No Such Thing as a Hyphenated American

This might come as a shock to some of you, but I am politically conservative. *gasp* !!!!!!! Like a good conservative Republican I try to be aware of current events, and even go so far as to listen to political talk-radio while driving. My two favorite shows happen to be at the same time on different stations: Rush Limbaugh and Michael Medved. El Rushbo is pretty arrogant and a bit obnoxious, but ya know what? More often than not he is extremely right, and he falls on the conservative side of things far more often than his colleagues. Medved provides more thought-provoking topics of conversation, at least I think so =). In fact, there are three books I’ve read because of his recommendation: a book on the Crusades, his own The 10 Big Lies About America (which I just finished), and a book about Jimmy Carter and the 1970’s.

There are literally dozens of topics that I may end up blogging about over the next few weeks from “The 10 Big Lies About America,” but I wanted to focus on just one of them today. Michael Medved has a chapter responding to the myth that “America Has Always Been a Multicultural Society.” In this chapter he quotes part of a speech made by the beloved Theodore Roosevelt in 1915:

“There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans. Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all…. The one absolutely certain way of brining this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities, an intricate knot of German-Americans, Irish-Americans, English-Americans, French-Americans, Scandinavian-Americans or Italian-Americans, each preserving its separate nationality, each at heart feeling more sympathy with Europeans of that nationality, than with the other citizens of the American Republic. There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.” (Pgs. 103-104).

What cut me to the quick was when I learned that this speech was made to a group of Irish Catholics. The annotation I made in the margins of this page reads: “Never thought about it that way before.” Honestly, I hadn’t. Having been raised in the public school system, and taken an innumerable amount of college courses, I guess I’ve been more influenced to believe that one’s national identity is not first as an American citizen, but rather in one’s ethnic heritage.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with “celebrating” one’s heritage, or identifying and appreciating one’s familial background. But when I think about my friends, classmates and coworkers, and how they choose to identify themselves, it isn’t primarily as an American. Many blacks overemphasize their African-ness. Many whites overemphasize their European-ness. The problem arises when one is more proud of where they’ve come from rather than where they are.

“Cultural Diversity in Education” was one perhaps the single greatest waste of time in my entire life. I remember the professor asking the class one day: “How many of you think racism is a major problem in America today?” Everyone’s hand shot up, except mine. Immediately, I could feel the scornful looks from various individuals in the classroom, including the professor who couldn’t believe her eyes. Puzzled, she asked me why I didn’t think racism was not a major problem in America. I answered: “Because the vast majority of Americans are openly opposed to racism, the Federal and state governments are opposed to racism, and we now have laws protecting against racial discrimination. Sure, there are racists in America, but they are widely condemned throughout the land.” My professor happened to be black, and tried to hide just how offended she was, but continue on with our conversation. “Well, I have been mistreated by many people because of my black-ness,” she said. I expressed my sympathies, but reiterated that the greater majority are opposed to people thinking less of someone simply because of the color of their skin.

That group of students was essential in pointing out to me just how much racism is not a problem. Americans are so opposed to racism that all education majors are required to take courses like “Cultural Diversity in Education.” If we would simply recognize that racism was a huge problem in America, and at the same time admit that we have – for the most part – overcome racism we would begin to stop thinking of people in terms of ethnicity at all. Shouldn’t our goal be to instill in our fellow citizens that we are all equal in value because of our shared humanity, rather than because of our different ethnic backgrounds? Why is it that blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians or any other ethnicity are all equal? Is it not because we are all human? If you’re like me, you’re thinking to yourself, “Yup. No duh, Case.” Haha. The problem is that many liberals do not think this way. It’s true that they believe all peoples are equal in value but they arrive at this conclusion by celebrating ethnicities, rather than recognizing ethnicities all share a common humanity.

