Toward the Brave New World

There has been much discussion regarding the push for a nationalized healthcare system by President Obama and Congress. As the details of the healthcare plan become more and more visible the reason for a quick vote becomes more and more evident. The are many parts of the healthcare bill that are frightening and outright scary but probably the most frightening is the thought of mandatory counseling for the elderly at the age of 65. Althought this type of thinking seems to be something new, in reality it is something that has been around for many years. Futhermore it has been adamantly advocated by many in the Obama administration and Congress. For instance, President Obama's science czar John Holdren has been associated with the "No-Growth Population" movement which advocates stopping the growth of the population in order to utilize the world's resources efficiently. I have attached a link that speaks about John Holdren http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/07/21/john-holdren-reason-fear-obamacare/. Moreover, Tom Daschle, who was President Obama's pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services, has made astonishing comments regarding the elimination of the elderly primarily in his book Critical: What We Can Do About the Health Care Crisis. He has stated that healthcare reform "will not be pain free" and advocates that Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. It is interesting Daschle was picked to lead the Health and Human Services when his background is not in medicine but politics. He is a lawyer not a doctor. There are many other connections to those associated with Congress and the Administration that advocate this mentality. The root of this type of thinking is essentially grounded in a humanistic viewpoint of life. Herbert Schlossberg in his book Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and Its Confrontation with American Society wrote about many of the things we are seeing today in our world and government, in the 1980's, as a result of a humanistic worldview. In the chapter on "Consequences and Expectations" he makes this statement regarding a type of "no-growth population" movement. He states, "Death, then, is the answer to our economic problems. The elderly will be called selfish if they insist on living, and it will be a humanitarian deed and moral duty to see that they do not continue to live and so deprive others of the quality of life to which they aspire. Some day, perhaps, Francis Crick's call for a new ethic that would insist on mandatory death for all persons over eighty years of age will seem like a first hesitant step toward the brave new world that humanism is bringing into realization."

Living the Truth

In a world that believes in the absence of truth I found this quote from David Wells, in his book The Courage to Be Protestant, pertinent to our mission to convey Jesus Christ as the the Truth. He states, "The church must remember two points in particular: first, that Christianity is about truth, and second, that those who say they are Christians must model the truth by their integrity. A world without truth, postmoderns know, is an empty and dangerous place. And in a world full of hype and spin, manipulation and posturing, personal integrity is like a precious jewel. Even a little integrity goes so much further than all the technology, the country-club churches, and the big performers that can be mustered in the propagation of the biblical gospel (p.92)."

The Church in the World

I have begun reading Brennan Manning's book The Signature of Jesus. This quote is part of his opening words. The greatest need for our time is for the church to become what it has seldom been: the body of Christ with its face to the world, loving others regardless of religion or culture, pouring itself out in a life of service, offering hope to a frightened world, and presenting itself as a real alternative to the existing arrangement (9-10). I may not agree with a lot of with Manning says in his books but I have to say that he is right on spot with this statement. I believe the setting is just right for the church to make a significant impact into the lives of people.