Who Is James Holmes? Who Mentored Him?

On the night of July 19, excited movie-goers crowded into a theater in Aurora, CO for a sold-out premiere of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.  Before the movie, it was just another evening at the theater as movie-goers allowed Christopher Nolan’s production of lights, sights, and sounds to transport them out of their work-a-day world into the action, adventure, and intrigue of Gotham City.

But while enjoying the imaginary world of Batman, the audience was rudely interrupted by James Holmes, thought earlier to be just another movie-goer.  But, according to ABC News, Holmes donned a “ballistics helmet, bulletproof vest, bulletproof leggings, gas mask and gloves.  Holmes detonated multiple smoke bombs, and then began firing at viewers….” allegedly killing 12 people and wounding 59 others.   After his apprehension by police, he informed them that his apartment was rigged with enough explosives to decimate the building and perhaps neighboring structures as well.

James Holmes' high school photo (L) and college ID photo (R)

When the Friday morning news reports were broadcast, James Holmes and Aurora, CO instantly became “household names.”   We all asked, “Who is James Holmes?”  Some of us tried to look within the man, asking about his mental and emotional stability.  Others searched for sociological influences or political motivations that would lead a person to carry out such a diabolical plan.   Many of us were simply stunned.

Writing on any aspect of this tragedy can easily become an “I told you so” exercise to support one’s political or religious agenda.  Nor is it possible now to give a neat and tidy account of why James Holmes committed the crimes for which he is being held.  For even as I write, James Holmes, his family, the families of his victims, and many others suffer by the hour in various ways.

Yet when tragedy punctuates the normal flow of life, we should take stock of our lives and ask questions that seldom occur during our weekday routines or weekend activities like movie-going.  Questions like the following:   What is wrong or missing in a person that would generate such a tragedy?  If we can know, can it be ‘fixed?’  Who are we as human beings?   Where did we come from?  What is our purpose and destiny?  This week’s blogs are raising these questions, at least “between the lines.”

Each individual must consciously or unconsciously address these fundamental questions of life. The manner in which we address them forms our worldview, or “lens” though which we process and interact with the world around us.  I admit my own inadequacy to answer the questions arising from Aurora.  But let me suggest the strong possibility that James Holmes allowed himself to be “squeezed into the mold” of our contemporary culture, and that he came to lose sight of his origin, identity, purpose, and destiny as an individual.

Perhaps we will eventually know more about whether James Holmes was nurtured in a home and community that helped him gain a sense of his origin, identity, purpose, and future.  Holmes’ neighbor for 15 years described him as a young man who “…washed the car for his parents, he cut the grass, he played soccer.”  Holmes graduated from Westview H.S. in San Diego, CA, in 2006 where he was described as “a smart kid,” “great in chemistry,” and as a “normal teenager.”   In 2010, Holmes graduated with honors with a degree in neuroscience from University of California-Riverside where he was described as an “impressive” student, and “a smart guy.”

Holmes’ choice to specialize in the neurosciences in a highly competitive environment ushered him into one of the frontiers of the biological and medical sciences; and, a field that challenges our very core beliefs about the origin and nature of humans and human consciousness and behavior.  It is likely that James Holmes was greatly influenced by a naturalistic evolution worldview no doubt presented by many of his school teachers and university professors.  Here, James would have learned that he and all of humanity are the product of undirected, random processes within matter that over billions of years have produced molecules, cells, and eventually an array of more and more complex life forms.  If he came to believe that he is the product of purposeless evolution, “survival of the fittest,” then Holmes’ naturalistic worldview would offer him little hope when the deeper questions of life confronted him personally: “What is my purpose for living?   Why should I care about other humans, or about improving our understanding of human health, consciousness, and behavior?

Again, I didn’t know James Holmes, and I don’t want to be overly simplistic.  Some suggest he was influenced by the Tea Party movement.  (Turned out to be a different James Holmes.)  Is my hypothetical scenario any less plausible?  Allow me to continue if you will.

I believe the Judo-Christian Scriptures provide solid answers to the deep questions we have listed here. The Bible teaches that God is the Creator (Genesis 1-2; Romans 1) and that His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…  The passage goes on to say that this truth is so clear that …they [who deny that God is Creator] are without excuse (Romans 1: 20); instead, professing to be wise, [those who deny] became fools (Romans 1: 22).

The “world system of thinking” which denies the truth claims above can easily force each of us into its mold.   Later in Romans, we are warned not to allow ourselves to …be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:2).  In other words, “be careful not to allow your way of thinking and defining reality to be molded by a world system that bases its “truth” on the pre-supposition that ‘all we see is all there is’.”

In June, 2011, Holmes enrolled in a highly competitive graduate program in neurosciences of the School of Medicine at the Aurora campus of the University of Colorado.   A classmate described him as “a loner,” and he reportedly dropped out a month ago.  The last course in which he enrolled was on “mental illnesses and psychiatric disorders.”  Holmes’ parents and neighbors observed changes in his behavior; and, for reasons not yet clear, he had become reclusive and left an impression on neighbors in Aurora that he was “deeply troubled.”   When asked whether he takes drugs, his answer: “Prefer not to say.” And, “Am a nice guy. Well, as nice enough of a guy who does these sort of shenanigans.”

So, the question is, “What was becoming of James Holmes during this past year?”  Maybe you’ll say I’m oversimplifying that which brought about the change in James Holmes’ behavior.  Perhaps we will never know.  However, we do know that human health and well being are strongly dependent upon a clear self-awareness, social affirmation, sense of purpose, and an understanding of their relationship to the natural world and reality beyond the material world.

