LT # 9 Current Interest Commentary:

On Tickling Ears vs. Sound Instruction

GEM 04:07:25

In his final letter, written shortly before he was unjustly put to death by Nero Caesar in ~ AD 67 [Christians were falsely accused of setting the fire that burned Rome in AD 64], the Apostle Paul warned Timothy -- and through him, us:

". . . the time will come when men will not put up with sound [instruction]. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." [2 Ti 4:3 – 4]

In short, there has always been a temptation to turn away from spiritual and practical truth and instead follow sweet-sounding talk that tickles our itching ears with myths and lies that tell us what we want to hear. But scripture warns: “there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of that way are the ways of death.” [Prov. 14:12]

So, if Montserrat is to be successfully rebuilt, we must learn the vital difference between ear-tickling rhetoric and sound thinking under God: “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain.” [Ps 127:1a] And that is what Let’s Talk is all about. Therefore, let us note Aristotle’s telling remarks in his The Rhetoric: “Persuasion is achieved by the speaker's personal character when the speech is so spoken as to make us think him credible . . . Secondly, persuasion may come through the hearers, when the speech stirs their emotions. Our judgements when we are pleased and friendly are not the same as when we are pained and hostile . . . Thirdly, persuasion is effected through the speech itself when we have proved a truth or an apparent truth by means of the persuasive arguments suitable to the case in question.”

That is, as a rule, persuasion – and rhetoric is the art of persuasion; not proof – uses the ear-tickling words of a clever speaker, to appeal to sin-prone emotions (especially pride, greed, lusts, fear and anger). Only rarely does a public debate instead focus on actual proof: laying out the true facts and then correctly reasoning from those facts to sound conclusions and associated duties. For, the latter requires: (1) knowledge of the background context; (2) fearlessly facing the material facts -- those that make a difference to the conclusion; and, (3) patiently following a step by step chain of careful reasoning. That’s often quite hard, and can take a lot of time. But, if instead we base our decisions on sinful sweet-talk, we are headed for shipwreck – as literally happened to the people who rejected Paul’s advice on his first journey to Rome. [Cf. Acts 27.]

A few examples from last week’s somewhat boisterous call-in segment will make the point clear:

--> You are only talking about gambling.

Not so: over the past eight sessions, we have focused on the Official Montserrat SDP Vision Statement and so have highlighted issues ranging from (a) the need to develop our new Community College and foster business incubation as a foundation for re-development; to (b) the need for God-fearing just governance in our various social institutions; to (c) the vast potential for agriculture. Also, sadly, this false accusation can easily distract us from the vitally important ethical issues and facts raised by the crisis with the Attorney General!

--> You are speaking normatively, not interpretively.

Now, the key issue in view last week was the need to recognise a Civil Servant’s right and duty to act in light of conscience, as guided by sound reason under the SDP’s long-standing policy commitment to wholesome re-development; and the material fact that the gambling proposal seeks to legalise making money through promoting an addictive, personally and socially destructive habit. That is, the issues on the table were about what OUGHT to be [i.e. the normative/ETHICAL], rather than what IS so just now. In short, if we are to correct injustice and reject unsound policy proposals, we must deal with the normative/ethical!

--> You hypocrite!

The follow up meeting with this caller revealed a key fact that he did not state during his call last week: I had been called over to respond to several questions raised by his wife, and did so until I became late for a meeting; thus, there was no deliberate refusal to address questions that he had asked. On the broader question, as we discussed earlier tonight, we apologise for our clumsy handling of calls last week, and are reworking the call-in component to give people and issues a fair hearing while keeping the programme on track.

--> You are Fundamentalists!

This word, in the 1920’s, originally meant people that were concerned to stand up for -- and live by -- the authentic, historically sound core teachings of the Gospel. But it has now become little more than a prejudice-driven accusation that means something like: “you Christians are ignorant, hypocritical, backward, violent religious bigots who want to impose a Taliban-like religious dictatorship.” Now, the Let’s Talk Hosts stand by the central fact that God vindicated Jesus and his teachings by triumphantly raising him from the dead; with over 500 eyewitnesses. So, unless we rebuild our nation under the Lordship and wisdom of the risen Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom” [Col 2:3], our efforts will simply be in vain. We are also just as committed to the God-given right of all of our people to responsibly exercise their democratic freedoms. So, we invite you to speak to the issues and facts, on whatever side you happen to hold; but, let us all respect the facts and avoid abusive words that stir up heat rather than give forth the light we need to guide us to safe harbour. [Cf. Ac 27.]

So, now, let’s talk . . .

AMEN

LT # 8 International Current Interest item:
On En-LIE-tenment
GEM 04:07:20

The Apostle Paul long ago counselled:

“Live as children of light . . . have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them . . . everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible . . . Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” [Eph 5:11 – 17]

In short, as the Psalmist said, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” [Ps 119:105]

But, ever since the great triumphs of Sir Isaac Newton in the late 1600’s, who discovered the laws of motion and gravitation, we have increasingly sought “enlightenment” through Science, education, and philosophy. Then in the 1800’s, the triumph of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution seemed to hammer home the last nail in God’s coffin. Even the leading Theologians began to explain the Bible in terms of man’s evolving religious ideas, rather than any so-called revelation from God. So, as Richard Dawkins sums up, it often seems that it is only the ignorant, stupid, insane, or wicked who reject the modern “enlightened” view of the world.

Q: Why, then, are there still educated people – such as us – who take God, the Bible and biblical morality seriously?

A: Because there is a big gap between how things may seem and how they actually are. That is, there is true en-LIGHT-enment, but there is also a deceptive (but ever so popular) en-LIE-tenment:

--> “Science” at most gives us provisional knowledge of the external natural and human world, based on experiments, observation and educated guesses as to the underlying laws. But, as “provisional” points out, science is open-ended; science is always subject to correction based on further research and analysis. For instance, over the past few decades -- as it has become ever more clear how finely and exactly tuned the laws and constants of physics have to be for life to be possible, and as the irreducible complexity of the mechanisms of life have been recognised – a growing number of scientists and philosophers have now seen that the most reasonable conclusion is that the universe and life have come from the hands of an awesomely Intelligent Designer, AKA God.

--> Also, the famous secular humanist Aldous Huxley (author of Brave New World, grandson of “Darwin’s Bulldog, Thomas H., and brother of the first leader of UNESCO, Sir Julian H.) gives away the game on philosophy, science and morality. For, in a famous quote, he confessed: “I had motives for not wanting the world to have a meaning; consequently I assumed that it had none . . . Those who detect no meaning in the world [e.g., that the complexity of life just discussed strongly points to God] generally do so because, for one reason or another, it suits their books that the world should be meaningless . . . For myself, as no doubt for most of my contemporaries, the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation, sexual and political.” [Ends and Means, Chatto & Windus, pp. 270 – 273, parenthesis added.]

--> Finally, the decisive fact regarding the truth of the Bible and the Gospel is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, for which there were over 500 eyewitnesses, most of whom were alive when the record was made. As Paul said to the Governor of Judaea when he was on trial for his life because of his testimony to the resurrection: “What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king [Agrippa] is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner.” [Ac 26:25 – 26.] The king’s evasive reply, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” and the silence of his accusers speaks volumes. So have the testimonies, transformed lives and impact of the many millions who have met God personally through faith in the risen Christ in the twenty centuries since.

So, then, we must choose in our day. Which will it be: Godly En-LIGHT-enment, or persuasive but ever so deceitful humanistic en-LIE-tenment?

AMEN

LT # 7 International Current Interest item:

On Legislating Morality

GEM 04:07:12a

“The Glory and the Shame.”

That’s how Roman Catholic Priest and Scholar Peter Hocken summed up a basic human puzzle: for all our vast potential to do good, we ever so often fall short of the glorious image of God that is in us; because of the shockingly deep roots of sin in our hearts: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” [Jeremiah 17:9.]

So, injustice, oppression and corruption all too easily and rapidly spread across state, church, families and the wider community, damaging or even destroying a society. Government, therefore, always has to address justice and morality as issues that are of first importance. As David said in his last words: “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” [2 Sam 23:3, KJV, cf. Rom 13:1 - 7.]

“But, you cannot legislate morality!”

This is a popular saying nowadays, but it is simply wrong. For, our rights are moral claims we make on one another: in defense of our life, liberty, property, reputation, family etc. So, if Government is to protect our God-given rights – i.e. if it is to be just – it MUST address morality: in its Laws, its Courts, Parliament and the Cabinet, as well as the Civil Service, Police and Schools. Otherwise, the state becomes tyrannical, and the people will either be utterly crushed or else they must rise up together to reform or if necessary replace such a corrupt and devilish Government. That is what our history of liberation from slavery and from share-cropping – not to mention the right to vote -- are all about!

