Marty's Blog

Family Loyalty vs. Family Intimacy

2009-12-29T20:02:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reading A Different Kind of Teacher by John Talor Gatto. I'm totally engrossed. Especially as he talks about the history of compulsory schooling in America. (Schooling, says Gatto is not necessarily education.) Here's an excerpt which may be hard to understand if you don't have the context, but nevertheless I post (underlining and bold text added by me):

Between 1880 and 1920, strict regulation of American society became a leadership imperative. Explanations for this phenomenon begin once again with the alarming effects of mass immigration on the morale or American leadership. It is not an extreme reading of evidence to say genuine panic existed -- fear that ancient ways of distributing wealth and authority might be in jeopardy.

A striking evidence of this panic is contained in accounts of academic behavior during the period. To cite only one case, President William Walker of MIT declared in speeches and writings that the large, close families of immigrants were provoking intolerable racial competition, leading to something he called "racial suicide" among the so-called Anglo-Saxon races. Between 1900 and 1910 the theme of racial suicide was a common topic in all leading popular magazines.

This fear of racial suicide was provoked by an unusual "closeness" of immigrant families. Puritan leaders had always described family intimacy as sacrilegious, favoring family loyalty in its place (for the prosperity loyalty brought in its train). In the large affectionate broods of Irish and Italians, and in their relative indifference to material rewards when compared to the rewards of family life, a mortal threat was perceived.

August Comte's Positivist lessons dismissing family as an anachronism then mingled with a widespread hatred of the dangerous culture of immigration to produce a national agenda of state imposed conformity. The push to this end was motivated by more than just theoretical considerations; violent strikes against management in coal, steel, and railroads signaled that the danger from these people was more than long-range, it was very close at hand.

School books and other texts to sell myths of conformity followed hard on the heels of compulsory schooling. And toward the end of these second phase of mass immigration, another Communist revolution occurred, this time a successful one. At that exact historical moment, the compulsory education laws were given teeth.* Widely ignored after the initial flush of enthusiasm passed, the laws were now made unavoidable. The power of the state was placed at the disposal of school authorities, and the new mass government schooling institution began with a vengeance to separate children and families, assisted by the creation of many another astonishing new institution to assist in the deconstruction.

* He must be talking about approximately 1918.

Of key interest to me here is the distinction he makes between family intimacy and family loyalty. On the one hand you have families which have adopted the program of conformity imposed on them by the partnership of the secular state and big business (families which are pursuing "personal peace and prosperity" as Francis Schaeffer would say) and on the other hand you have families which are imbued with their own diverse dreams and myths as apart from those of the state (including those families which are faithful to the Triune God).

I can think of some large homeschool families which fit this picture of the intimate family to which Gatto is alluding. Perhaps some small one's too. :) And why homeschool families per say as opposed to Christian school families? Well I'm not sure I can answer that question. However, my understanding of education is progressing right now. I've gone from completely regretting my homeschool education and wishing that I had gone to a school like Logos in Moscow to now wanting to create a high school that would combine the best of homeschooling (family, time for reading, contemplation) and schooling (community, competition, submission to authorities outside the home.)

Consultative Selling

2009-11-07T22:51:00.000-08:00

I was recently introduced to Neil Rackham's book, SPIN Selling by a successful sales executive in my company, a man with a very large girth. A man who's belly is so large it proceeds him in his sales calls by at least half and hour and nearly wraps up the business before the rest of him arrives. He is not an ordinary individual by any means, but a person of character, who wears his prominent abdomen with grandeur, not unlike my celebrated pastor Doug Wilson. I'm sure he's proud that it stands out. Why hinder such a successful protuberance?

He began his presentation on SPIN selling by saying that everything we have learned about selling was bunk. Asking "open-ended" questions, using closing tactics, "always be closing," all nonsense, at least when we get to the big opportunities in business, the sales that really matter. It has been demonstrated, he said, by scientific observation of salespeople that when selling small ticket items, like pest control services or cleaning brushes or cell phones, frequent closing does lead to success. It prompts buyers to think of objections, which can be answered. However, when dealing with big ticket items and expensive ongoing services, which occur often in B to B, success decreases with use of these "tactics."

Okay, that might not be too surprising. You wouldn't ask a woman the first day you meet her if she would like to be married at 3 pm, Saturday, and then continue to ask each time you see her. "Oh, by the way, would Tuesday at 5 work for you then? Is there a conflict? Oh, I see. Oh, you want to be married in Death Valley, Nevada, Friday at five? Okay see you then!" But how does one in fact lead another person to a certain decision, to chose something beneficial for them, something that they need, but just don't know yet? Rackham says you just have to ask people a lot of questions. You have to really, honestly care about them enough to take your mind off of your presentation, your features, your benefits and begin to understand their needs so that you can either custom tailor your solutions for them or, in the event that your product is not right for them, find one that is or just not sell it.

The questions may be divided into four groups and this is where the term SPIN comes from. I think the acronym is unfortunate, because I've always thought of that word negatively, but here they are:

S - Situation Questions
P - Problem Questions
I - Implication Questions
N - Need-Payoff Questions

Situation questions are not just small talk, but questions related to something that is common to your and your prospects environment. For example, in the course of my day, I might ask a merchant, "So did you notice your funding being delayed by Columbus Day?" The point is to set the context in which the details of the business you are about to discuss have meaning. That is the first stage of questions. My aforementioned sales manager calls it "the church of what's happening now," borrowing a phrase from Flip Wilson's comedy sketches.

Problem questions are simply those that uncover problems or "pain" that a potential client may be experiencing. For example, a doctor would say, "Does it hurt when I press here?" But a salesperson in my industry could say, "I noticed you're using a Hypercom T7P-Friction. Does the slowness of the printer bother you when you have a line of customers?" But these questions are not enough, because often people are used to the problems they deal with. Implication questions are required to help people see where things could go if they don't make a change. For example, my sales manager told the owner of a fast food restaurant that, while he was watching his drive through line for a few minutes, a couple of potential customers had driven off when they saw the line of cars. The implication question gently asks what the consequences of this could be over time.

Finally, Need-Payoff questions are those that enable a client to see for himself the advantage that you offer and put it in his own words. When you say it yourself, people do not listen, but when THEY say it, it's gospel. In the previous example of the fast food restaurant, my sales manager asked the owner a series of questions: "How much is your average ticket? How much profit do you make on that?" By then putting a dollar value on the customers that were driving away, he showed him that having a credit card terminal near the drive up window would speed the line up enough to more than pay for the device in just a few weeks.

So that is SPIN selling. In order for it to work you much approach each potential client with the knowledge that can help them, but resist telling them. Do not, as my sales manager calls it, "show up and throw up." Graphic, I know. Instead, ask excellent questions. Below is a short video in which Neil Rackam says that the salesmen of the future will all need to understand this. He could be right.

Against Pew-Sitting Christians

2009-11-01T23:17:00.000-08:00

Notes on Corporate vs. Individualistic Salvation:

Does God save people as groups or does he hunt them out individually? That is a false dilemma. He does both. Jesus saved John Bunyan, Martin Luther, the Apostle Peter, you, me, etc. But he also saved the Children of Israel from Pharaoh at the Red Sea. And at Calvary he purchased the Church and is sanctifying her and beautifying her to this day.

At my congregation today, Christ Church, which I love very much, we sang this hymn:

The churches one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is His new creation By water and the Word.
From heav'n He came and sought her to be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her and for her life He died.

There it is: "for her life He died." Such a beautiful hymn and one that few would wish to read in the quiet of their homes if they knew the joy of singing it in church. Christ died not just for each of us separately, but for the Church.

Of course, this is also a scriptural truth, as well as one embodied in hymnody. Ephesians 5:25 says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word." Here we see that Christ not only gave Himself for the Church, but He is engaged in sanctifying the Church. This would seem to suggest that a follower of Christ cannot grow in sanctification unless he is engaged in the life of the church.

Some will object, "I wasn't saved when I was sitting in a pew!" Okay, that may be true, but I would argue that the Bible teaches we were saved to sit in a pew, though that is a dismal way of putting it. We are saved to that, but to so much more. Consider the previous chapter in Ephesians:

"And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-13).

According to this verse, Pastors (individual pastors whom we can know personally) are a gift from Jesus, a gift from God. And lest we think that televised sermons are an equal substitute for this gift, Paul says that the pastors are for the purpose of building us up until we have unity, that is, unity with other saints. God wants people to have unity. But what does that mean? It means we are equipped for the "work of service." It means simply that we serve one another. It's not enough to be a hearer of the Word. We must be doers of the Word.

Now there are many ways to serve one another. And there is no reason to believe that Paul is speaking of "religious" ways of serving people, by offering sanctimonious words or belting window-rattling gospel solos. One way that we serve is simply by smiling at people and spending time with them. People need the esteem of others. It's one of the most basic necessities of life, without which we will die. If anyone doubts this, consider an older man whose wife has died. By degrees widowers often spend more and more time alone. They stop keeping up their appearance; they don't clean their surroundings as often or take care of their bodies as they used to. And eventually they stop eating right. Death is hastened. Consider also the homeless. We know that people become homeless and stay that way, because they are alone. Somehow they stopped reaching out to to others and others stopped reaching out to them.

Another way that people serve each other is materially and not just by giving to the deacons fund, but by doing business with one another. Scriptures prohibit Christians from being unequally yoked, which would include going into business with a non-believer. But it is scriptural for believers to go into business with other believers. This is one way that we can provide for one another's material needs, by making deals, by shaking hands. Yet another way we may serve one another is by guiding and leading each other. Businesses need CEOs. Schools need principals and teachers. And folk dances need callers, etc. All of these rolls are ultimately for the purpose of "building up the body of Christ." God made us both kings and priests (Rev. 1:6). The kings are those in business called to support the Church in one way. And the priests are the pastors and teachers, etc., called to serve the Church in another way. Both are needed in the Church. And finally, another way to serve others is through seeking and imparting wisdom. There are those who do not play a direct role in leadership, but who are scholars and so serve others through their research and writing.

Of course, no one will be relegated to just one category of service. All will partake in each category to some degree. But the point is that we all must serve one another and, according to the scriptures, the place that we learn this is in church. Christ died for the Church and, by inclusion, you and I. When we go to church, worshiping in faith, we are not merely sitting in a pew, but a mysterious spiritual reality is unfolding. We are being equipped to serve, equipped for our callings in which we serve both saints and unbelievers. Equipped to serve our families. And Christ is fashioning us again into mature men. Men who "measure up" to even Christ.

Is it possible to be saved outside the church? Sure, the thief was saved on the cross. But why would you want to be? The Church is the whole point. She is the Bride of Christ.

On Cities, Credit Cards and Church Music

2009-10-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

I’ve been thinking lately about city versus agrarian culture, credit cards, and church music. What do these three things have to do with one another? I’m glad you asked.

It started with me listening to James B. Jordan speak about the differences between folk and city culture. The city—and all Americans, including those outside official city limits, partake of city culture—is a place where many hands are constantly bringing us all that we need and want for life. Our food is grown and harvested, transported and prepared by many people we have never met. Our homes are built for us, streets paved, newspapers printed, and, not to mention, our sewage is removed, a very essential service without which we could not long live in the city. And all that is asked of us to partake of these amazing benefits is that we ourselves serve in some unique way. So when we think of people cooperating and serving each other, perhaps there is no better example than people living in a city. Yet there is something lost in the transition from agrarian to city culture as well.

Whereas in the city, people are constantly doing things for one another by mutual consent, in agrarian culture they often do things with one another out of necessity. People bake all their bread at one time in the fall in a common oven, or they raise a barn together or share harvesting equipment and the traditions of harvest. In agrarian culture people go to the market and market day and its accompanying traditions become unifying aspects of their lives, creating community. But in the city we don’t have markets. We have supermarkets. And these do indeed have distinct advantages. We save time by not having to negotiate prices for each item that we buy. And this creates more time for cultural activities, dominion activities, such as building great architecture or sending a man to the moon. But something is lost as well. We are not likely to get to know one another by going to the supermarket. Someone might help you bring your groceries to your car, but that’s about it.

And so there has to be a new way of creating community in the city and Jordan says that the solution, believe it or not, is the Church, the body of Christ, and specifically singing in the church. If you’ve ever been to a charismatic church where they sing enthusiastically for prolonged periods, you know that these are often more racially and economically diverse and one reason for that is that singing breaks down barriers. In the Mosaic covenant, worship was silent, but when we get to the point that Israel is no longer a tribe, but a nation with its own capital city, then there is singing in the temple. And Paul says that our worship in the new covenant is to be like that, with “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,” in other words with instrumental music and singing as it was in the temple, only more and more glorious.

So all this is what Jordan says about cities and church music. That is to say, in the city, community has to be at least somewhat deliberate. I can choose whether or not to go to church and whether or not to open my mouth in praise to God when I get there; whereas in agrarian culture for your own survival you really didn’t have a choice weather to live alongside others. In the city we can choose whether to be hermits or to live incredibly rich lives partaking not only of others services but of their fellowship as well. Community dies, but it comes back in more glorious form. Sound familiar? No that doesn't just happen to Gandalf.

As a conservative, I’ve often heard my counterparts decrying the other half as those who live in cities and wouldn’t it be nice if global warming would happen and all of the coastal cities would be drowned by glacial melt; then they really would be the blue voter blocks. But the truth is that the New Covenant really is for cities. The New Covenant was inaugurated in a city, in Jerusalem, and it spread primarily by cities, the great city of Antioch being an early center of Christianity. And eventually the people of the New Covenant overwhelmed and occupied the greatest city of the classical world, all by peaceful means. In fact, the word pagan is derived from the Latin pagus, meaning "country district." Historically, those without faith in God were more likely the villagers, the rustic people, and, if you wanted to find Christians, you went to the city.

The interesting thing about the city though is that it does have potential for greater evil or greater good than an agrarian situation. A dog doesn’t have much capacity for great evil or great good. A child can be much worse and much better, a wayward teenager worse still, but not so capable of both evil and good as a person of great cunning and intelligence, such as Tolkien’s Saruman. Likewise, in the city the avenues of evil are so readily available to us that we are required to possess more heart religion than was necessary back on the farm.

Consider the credit card. Recently I began working, rather by accident, in the payment card industry. People today have the ability to either use a credit card wisely, continuing to budget, and keeping track of transactions while earning "rewards," or, at their whim, they can take home lots of things that they haven’t earned yet. I’m not saying that people should use credit cards. It would probably be better if everyone had enough financial discipline to use only debit cards, but even if you don’t have a credit card in your wallet, you can apply for a one anytime, anywhere, such as at the same counter where you are purchasing your new refrigerator, which costs $75 more than you have on hand. The credit card is both a convenience that about 80 percent of American households have chosen to use and a prison you if you’re not careful. In the same way, thanks to the Internet, we can sit in our home office, working with business people all over the world, providing for our family, or we can use that same home office and computer to gamble all our money away, thanks also to the clever payment card. Great fortune or ruin is a click away, in more ways than one I might add. That is the modern city for good or for ill. So why does God put such dangers in our playpen? Well the answer is that this is no longer the playpen. This is the New Covenant and we are expected to behave like spiritual grownups, having received the Word. “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

Some people have argued that paying for consumer items in installments can only lead to irresponsibility, that it is a sin, a violation of the puritan ethic. But others have argued that it has the ability to teach people greater financial responsibility, learning to calculate and to budget in order to meet monthly payments and eventually make them go away. Whatever the case, it is certain that the ever present ability to spend beyond one’s means requires people to be made of a new kind of material. In the city, we simply cannot survive without heart religion or at least the residual benefits of it, which is what we may have today. But this just goes to show what fertile soil for the gospel are these paved streets. Look around. One day by God’s grace, through the Holy Spirit, and the sovereign rule of our Lord and Savior, we will live in a city paved with gold where everyone will worship the Son. And we will sing His praises in huge choirs accompanied by some epic orchestras. That’s the future of the city. As for the future of credit cards, well, they are made of plastic.

