the law of unintended consequences.

Some of the Victorians got the answer right. Concerned Christians carried out incredible charity work with no help from “government programmes.” Individuals including George Muller, Charles Spurgeon, Lord Shaftsbury, Hannah More, and the Countess of Huntingdon, and organizations such as the Salvation Army and the Young Men’s Christian Association provided orphanages, soup kitchens, rescue missions, Sunday schools for spiritual training, and day schools for teaching working children how to read and write. Christians were at the forefront campaigning for child labor laws and pressing for safe working conditions. They understood that loving their Redeemer, Christ Jesus, meant loving and caring for “the least of these” in society. They set an example of compassionate use of resources, and urged others to do the same.

Dickens, however, and other moralists got the answer wrong. They believed that people in society needed to imitate “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” without necessarily acknowledging Him as Lord God and savior of fallen mankind. Imitating the best man who ever lived sounds good on paper, but humankind has no capacity to be like Jesus apart from His saving power and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

In our own day, such social moralism has produced people who are proud that they drink only “fair trade” coffees and teas, wear shoes made of recycled shopping bags, and buy carbon credits when they fly somewhere. They think it a great cosmic favor that they are vegans and don’t mind paying taxes to put obese hedgehogs on diets (see Notes from London pt 3).

Frequently, “social justice” is a matter of class warfare. The spirit of Robin Hood– rob from the rich to give to the poor– is especially endorsed by the “poor” who hope that some of the booty will come their way. It is also true that in a democracy, the “rich” will never be able to out-vote the “poor” when it comes to deciding how much to take from people with means to give to those with needs. For many, “social justice” means getting their fair share, or a little more! But is the collecting and dispensing of largess the proper role of government?

I have frequently heard the old saw, “You can’t legislate morality,” bandied about, usually when some fervent crusader actually wants to legislate against immorality. But I think the real problem is, “You can’t legislate niceness.” When we were in London last spring, placards in the London Underground trains were advertising a “take a granny to lunch” campaign. It worked something like our car pool hotlines; you could call a central phone number and be paired up with a senior citizen who needed a little socialization. I admit that the program, at least in intention, was more admirable than our “It’s Just Lunch” dating service for disaffected singles. But I wonder how many people’s lives were actually improved significantly by yet another government program.

Our own government is currently in the process of robbing from the rich to give to the poor in a host of ways – ever increasing budgets for “education,” drug benefits for senior citizens, universal healthcare, continuous unemployment benefits, mandatory paid parental leave, etc., etc. And the move from “benefit” to “right” is as simple as cashing the first government issued check or swiping the first government issued cash card. (Maybe there is deeper significance in the term “swipe.” )

Jesus never had a top-down approach in mind in his advocacy for taking care of the poor. Biblical compassion is individual-to-individual, carried out cheerfully, the working out of Christ’s instruction to love our neighbors as ourselves. Ironically, the most compassion is often demonstrated through the sacrifice of those of the most slender means, as in the case of the widow who gave both of the pennies she possessed.

Biblically, the role of government is to punish evil doers and reward those who do right. (Romans 13:1-7) The best way on the positive side for the government to help the poor is for the powers that be to encourage and recognize those individuals and private agencies (including churches) who help the poor in practical ways. The main way this has been done historically is through tax relief proportional to a person’s charitable giving. It used to be that education, health care and the support of widows and orphans were under the purview of the extended family first. Should some fall through the cracks, the church was to take up the cause of the needy. But since the government got into the business of “charity,” the extra tax burden on families has put a damper on giving “out of the goodness of one’s heart.” And even if we don’t feel the strain on resources, we likewise don’t feel the burden, since the government will take care of things in our stead.

The best governmental way to help the poor on the negative side would be for the government to be especially hard on those evil doers who prey on the poor; for example, usurious credit card companies (no one can get out from under 31% interest!), rental companies that charge two to three times the fair market value for rented goods, check cashing companies that charge usurious fees, dishonest mortgage companies that get kick-backs for putting people in homes they are bound to lose, banks that charge exorbitant flat fees for bounced checks (even if the check amount is minimal). I’m sure you can all think of other predatory practices.

It is easy to become jaded in today’s self-centered society and think that Christian charity is dead, but one needs only to look at the front line relief workers in Haiti since the devastating 7.0 earthquake leveled the island this week. Hundreds and thousands of Christian missionaries, healthcare workers, teachers, etc., were already in the poorest country in the western hemisphere doing what they could for the poorest of the poor in the name of Jesus. And thousands more have risked their own lives to go help with rescue and relief work this very week. Many millions of dollars have been raised in a matter of less than a week, much of it through Christians giving sacrificially to Christian agencies, showing the level of care and concern for helpless and hurting people that is still possible.

