So, Silvio Berlusconi loses last week’s election (President — or Champion o’ Bureaucracy) by a narrow margin to Romano Prodi. Italian politics are hilarious. The Italians are generally upset about feeling the pinch of the poor condition of the Euro. So, they blame the richest man in Italy who also happens to be their president - Silvio. Then, they elect the man that brought the Euro both to Italy and the EU commission. Oh ya, that’s gonna’ make it all better.
Italy & Politics
Politics is enormous, gigantic, grandissimo to the Italians.
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In Northeast Italy, we reside on the fence. Surrounded to our backs and sides by Romanism, we look eastward to the seemingly unstoppable waves of Muslim thought, culture, and practice headed this way. Brace yourselves for what happens to spaghetti-spine Europe in the coming years.
A Fantastic Article
Nathan Casebolt is a blogger that I read pretty regularly. He’s a young guy… HA! He weighs in five years younger than myself. I haven’t met Nathan or corresponded with him, but I have come to appreciate his writing, creativity, and intellect. Well, Nathan recently wrote an article about Europe entitled Muslim Soup that I think is a must read. You can find the article here. I wish I had his email address to thank him for it. He greatly encouraged us out here.
More EU Fanfare
Along the same lines, if you’re interested at all in the forces that shape continents, the European Union has by-passed Israel & side-stepped the US to help support the PLO now run by the terror group Hamas. They’re doing this by sending an aid package of around 165 million bucks after Israel froze their border taxation revenues. I wonder if the EU will send them some more teenagers and semtex when they run out of those too?
As we’ve been working on a new place to meet for our congregation, we sat at a round table with our commercialist (an interesting Italian breed of lawyer-accountant), a bank manager, a property owner, a pastor, and a deacon. It’s so hard to describe, but if I could stereotype northern Italians into one person, the bank manager would’ve taken the cake. At the risk of the dreaded political incorrectness I could say I’ve never met a more northern Italian than this man. He had a big booming voice, dressed to cultural code, ever-so rounded face, and he utilized every local phrase in AND out of the book.
While discussing different possibilities, we came to an important point. As the bank manager grabbed the lapels of his jacket, he says, “Now I think we should represent it this way… Now we don’t want to say lies… (quickly with tongue in cheek) because lying is not our style… we want to do such, such, and such.” I looked around the table to see if anybody caught it and they hadn’t, but I had to laugh in amazement.
It just rolls off the lips as it bubbles from the heart — man’s noble, moral style. As men of God, we have to be so careful in this land to share with others that honesty is more than our style, it’s our command.
You see, if this man feels he’s lied in any way (since he sets his own standards), he believes that he’ll just go down and attend a mass or do some confessional booth time (if it’s a doozy). Then, with his false sense of self-forgiveness he’ll continue on in his sin and flesh because he’s been told his root of original sin was removed when he was an infant under the sprinkling priest’s baptism. Not so for the Bible-follower! I can’t look to myself or a system of flesh and tradition for appeasement if I think anything’s gone bad. No, I have to look squarely into the eyes of the offended Party. It’s the Spirit I offended — not a system; a real Person Who knows — not hides.
And this is why we would say that lying makes us lawbreakers — not just culturally un-stylish.
“For our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.” 2 Corinthians 1:12-13
I received a few text messages on my cell phone similar to this one:
Stay away… An enormous influx, from Wednesday 10 p.m. access to the line to view the Pope will be closed. Friday all traffic will be stopped for the funeral. Saint Peter’s is full. There are screens in the piazza for viewing. It’s hot during the day and cold at night. Take public, collective transport if en route to Rome. — Civil Protection.
We’ve had many emails and calls wondering if we were going to Rome. But the police were kind enough to write to us and ask us not to come.
To many Italians (and news media personnel for that matter), the Pope was Jesus Christ. We just celebrated Christ’s resurrection the week before, but it was as if Jesus died all over again - five days later. This Jesus is the Jesus of Rome, not of Nazareth.
What many outside of Europe may not consider is that many people were praying “for the Pope” as they passed by. And, undoubtedly, many were probably praying “to the Pope” as well. The follow-up interviews of the multitudes on Italian television revealed that point clearly. None of this praying is in line with the Bible, of course. John Paul 2 can never receive or mediate prayers. He, nor any other man, can lay no claim on the delightful duty of Christ to mediate, intercede daily, and advocate with the Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ alone is Mediator, Atonement, Propitiation, & High Priest for His children.
While watching Italian news, the cries from around St. Peter’s were “Santo, Santo, Santo…” The word santo is the cry to make GP2 a saint in the Roman system. But the word santo also means “Holy” in Italian. As I heard the chants here on Earth, I couldn’t help but look to Heaven and cry “Santo, Santo, Santo.” Hannah cried it in 1 Samuel 2:2, “For there is none santo as the Lord, neither is there any rock like our God.” And the Bible tells us that the angels are incessant in their glorious praise crying before the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, “Santo, Santo, Santo.” One day, I will join them. And while here on Earth, I’ll never cry that horizontally.
In Italy, they call “April Fool’s Day” — “April’s Fish” (”pesce d’Aprile”). The children guess which pocket or hand “the fish” is in and the idea is to trick them or give them a piece of candy if they’re right.
One thing we’ve learned is that Italians are serious about their practical jokes. They enjoy doing a lot of them. The newspapers will announce (& include photos) of fairs or markets happening in cities that won’t really be happening. Their “candid camera” is pretty fierce too. Sometimes, the more tears they can get somebody to shed, the funnier they think it is.
My secretary dropped me a one-line email announcing that her resignation was on my desk in capital letters. I didn’t sniff the fish. She had earlier cleaned my desk to spick & span so that I would tear it up again. About 3 hours later, a follow-up email came with the fish in it.
She said she was so nervous that it wouldn’t work and would backfire. She also said, “I know how you hate emails where people unload serious things.” (I do. Email is not a medium for weightier matters of the spiritual life and Body of Christ. Matters of importance should be handled in basic, caring Christian community.) She got me good.
So, I replied & accepted her resignation. (fish)
Today, I came across this article in BBC news.
Mankind will say that this is needed and acceptable. The problem with mankind is that it is inherently filled with evil. Man is not good because “there is only One that is good — the Father in Heaven.”
Currently, the Netherlands is considering approving the law for this type of euthanasia in “extreme cases” of infants. As you’ll see in the article, it is already legal to euthanize over the age of 16 and sometimes 12! However, a few weeks ago, I also heard that the EU or the Netherlands (I can’t remember which body in particular) was considering offering euthanasia as an option for the “depressed.” Well that should cover about 90% of the people. If you’re a piece of meat — why be a depressed piece o’ meat? Take this shot, you’ll be happier when you end it all AND you’ll save us a lot of money. It’s too bad you caught the depression disease. Maybe you were born with it. If it were cancer we might be able to treat it - if we want to. This is the fruit of Darwinian Socialism. I guess they want to emphasize the “Nether” part of Nether-lands.
What condition will merit euthanasia next? Acne? I think there was somebody who already tried the route of selective euthanasia based on a set of criteria. Wasn’t his name Hitler? I know if we don’t learn from the lessons of the past that we’ll be doomed to repeat them — but so fast?
You might say, “Well you minister in Italy.” Yes, but this is no longer a fully sovereign nation. Whatever the Netherlands chooses to do, France is itching for them to do it. As France pushes, the EU like the UN caves to liberal socialism. Italy is not far behind regardless of what the Vatican says. Like America, if you can’t get an abortion or gay marriage on demand, go to a state where you can.
Here’s the alarming article:
BBC NEWS
Dutch consider infant euthanasia
By Geraldine Coughlan
BBC News, The Hague
Doctors in the Netherlands are calling for new laws allowing them to end the lives of newborn babies with intolerable and incurable illnesses.
The appeal for a committee of experts to be set up to consider the issue has been signed by doctors from the country’s eight university hospitals.
The Dutch government will give its opinion over the next few months.
The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalise euthanasia in 2002.