(About the photo: The big city that I have lived in the longest is Washington D.C. Actually, I didn't live in the city itself, but in Fairfax, Virginia. Wouldn't it be nice if the city planners had put a church at the center instead of the Washington Monument and made it taller than the capital? Your answer to that question will tell you a lot about yourself. A church instead of the Washington Monument? That would never happen in America!)

We're all in "full time ministry"

2009-10-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

"And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." (Colossians 3:23, KJV)

When I was in Texas last summer I met a man named Jerry Ramos, who leads a men's fellowship and prayer group at his house. He has an amazing testimony about how the Lord miraculously lead him out of Satanism. He also sends out a "Word of the Day" by email almost every day. Here is an example:

The Word !!

1 Corinthians 15:58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. (NLT)

The Thought !!

You may feel, "It's not worth it!" today. God knows your efforts and struggles. Don't lose heart! Everything you do for the Lord is worth it. Speak His Holy Word…for It will never return void.

The Question !!

When is the last time you quoted Scripture out loud? How about in response to someone’s question or outburst?

When was the last time you felt like giving up? How did you handle it?

It's so good to be reminded that we are ALL doing the Lord's work. Frequently Jerry's WOTD is just what I needed to hear at that moment from scripture. Thanks Jerry for your ministry and thanks God for using Jerry!

MBTI Prayers

2009-09-28T00:53:00.000-07:00

Reportedly, the following prayers have been around for years, but this is the first time I've seen them. They're so dead on!

A word about personality typing: One thing I've realized is that if you want to know and understand your own personality, taking a test may not be the best option. It's better to understand the concepts behind the test by reading a book like Please Understand Me II by John Keirsey and then think about them over time with regard to yourself and people you know. I know this because my own test results have changed over the years. (The latest is that I think I'm either an INFP or an INTP.) Not only does the book help you understand people as individuals, but it explains how the types relate to one another. And without this understanding, knowing your type is not very useful.

Another thing you will discover is that some people are hard to type because they have such full and rich personalities. They are very creative (love to dance, research, make music, etc.), a perceiver (P) strength, and yet they are well scheduled and discriminating and are excellent teachers, judger strengths (J). Introverts can learn how to fill out their latent capacity for extroversion and extroverts can learn how to hold back when necessary. Some NFs can also be thoroughly guided by logic (I think of my pastor, Doug Wilson) and perhaps some NTs can also be intuitive sorts of people as well.

And another interesting thing is that people can compliment one another over time. All of the types are relative. For example, when I am at home, I am definitely the extrovert of the family and also seem to have my mind made up about everything (J), but among my friends and acquaintances, I am definitely more of an I and a P. Well, here are the prayers. Enjoy!

ISTJ - God, help me to begin relaxing about little details tomorrow at 11:41:32 am.

ISFJ - Lord, help me to be more laid back, and help me to do it exactly right.

INFJ - Lord, help me not be a perfectionist (Did I spell that right?)

INTJ - Lord, keep me open to others’ ideas, wrong though they may be.

ISTP - God, help me to consider people’s feelings, even if most of them are hypersensitive.

ISFP - Lord, help me to stand up for my rights (if You don’t mind my asking).

INFP - Lord, help me to finish everything I sta

INTP - Lord, help me be less independent, but let me do it my way.

ESTP - God, help me to take responsibility for my own actions, even though they’re usually not my fault.

ESFP - God, help me to take things more seriously especially parties and dancing.

ENFP - God, help me keep my mind on one thing - Look, a bird - at a time.

ENTP - God, help me follow established procedures today. On second thought, I’ll settle for a few minutes.

ESTJ - God, help me to try not to run everything, but if You need some help, just ask.

ESFJ - Lord, give me patience and I mean right now.

ENFJ - God, help me to do only what I can and trust You for the rest. Do You mind putting that in writing?

ENTJ - God, help me to slow downandnotrushthroughwhatIdoAmen.

Who's really doing science Mr. Robinson?

2009-09-07T10:48:00.000-07:00

The following C.S. Lewis quote reminds me of Frank Bruce Robinson, leader of the "new religion" which he called Psychiana, headquartered right here in Moscow Idaho. He didn't believe that people needed to go to church. But here Lewis compares the local church to a scientific instrument for learning about God:

God can show Himself as He really is only to real men. And that means not simply to men who are individually good, but to men who are united together in a body, loving one another, helping one another, showing Him to one another. For that is what God meant humanity to be like; like players in one band, or organs in one body.

Consequently, the one really adequate instrument for learning about God is the whole Christian community, waiting for Him together. Christian brotherhood is, so to speak, the technical equipment for this science--the laboratory outfit. That is why all these people who turn up every few years with some patent simplified religion of their own as a substitute for the Christian tradition are really wasting time. Like a man who has no instrument but an old pair of field glasses setting out to put all the real astronomers right. He may be a clever chap--he may be cleverer than some of the real astronomers, but he is not giving himself a chance. And two years later everyone has forgotten all about him, but the real science is still going on (Mere Christianity, 165).

Not too many people remember that Frank Bruce Robinson was once the largest employer in Moscow and had quite a following around the country of people who had heard him speak or purchased his 20 lessons, but the local churches live on.

So Glen Beck, what exactly is “common sense”?

2009-08-30T16:58:00.002-07:00

Why American conservatives don't know what they stand for and always lose.

I had the pleasure of visiting my parents recently, being fed really well and enjoying some Glen Beck on Fox News, which I normally never watch because I don’t have a TV. And I have to admit I love the way Beck harps on Obama’s Czars and liberal bloggers whose heads explode when they have to deal with facts. I’m glad he’s fighting against the abuses of government and recognizing that both political parties helped get us into this mess. But—and you knew that was coming!—I can’t help but ask this question, What’s the solution, Mr. Beck? Okay, you’ve told us what we’re against, but what are we for? What unites us, Mr. Beck? Hopefully it’s more than your entertaining antics?

This is something that American conservatives have a really hard time understanding. “We’re united by conservatism!” Okay, and what are you conserving?

The back cover of Glenn Beck’s book, Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine, says the following:

“In any era, great Americans inspire us to reach our full potential. They know with conviction what they believe within themselves.”

Huh? One might as well say that people who inspire us to reach our full potential, inspire us to reach our full potential. What is a great American, Mr. Beck? Someone who knows what they believe? Jedi Knights know what they believe. Muslim extremists know what they believe. So did Stalin. But what is a great American? What is our “common sense” based on? Conservatives don’t really have an answer to this, except to sputter things about traditional values. They might dare to mention God, but they will say nothing of Jesus Christ or the Church, because they don’t want to lose their coalition.

Beck also writes, “Don’t remain neutral. Do not sit idly by. Do not let others speak for you. Silence has gotten us nowhere so it’s once again time for our collective voice to make a simple yet powerful demand… Don’t Tread on Me.”

Mr. Beck, if one is lying on the ground in a footrace, one risks being trod on and no amount of protest will remove this occurrence, especially if those coming from behind have been licking our heels and hoping for this moment for a long time. We live in a society built by those who trusted God, not politics and not conservative cable media. But now that Christians are looking to politics for their salvation, they have lost the ability to lead and will be trampled: “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men” (Mt. 5:13). To quote Doug Wilson: “And here we are, the trampled Church.” Granted, Mr. Beck, you are trying to get people to quit looking to the government, but looking to ourselves is no better. No amount of “You’re a great American!” high-fiving is going to help us.

The most interesting (and exasperating) part of Beck’s book to me is the introduction where he defines his audience or, in reality, the constituency that he is trying to motivate:

“I think I know who you are. After September 11, 2001, you thought our country had changed for the better. But the months that followed proved otherwise. We began to divide ourselves and the partisan bickering that had been absent from blood donor lines and church services started all over again…”

Translation: When the little twerp neighbor kid threw a rock through the window, suddenly we stopped threatening dad with the pizza cutter and decided to clobber the kid instead, but he got away and we went back to our family feud. We don’t know what we’re fighting over, but whatever it is, we’re definitely not thankful for the pizza.

“You may go to church, but most weekends, you don’t really want to—you’d rather sleep in or play with your kids. Besides, it bothers you that people cut each other off in the parking lot right after the service.”

Okay, Mr. Beck. You got me with this one. Are you saying that Evanjellyfish Christians don’t know what the heck church is for and blame other Christians for their apathy? You’re right and their pastors don’t know what church is for either. May be this is why conservatives don’t know what they’re conserving. Just a thought. He continues,

“You have children and, like all families, you also have your share of problems—but you’re making it. You constantly hope that your kids don’t notice you’re bluffing as a parent most of the time.”

Oh, they notice. And that’s why they put their parents in nursing homes. All the physical comforts parents need without the hard work of actually loving them.

How can you write this stuff, Beck? How can you paint such a pathetic picture of the Americans you are trying to lead and then merely talk to them about politics? It’s like meeting a person dying of thirst on the side of the road and giving him a voters guide. “Look! This candidate supports better roads!” Granted, this is a selection from your introduction. You also identify with your readers economically. But how can you identify with Americans in their sources of deepest guilt, their church and family life, and then pretend that the answers all lie in their political life? It’s bait and switch because you don’t have the answers, do you?

Beck's Common Sense reads like most conservative literature. The bulk of the book is devoted to explaining what is wrong with American politics and government. I think he gets it right and there are some great quotes. Consider the following mini narrative:

“America has been slowly pulled off the course charted for us in Philadelphia more than two centuries ago. Through legitimate ‘emergencies’ involving war, terror, and economic crises, politicians on both sides have gathered illegitimate new powers—playing on our fears and desire for security—at the expense of our freedoms. And now, after supposedly massive change, not only are we still on the wrong track, but it feels as though our new conductor has just increased the speed at which our misdirected train is traveling.”

Finally someone in the media is saying that both political parties are driving us toward the cliff! But it’s not until chapter six, the last chapter, that Beck really suggests a solution. He says, “The way you can show everyone that you are serious is to leave whatever political party you currently belong to. Stop donating to the faceless RNC or DNC and start devoting your time, energy, and, if appropriate, your dollars to the people who stand for your values.” Hurray! Now that sounds like a solution, but what are our values? Did Moses descend from the mountain with the Ten Core Values? One final quote from Beck:

“Those in Washington believe that there are many sheep and no shepherds. So we must let them know in the most unequivocal of terms: WE ARE NOT SHEEP.”

Yes we are sheep, Beck. At least we had better start being sheep if we're not. The alternative is frightening. “He is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” And today, “if we will hear his voice,” we might get out of this mess. But that would take revival and reformation in actual churches, not just "in our hearts and minds," and learning to submit to God’s Word and the government of God, again, in actual and faithful churches. But I forgot, we don’t like government very much do we. We’re conservatives.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, yes, I did learn all of this from my pastor. Thanks for preaching the truth, Doug! "Conservatives" may be losing the battle, but to those who love him and keep His commandments, to those who give unto God what is God's, our God is faithful to a thousand generations. The planet has a glorious future, but it will not come quickly. It will arrive one family, one church, one Christian school at a time.

They toil not, neither do they spin

2009-03-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

Why does God try to alleviate fear of destitution with lilies? "Oh, you have no money for clothes? Here are some lilies. They toil not." Of course not, they're lilies. We're men. We must toil. The curse--remember? Perhaps the answer is that lilies are one of those parables in which Jesus speaks, a parable unto themselves. Why this beauty? Why this grace? If you see God when you look at lilies, then you'll be okay. God will provide for your needs.

This makes me remember a Monty Python skit where an effeminate prince begins uncontrollably to break into romantic songs in front of his father--I don't think he was clutching lilies, but he could have been. The father shouts him down and proceeds to arrange the sons marriage in order to gain more land, even though the son doesn't want to get married. Python makes caricatures of them both, probably a contrast between hippies and their parents. And the son is totally ridiculous. Yet hippies did have some legitimate concerns, didn't they? It is essential to maintain a sense of wonder at the world, not just wonder at Heaven to come, but at the world, including flowers.

My own mother is quite a gardener. She loves lilacs best. In fact, tomorrow is her birthday. So, happy birthday, Mom! It would be a better world if their were more people like you, people who gape at scenery and see God in all of it! When we've been on vacations together, Mom will plead to have us stop the car so she can carefully frame a picture. And she frequently has to contort herself or sit in the dirt in order to get in some bit of foreground. She has the sense that God just tossed up the canvas before we rounded the turn and it is contagious.

A movie, a simple story, which has that same quality of God being just behind the set, that numinous quality, is Lilies of the Field, with Sidney Poitier (1963). Poitier plays Homer Smith, a Vietnam veteran, a former sergeant, who's heading to California looking for work. And as he's driving across Arizona, he stops in at a run-down place looking for water for his radiator. He's met by five nuns, one of whom believes Smith has been sent by God to build them and the villagers a chapel. She begins to give him orders and to his own consternation, he begins to follow them. He helps them out and stays a little longer and a little longer until, along with the help of other inspired people, the little chapel is built and then the sergeant goes on his way. And that's it, that's the whole movie. Sorry to spoil it for you. I didn't really though. There are many twists and turns and subtleties. In the book it is said that someone paints a picture of the black sergeant, which hangs in the chapel and a bit of a legend springs up about him in the valley. When people ask what saint he was, the nuns will lower their heads and say that he was not a Catholic, but a good man, a Baptist, who was the contractor of the church. He was just a man who stopped long enough to do something truly wonderful, inspired by the mother superior with her harsh exterior, yet tender faith. You leave the movie with the strong feeling, "If only more things like this would happen. If only more people would just listen to God."

Here also is a story about an ethnically and racially diverse community coming together to build something in the face of economic hardships without the involvement of government. In fact, Obama needs to take some time out to learn from Homer Smith and to learn about this phenomenon of Christian volunteerism. Nothing worthwhile can be built without faith in Christ and His Kingdom. And when that faith is exercised, government does not get bigger. There are truly great needs in America at this time. And most people will look to government to meet them, government being to them the only conceivable center of collective action. But there are still a million ways for those with faith to seize this moment as well. It can be our moment just as easily as theirs to build the Kingdom.

Now, this is a sixties movie. Their are some points where you can see the actors trying to act. It's also paced differently than newer movies, but Poitier's performance makes up for all that. He won an academy award for best actor. And as a whole the movie is just refreshing. I've seen a ton of movies, but few will stick in my mind like this one. It succeeds in being truthful without being preachy, sort of like lilies themselves.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you (Luke 12:27-31).

God is good and life is good!

2009-03-12T23:26:00.000-07:00

I recently read Nobel Savages: Exposing the Worldview of Pornographers and Their War Against Christian Civilization, by R.J. Rushdoony. It was originally published in 1976 under the title The Politics of Pornography. Everything I've read by Rushdoony is so right on. In fact I found his world history lectures a great resource when teaching at Logos. You also see Doug Wilson all over the place. Or rather you realize he was there before you. In fact, if I were to assemble my American, Twentieth Century spiritual pedigree it would probably go, aside from my preacher grandfather of course, Francis Schaefer, R.J. Rushdoony, Doug Wilson. Those are my spiritual fathers.