So, since our region is so strongly influenced by trends in America, let us look with deep concern and prayer as we see the current debate in the United States Senate, over protecting what is now called “traditional marriage.”

For, Judges in Massachusetts have recently twisted the long-settled law on marriage; to promote so-called “same sex marriage” – never mind: (1) what God has to say on the sin of sodomy [e.g. Rom 1:16 – 32], (2) the known personally and socially destructive consequences of such homosexuality, (3) the absence of credible scientific evidence that this perversion is rooted in one’s genetic make-up and (4) the demonstrated importance of sound marriages and families to the survival of the community. Sadly, the proposed Constitutional Amendment is likely to fail; as most Democratic Senators (including Candidates Kerry and Edwards) and several Republican Senators are unwilling to confront the powerful Gay Lobby, now a major force in American politics. And, given the pressure from Amnesty International on Jamaica to legalise sodomy and buggery, and the similar pressure on the Netherlands Antilles to accept homosexual marriages from Holland, ill winds from the North are already blowing across our region.

But, while we look with shock to the North, we face a similar – but subtler -- dilemma at home. For, our own Montserratian legislature last week again considered the question of introducing Gambling as a fund-raising measure, and it was only with great difficulty that the public petition against the proposed act was finally read in the House. Thankfully, the bill had to be postponed again, due to the courage of concerned members. However, it is increasingly clear that Christians and others of similar moral convictions who hold responsible positions in Montserrat are under terrific pressure to accept gambling; regardless of well-founded and widespread concerns that such a policy promotes a greed-driven, addictive, selfish, corrupting and socially destructive practice. In short, Montserrat, too, is at the point of decision, and the issue is in doubt.

Are we really determined to be “a healthy, wholesome . . . truly democratic, God-fearing society” as our SDP vision statements have said – since at least 1997? Don’t these words actually acknowledge that we have a national covenant under, and with, God – a covenant that we break at our peril?

Let us therefore reflect soberly, let us pray, and let us talk these things over. After that, let us come together as a people, to act with courage to build a healthy, wholesome, truly democratic, just and God-fearing future.

AMEN

LT # 6 International current interest item:

On the Significance of July 4th

GEM 04:07:06

On Sunday, July 4, we celebrated the 31st anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Chaguaramos, which brought CARICOM into being. It was also the 228th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.

The first, laid the basis for the Single Market and Economy and Caribbean Court of Justice that are now on the table as the next steps in regional integration. The second marks the first modern example of sustained, successful self-government by a free people. It also lays out the biblically rooted basis for that success. So, let us reflect briefly on the words of Thomas Jefferson, that conscience-lashed, hopelessly indebted slave owner who said he “trembled” as he reflected on the sins of America in light of the thought that “God is just”:

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. [2nd Paragraph, US DOI, 1776]

These few words say a lot, and it is worth a pause to look at several points that highlight some of the challenges that face us as the people of the ever more closely integrated Caribbean region:

q Self-evident truths: If you reject them, you end up in foolishness. For instance, Psalm 14 points out that it is fools who say to themselves “there is no God” – for they thus become morally and intellectually bankrupt. Current events in North America and Europe provide abundant proof – e.g. contrast the rhetoric and the reality of counterfeit, so-called “same sex marriage.” [Cf. Rom 1:16 – 32, 1 Cor 6:9 – 11, Eph 4:17 – 24.] Equally sadly, many of our brightest people in the region have also lost sight of the fear of God; which Prov. 1:7 highlights as the first point of wisdom.
q God-endowed rights: A right is a binding moral claim we have on other persons – your right to your life, liberty, reputation and property (etc) means I have a duty to respect your life, liberty, reputation and property (etc). We have such rights because God has made us in his image, so those who turn their backs on God turn their backs on the only sound and sustainable basis for defending our lives, and our liberty! (Especially, if we begin to think that rights are merely entitlements granted by the state: what the state giveth, it taketh away too; when the balance of political power shifts.)
q Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness: Without life, all else is lost; and, as Orlando Patterson said, slavery is social death. Third, we are only truly happy when we fulfill our diverse talents and callings in God – that is how we can flourish in a wholesome, healthy, friendly, truly democratic and God-fearing society.
q Government is there to protect our rights: rulers fulfill their duty when they are just, and rule in the fear of God [2 Sam 23:3].
q The Right of Reformation: Whenever a government turns its back on its duty to be just, it is our right as the people to demand that the government mend its ways, or to change the Government. (Thank God, we have the privilege of the ballot box for that!)

So, as CARICOM sets about “the next step” in regional integration, let us insist that the CSME and the CCJ be accountable to the people, under God, for justice. That in turn requires that there be transparency provisions to hold these regional rulers and administrators to account, with effective mechanisms to reform -- and if necessary change or remove -- them. Last, but not least, let us always remember the warning of Lord Acton: “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power [– i.e. power without accountability –] corrupts absolutely; great men are bad men.”


AMEN

NOTE: On a weekly basis, I intend to post "steering word" commentaries from the Let's Talk Radio show, ZJB, Montserrat.

Here is the first in the series:

LT # 5 International current interest item:

Iraq Sovereignty Hand-over
GEM 04:06:29

On Monday June 28, TV news reports showed Mr Bush at a NATO conference in Turkey – glancing at his watch; then smiling and shaking hands with an equally beaming Mr Blair. Thus, two days ahead of schedule, Sovereignty was handed over to the new Iraqi government.

With this fresh start, the long-suffering, but now liberated people of Iraq have an opportunity to become a shining city of hope in the Middle East. For this, we should pray; as a stable, free and prosperous Iraq can go a long way towards building peace, liberty and stability in that long troubled region. Especially, we should pray for the Assyrian and Chaldean Christian minorities who are very worried that they will be oppressed and persecuted by the Muslim majority (under the dhimmi code in Islamic sharia law). Second, current reports on Christian media networks are that some churches in Iraq are “doubling and trebling” their numbers, so we need to pray for even more showers of heaven-sent revival. Third, let us pray that the new Iraq contributes to the peace of Jerusalem; Psalm 122:6 strongly encourages us to pray for the peace of that city.

But also, the Iraq crisis shows the three great global forces that we mentioned last week at work:

1. The De-christianisers – While there is obviously much room for debate on the pro/cons of the renewed heavy fighting in Iraq in March 2003 that overthrew Mr Hussein, one of the major reasons that Mr Bush and Mr Blair were so harshly attacked over the past year in the media and international forums is their evangelical Christian faith. (For instance, in a recent BBC interview Mr Blair had to DEFEND himself from the accusation that he prayed with Mr Bush! Similarly, one of the main reasons Mr Bush – who qualified as a Fighter Pilot and holds a Harvard MBA -- is often accused of being “stupid” is that he is a Christian: after all, in many an atheist’s opinion, Christian faith is merely a discredited, damaging superstition and only the weak-minded cling to it. There is another word for such prejudiced, arrogant contempt: BIGOTRY. For, in fact God has shown that he will judge all men with perfect justice, by raising Jesus from the dead: with over 500 eyewitnesses -- there is convincing proof of the truth of the gospel, if only we would humbly listen. Moreover, if one is honest, s/he will also have to admit that all of us are a strange mixture of the glory and the shame; the wise and the stupid; the good and the bad – this simply shows that while God made us in his glorious image, we are ALL fallen sinners who need to repent and be reformed. So, through Jesus let us all confess our sin and folly and seek God’s forgiveness, empowering and wisdom to do better. Let us therefore pray for Messrs. Bush and Blair [and for the many other world leaders; cf. 1 Tim 2:1 – 2] that they -- through God’s grace -- will be wise and godly statesmen: building justice, liberty, enduring and sound peace and God-blessed prosperity.)

2. Militant Islamism – Most Iraqis are Muslim, and the overwhelming majority support the rise of a truly just, peaceful and democratic government. However, as we see day by day in our headlines, a few local and foreign jihadists are using terrorist tactics to try to destabilise the new Government and create a base for spreading Taliban-like radical regimes across the ME and wider world. Let us pray that they fail, for if they get their hands on Iraq’s WMD-building capacity (and perhaps stocks left behind by Mr Hussein as well), the resulting surge in terrorism, mass-murder and war in the ME and beyond would be far beyond our worst nightmares.

3. Christian Revival and Reformation – Last week, bro Kim of S Korea was murdered – it seems, martyred -- in Iraq by Islamist militants. (Now, “martyr” is actually the Greek word for “witness.” But, 2,000 years ago, Christians who were faithful to Christ rewrote its meaning with their blood: for, as Tertullian the great C2 Christian leader from North Africa said, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.) Let us pray that in Iraq and across the ME, as in Ancient Rome, revival will continue to spread as consciences and minds will be stirred to listen to the good news of the Prince of Peace; so that the sacrifice of bro Kim -- who spent his spare time witnessing to Jesus even in Iraq -- will not be in vain.

