Interview: Officer Mike #1

Bret: I’m here with Mike, of Christian Cognition. So Mike, tell us what you do.

Mike: I am a police officer in Michigan... have been for 13 years now.

Bret: How would you describe your work to an alien who doesn’t know what a police officer is?

Mike: There are bad people who either can’t or won’t control their urges to make other peoples’ lives miserable. It is my job to keep them from repeating their actions. sometimes that requires jail time.

Bret: Why doesn’t the government just put cameras everywhere?

Mike: I don’t think Americans like the idea of “big brother” watching everything we do. I’m certainly not in favor of it. As is the case with all government policy, power corrupts and absolute power absolutely corrupts. I only see bad things come out of that.

Bret: And yet, that’s sort of what God is, correct?

Mike: Big brother watching? Explain...

Bret: Well, I’m this alien who knows nothing... but I did hear something about this being called God who watches everything and knows everything. I mean, even aliens know about God.

Mike: That assumes that always watching and knowing is automatically evil. Humans are corrupt, and we’ll corrupt just about everything we touch. I don’t think we can compare God to us in the way we behave and respond.

Bret: So aliens know about God, but I don’t, having never met Him. How would you describe God?

Mike: God is difficult to describe, but He is said to have attributes similar to ours (we call them communicable attributes). For example, love, jealousy, etc are communicable attributes. On the other hand, He also is a being who is so unlike us. Those attributes are what we call incommunicable attributes. For example, his holiness, his omniscience, omnipresence, etc.

Bret: Where do you think God is?

Mike: Wow. Well, that’s challenging. Because He is omnipresent, He is said to be throned in His heavenly kingdom, as well as present among us.

Bret: Does God have any family?

Mike: In a spiritual sense we could say He does: the Bible calls those who put their trust in Him “children”. The Bible speaks a lot about “adoption”, a very deep theme. But the Bible writers used a lot of descriptive language of difficult-to-understand theological topics that people could more easily understand. And “adoption” is one of those themes we understand. We have the possibility of taking children into our families who were not physically born to us. But then, somehow, they become our children. Spiritually, the same occurs with God and us

Bret: That’s right, you have an adopted child.

Mike: I have a son we adopted. He was once a foster child of ours, and we adopted him. We consider him our own. I would have never understood the power of that had I not adopted my own.

Bret: Are you pro-life?

Mike: Very much so. But I can probably guess where you’re going next...especially considering my profession

Bret: Really? Tell me, cause I’m at a loss. If anyone has a right to be pro-life, it’s people who adopt. I can’t stand people who want to foist parenthood on people and they aren’t part of the solution to the real problem, which is all the children out there who need parents.

Mike: “Capitol Punishment” and “police use of deadly force” maybe???

Bret: Eh, liberals are going to kill me, but I believe in capital punishment. And deadly use of force happens, I’m more horrified at how common it is for police to use tasers now. I don’t think they’re rushing for the gun, they seem to be reaching for the taser any time someone is remotely non-compliant. But that’s just the perception from my limited exposure to law enforcement from the media, which only airs the extreme cases.

Mike: I think you’re right though. Many police, rather than calling for backup first, trust solely in the power of the taser as their backup. As mentioned earlier, power corrupts.

Bret: But it’s better than the night-stick or the gun. So I wouldn’t dream of taking the taser away.

Mike: On the flip side, more and more police are being assaulted these days. It shouldn’t be expected of us to simply roll over and take a hit for the citizens.

Bret: There is an extreme amount of hostility towards law enforcement officials. Are there any root causes, in your opinion?

Mike: That’s a hard one to pinpoint. Where I work, racial tension is a huge issue. A sagging economy would probably come in at a close second...people are stressed and angry and want to take it out on others. Sadly, it often happens to be on their loved ones or on police.

Bret: Yeah, which are usually the people there to help, not the cause of their problems. It’s always the people who roll up their sleeves and try to do something, huh?

Mike: Seems that way

Bret: Do you think God feels that way?

Mike: Not sure, but I do know that one day all wrongs will be righted, and justice will be served. That is the hope I have in Christ.

Bret: I hear a lot of atheists say things like, “I don’t believe in God because of the appendix,” implying that if they were in charge, they would have done things “better.” How do you feel about that as an argument against God?

Mike: I’ll be honest with you... you’ll blow me away in the realm of science. I’m not so proud to say there’s a lot I don’t know...and I’m not afraid to admit it.

Bret: Obviously you never read my college transcript...

Mike: But I know that there are things that exist that we may consider useless or bad, but maybe we just don’t understand the purpose behind it. One can only guess...

Bret: What to you is the single most compelling reason to be Christian?

Mike: Great question. The most compelling to me is my knowledge of my sin. I am convinced sin is what’s wrong with the world...I am what’s wrong with the world. I prove daily that I am in need of a Savior. I believe that Savior to be Jesus Christ. The Resurrection assures Jesus is like none other.

Bret: Do you feel being Christian can make you a better person, or is it just about getting saved and you’re pretty much who you are regardless of your religion?

Mike: I know many people who have found reasons to be “better” people. My issue is not so much about trying to be “better”. Instead, it’s about dealing with my sin. If God is holy and I am not, then I stand to face some serious consequences. As I trust Christ for salvation and my sin has been dealt with and is in the process of being dealt with...and will be dealt with in the future, how can that not cause me to be a better person? I have no choice but to be gracious with others, merciful, thankful, etc.

Bret: I’m tempted to ask you what’s the worst sin you’re willing to publicly confess to...
But that would be pretty Catholic of me.

Mike: I’m not willing, sorry. I’ve confessed it only to a couple close people. It’s pretty heinous, I confess. And not I’m not referring to something so simplistic as stealing a candy bar. Much worse.

Bret: So you stole a candy bar?

Mike: I struggle with things unbelievers struggle with. Porn. Anger.

Bret: You struggle with porn? I can refer you to free sites. No sense in dealing with those complex credit card accounts.

Mike: Thanks for helping! That’s funny.

Bret: Hey, if you’re struggling, you’re probably doing it wrong. And I think anger comes with your job. I don’t know how anyone can be surrounded by the kinds of people you interact with and keep all their marbles. Aren’t we all entitled to a few holes punched in the wall?

Mike: No joke, there! It is a daily struggle to not throat-punch a few people.

Bret: Okay, last question for this interview: Who’s better, Buddha or Mohammed?

Mike: I don’t know much about Buddha. However, I have read a large bulk of the Qu’ran and a few books written by clerics. Muhammad’s writing was confused...he’s illogical, he changed his mind a lot, etc. I guess I can’t really answer, cuz I don’t favor either. Sorry!

Bret: I would just say Mohammed, because no Buddhist will kill you for saying so.

Mike: Hahahaha

Bret: Alright, good night, and thanks for doing this. Hope we can do it again soon.

Mike: Absolutely! It inspires me to think more!!!!

Bret: Thinking is fun... sometimes.

Mike: G’nite, friend.