I’m curious that Holmes and his family attended a local Presbyterian church where it is reported that “Jimmy was clean-cut, well-spoken and a good kid.”  What influence did the social and spiritual environment at his church have on James’ life?  After all, God’s plan is for His Truth to be taught, witnessed, and applied consistently within local churches, His body at work on Earth.  Here and in a “Christian home,” James’ life and worldview might have been transformed (changed) by a regular renewal of his mind (Romans 12:2) by regular reading, meditation, and application of the truth of Scripture.   The Book of Psalms opens with this proclamation:

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.   -- Psalm 1: 1-3

Blessed (happy; having much joy in our “happenings”) are the man and the woman who “delight,” “meditate,” and “walk” according to God’s plan outlined in Scripture.  The human heart is, spiritually speaking, the seat of our worldview and value system; our mind, the seat of our decision-making (or “will”).  Both heart and mind must be continually nourished by the truth claims of the Scriptures.  Result:  We are armed against the false claims from a “world system” of thought that denies the authority of God and Scripture.

The tragedy in Aurora is that many lives were suddenly taken or changed forever by a person whose mind had become disoriented and darkened, perhaps by genetic and physiological causes; or, just as likely, by allowing his mind to be “programmed” in such a way that he exchanged his purpose for living and learning about the human mind for the diabolical purpose of destroying human lives.

I close with two applications.   First, I disagree with those who claim that gun control laws need to be stiffened to prevent such disasters.   If my logic above is correct, this was not about access to guns and ammo; it was about the spiritual and emotional health of a person.  Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) said it well:  I don’t think there is a solution here in Washington to solve this problem.  Just as I don’t believe Washington can produce a health care program that will meet the physical health needs of its citizens, neither can it address the emotional and spiritual health needs.  That must come from individual accountability fostered within healthy families, communities, and churches.

Second, I believe there is a somber lesson for those of us who would be teachers—whose “profession” is to be professors of truth.  As professors on college campuses, we should be good stewards of our profession of faith and of our academic discipline.  Students will observe and learn from our profession of truth through both our words and our actions.   Such “professing” helps students to acquire understanding about the world around them as they examine truth claims about human origins, purpose, and destiny.   School teachers and college professors have the privilege and responsibility to nurture young men and women who are looking for answers to these important questions.   May God be merciful to teachers and professors who have rejected the Creator’s clear message of hope that has been revealed in creation (Romans 1: 20) and in God’s Word, the Bible.   As the Apostle James states:   Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.  James 3:1

Related Topic from Oikonomia:    Of grave concern is the tendency within the evangelical church and associated college campuses to question the biblical account of the origin of human life by the special creation of Adam and Eve as given in Genesis 1-2, Matthew 19:4, and elsewhere.  See Caution at the Gate to a Perilous Path (Feb 06, 2011) and Could He? Would He? (Apr 30, 2011)

Political-Economic Lessons from the "Microcosm"

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges.
                                                – President Barack Obama, July 16, 2012 (Roanoke, VA)

President Obama is right.  Who would deny that we owe much to our parents, family, teachers, pastors, and friends who have taught us by word and example to live virtuous lives and to instill these virtues in our children and associates?   The same is true of our debt to our communities which provide the context within which we have grown and matured (recall Hilary Clinton’s dictum).

Yes, Somebody helped create this unbelievable American system….  Tracing all the way back to the 18th century, we are indebted to our founding fathers and to the European- and African-Americans who fought and died side by side in the American Revolution to win the religious and political freedoms described in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.  Having learned from harsh experience, the founders were careful to name the source of our freedom and opportunity.  They viewed themselves as having been

endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

Powers of government including taxation are derived “from the consent of the governed” not from a monarch such as the King of England.  As we have stated elsewhere in Oikonomia, civil servants are to exercise stewardship of the power and resources granted to them by the governed.  Therefore, President Obama is correct when he says that we “thrive” because of somebody else who invested in roads and bridges.  We have all driven on layer upon layer of asphalt which in turn may have been layered on top of bricks, or even logs from the days of the “corduroy road.”  Taxes and tolls collected by government in the past and present maintain roads and bridges.  But, where does our president go next with his logic?

President Obama continues in his Roanoke speech:

If you've got a business, you didn't build that.  Somebody else made that happen.  The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

Here the President seems to confuse the role of steward and master; or, the source of power and the wielder of power.  He suggests, that if you are a businessman or woman, “you didn’t build that” business; the government did because government built the highways on which your goods are marketed, and the internet which supports your communications and transactions. 

If the President’s logic is true, the founding fathers and many Americans have it backwards; and government is not the steward or “public servant” of the citizens from whom governing powers are derived.  Instead, he views government as “master” and originator of our prosperity.  In the President’s view, government is the green plant in the room—it takes the soil, the water, and the sunshine and supplies “food” to the private sector.   Government is the producer (or autotroph) and we, the governed, are the consumers (heterotrophs) who flourish from the benefits it provides.  Hence, “you didn’t build that”, government did.   But wait, Mr. President.  Did you ever study food chains, producers, and consumers in your science classes?

Although analogies always have their limits, a “producer-consumer analogy” may be helpful.    First, it should be obvious that government is not sustained by drawing its sustenance from soil, water, and sunshine.  Instead, the life blood of government is our tax dollars.  What it doesn’t get from taxes, it prints or borrows.  Therefore, because government is not self-supporting, it is not a producer or autotroph analogous to a green plant or algae.  Instead, government is a consumer or heterotroph that must extract its “nourishment” from another source; namely, the governed, and ultimately, the private sector where tax revenue is generated.   The private sector which produces goods, services, and jobs is the producer; government is the dependent consumer.