The holding of all things in common so that the needs of all in the body of Christ could be met, as recorded in the book of Acts, was voluntary and sprang from hearts of love devoted to Christ and to loving neighbors as oneself. There is no such thing as “legislated love” or “coerced love.” There is, however, the possibility of the hand of God weighing heavily upon us if we fail to do what is right. And historically, sometimes the tool in His hand has been “human government.” But, no matter what comes down our pike in terms of various forms of “Obama-care,” nothing will ever supplant our responsibility to provide Christian care for those God puts in the path of our life. He has foreordained our good works (Ephesians 2:10), and most of them have human faces!

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By admin on December 29, 2009

Ye Know Not What Ye Ask!

By Teri Ong

While we have been away, I am sure that Congress has been working hard on “the health care crisis.” Just before we came over, the Senate had cleared the way for debate on some version of a national health care plan. While we have been in a country that has a nationalized health care system, I have become more and more convinced that if we get what we are collectively asking for, we won’t like it.

Life is inherently risky. There is almost nothing we can do in a day that doesn’t have any potential medical consequences. One can even get water poisoning from drinking too much water and upsetting crucial electrolyte balances. Such perfunctory tasks as eating and sleeping, if done either too much or too little, carry well known possibilities for bodily abuse.

So– when the government is shelling out billions to pay for various consequences of living (including getting old), the government has a vested interest in getting citizens to do fewer risky and foolish things. And believe me, I have seen government in action in ways large and small in the last two and a half weeks.

Item 1: County councils in various parts of England are planing to hire inspectors that will be sent to the homes of families with babies and toddlers to make sure their homes are safe for children. (heard on a BBC news broadcast)

How well will privacy-loving Americans adapt to having bureaucrats poking around in their cupboards and fining them for that can of cleanser they forgot was there?

Item 2: UK taxpayers have forked over several thousand GBP (Great Britain pounds) to send out a brochure to senior citizens telling them what type of slippers to buy and how to wear them safely. For a mere 5 GBP, a senior can have a government representative come to his or her home and fit him or her with proper slippers. The representative will then instruct said senior in how to minimize the potential of falling down while wearing slippers. (The Daily Telegraph, Dec. 5, 2009, pg. 5, col 7)

With our government already buying up car companies and banks, maybe they need to look into footwear factories so they can be ready when Health and Human Services mandates safe bedroom slippers.

Item 3: Poster campaigns are all the rage. Every Underground station had Swine flu awareness posters showing how easy it is to spread flu germs. The posters show hand prints in florescent colors of items that have been touched by a victim of the flu. Eeooo! The worst thing about the poster campaign is that you are suddenly made aware of the presence of germs on solid surfaces while you are touching who knows how many solid surfaces in one of the most public (and probably most unsanitary) places in the world– London’s subway system.

I think I read somewhere about how increased stress runs down a person’s immune system. I wonder if the H1N1 awareness campaign is more expensive than the cost of printing posters! Maybe the health ministers in the U.K. need to heed the advice on one of their other poster campaigns: Like the man in the bathtub with the electric drill says, “If you’re doing something stupid– be careful!”

Item 4: Posters in the Underground also tell how many billion GBP are spent on health care services every year because of alcohol abuse.

Bar owners in America complained vociferously when they had to go “smoke free,” since people who drink alcohol in bars often liked to do so while enjoying their nicotine as well. Wouldn’t it be ironic if bar owners were forced by healthcare watchdogs to go “alcohol free” as well as smoke free!?

I personally would welcome a new era of prohibition, though I think it is unlikely that alcohol will go the way of tobacco, especially when marijuana is on its way IN. Alcohol is so devastating in the neighborhood where I live. I think poor neighborhoods suffer even more than they might otherwise from the economic burdens of drunkenness. But all socio-economic strata suffer the emotional and domestic pains that inevitably come with alcohol abuse. King Solomon understood:

“Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?

“They that terry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.

“Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.

“At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

“Thine eyes shall behold strange women and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

“Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of the mast.

“They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; and they have beaten me and I felt it not; when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.” (Prov. 23:29-35)

In America as in the UK, the wheels of government are frequently oiled with alcohol. For that reason, if for no others, we are probably destined to pay and pay alike for the consequences of escapism. But at least remember– like another of the famous posters says, “Don’t drink and ski!”

Item 5: London also has an anti-rape campaign going on right now which is inextricably lined to the alcohol issue. The culture of drinking and partying from Christmas through News Year’s Day causes criminal behaviors to increase proportionally. This is a double problem because it costs law enforcement services as well as healthcare services. And realistically, rape and its attendant costs are only a tiny fraction of healthcare expenses related to what society looks upon as “benign” forms of “unsafe sex.”

If we ever hope to stem the costs of “unsafe sex,” we must begin with calling it what it is– the sin of immorality. As long as we celebrate immoral behavior, rather than being ashamed or disgusted by it, we will never take any steps to curb it as a society. I am sure that the cost of immoral bedroom behavior is much higher than the cost of unsafe bedroom slippers.

