Raising the B.S. Flag

My son is a genius... no joke, his IQ is that high. However, when he was in high school and at the University of West Florida and living at home, he used to make some fairly controversial assertions at the dinner table. We finally devised a technique to call him back from the intellectual wilderness. It was called the B.S. Flag. Whenever someone at the table had enough, they would raise their right hand as if taking an oath. Whereupon the rest of us would follow suit. He did not appreciate it, but it was generally enough to change the topic. It would seem that it is way past time for university administrators throughout the country to raise the B.S. Flag. Censoring conservative professors (Vanderbilt), taking down pictures of ex presidents (Princeton), out of control protests (Missouri and Yale) are all examples of students run amok. Everyone expects sophomoric outbursts from students... (I would hate for some of my letters to Congressmen in the 60's to surface.) But what we have going on right now is absolute B.S. It is time for those endowments and individuals who fund these institutions to raise the B.S. Flag by defunding them. As us old farts would say "money talks"... and no money talks louder!

Is Obergefell the "Law of the Land"

A lot of folks are saying that the Supreme Court Obergefell decision made same-sex marriage " the law of the land". A reminder is in order here, the Supreme Court does not "make law". The actual holding in the Obergefell case said "The Court, in this decision holds same sex couples may exercise the fundamemtal right to marry in all states." There are no Federal marriage laws and unless and until individual state legislatures change their state laws, county clerks who issue licenses contrary to the existing laws are actually violating the law. County Clerks are generally elected by the people and controlled by state legislatures... They are not beholden to Governors or judges. Truth is "the law of the land" relative to this issue is in limbo and if county clerks exercise their "fundamental rights", the litigation of same sex marriage is far from over.

"Fire, Ready, Aim" and other Inappropriate Responses

In the wake of the Supreme Court Obergefell decision people have been falling all over themselves with ideas on what to do, how to do it, and whether to do whatever it is that they think should be done. Everyone seems to have an idea and the range of ideas reflects the lack of order and unity that got us here in the first place. In my office we have taken to calling it the "Fire, Ready, Aim" syndrome. Perhaps spending a little time reflecting on how and why we got here might be in order. My boss posted a commentary today on our website that may be worthy of your time.  bit.ly/1L9r7lO 

Thoughts on Restoring Order to the Supreme Court

The dust has begun to settle on the recent Supreme Court Obergefell Decision that found a constitutional right to same sex marriage in the 14th Amendment. Regardless of your position on same sex marriage, any supporter of American democratic process should be concerned by the flawed and tortured constitutional logic of the Obergefell decision. As people on both the left and the right are beginning to understand this fact, they are also beginning to understand that the time may have come to exercise the provisions in our constitution that can be used to rein in a runaway judiciary. A hearing was held last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight  to explore what remedies the Congress and the people might have in dealing with errant decisions by the Court. Dr. John Eastman and Mr. Ed Whelan both provided some excellent insight into the constitutional issues as well as some potential solutions. I commend the testimony of both these men to you.

Living in the Shadow of Mordor

Over this past weekend I got a chance to indulge in my love of the Lord of the Rings series. Hobbits and the Shire and the mythos of Middle Earth have captivated me since I first read the books 46 years ago. Yesterday I watched the last movie depicting the carnage exploding in the great last battle for Middle Earth. As I did it occurred to me that there are parallels between that mythical story and our own time.

You may recall that the story begins with Bilbo Baggins the Hobbit. Hobbits are given to a “live and let live” approach to life. Bilbo was living a comfortable life in the Shire when he was approached to leave the comfort of his surroundings to go on a dangerous adventure. In the course of his journey with an assortment of wizards, dwarfs and elves, Bilbo learns that there is evil afoot and that the shadow of evil is spreading daily. After many harrowing experiences, Bilbo safely retires to his comfortable life in the Shire and puts the reality of the growing evil and danger in the rest of Middle Earth out of his mind. Fast forward 20 or 30 years and Bilbo’s nephew, Frodo, is enlisted by the forces of good who are seeking to thwart the rapidly spreading evil of the Dark Lord of Mordor. It seems that while everyone in the Shire has been living the good life, the forces of evil have grown incredibly strong and they are on the verge of completely overtaking all of Middle Earth.

