Bedrock

When it comes to a clever phrase or literary expression, I love irony, but in the real world irony is often painful. Consider the irony of the current campaign against bullying. Many among the educational, media, and political elite have christened bullying as the next evil to obliterate, and who would disagree? I was bullied as a teenager, complete with insulting names, physical intimidation, and feelings of shame, especially when I got chewed out by my father for not beating up the bully! Fortunately, God blessed me with a durable ego, and one day the bully discovered that his favorite victim had outgrown him; his attempt to trip me on the way to the cafeteria had an “ironic” outcome. However, I find myself doubting the success of this anti-bullying campaign because it is up against a seriously powerful counter-force. I call it the political bully; and, as long as the political bully is not only permitted his intimidating ways but virtually lauded for his perceived eff

We have numerous reminders to indicate that we live in an imperfect world , starting with expressions like, “Nobody's perfect.” Thinking about half full or half empty glasses certainly suggests that we must deal with glasses that are often less than full; in other words, too often in life something is missing . The often uttered words, “I'm bored,” is another hint that things are less than pleasing, somehow, far too much of the time. If such ordinary reminders weren't enough, one need only to recall the news headline to know that this world is messed up, not just the United States but everywhere. The reality is troubling to many youth, who are idealists by nature. Unless their sense of rightness has already been disturbed by tragedy, injury, illness, or abuse, it is natural for the young to expect things to be good, right, or at least pleasant. No one intends to mislead them; adults just try to save the ugliness for a later moment. We use euphemisms for death:

So, they say, Mitt Romney laid off workers while at Bain Capital, and this is supposed to be a bad thing. Why exactly is that a negative for the candidate?  By the way, many of these charges, especially some of the more extreme campaign ads, are actually untrue, but I'm not making that point here.  Yes, I know we have high unemployment. The logic then, I guess, is that it's always wrong to cut jobs, right? What nonsense!  Nobody wants to lose their job, but sometimes it simply becomes necessary. No one, except possibly the government, hires people simply to give them jobs. Jobs are not the goal of job creators. Profit is the goal. Employers hire people to do things in order to make money. These workers make things, provide services, or manage others who make or serve. The employer's challenge is to have enough workers to get the work done well so that clients and customers spend money for the products or services provided, in the end leaving a net gain in f

(Originally posed an earlier version of this with a more specific title, one that attracted spam comments among other things. My intent is to explain why I am who I am and why I believe as I do; doing it in the negative seems easier for many to grasp.) Over the years, whenever I've tried to explain what I believe, as soon as I use certain words, people would take off on their own understanding of those words, no longer listening. Perhaps that is why the Lord (or Moses, if you're hung up about that) gave the Ten Commandments in the negative, even though they pretty much summarize , “ Love God completely, love your neighbor as yourself ”— the Great Commandment (which as it happens is at the top of my personal list of priorities!). Our poor brains or foolish hearts seem better able to focus on negatives. I am not WHATEVER, first, because I don't trust people . For all the nice-sounding rhetoric, in most WHATEVER systems, a person must allow someone else control

“So I'm gonna hold my nose and vote for Romney,” said a self-identified Christian caller on the DennisMiller radio show . Miller immediately reacted to the caller and suggested he didn't represent what he, as a non-Christian, understood to be a Christian attitude. I agree . I am ashamed of the public face that many presumed believers put out there for people to see and hear. First of all, God gave his children no authority to condemn whatsoever. Confronting error is not a matter of publicly declaring oneself right and another wrong. Our task is to be redemptive, not judicial, and public condemnation is exercising God's prerogative and is at least as shameful as many of the matters being condemned.  Too often, such remarks are nothing but a bit of self-aggrandizement. Secondly, God has not given authority to rule unbelievers to the Church. While I may agree that the Mormon religion is in error, as is many a Christian denomination, “holding one's nose” i