Category Archives: Religion

June 12, 2009 · 19:31

You Win a Few, You Lose a Few. Some Get Rained Out. But You Got to Dress for All of Them

“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.” Satchel Paige

Paige_Satchel1942 Satchel Paige on the Kansas City Monarchs

Negro League and Cleveland Indian’s Hall of Fame legend Satchel Paige was one of the most remarkable men who ever played the game of baseball. He came along after Jackie Robinson and others had broken the color barrier having played 22 years in the Negro Leagues as well as in Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the Puerto Rican League, where in the winter of 1939 he went 19-3 with a 1.93 ERA. While with the Kansas City Monarchs Paige helped lead the team to four consecutive Negro League World Series titles from 1939-1942 and again in 1946. During his time in the Negro Leagues played in numerous exhibition games against major league stars and future stars including Bob Feller and Joe DiMaggio who went 1-4 against Paige. During this time he would pitch in the summer with the Negro League team and winters in the various Winter Leagues. It could be said that Satchel Paige not only played baseball but lived it. In the Negro Leagues Paige often pitched twice a day, sometimes in two different cities. Record keeping in these leagues was almost universally lax so the feats of men like Paige, Jackie Robinson, Cool Papa Bell and Buck O’Neil will never be fully appreciated by modern statistically absorbed fans.

When he was signed by Bill Veeck, the owner of the Cleveland Indians he was either 42 or 44 years old depending on what documents you use…talk about a birth certificate controversy. Paige pitched 5 seasons in the Majors with Cleveland and the St. Louis Browns mainly in a relief role and pitched in the 1948 World Series and the 1953 All-Star Game after having been chosen for the 1952 game but not getting the chance play. He was signed by the Kansas City Athletics for a one game contract in 1965. He pitched his last game at the age of 59 or 61 on August 25^th 1965 throwing three shutout innings against the Boston Red Sox, the only hit coming from Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski who doubled. Paige set the next 7 batters down in order. In between his years in the majors Paige continued to pitch in the minors. He played his last game of organized baseball in 1966 for the Peninsula Pilots of the Carolina League in Hampton Virginia. The Pilots, now of the Independent Coastal Plain League, still play in Hampton’s War Memorial Stadium in which the legendary great pitched his last game.

Paige was recognized by many as perhaps the best pitcher to ever play the game. Bob Feller called him “the best pitcher I ever saw.” Ted Williams said “Satch (Paige) was the greatest pitcher in baseball.” Joe DiMaggio called him “The best and fastest pitcher I’ve ever faced” while Bill Veeck who brought Paige to the majors said he was “The best right hander baseball has ever known.”

The biggest thing in my mind about Paige was his love for the game and his determination to play as long as he could. In the Negro Leagues he pretty much played year round for 22 years. After his major league career was over he continued to play the game that he loved. He did all of this in a segregated and “Jim Crow” America. It was due primarily to Paige and others like him that black players got the chance to come to the Major Leagues. Most expected that Paige would be the first black player called up but this honor went to Jackie Robinson. In 1971 in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech he said “The only change is that baseball has turned Paige from a second class citizen to a second class immortal.”

I like Paige a lot. I remember reading Bob Feller’s book in grade school and his comments about Paige, especially the time he switched a bar of soap for the ice cream in a an ice cream sandwich. When Paige took a bit his false teeth came out with the sandwich. Now that I am 49 years old I like him even more. He took 22 years to get in the big leagues and didn’t quit and even after his major league career continued to play. He endured Spartan living conditions on low pay in a segregated and often hostile America did not deter him. Neither did his age, many men in their 40s would have quit before realizing their dream. That is the lesson of Satchel Paige for me. He was the oldest “rookie” ever to play Major League ball. I kind of understand what Paige went through. I started my Navy career after nearly a full Army career. In fact I was within 2 ½ years of Reserve retirement when I got the chance to serve in the Navy in February 1989.

Satchel Paige was an example to me that if you have the heart and talent you can achieve your dream even if it takes a long time. My advice for people who still dream dreams is to be persistent and don’t give up. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes by hanging in there, making the sacrifices to achieve the dream it comes true. After a very difficult 5 years following leaving the Army to go to seminary which included long term sickness to Judy, losing almost everything that we owned, and having to work menial jobs for unappreciative people to get through seminary, Additionally there were times when I was sure that it was over, that my best efforts had failed, something would break my way and I would be able to continue. It was remarkable. While I give appropriate credit to God I do not fail to give credit to all the people that believed in me and wouldn’t let me fail. The way that I figure is if you don’t try or you quit too soon you will always wonder if you could have made it. There will always be doubt and often regret. My Clinical Pastoral Education Supervisor, Dr. Steve Ivy at Parkland Memorial Hospital told me once, “Steve, you make your own future, stop living in the pain of the past.” That was an “Wow I could have had a V-8 moment” for me. It hasn’t always been easy, but it has been great. His advice was on target.

Satchel once said: “Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s watching.” The comment is way too true, but for me even more important is this: “You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.”

I think the Deity Herself would agree with both statements and I’m sure that Satchel is still pitching for the New Jerusalem Saints of the Pearly Gates League.

Peace, Steve+

satchel paige

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Filed under Baseball, History, Loose thoughts and musings, philosophy, Religion

Tagged as baseball hall of fame, bill veeck, bob feller, boston red sox, buck o'neal, Carl Yastrzemski, carolina league, cleveland indians, cool papa bell, hampton va, jackie robinson, jim crow laws, joe dimaggio, kansas city athletics, kansas city monarchs, negor league baseball, parkland memorial hospital, peninsula pilots, satchel paige, segregation, st. Louis browns, ted williams

June 11, 2009 · 22:40

I like Jesus very much, but He no help with Curveball

pedrocerrano

“Ahh, Jesus, I like him very much, but He no help with curveball.” – Serrano (Denis Major League)

Note: This is one of those particularly passionate posts brought about by hearing about the abuse of a friend by his church and remembering things that happened to me and other friends at the hands of supposedly Christian leaders, ministries and organizations. So I probably hit a little harder than usual. Please excuse this, it is an old wound that got opened up again this week as I saw good Christian people lose a baby and a friend be maligned by ministers in his church.

I think I agree with Serrano in Major League. I like Jesus very much but He no help with curveball. I believe that God loves and cares for us but I do not believe that God servers at our command. I also strongly believe that Jesus died to redeem us and that we need to have some kind of walk with God. I know that I am too much of a screw up to get by without the grace of God and God’s mercy. Hopefully we follow as best we can God’s will for our lives and obey the commands to “love God and love our neighbor.” Patently, while not Rocket Surgery, this can be surprisingly difficult as all of us to some degree or another. I and I’m sure most who read this complicate the matter by narcissistically assuming that if we ask God something for any reason that God owes us. We are often taught that is we pray the right prayer, serve on the right boards in church, figure out what miraculous spiritual gifts that we assume the Holy Spirit has given to us, gave a certain amount of money, vote for the right political candidate, support the right cause, ad infinitum, ad nauseum that God is obligated to do what we want. The mandatory and obligatory tithe from the Old Testament Law is frequently used by Christians as a means to determine how much we have earned God’s blessing, by our obedience of course, among other things. There are plenty of other means by which Christians are held in bondage but this is common and unfortunately too often there is no accountabilty by ministers and minstries across the ecclesiastical spectrum for the sums that they recieve from those who support them.

What I find fascinating is how much many people assume that God is involved in the minute to minute details of their lives. It is as if some supercalifragilisticexpialidocious narcissistic form of hyper-Calvinism, baptized in Pentecostal fires has overtaken the faith. In fact I believe that we in the west, particularly the United States have gone to ludicrous speed in pursuit of self absorbed faith in which we use God as a cosmic vending machine of individual blessing. Evidence of this belief abounds in what is blatantly misidentified as ”worship” songs in which our needs, our desires and our love for God are magnified above God’s Holiness and condescension to become incarnate of the Virgin Mary and become Man. Somehow I think that we have the paradigm upside down. Do I believe that God loves us? I patently do. I know for a fact that I can never love God or serve God as much as God loves and cares for me, but I base this on God becoming incarnate in Jesus, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified, died and buried, descended to the dead, who rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven and will come to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom has no end. So yes, indeed, even to death I will believe this. However, this does not mean that I believe that if I do the right stuff that God is obligated to do things for me. Likewise I do not believe that God really cares a whit if I ever hit a curveball. He speaks to me through baseball but only through hard work and the coaching of my dad was I a decent utility player. When I told my dad when I visited him in the nursing home that he didn’t teach me how to hit, he told me that “you have to have the natural ability, lots of people can’t hit.” Despite his advanced Alzheimer’s disease dad understood that no amount of instruction or even prayer was going to make me a good hitter.

