Assuming Intentions

Suppose Pat, a Christian, believes that a certain group of people (Group X) should be able to do things that haven't previously been allowed, and that it's a matter of human rights for Group X. Suppose that such a belief by Pat would require interpreting the Bible in a different way from how it has been interpreted before, but Pat believes that this new interpretation is legitimate. Furthermore, Pat is passionate about giving Group X what Pat believes are human rights.

Meanwhile, suppose that Lee, also a Christian, does not believe that the new interpretation of the Bible is legitimate, and, although Lee is sorry not to be able to give members of Group X what they want, Lee cannot in conscience go against what Lee believes the Bible says. Lee believes that to do that would not only be wrong, but would also encourage the people in Group X to do things that are actually sin and thus harmful behavior, according to Lee's interpretation of the Bible. Therefore Lee believes that allowing these things would not be doing the people in Group X a kindness.

When Pat and Lee are discussing this issue with each other online, not knowing each other personally apart from the discussion, would it be legitimate for Pat to assume that Lee has malicious reasons or motivations for holding Lee's beliefs? Would it be legitimate for Pat to flatly deem Lee a bigot or prejudiced?

Similarly, would it be legitimate for Lee to assume that Pat has malicious reasons or motivations for holding Pat's beliefs? Would it be legitimate for Lee to flatly deem Pat is immoral or loose in Pat's beliefs?

I contend that none of the above assumptions is legitimate. Without evidence otherwise, both Pat and Lee should be assumed to have arrived at their beliefs sincerely and with good intentions.

Why an Angiogram Doesn't Scare Me

I'm having an angiogram in the morning, and it doesn't worry me. I had one almost 4 years ago, and it spooked me that time. But this time I feel quite different, and it's all because of what happened the day of that first angiogram.

The angiogram I'm having tomorrow is a precursor to probable open-heart surgery for me in perhaps a few weeks. I have a couple of heart valves that just aren't up to the job any more. But even the prospect of the open-heart surgery is not daunting to me in the long run, and it's all because of what happened the day of that first angiogram.

Maybe you'd like to know what that was. If so, take a look here: http://takingthering.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-god-started-my-cancer-journey_15.html.

Blogs from "Cops": Don't Hurt the Kids!

I'm now at the fourth and last of my blog posts on things I've observed on the TV show "Cops." This time I'm not going to write about a specific thing I've heard anyone say, but instead about a general attitude. And it's about an attitude of the cops themselves.

What I've found, from maybe 25 years of watching this show, is that cops hate it when kids get hurt. That makes them madder than anything else. They have a special kind of anger towards the people that do bad things to children.

They are also always on the lookout for protecting children. When they're chasing some guy, and he throws his gun out the car window, later when they've caught the guy, they often say to him, "What if some little kid had picked up that gun?" Or when they go to someone's house to arrest him, and they find drugs lying around openly, and there are little children in the house, they usually give the adults a thorough enraged lecture about what could have happened to the kids if they'd gotten into the drugs.

Sometimes when they have to arrest a guy, and his little kids are nearby, they ask the mother to take the kids inside so that they won't see their dad in handcuffs.

The cops really care about the safety and well-being of children.

I got to thinking that we are God's children. If cops care that much about kids that aren't even their own kids, how much more must God care about us, his own children? He must hate seeing any of his children suffer from injustice, or poverty, or war, or terrible disease, or broken relationships.

What a powerful motivation for us to help others! They are God's children that he loves. I recently stood in a grocery checkout line and looked at all the other people around me, and as I looked at each one, I thought, "God loves her as much as he loves me. God loves him as much as he loves me."

It's easy to get caught up in our own lives, not caring about others. But just like the cops, God wants all his children to be safe and protected. God doesn't want his children to be hurt. God doesn't want them to be victimized. I know that I need to remember that God loves all his children and cares about their safety and well-being. When I remember that, then maybe I will do something about it.

Blogs from "Cops": That's Not Mine!

This is the third posting in a series I'm writing on things I've heard people say on the TV show "Cops". Today it's not about something just one person has said, but rather something I've heard countless people say in many, many segments of the show.

