http://news.morningstar.com/article/pfarticle.asp?id=188559
This is just a quick note regarding putting your money where your mouth is - so to speak. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm not doing so! But this is something I'm looking into and hope to move toward. Imagine the influence to the free-market system if the entire Christian bloc (even the non-Christian moral majority!) united together and decided to invest morally.
Read full post here!
There's no question now. We've all lost our collective minds. What are we thinking??? Do we really believe we can have everything...for nothing? Here's a sample of what we've gotten ourselves into: “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant
70% of us live paycheck to paycheck
In 1929 2% of homes were mortgaged, in 1962 only 2% weren't
Consumer debt has tripled since 1980
Barely half of Americans have saved more than $10,000 towards retirement
The American savings rate is now -0.5% (that's a negative sign there)
This means that for the first time since the Great Depression, we as a society are officially spending more than we make. I really believe that our country is setting itself up for a free fall. Now..I don't mean to sound like Chicken little. But, I really hope that this doesn't worry just me. Seriously. This is alarming, especially when we aren't in a depression. Quite the opposite, the economy is relatively good these days. We've recently broken records on Wall Street. But there are signs of trouble. So why is this happening? Well...we are all grown ups who haven't grown up: children, who want what we want, want it now and want it NOW! Isn't that it, in a nutshell anyway?
Credit cards are one of the worst things around in my opinion. The trap has been set. Some would say, "you should know the traps when you see them", which may be partially true. But it's still a trap by it's very nature. We've been trapped ourselves more than we ought to, and I don't blame the lender for my mistakes, but they really are wreaking havoc on our culture. They're not the only thing though: zero down, zero APR, cheap mortgage scams, a blitz of media marketing telling us we're not good enough without [whatever they're selling], and the list goes on.
In the checkout line, they want you to get the store credit card..."so you can save 10% on your purchase today". Aren't they kind? Even at the Christian bookstore they other day, Tiffany couldn't get through the check-out line with the items she selected without being marketed one more "special deal" on some CDs. Can't even a Christian retail store resist pressuring us to spend beyond our budget? Another friend of ours recently left a retail job where the official store policy required workers to pressure the sale until the shopper said "no" TWICE! The first no just really means nothing I suppose. Dave Ramsey usually lectures about the pitfalls of the 90-days "same as cash" scam, that results in payments at 24% interest 78% of the time. Face it...we are targets. Our money is a target, more specifically.
I don't know the answer to all of this.
I wish that I did.
It is clear though, that we cannot continue down this path forever, as a culture. We must get hold of ourselves and return to good biblical financial principles.
One of the worst things about this bondange, is that it limits our ability to be generous people. As in most things, it must start at home. It's not easy for us as a family, to be honest, but we're trying. We desperately want to stop renting and buy a home. But we know that won't make us happy in the end. True, it will be a blessing, and one that we look forward to. But, happiness is an unquenchable thirst. What will we "have to have" next? We are struggling, trying to pay off our remaining debt, save for a home, and for our futures. We are determined to stop the cycle of bondage that debt puts on families. It's won't be easy, we know, and it's PAINFULLY slow getting there. One thing I've noticed is that when faced with decisions, for some reason the harder path is usually the right one.
to the lender” (Proverbs 22:7).
Read full post here!
William Wilberforce is the subject of a movie called "Amazing Grace" playing at a theater near you. He is generally credited with the movement to abolish slavery in the British empire. But, his legacy extends beyond the fight against slavery. 
In addition to establishing mission societies to Africa and India, being a founding member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and many other local project and volunteer efforts, he also campaigned greatly for what he called the "Reformation of Manners". As noted in Mark Steyn's column in the Chicago Sun-Times:Everywhere on the globe, for 5,000 years, the idea of human civilization without slavery was unimaginable. . . . What Wilberforce vanquished was something even worse than slavery,'' says Metaxas, "something that was much more fundamental and can hardly be seen from where we stand today: He vanquished the very mind-set that made slavery acceptable and allowed it to survive and thrive for millennia. He destroyed an entire way of seeing the world, one that had held sway from the beginning of history, and he replaced it with another way of seeing the world.''
Steyn writes reminding us that Wilberforce wasn't just fighting the parliament, but as much as the movie makes him seem to speak for "the people", in fact the people (i.e. the culture) were a big part of the problem. The streets of London and society were completely corrupt and bankrupt morally.Then as now, citizens of advanced societies are easily distracted. The 18th century Church of England preached "a tepid kind of moralism" disconnected both from any serious faith and from the great questions facing the nation. It was a sensualist culture amusing itself to death: Wilberforce goes to a performance of Don Juan, is shocked by a provocative dance, and is then further shocked to discover the rest of the audience is too blase even to be shocked.
What we think of as "the Victorian era" was, in large part, an invention of Wilberforce that he succeeded in selling to his compatriots. We children of the 20th century mock our 19th century forebears as uptight prudes, moralists and do-gooders. If they were, it's because of Wilberforce. His legacy includes the very notion of a "social conscience"
Amazing guy. "Amazing Grace"...see it.
Read full post here!
How does one begin a blog without seeming terribly ego-centric? In one sense the whole notion of blogging seems a bit self-absorbed, quite different from private journaling and keeping a diary for personal reflection. To share my thoughts with the world. Why would anyone else care what I think...about anything? I've pondered this question, and have no real answer except when I consider the following - why do I care what others think? My answer - because my perspective is limited. I can only occupy this local space around my body at any given time, and therefore the world around me is incredibly finite. So, I appeal to the perspective of others. Not for definition but in addition.
I'm beginning this blog really for myself to be perfectly honest, though I do hope that those of you I share it with will gain from it as well. I'd like to keep for myself a log of some articles I find interesting, and my thoughts about them at the time. I am no great writer, so my plan is to primarily link to articles and commentaries others have written and share my thoughts about them. I may also invite other authors to contribute to this blog as well if there is interest.
Why focus on worldviews? Well, put simply, that's all there is really. The crux of all news stories, in my opinion, is the competition of opposing worldviews. Politics, violence, legal matters, religion, etc - all events are the summation of the basic beliefs (i.e. worldviews) of the participants and witnesses to those events.
Without being too long-keystroked about it, let's just begin.
And I can think of no better way to begin than by sharing the words of Chuck Colson. Please read the linked article and feel free to comment.
http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=1404
The Christian challenge today is not to be “us vs. them,” but to lovingly approach the world and say, “There are two battles going on, and we want to show you why our way is better.”
P.S. Here's Wikipedia's definiton of worldview.
Read full post here!
