Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Privacy as a commodity

I've been listening to KUCO lately, the classical station.  I like the music, but I also like the little history lessons that they throw in between songs.  So many of the great composers seem to have spent some time being employed in the courts of royalty.  

It got me to thinking about how music is such a commodity today, everyone has access to almost any kind of music instantly with little or no cost.  In the past only Kings could afford music on demand, and this came at great expense.  The peasants had to settle for what they could come up with on their own, and anything with any level of orchestration and instrumentation had to be heard at Church or at a state function.  

This is what the free market and technology does.  It takes the things that are desired by all but only attainable by the rich and privileged and makes them available to everyone.  Music, books, food out of season, travel, hygiene, entertainment; all of these things are now commodities to all but the very poorest of people, but they used to be the exclusive property of royalty.  

Look at what the "royals" of today enjoy that is out of the reach of the masses, and you can bet that technology and industry is trending to equalize that disparity.  I predict that the next luxury soon to be commoditized by technology and the marketplace will be on-demand personal privacy.

Friday, May 8, 2015

The cost of freedom is suffering, even for God.

God created us to be free and that had to include the possibility of sin. If every time we abused our freedom and sinned and hurt each other, God intervened and stopped it, we would no longer be free (and we'd probably complain about that too). Yet his response to our condemnation of Him for the atrocities he allowed in our freedom is profound. Not only does he have mercy and forgive, but he also takes the sin upon himself. This not only reconciles us to him, but also to each other. Because it would not be enough simply to forgive the rapist, because where is the justice for the victim? The rapists might be reconciled to God, but now the rapist's victim is not only still embittered against the rapist, but now also against God. 

So, since God's mercy is effective, when he looks upon a sinner and makes a judgement of righteousness upon them, then he necessarily takes the responsibility for their sin upon himself. Just as if a human judge declared an obviously guilty person innocent and let him go free, would not the victim now accuse the judge of a crime? Would the judge not now be culpable for the crime of the person he had mercy on? With God His judgement it is actually effective, meaning if he judges you innocent you are innocent, and naturally, to all those you have victimized, your sin necessarily and totally now falls upon God. 

So by God having mercy on sinners, the victims of those sinners now blame God. But what are we going to do? Crucify Him for it? 

There is a reason why Christ is the Judge of mankind, because he is also the one who is willing to take our sin upon himself, by means of his mercy. It is simple enough for Him to simply forgive our sins against Him, it is another thing all together for him to forgive our injustices against each other and for us to still be able to call him just. But as it is, He is both just, and the justifier of those who believe in Him.

The cost of our freedom is suffering, even for God.