I believe in 'the Great Experiment' as set forth by our founders.  They were great visionaries! 

I believe in Jesus for He has saved me from my sins.  From what I have read, many of our founders also believed ... many just respected the Bible for what it stood for.  But this much I know: the Bible and Christianity so pervaded the colonial society that it was the reference by which men communicated and argued about laws which should govern our society.  But most everyone knew how wrong it would be to make the fledgling new nation into either a kingdom, or a theocracy.

I love my fellow believers for their zeal and their desire to hold our nation true to its religious roots.  Swearing on the Bible is something which seems culturally sound and represents a level of sobriety and sincerity that should hold the swearer to a higher than human standard.  Yet Jesus chided us not to do such a thing shortly after the famous beattitudes in his sermon on the mount.  

I am seeing some very sad discourse in relation to tolerance and the role that Christianity should play in politics.  How can we continue to be a shining beacon to the nations when we cannot show someone the respect that we would want them to show to us were the situation reversed?  How can we say that we honor our Lord by holding sacred a national tradition that He has said for us not to even do?

I believe it comes down to fear ... yet even there (especially there), the scripture is not silent.  The world has changed so much since the protestants revolted from the Catholic church ... and were persecuted.  Western world has morphed greatly since the King was the 'defender of the faith' ... whichever faith he was most fond of.  Have we learned so little from our history and our scripture that we cannot avoid being biggots ourselves?

Have we forgotten the grace given to us that we cannot lend a little grace now and then to others?  Kieth Ellison may yet show himself to be a danger to his nation ... to us.  But to more than 50% of his state, he showed himself to be a statesman worthy to be given the chance to be a law maker.  Now he has a role to play ... and we do to.  We now get to watch the man and see how he can be trusted in the matter of making laws that the nation has to live with.  If his actions prove wanting ... then we get to influence our friends and realitives in that state to boot him out of office.  That's the issue we should be focusing on.

Not his religion ... not his oath ... not by what he chooses to swear.  Let us focus on what matters ... how he lives his religion ... carries out his oath ... shows himself accountable to what he swears.  That is how all men (by which I mean human-kind) should be judged.  That is, I beleive, what our founding fathers meant when they said, 'All men are created equal'.  Now is the time to put 'the Great Experiment' to the test ... both within ourselves ... and in our elected officials.

12/11/06 Update

My basic premise here has not changed, but my understanding of Dennis Prager's statement has changed.  As such I now agree with Mr. Prager and his last statement of his followup post.  Kieth Ellison should simultaneously acknowledge US tradition since he is vowing to serve those who have elected him, as well as honor his own religion by bringing both the Bible and the Koran to the swearing in.

Is Jesus God?

Last week, while reading various comments in response to Dennis Prager, I noticed a smattering of discussion centered on the question, ‘Is Jesus God?’

My reading Saturday from The One Year Bible included Revelation 1:17&18 which says, ‘…When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”’ John was having a vision of an amazing Being who said an amazing thing especially in light of a few other scriptures.

Let’s first take a look at the phrase ‘I was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore’; Romans 6 is one passage of many that fully describe how Jesus is the Redeemer and how we must be saved as a way of explaining John 3:16. Romans 8 further wraps up the idea that Jesus is the Savior, the Christ and exactly what that means to those who accept His sacrifice on our behalf. And what exactly was that sacrifice, but the death and resurrection of the perfect Lamb of God, so He who said in Rev. 1 is either the Redeemer, or the redeemed in reference to Romans 6, but the speaker clearly identifies himself as the Redeemer (Jesus) as we look at the next step, and He is saying much more as we will see!

If we go back more than 600 years before Jesus was born to Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; and 48:12, we find these quotes where God establishes himself as the first and the last, but let’s take a close look at the second one (Is. 44:6); “Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: ‘I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me…’” ‘There is no God besides Me’ is not all that exceptional, but take a look at the first part, ‘Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts.’ What? Two people ‘…Lord…and…Redeemer…’ are saying, ‘There is no God besides Me’? Amazing! In light of the acknowledgement that Jesus redeemed us by His death and resurrection, Revelation 1:17&18 is in full agreement with Is. 44:6 if and only if we accept the premise that Jesus is God and is speaking at the same time as God the King! What other explanation is there? Granted, this leaves many questions unanswered, but so does a foundation without a house beg the question: what will the house look like?

One last example, though there are many more: Matthew 14:33, after Jesus, walking on the water in a storm came to the Apostles says, “When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying “You are certainly God’s Son!” If Jesus were truly just a good man or a prophet he would have not accepted the worship since God alone is worthy of worship. This leaves three other options: He was crazy, a liar, or truly God. Lies and insanity can be ruled out by observing the rest of His life, death and resurrection as attested by four distinctly separate witnesses we call the Gospels. Not to mention; 10 of his original 12 apostles were martyred for their beliefs that Jesus was neither a liar nor a lunatic.

After having explored this question for myself, I am left with but one conclusion: Jesus is God. I would hope that everyone explores this question thoroughly as I have (including the reliability of the Scripture) and answer this question for themselves as it is a life-changing revelation!

Joy to the World, the Lord is Come! Merry Christmas!

It has begun.  Somewhere between, 'the desire to preserve a culture at all costs' and, 'the desire to embrace (or force) change no matter what' must be a balance.  Alright, so what is the gnome prattling about now?

On the news tonight I saw something I didn't think I'd ever see again; violence against someone's interests due to skin hue.  It was senseless to the extreme.  A restaurant specializing in Mediterranean cuisine was hit by arsonists who left the words 'Go home Arab', on the walls inside.  The restaurant owner was from Israel!  Now he's in the hospital and his restaurant ... who knows.

What is going on here?  Not only would it be wrong to do such a thing to any person, but the people involved didn't take time to get their facts straight.  It is the kind of thing that I fear when I see well-meaning conservatives ranting about how incompatible Islam is with Judeo-Christian society!  Shame on us!  Haven't we learned from our own history?  Haven't we learned from world history? 

Fear mongering is not the answer.  I have certainly seen some valid and well-thought-out points out there about how to preserve our society during this changing time.  But I have also seen too often people just venting in a way that is not so carefully worded.  These times demand our care, not our carelessness!  Let us THINK before we speak ... or type.