Item 6: Brits seem willing to pay (and pay and pay) even though the quality and quantity of available healthcare keeps slipping. One report says, “Twelve hospital trusts are significantly underperforming… despite nine of them being rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ by the official health regulator… The research also uncovered widespread safety issues including 39% of trusts failing to investigate unexpected deaths or cases of serious harm on their wards.” (Fred Attewill, “Box -ticking in NHS Hides Bad Practice”, Metro, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, p. 16)

Someone quipped in America, “When you think of ‘the government option,’ think of the efficiency of the postal system with the compassion of the IRS.” But it would also be good to think of the effectiveness of government-run education. Annually, we keep throwing billions of dollars at a declining system, hoping to fix it. That has happened to government-run health care in the UK. Do we really think it won’t happen here? My own father was nearly the victim of passive euthanasia in one of the best VA hospitals in America, a system that is frequently touted as being a good model for what is to come. Our experience with American education shows that no matter what comes, we will once again being willing to pay (and pay and pay).

Item 7: Brits have also worked themselves into an old-fashioned Catch 22. The cost of health care keeps going up and up, which means that the bill to the government keeps getting bigger and bigger. How do governments ultimately pay for bigger bills? By taxing at a higher rate. Insurance costs will cause a 1% rise in tax rates in the UK across the board. The catch is that “as Britain’s biggest employer, the NHS (National Health Service) will be hard hit by the 1% rise… A Tory official claimed the bill would equate to 14,000 fewer NHS staff which, shared equally between the current payroll, would mean 1,000 fewer doctors and 4,000 fewer nurses.” (Joe Murphy, “Rise in National Insurance to cost NHS 446 million Pounds”, Evening Standard, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009, p. 9)

Isn’t it Economics 101 that somebody has to pay the bills? The problem is that if your employer is the government and the cost to the government goes up, the government still has to cover the increased costs by taking more from somewhere. If all other employers have to cough up more in tax revenue, so should your healthcare employer (i.e. the government!), which in turn makes the cost to the government for healthcare go up yet more! If it sounds circular, it is. If it sounds complicated, it isn’t: costs go up, and we pay!

Item 8: It seems that a number of parents of underprivileged children are protesting that they haven’t gotten their fair share of money for exercise programs and diet plans, in spite of the fact that “the government has spent 69 million GBP in the past year funding schemes such as the Mend Programme as part of an attempt to fight obesity.” (Evening Standard, Dec. 10, 2009, p. 13) It was too funny that on page 35 of the same paper an article reported that an endangered albino hedgehog, which had been eating too much high calorie dog food, had been put on a special diet to get it back down to a safe weight before being put in a special game preserve for albino hedgehogs! At least human beings aren’t the only species being micro-managed in regard to healthcare.

Government-based health care has become our god of choice; we must just have faith that it will take care of us. But it is a cruel god requiring increasing obeisance and great sacrifice. Psalm 115:8 says that people that make idols “are like unto them; so is everyone that trusteth in them.”

The healthcare gods in the UK are fearful, insecure, and largely bankrupt. Is that really what we want to become?

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags:

Posted By admin on December 21, 2009

Books and Covers

by Teri Ong

London is a very old city, and for some time it has been one of the most populous in the world. The housing is antiquated and very dense. Rows of houses will sometimes have strange gaps in them that look like the smile of Irish hurling teams– that is to say, minus random teeth. The houses on either side of the gap are kept from collapse by ingenious arrangements of braces and scaffolding. Then in the gap will grow a new tooth, looking just like the old one on the outside, but sleek and ultra-modern on the inside.

My husband remarked that it seems very silly to choose a home based on the outward appearance (the way Americans often do), since what affects most the quality of domestic life is on the inside. We have observed the same phenomenon in the world of books. We came across an elderly evangelical bookseller who deals in used and antiquarian books. Some of his 60,000 volumes have been used more than others– all the way back to the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

Some of the greatest treasures in his store house are missing a cover or even two! Some have been marked and inscribed. Some have obviously had several owners. The saddest ones to me are the ones that have pages that have never been cut apart. That means that no one in the history of the book has ever read it through. Evidently it has been owned by the “wrong kind of reader,” as C. S. Lewis astutely analyzed in An Experiment in Criticism.

The most humorous array of books we encountered was at the Minstrel’s Library in the Mitre Hotel at Hampton Court village. We spent an extremely happy afternoon sitting on leather sofas, sipping coffee, and reading books we had brought with us while our students enjoyed a tour of the palace. The books on the shelves in the “library” were ornately arranged by color. Charlotte Bronte might be sitting on the shelf next to P. D. James, Tom Clancy, or a book on engineering or pharmacopoeia as long as the spine color matched. Book furniture! Just like in Alexander McCall Smith’s Portuguese Irregular Verbs!

