1920 map showing races of the world classified by skin color. White populations shown in red. Black populations shown in grey. Mixed black and white populations shown in purple. Native American populations shown in orange.
Though genetics, linguistics, anthropology, and archaeology do not always agree, it is possible with modern advances to trace human ancestry back thousands of years.
Adam and Eve…Sort of
The most recent common ancestor from whom all people living today are thought to have descended, along the paternal line, bears the formal moniker Y-MRCA but is known to friends as “Y-chromosomal Adam”. The comparable female ancestor mt-MRCA was traced through the mitochondrial DNA passed maternally. She is, therefore, called “Mitochondrial Eve”.
Scientists do not view Y-chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve as the biblical couple. They may not even have been contemporaries. But they did pass down their genes to us.
Race
Thirteen markers on the Y-chromosome distinguish the various populations across the globe.
Mutation, migration, and sexual reproduction, itself, all contribute toward genetic variation. Add to the complexity epigenetics, which involves heritable changes in appearance and gene expression not resulting from changes in the DNA sequence.
Variation is actually a strength. It increases the chances that some in the population will be able to survive a new threat.
The statistical differences in susceptibility to some diseases, among the various populations on earth, illustrate this. Since genes can change over time, these differences are thought to have developed in response to local diseases. Sickle cell anemia may, for example, provide genetic resistance to malaria.
Blood Brothers
Whether any of such factors can be used to define race is disputed. There are no genes for race per se. But the frequency with which certain genes occur in a given population can be used to apply a label to that population.
This may have more sociological than genetic significance. For purposes of a blood transfusion, it is essential to identify blood type…not skin color or point of geographic origin. You might say that makes us blood brothers.
What Christians know – over and apart from all this – is that we were all fashioned by the same Creator, and all saved by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Happy Valentine’s Day
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Seabees Recruiting Poster c. 1942
“…Lord, stand beside the men who build
And give them courage, strength and skill
O grant them peace of heart and mind
And comfort loved ones left behind
Lord, hear our prayer for all Seabees
Where e’re they be on land or sea.”– Prayer on Memorial to the Navy Construction Battalion a/k/a Seabees, Arlington National Cemetery
Over 325,000 men during WW II served in the Seabees, as the Navy Construction Battalion (“CB”) was called. This prayer honors their memory at Arlington National Cemetery.
The Lord’s assurances of His continuing presence and protection can be found throughout Scripture. These require little comment, but provide great comfort in the difficult times in which we live.
Here are just a few:
“ ‘Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid…for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you’ ” (Deut. 31: 6).
“ ‘I will not leave you nor forsake you’ ” (Joshua 1: 5).
“ ‘…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ ” (Matt. 28: 20).
“For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’ ” (Heb. 13: 5-6).
Father, we thank You for Your continuing presence, in history and in our lives.
You are far greater than any man. Yet we find ourselves, at times, afraid of what the world can do to us. Despite our knowledge of Your power, we fear for our lives, for our children, and for our financial well-being.
You have not given us a spirit of fear, Father, but of power and love. Make us worthy of those gifts.
Extend Your hand of protection to us. Help us to experience Your presence afresh each morning. Help us to trust in You on our darkest nights, though we cannot feel You by our side.
We ask these things in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
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Heinrich Himmler, SS commander who established and controlled Nazi concentration camps, at direction of Adolf Hitler, Source German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R99621) (CC-BY-SA 3.0)
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria last year accused ISIS of crimes against humanity [1]. After conducting more than 300 refugee interviews, the commission concluded that ISIS rules by terror with mass killings, public beheadings, stonings, amputations, and sexual enslavement commonly used tactics.
The atrocities ISIS has adopted as its own bring back all too sharply memories of another self-styled empire and so called “master race”. Though the rhetoric by ISIS may differ from that by the Nazis (and the numbers of dead are not yet on a par), the two are alike under the skin:
- ISIS is motivated by hate, just as the Nazis were.
- ISIS claims moral superiority over all others, just as the Nazis did.
- ISIS perverts religion to achieve and retain power, just as the Nazis did.
- ISIS uses fear, violence, and religious persecution to further its ends, just as the Nazis did.
- ISIS is willing – even anxious – to commit genocide, just as the Nazis were.
There exists no religion more directly opposed to such tactics and beliefs than Christianity. As Christians, we know that we are sinners (Rom. 3: 23), morally superior to no one, and saved by grace alone (Eph. 2: 8). We are to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5: 43-44).
What then are we to do, in the face of crimes against humanity? What course are we to pursue, when the blood of our persecuted brothers and sisters cries out to us – not seeking vengeance, but pleading that we rescue those we yet can?
“Remember the prisoners as if chained with them – those who are mistreated – since you yourselves are in the body also” (Heb. 13: 3).
Lord Jesus, ours is a lost world. Those of us who know You are few; those who can worship and remain faithful to You without fear of reprisal, fewer still.
Remember our persecuted brothers and sisters, even when we do not. Help us to know what You would have us do for them, and for all those subjected to such horrors.
Protect them from harm, comfort them in grief, carry them home at the appointed hour in Your loving arms.
Amen
—
[1] Arabiya.net, “Isis Accused of Crimes Against Humanity”, 11/14/15, http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/11/14/ISIS-commits-crimes-against-humanity-in-Syria.html.
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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
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“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
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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
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“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
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