I tested this relationship in a couple of tiny models of the “real world”, called microcosms (“little worlds”).  Each microcosm is a 1-pint (373-ml) glass pickle jar containing the following:

>   pond water (not quite filling the jar to allow for an “atmosphere”)
>   algae (Spirogyra) – enough to create a light tinge of green
>   pond weed – 1 sprig for food and scaffolding for animal life
>   1 diving beetle
>   2 aquatic snails (1 small and 1 medium size)
>   1  dead plant stem (5-cm length)
>   Countless tiny crustaceans and microscopic organisms in the pond water

(A) "Microcosm"; (B) Snail and diving beetle; (C) Snail and oxygen from algae

Each microcosm was sealed off from the outside atmosphere with cellophane wrap and a rubber band, and placed in a window receiving indirect sunlight.   After 10 days, all populations were still alive. However, the algae was being consumed by snails faster than it could grow—the first hint that the system was not sustainable.

How about oxygen, the vital gas we all need to live?  Can you imagine aquarium animals living 10 days after the air pump was cut off?  However, in our microcosm, the algae (and pond weed) absorbs sunlight and uses dissolved carbon dioxide and mineral nutrients to “photosynthesize” oxygen needed for all life in the microcosm.  No need for an air pump!  The producer algae also photosynthesizes sugars, proteins, lipids, and other building blocks necessary for growth as well as to provide food for the consumers, snails and countless smaller animal forms.

Interestingly, the diving beetle carries its own oxygen in a large air bubble which it picks up at the interface of the water and atmosphere before it dives down and functions underwater.   When the oxygen level in the bubble drops, the beetle returns to the surface for a fresh “air tank.”  Where does this oxygen in the microcosm’s atmosphere come from?   [Right, it comes from the underwater producer algae and escapes to the atmosphere of the microcosm.]

Can you understand that sunlight is the primary driver of the microcosm as it is in the biosphere of Earth?  Without the sunny window, the producer algae would not have photosynthesized the oxygen and food needed for the consumer snails and other aquatic animals.  Unfortunately, the producer algae were unable grow fast enough to provide food for the consumers.   By day 12, consumer snails had eaten most of the algae-- and thus, their food and oxygen supply for the future.

Our microcosm analogy is limited in its ability to represent the Earth’s biosphere.  The small scale of the tiny jar and the simplicity of its food chain make its survival more precarious than the biosphere of Earth.  However, the fate of our overgrazed algae corresponds closely enough to our overtaxed citizens and bloated government to cause us to pause in serious contemplation when we hear Washington asking us for higher taxes so the government can add new programs for “job creation.”  The government can no more “create jobs” than the snails can create more producer algae.  Instead, the government would do well to encourage the real producers of jobs, the private sector.  In our analogy, the government’s role should be to either enhance the growth of algae or reduce its own consumption.

Some in Washington who recognize the value of the private sector (our producer algae) still favor wrong-headed solutions such as “creating jobs” using tax dollars which ultimately come from the private sector (producer algae). However, we should be learning from the bitter lessons of the billions spent on failed “stimulus packages” and from the poor investment of tax dollars on “green industries” that have gone belly-up in spite of these government subsidies.

Again, the natural order of the creation and even in our microcosmic models suggest that subsidizing the system can cause great damage.  Three days after creating several microcosms, I added a “sugar subsidy” to one microcosm in the form of a small volume of dissolved table sugar.   After all, algae produce sugars by photosynthesis, and sugar is a form of food, so won’t sugar help the microcosm to flourish?

Comparison of "Control" with "+Sugar" on Day 14

On day 10 when our “Control” microcosm was still functioning well, the “+Sugar” microcosm had become cloudy due to the presence of billions of bacteria that were thriving on the sugar.  Meanwhile, the algae and pond weed was turning yellow and becoming unable to photosynthesize food and oxygen in the natural way.   Within a few more days, the snails and other animal forms had died, leaving only the diving beetle which survived on the limited oxygen remaining in the atmosphere above.   The “sugar subsidy” didn’t bring prosperity.

Our experiment suggests that there is a natural order in creation in which the population of producers will determine the numbers or biomass of consumers that can live in a given area.  If the consumers over-consume or otherwise destroy the producers (e.g. overgrazing), it is only a matter of time until the system will crash.  Proper stewardship of the creation should conserve the built-in controls that regulate consumer and producer populations.

Although we have seen that consumers are dependent on producers, we should note that consumers also provide “services” that benefit producers.  For example, producers might be protected from overgrazing by consumers (e.g. white-tail deer) when other consumers (e.g. bear, wolf) prey upon the grazers and thereby maintain a limited, healthy population of grazers.  Likewise, many insects, birds, and bats promote pollination of flowers necessary to produce seeds and reproduction.   Consumers are valuable in creation just as “limited government” by the people has its important role.

The order of creation doesn’t justify total elimination of government.  Just as there are mutually beneficial relationships between producers and consumers in creation, so there are legitimate responsibilities of government-- to protect its citizens from invasion, maintain law and order, and ensure just balances in the market place so that job producers in the private sector can grow their businesses in support of a prosperous economy?