The basic argument of the book is that looking at porn is an essentially religious activity. That is, people who succumb to it are engaged in a false religion and worshiping a false god. Pretty serious words. Having denied the One God and everything supernatural, modern materialists are left with nothing to provoke or inspire them except the primal drives, what Freud called the id. And so men being what they are, religious beings, who live not by bread alone, they begin to place their faith in those drives as the source of their vitality, when in fact, because the universe is governed by God's immutable law, this leads surely to death. Of course it is not sexual appetite, or any desire for that mater, which is the problem, but serving a particular desire with disregard to God's law.

I was struck by the truth that pornography is essentially a ritual, one among many perverse rituals, of the modernist religion. And that is why, for example, homosexuals are held in such high esteem. They are treated as a priestly caste which to denounce is to be guilty of blasphemy, conveniently called "hate speech."

And the frightening thing is that American Christians sit idly by, consuming much of the same filth as everyone else in our Philistine culture. We don't want to be prudes. But the point is that it's not just "filth," although it is that. It's propaganda. And how can we fight it if we don't speak about it. Men, speak up!

One thing I hope to never forget from this book is Rushdoony's description of two men, one who had not succumbed to this false religion and one that had:

Men in every age are largely shaped by the ideas that govern them and command their imagination. Men judge themselves by the standards of their day, and by its ideas of what constitutes life. Their faith has much to do with making life livable. An elderly immigrant, speaking limited English, was used to the patriarchal power common in the old country to the oldest man in a family. As that oldest man, the authority of the family was in his hands. Although bedridden for several years before his death, he ate with zest, ordered his family about with assurance, and, smacking his lips, raised with pride and pleasure his wine glass together with the assembled family, declaring, "God is good and life is good!" This immigrant's image of life and man was patriarchal and familistic, and he enjoyed it, despite his invalidism. In contrast, when a very much younger man, totally modern in outlook, found himself impotent, although otherwise healthy, he committed suicide (82).

In this example, to make the point most strongly, the one man is old and the other young; however, age doesn't really mater. There are men of all ages who whine and moan about the slightest hardships because they've succumbed to false ideas and inevitably false habits. To those men there is only one thing that can be said, if they can still hear it: repent or perish!

By the way, I'm proud to say that I use Covenant Eyes accountability software on my computer and I would recommend it to anyone. I now know several men I respect who use this service. It costs $8 per month, but it's well worth it to know that porn is not an option when you're online and its a much better service than the free programs.

On Memory

2009-01-11T18:47:00.000-08:00

A couple instances recently have caused me to ponder memory and how important it is despite our taking it for granted. Without memory a man or woman doesn’t know where they came from, who they are, or even where they are going, since all decisions about the future are based on the past. In other words, we truly are what we remember.

Firstly, I was watching with a good friend of mine the movie, “Memento,” about a man who has complete short term memory loss. That is, he has a working memory, enough to perform regular tasks, and he has a long term memory for the time before he developed his condition; however, none of his new experiences become encoded into his long term memory. He may meet someone new and the only way for him to remember who they are is to picture their face and repeat their name over and over mechanically in his mind. Aside from this, he can take Polaroid pictures of people and write their names on the images, along with a word about who they are, which he does repeatedly. He even tattoos things on himself that he especially wants to remember, such as the fact that he wants to kill whoever murdered his wife. Yet he still lives in constant anxiety, not knowing who to trust or what rotten thing he may have done that he can’t remember. The worst thing is that he really doesn’t know who he is. His last memory is of his wife dying and so when he thinks of it, he sees himself as righteous, or at least pitiable, the avenger of his dead wife, but by the end of the movie, we learn this isn’t the case at all.

(If you haven’t seen it, you may want to first before you read the rest of my comments, because I’ll probably give the ending away for you. On the other hand you may not want to see it, because it’s one of the darkest, most nihilistic movies I’ve ever seen. I can’t say that I recommend it. Yet it is profound, in so far as the depravity of man can be profound.) At the end of the movie, which is actually the beginning, since some of the scenes are arranged in reverse order chronologically, we learn that the main character, our protagonist no less, has already killed the man who killed his wife, but he can’t stop seeking revenge. He kills again and even writes himself a new clue, a fake clue, knowingly sending himself after an innocent person. He would rather live with his forgetfulness than remember what he’s done.

Secondly, I was wandering through Hastings, looking for a book for my mother for Christmas, and I found a book entitled, The Woman Who Can’t Forget. It’s the autobiography of Jill Price, now in her forties, who remembers every day of her life, since she was eight. Tell her a major public event, such as the Massacre in Tiananmen Square and she will tell you what exact date it occurred, June 4, 1989, and the day of the week, Sunday. Or, vice versa, give her any date and she will tell you what she was doing on that day and any other major or notable events that occurred on that day. Often while she’s blow drying her hair in the morning, she will recall all the other days of that particular date on that day of the week. For example, if it’s the Fourth of July, on a Wednesday, she will remember all the other Fourth of July’s that fell on a Wednesday in her life and what she did on each day. You would think that she would be a great student, but actually her mind has never worked well for memorizing the types of things one learns in school and on top of that she was constantly being distracted by a barrage of autobiographical memories, so that she became quite overwhelmed. She remembered, not only the good memories but the bad ones too, unable to filter out negative memories as normal people do.

So here we have cases in which both too little and too much memory became a scourge. Yet how much better it is to remember more, rather than less! Remembering so much might be traumatic when one is young and forming one’s identity, but the cure for all that might be simply the encouraging voice of a parent or the wisdom that comes from living through those events and thinking about them in a new light. But how awful to not remember!

It occurred to me that the author of Memento, though he exaggerated circumstances of his character, was actually saying something about everyone. In fact his main character was an Everyman. Except this man was no hero. At first you’re on his side. He is a compelling protagonist, trying to find the man who murdered his wife, even when, as others point out to him, he will not be able to remember what he will do to the man when he finds him. Nevertheless, he’s trying to make the best of his horrible condition. But when the movie ends, we realize that we were tricked into sympathizing with this character in order for the author to reveal something about ourselves. That is, we all engage in willful forgetfulness to some degree. In fact, I realized that forgetfulness can be a part of a cycle. Sin, anxiety, and forgetfulness work together in a negative cycle. How do we stop? By remembering: “But you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this thing.” Deuteronomy 24:18

On the other hand, as we learn from Jill Price, too much memory without interpretation can be crippling. She mentions a Garth Brooks song: "It's 4 in the morning. I'm lyin' in bed, A tape of my failures playin' inside my head." God doesn’t want us to remember everything, not other people’s every failure or our own, but there are so many things he wants us to remember, especially him and what he’s done for us. Our story with him is the most important.

Wolf Spider Quandery

2008-12-07T00:04:00.000-08:00

Why is it that wolf spiders will scamper across an entire room as if they are trying to avoid you and then stop, just seconds from the safety of a crack or crevice, and wait, and wait, and wait. Are they staring back at you with eight beady eyes? Are they daring you to chase them? But then when you approach them and even stomp the floor next to them they stay right where they are in devilish defiance. Oh well, perhaps we shall never know, but that is why one of them is stuck to the bottom of my sock.

A Remarkably Timely Comic Book From 1985

2008-12-05T22:05:00.000-08:00

The following scans are from Biblical Economics in Comics (1985) by Vic Lockman. Click on the image so you can see it full size.

Great Idea for the Next Time I Teach History

2008-12-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

From Yahoo.com:

Teacher sorry for binding girls in slavery lesson

By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer Jim Fitzgerald, Associated Press Writer

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – A white social studies teacher attempted to enliven a seventh-grade discussion of slavery by binding the hands and feet of two black girls, prompting outrage from one girl's mother and the local chapter of the NAACP. After the mother complained to Haverstraw Middle School, the superintendent said he was having "conversations with our staff on how to deliver effective lessons."

"If a student was upset, then it was a bad idea," said Superintendent Brian Monahan of the North Rockland School District in New York City's northern suburbs.

The teacher apologized to the mother who complained and her 13-year-old daughter during a meeting Thursday that also included a representative of the local NAACP. But the mother, Christine Shand of Haverstraw, said Friday she thinks the teacher should be removed from the class.

"I think the teacher should have gotten some discipline," Shand said. "I know if that was me, I would be uncomfortable going back to that class. Why should my daughter have to switch?"

Monahan refused to say what, if any, measures were taken against the teacher, Eileen Bernstein, who was still working on Friday. The school district said she was not available for comment.

"We encourage our teachers to deliver the curriculum in a variety of ways, to go beyond just reading the textbook," the superintendent said. "We don't want to discourage creativity. But this obviously went wrong because the student was upset."

On Nov. 18, Bernstein was discussing the conditions under which African captives were taken to America in slave ships. She bound the two students' hands and feet with tape and had them crawl under a desk to simulate the experience, Monahan and Shand said. Monahan said the girls were not the only blacks in the class.

Gabrielle Shand burst into tears at home, her mother said.

"There are other ways to demonstrate slavery," Christine Shand said Friday. "It doesn't matter the color of the kids, it's just not right to tie them up. My daughter is still upset, still embarrassed. She didn't go to school today."

Wilbur Aldridge, director of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the history demonstration, first reported in The Journal News, "went wrong when she started to do that binding."

"I don't care what color, no one should be put in the position of having their hands and feet bound," he said.

Aldridge said he feared that the teacher still "didn't get it" after their meeting. He said the teacher apologized "because Gabrielle was upset, not because she admitted she did something wrong."

Shand said she had not decided whether to take any further action, including filing a lawsuit.

A Pilgrim Reality Check

2008-11-30T18:39:00.000-08:00

Although allready three days after Thanksgiving, Pilgrims are still on the mind. I hope you enjoy the following commentary containing some things I learned while teaching US history at Logos School last year. I must credit Nathaniel Philbrick's "Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War."

A PILGRIM REALITY CHECK:
Lessons From the Pilgrims for our Current Economic and Political Affairs

Forty-five billion here, seven-hundred billion there. There isn’t any business the government won’t bailout if it’s big enough. And with the size of the figures floating around, it’s enough to make everyone dizzy. Compassionate conservatives are gushing with taxpayer money, only to be outdone by the bleeding hearts, who are, well, hemorrhaging cash. What is needed this Thanksgiving is a Pilgrim reality check. When the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth late in the year with winter coming on and no shelter, did they get a special housing bailout? And when the Pilgrims started to run out of food that first winter, was their a food bailout? No. And some of them died you say. True, but their trials certainly put our in perspective.

As my pastor, Doug Wilson, is fond of saying, when the Pilgrims came to New England, there were no jobs, just a lot of work to be done. And today, even if you lose your job or your business or your clients, there’s still a lot of work to be done, but it requires learning, the hardest work of all, learning a new profession or way of doing business or perhaps just learning to work for someone new. Certainly, we all need to learn to live within our means. We rode the bull for a long time. We stayed on, focused, and the crowd went wild, but now that we’re off, we’re going to feel the bruises. And we’re going to have to learn how to walk again. And, despite what the politicians would have us believe, this isn’t the time for wheelchairs. Of course the politicians would also have us believe that our current dilemma is really much too complicated to speak of in these terms. But is that really true? Perhaps all of our contemporary anxieties, the economy, politics and homeland security, could use a dose of Pilgrim reality. After all, they dealt with the same basic human needs that we do.

William Bradford put it elegantly, saying that when the Pilgrims landed for the first time at Provincetown Harbor, “They had now no friends to welcome them nor inns to entertain or refresh their weather-beaten bodies; no houses or much less towns to repair to, to seek for succor.” On the contrary, they had every worldly reason to fear, arriving so far north at the onset of winter, with dwindling supplies and without having even chosen a place for their settlement. Yet, when they beheld the “hideous and desolate wilderness” of the cape, as Bradford described it, they fell on their knees and thanked God. Of course they thanked Him for their survival of the journey that was past. But what better time to thank God than when they now needed Him the most, contemplating the great journey of taming the land that lay before them? Thus the Pilgrims’ economic reality consisted merely of the land, their own hands, the Indians, and the grace of God. Those last two being often one and the same.

And more than the fear of deprivation, the Pilgrims also dealt with political uncertainty. We tend to think that the separatist congregation members (the Pilgrims) were the only passengers on the Mayflower, but in fact they were just 41 of the 102 on board. And when they reached the shores of America, encountering strong winds and shoals, which prevented them from moving south to their intended destination, some among the non-Separatists (the “strangers,” as they were called) realized that their governing charter under the London Company was no longer valid and so they threatened to strike out on their own, to scatter in the time of greatest need for mutual protection and cooperation. Therefore, in the face of this weakening unity, the Pilgrim leaders drafted the Mayflower Compact, reaffirming the colonist’s unity under God and under their king, enlisting the strangers support, and fostering good will not only by their own leadership, but by their mutual submission in accordance with the Compact. For the Pilgrims, as for their nation building descendents 150 years later, it was join or die.

But furthermore there was the fear of not knowing what lay beyond the dark veil of the forest. Having entered Provincetown Harbor on a Saturday, November 11th, 1620, the next day, being Sunday, they did not embark, but held meetings and prayer. Then there was wash to do on Monday and other chores, such as fixing the shallop, the small boat for taking everyone ashore. But by Tuesday, Miles Standish couldn’t wait any longer and lead on an exploration party onto the cape. After only half a day walking down the beach they spied half a dozen Indians walking toward them, who then fled into the woods. They followed them into the forest for several days, discovering an Indian grave, in which they found a bow and arrow, and later they found a great stash of corn. And still later they discovered some sawed planks and a ship’s kettle and the remains of a blonde-haired sailor. What thoughts for their future must these discoveries inevitably brought to mind?

It is commonly thought that the Pilgrims faced no danger from the Indians when landing at Plymouth due to the plague that had recently decimated the great tribes. However the Pilgrims knew better than we of their danger from the Indians that remained, because the history of relations had not been pleasant. In 1611, the Englishman Edward Harlow abducted close to half a dozen Indians and killed at least as many. He abducted one Epenow, who later escaped with the help his tribe. And in 1614 another Englishman, Thomas Hunt took dozens of Indians captive, attempting to sell them in Spain for 20 pounds each. And just that previous summer in 1620, one Thomas Dermer was exploring the New England Coast where almost everywhere he went he was under attack, because that very spring an English ship had arrived at Narraganset Bay, invited a bunch of Indians aboard, and slew them in cold blood.

Arriving amid this regretful situation, anything could happen, and as the Pilgrims numbers dwindled that first winter with the Indians watching all around, they must have wondered what would happen as soon as they reached their weakest point. Though his tribe had but a tiny fraction of its former glory, Massasoit could still gather at least 60 braves. Thus, the Pilgrims’ reality was that they had to make every effort to “live peaceably with all men” if they wanted to survive, not without maintaining the appearance of strength to their best ability; but to maintain peace was life itself and to be sought at the cost of feeding and entertaining their “savage” neighbors on more than one occasion when they would have rather kept to themselves.

Are there not multiple lessons for us today in the Pilgrims’ venture, which was in the end incredibly successful: the establishment of a community in which they and their descendents could serve the Lord in freedom in such a bounteous land? Today, on the coasts of the 21st century, we are witnessing financial storms which prevent many of us from reaching our intended destination. But these are the least of our worries. Within our evangelical ship there are strangers, fellow Christians who do not share a vision for a faithful church in America, who walk without a common purpose, and who need our leadership. Also, there is a new chief in the area with a funny name and many young warriors, whom we have not always treated well. It is not with him that we must fight directly and certainly not on his terms. But we must fight our own errant hearts to maintain gratitude and unity amongst ourselves. And we must likewise fall on our knees and thank God for how far he has taken us and how far we have yet to go. We must ask him to grow the His covenant people in the new wilderness of America.

