Reflecting

December, as always, has been a month of reflection.  The end of the year does that to us.  More so if, like me, you write out your personal goals for the year and look back at how you’ve done on the previous year.  I won’t divulge how I did – they are after all  - personal. 

Reflecting back on the past year is something the newspapers are very fond of doing this week (between Christmas and New Year’s).  I don’t want to take your time in doing likewise however – I’ll leave that to you.  Instead I propose to take a moment of your time (thank you for reading, by the way) to contemplate the question we all ask ourselves at the end of the year.  I’ll do that by briefly talking about two people who don’t get the opportunity to try again in 2012;

Christopher Hitchens died just a couple weeks ago.   He’s very well known for his proudly atheistic viewpoints and his admittedly sharp and poignant writing.  There was much fanfare about him dying in the National Post (for which he contributed a regular article).  Reflecting back on his life, I would imagine he felt he lived just about as well as anyone could – anyone who didn’t acknowledge God that is.  I’ll quote his obituary; “He also professed to have no regrets for a lifetime of heavy smoking and drinking.  ‘Writing is what’s important to me, and anything that helos me do that – or enhances and prolongs and deepens and sometimes intensifies argument and conversation – is worth it to me,’ he told Charlie Rose in an television interview in 2010, adding it was ‘impossible for me to imagine having my life without going to those parties, without having those late nights, without that second bottle.’   Although Christopher might be satisfied with how he lived his life, I wonder what he ultimately accomplished in his life and death.  He had wealth and influence to accomplish much.  For sure his book (God is not great) would’ve been instrumental in keeping numbers of people out of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, at least for some years.  And his articles were very engaging. One thing is certain – he made decisions to do (and write) what he thought was right of and by himself.  Is that the some total of a life well-lived? 

In the very same section of the paper that very day (Dec 17), there was a most insightful article describing the demise of one very poor street vendor in the relatively unknown country of Tunisia exactly a year previous.  Mohamed Bouazizi changed the world with his life.  After his entire means of livelihood was taken from him by a corrupt government official and his appeals went ignored, he poured paint thinner over himself and lit a match.  His death by self-immolation sparked (no pun intended) the Arab Spring.  Because of his life and death the governments of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya have been changed.  The iron-fisted rulers of Syria, Bahrain and Yemen are in serious trouble.  Six countries changed forever because of his life and death, though he had no wealth and arguably zero influence.  Mohamed Bouazizi did what he felt he had to, not what he wanted to.  But now 40 000 people are dead (current count) and twice that injured.  Millions may have had their lives changed, but will the new regimes be any less brutal than the old ones?  One thing is for sure – the philosophy of life of both the old and the new rulers is the same (Islam). 

In the end, you might look back at a life of wealth and influence or a life of poverty and obscurity.  Yet the decisions you make do in fact have an impact.  Christopher Hitchens impacted a lot of people during his lifetime.  Was any of it lasting? Mohamed Bouazizi impacted no one during his life but millions and millions on his death.  Will any of it be for good?

Hebrews 9:27 says, “… man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”  Reflecting back on the year past is only useful if we purpose to make decisions in the new year different than the ones we made in the past.  Looking back then, the questions to measure our choices by are, “Are we doing what we alone feel is right?”  and, “Are we doing only what we think we have do?” 

In 2012, may you purpose to do as the Scriptures exhort us to – to do only what God says is right and to do so much more than we can do of ourselves - what He alone can do through us.  Then, whether we live or die, we will be able to reflect back and know that our impact has been for good and for eternity. 

Happy New Year!

http://www.nationalpost.com/Christopher+Hitchens/5875776/story.html

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/17/peter-goodspeed-mohamed-bouazizi-son-of-the-whole-world/

Missing the Point

Following a three year investigation (!), EU officials have concluded that it is criminal to suggest that water can hydrate someone who is suffering dehydration.  Yes, you read that correctly, but you might want to read that again to be sure you got it.   Apparently, a meeting of 21 scientists in Italy concluded that "...reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and not something drinking water could subsequently control."  So EU officials investigated and have now banned water bottle producers from claiming that water can rehydrate you.  That's bad news if you're thirsty.  Of course, it's also complete and utter nonsense.  Now nonsense is one thing.  But in these days, as the EU slowly collapses, it is particularly upsetting that officials - highly paid senior officials - are spending time and energy arguing the most basic and obvious facts of life instead of focusing on matters of importance. 

