Official Pennsylvania Lottery Logo with Tagline (PD)
State legislation in 2004 authorized gambling in Pennsylvania. During the first three months after Pennsylvania casinos opened, gamblers bet $1.06 billion. They lost 90.6% of that.
Legalized gambling is often put forward as a valid strategy for economic development [1]. During hearings in 1994 before the US House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, however, experts testified that casino-style gambling impacts negatively on the criminal justice system, social welfare system, small businesses, and overall economy of a region.
Though the gaming industry routinely promises painless tax revenue [2], for every tax dollar contributed across the nation by legalized gambling, at least three dollars of taxpayer support are required by way of infrastructure and regulatory costs. Philadelphia projected its own increased policing costs at $11-$16 million.
Gambling, also, acts as a regressive tax on the poor. In the forlorn hope of a jackpot that will change their lives, the disadvantaged tend to gamble proportionately greater amounts of their income than their well-off neighbors – particularly on state lotteries. This translates to less money for rent and groceries.
The poor see no viable alternatives, all the while falling further behind. Read more…
New York City skyline before 9/11, Photo by Dhaval Jani, Source https://www.flickr.com/photos/95709708@N00/3918427292 (CC Attribution 2.0 Generic)
The term “New York values” was tossed out like a hand grenade at this week’s Republican Party debate. The city will no doubt survive the insult. It has survived worse.
But in the context of the current presidential campaign – a campaign in which immigrants, POWs, the disabled, Muslims, African Americans, and women have been among those targeted – it is worth examining what New York’s true values are. And what the values may be of those content with such rhetoric.
In the minds of many, New York City is not only associated with wealth, power, and sophistication. They consider the city a symbol for rudeness, arrogance, and immorality. Yet if the Midwest is America’s backbone, then New York City is the nation’s beating heart.
New York has rightly been called the city that never sleeps.
New Yorkers love that about the city – its vitality, its hustle, its sheer energy. They appreciate the cultural aspects of the city – its museums, theaters, ballet and opera companies – as much as its circuses and parades.
New Yorkers complain about the city’s crowded subways, pot-holed streets, and traffic clogged highways.
But they thrive on the pace. For them, New York City is a race run everyday. Read more…
“Job and His Family Restored to Prosperity” by William Blake (1805), Location Morgan Library (PD-Art, Age-old-100)
“Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’
So Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘…You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!’
And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power…’ ” (Job 1: 8-12).
The Book of Job reveals a good deal to us about spiritual attack. One essential lesson has to do with glorifying God.
Loss and an Absent God
Everything Job, a righteous man, had valued was taken from him. Job lost his property and his children. He lost his health, his standing in the community, his good name, and his friends. His marriage faltered.
Above all, Job lost His communion with God. Job felt God had turned His face away, just when Job needed Him most.
Job’s sense of rejection should come as no surprise to us. Those regularly in communication with God and sensitive to His presence feel His “absence” keenly. But the very thought that God would abandon us is a lie perpetrated by the adversary. We must not fall prey to it.
In His Presence
We live at every moment in God’s presence. That can be an uncomfortable truth or a great consolation.
“ ‘Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lord,“And not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?’ says the Lord; ‘Do I not fill heaven and earth’ says the Lord” (Jer. 23: 23-24).
God is, in other words, as aware of our suffering as He is of our sins.
“O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways” (Ps. 139: 1-3).
If we do not know God’s character well, that may seem like cold comfort. But we have His assurance that the very hairs of our head are numbered (Luke 12: 7). And we have the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross for our Salvation.
Distorted Lens
Sin – whether by or against us – distorts the lens through which we see God. It is not the only reason, however, that God may seem distant on occasion.
Job’s so called friends were certain he had sinned in some way to prompt such suffering. Under the guise of good advice, they urged him to repent. Job denied any wrongdoing on his part, and maintained that God would vindicate him. Read more…
Federal Court Reports, Author Raysonho (CC0 1.0 Universal PD Dedication)
Attorneys are regularly called upon to elicit testimony; draft stipulations; and defend (or dispute) statutes, judgments, and decrees. At times, these tasks can become routine. Politics can make us equally jaded.
Walk through the student union at any university, by contrast. You will find young people on every side engaged in impassioned discussions about law and politics, philosophy and theology. Why does the world operate as it does? Can one person possibly make a difference? What is the point of it all?
The Bible – which which offers answers to these questions – urges us to consider God’s law with the same degree of fervor. We are instructed:
“ ‘And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up…When your son asks you…saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand…’ ” (Deut. 6: 6-7, 20-21).