Here in Montserrat, the same three global forces are at work, and so let us be wise as we listen to news and as we think about how best to rebuild Montserrat under our SDP vision as a healthy, wholesome, prosperous, democratic and God-fearing nation.

AMEN

Yet another
Day of Infamy

The Kairos
Focus

GEM 04:05:17

LEAD: Today,
Monday May 17, 2004, marks yet another "date that shall live in infamy."

For, it is the
day on which -- thanks to the refusal last week of the US Supreme Court to intervene
in a blatant case of Judges imposing their perverse opinions on the people of
Massachusetts and their elected representatives -- so-called "same-sex
marriage" will become legal in that state by Court order. Thus, through
the faith and credit clause of the US Constitution, this devastating perversion
of marriage (just check out what has happened in the handful of super-secularised
European countries that have done this before: try Focus on the Family for a
start) will be automatically legalised across the United States. (And thanks
to the disgraceful sacking of Judge Roy Moore last summer, officials who disobey
unconstitutional, tyrannical court orders will have little or no support in
the public and media!)

This has immediate
implications for public policy and morality across the Caribbean, for we are
heavily dependent on the tourism industry, which in several of our islands employs
up to 20 - 25% or even more of our people and produces a similar fraction of
GDP. For, there will now be a demand for us to recognise these so-called marriages
in our lynchpin industry; and probably -- given the recent case of mockery of
marriage through annual mass nude weddings (are they still sponsored by Playboy
porn cable tv?) in Jamaica -- there are figures in the industry who are looking
to a profitable new business opportunity: wedding services for so-called gay
couples.

(This is not just
scare-mongering speculation: here in Montserrat, in the course of canvassing
for a petition to Governement to roll back legalised Internet and Casino gambling,
we have discovered that there is support for such a "gay wedding industry"
proposal among certain sectors of the business community.)

But, What Saith
Scripture?

May I beg to remind
us of a couple of politically incorrect -- the perverted law in Canada now deems
the below: "hate speech"! -- scriptures?

Deut 8:17 You
may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced
this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives
you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he
swore to your forefathers, as it is today. 19 If you ever forget the LORD
your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify
against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the
LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD
your God.

Rom 1:18 The
wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and
wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness . . . 20 For
since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power
and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has
been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God,
they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking
became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed
to be wise, they became fools . . . 25 They exchanged the truth of God for
a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who
is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful
lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were
inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other
men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore,
since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he
gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They
have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips,
30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways
of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless,
heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those
who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very
things but also approve of those who practice them.

The Word of God
is plain: our long-term economic and national survival -- that is, truly sustainable
development -- are dependent on the blessing of God, and therefore on our attitude
to Him as communities. In particular, if we forget him and his word and choose
to put our own ideas and idols in their place, we will destroy ourselves in
a cesspit of immorality and perversion, deceit, vicious curiousity isuing in
evil invention, and violence. Resemblance to current events in our region, in
North America and the wider world are NOT coincidental.

Nor, is it hate
to point out to those who are rushing towards a cliff edge in a fog, that they
are heading to disaster. Just the opposite, in fact: it is loving one's neighbour
as oneself to frankly point out the truth! [Cf. Lev. 19:15 - 18.]

But, why is there
so little protest, so little action to oppose these destructive trends, so little
concern, so little prayer?

Let's Connect
the Dots

Perhaps, we need
to connect a few dots:

1] ANTI-CHRISTIAN
EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION: A long time ago, in his The Rhetoric, Aristotle
warned that our judgements when we are pleased and friendly are vastly different
from those when we are pained and hostile.

In recent decades,
we have been subjected through the mass media to the notion that godly intentions
are put forward by idiotic, fanatical, violence-prone hypocritical fundamentalists,
while perversions and perverts have been consistently portrayed in a favourable
light. So, today, so-called "gay marriage" is being portrayed as a
"fairness" issue, as is the notion that the insanitary, unhealthy,
grossly bizarre, personally and socially destructive activities called "sodomy"
are actually civil rights. All of this serves to undermine our confidence in
well-demonstrated facts: stable marriages and families, in communities that
depend on hard work in communities that promote justice and contribute to the
world through productive rather than exploitive or vice-based industries are
the demonstrated basis for sustainable development of a community.

2] DISTRACTION:
It is no coincidence that over the past several months, the current US Administration
-- led by a now much despised, Evangelical, born again Episcopalian -- has been
subjected to a flood of accusations of lying, hypocrisy and imperialistic intent
regarding its renewal of hostilities in Iraq (after 12 years of Armistice violations,
17 UNSC resolutions and several surges of renewed hostilities through brief
bombing campaigns failed to secure complince on the part of the Saddam Hussein
regime). But, just at the time vindicating facts are surfacing, our attention
is being diverted by: yet another accusation: prison "atrocities."
[I thought such terms were usually reserved for the sort of massacres and torture
chambers that have put 300,000 graves in the Iraqi deserts, thanks to the Hussein
family's activities since 1979. Or is this an attempt to create a sense of immoral
equivalency between a rogue prison unit and a sadistic, tyrannical mass-murdering
regime?]

I hear someone
querying: "Vindicating facts"? Yes:

(i) A few weeks
ago, 20 tons of VX and other deadly war gases were recovered, just in time,
in Jordan, in the hands of Al Qaeda operatives linked to Iraq. The gases reportedly
came in via Syria, but their ultimate origin is not in serious doubt: Iraq
is the only accessible source capable of manufacturing these gases on the
scale in question. Had they been released in Amman, Jordan, 80,000 people
would have died. If released in Israel, it would have triggered massive, perhaps
nuclear, war. In short, the cost of a smoking gun discovery would have been
catastrophic; but since there is no mass-casualty, WMD event, this has been
briefly reported and soon forgotten: don't hold your breath waiting for apologies
to the villified but now vindicated Administrations of Bush and Blair. For
shame!

(ii) Over the
past several months, significant, apparently well substantiated information
has surfaced that the Iraq Oil for Food programme, administered through the
UN Secretariat, had become a global bribery and illicit weapons smuggling
scheme, implicating senior UN officials and a cluster of Govermnments including
especially France and Russia. So serious are the allegations that former US
Fed Chairman Paul Volcker is leading an audit team set up by the UN, though
the scope is artificially restricted. For, US$ 111 Billions were processed,
only US$ 15 Billion of which went for actual food (much of which failed to
reach the actual needy people), and another US $30 Billions for various "cultural"
items. What happened to the other US $60 - 70 Billions? Could this explain
why even though so much was spent, the people of Iraq were still suffering
severe hardships?

3] MORE DISTRACTIONS:
Isn't it strange that an Administration that issued a press release in January
regarding the discovery of abuses at Abu Ghraib, and anounced that Courts Martial
were in train, would face at this time -- only two weeks before the Courts Martial
could convene -- a scandal triggered through leaking of photographs that the
leaders of the Pentagon pleaded be held back for a reasonable time in the interests
of protecting the lives of troops? Isn't it even more interesting that when
an innocent abducted Jewish contractor was beheaded by wanted Al Qaeda operatives
based in Iraq, in "revenge," blame was promptly attached to the Administration
-- whose officials had warned him to keep out of Iraq?

Also, since the
sort of perverse, homoerotic and sadistic behaviour captured for the camera
revealed in the photos reflects directly on a pornographic, perverted lifestyle,
what is the connection between the 1993 "Don't ask, don't tell" Clinton-implemented
policy on sodomy in the military [not to mention in the White House Oval office
- Fellatio is in fact a type of sodomy] and the recent events? The consequence
is quite predictable: Bush has now slipped to 46% in the polls, with Kerry --
whose public policy philosophy wioll materially advance exactly the destructive
agendas we are discussing -- now at 51%.

4] MEDIA BIAS
& AGENDAS: Thursday before last, I finally had enough of media manipulation.
On a BBC World Today programme, Korean Christians and missionaries were characterised
as gibberish-speaking, ecstatic crusading zealots, who have targetted the Middle
East. In that region "crusader" is not only a fighting word, it will
cost innocent people their lives. (BBC evidently knows this: when I checked
the online version, without notice of the alteration, references to crusading
zeal and to glossolalia had been edited out.) So, instead of reporting on the
transformation of Korea into a modern, highly progressive, exemplary Christian
nation that is now the number two sender of missionaries globally, we saw a
calculated hatchet job: and, to date, there has not even been an acknowledgement
of my complaint. Next time, when an innocent Korean, Chinese or Japanese is
murdered by blood-crazed jihadist zealots in the Middle East, do not expect
BBC, sadly self-righteous in its secularist agenda, to apologise or acknowledge
guilt.