Three of four years ago I began to take great interest in my own family history and ethnic heritage. Part of my heritage is Irish, and I am uber proud of my Irish-ness (just ask Scott, who was forced to listen to hours upon hours of Irish tunes on repeat). I have made the mistake of focusing too much on my ethnicity, rather than identifying myself primarily as an American. Never fear, I’m not about to stop enjoying my Irish-ness, but I do plan on clarifying that I am an American first, and Irish second. My loyalty is to this nation, which still represents the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Thanks for reading this American’s thoughts,
Rustyrust

The Half-Blood Prince

The beginning portions of this post will not contain spoilers for HBP, and I’ll give a warning before the spoilers are let loose =)

July 14th was one of the most memorable movie-going experiences I’ve had. Myself and Emily, and Cory and Melissa waited in line for the showing all day. We arrived around 10am, chick-filet for breakfast, starbucks, and then joined the line outside. It was only a few moments when the manager came out to let everyone inside – boy oh boy were we thankful we could be inside since it was already beginning to boil.

Our group was 3rd in line and we had a bench; our day was off to a fantastic start! Within a few minutes Melissa and I decided to get into our costumes, me into my Quidditch costume, Melissa into a Hogwarts school uniform costume. Gotta say that they were the best costumes, by far =).

We brought a Harry Potter 20-Questions game, a simplified magic-like Harry Potter board/card game which we spent 40 minutes trying to figure out and was much too difficult to play, but a fun amount of time nonetheless. Of course we made friends with our fellow waiters-in-line and ended up playing a group game of Silent Football. It was hilarious, haha. I can tell you right now it musta been quite the sight seeing adults dressed in Harry Potter costumes spitting at each other or thrusting elbow’s in one another’s face, all the while remaining fairly silent =).

Our auditorium was allowed in to be seated at 6pm. Not only were we able to save enough seats for the rest of our party but we had a wonderful spot right in the middle.

12:01am grew ever closer and you could feel the electricity begin to build in the auditorium. People were excited, and with good reason! I think it was 2 years ago that OoTP came out?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was overwhelmingly my favorite of the Potter films. Many non-die-hard fans, but who’ve followed the movies, have said that they wished there was more action. But die-hard fans, and those who’ve read the books, loved it.

What made the HBP so much better? The most noticeable improvement was the actors’ and actresses’ ability to perform. Their acting had improved with each new film, and was incredibly noticeable here. My brother, Dvorák, who is not Radcliffe’s biggest fan, said even he did a great job.

SPOILERS TO FOLLOW! THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIES AND READ ALL SEVEN BOOKS SHOULD CONTINUE AT THE SPOILER BREAK – (Will appear in caps below)!!!!!!!

At this point I’ve seen the HBP twice, and my favorite part as of now is when Ron is overcome by Ramilda Vane’s (sp?) love potion. His stupefied expression and that stupid grin kept me laughing. Then there was Radcliffe who got me laughing once he took the “Liquid Luck” potion. Sitting on that over-sized stool in Hagrid’s hut, clapping and smiling was truly the equivalent of roflberry pwncakes!

Harry and Ginny’s romance has begun full swing, and I’m sure all the girls loved that =). Hey, I did too! She sure is aggressive, but I’m pretty sure Harry needed someone like her. Those of us who know the ending of book 7 are probably prone to agree with me?

What I felt was lacking most of all were key elements from the spectacular battle scene near the end. I’ll need to re-read the book, but the way I remember that scene in my head was with more Death Eaters. Also, where was Hagrid?! Was he burning in his hut?! I was hoping to see countless spells bounce off of his half-giant thick skin. Still, the scene was enjoyable.

I completely forgot about Bill and Fleur. Also, here’s a question to the reader: do you think that Lupin and Nymphadora’s romance was too revealed in this movie? Should they have waited to develop it until they reveal it more fully in book 7?

END OF SPOILERS

Honestly, I cannot wait to find an excuse to see this movie again. Maybe I ought to be more clever and just come up with something =). This will undoubtedly be the best-selling blockbuster of the year.

Thanks for reading ya’ll,
The Rusted One

My List of Sins

I determined that I would not write again about Spiritual-Mindedness until I have finished that fantastic read, but it is completely affecting what is on my mind (no pun intended) and therefore you can expect my articles on spiritual subjects to be heavily influenced because of what John Owen has to say =) …

One of the recent realizations the Lord has made new to me is that I cannot stop sinning unless I have the aid of the Holy Spirit. When I first became a Calvinist, one of the new questions I asked was: “So if God saves apart from the cooperation of man, does he also sanctify without our cooperation? Or is my personal holiness dependent upon me?” Quite an interesting question, eh?

