test Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:47:58 GMT

test

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jimmy Carter's Disconnect Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:01:00 GMT

Former President Jimmy Carter was correct when he urged his fellow Baptists to look beyond a range of disputes that have split the denomination and focus on reconciling under a common cause, namely the Gospel.

Carter said disagreements over issues such as abortion and homosexuality have kept Baptists too narrowly focused. And he said those issues shouldn't divide Christians who agree on a higher matter--that people are saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

I agree with him. But why did Mr. Carter and others leave the Southern Baptist Convention and form the New Baptist Covenant? The folks he criticizes believe exactly as he does that people are saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. It seems Jimmy Carter doesn't practice what he preaches.

With regards to the cultural issues he finds so divisive, I have two questions for Mr. Carter. One, what informed him as a politician rising through the ranks in his home state of Georgia to take a leading role in fighting racism? And, two, what motivated him as governor and later as President to expand the role of government in fighting poverty through welfare? I'm fairly certain I've heard him say over the years it was his Christian faith.

So what does he suppose informs many Christians today in their opposition to abortion and homosexuality? Could it be their Christian faith?

What Did You Expect, Mr. Blair? Wed, 08 Apr 2009 08:00:00 GMT

I grew to admire Tony Blair during his time as Prime Minister of Great Britain. After 9/11, Blair set aside his political differences with George W. Bush and forged an alliance that put the world on notice that terrorism would meet stiff resistance. It's also widely reported the two men grew to like each other personally.

Not surprising since Blair seems like an affable fellow. During his time in office, I enjoyed tuning into C-SPAN each week to watch the Wednesday ritual in Parliament known as Prime Minister's Questions. Blair was a master at turning away the wrath of opposition members with a calm response and a smile.

But I was perplexed to read comments Blair made during an interview with a gay magazine taking the Pope to task for the Catholic Church's stance on homosexuality. The church holds the biblical view that homosexual practice is a sin. But Blair, a Catholic himself, says, "We need an attitude of mind where rethinking and the concept of evolving attitudes becomes part of the discipline with which you approach your religious faith." That's Blair's nice way of saying the Pope and the Catholic Church are wrong.

It would be one thing if Blair was a life-long Catholic, but only recently did he switch his religious affiliation from the Church of England to Rome. Is he now somehow surprised that his new church holds what he believes are outdated views? I liken it to a Democrat switching parties and immediately criticizing Republicans for opposing tax increases. What did you expect, Mr. Blair?

The Resurgence of Calvinism Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:00:00 GMT

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. Many of the leading Calvinistic pastors and theologians will be gathering in Geneva this summer to observe what's being billed as the Calvin Quincentenary.

Calvin was one of the leaders of the 16th century Protestant Reformation. His theology, along with his philosophy of civil government and education would have a monumental impact more than two centuries later as the Founding Fathers forged a new country known as the United States. In fact, some observers have said, "If you have no Calvin, you have no America."

Although the influence of Calvinism, or reformed theology, as it's also called, has waned, it is enjoying a resurgence. That's true especially among younger Christians, according to Collin Hansen, author of the book, Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. I spoke with Hansen by phone. Click above to hear that interview.

The Coming Evangelical Collapse Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:00:00 GMT

There is a fascinating essay on the Christian Science Monitor website predicting, "The coming evangelical collapse." I'm not familiar with the author, Michael Spencer. But he describes himself as an evangelical and he comes to some compelling conclusions, including:

"We evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billions of dollars we've spent on youth ministers, Christian music, publishing, and media has produced a culture of young christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it. Our young people have deep beliefs about the culture war, but do not know why they should obey scripture, the essentials of theology, or the experience of spiritual discipline and community. Coming generations of christians are going to be monumentally ignorant and unprepared for culture-wide pressures."

Many will dismiss his conclusion that our involvement with the culture war and political conservatism "will prove to be a very costly mistake." But keep in mind, the decline of mainline Protestantism a century ago was triggered, in part, by its involvement in all kinds of seemingly good causes, including Prohibition. The problem is those mainline churches got so involved in "good causes," they left the Gospel behind. Soon, theological accuracy on the essentials of the faith, including the Trinity, the Resurrection, sin, justification by faith, etc., was jettisoned.

As an elder in a local congregation of an evangelical church, I would add one more concern to Spencer's list. I believe disloyalty displayed through "church hopping" is a grave sin in our movement. Too many people are all too quick to leave a church for unbiblical reasons. Having talked to dozens of people over the years who've left churches, I've discovered that many will say, "Well, we just weren't being fed at that church." But after scratching below the service, I've discovered they fled because of a conflict with a pastor, leader, or another member. As a result, they have rejected the notion that God, in His Sovereignty, placed them in that situation for their good; to work through the conflict and thus, bring glory to God. Scripture has given us clear guidelines for working through conflict, but far too many Christians ignore them and choose the easy, cowardly way out. If we're called to be imitators of Christ, we've failed miserably to show a lost and hurting world what His loyalty and faithfulness look like.

