Current Affairs Archives - Page 2 of 3

Immigration and racism: People win as we apply “survival of the weakest”, not “fittest”

Rich KirkpatrickJanuary 12, 201861.5K views

The church season of Epiphany contrasts our darker nature reflected in the recent words from our president about immigration. As a Christian, true religion is more about the “least of these” than the great, powerful, and rich. There is nothing profane about having privilege. What is offensive to the Gospel is the dehumanization of the vulnerable people in the world–be they from Haiti, El Salvador, or Africa, or even Norway. Our president at this moment appeals to the darkest parts of our human nature. This nature blames the blameless. It shames the shameless. The darkness of this type of power shreds the bonds that even Christians should have for one another. The survival of the fittest is not a biblically solvent idea but is indeed a potentially genocidal policy. People win when we apply a “survival of the weakest.” This is what Jesus Christ modeled for us. [bctt tweet=”What is…

Post-Truth: Are we on the side of truth or comfort?

Rich KirkpatrickJanuary 2, 20170734 views

Truth is not a sport that wins with the score of popularity or power won. In our postmodern world, we can believe what we want. We can pay a company to spin information or post fake news on social media. Consequences do not matter. We are driven to win at any costs. Knowledge used to be equated with power. Today, popularity is power, regardless of facts or truth. A post-truth, post-fact world is one we have embraced. Faith, not always built upon empirically proven facts, causes many to still sacrifice their very lives. The ISIS beheadings of Christians is proof of this. In America, would our form of Christian faith pass the martyrdom test? Would we survive in our current squabbling? When truth impacts issues of life and death, you would think we would carefully examine it and be open to mastering it. The Bible may not be a scientific…

A Post-Election Psalm: Where does my help come from?

Rich KirkpatrickNovember 14, 20160573 views

As we reflect on an election season, here is a psalm to help us focus our worship–loosely paraphrased from Psalm 21. My eyes see have seen The Hill, My ears of heard the POTUS proclamations, My Twitter feed full of hateful power. But, where does my help come from? Does it come from political power brokers, Or entertaining media outlets, My fellow voter and citizen? Where does my help come from? The data of my life is watched day and night, But, only my Maker truly can see who I am. My Lord never sleeps as he cares for me, His aim is to never harm. As I come to worship my God, The idols of power are clearly before me. But, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord!

The Dangers of Binary Thinking: When a 2D thought meets a 3D universe

Rich KirkpatrickAugust 15, 20160795 views

Mystery cannot be contained by two dimensions. We seem to escape mystery within the walls of our binary reality. If life was as simple as a switch, we could simply turn off or turn on solutions. In fact, we do that very act every day to choose hot or cold water out of the faucet. We change the channel or swipe to the next stream of content on our smartphones with ease. Choices, no matter how full of first-world sophistication all reduce themselves to a binary question. With thousands of TV shows, hundreds of thousands of songs, and millions of click-bait articles to peruse, the choice is either a yes or a no. The muscle that might have once been used on imagination and wonder is now occupied to manage the firehose torrent of information and entertainment headed in our direction. Our schedule will not allow exploration, however. Reasonable people…

Personal and Nasty Insults in Politics are NOTHING New! #history

Rich KirkpatrickFebruary 11, 20162399 views

What strikes me is that every four years we go through a loss of memory as to how traditionally American it is to hurl personal insults and spin preposterous claims to your political opponent. This is not new, and politics have not really hit a new low with the likes of Donald Trump.