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Listening to God
I need to practice a better devotional discipline for listening to God. I’ll admit that I readily counsel this for others but frequently fail to attend to that kind of devotional practice myself.
Although I have a passion for intercessory prayer — standing in the gap on behalf of others — I know my spiritual life is impoverished by not spending enough time quietly listening for God’s voice.
I welcome suggestions from readers regarding specific devotional practices that have helped you open the ears of your spirit to the Spirit of God.
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Leadership and Change
This is the blog entry I was going to write the day after the election in Elizabeth City. I guess we can file this under ‘Better Late Than Never.’
I’m not going to give my thoughts on who I think should or shouldn’t have been elected. It’s important to maintain my objectivity in the election since I’m continuing to cover city government — and there’s a run-off election Nov. 3.
What I do want to reflect on, however, is both the importance of elections and the reality that as important as they are, there are things more important and more foundational to a strong society.
The Bible acknowledges the importance of wise rulers: “Take wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you” (Deuteronomy 1:13).
We are blessed in America with the opportunity to pick our leaders — or “take” them, as in the King James rendering of the verse quoted above — by means of elections. We have the opportunity to vote for leaders and have our say in selecting wise leaders who will pursue and promote that righteousness that “exalteth a nation” (Proverbs 14:34).
One of the things that impressed me Tuesday was the way representatives of different candidates — in some cases, the candidates themselves — got along with each other and had civil conversations, laughing and joking and enjoying the day.
It’s not that the differences between candidates and their positions on issues don’t matter. But there is a shared humanity that shouldn’t be forgotten.
Again, the election itself is important and citizens should take advantage of the precious opportunity to cast a vote. Selecting wise leaders is a privilege and a cornerstone of American society.
Leaders make a difference in the well-being of a community.
But so does everyone. That’s the other side of this topic. The so-called “average citizen” must be part of the solution to the most pressing problems in any city.
Just as the Bible teaches the importance of leaders, it also celebrates the change that begins with the transformation of a single human heart and life.
For instance, 2 Corinthians 5:17 proclaims anyone who is “in Christ” to be “a new creature” or “a new creation.” The difference Jesus makes re-forms a person from the inside.
It actually goes even further. An alternative way to read 2 Corinthians 5:17 is “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.” A changed life is the beginning of a new community and a new world.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the twin pillars of leadership and individual renewal ever since a conversation Tuesday afternoon with mayoral candidate Roger McLean in a parking lot outside the K.E. White Center at Elizabeth City State University — the polling place in Elizabeth City’s 4-B precinct.
He and I were discussing the general topic of race relations in Elizabeth City and across North Carolina. McLean asked me if I knew the key to better race relations and I told him I believed it was changed hearts and attitudes on the part of individuals — better relationships between neighbors, deeper trust and respect between co-workers, easing of hostility between acquaintances.
He countered that the key to better race relations is leadership. Leadership sets the tone, he insisted.
I’ll have to say leadership deserves its due (Deuteronomy 1:13; Proverbs 14:34).
But I’m still holding out for new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I hope everyone in the city turns out to vote for his or her choice for mayor in the run-off election on Nov. 3. Good leaders are important to the city and wise leaders are a goal God Himself has established.
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Change of Heart
All important change in society begins with a change of heart.
As the hearts of individuals are transformed, families, communities, nations and the whole world begin to be transformed as well. That’s not to say that organized efforts to effect social or political change are misguided or inappropriate — only that they’re incomplete.
“And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” (Deuteronomy 30:6)
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
A changed heart and life is the beginning of change in society.
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Obama’s health care speech
I just want to acknowledge that President Barack Obama said in his health care speech last week that there would be no federal funding for abortion as part of the health care reform bill.
I’m taking the president at his word but will continue to be vigilant on this issue.
As for the rest of the speech, I’m not terribly invested in the partisan differences over the specifics of reform. I’m interested in some of the Republican ideas but not entirely opposed to the public option favored by many Democrats.
I do hope Congress passes health care reform that will include common-sense provisions, including tort reform.
