Two Reasons to Abstain from Degrading People

 

                                                                 

A follower of Jesus will not abuse people verbally.

For biblical reasons like these.

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. —Proverbs 12:18 (ESV)

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. —Luke 6:45

I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak. —Matthew 12:36 

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. —James 1:26

A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. - James 3:4–6, The Message

The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth! - James 3:7–10 (Emphasis mine.)

Not only is verbally abusing people unbiblical, it is irrational. 

I taught logic for seventeen years at Monroe County Community College. Logic is the tool by which a person formulates and evaluates arguments. 

Logical arguments can go wrong in at least two ways. They can go wrong formally. That is, if a logical form is invalid (for deductive arguments) or weak (for inductive arguments. Like this.

1. If it is raining, then the ground is wet.

2. The ground is wet.

3. Therefore, it is raining.

This argument fails formally. The conclusion does not logically follow from the premises, because it's logical form is invalid.

Then, there are arguments that commit an informal fallacy. (There are many types of informal fallacies.) Like this.

1. X is a total idiot.

2. Therefore, his argument against abortion is false.

That argument commits what is called an ad hominem abusive fallacy. The truth or falsity of an argument has nothing to do with whether or not the argument-maker is an idiot.

An ad hominem fallacy attacks the person who makes an argument. That's illogical. The rule is: attack the argument, not the person. And let your attack be moral and logical.

Name-calling and person-denigrating is logically irrelevant, and thereby fails to support a conclusion.

Add to this name-calling as unbiblical and morally wrong and we have two powerful reasons to abstain from degrading people made in the image of God.

My Christmas Book (Chapters)

 

My Christmas devotional book is The Great Invasion: Thirty-one Days of Christmas.

E-book.  

Paperback.

The book's thesis is: To study and learn more about Jesus shapes and deepens our understanding of and experience of Christmas.

Day 1 is December 1.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 

#1    ​​Jesus Is the Agent of Creation 

#2     ​​Jesus Was Born of a Virgin  

#3​​    Jesus Descended into Greatness 

#4​​    Jesus Existed

 #5​​    Jesus Grew Up in Galilee 

#6​    Jesus Was a Jew Who Wore Torah on His Sleeve 

#7​​    Jesus Is "Immanuel." 

#8​​    Jesus is God and Man  

#9​​    Jesus is God  

#10​    Jesus is True Humanity 

#11​    Jesus Was Baptized by John the Baptist

#12    ​Jesus Taught About the Kingdom of God  

#13    ​Jesus is King 

#14     ​The Method of Jesus

#15​    Jesus Mentored 12 Disciples  

#16​    Miracles Were Performed Through Jesus 

#17 ​    Jesus Cast Out Demons  

#18​    Jesus Is After the Human Heart 

#19​    Jesus Had a Preferential Option for "the Least of These" 

 #20​    Jesus Restored Purity Outside the Sacrificial System 

#21​    Jesus Reinterpreted the Jewish Festivals in Terms of Himself 

#22​    Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath  

#23     ​Uncovering Jesus at Christmas

#24​    Violent Night (An Alternative Christmas Story)  

#25​    Christmas Day - Jesus Comes to Save Us from Our Distress  

#26​    Easter Week - Jesus Takes the Second Cup  

#27​    Jesus Bore Our Horror on a Cross  

#28    Jesus Screams in the Absolute Darkness  

#29​    Jesus Was Raised from the Dead 

#30​    Jesus Will Return to Restore Heaven and Earth  

#31​    Jesus Instructed His Followers to Abide in Him  

APPENDIX 1​    Jesus Was a Minimalist 

 

 

Here is my letter that appeared in the Monroe Evening News.

Abortion is not a political issue

DECLARATIONS OF HOPE

These three remain: faith, hope and love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Hope remains.

At the heart of a Jesus-follower's job description is to bring light into darkness. 

It is to bring strength where there is weakness. 

To bring healing where there is pain. 

To bring food where there is famine.

To bring beauty where there are ashes.

To bring love where there is hatred.

To bring peace where there is chaos.

To bring Good News where there is fear.

To bring hope where there is despair.

On Sunday mornings we call the kids to come forward, and sit on the steps facing the congregation. We lay hands on their heads and  pray God's blessings over them.

On one of these mornings I asked the kids to share what God has been doing in them. One of our little boys spoke into the microphone and said, "This is the greatest day of my life!"

This child's statement stuck with me. It reminded me of a card I sometimes carry with me. The words apply to you, too. It is no accident that you are alive, in this time, in this place, "for such a time as this."

This truth brings great hope.

