The Man in the Middle

Rising early on this cold, bitter morning, I realized I was late. Though I wanted to and tried, I just could not get going. I had stayed up late vigorously studying the old Calvinist/Arminian debate and was attending a seminar today at a local hotel. I was really hopeful the renowned speaker could help shed some light on this subject.

As I walked into the hotel, I quickly noticed the crowd of people in front of a breakfast table, wonderfully set up with its array of juices and muffins. I walked over. Sure enough, this was the seminar room.

"It's heresy, Chris. I don't know how anyone can't see how destructive that philosophy is."

I didn't need to know which side he was on-it applied to both. I was at the right place.

As I sipped my cranberry juice, I noticed a painfully skinny young waiter nervously scurrying about the table. Moving a bit too fast, he bumped the table and off tumbled the glass of orange juice a person had just poured.



Horrified, he quickly set about cleaning. I could not help but kneel down and help him clean.

"I am going to get fired," he said, distraught. "I am worthless and don't belong anywhere. My dad was right."

"No, no. I saw how meticulously you had everything prepared," I said gently. "Nobody is worthless."

He smiled weakly and then the doors opened. "You need to go in," he said.

I entered the room. The speaker had a good reputation, and I was looking forward to his presentation. He spent the first couple hours going over the rudimentary aspects of each position and then rose and asked the audience to divide. "Calvinists to one side," he said, " and Arminians to the other."

In my studies, Arminianism had always felt like the correct perspective, but Calvinism was so logical and tight. It just seemed to fit together so well. Realizing I was the last person to move, I reluctantly recognized that I needed to make a decision. I walked to the Calvinist side.

Smiling, the Calvinists greeted me warmly. "I saw you hesitating there," one said.

"Yes," I said, "Tough for me but I decided on Calvinism."

"Well," he said, "maybe that was not the best choice of words. You know, you really did not make a decision."

"Well, I did," I said. "I had to."

"It was just an illusion," he said.

"Illusion? Surely that cannot be."

"I really doubt you are Calvinist. It is probably best for you to walk over to the Arminian side." Rejected, I slowly made my way over to the other side of the room.

"Great!" one said. "I am happy you chose Arminianism! A little indecision I saw there, but you made the right choice!"

"I actually did not choose Arminianism. I had no choice really."

"Wait, now. You always have a choice. God ensures it."

"But I didn't, you see --"

"No. You don't see. I really think you don't belong on the Arminian side."

Befuddled and feeling out of place, I took a few steps over to the middle. Standing alone there, I knew I just did not belong anywhere.

Quietly, I exited the back door.

I saw the skinny waiter with his coat on and trudging slowly out into the bitter cold. I quickly caught up with him.

"Done so soon?" he said. "I thought that seminar went all morning."

"Ah... I don't think that was the right seminar for me." I smiled softly at him. "You know, I could really use a cup of coffee. Missed my usual cup in the rush this morning. Would you like to join me?"

"You know, I think I would. All that preparation this morning, but nothing for myself."

Chatting amiably, we strolled away.



#gospelinaction#calvinism#arminianism

Road trip to Yoderville

Travelling across the sea swells of southeastern Ohio we arrived at our beautiful bed and breakfast. Only not quite so. Faux actually. This was the first time I stayed a night somewhere and from the start to the finish NEVER laid eyes on any employee whatsoever. There was no one at the desk so we called the number listed. We were given a code to our room. When we checked out we simply left. I assume the code was subsequently changed.

We discovered quickly that arriving in Amish country on a Sunday afternoon was a bad move. I am sure that even Chuck Norris could not get a decent meal anywhere within miles. This was Sunday and the place was as quiet as a Chick-Fil-A kitchen on the first day of the week. We ended up going to a Wal-Mart and purchasing some wonderfully fresh food. We noticed a sizable stall on the adjoining property. Empty Amish buggy spots. Apparently even they like Sam Walton--not on Sundays though.

Monday morning we began driving. Our heinies could have become numb from the driving but fortunately there are many places to exit and shop. We noticed that apparently everyone here has the same name.

Sheesh; and they say West Virginians are inbred. Well, we soon found another name. 

Heini's.

Easy to find actually. We just had to follow the road map left by previous buggy horses.