I was somewhat less annoyed than Smith’s Moritz Maria Von Igelfeld (upon learning that his unsold books were to be sold by his publisher to an interior decorating firm because of their excellent bindings), since the books were not my own. And the arrangement by color made more sense than the one contrived by an American interior decorator who turned all of the spines toward the back so that only the neutral shades of the papers were visible.

Dr. Alan Storkey exhorted our students, “Choose your guides wisely.” As we gain education, writers guide us as much as our pastors and teachers, and we must evaluate every idea as the Bereans did, against the objective standard of God’s revealed truth. But with that qualification, I hope that I will be a collector of worthy ideas and not just a collector of books. I would rather have a soul “thoroughly furnished for every good work,” than a wall furnished with attractive bindings.

While we have been in London, the “plain jane” lady from Scotland named Susan Boyle set a record for pre-sales of her CD album of vocal solos. Susan Boyle– nicknamed Subo by the pop press– is admittedly nothing to look at. But then again, how many of us are something to look at? She does, however, have a pleasant voice and can more than do artistic justice to the types of songs she sings.

I don’t understand why people are so concerned about her very average physiognomy. I thought that one bought CD’s to listen to– not to hang up the cover photos as works of art. Isn’t the vocal ability and talent more important than the physical case that holds it?

On the next pages of the newspaper with the article about Ms. Boyle were pictures of various UK and US glitterati that would (or at least should) curl any aesthete’s hair. Are these truly the “beautiful people” among us? They are all show and no substance. Sadly, in many cases, their “inside content” is often so foul as to even make Dorian Grey blush with shame. I hope that Susan Boyle will be able to enjoy her time in the sun without getting burnt.

It is a scriptural truth– man does look on the outward appearance, while God does look on the heart. God, grant that I will read books and not just see covers. God, grant that I be a meaningful book and not an empty dust jacket!

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By admin on December 14, 2009

Global Perspectives

by Teri Ong

I haven’t had ten minutes for writing in the past three weeks. The week before Thanksgiving was taken up in a whirlwind of rehearsals, final classes, concerts and last music lessons of our “term.” Then there was a day of laundry and packing, the Lord’s Day, and an early Thanksgiving celebration with the gathered family, and off to London for two weeks with our eager study group.

In typical American tourist fashion we have gone non-stop from morning until bedtime. But in a-typical fashion we have avoided Madame Toussaud’s Wax Museum, the London Dungeon, the London Eye, and shopping on Regent Street, while taking in as much as possible of the remnants of Reformation England. The students were only slightly bedraggled from the constant pushing and prodding to get on and off the Underground trains in a timely and humane way. They have suffered only mildly from the usual allotment of blisters, muscle cramps, and shin splints from our seven to ten miles of walking almost every day.

There are two days in every study trip when the walking dramatically decreases– two days of rest– two Lord’s Days spent blessedly with our beloved brothers and sisters at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. There and then do we have time to worship, reflect, and refresh in the fellowship of kindred minds. Their hospitality to us is always abundant, loving, and gracious.

We experienced many contrasts in our fourteen days: the crowded and the solitary, the noisy and the serene, the hustle and the grinding halt (I can’t adequately describe the “gridlock” of human bodies at Leicester Square station on a Saturday evening). But one contrast particularly stands out in my mind.

On Monday, Nov. 30, we took our group to St. Paul’s Cathedral for a traditional Anglican evensong service. (One can’t fully appreciate the Puritans without understanding what they were reacting to.) As it turned out, the church was holding its first service for Advent. Our students saw a beautiful spectacle of choirs, candles, processions, vestments, liturgy, Latin plainchant and incense in one of the most visually stunning churches in the world. The aural experience of choirs, soloists, antiphonal responses and the pipe organ in that vast cavernous space is one of overwhelming “surround sound.”

In stark contrast to that is the pure and simple worship at the “Met Tab.” There our students experienced the unadorned proclamation of God’s Word, Gospel preaching, robust singing of unison Psalms and hymns, close personal fellowship and edifying conversation with believers from all over the world.

The Anglican Church of late has been very proud of its tolerance and diversity. Ironically, the “ticket holders” for the Advent service at St. Paul’s were predominantly well-dressed Caucasians. On the other hand, many people would probably not associate the word “diverse” with “separatist Baptist.” They would, however, be mistaken in not doing so, especially as regards the Met Tab. The congregation there is pure heaven– a vast array of people from every nation, kindred, people, and tongue gathered in unity and purity to worship God. (Rev. 7:9)

On Sunday, Dec. 6, we were blessed to be able to participate in the communion service following the evening Gospel message. The thought came to several of us that, due to the time differential of seven hours, our churches back home were sharing the bread and the cup at nearly the same moment. Unity of the Body of Christ in remembrance of His sacrifice for us and in hope of His soon coming spanned continents and oceans.

Today Steve and I spent time buying and reading some of the great Puritan classics by Charnock, Sibbes, and Baxter. We also held a newborn baby in a godly Christian home who will undoubtedly be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Unity of the Body also spans centuries and generations.