On this one, I
have reached a pitch, where I have now developed an online rating scheme for
the media and similar presentations in the name of truth: http://www.angelfire.com/pro/kairosfocus/resources/straight_or_spin.htm

How it works:
media stories have (1) a head and lead, (2) the story proper, (3) characterisation
of people and institutions mentioned or implied, and (4) a background context.
For each of these elements, we should consider: (a) Accuracy, (b) Fairness,
(c) kindness, (d) balance (or whether it provides a counter-balance). So we
have a sixteen-point rating scale. Sources that consistently score 13 - 16 are
acceptable, but those at 7 or under are dangerous. Unfortunately, that is exactly
where much of the local and international media are these days. For shame!

Seeing the
Big Picture

One of the major
points above is: context -- or rather, the lack of it.

For, if we fail
to understand our times, we will not know what to do [1 Chron. 12;32]. in our
times, that means we need to understand how three major forces are dominating
global trends, and how we should respond intelligently and spiritually as Christians
in the Caribbean:

I: The Northern
Tidal Wave: out of Europe and North America, anti-Christ secularism, neo-paganism
perversions and apostate chhistianity have joined forces to target the world
with a filthy brew of unbelief, occult involvement, moral collapse, perversions
of every stripe and corrosive selective skepticism and suspicion of anything
that smacks of Christ.

II: The Middle
Eastern Tidal Wave: out of the jihadist, islamist ideology that once led
to the wars of muslim expansion from 621 - 1683, we again see a bloody surge
of jihad-motivated aggression. From Indonesia to Sudan, Nigeria and beyond,
blood, much of it innocent, flows once again. And, the global Dawah missionary
campaign, Saudi-funded tot he tune of US$ 100 Billions over the past twenty
years, seeks to islamise the whole world. (Those who are entertaining the thought
that such would be a blessing should first find out what dhimmitude is like,
perhaps by looking at www.dhimmi.org . Similarly, those who deride Christian
missionaries as illegitimate, should reflect on the impact of the global Dawah:
this is the principal source of the wave of Wahhabist extremist clerics that
have ideologically fanned the current jihad into flames. Go compare: who planted
hospitals and schools?)

III: The Southern
Reformation: thank God, over the past 100 and more years, God has sent out
a massive wave of the gospel, which has triggered a revival and transformation
of the South of the planet. And now, with China having multiplied its Christian
population at least twenty-fold in the past fifty years, over the next 20 -
30 years, that nation is poised to become the largest Christian nation on the
planet. Already, the Chinese church is looking to its global respoonsibilities!

So, the ball is
in our court. For, we in the Caribbean are the first region to be thoroughly
evangelised in modern times, and we are by and large the peoples of the 10/40
window, who through being brought to the Caribbean [with all the horrors that
that implies] have been blessed through the gospel in ways we often take for
granted. But now, we have to think harder than we have ever had to think before,
and awaken to our responsibilities in the world.

++++++++++++++++++++++

PS: I have been
very busy with a transition to Montserrat, and have had to neglect regular postings.
For this Iam sorry, and hope to be able to take back up the torch over the next
few weeks. Indeed, this discussion piece will be followed by other articles
one a week for the next little while. Let us think, and act, by God's grace.
Gordon.

Web Clips and Comments: Dec 29, 2003

SYNOPSIS: The capture of Mr Saddam Hussein has seemed to spark both
the "premptive surrender"
of Libya, which declared that it was abandoning its WMD programmes (including
nuclear programmes), and an upsurge in terrorism as the Islamists and Baathists
across the ME and world desperately try to still be in the fight. Sharon in
Israel has announced a disengagement option, where if talks show no progress,
he will pull back behind the now controversial West Bank wall/fence -- note
that a fence around Gaza has sufficed to prevent suicide bombings from the heartland
of Hamas and Islamic Jihad support!

Of course our local pundits continue their disconnect from and massive denial
of reality, both relative to the ongoing resurgence of the 1,000 year Jihad
that lasted from the 600s to the late 1600s, but also over local issues. For
instance, the Jamaica Theological Seminary-Caribbean Graduate School of Theology
[JTS-CGST] recently announced
the intent to become a regional Christian University, only to be pounced
on by Mr Mark Wignall, a former evangelical turned hedonist and secularist.
His major claim: that it is highly dubious that Christians can create a credible
university that addresses science and clinical psychology -- despite the existence
of the well-recognised Northern Caribbean University [a Seventh-Day Adventist
Institution] and the equally well respected JTS-CGST programmes in Counselling
Psychology and Guidance, at masters and bachelors levels. This I pointed out
in a rebuttal
that was published -- in a badly edited form. [I append the original.]

Perhaps the most significant item over the past two weeks or so is the David
Aikman National Review interview, in which he highlighted trends in the
church in China, which he numbers at approximately 92 Millions. [BTW, if the
usual claim that circa 1950 there were 5 million Christians in China, then about
80 Millions by the early 90s are correct, then this means four doublings over
forty years, or a compound growth rate of some 7%. That would mean that if the
rate continued, the current numbers should be about 150 - 160 millions. Of course,
such trends are seldom very smooth.] He observes that the trends are parallel
to the Roman Empire in the 200's which had the educated classes increasingly
becoming Christian, even in the face of waves of persecution. Such a trend portends
a tipping point in which the Christian community attains critical mass that
affects the national character, culture and policy -- pointing out that South
Korea, with Christians as 1/3 the population and a similar pattern of conversions,
has "tipped." [If that is a good indicator, it suggests China may
be as little as 20 - 50 years away from tipping, if the growth continues at
rates similar to those over the past half-century.]

Of course, that would be globally decisive, as it would mean that the two greatest
powers in the world at that time would be strongly even decisively influenced
by the Christian World- and Life- view. On that basis, though we see regional
and global turbulence over the next generation, the underlying trend is in favour
of the Southern Christian Reformation, not the Islamists or the Secularists
and Neopagans.

Something to think and pray about, especially as we consider that the Caribbean's
Christian community are in large part the people from the 10/40 Window, brought
under the influence of the gospel, and now able and empowered to carry that
message to the world.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS:

• The current Advent Season brings to mind the perennial question of when
  Jesus was actually born ( Farah gives a minority view; the Shepherds in
  the Fields is usually held to indicate September-October) -- but, of course,
  Christmas is actually simply an Official Birthday, similar to the Queen's
  Birthday. I found a review
  on Saint Nicholas very interesting, given the beginnings of an attack
  on Santa Claus as being a religious figure too!
  
  
  
  


• The reflections of Rabbi Lapin on the significance
  of Hanukkah and the miracle of provision and sustenance by God are well
  worth a thought or two in a world where economic and environmental crises
  are the cry -- sometimes, the hysteria -- of the day. But also, we should
  not forget that the Season is a peak time for persecution by those who would
  drive Christ from the public square, and the
  jihadists. Let us continue to pray for the suffereingf church under dhimmitude
  and jihad, as well as the church under seige by the secularists and neopagans
  in the West.
  
  
  
  


• The US upgrading of terror level to Orange, has had quite an impact on International
  Travel, and will probably not do our Winter Tourist Season any good. It is
  claimed that the underlying
  basis is from Mr bin Laden's current plans. However, be that as it may,
  we dare not forget that the 9/11 losses were approximately equal to the number
  of babies aborted on any given day in trhe USA, and the blood of these innocents
  also cries out to God for justice, against the US establishment that refuses
  to hear their cry.
  
  
  
  


• On this score, I was intrigued to see Jill
  Stanek point out a biblical fact I had long observed: that when Mary went
  to the Hil Country to see her cousin Elizabeth, who was in her sixth month,
  John the Baptist, by the Spirit, even in the womb responded to the weeks-old
  embryonic Christ in utero, with joy! (There is no way that perceptive, consistent
  and informed Bible-based Christians should view the embryo as less than fully
  human and fully deserving of protection of life! BTW, this should make us
  think again about the use of contraceptive devices such as IUDs and Morning
  After Pills (and some "standard" pills) that do not block conception,
  but prevent implantation.)
  
  
  
  


• Neil Boortz raises a worrying question about how we perceive economic reality,
  and how
  our Profs and Teachers may in part be responsible for it, through manipulation
  of the classroom process. This is particularly in my mind because of a recent
  conversations with Christian brothers who seems to be fiormly of the opinion
  that the basis of the free enterprise economic system is greed and oppression
  of the working classes, not liberty and opportunity to pursue one's dreams,
  in ways that as Jeremiah 29 points out, can be compatible with the general
  benefit and advancement of the community. perhaps the online version of my
  CC article on Enterprise under God as a part of the work of the church should
  be of help. Cf. Table
  of Contents, Why Not Now?
  