At any rate, click here to read Spencer's column.

Milton Friedman's Wisdom Rings True Today Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Remember The Phil Donahue Show? The show had a 26 year run that ended in 1996. Donahue seldom hid his liberal views on a host of issues. And though I don't recall him being rude to his guests, he never seemed to be at a loss for words, except during this exchange with noted economist Milton Friedman, who died in 2006. I'm not sure when the interview took place, but my guess is during the 80's.

What I find striking is how true Friedman's words are today. The decision-makers in Washington would do well to heed his counsel before they go about the business of redefining government.

Take a look.

What About the 'Least of These,' Mrs. Pelosi? Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:00:00 GMT

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggests adding birth control funding to the financial stimulus package.

Take a look at how she defended the idea to ABC's George Stephanopoulos on his This Week program Sunday:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Hundreds of millions of dollars to expand family planning services. How is that stimulus?

PELOSI: Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So no apologies for that?

PELOSI: No apologies. No. we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy.

Shocked? We shouldn't be. Mrs. Pelosi unwittingly revealed how many liberals feel about those that Jesus referred to as "the least of these;" not just the unborn but those who they perceive would be a drain on society.

And you have to wonder if that's not an underlying reason why President Obama lifted the ban on federal funding of overseas "family planning," including abortion.

I FORGOT! Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Steve Martin did a comedy routine early in his career that made me laugh so hard I could cry. Basically, here's how it went:

"You say, Steve, how can I be a millionaire and never pay taxes?" Martin's reply was to tell the tax man, "I forgot!"

That seems to be Tim Geithner's defense for not paying taxes during the time he worked at the International Monetary Fund. Geithner and his defenders in the Obama administration and Congress claim it was just an honest mistake.

So, the person who President Obama has appointed to make sure you and I pay our taxes has admitted that he didn't. If it weren't so maddening, I'd be laughing like I did at Steve Martin's joke.

You may have the same reaction when you listen to my phone interview with The Heritage Foundation's Michael Franc. Click play above.

America's Second Largest Export Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:00:00 GMT

America's entertainment industry receives a lot of criticism. Because of the gratuitous sex and violence depicted in many films, much of that criticism is deserved. But Joseph Dooley, Genealogist General of the Sons of the American Revolution, says many films also contain a lot of good which we, as Americans, may take for granted.

My wife and I attended a dinner meeting of a local chapter of the SAR recently and heard Dooley talk about that in a speech he entitled, "Braveheart and the Export of American Idealism." It's well worth reading:

Let me ask you: what is the single largest export of the United States? Of course, the answer to such a question often depends on your source. But according to the United States Department of Agriculture, the single largest export of the United States is agricultural products. It might be a stretch to say that we feed the whole world, but it would be accurate to say we feed a good part of it.

(Of course, these days, one could argue that the single largest export of the United States is our debt.)

So, what is the second largest export of the United States? Again, the answer may depend on your source, but would you believe the second largest export of the United States is film? Television. Music. Entertainment. Go to almost any part of the world, and American music will be playing on the radio, American films will be showing at the local theater, and on TV you can tune in to The Simpsons or even Judge Judy.

How many of you saw Mel Gibson's movie, Braveheart? Well, I would hate to disappoint our friends who are Scottish Americans, but the historical William Wallace was nothing like the William Wallace portrayed in Braveheart.

In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace says such things as:

· "You think the people of this country exist to provide you with position. I think your position exists to provide those people with freedom."

· "I see a whole army of my country men, here, in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men, and free men you are"

and, of course,

· "Tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"

Now, I understand dramatic license. I understand that Braveheart was not a documentary, but a piece of entertainment. But the sentiments expressed by William Wallace in the film do not bear the slightest resemblance to anything the historic William Wallace would have said. And don't get me wrong: I do not mean to diminish the heroic stature of William Wallace. As an American who is descended from both a Revolutionary War Patriot and Irish immigrants, I applaud anyone who would challenge the tyrannical authority of the English.

However, the historic William Wallace was not concerned with the freedom of the common Scottish man; he was concerned with the prerogatives and privileges of the Scottish nobility, especially as those prerogatives and privileges might be threatened by the English.

