Offended?

It can take less than a second for the word to hit your eardrum and your anger rise.  A single word or look can trigger your outrage.  You've been offended, and it's made you upset.

We all get offended.  Granted, we don't all get offended by the same things.  What offends you may not offend me, and what offends me may not offend you.  Some people just have laid-back personalities and their feathers just don't get ruffled easily.  Others are more sensitive, and pick up on subtle jabs that feel like knives.

It occurred to me one day that given our media (and social media) consumption, given the number of interactions we have with people in person (less so in a Covid-19 world), online, in social media, etc., we run into things that could offend us...all day long.  Nearly every minute of every day we could be offended.  There's always something to be offended by.  And nearly everything that's spoken can be offensive to someone.

I have known some people who have made being offended into very nearly an art form.  Everything is received by them as offensive.  The way people dress.  The way they act.  The things they say.  Their beliefs.  Small things have become big things.  Big things have become matters of life-or-death.

I want to challenge you on this.  I want to invite you (if you're not already there) into a world of...lesser offense.

What I've seen from people who are regularly and deeply offended is that...they're generally not happy.  How can you be happy when you are constantly being offended to the point of being upset?  How can you be happy if you're angry all the time?  It's not possible.  The more we allow ourselves to be offended, the more angry a person we will be, and people who are angry constantly cannot be simultaneously happy.

Unsurprisingly, the Bible speaks to the issue of offense.  People thousands of years ago got offended too; this is nothing new.  In Matthew 15, Jesus had an encounter with his usual foils - the Pharisees.  He said something that bothered them.  In verses 10-12 we read, "And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”"

They were offended at his saying.  People then got offended just like we get offended now.  Someone says something that bothers us, hits us the wrong way, makes us uncomfortable.  Sometimes the thing that's said is meant to offend.  Other times it's not.  But offense happens.

Here's some Biblical wisdom in the area of offense:  "Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others." (Ecclesiastes 7:21-22)  What is this about?  Well, Solomon is pointing out that we've all said offensive things to others at various points, and so we ought to be gracious when people say offensive things to us.  Don't take it to heart when someone is saying something that bothers you.  I'll give two examples (one on each side of the equation).

If someone says, "I don't see color", what they normally mean by that is that they don't judge people by their ethnicity.  They are trying to treat people equally and judge them by what they do, not by their skin color.  That's what they usually mean.  It's not meant to be offensive.  It's meant to reflect what they understand Martin Luther King Jr's words when he talked about not judging a person by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.  They mean well, generally, when they use this phrase.  Later we'll discuss why this phrase ought to be avoided, but for the moment just know that when that phrase is used, it's usually not meant to be offensive.

On the other hand, we are now seeing a phrase used regularly:  "defund the police".  To many people this is offensive, because it feels like it's supporting anarchy, wanting to get rid of police departments.  But normally when a person says this, they're not meaning "eliminate police"; they mean "shift funding and responsibilities around to make the system work better".  And they may mean "demilitarizing the police".  Either way, the one being offended by this might be well-served by finding out what someone means by it, rather than simply being offended.

So don't take everything people say to heart.  Don't take everything personally.  It's likely they didn't mean to offend.  People can be jerks, but generally speaking, people aren't looking to go around offending others.  We live in a diverse culture, and people are going to say things we disagree with - sometimes strongly.  PZ Myers said, "It's not a crime to offend others; in fact, it's pretty much a natural consequence of having diverse cultures. We live in a world full of people with different backgrounds, interests, and values, and we must learn to accept that there will be clashes. As long as the differences do no harm, we should back off and accept them."

Here's how the Bible suggests we deal with offense.

- Proverbs 19:11 - "Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense."

- Proverbs 12:16 - "The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult."

It is to a person's credit to overlook an offense, whether it is intended or not.  Being offended only really hurts us as the offended party.  We are aggrieved when we are offended.  And in the off chance that the person is intending to harm us with their words, when we get offended and upset, we give that person a victory.  If we let it get to us, they've won.

The Bible tells us that it's best if we are less offended.  As I said in the beginning, there's always something being said or done around us that can offend us if we let it.  But if we choose to ignore or overlook it, we will be better off.