So, President Obama is correct when he says we should thank someone else for our success.  But, I’d start with God Almighty from Whom come our rights including ”Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  Then, I’m thankful for godly public and civil servants and workers who maintain law and order and an environment in which entrepreneurs can follow their dreams and “get there” by their creativity.   Thankfully, our founding fathers understood the relationship between government and the private sector, and sought to promote the various roles of each under the Constitution they provided for us. 

Rain after a Long Drought

A poem, written upon awaking this Saturday morning to the refreshing sound and fragrance of rain.  The light rain brought relief from heaven for both land and creature after a long, hot period of drought.  And, although you may disagree, it brought inspiration to me.

Prairie Coneflower, Tansy, Purple Coneflower in Dry Soil

RAIN AFTER A LONG DROUGHT

Day after day,
the long repeat;
alone in dismay,
in blistering heat.
Hot, dry air,
scorching sun,
brown everywhere;
another day done.
Cracks in soil,
crop plants wither;
leaves reach a boil,
vapor gone hither.

Doesn’t God know
our land needs rain?
“Where is He now?”
-- our sad refrain.
But day after day,
in tired repeat;
We’re alone in dismay,
in blistering heat.
Tiresome days,
more restless nights;
forgotten in haze,
our past delights.

Then morning comes ‘round.
What do I hear?
A forgotten sound;
I want to cheer.
A fresh, cool breeze,
raindrops tapping;
once parched leaves,
now rustling, clapping.
A cool, quiet rain;
many tiny drops;
bring a glad refrain
from roots to treetops.

Birds sing relief
from drought and despair.
Drops from a leaf,
sweet smell everywhere.
Distilled from the ground,
lifted up in the air;
condensed to a cloud
then rain everywhere.
God doesn’t hide
when we need the rain.
He forgives our pride
and heals our pain.

Like gifts from above,
in tiny drops descend,
God’s mercy and love
are eternal, no end.
Year in, year out,
in faithful refrain;
God does His part,
and gives us the rain.
Our role is to thank Him,
and steward the land.
Each drop we “bank”
will serve once again.
We steward the rain,
by conserving the soil;
so the ground will retain
and sustain all life well.

“Public Servants” and Citizens--Both Stewards of Freedom

We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around. And this makes us special among the nations of the Earth. Our Government has no power except that granted it by the people.
-- Ronald Reagan,  January 20, 1981

In his first inaugural address, President Reagan reminded us that government is to be a servant of the people.  That is, “civil servants” are to be “servants” of the people, and to exercise stewardship of the power granted to them.  At the same time, we as citizens have a responsibility as stewards of the freedom and opportunity afforded to us by our founders.   We exercise our stewardship by holding elected officials accountable as stewards of the privileges and responsibilities of their offices.  All of us are ultimately stewards of the rights endowed by our Creator.

On this Independence Day, 2011, one of my U.S. Senators from Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown, e-mailed a statement which prompted me to reply to him online.   His statement is below followed by my response to him:

Two hundred and thirty-seven years ago, farmers, merchants, laborers, and soldiers celebrated a new nation – fixed in freedom and equality. They faced tough odds, but they were armed with the vibrant American spirit and rock solid patriotism that has carried our nation forward since its founding.  – Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)

Senator Brown,

Thank you for your e-mail reminding us to celebrate Independence Day.  In your opening statement, you have emphasized two important ingredients that have been valued by Americans for centuries--"freedom and equality."  Please allow me to respond in the spirit of the Founding Fathers as expressed in the Declaration of Independence which states (emphasis mine)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.

The intent to our founders was to establish a nation in "freedom from" the tyranny of the King of England whose policies no longer respected individual freedoms.  To the Founding Fathers, "freedom" was based on "truths" that were "self-evident"; namely, that basic "rights" are "unalienable" and exist as an endowment from a Higher Power, not simply from man-made laws.   Based on this foundation, our Constitution encouraged individual initiative, entrepreneurial spirit, and investment in business and technology that has made possible a standard of living (including a health care system) unequaled in the world.

Senator Brown, you also used the word, "equality."  However, wouldn’t you agree that the Founding Fathers meant to give us a system of government that provides more than "equality?" Wasn’t their aim to assure "freedom" under the law so that each person would have "opportunity" for the "pursuit of happiness" as stewards of their individual abilities and opportunities?  The Founders understood what many of us have forgotten; namely, that each person is endowed genetically from his Creator and is nurtured by his environment (parents, family, and local community) to achieve at a given level in a vocation (or "calling") that fits his or her abilities. Not all can be doctors, or farmers, or NBA stars, or United States senators.   But as much as possible, each should have the opportunity to "earn" their way to a fulfilling way of life.

Yes, there are injustices in America today.  But these can be corrected by enforcement of the law, not by taking from those who have worked hard to gain an honest living and "giving" to those who have less as if to "create” equality.  This merely creates dependence and a dehumanized class of Americans that also happens to be a voting constituency for politicians who, like drug dealers, promise them another "fix" (at an ever increasing cost).   Those such as yourself who are in positions of power must steward that power by being protectors of individual freedom.  Government assistance is needed to meet acute needs, but government should also create an environment that constantly promotes individual self reliance.

As a U.S. Senator in our American culture that seems to have forgotten the importance of individual responsibility and initiative, you may soon have an opportunity to vote for or against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  In the spirit of offering “a fair share” of “affordable health coverage” to all Americans, this legislation fails on at least four counts. 

First, it is “unaffordable” by our nation which is already trillions of dollars in debt.  Second, as far as I can tell it does not provide health and nutritional incentives to Americans, many of whom have undisciplined lifestyles and eating habits.  Thus, it would require those of us who are individually responsible for a healthy lifestyle to subsidize those who make bad nutritional choices, or who unfairly take advantage of health care because it is “affordable.”