Unfortunately this is often the faith as marketed by alleged Christian “ministries,” churches and retail establishments. All you do is have to go down to whatever “Christian” bookstore chain has a outlet in your town. I remember a day when actual Bible studies that dealt with God and not us were available in Christian bookstores. Now if you actually like me, have walked around one of these places of edification you will fill racks upon racks of “Christian” fiction, often romance novels without any hint of sex or sensuality, which is a shame since the Bible doesn’t leave it out; variations on the theme of what happens to the poor suckers who forget to pray the prayer to get saved in time before the rapture when the slick Anti-Christ comes after them. Likewise they are filled with all manner of “Jesus junk” usually made in China because the alleged Christians running the company care more about the almighty dollar than they do caring for workers in their own country. Allegedly Christian television networks and ministries consume hundreds of millions of dollars in money, given by people who actually believe that the people running them are actually hearing from God, This money could actually be used to plant churches, do mission work, care for the poor and sick and also pay Christian workers a living wage. I have lost count of the number of friends who have sacrificed everything including their lives to support ministries which threw them away when they were spent. I have seen workers in Christian ministries have to rely on charity because they were not paid enough while the “Christian leaders” that they worked for lived in luxury on the donations which came from the toil, labor and love of people who trusted them. The litany of the names some of these people reads like a sorry story out of Inside Edition. Peter Popoff, Creflo Dollar, Larry Lea, Bob Tilton, Benny Hinn, yes Benny, while others have turned themselves into almost purely political power players. I could go on, but to what purpose? My point is that many ministries, and not just the big ones, will hold their workers in near servitude and attempt to manipulate intimate details of their lives.

I find the message of many of these alleged “ministries” or ministers to be in absolute contradiction to the Gospel, which if I recall was to set us free from the bondage of sin, death and the Law. In fact if I recall Jesus didn’t go beating on politicians, tax collectors, prostitutes, and a host of other undesirables, but instead went after judgmental, legalistic and self serving religious leaders who abused their power and position. I have seen in person such people curry the favor of the rich and neglect the poor. I have seen people, including faithful Christian workers be ostracized and abandoned when they experienced circumstances and tragedy that do not fit the narcissistic prosperity gospel theology of their churches or ministries. Even worse is what happens when one of the lesser people falls into “sin.” Especially sexual sins while things like greed, gluttony, dishonest business dealings and a host of other things are ignored. It is onerous when the Church refuses to take care of its own. To save embarrassment of people who might read this I will not go into specifics only to say I have seen this happen and even experienced it myself.

The unfortunate underside of this is the effect that the theology has on the people who buy it hook line and sinker. Such people are victims of predators dressed as ministers. I’m sure that even if the ministries that they serve do not honor or care for them that God will still honor their work and sacrifice, if not in this life the next. Yet, it is criminal for church leaders, ministers and heads of supposedly “Christian” organizations and ministries” to leave faithful servants of God in the lurch when things don’t fit their theology. When we were in absolute crisis in 1989, wife sick, house and car lost, and all coming apart while in my second year of seminary I hit the wall. I decided to call the prayer line of the Terrible Blonde Network. I was desperate and hurting as I saw all I had sacrificed for going down the toilet. When I told the female “prayer partner” my story and asked for prayer she said something that I will ever forget. It is etched in my mind to this day. In a sickening sweet voice, this woman who did not know me from Tommy Lasorda, or Adam for that manner said: “Well it’s obvious that God can’t be calling you into ministry otherwise he would be blessing you.” I was stunned, but something rose up in my heart that said that she and those who thought like her espoused a theology from the pit of Hell. I told her that I didn’t need her prayer and that I would be content to suffer as the saints before me.

Now do I believe that God cares about details? Yes. Do I believe that God loves each of us with an undying and everlasting faithful love? Yes. Do I believe that he is obligated to do anything for me other than the gracious love that he bestows every day? No. Do I think or presume that God must do things my way because I have somehow got the formula of some preacher’s personal interpretation of a few Bible verses right? No way. It is unscriptural, is not supported by the testimony of 2000 years of the church and is nothing more than the deception and abuse of good people who really want to serve God.

I pray and trust that someday Christian leaders and churches will have the integrity and character to care for people, especially those that serve in subordinate positions.

Do I think that Jesus needs to help me hit a curve ball? I think so, but I think that this might be unreasonable on my part, and so far he hasn’t. Thus, if I want to hit the curve ball, I’ll have to do it myself.

Peace, Steve+

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Filed under alzheimer's disease, Baseball, Loose thoughts and musings, Religion

Tagged as alzheimer's disease, benny hinn, bob tilton, denis hayburt, inside edition, jesus, larry lea, major league, prosperity gospel, serrano, sins, TBN, terrible blonde network

June 3, 2009 · 17:14

Mid-Week Review-The Loss of a Shipmate, Hospital Duty is Not Easy and No Rational Thought Goes Unpunished

Today has been tough, actually it began yesterday. We lost a dear shipmate this week. Hospital Corpsman Chief Pam Branum passed away while deployed on the USNS Comfort while on a humanitarian deployment. She was the Leading Chief Petty Officer for our Critical Care Department, a great leader, genuinely nice person, and dear friend to many in our department. She was passionate about her work and her people. She set high standards for herself and worked hard to make sure that her Corpsmen were trained and became good not only what they do, but to help develop them as leaders with character. She supported the nursing staff that she worked with as a friend and mentor. She was like a mom to a lot of our staff. Her loss at the age of 41 was shocking. This has been a tough year for us in the Medical Center, back in April we lost a 4^th Year Medical Student who just in a few weeks would have become a physician and started his internship and residency here. We have lost a number of other staff members, active duty and civilian since December. When we lose them we lose part of our family. Those who have never served in the military cannot fully fathom how losses like this affect the rest of us. I will be working with our staff and helping to plan Chief’s memorial service and maybe depending on the location the funeral. Chief Branum will be sorely missed, I am still somewhat in shock. Please keep her family, friends and co-workers in your prayers. A link to the Blog of the Executive Officer of the USNS Comfort is here: http://comfort-xo.blogspot.com/2009/06/thank-you-chief-may-you-rest-in-peace.html?showComment=1244112525886#c1602797664780974312

Another aspect of this difficult year is the number of our military staff being deployed. Our “deployers” support current operations in Iraq, the Gulf, Horn of Africa and the Afghanistan surge. Many have already been deployed, are getting ready to do so or are waiting for word. Many have made other combat deployments in Iraq either with the Marines, Expeditionary Medical Facilities and Shock and Trauma units. Sometimes they are sent on joint assignments helping train Afghan and Iraqi medical personnel. Additionally they do humanitarian work in the combat zones in cooperation with Army and Air Force medical personnel. Some of these Sailors have lost their lives after leaving home and the supposed security of a hospital assignment. It is sometimes frustrating to listen to those who do not work in a place like this refer to hospital duty as easy. Our clinicians deal with life and death every day here and are called upon to deploy at a moment’s notice. They fight for life every day and sometimes when things go badly are as traumatized by the events as people in combat. It’s hard to watch someone die or suffer and realize that sometimes you can’t win. There are deaths, especially of children that I cannot get out of my head and I know from my relationships with physicians and nursing staff that they also have similar experiences. Programs are being developed to help people before they become victims of operational stress, but these are just getting off the ground. Please keep these heroes in your prayers.

I think today I was also a victim of my logical and reasonable brain. I am now a declared enemy of at least one person in the anti-abortion movement. I invested myself heavily the past three days in discussing the events of this weekend in Kansas. I will not regurgitate this here, read those posts. However there is something interesting. I basically had someone comment that “they knew whose side I was on” and pretty much labeled me as someone who is not pro-life. If they knew me they would know otherwise, but some people cannot take even constructive criticism of tactics and strategy. Sorry but the confrontational strategy has not worked over a 30 year period and the escalation of rhetoric and violence will get the whole pro-life movement labeled as a domestic terrorist organization. Hell, even David Kupelian of the ultra conservative news site World Net Daily and I agree on this.

