Thoughts on Kony

It’s hard to be on social media and miss the buzz on the KONY2012 campaign. In all honesty, I have not watched the video. The LRA’s reputation precedes it. In October, President Obama announced that he was sending 100 soldiers to Africa as advisors, specifically to target the LRA. His announcement made a little noise in the newsmedia and then disappeared. It is a little odd therefore that less than five months later, this massive campaign ignites the social media. I see it as quite a testament to the ephemerality of news and both the awareness and memory of many who seem to spend more time on social media than the news media.

Joseph Kony has done horrible things. What makes his atrocities even worse is he claims to do it in the name of God (amid a strange mix of occult tribal faiths). I would dearly love to see him stop, preferably repent, or failing that, be removed from the scene permanently.

Yet, when I first heard of the KONY 2012 campaign, I had reservations. I guess the main reason was that I’ve been on the web long enough to be suspicious of any online movement or sensationalism. Thus, I didn’t rush to watch it or support it. Sure enough, as more information came out about the Invisible Children organization, there was reason to be cautious.

August Landmesser

Photo from http://www.fasena.de/courage/, accessed Feb 6, 2012. Please visit this site to learn more.

The photo shows a crowd of Germans in a 1938 shipyard giving a “Hitler-Gruss” or the “Heile Hitler” salute during the launching of a new ship. The highlighted gentleman is not. August Landmesser had married a woman the Nazi’s considered a Jew and the laws forbidding their marriage and persecuting them had turned this man against Hitler’s regime. His daughter many decades later saw this picture somewhere and recognized him. This inspired her to write a book about her family, which is available bilingually in German and English at the above link.

It took courage for Herr Landmesser to show his opposition through this civil disobedience. He did suffer at the hands of his government for his various choices. It also took wisdom to recognize what causes were worth the stand.

As educators, are we conditioning our students to be part of the crowd, or are we inspiring them to think critically, discern truth, and have the courage to stand for it, even alone?

SDG

Wealth and Education

Yesterday, I gave a laundry list of issues affecting the justice of our education system as a whole. Some of them surprisingly are paradoxical. But the first one I gave was probably the most controversial, especially these days. I suggested that “money is the key resource that enables action in this world system. It is the most logical thing that more money should have the best opportunity for the best education, at least partly because the wealthy have the freedom of time and other resources to search out the best education for themselves or their children.”

Our culture has taken the Christian idea of charity and in many ways, perverted it. What is Biblically meant to be a duty of love toward God in voluntarily sharing one’s abundance with others has been twisted and yanked away from the giver. Now the recipient demands it on their terms and has partnered with the power of the State to enforce charity without accountability, even to the point of attempting to make those with means feel guilt for the fruits of their hard work and/or blessings.

Wisdom from Chesterton

I came across a list of quotations from G. K. Chesterton today, and these five stood out to me as a source of meditation and encouragement. I thought they might for you as well. Sometimes it is better to publicize the good words already spoken by another than to fill the world with more of one's own thoughts.

“The act of defending any of the cardinal virtues has today all the exhilaration of a vice.” – A Defense of Humilities, The Defendant, 1901

“A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.” – The Everlasting Man, 1925

“An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered; an adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered.” – On Running After Ones Hat, All Things Considered, 1908  {Keep in mind that he wrote this one before the invention of computers!}

 “He is a [sane] man who can have tragedy in his heart and comedy in his head.” – Tremendous Trifles, 1909   {This is the most thought-provoking of them for me.}

“The person who is really in revolt is the optimist, who generally lives and dies in a desperate and suicidal effort to persuade other people how good they are.” – Introduction to The Defendant  {I never thought of optimism in this manner before. A challenge to live this way!}

SDG

Polarization

When watching the news, it is increasingly easy to conclude that things are getting worse and doing so faster. This gives rise to a correlated increase in polarization in pretty much any area of life (politics, religion, education, the economy, sports, etc.) as people take sides on issues.

It becomes exceedingly easy therefore to develop an ‘us versus them’ mentality in each of these areas. We can even become so carried away that we start judging the status of someone’s salvation by their position, and concluding someone is lost because of decisions they have made.

Feelings

Several weeks ago I posted a commentary about Mormonism and whether or not it might be a cult, which came up as a result of the furor over Mitt Romney as a Mormon presidential candidate. Since that whole episode, the Mormon PR team has covered the country with billboards and other ads promoting their faith. One online ad caught my eye in particular, but not in a favorable light. It had a picture of a very attractive young woman with the quote, “I feel God is proud of me for who I am.” (or something very close to that).

The problem with that ad is a cultural issue endemic in mainstream Christianity and the culture as a whole, and is not unique to the LDS church. Simply put, it is deriving truth from emotion.

God gave us emotions and intuition. In fact, I am a fairly intuitive person much of the time. However, I view our emotions primarily as spice, or seasoning in the decision making process. The “meat and potatoes” of clear thinking are truth, wisdom and logic, in that order.

