Nationalized health care is looking more and more like a well subsidized painting project for a house that is falling apart. Until we consider the termites and rot in the foundation of our society, we cannot accurately treat the failure of its walls.

Convenience has become necessity. Breakfast is eaten on the way to work, and work is done on the way to appointments. Children let themselves into empty homes after school to play action sports games on their x-box or watch strip tease music videos on MTV. Their parents are working, as their children meditate on hot-pockets and hip-hop.

Looking at the notion of health in America I can’t help but see a near fascist mentality at times. Those who are in shape tend to look down on those who are not. There is often the notion that it must be someone’s fault that they are overweight. They must be lazy if they don’t spend an hour a day running, or 30 minutes preparing a healthy meal. They must be cheap if they don’t spend more money on healthier snacks or nutritious meals to go.

Often our nation’s “health providers” offer discounts to those who take exams and eat vegetables and exercise regularly. At first blush it seems innocent and well intentioned, until a blemish of reality appears on their utopian canvas: It takes work to be in shape.

If time is money, then to exercise an hour a day is a considerable investment that many Americans choose to forfeit in favor of their family, their education or any number of other things.

If our society is in serious consideration of providing health care for the uninsured and preventative care is a part of that health care; should we not consider lowering the cost of living and raising the quality of life for Americans?

A robust economy combined with an education system that does not indoctrinate students with soda and fried foods could have an incredible impact on the health of this nation. A parent’s ability to feed their children chicken rather than top ramen could make a huge impact on health of that child. A parent’s ability to spend time with their children rather than at work could have a huge impact on both the child and parent emotionally and intellectually.

Rather than increasing the tax burden and authority of government, shouldn’t we increase the education and self-reliance of the American people?

If we as a society truly believe that the formative years of individual’s existence have the greatest impact on their future, why would we not invest our billions of dollars into those fertile years with education, healthy food and exercise? Why instead do we insult our teachers with little pay and burden our children with homework?

A healthy harvest requires good soil. It requires water and sun and patience and in time will produce good fruit. Should we start with poor soil and little water, we will reap a poor harvest if any harvest at all.

If our society is to make a large investment in this next year, it should be an investment in our youth. Such an investment could realistically produce a cure for cancer, better agriculture and better leadership. An investment in the initial health and education of our youth would be felt for years to come and possibly generations to come.

Not to invest in such a way might allow the rot of depravity to creep farther into our society’s foundation; resulting in the potential collapse of this Nation.

Where should we place our focus in this hour of discontent? Would you tell the homeless man to eat healthier or the working mom to get more exercise? To do so would be to miss the immediacy of their condition. I pray that we have eyes to see the condition of our foundation; and should we need to rebuild it, we would start at the Cornerstone from whence we came.

The American Revolutionary and Civil Wars were fought by volunteers from the different colonies and states of America. Companies represented their state with flags yet fought as a unified army toward one common cause.

I am struck today by the volunteer efforts by many nations throughout the world, and the cities and states of America, to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti.

Before and during the American Revolution, the term minuteman was used to refer to men who were armed and trained to be ready for battle at a minutes notice. This term has arisen throughout the last 200 plus years to refer to other such militia groups as well as the USA’s inter-continental ballistic missiles, which stand at the ready to be fired against the enemies of the US.

How can we as citizens of this democratic-republic stand at the ready to serve our city, our state, our nation and our world upon a moments notice? Ultimately I believe a heart to serve God will produce a heart that longs to serve and protect our fellow man. Once we possess such faith, it is necessary to act that faith out.

“What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” -James 2:14-17 (NIV)

Simple things I believe we can do is understand the tenants of government; of basic first-aid survival and civil needs. Such things include the provision of food, water and shelter; providing medical care and emotional and spiritual support.