***

DECLARATIONS of HOPE (adapted from Steve Backlund)

• Today is the day that God is going to show off His favor on me.
• I speak to any worry, stress, or anxiety, and I say you cannot stay. Peace reigns in this temple.
• There is nothing I am facing that Scripture cannot speak into.
• I am not who my past experience says I am; I am who God says I am.
• Today is the day of my breakthrough — I am free!
• Because I trust in God, I am kept in perfect peace.
• My hope, my finances, my strategies, and my partnerships with others are causing great positive change in lives and nations.
• Tomorrow is going to be one of the best days of my life.
• I will wake up with strong faith, strong love, and strong hope in my heart.
• My past prayers will be working mightily today in every situation that concerns me.
• As I attach faith to what I am hearing, He will do far more than I could ever hope or imagine.

As the old hymn says,

My hope is built on nothing less,

than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

Trust as the Cure for Anxiety and Fear

(Fall colors, on the river, in my back yard)

In 2016 I purchased a new chair for my home office. I like it. It's comfortable. It's solid. 

I trust it. 

It has held me for six years. I have no anxiety or fear in regard to it. 

The more trust, the less fear. Where there is trust, there is the absence of anxiety. It would be contradictory to say, "I trust the chair I'm sitting in, but am afraid it won't hold me." 

Trust overwhelms and is dismissive of anxiety and fear. 

There are objects of significant trust, and objects of insignificant trust. Objects of significant trust affect us; objects of insignificant trust have little or no effect. I may not trust the motives of the present King of France, but my mistrust does not cause me anxiety or fear because I am unaffected by his actions. But, my mistrust of our economy can cause me to wonder whether or not I will have sufficient funds to meet my needs in retirement. (BTW - there is no "present King of France." Many fears come as a result of mistrusting nonexistent objects.)

The person filled with anxiety and fear is the person who does not trust, or whose trust is misplaced. A wife should trust her husband. If the husband cheats on her, she loses trust. She is consumed by uncertainty. When the foundation gives way, trust goes with it.

Ultimately, who or what shall we trust? If atheism were true there is no one, or nothing to trust, in the end. (For an example of this see atheist Julian Barnes, Nothing to Be Frightened Of, with the emphasis on the noun "nothing.") 

But because God exists, and is who he is, in God I have trusted, for over fifty years. 

There is a cumulative effect that results from a lifetime of trusting in God. A psychological confidence, an existential certitude, emerges. The one who places their trust in God experiences less anxiety. It is like the confidence one gains as a result of sitting in the same chair for years, and finding that, through it all, it still holds.

I have met many people who experience this. I have been at the bedside of God-trusters as they lay, dying. You have to be there to see the reality of this, and the certainty of their faith.

Therefore...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. 

Don't lean on your own understanding. 

In all your ways acknowledge God. 

And God will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Praying the Gospel Over Political Leaders

 

Twenty-five years ago I was invited to say the opening prayer at the opening session of the Michigan Senate. I went to Lansing, and a friend [thank you Senator R.R.!] escorted me to the platform, where I took my seat, facing the senators. 

I was introduced. I stepped up to the podium, and prayed.

I had spent time praying about how I would pray before the Michigan Senate. I felt the Spirit tell me, "Study how Billy Graham prayed when opening political events." I found the famous prayer he prayed in 1969, at the inauguration of Richard Nixon. 

Here it is.

“Our Father and our God, You have said, 

‘Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord.’ 

We recognize on this historic occasion that we are ‘a nation under God.’ 

We thank You for this torch of faith handed to us by our forefathers. ...

You have warned us in the Scriptures, ‘If the foundations be destroyed, 

what can the righteous do?’ … 

Too long we have neglected Your word and ignored Your laws. … 

We have sown to the wind and are now reaping 

a whirlwind of crime, division, and rebellion.

And now, with the wages of our sins staring us in the face, 

we remember Your words, 

‘If my people 

who are called by my Name 

shall humble themselves and pray 

and seek my face 

and turn from their wicked ways, 

then will I hear from heaven 

and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.’”

Beautiful! In this prayer you have humility before the Lord, confession of sin, a call for repentance, and the fact of God’s forgiveness as we do these things.

These are gospel ideas.

Billy prayed the gospel over all the people at that gathering.

All the people? Here's what Billy said about this.

"Over the years, I have tried to avoid getting involved in partisan politics — and on those few occasions when I may have stepped over the line (at least in some people’s view), I regretted it later. As an evangelist, my calling has been to preach the Gospel to as many people as possible, and I have always wanted to avoid putting up any unnecessary barriers." (From HERE.)

Barriers... to what? To the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel was everything to Graham. You see it in his preaching and in his prayers.

For followers of Jesus, the gospel is foundational. We are to view earth, through the lens of heaven, rather than the reverse.

I am certain Billy's example affected his son, Franklin Graham. Here's a quote from Franklin.

"The Bible tells us to pray for those who are in authority. It has nothing to do with whether you agree with them. It has nothing to do with whether you voted for them.

We’re told to pray. And if the church prays, God will hear our prayers.”

