D = S-M: How much suffering is too much?

If Frankl is right, that Despair equals Suffering minus Meaning, the culture has damaged the nature of man by removing "the image of God" from our definition.  But we have caused further damage.  We have raised our sense of expectation to the point of entitlement.  Frankl discussed suffering in the context of World War II and its atrocities.  Today, we have a lifestyle of plenty, but we still complain about our lot.
How do we view suffering?  My dad had Retinitis Pigmentosa and a hearing loss.  He worked two and three jobs when I was a kid, followed by job loss and disability.  I remember the sound of his voice, then the silence in the house on the day the state took his driver's license.  Bitterness did not mark his life, however.  He did not spend his time lamenting his loss and its unfairness.  We traveled, camped, maintained good friends, and went to church.  He and my mom gave us a normal home. 
So when Frankl refers to suffering, are we talking about real suffering or perception of suffering?  In our entitlement culture, what if suffering is working forty hours a week?  What if you don't have money for everything you want?  What if your relationships are not where you want them to be?  My car is a source of suffering.  By telling our generation that we deserve all these things, have we increased their suffering when life comes up short?

D = S-M: Why is our culture depressed?

Viktor Frankl gave us useful mathematics for understanding despair.  In the midst of World War II, he noticed those who were able to persevere amid horrible suffering were those who could attach meaning to their lives and to their circumstances.  Despair increases, he said, when meaning is removed from suffering.
Is it possible that our culture suffers from a loss of meaning?  Secularism teaches us we are independent of meaning from God, we have to make our own.  The problem is that man is not capable of sustaining meaning on his own.  We are finite- whatever meaning we cast cannot last because we don't last.  We are also derivative- meaning is not inherent in us.  We are made in the image of God which means our meaning is attached to his.  When we deny God exists, we deny ourselves meaning.  Frankl saw that without a transcendent meaning, suffering becomes unbearable. 

Does Donald Trump Have a Mandate?

          Donald Trump beat some incredible odds last night.  He spent far less money on the campaign than his opponent.  He had opponents in the Democrats, the media, the never-Trumpers, and the Republican establishment.  He even shot himself in the foot numerous times, but in the end, he won.  His campaign manager says he has a mandate.  But what is the mandate for?
          It is not for an unaccountable presidency.  He was not elected to say whatever he wants or do whatever he pleases.  He was not elected because he is abusive or racist or angry.  If he assumes he may continue along that path with impunity, his success will be short-lived.
          His election was the last gasp of constituents who were pro-life and pro-traditional marriage.  They were desirous of smaller federal government and worried about the erosion of our human, not civil, rights.  They wanted rule-of-law judges on the Supreme court.  They wanted to free our economy from the malaise of regulation and wayward social experimentation.
          It is not as if anyone believed he would do anything constructive in that direction.  But, it was a surety that the policies of Hillary Clinton would be effective steps in the wrong direction.  In this election, lip-service to those values was considered a higher good.  Effective work in the wrong direction is a greater evil.
          Donald Trump must be careful to discern the reasons for his election.  It was not his character or his rhetoric.  Continued divisiveness, anger, and abuse will cause great evil in the coming years.  Donald Trump was elected to repair the ruin of a progressive predecessor.  If he can do that, history may think better of him.

What We Must Do Now

1.      Repair the discourse.  No more empty abstractions or abusive language.  We attempt to explain real positions in concrete terms.  We object to policy not people.  We explain how opposition without erecting straw men or resorting to ad hominem attacks.  We show respect for people while disagreeing with their ideas.

2    2.     End big government, not because of its cost but because of its influence.  Progressivism has been obstructed momentarily.  Power must return to the states in areas like education and social/moral issues.  Power becomes unaccountable the farther it gets from home.

3    3.      Repair the nation’s respect for the election system.  Rumors of a rigged vote, bad machines, and dead people voting don’t help with public confidence.

4    4.      Repair the nation’s respect for justice.  The case in point is Hillary Clinton, the FBI and Justice Department, and the wikileaks revelations.  This is not political revenge.  It is bringing forth real evidence to exonerate or implicate.  The nation must have confidence in its justice system.  It must be free of political strategy.  Justice must be blind again.

      5.    The media was respected as the fourth branch of government.  It must return to a place of independence and respect and show itself to be trustworthy again.  No more collusion.

6    6.     Restore a respect for objective morals.  We must win the argument on abortion, gay marriage, and governmental limitations on the basis of a common ethic.  Otherwise, we just yell at each other.  This necessitates a restored understanding of the role of religion and morality in government.

Donald Trump has shown a great ability to destroy and tear down.  Building up, however, is a different skill.  If we cannot accomplish these goals, our nation will return to its progressive, downward spiral.

Caleb's Testimony

          Caleb is a walking testament to the faithfulness of God.  At eighty-five, he was still strong, still capable of trusting God to bring victory in the midst of a culture of unbelief.  He spent forty years wandering in the desert because the Israelites were afraid of the Anakites- the giants in the land.  Now, when he could be planning a well-deserved rest from his labors, he has bigger vision. 
          Caleb wants the city of the Giant.  The biggest, baddest of all those that Israel feared was targeted by the aged Caleb.  Caleb wanted his mountain, his city.  With God's help, he would take it so that it would never be a stumbling-block to Israel again.  May God give us that kind of courage in our day!
          Here are some lessons we can learn from Caleb:
1.  Let us not speak of a good and broad land as a land of fear and poverty.
2.  Let us not speak of our own abilities as the only possible source for our deliverance.
3.  Let us be strong and do exploits so that God's work might be commended to the next generations.

