slavery

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Dear Jack: My Potentially Controversial Help on Your Columbus Day Homework

5 years, 11 months.Dear Jack: My Potentially Controversial Help on Your Columbus Day Homework

Dear Jack,

You had some weekend homework to do. So after I finished cleaning the bathrooms, hosing out your sandbox and putting it away in the garage, then sweeping out the dead spiders and dust from the garage, I sat down with you at the kitchen table to help you with your assignment on Christopher Columbus.

The instructions were to have a parent help you research the origin and history of Columbus Day, then determine for yourself in your own opinion, as a Kindergartner, whether you believe we should or should not celebrate Columbus Day.

With Mommy knowing I am a closet conspiracy theorist, she suggested I should be the parent to help you with your homework assignment. So you and I got to work, to verify what I already knew about Columbus Day.

After simply Googling “Columbus Day” on my own, only clicking on sites that ended in org., I read to you how Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean Islands, not the United States, while attempting to find a better route to Asia. I read to you how he and his men took back some of the native people and made them work for them, to understate it; and that Columbus’s men also took back some of the native’s riches to Europe, as well.

As I read this to you, I made a point not to add to the text, so that you could truly develop your own opinion.

I went on to read that Christopher Columbus supervised his men threatening the people of the “new land” with violence if they did not convert to Christianity.

Dear Jack: My Potentially Controversial Help on Your Columbus Day Homework

After reading those few excerpts from a few official resources online (all ending in .org), you quickly marked “should not” on your homework assignment.

Even if no one can know for certain the details, it seems that you perceive Christopher Columbus like a Marvel villain, not a superhero.

I then helped you spell the rest of the answers, which explained to your teacher and your classmates why you believe we should not celebrate Columbus Day.

Then, in your wisdom, you said to me (and Mommy, who was on the other side of the kitchen counter, finishing dinner), “Daddy, I think I’m going to be the only one in my class who says we shouldn’t celebrate Columbus Day.”

However, you said this in a tone that indicated confidence and determination, not fear or anxiety.

I responded, “You’re right. There’s a good chance of that. But I like your answer. You make a good point. Why should we celebrate a man who took other people away from their families and would possibly kill them if they didn’t start believing in God? And did he really discover new land if there were already people living there in the first place?”

As your answer explained, if you were Christopher Columbus, you wouldn’t have taken the people or their belongings back to Europe.

While I may not be the most popular parent, and while I may not be helping you to have the easy answer for your homework assignment, I believe what I am doing is helping you to truly think for yourself.

You will stand alone sometimes in your beliefs, throughout your entire life. But if your stance celebrates and honors what is morally right, even if it goes against mainstream tradition, you can stand up proud in your solitude.

Still though, you can know that I am standing up with you, even if I’m not physically there with you. Because I support my son who stands up for what is right, especially when it’s the unpopular thing to do.

Love,

Daddy

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Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People and Good Things Happen to Bad People?

Slight of hand and twist of fate.

One of the most frustrating questions for people who are curious, yet skeptical, about Christianity is the fact that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.  I can’t claim to have the answer to that impossible question, but I can at least take a stab at it.

Throughout the history of humanization, “man” has struggled to bring glory to himself- if it means conquering and killing, abusing others, taking them as slaves, and any other hellish action that can be filed under the category of “Greed”.  Man has become rich, by taking from others.  Man has become rich, and refused to share with others.  But in the end, it works for man.  Because he gets what he ultimately wants- glory.

Ultimately, being rich and famous isn’t about knowing that you’ll always have all your needs and wants fulfilled.  It’s knowing that you’re above others, in a carnal sense.  That you are special.  That you are envied.  That others want what you have.  That’s the glory of man.

What a waste.

I equate the glory of man with bringing hell to Earth.  Literally raising hell.  Instantly, I can think of three Biblical examples when man tried to bring glory to himself, he ultimately was cursed by God.

Adam eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, after Satan telling Adam that he could become like God.  Cursed.  The future of man would suffer death, evil, and pain.

Moses using his staff to draw water from the rock for all the people to drink.  Then instead of saying this miracle was by the grace of God, Moses himself took the credit.  Cursed.  He didn’t get to live in the Promised Land.