See the ransomed millions stand,

Palms of conquest in their hand;

This before the throne their strain,

‘Hell is vanquished, death is slain;

Blessing, honor, glory, might,

Are the Conqueror’s native right;

Thrones and powers before Him fall;

Lamb of God, and Lord of all!

Hasten, Lord! The Promised hour;

Come in glory and in power;

Still Thy foes are unsubdued;

Nature sighs to be renewed.

Time has nearly reached its sum,

All things with Thy bride say, ‘Come.’

Jesus, whom all worlds adore,

Come, and reign for evermore!’

–Josiah Conder (1789-1855)

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 23, 2009

By Teri Ong

“Medical” marijuana has been a great deal in the news lately. In our recent election, several towns in Colorado were considering whether or not they should allow marijuana dispensaries within their city limits. And on a national level, even President Obama has issued an edict that the federal government is to turn a blind eye to marijuana infractions. Some have rightfully pointed out that our president’s action in this matter sets a very dangerous precedent of the nation’s chief executive officer declaring openly that there are certain laws of the land that he will not enforce, even though he swore to uphold them all. It used to be that our presidents promoted “Drug-free America”; sadly, we now have a president promoting “Free drug America.”

Nonetheless, interest groups on both sides have been more outspoken of late. I heard an interview with a person who runs a “medical” dispensary which not only sells marijuana in its familiar smoke-able state, but also marijuana cheerios, marijuana brownies, and marijuana hard candies. I guess that really puts the “hard” in hard!

I don’t dispute that marijuana may actually have some legitimate medical benefits. Some very unlikely things have been found to assuage certain medical problems – like nitroglycerin, digitalis, and even arsenic. Some of our most powerful pain relievers are opiates. But we have also learned that indiscriminate and unsupervised use of these things can be dangerous, and even deadly. For that reason, they are highly regulated. They can be prescribed only by qualified medical doctors and dispensed only by qualified pharmacists.

Why, then, are we having such a problem regulating “medical” marijuana?

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter recently said that the reason the state is having trouble getting their act together on regulating marijuana is because “the business has just grown too fast.” That is ridiculous! When has the state ever had trouble regulating a fast-growing industry when it meant an enhanced revenue stream for the state? And especially now, when the state has a multi-billion dollar budget shortfall!

So why the problem? Because everyone knows that “medical” marijuana laws are a ruse for getting the “fuzz” off the backs of recreational users. If it were not so, there would be no such thing as a “marijuana dispensary.” Marijuana would be produced in the same tightly regulated way that all other legitimate drugs are produced and would be prescribed by doctors and sold by pharmacies in the same way as other legitimate drugs.

One Colorado legislator has proposed something along these lines. He has proposed that all of the marijuana for medical use be grown at a facility connected with our agricultural university and sold as honest medicine. It would be taxed and regulated by the state and the proceeds would go to higher education.

Some might look on this as being like profits from gambling funding gambling recovery centers. You know– money from “pot” funding the education of “pot heads.” But in principle I agree with that legislator. Let’s call the bluff of the recreational users whose money and lobbying power have been behind the medical marijuana initiatives in numerous states. Let’s make medicine be medicine.

The main loophole in the existing Colorado law is a clause stating that “chronic pain” is one of the conditions that may be “treated” with marijuana. When the law first passed, only about 400 permits were issued. That number has swelled to over 20,000 in the last year. (Remember, until a year ago President George Bush encouraged prosecution of drug offenders!) At the present time, requests for permits come in to the appropriate state agency at a rate of about 500 per week. Many of the permit holders have gotten their medical marijuana cards from doctors who have never even examined them as patients. And, surprise! The largest increase in card holders is among 20-something males.

I would not have intuitively guessed that there was such an enormous problem of “chronic pain” in that particular population demographic. But maybe the college booze-up crowd is using marijuana to get rid of the pain of hang-overs. From time immemorial, alcohol itself was the drug of choice for treating their type of “chronic pain.”

George MacDonald described men who work “both to deaden the stings of conscience and memory, and to procure the means of deadening them still further.” (Sir Gibbie, pg. 10) MacDonald was referring to alcohol, but his words apply equally to all reality-deadening drugs. He also understood that “the thirst of the drunkard is even more of the soul than of the body.” (Sir Gibbie, pg. 11)

I believe that the same is true of many of those seeking medical marijuana permits on the basis of chronic pain. Their pain is pain more of the soul than of the body. And an old saw says, “Misery loves company.” I guess that is why there has been a swelling in the ranks of permit holders.

In describing the tavern crowd surrounding the miserable drunken character George Galbraith in Sir Gibbie, MacDonald wrote:

I believe their company was necessary as well as the drink to enable him to elude his conscience and feast with his imagination. Was it that he knew they also fought misery by investments in her bonds– that they also were of those who by Beelzebub would cast out Beelzebub– therefore felt at home, and with his own? (P. 11)

Those who are attempting to treat chronic pain of the soul with marijuana will likewise be unable to cast out Beelzebub with Beelzebub. The pain of emptiness, purposelessness, and the accompanying reduction in human motivation cannot be treated with soul-deadening drugs – legal or otherwise.

