Barbarism of a Bygone Era

Earlier this month I visited the National World War I Museum (www.libertymemorialmuseum.org) in Kansas City, Mo. It’s a fascinating place. I had been there before, but it’s just as eye-opening a second time.

The museum does a good job of explaining a period in history that is often neglected and why the impact of the war affects this globe today. Just look at a pre-World War I map of Europe compared to the number of countries today to see how the Great War changed the geography, politics and culture of the continent. The war changed Europe from a predominantly monarch-led region to one of democracies.

The museum skillfully explains how the United States emerged as a global industrial, military and political power because of the conflict.

The conditions of war change from era to era, but not the cruelty of it. In World War I, unsuspected soldiers would march through a field and fall into camouflaged pits in which they would be impaled by giant spikes. Mustard gas made its first widespread appearance during the war. So did tanks, to get through barbed wire, another recent innovation adapted for wartime use. And airplanes, dropping bombs for the first time.

The museum contains an amazing 55,000 artifacts, including weapons, uniforms and vehicles. There are a variety of photographs, movie clips and maps from the period, as well as interactive exhibits. A month-by-month timeline gives explicit details of the war years.

Much of the war was fought in trenches, where the squalor of disease claimed as many victims as weaponry. These tactics of a bygone era — during which both of my parents were born — occurred less than 100 years ago. What barbarism will warfare involve by the end of this century, if the earth is still around that long?

Change of Fortunes

I’m not watching the League Championship Series this week. And I won’t be watching the World Series next week. I’m bitter. I could barely stomach the first round of the playoffs because my team — the St. Louis Cardinals — looked like amateurs in getting swept three games to none by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This seemed like a punch in the stomach to Cardinals fans because the team had the best player in the league (Albert Pujols) and arguably the two best pitchers (Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright). Many pundits expected St. Louis to win it all. But after being the first team to wrap up a playoff berth, the Cardinals went flat and never recovered.

The swift demise felt especially cruel because St. Louis had its best August ever en route to cruising to an 11-game lead. After everything worked so smoothly, fans figured the team would at least be competitive in the postseason.

But everyday life has parallels for those us not making millions a year to hit and chase a ball. Everything seems to be working out in life, then an unexpected crisis hits. We lose a job. A spouse gets gravely ill. A parent dies. Such calamities have the potential to spin our normal routines out of control — or spur us to fervently consider what’s really important.

Baseball is a fun distraction. But it’s not vital to my well-being. I think I’m over the fiasco of the Cardinals for the moment. Maybe I can focus on something better, like relationships and ministry.

Irate Over Immigrants

I was glad to see the National Association of Evangelicals (http://www.nae.net/) pass a resolution last week calling for immigration reform, with the focus that immigrants should be treated with respect and mercy.

For a long time I’ve been saddened by some of the caustic rhetoric heard from the mouths of Christians about immigrants. Their arguments sound more like commentary from some radio talk show hosts rather than the Bible.

In early adulthood, living in small-town Iowa with a 99 percent white population, I had many of the same leanings. What’s with all these non-white people coming to this country trying to steal what I deserve? After all, I was born here.

My thinking changed radically when I moved to the Chicago suburbs and found myself surrounded by Filipino, Pakistani and Polish neighbors. It shifted further in 1996 when I met Carlos on a freelance reporting project. Carlos immigrated to the United States from Mexico as a teenager and soon found work in a factory in suburban Chicago. I interviewed him in his sparsely furnished tiny bedroom that he rented — from Bible-believing Christians — as an illegal alien. Carlos explained that he would have wound up in jail or dead if he stayed in Mexico. In the United States he became a Christian. When I talked to him, he led a weekly Bible study for other Hispanics.

If I lived on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico I may have a different perspective. I’ve heard the arguments that Mexicans entering the country are thieves, drug dealers and murderers, as if they had a monopoly on such activities. I don’t advocate allowing immigrants to move into the country carte blanche. But when someone has lived in this country for several years, worked at jobs few others would accept and accepted the gospel upon hearing it for the first time, is that grounds to despise them?

Most immigrants aren’t terrorists. They often moved here for economic survival. Afterwards, they become productive citizens. Scripture has admonition after admonition about how to treat aliens compassionately. There’s no distinction between legal and illegal.

For example, Leviticus 19:33-34 declares, “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born.” Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan teaches that we need to be kind to reviled foreigners.

Last fall I visited the Statue of Liberty in New York. It might be a good idea for all of us to remember the famous poem written by Emma Lazarus that is inscribed on the base of that beacon of hope in the harbor:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

In the immigration debate we need to adhere to biblical and ethical principles rather than political bombast.

Walk for Life Raises Record Amount

The Springfield Pregnancy Care Center raised a record amount of funds Saturday for its eighth annual Walk for Life. More than $121,000 had been collected by the day of the event, which for the past two years has included a five-kilometer run.

The fundraising is especially important this year, as some of the government-financed school abstinence programs have been cut. Thankfully, despite the recession, many givers stepped up to make sure that some of the shortfall is made up.

My wife Patty and I have been involved nearly every year in the walk, and she again served on the planning committee this year. We had unprecedented participation this year from fellow Assemblies of God employees as well as first-time involvement by attendees of Nu Brew Church. It’s encouraging when people who are pro-life take steps to back up their beliefs.

Letterman’s Bizarre Non-Confession

I happened to be watching David Letterman on Thursday night when he told his bizarre rambling story of being blackmailed for doing “some terrible, terrible things.”

The extortion tale came between the monologue and the first guest appearance. Most in the studio audience assumed the 10-minute segment to be part of a gag with a big punch line at the end. Throughout the account Letterman made lighthearted jokes about his “towering mass of Lutheran Midwestern guilt” and “the creepy things I have done.” The crowd laughed and applauded throughout the revelation, which really didn’t reveal much.

Letterman admitted having sex with female staffers, but said nothing else, beyond law enforcement convincing him to pay an extortionist $2 million to keep the details involved quiet. Most of Letterman’s on-air narrative dealt with law enforcement efforts making sure the blackmailer got arrested. Letterman didn’t say how many women were involved or when the episodes took place. The story is more intriguing because the longtime talk-show host married his live-in partner of 23 years in March. The couple has a 6-year-old son. The accused extortionist, Robert Joel Halderman, until recently lived with Stephanie Birkitt, one of Letterman’s former intimates.

Halderman should have known that celebrities today aren’t willing to pay hush money to keep news of their sex life quiet. By going public, Letterman hopes the controversy will be defused quickly. That’s unlikely to happen. The door is now open for the women employees to file lawsuits of sexual harassment by a supervisor.

And how will the 62-year-old Letterman, whose career has largely been built on making fun of others, be able to tell jokes about the sex lives of politicians, athletes and movie stars anymore and still have credibility?