King David taking a military census with the intention of realizing how powerful and successful he was.  Cursed.  God brought a plague and hundreds and hundreds of people were killed.

In all three instances, God wanted the glory, but man took it from God.

Why do good things happen to bad people? God is blessing them (with power, wisdom, intelligence, money, health, etc.) and they are taking the glory for themselves.  By taking the glory, they are refusing God’s true blessing.  And that may mean that  instead of blessing the people that the bad person influences, the bad person now brings on an earthly curse to them instead.  Of course, in the end, the man who refused to give God the glory will be the one who is cursed in the worst way.

Why do bad things happen to good people?  Because in the end, if that person is willing to glorify God through it, the person will be blessed.  I equate glorifying God with bringing down heaven to Earth.

God wants glory.  And so does man.  Good things happen when God gets it.  Bad things happen when man gets it.  But right now, God is allowing man to do what he likes.  Yes, God may choose to intervene.  But often He does not.  Because it’s possible that through a bad person’s bad actions, God can be glorified through an affected good person’s good actions- those actions include bringing glory to God through it, however they can find a way.

This concept even sheds light on why “you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain” is so important that it’s one of the Ten Commandments.  We can chose to use God’s name to sound cool (“Oh my God!”, “Jesus!”, “Lordy, Lordy, Tammy’s forty!” etc.) or we can chose to use God’s name to actually reference Him in a purposeful, postive way (“The only reason the Nashville flood didn’t get my house is because God spared me”).

Because even everyday good people like us still run the risk of taking glory from God.  In our everyday, ordinary events.  I try to keep that in mind at all times.  For me right now, it’s about my wife and I trying to sell our house.

We work hard to keep our ads active on Craig’s List twice a day.  And we keep a good looking “for sale” sign out front with a plastic sleeve containing colorful, creative flyers.  We keep our house in immaculate condition.  Plus, we know for a fact that our asking price is thousands less than everyone else in our neighborhood.

Yet it’s all the other houses that are selling.  All around us.  Because they’re going through realtors and we’re not.

Everyday, throughout the day, together and while we’re apart, my wife and I pray not only for the right person to find our house, but also that God will be glorified through it.  Because as opposed to us saying, “WE sold OUR house!” we can say, “Thank God!  He brought us the right person and they bought our house!”

But even if He doesn’t bring someone to buy our house, if He doesn’t bless our solid efforts to sell our house without a realtor, and we have to throw in the towel and pay thousands to a realtor, God will still be glorified through it.

Our lives ultimately are about one of two things- raising hell (by taking the glory) or bringing heaven to Earth (by giving it to God).

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The World’s History of Slavery: The Entanglement of the Oppressors and the Oppressed

There’s a problem with going back in time with modern warfare to kill bad guys: We as Americans ended up here because at least some of our ancestors somewhere down the line were oppressed by their own people. And the rest of our ancestors were those oppressors.

The borders of nations today were mostly determined by the greedy takeovers from more powerful countries in centuries past. Brutal wars were fought to determine how big or small a country would be today. Hundreds of years ago, there was more “forcible negotiation room” when it came to one kingdom wanting to take over another. Now, the world is civilized enough to more efficiently gang up against the Bad Guys.

Though my degree is in English, I started out as a History major. One of the reoccurring themes I learned was that most of the world’s older famous monuments, buildings, and man-made structures were built by slaves, indentured servants, or some type of forced labor. These landmarks that are beautiful and intriguing, but also made possible through awful means.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Seven_Wonders_of_the_World
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Wonders_of_the_Ancient_World

 

By people who were once average citizens of a country that was taken over by a stronger one, or by those who were poor or less fortunate in their position in society.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_labor

Recently I have been fantasizing what it would be like to travel back to ancient, Medieval, and even more recently historic times with a modern army to annihilate the evil kings and tyrants and government leaders that abused their own people and neighboring countries. Tanks, machine guns, grenades, fighter jets. Blow away those corrupt enemies and their henchman. We would be indestructible against their sissy spears and torches.

Annoying irony waits ahead: Every evil nation (in the history of the world and present day) is made up of a corrupt government leader, his immediate supporters who seek shared power and protection through that leader, and the common folk who become enslaved or taken advantage of.