The situation may be that the cops have found a little bag of weed in a person's wallet. Or perhaps they have found a loaded handgun in the console of a person's car. Or maybe they have found a large amount of crack in a person's purse.

Inevitably, what that person will say is, "That's not mine! I've never seen it before in my life! I have no idea how it got there."

Obviously the person hopes to convince the cops that he or she is innocent, and that the incriminating bit of evidence was planted there by someone else. The person in question claims that he or she is just a victim of (somewhat unbelievable) circumstances, and has done nothing wrong.

Well, we may not be driving around with loaded handguns in the consoles of our cars or stashes of crack in our purses, or otherwise flagrantly breaking the law, but I think we still have something in common with all these people on "Cops." What we have in common with them is that it's pretty hard to admit to our sins, even to the little everyday ones.

When we're caught in the act of doing something wrong, even something small like being careless with someone else's things or not doing a chore we had promised to do, our first reaction is usually along the lines of "That's not mine!" In other words, we usually want to either say that we didn't do it, or else find some excuse for why what we did wasn't bad.

It's even more the case if what we have done wrong is big, such as betraying our spouse, or embezzling. We try to deny that we've done it; we say, "That's not mine! I've never seen it before in my life!" and hope that we will get away with it.

It's even true that we try to deny what we've done when we're faced with God, just as we do when we're faced with another person who is disappointed in us. We make excuses to God as well.

But when the cops hear people say, "That's not mine! I've never seen it before in my life!", those cops are never fooled. And God is not fooled either, when we make excuses to him.

But there is one difference between the cops and God. The cops are usually going to haul the "subjects" they're dealing with off to jail for what those subjects have done. God also knows that what we've done deserves punishment. But God decided to take the punishment instead of us. So because he did that, now all we have to do is be sorry for our sin (admitting that it is ours and that we have seen it before), and accept his love. Instead of trying to pretend that our sin is not our sin, if we acknowledge that it is ours, we can be rid of it forever! That's a pretty good deal.

Blogs from "Cops": The Police Ruin Your Life

Yesterday I began a series of blog postings on things I've heard people say on the TV show "Cops." It may be an unusual source for theological reflection, but I guess that's the way my mind works. So here's the next posting.

Just this past Saturday night, the broadcast included a segment where the police had stopped a woman who did not give them her correct name. She said that the car she was driving belonged to someone else, and so did the purse in the back seat, and all the other things in the car. But funny thing, the picture of the woman on the driver's license in that purse looked just like her! Eventually she admitted that she was that person and that the name on the driver's license was actually her name. The cop asked her why she didn't give her real name to begin with, and she replied, "Because I hate police! They ruin your life."

Well, as it turned out, there were several warrants for her arrest, so no wonder she didn't want to give her name. And in addition to that, she had some meth in the car. Wow, those police sure do ruin your life!

What irony! In her view, she was just having a great time, doing the things she did that caused arrest warrants to be issued for her, and using meth. What fun! And then those cops came along and ruined her life by arresting her for all that fun she was having.

But it's not just those who have run-ins with the police who think this way. What this woman was doing was getting upset that there were consequences for her behavior. She thought she had a right to do whatever she wanted, and she hated the consequences, even though she knew that what she did was not allowed.

To some degree, we can all fall into this type of thinking. We know that there are things that God does not want us to do. For example, we know that God does not want us to speak unkindly to our spouses, but we do it anyway, because it feels good at the moment. And then after we've done it a lot, when we have problems in our marriage relationship, we get angry with God: we wonder why a loving God would allow us to have relationship troubles. Or for another example, we neglect our relationship with our children, thinking only of our own work, because that seems more interesting at the moment. And then when our children become rebellious and troublesome, we get angry with God: we wonder why a loving God would allow us to have parenting troubles.

These are simplistic examples--marriage and parenting problems have multiple causes--but the principle is true. Our actions have consequences, but sometimes we blame God rather than realizing that our own actions have led to these consequences. We can sometimes be just like the woman in the "Cops" episode who said, "I hate police! They ruin your life." We weren't the ones who messed up, oh, no: it was that mean old God who let these bad things happen to us.