Third, it will further “shelter” health services from a “free market” environment wherein healthy competition could both improve quality of care and reduce costs.  However, if enacted, the proposed legislation would promote the same deterioration in health care that we have witnessed in our public educational system.  Can we not learn from the failed attempts of government-managed education as well as Social Security and Medicare (both deeply in debt)?   Government has been unable to “compete” with “free market” approaches to providing goods and services—whether it be transportation (recall Amtrack), postal service (U.S. Postal Service versus FedEx), or recent attempts at “green energy” in which taxpayer dollars were poorly invested (Solyndra).

Finally, it appears that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will further erode the doctor-patient relationship which has been historically crucial to the quality of health care in America.  As Ronald Reagan stated in a radio address, July 6, 1977, “…wouldn’t it violate everything we believe in to adopt a system based on the idea that the patients have a right to a doctor’s services without regard for his right to say how and on what terms those services will be delivered?”

And so, today, as my U.S. Senator and “public servant”, I invite you to join me in celebration of “freedom from tyranny” and celebration of the fact that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  I also commit to pray that you and your colleagues in the U.S. Senate will reexamine these principles and recommit to enacting legislation that will respect the limits of government and protect the rights of the individual and local community.  After all, human health in America has historically rested upon a Judeo-Christian moral code that has guided our families, communities, and institutions; and inspired our health care professionals who need the freedom from bureaucracy to provide for the health care needs of their patients.

Respectfully,

John Silvius
Cedarville, Ohio

Looking Up from Our Work

Can you imagine a hotter job than repairing a roof on a hot summer day?   Our asphalt-shingled roof was especially toasty on this June day.  My task was to fasten down some flashing that had remained loose for a few months after a crew had replaced our shingles.   Working from a ladder with my face near the plane of the roof and gutter, I had a close-up exposure to the heat radiating from the hot shingles.

As I was finishing up the work, my thoughts began to graze in a cooler pasture where I was being refreshed by the many things for which I should be thankful.  A winsome wife who is beautiful inside and out; a woman who has stood by me “through thick and thin.” Indeed, this very day, she was standing by to hand up tools and fasteners while I worked.

View from my roof, looking up.

My thoughts also feasted upon the fact that I had been so blessed with good health and was still in possession of my mental capacity sufficient to plan and execute this roof repair.  I excused my partner to go inside and cool off while I stood on the ladder and inspected my completed work with satisfaction.  As I looked upward across the sloping, shingled plane of the roof toward the peak, my eyes caught a beautiful view of tall treetops waving in the breeze.  And, beyond the swaying branches was the blue sky graced with lacy white clouds.

The expansive blue sky impressed upon my vision, thoughts, and praise as if to swallow me up in an overwhelming sense of pure joy.  Looking up from my work had immediately caused me to see the Creator’s work, obviously much greater than mine in time, space, and significance.

From before the beginning of time, the design and purpose of creation was known to the Father Who, through His Son, eventually created … all things…both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible (Colossians 1: 16).   The expansiveness of creation in both time and space had impressed upon me how small, limited, and insignificant my work is compared to that of our Creator.  While I was simply using material coverings and fasteners to complete a job, all things have been created (ex nihilo) through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16b).  While I simply aimed to fasten my roof together, in Him all things hold together (Col. 1:17b).

Though I felt “swallowed up” as I stared up into the great blue sky, I was quickly touched by God’s presence and a sense that my “looking up from my work” with praise and adoration was not an insignificant response.  I was reminded that my Father actually seeks true worshipers [who] will worship the Father in spirit and truth… (John 4: 23).  My adoration of Him as my all-wise Creator was an appropriate response mediated through His Holy Spirit.  I sensed that my worship was pleasing to God.

Father in Heaven, thank You for speaking to me through the Scriptures. Thank you for affirming this special revelation of your wisdom, power, and purposes through the order in your creation.  Your works were completed in six days and then you rested and enjoyed what You saw as “good” (Genesis 1:31).  Continue to show me how to work hard and to rest well as a steward of your creation and of the manifold Grace of God.  Help me to “work the works of Him” (John 9:4) Who redeemed me.  May You find my work pleasing.  Help me to remember my need of You while I work; and then, remember to thank you when I “look up from my work.”    Amen.

Imagination That Contradicts the Reality of Creation

Imagine a world in which hunger is vanquished by crops that don’t depend on soil, water, or fertilizer, or pesticides to thrive. 

        – Vice President Joseph Biden, Commencement address, Cypress Bay High School in Florida

Nothing wrong with graduates being challenged to imagine what they can accomplish.  Creative imagination is sometimes a spark in the development of hypotheses and the design of experiments.  However, imagination that sets one adrift from reality can also interfere with good science.  For example, disciplined reasoning based on the existing body of scientific theory is required to interpret data and to establish probable “cause and effect.” 

Vice President Biden at Cypress Bay H.S., Weston, FL*

Back to Biden’s imaginary crops that “don’t depend on soil, water, or fertilizer.”  Plants can grow in soilless culture (hydroponics) but not without water, nutrients, and carbon dioxide (a vital gas to plants).   I cannot imagine how plants can grow without material constituents necessary to build the cellular and molecular structures of the plant body.  Can you?