Eventually, I came to understand that even our sanctification is completely the work of God, but I’m not quite sure I have consistently experienced the truthfulness of that. While considering the myriad of Christian truths discussed by Owen in Spiritual-Mindedness, I began to understand a bit more of just how sinful I am. The truth is that for a long time I haven’t considered myself all that bad. After all, I could compare myself to someone else – an unbeliever, or a “weaker” Christian – and I’d feel better about my spiritual state. But once I began to examine my life with God’s awesome holiness, or with the standard recorded in His Word, I recognized my disgusting and wretched state before Him. The Lord requires perfection, and I daily fail at attaining that mark.

Considering how much light God has given to me, I have even less of an excuse than the average Joe who has not been raised in a Christian home, raised in the Church, and in a land where I have easy access to the Scriptures. I have far less of an excuse! I thought about Romans 7, where the Apostle says of himself, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24, NASB). I began to think this about myself.

If all that I’m saying is true of me, and may be true of you, how might we answer the Apostle Paul’s question? How can we be free of this body of death? If we claim to be Christians but continue on sinning, shouldn’t our primary concern be to increase God’s reputation by living a life according to His precepts? I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how I might stop from sinning, and I found that I am totally, completely, utterly, 100% unable to stop sinning by my own ability.

The only solution to our sins is God. This is true of all aspects of salvation: being foreknown by God before the foundation of the world, being predestined by Him, being called by Him, being justified by Him, being sanctified by Him, and finally, being glorified in the likeness of Christ’s glorification. Is that not the teaching of Romans 8:28-30?

Jesus says in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (NASB). If Jesus meant what he said here, how can we hope to keep from sinning unless it is by his power?

I did something that I was reluctant to do: I made a list of sins that I do. Looking at that list is difficult because it is a reminder of my sinfulness, and frankly, it would be much easier to pretend that everything in my life is A-okay. But everything in my life is not okay. It dawned on me that while I have periodically prayed for God’s help to overcome these sins, I had not really believed that God would do anything. Deep down I was still dependent upon myself and my own power and ability. I was like the man in James 4, “You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (NASB).

God’s Holy Spirit will not answer prayers according to our will. The Holy Spirit answers prayers that are in accordance with God’s will. Personally, I can tell you that the only times I do anything good, or don’t do anything bad, is because of God’s grace alone. The road is long, the pathway narrow, but I know that the Lord desires for me to live a certain way and is continuing to work in my life. When I trust in His ability to rule in my heart it is amazing what He does.

One of the members at my church has prayed a prayer for years that I would like to pray for myself: that God would make me a trophy of His grace … for His own name’s sake.

Sola Gratia, and, Soli Deo Gloria,
Rusty

The Weary and Heavy-Laden

Have you ever felt the weight of your sins? Do you know what it means to have your guilt overcome you to the point of desperation? How about a godly sorrow and a hatred for what you’ve done? I’m not just talking about the fear of getting caught and of what other men might say if they only knew the real you. I’m talking about gaining a meaningful understanding about how wretched you are before the sight of the one holy God.

I have experienced this before, and it is a frightening thing to feel the weight of my sins before the infinite God, Maker of heaven and earth. There is good news for those of us who have felt such a burden! In fact, Christ calls us to him: “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, NASB).

What has amazed me about the unlimited wisdom of God displayed in the gospel of His Son, is who and how God has chosen to save. Earlier in Matthew, Jesus is giving instructions to his disciples as they go out to preach that the kingdom of God is at hand. One thing that I thought was odd is that Christ instructs the disciples not to go to the Gentile cities or to the Samaritans, but only to Israel (10:5-6). Obviously, the gospel is meant for all peoples today, but Christ’s purpose at that time was not meant to reach every individual. Applying that to today – where the gospel is meant for all people everywhere – we know that the gospel is heard by everyone the Lord so intends.

The Lord knew and knows all things, including the persecution his followers would face. He even forewarns them of the difficulties to come: “Behold, I sent you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:16-18, NASB).

Amazingly, many who heard the preaching of Christ and even saw many miracles did not and would not repent and believe in Him. Our Lord took special notice of those who heard and saw the most and declared the coming judgment upon them for their lack of faith. In fact, Sodom would be better off during the Final Judgment than these present unrepentant cities!

