Would you let your neighbor's house burn down?

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I saw an excellent interview with Federal Reserve Chariman Ben Bernanke on 60 Minutes last night.  Aside from being impressed with Mr. Bernanke, I think he made two very good points that seem to be lost on a lot of Americans who are so upset "our money" is being used to bailout rich people, crooks and banks that deserve to fail.

The first was a great analogy.  Mr. Bernanke said in response to the idea that we should just allow these institutions to fail because they deserve to fail.  I paraphrase:

What if your neighbor was smoking in bed and set his house on fire?  The house is burning.  Do you allow his house to burn down?  He was reckless and caused his own problem.  But, you live in a wooden house right next door?  In fact, all the houses in your neighborhood are wooden.  You call the fire department, put out the flame and worry about asigning blame and meting out punishment later."

I completely agree with the sentiment expressed by this analogy.  Not being a person who  is all that into punishment anyway, I struggle the concept of allowing bad things to happen to people because they "deserve it".  But, setting that aside, allowing many of these institutions to fail is, as I've said earlier, cutting off your nose to spite your face.  It doesn't just harm the guy who was smoking in bed, it threatens our own homes.  We must do what's best for all of us regardless of what they "deserve.".  

Secondly, Mr. Bernanke addressed the sentiment that we are spending tax dollars to bail out banks.  As he put it, the banks have accounts with the Fed (which is the source of money-they're the guys who print it).  The Fed doesn't have to borrow money to put it into their accounts.  All they have to do is magically make the money by entering a few keystrokes.  Now, we all know from Econ 101 that you don't want to keep doing this forever. But, in a time when banks are about to go under and there's no risk of inflation, it makes sense to me to do this.  Whether you agree with that or not, it is not spending tax payers money when the Fed injects more money into the banking system.  That is simply false.

If you didn't catch the interview, I recommend it.

All Things Being Equal

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Wow. It's amazing how the world turns.  For most of my life, I was a liberal trapped in conservative churches.  I was afraid to speak out for fear of being criticized.  Now, I attend a progressive church.  It's  pretty cool.  I'm surrounded by liberals and pretty much Democrats.  But, as I've always said I don't allow being a liberal or a Democrat to define me. It simply describes me because I agree with them on most issues.  Recently, Butler County (the bastion of Conservatism I call home) said they are going to favor "traditional" couples over singles, co-habitating and gay couples when it comes to adoption.  One of the lesbian couples in our church copied me on an email bringing this to my attention.  I read the article with great concern.  I am now firmly committed full rights for everyone regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, whatever.  Living in Butler County, I would not be surprised in the least if they announced a hateful and immoral policy.  But, I have to say after having read the article, I think some in our church have overreacted.

The policy says that, all things being equal, traditional couples will be given priority over singles, gay couples or people who are co-habitating.  Michael Fox, who spoke about the policy, made it clear that the policy does not mean children will not be left orphans because the county will refuse to place them with gays or with single parents.  The policy does not state that a lousy married couple will be given a child while a loving, commited gay couple or a single parent who would make a wonderful mom is denied.  Mr. Fox said the best interests of the child is the trump card. I have to say that he said everything I would hope he'd say when laying out a policy for adoption.   The best interests of the child should trump any concern for political correctness or the interests of any group. Period.  End of story.  Adoptions are not about personal fulfillment for the person adopting, they're about providing the best home possible for the child and giving them the greatest chance at the best life possible.

When I first heard about the policy and read the article, I kept quiet. Mike (our pastor) characterized the policy as "immoral and hateful".  I thought "Hmmm.... maybe I should reread the article".  And I did.  Then, I reread it again.  I hate to disagree with Mike and I can't believe I find myself on the side of Butler County.  But, I don't find the policy hateful or immoral at all. Maybe the fact that it's actually being said out loud is a little shocking.  And, I do have to wonder what the motivation is for making it a policy statement now.  I would not be at all surprised to find Butler County actually discriminating against gay couples, single parents or co-habitating people when it comes to adoptions.  And the moment I find out that is the case, I will be outraged and ready to fight the policy.

To state what I would hope is obvious to anyone who knows me, I'm not saying that married couples will always be better than a single person for adoption placement.  I'm not saying that single parents can't be wonderful parents.  I'm not saying that gay or lesbian couples can't raise children succesfully or that they can never do a better job than a "traditional couple".  But, I do think that each of these situations has its own particular stressors for a child and that, all things being equal, I'd prefer to see children placed with heterosexual married couples.  Just like I think, all things being equal, black children should be placed with black families.  All things are never equal, BTW.  And, a policy like this can certainly be an excuse for discrimination.  I'm not naive enough to think it's not really a veiled way to say that non-traditional homes will be discriminated against.  I think the fact that it's now been stated is cause for concern and it merits watching.  But, I think to call it hateful and immoral is an overreaction.

You can read the article for yourself here http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090306/NEWS01/903060348/1168/NEWS0101?GID=qL/7bcfCHuGoiwt3Jvo4Bo00IFr580Pc1DXM21f0f/Y%3D:  I'd be curious to know what you think about it.  If I'm missing something, please point it out to me. 

