My answer is part "wait and see," part "these concerns are overblown."
If Trump did everything he might have alluded to verbally at one point or another, all Hispanics unable to produce documentation of their right to be in the US would not be here anymore, but of course that hasn't happened.
Trump's communication style drives me beyond nuts, but it is only style. One cannot simply find an off the cuff point in an off the cuff speech he may have made and conclude that is what he'll do.
The best approach to Trump is to take almost everything he says with a lot of salt, especially when he talks to his hard core supporters or the public in general (and most of us are not privy to Trump's private conversations so this is very difficult), try to decipher major themes amid all his verbal noise, and then, ultimately, wait and see what he actually does.
I think the chances of federal government disability benefits being curtailed because Trump is President, at least across the board, are slim. And it isn't at all impossible that those benefits would increase because Trump is President. In all the things he's said, support for that possibility is more easily found than what some in the disabled community may fear.
Mark: I do appreciate concerns about non-policy aspects of Trump (his mocking a reporter), but one should really consider him an equal opportunity offender, if you will. Trump will rant against and offend anyone and everyone -- and has. So anyone who is looking for Trump to be always be "nice to them" or "nice to the group they are part of" is just going to be badly disappointed -- sooner or later. Russian's Putin, and everyone else, will get the same treatment, sooner or later. :-)
In terms of the broader picture, but perhaps expanding the conversation a bit, I have always been an advocate of smaller government, and for people to look first to their local resources (first private and only after that local and state government) for solutions to problems -- all before looking to the federal government. Why? Because one-size-fits all solutions (solutions "from the top") are clumsy at best, and because things "at the top" can change in the blink of an eye, in which case ... well, here we maybe are, aren't we, at least for some things?
We have been looking increasingly to the "top" for solutions over the past years, decades even. OK, but then we maybe set ourselves up for these kinds of possibilities?
But Larry, the CRCNA already opposes "slavery, apartheid, racism and sexism." No one opposes that institutional "speaking out" because such speaking out is ecclesiastical (CO Art. 28), just as is speaking about about homosexuality or the human obligation to be a steward of creation.
But it would seem you want the CRCNA to be a political lobbyist as well, as if there is no distinction between pronouncing, as an ecclesiastical matter, that racism is sinful and lobbying congress to pass certain legislation that, say, deals with nuances of voter registration requirements. There is a difference and even the IRS knows the difference.
To plumb the specifics of your posture on this, would you also want the CRCNA to train paramilitary forces just in case a Hitler-like despot takes over, so that the CRCNA can not only oppose this "Hitler" in words but also with deed? If not, why not?
Or to ask another way, just what are your jurisdictional limits, if any, for the CRCNA? What should Church Order Article 28 allow the CRC assemblies to take up beyond "ecclesiastical matters" (the present church order imposed jurisdictional boundary)?
You are taking some logic leaps there Larry but I assume you know that. In case you don't, I can't imagine how exactly you can make the case that any kind of ban on Syrian refugees by a sovereign nation for a finite period of time for whatever reason is unbiblical. Too much nuanced knowledge is required, and there are too many variables that potentially come into play, in my view at least, to be able to responsibly declare the scripture will always be violated when such a ban is implemented by a particular sovereign nation.
And I can't follow you when you say you must preach about all the things you list, BUT on the other hand, I think you certainly can preach on topics than involve greedy capitalism, irresponsible socialism, materialism, etc. It might take some degree of in-depth knowledge about the subject matters to have the sermon come off as "credible" and not a cheap political pitch, but sure, these subjects are, or their component parts at least are, the object of scriptural admonitions.
Defined contribution (DC) plans are simply more precise and predictable than defined benefit (DB) plans.
Some simple definitionscan be helpful here. In a DC plan, dollar contributions are made to the person's account, whether from employer or employee, or both. Then at retirement, the total accumulated amount (contributions plus investment income) is precisely known. Sure, it can at the employee's option be annuitized at that point (that is, the large amount exchanged, in whole or in part, can be exchanged for a monthly payment for an unknown remaining life span), but the retirement dollars that are available are precisely known and the employee has control of the entire amount.
In a DB plan, while contributions are also made, the dollar amount of total contributions made at retirement is somewhat irrelevant. What is more relevant is the contractual benefits that were promised years earlier, in exchange for the contributions.
DB plans are somewhat a bundle of guesses, about what future benefits will cost, about what income will be acquired from investing all those contributed dollars before retirement arrives, etc etc etc.
