All will end well

We shouldn't exist as a nation.  The odds were too great; the circumstances too difficult. And, then they got worse.

It is 1775. 

The economy is wrecked.  Supply of goods and services from Britain has been compromised; normal commerce is no more.  Fortunes have been decimated.

The Continental Army is slowing dwindling due to desertion.  The British are in the process of bringing stronger military leaders and more troops.  Then, a smallpox epidemic already present hits the Northeast with intensity.  For those who contract the disease, one third will die.  Those that survive will have experienced fever, exhaustion and open sores that affect the skin, the mouth and throat for weeks.  They may make full recovery, but many will go blind or enter into dementia.

In the midst of all of this, there is a dynamo at work, bringing order to the chaos.  His name is George Washington.  Losing Washington would be crippling beyond recovery.  Isn't it interesting, that at least in terms of small pox, Washington was in no danger?  Years before, a young George had accompanied his older brother Lawrence to Barbados in an attempt to heal Lawrence's tuberculosis.  While there, he contracted small pox and suffered with the effects for a month, the pock marks on his face a testimony to his survival.

Circumstances are dire in most every way.  What grounds Washington so that he is not overwhelmed at the immensity of the challenge?  He describes it this way: "I flatter myself that a superintending Providence is ordering everything for the best, and that, in due time, all will end well." 

Unprecedented

The word "unprecedented" means to have no point of reference in the past, something that has never happened before.  We use it all the time, but we generally exaggerate.  We could identify something in the past that is exactly like what we have referred to as "unprecedented".

The current life situation for the world IS unprecedented.  Not from a health perspective.  There have been epidemics and pandemics galore.  What is unprecedented is our response to this health crisis and what may happen as a result.  The economy, for the most part, is shut down.  The markets continue to churn; the banks continue to operate; but, the mechanisms for production have been thoroughly compromised.

I am not an economist nor the son of an economist.  Still, I think I can declare this: economists have no idea what is going to happen; governments have no idea what is going to happen; the media has no idea what is going to happen.  The future is unclear.

As a result, we live in a time where fear can breed.  In the face of fear, Christians bring some things to the table that others cannot.  First, we bring courage.  We know that whatever happens we have a Father that is intimately aware of us and of our need.   That knowledge gives us the security to move into each day of a coronavirus impacted world. Secondly, we bring hope.  Not the hope of the world where hope is generally a psychological ploy to believe even though you don't believe.  The hope of Christianity is a living hope.  He inspires in us confident expectation, not resigned "hope though there is no hope".  Third, we bring good news.  We can bring to an uncertain world the news that there is One who "sees all things the end from the beginning" and will not leave us nor forsake us.  That He has proved his devotion to us by giving himself into death, reclaiming life and living again.

We can deliver this message best from a position of confident expectation.  Be blessed; stay safe.

Mass murders

It was a different time with vastly different ways of looking at things. In the late 1930s a radio program premiered called “The Shadow”. The tag question for the series was, "who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man"?  Our understanding of life these days is convoluted.  The question of evil is rarely a topic of conversation. Yet evil has so many manifestations all around us: violence, hatred, racism, abuse and the list goes on.

Three significant mass shootings happened in the past few days (crowding off the pages the relatively minor shooting in Southaven, Mississippi). The responses to how to handle such manifestations of evil are fully in play in the media and on social media.

What will probably not make those reports is the only true solution: heart change. The powerful intervention by the Creator of the human heart, whose self-sacrificial death has made available the power of God for heart change, is the only hope for the evil that confronts us.  The love of Christ constrains us and we possess a power that is able to love every victim of every race from every country and to love those whose brokenness pulled the trigger.  The only power sufficient to deal with the horror that is being revealed is not found in a ballot box or legislative action: it is via the activity of a life changing and living Christ who works through his disciples.

Interaction with culture: Red Dead Redemption 2

Having some free time during the holidays,  I decided to enter the world of video games.  Maybe I should say re-enter since I was an early participant back in the day, but have not played anything since Tiger Woods golf at least 7 years ago.  Hearing a comment about fishing in Red Dead Redemption 2, I decided to make it my entry foray into the world of gaming.  I was amazed and appalled; intrigued and saddened; finally, disillusioned and bored.