Billy Graham, to me, prayed the gospel over people. He rose above political arguing and lifted up Jesus as THE ANSWER to all of humanity’s problems. 

Was this a wise strategy? The answer to that question is found in the influence God gave him. 

            He preached the gospel to 215 million people across more than 400                        crusades, rallies, and simulcasts in 185 countries and territories. 

                An estimated 2.2 billion people heard him preach either in person 

                or through radio and television broadcasts.

                Approximately 2.2 million to 3.2 million made a decision to accept                         Jesus Christ as their savior during his live crusade meetings. 

                

When I stood before the Michigan Senate at the Capitol building in Lansing, I gave the best that I had. I prayed the gospel over the men and women leaders of our state. What an honor and privilege to do that!

(For how to pray for government leaders, see this from the Billy Graham Association.)

JESUS-FOLLOWING, POLITICS, and CULTURE

(Sermon-prepping, in Starbucks.)

(I'm re-posting this for some friends.)

I had a recent encounter with a person, call them X.

X: "I am against socialism."

Me: "Can you explain socialism to me?"

X: "No."

Me: "Can you tell me what socialism is?"

X: [SILENCE]

Me: "Do you find it odd to be against something you know nothing about?"

Politically, America is deeply divided. As a follower of Jesus, how do I evaluate this? What do I do about this? How shall I think about this?

Here's my approach, 

1) I identify certain guiding principles; and 

2) I keep studying and learning. 

This means disengaging from social media arguments, and finding the best scholarship available that can help me, in the first place, understand the issues. I am uninterested in people who want to argue political issues without first putting a lot of work into understanding those issues. This may not be you, but it is me.

A FEW GUIDING META-POLITICAL PRINCIPLES FOR ME

• Deepen your abiding life in Christ, as the first thing to do. All relevant, Spirit-led action comes from this ongoing attachment to Christ.
• Change hearts first. When hearts are changed, systems transform.
• Focus on issues, not political alignment.
• I must understand before I evaluate. This takes time. I hesitate to jump on someone's political bandwagon. Because, I don't yet understand the issues. 
• Attack arguments, not people (no ad hominem abusiveness please). Evaluate arguments; formulate arguments. Love people.
• Read contrary viewpoints, as much as you can.
• Lift up Jesus, the one who changes hearts and minds, and from whom we Christians acquire our ethics.
• When the Holy Spirit identifies a socio-cultural need and burdens you with it, labor in the Spirit to achieve transformation. For example, my church family helped begin a soup kitchen that provides a meal every day of the year, serving 75-150 a night. For example, my church family has been involved in serving and raising support for ministries that rescue women out of sex trafficking. For example, Linda and I have, over the decades, provided free counseling for needy marriages and families (this is ongoing, to the very moment I am typing these words).
• Study and grow in learning about the relationship between following Jesus and political involvement. This will assist you in transcending shallow, uninformed, hate-filled debating. Here are some resources that have taken me deeper.

STUDYING and LEARNING - SOME RESOURCES THAT HAVE HELPED ME (These are resources I have read and studied, and have helped me better understand the relationship between religion and politics. Surely there are more. What books have helped you?)

• Jonathan Wolff, An Introduction to Political Philosophy.
• Greg Lukionoff and Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind is the best book I've read in 2019. Haidt and Lukionoff help us understand, e.g., microaggressions and hatred and the American culture of "safetyism."
• Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics and Religion. Everyone should read this before opening their mouth about politics.
• Amy Chua, Political tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations. Still reading - excellent!
• Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed. 
• Ross Douthat, The Decadent Society: How We Became Victims of Our Own Success.
• Brian Benestad, Five Views on the Church and Politics 
• H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (Arguably, this is THE classic text which nicely forms intelligent discussion. How is Christ relevant to the world in which we live now?)
• John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus (This is essential reading for any who would engage in the discussion about how Jesus would have his followers respond to the political world we live in.)
• Greg Boyd, The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power Is Destroying the Church
• Jim Wallis, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and Why the Left Doesn’t Get It
• Jim Wallis, On God’s Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics hasn’t Learned About Serving the Common Good
• Ronald Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity (In evangelical Christianity, this is one of the classics. Read the four gospels as background, making note of all Jesus says about our relationship to Money. See also Ben Witherington, Jesus and Money.)
• Shane Claiborne, Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals (What should Christians do when allegiances to the state clash with personal faith?)
• Robert P. George, Conscience and Its Enemies: Confronting the Dogmas of Liberal Secularism (George, Prof of Law at Yale U., and a follower of Jesus, is a brilliant scholar who teaches us, among other things, how to civilly discourse about hard issues.)
• Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, Christian Anarchism: A Political Commentary on the Gospel (In a discussion with Greg Boyd he strongly recommended this book of readings to me.)
• Francis Beckwith, Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith (I read this book last summer and learned much from it. Beckwith’s chapter on human dignity is brilliant. [Christian Smith’s chapter on human dignity in What Is a Person? Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up is stunning.] Beckwith is Prof of Jurisprudence and Philosophy at Baylor U.)
• Martin Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail" 
• Charles Colson, God and Government: An Insider's View on the Boundaries Between Faith and Politics
• Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited. 
• James Cone, The Cross and the Lynching Tree 
• Gustavo Gutierrez, We Drink From Our Own Wells: The Spiritual Journey of a People 
• Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? (If this book doesn’t break your heart and burden you for the poor, we’re going to have to give you an EKG.)
• Pellegrino, Schulman, and Merrill, Human Dignity and Bioethics. Arguably the book to read on: 1) What is human dignity?; 2) Is there such a thing as human dignity?; and 3) If there is, does it make a difference? Collected essays by a great variety of scholars.
• Wayne Grudem, Politics – According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture
• John Corvino and Ryan T. Anderson, Debating Religious Liberty and Discrimination
• John Corvino and Ryan T. Anderson, Debating Same-Sex Marriage
• Ryan T. Anderson, Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom
• Mark Yarhouse, Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues In a Changing Culture
• Dan O. Via and Robert Gagnon, Homosexuality and the Bible: Two Views
• James Beilby and Paul Eddy, Understanding Transgender identities; Four Views.
• Ed Stetzer, Christians In the Age of Outrage: How to Bring Our Best When the World Is At Its Worst. Very helpful. 

