Let me take this opportunity to welcome you to this new Today’s Issues site. 

 When Tim and I sat down 14 years ago to discuss what we wanted to do with the program, we were in complete agreement that we wanted our listeners to get to know us in a personal way—our personalities, our families, our senses of humor, our likes and dislikes, our hot buttons, and everything else.  We wanted you to feel like you were listening in to our discussions at the next table in the restaurant, or better yet, like you were a part of our discussion.  (Don’t we get to talk to some interesting people?)

 This blog will give us a chance to go further than ever in that regard.  It will be a window into our program and our lives.  We hope we will get to know you better as well.  As time goes on, we will be adding features that will allow you to give us feedback and post your own thoughts.  Agree with us, disagree with us, or wonder with us. 

 Let’s start with a subject that we can all agree on—The Father’s great gift of salvation through  His Son, Jesus.  It is my desire to spend eternity with Him and I hope that you, too, have  received His forgiveness and His pardon for your sins.  If not, can we talk?

Gladiators or Voluntary Participants?

In Rome, gladiators maimed and killed to the delight of adoring crowds.  Christians were fed to wild beasts to the cheers of those same crowds.  I have often wondered how average human beings could be so depraved that they could enjoy these gruesome spectacles.  I have slowly come to realize that America is just one marketing idea away from that depravity.

 I was flipping through the television channels (surfing, I believe it is called), before my wife Donna could come into the room and wrestle the “clicker” away from me.  I stopped just long enough to watch in disbelief as one superbly conditioned athlete was pummeling another into unconsciousness.  Both were cut, bruised, swollen and bleeding.  This apparently is the hoped for end of every match.   Of course, the referee jumps in to try to get it stopped before death occurs.  Professional wrestling attempts to simulate this and boxers have been known to die in the ring, even though the rules of boxing and the equipment used have thankfully made that rare.

 This mixed martial arts competition goes beyond full contact in its shear brutality.  To date, there have been no deaths.  I hope it stays that way.

 I have friends who hold various belts in karate, judo, and other martial arts, and I understand the concept of martial arts competition as sport. What I do not understand is the look on the faces of the people in the seats (packed arena).  As they were calling the medical team in to tend to the unconscious warrior, the crowd seemed to be salivating for more–standing, cheering, waving their fists in the air.   This is precisely the image I have of the crowds in the Roman Coliseum.

 For now, our gladiators are voluntary participants.  But I’ve seen the news coverage of the violence that finds its way to internet viewing involving teenagers--outright aggravated assault on other teens and unsuspecting homeless people, “bum fights” and the like.

 Blood lust has been unleashed in America, and it is frightening.

 Your thoughts?

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Where is the America of my childhood?

I was listening to American Family News and the early description of the terrible shooting spree at Virginia Tech.  I was thinking, “Where is the America of my childhood?”

 There have been tragic acts of violence all along.  Something has changed, though. In recent years such shocking news has been received as not being particularly abnormal–merely tragic.

 We have a listener who repeatedly reminds us of the Preamble to the Constitution.  He calls our attention to the fact that the preamble is the fountainhead of the river of greatness that is the United States of America as envisioned by our founding fathers.  “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

 The Virginia Tech incident is just one indication that we are in desperate need of a little domestic tranquility.  While we are on the subject, we could also stand a little justice, common defense, general welfare, and most definitely the blessings of liberty for our children and grandchildren.  Unstable border security, the assault on our values and even our Christian heritage, uncivil discourse, rampant pornography, gambling, drug/alcohol addiction, are just a few other indications that the America of Jefferson, Madison, Adams, et al is in serious crisis.

 Those seminal documents from our founding era, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and others contain beautiful language explaining to the world who we are as a people and why we are doing this (from the founders’ perspective, of course).  We would do well to read them carefully again to get a sense of our root structure.  We abandon these principles at our great peril.

 You tell me.  Is it reasonable to think that we can recover our America?