Now, let's look at the other side of the equation.  It isn't good to offend others.  Sometimes speaking truth itself will be offensive.  We ought not avoid speaking truth simply because we fear offending someone.  But the manner in which we say it...well, that's another thing.  We can speak hard truth in a gracious way, which will lessen the chance of it being offensive.  The Bible makes it clear we ought to give no reason to offend others.

1 Corinthians 10:32-33 says, "Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved."  Paul isn't afraid of the gospel itself being offensive, but he doesn't want to personally offend people by the way he speaks or acts.  If you think about it, this principle holds whether you're talking about the gospel or just trying to get another message across.

In a classic model of communication, there is something called interference that can get in the way of effective communication.  Interference is anything that prevents the message from being understood (which is the goal of communication, after all).  One way we can create tons of interference is by being offensive.  We can be offensive in the way we conduct ourselves, in the way we speak (ever reject a message from someone simply because they're condescending?), or in our attitudes.  The Bible tells us in Colossians 4:6, "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person."  Be gracious, not harsh, in our communication.  Seek to be understood.  Eliminate needless interference.

This brings us back to the phrase "I don't see color".  I said we'd talk about why it's best to not use that phrase.  I stand by my point that most people don't mean anything bad by it, and in fact mean something good by it, and so getting offended by it isn't helpful.  However, understand that for people of color, the phrase is often very offensive, because it communicates that they are not seen for who they are.  If you don't see someone's skin color, you're not actually seeing them as people.  It's gravely offensive to effectively say to someone, "I am wiping away the very skin color God gave you."

So if we mean to tell people we think their ethnicity isn't a God-given part of who they are, then by all means, use the phrase.  But if we are trying to say, "I don't judge a person by their skin color, but by their character and actions," and if we really do want to affirm them as people living in the skin God gave them, then using the phrase "I don't see color" is creating needless interference.  Find another way to communicate what you mean.

I want to end by saying that it's not my purpose to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't be offended by.  But we'd all be better off individually and collectively if we were, on the whole, less offended, especially when we're talking about mere disagreements.  It's bad for your soul and for your   happiness to be more offended rather than less.

This doesn't mean there aren't things to legitimately be offended by.  Or even things that we know can be offensive - even if not to us, perhaps to others.  And so there's nothing wrong with pointing out to someone that "I don't see color" can be offensive, so maybe it's better to not use that phrase.  But we can point this out without personally being put out.

To quote the late atheist philosopher Christopher Hitchens:  "Those who are determined to be ‘offended’ will discover a provocation somewhere. We cannot possibly adjust enough to please the fanatics, and it is degrading to make the attempt."

To end, I'd encourage you to watch this comedian discuss being offended.  A little of the language is NSFW, and if that, uh, offends you, it's best if you don't watch.  But if you can tolerate a couple of bad words, this is worth a laugh.  And couldn't we all use a little humor these days?

Power, Responsibility, and Abuse

A police officer's knee, driving down into the neck of a helpless man, lying on his chest, hands cuffed behind him.  The man, George Floyd, was being arrested for a minor incident, and was not resisting that arrest.  He complied with the officer, but Derek Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the police force, put his weight down on Floyd's neck.  Floyd cried out for help, saying, "I can't breathe."  Eventually, Chauvin's actions killed Floyd.

What happened here?

I am not writing this to deconstruct this specific incident, nor to speak on the issue of racism per se.  What I want to talk about here is the issue of power.  Chauvin had power over Floyd.  From a legal standpoint, he was the law enforcement officer and Floyd was the arrested suspect.  Floyd had to obey Chauvin.  From a physical standpoint, Chauvin was upright, free with his movements, and carried weapons.  Floyd was on his chest, hands tied behind his back, and utterly powerless.  From an interpersonal standpoint, Floyd was by himself, but Chauvin had other officers there as backup - strength in numbers.

Everything about the situation gave power to Chauvin, and none to Floyd.  This isn't me saying Floyd shouldn't have been arrested - it appears he broke a law, and the officers had a job to do.  This is about what happened once they arrested Floyd, who did not, by any account, appear to be a threat to the officers, and his alleged crime was completely nonviolent.  This is about the power dynamics at play.

Years ago, my wife and I were driving through Syracuse, NY, at night.  The streets were largely empty.  We came to a stoplight and it was red, so naturally I stopped the car at the white line.  No other cars were at any other spot in the intersection, but the light was red, so....we stopped.  Behind us rolled a police car.  The officer waited five seconds and the light stayed red.  He was in no hurry.  But suddenly he turned his police lights on.  I really had nowhere to go, but I pulled over a little.  He went by us, drove through the intersection, and once clear, shut his lights off and kept going.  He was not headed to a call.  He was cruising at 20 miles an hour.  

He simply didn't want to wait for the light to turn green.  Period.  And because he didn't feel like waiting, he used his power (the power of being a police officer in a police car) and did what he felt like doing, even though what he did was wrong.

Now this obviously isn't nearly as serious as what Chauvin did to Floyd.  But it still stems from the same root - abuse of power.  In both cases, a police officer - someone who is sworn to *uphold* and enforce the law - broke the law, simply because they could.  

In the case of Chauvin and Floyd, look, let's be honest.  Police officers have a difficult job.  Many of them spend day after day in crime-ridden areas, and every day they risk their lives to keep others safe.  Sometimes in these police shootings we've read so much about, I can understand why they happened (it's not good that they happened, but I can understand how they happened and why), because officers never know when they themselves are going to be in danger.  Tense situations involving potentially dangerous people sometimes lead to bad things happening.  I get it.  

This was not that.  

This was a person suspected of a totally non-violent crime, who did not resist arrest, and who complied with whatever the officers told him to do.  And yet Chauvin killed him anyway.  Just absolutely horrific in every way imaginable.  I am not sure Chauvin meant to kill him.  I'm not sure he did it thinking, "he's black, so I can do this".  I have no idea.  That would be ascribing to him the worst of all possible motives.  But what IS clear is that he abused his power.  

Power dynamics exist everywhere in the world.  There are hierarchies in nature in animal groups.  In human society, even if there was total anarchy, there would still be power dynamics, where some people hold power over others.  This power can take the form of physical strength or strength in numbers or by position of authority, or some combination of all that.

Bullying in schools is about power.  One kid trying to assert power over another.  Sometimes that kid has backup - his or her friends get involved and now the kid being bullied is outnumbered five to one.  

Power dynamics exist in the home, in the office, in sports, in government, in hospitals, in churches...everywhere.  As Peter Parker's uncle said, "With great power comes great responsibility."  The more power we have over someone, the more responsible we should be with it.

And to be clear, the riots that are happening in Minneapolis in angry response to Floyd's death are also an example of power dynamics at work.  The rioters far outnumber the police, and they're running roughshod over the neighborhoods.  It's become a mob mentality.  Videos shot by people doing the looting show people rushing into Target and stealing electronics.  Why are they doing this? They're doing this because they can, and because nobody has the power to stop them.  In this moment, the rioters have the power, and they are using it - and, frankly, abusing it.  Wherever and whenever someone has power over another, the possibility exists for abuse of that power.

A husband has physical strength and power over his wife, so he abuses her.  A boss has authority (power) over her subordinate and belittles her workers.  A parent has both physical power and authoritative power over his children and mistreats them, knowing they can't do anything about it.  A pastor has power over his church, and abuses his congregation's trust.  A kid in school has a group of friends and they have power over the poor kid with few friends, and they bully him.  A white woman in central park - who's supposed to have her dog leashed and is asked to by a black man who is bird-watching, of all things - threatens to call the cops.  She tells him, "I'm going to call the cops and say that an African-American man is threatening my life."  And she does, her voice in hysterics.  Her power was because she was white and he was black, and that was that.

There is power everywhere, and wherever there's power, there's the opportunity to use that power wisely and responsibly, or to abuse it and take advantage of it.

