all things work together for good

Romans 8:28 English Standard Version (ESV)
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 American Standard Version (ASV)
28 And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

This verse has become very meaningful to me recently.  My children still aren't reconciled to me, my parents moved across the country in their 80s, my job is in jeopardy as I write this.  Much of this is my own fault, as well.

Some observations about what Paul writes: 

1. Paul does not say that the good things will work together for good.
2. Paul does not say that the things I've done right will work together for good.
3. Paul does say all things.  That includes the things that I've done well, the things that I've done badly or for the wrong motives.  It includes even sin and the effects of sin.

God is bigger than our mistakes and our errors and our sins, and he will work these things out for good.  This is not an excuse for doing things poorly or sinning, but it is a great comfort to know in times of difficulty, even difficulties that are of our own making.

The joy of dogs

About two and a half years we had to put down our dog of 12+ years.  She couldn't move much and was gaining weight.  Her mind was still good, but her body was failing.

It was one of the saddest things and hardest things I've ever done.

Then I had a new family and my wife, Ariane, had a dog, Guinness, that she had had for 13 years or so.  He too was getting older and a few weeks ago we had to put him down as well.  He was 15.  It was very hard.

The following quote was sent to me by a friend who has had many dogs over her life on the death of our first dog, Ginger.  

“The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and then died, what would become of me?” – Sir Walter Scott

Last Spring we began to think about getting another dog because we knew that Guinness would not live too much longer  We were able to find a local family that had two adult Miniature Schnauzers (Ariane loves the breed.) and on Father's Day Weekend picked up our two new puppies.

They were so small!

They have grown, and are a delight and joy and a comfort in hard times.

 

Dougal (Dougal Frederick MacGyver Schnauzer Pegler) is a love dog.  He loves to love and to be loved.  His biggest problem is whether to choose a walk, food, or love.  Walks usually win.  Piglet loves to eat, but she too is becoming more affectionate.  She is huge for her size (20 pounds) and last night we wanted to see if she would work for a Thanksgiving meal main dish.  So that's why she's in the roasting pan!!

They are a great joy and loads of fun for us and for the girls.  Puppies and young children were made for each other!

On the joys of creating things

This is a pdf booklet of some of the items that I have made.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5dzHcCN7gN1ZVo5QzFEam9MZk0/view?usp=sharing

Why have children?

Last week some of my high school students asked me, "Why have children?"  Tomorrow is my son's birthday.

So, some thoughts on why we should have children beyond the obvious - to carry on the species.

First, children are a delight.  Not all the time or every one of them, of course.  But overall children are wonderful.  Their enthusiasm, energy, questions, and delight in the world are contagious and help us older people enjoy life.  They remind us that God has given us every gift to enjoy in this life.  They are full of laughter, joy and they are care free.  (Yes, I know there are exceptions.  I'm speaking in generalities.)

Second, children are precious.  The energy, love, and resources that go into bearing and nursing every child (hats off the women at this point!!) make every child extremely valuable.  I don't understand Obama or the "pro-choice"  (which really means pro-killing your own child) point of view.  Punished by having a child?  No, children are a reward.  Yes, they will consume resources and they will cause pollution.  But people also create solutions to these problems. 

Third, children help give us purpose in our lives.  Now that my children are grown and adults I find it easy to plod along without seeing a trend in life or a reason to continue every day.  Children's growth and maturing help us to anticipate every new day and celebrate milestones more often than occur in middle aged and older people.

Fourth, children are trainable and moldable.  Adults are called on to give something back as we model good lives and train and teach children the skills and knowledge that they will need to be good people when they are adults.

Fifth, children are our gift to the future.  Most of us will leave little impact on the world and the world will take little notice of our existence here once we are gone.  It is unlikely that we will cure cancer or poverty or even save someone else's life.  Perhaps the major way that most of us can impact the future is to have children and raise good quality children.  Some people ask why we should have children when the world's future looks so dark.  To me the dark times are the times when good people should have children.  Otherwise, what hope does the future have?

Sixth, children teach us to be less selfish.  Women in particular give up a lot for their children.  When we give up our bodies, energy, time, money, and other resources for other people we become better people.  Children teach us to be better people.

