THE HIGH COST OF THE NANNY STATE

"I heartily accept the motto, - 'That government is best which governs least.'" ~ Henry David Thoreau

We are nearing the one year anniversary of the death of Eric Garner on July 17, 2014. Garner’s death was one of many involving law enforcement officers and unarmed black men that sparked numerous protests and riots across the United States in the past few months. The details of the case have been played, replayed and overplayed in the media since the tragedy. I’m not here to talk about racism or police brutality today. I want to look at an underlying factor in the Garner tragedy – something that may have made the entire incident preventable.

It’s about cigarettes and smoking believe it or not. Garner had been arrested 30 times since 1980, in some incidences for violent crime, but many of those times involved the selling of individual cigarettes, or “loosies”, in New York. To the uninformed it all sounds silly. The police that confronted Garner did so over suspicion he was selling “loosies” on that fateful day. How can this be such a big deal that it involves somebody being taken down in a choke hold?

New York City has become the poster child for the nanny state. In March of 2013 a law actually went into effect banning the sale of soft drinks larger than 16 ounces. The New York Court of Appeals struck the law down in June of 2014. I’m deeply concerned about any city that classifies me as an outlaw because I either sell or purchase 44 ounces of Mello Yello at the local Sonic drive-in. The point of the law was to legislate good health. Somehow the political champions of the nanny state do not realize people will find a way to satisfy their deepest desires of indulgence. I can always roll up and order me four frosty 16 ounce Mello Yellos in a drink carrier and truck on down the road to my sugar and caffeine overloaded heart’s content.

It’s not hard to imagine an even more draconian approach in such a place towards cigarettes and nicotine. Instead of any outright ban, the city and state of New York have tried levying extreme taxes to deter the purchase of tobacco products. That works out to $4.35 per pack in the state plus another $1.60 inside the city limits. That makes a pack of smokes in NYC run up to $14. Instead of deterring the average smoker, it creates a black market for untaxed cartons, packs and singles. The industrious underground entrepreneur can hop over to a place like Virginia and buy cartons wholesale, breaking them up into packs and singles and sell them on the street at a good profit for himself, and a good price for his customers.

Who does this affect the most? The little man – the guy at the bottom of the totem pole in the strata of society. These types of taxes are called regressive taxes. What does that mean? People in the bottom quintile of income pay a tax rate on tobacco products at a whopping 583% higher than people in the upper quintile of the income bracket. So the average Joe who just wants to go home and enjoy a smoke after a long, hard day of work is brutally taxed by the state. In the words of country singer Johnny Paycheck in his tune “Me and the IRS” – “The little man pays while the big man plays.” Such taxes have little impact on higher income individuals. But amidst lower wage earners it becomes an undue, and indeed unfair, tax burden.

So how does this all relate to the tragedy in NYC? Because of the excessive taxation of tobacco products, the NYPD has developed an aggressive no tolerance policy towards individuals working the tobacco black market. Suddenly you have a man with a record of selling untaxed “loosies” drawing attention from an overzealous group of law enforcement officers tasked with shutting down this type of operation. My question is this – is it really worth risking the life of a citizen for a non-violent crime? Is it worth risking the life of law enforcement officers? Even more importantly, is it worth taking the eyes of law enforcement off of much more dangerous criminal activity and focusing them on people peddling Pall-Malls?

Back to my original point – building a nanny state has severe consequences. When the government feels it must regulate how much soda I drink, how many cigarettes I smoke, how much water I can flush through my toilet and how many watts my light bulb can burn and how much water my water heater can hold things have gotten totally out of hand. I have been in the plumbing industry since 1990 and I can vividly remember when the US Government outlawed 3.5 gallon per flush toilets and mandated 1.6 gallon per flush toilets. People were smuggling the old 3.5 gallon models over the border from Canada because the new 1.6 models would not flush consistently good (so much for conserving water).