The guy who posted to my blog even used a line that was eerily reminiscent of Colonel Jessup in A Few Good Men. “What happened to the “doctor” was wrong, it probably saved hundreds of lives.” (Comment on yesterday’s post) The person who wrote this has adopted an end’s versus means situational ethic to make the leap that the murder while wrong is okay because it stopped one person from doing abortions. Unfortunately that strategy will not stop others from doing abortions and may very well in fact lead to the dismemberment of the legislative gains of the mainstream pro-life movement which guess what will happen? It will lead to more abortions. If you make your living by fighting abortion like Randall Terry does this is a good thing. You won’t lack for work or money unless however you are doing time in a Federal penitentiary as a domestic terrorist. That aside it means as long as abortion is legal you can keep drawing a paycheck to fight it. That is the kind of thing that makes me suspicious of Mr. Terry’s motives. You use the same tactics for 30 years without any real change to the situation and then say we have to keep doing this. I have to wonder when I see this. Is Mr. Terry truly committed to life or is this a means to stay in the spotlight? I’m not accusing, just wondering. I have met Randall on a number of occasions, never by the way at any rally or event, and he can be charming. Personally he seems like a good guy to go out and get a beer with and maybe even engage in spirited discussions. However, his actions have planted a seed of doubt in my mind about his motives. If he is really committed to the pro-life cause of saving babies why does he stick with tactics that only drive potential supporters away from him? He seems to me like Generals in wars who decide to take some enemy strongpoint. They make an attack and it fails and they continue to do so until they bleed themselves dry and eventually lose the battle. The real progress in the right to life movement has not been through protest. Instead it has been through prayer, practical help to women in need and legislative efforts of pro-life men and women committed to working through legal means. These people do not vilify thier opposite numbers but seek engagement and redemption and reconcilliation. I made sure that I allowed the comment so others can see just how this mindset plays out when guys like this judge people on the pro-life who advocate less incendiary tactics.

Well I chased that rabbit for what it was worth. Anyway, things with my family in California still are difficult. My dad continues to worsen, the insurance company has been a pain in the ass causing my mom and brother much grief. I covet your prayers for them. The hospital is very busy and I have a number of very sick patients that I am caring for their families, both adults and children. Likewise, I will be trying to make sure that I care for my ICU staff and help them get through this period of shock, grief and loss. There may be a possibility of activating our SPRINT team to assist sailors in the medical center or on the Comfort and this could make things even more interesting.

In the midst of this I still deal with my own stuff. In times like this I get the “electrical current” sensation running through my body. I become more edgy, hyper vigilant and at times anxious. Sleep is still difficult. However, this too I will get through. I have completed day three in a 12 day “home-stand” at the hospital. I’ll have duty this weekend. At least the Tides are in town. I’m taking Judy to the game against Buffalo tonight. While there I will be keeping an eye on the scoreboard to see if Randy Johnson will get his 300^th career win pitching for the Giants aganst the Nationals. Only 24 major league pitchers have reached this mark and only one is active, that being Tom Glavine. I’ll post a game synopsis later.

Pray for me a sinner.

Peace, Steve+

Post Script: In spite of the threat of thunderstorm we got through the game with barely a sprinkle. The Tides beat the Bisons 5-3. Kam Mickolio got the win in relief and Jim Miler got his 13th Save. Bobby Livingston pitched 7 shutout innings but went away with a no-decision. Jolbert Cabrerra of the Tides hit a 2 run double in the bottom of the 8th to give the Tides the win. The Tides improve to 35 and 17 and lead the Durham Bulls by a game and a half in the International League South, Despite the loss of several pitchers as well as Outfielder Nolan Reimold and Catcher Matt Wieters to the Orioles the Tides with a bunch of AA promotions from the Bowie Baysox continue to win. It is fun to see a team that plays in an organization that has a solid farm system.

Speaking of teams that don’t the Bison’s are now the AAA affiliate for the NY Mets. They have the worst record in the International League. The Mets as they did in Norfolk have no hot prospects and many of their players are former major leaguers The sad thing is that Buffalo under the Indians had a consistently good team. The city is not happy with the Mets. Join the club Bison fans. It sucks to be the Mets AAA affiliate.

Second Post Script: The “Big Unit” Randy Johnson and the Giants had their game with the Nationals postponed by rain. The game will be made up Thursday as a part of a double-header. Johnson will get his chance for 300 tomorrow. Meanwhile the Braves released Tom Glavine. This could be the end of the line for the future Hall of Fame Pitcher.

Third Post Script: The rain which held off throughout the game decided to hit after we got home. This happend to coincide with our little dog Molly’s trip to hunt for squirrels and do her evening business. She hates rain and started barking to be let back in. The wet little dog got the payment of her cookie, gave us a good laugh and started playing with aplush toy fox that looks somewhat like her. She is funny.

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Filed under alzheimer's disease, Baseball, ER's and Trauma, healthcare, iraq,afghanistan, Military, philosophy, Political Commentary, pro-life anti-abortion, PTSD, Religion

Tagged as a few good men, abortion, afghanistan, Air Force, anti-abortion, Army, bobby livingston, buffalo bisons, Chief Petty Officer Pam Branum, colonel nathan r jessup, david kupelian, death and loss, expeditionary medical facilities, george tiller, harbor park, horn of africa, hospital corpsmen, iraq, jim miller, jolbert Cabrera, kam Mickolio, kansas abortion protests, marines, matt wieters, nolan Reimold, norfolk tides, operation rescue, operational stress, pro-life movement, PTSD, randall terry, randy johnson, shock and trauma units, sprint team, traumatic injuries, US Navy, USNS Comfort, World Net Daily

June 2, 2009 · 23:21

You Arrogant Ass, You have Killed Us! Randall Terry and the Destruction of the Pro-Life Movement

“You arrogant ass. You’ve killed us!” Andrei Bonovia, First Officer of Soviet Alpha Submarine Konovalov in The Hunt For Red October.

I have few thoughts about the past few days. In the past several days we have seen a watershed event take place. This was the killing of Dr. George Tiller in Reformation Lutheran Church, Wichita Kansas, by one Scott Roeder. A large part of Teller’s practice was late term abortions, which made him and his clinic a target not only of peaceful protest, but threatening protests and violent acts. Teller himself was shot and badly wounded in a 1980’s assassination attempt. His death in his church on Pentecost Sunday by a man who appears to be fringe player in the anti-abortion movement with long ties to various violent anti-government groups was a watershed. The pro-life movement will never be the same after last Sunday. It will both adjust and stop using vitriolic and incendiary language; graphic images, bullying protest tactics, or it will continue down this path and be rightfully declared a domestic terrorist movement. The label will not only apply to the violent who conduct such acts as the murder of George Tiller but it will be hung on those who believe that they are engaging in peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience.

Unfortunately this is the culminating point of the pro-life movement. It actually was the logical outcome of radicals who raised the rhetoric so high that they could not back down. It is the high water point much as Pickett’s charge was the high water mark of the Confederacy. All the legislative gains of those who patiently and diligently within the law, those who treated their opponents with grace and compassion, those who actually tried to assist and give options to women who might have had abortions will be lost in the coming years. From now on the pro-life movement will fight a rear guard action trying to protect whatever gains that it has. It is a sad end to the movement and it can be laid squarely at the feet of Randall Terry and others who engaged in this use of confrontational and de-humanizing rhetoric to the debate.

The reason for this is clear. Many anti-abortion leaders decided to adopt the tactics of the 1960s, only instead of emulating Dr King, they emulate radical revolutionaries such as the “Weathermen” or groups such as the German “Red Army Faction.” They adopted a strategy of open confrontation and belligerence toward their opponents. Likewise they attacked people who were somewhere in the middle, opposing abortion but having legitimate questions and concerns about actual medial ethical problems, such as when the fetus is killing the mother. The leaders of the radical wing of the movement led by Randall Terry and groups such as Operation Rescue have set a tone where people who would probably support their goals now want nothing to do with them. Without these people, the pro-life movement becomes irrelevant in the national debates about life, not only abortion, but all life. The language and behavior of Mr. Terry after the shooting of Dr. Tiller has shown that Mr. Terry intends to go down fighting and take the movement with him.