When bureaucratic agenda overreaches into science for political gain, even uglier things can happen.   For example, evidence leaked from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University, Norwich, England, in 2009, suggested that efforts were made to intimidate or discredit opposing scientists, suppress exchange of climate data, and suppress publications that question the assumptions of climate change models.  Thus, legitimate scientific attempts to understand the effects of anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions on global temperatures was hi-jacked by the political and economic agenda scientific data to the contrary was ignored (see Oikonomia, November 30, 2009).

Here’s another case in point.  In the 1940’s and 50’s, the Russian scientist, Trofim Lysenko (1898-1976), duped the communist leadership into believing that he could produce crops that would thrive in Siberia by repeated exposure to cold treatments to make them more vigorous.  His theory was based on the false theory of “inheritance of acquired characteristics” promoted by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829).  Although his proposals were not grounded in good science at the time, they fit the communist philosophy of the rise of the working class through persistent struggle to overcome harsh conditions.  Lysenko succeeded in swaying the communist leadership so much so that he became president of the Agricultural Academy.  By the time Lysenco’s false science was discovered and discredited, Russian agriculture had already been set back for decades.

Today, as we see more government intervention into housing, health insurance, and alternative energies causing failed outcomes, maybe Mr. Biden believes that a trip down imaginary lane will lift the spirits of the American electorate.  But there is little hope for such amazing crops without a magic wand to override the scientific principles of biology, chemistry, and genetics that define reality in the created order.

The “created order” turns out to be a common theme among all of the scientific, political, economic, and religious issues we face today.   Does your reality and mine take into consideration the objective reality as revealed in Scripture and confirmed in creation?  Both biological systems like crop plants and whole economic systems that value and distribute goods and services are irreducibly complex.  These systems are, as the oft quoted phrase suggests, “not more complex than we think, they are more complex than we can think.”

Our challenge as stewards of creation and citizens of government is to learn to recognize and respect the realities of both the spiritual and physical worlds around us.  Crops will never grow from nothing; they will always require some kind of medium and constituents from which to grow.  Instead of imagining plants that grow from nothing, perhaps we should imagine ways in which the enhance the function of our agro-economic systems which already deliver a tremendous variety of fruits, vegetables, and meats to our dinner tables for a small fraction of the cost of living compared with many parts of the world.

More amazing is that our agro-economic systems provide relatively cheap nutritious food in spite of increasing government regulations, many of which are being added to protect us from eating too much; or to ensure that our children get a nutritious breakfast.  Humm, is it government’s role to protect us from our bad decisions and provide nutritious meals for children?  I thought parents were responsible to make good decisions themselves and to provide nutritious meals.  I thought parents were also responsible to provide wholesome training of their children in mind, body, and spirit, with the support of church and community.

Perhaps, Mr. Vice President, our graduates should be challenged to consider (not imagine) that there is a loving God in Heaven Who has given us His Word to instruct us in right living.   And to recognize the created order as explained in the Bible in which man was created to serve and preserve creation for God’s glory and for the flourishing of humankind and all of creation.   That marriage was ordained between one man and one woman who would be faithful to each other; and, that as God would permit, become the parents of children who would be theirs for a time to train up to use their gifts and abilities to be productive members of family, church, community, and civic organizations.  That, as professionals, they would conduct themselves and their businesses virtuously toward their clients and customers.   They would be committed to prospering financially but would refuse the temptation toward greed, or to take short-cuts that cause degradation of creation.   Instead, they share the fruit of their labor in support of worthy causes.   They recognize that there will always be the poor and those who need lifting up; but that, as they are committed to doing their part of the” lifting”,  the number of poor and needy will always be small.   That government would then be smaller because individuals would behave ethically, break fewer laws, and seek to build stronger families, churches, and communities.   

Imagine that, Vice President Biden.

Photo:   CNSNews.com,  June 4, 2012

Character Qualities of a Steward-Leader

Boys need heroes—“someone to look up to.”  My dad was my first hero.  But when I entered elementary school, dad encountered some stiff competition from my peers and from new heroes that I met in books and the media.  Television introduced me to the likes of Red Skelton, Wyatt Earp (Hugh O’Brian), and Matt Dillon (James Arness); while a rare visit to the theater introduced me to Richard Burton who starred in The Robe.  The movie created an indelible impression of Jesus Christ that paved the way for God’s Spirit to slowly convict me of my need of the Savior.

With Dad who pointed me to my need of a Heavenly Father

Adults also need heroes-- persons of integrity who demonstrate courage and consistency in the face of adversity.  Their example gives us hope that we too” can make it”, and that “it’s going to be OK.”  It’s not necessary that our heroes be flawless; but, their humble admission of personal failings provides a redeeming quality. 

Today, human heroes seem hard to find.  Our daily news is filled with disappointing reports of the failings of respected individuals in politics, sports, and entertainment.  Congress seems gridlocked and unable solve our economic woes (the Senate has not passed a budget bill since April, 2009!); and leadership that promised to unite America around a vision for “change” has instead caused us to focus on our differences.  

History has shown that even the most promising leaders are vulnerable to failure.  But, we still need men and women in leadership roles who demonstrate integrity.  Our aim should not be to make gods out of imperfect humans.  However, leaders with godly character and integrity lift our hopes to believe that those who live and lead by biblical principles can make a positive difference in a needy world.

