Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 147

The Stock Market Meets the Pandemic

The Corona Virus Pandemic has motivated many people to take a renewed interest in stock markets. Reasons for this new interest in stocks are varied. Some panicked when the stock market declined to new lows in March 2020. Others found themselves with a lot of time on their hands or simply could not be trusted to work when they had to work from home. In my case, I stopped trading stocks and commodities in 2006 after taking profits in the big run up before the Great Recession and was in seminary during much of the decline that occurred after that.

It’s hard to trade stocks and commodities when you have anything else to do. The buy and hold strategy that was promoted for generations by Graham and others does not work well in the sort of bubble markets that we have seen particularly since the Great Recession, but the tech boom in 1990s had already begun to undermine fundamental analysis. This implies that you have to watch markets carefully to seek out good opportunities and cut your loss when things change. The investor who who does the most homework wins, which takes a lot of time.

The Decline of Fundamental Analysis

A buy and hold investor typically focuses on fundamental analysis of companies that can be expected to produce strong earnings over a period of years. Analysis consists of analyzing financial statements and studying industry trends.

Financial statements began to decline in usefulness in the 1990s when tech companies began issuing stock options to their executive in lieu of regular salaries. Salaries appear in income statements, but in the early 1990s stock options were a liability treated as an off-balance sheet item. After tech companies used stock options to finance their early years, other companies followed suit and executive incomes exploded even as real earnings remained flat or even declined. Outside of the inequities they created, stock options undermined the credibility of financial analysis of companies in a variety of industries. Investors that depended on their integrity basically got screwed.

Stock Index Investing

Another factor undermining the integrity of financial analysis has been the growth of stock index funds. A stock index fund typically following all the major companies in the market, like the Standard and Poors (S&P) Index of the 500 largest companies in the United States. Investors do not invest in individual stocks, but simply buy shares in an index fund that purchase shares in proportion to the values of the companies listed in the index. This is an attractive investment option because the investor remains diversified and does not need to undertake financial analysis of any kind. While attractive to individual investors, this form of trading encourages investment in companies irrespective of their financial performance–money comes in and goes out depending only on market trends. This sort of investing encourages weak managers and discourages innovation.

Sector Rotation Opportunity

During the first two or three weeks of the market crash in March 2020, we saw individual investors dumping their index funds and going into cash. Good stocks and bad stocks alike were sold by the index managers. This created an opportunity for savvy investors to pick up good companies at a substantial discount. Some of these good companies were in traditional industries (think of well-managed oil companies and airlines) and some were good tech and social media companies that have proven profitable when people work from home. Later, some of these solidly managed companies had their stock prices double and triple. This opportunity soon disappeared as professional managers realize that they could sell index funds and rotate into industries likely to do well in a pandemic market environment. This  reallocation towards new industries is called sector rotation.

The Bubble Economy

In a normal economy, savings are encouraged and the best companies are lent money to invest. When interest rates are effectively zero and companies are large relative to their markets and government regulators, discipline in the system breaks down. Add to that large government transfer payments and you find yourself in a bubble economy.

In a bubble market, the market goes up because of the inflow of large amounts of cash, not because firms have high or rising earnings. Normally, a stock has value because the firm has strong expected earnings. If you divide the annualized earnings by the typical interest rate, you get a present value of annualized earnings. Note the word expected. Investments are made in view of future earnings, not past earnings, and future earnings are by their nature uncertain. Happy investors may drive up stock values, implying that they are willing to invest and earn a lower interest rate. because they think there is less risk. More risk lowers the stock price because investors insist on a higher interest rate on their investment.

When the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates, then stock values inflate because competing investments offer a lower interest rate. A zero interest policy therefore suggests a bull market in stocks, even if companies earn almost nothing. Obviously, fundamental analysis allows one to understand this process, but it also suggests why most people have no reason to care–discipline in the whole financial system is undermined. Rumors of policy changes or political changes are likely to have a larger influence on market behavior during such periods.