Conversation with a Buddhist

2008-11-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

I went to Dallas for some training for my new job and on the way back I saw this lady walking around in the airport with only a quarter inch of gray hair and what looked like a hospital gown. I immediately thought she was a cancer patient. But then later when I boarded the plane and found myself sitting next to her, I learned that she was a Buddhist monastic, living with about 10 others in a monastery in Newport, Washington, just north of Spokane. It was actually she who struck up the conversation. I was a shy at first, thinking she might possibly have Aids and it would be embarrassing for me to ask her about her haircut and garb, but as soon as she introduced herself we talked for the entire one-and-one-half hour flight.

I asked her how she came to be a Buddhist and she said that she was a history major in college like me. She was drawn to Buddhism because its teaching made sense and helped her. Then, after she was already a Buddhist, she became deeply concerned about her own integrity. For example, she would complain about the lies of government and big business, while thinking her own little white lies wouldn’t hurt anyone. So finally she decided to seek self control through the discipline of the monastery, which in fact helped her, she said. And I could tell that she now had peaceful soul. She had walked and smiled, when I had seen her earlier, like someone at rest, resigned to her condition, not fighting the world. And given her shaved head and simple frock, her lack of care for material things couldn’t be more obvious. Yet, she wasn’t afraid to ask me about my new job and whether I thought it was honest. I liked her immediately.

I told her about the Trinity and how worshiping the Triune God allows people to live in both unity and diversity. We talked about Islam and gender roles and the role of politics in believer’s life and the history of evangelicalism in America. And we talked about Buddhism’s cyclical view of history and I asked her how such a world with no creator had any meaning. In fact it was I that most often set the course of the conversation, while she would question me at times and object gracefully at others. It occurred to me that she was probably doing what Buddhists do, which is to avoid confrontation and rather probe for weakness. She asked me how I could think of men and women in such “stereotypical” roles, but when I didn’t balk at the term, but continued to explain marriage as I had heard Doug Wilson do so many times and also continued to tell her my own experiences (not with marriage of course!), so as to remain vulnerable, we eventually began to get along quite well—me and Thubten Chodron, as she was called. The tension with which we started the conversation vanished. Yet I didn’t ask her any personal questions, because I wanted to respect her age, but toward the end of the conversation she told me that her last name had been Wilson. And she also said something very strange and telling. She said that she used to wonder why she had a body, why she should be white and born in America, why these hands and this color hair, etc. She had wanted rather to identify with the entire human race. I responded by saying that I believed God placed us in families and ethnic groups and nations for a reason and that these were something to glory in, but that our identity has countless levels. One may in one context be proud of his identity as a Wilson or a Becktell and an American and also be proud of his identity as a Westerner or a son of Adam or a creature for that matter. Everyone in fact is much more diverse, biologically speaking than we realize. Each one of us has eight great grandparents and sixteen great, great grandparents and so on.

The plane began to land and so I told her what a pleasure it was to meet her and asked if she had a Facebook. She did not, because she was worried that such means of communication would inhibit true face to face relationships. It occurred to me that living in a monastery, humming in tune with the universe might limit true face to face relationships as well, but I thought better of it. She probably has developed a number of close relationships with her peers and students.

As she left I wondered to myself and to God, whether I had been a good witness. It almost bothered me that we had gotten along so well. We shared so many of the same values, peace, simplicity and taking responsibility, and yet she believed not in God, but in “humankind,” as she would say, and humankind’s own humanity to man, our ability to recognize and alleviate the pain of others. It occurred to me that the only way I might influence her, so far along in her pursuit of “enlightenment,” was for my God to vindicate me. I had told her what I could. It was not for me to press home some uncomfortable point to a kind woman, much older than myself. There are sometimes when a Christian meets his equal in terms of someone who loves peace and wants to do what’s right and who seems self-satisfied. And perhaps only the passage of time and the manifest blessing of God on our lives can influence these.

The Florida Gang

2008-07-15T16:48:00.001-07:00

Here we all are at St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in Orlando. This is hands down the strongest team of pest control salesmen from Moscow, Idaho, ever assembled, except perhaps for that yahoo in the middle whose pest control career may have finally met its end (praise be to God) in Florida's sultry suburban sprawl.

And by far the biggest highlight of our trip, besides walking neighborhoods nine hours a day in the sun with a heat index of 180 degrees, was meeting the West family. Mr. Andrew West works with Campus Crusade for Christ, training other staff members to raise support for their ministries. His wife Kelley helps him to raise really energetic and cheerful daughters and one seriously cool son. Thanks again, to Mrs. West especially, for your tremendous hospitality!

Ted Kooser, Career Choices, and Northerness

2008-02-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

This is Ted Kooser, the recent Poet Laureate of the United States, serving two terms from 2004-2006. I had heard about him a while back when I was at NSA. In fact, I think that Aaron Wrench told me about him. Aaron is always interviewing some interesting celebrity and I think Aaron even asked Kooser to write him a recommendation to get into the creative writing MFA at U of I. So Ted Kooser stuck in my mind back then and I heard him again recently on NPR. Kooser writes poems that are both understandable, which I like, and poetic at the same time--Imagine that. Here's a quote in which he explains how he wants to be considerate to the "strangers of poetry," which I must admit that I mostly am:

"Every stranger's tolerance for poetry is compromised by much more important demands on his or her time. Therefore, I try to honor my reader's patience and generosity by presenting what I have to say as clearly and succinctly as possible .... Also, I try not to insult the reader's good sense by talking down; I don't see anything to gain by alluding to intellectual experiences that the reader may not have had. I do what I can to avoid being rude or offensive; most strangers, understandably, have a very low tolerance for displays of pique or anger or hysteria. Being harangued by a poet rarely endears a reader. I am also extremely wary of over cleverness; there is a definite limit to how much intellectual showing off a stranger can tolerate." - Midwest Quarterly, 1999

Another thing about Kooser that piqued my interest is that he worked in insurance for many, many years, I think until he retired, first as a salesman and then as the vice president of a company. And he was still able after all of that mind-numbing sales and administrative work to be creative. My passion is studying and interpreting history, but I often feel that my skills as a reader, teacher, writer and public speaker are not such as to earn me much of a living or allow me much time to give to a future family while earning it, therefore I take comfort that history and perhaps even some success in writing or teaching may be waiting for me when I retire from a more regular sort of job.

Here is just one poem of Kooser’s, which I pulled off his website, tedkooser.com, entitled "Flying at Night:"

Above us, stars. Beneath us, constellations.
Five billion miles away, a galaxy dies
like a snowflake falling on water. Below us,
some farmer, feeling the chill of that distant death,
snaps on his yard light, drawing his sheds and barn
back into the little system of his care.
All night, the cities, like shimmering novas,
tug with bright streets at lonely lights like his.

That poem is about what C.S Lewis called "northerness," the consciousness of great spaces or distances, the stars above and the earth beneath, even great caverns in the earth beneath and the molten core of the earth and the space on the other side and the fact that the earth is suspended in space. It's enough to give one vertigo. I wish that I would spend more time thinking about such things than I do. It puts career choices in perspective, a very healthy sort of thought. But of course, unless we are going to be ungrateful existentialists, the thought cannot stop there. The conclusion of such thoughts is that God is great. God can span all of those distances between his thumb and pinky.

The Importance of Chant

2008-02-15T22:54:00.000-08:00

I went to disputatio today at NSA to hear Dr. David R. Erb--from Trinity Church in Kirkland Washington, a Reformed evangelical church--who is candidating for being NSA's new music professor and choir director. My first concern was whether there would be enough work at Christ Church for Mark Reagan to stay in town. Fortunately, there will be. If Erb is hired then Mark will focus on training the congregation. And if I know Mark, he will probably use the lighter workload to further pursue his education.

Anyway, this Erb guy seems like a good sport. He even came out to play at NSA basketball game. Erb spoke about chants, something very foreign to the vast majority of contemporary American churches, yet something integral to the Christian tradition. American church music today, stylistically speaking, is a no-man’s-land. It has no distinguishable features to relate it to the great tradition of western sacred music or even the music of the early church. However, one thing that all sacred music has had in common through the centuries, whether that of the early Christian synagogues or that of the medieval churches and monasteries, is chant. Chanting the psalms more directly connects the congregation with scripture than do most “praise choruses” and liturgical chants allow the service to proceed by singing, which is more glorious than just speaking. Erb began his talk by quoting Zephania 3:14-17.

(14)Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. (15)The LORD hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. (16)In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. (17)The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

God not only commands us to sing, but He himself sings about us. Thus, singing is extremely important for those who would be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Historically, Christian services were often entirely composed of singing. The creeds were sung. Scripture as well was chanted, not merely read, and even sermons were chanted. Martyn Loyd-Jones was the last of the Scottish sermon chanters.

Erb would like to see a revival of chant, not in the same way it was sung during the Middle Ages, but new renditions of the Psalms, which may be half sung and half chanted. We need to draw on the chants when putting the Psalms to music and knowing them will also make the music of the masters (Bach and Mozart and Durufle, etc.) much more relevant and understandible.

This is certainly not a perfect summary of what Dr. Erb said; nevertheless, I thought he was compelling. My guess is that they'll probably hire him.

First Logos Snow Day in 12 Years!

2008-02-03T13:55:00.000-08:00

Hans and Noai Leidenfrost invited everyone to a sledding party on Robbinson Hill, but the ride to the bottom was so bumpy that Jeremiah L. and others began to build this fort. From left to right: Jeff M., Ben N., Noai L.

I have to admit that I felt somewhat guilty working on this fort when everyone else in town was laboring to get their houses and cars free from the mounds of snow! But hey, to everything there is a season.

Here is the fort as far as we were able to complete it on Thursday afternoon. The photo is grainy because I had to increase the contrast. The left wall is taller than I am (6'3"). Hopefully someone will finish the project. Way to go Jeremiah Leidenfrost for starting this fort!

18 Inches of Snow - Whump!

2008-02-01T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is the view from the front of my small apartment complex. It's one of the most interesting places I've ever lived because all of the apartments are studios. Since everyone lives alone, we're all much more prone to make friends with each other than if we all had roomates. One particular guy named Matt is very, very cool, one of the most friendly people I've ever met. He enjoys watching the Simpsons whenever he's not sleeping and he always has his door open, so you can stop by and watch with him whenever you want. He and his buddies (about 5 of them) live here and give the place a dormatory atmospher. Anyway, these are my friends cars here after the snow. As you can see they haven't tried to dig them out and it's already been a day since it snowed.

Could it be that they were preoccupied with something else. Hey, what's that big, white lump there, about 30 yards away?

Wow! It's a fort! This is the coolest studio apartment complex ever! (Ouch, my tongue just got stuck in my cheek.)

As you can tell by the level of light in this interior photo, the snow and chickenwire ceiling on this igloo is not very thick. Fortunately, they built this column in the center to help hold it up.

Voting With the Gut

2008-01-28T22:17:00.001-08:00

I just heard Stephen Colbert (a Comedy Central news show host) speaking at the White House Press Correspondent's dinner with George Bush in attendance. It’s amazing that a guy can speak the way he did just 10 feet away from the leader of the most powerful nation on earth—stinging satire of what George Bush is all about! It’s a testament both to the greatness of our freedom of speech and the greatness of our contempt for authority in these times. That being said, I happened to agree with some of what he was saying. He makes fun of how stupid and uninformed the average American can be as they support political candidates. He said satirically that he identifies with the president; they both make decisions from the gut. He said, “did you know that there are more nerve endings in your gut than in your head?” How does he know? His gut told him.

Anyway, my gut told me that I needed to make another blog post. My last one was starting to embarrass me. That’s the only reason I make new blog posts now, when the old one becomes so old that it’s unbearable even to its proud creator. Why have a blog then? Well, I suppose I enjoy having a presence online even if it’s only a tiny, stagnant, watering hole in the middle of a desert. Occasionally people stumble upon my blog, though they may refrain from drinking after glancing at the date stamp. Dried algae colors the ground around my pool. But the blog does let people know that I occasionally think something. About once every three months to a year I will think something. The rest of the time my mind is of course completely blank. My gut, on the other hand, is always working.

In addition to six strips of very thick, Winco Foods bacon, my gut today was mulling over that great crusader Ron Paul. Actually what happened was that Peter Roise, a local supporter of Ron Paul in Moscow, called me up to let me know that the Washington caucus is occurring on February 9th. And, as I am one of those few people that hop on the new Palouse superhighway over to Pullman every night, he thought I should know about this.

Now I’ve liked Ron Paul ever since I heard about him. I voted for Allan Keys who had some of the same ideas back in 2000. It’s a shame that the conservative talk show hosts are against him. I heard one host say that half the time Paul sounds crazy and the other half of the time he sounds like Daffy Duck. But originally I when I learned about Paul, I thought, this guy could never be elected, so I became rather taken with Huckabee instead.

There was one YouTube interview in which Tim Russert asked Huckabee about a statement in his book about homosexuals. It seems that Huckabee had lumped Homosexuals into a list with pedophiles in a single sentence in his book. I don’t remember his exact words to Russert, but he didn’t back down. He said there was a difference between pedophilia and homosexuality, but that they are both sin from a Christian perspective. And he also said that when Christians speak about sin they are referring to “missing the mark.” His point being that Christians, like himself, don’t make a distinction between the sinners in the world and the sinless people, we’re all sinners. He seemed to represent the faith well and that’s why I thought he would be a good president. I mean, not that the presidents primary job is to witness to people, but give me a brake! I'm an evangelical here! If we didn't have a Christian president, then I might actually have to look to my Pastor for spiritual leadership. I just had that gut feeling about Huckabee. “There’s just something about him” and he plays the bass guitar.

However, since receiving the phone call from Peter and thinking that perhaps Ron Paul is in this for the long haul, having raised more money than Huckabee, I logged onto Paul's website and watched his January 27 video about how the campaign was going and I have to tell you that that was the first time that Paul spoke to me in the gut. He was so honest in the way he evaluated the success of his campaign. He said that he had no plans of leaving the race until his support died out and that as long as his supporters were enthusiastic, he was in it for the long haul. He had several young people around him in his office as he delivered this message, representing the thousands of young supporters that will listen to it online. He encouraged his idealistic followers, but didn’t lie to them. He said he didn’t know the future. It was great. I was touched. I became a Ron Paul supporter in my gut and not just my head! (Am I jerking any tears out there?)

There’s no question that Ron Paul is the stellar candidate, a real, live, honest politician. A new species, if there ever was one. He has risen out of the primordial goo of politics, not to mention the primordial goo of my blog, and proven evolution true for the first time. Now if we all could just prove the Revolution true! Go Ron Paul!

I like Mike

2008-01-05T20:18:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I know that the ability to play the bass guitar is not necessary for being president, but I just like Mike Huckabee! In fact, I've been on a political binge (I don't consider politics to be normal healthy fair) for the past couple of days, as people have been voting in Iowa. I've listened to all of the youtube clips and other media that you can find on the candidate's websites and, although Ron Paul is the favorite of many of my respected friends, he just seems too shrill to ever be elected president. I've been to a Ralph Nader ralley before and listening to Ron Paul reminds me of being at a Nader ralley.

Huckabee on the other hand is so likeable! Huckabee reminded me of a certain feeling I had as a kid when watching TV at election time, the feeling of excitement that I really, really like a certain candidate and that I think he really could win. That's the feeling that I had listening to Huckabee and I think its all because he's an unashamed Christian.

I love the way he spoke on Meet the Press, defending a quote in his book about homosexuality. Click on the link above.