RDR2 is a beautiful creation graphically.  It is an amazing recreation of the American West that takes the user to a variety of places in life of Arthur Morgan, (the character assigned by the game for the user.  Arthur has had a sad life, growing up in a gang of outlaws).  He has no real moral code nor, for that matter, does the game itself.  Here are the biggest negatives from a traditional Christian position:

• The game is based on immorality: theft, robbery and killing.  
• The language is out of popular culture and the type of cursing utilized regularly disparages God.
• Christianity and the church are vilified.  The preacher in camp is a thoroughgoing hypocrite, who is regularly drunk and participative in questionable activity.   A comment is clearly made when robbing a graveyard at a church that churches have been robbing poor people for a very long time.  Arthur makes clear that he has no faith nor interest in the subject.
• ALL Southern culture is vilified.  Southerners are seen only as ignorant, dishonest and deserving of being robbed.  

After a while, all the horse riding and silly tasks (drench the tobacco field with moonshine) make RDR2 pretty boring.  

I would recommend that parents only allow older teenagers to play the game and use the anti-Christian bias as a platform for relevant conversation about the clash of cultures that young people of today are in, whether they are aware of the clash or not.

Civility

Primary affections for a Christian are clearly delineated by the Christ: to love the Lord with the totality of your being and to love your neighbor as yourself. He carries this designation into the realm of enmity when He urges sacrifical spirit even towards those who persecute you directly (Matt. 5:38-42). In my opinion, these attitudes must become evident in how we approach both social media and towards those we disagree. Civility should reign in our treatment of all, whether President or Pelosi. We should see the imago Dei in each person that we communicate with or towards before we actually communicate. All news is not false, but almost all news these days is politicized: it is designed to provoke emotional reactions. Those who are to be salt and light in society need to remember our testimony is judged both by its content and by its tone. In a representative democracy where freedom of speech is enshrined in our social discourse, we may choose to participate in conversation. Again, my reading of what the Lord says, is that we may engage over the facts, we may engage over the impacts, but we never get to disparage others when we do it. And, the greatest test of this kind of activity is to respond correctly when disparaging remarks and insults have already been hurled our way.

On distant stars and far off destructions

G. K. Chesterton said, "What we dread most is a maze with no centre. That is why atheism is only a nightmare.." Two articles have recently created in me a desire to talk about the nature of life.  I’ll bring them up shortly.

We live in a time period where much of what is called science really isn’t.  What is science anyway?  The standard dictionary definition is a good place to begin: science is knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through scientific method.  Scientific method defines “principles and procedures for the systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses”.  In other words, if it can’t be reproduced through observation and experiment, it is not truly science.

Much of what is declared “science” these days is really an exploration of reality and eventuality based on what are being accepted as “scientific principles”, but cannot be termed science since it isn’t reproducible or observable.  Sadly, much of current “science” is extrapolation based on other “principles” that aren’t reproducible or observable.  It leads to speculation and is dramatically influenced by the philosophy and opinion of those who do the speculating.

Now to the articles.  The first boggles the mind.  It appears in various places, including Time on April 4 under the title, “Scientists Just Observed the Most Distant Star Ever Seen”.  Here’s the pertinent quote, <<“For the first time ever we’re seeing an individual normal star — not a supernova, not a gamma ray burst, but a single stable star — at a distance of nine billion light years,” added Alex Filippenko, a professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley who co-authored the study. “These lenses are amazing cosmic telescopes.”

Icacrus’ distance of 9 billion light years means that light from the star has been traveling across the universe back to Earth for that amount of time. In contrast, the universe itself it estimated to be approximately 13.8 billion years old.”>>

Our technology keeps getting better.  With it comes the discovery that we really don’t have any idea how vast the “universe” is!  Each technological breakthrough in telescope and space probes, gives us even greater access to examine how little we have actually known about the universe up to that point.

The second article is also telling.  It is titled, “A Second 'Big Bang' Could End Our Universe in an Instant, Thanks to The Higgs Boson”.  In case you missed it, the speculation of a group of Harvard physicists have led them to the following conclusions:

1.     They find that the destabilization of the Higgs boson – a tiny quantum particle that gives other particles mass – could lead to an explosion of energy that would consume everything in the known universe and upend the laws of physics and chemistry.

