For a very sobering, hard-hitting (you have been warned), and insightful look at the "lower class" and increasingly "criminal" parts of the innercities of France, read Theodore Dalrymple's essay The Barbarians at the Gates of Paris.   Note that his essay was written in 2002, long before last year's (and this year's) riots and burnings of thousands of cars.

It makes one weep, to see the utter hopelessness of the vicious downward spiral.  "Who is adequate" to help?  Only the return of the Prince of Peace can "clean up this mess".

Furthermore, to my knowledge this anarchy-disease is not confined to France (though it may be currently more advanced there than elsewhere).   It is the modern innercity, where the confluence of many harmful forces (godless schools, broken families, poverty, crime, Islam/Islamism, and more) is dragging down an entire generation.

How shall we then live?   If we are honest, and if we are ready to lose our lives so that we may find them, perhaps we will... engage.

This is honestly very scary.  But don't ignore God's call.   Don't consider yourself "too important" to sacrifice yourself.  I also will try to do likewise.

For an "under-the-sun" perspective, this poem by Edgar Guest (posted in the comments section below) ain't too bad.

Though granted, there is something far better than his version...  living "unafraid" not blindly/naively, nor irrationally/defiantly, but supremely confident in an omnipotent loving Heavenly Father...

As is probably obvious, I've been thinking some more about "self-defense" recently, and how Christians should view it (and/or practice it).

I searched online to see if anybody else had written about it, and I found this really excellent article: ( http://www.foxven.com/s-self.html ) and some others supporting its conclusion - that while 'self-defense' may not be biblical, defense of others is quite in line with agape love...

In the interest of balance, I also read some articles from pacifistic (and even anarchistic) perspectives, such as this one ( http://home.aol.com/XianAnarch/pacifism/streets.htm ).  I found it intriguing that even a pacifist like this would say: "I have physically broken up racial conflicts involving 2-by-4's and chairs. I have taken knives away from people. I may be a "pacifist," but I am a Christian pacifist, and I am not going to stand idly by when someone created in God's Image is physically threatened."

Very interesting.   What are your thoughts on this issue?

Here is a interesting speech by famous author Michael Crichton, entitled "Aliens cause global warming."  If you're interested in science, politics, postmodernism or creationism, you will probably enjoy taking a few minutes to read through his speech.  He speaks from the perspective of a science-loving (and "pseudoscience-hating") modernist, pleading for objectivity in current and future scientific research.  And of course, scientific objectivity is a very good thing.  But it may be elusive... Crichton sees the handwriting on the wall - that postmodernism is gradually eliminating the objectivity of science (and even the practice of scientific research itself).

C. S. Lewis put it well... (M. D. Aeschliman, 'C. S. Lewis on Mere Science', 1998 First Things 86 (October, 1998): 16-18) ---
"Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator. In most modern scientists this belief has died: it will be interesting to see how long their confidence in uniformity survives it. Two significant developments have already appeared - the hypothesis of a lawless sub-nature [i.e. quantum theory], and the surrender of the claim that science is true [i.e. postmodernism]. We may be living nearer than we suppose to the end of the Scientific Age."

So what ought we Christians to do?

I suggest - follow God in full trust without "worrying about tomorrow", and revel in science / knowledge / learning more about God's creation, worshipping the Creator...

"There are not two Christs - an easy-going one for easy-going Christians and a suffering, toiling one for exceptional believers.  There is only one Christ.  Are you willing to abide in Him, and thus to bear much fruit?"       --    Hudson Taylor

This book I just finished reading is extremely challenging.  It has raised many questions in my mind, and also stimulated me greatly in many ways...    I've also been challenged (along similar lines, actually) by what my friend Brian is doing these days.   Time is short (Psalm 90, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31)...   I am expendable.    "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness..."

"...but to this one I will look: to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word."  Isaiah 66:2

Yes, three entries in one day is more than usual.  But this has been an unusual week.  I have been "stirred up" more than usual, though only my private journal has seen the majority of it.

Lately I've been wondering more about this phrase in Jesus' teaching - Matt. 5:42 - "Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you".

??????

Does that mean that if someone walks up to me and asks for my car, that I just give it to him?  Or is it only an "in-need" response, as in I give it to him if he has need of it?  If a beggar on the street asks me, not just for five dollars or for a meal, but for my whole wallet, do I give it?  If one of you fellow Xangans sent me an email asking me for a thousand dollars, ought I send it?

If a man walks up to me and asks for my child, do I give him or her to the man?

"If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. "

Wow.  How far do I take this? !?

If something major and terrible were to sweep through the USA and kill millions of people (like H5N1 human-avian flu), how would we respond?  Specifically we, the Christians...   Would we remain calm and trust in God as to the time of our life and death?

Are we prepared to witness to a suddenly-listening population of millions of people, sharing the truth about God and Jesus Christ to (perhaps) hundreds of friends and acquaintances who have suddenly become concerned for their souls?

Here is an incredible article... penned by a man who, along the lines of Martin Luther King Junior and other courageous men, stood up to injustice and paid the price for it.   Powerful.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/solzhenitsyn/livenotbylies.html