- @AngelAmidala where you headed? #
- @AngelAmidala I use mp3 ringtones and store them on a microsd card. I know before I was able to do that I copied ringtones by using blue … #
28
Dec
I do not believe that the climate change is man-made. I also don’t disprove free market “green” solutions. From a moral standpoint I believe that God gave us the earth to take care of and we are doing a pretty crappy job in many areas. While anthropogenic global warming (AGW) seems to be soundly spanked as a theory that doesn’t mean we should not worry about our environment. I, like many experts in the field, think that the idea that man could cause the climate change we are seeing is an arrogant position with little scientific backing. I depart from my conservative co-horts at that point. I do see pollution as a problem along with many other excesses. We were given the mandate to care for this planet and we have, in general, failed pretty miserably.
While not as big a problem in the U.S. as it has been in the past, but still a problem nonetheless, ground water pollution is something that we should all be concerned with. Out quest to cut pollution from motor vehicles has seen MTBE polluting ground water at alarming rates late last century and while California was among the hardest hit there was pollution everywhere it was used. The possibly groundwater pollution effects were known when it was added as an oxygenate to gasoline beginning with the “clean air” states. It has been replaced with ethanol for the most part at this time but the effects still remain. Some may claim it was a mandated additive but the fact is the only mandate was that an oxygenate be used. The oil companies decided to use MTBE because of cost. So we see love for the almighty dollar as the root cause of this source of groundwater pollution.
It goes further than that though. While still fewer than the middle of last century there are still companies who weigh the dollar value of dumping their waste improperly against the dollar value of the fines id they are caught. Of course the formula is more complicated than that but the reality is that it still makes sense to not properly dispose of waste that causes everything from cancer to birth defects in the minds of some companies because the bottom line, the dollar, is all that matters.
Is the answer to these problems lawsuits (MTBE), stiffer fines, harsher penalties from the government, maybe jail time for whoever made the ultimate decision? I say no that is not the answer! In fact I resoundingly say NO! Any government regulation will be corrupt as our government is corrupt. (A brief aside: I do not believe in conspiracy theories nor do I hate the government. They are corrupt in the same manner as the companies I mention and it is nothing more than the human condition.) Any regulation will have loopholes, exemptions, and various other methods that allow companies to continue doing the same thing they. They possibly could have to hide it better but the practices will continue. I am not opposed to tougher regulation, espcially on air pollution (for strictly immediate quality of life issues not AGW) and groundwater pollution but it will not solve the problem as a whole. I don’t even think it is where we should start.
The starting point for things like this should be the church. Coming from a fairly conservative church background there is a lot of knee-jerk reaction to environmentalism as a left-wing ideal. That alone causes us to not make the statements we should make for fear of being lumped in with the “left-wing-nutjobs”. This my friends is a travesty. I see us, the morally conservative side of the church, as so afraid to admit that we need to be conservationists that we don’t bother at all. Our fear of being labeled “liberal” stifles what we should be doing. We should have a voice in issues like this. We should take the time to read enviornmental impact reports (albeit many with a grain of salt) and send supporting or dissenting letters to the officials who approve new projects. We should look at the companies in our area and know their record on pollution. We should be enabling the community to know what it happening around them.
The basis for this starts in the pulpit with the pastors. Teaching that we should care for God’s creation is something I feel every pastor should do. This enables the congregation to get involved. Shedding the fear of the “liberal” label is must for us at this time. We should not sit silently and be unconcerned about the environment because AGW is a scam. We should be involved.
The second step in this is something that I feel very strongly about. We should become unified in our efforts. Christian unity is lacking in a very big manner in the western world. To accomplish the things I speak of here we would have to cross denominational boundaries and reach out the other Christians in our community. There are many ways to accomplish the things that need to happen. I am but one man and at present see a single way but I am sure there are others. I would love to see a community board with members from local churches tasked with review of local environmental issues. This board should be party agnostic and with no stated political affiliation. The proceedings should be completely transparent and available for all to see. If at all possible it should include a local expert of some kind to advise on the voracity of the data being reviewed. Once data on any environmental issue impacting the community is reviewed the board should then discuss the issue openly and only retire to privacy for a time of prayer. I only say there should be privacy for prayer for those who would wish to seek God in quiet. Once the board has prayed on the issue they should come back together openly and reach a decision on the issue laid before them. Once a decision has been reached a letter should be penned clearly stating the position and listing the churches involved as fully backing the document. This should then be delivered to any government officials involved in the decision making process concerning the issue as well as the complete board of any companies involved. Once this is done it should be given to the hands of God for resolution.
I know it’s a radical idea. I know there will be many of my conservative compatriots who see this as a deparutre from my self-clamined conservative position and to them I would simply say they need to remove their blinders. We, the church, have a responsbility to God in this area and further responsibility to our communities to more than a building where people meet on Sunday morning. It is time for the church to stand up and be counted. We should never be the silent majority. We should come together through prayer and fasting and present a united effort to make our communities better on every single level. We are failing to do this presently and we need to stop being pew warmers and start being leaders we are supposed to be.
Ok well maybe not that bad but let me paint a picture of what I have to deal with concerning food.
