Are You Guilty? Or Grateful?

Christ took our guilt. Our guilt is removed from us and any remaining guilt is of the devil. A life of guilt cannot be led by a true Christian. Your moves cannot be dictated by the grip of fear and guilt over your sin...past or current. Guilt will shape and form any person, but especially a Christian to lead an unhealthy life that does not display God as we are called to do. Instead it will portray fear and self-pity and a depression that is unattractive and repelling. Our actions are not supposed to be some desperate attempt to gain reconciliation with God because we feel over-ridden with guilt. Instead, we are to understand that we have no guilt or past history left over because of Christ's work on earth and on the cross. Out of that knowledge and reality we are to live as Christians. We cannot commit our actions, thoughts, and daily deeds to somehow make up for our sin...we can never fulfill that or hope to achieve enough "goodness" to cover our disobedience to His Law. We seek to obey and follow His Law now not to earn our way to heaven or make up for how much we sin, but because we are so thankful for the penalty and punishment being paid for us because of His mercy and grace, not anything of ourselves, that we strive to please our Father in any way we possibly can. Our actions and works are to be 100% of gratitude for His sacrifice, not guilt over our own sin. 

The Question is Death. What is Your Answer?

1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light". 

You are different. Different is not bad though, readers. You are called to a higher calling. A deeper meaning and purpose behind life. Recently there was a death of a young girl in our community. I didn't know her too well...but she was young, my age. It was very sudden and very unexpected. For two days after I had heard about it I was just completely stunned. In the normal day we are equipped with the answers...the reasons why there is such a thing as sin and death and how all must perish in this life and how they go to a better life. 

But with any death...close to you or far away...all the answers fade away. Nothing makes sense and all logic and reasoning gets fuzzy and blurry. It doesn't make sense. For two whole days it was like this for me. This is a crossroads for anyone. Anyone who has death close or far knows what this feels like. You either go towards the light or you curse the light and turn towards the darkness. 

For two days I searched for an answer. I know that death is called for every man. I know we don't have a choice. I know death is necessary because of our disobedience to God. I know that going to heaven is the better option because you are out of the clutches of this sinful world. I know that we should rejoice that they are finally happy forever.

But my question that had no answer was this: "Why death early?" 

Why do we have to "check out" early? Why can't we just live a full life of glorifying God and then go to be with Him? Why must the young die? Why must we die unexpectedly? 

Maybe you have an easy answer for it, one you are satisfied with. But because my head and thoughts were clouded I could not think of anything. I prayed for answers and tried to ask others for answers...but hey, turns out no one wants to think about life and death and what it all means. Understandable, I guess. One person said that death is the unknown...that is why people fear it. No one knows what it really is or is like. So we fear it for that reason.

I don't fear it...I just have so many questions about it. I want to know about it...how it works and WHY it works the way it does. 

But after two days of searching, asking, praying...I was listening to a song (Red - Not Alone) and it just...it was like lightening. It was so simple that I wanted to bang my head on the wall from the silliness of not seeing it sooner. But...God does have His ways of learning and I am a bit of a slow learner. 

Short lives are meaningful...more meaningful. That's NOT to say that if you die older you have no meaning or little meaning in your life. But when there is an unexpected death or a young death then doesn't it make you stop and think a lot more than a natural death of an older person would? It also makes you appreciate life a lot more. 

It helps you live that meaningful life that we as Christians are called to live. We are that set apart people...the chosen people. Shouldn't our lives reflect that? A young death reminds you that you may not have all your life to live. This family didn't think that saying goodnight would be the last thing she would ever hear on this earth. She didn't know that everything she did that day would be the last time she did any of that. 

What if you were to think like that? What if every conversation you ended you spoke to the person how you would like them to remember you if you died? What if the things you did in your day reflected what you would do on your last day on earth? What would you do? What would you say? 

Death is inevitable. That is a little depressing. But it's NOT. It is a fact and we cannot keep pushing it aside and avoiding it. Death is not some dark fearful thing to be afraid of simply because it is the unknown. It doesn't have to be the unknown. Look for the answers. They may be different than mine. But until you find your own answers you will be fearful of death. You will avoid the topic. You will deny that it is inevitable to you. And you will not be living that life that is exemplary and mindful of God's purpose in your life. 

Do you have answers?

A Legacy Worth Remembering

Okay, so in terms of an explanation for why I haven't been writing as often (or rather, at all)...I've been pretty busy with normal school, music, work...but I've also been pretty sick lately and I got injured snowboarding on Monday! So even though I've had some down-time I haven't really felt up to blogging...so sorry! I hope to get more into the swing of it all now. 

My brother and dad are in this Men's Bible Study thing...they meet on Thursday nights. For some weird reason that still has not been explained to me their assignment this week was to have someone write an obituary for them. Well...naturally the task fell to me. At first, I was a little weirded out.  But oh well. So I got out the newspaper and ripped out a few obituaries...just to see how it's done. Well, it didn't take too long to finish both my dad's and brother's obituaries...and don't worry...they are neither dead nor dying!

While reading the obituaries in the paper I came across one lady's...she was 97 years old when she died. It went on to talk about how many children she had (9 I think?) and 42 grandkids and ...here's where I don't quite remember but I'm pretty sure she had a few great grandkids...and maybe 2 great great grandkids? I'm too tired to figure out whether that is logically possible and too lazy to go upstairs and get the page of obituaries. But it went on to talk about her life and what she did and everything about her. It was just amazing to read about this beautiful life that she lived. 

All that made me stop and really *think* about the legacy we leave behind. Are we life-changers? When anyone dies, yes, no matter how awful they really were all we do is reminisce about their good things...and to an extent that is right. But what if...what if when someone died all people could talk about was their good things because that really is all there is to remember? What kind of a legacy would you leave behind you if you died tonight? I know...so clique...but really think about it! Seriously...stop what you are doing and think about it for...max 5 minutes. It's gonna feel like a long time but once you're done it will be worth it. 

What are people going to remember about you? Are they going to have to work hard to remember the good things? Or will they have to work hard to remember anything negative about you? Will you live a beautiful life? I found something that won't leave my mind since I watched the movie Courageous. Are you going to be unhappy over all the things you miss out on? Or grateful for the time you did get? Totally paraphrased...but you get my point. Are you living to LIVE? Or are you living to live...or simply fill space on the earth? Do you really want to be here? Or are you just doing it because you were born? 

Behind all of this lurks the ever present question...WHAT/WHO are you living for? Now, normally I would say there is no right or wrong answer. But here...there is no gray. It's either black and white. Are you living for yourself? Even if you live for those you love around you it's ultimately a selfish reason. Or are you living for God? Are you desperately seeking Him in your every thought, word, and deed? Or are you just living to get by? Are you living for a reason? A purpose? A goal? A meaning? Or ...just because all the other options kinda suck? 

My heart breaks for you if you are apart from Christ and you deny it. I've watched so many people struggle day in and day out like that. Finding no purpose in life. Finding no meaning or joy. They live for nothing...they resort to cheap fun tactics of life to try and satisfy the emptiness that they feel. But they have to keep resorting to it out of habit and a need for more...but NOTHING can ever fill that hole...that emptiness...that longing for more. Nothing but Christ. And okay...I hadn't meant to make this post into a sentimental "come to Jesus" post...but I guess it did. I can't help but talk about Him! 