2.     They believe that none of us currently living will see this phenomenon: They settled on a date 10¹³⁹ years from now, or 10 million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years in the future.

3.     The article goes on to say, “If the researchers are correct, that mass could change, turning physics on its head and tearing apart the elements that make life possible, according to the New York Post, and rather than burning slowly over trillions of years, an unstable Higgs boson could create an instantaneous bang, like the Big Bang that created our universe.”

So without getting into debate about these speculations, here is my reaction:

The star article gives further affirmation to praise of our God.  The Psalmist said, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”  Every expansion of understanding of the immensity of the handiwork of the Lord cries out for praise to Him and His glory!

The big bang article is also interesting.  What they have right, from a Scriptural perspective, is the imminent end to the world as we know it.  John declares simply in the Revelation, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

I am happy that there are people who think about the marvel that is God’s Creation.  After He created it, He reflected on it: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.  What I find astounding is this: the sheer numbers that these speculators have cited, 9 billion years, 10 million trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion years, ought to reduce us to two other expressions of the Scripture.  First, what is man, that thou art mindful of him?  For none of us represents even a blip on the timeline continuum of these scientists.  James, the brother of Jesus, reflected: For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

What are we in light of these things?  We are those whom the Creator loves. We are those for whom He stepped out of eternity and into this continuum so that He could die, like us.  But, we are also the ones for whom He is risen and lives forever.  From within such expanding complexity, life really is reduced to the question: what is this all about?

The Reality of Christmas

Life is not like a Hallmark movie!  (I make this comment as a one who has seen more than his fair share of them this season).  Life is not the homogenized version that we see on Facebook. (Few people share their struggle or sad times.  Facebook creates a Disney like parody of real life.)  Life, in a fallen world, is filled with hostile and sad people, broken and suffering bodies, tragic and unfortunate events.  When we are not impacted by these things personally, it is almost impossible not to know people who are.

Christmas began in real life circumstances.  A last term pregnancy is impacted by a decision far away in Rome.  A couple who have been ostracized by community and family, join the streams of people travelling to complete the mandate from Rome.  Though they return to a place of family, they are not met with family reception.  Instead, they spend the night in the place where animals are kept.  And a baby is born.  This is not just any baby.  The God of the Universe has stepped out of eternity into our time-space continuum: to live a life of sacrifice; to die a death of sacrifice.

Yet here is where the temporal reality of that Christmas meets the ultimate reality of Christmas.  Life does not have to be what the fallen world thinks it is; life does not have to be dominated by the evil, by the stresses, by the pain, by the rejections.  God Himself receives us.  Immanuel.  God with us. He brings, not the possibility of "peace on earth; goodwill towards men", but the reality of this condition.  Ultimately, life is better than the Hallmark movie: the victory of Jesus applied to our lives will always result in the opposite of what He did: we will step out of this temporal and into eternity: a eternity dominated not by the brokenness of man, but the Power and Holiness of the Prince of Peace.  That is the reality of Christmas.

Caution: God at work!

Nine months ago, our life changed.  My wife was diagnosed with cancer and was already very sick from its effects.  Our church was incredibly gracious and has given me the freedom to play nurse, take over a good number of mom responsibilities for our 15 year old and be where I’ve needed to be for chemo, surgery, etc.  The church was changing, too.  Members of our praise band went off to college; our long time worship leader felt led to another church.  We found solutions but the energy level of the church dropped and there was little momentum. I found myself pretty much at the end of all I had to offer and a church that needed more.

Just before Christmas, it became obvious that God was doing something in Wellborn Baptist Church.  Life began to percolate under the surface.  The only way to describe it is that the Lord was drawing people to Himself.  This past Sunday was a display of all He had been doing. 

