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NEW
LOOK
Our text has been revised. We no
longer make frequent use of the he/she,
his/her, himself/herself, etc., gender friendly and neutral
terms. One of the major reasons for this change regards an
effort to make expressions less interrupting;
indeed, some readers find the frequent usage distracting.
While we do seek to be accommodating to gender sensitivities,
we now make use of the generic he, him, etc. without attaching any male chauvinistic slant
to these terms. We trust that for the sake of simplicity and
clarity, everyone will understand the merit of this
change.
About
Us
Most of the time you will find we as opposed to I used throughout these writings
when the writer is referenced. The reason that such plural
pronoun is most often employed regards the source.
Philosophies, Christian views, and doctrine most frequently
reflect the disposition representative of many Southern
Baptist people. This does not suggest that all Southern Baptist embrace every
expression. Rather, the we
is used to reflect the views that many Southern Baptist do
embrace, without my being so brazen to make myself a sure
spokesman for any one of the Southern Baptist. Neither do I
claim to be right and those who disagree with me automatically
wrong. I readily confess that I do not have all the answers,
but I sincerely portray what I perceive that most of us have
in common. In those areas that I am merely expressing my own
opinion or discuss matters that may or may not reflect
Southern Baptist thinking or use personal stories related only
to my experiences, I do use the pronoun I.
Having said that, we endeavor to deal with subjects of
interest to readers and subject material which can provide
each reader with a direction toward discovery. Of course, this
Website provides a Christian-based approach without rejecting
any person on the ground of religious orientation or cultural
background or race or country of origin. While we make no
apology for who we are, we believe in the free expression of
love toward and unrestricted acceptance of all peoples.
...God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). This
does not intend to suggest that we accept all that every
religion, cult or philosophy embrace. Indeed, not every belief
or action can be equally true to all other beliefs and
actions. Furthermore, we do not subscribe to the disposition
of arrogance; we believe that when the revelation of genuine
truth shines into the darkness of ignorance, bigotry and
self-centeredness and darkness will dissipate. Hence, we
intend to deal more with right doctrines than the condemnation
of wrong doctrines. This does not mean that we never point out
evil, but even when such is necessary, it should be done from
the light of the truth and the love for the ones caught up in
such evil (See
Reasonable
Response).
More specifically, we are Southern Baptists, not as aloof
and full of piety reflecting a better-than-you
stance, but as blind people who have been given sight solely
by God's grace, not because of who we are but because of Who
God is. Moreover, such can never be presented on the basis of
any merit on our part, for all glory must be given to God. The
statement that Christ did not come to
make bad people good, but to make dead
people live fairly well centers our focus.
When dead people are made to live, then the life of God ushers forth
and produces fruits of righteousness!
Anyway, it is never we who
can claim goodness, but because
Christ lives within us, He
alone imparts what goodness there
is. Hence, Christ reflects His goodness through us, and
His goodness transforms us into His Image such that we grow up
into the fullness of His Stature (Ephesians 4:13).
....................................
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Thank you for
visiting our website.
Our aim is to serve the needs of those who
search together with us to explore with a desire to
uncover a greater expanse of truth than we can
ordinarily be aware of. Of course, we make no claims
with respect to cornering the truth, for no person can embrace
total truth any more than the lowly ant can reach the sun
and thoroughly explore the entire burning, exploding
surface. Truth will forever remain greater than the
sum total of all populations of earth, past, present and
future!
Notwithstanding, we move in a direction, ever
growing, ever enamored and learning, ever expanding our
horizons and encountering the reality enlightening the
human soul. Such a journey attests to much more
than mere observations, more than meditations, more than
speculations, more than just an adventure. Certainly,
these elements may well be a reflection of the journey in
part, but ultimately, we shall discover that Reality can
be no less than God Himself! We believe that all of
us can come to the dynamic conclusion that in Him all things
consist (are held together with His meaning and purpose).
--Colossians
1:16-17
But we always invite the participation of each
one who visits these pages. You can add much to the
direction and nature of our exploration by bringing your own
thoughts, suggestions, criticism and
questions. You
may wish to send an e-mail.
We do take seriously every person's comments and we are open
to all additional light that may be given such that we can
continuously grow ourselves and seek to improve these pages
significantly.
Again, thank
you, and we trust that you will both explore with us and
contribute to the journey through your
comments.
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Informative
Interview
A fictitious
situation and characters depicting reality in the current
Congress
Interviewer: Congressman Rawhide and Congressman
Wildside, I greatly appreciate your willingness to discuss a
few issues with
me.
Honorable Rawhide: Why, of course. It’s a pleasure to
have you interview
us.
Honorable Wildside: My sentiments
exactly.
Interviewer: Good, then we can bring to the table
some of the… well, shall we say, the hard questions people are
asking.