As many of you know I am a bit of a food aficiando. I love the sublte tastes in various type of cuisine. My lovey wife, however, is not. I love her to death but hearing her explain why eating somewhere we haven’t eaten in a month is having something we have all the time is mind boggling. To get to this position she divides food into three top categories: My cooking, eating out, and take home. So if we got Scholotsky’s a month ago and haven’t eaten out since then Scholostsky’s is what we eat all the time, but only in the take home category. It is like that for all of the categories as well. Furthermore her palate doesn’t seem to distinguish between cuisines at all. If we had a nice beef fried rice at a hibachi joint then there’s no way we could have any of the following later that week: beef fajitas with Spanish rice, thai food at all, any vietnamese, or any chinese. So not only are all of the oriental cuisines lumped together in one bunch so are the ingredients. So nothing with beef and rice and no oriental food if we’ve had fried rice while eating out and are going out again. That’s only mildly crazy in my opinion but the top breakdowns come into play and I could cook my own stir fry over rice the same week we aren’t allowed to go out for any oriental or meat and rice dish.
It is maddening to try and find a place to grab some take out. Only slightly less so for going out for a sit down meal. And honestly when I cook I try to make things my wife likes but in the end I make what I want to make and it usually works out.
You may think I am joking but none of the above is hyperbole at all. Most of it is straight from a conversation earlier this evening (or yesterday evening as the case were). I only hope she hasn’t passed on whatever gene causes this to our children.
Love ya baby…
If you look at the history of the punk rock movement, not the modern drivel, but the real punks you will find that it was a rejection of many things going on at the time: flower power, political idealism, the royal class in England, pop music, and much more. This led to a stated belief in anarchy and a lot of DIY emphasis. Today the movement is pretty much dead. It has gone the way of Christmas and is commercialized and sterilized and packaged for mass consumption and worse yet embracing the same political idealism rejected by the first punks. I don’t even mean the prevailing liberal idealism present in punk but even the right wing punks. Both sides have embraced an idealism that was soundly rejected in the beginning. That’s all the information we need to move forward. While I love the music this isn’t about the state of the punk scene…
So how do I reconcile being a punk with being a Christian? Punk is and was about rebellion. Most people, ministers included, will tell you that rebellion is a bad thing and it’s not very Godly. I say that while rebellion in many circumstances is wrong that those who say it is always wrong are short sighted and have forgotten things like a certain set of theses nailed to certain door. I also firmly believe that all of our emotions are still intact after the fall but they have become corrupted. It is through God’s guidance and wisdom that we use these corrupted emotions for his good. We know, for a fact, that God is a jealous God and yet in most cases while we are still trapped in this mortal coil it is not good for us. I don’t want to get too deep into the theology of emotions but I did feel a need to explain my position before going further. So to sum up: Every emotion we have, rebellion included, was created for a purpose and has a Godly purpose.
I consider myself a punk when it comes to the church. I am not ready to accept the status quo and be a good little pew warmer. In fact I would like to see the status quo torn down and replaced. I am not speaking of any single church specifically but of the visible church as a whole. Denominations dividing us. Preachers spewing hate against other Christians. Congregrants whose entire ability to talk about God consists of bumper sticker witicisms. These things are what the world see of the visible church. I could blame the media because they decide what to show the world but better yet I lay the blame at the feet of the visible church for ever giving these things to show. If we did as we should, if we practiced unity in any real fashion, not the lip service payed to unity today, then the media wouldn’t have the freakshow that they get to choose from today.
So yes I am a Christian Punk. I am rebelling against a church that has allowed the name “Christian” to be drug through the mud. To be slandered by the likes of Fred Phelps. To be shown in the worst possible light. Furthermore I am sickened that around Christmas time we make a big play to “keep Christ in Christmas” and then we allow ourselves to participate in the commercialization of the date chose the celebrate Christ’s birth. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I am no longer content to watch people sit comfortably in the pews on Sunday and go back to their daily lives with no change. If what we believe is true then it changes people. I know there will always be some folks who don’t change but when the majority of people I meet are Christian zombies then something is wrong.
So yeah I am a punk. I am punk in the truest sense of punk. I intend to make a lot noise and make people think. Christianity, by definition, should not be comfortable. The Bible tells us that we will be persecuted for His name and if we aren’t being persecuted, and trust me not getting put up a nativity scene at city hall isn’t persecution, then we may well be doing something wrong. If we are only getting noticed for the crazies and not denouncing them so loud that the media can’t help but pay attention then we are most assuredly doing something wrong. If it takes bikers, who may or may not be Christians, to drown out Fred Phelps at a serviceman’s funeral then my question is WHERE IS THE CHURCH?
So I am not rebelling against God. I am rebelling for God. I am rebelling against a visible church that has become more concerned with feeling God than with saving souls or leading people beyong the initial salvation experience. I am rebelling for God. I am a punk with a purpose. I will be this punk until God wants me to do something different but until then I don’t intend to make to make the church comfortable.
When starting down this path I got to wondering what one man could do. I was answered by history and a look at Martin Luther, John Calvin, Alexander Campbell, Barton Stone, and many others. While I don’t agree with all of the theology those names invoke they were single men with a mission and they affected change for better or worse. I feel the church needs a good shake up. So I am gathering like minded people and am setting out to make it happen.
I pretty much concentrate on the aspects visible to the world in this little piece but the reality is the changes need to start well before the media ever sees anything. There are many essays on those things in my head. They span the denominations, congregations, and so on. There is too much to cover in one article. There may be too much to cover in bookshelf full of books. I only know what I feel God has called me to point out. I am sure there is much more than needs to the brought to light and that others have been and will be called to point those things out. Suffice to say I will be silent no more.
