Posted by
peripheral on Friday, May 22, 2009 11:57:36 AM
From My Perspective - - -
It is noteworthy that a distinction should be made between eloquence in
public speaking and pontification. One is a self-confidence and ease in
communication, whereas the other is an air of indifference, arrogance
and calculated verbalization. It is next to impossible to receive a
rational response to a practical matter from almost all of the elected
representatives in our nation. This has allowed for the caustic comedy
to speak of some politicians that “you can tell when they are lying -
if their lips are moving.” It has also given occasion to a biting
definition of Political Correctness. A report states: Every year at
Texas A&M they do a contest to come up with the most appropriate
definition of a contemporary term. This year's term was: “Political
Correctness”. Here is the winning definition… "Political correctness is
a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly
promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the
proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up excrement by the
clean end."
On Thursday, May 21st we heard the President state the following: “The
courts have spoken. They have found there is no legitimate reason to
hold 21 of the people confined at Guantanamo….I cannot ignore these
rulings.” However, according to POLITICO the following represents the
facts: “…only one judge has ordered the release of Guantanamo detainees
into the United States. That ruling, involving 17 Uighur men, was
stayed and later overturned by a federal appeals court. It’s true about
two dozen detainees have been ordered released by federal judges. But
at the moment those orders are largely unenforceable due to a D.C.
Circuit Court ruling denying judges the authority to bring detainees to
the United States.” The conclusion drawn by POLITICO is: “While
President Obama cannot ignore the rulings, he certainly doesn’t have to
do much right now to comply with them. But making it sound like he’s
under pressure from the courts makes it sound like he has no choice but
to close Gitmo.” And so, the pontification and game goes on and on and
on.
Chuck Colson is one of the more prolific writers and in his Breakpoint
Commentary for May 18th he writes: “From the outside looking in, an
intelligent observer can see the signs of a once-great civilization in
decline: rising corruption, sexual licentiousness, and the abandonment
of once-cherished moral principles. The once-great civilization is
Western Christendom. And the outside observer is Indian scholar Vishal
Mangalwadi. His new book, Truth and Transformation: A Manifesto for
Ailing Nations shows how dearly the West is paying for abandoning the
Christian worldview—the very worldview that made its greatness and
prosperity possible. It is no coincidence, Mangalwadi argues, that
reason, science, and advanced technology developed and thrived in the
West. That’s because Western man believed that God created an orderly
universe that could be explored and understood—and whose resources
could be harnessed to benefit mankind…Mangalwadi wonders why the West,
rich in material and political blessings, would turn away from the
source of its success—the Christian worldview anchored in the
Scriptures.”
Consider these things with me - - - Some of us grew up with an adage
echoing in our minds: “What you are speaks so loud, I can’t hear what
you say.” Someone wrote a Gospel song that contained these thoughts as
well: “What you are speaks so loud the world can't hear what you say! They're looking at your walk, not listening to your talk…They'll judge
you by your actions every day! Don’t believe, you’ll deceive, by
claiming what you’ve never known…” We move along in life as though
there is no consequence for the hollowness of speech and the emptiness
of credible action. In Jeremiah 16:10-12, “And when you tell this
people all these words, and they say to you, Why has the Lord
pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What
is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? then you
shall say to them: Because your fathers have forsaken me…and have gone
after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken
me and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse…for every
one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me…”
Pontification and Articulation makes an impression and can sound good,
but in the words of an old Wendy’s Advertisement: “Where’s the beef?”
We are called to be witnesses (Acts 1:8). Are we proactive or inactive
in that assignment?