King Solomon, in his God-given wisdom, wrote about the real answer to the chronic pain of being alive:

Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body, and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:7-8)

The best dispensary for that kind of medicine is called CHURCH!

Reference:

MacDonald, George. Sir Gibbie. London: Hurst and Blackett, Limited, 1891.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By admin on November 8, 2009

by Teri Ong

Everyone likes a Cinderella story. The down-trodden peasant girl is lifted to love and good fortune, and all are happy ever after. The story of Esther in the Bible follows this pattern, with enough real-life bumps and wrinkles in the middle of the story to keep us on the edges of our seats.

Even guys like it when the small market sports team somehow pulls off unexpected wins and becomes the nation’s “sweetheart” team. Sports writers call those “Cinderella” stories too.

But there is a flip side to Cinderella, which, considering the number of similarly themes books and films, must also resonate with a certain segment of the population. For example, in The Prisoner of Zenda, a commoner who is a dead ringer for the king falls in love with the crown princess. She, likewise, falls in love with him. When the commoner proposes marriage in the end, she decides that her true happiness lies in the path of honor. She was raised to marry the king, and marry the king she must. In The Student Prince, the crown prince falls in love with a commoner, but their eyes, blinded by romance, are soon opened again to their rightful lot in life. Once again, duty wins out over romantic passion and sentimental love. Some would say the ending is sad, but it is not; it is proper, and satisfying because it is proper.

There is one sense in which the Christian life is like a Cinderella story. In our sinful condition, we are all Cinderellas; in rags and tatters, with no human prospects, taken advantage of by the step-family known as the world. Then the Prince of Peace comes to us, condescends to our lowly estate, and lifts us up in a royal betrothal. Someday, we will be married in the palace and all the universe will be happy ever after.

However, there is another sense in which we must also live out the flip side. When we are born again, we become royalty by adoption. Then our lives are preparation for a wedding of royals. We are taught and trained and groomed in the path of duty that befits our station.

There will be many commoners who come into our lives that will try to steal our affections from our Betrothed. We may even be tempted to turn from the path of duty and honor and give a romantic glance at another. That is what happened in Camelot. Instead of giving her heart to King Arthur, Guinevere gives her heart to Lancelot, which sets the three formerly loyal friends at odds with each other and ultimately brings down an entire kingdom.

The Camelot story is instructive. The tragic figures are not Guinevere and Lancelot, who can never live out their passion; the tragic figure is King Arthur, who is betrayed by the two people in the world who should have loved him best. When Guinevere and Lancelot turned to each other, they made themselves enemies of the king. Their romance soon proved unfulfilling, and the pain of ruined lives and relationships overshadowed the fleeting joy of their passion.

Christians are royalty in God’s eyes. We are destined for marriage to the Crown Prince of the universe. Is it any wonder that we are warned that if we make ourselves friends of the world, we will become enemies of God?

In the story of Abraham and Hagar, we see royalty forsaking the path of duty because the way of the world seems more appealing. Their story has not ended to this very day; the unhappiness caused by Abraham’s unfaithfulness to God has lingered for almost 4000 years. On the other hand, Moses chose fulfillment in the path of duty. He turned his back on the lure of the world, and as a result, enjoyed the most intimate relationship with God any human has ever enjoyed this side of heaven. God spoke to him face to face.

George MacDonald, in his final great metaphorical fantasy Lilith, described the struggle of Mr. Vane (representing every person) as he was seduced by the vampiress Lilith (symbolic of our selfish flesh). MacDonald describes the conflict common to us all. Vane is attracted to her beauty, but he suspects that she is evil.

“What you have made me is yours!” she cried. “I will repay you as never yet did woman! My power, my beauty, my love are your own: take them!”

She dropt kneeling before me, laid her arms across my knees, and looked up in my face… I felt that, if I did less than loathe her, I should love her. Not to dally with usurping emotions, I turned my eyes aside.

She started to her feet. I sat motionless, looking down.

“To me she may be true!” said my vanity. For a moment I was tempted to love a lie. (Lilith, p. 131)

Whatever beauties and attractions draw our attention and emotions away from our Betrothed, whether they be of the world, the selfish flesh, or the devil himself, are but an empty lie that can only end in sadness and destruction. The path of unfaithfulness and divided loyalty can never satisfy. After we are born again, the path of duty always lies in the direction of the King. Send the commoner away: learn to love the King!

Reference:

MacDonald, George. Lilith. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Company, 1983 ed.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 19, 2009

by Teri Ong

I was putting my yard to bed yesterday.