People...I've been where you've been at. I've felt that emptiness...that longing for MORE. The absolutely *need* for more. I will never deny you need more. But more of whatever you are addicted to won't ever help you...not even once, I promise. No matter how many times you end up drunk or high or whatever people are doing these days to satisfy the Christ-craving (I kinda like that) ...no matter what you do you will NEVER escape the reality that you need need need something. But until you realize your need for Him, you will keep searching. And believe me when I say that I don't hold it against you...I've been there, believe me. I've done the whole searching act...and it cannot hold up for long. 

Hopefully, and believe me when I say I pray for anyone searching, you will come across the answer you are looking for in your lifetime. With that Answer comes such BLESSED Peace...that peace that passes all understanding. You will never comprehend or understand quite how that peace works. But trust me, it is *beautiful*. It gives you joy. Hope. Meaning. Purpose. Love. Answers. 

That is the kind of legacy you want to leave with those you love. THAT is a life well lived. That is a stunning, drop-dead gorgeous life. That is an attractive life. It will draw others in. You teach it to your children...who teach it to their children...who pass it down for generations upon generations. That, my dear readers, is the true meaning of love. If your family were dying in a burning building and YOU could save them...if you had the chance and the ability to...would you? Of course you would. If those you loved dearest were drowning and you could save them...you would. So now...when you see those around you struggling and denying the Answer they need...can you just let them go? Let them die while searching and seeking for that Answer? Give them the answer they need...give them hope and a meaning for life. Know that it is Him working through you and nothing of your own.

Let me just say I love my work! Working at the library can prove to be ...well, interesting at times. You get the nicest people and the weirdest people and the rudest people and well...everyone! But one thing I really enjoy is that it has all become like clockwork for me. I've worked there for long enough to be able to thinking about multiple things while working...and tonight I had this Bible verse running through my head over and over. I *LOVE* it when that happens! I have a hard time memorizing a verse so when it just randomly pops into my head it makes me HAPPY! So the verse that I had tonight (which I thought was pretty appropriate) was Matthew 5:16, which says: "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." 

Have a lovely evening, dear readers! Please feel free to message me or post in the comments any prayer requests you ever have. The most beautiful thing I can go to my Father with apart from praising and thanking Him is requests of those He loves and calls His own. 

Modernity Class Notes

Sarah Bacon - Modernity
Week 15: The Romantic Poets and Their Principles

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” -John Keats

Vocab:
American exceptionalism - the myth that de Tocqueville wove into his book.
sovereignty - the status, dominion, power, or authority of a sovereign; royalty.
delegates - a person designated to act for or represent another or others
jurisdiction - the right, power, or authority to administer justice by hearing and determining controversies.
jurisdictionalism - the right, power, or authority to administer justice by hearing and determining controversies
relegated - to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition
electoral - pertaining to electors or election.
magistratal - a civil officer charged with the administration of the law
interposition - the act or fact of interposing or the condition of being interposed.
chads - a term used in the ‘08 election
bedevil - to torment or harass maliciously or diabolically, as with doubts, distractions, or worries.
relegate - to send or consign to an inferior position, place, or condition


Revolution Vs Reformation:
Quick, Hasty Results vs. Long Obedience in the Same Direction
Loud Publicity vs. Quiet Reputation
Unrelenting Science  vs. Gentle Persuasions
Programs and Policies vs. Covenant and Callings
Charts, Graphs, Stats vs. Faith, Hope, Love
Gargantuan Purposes vs. Small Beginnings
Undeterred by Facts vs. Undeterred by Obstacles
Never Fails to Disappoint vs. Never Fails

Reformation moves slowly as is slower to change. It is not bothered by incremented results. Revolution wants BAM! Results. Revolution will fit reality to form new reality while Reformation will take time to form man to fit God’s reality.

Romantic poets were named that because they wrote romantic things of man. The true meaning of romance writers came from the romance languages. The romance languages were French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, and Spanish. These came from Latin and that was spoken by the Romans. So really it was all a movement to get back to antiquity and Rome. Human relationships and the release of emotions.

Theology is ideas externalized. The ideas come from a small percentage of people and those get translated into the general public’s life. The “little people” don’t think about the ideas driving their lives. The reshaping of the soul and minds of men come from the language that a culture uses and how the ideas are distributed throughout the communities.

Man is a passionate being. Revolutionaries seek to change man and his culture from the outside in, but the Romantics they come to know the passions and emotions of man and seek any change from the inside out.

Precursors to the Romantics
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was one who sought to release passion from reason through his essay On Passion versus Reason. A professing believer with strong convictions, but you can still do other contradictions. Music is one great way you can do this. This was a push of Rousseau...emotion apart from reason. Music enters and it’s very powerful and can enter your head and alter who you are even if you don’t consciously realize it.

Johann Goethe (1749-1832) wrote Sturm und Drang. Passion and impulse released from the objective realities. Poetry was created to remove a person temporarily from his natural state to feel something. Movies are this way today...they mold your emotions to get attached to something or someone...to scare you...to anger you...to make you cry, to make you love, to make you laugh.

Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) used folk tales from the past to create a nationalistic connection. Ballad of William Tell was used for this purpose so that people would begin to look for larger-than-life heroes with all their passion and leaving their reason behind.

Robert Burns (1759-1796) retouched the whole idea of the noble savage into the common man. He appealed to the common man to appear as normal and general as anyone else. The noble savage is seen as good. People in their primitive state is the best way to have a person. It is put into a new setting to rephrase it all and introduce it to a new audience where it will appeal to them. You speak the language of common man to connect with them.

William Blake (1757-1827) who wrote Songs of Innocence and was deemed insane for his whole adult life. It was a reflection on returning to man’s first and truest nature. Man before the idea of the fall. Man is inherently good and without evil...all innocent. He believed that man is really good and was made that way but the idea of evil was introduced and man believed it. Now he has to remember and return to being educated that he is really all good. It is the perfect unhinging of passion from reason.

William Cowper (1731-1800) with his Olney Hymns was a devout Christian in his sane moments but then hide away in bouts of deep depression. Whether it was related to medical or religious depression we don’t know. But whatever he wrote was very influential in the laying of the groundwork for Romanticism.

Walter Scott (1771-1832) began his career by translating other previous German romantics like Goethe and Schiller into English and so he got that background. He loved the idea of German nationalism and he was Scottish and attempted to use the German style to achieve his own end. In a sense he was a conservative revolutionary. He used the tactics of the Romantics for his own purpose. But the more we look at it the more we realize that there is not much difference between the left or right parties. It is more a matter of speed, not goal...they have the same goal in mind but can work at different speeds...slower for the left and faster for the right. This came out with his The Lady of the Lake.

Philip Freneau (1752-1832) focused on nature. Man is in a sense attempting to return to nature and his noble savage. But nature for nature’s sake. What is the pleasure coming from the physical world? He began talking about Mother Nature as Mother Nature as opposed to it being a figment of our nature. The Wild Honeysuckle portrayed this. He separates nature entirely from God and it being His creation even if it isn’t rational.

George Crabbe (1754-1832) focused on the rural life and being politically correct and loving all things agrarian and rural.