A Fated Pair: Katharine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Myers

2007-08-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Long time since I've posted, but I recently came across the sort of information that begs to be posted on these narcissistic journals called blogs. That's right, info about ME.

I know that my large blog audience has been waiting breathlessly for 11 months for my next post. So it's time to come clean with the real truth about yours truly, El Martbo.

I am an ENFP: An extroverted, introspective, feeling, probing person. Whoa! You say. Extroverted and introspective. That’s a contradiction isn’t it? And feeling and probing? So that mean’s your going to be a dentist, right? Just don’t feel and probe too much in my direction!

Ah, let me allay your fears. You see, in the beginning, when Myers and Briggs created the personalities, they divided the feeling people from the thinking people and they saw that it was pretty good. Then they divided the judging people from the probing, people. (You know, the kind that say, “it’s about the journey,” born liberals, basically.) And they saw that it was maybe okay, but they had their doubts. Then they looked at the perfectly normal person they just hacked to pieces in order to make all the other types and he was dead. But it was too late. Darn, I guess we’ll just have to live with each other now.

The NF part of my personality means that I am an idealist. I was interested to find out that Doug Wilson and Doug Jones, two men that I admire greatly, are also idealists. But they have some key differences from each other. Doug Wilson is an ENFJ, which is basically the perfect personality for being a teacher and pastor. He’s extroverted, but introspective as opposed to “sensing.” That means he prefers to work with words than with tools. He sees the principles behind things and can communicate this principles to others. Now of course, anyone who has heard Doug Wilson speak, knows that he is a extremely thoughtful and rational individual, but he’s not a techno-geek or research-minded, rationalistic person; he’s in the “feeling” category. Finally, he’s a “judging” person as opposed to a “perceiving” person, like myself. The J types are good schedulers. They can really get stuff done, which explains a lot about Doug Wilson. It makes me whish I was a J too! Oh well. Doug Jones is an INFP. In the book, “Please Understand Me II,” which explains the personality types and the philosophy behind them, INFPs are nicknamed “healers.” And I think that moniker applies to Doug Jones pretty well.

One of the traits of my personality is to want to discover things (hopefully good things) about myself and other people and then tell everyone about it. Well, there you have it!

Jesus, a former Marxist professor and me

2007-01-08T19:21:00.000-08:00

My former headmaster, Toby S. (not the Marxist I am refering to in the title!), said this about the legacy of the Reformed Church.

"Our legacy is one of fat theology books and church splits. And of course there are notable exceptions, but generally, it appears we've done a fairly dismal job of putting hands and feet on our (supposed) theology. Our circles are primarily ideologically driven/maintained rather than geographically/parish focused."

That is so true and it is equally true that the most effective ministry (perhaps even the only ministry that is ultimately effective) is personal ministry. Jesus public death on the cross would not have meant a thing if He did not have a personal ministry to the disciples and others in his close circle. Jesus death has significance on all different levels, but if he had just been a hermit before he died, no one would have cared. The significance of his death goes far beyond the legal transaction that took place, the fact that he paid the debt for my sins. It is impossible to serve God without serving those around us.

I know a professor who says that he used to be Marxist, but now when he reads Marxists he can't get past their religion. He's frequently pretty cynical about teaching. He said that he might have trouble arguing with a student who answered one of his essay questions by saying, "Who gives a crap?" Of course the student doesn't have the credibility to say something like that, but this professor does. He said he doesn't get any real satisfaction from his job anymore, that his family gives him happiness now, but not writting for his peers. He made fun of the old professors who still stand around joking about how dumb students are, about how they don't know the basic facts of history, like what decade the Civil War was. "Of course they're dumb!" was his recognition. "Why should they care about Bizmark's rise to power aided by the king and on the backs of the working men?" which was something that he used to care about as a Marxist. The marxists believed that economics influenced culture, which influenced politics. "It was was a beautiful theory," he said, and that must be why he believed in it.

But now this particular professor, in his historiography class, which is a class about methods of historical analyis and writing, says that people who pick any one of those three things (economics, culture or politics) as being preeminant and controlling over the others, make him nervous. I guess I'll have to be careful not to be too precise in my methods! But as a Christian, and one who goes to a church with an optimistic eschatology, I tend to believe that culture is more of a substrata than either economics or politics. In the marketplace people exchange things, in the political arena they fight for things, but as members of a culture we adopt a way of living. Jesus started a culture, a way of living, accompanied by certain beliefs, but primarily a way of living, which has outlasted countless governments and changes in economy. And that culture is built on the foundation of personal ministry, beyond just the ministry to our families, though that is important. Therefore Christians have a historiography, which corresponds with their way of life, and that truly is beautiful! May thy Kingdom come, Lord Jesus!

Who we are

2007-01-07T02:00:00.000-08:00

I love this statement about who we are in the CREC by Chris Schlect:

We in the CREC are recovering from 20th century fundamentalism and pietism. As pietists, we tried to be relevant to culture and to make a difference, but we learned that the more relevant we tried to become, the more shallow and fragmented, and at last, the less relevant, we became. As fundamentalists, we wanted to hold up the Bible as our standard of truth, but we came to learn that without owning the church as the “pillar and ground of the truth,” a high Bible is no longer a precious Covenant document, but Gnostic emptiness.

God protected us from ourselves. He protected us through all our silly political lobbying, our taste for Contemporary Christian music, and our media-frenzied vision for ministry, even as we neglected the church. He has been kind to show us our folly, and to restore us to our mother. We in the CREC are in love with our creeds and confessions and liturgies and our church government. For our merciful God has rescued us out of the 20th century.

Check out the rest of the CREC's history here.

A New Speaker for the 2007 Trinity Fest

2007-01-07T00:50:00.000-08:00

Dr. David Field is going to speak at Trinity Fest this year.

Hesitant mission statements

2007-01-06T23:34:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at some of the websites and descriptions of various Christian organizations here at WSU and many of them are very hesitant sounding. Consider this Presbyterian one:

"...a weekly worship service where university students get together to celebrate real life in Jesus Christ through song, prayer, teaching, and hanging out. It’s centered on making Jesus relevant, whether you are a skeptic, sitting on the fence, or actively maturing in your faith."

There's nothing wrong with hanging out for Jesus. All ministry must be personal or it is not effective ministry. But lets not start with the assumption that Jesus is irrelivant! Here's another one:

"...at WSU is an open and accepting Christian community (Koinonia) honoring diversity of persons and opinions, working for reconciliation and the integration of faith and learning for the Washington State University Community.

We are a group of seven Protestant denominations which have covenanted together to provide ministry opportunities to WSU students, faculty and staff.

The Common Ministry is an open and accepting Christian community: we strive to be in ministry with all people regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or age."

That one doesn't even mention Jesus! I guess it wouldn't though, because it also uses its facility for the meetings of entirely different religions, such as Muslims.

Politics is the opiate of the masses!

2007-01-04T00:43:00.000-08:00

Richard John Neuhaus, author of "The Naked Public Square," calls himself a catholic and ecumenical Lutheran. He wrote a book in 1984 that expresses many of the ideas and attitudes towards politics that I have learned since being at Christ Church and so its very interesting to find a few of them in a book that was written long before Leithart wrote "Against Christianity," which is my favorite political treatise besides the New Testament itself. Here is one of those ideas that I hold dear--the idea that a Christian's life gets bigger, not smaller as he watches less of Fox News:

"Largeness of life has little to do with the size of the space engaged. The person watching the evening political news about budget battles in Washington and bloodier battles in Beirut is not necessarily living more largely. Large horizons on life's possibilities might more likely be disclosed by listening to a Mozart concerto or taking the dog for a walk around the neighborhood." Amen to that!

The problem of individualism

2007-01-01T13:55:00.000-08:00

A quotation from Doug Wilsons’ blog: “As a pastor, I have spoken many times with men and women who tragically believe that their personal identity is separate and distinct from whatever relationships that they might happen to be in. Individualism has persuaded many of the disastrous doctrine that personal identity is monadic or solitary. This is one of the reasons why we are dealing with an epidemic of divorce—men and women have come to believe they can walk away from marriage without touching or affecting what or who they are as a person.”

This very little light of mine

2007-01-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

The Lord gave me a convicting thought yesterday while talking with a friend: When have I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with someone, not the idea that Christianity should be given more consideration in public life and not that that the Christian Worldview is unjustly targeted, but the Gospel--showing to someone how God’s grace can change their life and "save" them? It's clear that American Christians need to pray to the Lord for opportunities to declare His truth and to help grow His Church.

Contemporary Christian Music

2006-10-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

Eric E. from the Nuart Theatre and Campus Christian Ministries here in Moscow recently e-mailed some thoughts in defense of Contemporary Christian Music prior to a concert at the Nuart. I thought I would post them here, because I think they're interesting and agree that sometimes, we at Christ Church are too critical of CCM. While I no longer believe that the contemporary hit parade praise songs should be used in corporate worship, there's no doubt that we can be blessed by all sorts of Christian entertainers. Especially disconcerting are those Christians who would rather go to a Dave Mathew's concert than go here somebody sing about Christ! So thank you Mr. E for your work at CCM and your music! (By the way, Eric has an album, which many people don't know about, called "Lead Me to Life" with his own Christian songs on it that I've really enjoyed.) Here are Eric's comments:

"I have heard from quite a number of people that they are not planning to come to the Bebo Norman/Aaron Schust/Brandon Heath concert on Monday, because they don't like the style of music. I would like to address this briefly.

Let me say that it makes me sad that many people will miss out on something very special, because of slight perceptional problems.

This concert on Monday night will not really have a definable "style". In fact this music isn't about "style" at all. It's not about playing music in such a way as to convince the audience that you really do sound as good as if you were black, Irish, or wearing a powdered wig. It's not about playing inside a pre-defined stylistic box and not coloring outside the lines. Those kind of concerts are wonderful-- I enjoy them-- especially when the musicians really are black, Irish, or wearing a powdered wig. But that is not what Monday night will be.

Monday night's concert at the Nuart is about getting to know three young men, and hearing them put their passion for Christ into poetry. There will be one set of songs each, by three different guys with a six-piece band of Nashville (viz. excellent) musicians. When they wrote these songs, these young men were not trying to ape a style at all. They simply wrote poetry and used whatever sounds came out of their guitar to make the poetry more beautiful. And this concert will be about sharing the personality and Christian walk of these young men, and rejoicing with them in the goodness of God. That rejoicing will result in direct worship in which they will ask you to join. It's not about musical "style" at all.

If people insist on nailing down a style for this show, it would have to be somewhere between "easy rock" and "acoustic rock". Which means it is a style that will be accessible to probably the broadest age-range. It will be very hard not to like the music-- you'll have to work at it.

It is truly a shame when people say they don't like "Christian Contemporary music". They certainly like contemporary music of some sort. If they are Christians, they must like music that praises God. Many times the people who say they don't like Christian Contemporary music, haven't really listened to any in twenty years. Is there current Christian music that is sappy, trite, silly, and poorly played? Of course-- just as there is in EVERY style, even 300 year-old music. Does that mean there is no good modern music that is currently done by Christians? If you think so, you simply haven't been around the block. Christian music is way better than it has ever been, and the quality of the musicianship and technical production is as good as anything out there that is secular. One must simply keep an open mind, just as one must in the world of fine wines and fine food. Feasting involves much more than eating the same few foods until we are too old to taste the difference.

So, I would encourage you to throw caution to the wind, dare to risk your taste buds, and come to the concert at the Nuart at 8pm on Monday night."

2006-06-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

This is my good buddy Jeremy. Jeremy and I go way back. Thanks for the picture man!

2006-06-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

Virginia Beach

2006-06-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

Robby has been putting on a few pounds here in Virginia, what with our team dinners and families feeding us almost every Sunday.

The 2006 Pest Control Gang

2006-05-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

Robby Lisenby, Luke Nieuwsma and Jesse Sumpter have joined me in Richmond! Here we are in front of the Richmond WWI veterans memorial and also in downtown Annapolis Maryland before church on Sunday.

Rain day

2006-05-08T14:23:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Now I remember why I started this blog in the first place. It was a day not unlike today, my first summer selling pest control. Once again I'm 2500 miles away from home and I don't have one Christian friend in this entire city! Normally the nature of my work keeps me from getting restless and thinking too much about home, but today it's raining just enough to keep me off the doors. I can't decide if I want to go knock in the rain or if I should get my oil changed, but I suppose anything is better than sitting in my car. Right now I'm in the Glen Allen public library. Glen Allen is probably the most wealthy suburb of Richmond and where I will be knocking for at least half the summer I'm sure. So far I've done pretty well since I've been out here. I've sold about 90 in the first five weeks. But I've got 15 more weeks to go!

Yesterday I went to a Reformed Presbyterian Church in downtown Richmond, it was a good service, but not quite like the CREC. Next week I'll either go to the CREC church in Lynchburg or the one in Newport News, both are about an hour and a half drive. I also went to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts yesterday and saw an Art Nouveau collection with lots of bizzar, fantastic looking furniture and cool lamps made of all different colors of glass. I also saw some Van Gogh paintings, but the most memorable thing was meeting one of the numerous black security guards who told me to look at three different paintings in succession, saying "see if you can find the flaw in that one." I usually couldn't see at first what he was refering to, but sure enough, he would show me where the artist had forgotten to paint a shadow of something, whereas for other objects he had made a shadow, or he showed me how a dogs legs were way too long and he would look like a kangaroo if he tried to stand up. He had practically memorized every detail of the paintings he was required to guard, and this was how he relieved the boardom of the job, just standing around in an art museum. On my way out an older black lady scolded me for not wearing a coat on such a rainy day. "I ought to lay you accross my lap and paddle you," she said in a very low smoker's voice.

I know I rarely if ever post on this blog, but today I could not help but give a shout out to the world. Friends, let me know if you read the post.

Marty

Oops! Here's my correct summer address

2006-04-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

The first address that I posted was wrong. They decided to put me in a different apartment. So this is my new summer address just outside of Richmond, VA. I just moved in yesterday and got all settled and I'll be here till the middle of August.

2908 Lake Point Dr. #3D
Midlothian VA 23112

Marty

Please pray for my mom

2006-04-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

My mother, Ruth, is going to receive her first chemo-therapy treatment today. The doctors consider this an essential treatment, even though they removed all the cancer surgically. So please pray that she will make it through all right. My mom is taking all of this really well; she is a heroine of the Christian faith to me, but I just pray that the Lord will continue to free her from cancer. She is currently a youthful looking 62 years old.

Chris and Shey

2006-04-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

I just recieved some pictures from Chris and Shey's wedding and this is my favorite. Chris Hoops and I spent last summer knocking doors in Washington D.C. He's a great guy and I'm very happy for him and his new bride. A very beautiful wedding indeed Chris!

2006-04-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, I've been in Washington DC for a week now. At first it was really cold, absolutely fridged, with a stiff wind. It's the first time I've ever had to knock doors in a long sleeve shirt and pants, but it's warming right up now.

I've got a new phone number, which I will have until the middle of August: 804-248-2274. It's a Richmond number, because I'll be moving down to Richmond at the biginning of May.

Be in touch,
Marty

Old Family Photos

2006-03-29T01:31:00.000-08:00

Dear Family,

Ever since I was very little, I've loved to look at old family photos. Anything before I was born facinated me, like the pictures my Grandpa Becktell took at the New Tribes Missions training camp or pictures of their trip to Mt St. Helen's with my parents before it blew. Sometimes our own lives seem stagnant; the future is uncertain, we don't always know what we want to do in life. There are so many possibilities. Possiblity overload is a problem of my generation in particular. However, when I look at pictures of my parents and grandparents, they don't seem stagnant, or hesitant at all. That would be impossible. Their story has already been told. There is a comforting solidness and surity in their smiles. There is motion and direction in their lives. All this I percieve even though they probably didn't feel at all like they had things figured out at the time. But if I feel as if I don't know what to do with my life, my job is to look to them and their stories for inspiration, to find continuity with the past.