DB plans often favor some retirees over others. For example, because the "defined plan" might have a "benefit feature" that provides income only for as long as one lives, a retiree who dies soon after retirement might leave nothing or little for children even if that retiree's contributions were worth much, much more than the benefits turned out to be. DC plans treats retirees according to their contributions. In other words, in some respects, DB plans can be said to generally be a bit or much more "forced socialism" as to all retirees.
The biggest danger for DB plans is that the guesses made about the costs of the post-retirement benefits, or the assumptions about how much income the pooled contributions would make before retirement, turn out to be wrong. If those guesses or predictions are wrong in one direction, some retirees are given more generous benefits than they "deserved" (but always at the expense of someone), and if they are wrong in another direction, some retirees are given less generous benefits than the "deserved" (which will always benefit someone else).
All other things being equal, I tend to favor defined contribution plans because they are more precise, calculable, and certain in an overall way.
In my state, public employees have in the past received far greater benefits than they "deserved" because their defined benefit plan (PERS) was based on "bad guesses and predictions." It as nice, very nice, for some past employees of course (my wife among them), but counties, cities, and present workers are all paying for it, dearly, today.
While I certainly don't oppose the kind of action that was taken by Obama's EO, Mark, I always wonder about the ratio of "show to go" with federal action. In my neck of the nation's woods, the biggest employers of the disabled (including a neighbor of mine that I've know for his entire life), are private non-profits. My guess is that next to no one in my geographical area is benefited by Obama's EO (or Clinton's before that).
I think there is much more promise for increased employment of the disabled in the private sector, profit and non-profit, perhaps with some tax credit assistance from government, federal, state, and/or local even.
One thing everyone is likely to agree on is that is it better for the disabled to work, at whatever level that might match their abilities, than that they not work. Even if they worked for no compensation, their lives are made better by working. And frankly, I think that sentiment is quite bipartisan, and shared by those who like big or small government.
My thought: don't send notes. Doing that necessarily sets you up for distinguishing gifts that are "greater" or "more important" than others. These are gifts.
If a particular deacon wants to say a verbal thanks to a contributor, fine, but even that shouldn't be a "planned exercise."
I'm not following Larry. How is it that someone has said or otherwise suggested "we cannot be good samaritans in our world"? I see that being done all the time by Christians. I practice it quite regularly. I advocate it.
I quite agree Shannon that race is biologically not real. I've thought that all my adult life, if not a bit longer. But unlike you, I don't think I'm racist. Never have been and am not now. No, no, no, that doesn't mean I don't consider myself quite sinful, inclined to hate God and my neighbor as you say, but I'm also not a terrorist, a mysogenist, a burglar, a robber, a drug dealer, or a number of other words, all of which denote rather specific ways of acting out one's sinful state. I have plenty ways I act out my sinful state but acting as a racist or terrorist or drug dealer are not among them.
My question to you is, why do you think you are -- call yourself -- a rscist? I'm not trying to be personal (maybe that is in fact a specific way your fallen nature expresses itself?), but I gather from your article that perhaps you call yourself a racist merely because you are half white (as you say), or merely because you were raised in a culture you apparently equate with white, as you say (I have a bit of a hard time understanding that), or merely because in our society at large you conclude, again as you say, that whites, statistically speaking, have some kind of power advantage over non-whites. But none of these latter "reasons" are cause for you to be designated a racist, nor is your inherent sinful nature.
Unless, of course, the meaning of the word itself, "racism," is changed. But that would be cheating, I submit, in a dictionary definition-strategy kind of way.
I understand the inclination, in a good Calvinist kind of way, to be up front about our sinfulness, but I think it does no good, and does do harm, when we so expand the definitional meaning of a word until it covers anything and everything (like the word "Smurf" in that cartoon with the little blue people).
Now I do believe racism exists and that some people are in fact racist, just as terrorism/terrorists exist or murderous assassination/murderous assassins exists, but it wouldn't do good to call everyone a terrorist or an assassin either. If we call everyone all these specific "ways of sinning," the meaning of the words are lost and we no longer distinguish between sinfulness generally, and specific ways we might, or might not, act out our sinfulness. And that is not helpful either -- at all. Among others things calling everything and everyone "smurf," or "racist," results in losing the idea of the specific thing, as well as the ability to deal with it (how would you deal with the problem of "smurfyness" after all, because you don't know what the problem actually is).
I hear often that "we aren't willing to have honest conversations about race and racism." It would seem that you are. I am too. Let's have a conversation. :-)
Respectfully Larry, I think you are failing to distinguish between biblical admonitions to people and biblical admonitions to governments. I am obliged to be a good neighbor even to those who have committed crimes like theft or drug dealing or even rape or murder. Notwithstanding my obligation to those, government's obligation to those same persons is different. Government is obliged to curb those evils, which may often mean prosecuting and incarcerating those people.
Your and my roles are often quite different than government's role. We may be required to turn the other cheek, but government couldn't do what God would have government do if its policy is turn-the-other-cheek based.
I'm not saying I know that the current administration's policy on this immigration time-out is good policy, but I am saying its duties, responsibilities and obligations are not correctly understood by applying the lesson of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Again, this doesn't mean the administration's policy is good policy, but, as I have suggested, neither you nor I nor the institutional church (nor even the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals frankly), are privy to the information required to in order to determine the wisdom of the administration on this policy. Congress gave this power, and the right to have the information, to the executive branch. Some in Congress have the right to the information, and to oversight, but you don't, I don't, and the institutional church doesn't.
Beyond that, there are plenty of neighbors that we can be good Samaritans too. There is no lack there I don't think.
Kent. I read your Think Christian article and commented (negatively) on it. I pretty much agreed with most points in this article. I didn't see the articles as similar.
Thanks for the link to the booklet, Mark. I think its content is excellent.
I don't think it would hurt at all to send a copy, in paper form and perhaps also by email, to the clerk of every local CRC council, and the clerk of every CRC classis.
If all CRC members transformed 90% of their angst about government related politics, and the CRCNA 100% of its, into efforts toward serving directly in their own local areas, whether the disabled or others, much, much more would get done with infinitely more satisfaction.
We don't really have much power at all to overhaul the government, especially at the federal level, in whatever direction. And we'll forever disagree about what that overhaul should be. But our power as a church of Jesus Christ to directly impact the lives of many immediately around us, each in our own communities, is great indeed. And as to that, I really don't see any disagreement at all.
Posted in: How Will People With Disabilities Fare in Trump’s America?
My answer is part "wait and see," part "these concerns are overblown."
If Trump did everything he might have alluded to verbally at one point or another, all Hispanics unable to produce documentation of their right to be in the US would not be here anymore, but of course that hasn't happened.
Trump's communication style drives me beyond nuts, but it is only style. One cannot simply find an off the cuff point in an off the cuff speech he may have made and conclude that is what he'll do.
The best approach to Trump is to take almost everything he says with a lot of salt, especially when he talks to his hard core supporters or the public in general (and most of us are not privy to Trump's private conversations so this is very difficult), try to decipher major themes amid all his verbal noise, and then, ultimately, wait and see what he actually does.
I think the chances of federal government disability benefits being curtailed because Trump is President, at least across the board, are slim. And it isn't at all impossible that those benefits would increase because Trump is President. In all the things he's said, support for that possibility is more easily found than what some in the disabled community may fear.
Posted in: How Will People With Disabilities Fare in Trump’s America?
Mark: I do appreciate concerns about non-policy aspects of Trump (his mocking a reporter), but one should really consider him an equal opportunity offender, if you will. Trump will rant against and offend anyone and everyone -- and has. So anyone who is looking for Trump to be always be "nice to them" or "nice to the group they are part of" is just going to be badly disappointed -- sooner or later. Russian's Putin, and everyone else, will get the same treatment, sooner or later. :-)
In terms of the broader picture, but perhaps expanding the conversation a bit, I have always been an advocate of smaller government, and for people to look first to their local resources (first private and only after that local and state government) for solutions to problems -- all before looking to the federal government. Why? Because one-size-fits all solutions (solutions "from the top") are clumsy at best, and because things "at the top" can change in the blink of an eye, in which case ... well, here we maybe are, aren't we, at least for some things?
We have been looking increasingly to the "top" for solutions over the past years, decades even. OK, but then we maybe set ourselves up for these kinds of possibilities?
Posted in: How Should the Church Respond to Trump’s Travel Ban?
But Larry, the CRCNA already opposes "slavery, apartheid, racism and sexism." No one opposes that institutional "speaking out" because such speaking out is ecclesiastical (CO Art. 28), just as is speaking about about homosexuality or the human obligation to be a steward of creation.
But it would seem you want the CRCNA to be a political lobbyist as well, as if there is no distinction between pronouncing, as an ecclesiastical matter, that racism is sinful and lobbying congress to pass certain legislation that, say, deals with nuances of voter registration requirements. There is a difference and even the IRS knows the difference.
