Suppose you were given a choice between two lives that you could live.
In the first choice, you could have essentially everything that you wanted all your life. You would live in a splendid palace with a staff of servants. No luxury would be denied to you. A plane would be on standby to take you anywhere in the world you wanted to go. There would be no work you were required to do unless you wanted to. You would have a life of exquisite luxury and would live in excellent health to a ripe old age. The only thing you would have to agree to is that you could not go to heaven when you died.
In the second choice, you would have a life of misery. You would have to beg to get enough money for food. You would never have a real home and would have to sleep anywhere you could. Life would never be without physical infirmities and illness. But when it was over, you would get a welcome reception in heaven.
Which life would you choose?
In another example, I have found what I believe is the simplest way to get an idea how close you are to God. Suppose that there are two trees in a meadow or park maybe thirty meters apart. One tree represents the ways of the world and the other represents the Ways of God. When you look at the two trees from a distance, they look fairly close together. That means that the standards and values of the world are not really that much different from the standards of God.
But as you move closer to God, there seems to be more and more distance between the ways of God and those of the world. The closer you get, the more alien and further away the ways of the world seem. Finally when you really get close to God, the ways of the world are so different and alien that they are not even in your field of vision.
Suppose someone asks you the simple yet complex question "What are you?" What will your answer be? If you are close to God at all, that will be your answer. If your answer is your nationality or ethnic group or any other answer, that indicates a great distance from God.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
The Real Story Of The Cold War
The usual view of the Cold War is that it was a clash between the former Soviet bloc and the west over ideology and rival economic systems. The west emerged victorious due to the superiority of democracy and free enterprise over Communism. Although it is true that the west did not win any kind of actual "war" and it is the people of the former Communist countries that got rid of Communism themselves.
After careful thought, I have come to another conclusion. There was much more to the Cold War than economic and political theory. In our secular way of thinking today, we tend to ignore the fact that it also involved religion. The western countries were too sinful and secular to really be called "Christian countries". But they did have freedom of religion and many, particularly the U.S., had a strong Christian subculture. Communism, in contrast, was officially atheist and religious expression was either supressed or forbidden altogether.
I am certain that this is what made the difference in the Cold War rather than economics and political philosophy. The west had God's partial blessings while the Communist Bloc did not.
It was not the politics and economics that doomed Communism as a major world system. The system of communes that Israel used to have was very productive. There are many people in the former East Bloc today that wish for a return to the security of Communism. Two remaining Communist countries today, China and Cuba, rate ahead of some neighboring capitalist countries in the U.N. index. The countries that inevitably rate the highest are those socialist countries that successfully blend the best elements of the two systems.
The conclusion I have arrived at is that either system, or better yet a blend of the two, could be made to work. Which system would be best would most likely be determined by the character of the people involved. Those who are more individualistic would do better to the right while those who are not would do better to the left.
Neither is Democracy the reason that the west emerged on top in the Cold War. Freedom does not automatically bring prosperity to a nation. How many nations have gone from being not free to being free and the average person became much better off? The answer is not many. Russia went from Communism to a form of Capitalism under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin with the result that about half a dozen men and those around them got very wealthy and the rest were worse off. Germany and Japan achieved great prosperity under democracy after the Second World War but the truth is that they were prosperous before being free. I have detailed the spotty track record of democracy in my book "The End of the World".
That leaves us with the religious difference between the west and the Communist Bloc during the Cold War. I have described in an earlier posting how the most highly rated nations in the world in terms of the prosperity of the average person are almost all historically Christian. I am certain that the same factor was what decided the Cold War. The west had at least God's partial blessings while the Communist domain did not. If this had been reversed and the theory of Karl Marx had embraced Christianity instead of trying to eliminate it, the Cold War would have turned out much differently.
After careful thought, I have come to another conclusion. There was much more to the Cold War than economic and political theory. In our secular way of thinking today, we tend to ignore the fact that it also involved religion. The western countries were too sinful and secular to really be called "Christian countries". But they did have freedom of religion and many, particularly the U.S., had a strong Christian subculture. Communism, in contrast, was officially atheist and religious expression was either supressed or forbidden altogether.
I am certain that this is what made the difference in the Cold War rather than economics and political philosophy. The west had God's partial blessings while the Communist Bloc did not.
It was not the politics and economics that doomed Communism as a major world system. The system of communes that Israel used to have was very productive. There are many people in the former East Bloc today that wish for a return to the security of Communism. Two remaining Communist countries today, China and Cuba, rate ahead of some neighboring capitalist countries in the U.N. index. The countries that inevitably rate the highest are those socialist countries that successfully blend the best elements of the two systems.
