Social Conservatism Is Not Important

Is this the best approach to end abortion? I am thinking about this issue as Rick Santorum, poster boy for social conservatives, leads in a statistical tie for first place in Iowa and next week is the New Hampshire primary. “But, Dennis,” I can just hear you saying, “How can this not be important?” Yes, it is important in many ways. Late term abortion is a blight on the nation. There have even been cases that I would describe as infanticide. But abortion and other social issues are not issues that can be solved by politics. 

Do you really think that a state like California is going to vote to ban abortions? Is a state like New York going to pay any attention to any Federal law banning it? Are there enough anti-abortion voters to elect 2/3 of the Congress and the state legislatures to pass a constitutional amendment? And even if it did pass, why do we think anyone in the liberal states will pay attention to it? We happily ignore the constitution as it is. Will the Supreme Court ever overturn Roe v. Wade? I think the answer to all these questions is no. (An historical note: the original Roe decision still banned late term abortions.) 

In the historical section of the Bible the various kings are listed. Often the king’s reign is summed up like this: he was a good king but allowed the high places to continue. Why did the king do this? The high places were a direct threat to the authority and control he had over the central sanctuary. I am sure the reason was the king felt he could not do anything about it. 

The high places were a combination of brothels and centers of cultic worship. The idea was to signal the gods by sympathetic magic to have sex by having cultic sex with prostitutes—both male and female, both heterosexual and homosexual. The idea was that unless the gods had sex there would be no rain. Usually the initiates were slaves raised to that life with the male babies often being castrated in infancy. 

While there were attempts to abolish this practice—King Josiah was the most successful—these attempts ultimately failed. At the end of Judah’s political independence the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 8 describes the temple: 

 ⁵ Then he said to me, “Son of man, look toward the north.” So I looked, and in the entrance north of the gate of the altar I saw this idol of lust.

 Typical Household Asherahs⁶ And he said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the utterly detestable things the Israelites are doing here, things that will drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see things that are even more detestable.”

(Note that in verse 5 I replaced the NIV’s jealousy with lust. The Hebrew can go either way. It is not certain what the image of lust is, but it is probably an erect phallus or a asherah used as an idol in temple prostitution—done right in the temple of God.)  

Only after the destruction of Judah did the people’s hearts change as they returned from exile. The prophet Jeremiah predicted this in chapter 31:

 ³¹ ”The days are coming,” declares the LORD, 
   ”when I will make a new covenant 
with the people of Israel 
   and with the people of Judah. 
³² It will not be like the covenant 
   I made with their ancestors 
when I took them by the hand 
   to lead them out of Egypt, 
because they broke my covenant, 
   though I was a husband to them,” 
            declares the LORD. 
³³ ”This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel 
   after that time,” declares the LORD. 
“I will put my law in their minds 
   and write it on their hearts. 
I will be their God, 
   and they will be my people. 
³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor, 
   or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ 
because they will all know me, 
   from the least of them to the greatest,” 
            declares the LORD. 
“For I will forgive their wickedness 
   and will remember their sins no more.”

This was fulfilled on the return from exile in Babylon. (This passage is also a prediction of the reformation that the early church brought to a corrupt political religious establishment of the first century.) 

It took a thousand years for the people of God to eliminate cultic prostitution. Hopefully it will not take that long for our current cultural malaise to be healed. Note that it took the destruction of their nation, and exile to Babylon. Only when they left Babylon were their hearts changed. 

Will our nation need to be “destroyed” before we, as a group, leave “Babylon”? I hope so, if that is what it takes—but I am guardedly pessimistic that America can avoid this by repenting before our destruction. 

If America can repent, it will not be through politics. It will be through the preaching of the Gospel. 

Remember the proverb:

A man convinced against his will,

Is of the same opinion still. 

Politics can, by force, change the outer appearance. Only repentance, and only God, can change hearts.  

Arson

You may have heard about the multiple arsons that occurred in Los Angeles. 39 separate fires apparently set by one person, now in custody.

Here is one photo:

If one man can do this much damage, how much damage can hundreds do? My advice to the powers that be, while there need to be cuts, do not cut food stamps. 