Duality of Wisdom

To continue thoughts from my previous post on training students for the impersonal expectations in the working world, I struggle with being the bad cop, busting their chops for what seem like peccadilloes. In grad school, my roommates called me “Mr. Soft Love.” They would not so name me now. I am much harder, more “Mr. Tough Love.”

As followers of Christ, we are not called to be nice, we are called to be good, holy and righteous. But I would rather be nice. Yet, it goes deeper than that.

Like a Man Among Grasshoppers

Tonight, Professor of Philosophy Dan Bonevac spoke on the topic of John Calvin’s philosophy to a group of grad students with whom I am involved. He showed how Calvin developed a dual philosophy on the nature of humanity, one based on how we were created pre-Fall, and one to describe how we are different post-Fall.

One of the characteristics of his post-Fall philosophy is that humanity’s ability to discern accurately vertical attributes (those about God) were all but destroyed, and those that are horizontal (interactions between humans and between us and Creation) were twisted, weakened, and diminished. To the extent we can make any good choices, it is solely due to the grace from God, perhaps through the concept of common grace, like the rain or other blessings that all can enjoy whether they know God or not (although the common grace aspect was not discussed explicitly).

As I sat listening to the talk on this topic, the picture came to my mind of fallen humanity as the stubble of a mown hayfield with God having the stature of a Himalayan mountain. I started thinking then of how our understanding of morality is so limited and how easily we can find ourselves in moral conundrums where godly people can logically and scripturally come to very different, and even opposite conclusions (i.e.—pacifist versus just war theorist versus some other variation).

Two Minds Diverged in a Culture

The longer I am in academia, the more I see just how different of a mindset there is between ‘ordinary folks’ and ‘movers and shakers.’ This difference in worldview is there independent of the presence or absence of faith.

Both groups are acutely aware of the difference between them, and both tend to look upon the other disparagingly. The ‘movers and shakers’ (academics, politicians, etc.) are viewed by ‘ordinary folks’ as ‘elitist,’ and ‘out of touch with the real world.’ The ‘ordinary folks’ are viewed as simpletons, hics, seeing in black and white what is really shades of gray, ‘nuanced’ and ‘complex.’

Fresh Minds, Waiting to be Molded Awakened

Colleagues, the new academic year is upon us. The freshmen are here. For us, it’s the same old drill. For them, it’s a brand, brave, new world. Some are scared spitless, others excited at the scent of new freedom, others have wild oats waiting to be felt and seized, and still others believe themselves ready to take on the establishment and conquer old paradigms with the wisdom of youth.

And we, the old paradigms, are laughing behind our wizened beards.

Each of these is about to undergo probably the greatest intellectual rite of passage in their lives. Their bodies are fully developed, but their minds are about to have the greatest growth spurt since the acquisition of language.

The question that lies before us then, colleagues, is will we try to shape these minds, to force them into some mold, conform them to the image of society, prepare them to be good little worker bees with our droning?

Or will we give them tools and train them in their usage so that they will engage their assumptions and perceptions, challenge to seek what is truth, to keep that and reject the rest, to be able to pierce the veils of mere rhetoric to examine for meaning and clear thought?

One is the easy way out. The other is our job, and duty.

SDG

"This Space Intentionally Left Blank"

Ever notice signs or other messages that seem nonsensical? Some, like the title of the post are printed on forms so you know that all pages/text are present and not missing. Some, like the sign (behind the main building of my university ) on the left, seem to indicate someone just wasn’t paying attention to their work.

Many things in life have the appearance of wisdom but are foolish and many things have the appearance of foolishness yet do have significance.

Honor, and Those That Should Receive It

It’s fun to be young. We have our strength, energy, good looks (some of us), and we have the semblance of wisdom (fewer of us). Everything exists for today when we are young and the future is gloriously more of the same only better, because we won’t ‘get old’ like the others before us—how can we in these fine bodies we have?

This year my grandfather celebrated his 89^th birthday and grandma her 90^th. Today, I attended a party celebrating a colleague’s 90^th birthday. Another colleague said his mom is about to celebrate her 96^th birthday. In each of the three lives I can directly observe, they are not strong in the way we think, but are frail. They move slowly and tire more easily than they used to. The look good for their age. But in large measure they do have wisdom. Some have aged more gracefully than others who have fought the reality of their lessening abilities.

Do More With Less?

“Doing more with less” seems to be the motto of this time. Administrators and managers everywhere are urging folks to pitch in more to get through these difficult times. And certainly there is wisdom in that general principle.

More on Going Amish

Awhile back, I posted wistfully about having a ‘simpler life.’ Well, thanks to a commenter, I’ve learned about a blog that discusses how to do that in the information age.

Going Amish is a relatively new blog that discusses how to help enhance and protect your privacy on the web. It has some interesting tips and tricks, that I have not yet tried, but am familiar with some of them.

There are a couple of ironies that keep me from an unqualified endorsement. First, his comment advertising his blog was posted by “Anonymous.” Second, all you can tell about him without a lot of digging is that the blog is posted to by a marketing guy named Del, or so he claims.