Anyway, that was all to say that I have uploaded some photos to Flickr.com, which you can see in the right sidebar of this blog if you scroll down. I hope to upload much more in the future, and I would like them to be a resource for all the grandchildren of Herbert W. Butt and also his great grandchildren. If anyone in my family objects to particular photographs being on the web, please let me know.

Love,
Marty B.

Intoleristas seek to oust Atlas from downtown

2006-01-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

I wrote the following article for Atlas School, where I teach a class on art history and drawing.

In addition to our hardworking students and supportive parents, Atlas School has been discovered by a another special group of people—An especially exasperating group of people that is!—though surely provided in God’s providence to increase our vigilance.

They are the same people, which have been hostile to anyone and anything associated with Christ Church or Trinity Reformed Church for quite some time. We’ve even coined a term for them, “The Intoleristas.”

However, now they have found a new pebble to throw: They are seeking to apply the cities zoning code in a fundamentalist spirit in order to frustrate the ministries of New St. Andrews College (NSA) and now Atlas School.

This may be old news to many readers—the complaint that Atlas occupies its current location downtown in violation of city zoning codes was made in April—However, a recap of the zoning controversy as it pertains to Atlas School is in order.

What’s happened so far:
The complaint against Atlas was made three months after a similar complaint was filed against NSA. It was brought by Saundra Lund, 44, and Rose Huskey, 61, two women, with apparently too much time on their hands, who have left a long paper trail of harassments of members of Christ Church and their undertakings!

Due to the fact that Atlas is closer to a cooperation of homeschoolers than a school and has no formal legal incorporation, Headmaster, Toby Sumpter had not sought to do any paperwork with the city, regarding it’s use of the Nuart Theatre, owned by Campus Christian Ministries.

“Prior to the complaint,” said Sumpter, “The city didn’t even know we were here, so we said ‘Here we are’ and ‘What do we need to do?’”

First on the order of business for the city was to issue Atlas an “occupancy permit,” which is a permit issued by a building inspector, stating that the building is safe to occupy for its intended purpose.

Building inspector Jim Johnson inspected the Nuart and the two, tiny, adjacent rooms, which Atlas occupies. According to Sumpter, he said it looked fine. He did ask Eric Engerbretson, who is responsible for the Nuart theatre, to install a lit exit sign. The sign was duly installed so that Atlas met all the requirements of the building inspector and was slated to receive an occupancy permit.

However, the city also required a zoning permit in addition to the occupancy permit. This was the second part of the complaint: namely, Atlas was operating downtown in the central business district in violation of Moscow’s zoning code.

With regard to this second issue, that of zoning, Joel Plaskon, Moscow’s zoning administrator, wrote a letter to Mr. Sumpter saying, in effect, it looks like you guys are fine. He saw no violation of the spirit of the zoning code by Atlas School, and he said he would not enforce the code against Atlas.

To understand Plaskon’s initial tolerance of Atlas School, you have to understand the larger zoning controversy, because Atlas, at this point in time, was following in the wake of what was happening to NSA. Plaskon’s initial response to the complaint against NSA was also that he would not enforce the code against NSA, because he was reading the law as an “integrated whole.”

Plaskon wrote, “I acknowledge that the current use of New St. Andrews College is not explicitly listed as a permissible use in the CB Zoning District. However, such use has been explicitly permitted as a use by right in the past…. Additionally, I read the law as an integrated whole and considered the intent of the Zoning Code and the Comprehensive Plan. Therefore, it is my determination that such use be allowed to continue while the City more thoroughly reviews the Zoning Code regarding these types of uses and considers amending the Code to clarify or explicitly allow such uses in such Zoning Districts, either by right or by Conditional Use Permit.”

So, due to Plaskon’s reasonableness, the zoning permit, in addition to the occupancy permit, seemed forthcoming by May or early June, according to Sumpter. However, neither permit was yet granted, and in the meantime, the complainers against NSA appealed to the Board of Adjustments, which ruled in their favor.

Plaskon then wrote to Sumpter stating that he could not issue an occupancy permit due to what happened to NSA.

Subsequently, the city council also ruled against NSA and, finally, in the week before school started, Plaskon wrote to Sumpter that he had decided to enforce the zoning code against Atlas, thereby treating Atlas as a separate entity from NSA.

After talking with Greg Dickison, the same attorney representing NSA, Atlas decided to appeal Plaskon’s decision to the board of adjustments, as NSA had done. This appeal occurred near the end of October and was unsuccessful for Atlas. Despite the helpful representation of Dickison and the attendance of Mr. Sumpter and members of five Atlas families, the board ruled against Atlas based on a ridged reading of code.

The complainants were able to convince the board of adjustments and city council of a particular reading of the code, Sumpter said. That is to say, the safety issue was not a real factor at this hearing. (The originators of the complaint, Huskey and Lund, had initially characterized their action as being initiated out of concern for the students safety.)

Where we stand:
Atlas has now appealed to the City council and we have a hearing date on January 19. Unfortunately, this is after the new city council members will be sworn in on January, 3. According to Christ Church member Dale Courtney, who reports on Moscow politics on his blog, the six-member council will be losing two conservatives and gaining two liberals. The new liberals are Bob Stout and the particularly radical Aaron Ament, who calls himself Citizen Ament, like a French revolutionary! Liberal Nancy Chaney will also be taking over as mayor, having a tie-breaking vote on the council. Needless to say, the new council may not be particularly friendly to Atlas school in the January hearing.

Broadly speaking, progress has been made with regard to the zoning issue. A proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance is being considered now, which would allow “educational institutions,” like NSA, within the Central Business District on a conditional basis; however, not “schools.”

NSA has received much support, not only from people who own or work in businesses downtown, but from editors of both the Moscow-Pullman Daily News and the Lewiston Tribune. Four different editors have supported NSA in no less than seven separate editorials, which are worth quoting in order to show the kind of support that may be available for Atlas School as well.

Jim Fisher of the Lewiston Tribune likes Doug Wilson’s term “Intoleristas:”

“Intoleristas, he calls them, and with good reason,” Fisher said. “They speak for a community that indulges all manner of political and religious thought, as long as it's from the left side of the spectrum, and all manner of small-town businesses, as long as they are not connected to the wrong church.”

Murf Raquet of the Daily News came down on the Intoleristas for their rudeness:

“A handful of opponents of schools,” wrote Raquet, “—in particular the faith-based New Saint Andrews College—in the downtown business district lost their civility in the fervor to speak their mind at Wednesday’s meeting. In the excitement to articulate opinions as to why there shouldn’t be schools downtown all ability to communicate in English was lost. Cat calls, snorts, outbursts and a few boos interrupted the proceedings. That childish behavior was most evident when NSA President Roy Atwood got up to speak.”

Craig Clohessy, writing for the Daily News said, “Neither complaint really has anything to do with the city's zoning regulations. The challenge to NSA is all about personal grudges against Doug Wilson, who sits on the college's board.”

And Steve McClure, writing for the Daily News, also sees what is truly going on: “There will be some who say this is nothing more than spot zoning, or changing the law to avoid enforcement. Some of those people will be the same ones who would have us believe this whole hubbub started over nothing more than zoning issues.”

This is a very strong show of support from the local media—from the editors no less! Therefore its clear that level-headed residents of Moscow, holding no grudges against Christ Church, are ready to support NSA and by the same token, they may support Atlas School as well.

Nevertheless, not many level-headed Moscowans are sitting on the current council. Therefore, Atlas needs a strong and continued show of support. Just because NSA has won it’s fight doesn’t mean that we can let up.

What’s at stake:
What is at stake is not merely Atlas’s convenient location (The downtown location is a central place for all the Atlas parents to drive their sons) and not just the money that we save (Community Christian Ministries has been gracious enough to rent the two rooms that Atlas uses for $250 per month and to allow use of the theatre for some classes. This enables Mr. Sumpter to keep tuition low). What is at stake is the right of Christians to not be bullied by politicians, backed by a handful of activists, for no better reason then that they are annoyed with us! Their complaint is not about our safety or the appropriateness of having a small, half-day school downtown. Their complaint is that we are visible—essentially, that we are invading the town square and potentially upsetting the left-wing, secular uniformity of our small town. Our sixteen student’s blue sweater-vests are too bright for their monochrome vision!

Unlike NSA, Atlas does not have much money invested in its current location.

“We’ve never really thought of this as our permanent home,” Sumpter said, “Every year we’ve revisited the issue, checked with the Nuart to see if we were bugging them too much. If push came to shove, we have a computer and four tables, we could move, but this has been an incredibly convenient location. And it’s cheap: $250 per month!”

A welcome catalyst for moving Atlas from its current location at the Nuart would be an increase in enrolment. Mr. Sumpter would love to have between 25 and 30 students and be able to hire a second full time-teacher. Therefore, while moving would not be excessively harmful, being forced to move would be a mistake for the city of Moscow, and something which all Christians on the Palouse, not just those of Christ Church and Trinity Reformed Church, should resist. After winning support for NSA to be downtown, it would be a shame for concerned Christians acquiesce to the radical council with regard to Atlas.

Atlas’s argument:
Our argument, as Mr. Dickison has laid out, is that the spirit of the zoning code is trying to prohibit a full sized elementary school from moving downtown and Atlas, considering its size and format is not something a responsible city government should be trying to oust from its current convenient and economical location.

In a public relations tactic to demonstrate that the complaint against NSA was not really about zoning, Nathan Wilson, fellow of rhetoric at NSA and, Aaron Wrench, director of admissions, filed complaints against the Moscow Food Co-op and the University of Idaho for their incompliance. Grocery stores, although defined by the code, are not specifically listed as allowable in the Central Business District, and educational institutions are not listed as allowable in the University Zone. Therefore, according to the intoleristas hermeneutic, which they so zealously applied to NSA, these institutions should also move. Wilson’s and Wrench’s complaints with their accompanying humorous and sarcastic press releases, signed “for the love of the code,” were obviously tongue in cheek, (The complaint against the University of Idaho was made against the entire university!) they simply demonstrated that the code was a mess and needed revision. Obviously, neither the Co-op, nor the University of Idaho, nor NSA should be moved.

The reason the Co-op is a good fit for downtown is that it is not like most grocery stores and in the same way, NSA and Atlas School are not like typical colleges and schools. No one wants a Wal-Mart or a Winco Foods to be downtown and yet everyone is happy with the popular Co-op, because the size and character of the Co-op is taken into account. So also should the size and character of Atlas School be taken into account.

At another level, the families of Atlas school are simply arguing that they ought to have the freedom to drop their kids off downtown for classes, provided they are not starting a large school right on Main Street. A school with 100 kids could be a safety issue, depending on how the kids were dropped off and picked up, but a half-day school with less than 1/3rd that number of students, who are not outside playing in the street, ought not to be repressed under the guise of safety, as the following post taken from Dale Courtney’s blog, aptly explains:

"We were so concerned about the kids' safety," Lund said. ?????

"Unsafe for kids" does not appear to be a very defensible position for this Nanny or the city to hang its hat on...it is simply a "red herring", an appeal to "emotion" or "motherhood"; i.e., how can anyone argue against "motherhood" ("safety")?

Imagine, fifteen kids show up five days a week and go into a building between 7:45am (before stores are open), and leave at lunchtime.

What they are doing in that building is irrelevant to the argument. They could be taking dance lessons, learning martial arts, playing Dungeon and Dragons like they do at the Palouse Mall. Parents paying for their kids to learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew somehow makes them unique for zoning? If that is "unsafe" what about the "kids" going to the theater itself? Lots more bodies I suspect. Or what about the dance school across the street? How many kids come and go from there? Or how many kids come and go from Hodgin’s? (a lot I bet because it's a really neat store).

The logical conclusion is for the P&Z to declare a "kids free zone" on Main Street. The City can place a kiosk at both ends of the street. Parents would have to register their kids at the kiosk before entering the "kids free zone", and obtain an official "Moscow Kids Safety Token", which would allow them to enter the "Zone". The number of Tokens would be determined by an appointed number of "concerned" citizens of Moscow. Fines could be issued. Think of the revenue that could be raised! And OH! the safety that would result!!!

The bottom line is that parents have the freedom to drop their kids off downtown, so that they can go into a building and study for four-and-a-half hours. Atlas is not a large elementary school with buses and street guards and hundreds of pedestrian children. The Intoleristas in Moscow are simply unable to comprehend or accept the diverse educational options outside the monolithic public schools.

What its all about:
Again Atlas Families and students need to remember that this controversy is not really about zoning or safety issues, but about a group of people who are bitter about Christ Church. They are trying to use the city code, something designed to be for the benefit of all the citizens of Moscow to strong arm a particular group whose religious and social views or perceived views they find offensive.

These intoleristas begin to squeal with delight when they think they have the law on their side as if the law is their own personal wooden gavel that they can bop people over the heads with. Lest you think that this metaphor is too far off the mark, the anti-NSA/Christ Church website “zonemoscow.com” plays an audio clip of the mayor of Moscow banging his gavel at a city council meeting when the site first loads! Theirs is the rhetoric of the banging gavel.

The Intoleristas tried to pose as merely concerned citizens, wanting to abide by the laws. But they ended up looking like a bunch of zoning Nazis or Pharisees.

As Pastor Doug Wilson has pointed out. When Judas brings back his 35 shekels to the Pharisees, a serious discussion ensues about where it is lawful to use the money, never mind the fact that they just ordered the betrayal of Jesus! In the same way, Moscow has a lot of citizens pretending to have an orderly, rational discussion about the zoning code, when what they are really interested in is persecuting a church which obediently educates its children under the guidance of God-fearing parents and teachers, instead of secular bureaucrats.

In perspective:
We at Atlas School, are thankful to Jim Wilson and Eric Engerbretson of Community Christian Ministries for offering the extra space in the Nuart Theatre. It’s convenience and low-cost have been a real blessing. If we are forced to move because a few radical city council members have a little too much fun with their gavel wielding, then we will be thankful for that demonstration of the Lord’s will as well. Such an outcome may be indication that it is time for Atlas School to grow.

However, we are hoping and praying that through our representation before the City Council, and other means, the Lord will thwart the designs of the Intoleristas, as He has done on so many other occasions, for the glory of his name in Moscow, Idaho!

How to help:
Please pray for Atlas School and Greg Dickison, our counsel, as we go before the city council on January 19. Pray that the intoleristas would be exposed once again as the anti-Christ-Church fanatics that they are and that the council would distinguish between Atlas and a full-sized school and thereby recognize the freedom of Atlas Parents and Mr. Sumpter to hold classes where they wish. Mostly, pray that God would be glorified by our actions regardless of the outcome of the hearing.

Atlas school is also accepting gifs in order to cover legal costs. Although Atlas is seeking to avoid being forced to move, obtaining a new facility is nevertheless a foreseeable expense within a couple years, if not sooner, if enrolment increases. And so donations may also be saved for this purpose and other needs.

Please consider sending a gift, to our treasurers Bill and Robin Amos (606 Homestead Place, Moscow ID 83843) in order to support Atlas and its unique mission to train and educate young men in logic and languages, math and science, music and poetry and history, to the end that they may be faithful servants and conscientious worshipers of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sorry, gifts are not currently tax-deductible. Checks may be made to “Atlas School.”