The conclusion I have arrived at is that either system, or better yet a blend of the two, could be made to work. Which system would be best would most likely be determined by the character of the people involved. Those who are more individualistic would do better to the right while those who are not would do better to the left.
Neither is Democracy the reason that the west emerged on top in the Cold War. Freedom does not automatically bring prosperity to a nation. How many nations have gone from being not free to being free and the average person became much better off? The answer is not many. Russia went from Communism to a form of Capitalism under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin with the result that about half a dozen men and those around them got very wealthy and the rest were worse off. Germany and Japan achieved great prosperity under democracy after the Second World War but the truth is that they were prosperous before being free. I have detailed the spotty track record of democracy in my book "The End of the World".
That leaves us with the religious difference between the west and the Communist Bloc during the Cold War. I have described in an earlier posting how the most highly rated nations in the world in terms of the prosperity of the average person are almost all historically Christian. I am certain that the same factor was what decided the Cold War. The west had at least God's partial blessings while the Communist domain did not. If this had been reversed and the theory of Karl Marx had embraced Christianity instead of trying to eliminate it, the Cold War would have turned out much differently.
The Other Christianity
Most people think of the "Christian countries" as those of the west, Europe and North America". Historically, this is correct. However, there is a phenomenon going on in the world today that relatively few people really understand. Over the past few decades there has been an explosive growth of Christianity, not so much in it's traditional domain but across the rest of the world.
Today, there is at least some kind of Christian community in every country in the world. Quite a few of China's middle class has embraced Christianity. Numerous crosses are to be seen on buildings in Seoul. Possibly the most extensive recent Christianization has been in Africa. This phenomenon is sweeping the world even as growth in the secular western countries is somewhat tepid.
These millions of new Christians are, as a rule, extremely devout. I have had quite a few as penpals and have been influenced by their spirit. The increase in Christianity seems to be mainly born-again Protestant but Catholicism is making great gains too. The days of rivalry between Catholic and Protestant are over and I, as a Protestant, am a great admirer of the present Pope Benedict and I do not see how anyone could not be an admirer of his predecessor, John Paul.
Today, there is at least some kind of Christian community in every country in the world. Quite a few of China's middle class has embraced Christianity. Numerous crosses are to be seen on buildings in Seoul. Possibly the most extensive recent Christianization has been in Africa. This phenomenon is sweeping the world even as growth in the secular western countries is somewhat tepid.
These millions of new Christians are, as a rule, extremely devout. I have had quite a few as penpals and have been influenced by their spirit. The increase in Christianity seems to be mainly born-again Protestant but Catholicism is making great gains too. The days of rivalry between Catholic and Protestant are over and I, as a Protestant, am a great admirer of the present Pope Benedict and I do not see how anyone could not be an admirer of his predecessor, John Paul.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
The Beginning Of The Modern World
The modern world as we know it, had a beginning in religion rather than in science or technology. The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century really changed our way of thinking and made the modern world possible. The Reformation was about purifying Christianity by going back to the Bible itself instead of the dictates of the pope and the extensive man-made traditions of the Catholic Church. The name most immediately associated with the Reformation is Martin Luther.
A "Protestant" was "one who protested" against the hierarchical and hide-bound institution of the church and believed that anyone could read the Bible for himself. Protestant churches were thus much more loosely organized than the Catholic Church.
It is the individualistic, continuous self-improvement, think-for-yourself Protestant mentality that led to settlement of nations like the U.S. and Canada. The biblical idea of the world as a depraved and sinful place opened the mind's door to ways to improve that world and led to the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the Reformation, people had too much respect for the way things had always been for any large-scale improvements like that.
The stripping of the pope of his authority in favor of the Bible itself provided the mindset to do the same to kings in favor of democracy. The turning to the Bible instead of the dictates of the pope opened the way for rule of law in civil society instead of the dictates of an autocracy.
A "Protestant" was "one who protested" against the hierarchical and hide-bound institution of the church and believed that anyone could read the Bible for himself. Protestant churches were thus much more loosely organized than the Catholic Church.
It is the individualistic, continuous self-improvement, think-for-yourself Protestant mentality that led to settlement of nations like the U.S. and Canada. The biblical idea of the world as a depraved and sinful place opened the mind's door to ways to improve that world and led to the Industrial Revolution. Prior to the Reformation, people had too much respect for the way things had always been for any large-scale improvements like that.
The stripping of the pope of his authority in favor of the Bible itself provided the mindset to do the same to kings in favor of democracy. The turning to the Bible instead of the dictates of the pope opened the way for rule of law in civil society instead of the dictates of an autocracy.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Does Prayer Work?