Recently, I have been trying to identify character traits and values that are associated with great leadership, what I will call “steward-leadership.”  Thanks to my sister-in-law, Betty, I was introduced to Mary Beth Brown’s book, Hand of Providence:  The Strong and Quiet Faith of Ronald Reagan (Nashville: Nelson Current).   Brown’s biographical sketch of Reagan is a rich source of the virtues that appear to have contributed to the quality of this great president’s leadership.   Below is an outline of the virtues I have identified and grouped under three attitudes; attitudes toward God, toward others, and toward our cultural and spiritual heritage.   Then, you can read my expanded treatment of each virtue as evidenced in the words of Ronald Reagan or what others have stated about him as quoted from Mary Beth Brown’s book, unless another source is used.

A.      Attitudes toward Divine and civil authority:

1.      Humility

2.      Dependence upon God

3.      Dependence upon Prayer

4.      Dependence upon the Bible

B.      Attitudes toward others:

1.      Empathy

2.      Generosity

3.      Reconciliation

4.      Accountability

5.      Inspiration

C.      Attitudes toward our cultural and spiritual heritage

1.      Moral Foundation

2.      Providence of God

3.      Religious Freedom

4.      Family and Community

5.      Reverence for Creation

Humility:   Augustine is said to have viewed humility as the “soil” from which all other virtues grow.  Ronald Reagan’s leadership was grounded in the soil of submissive stewardship of the power and privileges of office.   Nancy Reagan’s words describe the essence of her husband’s humble spirit: 

Before he was elected, Ronnie had always regarded the presidency with great respect, even awe.  But when he became president, he had trouble believing that other people could  be in awe of him…instead, he would refer to the presidency as ‘the office I now hold,’ or even ‘this job.’

 A sign on his desk in the oval office read:

There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.

President George H.W. Bush spoke of the humility demonstrated by President Reagan during his recovery from the assassination attempt, in 1981:

Days after being shot, weak from wounds, he spilled water from a sink, and entering the hospital room aides saw him on his hands and knees wiping water from the floor.  He worried that his nurse would get in trouble.

Dependence upon God is evidenced by a conviction that the responsibilities of leadership are too great to handle well without Him.  Mary Beth Brown emphasized

Reagan’s greatest virtue wasn’t allegiance to country, but allegiance to God. 

Reagan’s own testimony of this dependence on God:

Faith in God is absolutely essential if a person is to do his best.  Sometimes we’re afraid to let people know that we rely on God.  Belief in the dependence on God is essential to our state and nation.  This will be an integral part of our state as long as I have anything to do with it.

Dependence upon Prayer was an essential part of Ronald Reagan’s life.   As governor, he was diagnosed with an ulcer, but after a year, gave the following testimony about what seemed to be a miraculous healing:

The power of prayer?  I don’t know, but I’d prayed daily for relief and I can’t forget that impulse I had to stop taking my medicine, and then hearing about those prayers other people were saying for me.

© Photo courtesy of Ronald Reagan Foundation & Library

Brown records that Reagan’s daughter “Patti says she used to watch her father when he stared off at the sky with a distant look in his eyes—one day, it finally dawned on her that he was praying and talking to God.  In her book, Angels Don’t Die, Patti writes that her father taught her prayer was simply talking to God, having a conversation with Him.”

In his inauguration speech, Reagan said,

I’m told that tens of thousands of prayer meetings are being held on this day, and for that I’m deeply grateful.  We are a nation under God, and I believe God intended for us to be free.  It would be fitting and good, I think, if on each Inaugural Day in future years it should be declared a day of prayer.

Dependence upon the Bible was expressed by Reagan as follows:

We’re blessed to have its words of strength, comfort, and truth.  I’m accused of being simplistic at times with some of the problems that confront us. But I’ve often wondered:  Within the covers of that single Book are all the answers to all the problems that face us today, if we’d only look there….   The Bible can touch our hearts, order our minds, refresh our souls.

Servanthood – Reagan understood that a “civil servant” is elected by the votes of individual constituents, and therefore, should be “civil” and a “servant.”   Here are his words from a radio broadcast, January 27, 1978 entitled, “Looking out a Window” (From: Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan that Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America, New York: The Free Press: 

Some of our social planners refer to [the people] as “the masses” which only proves they don’t know them. I’ve been privileged to meet people all over this land in the special kind of way you meet them when you are campaigning. They are not “the masses,” or as the elitists would have it–”the common man.” They are very uncommon.  Individuals each with his or her own hopes & dreams, plans & problems and the kind of quiet courage that makes this whole country run better than just about any other place on earth.

Empathy – Commenting on how an English teacher, B.J. Frazer, had taught empathy, Reagan said:

By developing a knack for putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, it helps you relate better to others and perhaps understand why they think as they do, even though they come from a background much different from yours.

Generosity – According to M.B. Brown,

Even while wrestling with the enormous difficulties of running a state, Reagan always found time to help the needy and would do extraordinary favors for people who asked.  In fact, the examples of his good will are many.  When a man wrote Reagan to ask for his suit to wear at his wedding (the man couldn’t afford one, and he thought he and Reagan were the same size), Reagan sent it.  When two sisters wrote to ask for a rocking chair for their mentally disabled brother, Reagan sent the man his own.

Reconciliation – British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, describes this aspect of Reagan’s leadership in her eulogy at his memorial service, June 11, 2004:

So the president resisted Soviet expansion and pressed down on Soviet weakness at every point until the day came when communism began to collapse beneath the combined weight of these pressures and its own failures.  And when a man of good will did emerge from its ruins, President Reagan stepped forward to shake his hand and to offer sincere cooperation.

