Taking a Break:

I'm off to the conference of the newly organized Presbyterian Global Fellowship at Peachtree Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.  After the conference, we'll be spending a few days in Nashville.  Will be back in about ten days.

 

A few notes about the blog in order.  If you saw something on the blog you liked but can't find it now, it's in the archives.  Just check the archives for notes in August or July, and you'll find it.  If you have read the blog from time to time, but have never made a comment, please feel free to add your in-put.  That's the only way I have of knowing how many people are reading this, or who you are.   Of course, comments judged to be "Spam" or obscene will be rejected. 

 

So we'll be back in a few days.  It promises to be an interesting autumn.  We'll be commenting on church happenings, football, politics, current events, and a little bit of everything.  Thanks for keeping us in mind.

 

Straight ahead!  See my blog at:   www.noblindbluff.blogspot.com

Hearing Memories in Nature:

            On a recent Saturday evening, I was bringing the groceries in from the car when I heard them--the memories, my childhood, woods, a front porch.  First, it was the bird.  I don't know enough about bird calls to know what kind of bird it was; but it was the same bird call I used to hear in the woods when I was a child or in the meadows behind the house Lydia and I occupied near Bristol, Tennessee, twenty years ago. It kind of echoed through the trees, sounding far away yet near at the same time.  It was sort of a haunting call that reminded me of other times and other places that hadn't come to mind in years.

 

And then, of course, there were the katydids.  You may call them June bugs or something else, though I think there are minor differences among some of those species of quasi-insects. Anyhow, I knew the sound.  We hear them here in southwest Alabama often during the summer; but they have a special memory for me, to.

 

How often I used to sit on my grandmother's big front porch in Memphis, Tennessee, when I was a boy, rocking in the glider and listening to the cadydids mingle with the sounds of the traffic on Buena Vista near Poplar in Memphis.  The house was a big old two-story house; but the attic was also completely floored in and useable for storage.  There was no air conditioning, so I would enjoy going out on the front porch to feel a slightly cooler breeze in the late afternoon and early evening.  But it was also a great escape for a little boy who was tired of all the adult talk and gentle scolding.  Even then, I liked to be alone and think.  The cadydids offered me a kind of tranquility and calm.

 

On that recent Saturday evening, the magic didn't last long.  Those haunting bird calls were gone almost as quickly as they came.  The groceries had to be brought in.  And the air conditioning was a pleasant relief from the sultry and humid out-of-doors.  But it was wonderful to hear the memories in nature, even if only for a few minutes.   The windows in our manse here don't open; so I rarely get the full enjoyment of those sounds and memories.  Of course, when the temperature is hot and the humidity high, I prefer my creature comfort of air conditioned nights.  Still, I sometimes long for the purer, simpler times of childhood and the memories I hear in my yard.

                      

The Truth About the Future:

I read a comment somebody made today that seemed to demand a response.  The lady was thinking mainly about the crisis in the Middle East and the fighting in Iraq; and she said, "I'd hate to be a young person looking at the future today.  That must be a grim thought for them."  When I was a young person, we were looking at the possibility of nuclear destruction,  and dealing with the social upheavals caused by the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement, riots in our cities and the specter of Communism only 90 miles off the coast of Florida.

 

When my parents were growing up, their generation lived through the Great Depression and World War II, and the possibility of financial ruin or conquest by a German madman! 

 

Earlier generations had to deal with plagues, epidemics, the very real dangers inherent in almost any medical procedure, and a host of other threats.  Nineteenth-century Americans had to deal with a civil war, Indian raids, and typhoid fever.

 

Still, all these generations kept having children.  They kept reproducing.  They lived productive lives,   often happy, and rarely catastrophic.  Of course, the most dreaded things we worry about seldom happen.  Even if they do occur, what are we going to do about it?  Shall we bring life to a screeching halt because of the uncertainty of the future? Past generations were not obsessed with the grimness of it all; and certainly, today's generation, with all the breakthroughs in medical research, computer technology, the improvements in economic conditions occurring almost everywhere in the world, and the other exciting developments in science and education need not be pre-occupied with gloom and foreboding.   

 

The truth about the future is that it has always been uncertain.  Threats have always existed, and you never know when one of those horrible threats will rear its ugly head and change your life forever;  yet, you continue to live. 