As cool hand Luke would say, what we have here is failure to get the point.  OK, that's my twist on what Newman's character would say.  But you get my point.

On this side of the pond, the US Super-committee spent four months arguing about spending cuts before concluding that they couldn't come to any agreement at all.  Really.  Trillions of dollars in the hole and so blinded by selfishness you can't come to any kind of consensus on what to do about it.  When I read that in today's headline, I understand that some of the most trusted and senior members of the most powerful country in the world haven't been able to apply what every kindergarten child learns in the first week of school (compromise is sometimes necessary). I guess they missed that point. 

Meanwhile, here in my neck of the woods (Ontario), the throne speech of the new provincial government focused on massive new spending programs (all day kindergarten, cuts to tuition costs and building three new university campuses).  Nothing against education, but I don't think more of what got us into this debt hole is suddenly going to get us out.  Especially not if you start with 4 yr olds.

Any university graduate can tell you that Socrates said, "an unexamined life is not worth living".  Shouldn't our leaders then examine what they are doing with their time and the resources we've entrusted them with?  Failure to focus on the most important will inevitably lead to the tyranny of the unimportant. 

And, if they won't focus on what's necessary and then to do what's necessary, shouldn't we be focused on replacing them?   Unless of course we the people are so busy doing the unimportant; focused on building our own selfish little bubble empires that we fail to notice the very fabric of the country around us collapsing.  What's that?  We re-elected them HOW many times?

Talk about missing the point.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim-that-water-can-prevent-dehydration.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/beltway/2011/11/22/its-time-to-stop-squabbling-about-the-bush-tax-cuts/

Putting up with it

Question:  Should ungodliness be permitted in a Christian home? 

Obviously not.  Or maybe not so obviously.  And maybe not even not.  Obviously Christian conduct should be expected of Christians.  But to what degree should Christian conduct be expected of non-Christians within a Christian home?  You might say that it should not be tolerated at all.  Truly, no Christian in good standing can allow full ticket blatant sin to continue unchallenged – and most especially not in their home. 

But what about UNblatant sin?  What if a family member living with you refuses to seek the forgiveness of Christ and goes out to commit sin on a regular basis?  Every Christian who is married to an unchristian must deal with that till they come to faith.  Every parent with a wayward teenager or adult child living at home struggles with this tension daily.  Many of us with older parents needing care face the same tension if those parents don’t bow the knee to Christ.  Anyone with a non-Christian boarder, and students living in residences with the general population – there are many groups who  could point out that living with others (who continue in sin) is a reality that must be faced.  A knee-jerk dogmatic response is not very helpful in real life.

Christ died for us WHILE we were still sinners, and while our flesh is still unredeemed He places His Spirit (perfectly Holy) in us as a seal of His ownership.  So the Lord – all holy and perfect – lives among and even in those who are NOT YET perfect in holiness. 

We see that in the Old Testament (the Lord being in the temple, even while His people were steeped in unrighteousness) and again in the New Testament (as noted above).  Yet when Jesus Christ comes back and establishes His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven (thereby answering untold numbers of prayers), He purges the world of ungodly behaviour, and every knee shall bow to Him.   The Scripture exhorts us to purge the evil from among ourselves (Deut 13:5, 17:7, 19:9, 22:21, Jud 20:13, etc).

How do we live out this tension?  On one hand we see the long-suffering and daily extension of mercy to us who, having made a commitment to Christ and having spiritual rebirth, daily live in failing bodies.  Our souls redeemed and made perfect, our bodies not yet, and our minds a daily battleground.   Surely mercy and longsuffering is mandated.  On the other hand we recognize that we only win in that battleground when we’re disengaged from sin (in thought as well as action).  That is true for us as individuals, and it’s true for us as a church (see 1Cor 5).  Should that also be true for us as families?

