Linus Soh

Now that I have a land-line, I have been getting at least 8 calls a day from telemarketers.  That’s right…8.

I’m assuming I’ve gotten a recycled number because I have not given this number out to anyone.  The line was installed for one reason: allow me to work from home.

You see, working for the Air Force, I need to be able to forward calls from my office to my home phone.  This is so if anyone needs to get a hold of me, they can call my work number and get forwarded.  There is no reason for me to give out this number since.

I have decided to call Verizon and have them assign me a new number.  In the mean time, I think I’ll have some fun.  This is a great telemarketer prank that I highly recommend.

Tom Mabe, a comedian, is notoriously known for his hatred of telemarketers.  In this call, he tells the telemarketer that he has called a crime scene and he is a murder suspect.  Note that the recording is on YouTube and is quite colorful.  Possibly NSFW.  Definitely not for the kids.

These are the pictures I took during the FL Coach’s Retreat.

Not a day goes by when I read the news and am appalled by a verdict.  Many of us see corruption around us.  If you live in DC, it’s more rampant and is obscured by political double-talk and cover-ups.  “Enron”, “O.J. Simpson”, “Exxon”, “Martha Stewart”.  Thinking of any one of these companies or people brings up images of scandal, side deals, and injustice.

Look at the world around us.  Human trafficking has become one of the fastest growing crimes in the world, particularly because it is so difficult to track down the leader.  Children are kidnapped in the middle of the night and brainwashed to become drone soldiers to fight a war that predates even the kidnappers.

Everyday, murders go free because of legal technicalities.  Rapists continue to roam the streets, despite having been in jail for 10, 15, or even 20 years.

We look at this and we ask, “Is this justice?”

It’s easy, isn’t it?  To look from the outside, removed from the circumstances…

But I don’t think many of us realize that there is something inherently dangerous about justice.  It’s easy to see things from the victim’s point of view.  But how often do you consider the other side of the story?  Do we even care?

A couple of days ago, a news story broke about a man who was walking out of a supermarket after purchasing about $120 worth of groceries.  He was stopped at the door and asked to show his receipt.  Apparently, he had forgotten to pay for a 6-pack of soda that was at the bottom of the cart.  The police officer stopped the man and arrested him for petty theft.  $4.00 worth of soda.

I’ve actually done this before.  I was at Ikea and buying all sorts of cool stuff.  I forgot three items at the bottom of the cart.  I didn’t realize I didn’t pay for them until I got home.  The next day, I went back and told them that I didn’t pay for them.  They rang me up and that was the end of that.  No arrest.  In fact, they thanked me for being honest.  The total purchase was about $12.00.

There was instant outrage that this man was outraged.  The police station received numerous angry phone calls, demanding that the arresting officer be fired immediately.  “The police officer completely over-stepped his bounds.”  “What an asshole!”  “Store is evil!  Boycott!”

Twenty-four hours later, the police station, along with the supermarket, released the video footage that showed that he was actually trying to steal the soda.  He later admitted at the police station that he was attempting to shoplift.

The police station didn’t receive any calls of apology.  The store didn’t get a single e-mail afterward.

Many of us believe that we have a fair view of justice; in reality, it’s more twisted and biased than the world around us.

The idea of justice is embedded in every one of us.  Every one of us, at one point or another, have said, “That’s not fair!”  Every one of us has even asked for mercy when we did something wrong.

Are we any different than the world?  We demand justice for others, but mercy for ourselves.  We cry, “Save Darfur” but then do nothing about it.

C. S. Lewis, on of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, wrote that it is because of this idea of Justice God must exist.  There must exist a greater Judge who sees the pain and torture of this world and expels fair judgment.

It’s much easier to say that we know better than to admit we were wrong.  It’s much more convenient to blame someone else instead of taking the fall.

The point of justice is not to be fair.  Please read this again.  The point of justice is not to be fair. 

The point of justice is to restore peace.  The point of the Cross was not about paying for man’s sins.  The point was to bridge the rift that separated us from God.  The point of sending a murder to jail is not about bringing fairness to his victim.  It’s about bringing closer to the family.

Asking why justice is so unfair is like asking why other people make more money than I do.  This concept of unfairness opens us up to questions that many of us are afraid to answer.  If I was the murder, would I want to go to jail for life?  If stole the soda, would I try to just pay the merchant back?

We need justice in our lives.  God’s justice is perfect.  Not only does he restore peace, but he does it fairly.  No one in heaven will say, “Wow, that guy got hosed.  Man, he just got creamed.  He got what he deserved.”  Instead, I think most people will say, “Wow, what kind of God could forgive a person like that?  What kind of God could forgive a person like me?”

Well, some of you know me as Mike.  Some of you know me as Linus.  Right now, there’s only one site: mikesoh.com

After much confusion, I’ve decided to split two sections of my site:

mikesoh.com will contain my political and editorial blogs.  My new site (website URL TBD) will host my personal blog entries, crossword articles, and pictures.  Both sites will run announcements.  The two sites will be incredibly different.  For one, mikesoh.com will probably run on blogger software instead of geeklog.

I’m hoping to make this change around June-July.  I’ve got to sift through a lot of articles.  I actually passed the 100 point!  Until the site is set up, please keep visiting mikesoh.com for everything!

First a note of apology: March has been a difficult and busy month. I hoped to write another Crosswords article on March 16th but I couldn’t get it finished. My life is back to some sort of order. I’ll hopefully continue to churn these articles out twice a month. Please feel free to leave some feedback. It would be MUCH appreciated!

Now that I’ve been working for the government for almost a year, I’ve learned quite a lot about the political process. The biggest lesson: things run very slowly. It’s a lot of "hurry up and wait." Another thing I learned is "bureaucracy is here because someone needs a job." But one of the most important things I’ve learned is, "It’s always better to seek forgiveness than it is to ask for permission."

I think is a saying that many people use; but it’s an axiom here in the Pentagon. A few weeks ago, I found out that it is actually illegal to install Firefox on my desktop. Yes, illegal. So I submitted a request to have it installed legally. After about two weeks, it finally got approved.

Because of all the bureaucracy and the red tape, sometimes it’s just a lot easier to just do what you need to do and then ask for forgiveness later. But I had to ask myself if I was doing this because I just wanted something or because it was for the mission. Also, how did this reflect my views on God?

One of my favorite Simpsons episodes is when Bart becomes a faith healer.  With the help of Brother Faith, he successfully pulled off a metal bucket that was glued on Homer’s head.  He asks Brother Faith how he was able to get the bucket off.

Faith: Well, I didn’t, son. You did. God gave you the power.
Bart: Really? Huh. I would think that He would want to limit my power.
Faith: Oh, yes, Lord. When I was your age, I was a hell-raiser, too. My slingshot was my cross. But I saw the light, and changed my wicked ways.
Bart: I think I’ll go for the life of sin, followed by a presto- change-o deathbed repentance.
Faith: Wow, that’s a good angle. [pause] But that’s not God’s angle. Why not spend your life helping people instead. Then you’re also covered in case of sudden death.
Bart: Full coverage? Hmmm

I think what Bart says hits the core of every heart.  Just do whatever you want and then ask for forgiveness on your deathbed.  But I wonder if it’s really that simple.

One of the foundations of the Christian faith is that once you ask God for forgiveness, all your sins — past, present, future — all become null and void.  They are done and the punishment was paid.  And if this is true, then why not ask God for forgiveness and then do whatever you want?  You can, in a sense, have a cake and eat it too.

I think one of the things that trips people up about the Christian faith is the idea that they live a very restrictive life.  All of the sudden, anything that used to be fun is now "frowned upon."  No sex or rock and roll.  That’s what it means to be a Christian, right?  So a life of doing whatever you want and then asking for forgivness is a way of beating the system.

Believe it or not, this is exactly right.  Yes, you can become "saved" and then continue living the life you always had.  Knowing that you have "fire insurance", you can go back to enjoying life!  You no longer have to fear death because you know you’re going to heaven!  So bring on the sex and rock and roll!

What we don’t realize is that there is something so dangerous about this idea.  It is this very thought that shows just how much we need God in our lives.  What we say, in essence, is that we want everything with none of the responsibility.  Yes, we want heaven, but we want everything here too.  I want to be a "Christian" but don’t want to become "lame."

There aren’t very many relationships that can be summarized in this way.  And yet, this is how many of us, including myself, see God.

Grace and mercy are often confused.  The idea of mercy is simple: we don’t get something that we deserve.  When you get a ticket, you hope that the judge will give you mercy and not punish you.  Grace is also simple: getting something you don’t deserve.  Using the same analogy, the judge decides not to fine you (mercy) but then decides to give you $50 for each ticket you’ve had (grace).

With God, he gives mercy to those who ask for it.  But, who also gives grace to us when we don’t.  So what does this have to do with doing whatever we want?

Everything.

We can never out-sin God’s mercy and we can never "run out" of forgiveness.  But here’s what we miss out on: relationship.  The whole point of the Gospel is not about getting into heaven.  (There are Christians out there right now wondering how this can be true.  Bear with me.)  Read that again: the crux of the Gospel, the main goal of the Gospel is NOT heaven or salvation.

The goal is much simpler.  The goal is relationship.  Without grace and mercy, we could not be in communion with God.  Sin separates us.  Once sin is out of the picture, we can now be in the presence of God and see him for who he is.  It is within this presence that we have the opportunity to experience God in ways that we never would have thought or imagined.

So yes, you can keep doing whatever you want after you become a Christian.  And I believe God realizes that you can do whatever you want.  But I think he does it on purpose.  I think he does it so you have to wonder why he would forgive you in the first place.   Why would he go through all the trouble?

Here’s the funny thing: when someone does anything nice for us, we get suspicious.  We ask ourselves, "Okay, why is this person being nice?"  And I think this is what God hopes for.  Do people take advantage of him?  Well, I wonder if the better question is, "Are you really taking advantage of someone when they are allowing you?"