In most religions, people can pray or otherwise make requests for blessings from God or whatever principles the religion revolves around. Most people offer prayers for the well-being and prosperity of themselves and others. There have been a number of news articles recently concerning tests that are done in an attempt to determine if prayer really works. My hypothesis is that over time the many thousands of prayers for well-being and prosperity that God answers will result in increased prosperity of the society as a whole.
The United Nations has a way of scoring the nations of the world in the average prosperity and quality of life. This is known as the HDI or Human Development Index. There is also the Human Poverty Index. Of the twenty highest-ranking countries in the world, nineteen are countries that are historically Christian and that have Christianity as their primary religion. The only country in the top twenty that is not is Japan. People in the historically Christian countries are certainly no smarter or innately talented than those in other countries, as school test scores show. This must be considered as evidence to the power of Christian prayer.
The United Nations has a way of scoring the nations of the world in the average prosperity and quality of life. This is known as the HDI or Human Development Index. There is also the Human Poverty Index. Of the twenty highest-ranking countries in the world, nineteen are countries that are historically Christian and that have Christianity as their primary religion. The only country in the top twenty that is not is Japan. People in the historically Christian countries are certainly no smarter or innately talented than those in other countries, as school test scores show. This must be considered as evidence to the power of Christian prayer.
The Babel Principle
Early in the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, people began building a great tower, supposedly to reach into heaven. God did not want them to build the tower so he smote them so that they all spoke different languages and could not understand each other. This represents a very important aspect of God's plan for the world that has been at work in human history ever since.
Human history is intended by God as a test. It is to prove that only God's ways are right and that the ways of Satan or of man without God are wrong. During this first phase of human history, God does not want any one ideology or religion to rule the world. He does not even want it to be Christian if that would mean that people would be forced to be Christians. He wants them to come to him through Jesus of their own free will.
What I will refer to as the "Babel Principle" can easily be seen in the world today in spite of what a global village we have become. The mutual incomprehension of different languages lasted for thousands of years and although this is no longer the case today, the world consists of a mosaic of different cultural groups.
The result is that whenever a large-scale ideology or belief system forms in the world, such as Communism or a religion, people in different lands will see and interpret it in different ways due to their different cultural backgrounds and ways of thinking. This will cause a splintering in the belief system and even though it may spread across the world, this splintering will prevent it from actually dominating the world.
Thus, the world will remain a "free market" of ideas until the next phase of human history, the actual rule of Jesus over the world. This phase will show beyond any doubt that God's way is the right way because the actual rule of Jesus will make the world into the paradise that it was always intended to be. Any disputes between nations or groups of people during that time will be immediately mediated and judged by Jesus himself.
Human history is intended by God as a test. It is to prove that only God's ways are right and that the ways of Satan or of man without God are wrong. During this first phase of human history, God does not want any one ideology or religion to rule the world. He does not even want it to be Christian if that would mean that people would be forced to be Christians. He wants them to come to him through Jesus of their own free will.
What I will refer to as the "Babel Principle" can easily be seen in the world today in spite of what a global village we have become. The mutual incomprehension of different languages lasted for thousands of years and although this is no longer the case today, the world consists of a mosaic of different cultural groups.
The result is that whenever a large-scale ideology or belief system forms in the world, such as Communism or a religion, people in different lands will see and interpret it in different ways due to their different cultural backgrounds and ways of thinking. This will cause a splintering in the belief system and even though it may spread across the world, this splintering will prevent it from actually dominating the world.
Thus, the world will remain a "free market" of ideas until the next phase of human history, the actual rule of Jesus over the world. This phase will show beyond any doubt that God's way is the right way because the actual rule of Jesus will make the world into the paradise that it was always intended to be. Any disputes between nations or groups of people during that time will be immediately mediated and judged by Jesus himself.
The Way To God
The way to God is a lot like using the north star to find your way across a wilderness. This is also reflected in the Bible with the journey of the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land.
Following the north star to the promised land is not quite as simple as it sounds. Sometimes it seems as if it may not be the right way. Or another route will appear to be much easier than the one you are taking. At every kilometer of the way, someone tells you "No, that is not the right way, over here is the way we should go". At other times, someone else will tell you "That is the wrong star you are following, you should follow that star over there". Still others will always be saying "There is no reason to find our way across the wilderness, we should live right here".
But if you persevere and follow the right path no matter what, you will make it across the wilderness and will reach the promised land.
Following the north star to the promised land is not quite as simple as it sounds. Sometimes it seems as if it may not be the right way. Or another route will appear to be much easier than the one you are taking. At every kilometer of the way, someone tells you "No, that is not the right way, over here is the way we should go". At other times, someone else will tell you "That is the wrong star you are following, you should follow that star over there". Still others will always be saying "There is no reason to find our way across the wilderness, we should live right here".
But if you persevere and follow the right path no matter what, you will make it across the wilderness and will reach the promised land.
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