Momentum Investing

When fundamental analysis and firm earnings are less important in determining stock prices, investors are increasingly forced to rely on technical analysis of stock prices and trading volumes. The analog in politics is voting on popularity rather than issues, experience, and competence. Technical analysis, sometimes called the black art of investing, focuses on analyzing patterns in stock prices and trading volumes in determining when to invest. A good technical analyst will use fundamental and industry analysis to pick stocks to pay attention to,  but buy and sell them depending on perceived patterns in the stock prices and trading volumes.

While most people think of day traders when they think about momentum investing, it is often based on simple rules. One rule would be to buy stocks when they are below their 200 day moving average price and sell when they rise about their 200 day moving average price. Computerized trading takes very complex rules and automates the process making it hard for professional traders to use a lot of the popular rules and make money.

Stocks and Life

When I worked in finance, I viewed it as a profesional necessity to learn how risk managers and trading desk actually do business. This assumption served me well in my career. When I entered seminary, I decided that I did not want to spend my evenings studying stock charts and analyzing financial statements. From an ethical perspective, investing is not itself bad (transgression or sin), but it may distract the investor from doing good (iniquity).

For more than a decade, I seldom spent time analyzing the markets. However, when there is a fire sale on stocks, its hard to look the other way.

Most big market crashes occur in October. If you have cash and the presence of mind to invest when others go screaming towards the exits, then serious money can be made. Only seasoned investors, like my dad, are likely to buy stocks, like Apple, when they are just a few dollars a share and hold them for twenty years.

The Stock Market Meets the Pandemic
Also see:
Water Cooler Observations, June 24, 2020
Interview about the Corona Life in English and Spanish with Stephen W. Hiemstra, April 24, 2020
Managing Change 
Believer’s Prayer
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

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Dyrness: Beauty and Structure

William A. Dyrness.  2001. Visual Faith:  Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

What exactly is beauty?

Last fall my kids took me to a film.  In the film, one of Hollywood’s most beautiful actresses portrayed a low-class, manipulative, rather loose woman.  The film’s plot seemed shallow and pornographic, designed more to offend than to enlighten.  I left the theater upset and annoyed, not entirely understanding why.

Introduction

In his book, Visual Faith, William Dyrness writes:

Our modern images feature surface and finish; Old Testament images present structure and character.  Modern images are narrow and restrictive; theirs were broad and inclusive…For us beauty is primarily visual; their idea of beauty included sensations of light, color, sound, smell, and even taste (81).

As the old adage goes, beauty is more than skin deep.

Beauty More than Skin Deep

In clinical pastoral education we were taught to look for dissidence between words and the body language of patients that we visited.  This disharmony between words and body language is, of course, a measure of truth.  In like manner, the Bible paradigm of beauty is that the truth of an object matches its appearance.

Dyrness writes:  the biblical language for beauty reveals that beauty is connected both to God’s presence and activity and to the order that God has given to creation (80).  The human spirit, although undefinable, is obvious by its absence:  a beautiful, living human body emptied of its spirit is no more than a repulsive corpse.  Morality works much the same way:  Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion (Proverbs 11:22 ESV).

Art as Cultural Window

While Dyrness does not dwell on social criticism, he sees a lack of artistic imagination as an impediment to renewal of faith—especially in a society that is constantly stimulated by visual images (155-156).  He cites the Prophet Joel:

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions (Joel 2:28 ESV).

As barriers between high class and popular art are lowered, we see the democratization (all flesh) of art that Joel prophesied.

Background

William A. Dyrness (www.fuller.edu/faculty/wdyrness) is a Professor of Theology and Culture at the School of Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.  Visual Faith is written in 7 chapters:

Development of the Visual Arts from the Early Church to the Middle Ages;
Development of the Visual Arts from the Reformation to the Twenty-First Century;
Art and the Biblical Drama;
Reflecting Theologically on the Visual Arts;
Contemporary Challenges for Christians and the Arts;
A New Opportunity for Christian Involvement in the Arts; and
Making and Looking at Art.

