The Crossroads of Christianity and Culture

Let’s review a few recent and older news items. 1. Apple caves to the Chinese government on selling an app that allows people in Hong Kong to communicate about where to meet and protest away from police. 2. The NBA caves to the Chinese government on support of the Hong Kong protestors. 3. Ford and General Motors caved to Hitler and it German operations built the very tanks that were used to kill American soldiers. A couple of references follow. ( https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/11/maybe-woke-nbas-hypocrisy-china-has-awakened-us-consumers-about-their-own/ ,  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm .) I make this third point so we realize that US Corporations didn’t suddenly lose their moral spine. They never had it. And there is a reason for this. A corporation isn’t a moral person. Instead it is a collection of interests, all focused on making money. If you try to mediate between these interests by introducing moral standards the result

A few years back my regular doctor heard a sound coming from my aortic valve.  Turns out that if you have a heart murmur and insurance you get a cardiologist. And cardiologists don’t come as individuals. They come in flocks, like medical tests. I got a flock of those as well. Indeed I’m a regular now. EKGs every time I walk through the door. Blood as well. Echocardiogram every 6 months. Stress test every year. CAT scan every year. I’m the reason your insurance rates are going up  and I’m healthy . Because all those tests say so.  But back to the flock. One member does coronary angioplasty so I had one of those to fix an apparent problem (see stress test) and another to confirm I didn’t have a problem (see stress test.) Did I mention your insurance rates? But its better than dying of a heart attack. At least for me. Today, as I write, the flock decided to move me in a new direction. I had a little incident of atrial fibrillation back in August, and although it was resolved quickly this