To plumb the specifics of your posture on this, would you also want the CRCNA to train paramilitary forces just in case a Hitler-like despot takes over, so that the CRCNA can not only oppose this "Hitler" in words but also with deed? If not, why not?
Or to ask another way, just what are your jurisdictional limits, if any, for the CRCNA? What should Church Order Article 28 allow the CRC assemblies to take up beyond "ecclesiastical matters" (the present church order imposed jurisdictional boundary)?
Posted in: How Should the Church Respond to Trump’s Travel Ban?
You are taking some logic leaps there Larry but I assume you know that. In case you don't, I can't imagine how exactly you can make the case that any kind of ban on Syrian refugees by a sovereign nation for a finite period of time for whatever reason is unbiblical. Too much nuanced knowledge is required, and there are too many variables that potentially come into play, in my view at least, to be able to responsibly declare the scripture will always be violated when such a ban is implemented by a particular sovereign nation.
And I can't follow you when you say you must preach about all the things you list, BUT on the other hand, I think you certainly can preach on topics than involve greedy capitalism, irresponsible socialism, materialism, etc. It might take some degree of in-depth knowledge about the subject matters to have the sermon come off as "credible" and not a cheap political pitch, but sure, these subjects are, or their component parts at least are, the object of scriptural admonitions.
Posted in: Let's Talk About Pastor Compensation
Defined contribution (DC) plans are simply more precise and predictable than defined benefit (DB) plans.
Some simple definitionscan be helpful here. In a DC plan, dollar contributions are made to the person's account, whether from employer or employee, or both. Then at retirement, the total accumulated amount (contributions plus investment income) is precisely known. Sure, it can at the employee's option be annuitized at that point (that is, the large amount exchanged, in whole or in part, can be exchanged for a monthly payment for an unknown remaining life span), but the retirement dollars that are available are precisely known and the employee has control of the entire amount.
In a DB plan, while contributions are also made, the dollar amount of total contributions made at retirement is somewhat irrelevant. What is more relevant is the contractual benefits that were promised years earlier, in exchange for the contributions.
DB plans are somewhat a bundle of guesses, about what future benefits will cost, about what income will be acquired from investing all those contributed dollars before retirement arrives, etc etc etc.
DB plans often favor some retirees over others. For example, because the "defined plan" might have a "benefit feature" that provides income only for as long as one lives, a retiree who dies soon after retirement might leave nothing or little for children even if that retiree's contributions were worth much, much more than the benefits turned out to be. DC plans treats retirees according to their contributions. In other words, in some respects, DB plans can be said to generally be a bit or much more "forced socialism" as to all retirees.
The biggest danger for DB plans is that the guesses made about the costs of the post-retirement benefits, or the assumptions about how much income the pooled contributions would make before retirement, turn out to be wrong. If those guesses or predictions are wrong in one direction, some retirees are given more generous benefits than they "deserved" (but always at the expense of someone), and if they are wrong in another direction, some retirees are given less generous benefits than the "deserved" (which will always benefit someone else).
All other things being equal, I tend to favor defined contribution plans because they are more precise, calculable, and certain in an overall way.
In my state, public employees have in the past received far greater benefits than they "deserved" because their defined benefit plan (PERS) was based on "bad guesses and predictions." It as nice, very nice, for some past employees of course (my wife among them), but counties, cities, and present workers are all paying for it, dearly, today.
Posted in: How Will People With Disabilities Fare in Trump’s America?
While I certainly don't oppose the kind of action that was taken by Obama's EO, Mark, I always wonder about the ratio of "show to go" with federal action. In my neck of the nation's woods, the biggest employers of the disabled (including a neighbor of mine that I've know for his entire life), are private non-profits. My guess is that next to no one in my geographical area is benefited by Obama's EO (or Clinton's before that).
I think there is much more promise for increased employment of the disabled in the private sector, profit and non-profit, perhaps with some tax credit assistance from government, federal, state, and/or local even.
One thing everyone is likely to agree on is that is it better for the disabled to work, at whatever level that might match their abilities, than that they not work. Even if they worked for no compensation, their lives are made better by working. And frankly, I think that sentiment is quite bipartisan, and shared by those who like big or small government.
Posted in: To Thank or Not to Thank
My thought: don't send notes. Doing that necessarily sets you up for distinguishing gifts that are "greater" or "more important" than others. These are gifts.
If a particular deacon wants to say a verbal thanks to a contributor, fine, but even that shouldn't be a "planned exercise."
Posted in: How Should the Church Respond to Trump’s Travel Ban?