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Remembering 9-11
As I remembered the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001 on the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks last week, I kept thinking back to the fire department chaplain who lost his life inside the twin towers as he ministered to a fallen firefighter. That chaplain was one of the true heroes of that day.
The image of that heroic priest stands in contrast to the damning narrative of sexual abuse by priests and scandals involving major television preachers and clergy in all denominations.
Priests and pastors fall as low as people in other lines of work but they also — as in the case of the FDNY chaplain — soar to great heights on occasion.
I’ll continue to remember those who died on 9-11, all the heroes who came forward that day and the military personnel who continue to fight the War on Terror.
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Rifqa Bary update
According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, a Florida judge has ruled Rifqa Bary will remain in Florida in foster care while she and her parents resolve the case in mediation.
This strikes me as a fair ruling. I hope Bary can return home when she’s ready, and I pray she’ll be safe.
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Runaway Convert and Heartbreak
My heart is breaking over the story of Rifqa Bary, a Christian girl who converted from Islam four years ago and recently ran away to Florida, saying she feared for her life because her family in Ohio had threatened to kill her for converting to Christianity.
I don’t know this girl or her family. She could be lying. They could be wonderful, loving parents. Certainly in most cases I prefer that a child live with the parents.
But the law makes exceptions in cases of abuse and this case should be investigated thoroughly and taken seriously. And I’m thoroughly sickened by the extent to which this case has been turned into a narrative that exonerates the parents (with very little known about what has happened) and demonizes the Florida pastor and church that has provided shelter for Bary.
It could turn out that the church and pastor are evil conspirators (or overzealous fanatics) but I have a strong feeling they’re good people trying to help someone in trouble. I don’t have nearly as good a feeling about the Islamic family in Ohio with ties to an extremist mosque.
Again, as a parent I’m sympathetic to what the parents say. But Florida authorities who are slated to hear the case later this week should take the girl’s claims of death threats and previous abuse seriously.
One final thought: Bary apparently has never considered what many people in our secular-influenced culture would have thought of first — renouncing her Christian faith. Her commitment seems to be rock-solid.
I’ll be praying for everyone in this case, but mostly for a teenage girl who appears to be taking a brave stand for her faith in Jesus Christ.
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Charity and Healing
Charity: Call it the forgotten piece of the health care puzzle.
As the health care reform debate continues to generate more heat than light, an army of doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other caregivers is fighting the good fight across the country, caring for those who have no way to pay for their health care.
Free clinics obviously are not the answer for health care for most people. Insurance is going to be the best way to provide for health care for a majority of Americans.
But for those who may not be able to afford health insurance no matter how inexpensive it becomes — including but not necessarily limited to the homeless, the disconnected, the poorest of the poor whom we will always have with us (Mark 14:7; Deuteronomy 15:11) — free clinics remain an important provider of health care.
About a dozen years ago I volunteered regularly answering the telephone and doing clerical chores at a free clinic in Durham. Every time I walked though the doors to the clinic I saw faces of people for whom the clinic was a lifesaver (very literally in some cases).
The Church of Jesus Christ has a long tradition of operating hospitals and clinics. That commitment to healing and charity is needed today as much as ever.
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Soap Operas, Novels, and The Book
Today we take a break from heavy health care talk to discuss … soap operas.
Yes, really — soaps — also known by their more precise name, daytime serial dramas.
Some years ago now I preached a Sunday sermon that included a reference to “All My Children” in order to illustrate a particular point. As things go, I have long since forgotten the Biblical-theological point, but I’ll never forget the reaction of parishioners.
“The other day I was watching ‘All My Children,’” I began, and immediately a number of people started listening more closely and a few even stopped daydreaming and began paying attention for the first time. If the purpose of the soap reference was to get folks’ attention, to speak in terms they could relate to — and that was the main idea — then it worked exactly as planned. Indeed, a couple of weeks later someone who was in the congregation that day claimed it was one of the best sermons she had ever heard. It was exactly the “All My Children” reference that caught her attention and won her over, she said.
On the other hand, one church member gave me a stern lecture on the steps of the sanctuary immediately following the worship service that day.
“I don’t ever want to hear you talking about that soap operas in church again,” she began. “They’re of the Devil.”
My purpose is not to caricature her position. Although I believe she overstated the matter, I also think she had a valid point about, for instance, the sorts of lewd sexual situations that frequently are the topic of daytime dramas.
I was neither ready to concede the point nor entrenched enough in my own view to make a stand of it.
“You might be right,” I replied, confessing my agnosticism on the issue.
“I know for a fact I’m right,” she shot back. “The Lord told me years ago that those things are of the Devil. I haven’t watched them since.”
I simply shared my observation that some worshipers seemed to listen more intently after the soap illustration.
I’m certain I didn’t change her mind, and she didn’t change mine, either. We remained friends.
I hadn’t thought much about soap operas since then (I stopped watching “All My Children” a couple of years ago when the character of Simone was discontinued — killed off, as they call it) until about a week ago when I read G.K. Chesterton’s argument that Christianity, with its notion of Life as Story and God as a Divine Storyteller (Author of Life, in more traditional language), had given rise to the novel.
Detective stories and romance novels, in particular, have flourished within Christian culture, Chesterton observed. This might have been partly self-serving, since Chesterton himself was a popular writer of detective stories — he was not formally trained as a theologian — but it also reflected his deep conviction about the close connection between Christian faith and narrative art.
In an entirely different connection, some three-quarters of a century later, Jewish literary critic and Bible scholar Robert Alter argued that the (human) writers of the Bible — the Old Testament of Christian usage — invented the practice of prose narrative as an artistic endeavor, paving the way for the emergence of the novel some two millennia later.
Alter is a religious Jew who believes that God authored the Bible, but he also takes seriously the art and craft of the human writers. There’s not sufficient space or time here and now to deal with his complicated ideas about the divine-human authorship of the Bible, but one of his key concerns has been to promote an appreciation for the brilliance of the biblical narrative art.
All of this brings us back to soap operas, sort of. Chesterton was writing before the invention of television, and Alter has written about cinema but little, if at all, about small-screen programs, but I believe soaps fit into this broad argument about the centrality of narrative in a biblical worldview.
Life is a Story. And sometimes life seems more like a soap opera than like grand opera.
But God’s constant call to faith and faithfulness invites us to a journey toward a life that reflects God’s glory, looking all the time a little less like a daytime drama and a little more like heroic drama.
Stayed tuned.
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Thoughts on Health Care Reform
This may really be two pieces rolled into one, but I’m going to try it as a single piece on health care.
As I have told several people recently in discussions about health care reform (it’s a genuine hot topic), I’m still open-minded regarding various proposals that are out there. I’m interested in learning more about the Republican plans that are floating around. My friends who are hard-core Democrats insist none of the GOP plans could possibly work, but I’m not so sure.
On the other hand, I’m not dead-set against a public option, the so-called “Obamacare” that conservatives are railing against relentlessly. It’s not my first inclination, but I think as a nation we should look at as many options as possible.
The system is in many ways broken now and needs to be fixed. I’m not committed to a specific fix. What I am troubled by, though, and very much as a matter of faith, is the selfishness that I detect in much of the rhetoric — basically, ‘I already have health coverage so why should I support anyone else getting it?’
That strikes me as a thoroughly un-Christian, even anti-Christian, attitude.
But I do also have what might be called “pro-life” concerns about health care reform. I’m not shouting from the rooftops about “death panels” but I’m trying to be vigilant about subtle — or not so subtle — movement in any health reform package in the direction of promoting euthanasia or abortion.
Last week, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chatted briefly with the “Faith and Life” blog about our shared pro-life commitments as they relate to health reform legislation.
The senator said he doesn’t actually think any of the current health-care proposals are promoting euthanasia, but added he was not happy with language about federally funded “end-of-life counseling” in at least one plan.
“I’m concerned with how it is written,” Burr explained.
He said he favors a proposal by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., that would have people state their end-of-life wishes when they in Medicare. There wouldn’t be any “counseling” by the federal government under that proposal, Burr said.
“It’s a personal decision,” he said. “The federal government doesn’t need to get involved in that decision-making process.”
But although Burr to some extent downplayed the euthanasia concern, he acknowledged he was very concerned about proposals from the Democrats as they relate to abortion.
“My biggest pro-life concern with the health care legislation is this does explicitly get the federal government into funding abortions,” Burr said. “It absolutely does in the Senate Bill.”
He said he also was concerned the plan could end up requiring private insurers to cover abortion as well.
Health care reform is going to involve tough decisions, and people of faith should be tough-minded and ask hard questions as the debate moves forward. But the vitriolic rhetoric that has become so commonplace is not consistent with the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
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Thanks
Just wanted to acknowledge my thanks to God for the safe return of two American journalists from North Korea.
I have been praying for this and know many others have as well.
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Intelligent Design
I don’t think Genesis 1-2 should be taught as science in the public schools. (They should be taught as literature, along with the rest of the Bible, so people don’t grow up without knowing the one book that has had the greatest influence in shaping western culture.)
What I don’t understand, though, is why so many object to the mention of intelligent design even as a footnote in explanations of Darwin’s theory of evolution, let alone as a viable theory in its own right.
Darwinian evolution is fine as far as it goes. My only problem is when it goes too far — when it’s pushed beyond its own capacity by people who claim to be free and rational thinkers but in fact are enslaved by an atheistic agenda.
What evolution explains very well is intra-species development and even the origin of some species.
I don’t agree with intelligent design guru Michael Behe in every detail of his analysis but I think he’s accurate in his candid assessment of the limits of Darwinism. What Behe ultimately argues (his detractors typically oversimplify certain of his more complex arguments and ridicule them rather than dealing with his larger point) is that while Darwinian evolution accurately describes many phenomena in the biosphere — it paints a sound picture of many living creatures and how they have changed (evolved) over a vast expanse of time — the theory fails as an explanation of everything.
I’ll accept that living creatures originated entirely by random occurrence the same day I conclude that the C-130s over at the Coast Guard base came about through random attraction of one piece of metal to another.
But of course I know that the planes are able to fly because somebody designed them that way, and because somebody (equally intelligent) ensured they were constructed according to the design.
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Fathers
The epidemic of fatherless families in our society just might be our greatest social problem right now.
Not that we don’t have plenty of others, but much of the crime, drugs, poverty, and the rest can be laid at the feet of our culture’s war on fatherhood. You’re not sure there’s a war on fatherhood?
Hollywood leads the way. Movie after movie depicts fathers as bumbling idiots who are unnecessary and even detrimental to their kid’s lives. (Props here to “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” The slapstick comedy indeed depicts the mall-cop dad as a buffoon, but in this case a buffoon who’s willing to die — very literally — to protect his daughter.)
Oddly, many films also acknowledge, in a backhanded way, the problem of fatherlessness. I was watching “In Good Company” the other night and was struck by the way Topher Grace’s young executive latches on to Dennis Quaid’s character as a father figure. Toward the end, the younger character thanks the older for ‘caring enough about me to give me a hard time.’
The Bible understands the importance of fathers (Malachi 4:6) and our culture ignores or mocks fatherhood at its peril. The last thing I want to do is lay a (further) guilt trip on already guilt-ridden single mothers.
But I do hope to bring a note of sobriety to a culture of single-by-choice motherhood and derision toward fatherhood, in which “Father Knows Best” sounds facetious at best.
It’s time to be honest with ourselves and each other and our girls and boys. Children need fathers. Mothers need their children to have fathers. And men need to understand that being a father is about more than a simple act of procreation.
Rev. Tony Evans suggests a retort for young men facing peer pressure to practice casual sex and drive-by fatherhood: “I do not care to live the life of Fido.”
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health and care
Three quick thoughts on health care reform:
1) I hope Congress passes a workable health-care reform package. I’m dismayed at the selfishness of those who say, in effect, I have mine — so who cares if others are covered or not.
2) I’m as skeptical of an unwieldy big-government plan as are other moderates and conservatives. Congress needs to take the time to develop a plan that will work on all levels.
3) Health care reform should not be used as an opportunity for Obama, Pelosi and others to push through federal funding for abortion.
I’ll have more to say about faith and health care. As I have said before, concern for the total health of people is a core Christian concern.
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Iran: Then and Now
In 1983, as president of the Christian Life Council at Louisburg College, I suggested that our organization send a letter to our congressional representative supporting a bill calling for sanctions against Iran because of the country’s ruthless persecution of adherents of the Baha’i Faith.
The group sent the letter, but not without a rather lengthy discussion that, quite frankly, I hadn’t expected. Objections were varied but may be grouped in two main categories. Some group members disliked the notion of our Christian group acting on behalf of a non-Christian religious community — as if supporting human rights for those of the Baha’i Faith somehow constituted an endorsement of their beliefs.
The other objections reflected a discomfort with our organization dirtying its hands with “politics.”
More than 20 years later, with Iran again (still?) in turmoil, I’m reminded of those earlier days and that discussion among a group of Christian college students. We ended up sending the letter. I’ll never really know what, if any, difference it made, but we at least took a stand for religious freedom and acted out of compassion for our fellow human beings.
Let’s pray for the people of Iran during this current crisis — and beyond — and pray for wisdom and courage to stand in solidarity with Iranians who long for the blessings of freedom.
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Example
Paul, the dedicated missionary who started so many churches and reached so many people with the Gospel during the first generation after the death and resurrection of Jesus, is able to tell the Philippians (3:17) they should follow his example.
This has been on my mind a great deal the last several days: What example and I providing for people to follow? Am I following Jesus closely enough that if people emulate my life, they will be following Jesus themselves?
I have to think about this very seriously because I’m increasingly visible as a Christian commentator through this blog on The Daily Advance Web site, in addition to being the pastor of Perkins United Methodist Church in Shawboro.
But it’s a question worth asking for all followers of Jesus. Are we living lives that point people toward our Savior. Are we walking a path people can follow to find the Lord?
I’ve had this on my mind a lot lately because I have realized there are a number of young people who — for whatever reason — seem to look up to me.
Am I an example they’ll do well to follow? Is my walk worthy of my calling?
I pray that I — and you — will be a suitable example for the young people in our lives and for others around us.
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President Obama and the SBC
The Southern Baptist Convention recently adopted a resolution celebrating President Barack Obama’s election and inauguration as the first black president of the United States, while acknowledging its differences with Obama’s positions on abortion and other issues of concern to the SBC.
I’ll agree on both points.
I celebrate the election of the first black president as an important milestone in American history. I also am troubled by Obama’s positions on a range of issues and wonder what they will mean, ultimately, for the spiritual and temporal health of the nation. Of particular concern for me are his rigid position on abortion, his insistence on distancing himself from the nation’s Christian heritage, and his apology (for what, exactly?) to the Muslim world as if America somehow had been waging war against Islam.
One thing I appreciate about Obama is his commitment to family and his celebration of fatherhood (Malachi 4:5-6). I also am excited about his commitment to health care reform. What does that have to do with ‘faith and life?’ I believe the biblical tradition of God as “the LORD who heals you” (Exodus 15:26) and Jesus as the great healer who entrusted the healing ministry to his disciples challenges Christians to care for the health and wholeness of people and communities in very concrete ways.
This has taken many forms over the centuries, including church-run hospitals, church ministries of healing through prayer and laying on of hands, and the movement in the 1800s and early 1900s for humane care for people with mental illnesses.
The church in our day should be on the side of health care reform, but not stuck in a partisan way behind Obama’s plan or any other specific proposal.
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Praying Over the Paper
I have a simple suggestion for something to do with the newspaper. Some of your probably are doing it already.
Pray.
That’s my suggestion: Pray over the paper. Go through the paper and find the stories that make you mad, or break your heart, and pray that God will heal and help the people involved.
Pray for the people in crime stories and the police blotter. Pray for the victims, those arrested, the police who responded.
Actually, that’s how it started for me. When I was working at the Daily Dispatch newspaper in Henderson, N.C., one of my responsibilities was typing up blotter items from the county Sheriff’s Office. I found myself frustrated by all the situations people were getting into — and the ones innocent children were in through no fault of their own — and I started praying for those people and situations.
There are other things to pray about in the paper, of course: The struggle for freedom in Iran, state and federal issues, all sorts of things.
And don’t forget to say a prayer of thanksgiving for the good news you read in the paper, too.
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Faith, MLK and Life
At the recent Juneteenth festival at Waterfront Park I couldn’t keep the tears from my eyes as I listened to a recitation of Rev. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. It gets me every time.
It’s a classic speech from the vantage point of African-American history … and American history.
But it’s also a key moment in the history of the relationship between Christian faith and America’s great social challenges, of Christian truth directly addressing injustice. As such, it inspires me as a Christian — and a Christian preacher — in a way that may overlap with its inspiration for African-Americans but also maintains its own unique character.
King’s oratory evoked the call to justice and righteousness that fueled the Old Testament prophets. His commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ led him to embrace nonviolence as a path to justice.
African-Americans of King’s generation, and generations before them, confronted grave injustices of segregation, unequal education, unequal justice in court, and denial of voting rights — to name but a few. Slavery ended more than a hundred years ago but as late as 1970, when I was a first-grader, the black students in my class were routinely spanked for the same offenses (talking in class, chewing gum) for which white students were merely banished to the hallway for a few minutes.
I don’t particularly have a problem with spanking in the schools if it’s performed consistently and with due restraint, proper checks and balances and all that, but this inequity in punishment was unconscionable. (I got my last spanking at school in seventh-grade: a story for another day.)
Have things gotten better? Yes. Not that everything is fine on all fronts, but racial justice has made real headway during the past few decades.
And Martin Luther King’s voice continued to sound the call even after his death. Indeed, that voice resounds today.
It’s still a clarion call to racial justice. It also inspires me on a variety of other issues, including homelessness and the needs and rights of those with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities.
And as a call to biblical justice, it challenges me to confront the injustice of a society that refuses to acknowledge a right to life for an unborn child. It’s not that pregnant women don’t have rights of their own. But granting a right to life for the unborn child establishes a conflict of rights that can be adjudicated in a variety of ways.
The Supreme Court’s fundamentally flawed Roe v. Wade decision settles the matter in a one-sided way that cuts against the truth about human life.
Of course, this all started with a reflection on King’s speech, so let’s finish with his characteristic emphasis: nonviolence. The anti-abortion movement needs to stay true to the nonviolent way. Murders and clinic bombings are antithetical to what the movement stands for.
A good friend who is an Episcopal priest in the Raleigh area calls himself “a troubled pro-choicer” because of his commitment to a pro-choice stance despite his conflicted feelings and genuine concern for the unborn.
I guess I’ll have to call myself “a troubled pro-lifer” because I gradually have come to call myself pro-life despite my real concern for the dilemmas faced by women in difficult pregnancies. I just can’t continue to call myself pro-choice if it means pretending that the unborn child is not a person.
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Grace
I worry sometimes that advocating traditional morality on topics such as sexual behavior can make me seem self-righteous. I really worry about that a lot because as important as I think it is to stand for abstinence from sex before marriage (and from adultery after marriage), for temperate drinking of alcohol (or not drinking at all), for honesty and integrity and so on, it’s even more important to stand for the Gospel of Jesus Christ — which is about forgiveness.
The Gospel is also about repentance — turning from sin and toward Christ — but the Christian call to repentance is always in the context of forgiveness (Luke 24:47, for example).
Sin is sin, but God loves us and forgives our sins through Jesus Christ. God gives us a chance to start over and live the way we should.
The reality is no one gets it exactly right (see Romans 3:23) and that certainly includes me. I’m many different things but I promise self-righteous is not one of them.
Just the other day I started reading “The Ragamuffin Gospel” by Brennan Manning — something of a modern classic — and this book underscores perfectly just how completely God loves us in spite of our sin.
I had been planning to read this book for years (at least a decade). My wife recently bought it for me and brought it to me and I’m grateful for that act of kindness on her part. I’ve needed this book.
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Independence Day
I hope everyone had a great Independence Day. Our family had a good time. And I spent some time thinking about the sacrifices America’s military personnel have made, and continue to make, to defend our freedom.
Last week I was at the pool at the Albemarle Family YMCA and had the opportunity to talk to a young man who is getting ready for Navy SEAL training. I’m thankful there are people able and willing to go through such grueling ordeals and place themselves in extreme danger, people such as this young man at the YMCA and my cousin Adam, an Army special operations soldier.
I’m grateful for everyone in the military and also for the ideas that make this nation possible. And I want to take issue, just a little bit, with President Barack Obama’s assertion that America is not a Christian nation.
He’s right insofar as our Constitution prohibits an establishment of religion or a religious test for public office. He’s also right that people of any faith — or no faith at all — can be citizens of this country (and we only have one class of citizen).
But the genius of America has always been rooted in ideas that sprang forth from Christian minds and hearts:
Every movement that has defined and improved America — including abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage, humane treatment of the mentally ill, prison reform, ending of Jim Crow segregation — has been rooted in Christian churches and often led by Christian clergy.
Adherents of Christianity (including all degrees of commitment, from nominal to devout) far outnumber adherents of any other faith.
Even if some other faith group overtook Christianity in number of adherents, that wouldn’t change the role of Christian faith in the nation’s founding.
Freedom of religion — the very reason Christianity is not in any way established as the official religion of America — is itself the outgrowth of the Christian conscience of the nation’s founders, including the Baptist pioneer Roger Williams.
Although Thomas Jefferson was more than a little unorthodox in his beliefs (though he continued to serve as a vestryman in the Anglican Church), many others among the founding fathers were traditional Christians.
Whatever Jefferson’s convictions about specifics of Christian doctrine, the Declaration of Independence is shot through with Christian principles of liberty, conscience and natural rights.
The “checks and balances” approach within the federal government resembles nothing else so much as the polity of the Presbyterian Church.
British writer G.K. Chesterton famously described America as “a nation with the soul of a church.” The context of Chesterton’s comment makes clear he harbored no illusions that the country was consistently living up to its highest ideals.
He simply was noting that those ideals exist, and are encapsulated in documents such as the Declaration of Independence. Neither giant failings such as slavery and Jim Crow, nor numerous lesser shortcomings, undermine the essential reality of America as a nation founded on the notion of God-given rights, committed in principle to Judeo-Christian ideals of justice, and confident of the blessings of Divine Providence.
The president shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss the idea of the Christian soul of the nation. It’s that soul, more than anything else, that undergirds his own insistence — and that of millions of Americans — that America does not (and must not) torture.
It’s the Christian soul of this nation that can help us find the will to reform health care, along with the wisdom to do it in a way that will strengthen the system instead of placing it in shackles.
I could go on.
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She was A GOVENOR OF A STATE BIGGER THAN MOST IN THE USA. Obama has never held a regular or similar job, govenor or mayor of an entire state. I have been a community organizer.. I’m not ready for the US Presidency. He is so unqualified,
... read the full comment by Glorybe1929 | Comment on health and care Read health and care
I DO NOT want my email address shown!
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I would like to comment on the article about Paul Shanley,[ex priest from Boston , in prison] saying he is fighting the re-pressed memories of those he hideously and sexually abused.
Iam 80 yrs old and remember when in the summer of 2001
... read the full comment by Glorybe1929 | Comment on Independence Day Read Independence Day
I wish people like the quiter ,Sarrah Palin would stop lieing about death panels. Could you imagine having someone that dumb as your president?, or even governor !!!!
... read the full comment by E.O.W. | Comment on health and care Read health and care