In the end, the forces of good in Middle Earth finally united in their quest to defeat the evil forces of Mordor. Good prevailed in Middle Earth, but not without great cost. As a nation, we have been “living in the Shire” for decades. We have enjoyed the “good life”. We have been oblivious to the opposing forces that have been growing ever stronger and are now casting an incredibly dark shadow over our land and around the world. We may find that in our time our path will parallel that of the good creatures of Middle Earth. We may find that we prevail, but only at great cost.

Digging Up Dead Generals

The furor over the Confederate flag and now over Nathan Bedford Forest and the burial places and statues of other long dead Confederate generals saddens me deeply. Should the Star and Bars fly over a state capital? I agree it should not. Should we dig up the bodies of every Confederate general and burn them? Maybe we can do as as the British did to Oliver Cromwell’s body, dig them up, hang them in chains and behead them. Surely those actions would smooth the angry waters and bring us together as a nation.  

Everyone has symbols and other things that rub them the wrong way. I personally find it disturbing  that friends and relatives have chosen to put the gay rainbow flag over their profile pictures. In their zeal to celebrate the  gay marriage decision they have apparently overlooked the egregious over reach of the Supreme Court. Even though I passionately disagree with these people, I choose not to demean, berate or unfriend them. I am for keeping them as friends. The minute I began to view others only through the lens of what I am against, I cease to be an influence to them for what I am for.

Bishop Sandy Greene is an Anglican Bishop and a  very wise man who I am blessed to be able to call friend. Some years back I got to  spend an afternoon in a motel coffee shop chatting with him. In the course of our conversation Sandy made one of the most profound statements I have ever heard. He said, “When that which unites us is that which we are against, we are doomed to failure.”

The recent successes of LGBT proponents is an object lesson in what happens when a  group coalesces around “what they are for”. For about 40 years they have been executing a unified plan in pursuit of a well defined goal. Like them or not they are an object lesson of what happens when people have unity of purpose.

Yesterday I was a volunteer at an event with speakers that included Tim Tebow and Dinesh D’Sousa along with my boss David Fowler. In the course of the afternoon I got an opportunity to talk with a lot of folks. I was deeply  saddened that many of the people I spoke to were much more concerned and vocal about what they were against. The truth is until we can UNITE around what we are for, our effectiveness in society will be severely hampered.

Strangers in a Strange Land

Jonathan Rauch recently opined in the New York Daily News that unless Christians conform to the spirit of the times, we will find ourselves “cultural strangers in our own land,” 

Newsflash to the world, Christians are "strangers in this world". We have been “predestined to be conformed to the image of (God’s) Son,” Jesus Christ, not a world system or social trends at enmity with God (Romans 8:29, Romans 12:2, James 4:4). 

We have lived for a long while in a culture where Christian beliefs were valued. Those who held and lived by these beliefs were respected. This no longer the case. Athletes like Tim Tebow or Russell Wilson have been publicly ridiculed for their beliefs. Politicians are daily pilloried because their Biblical values place them at odds with society at large. Disdain for Christians is in vogue and nearly universal.

When we get discouraged in this world run amok it is well to remember Jesus words, 

"If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. (John 15:18-19)".

True haters will hate. True lovers will love. As for me and my house we choose to serve the lover of our very souls and his name is Jesus.

What's Integrity Got to Do With It

When our boys were teenagers, like all parents Carol and I would occasionally found ourselves in conflict with them. At these times, they would often ask,”Well why don’t you just give me a list of what you want me to do and I’ll do it?”  The problem was that the boys were looking for a list of “things” that constituted acceptable behavior. We were looking for them to have a “heart change” such that they would choose to make acceptable choices.

Potential presidential candidates are daily engaged in discussions of the issues facing our world and our nation. They are all trying to come up with a list of “things” that will make them acceptable choices for our next president. The truth is that for any solution they might propose to any given issue, 40% to 50% percent of the people in America will agree and roughly that same percentage will disagree. This dichotomy has led to the gridlock we have experienced I recent years. So the question arises, is there a better way to select our government officials.

There was a time in the not too distant past when integrity was considered to be a very important discriminator in voting decisions. In recent years, integrity has taken a back seat to policy positions and perceived effectiveness. What has been the result of this shift?  A variety of polls indicate that around 80% of Americans distrust our government. Another way of saying this is that 80% of Americans feel our government lacks integrity. The disgust of Americans with our current government would seem to indicate that the importance of integrity needs to be revisited. In my opinion the perceived integrity of a candidate is as important as their policy positions.

