Learning from Your Mistakes: A Survival Trait, 3

Continued from "Learning from Your Mistakes: A Survival Trait, 2"

Okay, you've had that light-bulb moment when you suddenly recognize that you made a mistake that could have been serious. Now what?

To explore the process, let's put you in my barber's place in that late-night encounter: Subject A appears out of nowhere as a distraction & you immediately sense someone behind you.

You cover your wallet with your left hand, reach for your knife with your right and simultaneously push past subject A, pivoting to face both subjects. Later you realize this is wrong, because you should have employed your left hand to defend yourself.

The next step is to ask, "How could I have better used my left hand?" The answer seems fairly obvious: to defend your vulnerability.

Your whole back was open to subject B and unprotected. Perhaps, instead of pushing past subject A, you could have simply pivoted to your left, as you swept with your left arm.

This would deflect any weapon in subject B's hand and leave you in a position to counterattack. This is especially good if you've trained for infighting, as you do not have to close the distance between you and your assailant. He's right there. Staying in close quarters with your knife would be especially important if subject B had a handgun.

But let's say that close quarters against two adversaries does not appeal to you. In that case, you might choose to push past subject A and either

1. use your left hand to push subject A into subject B or
2. use your left arm to trap subject A and use as a shield between you & subject B.

(Note that if you use these options in a case where the subjects have made no overt threats or moves against you, law enforcement personnel & judges will interpret your actions as simple assault.)

Of course, my analysis & solutions are not the only ones, and I'm sure they're not the best. Put yourself in the situation, think about it and come up with solutions of your own.

My barber always contacts me off-blog, so I'd be pleased if he'd email me his own views on the situation.

American Islam in Action, 2

This is not so much an expansion or update of the material in the post "American Islam in Action" as it is an invitation for you to view the comments that post has generated.

I think the conversation that has developed between Randall & Seth reflects the whole "culture wars" theme present within conservative circles today. I think it would be a good exercise for you to read their exchange.

If you want to join the conversation, that'd be great, but before you dive in, here are some points to consider:

1. Exactly what is a civilization?
2. What are the roots of Western Civilization (Jerusalem or Athens)?
3. How far can "Western Civilization" stray from its roots before it turns into a different civilization?
4. Is Europe today an example of traditional, historic Western Civilization or is it something else?
5. Is this cultural issue something about which Christians should be concerned?
6. If Christians should be concerned about the "culture wars", what are their primary means and methods of changing the status quo (political action, armed rebellion, preaching & teaching, etc.)?

If you think you have answers to these questions, perhaps it would be better to make your comments to this post rather than disturb the focus of the conversation that is already in progress. If you have something to add to that conversation, however, feel free to do so.

Romans 13:1-7

In 1853, James M. Wilson published his Civil Government: An Exposition of Romans 13:1-7. Here is a quote from page 5o for your Sabbath meditation:

Do [civil authorities] oppress knowingly and obstinately? Do they slight and dishonor religion? Do they bestow their favors upon any kind of false religion? Do they disregard God and repudiate the paramount authority of His Bible? Are they guilty of any or of all of these sins? If so, then, whether they be few or many, the friends of liberty, of religion, and of God, should withhold from them their conscientious obedience; for they are not “a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well.”

How does someone come to this conclusion while exegeting a passage that exhorts submission to authority? I suggest you read the pages leading up to that quote in order to find out.

One thing is clear. On one side you have those who explain this passage, while on the other you have those who explain it away.

On which side does Wilson fall? You decide.

GA Police Shoot First, Ask Questions Later, 2

Continued from "GA Police Shoot First, Ask Questions Later"

As I've prayed for Pastor Ayers' grieving family, friends and Church flock, a solemn truth has crept into my consciousness. It has to do with officer-involved shootings.

Very often, when a police officer shoots a suspect under questionable circumstances, his defenders arise with some pretty compelling arguments:

1. The officer has just a split-second to make a life/death decision in a crisis situation (with his own life hanging in the balance);
2. These confrontations usually happen in the dark, so the officer's vision is obscured;
3. The officer labors under the extreme of adrenaline stress, which reduces cognitive function and can reduce sensory input (i.e., tunnel vision, etc.).

These are good points, and I think that, in light of them, most of us are willing to cut an officer some slack in such situations. But this sword cuts two ways.

Let's look at the Georgia shooting from the pastor's point of view.