Is the nanny state an effective way to regulate such things as health? One such law provided a potentially underlying cause in the death of a man named Eric Garner. Such laws also inflate our jail and prison populations unnecessarily. All because some bureaucrat somewhere wants to save me from lung cancer. Is that really freedom? Is that really America? I’m afraid if our Founding Fathers could see all the regulations and taxes we are burdened with today they would shake their heads and wonder how it all went so wrong. 

God Hears You

Come and listen, all who fear God,

            and I will tell you what he did for me.

For I cried out to him for help,

            praising him as I spoke.

If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,

            the Lord would not have listened.

But God did listen!

            He paid attention to my prayer.

Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer

            or withdraw his unfailing love from me.

                                                                                    (Psalm 66:16-20 NLT)

I have a love / hate relationship with church signs. I believe they offer a valuable way to communicate with the world but often are wasted with pithy statements that do nothing to glorify the name of Christ and more often result in shaking heads and groans than a chuckle or a serious thought about the church. I truly think most people ignore them. For some reason, I love reading them just to see how cringe-worthy they can be. This morning on the way to work I saw one that caught my attention for its brevity, simplicity and power:

GOD HEARS YOU

Honestly I was deeply moved by its profundity. It came as such a sharp reminder: God, the Creator of all things, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hears little me – one voice in a multitude. It speaks of a relationship with God that transcends what we find in any other religion – an intimate, personal relationship, so much so that we call him Father. He is not a God removed from us, but a God who is with us. He is not a God who shuns us, but a God who desires to redeem us and walk with us.

Last year’s Christian blockbuster was “God’s Not Dead.” As Christians we heartily embrace that statement. However, maybe we should also embrace the concept of “God’s not deaf.” He hears us. He hears the good, the bad and the ugly of our lives. He hears the plea of the oppressed, depressed and totally stressed. If we are experiencing a problem with our connection with God then we can rest assured it is from our end. The Psalmist writes, “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”

The only form of interference between us and God is sin – it creates something we might label “sin-terference.” Fortunately it is easy to fix as the beloved disciple John tells us, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness (1 John 1:9 NLT).” God is eager to forgive, and equally eager to listen. He abhors the sin and wickedness of mankind, but has a deep unfailing love for mankind at the same time.

The most perplexing thing can be when we don’t receive a response from God in the way we expect. I’d love for him to shoot me a text, but that’s not the way he has chosen to work. He speaks in so many ways that we often overlook, but most importantly and consistently through the power of his Word – the Bible. Ultimately, the question we need to ask is not so much, “Does God hear us?” but rather, “Do we hear God?”

I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray.

(Psalm 17:6 NLT)

I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears.

(Psalm 34:4 NLT)

But in my distress I cried out to the LORD;

            yes, I prayed to my God for help;

He heard me from his sanctuary;

            my cry to him reached his ears.         

(Psalm 18:6 NLT)

Man Down

Anybody in evangelical circles who has missed the swarm of controversy surrounding Mark Driscoll lately must not have an internet connection. The embattled pastor is the founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and the Acts 29 church planting network. My purpose is not to rehash Driscoll’s troubles (just google him for details) but to examine how we should react to them. Right now followers are abandoning the leader like passengers on a sinking ship. Speaking engagements have been canceled, Acts 29 removed his church from their network and Lifeway pulled all his books from their shelves.

I confess, I have been a Mark Driscoll fan. Two of the favorite books on my bookshelf are “Vintage Jesus” and “Doctrine” authored by him. I thought it was cool when Christian hip-hop artist Lecrae sampled a sermon from Driscoll on the “Rebel” album’s intro track. I’ve watched hours of Driscoll on youtube and listened to numerous podcasts from him. However, I stopped being a fan years ago.