  
  
  


• Dr Hamza, Saddam's bombmaker who fled to the West in 1995 and has spent
  years warning against the danger of the Iraqi programme, was seriously wounded
  in an assassination attempt in Iraq. The
  incident is worrying, and lends support to the credibility of his testimony.
  Don't expect to read this anytime soon in the writings of our local pundits!
  
  
  
  


• In a similar vein, it is sobering to read the
  assessment of the Clinton Administration in 1998 on Iraq, and contrast
  the public pillorying of the Bush Administration's similar claims over the
  past year and a half. Let us hear Senator Lieberman, from a recent hardball
  interview with Chris Matthews: "I want to be real clear about the connection
  with terrorists. I've seen a lot of evidence on this. There are extensive
  contacts between Saddam Hussein's government and al Qaeda and other terrorist
  groups. I never could reach the conclusion that [Saddam] was part of September
  11. Don't get me wrong about that. But there was so much smoke there that
  it made me worry. And you know, some people say with a great facility, al
  Qaeda and Saddam could never get together. He is secular and they're theological.
  But there's something that tied them together. It's their hatred of us." Developing
  . . .

FOCAL ISSUE:

Global tipping point

The Aikman story raises several interesting themes as we reflect on the three-way
contest for the hearts and minds of a global world:

1. The Secularists, neopagans and Apostates of the West


2. The Islamists and Jihadists of the Middle East


3. The rising Southern Christian Reformation

If the church in China can maintain an annual compound growth rate similar
to that over the past half century, within a Generation, China will become a
Christian culture. This alone would have great implications for the world, but
China is actually a striking example of a global phenomenon: the rising tide
of reformation that even now is transforming the South of the planet. For, Africa
has seen a truly spectacular explosion in Christian Faith over trhe past century
(which will make it and its extensions in the Caribbean ands the Americas a
focal point for the clash between militant islam and the Christian Faith), and
Latin America is shifting to a more evangelical form of the Christian Faith.
South Korea, as noted, has already tipped.

This highlights the responsibilityt of the Christians of the Caribbean. For
we are in the main the people of the 10/40 window, brought into the Caribbean,
and under the power of the gospel to liberate and transform, for instance leading
to relatively harmonious racial relationships, never mind the lingering but
thankfully fading stench of colour-class-race barriers.

Never have we been so well off economically, nor so well educated, nor so accessible
to travel. Does not this imply that it is a time for us to look back on the
heritage of the ex-slaves such as Fuller and Merrick, who in the 1840s pioneered
missions in Africa? Similarly, we cannot be dismissed in the North as right-wing
redneck ill-educated yahoos shouting out bigotry and fundamentalism.

Thatr is, we are well-positioned to play a leading roile in the work of the
church in bringing the gospel to the 10/40 window and the secularised and paganised
West.

So, itr comes down to a familiar question:

If not NOW, when? If not HERE, where? If not US, who?

END

 

Web Clips and Comments: Dec 15, 2003

SYNOPSIS:

The current news is dominated by the capture of Mr Saddam Hussaein over the
weekend, which opens up a break in current trends in the Middle East. NB: (It
is quite telling to contrast the developing news with the tone and substance
of the local commentary by the punditocracy!) However, in light of a broader
perspective, several other recent developments are worthy of highlighting. Also,
we should remember that on December 17, this week Wednesday, the world will
mark its first century of heavier than air flight.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• The current news on the fate of Saddam is telling: why is it that the Palestinian
  Arabs and Arab Street are dejected and/or in denial at the capture of a mass
  murderer with 400,000 victims lying in mass graves in Iraq? Why is there a
  silence on the part of the leaders of the Arab countries? Could there be implications
  to the prospects that througfh thorough interrogation, the
  links between Arab Governments, their Intelligence Agencies and Terrorist
  groups will be further exposed? Developing . . .
  
  
  
  


• Here in Jamaica, on Tuesday last, the Jamaica Theological Seminary- Caribbean
  Graduate School of theology dual school announced
  its intent to become a full university. it was immediately attacked
  by controversial columnist -- and secularist-hedonist former evangelical --Mark
  Wignall, on the assumed grounds that such an institution could not measure
  up to the true (That is, secularist) standards of scholarship! Not mentioned
  was the fact that currently the degree programmes in the institutions are
  accredited by the UCJ, nor that JTS-CGST graduates have a track record of
  academic as well as career excellence in the region and internationally, nor
  that Christian Universities in fact have a centuries deep tradition of academic
  excellence. Of course, the secularist worldview agenda is simply assumed,
  rather than critically assessed in light of its demonsytrated fatal flaws
  in modernist
  and postmodernist
  forms. [These links are of course drawn from a course
  web page for a JTS course.]
  
  
  
  


• Over the past several months, the neopagan agendas in the West have made
  major advances in the court system and the wider culture, especially through
  the use of the concept of fairness to advance the idea of so-called
  same-sex marriage. (In fact, by attempted
  redefining of marriage, the secularists and gay movement inadvertently
  reveal the destructive
  implications of pulling manhood away from the primary social institution
  that channels male energy into productive directions through marriage and
  the family.)
  
  
  
  


• In so doing, however, they have side-stepped the documented findings and
  issues that homosexuality
  cuts decades off one's life expectancy due to the unhealthy sexual practices
  and high incidence of violence within this sub-culture.
  
  
  
  


• Indeed, the very concept of "same-sex marriage" has the effect
  of destroying
  a keystone institution in human culture, mariage: the institution that,
  together with the family, channel the destructive potential of men into virtuous
  manhood. (In fact as well, homosexual partnershoips seem to be inherently
  quite unstable.)
  
  
  
  


• Similarly, the recent appointment of an openly homosexual man as bishop
  in New Hampshire threatens
  to split the Anglican Communion and bring great discredit to the church
  at large. Maybe most telling of all is the thought that no heterosexual adulterer
  who left wife and young daughter to take up with another woman would have
  even been considered for the post of Bishop. For shame!
  
  
  
  


• Similarly, Justice Roy Moore of Alabama's recent adventures betray the ongoing
  deliberate
  forgetting of the roots of liberty and self-government by a free people.
  Ambassador Allan Keyes' response to the issues deserves to be studied carefully.
  So do the actual
  historic inscriptions.
  
  
  
  


• A recent
  commentary on the AIDS projections in Africa raises questions about the
  validity of the compiuter models used to estimate the current and projected
  numbers of victims. Of particular note is the use of South Africa data as
  a cross-check and the note that even in the areas that have notoriously been
  most affected, population growth trends have been at the 3 percent level,
  in some cases actually accelerating. This raises serious questions regarding
  the validity of the computer projections, and regarding the hype and hysteria
  that surrounds certain issues and agendas.
  
  
  
  


• In Milan, COP 9 to
  the Kyoto protocol has been held, with the backdrop that Russia may refuse
  to sign on to the Kyoto pact on economic damage grounds, and in a context
  where the models seem to be being tuned to track the lower trends being mreasured
  by satellite soundings of the atmosphere. As a result, the projected global
  temperature incrtease over this century is now 0.74 - 1.5 degrees Crelsius,
  which takes the projected trend out of the catastrophic range. Again, the
  issue of the validity of computer models is in question, and the potential
  damage of basing policy on hypoe and hysteria is to be duly noted.

FOCAL ISSUE:

1. Can an Evangelical Institution be of solid academic standard?

Addressing the issue, Dr Noelliste the President of JTS-CGST is summarised:

As a university, the students would be exposed to a range of disciplines
with the proviso that courses would be taught from a distinctly evangelical
worldview. "There is no discipline that cannot be approached from a Christian
perspective and that would be our unique contribution to the Jamaican educational
system," Dr. Noelliste said.

Mr Wignall's revealingly cynical response was:

The point I am making is that while I recognise that religious institutions
have done wonders in education (I went to an Anglican school), the teaching
of religion by itself, especially the strictures inherent in Christianity,
should be seen as a personal attainment/belief and not something that can
be certified by a university. If a man or woman wants to study theology, then
by all means do so. But in my view, that person is then best suited for the
pulpit and not in some business organisation where his or her brainwashing
will be used (unwittingly) to fortify or condemn others.

This should serve as a red flag, revealing the penetration of secularist patterns
of thought in our governance classes and the opinion leaders who influence them.
It is amazing that no consideration of the evident collapse of the secularist
worldview was entertained, nor that worldview-level issues exist in the context
of alternatives that all bristle with difficulties, so the issue is to
develop a coherent understanding of these alternatives in light of the comparative
difficulties.

It
is time for us to wake up and act!