1. Bible college or seminary most probably did not school him in techniques for managing an adrenaline dump (such as police officers receive) as part of his exegesis and theology courses;
   
2. Life-threatening crises do not comprise an expected part of his job (as it is with police officers);
3. The crisis situation took him totally by surprise (not so with the officers involved);
4. The adrenaline dump reduced sensory input (seeing only the guns & hearing, if anything, only loud shouting) and cognitive function while creating a fight-or-flight response.

Police forced the pastor into making a split-second decision under extreme duress. They created a situation for Pastor Ayers such that, if their positions were reversed, they would plead that they could not be held to a standard that required deliberative reflection and weighing the options.

Let's remember who these officers are: undercover agents. By definition, they take pains to not resemble law-enforcement personnel in any way.

They claim they wore badges around their necks -- which a subject under the stress of an adrenaline dump might interpret as 'bling' -- if he noticed them at all. After all, should it surprise anyone if a panicked civilian sees only the guns pointed at him? No matter how many times they shouted, "Police! Get out of the car," they were only adding to the confusion of the moment.

I have written this because in the aftermath of this totally unnecessary tragedy, the powers that be will do everything they can to shift the blame to Pastor Ayers. They will close ranks and repeat the litany that citizens must learn to become more compliant . . . more passive when police suddenly descend on them with guns drawn, yelling like barbarians.

A number of years ago, I held a security job that included overseeing the fire brigade of a manufacturing facility. At one of the training sessions, we watched a film on explosive entry by law enforcement.

After the first half-dozen or so presentations of the use of explosives to blow a suspect's door in, one of the firemen asked, "Whatever happened to just knocking?" Good question. Moreover, whatever happened to approaching citizens with courtesy?

It's hard to take the police motto "Protect & Serve" seriously, when a significant portion of the law enforcement community seems to operate on the principles of "Cover Your Butt & Dominate".

Learning from Your Mistakes: A Survival Trait, 2

Continued from "Learning from Your Mistakes"

In "A Late Night Encounter", I related an incident wherein my barber had to snap out of a sleep-deprived fog and react to a potentially violent, perhaps lethal situation. His performance was exemplary, except for one thing.

He employed his left hand to cover his wallet rather than for personal protection.

He recognized this after the fact and mentioned it to me in the phone call. At some point, the part of his mind that puts the jigsaw puzzle together saw that piece and said, "What's wrong with this picture?"

At that moment, he says to himself, "Good grief! Someone behind me could have driven a knife into a kidney while I was covering my wallet." For someone like my barber, however, this is not simply a could-a, would-a, should-a moment that ends in frustration and self-blame.

As I said in that post, "Every encounter we survive provides experience for the next." Recognizing your error is simply the first step.

Let's look at the second step in another post.

GA Police Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

You're a young pastor who has just dropped off a woman you've been counseling. You stop at a gas station to make a withdrawal from an ATM, and then go back out to your car.

A black SUV speeds into the station and two armed men pile out of it, shouting and trying running up to your car. What do you do?

If you're the 28-yr-old Rev. Jonathan Ayers, you probably think you're an intended victim of armed robbery, you panic, and then you die. Your killers will probably never go to trial, because they are undercover drug agents.

Police say they had no idea who Pastor Ayers was, and they just wanted to question him because his passenger was under investigation for drug charges. Oh, really?

Since when do police use shock-and-awe tactics just to question someone? How about just walking up to him as he exits the gas station, showing your badge, identifying yourself and saying, "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Sadly, too many police today are addicted to the adrenaline rush. They operate on adrenaline and testosterone, which tends to cloud good judgment.

In addition, too many have watched too many episodes of COPS. And too many police agencies have policies and procedures that ape those dramatic TV episodes.

The local GA Fox affiliate gave the sanitized version (police identified themselves twice, etc. etc.)of the story. Here's a link to a video with a little more complete report:

WYFF News 4

The security camera caught the whole incident on video, and it's over in seconds. Try stopping the video to see if you can find where the pastor "hits an agent" with his car. See anyone fall down? Anyone lying on the ground?



It looks to me as though the undercover agent ran around behind the car when it was already in motion. If he made contact, it's a tossup as to who ran into whom, and it certainly didn't seem to slow him down at all.

Pray for the poor family of this man who was gunned down by the very people sworn to protect him.

American Islam in Action

Watch the video, and then imagine what would have happened if security at a Christian gathering had tried to treat a group of Muslims asking questions this way.