In the film Braveheart, when William Wallace appeals to his countrymen to fight as free men against tyranny, what we are hearing is not the historic William Wallace, but William Wallace the would-be American. Guess what movie Mel Gibson made just a couple of years after Braveheart? The Patriot. Have you seen it? It's a good flick, but a bit bloody. In it, Mel plays an American Patriot in the Revolutionary War. In both Braveheart and The Patriot, the characters played by Mel Gibson say remarkably similar things.

OK, you might think this reflects more on Mel Gibson than on American films in general, but consider the film 300, which came out earlier this year. Did any of you seen it? It's about the Battle of Thermopylae at which 300 Spartans fought an army of tens of thousands of Persians. In 300, King Leonidas of Sparta says such things as:

· "The world will know that free men stood against a tyrant."

and

· "A new age has begun, an age of freedom. And all will know that 300 Spartans gave their last breath to defend it."

As with William Wallace, I do not want to disparage the historic Leonidas. We have good cause to admire his courage and military leadership. But I know of no primary source of Spartan history in which Leonidas is recorded as saying or writing anything that praises the struggle of free men against tyranny. Inasmuch as he was an absolute monarch himself, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have concerned himself too much about the evils of tyranny.

In the movie, there is scant mention of the other Greeks who fought alongside the Spartans, and there is no mention at all of the several hundred Spartan helots - or slaves - who fought alongside the Spartans. It would at the very least be inconvenient to have Leonidas exalt the fight of free men against a tyrant while he was being aided in this fight by slaves.

I submit to you that what we have in these films is the Americanization of William Wallace and Leonidas. Does this matter? Does it mean anything?

Earlier, I asserted that the second largest export of the United States is film, TV and music. Are we just exporting entertainment? I would argue, no, we are not just exporting entertainment, but rather various media whereby we give the world a glimpse into American values.

Cynics might assert that American film, TV and music are filled with images of violence and gratuitous sex. I would have to agree at least in part, but I must say that is not nearly the whole story.

What happens on Judge Judy, or better yet Law & Order? Crimes or other transgressions are alleged and investigated, and then there's a trial. In these TV shows, the world sees the American judicial system dramatized in a manner that makes Miranda rights mean something. They don't have Miranda rights in other parts of the world. In these TV shows, the American concept of "due process" means something, and the American Constitution is demonstrated to be a real, living document under which our rights are protected.

But even more than dramatizations of our legal system, American movies and music are filled with stories of people who assert their liberty - who assert their rights in the face of oppression. We export stories of the individual who chooses to be free, who insists on living his life as he chooses, and not as his parents or society or a king would have him live it. American movies and music are filled with stories of people who exercise their rights to free speech and free assembly. American movies are filled with stories of people of faith who freely exercise their religion. And you can always recognize the bad guy in an American movie because he's the one who wants to stifle the free exercise of religion, or stop free speech, or force the hero to conform. The bad guys in American movies are the ones who are a threat to personal liberty.

Surely, prior to the generation of our Patriot ancestors, there were notions of free speech and rights of the common man - but not at the time of Leonidas, or even by the 14th century and the age of William Wallace. Nearly a hundred years before our Revolution, there was the so-called Glorious Revolution, which brought William and Mary to the throne, and also produced the Bill of Rights of 1689. But the Bill of Rights of 1689 secured rights for only some British citizens, not all, and we know that in the intervening century before our Revolution, the rights that were supposed to be secured were not always safeguarded by the British King or his ministers.

What we have in our country, what our Patriot ancestors set in motion, is a process by which our civil rights are asserted, tested and affirmed. The civil rights in question may not have been extended equally to all Americans in the 18th century - Blacks, Indians and women come to mind - but these rights are extended to all Americans now. This process by which our civil rights are asserted and affirmed, is dramatized and illustrated in the media which we export to the world. Indeed, the whole world thinks about liberty and civil rights today in terms crafted by the United States. The world may not always agree with us, but we have defined the terms of the debate. The legacy of civil liberty secured by our Patriot ancestors is not only for us; it is in fact America's gift to the world.

A Unifying Prayer? Tue, 20 Jan 2009 10:00:00 GMT

With all the controversy surrounding Rick Warren giving the opening prayer at President Barack Obama's inauguration, it was the benediction delivered by long-time civil rights leader, the Reverend Joseph Lowery, that ought to generate the most outrage. Here's how Lowery concluded his prayer:

'Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around. when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen'.

Let me get this straight. We've been told that Obama's election finally signified a post-racial nation. Too bad that Reverend Lowery's prayer does not. Imagine if Rick Warren had concluded his prayer with words like, "Lord, we ask you to help us work for that day when adulterers will be faithful to their spouses and gays will be straight."