In the movie "First Knight", Guinevere, played by Julia Ormond, is set to marry King Arthur.  She explains, admiringly, that Arthur "wears his power so lightly".  The idea is that he is the king and everyone knows it, but he doesn't use that power to belittle others, bully others, run roughshod over others.  He doesn't use his power for personal gain, he doesn't use it to control people or to manipulate them.  He uses his power for the good, seeking the betterment of everyone.  

Power structures necessarily exist, and they're GOOD things.  It's impossible to live in a world where everyone has equal power.  The mere existence of physical strength differences means that some people are going to have physical power over others.  It's reality and that's never changing.  In Christian thinking, God has power of life and death.  It's ok that some people have more power than others.  What's not ok - what's never ok - is when that power is abused instead of used responsibly.  

We can think of this in individual situations or in the much larger picture of cultural power.  No matter what level (ground level or 50,000 foot level or anything in-between) we look at it, power dynamics exist and they're real.  People with power have a responsibility to use it wisely.

Not long ago one of my kids was on a team where the captains of the team thought that by virtue of being captains, they could tell everyone else what to do.  They themselves didn't do any of the work; they just bossed everyone else around.  "We're captains," was their claim.  They were using their captaincy as power over others, and clearly they abused it.  One of my other kids had a coach once that belittled certain kids on the team.  He could get away with it because he was the head coach.  He had the power.  

To lead is to serve.  To have power is to use it responsibly.  We could all stand to consider what we do with the power we have.  How well do we use it?  Do we use it to serve and better others, or to further empower and enrich ourselves?  

And in situations where you feel powerless, what then?  Do you seek power?  Why do you seek power?  What would you do with that power?  Last night on the news I saw a man in the riot yelling into the camera that "We can f***ing do what we want because there's more of us than there are of you!"  Maybe for the first time in his life he felt like he had power and control.  But what was he doing with it?  Smashing a window and looting a store.  So the first moment he got to have power, he abused it.  

There are so many other issues at play in the Floyd tragedy - social justice, racism, socio-economic inequalities.  But power is one of them.  Think about your power relationships and situations.  How do you use the power you have?  Do you want to be like the police officer who went through a red light just because he could?  Or do you want to be like King Arthur who wears his power lightly, using it for the betterment of others?  

Why I believe in the resurrection

It is Easter morning. I wake up and I smile because it’s a wonderful day of celebration.  And then almost immediately my mind begins to wander.  Why am I celebrating today?  WHAT am I celebrating?  Oh the resurrection of Jesus.  Wait a minute….The WHAT?  The resurrection?  You mean I really am going to be celebrating the actual coming to life of a man that had been put to death on a cross not two days before, in a brutal Roman execution? That man, dead on the scene on Friday, and buried without any medical attention (why would there be…he was dead after all!)…that man was alive again and not just that…but alive and walking around?

Every now and then I think that Christians are certifiably insane, that this whole thing is just completely nuts.  And so I have to ask myself from time to time whether I really believe this, and if so…WHY.

So I’m going to tell you. I’m going to tell you that I do believe it.  And I’m going to tell you why.  In condensed form, of course.  Because this is a blog post and not a book.  As always, your mileage may vary with all this, but this is why Ibelieve it’s true.

Let’s consider the alternatives first.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, either it was known at the time that He did not rise from the dead, which would make the story a fabrication, or it was not known at the time that He did not rise from the dead, which would simply make the story wishful thinking and a myth.  

Let’s begin by asking the question of whether the resurrection story was actually claimed from the beginning. Some critics argue that the resurrection was a later Christian addition to the story, perhaps as late as the middle second century.  Here’s how we know that criticism is false.  First, consider the text of 1 Corinthians 15:1-5:  “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”

In this passage we see that Paul is claiming to be passing on something that he himself had received. Therefore this belief preceded the ministry of Paul.  We know that Paul had his ministry in the 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s in that first century. Second, scholars believe that what Paul is citing is actually the first Christian statement of faith, or creed. So it must have been around in that form for a while before Paul heard it.  Third, the consensus among scholars and historians is that 1 Corinthians was written in the early-to-mid 50s AD.  If Christ died between 30-33 AD, that means that at most approximately 25 years lie between His death and the writing of 1 Corinthians.  Keep in mind that Paul did not write 1 Corinthians at the moment of his conversion.  At least a decade went by.  So Paul’s belief in the resurrection had to precede the writing of 1 Corinthians. The creed, passed down from the disciples, preceded even that.  For this to be formally put in a creed means that the belief in the resurrection came earlier than the creed itself.  So right off the bat we are talking about a belief that was a mere few years from the actual events, at most.