How good it would be to remember that the consequences of our actions are just that: consequences of our actions, and not something mean that God has done to us. Then we can turn to God for his loving help in getting ourselves back on track. He is willing! He's the one who loved us enough to die for us.

Blogs from "Cops": I Ain't a Crack Ho

One of the few shows that I watch regularly is "Cops". I come from a family of police-radio listeners, and I guess it's in my blood. Anyway, recently I've heard a few of the "subjects" (that's what the cops call the people they're dealing with) say some thought-provoking things. I thought I might write about them. So here's the first one.

One night the cops were talking to a woman working at a truck stop. She wasn't actually working in the truck stop; she was working out in the parking lot. In other words, she was a prostitute looking for truck-driver customers. In the course of the conversation they asked her if she ever accepted payment in the form of drugs. She was quite indignant and said, "I may be a ho [whore], but I ain't a crack ho." In other words, she had her standards! Only a woman with no standards, she implied, would be a crack ho.

This illustrated to me, in a pitiful way, that everyone wants to know that they have standards--that they are not at the bottom of society. Everyone wants to feel that they are worth something. We may be a ho, but we ain't a crack ho. But what a sad thing for this woman to base her worth on. She sells her body, but she only sells it for money, not for drugs. That's her basis for finding self-worth.

I wish I could have reached through the TV set to tell her about a better way to know that she was valued. She is worth so much that the God of the universe died for her. When we really know that, when we really understand how much God loves us, we don't need to find our self-worth in other things, such as in material possessions, or in who we know, or in being better than someone else, or in not being a crack ho. We know that we are worth something because God loves us enough to die for us. That is the most liberating knowledge! It frees us from the need to prove our self-worth in any other way.

May we all realize this: we don't have to prove our self-worth! God gives it to us by loving us. Since the God who created the universe loves us, we are worth something! Thanks be to God for that gift! And I will pray for the woman at the truck stop, that she will know that, too, and find liberation in God's love.

Unknown Future, Known God

This is a scary time here in our country, and even around the world. True, many people have been rejoicing in the last few days over the inauguration of President Obama. But that hasn't made the economic crisis go away. I work for one of the most well-known companies in America, generally regarded as safe and secure: Microsoft. But yesterday, two days after the inauguration, Microsoft laid off around 1000 people, and announced that more jobs would be eliminated in the next 18 months. My job is still intact. But who knows what the future holds?

My husband lost his own job four months ago. The non-profit Presbyterian renewal group he worked for was a victim of the economic climate, and had to eliminate several positions. Now I'm our sole breadwinner, working for a company that is planning reductions in staff. And there are so many other families like us.

The papers are talking about the possibility of a second Depression. We're approaching retirement age. What does that mean for us? What does it mean for our children, for our three-year-old granddaughter, or the other grandchildren still to be born? It's easy to feel fear thinking of this possibly cloudy future.

At work yesterday, the Christians at Microsoft were talking via e-mail about the layoffs. Some of them were among those who had been let go. One of our Christian brothers in India sent the words from a poster he used to have. The poster had said this:

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

We certainly have an unknown future right now! But we also most certainly have a known God. His constancy, love, and care for us are known from the Bible. But they are also known from our experience with him. I know from going through cancer a few years ago that I can absolutely rely on him to get me through any hard time, to sustain me and support me and give me what I need to get by. He doesn't leave us when we're in need.

In fact, God's goodness and love are so great that, when I had cancer, I found that he can make a hard time into a time of blessing and relationship with him that can bring joy beyond imagining. It was a surprise; I hadn't expected it. But it was a wonderful surprise! Others have had this same experience. The hardness of the hard time fades away next to the joy--the joy that comes with the deepening of the relationship with God that happens in the hard time.

So, yes, he is a known God, and what is known about him is so wonderful that, when I read that sentence, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God," it actually gave me a thrill. It made me remember that I don't need to fear. In any future, he'll be there. So even if that future is hard, we'll have him with us, and that will make it good.