The Great Romantic Poets
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) - Rime of the Ancient Mariner
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) - Upon Westminster Bridge
Lord Byron (1788-1824) - Don Juan
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) - Prometheus Unbound
John Keats (1795-1821) - Ode on a Grecian Urn
George Darley (1795-1846) - Mermaid’s Vesper Hymn

They have the ability to take ugly things of the world and make it something beautiful and attractive to anyone. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but many beholders are crazy or ugly themselves. Unleashing passion however you want, it doesn’t matter how as long as you do. They take the most abstract things and focus so intently on it. Everything they write is in the context of their “Christian worldview” but they use it to tear the true Christian worldview down. They clothe it in Christianity and cloak it in Biblical theology...but it’s stripped of the real truth and is portrayed in order to tear down true Christianity. All their agenda was pushed as was to separate entirely the what people thought and knew to be true and what people felt to be true. But this is really impossible because what you feel is directly based off of what you think. This idea of feelings has been introduced to the modern church and now we have gotten away from thinking solidly to thinking due to emotion and feeling.

Heirs of the Romantics
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) - Ode to Beauty
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) - On Walden Pond
John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) - Ichabod
Edgar Allen Poe (1809-1849) - The Raven
John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) - On Religion and Society
James Montgomery (1771-1854) - The Christian Poet
Richard Mant (1776-1848) - The Happiness of the Blessed Dead
John Keble (1792-1866) - Tracts for the Times
John Henry Newman (1801-1890) - The Prophetical Office

They wanted to get in touch with their feelings...examine what they really thought and felt beneath the surface. This is the excuse they used to explore passion and romance. The eyes are turned inwards and thoughts focus on the self. Focus on man is pushed. It is a more democratic, humanistic, pantheistic, and spiritual movement. You separate how you think from what you feel and act which creates ultimately a whole new world. A world without ration.

When Revolution ultimately failed, those who held to the Revolutionary mindset attempted to bring about the Revolution by other means. They realized they would have to reshape the very soul of man. Thus Romantic Poets laid out this remarkable set of ideals that changed the way we think and feel, laying the foundation for a modern nihilism. So the things that matter most, we don’t feel anymore. And the things that matter least, we feel intensely.

Is It Possible To Have Feelings/Passion/Emotion Apart from Thinking?

A person who leads a feeling-driven life: Driving along one day and sees a puppy on the side of the road. The first thing that happens to the person will be an acute sense of sympathy and pity. They will feel sorry for this miserable puppy that was left alone. They pull over and get out, mindless of the freezing rain and the busy freeway. They hurry over and pick it up and hold it close under their coat to warm it as they hurry back to their car. They take it home.

Now, this may not all happen to a person leading a thought-driven life: They are driving alone one day when they see the puppy by the side of the road. The person will think about whether they should pull over and if it's safe and will throw back the reasons why or why not they should pull over. Let's say they decide it's safe and has good reason to. They then zip up their coat, thinking of how bitterly cold it will be once they open the door. They pull on gloves even. They hurry out and find the puppy...they check it over, looking for injuries and making sure that if they pick it up that the puppy will be in the least amount of pain. At this point the person would think about whether taking it home would be the best option. They know that if they take it home they are bound to get attached to it. After that, they need to be thoughtful of the fact that there will be vet's bills, shots, loads of food, toys to buy, maybe a fence or a kennel, and muliple other costly thins. Can they afford it? Or should they drop it off at the local pound? Should they leave it for another person? These are all valid thoughts that should be considered. Let's say they decide that yes, they can afford it and company would be nice...they've wanted a pet for some time but never got around to it. They pick it up, keeping it's muddy, wet paws off of the coat since they just had it dry-cleaned and they don't want to have that process repeated so soon. They take it to the truck and grab a towel out of the back to lay over the seat so that the puppy may be warmer and the seat wouldn't get muddy, wet, and dirty as well. They take it home.

This short scenario is one that displays the difference between the feeler and the thinker. One thinks ahead...one feels and goes with gut instinct, no rationality behind the actions. It is the difference of living a life of the mind or the heart. Which leads your life? Which displays itself in your actions? We are told that the heart is wicked above all things...who can understand it? A life lead by this will be one of fickleness...one moment loving the weather and the next moment complaining of everything weather-related. The person will be filled to the brim with contradictions and irrational choices. They let their heart do the thinking, but no heart can truly think...all it does is feel. It feels sad so it makes you cry. It makes you feel happy so you smile. It makes you mad so you yell. But the thinker stops to process...is it truly sad, should I truly be happy, is that a good reason to be angry? Maybe if he stopped to think about it, the thing that angered him makes complete sense if you think through it all.

When a parent takes a child's candy away from him, the first thing he feels will probably be either anger or sadness. Sadness at the loss of his treasure and anger at the parent for depriving him of it. However, if the child was to think through it (what child does?) he would understand that no matter how badly his body craves the sugar it's almost dinner time and it would spoil his appetite for his meat and vegetables. The parent is merely doing his job by caring for his child. So a large deal of thinking or feeling comes with maturity.
I say a large deal because some children can be more mature then some adults. It comes with a Biblically-led life. The more you seek God, the more wisdom stored, the more you learn about God and His character and law, the more you will be able to mature and think through the things of the world. Why this person says that, why that person did that, what the agenda pushed in that was. From that thought process we can get emotion. Emotion, feeling, passion...it's not bad, but put in the context apart of reason and thought it is harmful to anyone. The life of the Christian should be the life of the mind, not the life of the heart.

Our culture is one of immaturity. The general person you bump into on the street will not base his actions on anything solid or built on reason...for the reason that the heart is not built naturally with reason or meaning or purpose. The heart cannot think, that is not its purpose. When a person leads a life of emotion they are like grass in the wind...blown whatever way their emotions are driven. And the people in charge of the sheeple of today know this; they are manipulating and calculating with how to drive the sheeple a certain way.

Media is a large part of driving a people a certain direction. How you portray fathers, parents, children, family life, church life, daily life etc comes across in our media...our movies, our tv, our magazines, our books, our newspapers...and your typical sheeple will never even notice how brain-dead and heart-alive they are.

Revolution Vs. Reformation

Revolution Vs Reformation:
Quick, Hasty Results vs. Long Obedience in the Same Direction
Loud Publicity vs. Quiet Reputation
Unrelenting Science  vs. Gentle Persuasions
Programs and Policies vs. Covenant and Callings
Charts, Graphs, Stats vs. Faith, Hope, Love
Gargantuan Purposes vs. Small Beginnings
Undeterred by Facts vs. Undeterred by Obstacles
Never Fails to Disappoint vs. Never Fails

Reformation moves slowly as is slower to change. It is not bothered by incremented results. Revolution wants BAM! Results. Revolution will fit reality to form new reality while Reformation will take time to form man to fit God’s reality.

Thoughts In Church

Return to me.

Return to me.

Over and over without fail our Father calls to us to return to Him, even when we stray far from him. Time after time we find no matter what we do, if we repent we see God always forgiving and granting mercy to His people. Soon following that up with, "Return to me". 

He who watches over you does not slumber. Take joy and take confidence and peace in the fact that He is always watching over us and caring for us. He is there for us without fail every second of every day...every moment 24/7 and we are never a bother to Him. 

Humility

There is not much that can quite tick me off as people who don't believe me...going as far as going to others to check and  see if I'm right. I'm being honest, okay? It is one of the biggest things that can truly anger me or make me instantly genuinely upset. Come on, people, it's rude. How would you like it if you state true information that you know to be a fact but people (or rather, a specific person) finds the need to always question it.

