I try to read (at least) two newspapers a day, but not until after I've spent time God each morning. I don't want today's news to distract me from the Good News. Sometimes, though, when I'm particularly groggy, I break that rule. Given all that we're up to these days, I've been more groggy than usual. So I've read the newspaper first for the last few days.
This is a bad idea, in general, but not at this particular moment. The "One-Year Bible" started in on Jeremiah just as I finally forced myself to pay attention to the Foley scandal. It's hard to tell when I stop reading the editorials and start reading the prophets. Here's Jeremiah 4:22:
My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.
People haven't changed much in 2700 years... and neither has God. If you have read the book of Jeremiah, you know what happened to Jerusalem after this. If you don't know the story, you may never really understand why "the religious right" gets so bent out of shape about morality.
God-fearing people look at sin the way Al Gore looks at carbon dioxide. It's always been here, but society is making it worse, with dreadful consequences. The Bible is a book of "global warnings." We ignore them at our peril.
