What are the primary and subsidiary roles of government? And in this age of moral relativism, is it wise to make political arguments from a biblical perspective on issues like abortion and same-sex marriage?
The Gospel Coalition blogger Justin Taylor took the time to answer these questions (and many more) by reformatting an essay titled "Law and Moral Purpose" by Professor Robert P. George published in First Things a couple of years ago.
I've touched on the roles of government before here and here so I was most interested in what Professor George had to say about engaging the political discourse with moral truths. For example, is society too far gone "to be reached by moral argument"?
We must, to be sure, practice the much-neglected and badly underrated virtue of prudence. But we must have faith that truth is luminously powerful, so that if we bear witness to the truth about, say, marriage and the sanctity of human life — lovingly, civilly, but also passionately and with determination—and if we honor the truth in advancing our positions, then even many of our fellow citizens who now find themselves on the other side of these issues will come around.
And why are some people afraid to speak the "truth"?
They evidently believe that people who claim to know the truth about anything — and especially about moral matters — are fundamentalists and potential totalitarians. But, as Hadley Arkes has patiently explained, those on the other side of the great debates over social issues such as abortion and marriage make truth claims — moral truth claims — all the time. They assert their positions with no less confidence and no more doubt than one finds in the advocacy of pro-lifers and defenders of conjugal marriage. They proclaim that women have a fundamental right to abortion. They maintain that "love makes a family" and other strong and controversial moral claims. The question, then, is not whether there are truths about such things as the morality of abortion and the nature of marriage; the question in each case is, What is true?
Everybody approaches politics with truth claims. It could be from the worldview of Christianity, Islam, Pagan Mysticism or some smorgasbord of several religions blended with personal experience. The question is, which belief system do you believe answers the most fundamental questions about life and liberty, law and government?
My wife has the flu. For her, this means several days or more of bed-ridden misery. For me, it means increased responsibility -- caring for a sick spouse, feeding, dressing and bathing the kids, cleaning the house, running errands, etc., etc. And I'm loving it.
Let me explain.
In the midst of the busyness, I began worrying that my own exhaustion would result in me getting sick. But it quickly passed. I thought, If I get sick, so be it. Today, there's business to be done. It's then I realized how easy it is to lose yourself when other people are relying on you. Which is a good thing.
Now I'm not suggesting that braving body aches is the same as risking something more substantial, like death. But it's possible that dying to oneself, even in small ways, makes the continual practice of it all the more likely. And nothing gives you the opportunity to do this daily more than family.
I smiled when I read this blog over at Stuff Christians Like titled "Pastors who mess you up." In this context "mess you up" means rightly dividing God's Word or imparting some truth in a way that changes your whole life. From SCL:
I ran into a friend a few months ago. We hadn’t seen each other in a while so we did the mandatory “life summary” catch up conversation. In the midst of that, she all too casually mentioned, “My husband and I have decided to become foster parents.”
What? That’s a big deal, that’s no small thing. And when I asked her about how they came to that decision, she was quick to give me a two word answer:
“Francis Chan.”
She and her husband had read Francis Chan’s book, Crazy Love, and in her words, it “really messed her up.” And that’s true, a number of my friends have been messed up by that book. It’s no casual read. It’s a challenge and a conviction that is difficult to deny. But talking with her, I started to think about other ways pastors mess you up. Because the good ones do. They tend to snow globe shake your comfortable little world with God’s truth.
It's been true in my life. From getting married to starting a family to adopting, it was a faithful pastor who said something to "mess me up" at each decision point that affected my trajectory. Here's a brief summary of how:
Getting Married
After dating my wife for eight months with no clear direction, Senate Chaplain Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie told me I needed to "Fish or cut bait." I asked Beth to marry me three weeks later.
Starting a Family
My wife and I wanted stability before starting a family. But Dr. Mark Dever said he's counseling too many childless couples who "waited" and told us to "never put off life." We threw away the pill and my wife of five months got pregnant within five weeks.
Adopting
After waiting for two years to adopt a baby from China, we were presented an opportunity to take a sibling set of four from Ethiopia. John Piper's book Don't Waste Your Life kept creeping into our thoughts as we prayed about it. Eight months later, we flew to Ethiopia to bring all four home.
What about you? Have you ever had a pastor mess you up?
Logging your take home pay and tracking your spending is one of the most financially healthy exercises you can undertake. There's something peaceful about knowing how much money you have, where it goes and living within your means.
My wife and I have a pretty simple budget philosophy. We keep the receipts for every purchase we make during the month and input the totals as quickly as we can so we don't forget.
