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Check the standings of your favorite NFL team. See the statistics as compiled by SI by clicking on the appropriate widget to the right of the screen. What is really important after all politics or football?

US Babylon?

Our loyalties as divided citizens, of the Kingdom of Heaven and as US citizens, often does / can put us in positions were we have to choose. Choose to follow Jesus and where His morality would tell us to go; or to march as a citizen of the United States which can be in the opposite direction of Jesus. This is the position that the Israelites faced in their exile in Babylon. This dichotomy is seen in the story of Shadrach , Meshach ,and Abednego . (You can read about them and the dilemma that they faced in Daniel 3:1 - 30.)


In The Dangerous Act of Worship by Mark Labberton he says:

"The New Testament sees exile qualities as being descriptive of the church's life as well.

...We are in but not of the world. ... It is here in the world, precisely where Jesus prayed we would be, that we are to live 'worthy of the gospel' and 'work out (our) own salvation' (Philippians 1:27; 2:12). ...

We give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God (Matthew 22:21). Only in humble community do we have some chance of successfully distinguishing one from the other. We are to live as God's "peculiar" people, showing in our daily lives that dual citizenship that is ours. Like Israel, however, we usually fail to do this.

It's no great stretch to suggest that the American church is in exile in its own contemporary Babylon. Whether conservative or liberal, the church mostly looks like the culture around us. We are lost for the most part indistinguishable. We have decided to enjoy our Babylon while nodding to the God we say we worship. The life of the American church provides a type of religious window dressing for our culture. Most mainstream Christians quietly reject the strident tactics of culture war advocated by fundamentalists while also quietly living out the desire to not stand out at all. We just seek our own welfare and call it God's blessing, trying to offend as few people as possible along the way.

While we are highly attuned to avoid a faithful peculiarity that might offend, we also avoid a faithful peculiarity that might redeem. While we run from what might cause cultural or personal offense, we opt for benign acceptance of so many things that grieve our Lord Jesus Christ. The power that defines us is not the power of God we meet and know through worship; it's the social power of being 'normal', accepted, popular, tolerant. We are defined by the economic power of our acumen, our education, our track record, or our capacity to increase the bottom line. We are defined by Babylon, not the cross."

In the book The Dangerous Act of Worship Mark Laberton is making the point that Christians need to live the life that they advocate as they worship. In the process of making that point he accurately describes the condition of many of the Christian churches in the US and the people who sit in the pews of those churches. The cure for that dichotomy is simple; act in a way that mirrors our words. Those acts may be frightening, and stressful but it begs the question: "Are we who we say we are?" I realize that by making these points I put myself "on the spot", even if no one else reads this for God knows what I have said. There is, however, a cure for this problem. Prayer. Pray for courage and direction.

What's new

Check out the right side of the blog. You can now view top news stories as compiled by Yahoo!, find out what the New York Times is editoralizing about, but most importantly getting the latest score for the Buffalo Bills and their stats. (The world turned upside down; the Bills 3-0 and in first place in the AFC East.)

"... our troops return in victory and honor."

Senator McCain said recently that he wants our troops to return in victory and honor. This is a picture of our troops returning in victory and honor at Dover Air Force Base.

Senator McCain said that Senator Obama was wrong about the surge but it is interesting to note that Senator McCain voted for the Iraqi war in the first place while Senator Obama has been against it from the start. Senator McCain (McSame) followed President Bushie in his usual knee -jerk fashion (voted for President B's programs 90% of the time) while Senator Obama was against the war in the first place. It is not hard to see from this one example who has the best judgement.

Numbers, numbers. What do they tell us?

During this political season numbers float around the news. What could they possibly tell us? Let's look at some of the numbers:
* The top 1% of the US population earn 30% of the money. (Could this be the same segment of the population that has their income taxes lowered by our esteemed President?)McCain has voted 90 to 95% of the time with Bush and he says he will not carry on Bush's policies. Interesting!
* McCain voted 19 times against raising the minimum wages.
* Under Bush we had the weakest economic expansion since World War II.
* When Bush came into office gasoline was $1.49 a gallon. What is it today?
* Under President Clinton average income rose $6,200. Over the past 7 plus years it has decreased $2,000.
* 17 cents out of every dollar is spent on health care on average.
* 56 million Americans have a pre-existing condition and would not be able to get health insurance with McCain's health plan.
* 40 million Americans are without health insurance.
* 1.85 million Americans will go bankrupt because of medical bills.
* 51% of the Republican delegates at their convention earn a 1/2 million dollars or more.
* 84,000 jobs were lost in August of this year.
* 6.1% increase in unemployment in August is a 5 year high. 2003 was the last time it was that high. Bush and the Republicans broke their own record.
* Governor Palin when she was a mayor of a town of 6,000 was the 1st. mayor to hire a lobbyist.
* Governor Palin accepted $4.53 million in ear marks.
* After supporting "the bridge to no where" as a mayor Governor Palin flip flopped and decided not to support building it when it became unpopular because of news reports; but she took the money for the state of Alaska anyhow.
* Governor Palin grows the state budget 10% per year.
Could the numbers possibly tell us that this country doesn't need 4 more years of a Republican Bush type (aka McSame)administration?