The proposed committee of experts would define the specific criteria that would apply to this type of infant euthanasia.
Vatican criticism
The protocol would relate to only about 600 infants in the world - and between 10 and 15 in The Netherlands.
These children are born with extreme malformations. For instance they may have no brain.
The move has revived the debate on the controversial issue of euthanasia.
One university hospital has already drawn up a document setting out the circumstances in which euthanasia of newborn babies could be justified.
The text has been strongly criticised by the Vatican.
In the Netherlands, euthanasia can be given to people over 16, and to those over 12 in exceptional cases.
Doctors here say paediatricians worldwide are in favour of ending the lives of newborns in certain circumstances.
In France, 74% believe it should be acceptable, and in the Netherlands 72%.
Published: 2004/12/14 03:17:58 GMT
Well, the election is over, and I lost — to Nader. Exit polls are revealing some very raw data that my write-in campaign wasn’t as effective as I had hoped. I’m ready to concede without dragging through torment those four precious people I want to take in my arms and hug. Yet I wonder if I missed something — something big — that wouldn’t allow me to connect with the other 3 voters I needed to beat Nader. I’ll have to set my hopes higher for ‘08. 
I took Reilly for ice cream on election night. The difference in time zones meant that election coverage didn’t start until 12:30 a.m. and ended around 8:30 a.m. As we pulled up and parked, the car in front of us had a “Kerry-Edwards” bumper sticker on it. That’s the first sticker or banner we’ve seen. This is one privilege of living overseas. I quickly checked to see if the car belonged to a military member but it was owned by a local Italian which equally surprised me.
It’s a good thing that the States are united or the Kerry campaign would’ve picked up the overwhelming European vote. The Europeans are born and bred in socialistic liberalism. They’re fed it in humanistic schools and communally fearful of strong leadership. The group opinion goes a long way here and usually ends up at the lowest common denominator. They’re also fed a continuous, liberal media line from America. They love CNN and have never heard of Fox News. Fahrenheit 911 was a huge hit across Europe while the Passion was deliberately and quickly forgotten. When Europe overwhelmingly supports an American candidate, America should run.
However, when I talk to local Italians and share with them that Kerry is pro-abortion, pro-homosexuality, and pro-taxation their response is usually a shocked, “Really?!” They rarely, if ever, hear these things. Recently, at one luncheon with 10 Italians, only one of them had ever heard of partial-birth abortion and most didn’t even know what it was. As soon as I described how barbaric it is, they wondered why nobody had reported this. They repeatedly asked, “America has made that legal?”
National and local papers were fascinating reading as well. In Italy, there are something like 57 political parties compared to America’s dominant 2. And, while a number of US papers thinly veil their bias, Italy has long burned bias-veils. A number of them basically repeated the lines of the major US networks. This is becoming more and more common; almost like a global news network droning the same lines over and over. And yes, I’ve already read the Left Behind series (about 5 books into the series and lost interest leaving Buck in the tribulation - oh well). However, many papers were all-out insulting. One read, “Good Night America” with a darkened W grimace. Other European papers called Americans stupid and said that the rest of the world will suffer because of the ignorance of America. I doubt Israeli papers made any similar remarks.
But Europe and New York are bed-fellows. One “independent journalist” on NBC was asked why Bush was so successful. His answer was something like this, “George Bush was very successful at connecting with right-wing elements.” I yelled, “ELEMENTS! The whole country is red except for the little blue elements around major coastal cities.” I’d like to fight for the singular — one, big, red “element” in the middle. The journalist continued, “The inherent problem is that many Democrats and news media personnel do not live outside of the blue states. We don’t know what it’s like to own a pickup, own guns, and go to Nascar races.” Ya, those are our issues that we lined up to defend. I hope the journalist continues to think that way so that we can surprise him again in four years. It’s fun.
A number of Italians in our town have asked me if I’m happy over the election. I say, “Sure I am, but you know me to be happy for another Reason.” It’s so hard to say to these folks, “Politics aside” because politics is all they think about. As conservative, evangelical Baptists, we’re often travelling the road between novelty and anomaly in Europe.