Here's what our speadsheet of expenses looks like:
- Tithe
- Offering
- Mortgage
- Insurance-Life/Car
- Power/Utility
- Phone/Internet
- Groceries
- Savings
- Fuel
- Medical needs
- Home needs
- Auto needs
- Clothes
- Eating out
- Entertainment
- Misc./Gifts
The top half expenses are usually set amounts; the bottom half are a bit more flexible. So there's wiggle room if I need more for fuel or the power bill or a benevolence gift. After the month is up, total expenses usually equals net income (there are occasions when dipping into savings are necessary).
Another healthy benefit from keeping a budget is that your receipts reveal what you value most. To my shame, I'm constantly amazed at how quickly I run out of money for clothes, eating out and entertainment.
In 1983, an organization named Christian Action Council (now known as Care Net), founded with the help of Francis Schaeffer and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, "asked President Ronald Reagan to create a special day to focus on the intrinsic value of human life." That same year, "President Reagan issued a proclamation establishing a National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday."
Here's a portion of President Reagan's proclamation the following year marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade as "fitting ... [to] reflect anew" on our responsibility to "care for the lives and freedoms of even the weakest of our fellow human beings."
Since 1973, however, more than 15 million unborn children have died in legalized abortions -- a tragedy of stunning dimensions that stands in sad contrast to our belief that each life is sacred. These children, over tenfold the number of Americans lost in all our Nation's wars, will never laugh, never sing, never experience the joy of human love; nor will they strive to heal the sick, or feed the poor, or make peace among nations. Abortion has denied them the first and most basic of human rights, and we are infinitely poorer for their loss.
We are poorer not simply for lives not led and for contributions not made, but also for the erosion of our sense of the worth and dignity of every individual. To diminish the value of one category of human life is to diminish us all. Slavery, which treated Blacks as something less than human, to be bought and sold if convenient, cheapened human life and mocked our dedication to the freedom and equality of all men and women. Can we say that abortion -- which treats the unborn as something less than human, to be destroyed if convenient -- will be less corrosive to the values we hold dear?
We are poorer still. The 15 million "lives not led" President Reagan referred to has now grown to 50 million. And such a number can numb us into believing that nothing we do matters. But I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful because pregency center ministries like Care Net are increasing and initiatives like Focus on the Family's Option Ultrasound are making a difference. I'm hopeful because for the first time in 15 years more Americans identify themselves as pro-life than pro-choice.
I'm hopeful mainly because I serve a great God. And God can turn a nation to protect the lives of pre-born babies. Even one that has shed their blood for 37 years.
This Sunday, January 24th, is National Sanctity of Human Life Day. Please take an opportunity this weekend to consider how God may be calling you to "care for the lives and freedoms of even the weakest of our fellow human beings."
There was a surreal moment during my Sunday school class last week when the subject of football came up. The discussion was on how leisure time works in marriage. And since there's nothing more leisurely for a man (meaning me) than watching football, the matter was broached rather quickly. One of the wives tried to understand why her husband watches hours and hours of football when just catching the 10 minute highlights could save so much time. The other women nodded. I booed. Literally.
One brave visitor tried to explain the experience of watching football, maybe hoping the problem was a lack of appreciation. It seems though that the issue is not appreciation, but the commitment it requires. My wife likes to joke that I watch football like I'm getting paid to, and that it's not only the time, but the emotion I invest.
This past fall, she and my children suffered periods of anger and elation that sometimes lasted for hours. I'm so intense during some games, my wife says she doesn't even like to be in the same room with me. Once, my little girl asked if I was mad at her after failed attempts to get my attention during a game. Does all this seem a little excessive? Maybe.
I mentioned a sermon by pastor Thabiti Anyabwile in a blog last week about priorities in the new year. I remember another timely message from Thabiti around this time of year encouraging us to "make it a discipline to ask our friends to tell us where our life appears excessive." In a list of possible areas of excessiveness, he includes getting "too excited about football games." He ends with this point of application. "Let us sit down with one another and explore whether or not these (areas of excessiveness) are indications of inverted priorities where God is concerned."
That's good advice heading into the NFL playoffs. But I believe I, with the help of my wife and kids, have already "explored" it.
At the end of each year, as I consider what my New Year's resolutions will be, a sermon from Thabiti Anyabwile always comes to mind. It's on Haggai chapter 1 titled "Priorities." Like with many of us and our resolutions, Thabiti said that the book of Haggai is "a good example of a people who start out with good intentions but drift."
Having just returned from Babylonian exile, God instructed the Israelites to rebuild his temple. And though they began well, they soon became distracted by their own comfort, ceasing work on God's house to build their own "paneled houses." As a result, the heavens "withheld their dew and the earth its crops." From his sermon notes, Thabiti writes:
Haggai charges the people to "give careful thought to your ways." He also observed that they have "planted much but harvested little" –- their lack of satisfaction is evidence against them! Their labor was empty and vain because their priorities were wrong. There are few greater pains than those of a life marked by missed opportunities. Israel's pain is common to all those who do not have God as their highest priority.