Like the First Officer of the Soviet submarine pursuing the Red October tells his Captain when the sub is about to be struck by its own torpedo which has had the safety’s removed “You arrogant ass. You’ve killed us!” The leaders of the mainstream and peaceful pro-life movement should say the same to Mr. Terry and others like him. Terry and others pursue a jihad against all who oppose them. This weekend was the logical outcome of a pattern of persistent escalation of both rhetoric and protests which often showed no grace, no love, and no redeeming purpose other than to hurl epitaphs and curses at abortion providers and their traumatized customers. They have ensured the irrelevance and demise of the pro-life movement as we know it today. They have ensured that even peaceful and law abiding demonstrators will be seen in the same light as them. It was a suicidal strategy which can only end badly. Though the tactics helped Terry and others raise funds, support themselves and build an anti-abortion industry, they did not advance the cause of life. That cause was advanced by those who prayed, worked through legal and legislative means and those who offered loving and caring help to women considering abortion. Their efforts have been dealt a devastating blow by the radicals. The radicals thrive on confrontation and actually needs for Roe v. Wade to remain on the books to justify their existence and their paychecks.

In light of last week’s actions, and the subsequent comments by Mr. Terry at the National Press Club, any pro-life group which is foolish enough to protest this weekend is asking for trouble. No matter how peaceful, law abiding and correct they are now pained with the same brush as Mr. Terry and radical groups. The leaders of mainstream pro-life groups need to do some serious soul searching. If they do not in thought, word and deed condemn the radicals, call their own members into account to behave peacefully, lawfully and in a manner consistent with the redemptive message of the Gospel, they will end up shipwrecked with Mr. Terry. It will take only one more violent act which can be traced to a member of a anti-abortion group, or attributed to the exhortation of radicals for the government to declare all of them to be domestic terrorist groups. If this happens the government will be well within its right. No one, no matter how righteous they believe their cause to be can take the law, especially capital punishment into their own hands. Mr. Terry’s remarks were chilling and if he continues down this path of bellicose confrontation without the Catholic Church or other pro-life leaders stopping him, they will all suffer the consequences of his foolishness.

It is a sad day. Randall, you arrogant ass, you have killed us.

Peace, Steve+

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Filed under Loose thoughts and musings, philosophy, Political Commentary, pro-life anti-abortion, Religion

Tagged as anti-abortion, catholic church, george tiller, jihad, mainstream pro-life groups, national press club, operation rescue, pro-life movement, radical groups, randall terry, red army faction, the hunt for red october, weathermen

June 1, 2009 · 22:17

Randall Terry and the Death of the Pro-Life Movement

Randall Terry continued his reckless campaign of self-promotion today following the murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas City. While continuing to refer to Tiller as a mass-murderer Terry spoke of the tactics that he believed were necessary for the anti-abortion movement to succeed. At the National Press Club Terry is quoted by the Washington Post as saying:

Terry said abortion opponents “have to be confrontational” and “have to use highly-charged rhetoric” to advance their movement.

“The pro-life movement right now is at a crossroads,” Terry said at a midday news conference at the National Press Club. “We have become steadily politically irrelevant, our leadership is graying, retiring and dying, and many of the new leaders do not have the fortitude and clarity of thought to not flinch in an hour of crisis like this. So the words that I’m going to say today are specifically geared towards shoring up the pro-life movement.”

Terry has become a liability to the Pro-Life movement. His actions and statements convey sentiments that are harming the movement as a whole. He has driven those in the middle of the country who are pivotal to the success of legislative efforts away from mainstream and non-violent pro-life groups because all people see is Terry. These groups have had some measure of success in their lawful and peaceful efforts to enact laws to limit abortion at the state level.

Terry’s comments today show that he is either totally ignorant of the effects of his rhetoric or is desperate to keep himself in the limelight. I do not believe the Mr. Terry is ignorant of anything. He is a shrewd political operator who has kept himself in the limelight for over 20 years. From his actions over the past few months in which he has protested Catholic Bishops in Washington DC and Baltimore being arrested for “leafleting” at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Washington DC. Following this Terry went to Rome interviewed Archbishop Burke and then came back to the US to misuse the footage of Archbishop Burke against his fellow bishops, something for which Burke had to apologize to them. (Catholic News Agency Column at: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=717 ) His actions showed a callous disregard of his own Church and make me wonder if Terry believes himself superior to the Bishops of the Catholic Church. I am wondering why he has not been silenced or censured by them for these actions.

Terry’s actions at Notre Dame to attempt to disrupt the graduation speech of President Obama only made Obama look more reasonable to many people than Terry. Since Terry has been the “face” of the pro-life movement his every action, positive or negative affects the movement as a whole. His protests at Notre Dame, where he and others attempted to shout down the President showed a reckless disrespect for the office of the President. There was a time that Christians held the office of the President in respect even if they disagreed with the policies of the man in office. This too, an interruption of the graduation of college students showed a lack of civility that has been his trademark.

Likewise fellow travelers in the anti-abortion movement including past and current leaders of Operation Rescue, the group that Terry founded and then left in 1991 years ago. They and Terry have had a running battle of words which moved into to courts in 2008 when Terry sued them over the rights to the name Operation Rescue. I will not weigh in on the merits of either side, except to note that this seems to be the battle over a name that brings with it real and potential monetary donors.

I do believe that Terry is wrong in stating that the pro-life movement must “be confrontational” and “have to use highly-charged rhetoric” to advance their movement. It is clear to me that the most successful tactics of the pro-life movement have been genuine efforts to provide alternative services to women undergoing unplanned pregnancies. The best of these include actual care for the woman after delivery. The other is the use of the legislative process. While slow this is the legal way to change things in the United States. As an example the actions of William Wilberforce to eliminate slavery in England used the parliamentary process. It took time but slavery was eliminated without the trauma of the Civil War.

It is my belief that the type of protests favored by Terry to include the confrontation and highly charged rhetoric has contributed to the violence that occurred this week. As such he is contributing to the marginalization and “political irrelevancy” of the pro-life movement. In light of his actions I hope that Catholic Bishops will silence him for the good of the movement as a whole. Fellow pro-life activists should distance themselves from him and find alternatives to the strategy of confrontation which do not compromise their beliefs but find a way to be redemptive and forgiving to those that practice abortions.

Unfortunately I think that what happened on Sunday was a watershed. The Rubicon has been crossed. As I said in my post yesterday, it will be the end of the pro-life movement because Terry and people like him will keep pushing until the entire movement is declared a domestic terrorist organization. It is incumbent upon leaders of the pro-life movement to try to correct course now, if they do not it will be too late. Daniel Kupelian or World Net Daily, with whom I seldom find any agreement states the danger quite well and pro-life leaders should take this and quickly change the tactics of their organizations.

“pretty soon some group may decide it can’t take it anymore. Its members might become so enraged that they conclude it’s time to start the next armed revolution. Seeing their nation being raped and envisioning no solution other than violence, they delude themselves that they’re the modern counterparts of America’s revolutionary founders. Making explosives and conspiring in secret – all the while quoting Jefferson to each other about “watering the tree of liberty” from time to time with “the blood of patriots and tyrants” – they murder some federal judges or blow up a government office building in an attempt to fight back. In reality, all they succeed in doing is murdering and maiming a bunch of their fellow Americans (or, as McVeigh did in Oklahoma City, massacring a room full of toddlers in daycare – which he later coldly termed “collateral damage”).

And what would follow? A massive official crackdown on “domestic terrorists” and a severe assault on freedom in America.

Amazing what hatred can accomplish, isn’t it? Exactly the opposite of what was supposedly intended. The “dark side of the force” is very clever.

As the blood-drenched, vengeance-driven French Revolution proved, when “patriots” are full of hate, they’re no better than the corrupt government they’re rebelling against – and maybe worse. Therefore, whether their uprising succeeds or fails, either way they usher in a new “reign of terror.” (See World Net Daily: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=99787 )

Peace, Steve+

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Tagged as archbishop burke, baltimore, brak obama, cathedral of st thomas more, catholic bishops, daniel kupelian, domestic terrorists, french revolution, george tiller, leafleting, national press club, notre dame university, office of the president, oklahoma city, operation rescue, patriots, pro-life movement, randall terry, reign of terror, rubicon, timothy mcveigh, vatican, washington dc, william wilberforce, World Net Daily

May 31, 2009 · 23:12

Crossing the Rubicon- The Killing of Dr Tiller and the End of the Pro-Life Movement

How can people who are allegedly pro-life promote an attitude of belief that dehumanizes their opponents and tolerates uncivil and at times inflammatory rhetoric which crosses all bounds of Christian conduct, leading to the murder of other people? This happened today in a Kansas Church where Dr. George Tiller was gunned down in cold blood by someone at least on the fringe of the pro-life movement. I think the answer is found at least in some part in yesterday’s post on Gordon Klingenschmitt and what I term the “Klingenban.”