If not NOW, when? If not HERE, where? If not US, who?

END

A Spiritual Geostrategic Assessment

GEM 03:12:04

Over the past several months, the three-way clash for the future has again been underscored: the secularist-neopagan-apostare West, the islamists, and the Southern Christian Reformation.

So, as I wind down the course I have been working on over the past little while [cf http://www.angelfire.com/pro/kairosfocus/resources/Intro_phil/intro_and_schedule.htm ], it is appropriate to do a quick review and examine our outlook. From this point on, I intend, from time to time, to develop similar reflection pieces, and to resume regular news clippings and comments: for, we must discern the times if we are to know what we should do.

This piece is a sort of catch up.

1. Review:

Headlines have been dominated by the continuing clashes associated with the renewal of the 1,000 year Jihad war; not only due to the campaigns and terrorism events, but also because the leader of the USA, an Evangelical Christian, has been the subject of not just criticisms of to this policy or that but an evident campaign to remove evangelicals from serious consideration for high office. Similarly, over the past several months, in the USA the 10 commandments were put in the closet as a threat to liberty; while so-called ¡§same sex marriage¡¨ is being imposed on society through the courts system in several leading western countries. Thus, we see how rapidly the three-way clash for the future is developing.

The Israel-Palestine clash continues ¡V with truth being the principal (but far from only) casualty of the ongoing war of terror, but has now taken on menacing global overtones. For, it reveals the rot in the international institutions, not only the UNH and its extensions, but also the media and pundits.

For instance, at a recent meeting of the 57-member international Islamic Conference Organisation; the retiring Prime Minister of the ¡§moderate¡¨ Islamic country, Malaysia, went on record that the Jews rule the world by proxy, and have others do their fighting and dying for them. This, to loud applause by an organization whose members include Guyana and Suriname in the Caribbean. There were some brief remarks in the media, then the world simply moved on.

Contrast: in the UN, when Israel recently offered a resolution regarding concern for the safety of its children ¡V as a parallel to a similar resolution offered earlier regarding Palestinian Arab children, it was reversed in intent through amendments, and was withdrawn. And that, against a backdrop where dozens (maybe hundreds) of Israeli children have become actual intended targets for ¡V and/or victims of ¡V murderous suicide terrorism attacks.

The latest development is of course a ¡§peace plan¡¨ in Geneva, where unofficial persons representing the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs have ¡§negotiated¡¨ a settlement to the conflict. However, reports are, that the Palestinian strategy in this was not serious: it was intended to sow discord within Israel, and logically, to further isolate Israel. More to the point, negotiations can only serve propaganda purposes when they are not between those who can undertake binding agreements ¡V and the warning that we are prone to say ¡§peace, peace¡¨ when sudden destruction stalks, should give us pause.

Sick. And, ever so sad.

Here in the Caribbean, we seem to be asleep at the wheel. On the agenda is business/sin as usual, and especially in Jamaica, desperation as usual. However, it is increasingly clear that none of our would-be political messiahs has a sound set of answers.

2. Key Trends and Challenges

The Israel situation is highlighted above because it reveals the underlying cynical hypocrisy and corruption in the world at international levels. [cf http://www.angelfire.com/pro/kairosfocus/resources/Abrahams_faith.htm ]

This underlying issue is vital, as globalist institutional initiatives are the ¡§standard solution¡¨ to problems advanced by the secularist, internationalist policy-makers and pundits who dominate the thinking in our media culture and educational institutions. In turn, these institutions clearly show their alignment with the secularist, neo-pagan and apostate Christian agendas that are the first of the three major players in the global battle for the future.

In this context, the campaign to desensitize us to the destructive nature of sexual perversions is being boosted by the same forces. Suddenly, ¡§same-sex marriage¡¨ is on us, with evident intent to destroy marriage as a stable foundation for society ¡V if something comes to include everything, it has no meaning. Those who object are, as usual, being characterized as intolerant bigots; and the high incidence of divorce is being cited to hint that maybe there isn¡¦t anything there worth saving.

Of course, in fact, we see in this the very strongest proof that this agenda is extremely destructive to society. For, here we have an evident intent to exploit postmodern confusion about morality to remove the protective fences that for millennia society has rightly seen as vital in controlling the aggressive, lustful and violent passions of men in particular. From the days of Plato¡¦s Republic, this has been recognised as perhaps THE challenge to those who manage societies!

Running a close parallel are some worrying developments in the ongoing renewal of the 1000 year Jihad. For, serious reports by Mansoor Ijaz, a news analyst on the war, place bin Laden in Iran, currently near the border with Iraq. Other reports seem to back this up. Thus, the Sunni and Shiite branches of radical Islamism have come together, and in a context where the nuclear ambitions of Iran have been put on the international agenda under very worrisome circumstances that suggest collaboration with the Pakistani and possibly the North Korean programmes.

Given these links and the availability of weapons of mass destruction, I now project a dangerous but all too plausible possibility. Since a major goal of the islamists would be to unseat the current president of the USA in the next US election, it is likely that a plan is afoot to attack the US with such weapons during the next 11 months, most probably next summer or fall. For, that would ¡§demonstrate¡¨ the failure to protect the public and would greatly push the ¡§peace in our time at any price¡¨ policy. But, of course, false peace is no peace.

I hardly need to underscore the global panic that would be created by such an event, especially if it is a nuclear attack. (Of course, there have long been missing so-called ¡§suitcase nukes¡¨ ¡V i.e. demolition devices comparable to the Hiroshima Bomb but small enough to fit in a suitcase -- from the ex-Soviet arsenal.).

In summary, the two tidal waves that were envisioned as threatening the Caribbean are now in full flood. We see the secularists, neopagans and Apostates from the North, and the Islamists from the East.

3. What, then, should we do?

Jesus once rebuked the Pharisees, that they were able to read the signs of the weather quite well, but could not read the signs of the times. The contrast to the famous wise men of Issachar, who understood the times to know what Israel should do, is absolutely telling.

Unfortunately, this observation is equally telling against the governance ¡V that is, decision-maker ¡V levels in the church, institutions and wider community across the Caribbean. For, on the one hand, the region is ill-equipped to respond to the above global threats that now batter our region; on the other, we do not seem to be even aware of our mortal danger!

The first response is along the lines of the ANC¡¦s motto: UNDERTAND THE PAST, ACT IN THE PRESENT, BUILD THE FUTURE. For, as the Russians warn: ¡§Dwell on the past, lose an eye; forget the past, lose both your eyes.¡¨ That is, those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.

So, it should be no surprise to see that the first battle is for history and the heritage we have derived therefrom:

1] The modern experiment in liberty and self-government by free people was a reformation legacy to the world. But, that was predicated on the judaeo-christian, biblical world view: men, governed from within by the words and spirit of the scriptures, can be trusted to be free. We see all around us the consequences of forgetting this lesson as Western culture has decisively shifted to radical skepticism, secularism, neopaganism and associated apostasies of the Christian Faith.

2] The biggest single social challenge is ¡V and has always been -- men, especially young men. For, such men in the ¡§natural¡¨ state have the physical power, hormone-driven aggressiveness and lack of empathy that leads them to spin out of control once they forget God and the restraining influences that flow from a godly order for life, family and community. As Paul pointed out in Romans 1 ¡V 3, once this dynamic is let loose in a society, it disintegrates in an orgy of false wisdom, ungovernable and perverted passions and violence. This is clearly happening ¡V again ¡V in western culture in our time!

3] In the Caribbean, especially Jamaica, we have forgotten the key element in our heritage of liberty. It is no accident that the first black missionaries arrived in Jamaica in 1783, i.e. Gerorge Liele from Georgia, leading to parallel processes of evangelization, education, emergence of leadership, empowerment and liberation, culminating in the end of slavery as of 1834. Thereafter, Baptist missionaries and other evangelicals took the lead in the creation of the free villages that empowered the ex-slaves as citizens with stable economic foundations and families living on their own land. But of course, while heavily sexualized ancestral spirit statues are much in evidence, not one word about the history and heritage of emancipation can be found in the Emancipation Park in Jamaica!

4] Indeed, we see instead, that Dr Sultana Afroz, of UWI Mona Campus History Department, has spent the past decade imagining an Islamic past for Jamaica, one heavily weighted towards: jihad as the model for overthrowing oppression. It can easily be shown that the evidential basis for her claims is quite sketchy and over-extrapolated [ cf. http://www.angelfire.com/pro/kairosfocus/resources/On_Afroz_Thesis.pdf ]; but in the absence of concern for truth in our history in a post-modern era of skepticism about truth, the historian has become a mythmaker, not a detective trying to find out the truth about the past so we may have understanding of our own times that will guide us as to what to do.

