The Right Thing

Grandma used to say, “What if everybody acted that way?  What kind of world would we have? Do the right thing.” 

Mom used to say, “Don’t do things because everybody else is doing it.  Think for yourself.  Do the right thing.” 

There is a right thing.  What a person believes it to be is often defined by their point of view.  That does not change what the right thing is.  It is what it is. 

So, how do we determine what is right and what is wrong?  During a Republican primary debate Nikki Haley said something to the effect that we need a president who knows the difference between right and wrong.  Amen. 

For Nikki Haley, the right thing is defined by traditional American moral values.  That is not true of the Secular-humanist, Progressive left wing of the Democratic party.  Indeed, they are in the process of remaking right and wrong according to new paradigm. 

An Existentialist would say that when we make a choice, we are choosing for all humankind.  We have the freedom to choose, but with that choice comes responsibility.  Therefore, we are obligated to choose responsibly.  (Grandma wasn’t an Existentialist.) 

The Christian looks to the Holy Bible as their ultimate guide for faith and practice and prays that the Holy Spirit will help them to discern right from wrong.  Jesus said, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 ESV)  His disciple John wrote, “Whoever says 'I know Him' but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him:  whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.” (1John 2:4-6 ESV) [1] (Capitalization added.) 

Those who follow other religious or philosophical traditions determine right and wrong according to different and diverse values.  What they think is the right thing to do may, or may not, agree with traditional, Judeo-Christian American values. 

War is a terrible thing.  Its leaders may appear heroic, but it is accompanied by poverty, famine, disease, and death. (Revelation 6:1-7)  Since war is by definition a crime against humanity, there is no humane way to wage it.  Nations may sign off on conventions to govern how war is to be conducted, but they only provide ways to be inhumane in a less inhumane way. 

Israel and Ukraine have been attacked.  Their attackers have committed war crimes.  Our friends did not choose war, it was forced upon them.  They are fighting not only for their freedom, but for their survival – for their national and cultural existence. 

United States has a choice to make.  Do we turn their struggle into a domestic political football and stop helping Israel and Ukraine defend themselves?  Do we stand by and watch as their attackers slaughter, rape, dismember and destroy them?  Or … do we continue to help?  War is a wrong thing, but isn’t the right thing to help our friends defend themselves against devastating attacks? 

Selfishness is wrong, but doesn’t the United States have the right to control how we share?  The right thing is to share what we have with others, and we do so.  Through our government and private charities Americans give very generously to others.  We have exported wealth through trade, and we have raised the standard of living of other peoples around the world by doing so.  We have immigration laws that allow people the opportunity to come to America legally and eventually become citizens.  These are the right things. 

Illegal migrants and others have sought to take advantage of our kindness by violating our laws - entering the United States illegally.  Criminal gangs, cartels, foreign agents, and terrorists have imbedded themselves in the migration.  Millions of our people have died because they have smuggled fentanyl and other illegal drugs into our country.  Human beings are being trafficked in sex slavery.  Migrants have been raped and murdered by the criminal element.  Many have been abandoned to die of thirst and exposure in the desert.  You hear about it every day on the news, but the Biden Administration does nothing to stop it.  All they do is lie and try to shift the blame onto Donald Trump and the Republicans.  Citizens, these are the wrong things. 

Allowing a quota of thousands of migrants per day to illegally enter the United States is the wrong thing.  For true conservatives one is too many, and for the Democrats a thousand is not enough.  The right thing is to put a stop to it. 

Controlling federal spending and limiting the size of government is the right thing.  Withholding aid for the defense of Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and others to force the Democrats to act to restore order to our border with Mexico is the wrong thing. 

In November please vote for candidates who know right from wrong, and who have the courage to do the right thing.  God bless you.  Pray for the United States of America. 

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing –

after they've tried everything else. 

Winston Churchill [2]

 

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[1] https://biblehub.com/

[2] https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/winston-churchill-quotes

 

 

Equal Justice

There is a lot of noise being made because the Department of Justice is not going to prosecute President Biden for mishandling classified documents.  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not prosecuted for mishandling classified information either.  Yet, President Trump is being prosecuted. 

Although there are some differences between President Biden’s case and President Trump’s, to the untrained eye it looks like Secretary Clinton obstructed justice as much, if not more than President Trump.  To many Americans, there appears to be a disparity between the way President Trump is being treated compared to the way President Biden and Hillary Clinton are.  It looks like unequal justice under the law. 

These folks are all big shots.  What about ordinary Americans? 

