JULY 8 2017
CANADA VERSUS THE USA.
… Where there is no vision, the people perish: but
they that keep the law, happy are they. … Proverbs 29:18
In this past week when both Canada and the USA celebrated their birthdays – 150 for Canada and 241 for the USA – I was looking at the differences between these two nations who, like no other countries in the world, share a border many thousands of miles long, and where US television broadcasts, magazines and newspapers have a lot of adherents in Canada. Many of us also have relatives there. My immediate family is almost evenly split between these two countries.
The French have a saying: Vive la différence. That certainly applies to these two countries. It is a miracle that Canada, so physically close to the USA has become so different in outlook, in politics, in religion, even though their economies are intimately intertwined. The difference in leaders is one example.
Here’s what a New York Times commentator said about Trump:
“What we have as president is the closest thing to a nihilist in our history — a man who believes in little or nothing, who has the impulse to burn down rather than to build up. When the president eventually faces a genuine crisis, his ignorance and inflammatory instincts will make everything worse.
Republican voters and politicians rallied around Mr. Trump in 2016, believing he was anti-establishment when in fact he was anti-order. He turns out to be an institutional arsonist. It is an irony of American history that the Republican Party, which has historically valued order and institutions, has become the conduit of chaos.”
Contrast this with Justin Trudeau who is constantly promoting minority rights, especially for women and indigenous people, and is trying to unite rather than divide. Trudeau definitely has a vision: you may not always agree with him, but he is a visionary person.
Every morning we read a Psalm at breakfast time. Earlier this week, reading Psalm 12 made me think of the USA Republican leaders:
Help, LORD, for no one is faithful anymore;
those who are loyal have vanished from the human race.
2 Everyone lies to their neighbor;
they flatter with their lips
but harbor deception in their hearts.
3 May the LORD silence all flattering lips
and every boastful tongue—
4 those who say,
“By our tongues we will prevail;
our own lips will defend us—who is lord over us?”
In these days of global crises everywhere, we need ‘vision’ more than ever. That begs the question: “what does VISION’ really entail?
We in church sing that beautiful melody, “Be Thou my vision”, but unless we fashion ‘vision’ into something concrete, the words are meaningless, just as “Love God above all else.” How can we love God when we cannot possibly grasp what God is because he is beyond understanding? That’s why people make idols that are visible.
The way to love God is to love what he has created, the same way we honor great artists. That’s why the ‘vision’ the Bible refers to, always points to what God has created. Lacking ‘vision’ leads to creational exploitation which always ends in death. Trump excels in this regard.
The text continues, “They that keep the law, happy are they”, which leads to another question: ‘what constitutes the LAW,’ and what results in ‘happiness’?
Mark 12: 30-31 captures the meaning of LAW beautifully in Jesus’ own words: “The most important law is that you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second law is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus is quite explicit here. He does not simply say: “Love God.” He says “Love God with your heart, with your soul, with your mind and with all your strength.” Loving God requires the use of the total human being, all our physical, moral, spiritual and intellectual facilities. It is not simply a matter of “our soul” loving God, no, it is a ‘hands on’ experience, involving getting our hands dirty improving creation, engaging our brains, explaining history in terms of eternity, inventing creation-friendly systems, loving all people, including Muslims, while always praying.
Why must we be so creation-minded? Because the Great Cosmic Love Commandment is John 3: 16: “God so loved the world, the cosmos, all that exists in the Universe (humans and animals, trees and blackflies) that he offered his only Son, Jesus Christ, as the price to buy back his beloved creation from The Evil One, who by hook and crook had acquired it.”
I still can remember the prayer of my paternal grandfather. It always started with the opening words of Psalm 115: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”
To glorify God’s name, to honor his signature, to see him in all of creation as a most elegant book, God’s primary word, THAT is our first duty.
I regard myself a privileged person knowing that I have had parents, grandparents and great grandparents who were believers and have somehow instilled in me a vision, a vision that is different for each generation and even now is rapidly changing, as we proceed from personal to societal salvation.
That same Psalm, 115, has a line that mentions eyes: “eyes have they but cannot see,” referring to idols.
Here it is:
Not to us, LORD, not to us
but to your name be the glory,
because of your love and faithfulness.
2 Why do the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever pleases him.
4 But their idols are silver and gold,
made by human hands.
5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,
eyes, but cannot see.
6 They have ears, but cannot hear,
noses, but cannot smell.
7 They have hands, but cannot feel,
feet, but cannot walk,
nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
8 Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.
That Psalm says: “those who make (these idols) will become like them, meaning that the false god worshipers lose their vision, and the loss of vision leads to death, so it is important to gain or regain that vision.
Eternity and us.
