Wading in --Analogies, Restaurants & Regulations

In our country there are many types of restaurants.  Some cater to the wealthy, some to the frugal.  But all are free to go to and eat from these establishments provided they can pay the price.

To ensure public health, whether for rich or poor, each of these restaurants are required to meet basic health guidelines for cleanliness, preparation of their product, proper disposal of waste and other conditions.  They are routinely inspected and verified to be in compliance.   

There is also a mechanism for a restaurant to be reported by customers.  Should any restaurant repeatedly fail, they can ultimately be closed.

Is this a legitimate role for government?  Of course it is.  Ensuring public health by regulating the food industry is necessary and warranted.

But imagine with me that there was an exception to the aforementioned standards.  One chain of restaurants, a fast food place that is most commonly found in poorer and minority communities, does not have to meet these criteria.  It is not required to meet basic health standards for cleanliness—no requirement to wash or sterilize their dishes.  This restaurant can serve cat, horse, kangaroo or any other kind of meat they want and call it beef.  They don’t have to dispose of their waste like all the other restaurants but can leave it sitting around for as long as they want.   Of course if anyone asks, they say they’re doing it right, but since there are no inspections allowed, it’s hard to say what is going on.  All it does is provide cheap, affordable and tasty food.

Would there be any public outcry?  Would there be any charges of racism, discrimination or economic targeting?  There should be.

More at home, however, would you want to eat there?  What if your daughter wanted to go there for her birthday because they have the best fries or playground?  Would you take her?  When she moves away to go to college and she has limited money, would you want her going to this place on her own?

What if there are numerous customer complaints, health incidents, employee whistleblowers who come forward decrying what’s going on in the food chain and even people dying?   

Should the government step in and require health standards and inspections?  Surely, that should be a no brainer.

Then you find out that this restaurant chain donates big money to politicians for protection from any regulation.  Whenever anyone proposes regulation legislation, these politicians are right there to defend the chain’s exemption.  Would you be outraged?  Would you demand action from your government and want the exemption revoked?  Would you believe the charges against regulation from politicians on their payroll?

Even though you would never take your daughter there, does that mean other’s health and safety are not important?

You’re probably reading this thinking I’m kidding, that such a restaurant doesn’t really exist.  Well you’re right… kind of.  It’s not a restaurant.

The name of the chain, you ask?  Planned Parenthood and other Abortion Clinics which are not held to the basic health and safety standards for surgical procedures.  These clinics have largely gone unregulated, uninspected due to political pressure and money since 1973.  The Gosnell trial in Philadelphia and the similar trial in Houston, TX are only recent highlights of just how much of a threat to women’s health unregulated abortion clinics can be.  Sadly, these are only recent examples.   

The full number of women who have died, been sterilized, contracted a disease or injured in other ways is unknown because the government turns a political blind eye to what goes on in such clinics.  Because the right to an abortion (and the money generated from it—never forget that) in the name of women’s health is really more important the actual health practice of the facility in terms of standards of sterilization of equipment and emergency protocols required of all similar surgical facilities.

According to this article, 37 of 42 abortion clinics in Texas may close; due to the new law just signed by Gov. Rick Perry.  Abortion funded politicians decry this as an assault on women.  I look at that number and cringe, thinking that 37 clinics that are supposed to serve women’s “health” do not meet basic health standards for clinic and doctor related care.  The fact that the government allowed such places to stay open so long should scare you and infuriate you, certainly more than you were getting upset over a fast food chain.

If your love for abortion prevents you from seeing this truth, then you are the one truly unconcerned with women’s health.

Opponents charge:

“Proponents of this bill are not really concerned about women’s health,” Carla Holeva, CEO of Planned Parenthood of West Texas, said in a statement. “This bill places onerous requirements on health centers, requirements that do nothing to improve the health or safety of women.”

What are some of those “onerous requirements?”

• (1)  the construction and design, including plumbing, heating, lighting, ventilation, and other design standards  necessary to ensure the health and safety of patients;--
  
  (This is truly a terrible and unreasonable expectation)
  
  
• (2)  the qualifications of the professional staff and other personnel;
  
  (you mean they can no longer use volunteers with no medical training to assist with medical procedures?  How offensive)
  
  
• (3)  the equipment essential to the health and welfare  of the patients;
  
  (they have to have proper medical equipment—how could politicians demand something so outrageous?)
  
  
• (4)  the sanitary and hygienic conditions within the  center and its surroundings;  and
  
  (they’re making them wash and sanitize things—they must hate women)
  
  
• (5)  a quality assurance program for patient care.
  