A little over a month ago I published a piece called How Pro-Life People Make Themselves Look Like Idiots. This post dealt with the potential public health threat of the H1N1 Flu and posts that I had seen written by supposedly “Pro-Life” people condemning the government response to the threat. The people who posted this on a social networking page chief complaint that the government funded abortion, thus it was hypocritical to fund a response to H1N1. The argument made no sense and I rightly referred to them not as “pro-life” but “anti-abortion.” I phrased it in this way because I believe that people who think and talk this way have no respect for the lives of we, the “post-born.”

Many in the pro-life/anti-abortion movement have regularly used highly inflammatory rhetoric, referring to abortion providers as “murderers.” Used the images of the Holocaust to describe abortion and routinely show pictures of aborted babies in their protests, literature and websites. Now I am in no way saying that I am pro-abortion. I am pro-life. However, after I came home from Iraq I started seeing just how perverted some in the pro-life/anti-abortion movement had become. Not that I hadn’t noticed this prior to Iraq, but when I came home I became a lot more sensitive to people who routinely use the language and images that I described above. The use of such language imagery and often strong arm and bullying tactics by some in this movement has created a situation where they dehumanize their opponents. When this is done through the regular use of such language and imagery it creates a culture of hatred and draws often violent or psychologically disturbed people into it. It is true that people like these are often on the fringe of pro-life groups, but they have connections. These connections will be the end of the pro-life/anti-abortion movement as we know it today.

There have been a number of times that anti-abortion people have killed abortion providers or bombed abortion clinics. This was seen again today with the slaying of Dr. George Tiller who performed late term abortions in his Wichita Kansas clinic. Tiller was killed in his church. The man suspected, a Scott Roeder had posted on a number of occasions to the Operation Rescue website, even suggesting that Tiller be confronted in his church. That post is here. It was taken from a Google cache before Operation Rescue either took it down or blocked access to the site.

Scott Roeder Says:
May 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pm

Bleass everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp.

Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there? Doesn’t seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller.

Roeder had also has ties to the Sovereign Citizen movement and was convicted in 1996 of having bomb components in his car. Likewise he is a veteran tax protester and was sentenced to 16 months in 1997 prison for breaking terms of his parole. We don’t know a lot more about him but at the best he is a troubled lone operator. Roeder followed up the post with this a few months later:

Scott Roeder
Mon September 03, 2007, 09:49:40

It seems as though what is happening in Kansas could be compared to the “lawlessness” which is spoken of in the Bible. Tiller is the concentration camp “Mengele” of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgement upon our nation.

The unintended consequences of the extreme rhetoric found in much of the pro-life/anti-abortion movement are seen in today’s action. When a movement describes their opponents as “murderers” “mass-murderers” and compares them to Nazi War Criminals such as Dr. Mengele it can and often does create a climate where the killing of someone is justified. Now admittedly I’m sure that the vast majority of those in the pro-life movement are not this kind of person. The problem is that within the movement there are people who think like this precisely because they have been spoon fed this rhetoric for years. Likewise there are those who oppose the government in other ways who affiliate themselves with pro-life/anti-abortion groups. This appears to be the case with Mr. Roeder.

Thus the problem, pro-life and anti-abortion groups have by their continual repeating of such language to describe abortion supporters and providers de-humanize them. By doing this they provide encouragement to people who are actual criminals, such as Scott Roeder and Eric Rudolph. The use of this rhetoric, imagery and sometimes threatening protests against abortion providers and supporters attracts people who are violent and unstable. The pro-life movement must be very careful and look at history. Groups like the Nazis in Germany associated with and co-opted otherwise law abiding groups in Weimer Germany. The danger is that people in the militia movement, the Freemen and other extremists will in fact will infiltrate the pro-life movement and by their violent actions bring about a crackdown by the government on such groups. Unfortunately I think that much of the pro-life and anti-abortion movement is patently unaware of the risks that their tactics entail. I believe that the protest of clinics, homes and places of worship of abortion providers is not effective, drives people who might be in general agreement with the movement into opposition and provides ready material for those who want to malign the movement.

As a military officer I refuse to be a part of any group which uses the methods that I have described above. While I may be pro-life, I believe that the movement has been compromised by actions of many of its leaders and that the linkage to radical right wing groups will be its downfall. When, not if this happens it will be the fault of leaders such as Randall Terry and others who have taken a legitimate cause and turned it into a business. From a position of faith, many in the movement are nothing more than Christian Taliban who will stop at nothing to see their interpretation of the faith is imposed on others. I know a good number of people in the pro-life movement. Most are good and loving people, concerned with the lives of both abortion providers and those who have had abortions. These too will be painted with the label of the Taliban because they tolerated this type of behavior from others in the movement. In fact they are the antithesis of the radical fringe which thrives on confrontation in order to fill their coffers. In fact I do not believe that many of the larger groups affiliated with the pro-life movement have any desire for Roe v. Wade to be overturned, it was they would have to get real jobs instead of living off of the donations of their supporters. We have crossed the Rubicon. The pro-life movement has effectively committed suicide with the killing of Dr. Tiller. God help us all.

Peace, Steve+

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Filed under History, Loose thoughts and musings, philosophy, Political Commentary, pro-life anti-abortion, Religion

Tagged as anti-abortion, christain taliban, dr mengele, eric rudolph, george tiller, kansas abortion protests, militia movement, nazi war criminals, operation rescue, post-born, pro-life movement, randall terry, roe v. wade, scott roeder, soveriegn citizen movement, the freemen, weimar germany

May 29, 2009 · 23:58

Star Trek, God and Me 1966 to 2009

The Original Series Crew

I grew up with Star Trek. I remember as a kid when the original series was still on NBC and when it went into syndication I tried to watch it whenever it was on, or whenever I could get control of the television. There was something that captured my imagination, a glimpse of a positive future, possibility and adventure. Since I have always been seeking new frontiers, note my career in the military, Star Trek, the Original Series was an inspiration. Kirk, Spock, Scottie, McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov and Nurse Chapel became part of my life. When not watching it I was reading Star Trek novels, something that I countinued with the Next Generation. I was fascinated by the Klingons and Romulans, the though of other planets with other intelligent beings was something that did not frighten me, or casue me to question my Christian faith. Since I have always believed in a very big God, the fact that God did not have to be limited to just dealing with humans seemed, as Spock would put it “logical.”

No I know that some people could be offended by this, or could give me some flak for what I just said. But I see no reason why God couldn’t be working in all of the gazillion galaxies, solar systems, planets and maybe even parallel or alternate universes. Why not? What if there was a planet where there was no fall and the inhabitants didn’t screw it up? I think it would be cool. My God is big, in fact the Bible and the Christian tradition is pretty clear that God is like really super duper powerful and capable of handling a whole lot of stuff all at once. In fact we like to call God omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and a bunch of other om’s. Likewise, we believe that God is a creative God. So why would we look out and see this vast universe and say: “Nope Clem, just us out here.” So since I am backed up by the testimony of Scripture and Tradition about some of the attributes of God I think it is safe to say that God indeed could well be working elsewhere in the universe. If I believe that God is who Scripture state him to be, then I have to at least give some thought to this possibility. Can I positively say this is the case? No, but I can infer it from what the faith teaches me about God and by what science has revealed to us over the past couple of hundred years. None of this takes anything away from God working his plan of redemption through Christ with humanity.

USS Enterprise NCC 1701

Anyway that rabbit chased back into the woods, I continue. I followed the Star Trek movies, with The Wrath of Khan and the Voyage Home being my favorites. Not long after I learned to drive in high school a friend and I went to a Halloween party. I had made me a Mr. Scott uniform and my friend was dressed as an alien. After the party we headed home. We had just gotten on I-5 and I looked at him and said “set course 010 Warp 8” and being young and dumb took my 1966 Buick LeSabre 400 with a twin barrel carburetor up to about 90 MPH. I noticed a pair of headlights coming up behind me. I slowed down for the Benjamin Holt Drive exit and exited the freeway where a stoplight was red. Beside me pulled a CHP cruiser. The trooper looked at us, me with my Star Trek uniform and my friend in his alien suit, laughed and waved. I watched my speedometer like a hawk the rest of the way home and prayed that the trooper would not turn around to get me. Later in Germany I was driving my first German “beater” a 1976 faded powder blue Ford Escort, to my base on a Saturday with Judy. Ahead of us a Mercedes crept along. Since we were on a two lane state highway going through the hills of the Saarland along the bank of the Nahe River there was no way to get around this guy. I have never been patient when people clog the road by driving well below the posted speed limit, which in this case was 100 KM or 62 MPH. My little car known as the “Blue Max” had its emergency flasher located on the center of the dashboard. It was a red button about an in round. I looked at Judy and said “fire phasers.” I reached down pushed the button of and on and in front of us the strangest thing happened. There was a boom, a flash and the guy’s muffler and tail pipe dropped off. I avoided the debris and he coasted to a halt alongside the road. Judy and I both looked at each other with looks of shock and disbelief. Yet it had happened. I have tried this again on every other car that I have owned with no effect. I guess phasers are not standard on this side of the Atlantic.

The Bext Generation Crew

When Star Trek, the Next Generation, or TNG came out in 1987 I was a young Army Captain getting ready to go to seminary the following year. I fell in love with TNG and its cast. In fact during my clinical pastoral education residency my supervisor was able to use analogies from the TNG characters, Lieutenant Worf and Lieutenant Commander Data to help me gain insights into what was going on in me. I had a lot of affinity for both of these characters as someone who wrestled with where I fit and where was home. Something I shared with these characters. Likewise there were a couple of episodes dealing with Captain Picard entitled “Family” and “Tapestry” which actually woke me up to a couple of things in my life. I think I can say that the Deity Herself used them to help me through that time when I was still sorting through my life, vocation and issues of home and heart. I thought that the character development in TNG was great and I still will watch TNG whenever I come across it or want to pull out one of my DVDs. I liked the darkness of Deep Space Nine and the fact that baseball was a part of it. I did not take as well to Voyager or Enterprise as my life was getting really busy with military deployments and operations. As was the case I ended up collecting the entire TNG series on DVD. I also have a jacket similar to the TNG jacket in Science/Medical Blue with the communicator badge and Lieutenant Commander colar insignia. I also have a very rare Starfleet Chaplain pin with a white Greek Cross on it. This came out of one of the old TOS Technical Manuals dealing with rank and branches of Starfleet.

Deep Space Nine “Niners” Pennant

When I first saw the hints of the new movie a couple of years ago I wondered about it. I wondered how they could pull of the feel of the original series. I heard friends rave about it and every review I read was sweet. So since there were no ball games in the local area, though the Tides continued their winning was with a 13-2 victory in Columbus against the Clippers, we decided to go to dinner and a movie. We headed over to Gordon Biersch and had a nice dinner with great beer and went to the theater a couple of blocks away. The movie was great. The cast, most of whom I had seen very little of in other roles, had the feel of the old cast. Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Qunito (Spock), Karl Urban (McCoy) and Simon Pegg (Scotty) had great chemistry. The supporting cast worked well too. I was simply blown away as they pulled this off and managed to do a “prequel” which worked. As a side note, my undergraduate campus, California State University at Northridge served as Starfleet Academy. All in all it was a very satisfying experience and the crowd applauded loudly as the final credits came up, preceded by Leonard Nimoy doing a voice over as the Enterprise went by saying; “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life-forms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before.” This was followed by the theme music of the original series as the credits rolled out. That was special.

So I guess I am a Trekkie, or Trekker, depending on which Star Trek sect I belong, but nonetheless, Star Trek has been, and will reamin part of my life. Thanks Gene Roddenberry, and all who over the years have brought the Star Trek universe to us.

Live long, and prosper my friends.

Peace, Steve+

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Filed under Baseball, Loose thoughts and musings, philosophy, Religion, star trek

Tagged as 1976 ford escort, buick le sabre, california state university northridge, captain kirk, captain picard, captain sisko, chris pine, cpe, csun, dr leonard bones mccoy, ds9, ensign chekov, gene roddenberry, gordon biersch, karl urban, lcdr data, lcdr montgomery scott, leonard nimoy, lt sulu, lt uhura, lt worf, simon pegg, star trek, star trek 2009, star trek enterprise, star trek next generation, star trek the voyage home, star trek voyager, starfleet, starfleet chaplain corps, starfleet medical, starfllet academy, the wrath of khan, trekker, trekkie, uss enterprise ncc-1701, zachary quinto

May 26, 2009 · 23:53

Life’s Tough…It’s Tougher When You’re Stupid- The Peril of Misusing Principles, Attributes and Quotations Out of Context

sgt striker

I am cursed with having been born with a logical and analytical mind. As such it is a cross that I bear. This may sound pompous and even arrogant but unfortunately it is true. I am confronted every day with people, some of who that I love and adore who use principles and attributes badly and make themselves look foolish. Sometimes even bordering on being stupid. Often this involves personal hurts where because of something that was said or done a person makes a quantum leap intol illogical absurdity. For example, “My boss yelled at me thus my career is over.” That may or may not be true but it is not a foregone conclusion. Likewise something like this: “My friend did not call me back, they must hate me.” What is worse for hurt people is when they find a quote taken out of context and use it in an illogical manner. I had a dear friend do this the other day. I cannot break any confidence but I basically told my friend that if someone was wrong in something they said about my friend that my friend should tell them to go to hell. I also told my friend that if what the other person was true then that he needed to deal with it and make whatever corrections necessary.

I find that the use of principles and attributes as a lazy way for people to try to look intelligent. A person who uses them in such manner as a way to prove a point neither understand the principles or attributes of what they think that they understand. If physicians or scientists approached life in that manner we would be in big trouble. Yet we see it all the time in religion, popular philosophy, pop-psychology, popular leadership and management programs.

My friend made a comment on a social networking website regarding assumptions. It was a bad use of a bad quote, probably taken out of context, unless the person quoted was an idiot, which after reading stuff about him I believe that he is. The quote was by Don Miguel Ruiz and said: “The problem with making assumptions is that we believe they are the truth” There is a big problem with this. Good Old Don Mike is an idiot. Assumptions are how logical people begin the process of discovery through inductive and deductive reasoning. The problem with Don Mike is that he assumes that people who assume use assumptions in ignorance. You see Don Miguel is a “spiritual” teacher, and as a spiritual man of course he operates above logic. He lives in the world of unreality and illogic, however it looks like he makes good money doing it. Guys like this are actually dangerous because they say things that sound neat, but are absolutely idiotic. Now can we make bad assumptions about ourselves or others? Definitely. Crap I do it all the time, however that does not lessen the value of making and acting on assumptions. If the assumption is wrong, you re-assess and move forward. If someone makes an assumption about you which is wrong you don’t throw out the value of making informed decisions based on evidence and from that evidence making assumptions about how to proceed in the future. This can be in personal, financial, career, spiritual or any other dimension of life. We all make assumptions about ourselves and others and based on those assumptions live our lives.

Let’s take this quote about assumptions. Every month that we work we assume that we will get paid. It is part of the deal. We sign a contract or have a set pay scale and pay days. In the military we get paid on the 1^st and the 15^th of the month. I assume that when I read my pay advisement that that money will be in my bank account on the date the advisement says that it will. I operate on the assumption that I will be paid. If I am unemployed and have run out of unemployment benefits this may not be so. I should make the assumption that unless I get a job that I will not be able to buy my dog Milk Bones. True, Molly would not be happy about this but I would be a fool to assume that I will have money. This may happen. I may get a job or someone may help me out but I do not assume this to be the case.

One of the worst ways I see this is with religious people. Some of my fellow Christians for whatever reason believe that somehow God owes them. This of course comes from the “name it claim it, grab it stab it, God owes me because” heresy of the prosperity preachers. Unfortunately this crass, insipid and idiotic “theology” is not based on the assumption that God cares about them. It is however the presumption that because I did something that God is contractually bound to do it. It assumes wrongly that the Bible, believe a particular doctrine, give my money to the church or a ministry, or pray a certain way that God is obligated to do things the way that I want. This is an error of presumption as well as a theological heresy. It “cherry picks” scripture, something called “proof texting.” This is simply lifting the part of scripture that we like from its historical, cultural and theological context and arbitrarily determine that it means what we want it to mean. God loves us and cares for us but does not owe anyone anything. The Deity Herself assures me of this. The way I see it is that God is no respecter of persons, even me. Thus, I cannot presume on God.

Moving back to the topic of the misuse of principles and attributes by those who presume to be intelligent or spiritual: Principles and attributes have to be understood in context in order to be used correctly. Context includes the meaning of the writer or the person quoted. The context matters if we are to correctly interpret principles of life made by any individual. The Enlightenment Philosophers and Theologians called is the “situation in life, or Sitz im Leben. Things do not occur in a vacuum and how people arrive at their conclusions is as much a part of their environment and experience as the end product.