I could sense something going awry as I saw a man I respected saying things that could inflict pain and also presenting the Holy word of God in a crude fashion. It seemed like he was starting to lose his direction. I never imagined that the course he was on would be transforming into the evangelical pariah he seems to be today. He had successfully founded a church in the most unchurched part of America and had reached thousands with the Gospel. How could it all go wrong?

I don’t have the answer. However, I know it can go wrong for any of us. Any of us who has ever worn any semblance of the title church or ministry leader are in danger of falling deeply away from Christ’s true calling. It could be me. I try to remain mindful of the particular pitfalls Satan, the world and my flesh can effectively use against me. I am not bulletproof – I have to armor up every day for the spiritual war being waged around me.

One thing I learned early in ministry is that people will say nice things to you even when they need to say tough things. When I first started preaching everybody loved my sermons. I knew it was too good to be true. They did love me. They did love seeing God calling me out of atheism and into the ministry. They just wanted to encourage me to do better and better and so bragged on me and complimented me. I had a friend and I told him, “You have to be real with me. You have to tell me like it is. I am counting on you to critically judge the things that come out of my mouth with your spiritual discernment and God’s word.” We need that person or group of people to keep us grounded.

I’m not a “yes man” and I don’t need “yes men” around me in ministry. I need people to hold me accountable. I worry that maybe Driscoll failed to do that. Again, I’m not sure where he went wrong. Sadly now, instead of people gathering around and trying to hold him accountable, they are circling around and trying to find a better place to hit from. As Christians we seem to take such perverse pleasure at seeing one of our own fall and taking personal shots at him. It should not be that way.

I do believe Mark Driscoll needs to step down from ministry. I’m not sure he can ever be in a similar position of leadership again. I do believe he is not beyond being salvaged, redeemed, restored and used by God in even greater ways. However, he seems to be surrounded by two types of people – fans who don’t want to admit there is a problem and enemies who don’t want to admit there is any hope.

I wish I had prayed more for Driscoll. As I saw him going in a direction that made me uncomfortable, I “unliked” him on facebook and stopped watching him on youtube and unsubscribed from his podcasts. I should have prayed for him. We all should pray for him. We should pray for all the leaders in church whether we agree with them or not.

The Apostle Paul was no stranger to dealing with leadership issues. We think that our 21^st Century church scandals trump those of the 1^st Century. However, I think any church today would be hard pressed to outdo the Church of Corinth or the Church of Crete for scandals and illicit behavior. Paul dealt with it seriously, decisively, lovingly and with restoration and redemption in mind. I’m not sure what the fate of Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll will be. I wish we had a man like Paul to step in and help out today. I am reminded of his wise words written so long ago:

Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. (Galatians 6:1 NIV)

"That's Impossible!"

Christian musical artist Michael Gungor has caused quite a stir due to some recent posts on his personal blog. First let me say I’d never heard of him until today due to this. He is in the category of Christian Contemporary Worship music and I am definitely off in another direction (heavy metal / hardcore like Sleeping Giant, For Today, Those Who Fear, Gideon, etc.). I found his comments intriguing and perhaps becoming more common in his generation (he is 33) and other younger Christians.

Mr. Gungor questions the veracity of the Biblical flood narrative and the ark in Genesis. Basically he says it is scientifically impossible. First let me say I agree. Next let me say this as well (please stick with me and don’t click away until the end):

