http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=831

“No Christian should come to God’s house thinking anything else but that everything necessary for life and for happiness and for satisfaction and for fruitfulness is given to him or her in this worship service.”

Number One: God was in complete control over the earthquake.  The Bible assures us that there are no “natural” disasters.  The Scriptures make it plain that all things happen according to God’s perfect and holy will – yes, even tragedies like last week’s earthquake.  Amos 3:6 makes this clear when it asks the following rhetorical question:

“Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?” (presumed answer: Of course not.)

Number Two: Jesus, the divine-human King of the world, judges rebellions nations.  Psalm 2 prophesies the reign of God’s Messiah over all nations.  The New Testament tells us in numerous passages that Jesus took up the reign that Psalm 2 predicted in the first century – in the middle of history.  In other words, Christ is ruling the nations, on His Father’s behalf, now. 

But Psalm 2 doesn’t just contain predictions of Christ’s present reign; it also contains warnings to the present rulers of the earth, threatening them with Christ’s in-time judgments if they don’t submit to His rule:

 Psalm 2:10-12a – ¹⁰ Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. ¹¹ Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. ¹² Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.

Jesus judges nations whose leaders reject His rule.  This judgment can play out in a variety of ways: foreign invasion, economic collapse, disaster, etc.  Was what happened to Haiti a specific manifestation of such judgment?  We can never be sure.  And we shouldn’t pretend to be.  Bible-books like Job make clear that sometimes calamity strikes for reasons unknown to all of us.  But we can say that what happened last week might very well have been an example of Jesus pouring out His just wrath upon a nation.  He has done so before and can do so again. 

How should we react in light of such a terrifying possibilities?  See number three. 

Number Three: God’s people must never gloat when others are struck with tragedy; rather they must be humbled and strive to remain faithful to God.  Luke 13:1-5 reveals to us what our responses should be to tragedy, even tragedies that smell of divine retribution.  Rather than think we are somehow less worthy of such judgments, we must remember our own need to remain faithful, lest we too come under similar judgments.  Romans 11:22 makes a similar point when it says:

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

Number Four: We must remember that Christians often suffer when God strikes a nation with tragedy.  This was true for the Jerusalem church in the first century when the Lord struck Israel with a famine.  The believers, who were not being judged, were also struggling with a lack of food.  That’s why the Apostle Paul wrote letters to Gentile churches pleading with them to lend prayer and financial support to their fellow saints in Judea. 

Clearly the above 1^st-century-example guides us as we seek to minister to God’s people in Haiti who have also been affected by the earthquake.  We must pray for them as if we ourselves were suffering with them.  And we should ask God to move us to be generous financially, giving in ways we know will be a help to our fellow believers. 

And finally, Number Five: Let us pray that our God will show mercy to the people of Haiti.  Let us ask Him to do such a work in that country so that in a hundred years it is no longer known for voodoo, corruption, and poverty but rather, because of the gospel, for righteousness, peace, and blessing.  May God lead the people of Haiti to take refuge in the mercy of our world’s good and merciful King.  I’ll end by quoting the last verse of Psalm 2 in its fullness: 

Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

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For my full review, see here.

In light of the above, I decided to take a trip to the theaters and see what all the hype is about.  What follows is a brief review laying out the pros and cons of the film.  

I’ll start with the good.  First off, Avatar is a visual treat.  It’s safe to say that you’ve never seen a movie like this before.  Secondly,  Avatar is a relatively decent action/sci-fi movie…not the best, mind you, but not too shabby.  Third, the film tells a Romeo-and-Juliet-style love story that works to a degree, at least enough to tug at one’s emotions a bit.  Those three pros account for the popularity of the film amongst the masses and almost make it worth the ticket price.

(This isn’t part of my review, but I saw the 3-D version of the film.  Though it’s the best 3-D I’ve seen so far, I still don’t like the style all that much.  The stuff in the foreground…the stuff coming out at you…never looks real.  It always looks a bit cartoonish to me, even when it’s live action.  I’ll be passing on the 3-D option in the future.)

As for the cons of Avatar, I can summarize them in one sentence: Avatar is a leftist (left-wing) sermon, which is why the critics love it.  All of the libs’ favorite talking points make up the sermon outline:

1. All big corporations are evil.
2. We’re currently destroying our planet by using its resources.
3. Pagan savages are always wiser than civilized people, because they recognize that nature itself is divine.

Yes, the above themes are obvious and annoying.  Yes, they tend to dominate the story.  But in my opinion, they don’t quite ruin the movie-watching experience.  The reason is that the film’s “bad guys” are so completely despicable that you sort of do look forward to them getting what’s coming to them in the end.