We all have our paneled houses that will tempt us to lose focus on the highest priority. Let us "give careful thought to" our New Year's resolutions to see if our priority is God or our trappings.
There was a time in my young career on Capitol Hill when I began stressing over my "earning potential." It was like I woke up one morning and noticed that everyone around me was either more credentialed or more accomplished, or had plans to become so. (Not so coincidentally, it was right around the time my wife of five months announced she was pregnant.) I thought, I'm going to get left behind if I don't do ... something.
So I decided I should either pursue more education or a different job -- surely God had something more substantial for me to do. I suppose if Joel Osteen had been popular then, these desires would have been affirmed because after all, "God wants to give you your own house. God has a big dream for your life." God, however, wanted to give me another message; a quite opposite one in fact.
On the evening of July 28th, 1997, after a particularly humbling day on the Hill, I picked up Oswald Chambers' devotion My Utmost for His Highest and read his exposition of Mark 6:45-52, where Jesus walks on water.
We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.
What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process -- that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.
Don't get me wrong. Ambition, sacrifice and hard work are good things. And God does bless us with success. But as John Piper writes in Don't Waste Your Life, the "world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say thanks to God. They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ's sake and count it gain."
Unloading that Precious Moments figurine you got last Christmas by re-giving it to a more ... ahem ... "Precious Moments" person is something that's gaining acceptance in this economy. There's even a book about how to do it properly. From The Washington Post:
Given the state of the economy and your bank account, buying gifts for certain friends and family may not be possible this holiday season.
But no need to worry if that is your situation. Surely you have nice but unused gifts stashed around your home. If so, pull them out to do what in the past might have been unthinkable -- regift.
More Americans this year are planning on regifting or passing on a gift they received from someone else, according to a Consumer Reports survey on holiday shopping. The poll found that 36 percent of U.S. adults said they would recycle a gift, compared with 31 percent last year and 24 percent in 2007.
For regifting, it appears the cliche "It's the thought that counts" has been replaced by "One person's junk is another person's treasure."
What about you? Are you planning to regift this year?
What's the difference between Christians and canoes? Canoes tip.
Anyone who's ever waited tables at some point in their lives usually ends up being a good tipper. The same is true for me. I have no trouble leaving generous tips because I know too well the low hourly wage of waitstaff. I actually enjoy big tipping. Other Christians, however, seem to have trouble letting go of the extra dollar or two that would make for a decent gratuity.
ThinkChristian blog has a good read on Christians and tipping, responding to a hyperbolic (but true) statement about legendary Christian cheapskatedness.
I recently encountered [a] blog post by Christian psychologist Richard Beck. He writes, provocatively, "The single most damaging phenomenon to the witness of Christianity in America today is the collective behavior of the Sunday morning lunch crowd. Never has a more well-dressed, entitled, dismissive, haughty or cheap collection of Christians been seen on the face of the earth." He admits that he exaggerates, but I agree with him that he has a point.
Though I’ve never been a restaurant server, I’ve seen this complaint before: the after-church crowd are rude, demanding and stingy. Ever since I heard about this, I’ve become more conscious of the way I treat service workers. My sense of Sabbath makes me feel a little guilty about eating out on Sundays at all, but I’ll admit I do it anyway, sometimes in large groups. These large group, split the check situations are notorious for tipping problems, it’s complicated math, you think maybe somebody else will make up for you if you short the bill a little.
I'll bet if you listen closely, you can hear the whisper of a collective groan every Sunday afternoon rising from restaurants across America saying, "the after-church crowd." So before you head off to the Golden Corral remember the Golden Rule: "Do to others what you would have them do to you." And as for tipping, I won't go into Scripture on this subject. There really isn't any. It's just that God is so generous to us. And that makes me want to be generous too.
The college football season is almost over. We've only the titles to be decided through a series of conference championships and bowl games over the next few weeks.
I must say, I've enjoyed every moment so far: expert analysis, forums, rankings, expectations, all culminating into a crescendo of gridiron glory every Saturday.
There's a great article on Boundless from Stephen Altrogge that helps explain our love of sports. It's about how we enjoy excellence because it's a reflection of God's character.
When we excel at sports, we are in a very small way reflecting the excellence of God's character. This is part of the reason why we experience so much joy in playing sports. Doing things excellently is a reflection of God, who does all things with excellence. The same is true of watching sports. When we see an athlete perform exceptionally well, we're seeing a small portion of God's character.
I certainly agree. But my appreciation for sports is as much about determination and effort as it is excellence. There's excellence all over the field that'll go unappreciated if a team's heart isn't in it.
Stephen uses a great Eric Liddell quote from Chariots of Fire to illustrate his point. But I'll go with Rocky Balboa from Rocky when he said, "It's not about how hard you hit. It's how hard you get hit and keep moving forward."
That's darn right!