Update on my mom

2005-12-30T15:40:00.000-08:00

We found out while I was home for Christmas that my mother, Ruth Becktell, does indeed have breast cancer. If I had a recent photo of her on my computer, I would include one, but she is pictured below with her older sister, Elaine. Thank you for your prayers.

Old, but interesting news

2005-12-15T17:22:00.000-08:00

I was reading the City of Moscow press releases on the internet and I found this one regarding an act of vandalism against NSA:

"At the Moscow Human Rights Commission meeting of August 17th, 2005 commissioners were made aware via letter and personal presentation by Dr. Roy Atwood, President of New Saint Andrews College of an act of vandalism which occurred earlier in the day. This act took place to greet students, faculty and staff on their first day of classes at New Saint Andrews College. On the morning of August 17th the words “Hitler Youth” were written in chalk at an entrance to the college.
The Human Rights Commission of the city of Moscow would like to express our unequivocal condemnation of this act of vandalism. This act does not reflect the aspirations of the Moscow Human Rights commission and is absolutely contradictory to an environment of constructive civil discourse."

Please pray for my mom

2005-12-14T04:45:00.000-08:00

My mother, Ruth, has just found out that she most likely has breast cancer again. That's her on the left. Please Pray.

The Art History Class of Atlas School

2005-12-14T02:24:00.000-08:00

I altered this photo with a Photoshop filter called "painted edges." It helped cover up the fact that I had to move some of the kids around to make them all fit in! Anyway, these are my students. Don't they look smart?

The Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness Wide

2005-12-14T02:06:00.000-08:00

I would love to get some criticism of the following poem I've been writing. I don't think I'm done with it, but I'm to a good stopping place and I'm tired of working on it now anyway! So, tell me what you think if you get a chance. It's based on an actual hike that I took about a month ago with some friends.

We left on a hike in the month of November,
Not knowing exactly the ending thereof.
Though of course we were seeking a sight to remember,
A mountain with scope of the lands that we love.

For the map of the national forest provided
The general idea for where we would go,
A location where noble and free men resided
Of old, upon Washington’s inland plateau.

But as for details, we had known not a one,
Such as whether some danger would send us back home,
Or whether our way would be fearing or fun,
We only had said that, “to some end we roam.”

And so thus we set out in the fog in our cars,
Which conveyed us like wombs to the start of the trek,
Where we burst from their warmth and collected snack bars,
And attempted evasion of snow down the neck.

But our first inclination, to play on the blanket
Of snowfall, which softened the path where we stood,
Was followed by chatter of how we would make it,
By this road or that, to the edge of the wood.

There was one way which drifted so slight to the right
And which skirted a canyon of certain intrigue,
But the other we took, for it promised more height,
And the prospect of views, though perhaps more fatigue.

So forward we went, till we reached a small clearing,
And wondered aloud if we further should see,
For it seemed that by now our keen vision was nearing
The depth of our forebears so noble and free.

The soothing bright light from the whiteness reflected,
So loosened our muscles we almost there stopped
For to ponder enjoying the meadow, protected
From winds, and not tiring as others may opt.

But at length there was one of our party who said
That he longed for some fitting conclusion to reach,
As a peak where we thought that our map had first led,
Where the beauty would wholly deprive us of speech.

For we want, we then thought, to attain a perspective
Of actual things which alight on our path:
Of arachnids which zip on their fibers reflective,
And chipmunks which scold us, indignant in wrath.

For which of these joys, understood on its own,
Can provide what we seek in the sum of their memory,
When, having ascended a snow-covered throne,
We examine their careful and conscious assembly?

So again we went onward, resigned to our pace,
But with hope in our hearts and each countenance calm.
Now imploring the Lord ever more for His grace,
And restoring our rhythm by singing a psalm.

“We’re as yet going up” was our watchword repeated,
Now frequently, climbing the moderate grade,
Though the trees of the wood ever stood undepleted
And running their gauntlet our hoping was staid.

But then rounding a corner we looked down the way
Just as far as we could to the place where we guessed
It would bend yet again, yet again to delay,
But it didn’t for once, for this once it went west!

It continued straight forward to meet the blue sky
And the edge of a valley with green gullies etched,
Where the honey-gold needles of tamaracks lie,
And the jagged Blue Mountains beyond them are stretched.

We beheld there in silence the beauty before us,
The Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness wide,
It’s unceasing variety blended in chorus,
So vast and transcendent with brightness supplied.

How enchanting, we pondered, to paint every feature,
In feeble, but right, imitation of God,
And with brushstrokes on canvas, to Christen each creature,
As Adam our forebear in gardens he trod.

For above on the ridgeline a cabin commanded
The spectacular view from its tempting retreat,
Where with paints and some brushes, though snowbound and stranded,
One could primp his own garden till tidy and neat.

But in truth we foreknew that this scheme wouldn’t do:
To consume many seasons as hermits secluded,
While Christ was as yet making everything new,
All the cities and sinners, the whole world included.

Whatever He spoke to us here of His glory,
We knew we must bring to His church, which now forms
His garden and temple, sustained by His story,
And proud as this mountain, though circled with storms.

Guess what's on the National Register of Historic Places

2005-12-14T01:56:00.000-08:00

The Nuart Theatre!

"Milburn Kenworthy built the Nuart in 1935, three doors away from his 1926 Kenworthy Theatre. The restored Kenworthy now serves as Moscow's performing arts center and the Nuart, which was operated by Carmike Cinemas for many years, was closed in March of 1999 for first-run movies but remains in excellent condition.

"The Nuart was purchased by Community Christian Ministries In January of 2004, and they have renovated the original 500-seat theatre to include the Redhawk Crossing Bookstore, wireless Internet ports, an espresso bar and couches to read books on spirituality. A small stage has been built in the lobby for their open-mic nights and on Fridays the Nuart returns to its roots with free movies.

"The Nuart, along with its neighbor, the Kenworthy, was put on the National Register of Historic Places in November of 2001."

I found the above quotation on a site about historic theatres.

The Purpose of Sunday Morning Worship

2005-10-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

I was recently talking with Pastor Ralph Smith about the purpose of worship. He said that one of the best statements of the purpose of worship he has heard is prinited in the Trinity Reformed Church service music book, written by Dr. Leithart:

"With the Church throughout the centuries, we at Trinity view worship as the chief work of God's people. In the first instance, though, worship is not our service to God buy the Lord's service to us. We assemble here because we believe he will do what He has promised.

What has He promised to do in worship? He calls us together promising to cleans us from our sins, speak to us in His word, hear our prayers and praises, feed us at His table, and send us out into the world under His blessing.

The Bible describes worship as a "covenant renewal." The Triune God is a communion of Father, Son, and Spirit and through Jesus, God has graceiously made the Church a member of that divine "society." As the devine husband, He renews communion with His bride each week. Covenant renewal is the work of the Triune God. Through the Spirit, we are joined to the Son, Jesus Christ, to offer ourselves in Him to the Father.

As God renews covant with us, we follow the same liturgical pattern as anient Israel. As Yahweh cleansed Israel through the sin offering, so we are cleanesed through our confession; as Israel offered herself to Yahweh in the ascension offering, so We consecrate ourselves wholly in a sacrifice of praise; as Yahweh fed Israel in the peace offering, so He feeds us at the Lord's table. Our worship at Trinity follows that biblical sequence.

We trust that God is in fact renewing coveant with us so that we may live each day in comunion with Him and with one another. Because we trust His promises, we come together expectantly looking to our Triune God to work on and in us so that we might work for Him."

This understanding of worship is totally different than what I grew up with and it's very exciting. Something actually takes place between God and man each Sunday. Sunday mornings aren't merely for social or educational purposes.

Update

2005-09-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

I went to the Christ Church / Trinity Reformed Church picnic the other day and a couple people mentioned out of the blue that they had read my blog, so I guess I had better update it more than once or twice every millennium! I'm not in the mood to wax eloquent, but I can at least let my friends and relatives know what’s keeping me busy these days.

I’m working for a guy named Jim Miller here in Moscow, doing construction. He’s a great guy to work for. I couldn’t ask for a better boss. So if there are any employers out there who want to know how to make their employees enjoy working for them, call Jim Miller. I mean it.

I’m also teaching one class at Atlas School, a one-day-a-week art and art history class. People always ask me if I’ve had experience in art when I mention that I’m teaching this class. Perhaps they’re worried that I’m teaching the boys the art of nail pounding or lumber sawing—which is, I dare say, an important art in its own right. (The work of our hands and our lives is always art in one sense.) But no, I’m doing my best to work through all the important historical art periods and have the boys do hands-on things, mostly drawing assignments, which reinforce the historical lesson.

It is a real privilege to teach the Atlas boys. They are a REALLY fun bunch to teach. This is of course what everyone says about them, but that is because it’s true! They speak up in class and I enjoy answering their questions.

The other thing I’m doing is taking piano lessons from a lady named Jung Spooner, who is also a choral conductor and voice instructor at U of I. Wow, she really knows her stuff! I told her that I wanted to learn the basics and for her to be a bit strict and, well, let’s just say I’m getting my money’s worth. I’m progressing slowly, but surely, working on scales mostly and some basic sight reading.

I thank the Lord that he has given me these pursuits in Moscow right now. Please pray that I will perform them joyfully.

Another thing that’s been on my mind is the founding of a CREC Church in Coeur d’Alene Idaho. There are now over 50 CREC churches! Amazing! And there are about 12 families interested in starting a CREC church in Coeur d’Alene, my home town. Please pray that it will be founded soon and with the abundant blessings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I just got a PowerBook G4!

2005-09-10T21:33:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, that means a MacIntosh computer. I found that Macs are kind of like cars; they lose quite a bit of their value after you first purchase it, so I bought a one-year-old model on Ebay for $1200, which contains software and hardware that would cost about $3,200 new according to my friend, who knows about such things. Anyway, I'm very excited to start using the new "Tiger" operating system and everything.

A Pest Control Summer

2005-06-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

Ah summer! Barbecues at the park, jumping off the rocks at Tubbs Hill and watching the fireworks on Coeur d'Alene Lake; sipping a cold beer on my parent's deck overlooking Cougar Gulch, that walnut and cabbage salad my mom makes, corn on the cob and apple pie a la mode. That is summer. But pest control! Selling pest control door to door--who would have thunk it. For the past three years my summers have been radically altered. The current poet laureate, Ted Kooser, said that all the years he was an insurance salesman, he didn't even have a summer. I can certainly sympathize with him; however, I can't really say that I haven't had a summer, because there's a certain thrill to selling pest control, even if it's not like going camping and swimming. And our Sundays are always fantastic. We live for Sunday. The pastor and folks at Christ Reformed Evangelical Church in Annapolis Maryland have been very hospitable. We've enjoyed their warm fellowship immensely.

So, yes, I'm back at it and quite thankful, despite my and my companion's convictions that this job sucks! I'm ahead of where I was last summer in sales. My goal for the summer was 170 accounts and I'm at 100 now, even though I'm only half way through my time here. I'm leaving August third, and the proximity of that date is what keeps me going. I'm leaving then to make it to the Trinity Festival. And then I'll be working in Moscow until I can figure out where to teach or where to go to graduate school. That's the plan anyway. Everyone enjoy your summer and I hope to see everybody soon!

Clean up crew

2005-04-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

New St. Andrews College just participated in a clean up of downtown Moscow. Here's a silly poem about it:

Down the dusty sidewalk, carry we the
Bags, the black unsated bags with gaping
Lips, free, flapping in the wind that gather
Trash and every item out of station:

Cigarettes and wrappers, drinking straws and
Plastic sacks that cling to muddy corners,
All yield, to human tentacles, zealous
Fleshy fingers feeding laughing caverns.

Trowels fall and scrape the cracks where Dandy
Lions creep, a sword against unwieldy
Stems, wielded not in vain, for wilderness
Flees before us down beneath the pavement.

"What's the group you guys are with?" "St. Andrews
College...Your welcome!" That's our building there."

On Church Culture

2005-04-21T21:40:00.000-07:00

This Sunday I will get to participate in "student hospitality lunches" here at Christ Church. Trinity Reformed Church is also involved, of course. And Collegiate Reformed Fellowship (CRF) plans the whole thing.

It struck me, why don't all churches do this, even if they are not in college towns. The connection between the youth and the adults of most churches is a little odd at best. Youth are delt with as a gaggle, rather than as individuals. They are hurded to Christian rock concerts or rallies where they are given pep talks. But why not have them meet a wide variety of adults in the church that are not their parents? What else could open up a young persons mind than to meet adults all serving the Lord in a variety of different lay occupations? What else could build a warmness of feeling between the generations?

Of course, if a town is not a college town, young people will likely be living at home, in which case whole families can simply invite over whole families. I guess the point is that parents need to be youth pastors, reaching out to the youth of other families in the church. That's the lesson I've learned from generous people in Moscow.

I wonder, what are the other distinctive aspects of our church's culture here in Moscow that you've thought of that you would like to export?

Being the Bug Guy - Part II

2005-04-21T21:08:00.000-07:00

As Joe pointed out, my last post didn't have much about the actual art of selling pest control, because I was trying to start from the beginning and beginnings don't always seem much related to the point. They are, nevertheless, intimately related. The beginning of our discussion was the assertion that a pest control salesman, should not first ask, “How may I be successful,” but “what is my role as a pest control salesman.” In other words, there are any number of shameless and dishonest ways to make sales, but the salesman’s goal should be more than making sales. The salesman should be conscious of the role that they play in society and how their work is beneficial in God’s great scheme of human relationships. (Perhaps that seems rather impractical, but there is a practical reason to be thinking about such “great schemes.” Salesmen need confidence and the best way to be confident is to know that you are doing something right and good.)

But before we get to all that we shall consider the related question of “Why pest control is particularly suited to personal selling door-to-door?” The main reason for this and the reason which you keep in the back of your mind as you talk to customers is that it’s convenient for the company and therefore it saves money for both the company and the customer. I always say something like this:

“We’ll we’re going to be here tomorrow treating some of the neighbors homes and we can do you home at the same time.”

Notice that I don’t even need to say, at first, that they will save money; just the fact that it’s convenient for the company is a good enough excuse at first. Moreover, this is a true statement. It really is much more convenient for the company to sign up as many people as possible in the same area and the same time. And the only way to do this is with door-to-door salesmen. The unique marketing strategy is suited to the uniqueness of the pest control service.

A pest control company that wants to expand is confronted with a unique set of obstacles. Firstly, pest control companies have to employ technicians to do the actual work of spraying houses and brushing down spider webs. Pest control is a service and so what you actually sell is the time of your technicians divided up into chunks. Therefore in order to be profitable you need a steady stream of customers available at multiple times of the day to purchase these time slots. A second problem is transportation. Customers are spread out all over the place, but pest control guys do not get paid for traveling. If a pest control company was to advertise, not only would requests come at an unpredictable rate, but they would come in from all over the city, spreading their technicians out too far. Lastly, not all customers are actually profitable to have. Some don’t have very much money and default on their bills and yet they have lots of bug problems and are liable to take a lot of the technician’s time and materials. Hence the advantages of the door-to-door pest control salesman:

· We produce a steady stream of customers to fill time slots. It’s as simple as hiring about 2.5 salesmen for every technician.
· We produce customers within the limited area of wherever we are working, to minimize the technician’s drive time.
· Finally, we are able to target consumers in the right income bracket. People who have nice homes that they are trying to protect from bugs, rather than people who already have ant infested walls.