These chapters are preceded by a list of illustrations, a preface, and an introduction.  They are followed by a conclusion, notes, bibliography, and indices.

Need to Explore Christian Art

Dyrness describes his objectives as to—extend and enrich a Christian conversation on the visual arts—and he immediately relates this conversation to the dialog on worship (9).  Following Simone Weil, Dyrness observes that people are drawn to God through affliction, religious practices, and the experience of beauty.  He then goes on to argue that because modern life has banished these first two draws, the church is limited to the third draw—beauty—in attracting people to God (22).  Dyrness concludes arguing for renewal in three areas: a new vision for the arts, renewal in worship, and a restoration of the Christian art tradition (155).

Christian Art More than a Hobby

Dyrness speaks against the perception that interest in the arts is a Christian hobby practiced particularly by Catholics and mostly avoided by serious protestants.  He argues persuasively that both Jonathan Edwards and John Calvin saw God’s artwork in creation as infinitely more interesting than human artifacts (59).  In fact, Calvin’s outward focus in ministry—the whole of creation belongs to God, not just the sacred images of Jesus and the communion table in the church (the inward focus in the Middle Ages)—profoundly influenced art from the reformation period forward.

Assessment

Visual Faith is a fascinating book.  This review does not and cannot capture the subtly and freshness of Dyrness’ writing.  My own interest in the visual arts and Dyrness’ work arises out of my need to understand how to appreciate and incorporate visual art in online ministry.  In a visually sophisticated world, we need to understand images and how they shape our own thoughts.

What exactly is beauty?  Dyrness’ Visual Faith is a good place to start the conversation in searching for an answer.

Dyrness: Beauty is Structure and Character, not Surface and Finish
Also see:
Nouwen: Make Space for Self, Others, and God 
Vanhoozer: How Do We Understand the Bible? Part 1 
Books, Films, and Ministry
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com

Newsletter:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

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Righteous Suffering: Monday Monologues (podcast) September 7, 2020

Stephen W. Hiemstra 2020 (Ken Burtram Photography)

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on righteous suffering. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).

To listen, click on this link.

Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!

Righteous Suffering: Monday Monologues (podcast) September 7, 2020

Also see:



Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018 



Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.




Newsletter:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

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Prayer for Health

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Eternal and Compassionate God,

We thank you, Lord, for visiting us when we are afflicted and suffer unjustly.

For you are a God who cares, who understands our grief, our wounds, our sorrows, our diseases.

We lay our afflictions before you for we cannot bear them alone.

Heal our wounds, comfort us in our griefs, and purge us of disease.

Restore us; redeem us; save us.

Teach us to bear the wounds, griefs, and diseases of those around us and to point them to you.

Teach us to intercede for the people around us in action and in prayer.

For you are our God and we are your people.

You are with us; you are for us; and you have given your name to us. In the power of your Holy Spirit, let our security reside only in you, now and always.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Prayer for Health
Also see:
Believer’s Prayer
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.




Newsletter:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

 

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Pida por Salud

Por Stephen W. Hiemstra

Dios Eterno y Compasivo,

Te agradecemos, Señor, por visitarnos cuando estamos afligidos y sufrimos injustamente.

Porque eres un dios que se preocupa, que entiende nuestro dolor, nuestras heridas, nuestros dolores, nuestras enfermedades.

Ponemos nuestras aflicciones ante ti pues no podemos soportarlas solas.

Cura nuestras heridas, consuélanos en nuestras penas y puganos de la enfermedad.

Restauranos, redimianos, salvanos. Enséñanos a soportar las heridas, las penas y las enfermedades de quienes nos rodean y a señalarte.

Enseñanos a interceder por las personas que nos rodean en acción y oración. Porque tú eres nuestro Dios y somos tu pueblo.

Tú estas con nosotros; eres para nosotros; y nos has dado tu nombre.

En el poder de tu Espíritu Santo, deja que nuestra seguridad resida solo en ti, ahora y siempre.

