Few nights ago, ABC news reported that a weapons manufacturer in Michigan, Trijicon was encoding references to Bible verses in high profile rifles. Some of the verses are, 2Cor: 4:6 where Jesus is described as light in darkness and John 8: 12 where Jesus is called the Light of the World. The founder of Trijicon,Glyn Bindon, was reportedly a Christian. The pentagon has a multi-year contract with Trijicon for years. Apparently the Pentagon was unaware of this practice of inscribing rifles with Bible verses.
This is wrong on many levels. First of all, it is a breach of the separation of church and state. These rifles used in Iraq and Afghanistan can only help inflame anti-Christian and anti-American feelings. But more importantly, it is a perversion of Christianity. This is done in the name of the Prince of Peace!It is totally contradictory to the message of Jesus who died on the cross.
In an opinion column in the Miami Herald on 1/24/10, Leonard Pitts expressed this perversion so powerfully: "We specialize in cheesy expressions of faith here in God's favorite country. Indeed, you could build a tower unto heaven itself out of all the roadside Jesuses, prayer cloths, Ten Commandments rocks, and other trinkets of a cheap,disposable faith that says nothing, costs nothing, does nothing, risks nothing, that speaks not of God, external and eternal but only of the grubby, temporal perspectives and fears of ground bound women and men.
"Mother Theresa's faith drove her to foreswear material riches and spend half a century working to uplift the wretched poor of Calcutta. Martin Luthter King's faith drove him to gamble his very life in a dangerous campaign to win human and civil rights for African American people. And then there is Glyn Bindon, whose faith led him to inscribe coded Bible verses on his gun sights.
And how sad that is!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
GOD AND HAITI
The earthquake in Haiti has once again brought God-talk into the fray. During my hospice round, on the day after the quak, I met with several natives of Haiti who are health care workers. My heart broke for them and most of the time words were so inadequate to express my feelings of empathy and compassion for them. But surprisingly, I found them to be calm and collected, with no sense of anger or anxiety. All of them had family members in Haiti and none of them had heard from them. But I detected no anxiety in them. Their trust in God was palpable. They believed that the earthquake was the will of God. They believed that these are signs of the end of times predicted in the Bible. They believed that they would meet their loved ones who may have perished in the quake in heaven.
Even though I did not agree with their interpretation of the Bible or their concept of God, I could not disagree with their faith. I don't believe that this earthquake or any natural disaster for that matter, is a punishment from God. I don't believe in a punishing God. If it is a punishment, there are several other areas of the planet that really deserves it more than poor Haiti.
Why such a disaster happened in Haiti. I don't know. And if anyone gives an answer to that question, I will run so far and fast away from that person. The fact of the matter is, no one knows. Every person who comes up with an answer is just speculating or trying to make sense of the mysterious and the riddle.
The answer is I don't know. What I know for sure is that the God I experience will help the people of Haiti and me to get through this terribly sad time.That God will mobilize the hearts of God's people to bring comfort, and solace to God's people.
In the meantime,I stand in awe before the mystery and unpredictability of life itself.
Even though I did not agree with their interpretation of the Bible or their concept of God, I could not disagree with their faith. I don't believe that this earthquake or any natural disaster for that matter, is a punishment from God. I don't believe in a punishing God. If it is a punishment, there are several other areas of the planet that really deserves it more than poor Haiti.
Why such a disaster happened in Haiti. I don't know. And if anyone gives an answer to that question, I will run so far and fast away from that person. The fact of the matter is, no one knows. Every person who comes up with an answer is just speculating or trying to make sense of the mysterious and the riddle.
The answer is I don't know. What I know for sure is that the God I experience will help the people of Haiti and me to get through this terribly sad time.That God will mobilize the hearts of God's people to bring comfort, and solace to God's people.
In the meantime,I stand in awe before the mystery and unpredictability of life itself.
Friday, January 1, 2010
All in a day's work
After few days of vacation, I returned to work today, the first day of the year. My first visit was to a patient named Bertha who was 100 years old today: She was born on 1/1/1910! She was a lovely lady, still with some of her faculties intact, and we had a nice visit. At the end, I took her fragile hands in mine and told her that she had a graceful face radiating peace and had eyes full of life and light. She was joyfully pleased and thanked me for the good words and told me that all my dreams for 2010 will come true. That was the first blessing of the day.
Then I moved on to my next patient who is 102. He too has his faculties. Morris told me that he stayed up until midnight to watch the ball drop in Time Square, NY,but missed it, because he did not realize that he was watching public television until the "whole thing was over." Poor guy, what do you expect when you are 102 years old.
My next assignment was an excubation, (removing of life support). Abe had a fall two weeks ago, and his brain was without oxygen for 15 minutes. He had pipes and tubes attached all over him. Abe was not conscious or able to respond. I sat down with his sister and our Nurse explaining the process, but his sister was very nervous. She did not want "to kill him." She wanted him to live. She was totally unrealistic about the prognosis, yet she did not have the courage to make that decision. She had to ask her therapist who was on vacation till Tuesday and wanted to do as the therapist suggested. I said to myself: "Why do people mortgage their brains to other people?" Why do they listen to opinions of others who have no stake in the case and consider that more important than their ow opinion? After nearly two hours of talking and and discussion the woman decided to wait.
she thought that both myself and our Nurse had an "aura" because we work in hospice. We told her that it was not about aura but about being realistic about life and embracing death as part of life. Those who fight death have not really understood the meaning of life.
Who said being hospice chaplain is a job? No, it is a vocation, a ministry that I am privileged to have. I thank God for the opportunity to be part of people's life at the end. It is a gift and a privilege indeed.
Then I moved on to my next patient who is 102. He too has his faculties. Morris told me that he stayed up until midnight to watch the ball drop in Time Square, NY,but missed it, because he did not realize that he was watching public television until the "whole thing was over." Poor guy, what do you expect when you are 102 years old.
My next assignment was an excubation, (removing of life support). Abe had a fall two weeks ago, and his brain was without oxygen for 15 minutes. He had pipes and tubes attached all over him. Abe was not conscious or able to respond. I sat down with his sister and our Nurse explaining the process, but his sister was very nervous. She did not want "to kill him." She wanted him to live. She was totally unrealistic about the prognosis, yet she did not have the courage to make that decision. She had to ask her therapist who was on vacation till Tuesday and wanted to do as the therapist suggested. I said to myself: "Why do people mortgage their brains to other people?" Why do they listen to opinions of others who have no stake in the case and consider that more important than their ow opinion? After nearly two hours of talking and and discussion the woman decided to wait.
she thought that both myself and our Nurse had an "aura" because we work in hospice. We told her that it was not about aura but about being realistic about life and embracing death as part of life. Those who fight death have not really understood the meaning of life.
Who said being hospice chaplain is a job? No, it is a vocation, a ministry that I am privileged to have. I thank God for the opportunity to be part of people's life at the end. It is a gift and a privilege indeed.
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