In the KJV, 2Pet 2:7 says, “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked”.  Lot lived among the wicked in Sodom and is usually given to us as an example of how NOT to live with ungodliness.  Though he was delivered, he just barely escaped and his wife (arguably half of him – the marriage making one out of the two) was destroyed in the process.  Can we learn anything from Lot’s example?  If so, it is in the verse Peter gives us. 

Tension produces a certain amount of grief.  Proverbs 19:13a says, “A foolish son is destruction to his father.”  That grief, while very hard to deal with on a sustaining basis, has a purpose.  Proverbs 16:6 says, “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”

All (spiritually profitable) things are accomplished by Christ, yet we must align ourselves with His purposes even in dealing with ourselves and our world.  While He atones for our sin by His blood and purifies us by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, we recognize that to purge ourselves from our own sin (our part in sanctification) is - to understate it - difficult.  Anyone who’s enjoined the Holy Spirit in doing so (as I call it, ‘doing business with God’) knows that.  Should it then be a surprise to us that to purge OTHERS from their sins is even MORE difficult?

We cannot jump into their heads and make them understand.  Where it risks harm to others we must take decisive action to remove such people from our midst.  Where it only causes us grief – even great grief – we must constantly demonstrate the mercy of God and speak the truth of God.  That’s hard, folks.  It’s really hard.  It means we mourn over the disobedient every single day, and daily pray God’s mercy to them that they might not be destroyed.  To do that we’ll need His grace poured into us (so we can pour it out to them).  To do that we’ll need His love poured into us so we don’t get embittered. He is ever faithful and ever gracious in so blessing us….and realizing His character so manifested in us, we grow in godliness  - to our own benefit, even as we weep.

Thy Kingdom Come...

I'm reading through a chronological Bible during my morning devotions and it's interesting to find both parallels between the Scripture reading of the day and events/critical decisions needed during the week. Yet there are also parallels between the narratives introducing the readings and what God is teaching me about the Kingdom as I meet with various churches (such as my role requires) through the weeks. Both, of course, are evidence of the hand of God and a cause for joy. Both are also cause for serious contemplation.

"For now we see through a glass darkly..." We know that God appears to move in such ways in our lives because we understand his presence through them, though we cannot make out His form or even necessarily what He is doing (only His intent is understood). Oddly enough, this exact passage from 1Cor 13 is the passage God gave me to speak on (both last week and this morning). As I realize that my wonder at the matter seems ironically funny.

One of the themes that's becoming obvious is the idea of the Kingdom now. Within the last three weeks I've finished a book I was advised to read TWO YEARS ago, "the Tangible Kingdom" (Hugh Halter), I watched a video I bought LAST MONTH, "The Red Letters" (Tony Campolo) and I met with an individual who is living out the tangible kingdom in the same way Hugh Halter is (this past week). Hmm...

All of these have the same basic message that we've drifted too far from the core message of Jesus, in spite of (arguably because of) our focus on Pauline epistles. Well I've always been interested much more in the Prophets than in Paul's letters, I have to admit that 'the church' as a whole does tend to focus on them more so than other Scripture. In our collective focus on right doctrine and Christian behaviour, have we somehow misguided ourselves from perhaps a more spiritually profitable focus on the Kingdom of God? I cannot answer this question at this time, but certainly contemplation and thought about it cannot fail to result in clarity, and maybe, just maybe - a more profound preparation for Christ's return.

An apple a day

By now, the 3rd day after, you're probably already getting tired of the news that Steve Jobs is dead. I'm sure that the 'news' will inevitably continue, books will come out before Christmas about him and perhaps even a movie by the end of next year. The vast majority of those media offerings will be to 'help' us mourn, or to 'reflect' on his success to our benefit. The reality unfortunately is that most of it will be to make money for people who had little or nothing to do with Steve for his entire life. It's just rampant opportunism, and we all know that, even if we aren't quite consciously aware that we know that. Internal skepticism of the value of such offerings manifesting itself IS the weariness that sets in so soon.