And not only just questioning it, but denying you could be possibly right. "There's no way that's true!" they say. So...are you saying there's no way that I could ever speak truth or be honest? It just boils down to trust and honesty. Now...if the person originally speaking is a well known liar and shows no interest in repenting from that, okay, maybe it would be a wise idea to question whether there is much validity behind their statements.

But that gives no good cause to always assume that you are 100%...always...always right. It's prideful. It's rude. How can you presume that you are always right and *everyone* is *always* wrong. How is that even remotely possible? Now, that's an extreme case. There are probably few (if any) who truly believe that they are consistently always right with no mess-ups. But it can come in many forms and in more subtle ways than that.

But really...if you're going to have a friend and be a friend...then you need to give and receive trust. Trust - to believe and take someone seriously. To give them a side of you that those outside of friendship don't get to see. It's another side of you. If I call you friend (and even if not) then I will, without a doubt, not just tell you something to make it seem like I'm right.

If we're arguing or discussing something I'm not going to make up false facts just so I can "win". First off, that's cheating. Second of all...that's lying! It's selfish, dishonest, and essentially prideful. Which then leads us to the issue of humility and how much a grain of that can get you when it comes to life...basically anything about life!

Humility...wow, I'm sure we've all run into people with some serious LACKING in humility. Those people are so puffed up with themselves that they refuse to see anyone else's good works. They are self-righteous...always thinking well of themselves, and when they know they're in the wrong they cannot stoop to apologize or admit their faults. They praise their virtues and ignore their faults.

There is not a single living being who does not need a bit of humility. I know firsthand that I am in sever need of it. Humility does not rank high on my list of virtues...if it's even on there! Who doesn't have difficulty in admitting their flaws...their shortcomings. But it's just needed! We're all humans...we all mess up...we all make mistakes. The best people know that and can find the humility to admit it and apologize for their faults when needed.

We have a God who knows that we mess up...we can't even hope to hide that from Him. He knows! You can't just expect to breeze over your sins (shortcomings) and pretend to be good. That is not the true Christian. The true Christian will come to the open house of mercy on his knees...mindful of the fact that we can do no good apart from Christ. All we do is like filthy rags to Him...until we see Christ and His greatest sacrifice for us on the cross.

That action, the sacrifice on the cross, it is a picture of the washing of our filthy rags so that once God comes to judge us He sees us as blameless...pure and holy. But we cannot pretend that it was anything that we did. It was, and always will be Christ. His work to us, it's what makes us look decent in the presence of our Father. We would always come up short if we tried to do it all on our own.

The moment we try to do it all on our own without any humility is the moment that we leave Christ behind us and seek to enter that room looking holy and pure on our own. That is the moment when we fail the worst we ever have in our life. Our best is mud...it's as filthy rags. It's once we bow the knee to Christ and look to Him for salvation that we are seen as righteous before our Judge.

So to wrap all of this up...humility goes a long way. It grants us 24/7 access to the throne of God. But humility also helps out with our earthly relationships. It can give us the ability to stand down and admit that maybe, our friends could be right. It empowers us with trust. We don't have to be always right! But if you are...stick to it.

The last thing we, as Christians, need these days are "nice Christians" who are willing to compromise the gospel of Christ for the sake of getting along! If someone denies Christ...then you can deny them...first try and seek to show the truth, but if their eyes are blinded and the Holy Spirit hasn't spoken to them yet, then move on! But don't ever seek to compromise the whole truth of God!

Speak truth boldly! Walk with confidence! Cover yourself with humility as Christ did! And always, live to the glory of our Father!

Prayer For The Day

Oh God of all glory and power

Blessed be Your name forever

Grant us Your knowledge and wisdom

Shine Your light of love and forgiveness upon us, we pray

Guide us in Your straight paths of righteousness

Show us Your will

Help us make the right decisions

Give us grace when I stray or fail

Remind us of Your grace and everlasting mercy

Empower us with strength to follow Your law

May we always glorify Your name

And seek to bring You more fame

In Jesus Christ we pray this,

Amen

Book Quote

"We find ourselves living with a nagging hope for something better. We want something better than the churchianity of our parents and grandparents, something better than the vague and uncertain spirituality of our neighbors, something better than guilt-induced, holier-than-thou morality, something better than here-and-now, health-and-wealth promises, something more than going-through-the-motions religiosity or the latest-fad religious experience. We were hoping for something authentic—something worth opening our hearts to and filling our minds with and giving our lives for.

And there is something better. There is something better than living life with a merely sentimental, superficial spirituality. There is something better than going through life with a debilitating fear of death. Better than becoming bored and burdened by meaningless religious ritual, better than feeling like an unwelcome outsider or an unworthy hypocrite, better than being bound by shame and regret."

I don't know what the name of the book is...but I got this from a friend on Facebook and really enjoyed reading it!

Random Notes From Church

Fearing God is our duty. If we fear anything else then we are worshiping that thing. If would be a god before God. Whatever we fear it will influence and control our thoughts and actions. If we truly fear God then there is no other room to fear anything else. If we fear devils or demons or Satan, then that becomes our god that we worship. If we fear any man or men then we are worshiping him/them. Read Isaiah 8:13!

O send the day of joy and light,

For long has been our sorrow's night;

Afflicted through the weary years,

We wait until They help appears;

With us and with our sons abide,

In us let God be glorified,

In us let God be glorified.

"Those years, months, weeks, days, and hours, that are not filled up with God, with Christ, with grace, and with duty, will certainly be filled up with vanity and folly. The neglect of one day, of one duty, of one hour, would undo us, if we had not an Advocate with the Father." -Thomas Brooks

"Whatsoever we have over-loved, idolized, and leaned upon, God has from time to time broken it, and made us to see the vanity of it; so that we find the readiest course to be rid of our comforts is to set our hearts inordinately upon them." -John Flavel

Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards

I do promise that I have a personal New Years post coming...but until then here is a beautiful post I found from a friend of mine on Facebook.

The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)

BEING SENSIBLE THAT I AM UNABLE TO DO ANYTHING WITHOUT GOD' S HELP, I DO HUMBLY ENTREAT HIM BY HIS GRACE TO ENABLE ME TO KEEP THESE RESOLUTIONS, SO FAR AS THEY ARE AGREEABLE TO HIS WILL, FOR CHRIST' S SAKE.

Remember to read over these Resolutions once a week.

1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God' s glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many soever, and how great soever.

2. Resolved, to be continually endeavoring to find out some new contrivance and invention to promote the aforementioned things.

3. Resolved, if ever I shall fall and grow dull, so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions, to repent of all I can remember, when I come to myself again.

4. Resolved, never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more, but what tends to the glory of God; nor be, nor suffer it, if I can avoid it.

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

6. Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.

7. Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

8. Resolved, to act, in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I, and as if I had committed the same sins, or had the same infirmities or failings as others; and that I will let the knowledge of their failings promote nothing but shame in myself, and prove only an occasion of my confessing my own sins and misery to God. July 30.

9. Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

10. Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.

11. Resolved, when I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances do not hinder.

12. Resolved, if I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by.

13. Resolved, to be endeavoring to find out fit objects of charity and liberality.

14. Resolved, never to do any thing out of revenge.

15. Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger towards irrational beings.

16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.

17. Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

18. Resolved, to live so, at all times, as I think is best in my devout frames, and when I have clearest notions of things of the gospel, and another world.

19. Resolved, never to do any thing, which I should be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour, before I should hear the last trump.

20. Resolved, to maintain the strictest temperance, in eating and drinking.

21. Resolved, never to do any thing, which if I should see in another, I should count a just occasion to despise him for, or to think any way the more meanly of him. (Resolutions 1 through 21 written in one setting in New Haven in 1722)

22. Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, and vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.

23. Resolved, frequently to take some deliberate action, which seems most unlikely to be done, for the glory of God, and trace it back to the original intention, designs and ends of it; and if I find it not to be for God' s glory, to repute it as a breach of the 4th Resolution.

24. Resolved, whenever I do any conspicuously evil action, to trace it back, till I come to the original cause; and then, both carefully endeavor to do so no more, and to fight and pray with all my might against the original of it.

25. Resolved, to examine carefully, and constantly, what that one thing in me is, which causes me in the least to doubt of the love of God; and to direct all my forces against it.

26. Resolved, to cast away such things, as I find do abate my assurance.

27. Resolved, never willfully to omit any thing, except the omission be for the glory of God; and frequently to examine my omissions.

28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly and frequently, as that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of the same.

29. Resolved, never to count that a prayer, nor to let that pass as a prayer, nor that as a petition of a prayer, which is so made, that I cannot hope that God will answer it; nor that as a confession, which I cannot hope God will accept.

30. Resolved, to strive to my utmost every week to be brought higher in religion, and to a higher exercise of grace, than I was the week before.

31. Resolved, never to say any thing at all against any body, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.

32. Resolved, to be strictly and firmly faithful to my trust, that that, in Proverbs 20:6, A faithful man who can find? may not be partly fulfilled in me.

33. Resolved, to do always, what I can towards making, maintaining, and preserving peace, when it can be done without overbalancing detriment in other respects. Dec. 26, 1722.

34. Resolved, in narrations never to speak any thing but the pure and simple verity.

35. Resolved, whenever I so much question whether I have done my duty, as that my quiet and calm is thereby disturbed, to set it down, and also how the question was resolved. Dec. 18, 1722.

36. Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it. Dec. 19, 1722.

37. Resolved, to inquire every night, as I am going to bed, wherein I have been negligent,- what sin I have committed,-and wherein I have denied myself;-also at the end of every week, month and year. Dec. 22 and 26, 1722.

38. Resolved, never to speak anything that is ridiculous, sportive, or matter of laughter on the Lord' s day. Sabbath evening, Dec. 23, 1722.

39. Resolved, never to do any thing of which I so much question the lawfulness of, as that I intend, at the same time, to consider and examine afterwards, whether it be lawful or not; unless I as much question the lawfulness of the omission.

40. Resolved, to inquire every night, before I go to bed, whether I have acted in the best way I possibly could, with respect to eating and drinking. Jan. 7, 1723.

41. Resolved, to ask myself, at the end of every day, week, month and year, wherein I could possibly, in any respect, have done better. Jan. 11, 1723.

42. Resolved, frequently to renew the dedication of myself to God, which was made at my baptism; which I solemnly renewed, when I was received into the communion of the church; and which I have solemnly re-made this twelfth day of January, 1722-23.

43. Resolved, never, henceforward, till I die, to act as if I were any way my own, but entirely and altogether God' s; agreeable to what is to be found in Saturday, January 12, 1723.

44. Resolved, that no other end but religion, shall have any influence at all on any of my actions; and that no action shall be, in the least circumstance, any otherwise than the religious end will carry it. January 12, 1723.

45. Resolved, never to allow any pleasure or grief, joy or sorrow, nor any affection at all, nor any degree of affection, nor any circumstance relating to it, but what helps religion. Jan. 12 and 13, 1723.

46. Resolved, never to allow the least measure of any fretting uneasiness at my father or mother. Resolved to suffer no effects of it, so much as in the least alteration of speech, or motion of my eye: and to be especially careful of it with respect to any of our family.

47. Resolved, to endeavor, to my utmost, to deny whatever is not most agreeable to a good, and universally sweet and benevolent, quiet, peaceable, contented and easy, compassionate and generous, humble and meek, submissive and obliging, diligent and industrious, charitable and even, patient, moderate, forgiving and sincere temper; and to do at all times, what such a temper would lead me to; and to examine strictly, at the end of every week, whether I have done so. Sabbath morning. May 5, 1723.

48. Resolved, constantly, with the utmost niceness and diligence, and the strictest scrutiny, to be looking into the state of my soul, that I may know whether I have truly an interest in Christ or not; that when I come to die, I may not have any negligence respecting this to repent of. May 26, 1723.

49. Resolved, that this never shall be, if I can help it.

50. Resolved, I will act so as I think I shall judge would have been best, and most prudent, when I come into the future world. July 5, 1723.

51. Resolved, that I will act so, in every respect, as I think I shall wish I had done, if I should at last be damned. July 8, 1723.

52. I frequently hear persons in old age, say how they would live, if they were to live their lives over again: Resolved, that I will live just so as I can think I shall wish I had done, supposing I live to old age. July 8, 1723.

53. Resolved, to improve every opportunity, when I am in the best and happiest frame of mind, to cast and venture my soul on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust and confide in him, and consecrate myself wholly to him; that from this I may have assurance of my safety, knowing that I confide in my Redeemer. July 8, 1723.

54. Whenever I hear anything spoken in conversation of any person, if I think it would be praiseworthy in me, Resolved to endeavor to imitate it. July 8, 1723.

55. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to act as I can think I should do, if, I had already seen the happiness of heaven, and hell torments. July 8, 1723.

56. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken, my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.

57. Resolved, when I fear misfortunes and adversities, to examine whether I have done my duty, and resolve to do it, and let the event be just as providence orders it. I will as far as I can, be concerned about nothing but my duty, and my sin. June 9, and July 13 1723.

58. Resolved, not only to refrain from an air of dislike, fretfulness, and anger in conversation, but to exhibit an air of love, cheerfulness and benignity. May 27, and July 13, 1723.

59. Resolved, when I am most conscious of provocations to ill nature and anger, that I will strive most to feel and act good-naturedly; yea, at such times, to manifest good nature, though I think that in other respects it would be disadvantageous, and so as would be imprudent at other times. May 12, July 11, and July 13.

60. Resolved, whenever my feelings begin to appear in the least out of order, when I am conscious of the least uneasiness within, or the least irregularity without, I will then subject myself to the strictest examination. July 4, and 13, 1723.

61. Resolved, that I will not give way to that listlessness which I find unbends and relaxes my mind from being fully and fixedly set on religion, whatever excuse I may have for it-that what my listlessness inclines me to do, is best to be done, etc. May 21, and July 13, 1723.

62. Resolved, never to do anything but duty, and then according to Ephesians 6:6-8, to do it willingly and cheerfully as unto the Lord, and not to man: knowing that whatever good thing any man doth, the same shall he receive of the Lord. June 25 and July 13, 1723.

63. On the supposition, that there never was to be but one individual in the world, at any one time, who was properly a complete Christian, in all respects of a right stamp, having Christianity always shining in its true luster, and appearing excellent and lovely, from whatever part and under whatever character viewed: Resolved, to act just as I would do, if I strove with all my might to be that one, who should live in my time. January 14 and July 13, 1723.

64. Resolved, when I find those ‹groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26), of which the Apostle speaks, and those breakings of soul for the longing it hath, of which the Psalmist speaks, Psalm 119:20, that I will promote them to the utmost of my power, and that I will not be weary of earnestly endeavoring to vent my desires, nor of the repetitions of such earnestness. July 23, and August 10, 1723.

65. Resolved, very much to exercise myself in this, all my life long, viz. with the greatest openness, of which I am capable of, to declare my ways to God, and lay open my soul to him: all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and every thing, and every circumstance; according to Dr. Manton' s 27th Sermon on Psalm 119. July 26, and Aug.10 1723.

66. Resolved, that I will endeavor always to keep a benign aspect, and air of acting and speaking in all places, and in all companies, except it should so happen that duty requires otherwise.

67. Resolved, after afflictions, to inquire, what I am the better for them, what am I the better for them, and what I might have got by them.

68. Resolved, to confess frankly to myself all that which I find in myself, either infirmity or sin; and, if it be what concerns religion, also to confess the whole case to God, and implore needed help. July 23, and August 10, 1723.

69. Resolved, always to do that, which I shall wish I had done when I see others do it. August 11, 1723.

70. Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak. August 17, 1723.

"Blessed Art Thou Among Women!"

I was reading through the first book of Luke today (how fitting, I know!) and thinking about gifts. As I read this passage, all I could think of was how blessed Mary was...but how blessed I am as well. I have been given the best Gift of all time and it can't be replaced by any box or bag that is wrapped pretty under a tree. This Gift was placed in a manger...a more humbling place couldn't be found. He was rebuked by the human nature, visited by lowly shepherds, and kept guard by stable animals. 

That Gift was to be the greatest thing that ever happened to us...and His humbling birth reminds us that we, likewise, ought to follow in His example and show great humility through our actions, preferring others to our own. He has shown us how best to give...give what we have and what others may not always deserve. Give freely though we may not feel like it. This is such a season of giving and blessing...it reminds me often of the greatest Giving and Blessing in my life. I don't need a single other thing because of that child laid in a simple stable with animals and no great proclamation (except by the angels to the shepherds) and no fancy robes. Just swaddling clothes and a sense of sweet humility.

He shows us that in any form of leadership also comes great humility and selflessness. Who would willingly choose to be brought into the world of men like that while being the Son of God? No one but the most fittest to be called our King and Lord. Such a Blessing...such a Joy...such a Gift. 

All this is surrounds Mary...Mary the blessed one. The angel tells her in Luke 1:28 that she is to be blessed among women. I doubt at the time she thought she was blessed at all...she was to be scorned by many...a virgin and yet pregnant? Likely story. She would be mostly likely set aside by her betrothed. Besides...how crazy does all this seem? It's not like it happens on a daily basis somewhere, right?

But she was chosen...blessed out of all other women alive. When you see (most) pregnant women they are just so joyful...so blessed to have this life within them. When they hold their child for the first time they just radiate and glow with life. This child...this child is their whole world at that moment. But Mary had double, triple...far many more times that joy! She had more...she was chosen by God to be the carrier of the Son of God and the Son of Men. What a blessing.

Although I'll never be visited by any angel telling me that I am highly favored by the Lord and going to give birth to His Son...well, I know I am blessed. I am blessed among many peoples across the earth. Blessed because I *have* been chosen. He has chosen *me*...when I least deserved it...to be given a Gift for my whole life...not only on this earth but for my eternal life as well. Blessed is Mary and blessed am I!

Another thing that really influenced me...throughout the Bible God chose people to perform His works among men and most of them were like, "What? No way!"...and they got punished for it. I can think of two right off the top of my head: Moses and Zacharias. As a result they were punished in some way. But the other two that said, "Yes, okay Lord...your ways are higher greater than my own" were Noah and Mary (off the top of my head!). And to them...they received great blessings beyond what they could have imagined. 

Putting myself in Mary's shoes...I never would have been like that! I suppose that's why God chose Mary and not me, right? ;) He has such perfect timing and perfect choosing...He knew exactly what she would say and how she would react. In return...she was blessed with carrying the Christ child in her womb. How rich the blessings of God are. So like Mary...I am incredibly blessed. Blessed by God...blessed to be chosen by God...and always blessed with the greatest Gift of all: my salvation which comes only by the grace of God to me. 

My prayer for you today, Christmas, is that you find yourself mindful of your Gift...and if you don't have that Gift, to realize how blessed you would be with it. Blessed among all women and men on earth! May God bless you this Christmas season...with family, friends, love, and joy...but most importantly the reminder of your salvation through the simple and humble birth of Christ. 

Merry Christmas!

It's A Wonderful Life - Gary North

This is a wonderful article I found by Gary North that speaks to It's a Wonderful Life...the oh-so-classic Christmas tale of a man who has his one wish (to never have been born) come true. He gets to look at what other lives (or lack thereof) would be like if he had never been brought into this world. If you haven't seen it...it's a must. Every year I say I won't watch it...and then I do. I did last night with my parents. Every time you see it there are new points that are brought out that you never saw before. It's a very well written script, for sure!

It happened to me again. I didn't plan for it. I got hooked once again by It's a Wonderful Life.

It wasn't in my plan. In fact, it was specifically out of my plan. I tell myself every year, "I won't watch it again." But it seems like I always do. And so do millions of others.

I tuned in randomly at close to the beginning, when the screen had a fixed-frame image of Jimmy Stewart, arms wide apart, as if he were describing a huge fish that got away. In fact, he was describing a huge dream that would get away from him, again and again, until the very end of the movie, when he quit chasing it.

Why do we watch it? What is it about this movie that makes it prime-time fare every year, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas? For years, it was on cable TV and local TV almost every night, Thanksgiving to Christmas, until NBC bought exclusive rights in 1994. Everyone ran it because its copyright had lapsed in 1974, and only after a 1990 Supreme Court case involving Jimmy Stewart did the movie's copyright come back into force. The movie was sold everywhere on videotape in the mid-1980s. You could buy it for under $10.

Why hadn't the copyright been renewed? It had to be renewed 28 years after its release, which meant 1974. All it would have taken was a letter to the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress. The copyright's holder forgot. Why? How?

Answer: because it was not a Christmas classic in 1974. Now it is.

Why?

THREE MOVIES, ONE THEME

Americans watch seasonal Christmas movies. We watch A Christmas Carol. I prefer the version I saw in my youth: Alastair Sim's 1951 masterpiece.

We watch A Christmas Story. It is a compilation of Jean Shepherd stories, so it hooked me from the day I saw it 20 years ago. I have loved Jean Shepherd since 1963. My family even adopted the movie's culminating practice: going to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas.

Despite the fact that Americans own these movies or can rent them, we watch them on TV, despite the ads.

Why? Because we know that millions of other people are watching. In the social cocoons of our living rooms, we share an experience with millions of others. We know we are sharing the experience, which somehow makes it more meaningful. What Passover is to Jews, so is watching a prime-time network Christmas TV movie for America's gentiles. The advertisers love it.

Seasonal movies aside, two other movies serve as prime-time national celebrations: The Wizard of Oz (1939) and Gone With the Wind (1939). They always draw an audience.

