Watch it all.
Kendall Harmon on September 11
Posted in * By Kendall, * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, * International News & Commentary, America/U.S.A., Consumer/consumer spending, Corporations/Corporate Life, Economy, Federal Reserve, History, Politics in General, Psychology, Religion & Culture, Sermons & Teachings, Stock Market, Terrorism, The U.S. Government
Courage to speak up even if your voice is shaking makes me admire you even more than I already do, Kendall. As a nation after 9/11, Americans generally reacted with understandable emotion by branding Al Qaeda and its attacks simply as unprovoked evil against “freedom,” and generally followed the lead of politicians calling us to honor the dead by celebrating our surviving way of life and renewing out getting and spending and financial expansionism as the principle statement of American patriotism. I am aware of many Christian clergy who in the past 10 years have simply asked their congregations to look at things, as well, from a biblical theological perspective, yet have met with resistance, and even been dismissed. Nevertheless, it is always a good time to remember and reconsider the humbling prophetic critiques of society that one finds in the Hebrew scriptures.
Has it been America’s apparent freedom and prosperity, or even America’s continuing support of the present state of Israel, that so inflames radical Muslim militants (whether Al Qaeda-related or Taliban-related), or could the rage against us be due to the export of American consumerism, amoral sex-obsessed “reality television,” and hardcore pornography, since the era began of television signals distributed around the world via satellite transmission? Might God’s judgment be upon America as a nation for the darker values that others see that we seem to live by?
Thanks Kendall! I’m always listening when you speak. From time to time, I go back to Francis Schaeffer’s “How should then we live?’ for reminders of what’s going on and how to respond. I hear in you like Schaeffer both a love for people and culture along with an insightful critique of culture. I have often pondered Schaeffer’s prophetic bent as he wrote of the ‘rise of the manipulative elite’ in that book and also stated that ‘personal peace and affluence’ were to be the dominant cultural values. And yet, there are also stories of great sacrifice for eternal values.