OK?
Honorable Rawhide: Really, sir, there are no such as hard
questions—just hard-headed people who refuse to accept our
expertise.
Honorable Wildside: Again, my sentiments exactly. You would think people
would learn sooner or later that we Congressmen know what is
best for them and stop questioning
us.
Interviewer: Hmm, I see. Then, you would say
that the constitutional rights for free speech and redress of
grievances have little relevance?
Honorable Wildside: I, for one, can’t understand why John Q.
Public would even concern himself about so-called free speech
or petitioning Congress on anything. He’s not in Congress
and can’t see from the vantage perspectives of the politically
correct disposition we have. He has never climbed
the political ladder and tends to interpret the Constitution
literally, not as a living document to be interpreted in the
spirit of the generation in which we
live.
Honorable Rawhide: Well, my colleague and good friend and I
see the situation a bit differently, though he is
well-intentioned and has a correct spirit. You see, I do partly,
at least, understand why John Q. Public roars in protest. He reflects the
prodding from the radical voices of the fundamentalists
Christian rightwing agitators. They’re incessantly
broadcasting what transpires in Congress and, of course, play
on the ignorance of those peons, who can’t have a clue
regarding the complex nature of issues and problems that only
political experts can understand and deal
with.
Interviewer: Well, I see, Honorable
Congressmen. Hmm…
but something bothers me about your take on this. Let me put it this
way: I have
noticed that some Congressmen would differ with you and a few
would see things from the Christian perspective. Now, is it not true
that those politicians also came up the ladder? Why do they not concur
with your views regarding the Christian
voices?
Honorable Rawhide: Why, I would think that to be obvious. For political
expediency and personal reasons, some sell out to the cause
promoted by those radicals, but they have no care what happens
to our nation.
Honorable Wildside: And it would not surprise me if money or
favors were somehow passed under the table to bribe those
Congressmen!
Interviewer: I see, I…
Honorable Rawhide: Please excuse my good friend. I think his statement
was really just a slip of the tongue.
We…
Honorable Wildside: Oh, yes, I reveal my thoughts too
quickly sometimes.
There’s absolutely no solid evidence to suggest such a
breach. However,
I make no apology that those Congressmen sell out our national
interest by representing the special interests of the
radicals.
Interviewer: Curious. Different people—even
among politicians—tend to disagree among themselves as to what
the national interest really should be. And what is there
among Christians and their ideology which disqualifies them
from having a voice along with everyone else as to governing
principles since they themselves are also affected by
political legislation?
Honorable Rawhide: Intolerance! That’s
what.
Honorable Wildside: Oh, yes, and exclusivity. What makes them think
they’re better than everyone else,
anyway?
Interviewer: Oh, by intolerance and exclusivity
you’re saying that these Christians have intentions of
silencing opinions and ideas of all others? That they demand that
only their voices alone be given sole right to speak out on
issues?
Honorable Wildside: Why, uh, yes. I guess you could put
it that way.
They’re pretty demanding, I’d
say.
Honorable Rawhide: I
would… Well, I don’t fully go along with my colleague here,
but these Christian radicals do have a lot of audacity to
claim that they themselves alone are right and everyone else
is wrong. Oh,
they really don’t mind for others to speak up if they can also
counter with their voices, but they do stir up a lot of people
who don’t think for
themselves.
Interviewer: Let me get the strait of this. You say that these
Christians are wrong for claiming to be exclusively
right? Does that
mean that these Christians must judge everyone else also to be
right that these Christians can be considered right
themselves?
Honorable Rawhide: Oh, definitely. That makes perfect
sense. Yet, even
then, I’d suspect some trickery.
Interviewer: Then I take it that you yourself
consider everyone else to be equally right, even those who
disagree with your philosophy or political
views?
Honorable Rawhide: I
would say so—just as long as they all are tolerant of everyone
else.
Honorable Wildside: True, there could be no issue if everybody
were tolerant of everybody
else.
Interviewer: Then, if everybody is right about
everything, what’s the point of disagreeing with anyone else
in—say—political matters? After all, if
everybody is right, why try to change the views of
anybody?
Honorable Wildside: Politically, everybody is right in his
views just as long as those views serve him. Each one needs to go
his own way to serve himself in what is right in his own
eyes. But the
problem is that we have these Christians who try to say that
their views are the only ones that are right.
Interviewer: Suppose the Christian’s views serve him
well. What’s
wrong with his faithfulness to his own
understanding?
Honorable Rawhide: I
would say that if he keeps his views to himself, he has a
right to those
views.
Honorable Wildside: Huh!
I can imagine his radical ideas being contained. Hardly. He wants to impose
them on everyone
else.