I believe that It's a Wonderful Life, The Wizard of Oz, and Gone With the Wind are united by one theme: "There's no place like home." Each tells a different version of the story. Each conveys this truth in a unique way. But it's the same theme.

Dorothy runs away from home for the sake of her dog, Toto, and because nobody seems to appreciate her on the Kansas farm. A broken-down showman in a broken-down rig on the road convinces her to go home. She heads home. Then the tornado intervenes. The movie's move from black & white to Technicolor shows the discontinuous nature of the movie. "We aren't in Kansas any more, Toto." She still wants to go home. All of the miracles and spells, and all of the Wizard's theatrics, can't get her home. But clicking the slippers three times does. Message: "Home is where your family is."

For Scarlett, not being hungry again is her stated goal, but the lesson she learns is that there's no place like home. Money, travel, and Rhett are temporary substitutes for home. She finally goes back to Tara when everything else turns sour. The movie's theme song is "Tara's Theme." Message: "Home is where your land is."

In It's a Wonderful Life, George never leaves home. But he wants out. From the beginning to the end, the story is about a man who struggles with finding home. He wants to travel and do great things. He doesn't travel, nor does he do great things. But at the end, he discovers that he did do a great thing. It is this discovery that is the heart of his redemption. He discovers a world of miracles at the margin. But he discovers it in his drafty home. The movie conveys a fundamental message: "Home is where your mortgage is."

All three movies are wrong. Home is where your rest is — above all, your eternal rest. But this theme is rarely seen in Hollywood movies. A Man Called Peter (1955) is one of the few.

A CONFLICT OF VISIONS

It's a Wonderful Life is about a conflict of visions: Potter's vs. Bailey's, the bank vs. the building & loan, rentals vs. mortgages. Ultimately, though never said, it's about the FDIC vs. the FSLIC. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation vs. the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation.)

This same conflict is with us still. It is driving the price of housing to unsustainable levels in California, Boston, and other coastal centers. Rental income is not keeping pace with the rise in home prices: the classic sign of a housing bubble.

We have all bought homes in Bailey Park rather than renting in Pottersville. "Home is where your mortgage is."

In 1946, this was the most important socially important issue facing America: "Would Americans rent or own their own homes?" The movie opened in December. Within months, Levittown went into operation. The suburbs were about to come into being, sustained by government-funded highways and mass-produced automobiles. The returning vets wanted to own their own homes, and if that meant moving away from small town life, so be it.

It's a Wonderful Life is an exercise in nostalgia today because Levittown and the FSLIC guaranteed the replacement of small-town life, where there are few jobs and few new homes. The movie in 1946 identified the future: Bailey Park, a subdivision where the Martinis could buy a piece of America, and even bring their goat, as though zoning and restrictive covenants would not keep that world out.

The movie is amazingly subtle, despite its unsubtle script. It's about a conflict of visions. It seems to be about Potter's thwarted vision vs. George Bailey's thwarted vision. But there is a third vision, which turns out to be the triumphant vision. The third vision is rarely discussed and barely perceived, yet it is the movie's core vision. It is presented in a far more subtle way. It's the vision that turned It's a Wonderful Life into a classic, four decades after it was filmed.

Therein lies the secret of its popularity.

The third vision is Mary Bailey's vision. She wishes for the old home in the rock-throwing sequence. She wants to build a home out of an abandoned, falling-down mansion with broken windows. She wants to buy a money pit and have George pay for it. George promises to lasso the moon for her. She lassos him instead. She does it with a phone cord.

Every man who sees the opening of that scene knows what's going to happen. So does every woman. Mary's mom, on the upstairs extension, who is mentally adding up the rival balance sheets, sees it coming and cannot stop it.

Mary wants that house. Sam Wainright can only offer riches out of town. That will not give her the chance to fulfill her vision: turning a sow's ear into a silk purse.

In that movie, the only person I have ever personally identified with is Sam Wainright. Plastics, baby, plastics! Get in on the ground floor while you can. He stuck his thumbs in his ears, wiggled his fingers, and said "Hee, haw!" to the whole risk-aversive world. Thank God for the Sam Wainrights of the world. Thank Him also for the free market, which lets them get rich by making us more productive and our world better.

The movie's symbolic key to the fundamental conflict of visions — Mary's vs. George's — is that loose knob on the bannister. It never gets fixed. There is always something else to fix, but never enough time to fix that knob. George keeps grabbing the knob and running up the stairs. Then he puts it back. He will not glue it.

The question I asked from the first time I ever saw the movie until the latest, is this: "Why doesn't somebody glue that knob?"

I have finally figured it out. It took me 20 years. I'm sure other film reviewers have figured it out, but I'm a slow learner. That loose knob symbolizes the conflict of visions between the Baileys.

George wants out — out of Bedford falls, out of the lending business, out of that drafty house, and ultimately out of life. The movie never says it explicitly, but he wants out of his marriage — a decidedly non-Jimmy Stewart theme. He wants the freedom to get out. Glue that knob, and he's trapped. The knob is the symbol of his moral battle. Will he finally settle down mentally? He has settled down economically and geographically, but he has not settled down mentally. Will that knob ever be glued?

Mary won't fix it. She knows that George has to, as a symbol of his acceptance of his life. George won't fix it for the same reason.

Will Mary Bailey win the battle of the conflicting visions?

It's obvious from the final scene that she wins. George is at last locked in, grinning. He will not go to jail. Uncle Billy will not go to a mental institution. (Uncle Billy needed to join AA, and George should have fired him back in 1930.) The building & loan is saved. Bailey Park is saved. Potter is once again thwarted. Clarence gets his wings. All's well that ends well.

Conclusion: let's all go out and buy a home with a 30-year fixed-interest-rate mortgage. Let's all move to Bailey Park.

And so we have.

BAD ECONOMICS

The movie seems to be about slums vs. new subdivisions. In the miracle sequence, Pottersville is a downtown jungle of bars, lewd stage shows, pawnshops, and prostitutes. It's Potter's vision in neon. Message: only mortgage money can save Bedford Falls from becoming Pottersville.

Economically, this is nonsense. Fractional reserve banking is the road to monetary perdition, but fractional reserve savings & loans are not the road to heaven. That both roads are today protected by the government-subsidized FDIC is symbolic.

The FSLIC went bust in the 1980s, and this event threatened to take the American economy with it. Borrowing short and lending long for mortgages was the heart of that crisis, and taxpayers' money by the hundreds of billions was necessary to keep us from the path of redemption paved by George Bailey.

I have never seen a reviewer mention what should be obvious: the movie achieved classic status after 1974. This was an inflationary era in which housing prices soared, with three recessions (1974, 1981, 1982), with high interest rates in 1980—85, producing an outflow of funds from savings & loans to the newly invented money-market funds, which produced the savings & loan crisis, which were borrowed short and lent long. The collapsing S&L industry threatened to bring down the American dream — home ownership — by ending government-guaranteed mortgages. That would have meant the end of the wonderful life, circa 1985.

In 1946, the movie barely broke even.

ZU ZU'S GENERATION

Each generation gets trapped in its own house, which reflects its vision.

In 1946, the big old house, still drafty, was pictured as the American dream come true. A woman with a vision lassos a husband to fund her personal reclamation project. He sacrifices his vision for hers and every other wife's in Bedford Falls. Even Violet gives up her vision of an escape to the big city.