What might happen if a candidate ran on a platform of restoring integrity to government? I believe if the people actually believed him or her, that candidate would win by a landslide. 

Don't Spend Time Next to the Cheese

Some years back a fine preacher named Chuck Comella gave a fine analogy of how we stay fresh and life giving. Seems his sister had brought him some very good, albeit smelly cheese. Now Chuck tends to put things in his refrigerator uncovered and he put his fine cheese next to an open pitcher of orange juice. Imagine his surprise when he drank his orange juice only to discover it tasted like cheese.

The point was that when we spend time in prayer and reading our Bibles, we can expect to "smell" more like Christ. The concept holds true in much of life, I.e if we run with the dogs, we'll likely get smelly and have fleas.

Perhaps it's my impending 68th birthday or watching the daily left-right hate fest, but I am totally frustrated with the utter lack of 'communication' in today's political climate.

A while back the Director of The Family Action Council of TN posted an op-ed in the Nashville newspaper, The Tennessean, questioning same sex marriage and laying out a rational case for traditional marriage as he saw it. The furor that it generated was unbelievable. The first 38 comments in response were dripping with vile insinuations and ad hominem attacks that left me shaking my head.

Fast forward to last week when Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si" was released. I read it and was immediately impressed by his loving and reasoned thesis that the ills of the world are traceable to our failure to acknowledge God's plan for mankind, nature, and the earth. While I disagreed with a lot of his conclusions, I do feel the document could certainly form the basis for the start of a meaningful dialogue. Hence I was deeply disturbed by many comments in response that attacked the pope as a pedophile, the institution of the church, liberation theology, socialism, communism, etc.... missing his major point entirely.

My boss often says that the left and the right both have it wrong. The left believes that if we have programs and policies that help the less fortunate all will be well. The right believes that if we implement the right economic policies and tax structures all will be well. Both see government as the answer. During the 2008 campaign, Shane Claiborne was asked by a young lady in the audience whether he favored John McCain or Barack Obama. His response was priceless, "It doesn't matter who gets elected, we'll still be engaged in damage control... As long as we put our faith in man and not in Jesus we will still have a problem.."

Resurrection Sunday

Each year the highlight of Resurrection Sunday for me is our sunrise service. Our church is highly favored in that we have a beautiful campus that borders the Harpeth River and the sunrise service is held in field just a few feet from the river. I like to wake up very early to get there as the band sets up. This year was no exception except that I woke up very, very early… 4am… for  a service that doesn’t start until 6:30!! So I did what any man does when he has unplanned time on his hands, I turned on the television! I was just in time to catch the Easter Mass from St. Peter’s  Square. As I listened to the Pope recite the Mass with tens of thousands there, it occurred to me that the basic form of the Mass was described by Justin nearly 2000 years ago.  The majesty of that  ancient service in that ancient place with thousands of people, my brothers and sisters, overwhelmed me and brought tears to my eyes.

But then it was time for me to go “down by the riverside” to worship. As I backed out of the driveway, I marveled at the beautiful full moon lighting the country landscape behind our home. It took me back to a time several years ago when I was in a Ugandan village that was literally at the end of a cow path. There were no lights, no tv’s, no radios, just the sound of a thousand East African Christians who for two days, night and day, sang songs worshipping the same God that was praised in St. Peter’s. These Africans, most first generation Christians, praised with a fervor and a passion that was overwhelming. The memory of that night and the next morning still moves me years later.

So after a moonlit drive I finally got “down by the riverside” where I watched the mist rising on the Harpeth River and the sun coming over the horizon. Slowly around 800 or 900 of my closest friends came down and waited with me for it all to begin. I would think that the tradition of a service like we experienced is only a couple of hundred years old. The “liturgy of the service was to sing good  old Southern songs like “When the roll is called up Yonder”, “I’ll Fly Away” and other songs best sung to the accompaniment of banjo’s and guitars. All this was followed by a fine sermon culminating in an altar call to which about 10 or 15 people responded and changed their eternal destiny. It was  a great start to the Sunday celebrating Christ’s resurrection.

So what’s the point here. These separate experiences are a reminder that today 2 billion people celebrated the resurrection of the same Jesus in a variety of equally valid ways and despite their differences they are all our brothers and sisters. In a time when Christians are under attack all,over the planet it is even more important to celebrate our unity in Christ!