 

Those are not oil stains, friends. The Amish apparently have no issue with sunglasses (saw one with what could have been a nice pair of Oakley's) but they do horse bun bags. Not sure if these were coming or going from Heini's but I suspect likely leaving Heini's. Makes sense to me. 

Our time there was actually quite nice. These people truly make great cheese. You can sample an assortment and they will even cut it right there. In hindsight, that might not have been a good idea.Would have been nice to have a swallow of water from time to time and maybe even some floss. Would have completed the picture.

Alas, our time in Yoderville was all too short. As they say in their Pennsylvania Dutch,

Hallicher schmierkase !

Mr. Smith

Becoming one of the greatest science fiction thrillers of all time, The Matrix exploded on the screen in 1999 and brought to wide knowledge the dystopian world where reality was not quite what it appeared to be. The antagonist in the film was called Mr. Smith.

 Agent Smith to be exact.

No matter where you turned in that world, Mr. Smith could be lurking. A police officer?

 Say hello to Mr. Smith.

 Helicopter pilot?

In a dark alley?

There was no escaping him and he could not be defeated. The protagonist was told early in the film:

“A little piece of advice…you see an agent (Smith) you do what we do- Run!” 

This reminded me of another Smith.  A Smith just as devastating in its world as the famous agent. I am talking about the free exercise of religion and a largely forgotten Supreme Court case called Employment Division v Smith.  This was a case way back in 1990 in which some people demanded the right to smoke dope.

 What? How so?

They demanded the freedom to do so under the free exercise of religion. You see they were Native Americans and held that peyote was a part of their faith but the Supreme Court was having none of it and refused but in reaching this decision they abandoned a key protection for religious freedom.

Previously, they had acknowledged that this First Amendment freedom deserved heightened protection (like the rest of the Bill of Rights). The Government could not violate it unless it could show it had a “compelling reason that was narrowly tailored” or in other words they had better have a darn good reason for violating this essential right and had better do it in the least restrictive way possible.

In reaching this decision, they said that a law that was generally applicable to the population (like drug laws) did not have to meet this exacting standard.

Agent Smith was born.

Since then, if someone claimed a violation of their Constitutional right to the free exercise of religion they would have to face Agent Smith and their chances of success were about as likely as the average rebel in The Matrix.

What about cases like Burwell v Hobby Lobby, you might ask?  The government tried to mandate that they had to pay for abortifacients but Hobby Lobby claimed a violation of their religious freedom and won. 

Hobby Lobby did not argue a “free exercise” case however. They knew they could not defeat Smith. No, they argued based on a violation of a law Congress had passed. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

This is what lawyers have had to resort to in order to gain success when religious freedom is violated. Because they cannot defeat “Agent Smith” they have been forced to try arguing based on other things. They have tried the freedom of speech but have failed as it really does not apply.

Lawyers, though, have had success arguing based on a law passed by the people’s representatives either in Congress or State Houses. The federal RFRA, state RFRAs, employment laws, the 1964 Civil Rights Act etc.

If religious freedom is still maintained, then what is the problem?

The problem is that religious freedom is now only maintained if a majority of people choose to allow it.

If a majority chooses not to, then they will sooner or later direct their representatives to remove protection.

When the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, it was to protect minorities from abuse by majorities. It represented basic fundamental rights that all people should have whether they were in the majority or not. With the Supreme Court effectively removing religious freedom from this protection, by placing the indefatigable Agent Smith before it, believers are placed at the mercy of the general population.

How would believers gain security in their lives if a majority of the American population were to turn against them?

They can't.

In The Matrix, the only way Agent Smith could be defeated was by someone referred to as “The One”. Someone who was prophesied, someone who would die but be miraculously raised to life, someone who was beyond the Matrix. someone new- as it says in the Greek, Neos.

Neo.

Sound familiar?

Unless a majority of Americans choose to support religious freedom, unless Jesus the Christ is revived in the American heart, then Mr. Smith and his hordes will never be defeated.

As Morpheus explained in the Matrix:



"At first, all they wanted was to be treated as equals, entitled to the same human inalienable rights. Whatever they were given, it was not enough...all they needed to control...was something to occupy our mind."






Until American hearts and minds are released, there will be no sure footing for religious adherents.

Come quickly, long ago prophesied one. America needs You.

Of Fists and Flags

Recently I spent an evening with what was almost entirely a large group of black Christians as they honored Jesus Christ utilizing a variety of art forms--vocalists, dance, musicians, expressive speeches all carefully crafted to bring Christians together in worship. I was there to support my daughter, who was performing with a group of teenage dancers--all white. No matter. We were Christians!

 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

As the evening drew to its finale, the organizers brought together all the performers on stage. As the performers assembled, the scene unexpectedly shifted to a political one. Not knowing what was to transpire, the performers had been told to "follow the lead of the organizers at the front" and they dutifully did so. They were marched back and forth across the stage as the screen in back displayed various scenes. There were images of blacks with hands raised saying "hands up, don't shoot" mixed with an image of Martin Luther King Jr. melded together with Barack Obama walking together, hand in hand, down the National Mall.

My surprise began to turn to outright anger as this display ended with all the performers stopping and raising their clenched fists forward. This symbolic act was one I instantly recognized as hearkening back to this:

This was the old Black Panther Party--a group known for advocating militant action in pursuit of its political goals.

How could this be?!  The sight of these teenage white girls with fists raised in solidarity with violent black protest was outrageous.

As the program ended and hugs and congratulations were extended all around, I grew more reflective. I knew the young, black Christian girl who had organized the event. Her heart was filled with love for Christ and her mixing of King (non-violent protester) with the Black Panthers (violent protesters) told me she did not understand the symbolic nature of that raised fist. In discussions afterwards, I realized many others did not understand the fist as well. That symbol was for me completely offensive but to others it meant something different.

This got me to thinking about another symbol that is currently wreaking havoc across America:

For me, this symbol represents self determination, a long ago fight by people I identified with, whose attempt to become a nation failed. The sight of that flag for me brings thoughts of valor on the battlefield, honor, self-sacrifice.

I have no doubt what that symbol would represent to that group of black Christians and it is completely different than mine.

It would likely conjure up images of blacks dangling from trees on ropes, being water hosed, or the KKK.

Symbols are powerful things and their meanings are different to different people and can change over time. We live in this world and must pay attention to it, but as I age, more and more what is seen in this world fades and what is unseen grows brighter as spoken in the old hymn:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
  In the light of His glory and grace.

Blacks need to replace the clenched fist with an upraised open hand.

Whites need to replace earthly flags with heavenly ones.

If we as Christians are to fulfill the prayer of Jesus:

"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. "

then we must not let our eyes rest too closely on things of this earth, but instead:

"Let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith."

#confederateflag #blackpanthers

Golden Triangle of Freedom

"...land of the free and home of the brave..."

How many times have you heard those words sung as you rise from your seat with heart stirring?

The great thinker Augustine argued that the best way to define a people is by their "loved thing held in common," or what it is they altogether love supremely. Is there any word that would define the common American love better than freedom? When this erupted on the international scene 239 years ago --

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

the world changed and Americans' passion for freedom has never really vanished. Sadly, as any formerly star struck lover can tell you, time has a way of unraveling the most intense of emotions. How can our love affair with freedom continue? What must be done to sustain our love affair indefinitely?

The modern day Alexis de Tocqueville, Os Guinness, has considered this question deeply and suggested for this American passion to endure, three things are required. A three pointed triangle, if you will, in which all three support one another in a never ending enduring state.

Here are the components of this non-ending triangle:

1. Freedom requires virtue
2. Virtue requires faith
3. Faith requires freedom

and so on infinitely.

The first of these seems self evident and difficult to deny. Virtue, that old word which means high moral excellence, is truly indispensable. Who watching in recent years the wild rioting in the streets have not despaired over the ruinous effect of low morals?

It inevitably follows that, in order to avoid chaos, laws must be passed and enforced to counter bad behavior. Freedom, then, is diminished. As Benjamin Franklin said so long ago:

"No longer virtuous, no longer free; is a maxim as true to a private person as a commonwealth."

As virtue decreases, laws increase, and freedom declines.