I’ll conclude this review by telling all of you what saddened me the most about Avatar [spoiler alert].  Towards the end of the film, the hero prays to the “mother” deity of the planet.  In the course of his plea, he confesses that earthlings have “killed their mother”, obviously referring to our supposed spoiling of the environment through industrialization.  Of course I was annoyed by the leftist diatribe inherent in his prayer, but I was more saddened by the fact that James Cameron seems to be encouraging his audience to serve a god (nature) that can be killed.  A god that can be killed by us?  What kind of god is that?  It’s the kind of god you’re left with when you reject Yahweh, Lord of Armies.  How tragic.

“Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it’s a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, the coming doomsday—these are deeply held mythic structures. They are profoundly conservative beliefs. They may even be hard-wired in the brain, for all I know. I certainly don’t want to talk anybody out of them, as I don’t want to talk anybody out of a belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God who rose from the dead. But the reason I don’t want to talk anybody out of these beliefs is that I know that I can’t talk anybody out of them. These are not facts that can be argued. These are issues of faith.

And so it is, sadly, with environmentalism. Increasingly it seems facts aren’t necessary, because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief. It’s about whether you are going to be a sinner, or saved. Whether you are going to be one of the people on the side of salvation, or on the side of doom. Whether you are going to be one of us, or one of them.”

He’s certainly onto something.  As a matter of fact, the Church of the Environment even has a system of indulgences to atone for sins against nature.  They’re called carbon credits.

Is affordable health care a basic human right? 

Those who would answer such a question in the affirmative believe it is government’s responsibility to make sure that its poorer citizens have access to some level of free health care.  Those who say, “No,” to the question above are usually not in favor of publically funded health services. 

In the next few posts, I would like to lead us toward a Biblical answer to such a question.  But before we get there, we need to begin with a more basic discussion of the concept of rights.  We need to see whether or not the Bible supports our Western notion of basic rights.  Only then will we prepared to take a Christian position on Obama Care.  Stay tuned…

I’m very excited to report that I have just read such a book.  It’s a little paperback by N. D. Wilson entitled Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God’s Spoken World. 

Is it a hymn of praise?  Is it a call to thankfulnesss?  Is it a rebuke of ingratitude?  Is it poetic answer to the so-called “problem of evil”?  Is it a laugh-fest?  Is it a tear jerker?  It’s all of those things, and so much more, rolled into one.

Read it and weep.  Read it and laugh.  Read it and be changed.  Read it and thank God for your mom who taught you to read (then call her when you’re done).  Read it and…oh just read it, as soon as possible.  What follows is a little taste, concerning God’s answer to tragedy in His world:

“Tragedy isn’t an easy thing to kill….Tragedy must by destroyed by someone willing to be swallowed by it, willing to be broken, torn out of the flesh, but able to return to it.  Someone must be able to shatter the tragic from within and exit into comedy, able to rip a hole so wide that a train of souls, a parade, could follow after, banging drums and throwing candy as they strolled into the sun.”

I was putting my son to bed last week.  Like every night, I put my hand on his head and began to give him his nightly blessing.  As I began, he grabbed his stuffed Curious George, put his hand on George’s head, and mumbled the blessing right along with me.  Monkey see; monkey do.

Children are hardwired by our wonderful Creator to imitate their parents.  That’s why Prov. 22:6 can promise what it does: “Train a child in the way he should go,  and when he is old he will not turn from it.”  But hidden in that wonderful promise is a sober warning as well.  Our children will learn to be like us.  This includes the good, the bad, and often the ugly.

As I watch my children imitate me in good things, I also see my struggle with anger and frustration in both of them already. Do any of you have similar experiences?  My guess is that all of us see our strengths and our weaknesses constantly displayed before our eyes in the lives of our little ones.

The one good that comes of seeing my children imitate my sinful behavior is that it drives me to confession and repentance, towards the Lord and towards them.  By God’s grace, they will learn to imitate this most of all.

The cop made a respectable choice, going with a pint of Blue Moon (I’m not a personal fan of Belgian Whites; but Blue Moon is at least a semi-adventurous brew).  The Prof. represented his home town well by going with a Samuel Adams.  Ok, it was Sam Adams Light; but still, what more can we expect from a stuffy, liberal academic?  What really blew me away was Pres. Obama’s choice.   Our Commander-in-Chief, the Leader of the Free World, calls a beer summit; and he downs a Bud Light.  Travesty!  Don’t even get me started about our VP showing up later with a non-alcoholic selection.  I mean talk about emboldening our enemies!!

If ever elected President (no one hold their breath), I promise to proudly represent our great nation by downing real, manly beer for all to see.   For my first beer summit, I think I’d down this little beauty.