The Emperor's New Clothes is about pride and pretense. Two shyster-weavers promise the King beautiful clothes that ONLY subjects who are intelligent can see.
Of course, no one wants to sign onto dolthood, so all of the kingdom chimes in about the king's beautiful (but invisible) clothes. Until a child speaks truth...
Today it seems pretending still covers a lack of assurance about intelligence.
FOREIGN AID
Lately Egypt has illegally arrested some Americans (including Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's son) and held them for being involved in "democratic activities". So we cut off the spigot and good for us! Now the people have been released, and the spigot is back on. Know how much we give Egypt yearly? Almost HALF of their military budget is funded by our 1.3 billion.
We "bought them off" because Egypt is the closest Arab country with potential for a ground/conventional army to damage Israel. At the time, the treaty was very popular with almost all the Egyptian people.
But the ground has shifted today as the Islamist majority (the Muslim Brotherhood) took control of the Egyptian parliament. They say the Camp David accords are kapoot and they assign #1 enemy status to Israel. Now what do we do? At the least, could we defund their military?
Egypt is not the only ingrate on our payroll; the list of countries that take our money and then bite us is outrageous. Why do we put on "clothes" of friendship and act like countries like us? They don't. Why do we pretend that our money buys good will? Everyone in the world sees this pretense just like the little child saw the naked Emperor.
Last weekend, atheists had a Reason Rally in our nation's capitol. They came 10-20,000 strong to protest the existence of God and say they are good without Him. That's an old story.
Without God, devotion turns to science and "facts". And it's hard to argue with the facts that say people of faith live more healthy lives. Here is what Gallup reports:
"Research conducted by Gallup, as well as the research of others in recent years, confirms that religiousness -- usually defined by frequent religious service attendance and importance of religion in one's daily life -- positively correlates with indicators of emotional and physical well-being. People in the U.S. who are the most religious have less worry, less anger and less stress, and are happier. They are less likely to have been diagnosed as depressed, evaluate their life better, eat healthier, smoke less, and report better physical health. These relationships hold up even after controlling for demographic and geographic variables."They have tried the godless thing over in Russia and they fight their hopelessness with alcohol. The Russian Public Chamber reported in 2009 that Russia had over 500,000 alcohol-related deaths. Their consumption is twice what the World Health Organization experts consider to be dangerous. The WHO set the danger level at 2.1 gallons/year...but the Russians drink 4.8 gallons. The Russians need something to live for!
The DC protesters can pretend all they want that God doesn't exist, but life goes on. And it is full of thorns. A Helper is an ever-present comfort. Knowing a lifeplan that works and knowing something glorious is ahead...is a head-lifter and brings courage. If these folks in DC just realized what their country would be like without the Lord, they wouldn't spurn His offer of righteous robes for their naked condition.
FARRAKHAN
It was troubling when "the Honorable Minister Farrakhan" began appearing again on the national scene. Why has he been recognized as a legitimate voice in any national debate? Are we so afraid of being an ignorant racist that we cannot evaluate this man on the basis of what he says?
It stands to reason that when people are given a voice in the public square, they reveal their nature. Wasn't that EXACTLY what we needed with Louis Farrakhan? In a free exchange of ideas, people will hear and recognize Farrakhan as an extremist who spews hate speech (targeting Jews and whites and homosexuals) and the lack of audience would dismiss him from the stage.
Instead, this man is coming into vogue. Tell me why this week the college Democrats @Alabama A&M have invited him to speak? click Or on March 11th, @UC Berkeley? click
Free speech has coattails that cover many vile offenders. But there's no pretending Farrakhan is a thought leader in any arena.
So what?
#FOREIGN AID. America has had good intentions to nudge nations toward doing right and the carrot approach worked for a time. But in light of today's hostility and our debt, foreign aid needs to be closely considered.
#THOUGHT LEADERS. We cannot pretend to give leadership status to people on the basis of color. Leadership is earned through responsible ideas. We endorse hatred to our peril.
#ATHEISTS. I've been where you are and every person on the planet has also been there. I was a bigger hypocrite because for a time, I went to church while denying practically God's existence. But if you really believe what you say...that your faith is in facts...I would invite you to consider a study of the Bible. God has kindly backed up what He has claimed.
Pride stalks us all. Let's throw off pretense and be like the little child. Jesus said "the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored." Luke 14.11 NLT
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