 

I strongly suspect that there will be more unspeakable  terrorist strikes against America by Islamic fascists and extremists--maybe even suicide bombers and nuclear weapons in suitcases or nerve gas.  And yes, the war in the Middle East will probably go on for years.  That's part of the truth about the future.  But let me tell you some other things that will also be true about the future.

 

Babies will be born.  Baseball games will be played.  Football season will come and go. Creative artists will produce masterpieces of sculpture, music, poetry, and painting.   Young lovers will be joined in holy matrimony.  Yes, some of those marriages will end in divorce, but many will not.  Some kids will fail to reach their dreams, but others will reach their dreams and exceed their wildest hopes--and still other people will find new dreams and accomplish worthwhile tasks. 

 

Some people will fall prey to vicious Islamic terrorism or foolish cults; but others will be led to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and serve Him for many years in faithfulness and joy. 

 

The truth about the future is that there will be a lot of tragedy.  All of us will die one day.  The writer of this blog may face a horrible death or live his final years in a tragic or lonely condition of some kind.  Some days, many of us will be depressed--or, at least, discouraged and exhausted.  We will, at times, wonder why we bother to do what we do.  That's all part of the truth about the future--part, but not the whole truth!

 

Conservatism with a Soul

Straight AheadI spoke previously of the relationships between liberalism and Christianity, between evangelicals and the Religious Right, and between Christianity and the left-wing fringe, which was an essay I inserted after finding out about the unfortunate publication by our Presbyterian Publishing Corporation of the book by a theology professor linkig George Bush and the U.S government to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Now, I want to close this train of thought, for the time being, by discussing the kind of conservatism that we need in this country, and the kind of conservatism that Christians should support. What we need is conservatism with a soul. To put it another way, I would call it a conservatism with virtue. I will not call it "compassionate conservatism" because that is a subjective term which suggests that true conservatism is not compassionate. True conservatism is neither compassionate nor lacking in compassion. It is a way of understanding the role of government based on certain political and legal principles, just as liberalism is. I believe conservatism more nearly approximates Christian principles of government; but of course, for the non-Christian, that argument would carry little weight. The true strength of genuine conservatism is that it supports and advocates certain virtues in society as a whole. The moment it wanders from these virtues, however, it becomes simply another group of empty phrases and self-serving words. Conservatism with a soul transcends greed. Oh, it definitely speaks of "enlightened self-interest," acknowledging thereby that self-interest is a major motivating factor in the best of us. But self-interest without enlightenment, without considering the consequences for other groups and for society as a whole, is not truly self-interest, but short-sighted selfishness. Conservatism with a soul is frankly wary of "Big Business," and multi-national corporations. As Ayn Rand points out in one of her writings, it is one thing to be "pro free enterprise," and quite another to be "pro business." Globalism may be a fact of life in the "Information Age" of the 21st century; and it may even prove to be a significant check on rogue states and Islamic fascism. Still, those who value republicanism and the public virtues of the past are not at all comfortable with the wider implications of the "one-world economy." Conservatism with a soul is wary also of the fever pitch at which acquisitions and mergers are squeezing independent business. I must also say that as I see it, conservatism with a soul is not libertarianism. Government is not the enemy. As constituted today, of course, government does not appear often to be friendly to the virtues of the past; but it can and has served those virtues well in previous generations. The goal is not to discredit government, but to recall it to its right function of protecting the national security, and the life and property of those whom it governs--the citizens. Conservatism with a soul respects the virtues of hard work, civility, honesty, civic and personal responsibility, and the neighborliness that used to be such a hallmark of the American landscape. We choose compassion over pity, individualism over statism, individual charity over socialism and welfare, and those policies which encourage self-respect and self-improvement over policies which encourage dependence and self-destruction. No doubt, other complementary virtues could be added to this list, but hopefully this is suggestive. Conservatism with a soul rejects most legislation which seeks to protect us from our own foolishness, preferring instead to let us grow up and learn how to be adults. And last of all, while many conservatives profess no belief in God--Ayn Rand being among them--it is illogical truly to be a conservative without a belief in Almighty God. True freedom must be freedom under God. Without a consciousness of God, there is no real protector of freedom. As Francis Schaeffer said, without a consciousness of the Christian worldview, freedom "will destroy us." I would sum up my personal understanding like this. As one writer has said: "I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon if I can."