So have children (but to give them the best future possible, get married to their other parent).  Enjoy them and train them.  Thank God for them.

The Poverty of Nations: Chapter 4 Economic Systems

I'm currently reading The Poverty of Nations by Wayne Grudem and Barry Asmus that was published about a year ago.  It was on my reading list, and my daughter bought it for me for Christmas.  I've begun to read it and will give a summary as I go.

Introduction was here
Chapter 1 was here
Chapter 2 was here
Chapter 3 was here

Now for chapter 4.

This chapter is a description of the free market and its advantages.

First comes the definition.
Economic production and consumption are determined by the free choices of individuals rather than governments and there is private ownership of the means of production.

This system leaves people free to choose to work, and where to work.  They are free to keep the rewards of their labor and talent.

They quote Adam Smith:

That system of laws, therefore, which is connected with the establishment of the bounty, seems to deserve no part of the praise which has been bestowed upon it. The improvement and prosperity of Great Britain, which has been so often ascribed to those laws, may very easily be accounted for by other causes. That security which the laws in Great Britain give to every man that he shall enjoy the fruits of his own labour is alone sufficient to make any country flourish, notwithstanding these and twenty other absurd regulations of commerce; and this security was perfected by the revolution much about the same time that the bounty was established. The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert itself with freedom and security is so powerful a principle that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often incumbers its operations; though the effect of these obstructions is always more or less either to encroach upon its freedom, or to diminish its security. In Great Britain industry is perfectly secure; and though it is far from being perfectly free, it is as free or freer than in any other part of Europe.   An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations   IV.5.82 
  http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN15.html#IV.5.82  accessed on June 24, 2015

 The authors point out that except for oil rich countries all countries with a high per capita income have a free market system.

Grudem and Asmus also discuss biblical support for a free market economy.  These points include the Biblical teaching about private property, but stewardship for what we do possess.  The fact that we are all created in God's image means that we should all have equal rights before the law.

The foundation of a free market is private ownership of property.  Governments should not over regulate property use.  Clear titles to land, property (including intellectual) are important so that people can actually keep and use their own property.  Without titles, there is no guarantee that my property today will be mine next week.  Furthermore, when I have a title to my property I can use it as collateral for loans.

Getting titles for poor people for property they already own would go a long way to helping lift people out of their poverty.

The authors cite a study by Hernando de Soto, The Mystery of Capital.   De Soto concludes that without legal protection for property poverty cannot be eradicated.  There is no third way between capitalism and socialism.

There is a role for government in all this, but it is limited to preventing and punishing fraud and criminal behavior.  The government also must ensure low tax rates and a stable currency.

In this time when capitalism and free markets are under attack this chapter sorely needs to be read by Americans and Europeans or we may lose the wealth that our ancestors have bequeathed us.

Adam and Sin and the Origins of Humanity

Time for another book  review post.  This one is on a topic that interests me deeply because of my background in both science and Bible.  These two areas seem increasingly at odds regarding human origins.

The book I've finished reading recently is The Lost World of Adam and Eve by John H. Walton.  In his work Walton argues that the story of Genesis is not the story of the creation of the world and of humanity, but rather of how God brought order to the world and gave humanity a priestly job to do.  If this is true, then the debate between evolutionary science and the Bible is done and gone.  A helpful analogy that Walton uses is that of building a house (creation) and taking a house and making it a home (ordering).  In our scientific age we focus on the former, but Walton argues that in the light of the ancient world's literature it is more likely that the author of Genesis is actually focusing on the latter.

Whether you agree with Walton, his arguments should be taken seriously and read carefully.  Walton writes well and is very interesting to read.  I look forward to thinking through the implications of Walton's thoughts.

Rather than reviewing Walton's entire book, I want to focus on chapter 19 where Walton has an excursion by NT Wright.  In this chapter Wright argues that Paul is more interested in the effects of sin on the cosmos and humanity than in the origins of humanity.

Wright points out that Adam plays a very small role throughout the Old testament and through Jewish literature.  Wright argues that throughout Romans (6:6, 7:7-12, 1:18-25, 8:17-30) Paul compares the glory and position that Adam had and lost with the glory that humans will have once again.  The point of Romans is not how people get saved, but the renewal of all creation (8:17-26 compared with Psalms 2 and 8) and the role of God's redeemed people in bringing in that renewal through the work of the crucified and resurrected Messiah.  1 Corinthians 15:20-28 also underscores this.  Jesus is the second Adam, doing what the first Adam did not - being an obedient human at the helm of the universe (p. 174).  God has not abandoned his plan for his creation.  Although sin blocked his purposes, through the crucified and resurrected Jesus these purposes will be brought to fruition.  Sin and death will be defeated and humanity will praise and worship and work for the true creator God throughout the entire world for eternity.

Adam and Israel repeat the same story.  Although appointed to be priests representing God to the world, they fell into sin and idolatry and needed rescuing.  Just as Israel was chosen from all the nations of the world to be priests and to bless the world, so too it is possible that God chose Adam and Eve from all the other humans alive at that time (p. 177) to be priests for him and bless the world.

If Walton and Wright are right (pun intended) then science and the Bible are speaking of very different concerns.  The Bible is concerned with describing how God brought order into the world and made it a fit place for his presence with humans as his priests.  Science is concerned with the nitty-gritty of how the cosmos and then life arose.  The Bible is concerned  first with how the earliest humans of importance failed in their task and alienated humanity from God and then with how God moved to bring humanity back into relationship with him so that he could continue with his plan of having an ordered creation on Earth with human beings running things for his honor and glory.  Science describes how the world that God created actually works in its running but has nothing to say about the purpose for its existence or how that purpose was at first thwarted then redeemed.

Chapter 3 Economic Systems that do not lead to prosperity

I'm currently reading The Poverty of Nations by Wayne Grudem and Barry Asmus that was published about a year ago.  It was on my reading list, and my daughter bought it for me for Christmas.  I've begun to read it and will give a summary as I go.

Introduction was here
Chapter 1 was here
Chapter 2 was here

Now for chapter 3.
It's also helpful to look at which systems don't work and why they don't.  Although the right system in and of itself does not bring a nation out of poverty, the wrong system will doom a nation.  A poor system will not lead to lasting solutions to poverty.

The authors describe nine systems and critique each to show how they do or do not lead to the creation of more wealth.

1. Hunting and gathering systems do not leave enough time and energy to devote to economic development and specialization.  Plus, there simply aren't enough of these resources left to support a nation in this fashion.
2. Subsistence farming does not leave enough energy and time to devote to specialization and development.  All one's time and energy are spent on producing enough food to feed one's self and a few others.  Again, there aren't enough resources in the world to support a large population in this fashion.
3. Slavery.  Living off the lives of others is not going to lift a nation out of poverty.  Enslaved people never do their best.  Plus such a system is dehumanizing.
4. Tribal ownership.  If everyone owns it, then no one does.  Commonly owned property is usually treated more poorly than property that individuals own.
5. Feudalism  In this system too much of the return to the labor goes to the land owner and not enough to those at the bottom of society.  
6. Mercantilism  Although it seems that this method would increase a nation's wealth, it would not do so over the long haul.  Large companies and monopolies are favored against consumers.  The producer os favored rather than the consumer.  The government picks the winners and losers.  
7. Socialism and communism misunderstand how goods are valued.  They are valued by how much someone else wants them, not by the resources and the time put into creating them. Communism reduces the incentive to work.  The problems of tribal ownership also haunt communism and socialism to some degree.  The history of communism also indicates that it is an evil system, with close to 100 million human beings killed by their own governments during the twentieth century.
8. Welfare state and equality  This system can't be sustained on a large scale and for very long.  Sooner or later someone has to pay the bills.  The incentive for hard work is also removed.  
9. Free market system  This system is the one that the authors describe as the one that is most likely to lead to the reduction of poverty.  It is important to understand what they mean by a free market system.  It is where the individuals can freely choose what to buy and not buy, what to purchase and not purchase, where to invest and not to invest.

The next chapter describes the free market system