• Creating the universe in 6 literal days is impossible!
• Flooding the entire world with 40 days and nights of rain is impossible!
• Saving members of all land dwelling life on one big boat is impossible!
• Joseph’s story of slavery, imprisonment and rise to be Pharaoh’s right hand man is impossible!
• Parting the Red Sea so the Jews could walk across on dry land is impossible!
• Feeding a population of people in the desert with a mysterious food called “manna” for 40 years is impossible!
• Marching around the fortified city of Jericho for a week and then merely playing trumpets and shouting to collapse the walls is impossible!
• Gideon and a rag tag band of 300 men armed with torches and trumpets defeating a battle-hardened group of 135,000 Midianites is impossible!
• A young, inexperienced boy killing an elite, heavily armed and armored 9 foot tall Philistine with a slingshot is impossible!
• Elijah calling down fire from heaven to consume a sacrifice saturated with water is impossible!
• Elijah being carried away to heaven in a chariot of fire is impossible!
• Elisha raising a young man from the dead is impossible!
• Daniel describing and interpreting a dream he never personally had is impossible!
• Three young men tossed into a blazing furnace and emerging with not a singe mark or the smell of smoke on them is impossible!
• Being eaten by a big fish and surviving in its belly for three days is impossible!
• Being born to a virgin is impossible!
• Turning water into wine is impossible!
• Healing the lame, blind and demon possessed is impossible!
• Walking on water is impossible!
• Turning five loaves of bread and two fish into a meal that can feed 5000 is impossible!
• Raising a young girl from the dead is impossible!
• Raising Lazarus from the dead after he had been lifeless in a tomb for 4 days is impossible!
• Returning from the dead 3 days later after suffering the most brutal execution imaginable – beating, scourging and crucifixion – is impossible!
• Rising into the clouds is impossible!
• Speaking in languages you’ve never known is impossible!
• Changing a zealous and violent persecutor of Christians into the greatest Christian missionary in history is impossible!

This is just a brief list of impossible things found in the Bible. Science and naturalism claims these things are impossible. However, we serve a supernatural God that laid down the guidelines of the natural world and is well within his power to overcome any of those scientific, mathematical and naturalistic limitations. I am reminded of the words of the angel Gabriel, who stands in the very presence of the Lord God Almighty and knows him better than any of us do down here on Earth:

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 6:37)

"Change the World"

When you let Jesus in your boat, he turns your whole world upside down!

This Is Not A Joke

Shocking news hit the headlines this afternoon. Already we were witnessing the violence and chaos in St. Louis over the police shooting of a young man. We continued watching the unfolding air strikes in Iraq and the horrors committed by ISIS. Then in shock and disbelief I saw it pop up on my facebook feed: Robin Williams was dead at 63 - suicide suspected. Details are still developing, but his publicist has stated that he had been battling severe depression.

Some of us grew up with Robin Williams - from the early days with "Mork & Mindy" throughout his colorful career as Mrs. Doubtfire or a couple of my favorites, Genie in "Aladdin" and Batty in "Fern Gully." The man had a gift for making people laugh. But he was more than a comedian - he was a great actor with tremendous talent.

It makes us ask - how can a man who made so many laugh fall into the depths of depression? Let me assure you, depression is a killer. It's hard to understand if you've never experienced it firsthand. It's difficult to articulate the darkness it brings into your life. Innumerable people suffer silently with it day after day. I'm not sure what was at the heart of this legendary comedian's depression. I'm not sure if others really saw it or understood it. I do know we all need to try and make a difference.

You see, you never know what that person in front of you is experiencing. They could have on a mask of joy and laughter, and be quietly dying on the inside. They could be just one criticism or insult away from calling it quits in life. They could be hanging onto sanity by their fingernails. Whenever somebody asks how they are doing they could be self conditioned to continually lie, "I'm great. I'm fine. I'm good" when they are everything but those things.

We can make a difference by really caring. You can make a difference with something as simple as a smile. You can make a huge impact with a word of encouragement, a hug or a compliment. You could help that stranger hold on one more day and give life one more chance. Don't just say, "How are you doing" as some form of greeting. When they reply, "I'm fine" try saying, "No, man. Really. How are you doing today." Listen. Love. Make a difference.

When I saw the news about Robin Williams I thought it must have been some sick internet joke. Unfortunately, tragically it was not. Suicide is not a joke. People every day are deciding to end life instead of continue it. Depression is not a joke. People are struggling every day to keep on keeping on. Listen. Love. Reach out. Make a positive impact on those around you. Be the change.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV)