bierkergaard

I was watching a documentary about Thomas Jefferson by Ken Burns the other evening. The man personified what was best, and worst, about our country. His lofty ideals of human equality did not apply to his own slaves on whose backs the beautiful estate of Monticello was built and rebuilt. Jefferson had a penchant for tearing down what he had constructed and build it over and over again. Jefferson died over $ 100, 000 in debt (equivalent to between 1 million and 2 million dollars today). To his credit, Jefferson believed in limited government. In his personal affairs, he needed to practice a more realistic life. I am glad that it is clear that Jefferson did not live off the public trough to fund his excesses. How different than a monarch. On the other hand, it hardly speaks well of the man that he could not restrain his spending and repay his debts. I have a fascination with the era of the Founding Fathers. Being that I lived next to Valley Forge Park and came to awareness around the B...

1 Sam 8:7 "And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." When the Prophet Samuel was old, and his sons were bums, the people petitioned Samuel for a king. Samuel was distressed. It seems that the people of Israel wanted a king so that they could be like other nations. Later in the chapter, the people make it clear that the main reason a king is wanted is for the king to lead them in battle against the very nations they were trying to emulate. The Israelites had seen God fight their battles for them and triumph in generation's past. But, now they wanted to do whatever seemed "right in their own eyes" (and we think post-modernism is new), the people of Israel had to depend on a human figure to give them safety. On last Sunday morning, since I am an early riser, I was up much earlier than my buddies in a hotel in Reho...

Romans 6:7 "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." The quote "Make Love, Not War" is probably the most accurate summation of the spirit of the 1960's. Of course, the War in question was Vietnam specifically, and all war in general. Martin Luther King Jr., as a believer in non-violence, was adamantly against American involvement in the Vietnamese War. Here is the text of a speech that he gave in 1967 that comprehensively defined his perspective on the conflict. MLK was right to call attention to the perpendicular, rather than parallel, nature of American ideals and acts, both in Vietnam and in our society. If I were to define what I perceive to be the major "blind eyes" of our country, a major one would be the Conservatives belief in the efficacy of war to redress issues of power and conflict. War, as an option, should always be the the last option. When entering a war, it should...

Deut 34:1 "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the LORD shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan." Martin Luther King Jr. gave this speech the day before he was assassinated in Memphis. He was in town to mobilize support for the striking sanitation workers. Here is the full-text of the speech. A man may haul garbage for a living yet he is not what he does. He is not garbage. Such a man has dignity no matter how foul the chore. Be thankful when he comes, for he is truly a minister of God. MLK, for all of his failings (and they were many) saw treasures....in the trash.

Gen 42:9 "And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them..." On the day of national observance of Martin Luther King Jr., it seemed timely to write about Dreams. Last week, I had a dream (at night) that caused me to think about dreams, both the kind that happen when we are asleep and the ones that we have when we are wide awake. There are differences between the nocturnal and the daytime types of course, but the two do interact and influence and even inform another. In my dream at night last week, I was playing basketball with players considerably better than me, most notably Kobe Bryant. At the end of the game, he said to me and others that he had to get home. Which I noted, was L.A. (Kobe is kind of from the Philly area. His dad was a bench player for the Sixers for a number of years who then went to play pro ball in Italy, and his family--including Kobe--went with him). Kobe has left Philly in the past...and maybe exorcised some family demons of not dad getting...