It is a vision of mine that should a city or region fall to a natural disaster or be attacked by an enemy, that the people of that region will all, in there individual person, hold the knowledge and capacity to care for the residents of that region and rebuild that region for the benefit of the people. It is a sacrificial effort on the part of those involved. But as we know, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” - John 15:13 (NIV)

At such a point of sacrifice with purpose, should we call it service or is it to be considered something greater? The men and women who volunteered in the revolutionary and civil wars were doing something greater than service; the men and women who are volunteering their services in Haiti are doing doing something greater than service; they are by choice, sacrificing their lives for the sake of another.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” — John 15: 9-17

My purpose for writing these questions is to get us thinking about the institutionalized church and its purpose to humanity and its purpose to God. In this piece I am not putting forth an opinion, merely asking questions, and wondering if you the reader have any ideas, answers or questions to share in comment form. I’d love to hear your thoughts

…what is the purpose of the institutionalized church. Is it to provide careers for biblically minded individuals? is it to spread the word of God? is it to homogenize and organize the number of Christians within a given society? is it to better know the needs of the the biblical Body of Christ? is it to be a political party? is it to die to self? is it to be an offering plate or an offering? is it to be the Glory of God or at the feet of a Glorious God? is it to be an institution or an organism? is it to judge? is it to be judged? the floor is your’s…

I watched The Insider the other night and was overwhelmed by the power of testimony. The whole film seems devoted as an homage to the testimony of one man. One man who had knowledge of truth, and a multi-billion dollar industry that attempted to bribe or scare him into silence.

Jeffrey Wigand was hired for the value of his trust. Brown and Williamson didn’t hire a spokesman, they hired a scientist. A scientist that was highly educated, highly regarded, whom a weary public could trust to tell them if their cigarettes were safe or not. But this Cigarette Company did not hire Wigand to protect the publics interest. He was hired to protect the company’s interest, and the company’s interest was to sell cigarettes, and to sell them by knowingly heightening the cancer causing ingredients.

Scene after scene is laden with powerful men crouched around Wigand, anticipating what words might come from his mouth. He is escorted by state police, and high profile lawyers. An attorney general and international journalists. He is a dad and a teacher; a role model to kings and children alike, and all this is based on wether he tells the truth or not; wether he falls into fear, or captures courage not knowing the outcome.

Layered on top of Wigand’s story is the story of CBS, a news giant, built on the shoulders of broadcast news pioneer Edward R. Murrow. The veracity of their journalism and ethics as a news corporation are at stake in this modern thriller whose thrills are not enticed by blood or death, but by the thin line one walks to maintain their integrity.

It is the power of confession, and testimony that most strikes me in this film, for it is a common theme in the scriptures of the old and new testaments. it is the Word of God that is first spoken about in the book of John…

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.” John 1:1-2 (NIV)

and in John is the story of a man whose role it was to testify and prepare the way…

“There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.” John 1:6-9 (NIV)

and also the story of the Holy Spirit and the generations of disciples to follow…

“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15:26-27 (NIV)

As I read through John i am struck that it was the Law that the Pharisees sought to hold Jesus accountable to, and it was by His testimony, or the testimony of others that they conducted their investigations.

So much of the New Testament is an investigation into the identity of Jesus Christ.

Two thousand years later, it seems, the world is working very hard to discredit or silence His Testimony.

It is funny to me that a movie about cigarettes and lawsuits could make me think of Jesus, and yet there is a Counselor at work in my life, speaking to me if I would only listen.

There is a video, being referred to as a sex tape, of a 17 year old Carrie Prejean, and a left leaning media that is chomping at the bit.

Prejean, who was Miss California 2009 and first runner up in Miss USA 2009 is best know for answering a Miss USA Judge’s question on the legalization of gay-marriage with the following.

“Well I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And, you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman. ”

Internet bloggers and the media jumped on the story, which thrust Miss Prejean into the spotlight, amidst an already turbulent year for conservative thinking women.

The newest sensation has occurred this week with the combination of Prejean promoting her new book “Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate and Political Attacks,” and her admitting that there is a video she made of herself for a long distance boyfriend when she was seventeen.

“I was a teenager,” she said on NBC’s Today Show “… I cared about him. I trusted him.” she defended against its being called a sex tape by stating, “It was me by myself. There was no one else with me. I was not having sex.”