 

If I went back in time and destroyed any German, English, Mexican, Italian, Cherokee Indian, Greek, Dutch, or Irish men that were anywhere in my lineage, then I would probably disappear as well.

The slaves of Africa weren’t simply kidnapped by the Europeans; they were sold by the African nations themselves. The people with more political and social power took advantage of the poor and less fortunate, in essence turning them into endured servants, and over time, slaves. After hundreds of years of this process occurring within Africa, the sell of slaves became a profitable commodity outside the continent. Therefore, eventually the international slave trade began, peaking in the 1800’s.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_slave_trade

And essentially every continent and country has done something similar. From Russia, to Japan, to Egypt, to India, just to name a few. Slavery was present in Biblical times and it is still very present today. Taking captive either their own people or another nation’s, or both.

 

The stronger take advantage of the weaker. The poor are must answer to the rich. The irony is where all of our ancestors end up in that mix.

Whether the war is outside a nation or within, the human race has this history fighting and enslaving itself. We are the products of those people.

Each person who is alive today has ancestors who were the oppressors AND the oppressed. If it weren’t for both types in our lineage, none of us would be here today. None of us can truly say that none of our ancestors were oppressors.

 

In a recent visit with one of my wife’s aunts, we learned that my wife’s great-grandmother was an indentured servant from Ireland. Without that happening, my wife wouldn’t be here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indentured_servant)

In the likeness of LOST and Back to the Future, if we went back in time and wiped out all the Bad Guys (the oppressors), we could cease to exist, because we would be killing our own evil ancestors. Even though we saved our good ancestors in the process.

There will always be rich people living along with the poor, powerful and weak. Even the structure of our capitalist economy shows a vague parallel of indentured servitude.

 

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Heads or Tails?

Sometimes there’s no middle ground.

To entertain ourselves in the cafeteria after we finished our corndog and tater tot lunches, my friends and I would have contests to see who could make a quarter spin the longest on the table before it ultimately landed on either heads or tails. Fine amusement for 5th grade boys. But never once did a quarter remain on its side. It always fell on one side or the other. Heads or tails.

Today I spent my lunch break at Border’s. Browsing through the photograph books, I couldn’t help but notice the cover of a book entitled Traffik. It was a simple black-and-white picture of a Southeast Asian woman looking at the camera. She only had one eye.

It saddened me so much I pulled out the book from the shelf and sat down on a stool to read it. The book was a large collection of photographs featuring women trapped in human trafficking (forced prostitution) in Cambodia. They are often lured from the mountains and the countryside by men promising them good work.

Of course this sort of hellishly-inspired activity isn’t only currently happening in Asia. While attending Liberty University, I listened carefully to the reports of guest speaker Kay Warren, the wife of Rick Warren (author of The Purpose Driven Life). She has spent time ministering to AIDS victims in Africa.

She explained (regarding the AIDS epidemic in that continent,) that many men with AIDS commonly believe (as they are instructed by witch doctors) they can be cured if they have sex with someone who is “pure”. That’s one of the reasons many children in Africa have AIDS or HIV.

It is estimated that today there are around 29 million slaves in the world; particularly in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. I only learned that a few months ago- I was under the impression that slavery ended 150 years ago.

 

So many men keep slavery alive today by capturing and selling other people. And so many other men keep slavery alive by buying or renting slaves from these decrepit “businessmen”. And that leaves innocent women and children to suffer.

When some people are given this information, their reaction is, “How could God exist if he lets things like that happen in the world?”

Others react with, “How could God not exist when things like that are happening in the world?” Because they have hope in justice. And hope in a being who is actually qualified to judge the injustice in the history of the world. Not just sit on a cloud.

Yes, we easily agree that human trafficking needs to be stopped and that’s is a horrible thing.  And fortunately, more awareness of the issue is causing groups to form across to help rescue the victims, if nothing else.

Faith can’t be real if it’s not tested and questioned.  And when it comes to God and a tragedy this horrific, even when we’re not directly affected, it still causes us to either draw closer or further away from God at the simple thought of it.

Heads or tails?