I'm not following Larry. How is it that someone has said or otherwise suggested "we cannot be good samaritans in our world"? I see that being done all the time by Christians. I practice it quite regularly. I advocate it.
Posted in: Hello, My Name Is. . . Racist
I quite agree Shannon that race is biologically not real. I've thought that all my adult life, if not a bit longer. But unlike you, I don't think I'm racist. Never have been and am not now. No, no, no, that doesn't mean I don't consider myself quite sinful, inclined to hate God and my neighbor as you say, but I'm also not a terrorist, a mysogenist, a burglar, a robber, a drug dealer, or a number of other words, all of which denote rather specific ways of acting out one's sinful state. I have plenty ways I act out my sinful state but acting as a racist or terrorist or drug dealer are not among them.
My question to you is, why do you think you are -- call yourself -- a rscist? I'm not trying to be personal (maybe that is in fact a specific way your fallen nature expresses itself?), but I gather from your article that perhaps you call yourself a racist merely because you are half white (as you say), or merely because you were raised in a culture you apparently equate with white, as you say (I have a bit of a hard time understanding that), or merely because in our society at large you conclude, again as you say, that whites, statistically speaking, have some kind of power advantage over non-whites. But none of these latter "reasons" are cause for you to be designated a racist, nor is your inherent sinful nature.
Unless, of course, the meaning of the word itself, "racism," is changed. But that would be cheating, I submit, in a dictionary definition-strategy kind of way.
I understand the inclination, in a good Calvinist kind of way, to be up front about our sinfulness, but I think it does no good, and does do harm, when we so expand the definitional meaning of a word until it covers anything and everything (like the word "Smurf" in that cartoon with the little blue people).
Now I do believe racism exists and that some people are in fact racist, just as terrorism/terrorists exist or murderous assassination/murderous assassins exists, but it wouldn't do good to call everyone a terrorist or an assassin either. If we call everyone all these specific "ways of sinning," the meaning of the words are lost and we no longer distinguish between sinfulness generally, and specific ways we might, or might not, act out our sinfulness. And that is not helpful either -- at all. Among others things calling everything and everyone "smurf," or "racist," results in losing the idea of the specific thing, as well as the ability to deal with it (how would you deal with the problem of "smurfyness" after all, because you don't know what the problem actually is).
I hear often that "we aren't willing to have honest conversations about race and racism." It would seem that you are. I am too. Let's have a conversation. :-)
Posted in: How Should the Church Respond to Trump’s Travel Ban?
Respectfully Larry, I think you are failing to distinguish between biblical admonitions to people and biblical admonitions to governments. I am obliged to be a good neighbor even to those who have committed crimes like theft or drug dealing or even rape or murder. Notwithstanding my obligation to those, government's obligation to those same persons is different. Government is obliged to curb those evils, which may often mean prosecuting and incarcerating those people.
Your and my roles are often quite different than government's role. We may be required to turn the other cheek, but government couldn't do what God would have government do if its policy is turn-the-other-cheek based.
I'm not saying I know that the current administration's policy on this immigration time-out is good policy, but I am saying its duties, responsibilities and obligations are not correctly understood by applying the lesson of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Again, this doesn't mean the administration's policy is good policy, but, as I have suggested, neither you nor I nor the institutional church (nor even the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals frankly), are privy to the information required to in order to determine the wisdom of the administration on this policy. Congress gave this power, and the right to have the information, to the executive branch. Some in Congress have the right to the information, and to oversight, but you don't, I don't, and the institutional church doesn't.
Beyond that, there are plenty of neighbors that we can be good Samaritans too. There is no lack there I don't think.
Posted in: How Should the Church Respond to Trump’s Travel Ban?
Kent. I read your Think Christian article and commented (negatively) on it. I pretty much agreed with most points in this article. I didn't see the articles as similar.
Posted in: How Will People With Disabilities Fare in Trump’s America?
Thanks for the link to the booklet, Mark. I think its content is excellent.
I don't think it would hurt at all to send a copy, in paper form and perhaps also by email, to the clerk of every local CRC council, and the clerk of every CRC classis.
If all CRC members transformed 90% of their angst about government related politics, and the CRCNA 100% of its, into efforts toward serving directly in their own local areas, whether the disabled or others, much, much more would get done with infinitely more satisfaction.
We don't really have much power at all to overhaul the government, especially at the federal level, in whatever direction. And we'll forever disagree about what that overhaul should be. But our power as a church of Jesus Christ to directly impact the lives of many immediately around us, each in our own communities, is great indeed. And as to that, I really don't see any disagreement at all.