05.20.08
A Story of Redemption
My father-in-law posted a great story of repentance, reconciliation and redemption on his blog today. Check it out.
02.05.08
Wealth and Population
My wife and children participate in a home school co-op that meets every Friday. A couple of months ago, Amy wanted to teach the kids about wealth disparity and worldwide population distribution. I scoured the CIA and WHO websites for the necessary data on GDP and population size by country, and then consolidated this data by continent. Whew!
For those of us in North America, this is a good reminder of how thankful we ought to be.
01.28.08
It’s not a Private Matter
Doug Wilson pointedly describes just how connected we are to one another.
We would like to think of sin as a private indulgence. But sin is always an insult to God and to your neighbor. Because we are connected to one another, there is no such thing as sinning without harming others. Every sin is a blow to someone else’s face.
11.30.07
Rules and Regulations
Unfortunately, this is a common sentiment:
“For me, God’s word was a rule book, and as far as I was concerned, I had already played by the rules and I still felt empty.”
He redeemed us from the curse of the law. Why do so many of us live like we are still under it?
Relevant: Reshaping the Christian Bubble
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11.06.07
Starving the Poor for Biofuel
The environmentalists dilemma: western appetite for biofuels is causing starvation in the poor world.
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06.30.07
Will The Problem Solve Itself?
Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. Otherwise known as “FUD.” There is a lot of FUD surrounding the whole immigration issue. Robert Dunn has an interesting take on the whole thing. Basically, he points out some demographic trends in Mexico that will lead to “rapidly aging populations with too few young workers to support the economy.” In other words, he believes the immigration issue will naturally resolve itself.
TCS Daily - How the Mexican Immigration Problem Will Solve Itself
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11.29.06
Slavery is Alive and Worse than Ever
Joe over at the evangelical outpost posted recently regarding the contemporary manifestations of slavery in the world today.
In 2004, the U.S. Government estimated that of the 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 80 percent are women and girls, and up to 50 percent are minors. The data also demonstrated that the majority of transnational victims were trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation.
Read More: The Next Abolition Movement: Abolishing Slavery in the 21st Century
So what is the solution? Well, for starters awareness of the problem needs to spread.
Consider yourself aware…
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08.07.06
Medieval Justice
Perhaps living in medieval times wasn’t as bad as we might think. In fact, in reading this article, I found the community approach to crime deterrence refreshing. Compared to our modern mentality where we simply “wash our hands of this criminal.”
Labeling idleness a crime may have been a bit strict, but the justice system in medieval England should never be considered backwards.
Punishments for offenses in those days were perhaps even more sensible and humane than they are now…
Read about it:
Medieval Justice Not So Medieval - Yahoo! News
10 Medieval Myths
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04.06.06
Scripture and Immigration
I’m intrigued at the thought of how American Christians might view the immigration debate if they took this command from God seriously:
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”
Leviticus 19:33-34 (ESV)
It makes you think. Are we Americans first, or Followers of Christ first?
04.03.05
Make Poverty History
The eradication of poverty marks a goal toward which all of us should strive. It is an undeniable injustice that large portions of the world live without sufficient food, water, shelter and basic medical care. The issue isn’t whether we should do something about it but rather, what should we do about it? What methods would be most effective in eradicating poverty and providing basic necessities to all of the people in the world?
A new website popped onto the radar screen last week called Make Poverty History. The mission of this organization is best described in their own words.
THE CRUCIAL PART. WHAT WE ARE ASKING FOR.
In 9 words… TRADE JUSTICE. DROP THE DEBT. MORE AND BETTER AID.
The gap between the worlds’s rich and poor has never been wider. Malnutrition, AIDS, conflict and illiteracy are a daily reality for millions.
But it isn’t chance or bad luck that keeps people trapped in bitter, unrelenting poverty. It’s man-made factors like a glaringly unjust global trade system, a debt burden so great that it suffocates any chance of recovery and insufficient and ineffective aid.
This list of three demands leaves out a crucial piece of the picture. The last sentence of this excerpt begs the question: why is economic aid ineffective? Eliminating debts, fostering a better trade balance and providing more economic aid will not solve the problem of poverty unless a fourth demand is added to this list: the end of tyranny. In order for countries to have more favorable trade agreements, their goverments must be free, open and democratic. While any notion of “fair trade” is a bit of a misnomer, any attempts to make trade fair are completely wasted when despots can line their pockets at the expense of their citizens.
The same holds true for debt cancellation and increases in aid (which are basically two sides of the same coin–cancelling debt is itself a form of economic aid). The only nations in which citizens can truly enjoy the benefits of trade and take advantage of economic assistance are free, open, liberal societies.
I’d like to see organizations like Make Poverty History take a harder line against autocratic, despotic governments that are a major culprit in keeping much of the world under the thumb of extreme poverty. Ending poverty is the noblest of humanitarian causes and we should take whatever measures are within our power to reach this goal. My hope is for organizations such as this one to see the missing link in their logic chain. The discussion must include calls for personal freedom and free markets within developing nations.
So get involved in the fight to eradicate poverty, but let’s have a complete picture of what the process will involve. Poverty cannot be permanently eradicated unless people are protected by the rule of law and the provisions of a free society.