Interviewer: I see something very interesting
here. You
suggest that everybody’s views are equally valid except
for Christians. A Christian’s views cannot be valid only
because Christians insist that they believe them to be
absolutely true, thus not false. Do we consider that
nothing can be both true and false at the same time? Oh, I know the notion
that what’s true for you may not be true for me and vice
versa. But is
there anything beyond subjective truth? Can I owe a bill and
at the same time refuse to pay it because I think to myself
that I am free from all bills? Can I start across a
street and decide I need not look, for to me, even without
looking to make sure, no traffic is coming? Can I allow anything
to happen to me and even injure me without so much as a
complaint because I concede that what happens to me remains
the nature of others doing what benefits themselves at my
expense and is all right because what they believe for
themselves is right for
them?
Honorable Rawhide: Oh, but we do recognize conflicts, opposing
beliefs seeking to overpower our beliefs and vise versa. There must remain an
underlying philosophy of might makes right and only the strong deserve to survive,
known as survival of the
fittest. Thus, we can strong
arm in Congress to force a bill we support to pass, even if it
means threatening to sabotage the efforts of other Congressmen
or going so far as to cover up certain facts that could hinder
our goals if they were known. Our might makes what
we do right because we are stronger. In that way we show
that we are the ones who deserve to survive.
Honorable Wildside: That’s about the size of it. We launch from
strength, not from weakness, as do those Christian radicals
who believe in the fantasy of absolute truth.
Yes, and what they call love can
only be a weakness that opens them up for defeat.
Interviewer: What you two propose would create
detached individualistic worlds in conflict at junctures of
opposing ideas.
On the biological level we call cells that become
highly individualized within the human body such that they
break links of coordinated purpose within the DNA and RNA
structure of governing genetic functions cancer cells.
In a society those who break ranks with the
sociological links and structures that make societies function
and survivable are similar to cancer cells within a
society. Such
spread drives societies toward disintegration and anarchy
leading to the demise of such
societies.
In other
words, there must be an overriding moral and spiritual
navigational reference that every component within a society
assumes moral, ethical and spiritual responsibility and
accountability such that the society can thrive.
Honorable Rawhide: I’d say that your gibberish reflects a
distinct fantasy; you have the fairy-tale mind of those
believing in absolute
truth.
Honorable Wildside: Yes, indeed. You,
sir, speak just like the radical
Christians.
Interviewer: It’s amazing to me. In your denial of
reality you claim anything goes except the belief in
absolute truth!
Would you venture so far as to say that it is
absolutely true that there is no absolute truth?
Honorable Rawhide: I
would say that it’s subjectively true that there’s no absolute
truth.
Interviewer: Oh, then, suppose that someone
subjectively believes in absolute truth. Would that be true for
him in his own subjective way of thinking? In other words, the
notion of subjective truth would make it true for him, would
it not?
Honorable Wildside: I
would say that it’s absolutely true that there’s no absolute
truth.
Interviewer: Honorable Wildside, you’ve just
contradicted yourself.
You’ve declared one absolute truth to deny that there
is any absolute truth.
And you, Honorable Rawhide, have made the notion that
there’s no absolute truth dependent upon the subjective idea
of each person who believes there’s no absolute truth. Can a person in his
own subjective mind believe that there’s absolute truth?
If so, is that true for him? It seems to me that
you cannot evade the issue that there must be an overriding
reality which either way you go in your belief leaves you in a
dilemma!
Honorable Rawhide: Rubbish! Even if such a one
believes that there is absolute truth, he is absolutely
wrong.
Interviewer: Did you listen to what you just
said? You are
making a judgment call.
In other words, you determine that there must be an
overshadowing reality which makes one’s own subjective truth
wrong in this exception
principle.
Honorable Rawhide: Well, in reality we choose to believe and
act in whatever way we please, making our own rules, meaning
in language that we choose, and anything else we can say and
do irrespective of what others might think or say, simply
because we have a position of authority and we’ll use and do
all in our power to bring others under control. We do not even
recognize any independent truth other than what
WE create for
ourselves.
Honorable Wildside: Wow!
That’s telling it like it is!
Interviewer: This arbitrary and naive disposition
does account for much of the notorious and sinister efforts in
congressional introduction of bills that would destroy our
liberties under the Constitution. The inordinate
introduction of Freedom of
Choice Act, which would
resort to Gestapo enforcement of women’s license to allow
torture and murder of unborn children (and even infanticide
through partial-birth abortion), Hate Crimes Bill, which rewards those who commit
cold-blooded
murder with lesser punishment providing they do so
without any hate involved. That bill could allow
the targeting of anyone who dared speak the truth which could
place any protected group in an unfavorable light. Fairness…
Honorable Rawhide: We don’t need to listen to this
nonsense! Of
course, we can use any enforcement we choose as long as we
have the power to do so.
