His Barking Dog

A Question from a Pastor About Leaving the ABC?

2010-02-17T11:09:00.000-08:00

Since the separation of the Transformation Ministries (formerly ABCPSW) congregations from the ABC several years ago, this barking dog has been uncharacteristically quiet. Most of my silence is due to the fact that I no longer have a “dog” in this fight. Now, however, with Dr. Dale Salico retiring from leadership as Mission Lead (aka Executive Minister) of TM this month and after receiving a telephone call from a pastor in New England, another post might be in order.

Yesterday a New England pastor asked me if I thought that it was “sin” to remain in the ABCUSA. My answer? No, of course not; at least not anymore.

ABCPSW separated from the national body for reasons of historic particularity now no longer as pressing. In a longstanding disagreement with ABCUSA, the PSW board attempted to “send a message” by voting to withdraw from the “budget covenant” with the denomination.

Dr. Medley, then as now the General Secretary of the ABCUSA, countered by insisting that such an option was not open to PSW. Either they keep the budget covenant or they would be in breach of the “covenant of relationships” as well. Taking Dr. Medley at his word, they (I was not a member of the board at that time), felt that the honorable thing was to withdraw entirely. This move was confirmed by an overwhelming percentage of delegates who also voted to leave the national body.

Since then, 155 congregations have signed the covenant to participate with TM. A number of mostly (not entirely) weaker congregations opted to stay affiliated with the ABCUSA and are now known as ABCOSH and administratively linked to the ABCLA. And, some of the churches, including a handful of the stronger ones, were alienated enough from ABC generally, that they took no action at all, leaving them technically in the ABC fold without meaningful involvement of any kind.

Since the PSW withdrawal, ABC responded by adopting policies of accommodation previously called for by Dr. Salico and rejected by the other Executive Ministers at the time. These changes, had they come earlier, would arguably have kept PSW from withdrawing in the first place. Chiefly, they relate to a common sense compromise hammered out by the Executive Ministers, meeting in Tucson several years ago. Since the denomination has a position on human sexuality that homosexual practice is “incompatible with Christian teaching,” EM’s agreed not to send representatives to national boards, committees, and task forces who were openly gay or lesbian and not to issue contradictory statements on the matter. This preserved the conscience of conservatives and the freedom of each region to do whatever it wants to in its own precincts relative to the question. How Baptist!

And, since the time of TM’s withdrawal, the ABC has worked diligently on by-laws that will instantiate the de-centralization of the denomination that I have been dubbing the “Balkanization of the ABC” and predicting would come since the 1990s. Practically, each region will have a greater distance from Valley Forge, no longer looking to the national body to issue policy statements for the whole, at least not so easily. The proposed organization will transfer to the individual regional units far more autonomy and independence of action.

The fact that these changes were not adopted in the Pasadena Biennial owes to a number of other factors, among them the worst recession in decades and an unusually expensive venue for travel and lodging. This resulted in an historic low turnout of voting delegates dealing with a complex proposal without the kind of preparation that many of them deemed necessary. It does not, however, take away from the fact that the ABC is moving in a dramatically more decentralized direction and will, in time, certainly approve the enabling documents to legitimize it.

In light of all of these changes, most conservatives should not have conscience problems remaining within the ABC, although they are highly unlikely to effect systemic changes in the theological trajectory of the organization. Like the other mainline denominations, the course would seem to be set, with progressives in firm control of the national bureaucracy and many of the judicatories. Still, Baptist organizations, particularly highly decentralized ones, afford space for conservatives to be true to their values while maintaining selective involvement in the “family.” Indeed, the person who took a lead role in persuading the PSW region board to leave the ABC has since accepted a posting as senior pastor of an ABC congregation in the Midwest, evidently feeling that it did not involve a compromise of conscience.

Does this mean that TM should re-join the ABC after Dr. Salico’s retirement? No. There is a difference between upsetting the status quo in a bad and dysfunctional marriage by getting divorced and remarrying the spouse after the divorce is a fait accompli! TM has recently completed a comprehensive process under the auspices of a professional management firm, has a clearly defined sense of mission, vision, and values, and virtually never even mentions the ABC in board meetings, either negatively or positively, any more. Re-affiliation would prove almost as difficult as disaffiliation. And, from the reports given me by friends in the GEC, the denomination is happy to be “rid” of the problems associated with the PSW.

I still mourn the loss of the “family” that had been my home from 1955 until the separation of TM from the PSW. It is good to know that my friends in the east are able to stay true to the Gospel without leaving the ABC. And, those of us in Transformation Ministries rejoice in the opportunities afforded us for charting a direction without the stress and discord of our previous state.

Calvin 500

2009-07-11T08:43:00.000-07:00

Few people have impacted Christian theology as much as John Calvin. His Institutes have stood the test of time and continue to inform and correct the multitude of errors that Christianity's enemies and uninformed friends continue to adopt. His commentaries were a masterpiece of brevity and clarity and provided a model for later generations. For Calvin exegesis was exposition, all about explaining the authorial intent and applying it to God's people today.

During this year of 500th anniversary celebrations of his July 10, 1509 birth, I have already availed myself of two scholarly symposia on the impact of Calvin and plan to travel next month to Grand Rapids for a third one. In an era addicted to fads and flaky trends, Calvin stands up rather well. He was right more than he was wrong. Lacking the sheer brilliance of Luther, he applied his lawyerly and literary skills to explaining the five solas of the Reformation without the drama of Luther.

For Calvin, Christianity was not about us (how non 21st century!). Instead, he declared that God was the sovereign of the universe and that we are called to live life to the glory of God. His arguments for election and predestination, so troubling to our leveling democratic values, were clear and convincing. They remain unanswered in any satisfactory way by his critics.

The photograph was part of a surprise party staged by my staff at Atherton Baptist Homes. They know my fascination with Calvin and wanted to have some fun with the old man (me, not Calvin).

ABC Biennial: A Case of the Law of Unintended Consequences???

2009-06-29T21:37:00.001-07:00

I was shocked to learn from my brother, a volunteer at the ABC biennial in Pasadena, that the denominational structure plan did not pass. With observers such as Dr. Dwight Stinnett, I would concur that the plan being proposed was probably the best satisficing balance of competing interests under the circumstances. As Stinnett opines in his blog: “Given who we are, our competing interests, and our incommensurate values, I still believe it was the best we could do at the time.”

But, while musing on the shock of an electoral defeat this dramatic, a thought came to me. The vote was close, very close to passing. And, the numbers of delegates were few, less than 700! What if the decision to hold the biennial in the heart of the old ABCPSW, in the middle of the worst recession in decades, without pruning the rolls of old ABC churches now more TM than ABCOSH, was responsible for tipping the balance against the proposal? [Nothing in this posting is intended as asserting that this did indeed happen. I was not there and do not know. However, it represents an interesting possibility to consider.]

Certainly there were plenty of people motivated to be suspicious of authority, who felt underinformed about the proposal, or who did not relate to the electronic means of learning more about the details from an internet site. "Old School" Baptists would object that the proposal was more than a little unbaptistic in its decoupling of agencies and regions. Add to this the progressives on the left who were sincerely offended that the proposal would freeze in time all past resolutions (e.g., the one they find most odious of all regarding homosexuality being incompatible with Christian teaching). The material prepared by the folks at AWAB's Central Baptist Church (Wayne) offered articulate reasons to oppose the plan.

However, an often neglected factor may have played a role as well. When PSW voted overwhelmingly to withdraw from the ABC, Dr. Salico explained that he and Dr. Medley had agreed to give congregations 18 months to discern which affiliation they wanted to maintain. However, it was hardly a couple of months when that agreement was interpreted (abrogated? forgotten? modified?) as something very different. Congregations were told that unless they took an official vote to disaffiliate, they would continue to be counted as ABC churches in good standing.

Even in the old bastion of conservatism, ABCPSW, feelings regarding the ABC were sharply divided in most churches. Few pastors would necessarily want to be so controversial as to raise the issue in debate, lest dissent would sour into division. At this point, the website for ABCOSH lists MANY churches I personally know to be actively disinterested in all things ABC with pastors disinclined to continuing any relationship at all (other than one with BIM). However, many of these churches have not bothered (nor will they ever) to vote themselves “out” of the ABC. And, virtually all of them have members, many of them less informed about denominational politics, who still see themselves as American Baptists.

What if “old fashioned” Baptists who do not feel comfortable with getting their information over the internet from the ABC site, who never really understood what all the fuss was about with the ABC, who wanted to see old friends from around the country, prevailed upon their pastors to allow them to attend the biennial as delegates?

What if the recession reduced the attendance to 1,200? What if the numbers of registered delegates was closer to 600-700? What if some of these nominally ABC churches permitted their more diehard ABC types to go to Pasadena where, because their pastor had never mentioned it, the new structure was a completely new idea to them?

What if the discernment sessions did not adequately inform them about the seemingly radical deconstruction of the SCODS/SCOR structures that they did (finally after nearly four decades) understand? What if it sounded vaguely “unbaptistic” to them?

What if in a desire to be “positive,” nobody explained the financial drivers that made the reduction of the $400,000/yr. representative process price tag more of a decision of urgency and survival rather than merely a discretionary move?

Could enough delegates from basically non-ABC churches (i.e., TM congregations that had not formally withdrawn from the ABCUSA) have innocently mucked up the voting by registering the handful of negative votes necessary to result in a defeat? Could underinformed members of essentially non-ABC churches have shown up in enough numbers to have turned the tide on such an important issue?

Honestly, I do not know the answer. Someone smarter than I am (e.g., Dr. Jeff Woods) might be able to perform a statistical analysis of the numbers of delegates from southern California ABCOSH churches. Were there enough of them to result in the shortfall???

If so, it would be a tragic instance of the law of unintended consequences.

ABC Biennial - Whence and Whither

2009-06-29T10:34:00.000-07:00

Being part of the ABC for more than a half century made this biennial a particularly painful one for me. Not being present at a "family reunion" in my backyard because you are no longer part of the family simply reinforces the fact of the separation. My organization, Atherton Baptist Homes, did provide free housing for numbers of BIM missionaries and even an executive minister out to save some money for his region.

For those who want to know what happened, I refer readers to the always excellent and reliable blog by Dwight Stinnett.

This morning he posted a very comprehensive piece, "Pasadena Biennial Results" (http://abcviewsfrommiddle.blogspot.com/). Dwight has proven to be the best insider source for understanding the workings of the ABC. He is fair, balanced, exceptionally bright, and eschews "spin."

What is an "Executive Pastor" Anyway?

2009-03-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

I have been absent from this forum for several months due to pressing work responsibilities and enjoying being part of a very active theological message board. One of my e-friends there hails from a Reformed church background. He asked a question about the title, “executive pastor.” Here is my reply . . .

BIG churches tend to have Executive Pastors acting as the COO of the organizational stuff. They handle managing the office staff, associate pastors, HR issues, deal with vendors and contractors, direct the custodial staff, take care of building management issues, sometimes act as staff liaison to the ruling board, and generally handle the operations function in the multi-million dollar corporation. This frees up the senior pastor to work on his sermons, write books, speak around the country, sit for radio interviews, and spend time in his vacation home far away from congregation members.

The phenomenon is almost universally prevalent in "seeker sensitive" congregations due to their deeply ingrained culture of being early adopters of the latest business and marketing models. It is relatively less common in Reformed circles due to the fact that requiring the memorization of Calvin's Institutes, thorough rote knowledge of the BCO and various Confessions and Catechisms, and requiring the identification and recitation of the dozens of acronyms for all of the micro-Presbyterian denominations . . . well, it tends to limit congregational size and the necessity for an Executive Pastor. That is why, among Reformed groups, they are most often found in PCA congregations, particularly those where the pastors have been Willowcreekified or Saddlebacked into a Purpose Driven posture.

Generally you can determine the statistical probability of a church having an Executive Pastor based on whether the senior pastor has more books by Francis Turretin or George Barna in his personal library. Turretin is a dead giveaway that this is NOT a place where you will find an Executive Pastor. The presence of copies of books by Kaspar Olevianus or Zacharius Ursinus (in the original) increases that probabilistic likelihood to a near certainty. Ten books published by Jossey-Bass would generally point to a strong correlation with having an Executive Pastor; more than that and this IS the office of the Executive Pastor.

One way to determine whether a church is likely to have an Executive Pastor is to engage the pastor in casual conversation. Ask him to explain the extra calvinisticum. If he responds by drawing intersecting circles representing the trinity and differentiating his view from Luther's communicatio idiomatum, you may safely conclude that he will not have an Executive Pastor. If, on the other hand, he draws three circles and begins to explain the crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection of the following: 1. What you can be the best in the world at (and, equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at), 2. What drives your economic engine, and 3. What you are deeply passionate about, happens to mention the name of Jim Collins, or the "hedgehog principle," then you may pretty certainly assume that he will have an Executive Pastor.

I'm just old enough to find the name change a little too au courant or fashionably chic. Here in CA, we have adopted the new nomenclature even for relatively small congregations which sounds (to my jaded old ears) about as silly as watching a 5 year old dressing up in daddy's suit and tie and carrying an atache case to look "big."

Glossary:

Executive Pastor used to be Associate Pastor used to be Assistant Pastor.

Associate Pastor for Family Life Ministries used to be Christian Education Pastor used to be Director of Christian Education.

Pastor of Worship Arts used to be Minister of Music used to be Music Director.

Associate Pastor for Student Ministries used to be Pastor to Youth used to be Youth Pastor used to be Youth Director.

Minister of Building Management used to be Senior Custodian used to be Janitor.

Evangelicalism's Greatest Failure Redux

2008-09-05T14:29:00.000-07:00

Several friends and even one daughter-in-law took offense at my indictment of evangelicalism. Suffice it to say, I did not intend for my earlier posting to dismiss the evangelistic intentions or pragmatic effectiveness of any of the evangelical leadership of today. They are, and have been consistently, quite adept at presenting the Gospel in a winsome and attractive way as witnessed by the geometric growth of some of their ministries (regardless of our intramural differences over tactics or style). Nor do I quarrel with their expansion to speak about Christian action in the arenas of poverty, injustice, or illiteracy. Most of the great social improvements of the 19th century (e.g., the abolition of slavery, establishment of hospitals and retirement communities, etc.) came through the sacrificial efforts of Godly evangelical leaders who saw their mandate as involving more than "church work."

My concern is not that evangelicals are unable to stage large scale evangelistic efforts, creative programs, or innovative small group/video campaigns. This is obviously one of our strengths in the evangelical wing of the church. However, if you will audit some of the sermons preached in evangelical churches today that are dealing with anything other than evangelism per se, I believe you will find a shocking misuse of Scripture, tendency to psychologize the message for the goal of "relevance," and moralistic readings of Biblical texts.

Despite what anyone might say, the purpose of the Noah narrative is not to tell us to love animals and avoid inflicting pain upon them. That may be true enough. However, such a "reading" of Genesis is wrong, not because the "moral" is not a true statement, but because it misses the clear point the biblical author is presenting to us.

Luther's greatest contribution is often taken to be the rediscovery of the doctrine of sola fide, justification by faith alone. Luther, however, thought otherwise. He always opined that his greatest theological contribution was the differentiation of Law and Gospel, the Do and the Done. I am certainly more Calvinist than Lutheran and do not employ the Lutheran homiletic in my own preaching. However, his point is quite valid.

When we forget Luther's admonition, we will end up with a focus on feelings and good works. Schliermacher, father of modern liberalism, even defined true religion in terms of the interior life of the individual and the "sense and taste for the infinite" consisting primarily in feeling in Der christliche Glaube (The Christian Faith). When the liberals of the 19th and early 20th century following him left the grand theme of God and Gospel they ended up making it all about man, losing the Gospel in favor of Law. For them the "Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man" meant that our access to God is through our good works done in the service of our neighbor.

The fundamentalist explosion in the early 20th century objected that if religion were merely about "religious feeling" and our good works, it was no longer Christianity. J. Gresham Machen, in one of the most important books of the century, contended that liberalism was no longer Christianity at all but another religion entirely.

Against the control of the denominations by liberal scholars, the so-called "five fundamentals" put forth by the nascent "funamentalist" movement of conservatives held:

1. The Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1; John 20:28; Hebrews 1:8-9).

2. The Virgin Birth (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:27).

3. The Blood Atonement (Acts 20:28; Romans 3:25, 5:9; Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:12-14).

4. The Bodily Resurrection (Luke 24:36-46; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 15:14-15).

5. The inerrancy of the scriptures themselves (Psalms 12:6-7; Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20).

Another twist came in the 1940s when Carl F.H. Henry and Harold John Ockenga proposed the term "evangelical" (actually neo-evangelical) as a way of keeping the core of the faith in continuity with the Reformation and Puritan tradition while eliminating the anti-intellectual and judgmental elements of American fundamentalism. The founding of Fuller Seminary, Gordon-Conwell, and the National Association of Evangelicals was part of their effort. Again, the emphasis was certainly "evangelistic." However, the content of the Gospel determined the message of the evangel.

In contrast to some of my gloomy prognostications in the last post, theologian Allister McGrath has painted a fairly rosy picture of the future of evangelicalism. He observes that we come from three interacting historical traditions: Reformational Christianity, Pietism, and the Puritan movement.

My concern is that in recent times, the first and last are relegated to the dustbin of history and we follow an almost exclusively pietistic and subjective compass for navigating the troubled waters of modernity and post-modernity. In a pellmell haste to "get back to basic Christianity and to ignore all of the traditions," we have tended to forget the crucial elements of our evangelicalism that are made up of sturdy Reformation doctrine and the experiential Calvinism of the Puritans, accepting largely uncritically an unconscious acceptance of the pietist tradition.

My concern with much contemporary evangelicalism is not with our evangelistic sermons or programs. It is when we are talking about almost ANY thing else than "getting saved" that we tend to become adrift. Preaching law will be either painfully judgmental or will inevitably degenerate into moralism. And, moralistic preaching is what I was objecting to in my original piece.

Enough with self-help how-to bromides and platitudes. Hurting people sensing that they are drowning in their troubles need something sturdier and more stable on which to hold than a plank of pious good wishes and a life preserver of the latest evangelical self-help “classic.” Only the bold declaration of the grace of a Sovereign God towards us sinners, the mercy he shows to us in the atoning death of Christ, and the confident peace that comes from him as the Provident One who will sustain his creation (and us) will enable us to cross these rapids of post-modern waters safely to the other shore.

When a preacher reduces the message to a list of pointers on how to vet a presidential candidate, we have missed a golden opportunity to declare that the redemptive historical metanarrative of the Bible points to a reality larger than Caesar, even these current applicants for the post. Helping Christians think through concrete decision-making is a worthy enterprise and should be part of a sermon's application, not the substitute for it.

Evangelicalism’s Greatest Sin: The failure of the evangelical experiment as illustrated in the recent Saddleback Civil Forum

2008-09-03T12:37:00.000-07:00

Evangelicalism, not the classic meaning of the term in church history and theology, but the unique constellation of doctrinal, sociological, and historical characteristics that are part of today’s American religious life is a movement in trouble. For a few years now I have been struggling vainly to find the key to unlock my growing disquiet with a movement so broad as to encompass Bill Hybels and Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham and that Lakeland Revival guy Todd Bentley, Robert Schuller and John MacArthur, Jack Hayford and Michael Horton, Fuller Seminary and Dallas Theological Seminary.

Historian David Bebbington describes this movement, shaped by revival and molded by resistance against “liberalism,” in terms of its characteristic beliefs and emphases: conversionism, the belief that lives need to be changed; activism, the expression of the gospel in effort; biblicism, a particular regard for the Bible; and crucicentrism, a stress on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Some observers have noted that belief has less to do with the movement than technique. Mega church pastors like Rick Warren boast of “training” more than 400,000 pastors and sending out a newsletter weekly to 230,000, many of whom simply copy his sermon notes for their own Sunday messages. As evangelical Christianity has morphed in America, it has proven more ingenious and mutable than a pesky virus in a CDC laboratory.

Quick to embrace new technologies, whether Luther’s use of the printing press to flood Germany with Reformation tracts, Charles Fuller’s early employment of radio in his “Old Fashioned Revival Hour,” or the 24/7 coverage on numerous religious cable television stations today, conservative Christians have been among the first to adopt and adapt new technologies to the service of proclaiming their brand of Gospel. And, in the process, they have changed not only “how” they do church, but the very content of the Good News (the root meaning of the Greek “euangellion” or “evangel”) itself.

Shamed and scolded by “liberals” for decades for being so heavenly minded that they were no earthly good, evangelicals have begun to address these criticisms. In the past few years we have seen Bill Hybels invite Bill Clinton, ordinarily a pariah among religious conservatives such as James Dobson, and industry titans like Jack Welch to his annual Leadership Summit for church leaders. Warren has stressed AIDS relief, made common cause with U2’s Bono, and developed his own P.E.A.C.E plan to tackle the five “global giants” of spiritual emptiness, self-centered leadership, poverty, pandemic disease, and illiteracy.

The recent Saddleback Civil Forum reveals evangelical Rick Warren doing what socially conscious liberal Christians have long advocated: engaging the culture politically. But, in typical Saddleback fashion, it was done on a big scale, bigger than anything ever attempted by a pastor before now. The two presumptive candidates for our nation’s top office each sat for their genial hour long interview with the purpose driven pastor-in-chief, all before the glare of television lights and cameras.

A report on the event by Weekly Standard’s publisher, Terry Eastland, finally got to the heart of my growing discontent. Evangelicals have responded to the complaints of our cultured liberal interlocutors by selling, bartering away, and down-right squandering their birthright. In short, the evangelicals have no Gospel, no Evangel anymore. In place of the liberating good news of the Gospel, they have substituted the same tasteless recipe responsible for the decline in the liberal mainline churches over much of the last half century. Rather than Gospel, evangelicals have settled for Law, or as they practice it today, moralism.

Eastland reported that on the day after the forum, Warren preached to his 22,000 people a message “The Kind of Leadership America Needs.” Using 21 citations from the Bible, including 13 from Proverbs, two from the Psalms, three from the Gospels, one from Philippians, and two from James, he buttressed his case and supported his points.

However, as Eastland observes, something was missing? The Gospel!

"Notably absent from the message, however, was the distinctive content of the Christian faith, even though this was a worship service. Warren didn't discuss the verses he used in the context of the Bible's overall redemptive message. Had he done that, he would have made it to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Even when citing a text explicitly mentioning Jesus, Warren didn't go into what it was actually about. "When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36) is fundamentally not about how leaders need to be compassionate, though they do, but about how Jesus the shepherd has come for his lost sheep."

Then, in words as prescient as they are indicting, Eastland concluded that “Plenty of pastors mine the Bible for moral teachings and character lessons. Warren's approach to Scripture on this particular Sunday was hardly unusual. And taken as a civics lesson, his message was fine. But as a sermon for a church, it left something to be desired.”

“Leaving something to be desired” politely states the obvious: Evangelicalism, so full of desire to be relevant to the unchurched and frankly, so anxious to be taken seriously by both the secular and the liberal religious establishment today, has essentially become the liberal religious establishment of yesterday.

Rather than being the party of faith, Scripture, and Gospel, evangelicals have gradually become what they started out to oppose. The fundamentalists of the early 20th century took the Gospel seriously enough to withdraw from the mainline denominations where it had decayed into maudlin moralism. The formation of the neo-evangelical movement in the 1940s, with Fuller Seminary as its flagship, attempted to strip some of the more noxious and socially unacceptable attitudes from ugly fundamentalist extremism in America.

However, the most characteristic expression of theological liberalism has been Law, not Gospel. And, church history teaches us that when it decays, as surely as a radioactive isotope, Law leads inevitably to legalism and moralism. Evangelical moralism is no better than the fundamentalist flavor, which in turn is no improvement over the sappy moralistic nonsense of the liberals in the last century.

Now that the movement has aged to the point of feeling its power, staging a civic forum where candidates are summoned to make their appearance might make some sense. At least they are engaging culture rather than hiding from it. But, the lessons learned from their critics were learned both too perfectly and too inadequately. Following up on the liberal critique, evangelicals have begun to “care about” HIV, poverty, peace, and the qualifications for the next President of the United States.

But, rather than learning from the liberals’ loss of the Gospel, we seem intent on replicating it. Today, evangelical preaching, even the “Bible based expositional” kind tends toward moralistic, Bible laced versions of old liberal standbys. David becomes an example of five principles for having a good friendship. Elijah's battle with the prophets of Baal turns into a lesson on depression.. Ephesians becomes a formula for better marriages. And, as in the case of the Saddleback sermon, Proverbs and Jesus help us to choose a president.

Citing a lot of verses from the Bible does not a biblical sermon make. Quoting from the secular Weekly Standard again, “notably absent from the message, however, was the distinctive content of the Christian faith.” And, unless the verses used are put into the “context of the Bible’s overall redemptive message,” preaching will border on the shallow, the sappy, and the sentimentally self-help oriented. In this sense, slick Joel Osteen rather than smart and effective Rick Warren should be seen as the ultimate exemplar of evangelicalism today. Osteen’s “Become a Better You” more faithfully represents what evangelicalism has become in this post-Christian era than anything written by the affable and sincere purpose-driven pastor of Orange County.

As Eastland concludes,
The irony of Saddleback is that one of the two candidates--it was not McCain, but Obama, in his remarks about Christ dying for his sins and redeeming him--actually said more about the Christian faith in the civil forum than America's most influential pastor did in his message on Sunday to his congregation. Such are the oddities that attend the present moment, in which our faith-involved politics carries on, triumphant.

What is missing in the midst of all the Law is the redemptive sound of the Gospel. Until preaching recovers the victorious pronouncement “done” of the Gospel, the current preoccupation with reducing everything to a seeker sensitive mass of moral lessons and self-improvement “how to” applications will sound like a lot of “do.” Sadly, the man behind the Saddleback Civil Forum received his doctorate in ministry from Fuller, the school begun in 1947 as the new “evangelical” alternative to mushy liberalism.

Was Separation from the ABC Really Necessary?

2008-08-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

Recently a friendly interlocutor quipped that since the withdrawal of Transformation Ministries (formerly ABC PSW) from the ABCUSA, His Barking Dog has been unusually quiescent. Actually, what Zack said was “Ever since the dog stopped barking at the ABC-USA, he seems to have very little to say.”

With several years between the separation of TM from the ABC, most of the extreme grief has settled into merely the dull sadness that afflicts those who have lost their first love through a breakup. And, TM has flourished to the point that as of the first of last month nearly 150 congregations have signed the covenant (no mean feat for a group of creedal-phobic Baptists!).

What sense does it make to carp about the ABC anymore? No ABC conservative regions joined TM in their departure. Evidently, the audience for this blog is quite satisfied with all things ABC. And, to the extent that they are not, several of the leaders have told me that they intend to marginalize the ABC by privately advising congregations to target their giving and by-pass Valley Forge, especially the Office of the General Secretary. But, with the sale of the headquarters building to the mission boards, OGS will be far less dependent upon support from the churches anyway. Endowments can last in perpetuity.

But now, a few years after the break, quipster Zack’s comment prompted me to look back and the ABC again and re-examine my decision to vote for departure. Was it the right thing to do? Was the ABC really on a trajectory into the depths of heresy as some of us had contended?