I am always a little sad when the last vestiges of the summer are gone because it will be such a wait until things bloom again. But it is, at the same time, satisfying to finish out a season in an orderly way with everything trimmed back and tucked into a bed of mulch to sleep through the winter night.

This year I cut back my English lavender all the way to a little stump. I haven’t done that since the first year I had it in my garden. I did it then because I didn’t know any better. It came up the next spring from the little stumps I had left. The second fall, however, I didn’t get around to cutting it down, and I was amazed the next spring how new growth sprang from the old branches.

I decided to cut it this year because it was getting a little scraggly and unruly. I think it will be good to give it a fresh start. It was my last job of the day.

Fall truly fell on us this year– suddenly and harshly. We are used to having frosts and even snows fairly quickly after the first official day of autumn. But things usually warm back up, plants turn splendid colors and we enjoy a last brilliant burst of riotous beauty. But this year we didn’t have a frost– we had a freeze– a deep freeze that lasted two and a half days.

We should have had above average color this year because of the abundant foliage produced by above average moisture through the summer. But all of the fall flowers froze and the leaves on the trees have shriveled, dulled, and dropped.

So it is that I spent the day Saturday raking and bagging dead leaves, cutting down dead mums, and pulling up dead marigolds. I uprooted all of the nasty morning glory vines that froze before they had a chance to dry. Normally pulling the dried vines off of the fence is a simple job, but some of the vines and even some of the seed pods rotted and were nasty to pull.

By the time I got to the lavender at the end of the day, I was ready to rush through and be done. I got the loppers and began cutting through the woody branches with their dried, faded blooms and silvery leaves. What a delicious aroma rose up! I always forget how pleasant the smell of real lavender is– not the canned or plugged-in kind– but the real stuff.

I got down on my hands and knees so I could see better what I was doing, but also so I could be nearer the source of the lovely smell.

Friday we had a funeral at our church for a very elderly saint. She was not a member of our congregation, but her granddaughter is a dear friend of mine. I did not really know her; I did not even meet her until the stage of her life where her bloom was dry and faded, and her foliage silver-gray. But I know first hand the sweet aroma of her life through her offspring.

The idea of “seasons” of life is a well-known metaphor. But I appreciated the notion anew as I gathered up the cut lavender and enjoyed the beautiful smell. This must be the meaning of “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

Some people are like the frozen morning glories– ghastly, sodden messes, blighted and frozen. Or like the lifeless, colorless leaves that shrivel and drop. I hope I will be lavender; no matter how dried or faded, still exuding beauty as I am cut down and gathered up. I hope that when I am cut back, I will leave behind a root that will spring up with new life season after season.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By admin on October 1, 2009

By Teri Ong

I was in my kitchen listening to the radio as I cooked supper. I will probably not remember that in a couple years (unlike where I was when I heard about the World Trade Center being blown up); undoubtedly, this will be a function of the fact that Michael Jackson’s death was not a shock to me and because I never had any positive emotional attachment to him or his music. I was not shocked because when someone abuses himself as much over as many years as Jackson did, disease and early death are natural consequences. And, if anything, I had negative emotional responses to Jackson’s so-called “art” because of its decadence and morally destructive powers.
I was in London when Jackson’s come-back tour was announced and hailed as the event of the century. Everyone in the pop world in the U.K. was going crazy, lining up early and often to get outrageously pricey tickets. I had only feelings of abhorrence. Even today, at the end of September, I heard a news report that people had been camping out for four days to get tickets to stadium events where the video footage of Michael Jackson rehearsing for that concert tour will be shown. That is one expensive pay-per-view!
As I stood in my kitchen, I think I had some feelings of pity for the messed-up man whose best friend was a messed-up movie star who used alcohol, drugs, and multiple marriages to seek fulfillment. But even though Al Sharpton consoled Jackson’s children with the words, “There was nothing strange about your daddy,” I could never get past revulsion at the thought that this man, if we were to believe him, used children as human teddy bears in his bed. I could never get past the disgust that this man had used his “talents” for the degradation of several generations of teenagers with his messages of rebellion, promiscuity, and self-indulgence. Not to mention, his life-size example of sensuality and perversion.
When Sharpton said Jackson wasn’t strange, the thing that was strange was that Sharpton didn’t think he was strange! Don’t you think it strange that a man in his fifty’s had to be anaesthetized in order to get a good night’s sleep? Don’t you think it strange that a man would have a sham marriage just for the purpose of having a child, then dump the baby’s mother? Don’t you think it strange that he would get a male friend to serve as a sperm donor for another baby? Don’t you think it strange that he would threaten to throw one of his infant children off a hotel balcony?
So was he “the King of Pop?” I believe he definitely was a symbol of pop culture– or at least, what is wrong with pop culture, i.e., the deification and idolatry of celebrities, the worship of material extravagance, the preaching and promotion of a culture of selfishness and abuse.

