President Obama scheduled a press conference last week to talk about "healthcare reform." Along the way a reporter asked about a developing news story involving Police in Cambridge, a professor, and a reported break-in. By now, we've all heard the rest of this story a thousand times.
The President indicated that he didn't know all the details- a comment which made perfect sense. Then strangely, he proceeded to use his presidential platform to condemn the police who "acted stupidly." We know the President deeply regrets those remarks because he's been trying to amend his remarks or take them back for a week now. The story refuses to die.
Reasonable people wonder why a gifted communicator would continue to answer a question that was off-topic after confessing he didn't know all the facts. Obama's press secretary later indicated they had anticipated this question might come up, and had prepared for it. If they had thought about this in advance, why did the President fall into that trap? Nobody can say for sure, but I suspect all of us can make an educated guess based on personal experience.
Temptation can be a powerful force! Sometimes it is powered by lust. On other occasions, it is driven by pride. How frequently Pride convinces me that my opinions are more important, and my judgments are more informed. Even if I don't know all the facts, my impressions surely feel accurate. Why shouldn't I say something? Haven't lots of soldiers died to protect my freedom of speech?
Yes, tens of thousands of American warriors have paid the ultimate price to defend the President's right to say anything he wants to say. And now he will pay another price for abusing that freedom. He had scheduled the press conference to focus attention on his perception that health care in the USA must be radically reformed. He had been losing momentum and needed to get the ball back in his court. But with one misguided statement, he launched a hot, new debate on "police profiling" which immediately diverted attention from his plans for change. Like all sin, this sin felt good for about 15 seconds. But like all sin, it has blown up in the sinner's face.
James 3:7 warns us "For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison." Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner.
Solomon explains, "When words are many transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent." (Proverbs 10:19) Proverbially, there is a time to speak. And there are many times to be silent.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 13, 2009
Missionaries from Hell
The sermon topic on Sunday was "What about Other Religions?" This Summer I've been looking at what God's Word has to say about popular topics of conversation among Christians. And one of the most popular questions involves "good" people who simply don't know Jesus Christ. Maybe they were born among Hindus in India or animists in some African nation. Will they go to Heaven anyway, despite the fact that they never trusted Jesus Christ?
I based this particular message on John 3. Despite the fact that Nicodemus was a devout Jew, a highly moral Pharisee, and a respected religious leader, Jesus told him he would need to start all over again from scratch in order to inherit eternal life. If Nicodemus wasn't good enough to merit Heaven without Jesus, who would be? I shared Paul's comments from Acts 4:12 that "there is no other name under Heaven given by which men may be saved."
It seemed like a pretty convincing message taken straight from the words of God. Then afterwards, one of our most respected members asked a question which I've heard many others reference over the years. "But I'd always thought that people would not be condemned if they never heard about Christ. In other words, if they never had the chance to say 'no,' are they still excluded?"
I replied with a smile, "Then why have we been sending missionaries all over the world for over a hundred years?" If people who have never heard about Christ are automatically saved, why do we send missionaries to evangelize them? If they reject the Gospel when they hear it, we have just changed their status from "saved in ignorance" to "condemned!"
If people living in spiritual ignorance are automatically saved, we should just call all our missionaries home and pray that people in the Middle East and Asia will forget everything they've heard! We should shut down our Christian TV and radio broadcasts. Every presentation of the Gospel is bringing new people under condemnation- people who were automatically saved just moments before because of their ignorance!
If Jesus believed that people living in ignorance were automatically saved, he should have never issued the Great Commission. Rather than telling us to go and make disciples, he should have said "Stay home and shut up!" Just keep it to yourself.
Of course, that's not what he said because that's not the way it is. There are only two highways in all of life- the broad, highly traveled interstate to destruction, and the small country road that leads to Life. Our job is to get as many men and women as possible to detour from that popular super highway, and walk with Jesus on the narrow road to life. That's why God sent his son- that all who believed might have eternal life. But as John 3 goes on to explain, "All who do not believe in him are condemned already."
It's not compassionate to rationalize why "lost" people might not be lost at all. You'd never take that chance with your own life or your own kids. Compassion requires that I tell as many people as possible the wonderful truth God has revealed to me.
I based this particular message on John 3. Despite the fact that Nicodemus was a devout Jew, a highly moral Pharisee, and a respected religious leader, Jesus told him he would need to start all over again from scratch in order to inherit eternal life. If Nicodemus wasn't good enough to merit Heaven without Jesus, who would be? I shared Paul's comments from Acts 4:12 that "there is no other name under Heaven given by which men may be saved."
It seemed like a pretty convincing message taken straight from the words of God. Then afterwards, one of our most respected members asked a question which I've heard many others reference over the years. "But I'd always thought that people would not be condemned if they never heard about Christ. In other words, if they never had the chance to say 'no,' are they still excluded?"
I replied with a smile, "Then why have we been sending missionaries all over the world for over a hundred years?" If people who have never heard about Christ are automatically saved, why do we send missionaries to evangelize them? If they reject the Gospel when they hear it, we have just changed their status from "saved in ignorance" to "condemned!"
