The Bulletin
of the
Church of Christ at
New Georgia
Tim Johnson, editor
August 2, 2009
In
This Issue:
Beer
Summit
by
Steve Klein
If
God Created the World, then...
by
Philip Mullins
Beer Summit Reaches Heights of Folly
President Obama invited a policeman and a college professor to the White House this past Thursday for a beer in hopes of easing tensions between the two men. It seems the white policeman was responding to a report of breaking and entering at the black professor's address when he found the professor inside. The encounter was not pleasant. One Associated Press report described the incident as follows:
Henry Louis Gates Jr., a black professor at Harvard University, was arrested by Sgt. James Crowley, a white sergeant with the Cambridge, Mass., police department who was sent to investigate a possible burglary at Gates' home. Although Crowley determined Gates was in his own home, he arrested Gates anyway after their encounter grew heated. (AP, 7/30/09)
Charges were later dropped, but Professor Gates has asserted that Officer Crowley's actions were racially motivated. The Cambridge police department has said that their officer acted appropriately. President Obama added fuel to the fire when he commented that the police acted "stupidly" in arresting Gates. But he backtracked from the wording of that assessment, and hoped to smooth things over by sharing a beer with the two men on the White House lawn. The media labeled the meeting a "Beer Summit".
Personally, I've never known beer to solve a problem, although I've known it to create quite a few. I've known people who wrecked cars, killed others or killed themselves by taking the wheel after drinking beer. I've known young ladies who became pregnant, but couldn't remember how or by whom, after drinking beer. I've seen fights started at college football games by young men who had been drinking beer. I've had adult men try to pick a fight with me after they had been drinking beer. I had two great uncles die from liver disease directly connected to their beer consumption. I've known many children (including my mother when she was a child) whose lives were made miserable by a beer-drinking dad. I've seen wives who lived in fear of their beer-drinking husbands. And I've known a lot of people who tried to solve their problems or forget their problems by drinking beer, but I've never known anyone who really did.
But these are not even the main reasons that I am opposed to our President encouraging folks to solve their problems by having a beer together. It's the wrong approach because God's Book says so.
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It is contrary to the expressed will of God. Leaders need clear heads to render justice. Proverbs 31:4-5 states, "It is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink; lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice of all the afflicted."
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It diminishes problem solving skills and impairs judgment. The religious leaders of Old Testament Israel are prime examples. "But they also have erred through wine, and through intoxicating drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment." (Isaiah 28:7)
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It is a horrendous example for our youth. It is hard telling how many millions of young people saw the highly publicized photo of our President and Vice President, along with Professor Gates and Officer Crowley sitting at a table with their mugs of beer. What an image! How many young minds will conclude that having a beer is the adult way to solve problems? And how many sins and life-altering mistakes will occur as a result? Jesus said, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea." (Matthew 18:6).
I wish no ill for our President. He needs our prayers, as does the nation that he serves. May God help us all to see the utter folly of turning to alcohol to solve social or personal problems.
-- Steve Klein
Do you believe that an all-powerful, all-knowing supreme being created the world that we live in?
The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth and there is great evidence in nature to sustain that claim. Because of the order and intelligent design, there must have been an intelligent force behind the origin of the universe. Because of the fossil record that shows that species of animals are fixed and not evolving, it is evident that they were created at a given point in time. Because of the basic laws of thermodynamics that state that this world is decaying instead of advancing to more order, apparently it is a created world.
Beyond all the extensive evidence though, consider for a moment what the consequences are when one believes that God created everything.
Romans 1:20 says, " For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse" We know there is a Creator by looking at the creation. Yet, these verses are dealing with people who failed to allow such facts to impact their lives. What happened? Vs. 21 states, "because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened." They believed, but they failed to give God the glory and thanksgiving that is due Him since He is the Creator.
What was the further result? They became foolish and darkened, which led to God giving, "them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves" (Vs. 24).
What is the point of all this? It is one thing to recognize God as the Creator; it is another thing to allow that belief to affect the way you live. In a recent Gallup Poll (U.S. News and World Report, December 23, 1991, p.59), only 9% of all Americans believe that God had no part in the creation of man. Yet, why aren't more people faithful servants to God? Why is there so much evil? It is because people recognize God, but refuse to give Him thanks and glory. They fail to submit and obey. They see God as our Maker, but go their merry way and do their own thing.
This is a foolish way to live. The God who spoke the universe into existence still possesses the same power and wisdom as He did then. You cannot resist Him or run from Him. The very fact that He made us means that we are responsible before Him and there is no denying or avoiding that responsibility.
If you believe in God as the Creator of the universe and life on this planet, are you living in such a way that reflects that? If He is our ultimate Father, are you living as an obedient child?
-- Phillip Mullins
Via The Manslick Road Speaker, Vol. 33, No. 8, August 1993