As has happened with other notables, the death of Jackson overshadowed another death the same day, that of actress Farrah Fawcett.
I’m thinking of how the death of JFK overshadowed the passing of C. S. Lewis; or how the death of Princess Diana overshadowed the death of Mother Teresa.
I am not now putting Farrah Fawcett in the same category as Lewis or Mother Teresa, because actually, she had many of the same problems as Jackson. Nonetheless, radio personalities who announced Fawcett’s death in the morning with a “too bad– so sad” attitude, by evening where obsessed with every detail surrounding Jackson. Their obsession lasted for days that dragged on into weeks.
Fawcett had many problems of her own. She was known in her youth for her stunning beauty, but her beauty could never buy her the lasting love of a stable marriage. She lived for years with a man who made famous the line, “Love means you never have to say you’re sorry.” Admittedly, in a later movie his character said, “That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard.” But what I really think he meant was, “Love means you never have to say ‘I do.’”
Sadly, after his “significant other” died of cancer, he announced that he had planned to marry her as soon as she got better. Perhaps she might not have gotten worse (unto death) if he had been willing to commit to covenantal love years ago. The security of true love has many healthful benefits. Who knows?
But what made the biggest impression on me, believe it or not, was an advertisement I saw for the first time that day. It was an advertisement for a Promise Keepers conference in Denver. And it was much more emotionally distressing than the loss of two pop icons of my generation.
Be patient– this does all tie together!
The conference theme is “Called Out.” It is specifically targeted at “youth and young adults.” It features “rock, hip-hop, dance, spoken word, poetry, urban gospel and more.” The look of the graphics is ‘grungy contemporary’ – like spray painted stencils. The photos of the artists are likewise trendy.
As I looked at the promotional package, I wondered, “Called out of what?” There was no evidence of being called out of “all that is in the world”– i.e., “the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.”
I know that it is a currently popular idea in Christian circles that since “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder,” “worldly” is likewise in the eye of the beholder. Therefore, if you don’t think something is worldly enough to make you an enemy of God, then obviously, it must not be. Each individual becomes his own arbiter of what is righteous and what is unrighteous.
As a professor of fine arts in a Christian college, I have heard all of the arguments. “The arts are ‘amoral’; it is Biblically lawful for us to do whatever we want with them. We just need to ‘redeem’ pop culture and use it for God’s glory.” That is usually the bottom line.
It is true that the letters I am currently using to build words are “amoral.” The letter “g” is no more or less righteous or unrighteous than the letter “q”. The letters “g” and “o” and “d,” when assembled in order, come to have one of several meanings in the English language, that we can understand as moral or immoral more precisely within larger contexts.
The same is true of musical pitches of various duration. Each individual note may be said to be “amoral,” but though music is an evocative language, it is a language nonetheless. And in the context of western culture, we ascribe culturally agreed-upon meanings to music that have moral or immoral connotations. For example, no one mistakes the “bump and grind” sound of “The Stripper” for a military march or a gospel chorus. I am not talking about the ancient Greek “Doctrine of Ethos,” the belief that certain combinations of pitches mystically produced certain effects. I am talking about meaning ascribed culturally as with any other type of language.
There is a cultural language of visual images, of musical sounds, of physical posture and movement, of slangs and dialects, and when put in context, we understand them to mean, “I love the world and every lust that is in it.” Sadly, the Christian poster and promotional materials I received the day Jackson died speak that message loud and clear.
I wish the Christian church in America would be honest enough to say, “We don’t want to ‘redeem’ worldly culture, we want to retain it and enjoy it like everyone else.” But even when they say they want to ‘redeem’ culture, they misunderstand the word itself. They don’t want to buy it out of slavery, wash it pure and white, and set it free; they want to ‘atone’ for culture in the Old Testament sense of the word. They merely want to “cover over” wickedness with a pretty veneer, but at its heart, worldly culture remains worldly culture.
One of the stated purposes of the conference promoted in the materials I got that day is to help young people “identify and expose generational curses as well as personal areas of sinful behavior like suicide, binge drinking, sexual immorality, unhealthy relationships, pornography, addictions, etc.” (Sounds like a recap of Michael Jackson’s life, to me.) I don’t think young people have any trouble identifying those things as sinful; they need spiritual victory more than they need an expose’.
The leadership of this conference is asking God for a “kingdom breakthru” because young people “…don’t see God, they don’t hear God, and they don’t know how to connect with God.”
I ask you, how will our young people see God when all the church gives them is more of the pop visual culture that is in the world? How will they ever come to know that the character of God is different from the ways of the world? How will they ever hear God if we always drown out His voice in a cacophony of raucous and rebellious music? How will they ever hope to get freedom from sensual and physical addictions when all we feed them in the church fosters their thirst for the sensual? Why would they want to be the “called out,” when all they see points to the fact that the church has “called in” every aspect of the world?

Where was the church the day Michael Jackson died? Out to lunch with the world! I am grieved.

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: