Joe Carter's Open Letter to the "Religious Right"

Joe Carter, managing editor of Culture11, shares 11 thoughts in an open letter to the “religious right.”

I really appreciated his perspective and recommendations. Excerpts:

“We have ideological enemies (such as Islamic terrorists) and ideological opponents (such as secular liberals). While our ideological opponents want us to lose political debates; our ideological enemies want us to lose our lives. That's a crucial distinction that we should always keep in mind.”

“Cultural reform is needed even more than political reform. As Andrew Fletcher, an 18th century Scottish patriot, once boldly proclaimed, "If one were permitted to make all the ballads one need not care who should make the laws of a nation." Fletcher understood that cultural influence was vastly more important than political power. We once understood this point too. It's time to remind ourselves that, as James Carville might have said, "It's the culture, stupid."

“It is not enough for religious conservatives to simply baptize the conservative agenda; our political beliefs must be derived from our religious worldview. Doing that, however, requires developing such a worldview and knowing how to derive political policy prescriptions from the principles. While the difficulty of the task makes it easier to accept off-the-rack conservatism, we need to be able to tailor our policies from the fabric of our faith.”

“There are those who call us "Christianists" and claim we are attempting to "impose a theocracy" because name-calling and scaremongering are easier than engaging us in debate. But there are also those who makes such claims out of honest ignorance. For example, many of the people who use the term "theocracy" are probably unaware that the largest Protestant denomination in America, Southern Baptists, cannot even tolerate a centralized church government much less a central government controlled by the church. Thinking that a nation full of Southern Baptists wants to establish a theocratic regime is about as absurd as believing anarchists want to create a centralized government. Keep in mind, though, that we live in a country where 34 percent of the population believes in UFOs and ghosts; we shouldn't be surprised to find that Americans will believe just about anything.”

“…we must recognize that America is not a "Christian nation", though we should aspire to be a nation where those of us who are Christians are admired as good and noble citizens. America is not a "shining city on a hill", though we should let our light of freedom be a shining example for the entire world. America is not the "greatest blessing God gave mankind", though it is a great nation worthy of our conditional adoration. Patriotic sentiment has its place but we mustn't let it expand beyond its acceptable borders. We are citizens of both the City of God and the City of Man and must always be careful not to confuse the one for the other.

Check out the whole article. Recommended for sharing!

Assignment: Gratitude!

It seems everywhere we turn there's bad news. Discouraging stuff. Financial institutions failing. Bombs killing innocents. People out of work. Riots. Storms and flooding and fires. Politicians promsing catastrophe of OT proportions if you vote for the other guy. Uncertainty at every turn. "Can you hear the flushing sound? Ka-wooooshhh!" says my neighbor.

Yup, the world is not peaches and cream. There's trouble. People are hurting. I don't seek to diminish this, but Dad, if your kids only hear you talking about this they'll lose sight of the great things of God we experience in Christ. You need to give them perspective, balance, and the tools to think wisely.

Here's an assignment: gratitude!

Why gratitude? Because a thankful heart keeps us right with God, and with one another. "Grateful kids do not commit suicide. Grateful husbands and wives do not get divorced." -- Lee Brower

Try this yourself, right now: Write down 4 things you're thankful for, or accomplishments you're proud of. Make sure two of them are true in the last 24 hours.

Next: Decide how you will cultivate thankfulness in the next 24 hours.

Finally: Think of one good thing that nobody else is recognizing enough, and then communicate it to your family.

I'd like to credit Perry Marshall for whacking me up the head with these ideas.

Yacht Delivery

I'm not sure how many of my readers will ever have a customized yacht delivered to them, but if you do I hope your experience is better than this.

Thoughtful Views on the Emergent Church

If you're confused about all the "emergent" church conversations, and maybe a little concerned about what you're hearing, you aren't alone.

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church, helpfully talks about four different streams of the emergent movement, based on a 2-x-2 "grid":

Don't Change Change
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Doctrine
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Practice
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Pastor Driscoll argues for retaining orthodox doctrines (consistent with Jude 3), and being willing to change our practices to reach a changing culture. He helpfully warns about the problems that are occur when we abandon doctrines on scripture, Jesus Christ, gender, sin, salvation, the cross, hell, and authority.

Go here to get the 4 page PDF file, titled "A Pastoral Perspective on the Emergent Church." Excellent, concise, worth reading.

House Churches in Iran

We tend to forget that God has His people all over. Pray for the house churches in Iran as they come under more persecution. Imagine what God is doing to use these lights in the darkness and confusion of that country!

Rejecting Absolute Truth

From page 93 of Senator Obama's autobiography, "Audacity of Hope":

“It’s not just absolute power that the Founders sought to prevent. Implicit in its structure, in the very idea of ordered liberty, was a rejection of absolute truth, the infallibility of any idea or ideology or theology or “ism,” any tyrannical consistency that might lock future generations into a single, unalterable course, or drive both majorities and minorities into the cruelties of the Inquisition, the pogrom, the gulag, or the jihad. The Founders may have trusted in God, but true to the Enlightenment spirit, they also trusted in the minds and senses that God had given them. They were suspicious of abstraction and liked asking questions, which is why at every turn in our early history theory yielded to fact and necessity.”

Wrong.

The founders did believe in absolute truth. (Yes, some were deists.) The opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence rings with absolute truth:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Gene Vieth goes into this in more detail here and here -- recommended.

I do not know Senator McCain's views on absolute truth. That Senator Obama's worldview dismisses absolute truth does not surprise me, but does concern me.

Rumors Flyin', What To Do?

There are plenty of rumors, accusations, and innuendo flying around about all four candidates for President and Vice President.

Candidly, it says a lot about the gossipy-nature of our hearts and minds that we *love* this stuff. We love reading it. We love sharing it. We reward publishers with our attention. A reasonable interpretation of our our behavior is that we like being misinformed!

So what should a godly man do? Check the facts!
What should YOU do? Check the facts!

Here's one site with a good history of reliability: FactCheck.org

You can find out whether Senator Obama's bill fostered sex ed for kindergarteners (McCain's ad is a clear distortion), Governor Palin banned books in the Wasilla library (she didn't), etc.

Christians Attacked in India

Our brothers and sisters in India are suffering from violent attacks, and there are curious gaps in reporting. The hurricane and political election news in the US pretty much swamps out attention for these events. Please pray for them, and for the growth of God's kingdom in India.

How Husbands and Fathers Should Model Citizenship

One of my friends wrote and asked why I hadn't been blogging about the presidential candidates and exciting conventions. "There's loads of material!" he needlessly pointed out.

Here's the thing: part of me wants to, and I think a wiser, more mature part of me decided not to add redundant thinking and ascerbic commentary. Besides, the focus of this blog is not politics, but about encouraging husbands and fathers.

So in the hope of encouraging husbands and fathers as they model citizenship to others in their family and community, I offer some observations and predictions:

The US economy has many, many parts and interconnections. There is not a single economy, however much people may want to boil it down to a handful of numbers. The US economy is incredibly interwined with the larger global economy.

The falling value of the US dollar relative to many currencies is a symptom. We do not know the full extent of the disease(s), nor are there simple cures.

There is a desperate need for voters to be thinking carefully, and critically about the "facts" presented, their source, how they are presented, and what might be missing. Be particularly careful about statistics. (Mark Twain remarked about the man who had one arm in the icebox and the other in the oven, and on average was comfortable.).

Likewise, work forward from proposals offered, and consider possible consequences. Who benefits and who does not? By what degree? There is no free lunch. What is the timescale for results? I think a primary reason why systems thinking is not taught effectively is that this knowledge framework could undermine a lot of flimsy leadership authority. Oh, and it takes more thinking effort than swallowing sound-bites.

No matter whom is elected, he will be tested by terrorists and foreign powers (especially Iran, Russia, Syria, North Korea, and China). They will want to evaluate the words-deeds match, and how much they can cross lines and get away with it. And I think it will happen soon -- probably while many positions in the executive branch remain unfilled, and foreign power relationships are still being established.

Speaking of positions, whom the president selects as cabinet members and other principals is crucial. There is effectively no forecasting of choices during the campaign itself. There is a little more forecasting about judicial choices.

Nearly all professional politicians are sincere, and believe what they are saying. Sincerity is not a measure of truth.

Whomever is elected will have roughly 1/2 the country upset with him. All the time. That's 150 million people in the US, and more millions around the world. He should be very, very nice to the Secret Service.

Given the challenges and risks, anyone who actually wants to be President has disqualified himself or herself. I'm about half-serious on this.

The United Nations will remain the U.N., irrespective of whom is President. It is a macro-system unto itself. I think they have resolutioned themselves into irrelevancy.

Currently less than half of potential taxpayers in the US pay any federal tax at all. Irrespective of which party controls the executive and legislative branches in 2009, there will likely be increased taxes on a subset of potential taxpayers. As much as I would prefer a flat tax or national sales tax, I believe there is far too much political power invested in our current tax system to be abandoned by the same people whom benefit the most from manipulating it.

The serious breakdown of families across generations opens up an apparent need for more government action. Where husbands and fathers strive to do the right things, honoring God, serving their families and communities, you have progressively less need for government solutions. This strength can endure.

We've been fortunate in many ways that the current US House and Senate have passed very few bills or significant resolutions. It would seem that they have a greater appetite for waiting and positioning for 2009, than actually working through difficult decisions now. Expect gridlock to continue. Even with a filibuster-proof Senate (60 Democratic seats), I think the president will still be challenged to fulfill the big-ticket agendas.

By fall 2009, I predict the total number of issues and challenges and complaints about American politics will be unchanged. Emphasis may have shifted, but not the total. Americans simultaneously expect too much of government and government leaders, and love to complain about shortcomings and inadequacies. It's a near-perfect reinforcing loop. It's sport.

With all our struggles, poor trendlines, up and downs, the U.S. remains a remarkably blessed country. We deserve much judgment, but have received much, much more mercy.

We should be grateful that we serve a sovereign Lord to whom "the nations are like a drop in a bucket" (Is 40:15) We should be good citizens (which means paying attention and making careful voting decisions) and remember the perspective that no government or leader is a substitute for the lordship of Jesus Christ.

P.S. I do like Peggy Noonan's description of how the Democratic and Republican parties take different sympathies:

"Democrats in the end speak most of, and seem to hold the most sympathy for, the beset-upon single mother without medical coverage for her children, and the soldier back from the war who needs more help with post-traumatic stress disorder. They express the most sympathy for the needy, the yearning, the marginalized and unwell. For those, in short, who need more help from the government, meaning from the government's treasury, meaning the money got from taxpayers.
Who happen, also, to be a generally beset-upon group.
Democrats show little expressed sympathy for those who work to make the money the government taxes to help the beset-upon mother and the soldier and the kids. They express little sympathy for the middle-aged woman who owns a small dry cleaner and employs six people and is, actually, day to day, stressed and depressed from the burden of state, local and federal taxes, and regulations, and lawsuits, and meetings with the accountant, and complaints as to insufficient or incorrect efforts to meet guidelines regarding various employee/employer rules and regulations. At Republican conventions they express sympathy for this woman, as they do for those who are entrepreneurial, who start businesses and create jobs and build things. Republicans have, that is, sympathy for taxpayers. But they don't dwell all that much, or show much expressed sympathy for, the sick mother with the uninsured kids, and the soldier with the shot nerves.
Neither party ever gets it quite right, the balance between the taxed and the needy, the suffering of one sort and the suffering of another. You might say that in this both parties are equally cold and equally warm, only to two different classes of citizens."

That fairly sums up a lot about domestic politics, though does not address fundamental differences on foreign policy.

Teach the Jesus Way

If you do any Bible teaching, you might be interested in "Teach the Jesus Way."

Recommended: Wild Goose Chase

Mark Batterson's new book, "Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God" is delightful, accessible, and just the thing God could use to speak to you.

If you aren't yet where you need to be, get this book.
Highly recommended!

Capturing the Differences Between Men and Women

This cartoon captures a lot of the differences between men and women.

McCain and Obama at Saddleback -- Transcripts

Here are the transcripts of the Rick Warren Q&A with Senators McCain and Obama.

You weren't seriously going to be satisfied with the AP news summary, were you?

Harsh Language

Mark Driscoll talks (about 4-5 minutes) about harsh language in the Bible -- potent, effective, infrequent, and usually reserved for religious hypocrites.

Wild Goose -- Chase It Down!

Mark Batterson's new book, Wild Goose Chase: Reclaim the Adventure of Pursuing God, will be released tomorrow. The free "Yawning Angels" chapter from this new book has whetted my appetite!

I've been blessed by Mark's Evotional blog, his book "In the Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day," and his sermons.

Postmodernism, Explained

You see the word 'postmodernism' a lot. Can you define it? I'm completely serious -- can you explain it to someone else?

This J.P. Moreland explanation of postmodernism vs. modernism is excellent, and only about 2 pages. Recommended.

Dangers of Politicized Science

Michael Chrichton's novel "State of Fear" includes an appendix essay on the "Dangers of Politicized Science." I also recommend Chrichton's speech on the problems with a religous approach to environmentalism. He has posted the text from several other speeches on complexity theory, science policy, and genetic research.

Fair warning: Mr. Chrichton is not writing from an explicitly Christian perspective. He does work from a moral framework. I do not agree with all his recommendations.

The reason I recommend his material to you is because I want to encourage efforts towards clear thinking, dialogue that comes out of humility rooted in our incredibly limited understanding of complex systems, and a perspective that does not ignore our human fallibilities in working together. Chrichton has done his homework and critical thinking, and is more practiced than most writers at systematic integration of data across fields. So I believe he is worth listening to.

Keep in mind that our children and grandchildren are growing up in a technologically-sophisticated world. They need our help to learn how to assess options from a biblical framework, and how not to be snookered by sound bites and politicians who have developed an ability to smile even as they straddle a barb-wire fence.

Churchill on Books

"If you cannot read all your books, at any rate handle, or, as it were, fondle them--peer into them, let them fall open where they will, read from the first sentence that arrests the eye, set them back on their selves with your own hands, arrange them on your own plan so that if you do not know what is in them, you will at least know where they are. Let them be your friends; let them at any rate be your acquaintances."

"And What Does Your Daddy Do?"

You don't hear much about them in the news, but we have many brothers and sisters in Christ living amidst the muslim Palestinians. Here is an amazing story of the son of a Hamas leader who rejected Islam and is following Jesus. May our Lord magnify His name through him!

It's important to reinforce to ourselves and our children, that the Lord can save anyone. No heart is too desperately wicked, no one is too angry, no one is beyond redemption. If he saved you, then He can do it again.

There's a Whole Lot of Space

We've just returned from a long driving visit to see relatives in distant states...and I'm grateful for God's traveling mercies.

One overwhelming impression: there is a whole lot of empty space in the US!