It is noteworthy that a distinction should be made between eloquence in public speaking and pontification. One is a self-confidence and ease in communication, whereas the other is an air of indifference, arrogance and calculated verbalization. It is next to impossible to receive a rational response to a practical matter from almost all of the elected representatives in our nation. This has allowed for the caustic comedy to speak of some politicians that “you can tell when they are lying - if their lips are moving.” It has also given occasion to a biting definition of Political Correctness. A report states: Every year at Texas A&M they do a contest to come up with the most appropriate definition of a contemporary term. This year's term was: “Political Correctness”. Here is the winning definition… "Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up excrement by the clean end."
On Thursday, May 21st we heard the President state the following: “The courts have spoken. They have found there is no legitimate reason to hold 21 of the people confined at Guantanamo….I cannot ignore these rulings.” However, according to POLITICO the following represents the facts: “…only one judge has ordered the release of Guantanamo detainees into the United States. That ruling, involving 17 Uighur men, was stayed and later overturned by a federal appeals court. It’s true about two dozen detainees have been ordered released by federal judges. But at the moment those orders are largely unenforceable due to a D.C. Circuit Court ruling denying judges the authority to bring detainees to the United States.” The conclusion drawn by POLITICO is: “While President Obama cannot ignore the rulings, he certainly doesn’t have to do much right now to comply with them. But making it sound like he’s under pressure from the courts makes it sound like he has no choice but to close Gitmo.” And so, the pontification and game goes on and on and on.
Chuck Colson is one of the more prolific writers and in his Breakpoint Commentary for May 18th he writes: “From the outside looking in, an intelligent observer can see the signs of a once-great civilization in decline: rising corruption, sexual licentiousness, and the abandonment of once-cherished moral principles. The once-great civilization is Western Christendom. And the outside observer is Indian scholar Vishal Mangalwadi. His new book, Truth and Transformation: A Manifesto for Ailing Nations shows how dearly the West is paying for abandoning the Christian worldview—the very worldview that made its greatness and prosperity possible. It is no coincidence, Mangalwadi argues, that reason, science, and advanced technology developed and thrived in the West. That’s because Western man believed that God created an orderly universe that could be explored and understood—and whose resources could be harnessed to benefit mankind…Mangalwadi wonders why the West, rich in material and political blessings, would turn away from the source of its success—the Christian worldview anchored in the Scriptures.”
Consider these things with me - - - Some of us grew up with an adage echoing in our minds: “What you are speaks so loud, I can’t hear what you say.” Someone wrote a Gospel song that contained these thoughts as well: “What you are speaks so loud the world can't hear what you say! They're looking at your walk, not listening to your talk…They'll judge you by your actions every day! Don’t believe, you’ll deceive, by claiming what you’ve never known…” We move along in life as though there is no consequence for the hollowness of speech and the emptiness of credible action. In Jeremiah 16:10-12, “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? then you shall say to them: Because your fathers have forsaken me…and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse…for every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me…” Pontification and Articulation makes an impression and can sound good, but in the words of an old Wendy’s Advertisement: “Where’s the beef?” We are called to be witnesses (Acts 1:8). Are we proactive or inactive in that assignment?
On Thursday, May 21st we heard the President state the following: “The courts have spoken. They have found there is no legitimate reason to hold 21 of the people confined at Guantanamo….I cannot ignore these rulings.” However, according to POLITICO the following represents the facts: “…only one judge has ordered the release of Guantanamo detainees into the United States. That ruling, involving 17 Uighur men, was stayed and later overturned by a federal appeals court. It’s true about two dozen detainees have been ordered released by federal judges. But at the moment those orders are largely unenforceable due to a D.C. Circuit Court ruling denying judges the authority to bring detainees to the United States.” The conclusion drawn by POLITICO is: “While President Obama cannot ignore the rulings, he certainly doesn’t have to do much right now to comply with them. But making it sound like he’s under pressure from the courts makes it sound like he has no choice but to close Gitmo.” And so, the pontification and game goes on and on and on.
Chuck Colson is one of the more prolific writers and in his Breakpoint Commentary for May 18th he writes: “From the outside looking in, an intelligent observer can see the signs of a once-great civilization in decline: rising corruption, sexual licentiousness, and the abandonment of once-cherished moral principles. The once-great civilization is Western Christendom. And the outside observer is Indian scholar Vishal Mangalwadi. His new book, Truth and Transformation: A Manifesto for Ailing Nations shows how dearly the West is paying for abandoning the Christian worldview—the very worldview that made its greatness and prosperity possible. It is no coincidence, Mangalwadi argues, that reason, science, and advanced technology developed and thrived in the West. That’s because Western man believed that God created an orderly universe that could be explored and understood—and whose resources could be harnessed to benefit mankind…Mangalwadi wonders why the West, rich in material and political blessings, would turn away from the source of its success—the Christian worldview anchored in the Scriptures.”
Consider these things with me - - - Some of us grew up with an adage echoing in our minds: “What you are speaks so loud, I can’t hear what you say.” Someone wrote a Gospel song that contained these thoughts as well: “What you are speaks so loud the world can't hear what you say! They're looking at your walk, not listening to your talk…They'll judge you by your actions every day! Don’t believe, you’ll deceive, by claiming what you’ve never known…” We move along in life as though there is no consequence for the hollowness of speech and the emptiness of credible action. In Jeremiah 16:10-12, “And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? then you shall say to them: Because your fathers have forsaken me…and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, and because you have done worse…for every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me…” Pontification and Articulation makes an impression and can sound good, but in the words of an old Wendy’s Advertisement: “Where’s the beef?” We are called to be witnesses (Acts 1:8). Are we proactive or inactive in that assignment?
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