Yet we can and really should use the solemn occasion to reflect on a life lived with purpose. The very abundance of popular media reflection and subsequent 'deeper' articles on it, allows that we can (if we want) look beyond Steve's accomplishments to the very reason he was able to accomplish so much. If you ask me (and it is, admittedly, still early in the process) that reason is front and center in the recent reprinting of the address Steve gave to the graduates of Stanford University in June of 2005.

Steve said, "When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like; "If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you'll most certainly be right.". It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself; "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool Ive ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."

Well, we've heard many times "carpe diem" or "live like you were dying". Steve goes on to tell the story of his brush with death in 2004, ironically ignorant at the time that he would spend the next 6 years continuing that fight with cancer. Here's two thoughts to consider:
1) In light of what he said about his philosophy of a meaningful life and knowing what we know about the last 6 years of his life, is it any wonder he used that time to create the iPhone, the iTunes store, the iPad and App stores, etc, etc?
2) If Steve could live a life that productive and full based on ONE VERSE of Scripture (Ps 90:12, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.") - and arguably not the most important verse, HOW MUCH MORE can you and I live productive lives if we base them on the whole truth of God's written Word?

Taking the lid off...

The other day a group of guys I know were sitting around some tables discussing limitations.  It might be thought that there’s little point in discussing that because everyone has experience with them - after all, none of us are superman.  Yet when you think of your own PERSONAL limitations you may be sore tempted to think only of financial, or perhaps some physical limitations like height, athletic ability or the like. 

It is rare that we consider what our limitations are as a personality. We all know that the mental trumps the physical, and if we have enough fortitude and perseverance we can usually overcome physical limitations.  On this fact every motivational speaker makes their living. 

It is rarer that we consider what our limitations in leadership (influence, if you prefer) really mean for us and those around us.  On this point most – no, scratch that – ALMOST EVERYONE will stumble.  The few that wrestle with grasping the limitations of ourselves (as a total person) will, the vast majority of the time, settle for a measure of acceptance at some point.  After all, what can you do about the fact that you were created with a certain mental/emotional mix that seems to put a fixed limit on your personality? You are, after all, what you are. 

What few of us know, but don’t usually apply when it comes to leadership limitations, is that the spiritual trumps the mental.  So the verse (so often quoted it’s a cliché), “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” becomes nothing more than a cliché.  Even though we say we believe it, we fail to apply it.  Applying spiritual truth to our lives takes more than mental and physical energy, it takes faith.  And who has enough faith to actually believe that they can LIFT the lid of their leadership* by exercising faith?

Truly, to that person is born the next great movement of God in our generation.  Do you understand that?  Do you believe it?  What are you waiting for?

____

*See John Maxwell’s 21 laws of leadership and review the first law, “the Law of the Lid”.  Basically, the idea is that your leadership ability determines your level of effectiveness (as an influencer of others).  You can never rise above the level of your leadership.  

Is Obama a prophet?

In John 11:51 we read that Caiaphas, as leader of the Jewish nation, prophesied that Jesus would die for His people. (As an act of full disclosure, let me inform you that I recently preached on the subject of prophesy, so that whole idea is still very much in my mind.) Of course, we also have the Biblical understanding that God appoints our leaders, so we know for certain that it is always useful to listen closely to what they say and do, even if we disagree with it.

On May 26th of 2010, Obama visited a solar manufacturing plant in Fremont California. In his subsequent press release, he said,

"The true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra...
Less than a year ago, we were standing on what was an empty lot.  But through the Recovery Act, this company received a loan to expand its operations.  This new factory is the result of those loans. 

Since the project broke ground last fall, more than 3,000 construction workers have been employed building this plant.  Across the country, workers -- (applause) -- across the country, workers in 22 states are manufacturing the supplies for this project.  Workers in a dozen states are building the advanced manufacturing equipment that will power this new facility.  When it’s completed in a few months, Solyndra expects to hire a thousand workers to manufacture solar panels and sell them across America and around the world.  (Applause.) 

Here at this site, Solyndra expects to make enough solar panels each year to generate 500 megawatts of electricity.  And over the lifetime of this expanded facility, that could be like replacing as many as eight coal-fired power plants. 