We see this in a number of ways. I love reading amateur historians, political or military pundits do this with the great military thinkers. I particularly get a kick out of people who quote Sun Tzu or Clausewitz out of context to make some point. I see this often. You can go to any bookstore and pick up a book of quotes or principles derived from some philosopher, theologian, military, business or political leader. They are usually entitled something like this: The Leadership Principles of __________. On occasion you might find a book of quotes, again usually out of context called ____________ Rules for Success in Life. Abe Lincoln and Winston Churchill are two of the most quoted in this manner. People love to do this with quotes of Jesus taken from the Gospels, of course who would argue with God incarnate. The problem is that the quotes are usually taken out of context and not congruent with the basics of the Christian faith. Even Scripture is abused in this manner. This is not assumption, it is presumption.

I remember a book entitled The Attributes of God which I read back in college. The problem with the book, from a Christian perspective, and the author was a Christian; was not that it’s assumptions about certain characteristics or attributes of God was wrong, it was the fact that God was approached through attributes rather than from the Cross. One does not know God simply through studying his attributes. If you are a Christian you know God through Christ who you know through the Cross, not just sayings of Jesus taken out of context. A person is not the sum of their attributes.

The same is true with those who quote various philosophers, theologians, political or military leaders out of context. People love to do this with Sun Tzu and Clausewitz. I have lost count of the books I have seen published in recent years that do this. To understand Clausewitz one has to understand the Enlightenment, Classic German Liberalism including the Philosophy of Kant, Hegel and Kierkegaard as well as the theology of theologians such as Scheilermacher. Clausewitz properly understood is more than a political-military philosopher but a man who understands the human condition. To reduce his work to cool quotes is to miss the point. Since most people can’t spell or correctly pronounce “Scheilermacher” I am sure that they have not read him. Same is true with Kant, Hegel and Kiekegaard. Without understanding this or Prussia’s defeat and and occupation by Napoleon’s Army and the subsequent recovery, one does not understand Clausewitz. Clausewitz deals with the human condition as amuch as he deals with political and military philosophy.

Now of course I chose the historical, military and religious examples because that is my academic background. However, to do this one uses all the facts that one has, analyzes them, evaluates them and uses deductive reasoning to determine the “truth” based on the facts on hand. However we have to understand that we never have all the facts, and that even “facts” that we have might not withstand the test of time or further examination. This is true in history and the sciences. It also has some basis in faith, which is why I prefer the historic Anglican-Catholic triad of Scripture, Tradition and Reason versus a Scripture alone or Scripture and Tradition basis for faith. Will I always be right? No, but I will use my errors to discover truth and not be content to remain in them. To plan we make assumptions about the future. Those assumptions must be tested as the situation develops. In Medicine physicians when diagnosing a condition make a differential diagnosis. It is a manner of testing our assumptions based on the facts on hand. The military uses a planning process in which assumptions are tested. Assumptions based on the evidence that we have are essential to planning for the future. Again this goes for personal matters as well. To quote MCDP-5 Planning, the Marine Corps Planning Process:

“the defining features of the planning challenge are uncertainty and time. More than anything else, considerations of time and uncertainty dictate our approach to planning. All planning is based on imperfect knowledge and involves assumptions about the future. All planning by definition is future-oriented, and the future by nature is uncertain. No matter how determined we are to be fully prepared for a situation, there are finite limits to our ability to plan for the future. The more certain the future is, the easier it is to plan.”

This is not easy, but making assumptions and planning for an uncertain future is far better than quoting people out of context to make it look like we have things figured out when we have never seriously studied them. As Sergeant Striker (John Wayne) said in the Sands of Iwo Jima: “Life’s tough, it’s tougher when you’re stupid.” Living life based on unstudied principles and attempting to determine the nature of someone by their attributes is not logical or rational. We have to be careful. This may not seem to be too spiritual but as Jesus said “Be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves.” Or as a Trekkie might say: Be as crafty as a Romulan but peaceful as a Vulcan.

Peace,

Steve+

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Tagged as anglican, assumptions, classic german liberalism, clausewitz, differential diagnosis, don miguel ruiz, enlightenment, god, hegel, jesus, john wayne, kant, kirkergaard, marine corps planning process, mcdp-5, prosperity gospel, sands of iwo jima, schleiermacher, scripture, scripture reason tradition, sitz im leben, sun tzu, the attributes of god

May 23, 2009 · 23:02

One Pitch, Game or Season too Many

In 1973 Willie Mays signed with the New York Mets after being released by the San Francisco Giants at the end of the 1972 season. It was a mistake and was his worst season in the majors. He showed his age, he had lost his speed. His arm was shot and hs hitting was a shadow of what it once was. He committed errors that never would have happened early in his career. He was unable to play on a daily basis. He wanted to do well. However the inability to be in the lineup on a consistant basis, lack of outfield speed, weak arm and poor hitting hurt his team. As a Giants fan I love Willie Mays. I believe that he is quite possibly the best player who ever lived. It hurt to see him finish his career in that fashion.

Other players have done this as well. They go for that last season that last chance for glory and leave not at the top of their game, but at the bottom. They end up tarnishing their final year and a career that should have ended in triumph ends in a whimper. A recent example is NFL great Brett Farve. His debacle with the New York Jets after retiring from the Packers has pushed his greatness to the side. The continuing confusion of whether he will try to return for one more year has made many former supports stop caring. Roger Clemens in the way that he played his last couple of years, sitting out half a season to make a dramatic entrance and then not performing well in his last season left a sour taste in the mouth of many in and out of baseball.

This is not confined to sports figures it occurs in almost every career vocation. For many this desire to stay just one more year, one more tour one more chance at glory the attempt ends in personal humiliation. They realize later that they should have gotten out at the top of their game. When I was a young Medical Service Corps officer we had about 250 Colonels in our branch. We only had one billet for a Brigadier General. That was usually 3-4 year term for whoever was the Chief of the Medical Service Corps. Additionally there were only a few actually billets for Colonel’s to command actual units. Some of these officers would have sld their soul’s to get the star. I’m sure that at least a few did. But with only one General Officer billet that came open every 3-4 years the chances were pretty slim for anyone to get the job. Yet we would have men well past their prime holding on, going from staff assignment to staff assignment until they hit the statutory retirement point. Many were miserable and felt that they should have been the annointed one. Unfortunately both in attitude and for the fact that by holding on indefinitely they kept others from getting promoted they hurt the Corps. This is not uncommon in botht he military and the civilian world, even in churches. It often harms those that hold on, those that work for them and the institution when younger men and women with fresh ideas can’t get promoted. Since I left the Medical Service Corps as a fairly junior Captain to go to seminary I never had a dog in this fight, but it was intersting to observe the effect on individuals and the institution.

There are times in life as well where we go through different seasons. Adjusting to the changes of those seasons is just as important, be they family, spiritual or vocational. Knowing when the season is changing and having people help us through are key. Likewise for those who have a religions faith, my Christian faith is a moderate Anglo-Catholic Episcopal spirituality with a membership in the Church of Baseball. After all the Deity does speak to me through baseball.

It takes a bit of self-awareness to know when you shouldn’t go on. Mike Mussina retired at the end of the 2008 season. He went won 20 games for the first time in career had a 3.37 ERA and won his 7^th Golden Glove of his career. He could have probably played for another year or two. However, he decided to go out on top. He left at the end of his 17^th and best season.

In daily life we have the same situation. A pitcher needs to know when to tell his manager that he can’t pitch. Likewise the manager and pitching coach have to be able to tell when their pitchers are losing their edge. My department head knows what I have been through in my life and what I have been dealing with both personally and physically. He trusts me to tell him when I am having trouble. He knows how to get the best out of me without wiping me out to do it.

Sometimes people not only stay too long, but in staying to long end up hurting their team, political party, business organization or religious organization. We have all probably known people like this. They finish badly and seldom does someone gently come alongside and say, “Friend, you had a great run, it’s time for you to step aside and let others carry out the mission.”

I for one know that I desire to go out on top when it is time for me to leave the military. I will be retirement eligible in about 2 ½ years. I want my tour where I am to be the best of my career regardless of whether I retire or get promoted and remain in service. I want people to remember me in the best possible way. If I know that I cannot do the job anymore it is incumbent on me to be honest enough with myself to admit it and go home before people say: “Yah, he was a good chaplain back in the day, but he’s lost something…he’s not the same.” I trust that the Deity Herself will assist me in this; Lord knows that this miscreant Priest needs all the help that he can get.

