The Daily Detour

Perspectives on thankfulness

Today as we get ready to leave and head over to be with our extended family on this Thanksgiving Day I'm reminded anew of just how much we have to be thankful for. It is difficult while living in the midst of difficult economic times (especially for those of us who are still unemployed :) to remember just how much we've been blessed. I thank God that there is a roof over our head, a fire in the fireplace, food in the pantry (thanks in large part to the many of you locally who have been bringing meals to us during Jean's maternity leave :), and good health for my family. And with our growing family, God has blessed us beyond measure.

And I thank God for those men and women in the military who are spending the holidays away from family and friends. I can't help but think, for example, of the 40 troops stationed at Camp Atterberry here in Indiana who my mom and other nurses made Thanksgiving dinner for because they can't be home with their families today. And the countless soldiers and sailors overseas who stand in harm's way this Thanksgiving. Let us not forget them (as this video you've seen here at TDD before, reminds us).

We are blessed to live in the greatest country in the world, a country which has been, and continues to be, a dynamic force for good. So this Thanksgiving take some time to reflect on all the good things that define our lives. And as this commentary from Dr. John Caldwell reminds us, don't forget to thank those around you who have blessed your life. In fact, if you're willing, add a comment or two letting the rest of us know just what your thankful for this season. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all from TDDville! 

A closer look at Obama's Christian faith

One of our TDD readers sent along a link to this 2004 interview with Obama. Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun Times caught up with Obama during his 2004 senatorial campaign and pressed him on various religious issues. This is one of the most revealing exchanges on issues of God, religion, and faith in politics that I've seen where Obama's professed Christian faith is concerned. (For many of you who stand firmly within the confines of Christianity, you will find a number of points of concern. Others of you who stand on the edge, or outside, of Christianity, Obama's views will presumably find resonance with you.) Regardless of your viewpoints on such issues, this interview transcript is worth the read. Below you'll find certain highlights:

On what he believes: I'm rooted in the Christian tradition. I believe that there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.

On the beliefs of his grandparents and mother: by the time I was born, they were, I think, my grandparents had joined a Universalist church...my mother, who I think has as much influence on my values as anybody, was not someone who wore her religion on her sleeve. (In his book, The Audacity of Hope, he elaborates further on these familial influences.)

On Rev. Jeremiah Wright: one of the churches that I became involved in was Trinity United Church of Christ. And the pastor there, Jeremiah Wright, became a good friend. (And in answer to the question, "Do you have people in your life that you look to for guidance?") Well, my pastor [Jeremiah Wright] is certainly someone who I have an enormous amount of respect for.

On religious "dogma": I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. And I'm not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I've got a monopoly on the truth...I'm a big believer in tolerance. I think that religion at it's best comes with a big dose of doubt. I'm suspicious of too much certainty in the pursuit of understanding just because I think people are limited in their understanding.

On his moral compass: the biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass. Those are the conversations I'm having internally. I'm measuring my actions against that inner voice that for me at least is audible, is active, it tells me where I think I'm on track and where I think I'm off track.

On Jesus Christ: Jesus is an historical figure for me, and he's also a bridge between God and man, in the Christian faith, and one that I think is powerful precisely because he serves as that means of us reaching something higher...And he's also a wonderful teacher.

On his definition of sin: Being out of alignment with my values...if I'm true to myself and my faith that that is its own reward, when I'm not true to it, it's its own punishment.

On where he finds spiritual alignment:  It's when I'm being true to myself.

On hell: I think that the difficult thing about any religion, including Christianity, is that at some level there is a call to evangelize and prostelytize. There's the belief, certainly in some quarters, that people haven't embraced Jesus Christ as their personal savior that they're going to hell...I find it hard that my God would consign four-fifths of the world to hell...I can't imagine that my God would allow some little Hindu kid in India who never interacts with the Christian faith to somehow burn for all eternity...That's just not part of my religious make-up.

Indeed, the question of what exactly is/isn't part of Obama "religious make-up" is pertinent as he prepares to take office in January. I had only intended to provide a sampling of this comments, but there were so many that intrigue the mind of the thoughtful Christian, that they are impossible to ignore. Obama's skeptical upbringing has born fruit in his self-defined version of Christianity. (By the way, for anyone with a bent toward apologetics, there are a number of common objections to the faith expressed in his comments.)

And let me be clear, being a skeptic is fine. We're all at different points on the journey. But I raise these issues, because Christianity can only be redefined so much before it ceases actually be the kind of Christianity that God's Word articulates. Each person defines it as he/she sees fit until it morphes into aeaninglessness.

While it is tempting to pick and choose the aspects of the biblical version of Christianity that suit us, we do so at our peril. Because once we've strayed away from a firm fidelity to Scripture and begun to redefine Christianity as we see fit, we realign the threshold of accountability. We lower God's standard of judgment and assume we've still met His criteria for salvation.

UPDATE: Here's the latest report on Obama and church, which doesn't strengthen his case among the evangelicals who voted for him. 

One more use for duct tape

As long as we throwing up some pictures on the blog, I had to include these from our most recent "incident". Markus Malarkus  was running through the bedroom and did a header into the eliptical machine. He banged up his head, but it wasn't until later that we realized he had hurt his arm as well. (Ever active, he was running around the living room and kept tumbling. Each time he got up he was crying and grabbing his arm.)

Jean took him to the doctor's office to have his head and arm looked at. They took an X-ray of his arm and Jean headed for home. Unfortunately, however, she forgot her cell phone and, therefore, missed all of the phone calls from the doctor's office encouraging her to come back to the office. Mark had actually broke his arm. Poor little buster!

So, what you see here is the best make-shift cast that duct tape can buy. Yours Truly applied my extensive knowledge and experiences growing up in the Crane concentration camp to make a temporary cast out of cardboard and duct tape. (Stay tuned! An advanced taping of yet another episode of "Urban Survivorman", is coming to the Discovery channel in January.)

I ended up making a "Captain America" armband for Caleb, Andrew also in an attempt to help Mark realize how "cool" it is to have your arm immobilized with duct tape. (After I had his arm firmly secured, he failed to realize how quickly Caleb and Andrew shed their armbands.)

Clearly, it didn't hamper him too much (as he and Andrew sit inside our coffee table eating their dinner).

So, the next time you're in a bind, be sure to reach for the nearest role of duct tape. As we learned down in Crane country, you can use duct tape for everything under the sun (including holding our old VW bug together--another saga for another time).

In the meantime, Mark is now on the mend. Jean was able to get him back into the doctor's office on Monday morning, where they fitted him with an actual blue cast. Go Colts (or, as he says, "G' coats")!

When he's not using his cast as an accidental club, he's attempting to help feed his sister. "The bottle goes in the mouth, Markie." (Naturally, this picture was taken about 2 seconds before he sneezed all over her. Where's the umbrella when you need it? :)

A bum arm won't slow down Bob-the-Builder. "Can we fix it?..."

Well, we have two down and two to go. Mark has joined the elite club of broken bones (along with Caleb, who many of you may remember, broke his collar bone coming out of the womb). Only two more broken bones for Andrew and Emma and we're a shoo-in for the "Parents of the Year" award. Come on, baby, we're so close...

Pretty in pink

No, not the 80's classic movie. But one of our TDD readers gently chastized me this weekend for what she sees as a growing concern on this blog. And having reflected on it, I have to agree. As she put it, "There's not enough pink." She explained that our little Emma was born over a month ago, and yet, there haven't been any updated pictures on the blog.

All I can say to you is, "I'm sorry." :) Here's a small attempt to correct the oversight.

Heading home from the hospital.

Caleb taking care of his little sister. (We'll wait until he's at least 6 years old before we pay him to babysit so we can go out on date.)

A sugar-induced coma

Basking in the candy-coated glow of a huge Halloween haul. Life is good!

Snuggle-buggling with our "small, plain angel"

Grandma Karin pays a visit. What a surprise!

Baby Emma in good hands (we hope!). She is suffering from a chapped head from the constant barrage of kisses from her older brothers/bodyguards.

"Sweet Dreams" indeed

Hope this helps, Pam. Thanks for sharing your concerns about the blog. I'll do my best to make sure it never happens again. :)

The Clinton years redux?

Today I got a brief email message from one of our TDD readers which made this simple, yet perceptive observation: "have you noticed how many clinton connections are being tapped for Obama's cabinet?"

I thought I was the only armchair political pundit to pick up on that. :) But then again, that's the kind of "Change we Can Believe In", right?

I must confess these cabinet picks do not represent the fresh winds of change that Obama was projecting during his campaign. Maybe I missed the memo.

UPDATE: It seems Hillary may actually be ineligible for the Secretary of State position. Anyone willing to make a gentleman's wager that the Obama administration (and the Clintons) will figure out a way around the legal restrictions.

UPDATE: From today's Indianapolis Star editorial cartoon, it looks like Gary Varvel got the memo.

A tragic anniversary

Today represents the 45th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, TX on November 22, 1963. It is always interesting to look back with the retrospective advantage of history to evaluate events and consider what might have been if things had gone differently. Rarely do we consider why President Kennedy was even in Dallas that fateful day. We fail to appreciate that he was in the heat of a presidential election that November. If circumstances had been different it is possible that Lyndon Johnson would not have become president. (And there are those historians who suggest that Sen. Barry Goldwater would have been elected.) But we'll never know.

Many people have been quick to make comparisons between the qualities of Obama and those of JFK. In many ways, the comparison is uncanny. As the Kennedy legacy is fading, it seems the baton is being passed on to the next generation--Obama & Co.

The historical implications of Kennedy's assassination raise a noteworthy concern for our own day. (Let me preface it by saying that this is in no way to meant to imply a foreshadowing of things to come.) I saw recently that the threats against President-elect Obama are unprecedented according to the Secret Service. I was talking with a friend last week about JFK and the consequences if Obama met a similar demise. Let me be clear (especially if the Secret Service is monitoring TDD), no matter our differences in belief and political philosophy, we would never wish something like that on our president (or any other person for that matter).

But God forbid, some lunatic out there did assassinate the new president, I believe that it would ignite the powder keg of growing tension which currently exists below the surface in our country today. Any progress in race relations would be set back indefinitely under such circumstances. And combined with the other national stressors, like the economy, the continual threat of terrorism, etc., the results could potentially be catastrophic for our nation.

I certainly don't anticipate that anything like that would happen, and I continue to pray for President-elect Obama's safety in the days ahead. The fragility of life is a constant reminder that we all should be praying for the new president and those new national leaders who will be leading our country in the next four years.

Live suicide on the web

Yesterday I did a post on cyber-bullying and its tragic end which result in the suicide of a young girl. The tragedies continue. (My apologies for another depressing post, but it warrants our attention.)

It has just been reported that a 19-year-old young man, Abraham Biggs, committed suicide live on the web. While others were watching his live internet feed, he took a overdose of drugs and lay on his bed for 12 hours while internet viewers watched and provided commentary throughout. Some egged him on, while others tried to talk him out of it. Others still attempted to contact the internet provider and have someone intervene. By the time the authorities arrived, it was too late.

One of the issues this sad story raises is what, if any, responsibility the viewers have in the death of Abraham Biggs? Does their inaction make them complicit in any way?

Over a year ago, I did a post on lifecasting, highlighting one of the more popular lifecasters, Justine Ezarik. At the time I sat watching Justine and other lifecasters live out their ordinary lives on justin.tv.

This latest incident also took place on the justin.tv. website and it got me thinking. If I had happened to visit that site again recently, it is quite possible that I would have stumbled upon Abraham Biggs in those last hours of his life.

And if I had been watching, what would I have done?

Too often in our culture today, we have become so desensitized to real human tragedy that our consciences have begun to atrophying--no longer sharply vigilant to those things which should cause us shame and catalyze us to action. Instead, the oversaturation of TV violence, sex, and the craving for fame at any cost, have innoculated us to the detrimental effect of their cumulative influence on us.

There were a few web viewers who attempted to intervene and contact someone, but there were so many more who simply watched like an unthinking mob at that gladiatorial arena while the young man lay at the center of the ring fighting the demons within.

As I said in my previous post, the time has come for us to commit to a renewed vigilance that we will do everything in our power to not stand back unengaged. But rather, we must continually resist the insidious desire to simply stand by and let the devolution of our culture run its course. If young Mr. Biggs' death teaches us anything, it should teach us that.

UPDATE: Abraham Biggs' father reacts to his son's suicide, believing that the webcast was a cry for help. Indeed it was.

Cyber-bullying case brought to trial

Perhaps you've heard of this story? Lori Drew, 49, from Missouri has been indicted for creating an internet hoax on the social networking site, MySpace. When her daughter got sideways with a friend of hers, Megan Meier, Ms. Drew decided to take matters into her own hands.

Lori Drew had a MySpace account set up and proceeded to create a fictious 15-year old boy, "Josh Evans". "Josh" then developed an online relationship with Megan. "He" showered her with verbal affection and accolades. And then as she was drawn into the relationship, "he" pulled the metaphorical trigger.

Lori Drew/"Josh" then began berating Megan and said that "the world would be better without her." Little did she know what events that would set in motion. Apparently, Megan, 13, was so devastated by the rejection she experienced from "Josh" that she committed suicide.

A federal grand jury has brought four counts against Ms. Drew, including of conspiracy, and three counts of computer crime. She could potentially get a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison for each count.

This case brings to our attention a whole host of issues, many of which are coming under greater scrutiny as a result of this case. But it serves as a good reminder of the seriousness with which people should approach the internet and even the social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. While it is a rare occasion when circumstances on the internet will result in a tragedy such as this, the dangers lurk.

In fact, it was about a year ago that five Ball State University students (two of whom were involved in the youth group when I was a youth pastor years ago) were arrested for their role in the group beating of a fellow student. They were caught, and have since been convicted, because they bragged about the incident on Facebook.

Beyond that there is the constant threat of sexual predators, internet scams, and other instances of cyber-bullying. It is a veritable Pandora's Box of potential dangers.

This is not to say that we should give up the internet, but it is a sobering reminder of the need to remain ever-vigilant where the internet is concerned. And not only for those of us who use the internet, but especially concerning our children who are more susceptible to danger.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see what the verdict is in this tragic internet hoax. And the legal precedents set by this case will shape the nature of cyber-bullying in the future.

Battle of the license plates

Over a year and a half ago, we talked about the pending lawsuit against the Indiana BMV regarding the "In God We Trust" license plates (which are now found on 1 in 3 vehicles in Indiana). The ACLU filed the lawsuit on behalf of Mark Studler and on Monday, the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the license plates.

Meanwhile, another Hoosier, Liz Ferris, sued the BMV yesterday for discontinuing her "Be Gods" license plate, a personalized message encouraging people to "belong to God". The BMV did not honor her reinstatement application because the Indiana legislature voted to bar any reference to religion or a deity on personalized plates. Her lawsuit claimed infringement on her First Amendment rights because of her religious faith.

Ms. Ferris' claim has gained some traction especially in light of the Court's decision to honor the "In God We Trust" plates. It is making for some very interesting legal pretzels as the BMV sorts out the various inconsistencies.

As I suggested in my original post on this topic so long ago, it seems like there is WAY too much effort and energy being poured into these battles. But, hey, that's just me... What's your take on this license plate debate?

UPDATE: The latest report at the end of the day today was that the BMV issued a reversal of their decision regarding Liz Ferris' "Be Gods" licence plate. An effort at consistency apparently.

"Drinking the Kool-Aid" 30 years later

"Heeeyyyy, Kool-Aid!" How many times do we hear the common warning, "Do not drink the Kool-Aid"? It is a caution against being taken in by this or that leader who is attempting to influence us toward their cause. (During this presidential election, for example, this refrain was bandied about by critics of Obama.)

But its history as a pop culture reference finds its origin in the infamous Jonestown massacre, in Jonestown, Guyana. Thirty years ago, the Reverend Jim Jones, a cult leader of The People's Temple, swayed hundreds of people from California to follow him to Jonestown. The cult came to light when, on November 18, 1978, over 900 cult members committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. News organizations, led by the crusade of the late California congressman Leo Ryan (the only U.S. congressman to die in the line of duty) came to investigate the Jonestown commune. That investigation, augmented by the testimonies of the few people who survived, revealed the depth of this tragedy (the largest loss of American civilians other than September 11th).

 A couple of comments in light of this tragic anniversary: First of all, if one were to spend time engaged in thoroughly tracking the history of this event, particularly how so many people could be deceived, one would discover some very revealing tendencies by such followers. So many people are seeking to find meaning and fulfillment, and often look to religous leaders for direction in that search. This is indeed how cults develop. But beyond that, even non-cult religious movements are often driven by influential leaders with larger-than-life personalities.

Certainly, this is not to say that every pastor from every Christian pulpit is preaching a message of heresy. But simply that the challenge to all of us who are Christians is to evaluate what we are hearing in light of a fidelity to Scripture and some basic common sense. We should always follow the example of the Bereans who the Bible says didn't take the apostle Paul at face value, but "examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" (Acts 17:11).

Related to this is the general caution that we all (regardless of our Christian faith or not) continue to intentionally engage in critical thinking. Too many of the us have turned into the kind of "sheeple" who have become overly dependent on others to do our thinking for us. And that is to our detriment.

That is, and has always been one of the goals of this blog--to foster an environment in which we can come together and engage in critical thinking on a variety of issues. And we continue to achieve that effort.

But remember, don't just take my word for it... Think for yourself. :)