Shayna's Team Takes Second

Shayna's 3rd grade team wrapped up their season yesterday with their leageue tournament.  Shayna's team went undefeated with the exception of one team that beat them twice during the regular season and then yesterday in the final game.  Only one team beat that team all year.  The first time we played them pretty close.  The second time was a blowout.  Yesterday, Camille hit a last second shot for Shayna's team to send the game to overtime where they won by four.  The girls were thrilled when they found out second place got trophies.

It's been fun watching Shayna, and all of the girls, develop over the year.  I never thought watching third grade girls basketball could be fun.  Shayna is a lot like Ty and I (only I suspect better than both). She's been the best rebounder on her team every year she's played.  She plays shut down defense.  The girl she's playing hardly ever scores.   She's got great hands (something neither of us had).  This off-season we'll work on her ball handling so she can get more involved in the offense.  At this level, whoever brings the ball down the court usually shoots.  Shayna scored a lot but mostly on offensive rebounds. 

This Book Will Change Your World- Book Review

My friend (well I've never actually met him or spoken to him.  But, he's a Buckeye fan and I read his blog) Kevin Beck recently wrote a book humbly titled "This Book Will Change Your World".  It's always a little awkward when someone I know asks me for a book review or when someone gives me a copy of  a book to review. I want to be honest with the people I'm sharing the book with.  But, there's always that little bit of obligation to give the author a good review.  In this case, it's nice to be able to say I would suggest this book even if I didn't know Kevin.

The book is about a way of reading the Bible that is called "fulfilled Eschatology".  Eschatology is a fancy word for what I call the study of "end times".  The Bible talks a lot about judgment and the end (the end of the world, the end of the age, interestingly never using the phrase the "end of time").  An entire industry has come about in Christian circles.  An industry built on reading the tea leaves of the current times and trying to match them up with the New Testament prophecies.  Not to steal any thunder from Kevin's book.  But, this book is about how to read the Bible as if when Jesus and Paul used the words "quickly", "soon", "in this generation", "before some of  you have tasted death", they actually meant those words.  I've seen so many mental gymnastics done with the texts to try to make Jesus' (and Paul's) words meant for their generation try to apply to our generation 2,000 years later.  But, let's face it.  Either  you can't take their words literally or they were just flat out wrong.  Taking their words literally, looking for Jesus to return from the sky in a cloud or on a horse, is a stumbling block to many.  And, if you take that literally, don't you have to take "soon" or "in this generation" literally also? 

book

"This Book Will Change Your World" is about a way of reading the Bible that will be new to many people.  For those of us raised to look to the sky to find Jesus returning at any moment, this book might be a shocker.  I was raised by people looking for the rapture to take them away from all of this at any moment.  As a child, I had no concept it had been almost 2,000 years since the texts were written.  I was told Jesus was coming back soon.  I really thought I'd never see adulthood. I've had a lot of scary moments in my life.  But, one of the scariest and one of my earliest memories of childhood was sitting in church one Sunday while a visiting pastor spoke about the rapture. He decided to have someone sneak into the back of the church and blow a trumpet (like the angel will do when Jesus returns) during his sermon.  If six year olds (or whatever age I was at the the time) could have heart attacks from fright, I would have met Jesus that Sunday morning for sure.  For some, the rapture is a hope of a future where Jesus will come and snatch them away from this awful physical existence.  Never-mind the fact that most people who believe in it also believe Jesus will first punish His enemies in the flesh on Earth with unpseakable horrors before casting them into Eternal punishment.  For me, the rapture was a constant reminder that G-d was watching and could sneak back at any moment.  If He caught me off-guard or if I had any "unconfessed" sin, BAM!  All my hard work would have been undone and I would be Left Behind.  I literally had moments in the house where I couldn't find anyone for a minute or two and would think that Jesus had come back and taken everyone but me.  I would go to bed at night hoping I had confessed every sinful thought or deed (and done so sincerely), so that G-d would forgive me before Jesus came roaring back through the clouds.

Kevin's style of writing is easy to read and humorous.  But, it's serious enough.  He gives more than ample footnotes and lays out a great introductory case as to why you should take fulfilled eschatology seriously and, more importantly, why it's important that you consider it.  If you read the Bible with the wrong expectations, it not only distorts your perception of the future, it distorts your perception of the now.  For me, it gave me a whole new respect for the prophecies of Jesus and Paul and John to know that they were right about what was coming.  It gave me a whole new respect for G-d to know that He wasn't planning to burn up His planet in fire and anger and start all over (for the third time- why can't He get it right?  He needs three tries?).  

I don't know how the fulfilled eschatology view isnow. My guess is there are a lot of people out there still being taught the fear that I was taught.  And I think there are probably just a lot of people who throw their hands up and skip over chapters like Mattthew 24, the entire book of Revelation and other "uncomfortable" parts of the Bible.  "This Book Will Change Your World" (click the link to go to the site where you can download it for free) is a great way to recover large sections of the Bible and learn to take them seriously if not literally.  The book is available in ereader (PDF) format. I recommend Stanza to read it.  Stanza is available for your iPhone, iPod Touch, PC or Mac.  The book is also available in hard copy (soft cover) at Amazon.com or at Presence International.

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Limitations

To be pleased with one's limits is a wretched state.
  - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I love this quote.  I think life is about growing, reaching, pushing, learning.  I hope I never feel that I had "arrived" and there is no more to accomplish.