The service began with 4 excited adults being baptized, the music service flowed into a commissioning service for 5 of our members who were headed to Brazil for work on the Amazon, and then four daughters of ladies going to the river brought the special music.  I’m preaching through Romans right now and preached from chapter 1, verses 21-22.  At the invitation, four more came presenting themselves for believer’s baptism.  Two were from  normal ministry: a young girl who has grown up in our Sunday School and church who prayed to receive Christ after a recent concert and another who had come to Christ in our Vacation Bible School.  Then there were two men, both of whom came to Christ after involvement in different kinds of cults.  One had been an elder in the local Kingdom Hall.   He “happened” into our fellowship a couple of months ago and heard about grace.  He has never been the same.

I went to the lobby, rejoicing, to greet the people as they left.  After just a couple of minutes, another of our young girls came to me with tears streaming down her face.  Under conviction, she trusted Christ.

All I can do is praise Him! 

Election Results

Some reflections on the election:

1.  Most of America does not think like I do.
2.  The possibility of overturning abortion is probably gone; my tax dollars will soon assist in the killing of the unborn.
3. The assault on religious liberty will continue, emboldened by this political victory.  This will require greater political activity on the part of Christians to defend the rights assured us in the Constitution.
4. Mitt Romney was always a marginal choice for those who hold biblical views.  No one knows what his actual performance would have been like: except the One who knows all things, the end from the beginning - and the One who withheld victory from him.
5.  Barak Obama is not and never has been the hope for saving this country.  Some evangelicals made the mistake of equating a Romney win with that same hope.
6.  The only hope for our country, or of any country, is the life change that comes from meeting Jesus Christ as living Lord and Savior.
7.  He has never moved off His Throne.

My Take on the Amendments to the Florida Consitution

One of the challenges of a democracy is that many times we are asked to make decisions about things that require research (to understand what is being asked) and wisdom (to recognize the agenda behind the change).  The 2012 Florida ballot asks us to make decisions about 11 proposed changes to the Florida Constitution.  Here is my take on what is going on and the direction that I will vote:

Amendment One

No one who is involved in a health fight would deny the need for health care reform.  Most people understand that the reforms made by the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, have a huge number of problems.  One of the most significant issues is the issue of freedom.  In order to make ObamaCare appear to work, everyone must be in a program of some type: universal health care coverage is a mandate of the program.  This amendment attempts to battle the freedom issue, giving Floridians the right not to participate in health care coverage if they don’t want to.  The problem is that the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the Affordable Health Care Act is essentially a new tax and the government has the right to levy taxes.

RECOMMENDATION: Though it will be probably be only a symbolic act, I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment One.

Amendment Two

Expands the availability of the property discount on the homesteads of veterans who became disabled as the result of a combat injury to include those who were not Florida residents when they entered the military and schedule the amendment to take effect January 1, 2013. 

For me, this is obvious.  I would happily pay higher property taxes to make up the discount to honor the sacrifice of a veteran who has become disabled serving our country…and this would be the point.  They served our country whether they lived in Florida while they served or not.

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Two.

Amendment Three

Replaces the existing state revenue limitation based on Florida personal income growth with a new state revenue limitation based on inflation and population changes. Economic rules are hard because they address situations that require something that we don’t have: knowledge of the future.  This amendment is attempting to address the amount of revenue the state has on hand to spend.  This amendment makes sense to me because it addresses the very real fact of inflation.  I may have the same amount of money next year as I have this year, but I am unable to buy as much because prices are higher. 

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Three.

Amendment Four

In certain circumstances, the law requires the assessed value of homestead and specified non-homestead property to increase when the just value of the property decreases.   Should this amendment pass, there will be immediate financial consequences for local (town and county) governments.  There will be an estimated $200 million less available for those entities in our state based on the recalculations of property values that will be required by the amendment.  On the other hand, individuals and small businesses are paying higher property taxes than is equitable under the law.  Since the actual value of their properties have declined,they should be able to pay taxes on the real value of their property and not some mythical amount invented by the property tax code.  If government wants additional revenues, it should have to pay the political price required to pass legitimate property tax increases that affect ALL citizens and not just some.

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Four.