Still, it makes for an interesting read and the tips may help you increase your privacy. I had a student last week tell me how she did an Internet search for me and found my FacultyLinc webpage (linked to in the right-hand column). This lack of privacy we have, especially as faculty at state institutions, is why I have the name plate by my door read,

Dr. Robb J. Wilson

(formerly a private citizen)

It’s not all bad, however. Given that information can be readily found on the Internet, we have the opportunity to take the offense and to some extent control what people find first and make it content we consciously put out there. Most search engines rank hits by how popular they are, how often material is posted on a site and other SEO (Search Engine Optimization) factors. There even companies out there now that for a fee help you make sure that what folks find first about you is what you want them to find.

Every once in a while, I do a Google search on my name and various incarnations to see what’s out there. After doing this blog for a while, it has helped direct searchers here. Fortunately, I’ve not yet found any negative sites, but I watch for things a disgruntled student might come up with to cause mischief.

Christ encourages us to ‘be as innocent as doves and as shrewd as serpents.” Knowing how to manage our presence on the Internet is consistent with following this.

SDG

Holiness versus Legalism

If you’ve been reading TSR for very long at all, one of the themes I often come to is that of God’s holiness, goodness, and righteousness, and how they are surprisingly dynamic, unpredictable and even in some ways, wild. I also explored the idea that God interacts with humanity as a single organism, growing to maturity as a race, not just with individuals. Under this paradigm, the Old Testament, with its Mosaic Law, is essentially God’s version of “don’t play in the street,” “don’t stick things in the electrical socket,” “clean your room,” “don’t color on the walls,” “eat your vegetables,” “mind your manners, please, thank you,” and so on.

I proposed that Christ’s incarnation and the birth of the church was in some ways, our bar mitzvah, or ‘coming of age.’ The rules are lessened and independence increased. This has lead to a wide range of approaches by Christians, from those that largely ignore the Old Testament and the Law to those who largely follow its dictates, well, ok, religiously.

I am currently following a reading plan that will allow me to read the entire Bible in a year. (I’ve done this sort of thing several times over the years, and this is the second year in a row in recent history.) It is good for me because I do get to read the whole thing, and it helps me be disciplined to do so daily. Currently, I am in Leviticus, the third book of the Mosaic Law, and where most of the minutiae are given. So it has been interesting to read it in light of the above perspectives.

Much of the Law we now know is for their protection—the dietary restrictions, the health and safety rules about various diseases and unhealthy situations, and so on. It led to the Jews being healthier, safer, and therefore easier to prosper. Other laws are moral, but even there, most are meant as protection from threats that would not be obvious to people back then. Then there are the ceremonial laws on how to do sacrifices, what the priests’ tasks were, and so on. I know that many of them functioned to keep them aware of their sin nature and the need for a redeemer. As such, they point to Christ’s coming and Redemption (one of the other major TSR themes). Fine.

But there are still some doozies. I know many of those are given with reasons along the lines of ‘because I am a holy God,’ so I conclude that they created a hyper awareness in some way that as God’s people, the Jews were to be different than the other nations, to be separate, called to something higher, even if they didn’t make much sense. There are other laws that I simply don’t get. Why is it that a woman is unclean for a week after giving birth to a boy, but two weeks after a girl?

The idea of uncleanness after birth makes some amount of sense—it gives the woman a chance to heal up before her husband has sex with her again—being told that he’ll be ceremonially unclean if he does, when you live in a deeply religious society like that, and that you’ll have to sacrifice the finest in your flock to atone for it, can be a good motivator to keep the hormones in check for a few days. I also suspect there is something deeper than merely giving the mother a break during a stressful and busy time, but I haven’t studied what that might be.

However, why the gender difference? Given that there are so many GOOD reasons for most of the other laws, leads me to conclude there must be one here too. I just don’t get it. Similarly, most sacrifices must be a male, but some are specified to be a female. Why? The males I interpret to point to Christ, so what about the females? Again, I am fully confident that it is far from arbitrary, and I look forward to learning someday. (Maybe you know and can educate us all—leave a comment!)

So, what? As Christians, we have been given freedom to live in a relationship with God in and through Christ. He calls us friends, and His bride. Yet, that is not done in a vacuum, but in the very context of the Law that Christ fulfilled on the cross. The purpose of the Law was to train us in God’s character, just as our parents raised us in a certain way as children, so that when we have the freedom to act, we do so within the context of our upbringing. If we individually are not taught those ways, then it is difficult to live in a manner consistent with God’s character.

Thus, learning and studying and understanding the Law is a healthy thing for those free from it by the blood of Christ. On the other hand, hopefully we have moved past the stage where we need to be reminded not to write on the walls or clean up our room, and we have the maturity and collective wisdom to apply those principles in a more sophisticated way to other problems and issues that arise in our new-found freedom.

But we cannot apply knowledge and wisdom we do not have.

SDG