En el nombre de Jesús, Amén.

Pida por Salud
Ver también:
Gospel as Divine Template
Otras formas de participar en línea:



Sitio del autor: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Sitio del editor: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Boletín informativo:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

 

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Righteous Suffering

Then the LORD said, 

I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt 

and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. 

I know their sufferings (Exod 3:7).

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

The Jewish experience of God frequently arises in the context of suffering. Moses suffered living as a refugee in the desert and shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep far from his home and family in Egypt. Exiled from Egypt, shamed by his own inept leadership, and fearful of legal prosecution for murder, Moses found himself before a burning bush in the presence of God (Exod 3:1), who called him for a new assignment: Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. (Exod 3:10) Egypt is in his heart and on his mind, but Moses does not jump at the idea of returning to Egypt because, having murdered an Egyptian, returning entailed obvious personal risk. Mitigating the risks are three important assurances that God gives to Moses which take the forms of His presence, His name, and His covenant (the Law).

Presence

The assurance of God’s presence is a blessing in the form of comfort, provision, and protection—things Moses lacked when he attempted to lead his people without God’s help. In revealing his presence to Moses, the uncertainty of the mission in Egypt is immediately reduced (Rom 8:31) and its success is assured: “But I will be with you” (Exod 3:12). God’s presence is further secured when God reveals his name, and, later, offers a covenant to Moses.

The Name

The assurance of knowing God’s name was no small deal in the ancient world. The ancients believed that knowing the name of a god gave one power over that god. When God gave Moses his name, he was, at a minimum, offering him a direct line of communication—personal prayer—with God.

 In Hebrew YHWH means “I will be who I will be” or “I am who I am” (Exod 3:14–15). The implication here is that God is: A REAL GOD (one that really exists) with REAL POWER (sovereign everywhere, not just the local neighborhood). Local gods were the norm in the ancient world, in part, because leaders wanted to lay claim to their territories and to seek their intervention (typically through sacrifices) in the spiritual world (e.g. Judg 11:30–40; 1 Kgs 12:26–29). God’s interventions on behalf of Moses were not unusual from an ancient perspective, but what was unusual was that God traveled with Moses out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.

Covenant Law 

The covenant helped secure Moses’ experience of God presence because in the covenant God revealed his will to the people of Israel, something uncommon in the ancient world. Prayer is really difficult when one neither knows a god’s name nor what that god desires. God revealed to Moses that He was both a covenant maker and covenant keeper.

The covenant of Moses begins with a preamble: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exod 20:2). The preamble makes clear that God cares about the people of Israel enough to intervene on their behalf and the Law instructs them on how to live in peace and righteousness, making God’s presence concrete in daily life.

In the Books of the Prophets, no one suffers more than Job even though he is a righteous man: There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. (Job 1:1) Job is so righteous that even God brags about him to Satan: Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? (Job 1:8) To which Satan asks God’s permission to test him and God grants permission for Satan to take everything Job has away and to afflict him with horrible suffering (Job 1-2). In righteous suffering, Job feels a need to seek out and to rely on God, rather than his own resources, and, in his misery, to seek a savior: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” (Job 19:25) Some believe that Moses used the story of Job’s righteous suffering to convince the people of Israel to leave slavery in Egypt, which would make the Book of Job the oldest book in the Bible (Geisler 2007, 189–195).

This redemption theme, of relying solely on God, is repeated in the story of Daniel’s friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When Daniel’s friends refuse to worship King Nebuchadnezzar’s golden idol instead of the one true God, they are thrown into the fiery furnace, as we read:

And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. He answered and said, But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. (Dan 3:23-25)

Righteous suffering not only leads us to rely on God, it gives testimony to God’s glory. Jesus later ties righteous suffering to eternal life: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt 10:39)

References

Geisler, Norman L. 2007. A Popular Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: BakerBooks.

Righteous Suffering
Also see:
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

 

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Sufrimiento Justo

Y el SEÑOR dijo: Ciertamente he visto la aflicción 

de mi pueblo que está en Egipto, y he escuchado su clamor a causa 

de sus capataces, pues estoy consciente de sus sufrimientos. (Exod 3:7)

Por Stephen W. Hiemstra

La experiencia judía de Dios surge con frecuencia en el contexto del sufrimiento. En los libros de la Ley, Moisés sufrió viviendo como refugiado en el desierto y pastoreando las ovejas de su suegro lejos de su hogar y familia en Egipto. Exiló de Egipto, avergonzado por su propio inepto liderazgo, y temeroso de ser procesado legalmente por asesinato, Moisés se encontró ante una zarza ardiente en la presencia de Dios (Exod 3:1), quien lo llamó para una nueva misión: “Ahora pues, ven y te enviaré a Faraón, para que saques a mi pueblo, a los Israelitas, de Egipto.” (Exod 3:10)  

Egipto está en su corazón y en su mente, pero Moisés no salta a la idea de regresar a Egipto porque, después de haber asesinado a un egipcio, regresar implica un riesgo personal obvio. Mitigar los riesgos son tres garantías importantes que Dios le da a Moisés, que toma la forma de su presencia, su nombre, y su pacto (la Ley).

Presencia

La seguridad de la presencia de Dios es una bendición en la forma de consuelo, provisión, y protección—las cosas que Moises carecía  cuando intentaba dirigir a su pueblo sin la ayuda de Dios.  Al revelar su presencia a Moisés, la incertidumbre de la misión en Egipto se reduce de inmediato (Rom 8:31) y su éxito está asegurado: “Ciertamente y o estaré contigo” (Exod 3:12). La presencia de Dios está más seguido cuando Dios revela su nombre y, más tarde, ofrece un pacto a Moises. 

El Nombre

La seguridad de conocer el nombre de Dios no era poca cosa en el mundo antiguo. Los antiguos creían que conocer el nombre de un dios le daba poder sobre ese dios. Cuando Dios le dio Moises su nombre, estaba, como mínimo, lo ofrecer una linea directa de comunicación—oración personal—con Dios.

El significado del nombre del pacto de Dios también fue importante. En hebreo YHWH significa: “Yo seré quien yo seré” o “yo soy quien yo soy.” (Exod 3:14–15) La implicación aqui es que Dios es: UN REAL DIOS (quien que realmente existe) con REAL PODER (soberano en todo el universo, no solo del  barrio). Dioses del barrio eran la norma en el anciano mundo, en parte, porque líderes querían reclamar sus terrenos y buscaban su intervención (generalmente a través de sacrificios) en el mundo espiritual (e.g. Judg 11:30–40; 1 Kgs 12:26–29) 

Las intervenciones de Dios por ayuda de Moises no era inusuales desde la perspectiva anciana, pero lo que fue inusual fue que Dios viajó con Moisés fuera de Egipto y hacia la Tierra Prometida.

Pacta Ley

El pacto ayudó a asegurar la experiencia de Moisés de la presencia de Dios porque en el pacto Dios reveló su voluntad al pueblo de Israel, algo poco común en el mundo antiguo. La oración es realmente difícil cuando uno no sabe el nombre de un dios ni lo que ese dios desea. Dios le reveló a Moisés que él era tanto un hacedor de pacto como un guardián de pacto.

El pacto de Moisés comienza con un preámbulo: “Yo soy el SEÑOR tu Dios, que te saqué de la tierra de Egipto, de la casa de servidumbre (de la esclavitud).” (Exod 20:2). El preámbulo deja en claro que Dios se preocupa por el pueblo de Israel lo suficiente como para intervenir en su nombre y la Ley los instruye sobre cómo vivir en paz y justicia, haciendo que la presencia de Dios sea concreta en la vida diaria.

En los libros de los Profetas, nadie sufre más que Job a pesar de que el es un hombre justo: “Hubo un hombre en la tierra de Uz llamado Job. Aquel hombre era intachable (íntegro), recto, temeroso de Dios y apartado del mal.“ (Job 1:1) 

Job es tan justo que incluso Dios se jacta de él ante Satanás: “¿Te has fijado en Mi siervo Job? Porque no hay ninguno como él sobre la tierra; es un hombre intachable (íntegro) y recto, temeroso de Dios y apartado del mal.” (Job 1:8)  A lo que Satanás le pide permiso a Dios para probarlo y Dios le otorga permiso para que Satanás se lleve todo lo que Job tiene y lo aflija con un sufrimiento horrible (Job 1–2). En sufrimiento justo, Job siente un necesidad a buscar y confiar en Dios, en lugar de su propios recursos, y, en su miseria, a buscar un salvador: “Yo sé que mi Redentor (Defensor) vive, y al final se levantará sobre el polvo.” (Job 19:25) Algunos creen que Moisés usó la historia del sufrimiento justo de Job para convencer el pueblo de Israel de que abandonara la esclavitud en Egipto, lo que haría del libro de Job el libro más anciano de la Biblia (Geisler 2007, 189–195).

Este tema de la redención, de confiar únicamente en Dios, se repite en la historia de los amigos de Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach y Abednego. Cuando los amigos de Daniel se niegan a adorar al ídolo de oro del rey Nabucodonosor en lugar del único Dios verdadero, son arrojados al horno de fuego, como leemos:

Pero estos tres hombres, Sadrac, Mesac y Abed Nego cayeron, atados, en medio del horno de fuego ardiente. Entonces el rey Nabucodonosor se espantó, y levantándose apresuradamente preguntó a sus altos oficiales: ¿No eran tres los hombres que echamos atados en medio del fuego? Así es, oh rey, respondieron ellos. ¡Miren! respondió el rey. Veo a cuatro hombres sueltos que se pasean en medio del fuego sin sufrir daño alguno, y el aspecto del cuarto es semejante al de un hijo de los dioses.” (Dan  3:23-25)

El sufrimiento justo no solo nos lleva a confiar en Dios, sino que da testimonio de la gloria de Dios. Más tarde, Jesús vincula el sufrimiento justo a la vida eterna: “El que ha hallado su vida, la perderá; y el que ha perdido su vida por mi causa, la hallará.” (Matt 10:39)

Referencias

Geisler, Norman L. 2007. A Popular Survey of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: BakerBooks.

Sufrimiento Justo
Ver también:
Gospel as Divine Template
Otras formas de participar en línea:



Sitio del autor: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Sitio del editor: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.

Boletín informativo:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

 

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Low Expectations, Technology, and Entitlement Attitudes

The corona pandemic is accelerating trends in American society that favor those that embrace the Christian faith even as fewer people are embracing the faith.

The Education Dilemma

One of the indicators of this trend can be seen in the education of our youth. Thanks to the pandemic and the response of educators, perhaps the only primary and secondary students learning anything at all this year are the kids whose parents home school them. While public scholar administrators argue about whether school should be online or in person, the home school kids are studying as usual.

Home schooling involves two attributes that speak to proper adjustment to the current economic and social environment.

First, the home school kids learn to accept responsibility for their own achievement. If they do not learn, the the parents have no one else to blame. In the public school space, this attitude is rare. Teachers, like my wife, complain that administrators and parents both blame poor student performance on the teachers. Parents of particularly lazy kids are often the first to complain and make life difficult for teachers, which leads teachers to lower their expectations and raise average student grades.

Second, parents of home school kids have made tough financial choices to make home schooling available. Sacrificial living is required because having one parent at home teaching requires accepting a lower standard of living. Sacrificial living is rare today. The old ideal of having mom at home caring for the kids has evolved into having mom at home teaching the kids. This is totally counter-cultural.

The availability of YouTube.com lectures on virtually any subject has leveled the playing field for parents apprehensive about teaching their own kids because of their own lack of educational preparation.

My wife, Maryam, stayed out of the workforce for ten years while our kids were small. Home schooling was a rarity back in those days, but the prejudice from working women that my wife experienced was very real. Guilt over putting their own kids in childcare seemed to motivate this female harassment. Who can say?

Technology

Technological adoption in society has always lagged technological advancement. in science, especially when jobs are at stake. In the case of vacuum packaged meat products, like Boxed Beef, the technology was already available in the 1930s, but was not implemented in the food system to any great extent until the 1980s [1]. While many industries will likely accelerate their adoption of new, more automated procedures as a consequence of the pandemic, none will be affected as much as higher education.

The corona pandemic has forced educators across the country to make classes available online. Online education is especially likely to remain the norm in higher education because of cost factors. The student debt crisis in the U.S. is testimony to the observation that many families can no longer afford to send their kids to college. Worse, those that graduate often return to jobs that pay little more than they might have earned before spending the time and money to become educated. Earning $15 per hour is statistically a fifty percent increase in income over $10 per hour, but the increase does not bump one into a higher social class.

The reason is that the skills learned in college often fail to raise their productivity and the degree simply allows the student to outbid a high school student. I used to joke that when I graduated from high school, one needed a high degree to manage a fast-food restaurant and when I graduated from college, one needed a college degree. This is actually more an observation than a joke.

The punchline here is that online college education is cheaper to offer than in person college education. Now, as the pandemic has forced schools to offer these programs online, financial constraints are likely to make this transition permanent. In all likelihood this will lead to increasing cultural bifurcation between those that can pay for in person teaching and those that cannot. The networking advantage of those able to afford in person education is likely to be reflected in expected earnings, much like private school education allowed in the past.

Entitlement Attitudes

Going back to the home schooling example, the idea that student accept responsibility for their own education and have sacrificial living modeled for them by their parents suggests that home schooling is likely to become the gold standard for education for those who care about education outcomes. Public schools that encourage dumping on teachers effectively instill an entitlement attitude in students. This attitude has frequently been attributed to different ethnic groups, but that is simply prejudice—poor and rich kids alike in the public education system display this attitude.

The idea that kids have a right to be educated is a matter of law. The idea that kids are not responsible for their own education is destroying the economic fabric of this country because we live in a highly automated, competitive world economy. Spending public money on education without actually educating kids is a losing strategy. In a high tech society, education (human capital investment) is the key resource in success, one that cannot be bought.

Wrapping Up

Those unwilling to compete and live a discipled lifestyle for whatever reason are likely to end up in poverty. This problem is at the heart of why socialism and communism are failed ideologies. This is why I have observed for decades that poverty in America is less a matter of income and more a matter of attitude. The corona pandemic has reinforced this observation.

Faith in God, which encourages us to work hard, invest in our families, and take responsibility for our actions, is an important strategy for surviving and thriving in the world we now finding ourselves in. Of course, faith in God is not just a strategy, it is much more.

Footnotes

[1] Hiemstra, Stephen. 1985. Labor Relations, Technological, and Structural Changes in Beef Packing and Retailing. Dissertation. EastLansing:Michigan State University.

Low Expectations, Technology, and Entitlement Attitudes
Also see:
Water Cooler Observations, June 24, 2020
Interview about the Corona Life in English and Spanish with Stephen W. Hiemstra, April 24, 2020
Managing Change 
Believer’s Prayer
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.
Newsletter:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

 

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Single but not Alone: Soul Virgin

Doug Rosenau and Michael Todd Wilson. 2006. Soul Virgins: Redefining Single Sexuality. Atlanta: Sexual Wholeness Resources.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

I feel out of place in church–a single friend at seminary shared with me about a year back [1].  Married couples, especially older people, are uncomfortable having me around because I am 20-something and not married.  It’s like I have some kind of disease.  If that were not bad enough, he continued, I am not sure how to relate with the single women that I meet.

Introduction

I remember experiencing those same feelings when I was single. So when my friend recommended Doug Rosenau and Michael Todd Wilson’s book: I was curious and looked up a copy.

Not surprisingly, the book starts by defining terms.  For example, a soul virgin is: one who continuously seeks to value, celebrate, and protect God’s design for sexuality—body, soul, and spirit—in oneself and others (7).  Clearly, the book assumes that you want to live within the will of God in singleness and that marriage is a goal.  Furthermore, the authors seek to:  help Christian single adults sort through and find better answers about their sexuality—to not just repress or tolerate their sexuality but to redefine and celebrate it (15).  In other words, because God created us as sexual beings, our sexuality has a purpose that extends beyond physically obvious reasons.

Organization

Soul Virgins is thorough book with lots of details about how to deal with sticky situations and topics that one probably has not discussed with one’s parents.  The book divides into 3 parts:

Intimacy with God (6 chapters),
Intimacy with God’s people (5 chapters), and
Intimacy with God’s possible soul mate (4 chapters).

These 3 parts are further divided into 15 chapters.  Before these parts are definitions, acknowledgments, and an introduction.  After these parts are an appendix, notes, and brief statements of where to go for more information.

Word Pictures

The word-pictures provided are worth the ticket of admission.

For example, the authors picture balanced intimacy and sexual wholeness as a wheel with 5 spokes representing the 5 aspects of our intimacy:

Spiritual intimacy
Emotional intimacy
Mental intimacy
Social intimacy and
Physical intimacy (188).

Healthy relationships have boundaries on each aspect of intimacy that, if offended, result in future problems.  For example, I can remember in high school sharing my dreams about having a family someday with a friend on a date—this would be an example of mental intimacy (190-191).  What would have happened if stead of sharing our dreams we had escalated right into physical intimacy and eventually married but disagreed on the question of having a family?  Clearly, the authors’ thoroughness in going through 5 spokes is very helpful in facilitating productive dialog.

Relationship Continuum Bridge

The authors describe another helpful picture as the relationship continuum bridge.  This bridge breaks relationships into three stages:

connecting (friendship and early considering),
coupling (late considering, confirming, and committing), and
covenanting (marriage).

These stages can be pictured as a suspension bridge with two spans (8, 32).  The authors reserve true sex (anything involving body parts hidden by a bikini) for marriage.  Intimacy during the other two stages (connecting and coupling) necessarily involves establishing and respecting boundaries for the 5 spokes of intimacy.  For example, the authors cite a case of a client who wanted to bring his girl-friend to a counseling session after they went out for only 3 weeks—an event too intimate for their relationship at this point (social intimacy spoke).  This invitation was compared to inviting his friend to meet his parents after going out only three weeks (191).

The Authors

The authors know their subject matter.  Doug Rosenau (www.SexualWholenss.com) is a licensed psychologist and Christian sex therapist.  Michael Todd Wilson (www.MichaelToddWilson.com) is a licensed professional counselor and life coach who had never married at the time this book was written.  Both hail from Suwanee, GA.  The primary authors are assisted with particular chapters by Vickie George (marriage and sex counselor) and three never-married singles:  Erica Tan, Anna Maya, and David Hall.

Assessment

Soul Virgins is a helpful book.  I wish that this book had been available when I was single and when I led high school/college groups in graduate school.  Rosenau and Wilson not only discuss the touchy subjects that young people want to know about, they review the Biblical basis for their views. Soul Virgins focuses on providing guidance on relationships.  Singles, parents, and leaders can all benefit from this book.  I know that I did.

Footnotes

[1] I am paraphrasing his comments.

Single but not Alone: Soul Virgin
Also see:
Nouwen: Make Space for Self, Others, and God 
Vanhoozer: How Do We Understand the Bible? Part 1 
Books, Films, and Ministry
Other ways to engage online:
Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com

Newsletter:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

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Righteousness: Monday Monologues (podcast) August 31, 2020

Stephen W. Hiemstra 2020 (Ken Burtram Photography)

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on righteousness. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).

To listen, click on this link.

Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!

Righteousness: Monday Monologues (podcast) August 31, 2020

Also see:



Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018 



Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.




Newsletter:  http://bit.ly/Norm2020

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