Madmen and Justice?

Muhamar Ghaddafi's beaten and gunshot body was pushed onto TV screens by media touting his final capture and downfall—the downfall of a tyrant—the Madman of Libya. There are still plenty of images and video footage to view, if you need it. Of course, there are some claiming he was unjustly put to death, and should have been granted a fair trial. Did he receive justice at the hand of those he oppressed? He had opportunity to escape, surrender and negotiate for peace with the rebels. Perhaps he brought justice upon his own head—literally. Madmen, aka tyrants, and justice—isn't that an oxymoron?

© tkbeyond

Reading through the prophet Jeremiah, I came across, "Rescue those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Don't mistreat foreigners, orphans, or widows, and don't oppress them. Don't kill innocent people in this place" (Jeremiah 22:3 GWT). The idea of social justice has become a hot topic for many Christian believers over the past decade or so. It may be more vogue now, but it has always been the center of God's heart, as indicated by Jeremiah's words.

Repentance Is Not About Behavior

"You've turned your backs, not your faces, to me" (Jeremiah 27c GWT). This is what God says to His people through Jeremiah. It's a recurring theme in God's messages through Jeremiah to Judah (the southern kingdom of Israel). Judah had abandoned the living God for lifeless idols. It wasn't just misplaced worship or foolish religion, it was accompanied with gross immorality and perversion of justice. The behavior of the leaders and people was atrocious. But this wasn't God's main issue.

Contentment and a Wandering Heart

Public Market–Chaing Mai (© tkbeyond)

American culture is a funny thing—it's ironic. We have unparalleled liberty and prosperity, yet generally lack contentment as a people. Based on this, advertisers and public media have reaped multi-billion dollar revenues. We have so much and still want so much more. A good portion of the world's population wants what we have. When they can't have it they hate us for it, or want to destroy it. Who can blame them, really?

Take the current protests aimed at Wall Street. Our US Constitution guarantees freedom of rights (the 1st Amendment in Bill of Rights). Of course, a segment of our population wants to shut them up, and another group wants to ride the wave of their sentiment. But, so far, what they want isn't clear except some form of access to greater wealth—envy and discontent (greed) protests greed.

An American Icon and an African Story

The death of an American icon, Steve Jobs, captured the headlines and induced reminiscence by many last week. He was a creative and marketing genius, no doubt, and I appreciate the products he introduced into American life. For a while, his death took center stage in the midst of a growing protest of Wall Street's excesses. But my heart has been captured by a young South African girl named Chanda.
(BTW, the girls in this photo are from Ethiopia © tkbeyond)

MOTROW

© tkbeyond

MOTROW— no, not Motrin, nor is this some phony, phonetic attempt at saying Montreal with a peculiar accent. It's an acronym, a set of letters that stand for something, but more on that in a bit. I use acronyms, but don't always like them. Acronyms are big in special fields of study and institutions, like government for example. They're great shortcuts, especially when writing, so you don't have to waste time and effort writing all those words. The problem is understanding what they mean. Unless there's some familiarity with the acronym, it may look like a jumble of letters or something written in code—actually, it is code, it's symbolic.