Article VI Blog

Luke 2:1-20
1    And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2    (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3    And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4    And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
5    To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6    And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7    And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8    And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9    And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10    And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11    For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12    And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13    And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14    Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
15    And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
16    And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17    And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18    And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19    But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
20    And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
(KJV)

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Today we celebrate the day this nation declared its independence from Great Britain.  The reasons for that declaration are many and complex.  But one of the many independences that we have come to enjoy is independence in the practice of religion and from the establishment of a state religion.  I am grateful to celebrate that independence this day.

I am grateful that I can practice my religion with the same legitimacy that anyone of any faith can practice theirs.  Yes, I believe mine is TRUTH and that others are not.  But here is the thing, if I am right about that, in America my faith will prevail – for uniquely in America others have the ability to hear me proclaim the truth of my faith without the coercion of official government sanction.  When we rely on government force to uphold the truth claims of our faith we, in a sense, admit that our faith is less that self-evidently true.

The current administration is demonstrating to us, in full force and glory, that the government is capable of making people act in accordance with things that they disagree with.  Is that really how we want our faith, no matter what that faith is, to be promulgated across the land?

As conservatives, do we want people to say things about us that we are saying about the current administration?  That through shear political will and the exercise of brute force, we thrust our will and viewpoint on the nation?  I know I don’t.

So I am grateful to live in a nation where I can, and will if sufficiently qualified, vote for a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Muslim, or even a Mormon.  In doing so, I do not endorse their faith – I endorse a nation that has allowed my faith to thrive.  I endorse a nation that gives a level playing field in the battle between faiths.  I endorse a nation where I know my faith can eventually win that battle, not because of what the nation does, but because of what I believe about my faith.

Happy Birthday America!  I am proud, grateful and happy to be among your citizens.

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Somethings require that one stretch beyond self-imposed limits.  This blog is not really about politics in general, but I just have to comment on Joe Biden yesterday.  If you have not heard, he wandered into a frozen custard shop in Wisconsin, asked for “ice cream,” was corrected and when he asked the owner how much he owed, the owner responded with “It’s on the house – just lower our taxes.”  Moments later, Biden’s “retort” (it hardly deserves that name) was “Why don’t you say something nice, instead of being a smart ass all the time.”  See the video here.

Most of the MSM reporting is trying to make this out as funny ha-ha, but its not, it reveals deeply the major flaws of this administration:

• a tendency to demand, rather than earn, respect
• an inability to listen to the voice of the people
• complete classlessness – a lot of trash talk

This nation simply deserves better.  When it comes to policy details, there is often little the POTUS can do – but one thing the person holding the job, and the VPOTUS should join him in, is set a national tone/mood – that is real leadership.  Often what makes people better in this world is not their circumstances, but themselves.  We cannot always control circumstances, but we can control our reactions to them.

If a nation reacts to circumstances with complaints. moans, self-absorption, and ill-temper little good can ever happen.  But, if the nation responds with humility, good humor and hard work, amazing things will happen.  History proves this out time and again.

And this, frankly, is where religion matters in politics.  Deep abiding faith, regardless of theological specifics, helps make people of humility, good-humor and industry.  These are character traits that it is very hard to develop without faith in a higher power.  What is truly sad to me is that when we get belligerent, nasty and discriminatory in politics over our theological differences, we are missing these essential character developing lessons of faith.

OK – enough preaching, sometimes it is just really hard to watch this administration treat people this way.  We deserve better.  Have a blessed Lord’s Day.

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…is holy to all that call upon the name of Jesus.  And while the stack of stuff for this blog is deep and significant, it is our “off season.”  So, with that in mind we will let the stack continue to grow through the weekend and instead remember what matters on the deepest levels.

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Let me add my welcome to John’s, and my gratitude to him for being the mainstay of this blog.  Also, not being creatively talented and knowing only enough about code to be dangerous, I add my thanks to Dale Baker, our webmaster, who does magical things; and to my wife Sonja, who has “the eye” that John and I lack.

We’ll be here for a while, it seems, and we’ll be commenting on many of the same people and the same foolishness that we all saw in 2006-2008.  We’d rather talk about something else, of course, but things are what they are.  Onward and upward!

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Hopefully everyone will have a faster experience here from now on. A few new features have been added, with an easier method for you to alert your social network about a particular post, (see on the individual post pages.) From that same symbols list you can now also convert any post to a PDF file for printing/sharing, etc.

Enjoy!

Your A6B webmaster.

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