  (follow up to make sure the women have been well cared for and are truly recovered from the procedure and not left to bleed out on a table—that’s too much to ask of any clinic isn’t it?)

These laws are not only for abortion clinics, they are for all medical facilities—abortion clinics are merely being included in existing law.

  

I am thankful this new law has gone into effect—the lives of many innocent children will be saved.  The lives of many women will be saved as well.

This article shows that the only reason these clinics are open is to perform abortion.  All of the other “services” they provide are not important to stay open—mostly because they are not money makers.  It’s not like the organization doesn’t have the money, they’re just more interested in abortion than “women’s health”

Auto Recalls and the Good News

Every year, car manufacturers issue recalls.  Many of them are minor, like repairing a defective windshield wiper, while others are major, like the Volt’s battery system catching on fire.  Here are recent examples from Toyota and Chrysler.

These are issued after a problem or defect has been repeatedly observed and catalogued.  The manufacturer issues a general public notice and tries to contact registered owners of the vehicle make a model, offering to repair the defective element at no cost to the consumer.

Typically, this frees the manufacturer from future liability.  They have identified the problem or defect.  They have tried their best to notify everyone affected of the fix free of charge.

At this point, the burden falls to the consumer who has the vehicle in question.  If they received the recall notice identifying the problem and offering the fix, but then ignore it and do not take the car in for the fix, then the customer is responsible for damages incurred, in most cases.

The problem has been identified.  The fix has been offered for free.  The individual must decide to take it in for the repair.

Why wouldn’t someone do that?

Many reasons exist.  Maybe they procrastinate and will get to it later.  Maybe they need the car and to take it in will interrupt other important parts of life.  Maybe they don’t believe their car will experience that problem.   Maybe they don’t think the problem is a big enough deal for them to be concerned about.  Maybe they think their car really isn’t broken.  Maybe the person is a conspiracy theorist who believes recall notices are the way the manufacturer controls its customers or monitors or installs tracking devices.   

These are just a few reasons why someone would not take advantage of the recall.  But at this point, the reason doesn’t really matter, the effect is that the damage is still present and if there’s a problem now, they will have to pay for it themselves.

While the analogy is not perfect, this does parallel the message of the Gospel.  Gospel literally means, “Good News”. 

It’s like a recall announcement has been sent out by the manufacturer telling of a problem with the human condition (in this case, the flaw was not in the original design!).   In the Fall, described in Genesis 3, humanity was fundamentally damaged.  We now get sick and die, now we are willing to murder, we no longer really want to be close to our Creator.  As a result of being broken, nothing about us functions the way it’s supposed to. 

When you can’t remember what that person’s name was you just met—that’s the fall.

When you have to toil and labor just to make a living—that’s the fall.

When you get sick and are vomiting into the toilet—that’s the fall.

When tornadoes tear through your house—that’s the fall.

Everything about us and even the larger world is broken or damaged to some degree or another.  It could be our integrity, it could be our anger, it could be our sexuality, it could be our eating habits, it could be our tendency to use profanity.  This brokenness manifests itself in different ways for each of us but it is all symptomatic of the larger problem.

It’s a fundamental problem that only the Manufacturer can fix. 

We would consider the Manufacturer negligent if He did nothing about it.  In today’s world, people file class action lawsuits in order to get corporations to take responsibility.  But the Creator, the Manufacturer, the Designer doesn’t have to be forced to fix the problem.  He knows we cannot fix what is broken so He is willing to pay all the costs for repair Himself.  In fact, He began preparing for the recall before we even knew there was a problem.

The Manufacturer does everything He can to tell people about the fix that is available for the life-threatening problem.  He warns of the consequences if nothing is done about the problem.

He even enlists other people who have been “fixed” to help spread the news.  The message is simple: “Hey, I was broken.  I got the good news from the Manufacturer and got what was broken fixed.  He wants me to make sure you know that the fix is right here for you!  The manufacturer has paid for everything.  Just go in and receive the gift of the fix being offered to you.”

But just like with the recall notice, many people do not respond to the Good News of Jesus restoring the damage that was done at the fall.  And many of the reasons are the same.

We put it off till later.  We’re too busy or it would cause too much of an interruption to what we want in life.  Maybe we don’t believe we are broken.  Maybe we don’t want the Manufacture controlling or monitoring us—we want to be our own boss.

Whatever the reason, God has issued a “recall notice” to fix our problem.  It is the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus.

You can ignore or dismiss this “recall” at your own risk.  The Manufacturer cannot make you come in for “repairs”.