That’s not all.  You’re also proving something more.  Every day that you build this expanded facility, as you fill orders for solar panels to ship around the world, you’re demonstrating that the promise of clean energy isn’t just an article of faith -- not anymore.  It’s not some abstract possibility for science fiction movies or a distant future -- 10 years down the road or 20 years down the road.  It’s happening right now.  The future is here...."

So, effectively Obama saw the future, and he determined it was at least in part this factory. So the Federal government gave the company 530 Million dollars to rush this plant into production, and in May last year Obama was able to say that in just a few months the American future would be pretty much started. So, it's a number of months later and how's that future coming along?

On Aug 31st this year Solyndra filed for bankruptcy. Every cent of that 530 Million will be lost. Now either Obama wasn't speaking prophetically when he claimed "the future is here"' or he knew the ironic truth already. After all, the warning signs that Solyndra was actually close to bankruptcy were already there, and the economics of building a plant to produce 3$/watt panels in a world full of 1$/watt panels isn't rocket science. But if you admit that you and I can know these things by reading the news, you have to make a choice - either "they" (government) are a while lot smarter than anybody and everybody around "them" and "we" are all in the dark, or "they" are really just a bunch of "us" who are ignoring the obvious.

Either way you take it, I think sometimes even modern day leaders speak prophetically. And that we should listen to!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-economy-0

http://www.uncoverage.net/2011/01/time-to-investigate-obamas-solyndra-solar-green-fraud-in-california/

http://www.investingdaily.com/id/18981/obama-and-solar-energy-solyndra-bankruptcy-is-a-527-million-loss.html

Our changing worldview

Recently I was listening to Steve Moore talk about ‘reset moments’.  What he meant by those is those times in life when the world around you is changing to a new paradigm. Now he was speaking primarily from the viewpoint of the changing face of world mission, but his line of thought comes from the fact that our whole worldview is being challenged right now:

The stability of the US as a world power is not sure anymore – they’re being replaced by the developing world as they spiral into the inevitable decay that comes from too much self-focus.  Fear rides our emotions as we grapple with what a Chinese led economy might look like (one that takes sovereign responsibility seriously and that lets sovereign interests make decisions ahead of individual interests).  Millions of foreclosed Americans are realizing that the American dream is someone’s else’s plot to greedily take their cash, not a path to material well-being.

The value of the dollar is not sure anymore – our Canadian currency is up and down wildly, and whether we’ll need our dollars or Euros or gold for future purchases is being openly debated.  The trust we used to have in MBA’s and Harvard grads is hugely eroded by the errors, miscalculations and blatant untruths witnessed almost weekly on the stock market.

The value of education is not sure anymore – the wide availability of information means you can find differing opinions from your professor’s (or your textbook’s) straight away.  That makes you question the validity of what’s being taught.  And with the rapid changes in technology the reality is that most of what you’re taught is replaced with new information before you even get your degree.  With an uncertain economic picture, university degrees are no longer a sure ticket to peace of mind from a vocational or financial stewardship perspective.

The same is even true of the church.  The movement is toward ‘house chuch’, no church or mega-church.  It’s away from denominational historic churches.  Likewise the role of how mission is carried forward – from full time career international workers funded by others to short and mid-termers who will largely self-fund and seek the experience of mission as well as the spiritual impact.  "Where should we worship?" is being replaced by "How should we worship?" which is being replaced by "Why should we worship?".

This is not change as our parents experienced it.  They went from ‘the old way of doing things’ to ‘the new way of doing the same things’ – a change in method only, and they felt it was scary enough.  We’re experiencing change in purpose as well as change in method.   And the Scripture is full of warnings of not only change in purpose, but change in environment - dramatic, life-altering change. 

Steve said something I think bears repeating as we consider these changes.  He said, “Reset moments play out under the umbrella of God’s sovereignty…. They call for a both AND theology – yes it is crazy, yes God is in control, both of them are true.  This is especially important for leaders to understand because in a reset moment all the data points a leader is analyzing will tell you that everything is spinning out of control.  And all the natural instincts that rise up inside of you as a leader will cause you to believe “I have to do something, I have to make something happen”. And it is in that moment that leaders have to push back, take a deep breath and remind yourself that the Lord has established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom rules over all, including this reset moment.”    Amen.  

http://themissionexchange.org/reset/video.php

More than we can ask or imagine...