Amendment Five

This amendment basically limits the power currently held by two branches of state government.  It limits the power of the Supreme Court by making it easier for the legislature to overturn practices and procedures that seem to be out of line with the desire of the electorate.  Under current law, the Governor appoints a justice of the Supreme Court from a list of nominees provided by a judicial nominating commission, and appointments by the Governor are not subject to confirmation. This revision requires Senate confirmation of a justice of the Supreme Court before the appointee can take office.   This would limit the power of the Governor and give the legislature a voice in the makeup of the Supreme Court.

l like anything that provides more checks and balances where power is concerned.

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Five.

Amendment Six

This proposed amendment provides that public funds may not be expended for any abortion or for health-beOne of the challenges of a democracy is that many times we are asked to make decisions about things that require research(to understand what is being asked) and wisdom (to recognize the agenda behind the change).  The 2012 Florida ballot asks us to make decisions about 11 proposed changes to the Florida Constitution.  Here is my take on what is going on and the direction that I will vote:

Amendment One

No one who is involved in a health fight would deny the need for health care reform.  Most people understand that the reforms made by the Affordable Health Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, have a huge number of problems.  One of the most significant issues is the issue of freedom.  In order to make ObamaCare appear to work, everyone must be in a program of some type: universal health care coverage is a mandate of the program.  This amendment attempts to battle the freedom issue, giving Floridians the right not to participate in health care coverage if they don’t want to.  The problem is that the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the Affordable Health Care Act is essentially a new tax and the government has the right to levy taxes.

RECOMMENDATION: Though it will be probably be only a symbolic act, I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment One.

Amendment Two

Expands the availability of the property discount on the homesteads of veterans who became disabled as the result of a combat injury to include those who were not Florida residents when they entered the military and schedule the amendment to take effect January 1, 2013. 

For me, this is obvious.  I would happily pay higher property taxes to make up the discount to honor the sacrifice of a veteran who has become disabled serving our country…and this would be the point.  They served our country whether they lived in Florida while they served or not.
RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Two.

Amendment Three

Replaces the existing state revenue limitation based on Florida personal income growth with a new state revenue limitation based on inflation and population changes. Economic rules are hard because they address situations that require something that we don’t have: knowledge of the future.  This amendment is attempting to address the amount of revenue the state has on hand to spend.  This amendment makes sense to me because it addresses the very real fact of inflation.  I may have the same amount of money next year as I have this year, but I am unable to buy as much because prices are higher. 

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Three.

Amendment Four

In certain circumstances, the law requires the assessed value of homestead and specified non-homestead property to increase when the just value of the property decreases.   Should this amendment pass, there will be immediate financial consequences for local (town and county) governments.  There will be an estimated $200 million less available for those entities in our state based on the recalculations of property values that will be required by the amendment.  On the other hand, individuals and small businesses are paying higher property taxes than is equitable under the law.  Since the actual value of their properties have declined, they should be able to pay taxes on the real value of their property and not some mythical amount invented by the property tax code.  If government wants additional revenues, it should have to pay the political price required to pass legitimate property tax increases that affect ALL citizens and not just some.

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Four.

Amendment Five

This amendment basically limits the power currently held by two branches of state government.  It limits the power of the Supreme Court by making it easier for the legislature to overturn practices and procedures that seem to be out of line with the desire of the electorate.  Under current law, the Governor appoints a justice of the Supreme Court from a list of nominees provided by a judicial nominating commission, and appointments by the Governor are not subject to confirmation. This revision requires Senate confirmation of a justice of the Supreme Court before the appointee can take office.   This would limit the power of the Governor and give the legislature a voice in the makeup of the Supreme Court.

l like anything that provides more checks and balances where power is concerned.
RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Five.

Amendment Six

This proposed amendment provides that public funds may not be expended for any abortion or for health-benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion.

I could spend a whole lot of time discussing this, but for me, abortion is the huge moral issue of our generation. 

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Six.

Amendment Seven

NOTE :Amendment 7 was removed from the ballot by the Florida Supreme Court, which ruled that some of the language in the ballot summary was misleading. It was replaced by Amendment 8, which clarified the language.

Amendment Eight

Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution providing that no individual or entity may be denied, on the basis of religious identity or belief, governmental benefits, funding or other support, except as required by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and deleting the prohibition against using revenues from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.

Current law discriminates against faith groups by not allowing access to state funding when it comes to services that faith groups provide that contribute to the public good. 