This is not an argument in favor of legalism. Rather, it is an invitation to know God better, that we may obey Him out of love, with a willing heart.
The apparent discrepancy is explained this way:
“So the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3: 24).
We were in bondage to sin, condemned by the law, but set free by Jesus Christ. That should be grounds enough for excitement. May it be our byword for the New Year.
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
“An Old Woman Reading, Probably the Prophetess Hannah” by Rembrandt (1631), Location Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Source http://www.art-spb.ru (PD-Art, PD-Age-100)
“Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess…and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2: 36-38).
The prophetess, Anna, is described in the Bible as a godly woman who frequented the temple for many years after her husband’s death. It would have been more common for a widow to live with her children in old age, so likely Anna had none.
Despite the early loss of her husband and the absence of children, Anna does not seem to have grown bitter. Though she could easily have viewed herself as forgotten by Almighty God, Anna remained devout – decade in and decade out – finding her comfort in Him. And it was to Anna that the privilege was given of recognizing the child Jesus as the promised Redeemer, when Mary and Joseph first brought Him to the temple to be presented [1].
Not many of us are prophets by profession. God speaks to (and through) each of us differently.
Perhaps you are the spoon lifting soup to the lips of a dying woman, or the hammer driving home a point in court, so that justice might be done. You may be the plow, opening fresh fields to the word of God, or simply raising the wheat needed to feed a hungry world. If not that, perhaps you are blessed to be the wallet enriching others.
Do not underestimate your value in God’s eyes. He designed you for this moment. You bear His handprint. You can think and feel because He willed it. You can choose between right and wrong because He engineered it.
You are the channel through which His love can flow where it has never gone before. And you are redeemed by that love, Incarnate in the Person of Jesus Christ.
—
[1] The other individual privileged to recognize Jesus as the Messiah at the time of His presentation in the temple was Simeon (Luke 2: 25-35).
Have a Happy New Year!
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Armenian woman kneeling beside dead child in a field within sight of help and safety at Aleppo, Syria, Source http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html (Reproduction No. LC-USZ62-48100), Author Near East Foundation f/k/a American Committee for Relief in the Near East (PD)
“So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, ‘Every [Hebrew] son who is born you shall cast into the river…’ ” (Ex. 1: 22).
“Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under…” (Matt. 2: 16).
Nearly four thousand years ago, a pharaoh ordered all male infants born to an ethnic minority drowned. Seventeen hundred years later, a king ordered all male children aged two and under slaughtered.
Innocents are still being slaughtered. Some die quickly by sword or gunshot, some die slowly by disease and starvation. Some die in the sea on the trek to safety. The photo above was taken around 1917. It could have been taken yesterday.
A powerful ruler attempted to exterminate an ethnic minority. But God brought forth a deliverer, Moses, and the nation Israel was born. A cruel king attempted to defend his throne against a babe born in a manger. But God brought forth Jesus Christ, the Redeemer for all nations and all peoples on the earth.
Have a blessed Christmas!
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
“Estes Park, Colorado” by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) (PD Art, PD-Old-100)
In the Rocky Mountains, there are a series of peaks at the northern end of Estes Park, Colorado collectively known as Lumpy Ridge. One of the classic climbs at Lumpy Ridge is called Joy and Tribulation. Climbers who have shared their techniques, tips, and warnings for climbing this route describe it alternately as “steep,” “intimidating,” and “fantastic.”
As Christians, we understand being in the valley, as well as being on the mountain top. Psalm 23 uses the phrase “the valley of the shadow of death” to refer to any great threat or trial from famine and illness to grief at the loss of a loved one. The term “mountain top experience” refers to a profound and inspiring experience of God such as Moses’ interaction with Him on Mt. Sinai or Peter, James, and John’s witness to Christ’s Transfiguration.
Where we often encounter difficulty is the climb, the day to day grind by which we traverse from the valley to the mountain top. “Traverse” is, in fact, a climbers’ term. It means going from side to side, the better to progress upward or downward.
This is the part most Christians would prefer to do without. We garner no accolades; see no growth; experience no ecstasy. Yet this is the climb. It requires skill and tenacity, but leads to joy.
“…I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble” (Ps. 59: 16).
Almighty God, these times weigh heavily upon us. Many go homeless. Children’s lives are ended in the womb. Our brothers and sisters are persecuted.
Surely, it is only Your great patience that stays Your hand of judgment. We know Your power, Father, vast beyond all words. The evil we see around us is insignificant by comparison, yet enough to defeat us without Your intervention. Intervene once more for us.