The issue many have is that Prejean, a model and beauty pageant contestant, has posed multiple times wearing very little clothes including an image where she shows more than can be seen on network television. Posing in such ways while claiming to have conservative values stinks of hypocrisy to many people.

It is the hypocrisy of conservative minded people that often proves to be their downfall in the court of public opinion. There is, however, a way that the failings of conservative minded people could in fact give them strength in arguing for certain principles. It is a method that requires humility, repentance and pointing to Christ’s Salvation for a darkened world.

The story here is not that Carrie Prejean has shown a lot of skin. The story is not that she sent a boyfriend a private video. The story is that Prejean calls the video the biggest mistake her life, and that she is denouncing a woman’s need to show skin to be valued.

The story of Miss Prejean, is the story of a California girl, raised in the church, schooled in Christian schools, who chose to enter beauty pageants and make a tape of herself. The story is that this young lady is not denouncing her faith, but is denouncing a woman’s desire to use her body to earn respect. She is denouncing an America that seeks to undermine the values and principles that created one of the greatest nations in history.

I would dare to say that story of Carrie Prejean could be an illustration of a harlot church turning back to its loving Saviour.

What is interesting to me is not Prejean’s beauty or fame or situation, but its a tenderness in her admitting her own faults while standing confident in the values she believes are true. She is not allowed the pride of perfection, but the humility of failure, and yet she holds her head high and engages a media that attacks her.

What is the value of a human life? What is the cost of harming a human life?

This last week, Roman Polanski was arrested in Zurich Switzerland for a crime he committed some thirty five years ago. The crime was drugging and raping a thirteen year old girl. in 1974 he confessed to the charges and before the end of his trial, fled to France to avoid the penalty of law.

Over the last 30 years, Polanski has been honored by the film industry with numerous awards including Oscars for two films. His visit to Zurich this last week was to attend an evening dedicated to his honor.

In the wake of the arrest, many people have demanded his immediate release including such acclaimed filmmakers as Martin Scorsese, Debra Winger, Woody Allen, Whoopi Goldberg among others.

I’ve thought a lot about this. Polanski’s life has encountered tragedy after tragedy. His mother died during World War Two in a Nazi Concentration Camp. In 1969 His pregnant wife was murdered at the hands of Charles Manson’s followers. It was five years later, in 1974, that he drugged the thirteen year old girl and raped her. It has been argued that the tragedies of his life contributed to his horrific actions. Does this matter? Is this a valid excuse?

In the vein of the film industry and the holocaust i came to the recent Quentin Tarantino film “Inglorious Basterds.”

“Inglorious Basterds” is a film about an elite band of Jewish soldiers, led by a Kentuckian (played by Brad Pitt) who stalk through Nazi Occupied France vengefully killing as many Nazi’s as possible. They carve swastika’s into certain survivors, that fear would spread through the Nazi ranks. They want to ensure that the perpetrators will never escape the deeds of their regime.

I wonder what Polanski’s thoughts are on this film. If a sense of vengence or justice is evoked. I wonder about the atrocities committed against his mother and country men and women alike. How many of his friends were left to the will of the Nazi Regime. I may never know the answers to these questions. I can only imagine based on my own experience, and I wonder how I might feel if placed in his shoes… It is the Gospel of Christ that speaks to my heart of forgiveness, of death and eternal life…

There is a third filmmaker in this conversation by the name of Tyler Perry.

Perry, in his childhood, watched his mother beaten repeatedly by his father and was himself beaten by his father. His adoptive grandmother once washed him in ammonia to rid him of his allergies. He was sexually molested by his friends mother, by a man at his church and endured the pain of knowing that his father molested a childhood friend of his. In all this pain of living in a state of terror, Perry chose forgiveness. My words cannot describe the pain he went through but perhaps his own words can describe the way he has moved on…

“Grateful at 40: I was asked recently how I made it through all of this, (half has not even been told) and my answer to that is…I know for a fact that there is a GOD. When my father would say or do those things to me, I would hear this voice inside of me say, “That’s not true ” or, “Don’t believe that ” or, “You’re going to make it through this “. I didn’t know at the time what “it ” was, but today I surely have no doubt that “it ” was GOD. That voice always gave me comfort. It allowed me to hold on. It kept me from being strung out on drugs, from dying when I wanted to commit suicide. It kept me from being a gang banger or drug dealer. Worse than all of those things put together, it kept me from being him. It brought angels to comfort me after every foul, harsh word or every welt on my legs or back GOD, only GOD.