Do I agree with everything written in these books? 

Of course not. I don't even agree with everything you say. 

And, I have said things that, upon reflection, have caused me to disagree with myself.

Saturate yourself in Scripture.

Study the ethics of Jesus. 

Marinate in the Gospels.  

***

My Books

 Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Encounters with the Holy Spirit (co-edited with Janice Trigg)

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity

31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship

31 Letters to the Church on Praying  

The Great Invasion: 31 Days of Christmas

Help for Worrying

 

(Cancun sunrise)

I still worry too much. My worry comes from losing spiritual focus. 

I can mentally acknowledge that God is with me. But there are times when this truth does not capture my heart. At that point, I am susceptible to worry.  

Here are things that combat worry.

• Spending solitary praying time with God. This restores my heart to its proper place. In His presence, my agitated soul finds rest.
• Being in community with my brothers and sisters. Authentic Christian community absorbs worry. (Thank God for the small groups Linda and I have been in over the years!)
• Reading Scripture and meditating on it. Scripture escorts my heart into His Kingdom. 
• Listening to experienced Jesus-followers, and learning from them. Many of my mentors and spiritual counselors have dispensed wisdom.
• Remembering how God has been with me.
• Counting my blessings. (I often carry a list of them, looking at them, and giving thanks to God for them.)
• Organizing and doing. Taking action, where I am able and available. 
• Walking in obedience. Living righteously secures my attachment to Jesus.
• Worshiping. When my soul sings, worry flees.

Doing these things recapture my heart. My renewed heart experiences God with me, working through me, assuring me that I am not alone, and that He is with me.

***

My Books

 Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God

Leading the Presence-Driven Church

Encounters with the Holy Spirit (co-edited with Janice Trigg)

Deconstructing Progressive Christianity

31 Letters to the Church on Discipleship

31 Letters tom the Church on Praying

The Great Invasion: 31 Days of Christmas

How Is Trust Rebuilt?

 

This is from Gary Chapman, Things I Wish I'd Known Before We Got Married.

"Forgiveness does not rebuild trust. A husband who had been sexually unfaithful to his wife later broke off the affair and apologized to his wife. She said to me in the counseling office, “I think I have forgiven him, but I don’t trust him. That makes me wonder if I have really forgiven him.”

The fact is, forgiveness does not automatically restore trust.

Trust is that gut-level confidence that someone is a person of integrity.

Trust in a relationship is destroyed when one partner is unfaithful. When you do not keep your commitments to me, I lose trust in you. I no longer have the confidence that you will treat me fairly and honestly.

How then is trust rebuilt? By changing your behavior and by being trustworthy. Over a period of time, if I see you are doing what you say you will do and being open and aboveboard in all of our dealings, I come again to trust you.

When I am counseling a couple in which one of them has been sexually unfaithful and is now seeking to rebuild a marriage, I recommend, after a sincere apology and forgiveness, that the offending party give the spouse permission to examine every area of life. That means that the checkbook, the computer, the iPhone, and all other sources of information are available for the spouse’s examination. With this action you are saying, “I have nothing to hide; I have truly changed my behavior, and I want to be worthy of your trust again.” With this attitude of openness and a consistent pattern of honesty, trust can be restored. Thus, forgiveness does not automatically restore trust, but forgiveness does open the door to the possibility that trust can be regained."