I wonder what you think when you hear the word ‘revival’.  To me, the word brings to mind an euphoric sense of wonder, but it’s couched in a number of complex layers – not least of which is a certain level of disbelief that I could be involved in an revival, let alone be an instrument of one.  To be sure, a revival is firstly an act of God and not anything we do per se.  Yet we do have a part, for it is also something that is borne out of deep and sustained prayer – God most very rarely does anything apart from prayer (someone may say He NEVER works apart from people praying, but as I recall He created the world without us).   

Even so, the blunt fact is that many churches and many people pray for revival and yet see little if anything in response.  What’s missing?   Is it that God doesn’t want His people to be revived?  Of course not.  Christ came that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).  Further, the Lord says in His Scripture that He desires all to come to faith (2Pet 3:9).  So it’s not that the Lord is unwilling to act – what then?  Could it be that once you have all the pieces for revival in place you yet need a catalyst?  If God is willing and we’re praying, are we missing faith?  No you say – that can’t be it because we have faith.   But how much?  Jesus said if we have faith like a mustard seed we could move mountains.   I haven’t seen any mountains moving literally, and metaphorically I’ve seen very few moved recently.   Is it possible that we are so short of faith?

Fortunately, the Lord allows that we can grow our faith.  Like exercising muscles grows muscles, stepping out in faith grows faith.  The challenge in our Western and consumerist society then is to step out in faith.  Well, that sounds easy.  So does exercise.  Just try to do it of and by yourself though, and you find that maintaining it long enough to make a noticeable difference is really tough.  Far easier to have a personal coach to come alongside you for a time.  At least till exercise (and proper nutrition) becomes a lasting behavior – an unbreakable habit, and at least till we see noticeable improvement.  But to do that you’ll need to stop gorging yourself, and start listening to your personal coach.  Even though they’re telling you to do things you might think are too hard for you.  Even though the final goal seems hopelessly far away.  If you do that – if you listen to your coach – you find that in a surprisingly short time you’re on your way to lasting fitness.

In my new role as a Seamless Link Advisor I’m a coach like that, except not a personal coach for a person’s physical betterment but a faith coach for a church’s corporate betterment.  I come alongside a church and encourage/foster and build faith by creating a lasting relationship with the church to do something that’s very difficult to do by themselves, with a goal that’s flat out impossible in their present state. 

Instead of weights and exercise machines to work muscles we’ll use involvement with an international worker to stretch faith.  Instead of a fit physique as a goal we’ll look toward reaching a lost people group.  Instead of leaving food on the plate we’ll put financial resources to work in the mission field.  Over the course of a mission term we’ll find that the churches’ faith has grown.  And, almost as an added bonus, the international worker’s ministry has grown.  The body of Christ, working together – and suddenly revival in our church and spiritual awakening among a lost people are not pipe dreams, but reality.  Praise God!   

Such a wonderful process – such a wonderful result.  What stops you from trying? Doesn't He say He is able to do more than we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20)?  Doesn't He say He'll do what we ask if we ask Him in His Name (according to His will)?  John 14:14.  Do we actually have enough faith to ask Him?

A Difficult Negotiation

So this coming week we get to see just how the markets react to the news that Standard and Poor (now there’s an ironic name!) have reduced the USA’s credit rating. I pay attention to such matters because the spillover and tie-in with the Euro-crisis mean we Canadians cannot escape unscathed.  S&P lowered the rating as a result of the hoo-hum conclusion to Obama’s negotiations with the GOP over the debt ceiling.   Now at this point most are more concerned with how the world reacts to Obama’s solution as it is offered and so the focus is on that. Yet what is coming is clearly seen in what just happened. 

For if you watched any of those negotiations or read the news at all regarding it you know they (the negotiations) went right to the final wire, and only then resulted in what I would call a big band-aid instead of a solution.   The whole spectacle was akin to watching WWF characters parade around insulting each other before a match, and then making much noise and drama while ‘fighting’ to a pre-determined and premeditated conclusion. 

