Couldn't Help Noticing

Full employment auf Deutsch

From a Briefing reader:

Are you looking for a sign of how Western civilization is faring? Consider Germany's new policy for those seeking unemployment benefits. According to an article from The Daily Telegraph, in an effort to address its high unemployment, Germany is now requiring those receiving benefits to take any job available—even in the so-called ‘sexual services’ sector. And why not? Prostitution is legal in Germany. Ergo, if you're out of work and the local brothel has an opening, you are obliged to take the job. “The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds,” the Telegraph wrote, “but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars.” Now, it turns out that this particular report may have been an exaggeration. But everyone rushed to believe it because it was rooted in an alarming set of truths. Yes, there is a comic element to bureaucratic idiocy, real or imagined. But beneath the comedy is a somber point that Mark Steyn summed up in a recent column:

The waitress forced into prostitution by the government pimp is, at one level, merely an example of the unintended consequences that follow every legislative initiative. But, at another, it's the logical reductio of the modern secular welfare state ... When you cede to the state the responsibility for feeding, clothing, and housing yourself, for your parents? retirement, and for your own health care, it's hardly surprising they can't see what the big deal is about annexing your sex life as well.

The real issue is the state of a culture that can no longer manage the most elementary moral discriminations. It expects emancipation from civilizing civilization. What it gets is decadence.

Killing gay babies

This must be one of the cleverest “divide and conquer” and “reductio ad absurdem” political strategies I've seen in a long time—a move by Brian Duprey, a conservative politician in Maine, to legislate against aborting a foetus carrying a genetic indicator for homosexuality. (See report.)

Putting aside the issue of whether such a thing as a “gay gene” actually exists, this proposal is very clever because:

(1) It demonstrates the possibiity that pregnancies may be terminated for all sorts of prejudiced reasons. It just sounds wrong to terminate merely because a baby may have a genetic predisposition towards homosexuality. But is that any more unjustified than terminating a baby because it is a girl or because it has Downes Syndrome?

Once you move away from saying that the right to abortion is an absolute right, and that the mother's reasons are irrelevant, you've undermined the foundations of the pro-abortion case.

and

(2) It potentially gets the very powerful gay lobby arguing the case that ‘gay’ babies should be protected. Once that becomes accepted, it is impossible to deny that same protection to ‘heterosexual’ babies. To do so would create two classes of citizens: those worthy of protection and those not. Surely an intolerable distinction.

Duprey has been accused of “political gamesmanship”. This may be true; I don't know what has motivated him and whether he thinks his legislation has any chance of passing. But it is certainly a strategy that fights the pro-abortion lobby at their own game.

Christian Ads

One of the things we tend to be slightly paranoid about here at Matthias Media is going overboard in our advertising, and making statements about our resources which, in the end, don't reflect our theology.

Fortunately, many of our ministry friends/customers are quite sensitive to this issue as well and give us prompt feedback when they think we've strayed too far.

I remember once I used a headline for an ad for evangelistic Bible studies which said “Let God speak through his word”—meaning to point out to people that studying the Bible with non-Christians was a good way to evangelise them. No sooner had the ad arrived at one friend's house, than I had an email from him pointing out that “we don't let God do anything”—God will do what God wants to do, whether or not we ‘let’ him. Quite so. The ad was expressed poorly, and didn't reflect what I believed.

It is an issue that Christian people in business need to be conscious of. What we believe should be reflected in what we say in our advertising and how we say it—especially written communication.

I saw recently in a catalogue an ad for a Christian book which explained the benefit of the book in the following way: “Learn how you can release the ability of God by the words of your mouth.” Like my own faux pas, I think I know what they meant, but they expressed it in a way that sounded like God is powerless unless we act, which I hope is not what they believe.

It can be more subtle than this though, can't it? I recently noticed an ad for a (Christian) mortgage broker. I guessed that they were Christians because of their name and because they were offering a free copy of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ DVD with every mortgage. Clearly, the culture clash of middle class Christians borrowing money to buy their nice comfortable home and then watching a portrayal of the sacrifical death of the Son of Man who had no place to lay his head, was not something which bothered them. (Perhaps the ad on the opposite page for another mortgage broker, with the headline ‘God wants you to prosper’ partly explains the Christian culture that can let such a clash go unnoticed.)

So let me appeal to all of us who have to write ads. Let's strive harder to reflect a Christian understanding in what we say and how we say it. And to all of you who read ads, please keep us on the straight and narrow by pointing out where we have failed, and perhaps we will slowly learn from our mistakes.

Frightening

This is a provocative graph of the way that AIDS has affected the average life expectancy in some of the African countries. Amidst remembering the suffering from the tsunami, it'd be excellent to continue to pray for situations like this, which don't get the same amount of news coverage despite the tragedy of the situation.

Eagerly waiting

Some friends of mine are about to have their first child. And when I say ‘about’ I really mean ‘about’. The mother-to-be was having contraction-ish pains last week, and the baby's head is engaged (I take it this means it's coming within a week or so).

I was thinking about how it feels a bit like our entire group of friends is eagerly waiting for this baby to be born. Every time we see the ‘pregnant couple’, we ask whether there have been any new developments. We sympathise with the mother-to-be as she puts up with the discomfort that comes with being so heavily pregnant. Having known the couple for many years, I am extremely excited (and a little amused) by the fact that pretty soon, these guys will have a tiny little human being who is alive, and who depends on them (after God, of course) for absolutely everything—what a responsibility. It's going to look a bit like them, it's going to grow up a bit like them ... I can't wait for this kid to turn up and start growing!

Then I thought about the verses in the Bible that talk about eagerly waiting ...

Romans 8:23: Paul says that “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies”.

Galatians 5:5: Paul says that “through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”

Hebrews 9:28: we read that “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him”.

I thought about how my life would change if I lived as if I was eagerly waiting for the return of Jesus; if I was as excited about one day living with my Father God in heaven, as I am excited about this baby's impending birth. Imagine if Jesus' return was like the baby's arrival: unable to be predicted, but likely to happen within the next 7 days. What things would change? What would I do differently? How would I spend my money and time? Would I spend the entire week eating nothing but Krispy Kreme donuts, knowing I'd never reap the consequences?

I realise that in some ways, it is not entirely wise to live as if Jesus will return within the week. Should Jesus not return during my lifetime, it is appropriate for me to work and earn enough to feed myself (2 Thess 3:10). It is appropriate for me to not survive solely on Krispy Kreme donuts (although I might get to heaven faster that way). It is right to use the resources God has given me to plan for the long term.

But it's certainly food for thought (and action). Do my friends and family see me as a person who is eagerly waiting for the return of Jesus? Or am I just the same as the world around me?