I would never personally lead a church to seek funding from the government.  If the Lord wants us to do something, I believe He will provide resources that bring glory to Him and not to the state.  That said, my personal conviction should not limit the freedom of another church to seek funding.  It also has overtones into the use of state scholarship funding to Christian colleges.  Again, the choice of college by a student should not dictate their right to scholarships that would be available should they choose another type of school.

 RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Eight.

Amendment Nine

Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to authorize the Legislature to provide by general law ad valorem homestead property tax relief to the surviving spouse of a military veteran who died from service-connected causes while on active duty or to the surviving spouse of a first responder who died in the line of duty.

It would be different if these important jobs were paid on the higher level of the wage scale, but they aren’t.  When one of these important people go down, we should acknowledge it in a long term way since their loss is, definitely, long term for their families.

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Nine.

Amendment Ten

This amendment makes a slight change to the way property taxes are calculated.  This change would help small businesses individually in a small way, but collectively could provide additional revenues that would create jobs.

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Ten.

Amendment Eleven

An amendment to the State Constitution to authorize the Legislature, by general law and subject to conditions set forth in the general law, to allow counties and municipalities to grant an additional homestead tax exemption equal to the assessed value of homestead property if the property has a just value less than $250,000 to an owner who has maintained permanent residency on the property for not less than 25 years, who has attained age 65, and who has a low household income as defined by general law.

This enshrines protections in the constitution for long-time Floridians when an area becomes involved in a land-boom and the property values sky-rocket.  This has happened over and over again in the history of our state and is likely to happen again. 

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Eleven.

Amendment Twelve

This is an esoteric amendment to the constitution that would normally be handled by the legislature, but in this case must be treated by an amendment change because of the way that it was originally handled.  It expands the representation among the student government organizations of our universities and colleges in its representation on the state Board of Governors.

RECOMMENDATION: I recommend that we vote FOR Amendment Twelve.

On the Calvinism debate

The first time I encountered the “Doctrines of grace” produced one of the greatest crises of faith that I have experienced in my life.  I was auditing a course at a Bible college while attending university.  My crisis was, perhaps, augmented by the fact that I was facing the concepts of Hegel in literature.  I emerged from the crisis stronger in my faith; I did not emerge as a Calvinist.  Later on, I had the privilege of studying “The Life and Ministry of John Calvin” under one of the leading lights of Calvinistic advance during this generation: Tom Nettles.  The Lord allowed me to pair this encounter with a course called “The Calvinist-Arminian Controversy” under Dr. Reginald Barnard.  Dr. Barnard had been the Prizeman in Theology in his class at Spurgeon’s College and had gone on to pastor in London for 25 years before coming to the States and taking his doctorate.  His European perspective on the subject is something I have valued as I have continued my personal struggle through these difficult concepts. For almost 15 years, I worked my way through various African countries as a missionary. At every stop, I found myself in the training of pastors and leaders. These experiences have also contributed to the understanding that I have about the debate.

I have come to the place where I do not allow the theological position of a brother to determine how I relate to him.  My standard is to discover if grace is operational in a person’s life, in that they have become what I label “a great lover of Christ”.  Tom Nettles was an inspiration.  He came through the door of class with a song on his lips and joy in his heart; joy that was produced by his love for Jesus Christ and Him alone.  It was not his Calvinism that made him a “great lover of Christ”.  It was the living Lord, working in and through Him.  No less was this true of Dr. Barnard.  The quiet European demeanor could not hide an affectuous joie de vivre that came from his love of the Lord.  I walked by the side of wonderful African pastors; men whose educational level did not give them great entrance into the Word of God, but whose commitment to Christ was unequivocal and whose desire to learn was undeniable.  They were “great lovers of Christ” though they will never enter into the debate that seems so important to many in our Convention today. 

So, I’m going to refuse to participate in debate.  I will happily discuss my understanding of the Scripture and the great themes of theology with those whose love for Jesus is palpable.  I will avoid those who are contentious and pray that they will discover the admonition to “love the brotherhood” (1 Pt. 2:17).  The issue is far larger than the Southern Baptist Convention.  It is the very warp and woof (as Schaeffer used to say) of the outworking of the Christian faith.