We sing of Your mercy for You are our shield and our defense. We sing of our Salvation, purchased by the death of Your Son, Jesus Christ. In tribulation, we, nonetheless, hold fast to joy.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Urban Decay: Falsas Promesas/Broken Promises, Charlotte Street Stencils, South Bronx, NY, Author John Fekner (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported)
Tyshawn Lee, a 9 year old Chicago boy, was laid to rest last month, another victim of inner city violence. The child is thought to have been lured to his death by members of a gang competing with his father’s for drug turf. There have been more than 390 such killings in Chicago this year [1].
I grew up in a working class neighborhood of the Bronx, a short drive from the nearest public housing project. The high-rise apartments there were monoliths, devoid of any hint of humanity other than graffiti and the occasional Christmas lights draped from a balcony, twenty stories up.
My parents for years owned a small delicatessen in Harlem. My mother dealt daily with the working poor, barefoot children, prostitutes, drug addicts, and the homeless.
As an adult, a personal injury lawyer, I interviewed the victims of rape and mayhem in projects with lofty names like the Polo Grounds Houses. The irony was not lost on me.
Children amused themselves by riding skateboards against the elevator doors, for the clanging sound that made. A special police squad investigated the paralyses and deaths which resulted when the doors gave way, and children disappeared down the shaft.
Behind the desk of one project manager, I noticed a large jar of what seemed to be multi-colored marbles. He pulled the jar forward to reveal empty “crack” cocaine vials. “This is what I’m up against,” he said to me, somberly. “This is just a week’s worth from one of the stairwells.”
I rode the subways at all hours. Legless veterans would regularly roll through the train cars, flush with the floor, begging for spare change.
One frail young woman pushed a stroller along, calling out, “Milk for the baby! Milk for the baby!” as she pleaded for coins. Whether the money she collected went to the baby or her drug habit, I do not know. Read more…
“You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates” (Deut. 24: 14).
The presidential race has turned a spotlight on the minimum wage. Adopting an overtly religious posture, Republican candidates uniformly oppose raising the federal standard. Democratic candidates happily make “pie in the sky” promises about it.
Here are a few things for Christians to consider.
Background
The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009, when it rose to $7.25 per hour. In the intervening years, it has lost 8.1% of its purchasing power to inflation [1]. However, the federal minimum wage would have to be more than $8 per hour to equal its buying power in the 1980s, and nearly $11 to equal its buying power in the 1960s [3].
- As of this writing, the price of a gallon of whole milk is $2.71 at Walmart.
- The price of a 33 oz box of Kellogg’s “Frosted Flakes” Cereal is $4.58.
- The price of a five-pack of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is $4.50.
Scope
There are some 3 million workers earning the minimum wage. About 20.6 million more workers earn “near” minimum wage (more than the federal standard, but less than $10.10 per hour) [2].
Fully 89% of those who would benefit from an increase in the federal minimum wage to $12 per hour are 20 or older; 56% (13.2 million) are women [4].
Impact on Jobs
There is a heated debate over whether raising the minimum wage would decrease the number of jobs available. Many economists – including Nobel laureates Kenneth Arrow of Stanford University, Erik Maskin of Harvard, Thomas Schelling of the University of Maryland, Peter Diamond and Robert Solow of MIT, Michael Spence of NYU, and Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University – dispute this [5], as do rigorous studies [6]. Read more…
Vineyards in Napa Valley, CA, Author Brocken Inaglory (CC BY-SA-3.0 Unported)
Grape vines have been cultivated since around 6000 BC for their fruit, juice, and wine. Phoenicians are thought to have been the first to introduce grapes for winemaking to the Mediterranean area. Greek wine jars have been located in Italy dating to 800 BC. Vineyards in Spain and Gaul were exporting wine to Rome by the Second Century.
Vineyards are characterized by their geography. Soil, elevation, and rainfall all play a role. On autumn days, the sight of vineyards in California’s Napa Valley turning scarlet and gold is one of the most beautiful in the world.
Jesus referred frequently to wine and vineyards. The Lord is described at Zechariah 6: 12 as the promised Priest-King (“the Man whose name is the BRANCH”). He described Himself at John 15: 1 as the true vine, and the Father as the vinedresser. As the lesser branches, we depend for our existence on Him.
“ ‘Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit’ ” (John 15: 2).
Lord Jesus, we ask that You bless our undertakings.
Keep us focused on You, not worldly rewards or advancement. Help us to bear with pruning, that we may bring forth much fruit to Your everlasting glory.
Amen
Happy Thanksgiving!
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
A Lawyer's Prayers 