Immediately following this pronouncement of judgment by Christ, he gives thanks to the Father for keeping hidden spiritual truth from the wise and intelligent but making it known to infants (Matthew 11:25). What a truly remarkable prayer! This is perfectly in line with the rest of the Scriptures – consider Paul’s statements to the Corinthians, as one example.

Does it not amaze you that the King of the universe has withheld spiritual understanding from those our world considers wise? God has not chosen to save those human beings we would expect an almighty God to save. But because of His own sovereign will (11:27), the infants of the world are born again to be freed from the bondage of sin and its consequences, and are now slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Only those who are weary and heavy-laden with the weight of their sins are willing to come to Christ. The question might be asked, “Who is weary and heavy-laden with their sins?” And this is a fair question. Answer: the one having dealings with God’s Holy Spirit, who convicts sinners of their sins. It is not enough to say that you have felt conviction of your sins at one point in time. It is not enough to have moments where you regret particular sins. You must recognize your wretched and helpless state before the only true God and come to Him through faith alone, trusting fully in His ability to deliver you from a life and consequences of sin.

If you do not feel the weight of your sins, I implore you to consider your ways, your thoughts, your heart. You know how sinful you are, especially compared to the perfection of the triune God. Beg Him to cause you to hate your sin. Admit that you have no love for God and that you are utterly dependent on Him if you are to have salvation.

I would like to conclude with this: if you have not heard the good news about Jesus Christ, or even if you have but do not find yourself believing, I would love to talk with you sometime. The invitation is there =)

Thanks for reading,
Casey

Why do any choose to follow Christ?

A great Christian friend of mine tagged me in a note asking for thoughts on how one is converted to Christianity. I thought the discussion totally worthy of some attention and posted the following thoughts:

Justin,

What a most wonderful subject, brother =). Before I offer my thoughts I wanted to say thanks for bringing this up because it has been the focus of my mind and my heart for a few weeks now. Even more so, however, Christian people need to be reminded of our conversion and ought to be concerned about such things as the (whuh oh, here’s a fancy phrase =)) Ordo Solutus … the Order of Salvation. My understanding of the Ordo Salutus has changed over the years and has, as a result, greatly impacted my life.

As a Christian, the way in which sinners are converted to Christianity continues to affect me.

I’m not sure I can put a number of “steps” together describing how I view the conversion process, but I think I can handle scribbling down some bullet points.

(1) First, I believe that because of the Fall of Adam every single human being will not and cannot make positive advancements towards God and the gospel. The Scriptures teach that men are willfully in rebellion against God, and are in fact called God-haters. We are all children of wrath by nature and love our sin, and we are dead to the things of God. Were the choice of salvation left to unregenerate sinners, we would always choose to remain in our sin – every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

(2) Why and how does anyone believe? Because of the work of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit raises sinners from spiritual death to spiritual life. This then produces faith. Faith does not produce regeneration to newness of life, but is rather a gift from God that comes naturally to the one who has been born again. Just as Lazarus naturally came forth after Jesus raised him from the dead, even we, after having been raised to life will naturally have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

(3) The Holy Spirit uses means to accomplish conversion. He does not just transfer information into someone’s brain and –POOF- they believe that information. No. God sends preachers to boldly and clearly proclaim His gospel in every land. This means that there are certain things one must comprehend before they can believe: God, sin, Hell, grace, the gospel, etc.

(4) God always convicts the sinner of his sin so that he recognizes his great need of a perfect savior. It is this point that has really struck home for me as of late … that a true conversion is one which involves a sorrow, worry and a hatred for their sins. The sinner’s heart ought to be greatly troubled by their wicked ways, so much so that they wonder how they might be redeemed from the wrath to come. The answer is found in Jesus Christ, and is plain to those the Holy Spirit causes to be born again.

(5) My final thought is this: an individual may wrestle with the gospel because of particular circumstances, arguments, religious beliefs, or other various perspectives. But the God of the Bible is a perfect Savior, and He saves to the uttermost without our cooperation. When He grants saving grace to someone and calls them out of the tomb he cannot help but come forth in believing expectation because it is in their new nature to do so. And no amount of false beliefs can stop God’s mighty hand. This means that God receives all the glory for it. Truly, salvation is wholly of the Lord our God.

Casey