Now, do the customers need to know all this? No. But the salesman does need to know it, because, as we saw above, it becomes the basis for your pitch. It is the excuse for why you are in the neighborhood: “We’re just trying to treat as many of the neighborhood homes as we can while we’re here.” People understand that. In other words, not only does this selling strategy make sense to the company, it makes sense to the consumer. And that enables you to get a lot further with the intelligent, affluent customers, whom you are targeting.

Now to take a closer look at the sales pitch, in light of the above explanation for door-to-door sales in the pest control industry: The first thing out of your mouth, when someone opens the door to you and stares blank-faced in your direction, is a sort of excuse:

"Hi, I'm the bug guy."

There is an ingenious subtlety in that statement. Firstly, it’s an introduction and a modest one. You wouldn’t want to say, for example, “Hello, my name is Marty Becktell, I’m trying to pay for college and so I’m working for Safeguard pest control.” People do not care about your name when they first see you on their doorstep and they do not want to here first off that you’re basically looking for a handout. “Hi, I’m the bug guy,” tells them exactly who you are, and—this is the subtlety—it places you in a social class that’s lower than the person in the doorway, which makes them feel important, and yet it’s a confident assertion, like saying, “Hi, I’m superman.” You’re there to serve them and solve their problems. Most importantly, it offers an excuse as to why you’re knocking on their door; bug guys work in neighborhoods. (Admittedly, you, the salesman, are not a technitian, and most people know that from the start, but I still think its honest to say that you are “the bug guy” for these reasons: You work for and represent the pest control company; and, if you’re like me, you’ve tried your hand at the technitians job for a couple of days, so you know how to perform the service. You are a bug guy who sells.)

Typically, after you say, “Hi, I’m the bug guy,” you follow with, “Are you the homeowner?” To which they will either say “Yes” or they will go get the homeowner for you. It’s not very common for people to turn you down at this point.

After those introductions, I always begin my pitch with a question:

“Have you seen our trucks working in the neighborhood?”

This let’s them know that you are not just interested in spouting off, you’re going to carry on a conversation and they will have to be active in this conversation. But interestingly, this is also a sort of excuse: “I’m here because my trucks have been working in the neighborhood” is essentially what you’re saying. (Now, of course trucks don’t work themselves, the pest technician in the truck works, but I am being economical with my words and people usually notice trucks. Often they will turn their eyes to one side and try to think if they’ve seen our trucks.)

After they tell me whether they’ve seen our trucks or not, I tell them:

“We’ll we’re going to be here tomorrow treating some of the neighbors homes and we can do you home at the same time.”

Again, this sentence, is another subtle excuse for why I’m on their doorstep. I’m trying to save time. I’m efficient. I already do some of their neighbors homes. It’s really a very straightforward and simple pitch. That’s why it works for me!

Well, that’s enough for now. I’ve made the point that pest control service is a particularly logical product to sell door-to-door. Door-to-door is simply the quickest and surest way to build a customer base of qualified customers. Secondly understanding the corporate strategy behind this sales method helps you to be confident on the doors. There’s a good reason why you are in the neighborhood and you must subtly suggest this to your listeners. The whole first part of the sales pitch (in addition to being an honest straightforward explanation of what you are doing) is essentially offering the customer an excuse for why you’re knocking on their door.

Hey Cousins!

2005-04-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

I just sent out the link to my Herbert W. Butt paper to your parents and hopefully they sent it on to you guys, so I'm courious to know what your reactions are. Anyway, if you have any, feel free to put them here in the comments or write to me, my email address is in the side bar. Thanks!

Worthwhile movie: Hotel Rwanda

2005-04-09T02:35:00.000-07:00

The guy on the left is Paul Rusesabagina, whose harrowing escape from Rwanda during the genocide is told in the movie Hotel Rwanda. On the right is director Terry George.

Spiritual and Physical Things

2005-04-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

Joshua Apple, the NSA teacher currently in charge of the sophomore class declamation, required us to prepare a presentation on what fascinates us most. Not surprisingly, what interests me is partly derived from my father's personality. My dad is a great guy and so it is my hope that the following will honor him.

My father is a skilled engineer. For example, he was influential in developing a new kind of water cooling system for plastic injection molds. He designs the kind of plastic parts that you and I use every day, like the keyboards you type on or the plastic cup you drink from. He is not a reader of literature, which is why I was interested the other day to look in the storage closet, where he keeps his hunting gear and plethora of rugged old coats and vests, and wool pants and boots, and to see nine novels by Louis L'Amor. So I read one of those novels about Barnabus Sackett, who came to America and made a new life for himself, and I realized that this man is my father. He is the hero of the Louis L'Amor novels, the man who can handle ever situation, who can get himself out of tight fixes and do things with his hands and make things work. My dad knows how to do things that I may never do. He built our 3000 square foot house and he bought a bright red 1974 Ford Pickup and took the engine completely apart and laid every part on the driveway on a big tarp in an orderly fashion, like an expanded puzzle, every gasket and bolt and piston and piston rod, every washer and filter and belt and hose, and then he put it back together again and it worked and it still works.

There was one other book that I found on my Father's shelf, and which contained within that topic that I am very interested in, a topic that you might not suspect would be in a book like this. The book is See Without Glasses by Ralph J. MacFadyen, written in 1958. And the topic is the intimate relation between spiritual and physical things. (Now, my intention is not to discuss the merit of the claim that one can see without glasses, but I found the book philosophically interesting. Neither do I think that the book is representative of the views of my father, who is a Christian and not inclined to believe silly popular gospels--except my father is a problem solver and he must have bought this book with a mind to see better. And I think there is something to be learned from that.)

MacFadyen is a modernist, a materialist, who no longer believes in transcendent salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet he still believes in redemption. His life is irreversibly impacted by the story of the gospel, although not Christ Himself. He presents the optometrist's gospel:

It is interesting to observe the effect of the eyes on the personality. The more relaxed the eyes, the more relaxed and likeable a person becomes. Strain and tension are contagious, and the person whose face gives evidence of them creates about him an atmosphere of tension. When you have achieved relaxation of mental strain and when the blood circulates freely through the eyes and head, evidences of facial tension disappear. The eyes open more widely, deepen in color, regain a sparkle, and lose their fixed, staring appearance. Tension vanishes from round your mouth and forehead...

At the outset you must understand that you are not the victim of your eye condition; the eye condition is a victim of your own mind. The extent of your visual improvement rests primarily with you, with the application and the mental alertness you apply in the course of the [eye] drills, and with the extent of your own inner desire to see.

"But," you protest impatiently, "naturally I want to see."

And yet the daydreamer--and you may be one--is a person who, in his profound heart, prefers not to see reality and substitutes his dreams; and daydreaming results in a lack of focus that is actually harmful to the vision. A dreamer generally fixes his gaze on some immovable object, thus fixing the extrinsic muscles of the eyeball and causing a strain. In other words, he is a great starer. While you do your daydreaming, close your eyes and let them rest.

MacFadyen's gospel is thus: Get busy seeing or get busy daydreaming. Get busy living or get busy dying. That is the optometrist's gospel: salvation means learning how to see. And it is easy for people to be deceived by this sort of thing, because the Bible, too, is a book about seeing: The Lord spake to Isaiah, "Go and tell this people: Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." But as, Douglas Wilson is fond of saying, there is no virtue in a transitive verb. It does not matter whether we see, but who we see. David writes, And I--in righteousness--I will see your face; when I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness" (Psalm 17:15). Only those who see their own sin and salvation in Christ Jesus will be saved.

And yet I believe that this silly little self improvement book contains some valuable information about mortifying the flesh, about disciplining our eyes. There is a reason that the Bible speaks of Salvation in terms of seeing and hearing. At NSA, we like metaphors. Well then, if it is true that seeing is a metaphor for seeing God, then disciplining your sight is a way of drawing closer to God. And helping others to see physically, as an optometrist, for example, is a great service to God. And this all goes to show the intimate relation between physical and spiritual things. A relationship, which should give us no cause for concern, because Christ has descended to earth to eat with men and heal our diseases. We are all priests in Christ Jesus. And the engineer, who works with the material world, is no less a servant of Christ than the man of liberal arts, who works with ideas and lesson plans. In fact, we all need to become engineers in the sense that we eagerly engage with the material surroundings that God has given us.

Herbert W. Butt

2005-04-08T11:04:00.000-07:00

Recently my history teacher here at New St. Andrews College assigned an “oral history project,” which required us students to interview our grandparents and collect articles contemporary to events in their lives. The following paper on Herbert W. Butt is the result of my research.

http://free.hostdepartment.com/m/martinbecktell/index.htm

Herbert is my mom’s dad. He was pastor of Reformed persuasion. In fact, his theology is very similar to what I have come to imbibe here at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. He had ten kids and loved mountains and sacred music and the Word of God. I wish I could have met him! Thanks to all my Aunts and Uncles for your recollections. I hope that this paper will be of service to all Herbert’s descendents and I invite your feedback.

Easter Vigil

2005-04-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

I recently went to an Episcopal Easter service at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Voices were hushed as we entered and the only light came from the rich blues and reds of the stain-glass windows. Finally a procession came in with a candle, which lit all the other candles and finally the lights of the church were turned up all the way as we sang songs about the risen Lord. Prudentious, a poet who lived at the beginning of the 5th century, mentions the custom of the Easter Vigil in the fifth poem of his Liber Cathemarinon. This is the translation of my Latin teacher, Miss Miller:

We prolong the night with pious joys in our
Festal gatherings, and earnestly heap up
Propitious requests with vigilant prayer,
And present libations on the lofty altar.

It was good to experience such an ancient tradition. I also met Bishop James E. Waggoner, who is bishop of the area extending from the cascades in Washington and including Northern Idaho and part of Montana as well. When I asked him for a doctrinal statement, he gave me a 1977 Book of Common Prayer. He was very hospitable to all of us visitors from NSA and Christ Church, who comprised no small portion of the people in attendance that night.

Being the Bug Guy - Part I

2005-04-06T04:35:00.000-07:00

It has been my intention for quite some time to offer some written advice about the art of selling pest control. Calling it "art" strikes me as a bit funny, since it most often feels like mere work—and grueling work at that; However, considering that we are all God's artwork and reflect his glory, the pest control salesman, like an architect or the church organist must live up to his role in the design of God. This is a Christian way of approaching this topic: The aspiring pest control salesman, or any salesman, should not first ask, "How may I be successful?" but instead, "what is my role as a pest control salesman?"

Firstly, to consider that role broadly, the pest control salesman is engaged in a division of marketing called "personal selling." Personal selling has many advantages over advertising and is suited to particular products and services. For example, the business my father works for, Altec Machining and Molds, is not likely to pay for television space to advertise their newest liquid-cooled molding service for making plastic parts. There are at least a couple reasons for this: They would be telling far more people about the molds than who actually want to know about them. The masses of consumers are interested in buying various plastic products, not in making plastic things themselves. So the audience of the add is too broad. Secondly, a television add, or even an add in the paper is not capable of delivering all the details of such a complicated service. For these two reasons alone, personal selling is essential in the plastic-injection molding business. Actual people are needed to go make relationships with other business people and explain Altec's products and services.

But while intra-business personal selling is accepted as normal, personal selling to individual consumers is looked upon with more suspicion. And I think there are good reasons for this. In our age of mechanized, mass production, whatever products we need for comfortable living are available at whichever retail chain is in ascendancy--and at a very low price, compared to what the same product would cost if made in a pre-industrial society. Therefore, the peddler of wares for the home must convince people that his product is either so unique that it can't be found in stores, or that it is of such quality, that it would be too expensive if sold in stores. The peddler’s argument is essentially that (1) ordinary people aren't educated enough to know that they need this product or (2) ordinary people aren't educated enough to know that they need a product of this quality.

There is both truth and falsehood in these statements. First the truth: I learned when I was in Amway that countless millions of tons of water are needlessly transported from factories to stores, because when ordinary consumers choose a product like laundry detergent, they pick it based on its price and quantity. A concentrated laundry detergent, one with less water in it, just doesn't sell as well, because people have to be educated to know that it's just as good and better for the environment (since it’s easier to ship). It doesn't follow that Amway detergent is the one to buy, but the Amway people have made a good point. Rainbow vacuums are another great example. These water filtering vacuums—speaking of the type of vacuum, not just a brand name—truly function better. They don't let any dust through them at all. And they never need filters. But they will probably never sell well in stores because they're icky to use. A salesman has to take you by the hand and empty the first fuzz-and-hair-filled, muddy mess for you in order for you to get used to the idea. By far the best candidates for personally sold products are health products, like dietary supplements, because of the vast variety of these products and their complicated features. Doctors (whether traditional, chiropractic or naturopathic) are some of the biggest hucksters around. They simply rely on their ethos to sell you drugs and vitamins that you may or may not need. But just because doctors abuse their inflated ethos doesn't mean that they aren't needed as personal sellers of health products.

Now for the falsehood in the peddlers argument: The critique of that argument, that "ordinary people aren't educated enough to know that they need this product," is that most ordinary products are good enough. While it is true that many Wal-Mart products appeal to the lowest-common-denominator consumer, many of them meet a standard quality that is good enough. Suppose it is true that the peddler’s product is better. That doesn't mean that it is worth the price that the peddler is asking. Cutco Cutlery is a good example. When I was selling these knives, both my customers and I were convinced that they were the best knives in the world. Why else would Cutco offer the "Forever Guarantee?" But every once in a while I would meet someone who would look at me in disbelief: Why would I want to buy these knives for $750, he might say, when I can go down to the store and buy a set with similar features (hard, stainless-steel blades and composite, dishwasher-safe handles) for about one fifth the price? "Ah," I would respond knowingly, "but the knives in the store do not have the Double-DTM edge." I resorted to the gimmick and many times this convinced people. (The Double-DTM edge stayed sharp for about seven years on average and then the company would sharpen the knives for free, provided you paid the shipping and handling.) But, again, every once in a while, someone would explain that they didn't need the Double-D edge, because they knew how to sharpen their knives. These people always bugged me. Looking back, I see that it was because they were right. And they finally sold me on the truth: People do have a lot of dull, ugly knives, but they don't need to spend $750 to fix this problem. They merely need to buy a set that is good enough and that has sharpenable, not serrated edges.

So, while there are some products that people need to be educated about, like dietary supplements, which truly fit the bill for something to be sold personally, many others are just gimmicks. In the case of Cutco, people are being educated, but of the wrong thing. They should be shown how to select a decent set of knives and keep them sharp, but there's no money in that!

And now to return to the thesis of this article. A pest control salesmen is a type of personal seller and, as such, he ought to be aware of the legitimate and honest uses of personal selling and the great many gimmicky, dishonest uses of it as well. Salesmen, particularly salesmen who sell to average individual consumers, do not have a good reputation and this is for good reason: Many products, like Cutco Cutlery, sell by virtue of their marketing scheme and not by the virtue of their quality considered in relation to their price. Fortunately, pest control is one of those products that is a logical one to consider selling personally, as opposed to with advertising, and consider it we shall in the next installment of this discussion.

Welcome

2005-01-23T13:11:00.000-08:00

I haven't written anything on my blog in an extremely long time, so long in fact that I doubt anyone still visits my blog to see if I have posted anything. Mine was a dead blog. So I thought, instead of resuscitating it. I would just delete it and resurrect it anew.

To my friends and family, I am doing well here in Moscow, Idaho, learning much at New St. Andrews College. This term we have an assignment in history class to be a monk for a few minutes each day, reading a psalm outloud and a creed, reading from the Rule for Monasteries and copying down a short passage from the book of Hubakkuk. I am also researching my grandfather, Pastor Herbert Butt, to write a paper about him. I think I am more excited about this assignment than any I have had while getting a B.A. in history from the University of Idaho!