The obvious solution is to fix the past deficit. But, the governance levels in church and community alike are so influenced by the times, that this is now a very hard row to hoe. This is a long-term project.

That brings us to the way forward: a remnant-renewal and reformation strategies driven by faith-based covenant communities of trust and common vision. Once we get this going in our region, we can exploit the fact that the Caribbean is the region that was the first project of globalization, to carry such solutions to the wider world. Of course, that implies a renewal of our missionary heritage, which started in 1843 wit the first missionaries who went out from Jamaica to West Africa with the gospel and with ideas and techniques that helped pioneer development there.

4. The Example of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah¡¦s prophetic letter to the exiles from Judah, circa 600 BC, brings out some of the subtleties of how the remnant-renewal and reformation pattern can work in a diverse, potentially hostile community:

¡§Build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage . . . increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. . . . . For I know the plans I have for you . . . plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.¡¨ [Jer. 29:5 ¡V 11.]

These are of course general remarks; they are consistent with individual cases where disappointment or worse happens. But, the community of the exiles as a whole is counseled to seek the peace and prosperity even of the land of their enemies and oppressors, who have carried them off into exile. And God promises to bless them and eventually to restore their fortunes:

„X Instead of the very natural focus on resentment over harm done in the past or even currently, the letter¡¦s focus shifts attention to undertaking projects that create progress, peace and prosperity in one¡¦s family, the people of covenant at large, and the wider (and often potentially or actually hostile or even oppressive) community. [This has much to say to our tendency to focus on our own unfinished history of slavery and oppression, rather than on opportunities for progress provided by the rich resources of our region!]

„X This shift of focus also illustrates the power of the GR/CI to break the cycle of mistrust, resentment and violence by setting out to build a future that reaches out across barriers and hatreds to promote community-wide peace and prosperity by building on opportunities that are within one¡¦s reach.

„X Further, Jeremiah reverses the usual view of the SD principle, that it is the powerful who must make the first move to promote sustainable development. Instead, he counselled a grass-roots up, start-small-and-grow, self-help based approach that moves out from building on opportunities to produce for oneself and to build a family, to seeking and praying for the prosperity of the wider community, as a covenant community of faith within the wider culture.

„X Thus, we see a shift from the typical development approach that emphasises the central role of the state ¡V statism ¡V to one that emphasizes individual, family and community-based strategies: moving from the margins to the centre, in short. (This exploits the so-called iron law of oligarchy: power circulates among elites, so until one has become a credible alternative leadership, one¡¦s needs, complaints or proposals will simply not be seriously entertained by those who hold power and so dominate the state.)

„X Similarly, there is an emphasis on nurturing the environment so that the way in which its resources and associated opportunities are exploited promotes meeting of basic needs across time and across generations: food, clothing and shelter. (Integrating Prov. 31:10 ¡V 31, such initial efforts can be turned into quite thriving business initiatives that build up the wealth of families and communities.)

„X Further, implicit in the focus on the family within the wider covenant community of faith, is the concept that a godly culture must be nurtured even in a hostile environment, and that the covenant community of faith should reach out to the wider community in concern and prayer, backed up by appropriate action that promotes the good order and prosperity of that wider community. (This is underscored by the point that this is in the mutual interest of all members of the wider community, including that of the community of the faithful.)

The long-term sustainability and benefits that flow from this path can be seen from the fact that this has been the consistent, and often successful, approach of the Jewish Diaspora ever since those dark and painful days of the Babylonian exile.

Across time, communities that work in the above way tend to become prosperous, well-educated and influential; as the stories of Daniel, Nehemiah, Ezra and Esther illustrate. However, this progress may also provoke resentment and persecution, especially if there is an unwillingness to compromise core moral commitments and/or to assimilate to the wider community. (This has been one root of the many persecutions the Jews ¡V and Christians -- have suffered. Cf. 1 Peter 3:3 ¡V 6.)

But also, when communities are open to the importance of justice and broad-based participation and fairness in the community, the approach opens up to include possibilities for involvement in the sort of democratic participative governance approaches described above. (It should be noted that such approaches can be manipulated by clever interest groups who are able to distort perceptions or suppress key facts, so that the community¡¦s actions become disconnected from reality. In our time, this is unfortunately a commonly used tactic.)

CONCLUSIONS: Why not now? Why not here? Why not us?

Course on Intro to Philosophy

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course introduces students to key approaches, ideas, inquiries and issues of Philosophy in the context of their significance for/challenge to the project of thinking, living and serving Christ and community as informed, educated Christians. Through structured participative approaches, it will emphasise: (1) primary questions/foci/issues; (2) terms, tools and techniques used to address such issues with due regard for precision, clarity and cogency; and, (3) the use of the principle of comparative difficulties to critically reflect on pivotal elements, issues and impacts of the systems put forward by select ancient, medieval and modern/postmodern philosophers, in response to these questions. Through these explorations, the interaction of philosophy and Christian faith across time will also be explored, to discover whether biblically rooted, philosophically informed, prophetic intellectual and cultural leadership (e.g. as sketched in Acts 17:16 – 33) is possible and/or desirable. The participants will then use their findings to discuss the relevance and applicability of philosophical questions and approaches to current challenges faced by the Caribbean.


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JTS: Intro to Phil
Session 1: Briefing Note
GEM 03:10:08

OVERVIEW: What is Philosophy?


INTRODUCTION: First, we need to clarify: what, why and how philosophy? Is it important and relevant to us in our situations? What are possible challenges to the project of living as Christian disciples, and how should we respond?

1. What? Why? How?

The Colliers Encyclopedia 1998 Dictionary provides a helpful summary, with which we can begin – but note that in philosophy, EVERYTHING, including the below, is open to debate:

phi•los•o•phy

n.pl. phi•los•o•phies [abbr.: ]phil.philos.
1.
a.Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual
means and moral self-discipline.
b.The investigation of causes and laws
underlying reality.
c.A system of philosophical inquiry or
demonstration.
2.Inquiry into the nature of things based on logical
reasoning rather than empirical methods.
3.The critique and analysis of fundamental beliefs as
they come to be conceptualized and formulated . . .

Unpacking: philosophy = philo + sophia, loving wisdom (by looking beneath the surface of things).

Thus, one would ask, investigate through reasoned inquiry -- and try to live by “sensible” answers to -- hard but important questions about us, our world and “ultimate reality.” Since there are usually competing answers to such questions, and none of them will be without difficulties, then we would compare the difficulties and decide which alternative is “best.”

Over time, those who have investigated in this way in the Western Tradition have found it helpful to view philosophy as comprising several sub-disciplines:

 Metaphysics: critical analysis of worldviews, the pictures/models of the world that we all (but especially philosophers, theologians and scientists) build up.

 Epistemology: Is knowledge possible? How can we tell knowledge from belief, opinion or imagination? What are our rights and duties concerning knowledge?

 Logic: How to distinguish good reasoning from bad. This is the key analytical tool of philosophy.

 Ethics: critical analysis of right/wrong, duty, rights, decisions and expectations. This is the part of our personal worldviews we are most aware of.

 Aesthetics: Critical analysis of beauty. Is there more than just “the eye of the beholder” at work? Why did early philosophers come to view the highest good as comprising justice, truth and beauty?

 Philosophy of “X”: Extensions to specific areas of interest, such as Science, Education, Religion, Politics or Mathematics.
2. Worldview Analysis

The rest of philosophy unfolds from critical analysis of worldviews, so we need to clarify:

“In its simplest terms, a worldview is a set of beliefs about the important issues in life.” [Nash, 1992. NB: Authorities are used as “expert witnesses” that allow us to avoid going back to first principles every time we discuss philosophically. They are no better than their underlying facts, assumptions and reasoning!]

Worldview analysis therefore asks:

 What is ultimately real? [Metaphysics]
 How do/can we know and test/justify this? [Logic & Epistemology]
 How, then, should we live? [Ethics & Aesthetics]
 Often: what’s right/wrong and what should we do?

3. Philosophy, Science & Religion

Plainly, these have overlapping concerns; and so there has often been much contention due to divergent ways of approaching the major worldview analysis questions.

Indeed, it is a common perspective that philosophy arose as a challenge to religion and its ghostly superstitions, and has long since discredited it. In turn, Science emerged from philosophy as the natural world was studied, and in some minds, has completed the process, having discredited philosophy, especially metaphysics! However, these are now minority opinions, given the re-emergence of the worldview concept as central to understanding diversity in a pluralistic, relativistic, largely secularized age.

A brief comparison of the methods & issues could start with:

 Philosophy: asks and tries to answer key questions, through dialogue constrained by logic. Often, its practitioners challenge the validity of inferences from experiment and observation, as well as the concept that there is a “God’ who is there and is not silent.

