Sometimes we have to choose...

"One can't be a Christian and a nationalist at the same time." (Jean Lasserre, French theologian and acquaintance of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I just finished reading an excellent biography entitled: "BONHOEFFER")

This statement appears in the context of the Nazi crisis emerging in Europe in the 1930's. However, it strikes me that it approaches a maxim of universal import.

If the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), then I'm thinking that nationalism might be a close runner-up.

Excerpting from something I wrote 22 years ago:

Since it has nothing to do with an act of volition, who has the right to be unduly proud or ashamed of his "race" or nationality? (Luke 12:25) Among us we agree, for example, that no one is morally obligated by promises made for him by sponsors when he was "baptized" as an infant. One can be responsible solely for decisions of his own making. How then am I obligated to sing the praises of my nationality to the point where it becomes exclusive and offensive to others? What I owe Caesar is cheerful submission to civil authority and taxes lawfully exacted. But my citizenship is in heaven! An exaggerated spirit of nationalism is the fruit of a narrow perspective. It is arrogant, disrespectful and divisive.

I joined the Resistance...

There are some things for which Christianity is worthless.

If under pressure you revert to violence, enjoy inflicting pain, feel the need to oppress, or are obsessed with working out a "Count of Monte Cristo" type of vengeance... a life with Jesus is not for you.

Remember President Truman's famous saying, "The buck stops here."?

Well, genuine Christians collectively declare, "The violence stops here!"

The high voltage cruelty that touches us and pretends to perpetuate itself through us, just comes charging down a dead end street and fizzles out because it cannot find a crack in our wall. True Christianity is useless as a conductor of violence.

Family stuff...

GRANDPA: I recently added an essay about him in the right hand column. It was written shortly before he passed away in 1992. I have added an introduction excerpted from an excellent book that deals with the complicated history around his life in the early years of the labor movement.

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GUEST CONTRIBUTOR:

It is a rather complicated process to appear as a guest on my blog, but it does help if you happen to be my granddaughter.

Why I Am Happy to Live in My Community

By Angeline Lueb

There are many reasons I am happy to live in my community. Here are some reasons. I have a really nice family and a home. I have a great school and I have nice friends and I get lots of education. I can drink fresh water out of the tap. In Mexico and Haiti, you can only drink water out of a jug. I also came to believe in Jesus while living in my community.

I show that I am happy to live in my community by being respectful, kind and we give food to the hungry. Since we have more money than other people we can give money to people in Haiti, Mexico and here. We also take care of parks, beaches, forests and a lot of other places. We pick up after ourselves and other people. We show God’s love to others so that they believe in him also. We love other people no matter how they look because different is good. I’ll make sure to thank God for what I have because a lot of people don’t have it.

I am also thankful for soldiers who protect us. My Great-Grandpa Bob he fought in World War II and was a prisoner of war in Germany. My Great-Grandpa Bill served in the Navy during World War II and so did Great-Grandpa Ward. My Great Grandpa Jake served in the Army. I think soldiers are brave.

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Mass graves, revisited: from whence the barbarity?

Have you ever taken another person's life? Ever purposely done physical harm to another human being? Ever enjoyed it? I wonder how it feels? (not enough to want to try it, though!)

THE WALL OF NAMES
"a permanent memorial to the victims of the Rwandan genocide - a poignant reminder of the estimated 250,000 victims buried just metres away."

I can be indignant today over yesterday's unthinkable deeds, but I am unable to prevent such atrocities from occurring tomorrow. It seems easier to register my horror at events in far away places than to stand up to the seeds of like brutality in my own backyard.

What does it take to be a perpetrator of -or accessory to- wholesale savagery?

Mass graves and such...

How will I die? Would I give my life for a just cause? What if I commit to the wrong cause? I don't want to die just for no good reason at all!

And yet, many millions have died uncounted, unnoticed, in ways that seem perfectly senseless.

"Plastic flowers mark a section of the MASS GRAVES at Sandarmokh, Russia, where thousands of Solovki prisoners were killed and buried. A forest was planted on top of them in hopes that no one would ever find the graves."

And a bit further into the article: "...it became the prototype for the brutal labor camp system to come."

During Stalin's reign of terror, a disillusioned ARTHUR KOESTLER wrote "Darkness at Noon", to preserve the memory of friends who had perished in the insanity.

The story of Eusebius Valdemar Deeptrench III...

A previously unknown species of snailfish was discovered in October in the Peru-Chile Trench at the insane depth of 7000 mt (22,965 ft)! The NatGeo article equates the pressure at that depth with 1600 elephants standing on the roof of a Mini-Cooper. No one thought that there would be a living creature that far down.

I had the opportunity to interview a member of this unique tribe of snailfish. It wasn't easy. They have been minding their own business down there since forever. After some small talk about how it felt to be "discovered", he fell into sharing the sad story of his son, Eusebius Valdemar Deeptrench III.

Channels only...

Why symmetrical blogs in English and Spanish?” (PART II)

They are a tool that I think God uses to protect me.

Being able to project one message in two languages directed at people in two different countries is a healthy way to evaluate my overall perspective.

As I put the final touches on a blog entry, I re-read it with this in mind: if an entry seems more relevant to one audience than to the other, than it probably needs work before publishing it anywhere.

We are -at least in theory- heralds of a message of univeral import based on absolute truth.