The second point of the triangle, that virtue requires faith of some kind, was something quite clear to the Founders of America. Listen to these words from George Washington in his Farewell address in 1796:

"Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? 

And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."

If there is only a view of life as dust to dust, and you are presented with an opportunity to commit a crime in which you believe you can get away with (thus avoiding any lost respect or pain from punishment), then, truly, why not? Conscience? No worries. That is simply the product of social and cultural conditioning, moderns tell us.

In contrast, religion provides an eternal view in which our actions in this life have repercussions in the next.

As faith decreases, virtue decreases, laws increase, and freedom declines.


The last point of the triangle, faith requires freedom, was also readily apparent to the Founders. They were coming out of centuries of bloodshed, the many Wars of Religion and the painfully slow realization that faith needed to be free. As James Madison stated in his monumental work, "Memorial and Remonstrance":

"We hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth that religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence."

State mandated religion would only stifle faith, not encourage it. This realization they enshrined in the first clause of the First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion..."

They also understood that for faith to flourish, it must not be restricted in its exercise. We have witnessed in the past century the debilitating effect severe restrictions on the exercise of religion had in the Soviet Union and the eastern bloc. East Germany to this day is still significantly more atheist than West Germany. Faith struggles to flourish in a society that does not grant it the freedom to actively work in the public square.

"...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

As freedom decreases, faith decreases, virtue decreases, laws increase, and freedom declines.


As I wait to witness the annual fireworks display this July 4,  I am feeling like a popular blogger who said recently:

"These patriotic holidays are becoming more reflective than they are celebratory. I feel like a divorcee on his wedding anniversary. I’m thinking about what once was, rather than rejoicing over what currently is."

I believe that faith and virtue are declining in America and thus, slowly, is freedom. 

“From whence shall we expect the approach of danger? Shall some trans-Atlantic military giant step the earth and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe and Asia...could not by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years. No, if destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher.

As a nation of free men we will live forever or die by suicide.”-Lincoln

Brewing Storm

Peering through a window, I watch as the trees begin to bend and the leaves start to fall. As I step outside to take a look, I'm immediately greeted by wind and the realization that nature is stirring.

Retreating inside, I sit and continue to read the oral arguments in the case Obergefell v Hodges.

This is the gay marriage case currently before the Supreme Court. When argued back on April 28th, Justice Scalia inquired of the attorney asking the Court to mandate gay marriage:

"Is it conceivable that a minister who is
 authorized by the State to conduct marriage can decline
 to marry two men if indeed this Court holds that they
have a constitutional right to marry?"

This query roused the liberal members of the Court who quickly denied such a thing and attempted to douse this line of questions concluding with Justice Breyer saying,

"It's called Congress shall make no law respecting the freedom of religion..."

I suspect a wry smile may have been present on his face. He supports religious freedom, as long as it is within the four walls of the church that is--outside... not so much. He was, after all, one of the justices who voted in Christian Legal Society v Martinez (2010) to stop a college Christian society from amazingly trying to exclude those who did not hold Christian beliefs.  This resulted in Justice Alito saying,

 "I can only hope that this decision will turn out to be an aberration." 

Unfortunately, I don't think so.

As is often the case at oral argument, questions asked are designed to lead the conversation a particular direction and maybe, just maybe, gain an undesired admission.

A few moments later, Chief Justice Roberts pulled the conversation back:

"Counsel, I'd like to follow up in a line of questioning that Justice Scalia started. We have a concession from your friend that clergy will not be required to perform same ­sex marriage, but there are going to be harder questions. Would a religious school that has married housing be required to afford such housing to same ­sex couples?"

When pressed further by Justice Alito, after stammering around a bit in a vain attempt to avoid the question, the attorney finally made the undesired admission:

" it's certainly going to be an issue. I... ­­ I don't deny that.  I don't deny that, Justice Alito.  It is... ­­ it is going to be an issue."

The irreverent question asked by Scalia had produced its desired result.

Outside my window, I see the trees bend just a little further.

A storm is brewing.

Just the Rain

Flowing, flowing

across my lips

endlessly streaming





Just the rain





Rise up, rise up

the path is before you

the affliction is behind





Just the rain

Walk on, walk on

the salt is deceiving

the pain is deluding




Just the rain