 Science: Focuses on the natural (and human) world & advances testable/falsifiable models/theories as provisional knowledge that seeks to describe, explain, predict and control/influence. Often, practitioners are only vaguely aware of the inherently provisional nature of scientific knowledge claims, and are prone to dismiss as “worthless” anything that is not open to experimental tests or at least physical observation.

 Religion: Traditions and associated worldviews and lifestyles/cultures that centre on God (or a God-substitute), often in light of claimed “revelations” from God (or the substitute). Adherents as a rule seek to shape how they – and the wider community – live, in light of what they think God (or the substitute) wants.

Unfortunately, the resulting tensions are too often shaped more by heat than by light.

4. Testing Worldviews

Hasker, 1983, outlines that critical analysis of worldviews clusters around several key themes:

1. Factual adequacy: does a worldview account for and agree with the relevant “known facts”? Are there gaps, and/or contradictions to “facts”? Are “facts” so?

2. Logical Coherence: do the claims within a worldview (and their implications) support or deny one another? If two such claims/implications contradict, at most one can be true. (Both may be false, or may refer to empty sets and so are vacuous.) Sometimes, minor surgery is enough to correct this problem. Sometimes, major work is required. In some cases, the case is hopeless.

3. Explanatory Power: Worldviews should UNIFY the facts/entities of reality, showing how they relate, interact and/or work together. This allows us to understand, predict and influence/shape the world. (NB: In most cases, such world models are under-determined by the evidence.)

5. Presuppositions and Bias

It is especially important in such testing to focus on core assumptions (“presuppositions”), as they control other aspects of the worldview. Also, such assumptions are most powerful when they are implicit, so it is important to express them in words. They will always be present, as finite humans cannot prove everything, so we inevitably start with some things that are assumed, and relative to which we try to prove other things.

Such core assumptions typically focus on beliefs about God, man, the world, methods of inquiry, and virtues, duties and rights.

But equally, as Vox Day [?] an Internet columnist has observed, a psychology is a worldview’s characteristic way of dealing with reality. So, world-VIEWS strongly shape how we see the world, i.e. the core assumptions of a worldview can potentially warp our thinking and living. (In the extreme cases, deceptions and delusional fantasies or even outright madness lie down that road. It is a hallmark of such, that they are disintegrative and destructive in their effects on individuals and communities.)

Similarly, as Nash observes “A number of Christian writers have attempted to raw attention to the fact that the kinds of . . . thinking we find in science, philosophy and even theology are often strongly affected by nontheoretical considerations . . . it would be foolish to pretend that human beings always handle such matters impersonally and objectively, without reference to considerations rooted in their psychological makeup.” [1992, pp. 23 – 24.]

CONCLUSIONS: We have briefly seen how Philosophy is about asking hard questions about important issues, then trying to coherently answer and live by the answers. Consequently, the heart of philosophy is worldview analysis, in turn requiring epistemological and logical tools shaped by ethical concerns. Characteristic applications of such analysis lie in justice, truth and beauty in our lives, communities and world.

References & Readings
Hasker, William. Metaphysics. IVP 1983. Ch. 1

Nash, Ronald. Worldviews in Conflict. Zondervan, 1992. Ch. 1

Plato. The Cave. In The Republic. Try: http://www.bulldognews.net/cave-parable.html

Stanford online Enc. of Phil: http://plato.stanford.edu/

An online Intro to Phil: http://www.philosophyclass.com/introduction.htm

Suber’s guide to Phil on the Internet: http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/philinks.htm

Remarks on Mel Gibson's The passion:

Could this movie be an opportunity for the world to pull back from the brink?


Just now (Sept 19) I saw on MSNBC's news ticker tape where Jewish leaders are publicly accusing the Gibson film, the Passion, as anti semitic.

I thought some observations are in order[cf. Elizabeth Farah http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34291 and a second piece at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=34333 ], and quite relevant to the purposes of this group:

1] The gap between perceptions and expectations and truth and right:

The former are subjective, the latter objective. I find that there is a pattern in Western Culture to turn away from objectivity, opening the door to manipulation of emotions so we do not even listen to those who may well be telling us truth that we do not wish to hear. The end of this is that men will choose darkness instead of light.

2] Is the film actually antisemitic?

By several undisputed accounts what it does is it is strongly based on the Gospel texts, and actually does its dialogue in latin and Aramaic, with English sub-titles. Further, I gather that the points where the Gospel message specifically highlights the corruption of the Judaean leadership have actually been softened to avoid offense. (But also, it is easily the most realistic depiction of the brutality of the tortures meted out to our Lord, so much so it is targetted for an R rating when it is released next Ash Wednesday.)

However, given the basic message that a corrupt leadership (Judaean, Herodian and Roman alike) abused the power of the courts to try to get rid of a gadfly, if current jewish leadership are unwilling to accept that as so, then they will raise accusations.

Frankly, that says more about these leaders -- then and now -- than it does about the movie and the Gospels; which have in them an unmistakeable ring of authenticity.

By sharp contrast, the Athenians came to revere Socrates, regretting the horible judicial murder of the Athenian intellectual gadfly; and Plato's Apology became a foundation text of the movement for intellectual freedom in Western Culture.

Could we all, Jew and Gentile alike, recognise that one message in the Gospel Narrative, is that power tends to corrupt, and that courts can often become instruments of abuse and usurpation thus horrible injustice? That, fundamentally, the Jewish/Chriatian debate over Jesus hinges on whether he was/is the messiah -- that is the context is a debate within the Jewish tradition? That, Jesus and his Apostles were and remained Jews?

And, not least, that especially in our time when jihad-crazed suicidal terrorists stalk both Christians and Jews, can we not see that we have more in common than the concerns that divide us theologically?

3] The spiritual dimension

In Acts 16, Luke describes Paul's misadventures in Philippi. There, he was derided as a Jewish interloper who was destroying businesses -- by setting a poor girl free from her demons. He was seized and whipped with Silas, then thrown in gaol. But at midnight, an earthquake intervened.

Soon, the gaoler and family became Christians, on seeing how the apostles responded to the chance of escape and prevented the keeper from killing himself. Then, when the authorities wanted to get rid of the apostles quietly, so that they could get away with injustice and hang over their heads a cloud of suspicion, they suddently had a challenge: let them fetch us publicly, as they have beaten Roman Citizens without even having a trial first!

So, shocked, the authorities had to recognise and apologise for their injustice; vindicating the missionaries. (For, Rome had in the past gone to war over such an incident!)

But then, is that not exactly what the resurrection is: God's vindication of Jesus?

So, Judaism today needs to reassess at several levels:

* Accepting the point that religious and secular leaders - even in a nation with a godly culture -- can become so corrupt that they abuse their power/influence over the instruments of the state. Is this not exactly what the Tanakh's Prophets so often complain of, as in Amos 5:7 - 17?

* Listening to the gospel story within this prophetic tradition, appreciating that in a colonial situation as described, corrupt local leadership and Roman overlords would be all but inevitable. If this were not so, why were there so many revolts and protest movements at this time?

* Hearing the ring of authenticity in the passion narratives: the clash between the galileans and the judaeans coming to a head; the popular galilean leader being seen as a threat rather than a corrective. That corrupt leaders would twist the law and facts to advance their agenda of jealousy is all too familiar.

* Equally, recognise that even in the leadership, there were those who were men of conscience, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who courageously challenged what was going on; including burying the martyred prophet in a tomb right outside the main city gates as a mark of permanent silent but eloquent protest at Jerusalem that kills its prophets.

* Being willing to really listen to the core Christian message -- first proclaimed by JEWS who saw in Jesus the fulfillment of Israel's hopes -- that this Jesus was vindicated by God through the resurrection from the dead. Five hundred eyewitnesses, almost all of them clearly Jews, stood on this point at risk to life and limb.

Likewise, a secularised, apostate and neopagan Gentile world needs to hear again that message: this same Jesus God has raised up and vindicated. he is the One who shall judge us all at the Last Day. In token of this, for two thousand years, we have had a church that has borne witness, worked miracles in his name and even now calls all men to repent.

And so does the Islamic world.

In short, we can all see ourselves and our institutions and leadership cultures on trial in the Passion narratives. If we will but acknowledge this, there can be hope to avoid catastrophe in our time!

So, perhaps, Mel Gibson has brought the whole world face to face with the grim and yet relevant warning of Lord Acton: power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

But, there is good news: with such a state of tyranny, corruption and injustice, God is not pleased. However, he in love has submitted himself to just such tyranny that he might save us from our sins and through his church and the Scriptures even now calls all men everywhere to repentance and reformation.

Jew, Gentile, ands Muslim alike.

Brothers and Sisters, let us all repent!

Grace be with you all

Gordon