If people living in spiritual ignorance are automatically saved, we should just call all our missionaries home and pray that people in the Middle East and Asia will forget everything they've heard! We should shut down our Christian TV and radio broadcasts. Every presentation of the Gospel is bringing new people under condemnation- people who were automatically saved just moments before because of their ignorance!
If Jesus believed that people living in ignorance were automatically saved, he should have never issued the Great Commission. Rather than telling us to go and make disciples, he should have said "Stay home and shut up!" Just keep it to yourself.
Of course, that's not what he said because that's not the way it is. There are only two highways in all of life- the broad, highly traveled interstate to destruction, and the small country road that leads to Life. Our job is to get as many men and women as possible to detour from that popular super highway, and walk with Jesus on the narrow road to life. That's why God sent his son- that all who believed might have eternal life. But as John 3 goes on to explain, "All who do not believe in him are condemned already."
It's not compassionate to rationalize why "lost" people might not be lost at all. You'd never take that chance with your own life or your own kids. Compassion requires that I tell as many people as possible the wonderful truth God has revealed to me.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Living in the Dull, Gray Middle
It was like some grim, futuristic motion picture, except that you realize the people in a movie are just acting. Each morning I stood at the window of my hotel room watching thousands of locals walking to the trains. They moved together almost in step, with very little personal space. They walked grimly, always facing forward. And there was no laughter, no banter, no sarcasm or humorous chatter about last week-end. There was only a brooding silence, interrupted occasionally by the sounds of shuffling feet, a cough, or a subway bell.
Every afternoon, the people of Minsk came home the same way.
I was in Belarus just after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It had been more than 2 years since the fall, but the possibilities afforded by freedom had not sunk in. The incumbent president was already maneuvering to realign with Russia. Senior adults were frustrated by the transition to democracy because the bread lines were sometimes less predictable. Before democracy, they had never enjoyed abundance, but the slow trickle of hard, tasteless loaves had been fairly constant.
My Western eyes could not miss the aftermath of a government controlled economy. There was no profound, abject poverty. And there was no over the top affluence. Rather, everyone lived in that gray middle zone uninterrupted by life's extremes. When there is no room for utter failure or paralyzing pain, there is also no possibility of extravagant joy or heroic accomplisment. There is just existence.
The state run apartments that everyone called home were the perfect measure of Soviet life. No, they were not filthy dumps. But neither did even one of them hint of art or elegance. Rather, they all loomed over the gray landscape like forty-year old monuments to surrender- massive and blocky, dim and inconvenient, but available and economical. Nobody lives on the street. But nobody dares aspire for something better.
Today the US government is buying up large shares of what once was private industry. The feds are eagerly seeking control of healthcare and the administrative ability to determine who gets treatment and who has to die without care. There is a full court press to limit greenhouse gases by assuming greater control over energy companies, utilities and their pricing structures. I cannot shake this suffocating sensation of marching together toward the trains of Minsk.
The snowball is rolling, and rapidly gaining momentum. Very soon every American may indeed have some form of goverment sponsored medical care. Take your card and get in line. Before long, there will be no homeless vagrants and no megabucks billionaires. But it won't feel like Heaven. It will seem more like the dull, gray middle where everyone fondly recalls the great risks and daring possibilities of what we once knew as "freedom."
Every afternoon, the people of Minsk came home the same way.
I was in Belarus just after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It had been more than 2 years since the fall, but the possibilities afforded by freedom had not sunk in. The incumbent president was already maneuvering to realign with Russia. Senior adults were frustrated by the transition to democracy because the bread lines were sometimes less predictable. Before democracy, they had never enjoyed abundance, but the slow trickle of hard, tasteless loaves had been fairly constant.
My Western eyes could not miss the aftermath of a government controlled economy. There was no profound, abject poverty. And there was no over the top affluence. Rather, everyone lived in that gray middle zone uninterrupted by life's extremes. When there is no room for utter failure or paralyzing pain, there is also no possibility of extravagant joy or heroic accomplisment. There is just existence.
The state run apartments that everyone called home were the perfect measure of Soviet life. No, they were not filthy dumps. But neither did even one of them hint of art or elegance. Rather, they all loomed over the gray landscape like forty-year old monuments to surrender- massive and blocky, dim and inconvenient, but available and economical. Nobody lives on the street. But nobody dares aspire for something better.
Today the US government is buying up large shares of what once was private industry. The feds are eagerly seeking control of healthcare and the administrative ability to determine who gets treatment and who has to die without care. There is a full court press to limit greenhouse gases by assuming greater control over energy companies, utilities and their pricing structures. I cannot shake this suffocating sensation of marching together toward the trains of Minsk.
The snowball is rolling, and rapidly gaining momentum. Very soon every American may indeed have some form of goverment sponsored medical care. Take your card and get in line. Before long, there will be no homeless vagrants and no megabucks billionaires. But it won't feel like Heaven. It will seem more like the dull, gray middle where everyone fondly recalls the great risks and daring possibilities of what we once knew as "freedom."
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