24 June 2018

Yearning to Lose Power

Recent shootings and fearful yet angry pushes to eliminate the tools of power (aka guns) will force everyone give up what little power they may have over their lives.

I don't know the deeper purposes of institutional agents. I know a high school football coach gets to keep his job if his teams wins. I know a corporate leader gets to keep her position if profits rise. I know many people want to be influential or wealthy and usually both, and our society is quite willing to exempt such people from higher standards of behavior in hopes that you or I might also enjoy the by-product "perks" of being rich and famous. Many activities speak more to the power and money desired by the individual actors, no matter the rhetoric being employed or some altruistic-sounding cause being espoused. I don't know the deeper motivations of these people, but that may not really matter in the end. It will likely become a simple grab for money and acclaim and the realization that our society has grown to be more accommodating of these motives. People who desire wealth and fame are helped by those who legislatively emasculate everyone in a silly play of hoping to make the world more "safe".

I wrote an essay on using the pain of school shootings to curiously implore parents to pull their kids out of dangerous schools and educate them in homes where mass shootings don't tend to happen. This is an act that will help parents and children be more powerful, not only taking the reins of education, but in responding in a real way to preventing the effects of school shootings.  If most parents took their children out of the large holding pens of schools, there would be less incentive and ability for some crackpot to kill a bunch of unprotected and powerless children. If children are not rendered defenseless through parental inaction and societal traditions, they are in a much better position to avoid or defend against such attacks.

Some people think it's

virtuous to be weak as if it were the same as being humble or innocent. I disagree vehemently with this strange doctrine. If you are an adherent of Christ, you know that Jesus surrendered himself to the authorities and was ultimately killed. The great virtue in this was that Christ had every ability to escape this fate, as he was obviously very powerful and therefore threatening to the leadership of his day, but he chose to give himself up, powerful though he was, to fulfill the larger purpose of God and to do it of his own free will.  Weak people who are rounded up like cattle and then slaughtered have no power at all and have nothing in common with Christ in this respect. It pains me when I hear about the suffering of the weak and powerless and its portrayal as a example of being like Christ - it is most definitely not! The adult Christ was never weak and we should all follow his example in this by gathering whatever strength we can get and wielding it virtuously.

Instead of avoiding the tools of power, such as guns, we should be learning how to use such tools properly and being in control of ourselves around them. Increasingly more shrill calls to eliminate weapons are politically motivated calls to weaken innocent people and those who would be strong enough to protect them while also emboldening sick and evil people who can then act with greater impunity and to more damaging effect. I and my family and others encouraged my sons to join the military and hopefully find paths that include becoming powerful and using that power for good. If they lose their lives in the service of their country, they stand a better chance of doing so as powerful men who sacrificed for a greater cause, like Christ did.

Pathetic demands to limit or eliminate weapons are calls to weakness and more pointless deaths. If others want to be powerless, that is their choice, but I hope to encourage everyone to the higher road of accepting the responsibilities of becoming both powerful and virtuous

10 June 2018

Will You Be Found Wanting?


Do you remember this quote?
You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting.
That is classic Count Adhemar from the memorable A Knight's Tale movie. This film was actually in contention to be a "Sunday" movie, a distinction in our family that the subject matter of a film made it appropriate for Sabbath viewing. It never made it to the third drawer (where Sunday movies live), but I find myself pondering the theme of the movie on a Sunday morning.

It reminds me that God gives us standards upon which we will ultimately be judged. I did an essay on this subject a while back.  The movie quote is actually adapted from Daniel 5:27, where the Jewish prophet Daniel interpreted a divine message of doom to the final Babylonian king. God judged the king and he will also judge each of us through something like a weighing and a measuring.  I suppose a good question is this: Will you be "found wanting"?

In the movie, William Thatcher wanted to "change his stars" and do more than his lowly birth allowed. With a fortuitous opportunity and a lot of work, he styled himself Sir Ulrich von Liechtenstein and worked diligently to become the premier jouster. Early on, his antagonist Adhemar found Ulrich "wanting" or an unworthy competitor. By the end of the film, places had changed and the knighted William unhorses the odious Adhemar, winning the world championship. The "Sunday" theme? - You actually can better yourself! In contrast to the new western "virtue" of militantly saying that you are just fine the way you are, it remains far more impressive to others and to God to make needed improvements and to actually become a better person.  In fact, God expects us to improve and warns that a measurement of that improvement is coming.  Again, will you be found wanting?

I will bring up again my foolishly-titled Psychic Proximity Principle essay and the Feeding the Soul of Steve Jobs booklet that expands upon it. God wants you to move closer to your highest potential and he will gently lead you toward it through the concept of weak magnetic attraction. God has a wonderful reward ready for you but you have to be moving forward on the road toward your potential to merit it.

Unlike A Knight's Tale, the effort toward God's reward is not a game with one winner and a load of losers - every participant can meet the standard! You don't have to be amazing or have impressive titles or awards to win the prize. Being smart or fast doesn't count in this race; continuing effort and persistence do count and everyone, no matter your initial abilities or circumstances, can do these. What I am saying is that you can absolutely measure up!

Don't be worried about watching this movie on the Sabbath - it has important lessons that God wants you to learn and to apply in your life. You can most certainly "change your stars" and win the ultimate championship that is beyond price and lasts forever.  Go for the gold!