Confidence in Men WILL Fail Us

          The worldview of society has taught us to have confidence in man, in ourselves.  The two candidates for president are the epitome of that value.  They have amorally clawed their way to this position and we all look to their wisdom to lead us forward.  Money, Sex, and Power are both tools and rewards for climbing to the top of the heap.  Both candidates have known decades of unaccountable power, to do as they pleased for the good of others or for themselves.  If we can just choose the right people with the right power, they can make things happen!
          Why are we so confident in their abilities?  Why do we double-down on corruption and perversity believing that good will result?  The reason is society has taught us that confidence in man is the only option we have.  Psychology has taught us that good self-esteem, to be confident in ourselves, will lead to emotional health.  Sociology has taught us that man guides his own steps and that if religion is at all necessary, it should be a privatized, personal warm feeling.  Science has taught us that our existence is random purposelessness.  We pull ourselves us by our own bootstraps because that is all there is.  Government has taught us that we need have no regard for God, that a secular authority is all that is needed.  Law has taught us that good is negotiable and morals are pragmatic.  Man decides what is best in any given circumstance.
          But what if it is not in man to direct his steps?  What if there is a curse, as Jeremiah indicates, on all -individually or corporately- who trust in man?  If I am not supposed to trust in my own resources because "it is not in man to direct his steps,"  then a country, with all of its intellectual elite, will not discover the best way forward either.
          Why are we so confident in men?  Because we have been taught that there are no other choices.  We have been taught that God does not exist and that ideas concerning morality, ethics, are not sourced in God but in the pragmatic whims of the powerful and influential.  We, individually and corporately, have been taught that trust in God is not an option.  So we trust in man.  We breed leaders who are corrupt and perverse and their influence becomes normalized.  It is the way man is. 
           If we cannot recover the individual and national ability to trust in God, this great experiment in freedom and representative democracy is lost.  Corruption and perversity are our future and righteousness will go into hiding.  Would you agree?
         

What the Evangelical Voting Block Believes (if it were a monolithic voting block)

     Some have speculated that, in the fall election, the evangelical vote will have an important role to play in the selection of our next president.  Is there really such a voting block that walks lockstep toward evangelical goals?  Does the evangelical voting block have a clear choice for a presidential candidate?  Here’s how to identify that evangelical political mind:

1.      

            Acknowledgment of God in Public life.  Evangelicals see God as the author and sustainer of all that is.  In public life, He is the one who gives mankind his inherent human rights.  He is the one who gives religious freedom because He does not coerce His followers.  He is the standard of right and wrong.  A nation who does not recognize His authority makes both laws and rights arbitrary and invites those with lust for power to rule with only consensus and coercion as tools for advancing an agenda.

2.   

                     Sanctity of Human Life.  Evangelicals see human life as specially protected by God.  Human life is valuable, whether healthy or compromised, whether old or young, whether in the womb or outside of it.  A nation that does not recognize the sanctity of human life is going to become a terror to the weak, infirm, mentally ill, aged, and those children not yet born. 

3.      

                     Sanctity of Marriage.  Evangelicals see marriage as one of the basic institutions of society.  It protects children and provides for their needs, allows for their education and nurture by both a maternal and a father figure.  Sociologists have traditionally assumed that such a traditional covenant give children the best chance at a stable home and future.  The definition of marriage comes from God’s design.  A nation that does not recognize marriage as a covenantal relationship of a man and woman will promote a horror both in the home and in the society.

4.    

                   Sanctity of Work.  Evangelicals see work as a fundamental human vocation through which we receive respect and value for our contribution in the world.  It is a primary tool for teaching individual responsibility.  A nation that does not promote the value of work breeds both depression, victimization, and entitlement.

5.  

                  Sanctity of Law.  Evangelicals see ethics in an objective way.  Right and wrong are not subjectively based on events, circumstances, or political maneuvering.  They are grounded in the unchanging character of the Christian God.  A nation whose leadership believes legal decisions should be made from the wisdom of man alone, without regard to the wisdom of God, will breed immorality, and run the risk of approving that which is objectively wrong because it is politically correct.

6. 

                  Limited Government.  Because Evangelicalism sees mankind as fallen, they believe that all men, given power and political influence, will be tempted to abuse that power and influence.  To prevent the rise of an intellectual elite or an arbitrary lawmaker, Evangelicals see the need to limit the power of government officials to specific political goals.  The Framers would have agreed.  A nation who sees no threat in the national accumulation of power among a small group of progressive theorists is a nation about to victimized on a grand level.

     These fundamental values are not respected in the current political climate.  If the Evangelical Voting Block were real, these values would be respected.  These values would shape the legal and judicial landscape as they once did.  It is possible that an evangelical voting block could exist if they centered around a core set of beliefs as outlined above and began to push for the protection of those values.  Until then, an evangelical voting block is really just another interest group.