To know that the little boy that I was went through all that — he went through and made it. Then me, as a man…I have to take on the responsibility of forgiving all of those people. I owe it to that little boy that I was and, more than that, I owe it to the man that I am Think about it, as a child we have no recourse. We have nowhere to go. We have to endure it. But as adults, we have choices. I choose to forgive with all my might. Forgiveness has been my weapon of choice. It has helped to free me.

If you’re having a hard time getting over something in your life, maybe you can try forgiveness too. It’s not easy, but it does bring forth healing. I know that there are a lot of people out there with stories far worse than mine but you, too, can make it. To those of you who have, welcome to life. I celebrate you. We’re all PRECIOUS in His sight.”
~ Tyler Perry

Sexual sin is referred to many times in the new testament, and sexual crime is one of the most horrific we can consider as a society. What would be the Christ like response to a sexual crime like the one committed by Polanski? Should the offender be forgiven or punished? Should the offender be branded with the crimes of their life that no one, including themselves, would ever forget their crimes?

Perfect love forgets past wrong, and yet perfect love always protects… what say you?

In the United States of America, God’s law is being removed from the halls of government. It is not by popular vote, but by the law of man that this action is justified. How far has America come as one nation under God? How far will America fall should she step aside from this call?

To look upon a US dollar bill, one will see two printed statements “This Note is legal tender for all debts. Public and private.” and “In God We Trust.” If one were to look upon a credit card, they will see neither statement. They will see a name and a number which is assigned to that name. They will see the name of the credit card company and they will see an expiration date.

These things are very important. The value of a grain of rice when used in trade is its ability to nourish the body. What is the value of the dollar bill? what is the value of credit?

Based simply on what is printed on the dollar bill, i deduce that the value of the bill is based on God’s ability to back it up. I deduce that i am legally permitted to use this note for trade in the US. Looking upon the credit card i deduce names and numbers. The credit card itself is worth nothing for trade, nor is the dollar bill. It is what these things represent that determine their value.

In matters of law, the word trust refers to “confidence placed in a person by making that person the nominal owner of property to be held or used for the benefit of one or more others.” When our dollar bill says in “In God We Trust,” We The People are making a binding statement that the value of the dollar bill is owned by God.

The credit card is a different story. The ownership of value in that credit card is three fold. There is a trust that the card holder has in the credit company, that the card will allow them to purchase items. There is a trust the seller has in the card company, that the the transaction will be reimbursed. And there is a trust the credit company has in the card holder that they will pay back what was lent by the card company.

How will the card holder pay back the credit company? Will they pay in cash? a check? or a transfer of funds? will they pay with another credit card? will they wash dishes at the credit card company for a number of years?

More often, these days, companies are paying their employees electronically. Come pay day, a set amount of money appears in said employee’s bank account. Often times, card holders pay their bills, including their credit card bills, electronically. The terms and conditions of “In God We Trust” is not used in any such transaction.

I move now to our tax system. If a government taxes its people, who owns that money? If the democratic republic of the united states is a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” then those tax dollars belong to the people. The government is merely a delegated group of people who steward those funds for the benefit of the people. I ask, in this system, whose trust is placed in whom?

Is the value of the dollar placed in the government, the people, or God?

What i see happening is that the government is trusting the American people to pay the debt. Simultaneously, reference to God in our public places are being removed. The laws and standards of the Ten Commandments and the Bible are being stricken from the halls of government. No longer are we being governed, based in the laws of God, but in the laws of man. No longer are we trusting in God, but slowly our trust is being placed in man.

Again i ask– if America came this far while echoing the Law of God in her halls of justice, and claiming a trust in God upon her money, How far will America fall should she abandon these principles so vital to the well being of her people.