Poor Old Kaw-Liga

Do we as a culture have too much stuff? As many of us do our last minute shopping, can we ask ourselves: "Do I need that?" "Does my son need that doll house?" (Hey I got a doll house for my 4th Christmas. Yes, that might explain a lot. Or it might be explained by the fact my father sold houses and I wantd to be like him. ) I thought about this as my daughter and wife packed up her doll house for storage. We have downsized in California and have no place for it. Did Stacy ever really "need" it? No doubt it will join her kitchen at the Grandkids at some point. 

Do I really "need" the things I have? 

I could argue that I need my 1,000 books. (This is already downsized from the height of my book mania at 1,300.) But I have gotten along quite well without them while I was in California. Probably 200 of them I have not read and will never read. Why do I have them? I am reluctant to give them up. 

I inherited some interesting things from my father that I really have no need for—but once again I am reluctant to part with. They include a cigar store Indian—poor Old Kaw-Liga. The Indian reminds me strongly of my father. I am reminded of the Hank Williams song.

Kaw-Liga was a wooden Indian standing by the door He fell in love with an Indian maid over in the antique store. Kaw-Liga just stood there and never let it show So she could never answer yes or no. 

He always wore his Sunday feathers and held a tomahawk. The maiden wore her beads and braids and hoped someday he'd talk. Kaw-Liga, too stubborn to ever show a sign

Because his heart was made of knotty pine 

This also reminds me of my father's love for country music. Alas, Poor Old Kaw-Liga had to go. He did go recently when I received an offer for him. I will miss him.  

Babylon the Great is characterized by the wealth of her possessions. Revelation 18 says this about her: 

¹¹ “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— ¹² cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; ¹³ cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.

 ¹⁴ “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’ ¹⁵ The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn ¹⁶ and cry out:

   “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, 
   dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, 
   and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! 
¹⁷ In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’

   “Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. ¹⁸ When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ ¹⁹ They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out:

   “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, 
   where all who had ships on the sea 
   became rich through her wealth! 
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’

Do we really need the stuff we will get tomorrow? Will we be returning it on Monday? Are we measured by the toys we have? Do we really embody the bumper sticker I have seen on occasion:

The One Who Dies With the Most Toys Wins

I have referenced this song before. If the life we are supposed to chose is the one in this video, I will pass. 

If this is your life, I suggest a different life. To echo Martin Luther King, it is not the number of our possessions but the strength of our character that really matters. 

Did I need Kaw-Liga? Maybe, if I had room. What then do I do with the giant camel, the giant giraffe, and the giant rooster with a saddle? 

Well, they are also for sale, no reasonable offer refused. 

Hail La Jolla

Hail La Jolla, Alma Mater,

We will never fail,

Forward sails the good ship Viking

Hail, our high school hail 

One interesting aspect of Facebook is the reestablishment of contact with my high school classmates. This has naturally led to me thinking about high school, and in particular the pep rally. 

It will be 40 years next year so a lot of this is, thankfully, a vague haze. We would all buy ribbons to show our support of our impending football victory-not. In later years I understand the team did quite well. One of our "enemies" was Lincoln High. Why? I have no idea. Why was our school structured to encourage "school spirit." Again, I have no idea.  

Naturally the school was also divided into classes. During these Pep Rallies these classes would compete with each other to see who would be the loudest, and somehow this showed our spirit. Our class usually won. 

I was an athlete in my high school days. But for some reason they did not give me a letter jacket even though I was the best in the school. I was chess champion in my junior and senior years. 

We humans do form groups, but why do the "powers that be" encourage us to form these artificial groups? I think one reason is that it allows the elites to divide us into competing groups.  We are kept busy in trivia, like who will win the next big game. How "we" are better than "them." The Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party actually see the same problems. But it suits the elites for the two groups to hate each other, so they do.

While I do look fondly at my high school, was it a nourishing mother, an Alma Mater, for me? Not really. I am still trying to get rid of the propaganda I was taught there. The purpose of education is societal conformity. This is not all bad. But I do not want to be conformed to this world. 

My advice for those in the public education system is Paul's advice in Romans 12:2, here from the Phillips translation:

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, but let God re-mold your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. 

How Smart Are You?

My post is in the comment section for you to read after you watch this you tube video.