Peace,

Steve+

Post Script: I saw the Tides win again tonight and bring their record to 28 and 13, the best in AAA baseball. They won on a Justin Turner hit a walk off single to drive in Oscar Salazar with 2 outs in the bottom of the 10^thto defeat the Rochester Red Wings. Kam Mikalio got the win for the Tides and Bobby Keppel took the loss for the Wings. It was a ugly game, perhaps the ugliest I have see this year. Each team committed three errors for a total of six errors in the game. Wings third baseman Matt Macri dropped a routine pop foul by Oscar Salazar who then singled and scored the winning run. Wings starting pitcher Philip Humber hit three Tides batters. Tides Manager Gary Allenson and Designated Hitter Robby Hammock was tossed in the bottom of the 8^th and Wings Shortstop Trevor Plouffe was tossed in the top of the 10^th.

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Filed under Baseball, Loose thoughts and musings, Military, Religion

Tagged as 1973 baseball seson, anglo catholic, brett farve, christian faith, episcopal, giants, gold glove award, green bay packers, mike mussina, military retirement, new york jets, new york mets, new york yankees, roger clemens, willie mays

May 22, 2009 · 23:56

Let’s Not Do Dumb Things

Back in the day when I was a young Army Medical Service Corps Brigade Personnel Officer, I had a Brigade Commander whose moniker was “Let’s not do dumb things.” The man was a really good commanding officer. He was down to earth and cared about the troops being trained at our command. He was a common sense kind of commander and was not terribly difficult to work for. One day however my C.O. came in with stitches on his head. It turned out that my C.O. and broken his own rule. He was out with the Undersecretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Army Surgeon General, a couple of other American Generals as well as a host of Colonels, hosting a bunch of Chinese Generals for a diplomatic-military dinner. My C.O. who was a beer drinker decided to do the hard stuff that night. He got flat assed drunk, made vulgar and derogatory comments to the Chinese guests and then went to the head (latrine, bathroom, WC, or powder room for non-Navy types) fell, hit his head on a urinal and knocked himself out. That mornig he was fired. Not by our Commanding General, not by the Major Command, or even by the Army Chief of Staff. No he was fired by then SECDEF Casper Weinberger. When fired he was 2 months short of completing his command tour. His reputation was destroyed and he retired quietly and without fanfare a few months later.

Now I know that we all are inclined to do dumb things at one time or another. This is due to my doctrine of “the Total Stupidity of Man.” Sometimes the dumb things that we do are simply minor infractions which Phil the Prince of Insufficient Light will darn us to Heck as punishment. Other times they really get us into big time serious trouble. Sometimes we do dumb things and somehow get away with them either because no-one noticed or because someone was gracious enough not to blast us out of the water for them. Sometimes being lucky is better than being good. The key here is not to keep doing them until they are noticed and when we get blasted out of the water.

This was the case for me when I was a young Army Chaplain. Back when I got thrown out of the Army Chaplain Officer Advanced Course, I can honestly say that I did a number of dumb things. The consequences were relatively minor although embarrassing and I am forever grateful to Chaplain Rich Whaley for bailing my sorry ass out of the bind which I found myself. Damn, you say. Padre Steve got thrown out of the Chaplain advanced course. Yes he did and it was dumb. You see I was selected to go to the advanced course when I was still an SS Officer. No, no, no, not Waffen-SS, but the Army Staff Specialist branch. It is a branch set up for officers training to be Chaplains or JAG Corps. In seminary I had already done the Chaplain Officer Basic Course where I was the assistant course leader for 159 chaplains and seminarians. I had not come off active duty too long before this and was still very undeveloped as a clergyman. I was however not far from being a Company Commander and Brigade Staff Officer. My emotions often overflowed as I saw chaplains do things that in the rest of the Army that you would be crucified for doing, much like Jesus without any salvific purpose. Once in the Basic Course I had a young seminarian tell me that he didn’t have to obey orders from the student chain of command because his class adviser, a Major in the Chaplain Corps told him so. He snottily told me that Chaplain so and so was a Major and that I was only a Captain. Resiting the temptation to rip the young man’s throat from his neck, I said “We’ll see about that Lieutenant. I then went up threw my cover across the milquetoast Chaplain’s office, blasted him on the chain of command and how it worked. I told him in pretty rough language that he was going to get people killed. As I ranted he tried to hide behind his desk and others in the outer office dove for cover I stopped and said: “Thanks so much sir, now I have to go to confession. ” I then went and told Rich that “I cussed out so and so.” Rich stammered, “You did what?” I then explained the situation that Chaplain so and so had told a Lieutenant that he didn’t have to obey orders from the student chain of command. Rich then said “He did what?” and told me that he would handle it. He made the incident go away. That too was a dumb thing, I should have gone to Rich in the first place, but I was young and dumb. Anyway, moving on there was also the time in a class that another seminarian had me so pissed that I stormed out of the classroom and was in the hallway ripping my pin on rank off my collar. My dear friend Father Jim Bowman who commiserated with me the entire length of the course, and who I still stay in contact with grabbed me. Father Bowman asked: “What the hell do you think that you are doing?” I “Yelled back, I’m done, this isn’t the Army that I joined!” Jim jammed my collar devices back into my collar and said, “You can’t leave.” I said “Why?” Jim said “Because I can’t leave and you won’t either.” It was like Stripes where Bill Murray tried to escape boot camp and Harold Ramis tacked him and kept him from leaving. I think that they exchanged similar words.

Boy I chased a rabbit there…going back to the Advanced course. I was still an SS Officer, not that kind of SS Officer but the Staff Specialist like I told you before. So anyway, I showed up orders in hand as well as a letter from the previous Director of Training signed on behalf of the previous Commandant of the School authorizing me to be there. Unfortunately for me there was a new sheriff in town. The new Commandant denied me entrance into the course. His reasoning was that though my Chaplain paperwork was sitting on a desk in DC awaiting the final stamp of approval that since there was a chance that my application could be denied that he didn’t want me there. Who knows, maybe he got wind of my previous antics. I was pissed. Actually I think that most of of us who attended the Chaplain School spent the better part of our time pissed about something. However, instead of being smart, I threw a Billy Martin type of home plate argument and was tossed. Thankfully they didn’t stop me from becoming a Chaplain and they allowed me to come back for the course a couple of months later. This was likely again due to the intervention of Rich Whaley. Rich saw in me potential to do good. I was like “Wild Thing” in Major League. Rich helped get me straightened out. A couple of years later I was promoted to Major. Then I took it off to come in the Navy in 1999. The point is that I did a number of seriously dumb things that could have gotten me punished under the UCMJ and or thrown out of the Army. I’m grateful as hell that Rich was there to save my ass. A lot of people don’t get that kind of support and protection and do get hammered. I was lucky beyond belief. I lived to tell about it. Many don’t. My job now is to help young guys and gals not step on the same land mines that I did.

I’m not going to go through the list of idiotic things that I have seen other Chaplains do in the Army and Navy. I could but that would that would be unseemly. What I will mention, based on my experience is that I had to learn a lot the hard way that I hope to keep young Chaplains and other Officers from trying them out themselves. I don’t like to see fellow chaplains and officers do things that embarrass them, their service or hurt their life and careers. In the case of chaplains, God and the Church, or God and whatever religious organization that they belong. Heck I won’t even put a Jesus Fish on the back of my car for fear that God might get the blame for something that I do on the road.

However, doing dumb things is not limited to chaplains or the clergy, though we do such things quite well thank you. Others do them too. Politicians, sports stars, business leaders and others do them as well. I’ve noted a number of ways that I have done dumb things. At the same time I hope to have learned from them. I will and I’m sure that you my readers know that we will all do dumb things. I’m not a fan of Calvin’s “Total Depravity of man” theology but I am pretty sure that there is a “Total Stupidity of man” which you can make a great case for from the triad of Scripture, Tradition and Reason. In fact I am positive that the Deity Herself even tonight has kept me from writing some really dumb things.

So let’s not do dumb things. Pray for me a sinner,

Peace,

Steve+

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Filed under Loose thoughts and musings, Military, Religion

Tagged as army surgeon general, bill murray, billy martin, casper weinberger, chaplain corps, chaplain officer advanced course, chaplain officer basic course, chaplain school, darned to heck, doctrine of total depravity, doctrine of total stupidity, harold ramis, john calvin, major league, medical service corps, phil prince of insufficient light, secdef, staff specialist branch, stripes, wild thing

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Let’s Not Do Dumb Things

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