Honorable Wildside: Yes, that’s true. When we get all these
bills enacted, you won’t be able to speak out irresponsibly
this way. Just
wait and see!
Interviewer: If I may, I’d like to reflect on what
you are saying with respect to your constituents! What do you suppose
will be the response to what you are saying with the public at
large, especially your
constituents?
Honorable Rawhide: How dare you! This part of our
conversation is NOT for public consumption, and should you be
so foolish to insist on broadcasting it, both of us will
vehemently deny your
report.
Honorable Wildside: I
just can’t believe…
Interviewer: Well, the truth is the truth, and
should you deny it, I can produce the voice recording you both
agreed to accept as conditions for this
interview.
Honorable Rawhide: ACCEPT? We did
not!
Interviewer: Of course you did. You did read the
agreement, did you not?
Honorable Rawhide: You know better than that. We’re
Congressmen. We
don’t have to read everything before
signing.
Interviewer: Calm down. Of course, I intend to
edit this report, but I do not intend to eliminate the essence
of what is said.
I am more civil than to include some of the things you
had obviously not thought
through.
Honorable Rawhide: We agreed to this interview because we felt
that you were giving us an opportunity to show good will to
the public, but obviously, you only intended to make us look
badly, giving those radicals favorable
support.
Interviewer: Believe it or not, Honorable Rawhide, I
initiated this interview in all good faith with you two. I intended each of you
to have opportunity to express your views on all issues, to
bring to the table any aspect you may have in mind. I assure you once more
that I intend to be civil in what I do include for public
information.
Having said this, I also believe the public is entitled
to be informed on what is going on in Washington, both in the
Congress and in the White House. After all, they are
supposed to be citizens exercising their freedom in a
democracy.
Honorable Rawhide: But…
Honorable Wildside: Trash it! We’re not going to be
insulted this…
Honorable Rawhide: Just a minute, my friend. Perhaps we did act a
bit rash, and, to be honest, we should have read the
conditions for the interview. Maybe we can come to
some sort of compromise for the sake of salvaging something
from this interview.
Honorable Wildside: Hmm… Oh, well, but we don’t need to be
treated with less dignity than honorable Congressmen
deserve.
Interviewer: Sounds fair enough. I’ll try to keep to
the issues. For
instance, the provisions of the
Grassroots Reform
Bill; how can you justify
placing restriction on free speech and the right under the
Constitution for redress?
Honorable Rawhide: Why, free speech does have responsibilities
associated with it.
We can’t just allow chaos by those who would interfere
with Congress on flimsy interruptions designed to harass us,
can we?
Interviewer: Oh, I see. In other words, you
are saying that the people’s concerns about losing freedom to
speak out and to address concerns to Congress constitute a
flimsy basis for expressing themselves to
Congress?
Honorable Rawhide: No, but we must keep some order and
protection. I
don’t think you would be suggestion that we throw the doors of
Congress wide open to every Tom, Dick and Harry to barge in
any moment and every time they desire to disrupt proceedings
with bombardment of ideas and demands, do
you?
Interviewer: Hardly, but there is a difference
between orderly procedures and locking out informational
avenues.
Governments must be held accountable to the public
within a democracy.
For that reason, voting becomes a powerful voice in
governmental affairs.
But if the people do not have avenues to keep check on
the actions and directions in government, they will be unable
to make informed decision with respect to voting or any other
recourse.
Honorable Rawhide: Well, that’s simply your personal
opinion. We see
things a bit differently.
Interviewer: Be that as it may, The Fairness Doctrine would also be a heavy blow to the
course of free speech.
Honorable Wildside: Let me ask you something: What’s unfair about
giving every person a chance to express opposing
views?
Interviewer: They certainly already have that
opportunity. The
opponents sometimes purchase air time for themselves. Thus,
they are able to discuss their own opposing views. But, again, what is
fair about these opponents being given free time, free time
paid for by the ones required to provide that time for
them? That allows
these opponents the right to speak freely without any cost to
themselves? Such
procedures can bankrupt and run Christian broadcasting off the
air! Is that fair
in the least?
Honorable Rawhide: It is indeed fair for those being attacked
to defend themselves?
Interviewer: The question does not relate to
opportunity to defend self. The Christian speaker
brings up issues, to be sure. But he pays for the
opportunity to speak on the airways! Indeed the opponents
should also be given a right to speak. But to be fair, they
should also pay for their right to speak on airways that would
sell them time.
Honorable Wildside: But the charges Christians make are
radical!
Interviewer: By whose assessment? Christians consider
some of the ideas of many politicians radical.
Honorable Rawhide: I
guess we’re at an impasse
here.
Interviewer: In that case, I guess we’ll leave the
final say to the voters.
I must fulfill my conviction by properly informing
voters with respect to the way and manner Congress presents
and deals with issues.
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