Accountability – Reagan’s leadership was characterized by taking responsibility for his mistakes.  Writing about his days as California governor to the pastor of his home church in Dixon, he said:

During my first months in office, I had an almost irresistible urge—really a physical urge—to look over my shoulder for someone I could pass the problem on to.  Then without my quite knowing how it happened, I realized I was looking in the wrong direction.  I started looking up instead and have been doing so for quite awhile now.

Inspiration that comes through words and actions often motivates hearers and observers to commit their lives to a cause greater than themselves.  Reagan inspired many of his colleagues and followers with statements such as the following:

Opportunity to greet Gov. Reagan in Champaign, IL, 1976

We’ve been blessed with the opportunity to stand for something—for liberty and freedom and fairness.  And these things are worth fighting for, worth devoting out lives to.

Again, Margaret Thatcher’s eulogy reminds us of President Reagan’s inspiring leadership:

We here still move in twilight.  But we have one beacon to guide us that Ronald Reagan never had. We have his example.  Let us give thanks today for a life that achieved so much for all of God’s children.

Values the Moral Foundation based upon a moral code as the foundation for freedom and justice in America.  Speaking at Notre Dame University, Reagan stated:

It’s time for the world to know our intellectual and spiritual values are rooted in the source of all strength, a belief in a Supreme Being, and law higher than our own.

Acknowledges Divine Providence in the narrative of American history:

Saint Paul wrote a verse that I’ve always cherished, ‘Now abide faith, hope, and love, these three: but the greatest of these is love.’  May we have faith in our God and in all the good that we can do with His help.  May we stand firm in the hope of making America all that she can be—a nation of opportunity and prosperity and a force for peace and good will among nations.  And may we remain steadfast in our love for this green and gentle land and the freedom that she offers.

Upholds Religious Freedom:

Today, prayer is still a powerful force in America, and our faith in God is a mighty source of strength.  Our pledge of Allegiance states that we are ‘one nation under God,’ and our currency bears the motto, ‘In God We Trust.’  The morality and values such faith implies are deeply embedded in our national character.  Our country embraces those principles by design, and we abandon them at our peril.  Yet in recent years, well-meaning Americans in the name of freedom have taken freedom away.  For the sake of religious tolerance, they’ve forbidden religious practice in our public classrooms… How can we hope to retain our freedom through the generations if we fail to teach our young that our liberty springs from an abiding faith in our Creator?

Values Family and Community:   In a 1973 letter to his former pastor in Dixon, IL, Governor Reagan wrote:

One thing I do know—all those hours in the old church in Dixon (which I didn’t appreciate at the time) and all of Nelle’s faith, have come together in a kind of inheritance without which I’d be lost and helpless.

Let’s begin at the beginning.   God is the center of our lives; the human family stands at the center of society; and our greatest hope for the future is in the faces of our children…God’s most blessed gift to his family is the gift of life.  He sent us the Prince of Peace as a babe in the manger.  I’ve said that we must be cautious in claiming God is on our side. I think the real question we must answer is, are we on His side?  

Reverence for Creation:  Reagan was an outdoors-man, and according to Brown,

Rancho del Cielo was a retreat for Reagan where he would go to think, talk to God, and fully experience His majestic creation.

© Photo courtesy of Ronald Reagan Foundation & Library

Brown further quotes Judge William Clark:

He once called it his ‘open cathedral.’  He’d come out of the house and look to the sky and not say a word.  The Great Communicator didn’t talk a lot in those circumstances.  Many don’t understand that, but he would just look about him with that great grin.

Regarding the origins debate that raged in California when he was governor, Reagan wrote:

Somehow I’ve never had any trouble reconciling spiritual and scientific versions of creation.   God’s miracles are to be found in nature itself, the wind and waves, the wood that becomes a tree—all of these are explained biologically, but behind them is the hand of God.  And I believe this is true of creation. 

Brown draws from Reagan’s autobiography his experience of finding bird and butterfly specimens in an attic where he spent many hours marveling at the rich colors of the eggs and the intricate and fragile wings of the butterflies.  “This experience left him throughout his life with a reverence for the handiwork of God.

President Reagan was well aware of the tension between conservation of creation’s bounty and protection of individual freedom.   In his radio address for February 27, 1975, he stated  (Reagan in His Own Hand, p. 339):

A majority of us are somewhere in the environmental middle between those who’d pave over everything in the name of progress and those who wouldn’t let us build a house unless it looked like a bird nest. …Those of us who are neither anti-ecology or environmental extremists seek an answer.  How do we protect our [constitutional] right to own a piece of this earth at the same time we insure open space & natural beauty for generations not yet born?

While not everyone would honor Ronald Reagan as a great conservationist president like Theodore Roosevelt, his writings and speeches indicate that he sought to lead with a balanced environmental ethic as expressed in the previous quote.  I believe that biblical stewardship of creation calls us to live by an ethic that allows creation to flourish while providing appropriate access to creation’s treasures for all who will respectfully utilize them.  After all, God's written and natural revelations are made more living, active, and sharp when others are able to observe God's people stewarding these revealed treasures with reverence and respect--a stewardship that regards nature with great respect while also anticipating that our lives here are only a prelude Eternal Life.  In this respect, we can learn from Ronald Reagan’s last words to America, on November 5, 1994:

 In closing let me thank you, the American people, for giving me the great honor of allowing me to serve as your President. When the Lord calls me home, whenever that may be, I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal optimism for its future.

I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright new dawn ahead.

Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you.
Sincerely,
Ronald Reagan

In conclusion, I welcome your comments, perhaps additional thoughts or character qualities of “steward-leadership.” Recommendations of other exemplary steward-leaders ("statesmen"?) are welcomed.