The fact is, Zu Zu's generation left Bedford Falls no later than 1960, returning for Thanksgiving and Christmas to visit the old folks. The FSLIC secured the subsidized funding for this move: the Levittowns of America, the suburbs. Almost nobody under 70 lives in Bedford Falls any more. We may dream of moving back in our old age, but it's just a dream. We work in cities, and we commute to the suburbs. So do our children.

There are no more neighborhoods. There are only subdivisions. When the building & loans went bust in the mid-1980s, nobody collected a basket full of cash to bring to the founders' sons. Instead, voters called on Congress to bail out the system, and Congress obliged. Zu Zu's kids and grandkids will be paying for that bail-out.

Call the whole process "from Bailey to bailout."

THE BAILOUT

A major crisis of the movie is the run on the building & loan. Why it could be solved in one day, Capra's script did not say. How the newlywed Baileys scraped together $2,000 — worth almost $28,000 today (www.bls.gov) — for a honeymoon in 1932, the bottom of the depression, was never made clear. Some honeymoon!

It was that fear of depression and bank runs in 1946 that still paralyzed millions of members of the older generation. The head of Montgomery Ward, Sewell Avery, was convinced that another depression was imminent. He had the company hoard cash. He refused to go into debt to expand. Sears did, building stores in the newly invented shopping malls of the suburbs. Montgomery Ward never recovered.

The Full Employment Act of 1946 was signed into law, guaranteeing government intervention to insure full employment without inflation. The Federal Reserve System in turn guaranteed that law. That fact guaranteed inflation. Today, it takes almost $9,800 to match the purchasing power of $1,000 in 1946.

The federal government's mortgage loan guarantees have now trapped generations of Americans in long-term mortgage debt to pay off the Bailey Park homes that we all believe is the fulfillment of the American dream. Pottersville is confined to central cities, where residents' credit ratings are low. Only the down-and-outers live there — and Latinos, who move two or three families into a home to make the mortgage payments. They are the up-and-comers in the Southwest and Miami. They are making the American dream work for them, changing it as they do.

SOCIAL MIRACLES AT THE MARGIN

The movie's surface theme is that miracles occur at the margin. George Bailey makes loans to borrowers who buy homes. One by one, the community changes. Old homes are restored. George lives in one. New homes go up. Potter's rental income falls when families move to Bailey Park. Loan by loan, everyone with character can buy a piece of the American dream. This keeps Bedford Falls from turning into Pottersville.

This is a fairy tale for grown-ups. Potter would have had competition from other banks. If Bailey's building & loan survived the Great Depression, it would have had imitators. But the basic theme of the movie is this: greed thwarts the good life, but self-sacrifice builds a decent place to live. This theme resonates with Americans. Indeed, it's a fundamental theme of the Bible.

The problem is, we have all bought into the 1946 vision of the crucial arena of greed vs. self-sacrifice: the mortgage market. Anything that undermines cheap mortgage money is seen as Potterism. Cheap mortgage money is seen as the American's birthright. It wasn't in 1930, when people had to pay 40% down to buy a house, just as they do today in most European nations. In 1947, Levittown began to change all that, with help from the FSLIC: a new home in a suburb for $10,990, $67 a month.

"Buy now, pay later" is paralleled by "borrow short, lend long." The first slogan governs the borrowers. The second governs the lenders. It's a symbiotic system. It rests on fractional reserve banking and central banking, which insures the commercial banks by guaranteeing permanent monetary inflation.

The miracle of the free market is the idea of miracles at the margin. The West's economy has grown at 2% to 3% per year, compounded, despite wars, for 250 years. We live more comfortably than kings lived in 1850. As P. J. O'Rourke says, when you think "good old days," think "dentistry." The miracle is the compounding process.

The fly in the ointment is fiat money and the expansion of debt that it subsidizes. Everywhere we turn, we are caught in a massive web of debt. This debt is denominated in currency units, mostly dollars. The web holds because central banks keeps buying government debt, which expands the monetary bases, which multiplies through the fractional reserve process. The purchasing power of money falls, marginally, year after year.

The terror of this system is the terror of It's a Wonderful Life: the bank run. It's the terror of banks' being borrowed short and lent long. As voters, we are willing to accept anything defers this threat. Today, there are $140 trillion in unsecured, high-leverage debt/credit agreements, over 80% of which are tied to shifts in interest rates. This is the derivatives market. A few of us worry that the system is being managed by Uncle Billy. But most people don't know about it.

The more I look at photos of Alan Greenspan, the more resemblance I see to Thomas Mitchell.

THE HOUSING BUBBLE

We are in the midst of a housing bubble in the cities, i.e., blue America. A housing bubble is easy to define: where the monthly mortgage payment for new buyers after taxes is higher than a rental payment for a comparable property. This is George Bailey's legacy to America.

The bad guy in the movie is Potter. He is a slum lord. The hero is George Bailey. He lends depositors' money to home buyers. So ingrained is this vision that, today, almost 70% of Americans are home owners, meaning mortgage signers. The younger ones are leveraged to the hilt. They expect the government to keep the boom going, so that they can pay off their debt. They want an appreciating asset — a home — despite the fact that the price of this appreciating asset is a depreciating dollar. The government turns to the Federal Reserve System to sustain the boom — and also to the central banks of Japan and China. Inflation is consuming the voters' meager retirement portfolios' purchasing power.

We love the movie's message: "Home is where your mortgage is." We still believe it. We still feel warm and bubbly when George gets that basket full of money, which seals his fate, and ours.

Clarence got his wings. So did the purchasing power of the dollar, which flew away.

I know exactly what happened the next day. George went to the tool chest, got out some glue, and fixed that knob. He was done. So was his dream of escaping Bedford Falls.

So is the dollar.

CONCLUSION

There is a conflict of visions in this life. There is a war between self-sacrifice and greed. The genius of the free market is that it converts greed into consumer-satisfying productivity.

As Adam Smith wrote in 1776:

But man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favour, and show them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them. Whoever offers to another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.

Potter vs. Bailey would have produced much the same outcome. This is because people finance their dreams in a competitive market. They don't care whether Potter is a grasper or Bailey is generous. They deposit their money in the institution that gives them the best rate of return consistent with risk. They borrow money from the institution that offers them the best terms. It's lenders vs. lenders and borrowers vs. borrowers. It's not greed vs. generosity. This is the socially and ethically revolutionary aspect of free market capitalism.

Sam Walton was a nice man, but his heirs are not worth $100 billion today because he was nice. Sewell Avery was a vocal defender of the free market, but he lost out to Sears because he did not understand the economic implications of It's a Wonderful Life: the FSLIC, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve System, was creating a new society with new institutions, the suburb and the shopping mall.

We now live in George Bailey's world. We have substituted government loan guarantees for bank runs, fiat money for the gold standard, and 30-year fixed rate mortgages with 5% down for 5-year balloon payment loans with 40% down. We live in a world where most Americans are in debt all of their lives, dreaming of winning the lottery and having the government guarantee their pensions, their old age, and their health care expenses.

The buffalo gals have come out at night to vote by the light of the moon. We have become a nation of lunatics.

That's why we watch It's a Wonderful Life, year after year. It comforts us in our lunacy.

It's a good-hearted movie. It's about family values and hard work.