Such conduct is most unbecoming outside of a sporting event for the temporarily immature.  Worse, there are a few things that make such behavior stand out even more.  For starters, everyone was aware going into it that a real solution is mandated, and failure would result in major economic issues worldwide.  Also, we would expect that given such enormously high stakes mature and professional people ought to take pains to be calm and level-headed.  And that the very top people in the country ought to be mature and professional (at least in these kinds of situations).  Instead we were treated to a very political and highly damaging game of brinkmanship.

The childishness of the ordeal and the minimalist conclusion (which is not a true conclusion, for it does nothing to ‘solve’ the debt – it merely puts off the debt time bomb for another president to deal with) speak very loudly of the root cause of Western society’s present grief.  Selfishness.  

It is dogmatic individualism that insists that “my” side ‘wins’ in the debt debate, for at the end of the day the whole of society will suffer for it.  It is a ‘me first’ mindset that demands that everything be cut EXCEPT what I personally benefit from.  It is flat out full-tilt and in-your-face selfishness that insists that a real and tangible reduction in standard of living not affect the rich in a profound way. 

I think we all understand that such an outcome is not pleasant for the rich, but neither is even more hardship for the poor.  Surely that’s not news to anyone, and what is coming should not be news to anyone either.  But it will be reported as news.  Shocking and disturbing news. 

There are just not that many ways to solve a crisis of selfishness. Actually there is only one way that I’m aware of, and that is a humbling experience.  The choice is to do it yourself or to have it done to you by someone else, with the latter being much more painful and humiliating.  In light of refusal to decisively deal with the issue in what surely would have been a difficult negotiation, a series of most difficult negotiations are now coming down the pipe.  Unfortunately, to humble ourselves or to be humbled is only the least of them.

A Barbarian in the mirror

So the European Financial Stability Facility and the IMF have put together a bailout of Greece, to the great relief of the EU and the world financial community.  All the cooler heads have prevailed, as they see it.  The plan will lower interest rates and change payment terms on rescue loans already extended, saving Greece billions of Euros.  You can almost hear the sign of relief around to this side of the world.  I would imagine that  with this crisis behind the world can look to solving the financial crisis in the USA, perhaps in a similar manner.

But how did they ‘rescue’ Greece?  The Globe reports, “The €109-billion package from the rescue fund and the IMF means loans will have a maturity of at least 15 years, up from 7.5 years, while the interest rate will fall to 3.5 per cent from 5.5 per cent. All told, the move will would cut the country’s debt burden by about a quarter.

This is the second bailout for Greece. The first was in May, 2010.”

So in layman’s terms, the wealthy lent money to Greece on a promise (inital rounds of lending, leading up to their 1^st crisis).  Greece broke that promise, but promised not to break it again, so on that 2^nd promise they lent more money to Greece (May 2010).  Then then broke that promise but now make a new (3^rd) promise not to break the next one.  And the world should be happy at that.

GK Chesterton wrote, “It is plain that the promise, or extension of responsibility through time, is what chiefly distinguishes us, I will not say from savages, but from brutes and reptiles…the promise, like the wheel, is unknown in Nature, and is the first mark of man.  Referring only to human civilization it may be sad with seriousness, that in the beginning was the Word.  The vow is to the man what the song is to the bird, or the bark to the dog; his voice, whereby he is known…It is not easy to mention anything on which the enormous apparatus of human life can be said to depend.  But if it depends on anything, it is on this frail cord.  On that solitary string the Barbarian is hacking heavily, with a sabre which is fortunately blunt.”

What GK was saying is that civilization as we know it depends on our ability to do what we said we would do.  That is the first mark of maturity as a man.  To that I wholeheartedly subscribe.  He then makes the point that only a Barbarian (in all the ugliness that he defines that term to be) would misuse the promise of a man’s word (or a nations word – indeed, he was speaking of Prussia when he wrote that in The Appetite of Tyranny).

If then it is only a Barbarian who would break a promise, what manner of person would allow them to break it repeatedly, and more than that, celebrate making a new promise with them?   Far from celebrating the ‘historic rescue’, I think we should send each other sympathy cards.  We are watching the destruction of our very way of life, right in front of our eyes.