Last week after church a very learned friend wondered whether eternal life was worth pursuing. Would it not be boring, he wondered?
I pointed out that, since creation is infinite in newness, eternity is needed to explore it all. It seems to me that only curious people will inherit the kingdom, persons eager to pursue knowledge, because, as Plato-Socrates have claimed, “Scio, Nescio” (I know I know nothing). Eternity will not be long enough to fathom all plants, all butterflies, world history, astronomy: the list is endless. Since in eternity time plays no role, everything can be approached in the most relaxed way possible. No Google needed as we can instantaneously consult experts all over the planet to provide us with clues, and point us in the right direction. And if even then we get stuck, there’s always Jesus to ask.
All this implies that not heaven – where God lives in inapproachable light whom nobody has seen or can see (1 Tim. 6: 16) –but God’s beloved world is our eternal habitat, the object of our perpetual pursuit of knowledge. Remember, “God made no junk and will not junk what he has made”, as one of my friends put it.
That points to a vision mostly absent today, and also explains why there is so little happiness.
Happiness is evident when we do what we are created to do, something different for everybody, as our talents differ. We are only truly happy when we have found our niche, have discovered what we were meant to do, which, for everybody has a creation connection.
So what has this to do with CANADA and the USA?
Americans, especially conservatives, love to mock their northern neighbors, us Canadians for their accent, their apologetic manners, and above all, for its supposedly soft-headed, pinko style of government. And no wonder: With its liberal, tattooed Prime Minister, its universal health care, its enthusiastic embrace of pot and gay marriage and its generous refugee policies, Canada can sometimes seem downright Scandinavian.
The paradox is that often the less religious a country is, the more Christian is its behavior. Canada is far less religious than the USA, but more Christian in its conduct.
Among 55 of the most important countries of the world Canada has the best reputation, got a first place finish, up from second place last year. Canada bumped last year’s winner, Sweden, to third place, behind Switzerland.
Compare that to the United States which saw the largest decline among the 55 countries surveyed, dropping 10 spots to 38th, from 28th last year, something the RepTrak report blames squarely on U.S. President Donald Trump.
HEALTH CARE in Canada; HEALTH SCARE in the USA
Canada can thank Tommy Douglas, a Baptist minister and the Socialist Premier of Saskatchewan for starting Health Care in that Province, where Medicare was born on July 1, 1962. It would be the first government-controlled, universal, comprehensive single-payer medical insurance plan in North America.
Of course the North American medical establishment and the entire insurance industry were determined to stop Medicare in its tracks, fearing it would become popular and spread, and they were right. Within 10 years all of Canada was covered by a medical insurance system based on the Saskatchewan plan, and no serious politician would openly oppose it.
Yes, since 1972 all of Canadian citizens have been covered by health care: an amazing 45 years ago!! Today to insure all Canadians from cradle to grave with health care costs 11% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Will this happen in the USA? No, because the Insurance Industry and Big Business in general control the political system there. For them health care means profit. Our American neighbors spend almost 18 percent of its total expenditure on keeping its population from dying prematurely, yet leaving millions with no insurance, unable to pay the high premiums. Even those with insurance often face high deductibles which quickly can cause a family into bankruptcy.
What the USA lacks is a common vision. In Canada people and provincial governments have a social consciousness: their vision has a biblical basis, realizing that when one section of the population suffers, they all suffer. Canadians recognize that the state is a power to do good.
The American Republican Party’s right wing sees the state as a power for evil, and hates any state interference as unproductive. Also its Capitalistic system believes that the market is god, and a company can charge what ‘the market’ will bear.
Witness a paragraph I lifted from a New York Times article last week:
“It costs as little as $10 and as much as $10,169 to get the same blood test in California. A lower-back M.R.I. priced at $199 at one Florida clinic goes for $6,221 in San Francisco. A shoulder X-ray can run anywhere between $21 and more than $700 across the United States.
In Britain, the average price of an angioplasty is $7,264 versus $31,620 in the United States. Hip replacement in New Zealand is $15,465. The United States figure is $29,067.”
Healthcare in the USA has become a Health Scare. Obama, 7 years ago managed to get Obama Care accepted. It was utterly derided by the Republican Party, vouching last year that the first act of Congress would be its repeal. I still can hear the then running for President Donald J. Trump, boasting that he would replace it with a better plan AT A FRACTION OF THE COST. That lie is now being exposed.
… Where there is no vision, the people perish: but
they that keep the law, happy are they. … Proverbs 29:18
Near the end of her career, Helen Keller was asked by a student if there was anything worse than losing her sight. She replied “yes, I could have lost my vision.”
Today the USA is the most misguided modern nation in the world: it has lost its vision.
How can “God bless America” when its leadership has no vision, has no plan, except to destroy creation, and with it its people?