1 Corinthians 15:3-4—“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures”

That is the basis of the Good News.  Our problem is identified: “our sins”.  The fix is accomplished: “Christ died… was buried… was raised on the third day” in victory over sin & death.  And that all this was by the design and purpose of the “Manufacturer” and revealed to those in need of the fix when we’re told it was all “according to the Scriptures”.

The first time you ever hear the Call of God will be to address this issue of the recall and the fix for sin provided in Jesus.  Before anything else can happen in your walk with God, this must be addressed.

He is waiting for your answer.

Lesson From Nature - Full or New Moon?

Last night was impressive.  Vicky and I came back from the store and were commenting about how bright it was.  We walked out to the street and noticed that there were shadows on the driveway from the trees across the street.  We turned around and saw our own shadows.  All coming from the Full Moon at 9:30 at night.

It's amazing to think how the moon can cast a shadow because it is so bright.  The moon is not the source of the light, it merely is reflecting light from a greater source... the sun.  The moon is functioning as a giant mirror in the sky reflecting the brightness of the sun that is shining on the other side of the world.

However, as you can see above--the moon is not always full.  It waxes and wanes depending on the time of the month and it's position around the earth. 

Sometimes the moon will be so bright it can cast a shadow.  Other times, you'll barely be able to see it at all.

All of that got me to thinking.  Which would I rather be?  The Full moon or the New moon?

As believers in Jesus, we are supposed to be more like the Full moon--fully reflecting a glory that is not our own.  We are not a source of the light, we merely reflect the glory that belongs to and comes from God.


2 Corinthians 3:18-- "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."


We reflect a glory that is ours through faith in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 1:3 - "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word."

The more we are like Christ, the more we reflect His glory.  The more we allow ourselves to be conformed into the image of Jesus, the greater light that shines from us--or more accurately reflects from us.

My problem is that some days, I am more like the New moon than I am the Full moon.  I am like one of the phases--I reflect some light, but am darkened in other areas.

The world is covered in a darkness and it needs the light of our Savior reflected in our lives.

How about you?  What kind of moon are you?

Sharing an Analogy

I posted the following over on Wade Burleson's site. This particular post was about how the control of information is being manipulated, even within our International Mission Board and the unchristian attitudes that were being expressed.

If you are new to the debate--it's a long story! But much of it centers around Convictions and Interpretations of Scripture and how to apply those in a Cooperative Missions setting. What can we disagree on and still work together for the Gospel? Do we have to agree on everything? How much should a personal conviction be turned into a policy decision?

So, I wrote a story to convey a sad parallel. Here's my post.


Sarcasm Alert!

I'm just glad Dr. Floyd was able to translate and make sense of Dr. Rankin's letter for the Trustees who are obviously not able or not trustworthy enough to do it for themselves.

End Sarcasm Alert!
Here's an analogy (I know you'll be able to find fault in it, but here goes anyway)



One church is taking a long bus trip for a missions effort. Along the way, they drive through the SW United States. Somewhere in the back, someone suggests that they should stop to eat, stretch and go to the bathroom. Immediately a group forms discussing the benefits of particular stops and food (do they sell alcohol in this establishment may be one ;-) ).

Meanwhile, the bus driver calls the pastor to the front and tells him--"the last stop for 200 miles is coming up in just a couple of minutes. It's got a restaurant.--might be important for your discussion.


"

The pastor sees that the last stop is a Citgo and he has a personal conviction to boycott all of Hugo Chavez's institutions. So he goes back to the group and says "All I know is that I don't want to stop at no Citgo", to several nodding heads, other confused looks, but saying nothing about the last stop coming up.[edit from original--The conversation then got sidetracked into why Citgo should be boycotted.]

Finally someone looks out the window and notices the "Last Stop in 5 Miles" sign. "Hey Pastor, I just saw a sign about the last stop ahead. Should we tell the bus driver to pull over?"

The pastor then goes on to explain that he doesn't believe it when he sees those signs because in reality those signs are just advertising gimmicks to get people to stop. How it's illogical to believe there won't be more stops. Besides he's pretty sure the place sells alcohol.

So they decide to wait for the next stop. As they pass, they notice it is a Citgo, but no one notices that a young family who needs to hear about Jesus has the hood of their car propped up and is in need of assistance.

Too bad the mechanic that came with you on the trip didn't get to go to the bathroom in the Citgo.

Pursuing Answers to Questions of Faith & Life,

Kelly

I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts on the story.

P.S.--DT Boy... we're going to have to talk!