Kristian Saucier was a machinist’s mate abord the nuclear attack submarine USS Alexandria who took photographs of classified areas of the vessel’s interior.  In 2016, he was convicted of unauthorized retention of national defense information.  He was sentenced to a year in prison.  President Trump pardoned him in 2018. [1] 

Does there appear to you to be a difference in the way justice is applied to the political elites, and cases involving ordinary Americans?  Do we have more than a “two-tiered justice system.”  Is it multi-tiered? 

Equal justice under the law means everybody gets treated the same. Right?  Apparently, we have got a lot of fixin’ to do. 

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[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristian_Saucier

A More Excellent Way

In 1Corinthians, Chapter 12 the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul to teach us about the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the diverse functions individual believers have in the Body of Christ.  He ends Chapter 12 with a lead-in to Chapter 13. 

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.  And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?  Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?  But earnestly desire the higher gifts. 

And I will show you a still more excellent way.                               (1Corinthians 12:27-31 ESV) 

 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1Corinthians, Chapter 13:1-13 ESV) *

 

*  https://biblehub.com/esv/1_corinthians/13.htm

The Fruit of the Spirit

When a person trusts Jesus Christ, and Christ alone, for their salvation the Holy Spirit comes to live in them.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, they are yielded to God’s direction. God gives them the desire and the strength to do His will.  The believer no longer lives to please their old sinful human nature.  They live to please the Spirit.  The believer becomes God’s new creation, who willingly does the good things that God prepared in advance for them to do. 

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are abilities that the Spirit gives to believers.  The presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit shows in the life of the Christian and is called the fruit of the Spirit. 

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22-24 ESV) *

 

*  https://biblehub.com/esv/galatians/5.htm

Gifts of the Spirit

 

“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.  You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.  Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.  For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.  All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills." (1Corinthians 12:1-11 ESV) *

 

*  https://biblehub.com/esv/1_corinthians/12.htm

 

If/Then

If “B” always follows “A” when written in in alphabetical order, then does “A” cause “B?”  If 7 always follows 6 when written in numerical order, then is 7 the result of 6?  If winter in Alaska is unbearably cold, then will winter in Alaska be agonizingly cold next year? Well … probably. 

The “if/then” logical fallacy can cloud our thinking.  If another country kills Americans, then we must retaliate.  If we hit them back hard, then they will be less likely to do it again.  Are we so sure about that?  What other options do we have?  Would they be more effective? 

Three American soldiers have been killed by terrorist militias in Jordan.  It is believed that the group responsible was an Iranian proxy.  President Biden is promising to respond, “at a time and place of our own choosing.” 

If our military has been under drone and missile attack in the Middle East for a long time, as our Secretary of Defense said today, then wouldn’t it have been prudent for the brass at the Pentagon to have “gamed out” various alternatives in the event that some of our troops were killed?  Well, wouldn’t it?  If they didn’t, then wouldn’t that constitute negligence, or even stupidity?  So, why is it taking so long? 

If we strike targets in the Iranian homeland, then what will they do?  What are we planning to do after they do it?  Remember the Scud missile attacks on Israel by Sadam Hussein?  If we hit Iran hard, what happens to Israel?  What happens to our naval vessels in the Red Sea?  Do our retaliatory strikes against Iran include preemptive strikes to destroy their ability to strike back? 

If we conduct an overwhelming response against those responsible for killing our soldiers, including Iran, then do we have the will to deal with the consequences?  What if it takes years of protracted conflict? 

Much is being made of the strikes on Iranian assets ordered by President Reagan in 1988 after an American warship was attacked in the Persian Gulf.  If the Iranians backed down before, then it is certain they will back down now - right?  Since 1988, Iran has become aligned with Communist China and the Russian Federation.  They have developed a formidable arsenal of air defense weapons.  They now have the ability to employ medium range ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, and they are on the cusp of acquiring those nuclear weapons.  The Iran of today is not the Iran we slapped around in 1988. 

It seems to be self-evident that Iran will continue to be an outlaw state until the ruling theocracy is removed from power.  Their actions are making that inevitable.  They certainly appear to be challenging us to do it. 

So, here is the question.  If we put our military, and possibly our civilian population, in harm’s way, then will we be willing to do whatever it takes to win.  If we aren’t, then we shouldn’t waste our treasure and the lives of our service people.

One last thought … whether we want it or not, if we don’t take the Ayatollahs out “at a time and place of our own choosing” now, then there is a high degree of likelihood we will be fighting them in our own backyard tomorrow.  We need to get this done, and we need a leader who is able to do it.

Holy Communion

“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;  and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said,  ‘Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’  In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’ 

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.” (1Corinthians 11:23-26 NKJV) *

 

*  https://biblehub.com/nkjv/1_corinthians/11.htm