Confirmation for the wisdom of withdrawing comes from a strange source, the pro-gay Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. Yes, those most responsible for pushing PSW to the edge of the precipice are also the ones bearing clear witness to why we believed that we had to jump in the first place.

In the June 2008 Associational e-newsletter, AWAB Executive Director, Ken Pennings, writes about a recent visit to the First Baptist Church of Madison (WI) by Dr. A. Roy Medley, General Secretary of the ABCUSA.

Dr. Medley preached in morning worship and also stayed for a luncheon at the church, a member of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists. Remember that the national policy, adopted by the General Board of the ABCUSA, declares homosexuality to be “incompatible with Christian teaching.” So what prophetic word would the chief executive officer of the ABC bring to a church committed to a proposition that his own board declares to be “incompatible with Christian teaching”? I cite at length the words of the Rev. Mark Clinger, pastor of the church, as printed in the AWAB newsletter (emphasis mine):

"Dear Friends:

Yesterday’s visit by the General Secretary of the American Baptist Churches, the Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, was a very positive, inspiring and reassuring experience. In his sermon, Dr. Medley encouraged us to serve as the hands and feet of Christ, by strengthening our Christian practices of gratitude, generosity, and engagement in the wider world. He called us to live in a 'new ecology of relationships' begun by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“During the luncheon following worship, Dr. Medley spoke to a number of issues within our denomination, beginning with the 'recent unpleasantness' on matters surrounding the issue of sexual orientation. He upheld the twin historic Baptist emphases upon the 'authority of scripture' as well as the final role of the 'local congregation' in scripture’s interpretation. He recognized that standing for these principles cost the denomination the loss of one region but added that we could not surrender these convictions of conscience. Dr. Medley’s assertion of the primacy of these principles in the ongoing life of our denomination was deeply reassuring.

“Dr. Medley went on to share some other observations about our life together. He spoke of the 'catholicity' of the American Baptist family, recognizing we are the broadest and most inclusive band of Baptists in the country, spanning a greater diversity of theological belief, race and culture than any other national gathering of Baptists. He encouraged us to reclaim the joy of living together, out of this diversity, as we simply share in the work of God. He also celebrated the many relationships that are growing between us and other Baptists as seen in both the Alliance of Baptists and the New Baptist Covenant. He added, 'Excluding different views is not how we conduct our life.'

“Finally, I was keenly impressed by the leadership and initiative Dr. Medley is taking in building an 'ecology of relationship' between our denomination and the Islamic Society of America. He is particularly emphasizing dialogue on how we can work together to insure peace and dignity for all, a prophetic stance in this time of growing anti-Islamic prejudice.

“In all, I found in Dr. Medley, as I so often do, a genuine Christian spirit deeply committed to the principles of conscience that ground our denomination in the best of times. His visit, his presence, and his honest addressing of the issues at hand were deeply reassuring to me and should serve to strengthen our continuing relationship with our American Baptist family."

The prophetic edge of Dr. Medley’s words consisted in lamenting the “recent unpleasantness” over differences in understandings of human sexuality leading to the loss of one of the most significant regional units in the country and boldly stating that one cannot “surrender these convictions of conscience.”

Believing that one must cater to those who affirm what the denomination has already declared to be “incompatible with Christian teaching” makes about as much sense as affirming a square hole, Christian atheism, or a “Buddhist Baptist.” That Dr. Medley’s sincere and heartfelt vision of Baptist life includes such expansive horizons substantiates beyond any reasonable doubt what leaders of the old PSW were saying when they cried out for redress. In the end, we left. And, friends of mine within the ABC bureaucracy have since confirmed that our departure was not so much a cause for grief as one provoking a collective shout of “good riddance!”

Interestingly, in addition to the “core values and shared beliefs” of the church where Dr. Medley preached can be found the following: “Beyond these shared values and beliefs, a great diversity of personal faith, beliefs, and values is found and treasured within our community. We expect no conformity to any creed.”

Four hundred years ago Baptists were persecuted and died for advocating a freedom of church from state in order to follow what they saw as the clear teachings of the Bible. Now some of them just stand for freedom to believe any fool thing they want to, even when it contradicts the clear teachings of the Bible. And their titular head calls it all an “ecology of relationships” he claims to be rooted in the resurrection. Since when does the resurrection annul or overturn the Word of God?

In 1689 Baptists had no trouble affirming and submitting to an orthodox confession, the doctrinally sturdy London Baptist Confession of Faith. Here, in America, the 1742 Philadelphia Confession restated it for that time. But in 2008, and in a “very positive, inspiring and reassuring experience,” American Baptist leaders such as Dr. Medley have no problem developing an “ecology of relationships” with those holding beliefs incompatible with Christian faith, including Islam!

Did Transformation Ministries really need to leave the ABC? Ya think?

Why Every Self-Respecting What? Is a What?

2008-07-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

Few contemporary writers have generated as many books as John MacArthur. With more than 26 commentaries, 43 books, and over a dozen study guides released under his name, the productive pastor of the Grace Community Church (Sun Valley, CA) has impacted today’s evangelicalism in many and varied ways. But, for many pastors, a highlight of the MacArthur ministry is the annual “Shepherd’s Conference,” held at the church. Last year, however, brought a surprise, as MacArthur variously delighted and outraged his standing room only audience of clergy. The topic? "Why Every Self-Respecting Calvinist is a Premillennialist."

The logic of the message was clear. Calvinists believe in the sovereignty of an electing God who acts monergistically. What eschatology better reflects the genius of such unilateral divine action than the one that is built on unconditional promises made to Abraham and to his descendents? In other words, what MacArthur was saying was that “every self-respecting Calvinist” should be a “premillennialist.”

But, here Dr. MacArthur uncharacteristically minced his words. For the oldest version of the view that Jesus would come to inaugurate a millennial rule on earth, the so-called “historic premillennialism,” has much in common with the other types of second coming schema popular in Christianity for the last two thousand years.

The historic premillennialist does not build a doctrine of last things upon a distinction between Israel and the Church, but upon the interpretation of a few verses in Revelation 20. Rather, it is only the dispensationalist type of premillennialism, with its unyielding differentiation between Israel and the Church that MacArthur thinks should be the position of every “self-respecting Calvinist.

Now a card-carrying Calvinist, DR. SAM WALDRON, one of the pastors of the Heritage Baptist Church of Ownesboro, Kentucky, and the Professor of Systematic Theology at the Midwest Center for Theological Studies, responds to MacArthur’s “manifesto” with a detailed analysis of the message. (MacArthur’s Millenial Manifesto: A Friendly Response, Sam Waldron, Reformed Baptist Academic Press (2008), 172 pages).

In one of the most irenic rebuttals ever penned, Waldron shows continual respect for MacArthur and his ministry and tackles his topic with great gentleness but systematically dismantles the logic of the much talked about Shepherd’s Conference address that is actually printed as an appendix to the book.

If there were ever a book showing what contemporary amillennialists (those who contend that Jesus will return in a singular way at the end of the age to resurrect the dead, to judge the world, and to usher in the new heavens and the new earth) actually believe, this would be it.

Waldron carefully sweeps away the accumulated misunderstandings, mischaracterizations of the position by opponents, and mean-spirited polemics. Relying upon a command of the Bible, hermeneutics, and two millennia of Christian theology, Waldron writes with simple clarity in some of the shortest chapters in memory. He details why he thinks that MacArthur's dispensational eschatology does not tally best with the teaching of the Bible. The cumulative impact is to make any honest premillennialist want to become, if not an amillennarian, at least a more careful teacher on the subject of the return of Christ.

Better Learn Some History Before It's Too Late - The Lessons of the Past for Current Practice

2008-05-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

Henry Ford is famous for his frank assessment:
"History is bunk." The more I read of church history, the more it illuminates my current understanding of doing church. As we look at the bewildering array of spiritual movements and conflicting advice for pastors on how to "do" church, we might pause for a moment to look back.

In 1521, the Zwickau prophets had become extremely active during the time of Luther's forced exile in the Wartburg Castle. During the absence of the lion, the rats came out of the woodwork. Under their influence, the Bible became an unnecessary "paper pope," standing between the believer and the immediacy of Holy Spirit inspiration. Rather than accepting that God mediated his grace through the Word, they formed communities united in their sense that the Spirit spoke more freshly unfettered by the impediments of Scripture. Even the formidable Andreas Carlstadt, Luther's colleague at Wittenberg, fell under the spell of these enthusiasts. Carlstadt discarded his study of the Word in favor of circulating with the "people" where true truth could be ascertained--by osmosis evidently--in the context of 16th century version of "missional communities."

The Magisterial Reformers of the 16th century argued that the Lord speaks through the Spirit through the Word. Spiritual knowledge is, therefore, mediated, not immediate. The Zwickau prophets opted for the excitement of experience. Luther rightly condemned their heretical efforts and even said of his friend Carlstadt, "He has swallowed the Holy Spirit feathers and all." In an important sense the Zwickau prophets show a marked affinity for some of the trends within evangelicalism today. I am struck by the prophetic words of WSCAL's Scott Clark:

The evangelical convulsions over justification mean this: Van Til was correct. The fundamental principle of the evangelicals, at least in the Modern period, is religious enthusiasm. Because this is so, religious experience trumps truth every time.

If you follow the popularity of the New Perspective on Paul (cf. Sanders, Dunn, and Wright) in the academy and the reactions of evangelical scholar's such as Westmont's Bob Gundry (my former prof who gave me 32 semester units of his wisdom and officated at my wedding) who have disputed the Reformational sense to justification by faith in our day (cf. John Piper's entire book, Counted Righteous in Christ, written to counter Gundry), you can see how we are meandering toward the precipice again. Rejecting the objectivity of Reformational Christianity's solas, we inch ever closer to the chaos of seeking truth in immediate religious experience.

Without a confessional anchor (remember the old 1689 London BAPTIST Confession of Faith with its solid doctrinal core?), we have nothing left but religious experience (great shades of Schliermacher!). In such a context, "evangelicalism" will devolve into the shallowness of Osteen-esque "spirituality" without a cross, the exploitation of the latest in scientific technique (e.g. the wholesale appropriation of the most recent business school insights and methods to pastoral ministry), or an honest rejection of Christianity as vapid and devoid of rational content. The kinds of experience I recorded in the last post makes complete sense in a world where Reformation lessons are set aside for "quick fix" techniques governed only the omnipotent principle of "what works."

Somehow, rather than the quote by the great master of pragmatic application of knowledge to the mass production of automobiles, I prefer the prescience of George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Caught Inside a Seminar with a Consultant Man Again!

2008-04-27T14:17:00.000-07:00

Today I experienced one of the most challenging, annoying, and disturbing seminars in a very long time. Firstly, with more than five decades of church life under my belt, there are few fads that have not ended up costing me time and money for some class or seminar someplace. In the 60s it was the charismatic renewal, in the 70s church growth. Spiritual gifts followed and then leadership and vision seminars. Lately, we have seen a spate of conferences dealing with the emerging church and ministry to postmoderns.

I have sat through more than enough sessions on “reaching the unreached,” becoming “seeker sensitive,” pioneering a contemporary service, and the like. Today was no different. With words like “missional community,” moving from an “attraction model to an incarnational model,” “apostolic leadership,” and a small rucksack full of specialty vocabulary, it felt like being force fed a year’s worth of Leadership Net material through a fire hose.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am not immune to the appeal of this kind of material. Indeed, a quest to master this arcane literature led me to complete a masters degree in organizational management at a secular business school during the mid-90s. My more than 500 page thesis surveyed virtually every bit of leadership material then extant as well as conducting some major social science research on correlations between pastoral leadership style and ministerial effectiveness. However, I have come to believe that just as the CEO model for the pastor has proven disastrously unhelpful, so will this newest fad.

During the sessions today some familiar themes were sounded: replacing “church growth” with a vision for kingdom growth; developing disciples instead of members; encouraging a new apostolic leadership; moving away from a program centered preoccupation to focusing on spiritual formation; and shifting from planning to preparing for a challenging and uncertain world.

What I appreciated was the encouragement for church leaders to think “outside the box” and to find creative ways to impact their communities for Christ and to encourage their people to do the same. Some of the ideas mentioned were positively genius! Also, the humorous delivery and relentless teasing made the time pass quickly.

However, when we move beyond these helpful pointers, there was much that was disturbing in the day. With clear echoes of Barna and Viola, the speaker constantly carped on the superiority of missional communities and house churches as an answer to “Constantinian” Christianity. Evidently practically everything wrong with Christianity today could be solved by promoting missional communities, house churches, and “missionaries” doing intentional outreach in apartment buildings and labs instead of being part of a traditional church. Much as I felt when reading Barna’s Revolution, my mind kept wondering if this speaker was not working over much hard to justify the fact that he evidently does not like going to church and left the pastorate for the peripatetic role of seminar speaker and consultant.

In the estimation of some of the architects of what’s next, the church of the future will be multiform. Mega churches or “big box churches” will not fade away since there will always be “somebody” who likes that sort of thing. But, one gets the impression that the real action will be had in the trenches where the truly committed eschew conventional church involvement in favor of so-called pre-contstantinian “market place” Christianity without buildings, liturgy, or programs.

Rather than being a “project manager,” “cruise ship director,” or other demeaning description of contemporary pastors, spiritually alive folks will devote themselves to the kind of house church structures that are so in vogue in the minds of progressive church consultants today. And, even if these missional communities do not involve themselves in corporate worship, that is no great loss. Our leader explained that he has been to a lot of church worship services and “they ain’t so good.” He assured us that you “won’t be hurt” by missing weekly worship. As for the biblical admonition to "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together," that will take place in the various ad hoc missional activities that people "feel led" to engage in throughout their communities.

A more disturbing casualty of this churchless utopia would seem to be the Bible. The Corinthians did not have a Bible to read, preachers to sermonize, or programs to sign up for, we were told. Yet, they were able to experience a vital spiritual dynamic. They simply followed the mystical leading of the Holy Spirit.Church history instructs us at this point. I wonder if the seminar speaker ever heard of the Zwickau prophets, early 16th century Anabaptist enthusiasts opposed forcefully by Luther.

“What is the use,” said they, “of clinging so closely to the Bible? The Bible! always the Bible! Can the Bible preach to us? Is it sufficient for our instruction? If God had designed to instruct us by a book, would he not have sent us a Bible from heaven? It is by the Spirit alone that we can be enlightened. God himself speaks to us. God himself reveals to us what we should do, and what we should preach.”

Even Luther’s dear colleague, Andreas Carlstadt, “lost himself in the clouds of a confused mysticism and spiritualism, and appealed, like the Zwickau Prophets, to immediate inspirations.” Luther wryly observed of his friend: "He has swallowed the Holy Spirit, feathers and all."

An evangelicalism untethered from the Word will soon dissipate into little more than social good works or theological irrelevance. And, if history teaches us anything, it demonstrates that diminishing the Word of God always leads to a denial of other core beliefs. Disciples of Christ without a church where the Word is faithfully preached, the sacraments are rightly administered, and discipline is exercised are much like fish out of water. And, they will end up with the same fate.

Consultants always come with a brief case overflowing with ideas. But, any idea broker who dismisses the church of Jesus Christ as a "constantinian" error, depreciates the importance of Christian corporate worship, and uses immediacy of divine direction as an argument to dispense with the preached Word of God will not lead to a strengthening of God's kingdom or his church. No matter how humorous the delivery or winsome the personality, snarky put downs and non-stop examples of church problems do not a change agent make.

Frighteningly, this man is widely published, highly regarded, teaches D.Min. courses at my alma mater, and consults with several of the major evangelical denominations and many of the para-church agencies out there today.

My lingering questions at the end of the day: Why would church leaders pay outrageous sums of money to listen to this nonsense? And, if they did actually take the advice to heart, how well would most churches respond to proposals to eliminate buildings, stated worship services, and the like? Finally, what would prompt pastors to bring their lay leaders to a conference in order to be told by a man who no longers participates in an organzied church how to dispense with organized churches? I can only assume that the sponsors of this event either did not know what the speaker believed or thought that the listeners would simply go for the atmospherics and the show and ignore the actual advice.

Expelled Exposes Antipathy to God in the Academy

2008-04-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Expelled is the kind of documentary for those who like their highly technical information served up with a wry sense of humor, lots of creative use of old fashioned video clips, and an exposition of the topic using a relentless metaphor of the Berlin Wall as the intellectual backdrop. And, for good measure, process the whole thing through the sardonic Buster Keaton deadpan of economist, Yale Law valedictorian, White House speech writer, law professor, columnist, game show host, and actor famous for the words: “Bueller, Bueller.”

Expelled is the vehicle for Ben Stein to present a sustained call for freedom of thought and inquiry against the environment of academic totalitarianism. Exposed are the deans, PR flacks, and professors who are willing to deny tenure and ruin the careers of well educated science professors for the singular crime of suggesting that the Darwinian emperor has no clothes. Citing both the defenders of evolutionary ideology and those who have raised questions challenging it, we see more Cambridge, Berkeley, and University of Chicago trained PhD's than have probably appeared in any movie in history.

Stein traipses through the documentary in suit and tennis shoes, asking awkward questions, pushing fabulously educated scholars to affirm the logical conclusions of their pronouncements. Especially ill-served by the format is the narcissistic atheist Richard Dawkins. He actually says on film that Darwinism leads logically to atheism, that atheists make common cause with gullible mainstream Christians to win their support in the pro-evolution war, and that belief in God is irrational and virtually impossible but life on earth may have been “seeded” by space aliens.

Stein is no fundamentalist and he strongly denies young earth creationism. He simply argues that the complexity of life at the molecular level cannot be conceived of without some kind of intelligent design. And, his documentary parades scientists, journalists, and public intellectuals—some of whom are either agnostic or irreligious—through the film with cutouts to scenes of totalitarianism and repeated images of the Berlin Wall.

The “Wall” is Stein’s metaphor for what he sees as the storm trooper tactics of the academic establishment, the media, and the courts to stifle dissent. In his view, this kind of policy robs Americans of precious freedom of thought, speech, and religion. Indeed, for Stein, we are in danger of losing our freedoms at the hands of these intellectual fascists.

For those who rankle at the term “fascist,” the most difficult part of the movie may be Stein’s assertion that Darwinian thought motivated not only Hitler and his final solution, but the Eugenics movement behind people such as Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger. Here Stein uses interviews to make his point, one that might more convincingly have been made simply by citing chapter and verse out of Mein Kampf where Hitler drew the same causal line of association between Darwin and his own ideas.

Stein recognizes that behind the equations, talk of scientific method, and calls for progress one can often discern an implacable hatred of God. Some of those interviewed in defense of evolution seemed to harbor a visceral antipathy to God and condescending disdain for religious people. Near the end of the documentary when Stein pushes Dawkins to admit that the chances of God existing are less than 1%, he also goads him into saying that one of the more likely scenarios for the emergence of life from non-life would be aliens seeding this planet with the original organisms from which we all evolved.

Radio host and film reviewer Michael Medved reports that wherever the movie screens, there has been a tendency for audiences to cheer at the end. Indeed, Stein appears unperturbed by the height of the wall erected to keep out free inquiry. But, he has made this movie to challenge some to dare to scale it. The only question is who will do it?

Anyone? Anyone?

What About the "Non Violent Atonement"?

2008-04-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

“A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross” (H. Richard Niebuhr)

One of the truly great summaries of liberal Protestantism in the last century, Niebuhr’s quote has found new currency in the present church environment. A group called Preaching Peace (http://www.preachingpeace.org/) has taken on the task of holistically reconceptualizing Christian theology in light of the insights of Rene Girard, the French anthropological philosopher, and the application of his “mimetic theory” or the observation that human desire and behavior involves deep levels of imitation. Essentially, we borrow our desires from others in an endless drama of mythic themes and human imitation.

Girard’s 1972 book, Violence and the Sacred developed Girard’s “second great insight: “the victimary process, which is at the origin of archaic religion.” In Girard’s thinking, the Gospels offer a typical mythical account with “a victim-god lynched by a unanimous crowd.” However, unlike the normal myth, this one proclaims the innocence of the victim.

In Preaching Peace’s perspective, the Gospels appear to present themselves as a typical mythical account, with a victim-god lynched by a unanimous crowd, an event that is then commemorated by Christians through ritual sacrifice — symbolic in this case — in the Eucharist. Yet the parallel is perfect except for one detail: the truth of the innocence of the victim is proclaimed by the text and the writer.

For the Preaching Peace group, peace is a hermeneutic. When Jesus said, “Peace I give to you,” they see this as exposing “all of our theologies and faiths and religions where we fail to see that Peace is . . . an interpretive choice.”

Applied to the cross of Christ, the Preaching Peace folks want to strip away all of the violence-saturated language of Christian theology (getting rid of the shadow of Augustine and Eusebius) and apply the insights of Girard and the “hermeneutic of peace” to understanding it.

Take Romans 3:25, for instance. Paul says God presented Jesus to be the “propitiation for our sins.” Unlike other words for forgiveness which refer to wiping clean the slate or remitting sin, propitiation (hilastarion) has been understood as assuaging the righteous wrath of a holy God against sin. Jesus’ death satisfied God’s righteous anger or made him “propitious.”

The Preaching Peace view asks the questions: “Does Jesus reveal God's love for us, or placate God's wrath towards us? And doesn't this way of thinking presuppose that you can attain a good, loving result through violence? Does the end justify the violent means? Isn't this the sort of thinking that has fueled the endless cycle of violence that's characterized human history?”

In the last century, liberal Protestantism got around the cross by seeing the ministry of Christ as exemplary of divine love. Now, we have a sophisticated anthropological analysis of human history being used to empty the cross of any meaning other than a pyrrhic victory over violence through innocent suffering. And, major denominational groups are promoting the "non-violent atonement" seminars. I know of at least one denomination that has been sending e-mails to their pastors recommending the resources. And, it has been enthusiastically endorsed by Brian McLaren and other members of the emerging church.

Before I overturn Paul, Augustine, Calvin, Luther, Owen, Edwards, and a host of Christian heroes, I will need more than Girard’s musings about mimetics. It's almost enough to make one want to echo the Apostle Paul: "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" 1 Corinthians 2:2 (HCSB).

What Motivates Us to Change Our Deeply Held Convictions?

2008-03-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

One of the most difficult issues facing Christians in our post-modern era relates to the source(s) of authority and how we are to balance between competing values in coming to positions on controversial subjects.

Traditional evangelicals never tire of repeating, to the point of carping, the importance of the Bible (and time-tested consensus in the history of interpretation) in determining the “will of God.” Even self-avowed theological liberals typically mitigate (conservatives would say muddy) conclusions about biblical teaching by raising social, cultural, and historical reasons for contrary views. Few of them, Bishop Spong being a notable exception that proves the rule, actually come out “against” the Bible’s clear teaching per se. More often than not, they use the legerdemain of scholarship to “explain away” the uncomfortable seemingly plain biblical teachings.

Recently, however, I came across an unusually bald statement in favor of setting aside the “clear teaching” of scripture. Dr. Timothy Luke Johnson, R. W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Candler School of Theology and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, is straightforward about why he supports same-sex unions:

I think it is important to state clearly that we do, in fact, reject the straightforward commands of Scripture, and appeal instead to another authority when we declare that same-sex unions can be holy and good. And what exactly is that authority? We appeal explicitly to the weight of our own experience and the experience thousands of others have witnessed to, which tells us that to claim our own sexual orientation is in fact to accept the way in which God has created us.

Again, hear the words of Dr. Johnson:

Our situation vis-à-vis the authority of Scripture is not unlike that of abolitionists in nineteenth-century America. During the 1850s, arguments raged over the morality of slave-holding, and the exegesis of Scripture played a key role in those debates. The exegetical battles were one-sided: all abolitionists could point to was Galatians 3:28 and the Letter of Philemon, while slave owners had the rest of the Old and New Testaments, which gave every indication that slaveholding was a legitimate, indeed God-ordained social arrangement, one to which neither Moses nor Jesus nor Paul raised a fundamental objection. So how is it that now, in the early twenty-first century, the authority of the scriptural texts on slavery and the arguments made on their basis appear to all of us, without exception, as completely beside the point and deeply wrong?

The answer is that over time the human experience of slavery and its horror came home to the popular conscience-through personal testimony and direct personal contact, through fiction like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and, of course, through a great Civil War in which ghastly numbers of people gave their lives so that slaves could be seen not as property but as persons. As persons, they could be treated by the same law of love that governed relations among all Christians, and could therefore eventually also realize full civil rights within society. And once that experience of their full humanity and the evil of their bondage reached a stage of critical consciousness, this nation could neither turn back to the practice of slavery nor ever read the Bible in the same way again.

Many of us who stand for the full recognition of gay and lesbian persons within the Christian communion find ourselves in a position similar to that of the early abolitionists-and of the early advocates for women’s full and equal roles in church and society. We are fully aware of the weight of scriptural evidence pointing away from our position, yet place our trust in the power of the living God to reveal as powerfully through personal experience and testimony as through written texts. To justify this trust, we invoke the basic Pauline principle that the Spirit gives life but the letter kills (2 Corinthians 3:6). And if the letter of Scripture cannot find room for the activity of the living God in the transformation of human lives, then trust and obedience must be paid to the living God rather than to the words of Scripture.

OK, so now we have an "evangelical-friendly" scholar who has been a frequent contributor (and interviewee) in Chrisitanity Today explaining that we don't have to follow the Bible or nearly two millennia of Christian interpretation because we have another source of authority: experience. Wow! When pushed, he admits that this is not in accord with the “weight of scriptural evidence.” However, we "trust in the power of the living God to reveal as powerfully through personal experience and testimony as through the written texts."

What motivates a much lauded New Testament specialist, known for his critiques of the historical skepticism of the Jesus Seminar and for his defense of the historicity of biblical accounts, to reach such an unusual conclusion?

My long-held view is that “cognitive dissonance,” that very human desire to avoid the pain of disagreeing with those we love and the internal conflict it creates, often precipitates a crisis of faith when our experience does not agree with our political theory or theology. Dr. Bart Ehrman, another famous NT specialist, has moved from a Moody Bible Institute student to an agnostic professor at UNC and author of the recent book, God’s Problem. It it he tells of his struggle to resolve doubts about the existence of God after grapling with the ancient “problem of evil.” When cognitive dissonance comes face-to-face with existential angst, the results can be explosive and unpredictable.

For Dr. Johnson, the cause of his crisis of cognitive dissonance was more personal. He writes:

In my case, I trusted that God was at work in the life of one of my four daughters, who struggled against bigotry to claim her sexual identity as a lesbian. I trusted God was at work in the life she shares with her partner-a long-lasting and fruitful marriage dedicated to the care of others, and one that has borne fruit in a wonderful little girl who is among my and my wife’s dear grandchildren.

A prodigal son, reverses in the lives of daddy’s girl, a chronic and intractable spousal illness, and a host of other very personal crises often precipitate radical changes in long-held beliefs. I know of pastors who now reject a belief in hell, not because of the weight of biblical data or due to a convincing exegetical argument, but because of a rebellious child or a reluctant parent. As long as we walk around in these “earthen vessels,” we will continue to struggle with the intersection of immutable truth and our personal pain.

The wise ones tell us that pain should drive us to God afresh for grace to bear up under it. But, sometimes, the vice-like grip of pain seems to nurture in us an urge to opt out, to reconcile our view of God with our view of the world in ways that do violence to our trust in the Lord and in his revealed truth.

Cognitive dissonance as a driver of belief. What a concept! Imagine the “cognitive dissonance” of a sovereign and holy, yet loving, God dealing with you and me!

Bishop Threatens to Suspend J.I. Packer from Ministry

2008-02-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

It is one thing to face high level dissension bordering on schism in your church. But, when you threaten a man hailed by Time Magazine as one of the most influential evangelicals in the world . . . yikes!

Packer, the squinty-eyed, jazz-loving, octagenarian represents one of the great thinkers in the evangelical fold and an extremely irenic exemplar of Calvinist soteriology. Known to millions for his classic, Knowing God, he has maintained loyalty to his Anglican tradition while standing squarely in the eveangelical camp. The letter threatening him shows how much brinkmanship is involved in ecclesiastical politics today.

As evidence of the escalating crisis in the global Anglican Communion, today one of the of the world’s most esteemed Christian theologians, Dr. J.I. Packer, received a letter threatening suspension from ministry by the controversial Bishop of New Westminster, Michael Ingham. Bishop Ingham accused Dr. Packer, hailed by Time Magazine as the “doctrinal Solomon” of Christian thinkers, “to have abandoned the exercise of ministry” after the church where he is a member voted to separate from the diocese and join the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone under the oversight of Anglican Archbishop Gregory Venables. Dr. Packer, who was ordained in the Church of England, is the author of the Christian classic, “Knowing God,” and joined Billy Graham and Richard John Neuhaus as one of Time Magazine’s 25 most influential evangelicals in 2005.

Dr. Packer, who received his theological education at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, was ordained a deacon (1952) and priest (1953) in the Church of England. He was Assistant Curate of Harborne Heath in Birmingham 1952-54 and Lecturer at Tyndale Hall, Bristol 1955-61. He was Librarian of Latimer House, Oxford 1961-62 and Principal 1962-69. In 1970 he became Principal of Tyndale Hall, Bristol, and from 1971 until 1979 he was Associate Prinicipal of Trinity College, Bristol. In addition to his published works, he has served as general editor for the English Standard Version of the Bible. He currently serves as the Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia.

He will be 82 in July.

http://www.lambethconference.net/canada/?p=92

U.S. Religous Landscape Survey - New Light for Understanding Trends

2008-02-27T09:04:00.000-08:00

The Pew people have another great survey that sheds light on some of the trends reported in my last blog. For a summary of the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, cf. http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

Among the interesting conclusions,

The Landscape Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%. Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely grouped around three fairly distinct religious traditions - evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%).

Latest Church Trends

2008-02-19T11:33:00.000-08:00

What is happening in the church today (as well as a couple of our sectarian/cultic cousins)? Check out this report from yesterday's The Wasthington Times.

Note that the Lutheran Church -Missouri Synod, a conservative denomination, shows continued erosion, contradicting the general trend for more conservative groups to grow and more progressive organizations to decline. Perhaps the LCMS situation may be due to the more ethnic and sectarian identity of this conservative Lutheran body. Also note that many historically African-American denominations tend to report "no change" in response to these types of surveys. http //video1.washingtontimes.com/beliefblog/2008/02/which_ churches_are_the_country.html

1. The Roman Catholic Church, 67,515,016 members, an increase of .87 percent.

2. Southern Baptist Convention, 16,306,246 members, an increase of .22 percent.

3. The United Methodist Church, 7,995,456 members, a decrease of .99 percent.

4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,779,316 members, an increase of 1.56 percent.

5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no increase or decrease reported.

6. National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc., 5,000,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,774,203 members, a decrease of 1.58 percent.

8. National Baptist Convention of America, Inc., 3,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

9. Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 3,025,740 members, a decrease of 2.36 percent.

10. Assemblies of God, 2,836,174 members, an increase of .19 percent.

11. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

11. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

11. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

14. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,417,997 members, a decrease of .94 percent.

15. Episcopal Church, 2,154,572 members, a decrease of 4.15 percent.

16. Churches of Christ, 1,639,495 members, no increase or decrease reported.

17. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

17. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., 1,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

19. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,443,405 members, an increase of .21 percent.

20. American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A., 1,371,278 members, a decrease of 1.82 percent.

21. United Church of Christ, 1,218,541 members, a decrease of 0.47 percent.

22. Baptist Bible Fellowship International, 1,200,000, no increase or decrease reported.

23. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, 1,071,616 members, no increase or decrease reported.

24. The Orthodox Church in America, 1,064,000, no increase or decrease reported.

25. Jehovah's Witnesses, 1,069,530 members, an increase of 2.25 percent.

Welcome Rylan Everett McFadden!

2008-02-18T16:30:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday my eldest son and his wife welcomed their third son, Rylan Everett McFadden, weighing in a 8lbs 3 oz. Rylan's daddy is associate pastor of a church in Minooka, IL. Rylan Everett is the son of Rev. Arol Everett McFadden, the son of Dennis Everett McFadden, the son of Everett McFadden. He is healthy, we are ecstatic! Rylan is our fourth grandson.

Jeanette and I traveled to the midwest late last week to attend the memorial service for our older daughter's mother-in-law (she was only 58) in Fort Wayne. Following the service, which was an amazing testimony to God's grace, we went to Chicagoland to spend a few days after the service with our oldest son and family (including Rylan) in the Chicago area.

Like any good son of Illinois, our grandson was born on Lincoln's birthday.

Celebrating Abortion's Anniversary?

2008-02-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the Weekly Standard (2/4/08) for this one . . .

How should one celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision? The Planned Parenthood chapter in Schenectady invited clergy to "bless" its new 18,000 square-foot "clinic."

The Times Union reports that "Rev. Larry Phillips of Schedectady's Emmanuel-Friedens Church . . . declared the ground 'sacred and holy . . . where women's voices and stories are welcomed, valued, and affirmed; sacred ground where women are treated with dignity, supported in their role as moral decision-makers . . . sacred ground where the violent voices of hatred and oppression are quelled.'"

Anthony Sacramone, over at First Things blog, proffered his own idea of what a blessing of a Planned Parenthood establishment might sound like.

O Ba'al, God of Thunder:
We beseech Ye in the name of science
In the name of self-actualization and personal autonomy
That the procedures and terminations wrought on this choice piece of real estate
Permit no hope
Silence all screams
And leave no child behind.

"O Ba'al" indeed.

Differing Views of Muslim-Christian Dialogue

2008-01-24T23:14:00.000-08:00

A few months ago 138 Christian leaders, including a number of evangelical notables from Fuller Theological Seminary, Christianity Today, and the National Association of Evangelicals were signatories to an open letter, "Loving God and Neighbor Together: A Christian Response to 'A Common Word Between Us and You.'" Originating with several significant scholars from the Yale Center for Faith & Culture, and published in the Novemeber 18, 2007 New York Times , it was a response to an open letter by 138 leading Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals from around the world.

This week leaders from several Baptist bodies (American Baptist Churches USA, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and Alliance of Baptists) announced that they had met on January 4-5 in Hartford, Conn with Dr. Sayyid Syeed of the Islamic Society of North America "to begin discussions on ways Baptist and Muslims can speak, share and learn from each other as we seek to fulfill Paul's admonition in Romans 12:18 'If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.'"

Since this is an important subject as well as a timely one, I wanted to refer my readers to the recent statement on the subject of Christian-Muslim dialogue by Dr. John Piper:

One can hardly listen to the passionate appeal of Dr. Piper without being moved by his sincerity and urgency of concern for the lost. Piper has long been a model of lifting high the cross of Jesus Christ as the only hope for an alienated humanity. He delivered his message without harsh words or bitter acrimony. Indeed, the power of his message is strengthened by the humble passion coupled with burning zeal for the glory of God. Since so many of those connected with the Yale effort are fellow alums with him of Fuller seminary, it will be interesting to see what response they make to it.

References:
Yale Center for Faith & Culture - http://www.yale.edu/faith/abou-commonword.htm
Baptist press release - http://www.abc-usa.org/news/2008/20080123a.htm
John Piper video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTY-9FY13kw

2008 Soul Health Prescription: Take Twelve Puritans and Pray for Me in the Morning

2008-01-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

Why not start out 2008 with a challenge more beneficial and spiritually uplifting than any resolution? Timmy Brister has issued a book-a-month plan for reading 12 Puritan classics during this year (http://timmybrister.com/2008/01/07/join-the-2008-puritan-reading-challenge/). Reformation Heritage Books, a well known seller of Reformation and Puritan classics has obliged by packaging the dozen Banner of Truth books for a substantial 36%discount. http://www.heritagebooks.org/bookstore/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=8016&osCsid=hk0ttecnf9ask3vs20pfce1oe0.

If you have never tried reading Sibbes, Flavel, Watson, Bunyan, Burroughs, or Baxter, what better time than now? Mr. Brister describes the reasons for this project quite simply:

First, the Puritans had a relentless pursuit of God. In their writings you will find believers who knew their God deeply through a rich God-centeredness that affected every area of their lives. We are living in a day where it is hard to find folks who know their God well.

Second, the Puritans were physicians of souls. These men studied themselves and had a real, experimental knowledge of Christianity. Nowhere will you find more “uses” and applications for your life than in their writings. Not only did they know God well, they knew the minds, hearts, and consciences of men well.

Third, the Puritans possessed genuine piety because they knew how to fight the fight of faith. These men took direct aim at indwelling sin and fought hard for their personal sanctification. Their writings are incredibly pastoral and at the same time intimately convicting.

Fourth, the Puritans were pacesetters in church history. They ran in such a way to win, and whether it is their study of Scripture, commitment to family worship, personal devotion to prayer, or caring for the souls in their community, these men ran and ran hard.

Fifthly, reading the Puritans will provide you a healthy perspective so as to prevent chronological snobbery. Let’s face it. It is tempting to read only what is novel, trendy, and popular. Yet it is worthwhile to read books 100 years or older to understand how Christians lived, face struggles, dealt with issues (doctrinal, ecclesiological, ethical, etc.), and experienced God. Frankly speaking, you will not find anything close to Owen, Watson, Brooks, and Baxter on the front shelves of your local bookstore.

Here is the schedule:

January- Sibbes, Bruised Reed

February- Flavel, Mystery of Providence

March -Watson, Godly Man's Picture

April -Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

May -Bunyan, Come and Welcome

June -Owen, Mortification of Sin

July -Bridge, Lifting Up

August -Burroughs, Rare Jewel

September- Bolton, True Bounds

October -Guthrie, Christian's Great Interest

November -Baxter, Reformed Pastor

December -Alleine, Sure Guide

Both my wife, Jeanette, and I plan to augment our devotional reading this year with some of the most soul nourishing writing in the history of Christianity! Join us!

The Best Dog at My Son's Wedding Reception - Tux and All

2008-01-03T21:47:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, our fourth child, Nathan and his bride Bethany, had their wedding reception. Since it was a "special" day, family member McDoggie "Mac" Everett McFadden was also present, tux and all.

Mac sleeps with Jeanette and me. And, when I am listening to theology lectures on iPod, he cocks his head, furrows his brow, and you would swear he was analyzing the points. Of course, he does specialize in dogmatics.

On Banning "Wordsmithing," "Waterboarding," and Describing Colors that "Pop" - Scolds on a Tear

2008-01-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

The Lake Superior State University censors released their annual list of words to be banned earlier this week. I wanted to see how many of them could be worked into a single paragraph. http://www.lssu.edu/whats_new/articles.php?articleid=1431

In a scene that can only be called “emotional,” I read the list of proposed banned words "authored" (or is it "wordsmithed"???) by the Lake Superior State University experts in their latest attempt to throw the majority of us careless speakers “under the bus” for one more time. Oh well, “it is what it is.” A bunch of academic snobs, bored with writing about “Black Friday,” engage in a deconstruction of the vernacular of American English that can only be described as totally “random” and bereft of a raison d'etre. In this “Post 9/11” world, I suppose academics have nothing better to do than to critique the “organic” nature of spoken English. All such snobs who declare that such prissiness “is the new tolerance,” should be subjected to “waterboarding” and made to participate in their own inane “webinar.” What happened to noblesse oblige and the sense of “give back” by those who have been privileged to enjoy such a top rate education? “Back in the day” when people used Blackberry’s without a Bluetooth, before people described contrasting colors as making things really “pop,” academics generally left insipid locution alone. But, in the “perfect storm” environment of serious daily news regarding the “surge,” economic downturn numbers as the housing bubble bursts, and a “decimating” of standards for education in most states, couldn’t the scholars from Michigan come up with something more important to proscribe than a few dumb colloquialisms? Or, as the teens say today in response to everything from pictures of underclad women to winning football games, from consuming a satisfying meal to getting an unexpected snow day: “Sweet.”

Have a Blessed New Year in 2008!

2008-01-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

I find myself in agreement (again) with Dr. Glenn Layne's positive comments about Transformation Ministries. Check out his "Happy New Year Thoughts" over at Durable Data (http://www.durabledata.blogspot.com/). The number of congregations intentionally covenanting together to do ministry has inched over 100. 150 active covenanting congregations by the end of the year would not be unlikely (deo volente).

We are blessed to have such a Godly leader in Dr. Dale Salico. He was at the church where I was preaching last Sunday. The man is focused, pumped, and ready for 2008. We are even beginning to hear of currently unaffiliated churches that want to be part of a more missional movement. It is truly an exciting time to be doing ministry!

Muzzling the Dog: No More Munching on "Ole Roy" (the Walmart Dog Food That Is)

2007-12-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

His Barking Dog began at the instigation of Durable Data's Glenn Layne. Durable felt that it would be valuable to have a wider range of reporting and commentary on ABC related issues, particularly given the paucity of reliable information from the standard denominational sources. Few organizations have a greater corporate ethos of self-protection and ingrained denial than the American Baptist Churches (IMO). Corporate actions often bear only a passing resemblance to what is actually reported. And, the corporate culture over decades has shielded decision makers from the consequences of significant ethical and moral lapses.

Given the fact that several of my friends continue to serve in the hierarchy, it seemed a natural idea to begin blogging. And for a time, my keyboard clattered away with piece after piece, offering an evangelical commentary on all things ABC. When my judicatory, ABCPSW, voted to withdraw from the larger family, my postings dropped significantly, both in volume and as a percentage of topics tackled in this venue.

This week, it came to my attention that some of my blogs and message board postings have had damaging repercussions on the cause of Christ and involved people I love in legal complications. Now that I am somewhat an insider at Transformation Ministries as Treasurer of the organization, this will simply no longer do.

When my postings end up being referenced in attorney's letters to people I care about, enough is enough. Since there is no practical way to avoid legal repercussions arising from comments about the way VF does things (even when the statistics and reporting are strictly accurate), I have concluded that it might be better to retire from reporting and commenting on the ABC entirely. Ultimately, it really doesn't matter anyway. And, the cost to people I care about is too great. An important lesson to be learned from the original Star Wars movie comes from the advice C3PO gave to R2D2 when Han Solo advised him that angry Wookies pull their opponents' arms out of their sockets: "New strategy R2, let the Wookie win." With respect to the politics of the ABC, C3PO's admonition is just as valuable.

His Barking Dog will still speak on issues of importance and consequence from an evangelical and Baptist perspective at this web address. However, there will be no more comments about the organization known as ABCUSA.

Merry Tossmas? An Idea Whose Time Has Come!

2007-12-12T11:11:00.000-08:00

Christmas Gift for the Sinner Who Has Everything? A Get Out of Purgatory Card?

2007-12-07T09:19:00.000-08:00

Would you buy grace from this man?

Just in time for the Christmas shopping rush, Pope Benedict XVI has added a gift suggestion for the sinner who has everything: a "get out of purgatory" early card.

Rome, Dec. 5, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has announced that a plenary indulgence is available to Catholics who travel to Lourdes during the coming year, for the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions there.

The indulgence is available to those who, under the usual conditions, make a pilgrimage to Lourdes between December 8 of this year and the same date in 2008. The pilgrimage should include visits to the famous Massabielle grotto at Lourdes where the Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous, the Soubirois family home, and the places where St. Bernadette was baptized and received her First Communion.

A plenary indulgence is also available to those who venerate an image of Our Lady of Lourdes at any church or chapel between February 2 and February 11 of 2008, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

One wag commented that maybe it is time to pull out the "Tetzel is my Homeboy" shirts in honor of the indulgence merchant whose marketing efforts helped precipitate the Protestant Reformation in 1517.

Just when efforts to reconcile Rome and Protestantism have been gaining traction in the Protestant community (e.g., Evangelicals and Catholics Together), something like this reminds me why I am a Reformation Christian: sola fide, sola gratia, sola scriptura, solus Christus, and soli deo gloria!

Christmas reminds us that the Creator stepped into his creation to redeem us from our sins, to justify us by his own sacrifice, and to purchase us for himself forever -- without our works or efforts, purchased indulgences or otherwise.

Green Lake Development Plans Proceeding to Next Stage: Annexation or Lawsuit?

2007-12-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

Lindenwood Development LLC has filed a lawsuit in Green Lake County Circuit Court against the township of Brooklyn for denying it permission to develop 140 acres on the Green Lake Conference Center property. The local newspaper in OshKosh indicated today that the developer plans to pursue either a lawsuit or annexation strategy for accomplishing the goal.

Last year the Green Lake Conference Center, affiliated with the ABCUSA, announced plans to sell 140 of its 1,000 acres to Lindenwood Development LLC. The sale promised to generate between $25 million and $40 million, according to CLCC President Ken Giacoletto. Ken indicated that it would be used to continue its ministries aimed at pastors around the country to help them establish and strengthen their local churches.

The announcement elicited criticism from some of the 30 private property owners on the grounds who oppose the changes. Initially the town of Brooklyn denied Lindenwood's preliminary plan for Estates of Lawsonia due to lot sizes not meshing with the existing requirements for the community. “Our comprehensive plan calls for one to two-acre lots; they wanted a half-acre or less,” said Brooklyn Town Chairman Mike Wuest.

In addition to the lawsuit, next week the Appleton development firm and the American Baptist Assembly will present their request to annex 900 acres into the city of Green Lake at a December 12 planning commission meeting at city hall. In opposition to GLCC and Lindenwood Development, Steve Sorenson, attorney for some of the disgruntled property owners, will represent their sentiments at the session.

If the annexation proposal receives approval, it would use a connection via State Highway 23 and the lake itself to satisfy the legal requirements for connectivity, according to Green Lake Mayor Joe Parise.

Few would disagree that Giacoletto has worked wonders with Green Lake during his tenure. Gone are the aging and drafty barn-like buildings. In their place can be found attractive and effecient lodgings and commons areas. He has transformed GLCC into a premier Christian center in the midwest. Please pray for Ken and GLCC as they enter into these difficult days with city officials. Red tape is never more difficult to digest than when you have an appetite for the banquet of the Lamb and want to leverage all of your assets to make a maximum kingdom impact during the remaining days of your stewardship on earth.

For more details, see Monday's Oshkosh Northwestern and http://www.thenorthwestern.com/.

The Santa Scale for Measuring Society's Slide Down Secularism's Slippery Slope

2007-11-25T11:26:00.000-08:00

OK, I confess. I am a Christmas fanatic. I love the sights, the sounds, the smells, and (yes) even maintain a tradition of day-after-Thanksgiving shopping at 4:00 a.m. This year, we were visiting our second and fourth children and their families in the Ozarks and my fifth child and I still made it to five stores between 4:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Friday morning. Each day between the Thanksgiving and Christmas is filled with viewing “classics” such as “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and “The Santa Clause” (one, two, and three). Next week will find me on the roof putting up the huge lighted Costco nativity scene.

Santa Claus has been a bit more ambiguous for me. My Christian convictions led me to ban Santa from the house during the rearing of our first four children. However, the more Tolkien and C.S. Lewis I read, the more it seemed that Santa was not so much a threat to faith or a competitor to Christ as he was a richly nuanced myth conveying some significant spiritual truth artistically supporting rather than contradicting the reality of Christ’s incarnation. So, my fifth child grew up in a Santa-friendly environment.

Santa, and how he is portrayed, can be a barometer of our society and its degree of slide down the secular slippery slope. Last week, viewing "Fred Claus," I learned volumes about how far we have fallen. As portrayed brilliantly by Paul Giamatti, Santa has the same problems as many other mortals. He experiences sibling rivalry, fights with his brother, "Fred" (portrayed perfectly by Vince Vaughn), struggles with his weight, has marital difficulties, and his wife even hints about "other" problems that might profitably be helped by Viagra or Cialis.

Santa has a heart of gold and gives of himself generously to all, including Fred from whom he has been alienated since childhood. However, while Santa may be a “spiritual” person (in the 21st century generic sense), David Dobkin plants him squarely in the moral landscape of today. The banter between Santa and brother Fred may elevate Fred in this redemptive morality play, but at the price of lowering Santa. Santa and his brother Fred finally demonstrate that “repentance conquers resentment” as one reviewer put it. However, there is no hint of Christianity. Religion is not so much untrue as irrelevant. And, in the end, even the North Pole is made better by Fred’s cooler, more hang-loose, non-judgmental style.

Some earlier Santa movies focused on the miracle of Christmas, the unmerited grace of it all, and the unvarying goodness of this mythological figure that functions as a “stand in” for Christ. This movie proclaims the gospel of moral equivalence and teaches that there are really no “bad kids” and that everyone deserves a gift from Santa. How perfectly appropriate for a world where “Merry Christmas” has become “happy holidays.”

To the extent that Santa is a "stand in" for Christ, one must ask the question: "Who is Fred?" Clearly, he has style, panache, and makes people happy accepting their human failures. If the devil could just give God some advice on how to loosen up and become less judgmental, maybe heaven could improve almost as much as the North Pole under Fred's more enlightened approach. Hmmm. No thanks.

ABC to Sell ABC Mission Center to ABC in Order to Endow ABC Office of the General Secretary and Stop Flow of Red Ink That Imperils ABC? Huh???

2007-11-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 11/13/07) — At their November meeting, the Ministers and Missionaries Benefit Board's (MMBB) Board of Managers voted to join a Limited Liability Company (LLC) of American Baptist Churches (ABC) Partners with a goal of purchasing the Valley Forge Mission Center. This was the next in a series of steps that began last June when the ABCUSA General Board approved a proposal to sell the property.

Following the General Board’s decision, the property was offered to Brandywine Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust with a long term lease on the ABCUSA-owned property adjacent to the Mission Center. Included in its lease, Brandywine had a "right of first offer" on the property should ABCUSA ever decide to sell the property. As per the agreement, the property was offered to Brandywine with the anticipation that they would decline the offer due to lease terms that were intentionally favorable to ABC Partners. As expected, Brandywine declined the offer in October which allowed the recent vote by the MMBB Board to take place.

The next step in the process will be for ABCUSA to petition the New York State Supreme Court for permission to sell the property. Because ABCUSA is incorporated as a "not for profit" in New York, that state’s Supreme Court must determine if it is in ABCUSA's best interest to complete the sale. After that decision, the LLC would be legally formed and the property transferred to ABC Partners, which includes the Office of the General Secretary, National Ministries, International Ministries and MMBB.

It is anticipated the sale will be complete early in 2008. Proceeds of the sale will provide an endowment to partially fund the work of the Office of the General Secretary and related ministries.

Please help me understand this.

Last November, didn't Lloyd Hamblin explain to the GB meeting in Orlando that the Mission Center was a poor building? Didn't he stress that the Office of the General Secretary should not be in the land, building, or rental business? Didn't he suggest that the building is inefficient as a rental facility and that it needs a major renovation in order to compete with surrounding rental properties?

And, wasn't the idea of selling the Mission Center an effort to off-load a white elephant building and staunch the flow of red ink imperiling the larger ABC mission effort at home and abroad?

Furthermore, in the famous Tucson meeting (you know the one where they "fixed" the human sexuality issue for all time in the ABC), whenever the denominational restructuring was discussed didn't the Office of the General Secretary receive NO AFFIRMATION? Why does it keep appearing in the picture and in the restructure documents?

Finally, how much will MMBB "invest" in endowing the Mission Center and the Office of the General Secretary? And, if they really have that kind of money, why was it necessary to take corrective action to reduce the rapid depletion of the endowment funds?

Most of my organization's 180 employees are part of the MMBB system at my recommendation. I have been a member of MMBB since the mid 1970s. This does not sound like good stewardship to me. Please tell me how it all makes sound money sense.

That Slippery Little Word "Heresy"

2007-11-11T16:14:00.000-08:00

Early in the last century Presbyterian J. Gresham Machen called "liberalism" heresy and the New Brunswick Presbytery returned the favor by expelling him from the PCUSA. Episcopal Bishops James Pike and John Shelby Spong have often been treated as such. Even Baptist theologian Molly Marshall has been dubbed one by her detractors. Left Behinder Tim LaHaye has called Calvinism "perilously close to blasphemy" if not actually using the "h" word. Slippery little word, "heresy," isn't it?

In Roman Catholic circles, they distinguish heresy from schism (disunity through lack of love) and apostasy (abandonment of Christianity). In the Roman Catholic sense of the term, "heresy" comes in two principle flavors: "formal" (adherence to false doctrine by a baptized Roman Catholic) and "material" (false doctrine held in ignorance by a non-Roman).

For those of us Protestants, we often throw the word around about as loosely as we do political/ideological labels. A "liberal," for instance, is just about anybody to the left of me. Religiously, "I am a conservative evangelical," YOU are a fundamentalist. In this sense, a heretic is anybody who disagrees with me over any point of doctrine. The problem comes when, as a result of seeing through a "glass darkly," we begin to disagree on eschatological schema, patterns of polity, candidates for baptism, or whatever. I have heard Arminians, name-it-and-claim-it preachers, credobaptists, Calvinists, and premil folks labeled "heretics" at one time or another. Some think theonomy is a heresy. Most Reformed folks have no problems calling dispensationalism heresy.

It would seem to me that one might distinguish between beliefs that consign one to hell and notions that are to one degree or another untrue, but not a "salvation issue." In our Protestant tradition, heresy has often been used in a more technical sense of a two-fold move: denying a "crucial" (???) Christian truth + embracing an unbiblical error. But herein lays the rub. Who is to distinguish between a central/crucial doctrine and an "unimportant" one? Might it even be heretical to call ANY doctrine of God "unimportant"?

The origin of the word in the New Testament is instructive. Hairesis denotes . . .1. a choice; 2. a chosen opinion (used only negatively in the NT of views caused by false teachings); 3. a sect or party (holding certain opinions). 2 Tim 3:16 pictures the role of the Scriptures as establishing the "line" ("teaching" - didaskalian), showing where we have deviated from the line ("reproof" - elegmon), directing us in the proper change in course to return to the line ("correction" - epanorthoosin), and how to continue our conduct on the line ("training in righteousness" - paideian teen dikaiosunee). The "geometry" of obedience leads us to follow the line of God's leading in His word. Our "choice" seems responsive to His gracious provision of truth to follow in and error to avoid.

Heresy would seem to involve a very different kind of "choosing," one that exalts the autonomous will of man. "Choosing" to separate from the life-giving truth of God in favor of one's own determinations, differentiations, and decisions, sometimes even forming a schismatic party would characterize heresy. In fact, you might even argue that heretics are those who "choose" a different view than orthodox Christianity and then practice their choice divisively in the church as schismatics.

Another distinction seems necessary. My observation is that conservative Protestants often suffer from degree envy. So we send our best and brightest off to Harvard, Claremont, Chicago, the GTU, etc. for their terminal degrees. They return with their piety and heart for the Lord intact, but often infected with a mindset that destroys the faith from within. Having known and grown close to mentors who are unashamedly liberal, they suffer from bouts of cognitive dissonance. Unable to condemn the pernicious doctrines of their mentors without seeming to slam their academic father-figures, they waffle. However, the next generation of students, taught by the wafflers, begins to move further away from the truth. When they go off to university for their PhD's they return with little heart for the Lord and a decidedly liberal methodology and mindset.

My point being that sometimes a teacher may be unassailably displaying evident piety and devotion, even giving lip service to all of the right doctrines, yet teach in such a way as to infect students with heresy. My concern is that we make the word narrow enough not to throw everyone but me and thee off the boat and yet broad enough to include the professedly orthodox person who leads people astray.

In lecture 39 of Dr. Curt Daniel's History and Theology of Calvinism series, he speaks of the problem of giving sinful humanity an inadequate diagnosis of our depravity and inability. He analogizes to a physician who offers (for a fee) to "doctor" your X-ray to make it look less dire rather than operating to remove the cancer. Daniel says that such a doctor should be "run out of" the ranks of physicians. Then, he adds: "In my opinion, Arminians should be run out of the ranks of theologians too."

Slipery little word, "heresy," isn't it?

Transformation Ministries Continues Wonderful Meetings on Friday

2007-10-28T10:57:00.000-07:00

It is always good to gather with sisters and brothers who love the Lord. Creative presentations by Tom Morris and Aaron Porter, testimonies, commercials (Bill's Cornerstone Church Network), amazing music (Annie Moses Band), and Dr. Gibbs great material and extraordinary sensitivity to his congregation in the evening all contributed to a VERY good day at the Transformation Ministries Friday sessions. Even the business meeting was interesting with Dr. Salico's informational presentation. The extensive overhaul of the By-Laws with major revisions (something worthy of a good fight or two in most Baptist bodies) resulted in no controversy and an all but unanimous vote (1 dissenter on a secret ballot). The number of younger pastors and lay people made for a special day for an old guy like me.

As one pastor, a visitor from the other side of the country, wrote as he sat in the airport waiting for the red-eye home,

“Vision: this fellowship of churches has a vision for bringing Christ to the next generation. Energy: there was no sense of same old same old, but real Spirit energizes enthusiasm for mission. Unity: these people, ethnically diverse, had a real sense of love, respect, and genuine caring for the needs of all. None of the chip on shoulder attitude that have been so common in ABC circles.”

Two for two. Not a bad start for Transformation Ministries!

Transformation Ministries Begins on High Spiritual Note

2007-10-25T22:14:00.000-07:00

Transformation Ministries began its annual meeting with a strong spiritual note of celebration and challenge. During the afternoon pre-convention session, Rev. Tom Mercer of mega-church High Desert Church, raised the roof with a spirited presentation of the “Best Evangelism Plan You’ve Never Heard Of.” Then, in the plenary session voices from a mosaic of ethnicities (African-American, Asian, Hispanic, and Caucasian) prepared for the sermon by Executive Minister Dr. Dale V. Salico.

Salico recounted statistics showing that today’s 16-29-year olds are more skeptical of and resistant to Christianity than were people in the same age group just a decade ago. Only 16% of non-Christians in this demographic have a positive impression of Christianity. And, only 3% hold a favorable view of evangelicals.

What were the common perceptions regarding Christianity? We are, they observed, judgmental, old fashioned, too involved in politics, anti-homosexual, and we no longer look like Jesus. 61% of today’s young adults—attended church during their teen years but, are now spiritually disengaged.

Salico hit on all of the right emotional and spiritual notes as he exposited Judges 2 as a paradigm for Christians today. In the text he found three generations in the history of Israel: The generation of Joshua (Israel’s “builder generation”), the generation of those who were first to grow up in the Promised-Land (“baby boomers”), and the children of Israel’s “baby-boomers,” the lost generation.

Israel’s “builders” (vss. 7-9) were courageous, inconsistent, sincere in their repentance, and willing to remember the great acts of God in their midst. The second generation of baby boomers (vss. 10-18) was complacent, prone to situation ethics, religiously relativistic, and powerless. The third generation was lost because they lacked the parental example of God’s deeds and faithful obedience by God’s people that their parents had seen.

Applying the message to his audience, Dr. Salico exhorted that “any generation of faith is just two generations away from a generation that is completely lost, with no memory of God and His ways.” In a series of practical applications, Salico reminded them that the spiritual battle will always appear daunting and overwhelming. Unless God chooses to “show up” there can be no hope. We are called to cultivate an environment in which faith can be understood and felt by the young, both in words and example. Added to this, and well beyond our own puny abilities lie the powerful call of a loving God and the submission of a willing heart.

The evening concluded with a powerful altar call directed at the pastors and spiritual leaders in the audience. Most of the ministers present could be found in the front of the convention center.

A participant from the other side of the U.S. commented that after a lifetime of Baptist ministry he had never before witnessed anything like this in American Baptist circles. Appearing genuinely moved by the spiritual tone of the meeting, he volunteered that there is something very special about Transformation Ministries.

[Full disclosure: While I write as an independent voice with opinions all my own and not to be confused with Dr. Salico, as of this annual meeting, the TM executive committee includes me as its treasurer.]

Good Things Coming to Senior Care in Alhambra!

2007-10-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

My blogging has been sporadic of late. Part of this relates to my growing distance from activities in the ABCUSA of which Transformation Ministries is no longer a part. But, the larger issue relates to an extraordinary ramp up of energies for the newest project at Atherton Baptist Homes in Alhambra, CA.

The "Courtyard" was approved unanimously by the Alhambra Planning Commission yesterday evening. Now we move into the marketing phase where our staff will attempt to secure 70% presales on the project. All the while we await the final approval from the State of California to proceed.

For 93 years Atherton has served the needs of seniors in Southern California. With four levels of care, ranging from fully residential living to high need skilled nursing services, Atherton was one of the first retirement communities in our area and still one of the best.

We began with a commitment to serve ministers, missionaries, and their surviving spouses. Today we continue that mission with nearly a quarter of our residents coming to us after vocational Christian service. But, since the 60's we have also opened our doors to the lay community.

The amount of work necessary to prepare for such an undertaking as the Courtyard can be herculean. Architectural and engineering work takes months, bond financing can be tricky, and applications to the state of California involve detailed actuarial studies, financial feasibility analyses, sensitivity studies, marketing surveys, focus groups, and more.

So, my blog may suffer, but some of my "friends" may count that as an unintended blessing. If you are 60 years of age or older or know someone who is, give me a call at Atherton (626-289-4178 x468)!

Are You Tired Trying to Drink Water from a Cactus? Puritans Had the True Super-Soaker for Spirituality

2007-10-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Are you weary from trying to squeeze enough water out of the prickly cactus of modern Christian writers to satisfy your spiritual thirst? Lately, and much to my surprise, I have been drinking my fill from the seemingly endless cisterns of Puritan spirituality. After you get beyond the modern prejudices most of us harbor toward these supposedly dull and dour divines, you will discover an amazingly rich conduit for rivers of living water.

Just doing a simple search of the word "excellent" and its cognates in a few dozen Puritan books turned up 8,623 instances of the word, chiefly in reference to the manifold excellencies of God.

In his work, Christ Altogether Lovely, Puritan divine John Flavel (1630-1691) applies the truth that he is lovely in his person, in his offices, and in his relations to the believer. Using Song of Songs 5:16 as his text, Flavel concludes:

1. Is Jesus Christ altogether lovely? Then I beseech you set your souls upon this lovely Jesus. I am sure such an object as has been here represented, would compel love from the coldest breast and hardest heart. Away with those empty nothings, away with this vain deceitful world, which deserves not the thousandth part of the love you give it. Let all stand aside and give way to Christ. O if only you knew his worth and excellency, what he is in himself, what he has done for you, and deserved from you, you would need no arguments of mine to persuade you to love him!

2. Esteem nothing lovely except as it is enjoyed in Christ, or used for the sake of Christ . Love nothing for itself, love nothing separate from Jesus Christ. In two things we all sin in love of created things. We sin in the excess of our affections, loving them above the proper value of mere created things. We also sin in the inordinacy of our affections, that is to say we give our love for created things a priority it should never have.

3. Let us all be humbled for the corruption of our hearts that are so eager in their affections for vanities and trifles and so hard to be persuaded to the love of Christ, who is altogether lovely. O how many pour out streams of love and delight upon the vain and empty created thing; while no arguments can draw forth one drop of love from their stubborn and unbelieving hearts to Jesus Christ! I have read of one Joannes Mollius, who was observed to go often alone, and weep bitterly; and being pressed by a friend to know the cause of his troubles, said "O! it grieves me that I cannot bring this heart of mine to love Jesus Christ more fervently."

4. Represent Christ to the world as he is, by your behaviour towards him . Is he altogether lovely? Let all the world see and know that he is so, by your delights in him and communion with him; zeal for him, and readiness to part with any other lovely thing upon his account. Proclaim his excellencies to the world, as the spouse did in these verses. Persuade them how much your beloved is better than any other beloved. Show his glorious excellencies as you speak of him; hold him forth to others, as he is in himself: altogether lovely. See that you "walk worthy of him unto all well pleasing," Col. 1:10. "Show forth the praises of Christ," 1 Pet. 2:19 . Let not that "worthy name be blasphemed through you," James 2:7 . He is glorious in himself, and he is sure to put glory upon you; take heed that you do not put shame and dishonours upon him; he has committed his honour to you, do not betray that trust.

Never be ashamed to be counted as a Christian : he is altogether lovely; he can never be a shame to you; it will be your great sin to be ashamed of him. Some men glory in their shame; do not let yourself be ashamed of your glory. If you will be ashamed of Christ now, he will be ashamed of you when he shall appear in his own glory, and the glory of all his holy angels. Be ashamed of nothing but sin; and among other sins, be ashamed especially for this sin, that you have no more love for him who is altogether lovely.

6. Be willing to leave every thing that is lovely upon earth , in order that you may be with the altogether lovely Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Lift up your voices with the bride, Rev. 20:20 "Come Lord Jesus, come quickly." It is true, you must pass through the pangs of death into his intimacy and enjoyment; but surely it is worth suffering much more than that to be with this lovely Jesus. "The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and the patient waiting for Jesus Christ," 2 Thes. 3:5.

7. Let the loveliness of Christ draw all men to him . Is loveliness in the creature so attractive? And can the transcendent loveliness of Christ draw none? O the blindness of man! If you see no beauty in Christ that causes you to desire him, it is because the god of this world has blinded your minds.

8. Strive to be Christ-like, if ever you would be lovely in the eyes of God and man . Certainly, my brethren, it is only the Spirit of Christ within you, and the beauty of Christ upon you, which can make you lovely persons. The more you resemble him in holiness, the more will you show of true excellence and loveliness; and the more frequent and spiritual your communication and communion with Christ is, the more of the beauty and loveliness of Christ will be stamped upon your spirits, changing you into the same image, from glory to glory. Amen.

J.I. Packer said it well when he asked the question: "Why do we need the Puritans?"

What could these zealots give us that we need, it is asked. The answer, in one word, is maturity. Maturity is a compound of wisdom, goodwill, resilience, and creativity. The Puritans exemplified maturity; we don’t. We are spiritual dwarfs. A much-travelled leader, a native American (be it said), has declared that he finds North American Protestantism, man-centered, manipulative, success-oriented, self-indulgent and sentimental, as it blatantly is, to be 3,000 miles wide and half an inch deep. The Puritans, by contrast, as a body were giants. They were great souls serving a great God. In them clear-headed passion and warm-hearted compassion combined. Visionary and practical, idealistic and realistic too, goal-oriented and methodical, they were great believers, great hopers, great doers, and great sufferers. But their sufferings, both sides of the ocean (in old England from the authorities and in New England from the elements), seasoned and ripened them till they gained a stature that was nothing short of heroic. Ease and luxury, such as our affluence brings us today, do not make for maturity; hardship and struggle however do, and the Puritans’ battles against the spiritual and climatic wildernesses in which God set them produced a virility of character, undaunted and unsinkable, rising above discouragement and fears, for which the true precedents and models are men like Moses, and Nehemiah, and Peter after Pentecost, and the apostle Paul.
Packer, J. I. (1994). A quest for godliness : The Puritan vision of the Christian life. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

In a world of trite, overly commercialized, market-tested trivial pursuits passing for Christian books, Puritans like Flavel are a God-send to the parched and thirsty soul! Drink deeply and often!

ABCUSA in the Southwest. Whence and Whither? A Review of Dr. Chetti's Presentation at Atherton

2007-09-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

Dr. Chetti soldiered on admirably for the cause of ABC unity in his presentation at Atherton Baptist Homes this week. He was upbeat, encouraging, prophetic, and quite effective. Only a diehard critic of the ABC could have remained unmoved by his excellent work in explaining, defending, and casting a compelling vision. My previous posting represented as fairly as possible the things that were said by Dr. Chetti so that you might have a flavor of the event. Several in attendance at the meeting verify the accuracy of my account.

Now, however, it is time to respond to some of the points raised. Several “nits” could be picked. For example, it was my understanding that Dr. Lee Spitzer did virtually all of the writing and most of the work on the Lancaster proposal. I also believe that Dr. Chetti is the most recent appointment to the audit committee for the American Baptist Homes of the West (an institution organizationally unrelated to Atherton Baptist Homes).

For the purposes of this posting, however, we will focus on the anomalies present in the structure being articulated as the future of the ABCUSA.

Radical Restructuring. Given the declining contributions to the United Mission budget, increases in regional support, and on-going friction over issues such as homosexuality, the ABC has decided to address these issues decisively and effectively. Their plan is to decouple the various program boards and regional entities, eliminate the General Board with its legislative functions, marginalize (or decommission) the Office of the General Secretary as it has existed since the 1970s, and generally promote a plan of decentralization.

The major virtue of the Federation is also its chief disadvantage. Like the old Articles of Confederation in the U.S., people often tire of a central government with no reason for being. Perhaps that is the plan. It will simply cease to exist in any meaningful national instantiation. But, will the proposed common table provide enough organizational glue to hold together such disparate and diverse regional entities?

A Covenant Depending Upon Revitalized and Activist Executive Ministers. After much prayer and agonizing discussion, the executive ministers realized that further factionalism will only destroy the good work everyone values in the ABC. They also sense that they have been too quiescent in the battles sundering the denomination. Therefore, they have concluded that as EMs will become proactive in saving the enterprise. In short, they will try not to get in each other's faces too much. Rather than allowing controversial persons to receive appointments to national offices, positions of leadership, and the like, they will pledge to one another to give “due consideration” to all ABC resolutions, policies, and statements.

However, before the ink could dry on the Tucson Covenant, at least one EM was reassuring his pastors that this did not mean that they would back away from their justice concerns or fail to give otherwise qualified people their leadership due. In what sense, then, does this “address the problem” or move forward? It sounds more like a pact not to see or discuss the elephant in the middle of the room. Any appointments over which EMs have control will be of the "under the radar" variety.

However, by eliminating the General Board and de-emphasizing or decommissioning the Office of the General Secretary, it should result in a noticeable drop in “noise” in the system. Everything will happen at the regional level. If TABCOM wants to have a lesbian as the head of their ministers council, so what? ABCOSH will not even hear news of it and they will likely never hear about it. They will simply be told by sincere Executive Ministers that "we have addressed the problem and that we have moved on.”

But, if “the issue” has been resolved and if the common table implies a high level of trust, why did Dr. Chetti feel the need to place a quarantine around the ABC of Chicago? Since there is no reason to question the integrity of what other regional units do, and since we are committed to not “taking our toys off the table,” does a refusal to accept clergy from Chicago not imply some contradiction of the rhetoric professed? And, what of TABCOM in Massachusetts or the Rochester region? If Los Angeles cannot trust Chicago, on what basis can they trust the arguably more progressive entities in the northeast?

Dr. Chetti proffered that all “34 executives are on the same page.” Here he seems completely sincere in his affirmation. However, based on conversations and e-mails sent to me, that greatly overstates the case. That they all voted for the proposal does not equate with excitement about it. In a less than perfect world, where the left took early and effective aim at the so-called Lancaster Plan, the “writing team” salvaged what could be kept and has put forth plans that will win unanimous support in part because they empower the Executive Ministers and reduce or remove the friction with Valley Forge. Freed from the burdens of the participation in the current Covenant of Relationships, EMs will be able to direct their passion where they want it to go: to their churches and pastors.

Will it work? I have suggested for some time that the plans being promulgated show the greatest potential to extend the life-cycle of the ABCUSA. Had the Tucson Covenant come a couple of years earlier and been honestly followed, it might very well have kept the PSW from withdrawing from the ABC.

At this point, however, the difficulties identified in this response will continue to be problematic for the organization. It remains to be seen how they will address the issues. In the meantime, Dr. Chetti is perhaps the best spokesperson Dr. Medley could find. He has the ability to explain and persuade those who are wavering.

[Since there is currently a battle for the hearts and minds of congregations located in Southern California, Arizona, and Hawaii for loyalty to either Transformation Ministries or ABCOSH, and due to Dr. Chetti's presence on the campus of the ministry where I serve, it seems appropriate to enter into dialogue regarding the points he made this past Monday at Atherton.]

Dr. Chetti Explains Rationale for ABCOSH at Atherton Baptist Homes

2007-09-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

As reported earlier, Dr. Sam Chetti, Executive Minister of the American Bapitst Churches of Los Angeles was present at Atherton Baptist Homes to discuss what is going on in the ABC since the withdrawal of PSW. 36 people were present in the room, mostly residents of our community. Additionally, besides Dr. Chetti and his aide-de-camp (Debbie Gentry), Dr. Dale Salico (his mother is an Atherton resident), Dr. William L. Ebling and his wife (ABH board chair), pastor Dick Sullender from Monrovia (who learned of the event from the Atherton newsletter), and one of my management team (Dale Torry) were also in attendance. Here are some of the details and a few of the points made (as best as I could record them) . . .

· Dr. Chetti explained the range of his responsibilities which include 147 congregations in the ABC of L.A., supervision of 137 employees and staff (the region owns several schools), endeavoring to build a $22 million endowment (they are at $13.25 million now), service on the ABHOW board of trustees ($150 million budget), responsibility as internal auditor for that organization, and shepherding responsibilities (at Dr. Medley’s request) for the emerging ABCOSH (American Baptist Congregations of the Southwest and Hawaii).

· He indicated that “our goal is to thrive and to thrive immensely.”

· In describing the shifts in the ABCUSA structure he indicated that he anticipated the Mission Center to be sold (approx. $10-14 million) and the money used to endow the on-going ministry of the Office of the General Secretary.

· He recounted the history of his idea to move toward a “common table” in the ABC, explaining how he presented the concept to a group of Executive Ministers meeting in Lancaster (PA), secured their agreement with the idea, which was then taken to the General Executive Council of the ABCUSA (GEC). Dr. Chetti explained that in the GEC the “liberals” typically reject whatever the evangelicals and centrists propose. So “after ten minutes” of critiquing the Lancaster proposal, the GEC moved on to other proposals for re-structuring. Nevertheless, when the “writing team” tasked with cobbling together an organizational plan intended to pull together the various ideas put forth at the GEC, they settled on a “federated” proposal closely approximating the Lancaster plan.

· Dr. Chetti opined that we do not need “common ground” but “higher ground.” He recounted a meeting earlier this year in Tucson when it did not look as if the GEC could come to agreement on any plan of action for the ABC. He invited a liberal Executive Minister and a Conservative Minister to meet with him at 10:45 p.m. and to pray earnestly for God’s will to be done. The next morning the group came to more than an agreement, it was a consensus. Attributing the nearly miraculous outcome to the agency of a loving God, the leaders emerged with a commitment/covenant to quit destroying the ABC family with needless factionalism. The EM’s pledged to only appoint/allow persons to national office and representative positions after giving “due consideration” to the existing policies and resolutions of the ABCUSA.

· Dr. Chetti explained that the ABC is a faith family, not a denomination. The “entire denominational structure” needs to change, he averred. The proposed structure will more likely resemble a federation focused on mission and ministry, not legislative decision-making.

· All “34 executives are on the same page,” Dr. Chetti proffered.

· As to the finances of the organization, he indicated that the United Mission numbers are showing declines. Yet the “regions are doing great” in the midst of it as congregations re-direct their giving away from the national organization in favor of the regional entities.

· On the question of homosexuality in the ABC, Dr. Chetti professed that “We have addressed the issue and we are moving forward.” We will be “stronger and leaner, and meaner . . . much leaner, much leaner, much leaner.”

· The ABC is an organization “constantly bounded by our passion for Jesus Christ.” He likened the departure of PSW/TM to a “storm” wrecking “tremendous amounts of devastation.” But “we are re-grouping, we are moving forward. My goal is to be positive, upbeat, transparent.” he concluded.

· The formal presentation ended at 3:27 with calls for questions. Dr. Chetti received some unsolicited kudos for his leadership, answered a few questions, and closed in prayer a few minutes later, dismissing to the finger foods his office had arranged for Atherton to prepare.

My analytical observations of Dr. Chetti’s presentation will wait for a later effort. For now, at least, this represents as objective account of what was said as I can muster. On a personal note, Dr. Medley might consider conscripting Sam as a representative in other venues. He was encouraging, upbeat, and extremely persuasive. A better case for the ABC could hardly have been made.

Pray for Missionaries Battling Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo

2007-09-19T08:01:00.000-07:00

The Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing what may be the largest outbreak of Ebola in that country. 186 deaths have been registered in hospitals or clinics, but it is possible that many are dying without being counted. Baptist missionary Bill Clemmer, who heads SANRU the Programme de Santé Rurale, or Rural Health Program), and other Christian missionaries are working closing with the Atlanta based CDC in an effort to confront this recent Ebola outbreak.

Ebola — known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever — is a severe, often-fatal disease in humans that has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The disease is caused by infection with Ebola virus, named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it was first recognized.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EMAE-776R2A?OpenDocument

http://www.abc-usa.org/news/2007/20070912a.htm

Setting the Record Straight on Transformation Ministries

2007-09-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Recently there have been a number of rumors floating around the southwest about the dire straights facing newly created Transformation Ministries. As a new member of the board, these questions are more than a little existentially relevant for me. Today was our board meeting in Covina. For the benefit of the readership of His Barking Dog, here are the facts learned at today's meeting . . .

* "We have never had such a good balance sheet in the nearly ten years I have been here" (David Gregory, Chief Financial Officer).

* Currently TM is running at 91% of budget (Steve Roblee, Minister of Mission Advancement).

* How many giving churches of record have we lost since the withdrawal? 52 fewer congregations are giving to Trans Min than gave to ABCPSW (Steve Roblee).

* When asked how many significant giving congregations have we lost since the withdrawal from the ABC, Steve Roblee replied: "Two." And one of them has reduced their contribution from $1,200/mo. to $300/mo.

* The first draft of the budget was unbalanced for 2008. However, this appears mainly due to the overly conservative budget assumptions utilized by the ever vigilant CFO. On the investment side alone, even a fairly pessemistic set of assumptions would remove the budget deficit, in and of itself! And, this was only a preliminary draft copy, not the budget to be presented to the board.

* Church giving has been "flat" for the last several years (Gregory). This sounds bad until you examine the "falling like a stone" statistics for most mainline denominations.

* With all of the discussions about how few congregations have formally "signed the covenant" of TM, it should be noted that only 21 have officially withdrawn from TM and been acted upon by the board, and three of those are withdrawing from the ABCUSA as well.

The last time I served on the board of this region was nearly two decades ago. At that time we were burning through our endowment at a dizzying pace. Now, even after the withdrawal from the ABC, TM has a stable budget and a growing endowment. As someone who is responsible for a $13 million budget in my own ministry, I can only marvel at the degree of turnaround under the humble and self-effacing Salico.

By the way, this week's newsletter for Atherton Baptist Homes announced an open meeting with Dr. Sam Chetti of the ABC of LA. He will be on the Atherton campus next Monday, September 17, at 2:30 p.m. to answer questions and to discuss some of the outreach to those desiring to remain loyal American Baptists.

Since most of the Baptists at Atherton (we have about 350 residents) belong to either the First Baptist Church of Alhambra across the street (which voted 99% to withdraw from ABC) or the First Baptist Church of Temple City (which elected to withdraw with a nearly 85% majority), Atherton might seem at first a strange venue for such a meeting. However, our board has declared that it intends to continue ministry to Baptists in our entire constituency regardless of whether they belong to the ABC of LA, Transformation Ministries, or the new ABC group in the southwest.

Dr. Chetti is always welcome on the Atherton campus. In fact, any Baptist readers within driving distance to 214 S. Atlantic, Alhambra, CA might want to drop by on Monday to learn what programs the ABC has to offer.

When Old is Good and New Not so Much

2007-09-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

After plowing through endless pages of some perfectly dreary “contemporary” books lately, I have been reminded of the advice C.S. Lewis once gave regarding the reading of “old books.”

"We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century—the blindness about which posterity will ask, "But how could they have thought that?"—lies where we have never suspected it, and concerns something about which there is untroubled agreement between Hitler and President Roosevelt or between Mr. H. G. Wells and Karl Barth. None of us can fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books. Where they are true they will give us truths which we half knew already. Where they are false they will aggravate the error with which we are already dangerously ill. The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books. Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes. They will not flatter us in the errors we are already committing; and their own errors, being now open and palpable, will not endanger us. Two heads are better than one, not because either is infallible, but because they are unlikely to go wrong in the same direction. To be sure, the books of the future would be just as good a corrective as the books of the past, but unfortunately we cannot get at them” (from his introduction to “Athanasius on the Incarnation”).

The “top ten” Christian books today include titles such as: 1. Forever; 2. Get Out of that Pit; 3. 90 Minutes in Heaven; 4. Facing Your Giants; 5. Ever After; 6. The Five Love Languages; 7. Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World; 8. Sex God; 9. The Purpose-Driven Life; 10: White Chocolate Moments. All that is missing is Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential by the famously famous Joel Osteen.

I’m no expert, but my guess is that books by Athanasius, Augustine, Calvin, Owen, Warfield, Charnock, Chesterton, Lewis, Denney, Edwards, Luther, Gill, Bunyan, Kierkegaard, Pink, Ryle, Spurgeon, Brother Lawrence, Law, Hodge, Strong, Dabney, and the like might possibly have a chance to bring more spiritual impact to the reader than truckloads of the contemporary stuff.

And, lest you complain that people would not be able to understand such "complex" works, remember that at the time of the Reformation, Luther's books were eagerly snatched up and read by peasants as well as priests. The massive three-volume Institutes of Elenctic Theology by Reformer Francis Turretin, now considered an advanced volume reserved for specialists, was once viewed as an introductory catechetical text.

Baptist Calvinist Tom Ascol recently reminded us that Baptist John Broadus offered similar advice to young preachers when he wrote:

"I think that young men should be specially exhorted to read old books. If you have a friend in the ministry who is growing old, urge him to read mainly new books, that he may freshen his mind and keep in sympathy with his surroundings. 'But must not young men keep abreast of the age?' Certainly, only the first thing is to get abreast of the age, and in order to this, they must go back to where the age came from, and join there the great procession of its moving thought" ( Lectures on the History of Preaching, 230-31).

My next book? John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ of course! After all, it is too good to be new.

In Praise of a Job Well Done and a New Path Begun

2007-08-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

During the two years of this blog, His Barking Dog, it has been my custom to observe the church and culture, offering commentary and critique from an Evangelical and Baptist perspective. Today, however, my heart is filled with pride over a more personal reason, namely for my second born, Joshua D. McFadden, Esq.

Just minutes ago Josh received news that he has passed the bar exam on his first attempt and will be admitted to the practice of law in the state of Arkansas. This culminates a nine year pilgrimage through a fine undergraduate program in business at John Brown University, a MBA earned when he returned to JBU after working in Georgia, and a rigorous J.D. program at the University of Arkansas. Josh has joined a fine old firm in Fayetteville with about 15 attorneys, several of which achieved the highest score on the exam the years they took it. He looks forward to being trained as a civil litigator (the "gator" part is the give away; sortof like an alligator with a law license).

Josh possesses a fine mind and a keen analytical intellect. But more importantly, he and his wife, Tabitha (a marketing account exec with her own masters degree), have a strong desire to make a Kingdom difference with their lives. They are both committed to their family (now including young Dylan), to their church, and to their community. Our sin-sick world needs more people like them. We can certainly use their intellectual gifts and professional training. But, more importantly, their character and integrity will commend them in whatever endeavor they put their hands to do.

Soli deo gloria!

Remembering a Lion in Winter

2007-08-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

Dr. D. James Kennedy has accomplished more in his 76 years than most mortals. He built a great church, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, from a handful of intial members. He pioneered an approach to evangelism that has borne immense fruit for the kingdom, not just his own niche of Protestant Christianity. His advocacy for orthodoxy has been clear and clarion. His defense of truth against the assaults of non-Christian and pseudo-Christian cults, his affirmation of creation by a sovereign and provident God against all forms of naturalism, and his clear stand on biblical morality have distinguished him as a giant of his generation of evangelicals.

So, it was with much sadness to learn this week that he has agreed to retire from his church after more than 48 years, following an extended illness. Just days after Christmas Eve Kennedy suffered a cardiac arrest and has been unable to return to the pulpit since then.

Thank you Dr. Kennedy for your splendid leadership and evangelical statesmanship. May the Lord richly bless you in the days to come!

The Evolution of Intolerance Toward Creation by a Creator

2007-08-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

This ought to be interesting . . .

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- It's a movie that Ferris Bueller would take the day off to go see. What freedom-loving student wouldn't beoutraged to discover that his high school science teacher is teaching atheory as indisputable fact, and that university professors unmercifully crush any fellow scientists who dare question the prevailing system of belief? This isn't the latest Hollywood comedy; it's a disturbing new documentary that will shock anyone who thinks all scientists are free tofollow the evidence wherever it may lead.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070822/CLW037 )

Produced by Premise Media, Expelled, in theaters February 2008, is being marketed by Motive Entertainment, the company that has spearheaded significant Hollywood blockbusters, including The Passion of the Christ, Polar Express and The Chronicles of Narnia. Rocky Mountain Pictures, an established distribution company, which has enjoyed numerous box-office successes, will distribute the film.

Ben Stein, the lovable, monotone teacher from Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Wonder Years is on a journey to answer one of the biggest questions ever asked: Were we designed or are we simply the end result of an ancient mud puddle struck by lightning? Stein, who is also a lawyer, an economist,a former presidential speechwriter, author and social commentator, is stunned by what he finds on his journey. He discovers an elitist scientific establishment that has traded in its skepticism for dogma. But even worse, along the way, Stein uncovers a long line of biologists, astronomers, chemists and philosophers who have had their reputations destroyed and their careers ruined by a scientific establishment that allows absolutely no dissent from Charles Darwin's theory of random mutation and natural selection.

* It should not take a Hollywood film to confirm what many of us know: the bigotry, bias, and intolerance so often attributed to evangelicals more aptly captures the spirit of those in establishment positions in education in America. Regardless of whether you hold to a young-earth, old-earth, or Intelligent Design form of creationism, you will find yourself the object of intense scorn by the intellectual establishment and major media in our country.

* Genesis, particularly in the first eleven chapters, establishes the basis for most of the doctrines developed in the pages of the Bible. Creation, sin, redemption, and the promise of consummation all come within its purview. You go, Ben Stein!

Latest ABC Mission Trends

2007-08-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

[Source: Graph Prepared by Mission Resource Dept. of ABCUSA]

I just received the latest numbers from the ABC regarding mission giving trends. The 2004 number of $16.67 million for United Missions Basics is projected to decline to $12.7 million by the end of this year (based on projections by Valley Forge). The total American Baptist Mission Support shows a corresponding decline from $42.89 million in 2004 to a projected $37.19 million in this year, according to figures supplied by the Mission Resource Development office of the ABCUSA in an e-mail dated August 17.

The General Executive Council (GEC) member who forwarded the numbers to me commented: "UM continues to fall. No surprise there. Region Offering and Specifics continues to climb. Again no surprise. So far no one is talking about the reasons behind the disparity. Again, no surprise."

An Evangelical Giant Graduates to Glory – But Have We Learned the Lessons He Taught?

2007-08-14T22:42:00.000-07:00

Among the deaths this summer, one passed almost unnoticed, unfortunately. Harold O.J. Brown was probably the most irenic and humble man ever to hold four degrees from Harvard University. With an A.B. in Germanic Studies and Biochemical Studies, a B.D., Th.M., and Ph.D, Brown certainly had one of the finest educations of any person in his generation. A long-time teacher at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Reformed Theological Seminary, he was also noted for his pioneering work in bio-ethics. Along with Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, he founded the Christian Action Council, now Care Net.

My appreciation for Dr. Brown dates to his contributions to Christianity Today which I began devouring as a 15 year old and to his book, Heresies: The Image of Christ in the Mirror of Heresy and Orthodoxy from the Apostles to the Present (Doubleday, 1984), which helped inform and orient me theologically during my first solo pastorate. Reading Brown was an exciting adventure as he made the classic battles of orthodoxy and heresy come alive and made them seem crucial to understanding and obeying Jesus Christ in the present.

Brown explained that “heresy” began as nothing more insidious than “party.” Early on, however, it took on the sinister connotation of “a separation or split resulting from a false faith.” As such, “it designated either a doctrine or the party holding the doctrine, a doctrine that was sufficiently intolerable to destroy the unity of the Christian church. In the early church, heresy did not refer to simply any doctrinal disagreement, but to something that seemed to undercut the very basis for Christian existence” (pg. 2).

Brown reminds us:
"The Christian religion has produced more heresies than any other religion, and the heresies it produces are more tenacious than those of any other religion. In fact, it sometimes seems that the most vigorous, committed, and rapidly multiplying Christians in any age are those we like to call heretics. Why is Christianity so productive of divisive opinions, held with great conviction, that lead to splits in the church and charges and countercharges of heresy? The reason is simple: Christianity consists of a message that claims to be absolutely true and that is at the same time deeply and perplexingly mysterious" (pg. 6)

In our heresy-phobic culture of tolerance and accommodation, we might well remember the ancient dictum: “corruption optima pessimum est” (“the corruption of the best is the worst”). For, unless we learn the lessons of distinguishing Truth from Error we may well fulfill the prophetic words of Brown: “It may soon be necessary to say of mainstream Roman Catholic theology that it, like most Protestantism, is neither orthodox nor heretical, but another religion” (p. 446).

Godspeed Dr. Brown. Godspeed! May we learn the lessons you lived and taught.

Vacation Delights

2007-08-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

One of my readers commented on my hiatus from blogging. It was due to an important board meeting at work and (more importantly) VACATION!

* Last weekend 12 or the 14 of us were together at our eldest son's house in Minooka (IL). Our newlyweds from Joplin were away on their honeymoon. But that still left two sons, two daughters, two daughter-in-laws, one son-in-law, and three grandsons to celebrate my 54th birthday together. Highlights included attending church and hearing our eldest son do his regular Saturday evening sermon, enjoying the world famous Giordano deep-dish pizza at the equally well-known restaurant on Rush street (adorned with the names of Chicago notables such as Belushi, Caray, Hillary, Farley, etc.), and checking out the fabulous Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.

* On Monday we traveled to the Cincinnati area to visit the brand new Creation Museum created by Answers in Genesis. I will blog on this later, but WOW! More high-tech than Disneyland, this may be the most comprehensive and sustained argument for presuppositional apologetics anywhere.

* A quick trip to Fort Wayne permitted us to see our daughter and son-in-law's new place as he takes on an inner city youth ministry role and she begins teaching Bible at a large Christian school.

* And, with our eldest and his wife at a Willow Creek leadership conference, my wife and I had the privilege of babysitting our two eldest grandsons Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Yippee! Living in California so far from Ilinois, this was our first chance to play the "take care of the grandkids while the parents are away for several days" grandparent role. What a special privilege!!!

* Now, home at 10:30 p.m. last night, vacation wrapped up today with teaching Sunday school and preaching an ordination sermon (Isaiah 6:1-8). Tomorrow I return to my day job.

Does life get any better?

The Theological Middle of the Road: More on the Idea and Practice of Baptist Moderates

2007-07-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

My last post generated an interesting exchange with an interlocutor describing himself as one of the "militant moderates." He credited me for cleverness, but faulted my reasoning in the descriptions of moderates as often quite ill-moderate in temperament. So, it seemed that a more substantive reflection might be in order. Here are my observations after stumbling through the maze of conflicting theological labels.

Baptist moderates typically see themselves as orthodox Christians who hold firmly to an evangelical understanding of the Gospel. Some of them emphasize social aspects of the faith more than some of their more conservative brethren do (in their opinion). Others want to encourage members of the progressive left to keep up their doctrinal and practical explorations in the hope that we can learn something of value from them. What truly distinguishes the moderate is the commitment to freedom. They often proclaim, in Voltaire-like echoes, that they will defend to the death your right to be wrong, whether you are to the left or the right of them. Against the left and the right, they oppose the "fundamentalist" spirit of exclusive claims to truth and the frequently expressed desire to exclude or marginalize one's opponents.

Instead, they want everyone to be present at the table in the hopes that we can all exhibit the humility and openness necessary to learn from one another in a spirit of Christian comity. From the right we can learn the value of "conserving" what has proven important and valuable in our tradition; from the left we can learn from a progressive "openness" to the Spirit of the Living God who still moves among the churches.

They aver that what made Baptists Baptists traces to the idea of freedom. Indeed, their reading of Baptist history celebrates as the central genius a commitment to freedom. For moderates freedom is the big idea that brought Baptists out of the British/European theological morass. They see emphasis upon boundaries as contrary to the Baptist ethos.

IMHO, the error of the moderates derives from their misunderstanding of history, both Christian and Baptist. All basic forms of church polity (Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational) have the advantage of being rooted in the Biblical record and operating with common-sense checks and balances. Trying to absolutize one value (e.g., freedom) without the counterbalance of agreed upon boundaries and the comprehension of other truths risks the entire enterprise.

With respect to Baptist history, which of our original Baptist forbearers would they have us emulate? The ones behind the First London Confession of Faith ( 1644), Second London Confession of Faith (1677), Philadelphia Confession of Faith & Catechism (1742), or maybe the 1858 Abstract of Principles with its Calvinistic emphases and insistence upon very strict boundaries for fellowship? These freedom loving Baptists did not seem to shrink from insisting on fairly specific doctrinal affirmations for Baptist clergy and congregations in order to remain in fellowship with the larger association.

Only in our "have it your way" era of "Burger King" theology has it been seen as unbaptistic to draw such boundaries. It simply will not do to proclaim the Baptist value of “freedom” without also affirming some boundaries of agreed upon beliefs and practices. Such an attempt is fundamentally “unbaptistic” and contrary to the spirit and the practice animating our Baptist founders. Without a balance of values, all we have left is the sad plea of a Rodney King “theology”: “Can’t we just get along.”

The Curse of the Theological Moderates: Ruminations on Reaction Formation

2007-07-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

What is a moderate anyway? The dictionary (dictionary.com to be exact) offers up nearly a dozen senses or nuances of the adjective, noun, verb.

Interestingly, the first definition caught my attention: “kept or keeping within reasonable or proper limits; not extreme, excessive, or intense.”

By this standard one would expect self-identified “moderates” to be, well, er, ah . . . “moderate.” Yet, in my somewhat careful reading of the writings of theological moderates over the past two years in a variety of blogs and message boards (at least the Baptist ones), it has been my observation that much of the time they are anything but “moderate.”

Rather than calmly measured rhetoric and argumentation, they often display the greatest passion and intensity. Yelling, name calling, ridicule, over-the-top sarcasm, proof-texting, ganging up, use of false and misleading “facts,” reluctance to apologize when proven wrong, legalistically adhering to the “rules” of the “board,” netiquette, etc., self-righteousness, and an odd combination of quixotic idealism and a dogged preference for whining victimhood characterize much of the electronic speech by the theological moderates I have been reading.

Why are the moderates so angry? What animates their “extreme, excessive, or intense” non-moderate moderation?

Recently a moderator active on a couple of the most popular “Baptist” forums took to answering the question, tongue firmly in cheek, when he commented on some of the fireworks over on another Baptist forum. He opined:

“I don't know why we don't get more angry fundamentalists, but my guess is that the tone here is much friendlier, even though we probably have more true fundamentalists and liberals posting here than at [the name of the other forum]. Moderates are just mean.”

Some years ago Andy Griffith recorded a comedy album featuring the bit “What it was was football.” In it he described a backwoods boy being dumped into the crush of humanity going to a college football game. Unable to understand the rules made for hilarious comedic turns. He finally concluded that the goal of the game was “to get from one end of the cow pasture to the other without getting knocked down or steppin’ in somethin’.”

In a similar vein, not having a Southern Baptist Convention background is a real liability when reading Baptist blogs and forums. The SBC “resurgence”/”takeover” has produced such polarities of opinion that just describing the history by either term virtually brands you as a partisan in the feud. And, much as with the mythic argument between the Hatfields and the McCoys, the SBC “conservatives”/”fundamentalists” and "liberals"/"moderates" (there you go again with the fighting terms!) have so much invested in the battle, that you can get yourself shot at by either faction simply by inadvertently trespassing on a conversation with a rich and factious cultural/ecclesiastical backstory unknown to you.

So, Andy Griffith style, here is my explanation of what is going on with the “moderates.” They appear to be mostly ex-fundamentalists who have evidently retained much of their famous anger. However, instead of being mad at the liberals and ready to relegate them to hell’s fire as the fundamentalists do, the moderates are just as ticked at the fundamentalists and can’t resist telling them to go to hell.

Much of my theological heritage during jr. and sr. high was shaped by a moderate congregation and theologically “progressive” Baptist pastors with all of the attendant frustrations and hypocrisies of mainline religion. Consequently, I have spent most of my adult years running to the right to find “Truth” (capital “T” please). My moderate friends mostly grew up in a fundamentalist culture with all of the attendant frustrations and hypocrisies of fundamentalism. They appear to be devoting themselves to a pell-mell rush to the left.

Interesting. Liberals are not very liberal in their refusal to be open to those to the right of them. Conservatives spend more time suffocating the truth than preserving it. And, moderates are the least “moderate” of the bunch. Maybe Andy Griffith could do a bit on Baptists?

Early End to Daylight Savings Time in Rome? Pope Rolls Back the Clock Early, Declaring Protestant Congregations Not Churches

2007-07-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

This has been an important week for the Church, the Roman Catholic Church that is. Or, as Pope Benedict XVI would have it, the only Church. Reiterating the view he promulgated in 2000 in Dominus Iesus, writing then as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger when he headed the Vatican ministry for Doctrine, the restatement dubs Protestant congregations merely "ecclesial communities."A commentary attached to the latest text acknowledged that his early work had caused "no little distress". But it added: "It is nevertheless difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to [Protestant communities], given that they do not accept the theological notion of the Church in the Catholic sense and that they lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church."

According to Benedict, since we Protestants do not have apostolic succession, we lack the sacramental preisthood and have therefore not preserved the "genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery."

The fact that this declaration came just days following the decision to reinstate the Latin Mass raised speculation that the new pope sought to turn back the clock to before Vatican II, of which he was an observer as a young priest. The Vatican insists that the Pope was attempting to correct liberal misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the justifiably famous council.

In recent years evangelical theologians have attempted to take advantage of changes in Catholic theology to propose new grounds for cooperation. Many implications of the highly vaunted New Perspective on Paul, so popular in the academy, also comports well with renewed approaches to Christian consensus, if not full organizational union. The movement known as Evangelicals and Catholics Together, for example, produced a document in 1994, signed or endorsed by evangelical's such as Prison Fellowship's Chuck Colson, Richard Land of the SBC, Campus Crusade's Bill Bright, Rchard Mouw of Fuller, and Pat Robertson. It was strongly opposed by others such as Sproul and MacArthur.

The declaration ended:

Nearly two thousand years after it began, and nearly five hundred years after the divisions of the Reformation era, the Christian mission to the world is vibrantly alive and assertive. We do not know, we cannot know, what the Lord of history has in store for the Third Millennium. It may be the springtime of world missions and great Christian expansion. It may be the way of the cross marked by persecution and apparent marginalization. In different places and times, it will likely be both. Or it may be that Our Lord will return tomorrow. We do know that his promise is sure, that we are enlisted for the duration, and that we are in this together. We do know that we must affirm and hope and search and contend and witness together, for we belong not to ourselves but to him who has purchased us by the blood of the cross. We do know that this is a time of opportunity-and, if of opportunity, then of responsibility-for Evangelicals and Catholics to be Christians together in a way that helps prepare the world for the coming of him to whom belongs the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

If the Pope intends to settle the matter definitively, does this mean that ecclesiastical rapprochement between Catholics and Protestants has been either ruled out entirely or back burnered? And what of the theological work that led to the ECT? Was it misbegotten or based upon a misunderstanding of the trajectory of Roman Catholic theology? We shall see.

For some years, proponents of ECT type dialogue have been snickering at people like Sproul and MacArthur for their "gross misunderstanding" of contemporary Catholic theology and and changes in RC views of justification that supposedly position them much closer to evangelical Protestantism. Could it be that the ECT evangelicals have been talking to the liberal Catholics and that normative catholicism never veered very much from its Council of Trent anathemas? In light of Benedict's pronouncement as a Cardinal in 2000, reaffirmed now as the Pope, might there still be some value in proclaiming the Reformation's sola fide in contrast to the Roman understanding of justification?

"Dahlberg Peace Prize" for Transformation Ministries' Board? Do I Hear an Amen? Or Maybe Just a Surgeon's Saw?

2007-07-07T22:45:00.000-07:00

Several friends in other regions have always been quite gracious about claiming their Baptist kin in Transformation Ministries as still part of the "framily." However, judging by a response to one of my recent posts, they may be in the minority in their generosity toward TM among American Baptists. Evidently the left likens their left-coast kin to a gangrenous limb lopped off to the relief of just about everyone. Writing in response to my post, one always sharp and thoughtful reader, Amill-presup (although not himself hailing from the theological left), wrote:

God bless those ministers for staying... for not leaving the ABC in their part of the country to become a "spiritual Netherlands." BTW, your description of how the "Transformation Ministries" annual meeting was like "a sigh of relief" couldn't be more fitting for this ABC biennial that just ended. Having finally lost some of the most contentious, least Baptistic among us was like removing an infected limb before the infection could spread. It was painful and it will be difficult to adjust. But we're already moving ahead.

Since Dr. Salico and his board in Transformation Ministries is responsible for producing such a collective "sigh of relief" by voluntarily removing their spiritually necrotic and "contentious, least Baptistic" selves from the body politic of the ABCUSA, perhaps they deserve the coveted "Dahlberg Peace Prize"??? Afterall, "removing an infected limb before the infection could spread" has purportedly brought great relief and peace to the now unified ABC. In fact, Amill-presup seems to believe that the ABC lives in the millennial state now as the absence of PSW/TM, however "painful", has made true eschatological peace in the ABC a reality at last.

Wait a minute! Salico and crew can't receive the Dahlberg prize. They are no longer in the amputated-limbed family. Maybe the "surgeons" over at AWAB deserve the award for precipitating the removal of the infected PSW limb from the body in the first place?

Just a thought. Never mind. BTW - in the over-the-top metaphor game, last year an Executive Minister spoke of TM's withdrawal as a spiritual pruning along the lines of John 15! Hey, I couldn't make this stuff up.

More seriously, I am truly glad that the ABC senses a collective relief over the absence of TM. Amill-presup testifies to part of what I had hoped would happen as TM separated itself from the larger body. Honestly, my prayer was that other regions might follow TM in their departure. However, whether TM goes alone or with others, my argument all along was that it was time to wish each other peace and to pursue our differing visions for future ministry without rancor and disruptiveness.

The kind of grinding conflict and hard feelings so effectively alluded to in Amill-presup's reply, were both enervating to the spirit and destructive to forward movement in both TM and Valley Forge. The centennial celebration with the CBF sounds as if it got things off to a very good start for ABCUSA. What a blessed way to ease past the loss of a significant region! The additional numbers at the Biennial and sense of transdenominational cooperation contributed to high spirits and helped create a spirit and the promise of momentum into the future.

Sounds as if the Lord intends to bless both Barnabas and Paul this time too! Amen! Dr. Medley is a kind and gentle man who means well. He deserves a break! TM similarly seeks to honor the Lord and be faithful to his leading. Dr. Salico has also earned the peace he currently enjoys.

Looks like a win-win to me.

Disclaimer: Not being a part of the TM board until recently, I deserve no part of any awards, prizes, honorifics, or general good-stuff commendations flowing to the PSW (now TM) board for their wisdom in cutting off the offending member (i.e., themselves) from the body of the ABC.

More Thoughts on the Theology of My T-Shirt

2007-07-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more scattered thoughts on the "theology of my t-shirt" posting below.

In recent decades evangelicals have flirted with the attractions of openness theology (e.g., Sanders, Pinnock, and Boyd), the so-called "new perspective" on Paul with its challenge to the heart of the Reformation, and very sophisticated arguments in favor of Arminianism (e.g., Witherington).

My problem with Arminianism is that it denies that Christ paid the penalty for our sins. As an authoritative interpreter of the movement from within, J.K. Grider, argued in Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology:

Many Arminians whose theology is not very precise say that Christ paid the penalty for our sins. Yet such a view is foreign to Arminianism, which teaches instead that Christ suffered for us. Arminians teach that what Christ did he did for every person; therefore what he did could not have been to pay the penalty, since no one would then ever go into eternal perdition.
Arminianism teaches that Christ suffered for everyone so that the Father could forgive those who repent and believe; his death is such that all will see that forgiveness is costly and will strive to cease from anarchy in the world God governs."

Such a view was later to be known as the "governmental theory of the atonement" and had its fullest expression in Arminius' student, lawyer-theologian Hugo Grotius. A good (i.e., well-taught and consistent) Arminian would actually have theological problems with Billy Graham campaigns, as Grider himself admits, because "workers are often taught to counsel people that Christ paid the penalty for their sins." Such notions are anathema to the true Arminian.

Dealing with these issues in a forthright way, evangelical theogian J.I. Packer wrote a powerful introduction to the 1958 reprint of John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.

"Now, here are two coherent interpretations of the biblical gospel, which stand in evident opposition to each other. The difference between them is not primarily one of emphasis, but of content. One proclaims a God who saves; the other speaks of a God who enables man to save himself. One view presents the three great acts of the Holy Trinity for the recovering of lost mankind - election by the Father, redemption by the Son, calling by the Spirit - as directed towards the same persons, and as securing their salvation infallibly. The other view gives each act a different reference (the objects of redemption being all mankind, of calling, all who hear the gospel, and of election, those hearers who respond), and denies that man's salvation is secured by any of them.

The two theologies thus conceive the plan of salvation in quite different terms. One makes salvation depend on the work of God, the other on a work of man; one regards faith as part of God's gift of salvation, the other as man's own contribution to salvation; one gives all the glory of saving believers to God, the other divides the praise between God, who, so to speak, built the machinery of salvation, and man, who by believing operated it.

Plainly, these differences are important, and the permanent value of the 'five points', as a summary of Calvinism, is that they make clear the areas in which, and the extent to which, these two conceptions are at variance."

For those struggling with the issue, I commend both Owen's masterful polemic (in the best sense of the term) and Packer's introduction to it.

Owen leads the reader down a primrose path. For what and for whom did Jesus die? If for all the sins of all people, then he must have died for the sin of unbelief? In which case, all people must be saved. If not, then perhaps he died for all of the sins of some of the people (i.e., the elect)? Arminianism has Jesus dying in order to make salvation merely a possibility. In fact, to them he did not necessarily save anyone.

Packer opines, "It is safe to say that no comparable exposition of the work of redemption as planned and executed by the Triune Jehovah has ever been done since Owen published his. None has been needed....[N]obody has a right to dismiss the doctrine of the limitedness, or particularity, of atonement as a monstrosity of Calvinistic logic until he has refuted Owen's proof that it is part of the uniform biblical presentation of redemption, clearly taught in plain text after plain text. And nobody has done that yet."

For Reformed thinkers, Jesus did die for our sins. As Karl Barth put it, hyper (υπερ) is the most important word in the Greek New Testament since Christ died "for" our sin. And, as a Baptist, I count it an honor that proponents of Reformed theology among Baptists have included notables such as Spurgeon, Boyce, Broadus, Manly, Mell, Howell, Johnson, Mallary, B.H. Carroll, with more recent advocates such as Ascol, Mohler, and Piper. And, from the non-baptist ranks can be named folks like MacArthur, Packer, and Sproul.

Against those who argue that a belief in the sovereignty of God will kill evangelism, it should be noted that until recently, much evangelism and lasting revival (other than Wesley) was associated with Reformed ministries (e.g., Edwards, Whitfield, Spurgeon, 19th Century Southern Baptists, etc.). In fact, if you move beyond the level of mere tracts (e.g., the Four Spiritual Laws) to systematic training programs, one of the most effective tools for decades has been Evangelism Explosion by the Reformed pastor, James Kennedy!

In the final analysis, we do have "free will." We can "choose" to exalt the sovereignty of God's will or argue for the sovereignty of the human will.

Being just a plain and simple Baptist preacher . . . I pick God.

The Theology of My T-Shirt: A Little Laugh While Looking Through the Glass Darkly

2007-07-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

My favorite t-shirt sports a message on the front and another on the back (see above). In fact, I like it so much that my wardrobe includes two of them! After people do a double-take, if they know any theology, it produces at least a smile of recognition.

Yes, we DO see through a glass darkly. Regardless of whether we identify more with the Calvinists or the Arminians, we must all admit that our clarity of vision has been obscured by sin, historical distance, the problem of particularity, and a host of other impediments to spiritual and intellectual occular clarity.

Calvinists are famous for their Jesuit-like logic, as penetrating as it is relentless. Whole libraries have been written on why post-Reformation scholasticism took Calvin into cul-de-sacs unintended by the Magisterial Reformer. Similarly, Arminians probably do not believe much of what Jacob Harmenszoon (aka Jacobus Arminius) was getting at either.

So, asking the question, "Are you a Calvinist or an Arminian?" might be about as useful at times as asking whether you have quit beating your wife. I confess that the themes of Calvin regarding the glorious sovereignty of God, the total inability of humankind, the triumph of grace, and the promise of perseverance speak to me more deeply and with greater evocative power than the words of my Arminian sisters and brothers. Maybe it's just me. But, in the dark night of the soul, I want a God who is sovereign, sure-footed, and who never slumbers walking by my side through the fearsome uncertainties of life.

During seminary one of my profs told the story of a time in his pastorate when a widow looked up into his eyes at the graveside and cried, "Why?" His answer? "God is standing here beside us now and he's wondering the same thing."

And, while it does not impact the epistemology or the hermeneutics of the matter, I wanted to shout: NO THANKS! An image of a deity so constrained and limited that he neither knows the future nor can guarantee that his plans will reach fruition does nothing for us in our deepest need.

When suffering a family crisis a couple of years ago, my heart was so overwhelmed with inconsolable pain that I participated in three "at-fault" automobile accidents within a one month period (how would you like to be my insurance agent?). What finally gave me comfort was not a self-help book of five easy steps to overcoming depression, nor a meditation that God was busy figuring out how my free choices were going to impact his ultimate will. Rather, my soul revived while listening to a fifteen part MP3 series on the Providence of God by R.C. Sproul. Only by focusing on God and his sovereign will was I able to return to a semblance of normalcy again.

So, while my shirt sports the Arminian message on the back, it is the Calvinist affirmation on the front that keeps me moving forward.

ABC General Board Hears Report from California Pastor Joseph H. DeRoulhac

2007-06-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

This update came from the American Baptist News Service today. It describes a report the General Board heard about the progress of the new American Baptist Congregations of the Southwest and Hawaii.

Also in Thursday’s session, board members heard a presentation by Dr. Joseph H. DeRoulhac of the First Baptist Church of Redlands, Calif., about the new American Baptist Congregations of the Southwest and Hawaii. The new group includes churches that wish to remain with ABCUSA, following the withdrawal of the Pacific Southwest (PSW) region from the national body to form a new organization. DeRoulhac said that, of the 250 churches in the former PSW region, 40 have formally withdrawn from ABCUSA, and 50 have indicated they wish to remain with ABCUSA. Many other churches are in a process of “sorting out” their relationships, he said.

Joe is a friend of mine, a brilliant scholar (PhD in Social Ethics from USC), a committed American Baptist, an unusually fair person, and a great defender of most things left of center (including progressive views on various social issues such as homosexuality). Other than the large predominately African-American First Institutional Baptist Church of Phoenix, pastored by Dr. Warren H. Stewart, Sr., Redlands is one of the larger churches in the fellowship of the new ABC of the Southwest and Hawaii.

It would be interesting to see who the 50 congregations are that have indicated a desire to remain with ABCUSA. The national VF establishment has reportedly used some fairly "persuasive" strong-arm tactics to pressure ethnic churches to stay with the ABCUSA. Similarly, the entreaties coming from the ABC of LA have pushed hard, sometimes reportedly blurring the distinctions between truth and falsehood in a zeal to recruit American Baptist congregations for the cause.

I would not be surprised if the bulk of churches staying with the ABCUSA have a record of inadequate or non-existent mission support. Notable exceptions to this prediction would be Pasadena FBC (where I served as a preaching interim for almost a year and one half and where Drs. Bob Campbell, David Scholar, Glenn Stassen, and Bob Meye hold membership) and DeRoulhac's Redlands, both very strong mission-giving churches.

ABC General Board Honors Pastors Who Thumbed Nose at Transformation Ministries

2007-06-27T08:42:00.000-07:00

According to the ABNS, the General Board of the ABCUSA took time in their meetings this week to honor pastors who have elected to "remain American Baptist following the withdrawal of the Pacific Southwest region." Those honored for "standing firmly in solidarity with the family" or "thumbing their noses at the former PSW" (depending upon your perspective) will be participating in forming a new region in the southwest, tentatively known as American Baptist Congregations of the Southwest and Hawaii.

"The honoring of pastors and congregations in the new group marked the denomination’s effort to encourage congregations that chose to remain American Baptist following the withdrawal of the Pacific Southwest region a few months ago. Pastors honored with their congregations were Dr. Alonso A. Cooper, University Avenue Baptist Church, San Diego; the Rev. Stanley A. Crews, Monte Vista Baptist Church, Phoenix, Ariz.; Dr. Joseph H. DeRoulhac, First Baptist Church, Redlands, Calif.; Dr. William E. Godwin, University Baptist Church, Palm Desert, Calif.; the Rev. José T. Guerra and the Rev. Chuck Shawver, Living Hope Baptist Church, Bakersfield, Calif.; the Rev. W. James Kilinsky, One in Christ Church, National City, Calif.; and Dr. Warren H. Stewart, Sr., First Institutional Baptist Church, Phoenix" (ABNS, June 25, 2007).

Some of these pastors are dear friends of mine, others represent respected colleagues of longstanding tenure. People of good will and conviction will reach different conclusions on controversial subjects. However, as a lifelong American Baptist, my conscience allowed no other course than to go with my region, Transformation Ministries (formerly known as the ABCPSW), against the VF establishment.

We will let the judgment in the eschaton sort out which side did the right thing.

"God is NOT Great"??? - Hitchens vs. Hitchens

2007-06-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

What can be said about a book proclaiming with absolute certainty that religion, all religion, is bad, wrong, pernicious, and dangerous? How do you respond to the elegant rant of a writer so angry that he attempts to suggest that religion is child abuse? That faith of any kind represents nothing more than a stupid illusion?

In his recent God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (Twelve Books, 2007), influential author, pundit, and commentator Christopher Hitchens advances all of these points in the short compass of 288 pages. Ranging from “religion kills” to “the metaphysical claims of religion are false” to “the tawdriness of the miraculous and the decline of hell,” Hitchens spares no superlative in denigrating belief in God.

Recently, however, a review came out that deserves to be noted. Who better to take on Hitchens’ biographically saturated rant against God than his brother Peter? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/newscomment.html?in_article_id=459427&in_page_id=1787&in_a_source=

“For all I know, Christopher is absolutely right – my prayers are pointless and a meaningless oblivion awaits. But if he is right, what a dispiriting, lowering truth it is,” writes Peter.

However, he moves beyond this observation to opine that the pogrom against God being advocated by brother Christopher will not only abolish religion, but conscience as well.

“We are in the process – encouraged by Christopher – of abolishing religion, and so of abolishing conscience, too. It is one of his favourite jibes that a world ruled by faith is like North Korea, a place where all is known and all is ordered.

On the contrary, North Korea is the precise opposite of a land governed by conscience. It is a country governed by men who do not believe in God or conscience, where nobody can be trusted to make his own choices, and where the State decides for the people what is right and what is wrong. And it is the ultimate destination of atheist thought. If you do not worship God, you end up worshipping power, whether it is Kim Jong Il, Leon Trotsky or the military might of George W. Bush. In which case, God help you.

Peter Hitchens reminds us of the serpent’s seduction: "Ye shall be as gods." These, Peter finds, may “be the most important words in the whole Bible.”

Take the enticing satanic advice, and you arrive, quite quickly, at revolutionary terror, at the invention of the atom bomb, at the torture chamber and the building of concentration camps for those unteachable morons who do not share your vision of a just world.

Indeed. God help us every one, even Christopher Hitchens.

"I am both Muslim and Christian" - Huh???

2007-06-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Times featured an interesting story about an Episcopal priest who is also a devout Muslim. With a Ph.D. in New Testament from Union Seminary in New York, her bishop finds the combination “exciting.”

The pastor in question, the Rev. Dr. Ann Holmes Redding, seems quite sincere and earnest in our search for God. My point is not to besmirch either her integrity nor her sincerity. Nor do I want to speak against the value of respectful interfaith dialogue. However, the reactions by her ecclesiastical authorities raise all kinds of questions about the uniqueness of the Christian faith and Christ's exclusive claims.

In our world of designer religion and Burger King faith (i.e., "Have it your way"), why not cobble together your own concoction of this and that? Who cares what normative Christianity means. If it doesn't "mean" that to me, it doesn't matter.

So, in this case: "she graduated from Brown University, earned master's degrees from two seminaries and received her Ph.D. in New Testament from Union Theological Seminary in New York City." If you reject the trinitarian form of Christian faith, deny the deity of Christ, deny original sin, relegate Christianity to just another ideology (i.e., the "world religion of privilege"), and put yourself in a position to "hear" God's voice calling you into a non-Christian faith ("when God gives you an invitation, you don't turn it down"), why not play on both sides of the street?

Sortof reminds me of the old joke about a person who was dying who summoned a priest, a rabbi, and a Muslim cleric to his bedside to pray . . . just to keep his "bases covered."

I wonder what her New Testament PhD dissertation topic was at Union?

Probably NOT Johannine lit . . .
After all, John keeps telling us that Jesus is the "one and only" . . .

* One and only God - John 1:1-18
* One and only Way - John 14:6
* One and only Savior - 1 John 5:6-12

Evidently John's vision of the uniqueness of Christ and the exclusivity of his truth claims brooks no rivals, even ones sporting a star and crescent.

My guess is that her dissertation was probably not Greek grammar either . . .

After all, Karl Barth always liked to say that υπερ ("for") was the most important word in the New Testament, as in Gal 1:4 where Paul says that the Lord Jesus Christ "gave himself for our sins."

Maybe she wrote on the "Meaning of και in Jude," or "Radical Feminist Trajectories in the Third Search for the Historical Jesus," or "Templates for Feminist Reader Response Hermeneutics in a Context of a World Religion of Privilege" or even "The Origin of the Aspirate with Special Emphasis on the Distinction Between Spiritus Asper and Spiritus Lenis in Ancient Greek During a Time of Increasing De-aspiration (Psilosis)."

Regardless of the topic of her research, one can hardly reconcile the thought of two seminary degrees and a PhD in New Testament being used to justify a synthesis of Christianity and Islam. If the theology of John does not persuade a scholar to believe in the singular truth claims of Jesus Christ, what about the author of Hebrews? Virtually the entire book shouts out the superiority of Jesus Christ to all other powers, authorities, and rivals.

Yet, at the heart of it, I found it particularly telling that her bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vincent Warner, says he "accepts Redding as an Episcopal priest and a Muslim, and that he finds the interfaith possibilities exciting."

Exciting? A ride on the "Scream" or "Superman the Escape" at Six Flags is "exciting." The syncretistic mish mash of mixing Christianity and Islam is "heretical," a "betrayal" of Christ, or "stomach turning" at least. What is with a bishop who can only gush at the "possibilities"???

Also of note, Redding's announcement, first made through a story in her diocese's newspaper, hasn't caused much controversy yet, according to the bishop. YIKES! Like the old tale of St. John in the bath house hearing that the heretic Cerinthus had arrived . . . perhaps we should all run screaming from the scene lest the Lord cause the house to fall in on us.

And MSNBC's Keith Olbermann says that John MacArthur is "runner up" for "worst person in the world" for suggesting that God may have finally given America "over" to our own depravity? Sheesh! If the theology professed by Redding and her bishop are indicative of contemporary Christianity in America, MacArthur erred on the side of understatement.

Read The Seattle Times piece for yourself:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003751274_redding17m.html

Karl Barth on "Our Father"

2007-06-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

On this Father's Day, I thought it might be appropriate to revisit a meditation by Karl Barth on a portion of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father." Whether or not you are a dad, whether or not you had a father who was in any way adequate in his role, consider the complete adequacy of our heavenly Father.

We are bidden to pray. This presupposes everything that has been said above about prayer in general. But this is the important point : we are told to pray : Our Father who art in heaven. It is Jesus Christ who bids us call on God and address him as our Father; Jesus Christ who is the Son of God, who has made himself our brother and makes us his brothers. He takes us with him, to make us his companions, and places us at his side, so that we may live and act as his brothers and members of his body. He says to us, 'Follow me.'

The 'Our Father' is not just any form of prayer to be used by anyone, no matter who; it presupposes 'us': Our Father; one who is a Father to us in a unique way. This 'us' derives from Jesus Christ's command to follow him; it implies that the man who prays is in communion with Jesus Christ and dwells in the brotherhood of the sons of God. Jesus Christ calls, allows, commands man to be joined with him, more especially in his intercession with God, his Father. Jesus Christ calls us, commands us, allows us to speak with him to God, to pray his prayer with him, to be united with him in the Lord's Prayer, and thus to adore God, to pray to God and to praise him with one voice and one soul in union with Christ himself.

This 'us', moreover, means that the man who prays is in communion with all those who are in his company and who, like him, are bidden to pray; who have received the same call, the same command, the same permission to pray at Christ's side. We pray 'Our Father' in the fellowship of that company, that congregation which we call the Church (the ecclesia).

But while we are in communion with the saints, the ecclesia of those who are gathered together by Jesus Christ, we are also in communion with those who, perhaps, do not pray as yet but for whom Christ prays, since he prays for all mankind. Mankind is the object of his intercession and we, therefore, enter into this communion with all mankind. When Christians pray, they are, so to speak, substitutes for all those who do not pray; and, in this sense, they are in communion with them, in the same way as Jesus Christ has made himself one with sinful man and lost humanity.

Our Father: thou who hast begotten us, brought us into being by thy Word and thy Spirit; thou who art our Father because thou hast created us, the Lord of the Covenant which thou hast been pleased to make with man, thou in whom and with whom our life began, and in whom it finds its completion.

Our Father :on whom our whole existence in time and eternity depends; God the Father, whose glory is our inheritance, whom we may freely approach, like children to their father!

Our Father, thou who by nature art always ready to hear us and to answer us. But we constantly forget it.... We may deny God, but he can never forget us or deny us. The Father, by his very nature, is faithful; he is high above us for ever and his good will towards us can never change.

That is what God is to us. But we must admit that we have no right to address him thus, to be his children or to approach him in this way. He is our Father and we are his children in virtue of the natural relationship which exists between him and Jesus Christ, in virtue of that fatherhood and that sonship which actually existed in the person of Jesus Christ, and which have reality for us in him. We are his children and he is our Father in virtue of that new birth accomplished at Christmas, on Good Friday and at Easter, and made effective at our baptism. A new birth, that is to say, a completely new order of being, a life entirely different from what our human potentialities or merits could produce.

God our Father means our merciful Father; we ourselves are and always will be prodigal sons who can claim no rights save the one given to us in the person of Jesus Christ.

This does not imply any diminution of what has been said about the divine fatherhood. The splendour and the certainty, the very greatness and majesty of our Father are manifested in the fact that we stand before him without power or worth, without real faith and with empty hands. And yet, in Christ, we are God's children. We can contribute nothing whatever of our own to make the reality of that sonship more certain : divine reality alone is the fulness of all reality.

Jesus Christ is the source and the warrant for the divine Fatherhood and our sonship; for this reason that fatherhood and that sonship are incomparably superior to all the relationships among ourselves which we denote by the terms father, son, children. These human relationships are not the original of which the other could be the image or symbol. The true and original fatherhood and sonship subsist in the bonds which God has created between himself and us. Anything that exists among us is only the image of that original sonship. When we call God our Father, we are not using symbols, but are experiencing the full reality of the words 'father' and 'son'.

"Prayer and Preaching," by Karl Barth

Dr. John MacArthur = 2nd "Worst Person in the World"??? Really? For Preaching Paul's Romans???

2007-06-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

Wowie, zowie! Take one left leaning interest group ("Media Matters"), add one angry television commentator (Keith Olbermann), fold in one John MacArthur sermon for the National Day of Prayer, and rebroadcast it on Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program and what do you have?

On the June 8 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News host Bill O'Reilly "winner" of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment for, as Olbermann noted, "reacting to the arrest in the abduction and murder of the Kansas teenager Kelsey Smith . . . Additionally, Olbermann declared John MacArthur, pastor of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, "runner-up" for the category.

From the June 8 edition of MSNBC's Countdown With Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: The runner-up, Pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, whose sermon, broadcast by those fine, tolerant folks who work for the Father Coughlin of the 21st century, James Dobson, says that because America has, quote, "illicit sex, adultery, every form or immorality", and, quote, "you know a society has been abandoned by God when it celebrates lesbian sex," therefore, quote, "God would be just in any calamity that he brought on us", including, quote, "the destruction of an entire city." Just let God speak for himself, pal.

John MacArthur runner up for "worst person in the world" for an expositional sermon on Romans 1 saying that perhaps America has been "given over" by God? MacArthur's "authoritative" (some would say "authoritarian") tone of voice rubs me the wrong way at times. But, yikes! Second worst person in the world????

Don't know about you all, but I listened to that sermon and found it sobering. Candidly, Keith Olbermann probably never heard of MacArthur prior to the piece in Media Matters http://mediamatters.org/items/200706070007?f=h_latest. Still, we have come a long way since the days of Jonathan Edwards when a biblical sermon could excite the masses and be used to help instigate a revival. Nowadays, a fairly traditional exposition of a portion of Paul's great epistle, coupled with some rather typical application, yields an apoplectic rant.

Part 1 - http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/archives.asp?bcd=6/4/2007

Part 2 - http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/archives.asp?bcd=6/5/2007

Godspeed Mrs. Graham!

2007-06-13T16:59:00.000-07:00

According to the AP, Ruth Graham, the ailing wife of evangelist Billy Graham, fell into a coma Wednesday morning and appears to be close to death, a family spokesman said. "She appears to be entering the final stages of life," said Larry Ross, Graham's personal spokesman.

In a display of his signature grace, Dr. Billy Graham observed: "Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side," Graham said. "I am more in love with her today than when we first met over 65 years ago as students at Wheaton College."

Graham's summary comment captures the Christian hope well when he said: "She is close to going home."

Join me in praying for the Graham family. More than most, they have paid a steep price for Billy's ministry. May the Lord bless them richly as he walks with them through the valley of the shadow of death.

Lessons in Dying from the Master

2007-06-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

Frequently I have carped about coverage in the Los Angeles Times. However, in this instance, the accolades could not be more fervent or sincere. The Times offered a valuable lesson on dying and Christian hope in a June 5, 2007 piece, "'Rejoice always': a lesson in dying." Recounting the inspirational account of Dr. David Scholer's living with terminable cancer, reporter Connie Kang captures all of the right emphases as she recounts Scholer's trust in the Lord in the midst of his five year bout with matastatic cancer of the colon and lungs.

I know David as an internationally renowned New Testament scholar and as a friend. For nearly a year and a half, it was my privilege to serve as preaching interim in the church in Pasadena where he and his devoted wife, Jeannette, are members. If you want to see how the mainstream media can sometimes get a story right, click on the following link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-scholer5jun05,0,1943101.story?coll=la-home-center

More on the Creationist Movement

2007-05-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Henry Morris, who passed away little more than a year ago, enjoyed the title of father of the "modern" young-earth creationist movement. His 1961 book, The Genesis Flood (co-authored with Old Testament scholar John Whitcomb), launched a reconsideration of the evidence for the age of the earth among evangelicals. His explanation depended on a catastrophic worldwide flood.

Unfortunately, as with most pioneers, many of his views and explanations sound strained, fanciful, and even quaint today. It was common, for example, for young-earth creationists to say that God created light "in transit" from distant stars or to rely upon a "canopy" theory for the volume of water prior to the flood.

Since then, the work Morris inspired has moved into the realm of peer reviewed scientific research of some sophistication. It used to be said with disdain that most "creation" scientists were metallurgists or hydraulics engineers, not geologists, astrophysicists, or biologists. No longer. A group of young-Earth researchers calling their project RATE (Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth) investigated radioactive dating methods and worked to develop alternative young-Earth explanations.

The RATE study began as a joint collaborative effort between the Institute for Creation Research, the Creation Research Society and Answers in Genesis. Their work with radio dating was more than a little interesting. RATE physicist Dr. Russ Humphreys, for example, reported on measurements of helium diffusion (leaking) from zircon crystals. Helium, one of the most "slippery" elements, is created as a byproduct of radioactive decay, but also leaks out of the crystals. If the zircons were billions of years old, there should be very little helium left since it would have had plenty of time to diffuse away. However, the RATE researchers found that a tremendous amount of helium remained in the zircons—consistent with an age of about 6,000 years.

In addition to Morris' organization, the Institute for Creation Research, in Santee, California, Answers in Genesis has emerged as a major player in the creationist movement. Led by Australian-born Ken Ham, AIG just this week opened its state-of-the-art $27 million museum near the Cincinnati airport debt free (see prior blog).

Where ICR focuses on graduate education and the production of more technical materials, AIG looks to the "retail" side of creationism. With a full slate of energetic speakers, dozens of DVDs, and curricular materials for both church and home-schooling use, Ham's communicators blanket the country, popularizing creationism and defending the Bible, using presuppositionalist apologetics. AIG has recently added several new PhDs in biology (cf. Purdom from Ohio State), astrophysics (cf. Lisle from University of Colorado at Boulder), and other specialists to their roster of speakers and developers of resource material.

For the movement as a whole, a new "RATE" style research project is being pulled together involving the genetic side of the issue of evolution. I recently heard a tenured Cornell University geneticist lecture on the "improbability" if not "impossibility" of evolution based on information theory and mutation within the human genome.

And, I have not even touched upon the progressive (old-earth) creationism of people like Hugh Ross. His arguments dovetail quite well with the secular Intelligent Design movement which has resurrected Paley's old watchmaker argument from design in the form of Behe's irreducible complexity. The ID folks, technically a non-religious alternative, disdain the ICR and Answers in Genesis crowd almost as much as the Darwinists do. Yet, their work has been making waves in the area of building a case for a Creator, and the impossibility of "chance" as a viable explanation for the world we see around us.

Creationism, whether of the Ken Ham (young-earth) or Hugh Ross (old-earth) variety, has attracted its share of critics. The opening of the Creation Museum was met with vocal pickets and even an airplane towing an anti-Christian message. Several organizations (including DefCon and it's "campaign to defend the constitution")have argued that AIG has a moral responsibility to disclaim that the Creation Museum has anything to do with empirical facts, merely out-dated and fanciful beliefs. One commentator even likened the museum to cigarette advertising, opining that both should be banned for the same reason! And, despite the fact that AIG built its facility entirely with private funds, some have raised the issue of violation of "church and state." The Los Angeles Times dismissed Ham's museum in colorful prose as "yabba dabba science."

Still, amid the din of the critics, Answers in Genesis and other similar organizations continue their efforts. In both the secular ("intelligent design") and explicitly Christian forms (either old-earth or young-earth) creationism has changed radically since the primitive days of Morris in 1961.

In other words, right or wrong, this "ain't your father's" creationism any longer. In terms of sophistication, scientific acumen, research, and argumentation, it has moved "light years" from its origins little more than 45 years ago. Standing on the shoulders of pioneers such as Morris, a new generation of scholars from the fields of apologetics and the sciences is beginning to challenge evolutionary assumptions just as a growing majority of evangelical and mainline Biblical scholars have made peace with Darwin!

"As for me and my house" . . . laugh if you must, but I stand with the creationists (both old and new earth types) against the mechanistic Darwinians and their god, Chance. Bottom line: I am a creationist and make common cause with other creationists, regardless of their view of the antiquity of the universe.

Creation Museum Opens Amid Criticism

2007-05-27T17:27:00.000-07:00

The venerable Los Angeles Times has already pronounced the effort, “Yabba-dabba science” in a May 24 editorial. Condemned as a “60,000-square-foot menace to 21st century scientific advancement” by critics, Answers in Genesis unveils its $27 million Creation Museum this weekend in the Cincinnati suburb of Petersburg, KY.

Designed to present a “young earth” creationist model of human origins, the facility was designed to incorporate the latest in high-tech sensory experience. It even boasts recreations of Noah’s ark, animatronic dinosaurs, and a movie theater with seats that shake, all designed by some of the same people behind the attractions at Universal Studios in Florida.

The museum has drawn objections from a coalition of scientists and organizations, including the Campaign to Defend the Constitution (http://www.defconamerica.org/) , or DEFCON, a Washington-based group that says it seeks to combat the political influence of religious conservatives. In a May 24 conference call with reporters, those opponents said the museum is presenting a distorted view of evolution and the earth’s history.

In an ABC interview, Eugenie C. Scott, the executive director of the National Center for Science Education (http://www.natcenscied.org/), an Oakland, Calif.-based organization that supports the teaching of evolution, called the museum a “creationist’s Disneyland.”

Even Christian authors have weighed in, decrying the project. One of the Baptist blog sites (dominated by seminary educated clergy) was full of naysayers and skeptics. “Don't know that I'd call it a ‘Christian’ museum any more than I'd call Left Behind ‘Christian’ fiction." “I had no idea there were so many people out there to who actually believe in and accept such a strange cosmology--enough to completely pay for a place like that!” “It's astonishing to me that people believe this stuff, but P.T. Barnum's axiom still holds true.”

Despite criticism that the Creation Museum will put Christianity back a hundred years (or at least until the Scopes trial of 1925), AIG founder Ken Ham sees it differently. Answers in Genesis claims:

"The Creation Museum will be upfront that the Bible is the supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice, and in every area it touches upon.

We’ll begin the Museum experience by showing that “facts” don’t speak for themselves. There aren’t separate sets of “evidences” for evolution and creation—we all deal with the same evidence (we all live on the same earth, have the same fossils, observe the same animals, etc.). The difference lies in how we interpret what we study. We’ll then explore why the Bible—the “history book of the universe”—provides a reliable, eye-witness account of the beginning of all things.

After that, we'll take guests on a journey through a visual presentation of the history of the world, based on the “7 C’s of History”: Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation. Throughout this family-friendly experience, guests will learn how to answer the attacks on the Bible’s authority in geology, biology, anthropology, cosmology, etc., and they will discover how science actually confirms biblical history."
(http://creationmuseum.org/about)

According to an ABC News poll, 60 percent of Americans believe God created the world in six days. So do theologians Al Mohler and R.C. Sproul. Before dismissing it out-of-hand, visit the AIG web site for yourself (http://www.answersingenesis.org/). Browse around in the articles and online books and see if the arguments and evidence challenge some of your own ideas about cosmology and the Bible.

Medley Moves to Restructure Ecumenical Office

2007-05-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 05/23/07) -- General Secretary, A. Roy Medley, announced today a future restructuring of the ecumenical office of the denomination. The restructuring will draw more upon the Committee on Christian Unity of the denomination and other leaders in fulfilling ABCUSA’s ongoing commitment to dialogue and cooperation with other Christian communions and organizations.

As a result of the restructuring, the Rev. Rothang Chhangte will leave her position on September 4, 2007. She will continue to represent American Baptists on the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. Rev. Medley said, “This is a critical position to which Rothang was elected last year. As American Baptists it gives us an opportunity to continue to shape the future of this ecumenical organization, especially as it seeks to each out to evangelicals and Pentecostals. Rothang has distinguished herself by her contributions to the WCC Decade to Overcome Violence, and her work in interfaith relations.”

During her tenure Rothang has been instrumental in:

The formation of the WCC US Young Adult Task force
Service on the Interim Steering Committee of Christian Churches Together that brought together Mainline Protestants, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, historic African-American churches and the Roman Catholic Church
Renewing and building closer ties with Church of the Brethren
Giving leadership to the formulation of ABC Policy Statement on Interreligious Prejudice

Speaking of her service, Rothang said, "I am grateful for the opportunity to have served as your American Baptist representative at ecumenical gatherings and meetings. I thank God for the opportunity to work towards building reconciliation and healing in God's oikumene, household. It has been a spiritually enriching journey for me. The prayer of Jesus in John 17 that "all may be one so that the world might know and believe," has become an ever more urgent calling in my life. I look to forward to discovering new ways of living this prayer in my life."

The Rev. Jerrod Hugenot, chair of the General Board Committee on Christian Unity, has said of Rothang, "Deep ecumenical relationships are formed by grace and openness. Rev. Chhangte models these values well in her faith and ministry. We are grateful for her work representing and articulating the American Baptist voice within ecumenical, intra-Baptist, and interfaith councils, forums, and other gatherings which promote religion as a source of hope and common good rather than exclusion and schism."

In the restructuring, Ms. Iris Cobb will provide administrative assistance to Dr. Medley and the Committee on Christian Unity. Iris has extensive experience in this role from her previous work with the Rev. Dr. Cheryl Wade, who served on ABCUSA’s team of Ecumenical Officers.

ABCUSA’s ecumenical relations include the Baptist World Alliance, the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, the National Association of Evangelicals, and most recently, Christian Churches Together.
http://www.abc-usa.org/news/2007/20070523a.htm

Having served on committees with Rothang over the years, I know her as a diligent and pleasant person. During her tenure as the chief ecumenical officer for the ABC she won plaudits from the left for her advocacy of causes dear to the more ecumenical wing of the denomination and criticism from some conservatives. A few traditionalists have suggested that they were dissatisfied with answers she gave to their questioning of her remarks quoted in an IRD publication regarding evangelicals and the issue of salvation through Christ alone. My guess is that as in the case of many Valley Forge staff reductions, money has been a major factor.

Blessings on your new endeavors, Rothang!

Evangelical Philosopher Switches Teams at 47

2007-05-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

Francis J. Beckwith, leading Christian philosopher and current (until May 5) president of the Evangelical Theological Society, has reverted to the Roman Catholicism of his youth, and resigned from both the ETS presidency and even membership in the inerrancy touting society.

Beckwith, an associate professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, said the decision he made to seek "full communion" with the Roman Catholic Church grew from his desire to find "historical and theological continuity" with the early Christian church.

In an interview with Christianity Today's David Neff, Beckwith said:

"I still consider myself an evangelical, but no longer a Protestant. I do think I have a better understanding of what sometimes the Catholic Church is trying to convey. Protestants often misunderstand. The issue of justification was key for me. The Catholic Church frames the Christian life as one in which you must exercise virtue—not because virtue saves you, but because that's the way God's grace gets manifested. As an evangelical, even when I talked about sanctification and wanted to practice it, it seemed as if I didn't have a good enough incentive to do so. Now there's a kind of theological framework, and it doesn't say my salvation depends on me, but it says my virtue counts for something. It's important to allow the grace of God to be exercised through your actions. The evangelical emphasis on the moral life forms my Catholic practice with an added incentive. That was liberating to me."

Additional references on Beckwith:
http://www.abpnews.com/2139.article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_ J._Beckwith
http://www.francisbeckwith.com/

Celebrating Cino de Mayo . . . Ole!

2007-05-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

Cino de Mayo has never been a very significant holiday in Mexico, celebrating the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, and the ridiculously short-lived victory of the Mexicans over the French. Contrary to the assumptions of many, it does NOT even commemorate Mexican Independence Day (Sept. 16). However, in the United States marketers have capitalized on the day to advertise all things Mexican, especially beverages, foods, and music. In this sense, it may be little different from the proliferation of those of us once-a-year “Irish” sporting our green on St. Patrick’s Day or the way Chinese New Year virtually shuts down my largely Asian neighborhood in Southern California.

In a more significant sense, Cinco de Mayo stands as an enduring icon of the underdog overcoming apparently insurmountable odds. Following the near riots in Los Angeles this past week, Cinco de Mayo reminds all of us of the Mexicans among us and their culture and heritage. As a life long Southern Californian raised in the barrio, who has dozens of hard working employees with a Mexican heritage, I add my “Ole” to Cinco de Mayo. May the blessings of hard work, family loyalty, and boisterous celebration of life so characteristic of Mexican culture and heritage continue to enrich our American experience. And, regardless of how you believe in fixing the "immigration problem," may we all move forward with justice, fairness, and Christian compassion. For my part, I will proudly enjoy a taco, enchilada, rice, beans, and guacamole tonight, thanking the Lord for the blessings of our Mexican sisters and brothers and what they have taught me about life, not just cuisine.

Gloria al Padre, al Hijo y al Espíritu Santo.
Como era en el principio, ahora y siempre,
por los siglos de los siglos.
Amén.

Hints of New ABC Structure Emerge . . . Slowly, but This Could Actually Work!

2007-05-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dr. Stinnett, we have a few hints of how the ABC will probably look in the years to come. Due to the absence of an approved summary, Stinnett felt the need to speak in generalities in his recent blog entry (http://abcviewsfrommiddle.blogspot.com/). Still the hints he offers afford readers an unusual insider's view of what things will likely look like.

Dr. Stinnett comments:

Unfortunately, there still has not been a sketch of that plan released, which makes it very difficult for me to discuss with any integrity.

In brief: The plan endorses a federation form of organization for the denomination. I have argued for a long time that federation is the best way for us to understand ourselves. Federation, however, can take several forms. As they say, the devil is in the details. This is not entirely a return to the societal days, but it is a movement in that direction. The General Board, as it functions now, will no longer exist. There will be no interlocking memberships between the General Board and the various program boards. Instead, each will become radically smaller and self-sustaining. The means for maintaining connection and accountability is not yet settled. Likewise, while it is generally assumed that covenants will be the basis of our very loose union, the nature and content of those covenants has not even been part of a casual conversation.

Bottom line: leaner, smaller, less formally connected, moving in the direction of the old societal days. Reader alert (MY opinion): This will probably reduce the flash points of controversy which have plagued the ABC (and the other mainline denominations) for years. It will also allow for greater financial sustainability due to a smaller national staff and structure footprint. While this will not necessarily remove all of the controversies afflicting the body, it could staunch the flow of congregations exiting the denomination in a very significant way. Given the financial constraints facing the ABC, it is unfortunate that the GEC was not willing to give Medley the go-ahead to present the plan without further tinkering. As it stands, a full change will await the Pasadena biennial in 2009.

This direction has been suggested by savvy organizational theorists and ABC leaders for years. The fact that the Writing Team has come to agree with the direction is a blessing to the entire denomination. Dr. Medley should be congratulated for his part in helping move the plan through the maze of the bureaucracy. It would seem to hold the best hope for a continuation of the denomination during these difficult post-denominational days. In my opinion, the sooner the better.

ABC Leaders Meet to Discuss Structure and Continued Cooperation

2007-04-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

With congregations leaving the denomination on a regular basis, the crushing forces of post-denominationalism closing in, dollars lagging dangerously low, and facing a host of significant if not entirely insuperable problems, the ABCUSA General Executive Council met for three days to do the pressing business of the churches.

What did they accomplish? How would I know? The participants pledged themselves to a new round of confidentiality. However, a few factoids did surface, some of which deserve mention.

The good news is that the participants did not fight, yell, or leave the room in a huff. But, that is also the bad news. Whether out of concern for struggling congregations back home, churches withdrawing from the “family” over theological and moral issues, or out of fatigue over being “beat up on” in past GEC meetings, conservatives were evidently well behaved and relatively non-confrontational. However, in the absence of open division, did anything of substance get accomplished? "Yes" according to the majority in the room; "No" according to some who were also present. It all depends on who you talk to about the meeting.

Repeatedly during the facilitated process (ABC meetings are a bonanza for consultants who are given a new lease on full employment whenever these Baptists assemble together), participants applied magic markers to the ubiquitous newsprint stations around the room. In answer to the question: “What issues must we reach closure on?” “How will we fund this?” kept popping up, only to be left behind as discussion moved on to more pressing matters.

What did get accomplished, nobody is willing to discuss for attribution or even as background. It does seem that the members found a way to weasel-word a statement so that all could affirm it without anyone committing to mean the same thing by it. What this suggests is that ever-hopeful conservatives went along with an agreement cobbled together in the interests of unity. It will allow them to say to their pastors and churches (almost with a straight face), that the GEC has “taken a stand” on some of the most divisive issues afflicting our fellowship.

But, even before the ink dries on the document, and certainly before the press release arrives in e-mails, some progressives are already parsing the lines in such as a way as to obviate the clear sense of them. His Barking Dog anxiously awaits the publication of the chief product of the meeting in hopes that my suspicions will not be fulfilled. However, if traditionalists and progressives all stand behind ANY statement on divisive issues, you can probably count on the devil to be in the details. Don’t hold your breath waiting for it to be implemented with a univocal understanding.

Another note of hope did rise from the ashes. You may have heard that PSW delegates voted by an overwhelming percentage (reaching the mid 80s) to withdraw from the ABC. Yet, one GEC participant rose to declare that most PSW churches have not decided to withdraw from the ABC! More than 200 of them are still part of the “family.” While that may be formally true, it certainly glosses over several shades of coloration. 1. Some congregations have not gotten around to voting at all yet. 2. Many pastors have decided, somewhat cynically to be sure, that there is no advantage to them in surrendering their non-contractual MMBB benefits. Why not just defund the parts of Valley Forge with which they have disagreements and remain de jure “members” of the denomination, collecting their benefits all the way? 3. Some of the largest (and richest) congregations in the Southwest do not intend to vote at all. They have decided to redirect mission money and ignore Valley Forge.

This brings us to the final impression. I no longer believe that there will be a major defection of regions following the lead of Pacific Southwest/Transformation Ministries. The ABC “family” has often been dubbed dysfunctional. One should not be too surprised, therefore, to observe that many of its leaders play the same roles as members of any dysfunctional family system. Some of the conservative critics appear to care more about being accepted by their peers in leadership than in making radical changes to the structure. A mix of commendable duty and loyalty, continued love and even making excuses despite abuse, and quixotic hope that a miracle may still occur motivate them to hang on, hoping against hope that a new agreement, structure, or covenant will be enough to make everything OK.

While regions such as West Virginia continue to hemorrhage churches on a regular basis, expect the more conservative regions to mimic the strategy of Dr. Paul Borden, Executive Minister, in Growing Healthy Churches (aka ABCW). Borden, who attends few meetings anymore, and did not attend the Tucson sessions, simply keeps his mouth shut about the ABC and focuses on congregational revitalization and health in his area of ministry. Under his influence or at least following his example, other EM’s seem to be moving away from direct engagement with “the system,” preferring to disengage from “battles” and to redirect their efforts internally.

In any case, Dr. Medley’s hope to conclude a proposed structural deal to be presented to the General Board in June slipped away in a maze of details, quibbles, and failures of trust. Expect whatever the “writing team” comes up with to require more meetings yet. Perhaps by the Pasadena Biennial in 2009, there will be a proposal ready to be adopted and implemented. My guess is for a leaner, smaller, and less democratic system. And, in the meantime, if the Mission Center property in Valley Forge sells for the expected $15-$20 million, it will offset the deficit, allowing many years for continued discussions of appropriate organizational structures.

Back when I attended business school, we were taught that mission, vision, and values drive the requirements and specifications for structure. Form follows function in a healthy organization, as the old saying goes. But, in the current environment, where key stakeholders cannot even agree on some of the simplest theological and moral affirmations, all that is left to talk about is the “org chart.” And, with ABC fortunes declining as predictably as the spilling of the milk from a tipped over glass, such entities must always meet the key criterion of being more cost effective and less expensive. Expect more mergers, layoffs, and downsizing to come.

A "Law and Order" Smirk at Evangelical Hypocrisy

2007-04-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

Charismatic evangelical mega-church pastor campaigns against homosexuality. Disgruntled former lover/male prostitute threatens to out him as a hypocrite. Pastor denies being gay. Another former gay lover admits to 20 to 30 “encounters” with the pastor, who he claims indulged in drug use during their trysts.

Sound familiar? The Ted Haggard story written in summary fashion? No. Last night’s episode of the popular NBC drama, Law and Order trotted out this “straight from the headlines” (no pun intended) episode.

The drama, replete with the obligatory snickers and snide asides at evangelical Christianity was trying of one’s patience at best. My longsuffering wife even walked out of the room in an uncharacteristic fit of aggravation. In the Law and Order revision of the story, the pastor’s loyal wife killed her husband’s gay lover, not out of outraged morality or because of some Levitical Code about the proper end for people who commit certain behaviors. No, she did it for the old fashioned reason: self-interest. You see, she did not want to see the church she helped her husband build into an operation with $35 million gross annual receipts (not to mention the $50 million in licensing fees) suffer losses due to the public scandal.

And, in a typical Hollywood reductionism of Christian motivation, the wife ultimately pleads guilty to the crime, not out of a surplus of Godly sorrow, but in order to prevent the congregants from discovering that she had been a drug-addicted hooker prior to her marriage to the good reverend.

The Haggard tale does make for a juicy morsel of hypocrisy, even the venerable Dr. Dobson was taken in by the duplicity in the original story. And, you could hardly expect more from the mainstream media than a few moments of cheap schadenfreude. Detectives Ed Green and Nina Cassady, along with Lt. Van Buren, all got to take turns beating up on evangelicalism. It was like watching people taking swings at a piñata, but without a blindfold.

One irony of the program relates to the presence of another actor in the cast. Possible Republican candidate for President, Fred Thompson (aka District Attorney Arthur Branch), uttered his requisite number of dyspeptic observations with his usual folksy gravitas. But, at least in my viewing, the writers avoided putting Christianity bashing lines in Thompson’s mouth. Maybe it seemed out of character for the Bible-belt back-story of DA Branch.

So far, Hollywood writers prove remarkably tone deaf with issues of faith. Even when they portray a larger than life hypocrite, caught humming his own false tune, they get the words right, but not the melody. Haggard may be an easy target. But, certainly evangelical Christianity with all of its faults represents a more complex reality than last night’s Law and Order.

Before the MSM recites the words of 1 Peter 4:17 (“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God”) too gleefully, they better take note of how it ends: “. . . and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”

Cartoonist with the "Hart" of an Apologist Passes Away Between Good Friday and Resurrection Morning

2007-04-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend signaled the death of cartoonist Johnny Hart, creator of the comic strip, B.C. Over the years, Mr. Hart has been a courageous and persistent witness to his faith, particularly standing up for Christ at Christmas, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday.

So bold was Hart in his cartoon "messages" that many newspapers (e.g. the Los Angeles Times) often refused to print some of his more "Christian themed" strips. While Mr. Hart was a Presbyterian lay person, he always evidenced a gentle and gracious spirit toward people of different faiths while standing unapologetically for the truth of the Gospel.

For him, interfaith respect could be had without dispensing with Gospel proclamation or indulging in syncretistic pluralism. The "B.C." for this Resurrection Sunday ended in typical Hart fashion with the following verses from the New Testament: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." "Assuredly I say to you today you will be with me in Paradise." "It is finished" AND "Truly this man was the son of God."

Godspeed Mr. Hart! God bless you for your ministry among us.

How Many Atheists Does it Take to Pray for a Passing Grade?

2007-04-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

“How Religious are America’s Professors?” So began the sidebar discussion in the most recent issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (March/April 2007). Reporting on a study conducted by professors from Harvard University and George Mason University, BAR highlighted the survey of a random sample of instructors in community colleges, four year institutions, non-elite doctoral granting schools, and elite, doctoral awarding universities.

23.4% of the professors surveyed classify themselves as agnostic or atheist. This contrasts with only 11% of the American population so self-identifying. The percentage drops from nearly 60% believing in God and teaching in four year (B.A./B.S.) colleges to about a third of those in the elite schools.

Actual agnosticism/atheism rises from less than 15% in the community college environment to a plurality of those working in the elite institutions. Evidently, those with perfect SAT scores are more likely to learn from an atheist than from a believer.

And, what percentage of the professors (including those who believe in God) accept the Bible as the literal word of God? Only 6.1% of the respondents agreed with the statement indicating an identification of the Bible as the word of God.

His Barking Dog will be teasing out the implications of these results in a future blog. For now, however, I am reminded of Paul’s response to the self-satisfied Corinthians and their professions of superior knowledge. “This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up” (ἡ γνῶσις φυσιοῖ, ἡ δὲ ἀγάπη οἰκοδομεῖ).

ABC Gears Up for Restructure Proposal: GEC Meeting in Tucson to Consider Work of Writing Team

2007-04-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

Last year the General Executive Council (GEC) of the ABC tasked a “Writing Team” with the responsibility to draft a restructure proposal for the reorganization of the denomination in order to face challenges in this decade and beyond. Financial constraints in the various regional judicatories, dissent over certain hot-button social issues such as homosexual unions and ordination, and a general downward trend in the United Mission receipts added urgency to that mission.

While those asked to participate in the group evidenced attempts at reflecting diversity, insiders report that the leading voices in the effort have been those of General Secretary Medley, Executive Director of National Ministries Wright-Riggins, and Associate General Secretary for Regional affairs Jeff Woods.

Denomination watchers will do well to observe carefully the Tucson meeting of the GEC in order to gather an idea how the national body intends to deal with the problem of declining funds at the national level, continuing dissent over the leadership’s handling of issues of human sexuality, and the challenge of too many judicatories operating on shoestrings to be either efficient or effective in conducting their ministries.

This morning a member of the national leadership sent me the following note:

I have heard that they are thinking about assessing all the institutions related to the ABC an amount to support the OGS . . . You know that the first priority after we all hold hands and sing that stupid song that I refuse to mention, is going to be how can we make you pay for the new organization that you all agreed upon? It is going to be fun to watch the attempted manipulation of the GEC. Some will be near orgasmic with excitement while the members with a brain will be braiding a rope in the back of the room. I'll bring the rope, someone grab a chair.

Another national leader on the inside projects that the new structure “being proposed by Roy, Jeff & Aidsand” will swiftly be followed by a re-examination of the Budget Covenant. This observer suggested that “if they get their way they will find a way to force the Regions to finance it.”

The range of ideological diversity in the denomination may ultimately prove too much for a loose federation of semi-autonomous congregations. A few weeks ago the Association for Welcoming and Affirming Baptists helped sponsor a seminar held at Andover Newton Theological School. The event was also endorsed by The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts, The Samuel Stillman Association, the American Baptist Churches of Rochester-Genesee, the Roger Williams Fellowship, the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America, the FBC of Framingham (MA), and the FBC of Greenfield (MA). According to AWAB, the latter congregation is experiencing a violent reaction of a significant minority of the church following calling a gay man as pastor.

Billed as “Revive us Again!” it attempted to satisfy the following ambitious agenda: “This is a gathering of progressive Baptists from around the country, ready to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We are gathering to say that we are Christian, we are Baptist, and we believe our Baptist Principles are foundational to our understanding and sharing of the Gospel. We are gathering to say that we can be both progressive and evangelical.”

The speakers invited certainly lived up to their billing as “progressives.” They included pastors, professors, and ABC denominational leaders who hail from the left end of the spectrum. For example:

Rev. Cynthia Maybeck, Pastor, Trinity Church, Northborough, MA. The Pacific Southwest withdrew from the ABC as a result of a process that began with objections to Rev. Maybeck being named a senator at the ABC Ministers Council. Her 17 yr relationship with her partner, Elaine (now her spouse), caused ripples in the Southwest that kept reverberating.

Dr. Bill Herzog, Academic Dean, Andover Newton Theological School. One of my former youth pastors when I was a kid, Bill is the brilliant (Harvard, ABSW, Claremont) Dean at ANTS. Famous for his “Busted Boda Bags” address to the progressive Roger Williams Fellowship at the 2005 Denver Biennial, he roundly castigated evangelicals in the ABC, calling them Pharisees and worse. But, hey, this is the same guy who argues that the hero of the parable of the talents is the guy who buried the money. He was a “whistleblower” striking out for justice against the unjust landowner.

Rev. Dr. Gregory Mobley, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Andover Newton Theological School. Again, another brilliant Harvard grad, Mobley has a richly deserved reputation for scholarly excellence and has received numerous awards. His recent 2005 volume, The Birth of Satan, however might excite some disagreement among those of us on the right.

In it he and his co-author suggest that “the early Hebrews struggled with the puzzle of a God who is the source of both good and evil. As Israel continued to evolve toward a clearer monotheism, it was considered prudent to cast off the negative characteristics of the one true God - which the authors call 'repellant aspects of YHWH' - and embody them in a personality who would become the biblical 'Satan.' Beginning with Genesis, the authors trace the development of 'the devil' until he appears fully formed in the New Testament, where his role is 'to serve as the cosmic scapegoat, saving God from blame for evil.' . . . Ultimately, they reject the concept of personal Satan, but acknowledge its usefulness in dealing with the idea of evil” (Publisher’s Weekly).

Even Dr. John Shelby Spong, yes THE Bishop Spong of the Episcopal Church, wrote a blurb praising the book.

Even better, since the book is written at a popular level, it will be of great aid in disabusing young people of their foolish commitment to “traditional beliefs” and offer them a “challenging alternative.”

Rev. Alan Newton, Executive Minister, ABC of Rochester-Genesee. Rev. Newton is a man of great convictions and advocacy on matters of soul liberty and Baptist freedom. Perhaps the most articulate defender of AWAB in the GEC, he hosted the “Rochester Summit” a couple of years ago that led to the “Rochester Declaration.” Eventually more than 1,200 signatories joined the cause.

Given the bewildering diversity of views on core issues, it remains to be seen whether the national leadership will tackle the issues proactively and effectively at their annual GEC retreat. Will they look soberly at the problems and propose remedial steps or will they simply re-engineer the structure to take into account an ever shrinking organization? Downsizing to eliminate inefficiencies and to promote streamlining would be commendable; trying to cobble together work-arounds in order to “get by” with shrinking resources will only facilitate a slide towards non-existence.

His Barking Dog writes as an outsider to the ABC since the withdrawal of Transformation Ministries (formerly ABCPSW) last fall. Nevertheless, with many friends in the ABC, my interests follow the decisions being made by leadership to deal with pressing problems, some of which led to my own region’s withdrawal from the ABC “family.”

The GEC meets on Wednesday, April 11, though Saturday, April 14.

The Price of Conscience in the Black Church

2007-03-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

This week The New York Times printed a provocative article showing how the acceptance of homosexuality, an issue that has roiled most of the predominately white mainline denominations in recent years, can carry a steep price tag in African American churches as well.

Citing one pastor, they note that he lost almost all of his congregation after he supported same sex unions in his mainline denomination, the UCC. In an Atlanta church attendance has fallen from 6,000 to 3,000 over differences with the senior pastor on convictions regarding human sexuality.

For some, the issue is more existential still. Recounting the tale of an African American pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, the Rev. Dennis Meredith, the article chronicles how his son’s coming out of the closet led he and his wife to reconsider the biblical teachings on homosexuality. Their pilgrimage brought them into contact with materials by American Baptists such as Harvard’s Peter Gomes, a gay man in ministry and chaplain at Harvard.

“. . . five years ago, his middle son, Micah, told him that he is gay. Mr. Meredith and his wife began to read liberal theologians like Mr. Gomes and to look at Scripture again. What matters most in the Bible, Mr. Meredith said, was Jesus’ injunction to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself, and that includes gay men and lesbians. As he preached greater acceptance of gay people, Mr. Meredith saw the face of his congregation change.

About three years ago, many older members, those who had hung on through the church’s waning, and who drove in from the suburbs because they had attended Tabernacle as young people, gradually began to leave. They took with them their generous, loyal tithing. The 90-year-old church had money to cover salaries and utilities but had a hard time paying for properties it had bought nearby. In September, Mr. Meredith held a commitment ceremony in the church for two lesbian couples. More people left after that." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/us/27churches.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Heretofore, many African Americans have been reluctant to join with their white colleagues in upholding traditional views of human sexuality against the revisionist interpretations. Some see it as a civil rights issue. Others find it difficult to make common cause with evangelicals since many still suspect them of racism. The more progressive social liberals in the mainline denominations who took leadership in the civil rights movement are often the same ones who have been defending the cause of homosexual unions.

Evidently, the stand of conscience by some African American pastors will not always be applauded by their own congregations, particularly those in the church who see the Bible condemning same sex unions as immoral. It will be interesting to observe whether our sisters and brothers in the black church will be able to uphold biblical authority AND a compassionate ministry to hurting persons without tending toward organizational schism.

The Fascists are Coming!?! We have met the enemy and he is us?

2007-03-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

Chris Hedges, author of the provocatively titled American Fascists: the Christian Right and the War on America, has predicted that at the next 9/11-like crisis, evangelical Christians are ready to take over the United States: “Those arrayed against American democracy [i.e., evangelical Christians] are waiting for a moment to strike, a national crisis that will allow them to shred the Constitution in the name of national security and strength” (pp. 201–202). Already, claims Hedges, “this minority … is taking over the machinery of U.S. state and religious institutions” (p. 19).

Yikes! Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, we must be afraid of the shark of evangelical Christianity. In fact, Hedges declares that the plot to take over the reins of power can be observed in everything from what he believes to be a pervasive “dominion theology,” to televangelists, to the modern creationist movement, to the very existence of Focus on the Family and the advocacy of James Dobson.

Not only does Hedges find sinister motivations behind most things evangelicals do and say, he fears they will employ the tried techniques of fascism, particularly violence, to accomplish their ends. Just when Hillary assures us this week that there really is a vast right wing conspiracy, Hedges identifies the major players: the evangelicals!

Such paranoid ruminations would be easy to dismiss but for the fact that the author is a Harvard Divinity School alum who served on the Pulitzer winning 2002 team of the New York Times and was released by uber-publisher Simon and Schuster.

Beyond the “blue” and “red” labels in our country, evangelicals need to be cognizant of the viciousness of some of those with whom we disagree. We battle not only with Islamo-fascism but with secularists who count us among the fanatical fringe.

NCC Releases 2007 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches - Numbers Up Modest .82% Overall; Mainlines All Book Losses

2007-03-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

The 2007 Yearbook reports the largest 25 denominations/communions in the U.S. (noting an increase or decrease in membership since the 2006 Yearbook reports). Mainline* statistics highlighted in blue.

1. The Catholic Church, 69,135,254 members, reporting an increase of 1.94 percent.

2. The Southern Baptist Convention, 16,270,315 members, reporting a increase of .02 percent.

3. The United Methodist Church, 8,075,010 members, reporting a decrease of 1.36 percent.

4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,690,672 members, reporting an increase of 1.63 percent.

5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875 members, no increase or decrease reported.

6. National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., 5,000,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

7. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, 4,850,776, reporting a decrease of 1.62 percent.

8. National Baptist Convention of America, 3,500,000, no increase or decrease reported.

9. Presbyterian Church (USA), 3,098,842 members, reporting a decrease of 2.84 percent.

10. Assemblies of God, 2,830,861 members, reporting an increase of 1.86 percent.

11. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

12. National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

13. Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc., 2,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

14. The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), 2,440,864, reporting a decrease of .93 percent.

15. Episcopal Church, 2,247,819, reporting a decrease of 1.59 percent.

16. Churches of Christ, 1,639,495 members, reporting an increase of 9.30 percent (This increase reports the church's growth since its last reported figures in 1999.)
17. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

18. Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, Inc., 1,500,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

19. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, 1,440,405 members, reporting an increase of .53 percent.

20. American Baptist Churches in the USA, 1,396,700, reporting a decrease of 1.97 percent.

21. United Church of Christ, 1,224,297, reporting a decrease of 3.28 percent.

22. Baptist Bible Fellowship International, 1,200,000, no increase or decrease reported.

23. Christian Churches and Churches of Christ, 1,071,615 members, no increase or decrease reported.

24. The Orthodox Church in America, 1,064,000 members, no increase or decrease reported.

25. Jehovah's Witnesses, 1,046,006 members, reporting an increase of 1.56 percent.

The total members reported in the largest 25 communions is 149,222,807, an overall increase of .82 percent.

The 2007 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches costs $50 and may be ordered at
http://www.electronicchurch.org/

Although the total numbers of members reported rose by a modest .82% in the most recent survey, none of the mainline communions listed in the top 25 denominations (only the Disciples of Christ did not qualify for that criterion) showed growth figures. All of them posted loses ranging from 1.36% to 3.28%. The United Methodists reported the smallest percentage of decline among mainline groups.

* The word “mainline” is a term of art to describe seven predominately progressive Protestant denominations: ABCUSA, DoC, ECUSA, ELCA, UMC, PCUSA, and UCC. They are also sometimes known as the "seven sisters."

James Cameron -- Raising the Titanic; Sinking Christianity?

2007-03-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

I purchased the Simcha Jacobovici/Charles Pellegrino book, The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence that Could Change History (Harper Collins), companion to the Discovery Channel documentary to be screened on Sunday evening. These guys are really serous!

James Cameron, writing portentiously (or was that pretentiously?) on December 24, 2006, allows that he is not a "historian by training" and has "absolutely no credentials as a biblical scholar." Nevertheless, he concludes baldly that this investigation "proves, I believe, beyond any reasonable dobt that a first-century Jewish tomb in Talpiot, Jerusalem, in 1980 is the tomb of Jesus and his family." "One and a half billion Christians -- more than one-fifth of the world's population--believe they know exactly who Jesus was. But what do they really know for sure?" What do you expect from a guy like Cameron who calls history a "consensus hallucination" and a "myth upon which we all agree to agree"???

Wowie, zowie. More to come.

BTW - Dr. Witherington has done it again with his Thursday blog, "The Smoking Gun--Tenth Talpiot Ossuary Proved to be Blank" (http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/. Check out his arguments, particularly the lengthly report by Prof. Richard Bauckham. Darrell Bock has similarly augmented his posts with several new entries (http://dev.bible.org/bock/).

From Stats to Facts: Problems Multiply for Talpiot Tomb Theory

2007-03-01T09:19:00.000-08:00

Last week , before the “Lost Tomb of Jesus” story broke, I was standing on the hills overlooking Talpiot at the Haas Promenade. Little did I know that so much controversy would surround this same Southern Jerusalem neighborhood within so few days. But the Talpiot Tomb has now rocketed to center stage as the Discovery Channel prepares to air their documentary on March 4.

My two favorite Jesus scholars are Ben Witherington III of Asbury Seminary and Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary. Each has a host of books to his credit and always seens to offer the most sane comments on Jesus theories. Their writings are well-informed, grounded in committed belief, and on the cutting edge of the latest scholarship.

This week Witherington has added to his already impressive blog on the Talpiot Tomb a number of other sound reasons for rejecting the “Lost Tomb of Jesus” theory. Cf. his “Problems Multiply for Jesus Tomb Theory” at http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/.

Darrell Bock has already weighed in with no less than four blog entries on his http://dev.bible.org/bock/.

Additionally, Paul Maier of Western Michigan University has provided a quick summary reaction to the theory. I once read his prescient “A Skeleton in God’s Closet” thriller posing the question what would happen to Christianity if someone claimed to find a tomb containing the bones of Jesus (http://theologica.blogspot.com/2007/02/skeleton-in-gods-closet-paul-maier.html). Who is in a better position to address the issue than someone who actually wrote a book on the subject before the present controversy?

Jesus' Lost Tomb? A New Pre-Easter Gift?

2007-02-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

Every Christmas and Easter we get treated to the secular gift of a new attack on Jesus and the historical basis for our faith. Now in the age of electronic media the normal round of cover stories in Time and Newsweek are augmented by simultaneous releases of "documentaries" and companion books.

Remember the Gospel of Judas last spring? Now, as we ramp up to another celebration of the central miracle of the Christian faith, we have a major media declaration that Jesus' lost tomb has been found. Dan Brown revealed that Jesus had a daughter named Sarah. This year James Cameron, director of the obscenely successful film Titanic, has teamed up with Simcha Jacobovici and the Discovery Channel for a special on the discovery of Jesus’ tomb, ossuary, bones, and that of his mother, brothers, wife, and his son Jude as well! Wow!

The show, slated to air on March 4th, follows in the proud tradition of the Gospel of Judas. In addition to the documentary today they released a companion book by Simcha and Charles Pellegrino entitled The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History (Harper-Collins).

Having just returned yesterday from two weeks in Israel with 49 folks, I may be a little touchy. But how many times will people fall for these cynically timed attacks on the Christian faith? Ben Witherington, a genuine WORLD CLASS Jesus scholar (and an evangelical) took apart the Cameron film and the Simcha and Charles Pellegrino book today in his blog. His arguments include the following points (redacted below from his much longer blog) giving “all sorts of reasons to see this as much ado about nothing much”:

1) The statistical analysis is of course only as good as the numbers that were provided to the statistician . . . There are so many flaws in the analysis of the statistics themselves, that one must assume the statistician did not have the right or sufficient data to work with.

2) There is no independent DNA control sample to compare to what was garnered from the bones in this tomb.

3) Several of these ossuaries have very popular and familiar early Jewish names. As the statistics above show, the names Joseph and Joshua (Jesus) were two of the most common names in all of early Judaism. So was Mary. Indeed both Jesus’ mother and her sister were named Mary. This is the ancient equivalent of finding adjacent tombs with the names Smith and Jones. No big deal.

4) The historical problems with all this are too numerous to list here: A) the ancestral home of Joseph was Bethlehem, and his adult home was Nazareth; B) One of the ossuaries has the name Jude son of Jesus. We have no historical evidence of such a son of Jesus, indeed we have no historical evidence he was ever married; C) the Mary ossuaries (there are two) do not mention anyone from Migdal. It simply has the name Mary-- and that's about the most common of all ancient Jewish female names; D) we have names like Matthew on another ossuary, which don't match up with the list of brothers' names; E) By all ancient accounts, the tomb of Jesus was empty-- even the Jewish and Roman authorities acknowledged this; F) Implicitly you must accuse James, Peter and John (mentioned in Gal. 1-2-- in our earliest NT document from 49 A.D.) of fraud and coverup.

5) One more thing of importance. The James ossuary, according to the report of the antiquities dealer that Oded Golan got the ossuary from, said that the ossuary came from Silwan, not Talpiot, and had dirt in it that matched up with the soil in that particular spot in Jerusalem . . . Why is this important? Well because the ossuaries that came out of Talpiot came out of a rock cave from a different place, and without such soil in it. To theorize that there was a Jesus family tomb, and yet the one member of Jesus' family who we know was buried in Jerusalem for a long time did not come out of the ground from that locale contradicts this theory. Furthermore, Eusebius reports that the tomb marker for James' burial was close to where James was martyred near the temple mount, indeed near the famous tombs in the Kidron valley such as the so-called tomb of Absalom. Talpiot is nowhere near this locale.

6) What should we make of James Tabor’s being co-opted into this project? You will remember his book which came out last year "The Jesus Dynasty." In that book he had quite a good deal to say about the Talpiot Tomb, and about Panthera being the father of Jesus, and about Jesus being buried in Galilee, and of course nothing about a ossuary which claims that Joseph is the father of Jesus. Why such a quick reversal of his earlier opinions?

Witherington disdainfully captures the right tone: “So my response to this is clear--- James Cameron, the producer of the movie Titantic, has now jumped on board another sinking ship full of holes, presumably in order to make a lot of money before the theory sinks into an early watery grave. Man the lifeboats and get out now.” Read Witherington’s entire blog and get his excellent, "What Have They Done with Jesus?" (Harper-Collins, 2006), for more evangelical commentary on this kind of “scholarship” by the revisionist critics. http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2007/02/jesus-tomb-titanic-talpiot-tomb-theory.html

ABCUSA Comments on Southwest Organizing

2007-02-12T18:46:00.000-08:00

If you want to catch a hint of how VF sees the actions in TM (the former PSW), and the organizing efforts to create a new pro-VF ABC region there, cf. http://www.abc-usa.org/news/2007/20070209a.htm. Among the comments . . .

Dr. Bill Godwin, pastor of University Baptist Church in Palm Desert, CA, said that his church was “excited about the upcoming organizational meetings.”

While the new Association forms, ABCLA will be acting as “shelter and support in the spirit of Good Samaritan response” for churches who desire to remain American Baptist according to ABCLA Executive Minister, Dr. Samuel S. Chetti. Their support will act as an administrative bridge between former PSW churches and the denomination until the Association votes to either form a new region or to join an existing one.

“There is a positive missional future for American Baptists in the Southwest,” said the Rev. Dr. A. Roy Medley, general Secretary for American Baptist Churches, USA (ABCUSA). “The denomination, including National Ministries, International Ministries and MMBB, is committed to working alongside these congregations to strengthen both their life and their expressions of mission.. Dr. Jeff Woods, Associate General Secretary for Regional Ministries, on behalf of the denomination, is working with ABCLA and the churches to form an association that will achieve these goals.

The article also referenced the recent agreement inked between Dr. Reid Trulson and Dr. Dale Salico, reminding readers that TM candidates would still not be eligible for appointment as missionary candidates.

The deal between BIM and TM was much more favorable than had been agreed to just months ago by Reid's predecessor. And, even then, BIM appeared to be in retreat from previous understandings and professions of cooperation. Under Trulson, by contrast, the rhetoric is one of cooperation, followed up by actual steps of engagement (e.g., coming to TM to do a missions conference here). In fact, I have been told by a credible lay leader that his congregation (in the ABC of LA) was miffed that ABC missionaries evidently broke former agreements to appear at the historic ABCLA congreation in order to participate in a TM venue slated for the same time.

It is difficult to believe that a BIM missionary would actually break a formal commitment to an ABC church in order to participate in a TM congregational event. Still, even if the double booking was an innocent error, it still reveals an ongoing desire to reach out to TM churches.

The press release, coming out of the OGS, seemed to go out of its way to "remind" readers that missionary appointments would be impossible unless TM affiliated with BWA. Extrapolating (fairly?) from the available data, you might say that while blood is thicker than water, the color of cooperation is still green. Regardless of what Dr. Medley does or does not feel about TM, BIM seems unwilling to pass on so much potential money from the southwest.

[His Barking Dog has been too busy at work and some community non-profit work to comment much of late. Nevertheless, my return to the Net has not conferred any more authority on me. These ruminations and interpretations are mine alone, unemcumbered by official authority or even common sense.]

ABC’s Reid Trulson: Do-the-Math Pragmatist or Out-of-the-Box Visionary?

2007-01-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

Two moves by newly installed Executive Director of the Board of International Ministries of the ABCUSA bode well for continued relationship between the congregations of the former ABCPSW and the international missions arm of the ABCUSA. Dr. Reid Trulson has agreed to participate with an all-star cast of missionaries at a church in So. Cal. AND he has inked a partnership agreement with Transformation Ministries even more favorable than one negotiated under his predecessor’s tenure.

On Mark 17 and 18, the Judson Baptist Church in San Bernardino (CA) will host “The Call,” a missions conference featuring Reid Trulson, Walt White, Mike Mann, Matt and Lori Mann, Kristina Gutierrez, Dr. Bill Clemmer, and Ray and Adalia Schellinger. The presence of Trulson at such a missions event in the southwest and the presence of so many longstanding ABC missionaries speak volumes about the prospects for continued partnership.

Such hints of on-going collaboration are further strengthened by the generous agreement concluded between BIM and Transformation Ministries. Ultimately, it gave TM more than they had hopped for and certainly a much broader ground for future involvement than had been offered just a few months ago.

A remaining sticking point will be the appointment of TM candidates as BIM missionaries. But even this, however, can be overcome if TM affiliates with the Baptist World Alliance.

Observers on both the left and right will divide over hailing or hating these new moves. Is Trulson a “do-the-math” pragmatist who recognizes the historic role by the congregations of the former PSW in supporting BIM ? Or, is he an “out-of-the-box” visionary who sees the changing paradigms in missions funding and shrewdly elects to position his organization on the cutting edge of the future?

The jury will remain out on the question for a while longer. However, His Barking Dog cannot help but admire the style of the newly installed leader of BIM.

[His Barking Dog tries to avoid making too many comments on the ABC these days, not wanting to become like the yippers and yappers who left the SBC decades ago but still seem preoccupied with internal SBC politics. This move, however, relates to churches in my existing organization and their choice to relate to the ABC so comments, albeit from my own perspective ALONE, seem appropriate]

Carter, Clinton Join to Reshape Baptist Image; Will it Work?

2007-01-12T22:20:00.000-08:00

"Baptists from across North America will convene in Atlanta early next year to emphasize their compassion rather than the racial, theological and social conflict that has divided them for decades." What should we make of this announced convocation, led by former President Jimmy Carter with a “cheerleading” boost from former President Bill Clinton?

Some on the left were quick to hail the announced gathering, expected to draw upwards of 20,000 Baptists. Even Dr. A. Roy Medley, General Secretary of the ABCUSA, placed the assembly in the context of denominational splintering:

“There is a cry for healing,” said Medley. Baptists coming together could encourage American Baptists soured by their denomination’s fragmentation over homosexuality, Medley said.

“For a lot of our young people, they are very disenchanted at the church breaking apart and splintering,” Medley continued. “This is a chance for us to reach out to them and say this ideal of love that Christ has given us is something that we really want to be operative in the life of the church as well. And that can help us bridge differences that are genuine differences.”

Southern Baptist leaders were generally quick to jump to the opposite conclusion. In an editorial in Baptist Press, the SBC's communications arm, seminary dean Russell Moore called the Carter-Clinton effort "voodoo ecumenism."

"The unity of which news reports speak is a unity based on social action and ethical engagement," said Moore, theology dean of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. "Even apart from questions of [Clinton's] personal ethics and about the long-ago debates over alleged high crimes and misdemeanors, what about the official social agenda of the former president? This is, after all, a man who vetoed legislation protecting unborn infants from partial-birth abortion, and then blamed his abortion-rights ideology on what he says he learned from his former pastor at a Little Rock Southern Baptist congregation."

SBC blogger Jerry Grace was even more direct. "To be consistent, I despise both of these men," Grace wrote Jan. 11 on sbcouthouse.blogspot.com. "Jimmy Carter may be the most naïve man on the planet…. Bill Clinton is far smarter than that, with every word coming out of his mouth either designed to promote his need for power or to pick up women."

"None of us need to speculate about its content," Grace said of the New Baptist Covenant, a statement based on Jesus' compassion agenda in Luke 4. "It will be a reflection of the Democratic Party platform designed to promote other great religious leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to deliver the black vote to Hillary Clinton, that torchbearer of maternal virtue and humble leadership."

So what do we make of the upcoming meeting? While I am certainly no fan of either former president, Clinton for his obvious failures and Carter for his self-righteous disdain for anyone more conservative than himself, it is difficult to fault this initiative. SBC blogger Wade Burleson seemed to sound the right note when he wrote: "it would be difficult for me to criticize any evangelical Christian movement whose stated goals are to live out the gospel through doing justice and loving mercy."

In the final analysis, the effectiveness of the effort will relate to how effectively the gathering captures the spiritual power of so many diverse Baptists. If, however, the agenda devolves to a partisan platform, it will be readily dismissed.

“If this is seen as a Democratic agenda, that won’t benefit any of us,” said ABC’s Medley. “And if it doesn’t do the pan-Baptist thing, then it will have failed. I hope we do have conservative folk there, as well as progressive and moderate folk. Regardless of where we may be in political parties and things like that, these are things that we’re committed to as the body of Christ, and that agenda is larger than a political agenda.”

2006 Top Stories Redux

2006-12-31T16:24:00.000-08:00

The editors of Crosswalk's Religion Today (http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/) offer their own list of "Top Ten" religion stories in 2006. Most of the items correspond to the earlier list printed. But, I thought you might appreciate the contrast.

10) Navy chaplain’s fight to pray in Jesus’ name
(See Also: Navy Chaplain now Fighting Forced Discharge)
“Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt received a reprimand and a suspended fine for the conviction, but he says the conviction will effectively end his military career, possibly by the end of the year. But Klingenschmitt says he will appeal the decision using the argument that the order was based on an illegal policy put in place by the Secretary of the Navy. ‘When I went there and prayed in Jesus' name, I relied upon the Navy uniform regulations,’ Klingenschmitt explains. ‘But no, the judge ruled that those uniform regulations don't protect me because the Secretary of the Navy policy now has redefined 'public worship.' It's redefined 'religious observance.’’”
Taking this basic Christian tenet away from military chaplains not only begs the question of what other freedoms may be lost, but what brand of religion are our chaplains allowed to preach to our troops?

9) Darfur conflict ongoing; some Christian ministries leaving
(See Also: Safe Return of Darfur Christian Relief Worker)

“At a time when it would be hard to imagine a more deteriorated Darfur – the situation has indeed worsened, forcing many relief groups and individuals to finally relent and flee the human-caused wasteland. ‘It is unbelievable for any human being to imagine that the entire Darfur right now is unsafe even in the cities,’ said Motasim Adam, a Darfurian refugee and president of the Darfur People’s Association of New York.”

You know it’s bad when even the Church has to vacate. Hope seems far away.

8) Christian movies keep coming (End of the Spear, The Nativity, Facing the Giants (and it’s PG rating))

A conservative advocacy group is bristling over the PG rating given to a new family film with a "pro-God theme." According to the movie poster, the theme of Facing the Giants is, "Never give up, never back down, never lose faith." But the movie poster also says parental guidance is suggested "for some thematic elements."

These films and others like them continue to receive their fair share of reviews from critics both religious and secular. The more Christians buy tickets to them, the more they’ll get made.

7) American Christians on the forefront of aid during and after Israeli/Lebanese conflict

“Evangelical Christians dug deep into their pockets to provide humanitarian relief to Israel during the war in Lebanon this summer, donating nearly $20 million dollars to help rebuild the north, according to estimates. Though largely overshadowed by the massive generosity of their American Jewish counterparts, the pro-Israel Christian community also rallied significantly in support of the north, with less fanfare.”

The war dominated headlines over the summer, but it never led to the doom some predicted. Out of the chaos came the reminder that many Christians are strong supporters of Israel.

6) Gnosticism Returns (Gospel of Judas/Da Vinci Code film near-simultaneous release)

“Gnostic ideas did become popular later, and they are becoming increasingly popular now. The truth of the Gospel stands, and Christians will retain firm confidence in the authenticity of the New Testament and, in particular, of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Nevertheless, old Gnosticisms are continually repackaged and "rediscovered" even as new forms of Gnostic thought emerge in our postmodern culture. Informed Christians will be watchful and aware when confronting churches or institutions that present spurious writings, rejected as heretical by the early church, on the same plane as the New Testament.”

The Gnostic Gospels received renewed interest from seekers, scholars, and believers alike in April and May, as everyone wanted to know what to make of the claims of The Da Vinci Code, the histories of Mary Magdalene and Judas, and how to share the truth with their friends. For all the noise at the time, things sure have quieted down, thanks in part to the movie’s poor showing.

5) Muslims offended by Danish cartoons, Pope’s speech
(See Also: Pope Apologizes for Speech)

“The leaders of various religious parties in a joint statement termed the Pope’s comments linking Islam with violence as the third attack on Islam this year after alleged sacrilege of Quran by US soldiers in Guantanamo Bay prison facility and publication of blasphemous caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by western publications. ‘The Pope should tender apology to Muslims and take his words back,’ the NNI quoted the religious leaders as saying.”

If it’s tough for you to swallow how apologies to non-Christian groups are easily handed out, but apologies to Christians are almost never seen, just know you aren’t alone…

4) ECUSA/Bishop Jefferts-Schori fallout
(See Also: ECUSA to Lose Its Largest Congregation)

“Controversy has escalated in the Episcopal Church after the denomination that three years ago ordained an openly homosexual bishop chose a woman as its national leader -- a move that observers predict could signal a major global split within the larger Anglican Communion. Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, is the new presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church after a vote by delegates to the Episcopal General Convention in Columbus, Ohio, June 18. Schori said she voted to confirm Bishop V. Gene Robinson in 2003, and she has said she does not believe homosexuality is a sin.”

Since Jefferts-Schori’s election, more congregations are deciding to split with the Episcopal church, including two of Virginia’s oldest and largest this past month. When the Word is compromised in the highest levels of church leadership, why should we expect it to thrive?

3) Rick Warren in the middle of divisive issues (global warming, AIDS, Syria, Obama)

“I do think that evangelicals as a whole, we’re trying to broaden the agenda. There’s no doubt about that. The way I tell it to my people is the church is the body of Christ, and for the last 50 years, the hands and the feet have been amputated. And all we’ve been is a big mouth. And most of the time, we’re known for what we’re against. And frankly, I’m tired of that. I think the church should be known for what it’s for, not what it’s against.” –Rick Warren, on NBC’s Meet the Press Christmas Eve

Not everyone agreed with the themes of The Purpose-Driven Life. But neither could anyone have foreseen the polarizing effect the Saddleback pastor could have following his success. Consider for a moment the results of a poll we recently ran on Crosswalk, which asked: “Do you find yourself more in agreement or disagreement with Rick Warren's stances and actions?” Out of 282 respondents, 63 percent said they tend to disagree with what Pastor Warren says and does. Only 27 percent tend to agree with Warren right now.

2) Ted Haggard steps down from pastorate and NAE
(See Also: Haggard Scandal, Confession Shakes Evangelical Community)
Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals and former pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, has been in seclusion as the evangelical Christian community reels from news of his admission that he lied to conceal his "sexual immorality." Amid scandal involving allegations made by a male "escort," Haggard has stepped down from his posts and, in a letter to his church community, confessed his struggle of many years with "repulsive and dark" desires. According to reports, the former pastor denied in the letter that all of the allegations against him are true but said "enough of them are that I was appropriately removed" from church leadership.
The healing has hopefully begun. The media has used Haggard’s fall and that of other pastors as a springboard for hopes that maybe Bible-believing Christians will become more gay-friendly. But our true hope is that Haggard’s failure will remind all of us how easy it is to become ensnared by temptation, and that his admission will light the path for others in leadership who first need to get the log out of their own eyes.

And our top Religion Today story for 2006…

1) Amish response to Pennsylvania schoolhouse shooting
“The Amish have been reaching out to the family of the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, 32, who committed suicide during the attack. Dwight Lefever, a Roberts family spokesman, said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them… Staring down the barrel of Charles Carl Roberts' gun, 13-year-old Marian Fisher and her 11-year-old sister, Barbie, bravely pleaded with the madman to shoot them and spare the eight other girls he was holding hostage. "Marian said, 'Shoot me first,' and Barbie said, 'Shoot me second,' " said midwife Rita Rhoads, who had helped deliver several of the victims. "They were really trying to save the younger girls. It is a real reflection of their faith’… At the behest of Amish leaders, a fund has also been set up for the killer's widow and three children.”

A Cradle the World Cannot Hold

2006-12-24T15:44:00.000-08:00

Chromatius (fl. 400), served as Bishop of Aquileia. He was a friend of Rufinus and Jerome and the author of numerous tracts and sermons. His Tractate on Matthew contains the following reflection upon the visit of the magi and contains some of the best of the consensual exegesis of the church prior to our critical era.

Let us now observe how glorious was the dignity that attended the King after his birth, after the magi in their journey remained obedient to the star. For immediately the magi fell to their knees and adored the one born as Lord. There in his very cradle they venerated him with offerings of gifts, though Jesus was merely a whimpering infant. They perceived one thing with the eyes of their bodies but another with the eyes of the mind. The lowliness of the body he assumed was discerned, but the glory of his divinity is now made manifest. A boy he is, but it is God who is adored. How inexpressible is the mystery of his divine honor!

The invisible and eternal nature did not hesitate to take on the weaknesses of the flesh on our behalf. The Son of God, who is God of the universe, is born a human being in the flesh. He permits himself to be placed in a manger, and the heavens are within the manger. He is kept in a cradle, a cradle that the world cannot hold. He is heard in the voice of a crying infant. This is the same one for whose voice the whole world would tremble in the hour of his passion. Thus he is the One, the God of glory and the Lord of majesty, whom as a tiny infant the magi recognize. It is he who while a child was truly God and King eternal. To him Isaiah pointed, saying, “For a boy has been born to you; a son has been given to you, a son whose empire has been forged on his shoulders.”

To the readers of His Barking Dog, I have one message today: May our Lord grant you a most blessed and meaningful Christmas, full of a sense of God's condescending love!

Merry CHRISTmas, Dr. Dawkins!

2006-12-19T08:46:00.000-08:00

How do the new post-Christian atheists celebrate Christmas? Recently Roger Kennedy of The New York Times mused about the observance of Christmas by the new crop of atheists who have books selling off the shelves of Borders and Barnes and Noble, authors such as Sam Harris (The End of Faith) and Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion).

As “post-Christian” atheists, they are content to wish one another a purely secularized “Merry Christmas,” shorn of the Christological content and evangelical implications. In a recent blog by Al Mohler, he characterizes Dawkins as follows: “The self-identified ‘post-Christian atheist’ argues that Christmas long ago ceased to be a ‘religious festival.’ He dislikes silly Christmas songs on the basis of aesthetic judgment (a judgment shared, by the way, by many Christians) and is happy to ‘wish everyone a Merry Christmas.’"

Just as God used Balaam’s ass to speak forth his truth, so the creator who came into his creation two thousand years ago seems quite able to speak forth his message through the vehicle of an evolutionary Oxford professor, despite himself. Whether he likes it or not, “Merry Christmas” cannot be so easily separated from the underlying core of truth: It is Christ who transforms our brutal alienation into a truly merry reconciliation.

As the Christmas card I am giving this year (designed by the good folks at Answers in Genesis) puts it: "As promised from the beginning, the Creator stepped into His creation to give the greatest gift of all. Have a blessed Christmas!"