In addition, we have the discovery of ossuaries (burial boxes) in Jerusalem, dated in the middle first century, with inscriptions on them praying that Jesus would raise these dead people to life.  Why would there be such a prayer if there had been no belief in the resurrection in the first place?

Furthermore, we have the logic of it all.  If the disciples did not believe that the resurrection happened, why go through everything they went through?  History tells us that the disciples gave up everything they had (family businesses, wealth, etc.) and ultimately died brutal martyrs’ deaths themselves.  The Jewish historian Josephus reports that James was stoned and clubbed to death for his faith.  Peter was crucified upside-down by Nero.  Simon the zealot was killed in Persia for not bowing to the sun god. Matthew may have been stabbed to death in Ethiopia.  Andrew was crucified.  The list goes on.  These men died promoting the belief in the resurrection.  They had opportunities to recant, but they never did.  They faced beating and brutal execution because they claimed that the resurrection happened, and because they believed in Jesus. 

So we have textual and archaeological evidence that the belief in the resurrection was present right from the beginning.  We have the historical stories of the disciples giving up all they had and ultimately dying horrible martyrs’ deaths for this belief.  Clearly then, if nothing else, the disciples BELIEVED that Jesus actually rose from the dead, and they were willing to bet their lives on that.

Therefore, one thing we cannot conclude was that the belief in the resurrection was a later Christian addition, a myth that rose up over time.  It was the quintessential Christian belief.  In Acts 17, Paul is preaching in Athens to a group of people totally unfamiliar with the Jewish religion.  And it is recorded that Paul said, “he times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (vs. 30-31)  The response was not surprising:  “Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, ‘We will hear you again about this.’ So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.”  So some thought it was ridiculous.  Others believed.  And others weren’t convinced, but were curious enough to want to talk more about it.

So the belief in the resurrection was present right from the beginning.  Even if you think the gospels are largely fanciful stories, history tells us that the belief in the resurrection of Jesus was the seminal event in the origin of the church.  It simply will not do to claim that it was a myth that arose over generations.  But, of course, the fact that it was believed from the beginning doesn’t mean that such belief was TRUE.  It could all have been erroneous belief.  Perhaps the first disciples believed something that was false. It wouldn’t be the first time that people died believing in a cause that turned out to be wrong.  People don’t generally die for something they KNOW is false, unless they had something to gain by it.  The disciples, of course, lost everything and so had no reason to believe what they knew was false, but it is possible that they were misguided. They could have believed something that wasn’t true…by mistake.

So let’s think about that possibility.  Could the disciples have simply been wrong in their belief?  Yes, it’s possible.  But consider:

·     Jesus’ tomb must have been empty for a reason OTHER than that Jesus rose.  In other words, Jesus’ body must have been taken by someone.  And as we just saw, there’s no way it was the disciples themselves that would have stolen it, since they all died martyrs’ deaths, and people don’t die for what they know is false.  So someone ELSE must have stolen the body.  But who?  What scenario makes any sense?  The Romans? Why in the world would they – who were supposed to be guarding the tomb from tomb raiders – turn around and remove the body?  The Jews? Why would THEY?  They were the ones who wanted Jesus dead and buried and not alive.  The belief in the resurrection was the last thing they wanted.  There’s no good alternative.  No motive.  No angle. No legitimate possibility.

·     No body was ever produced, but why?  Christianity was quickly a thorn in the side of both Jewish and Roman leaders.  If either of them had removed the body, producing it would have squelched the fledgling faith in its crib.

·     The claims of seeing a resurrected Christ must have been total hallucinations.  It’s one thing for one person to think he saw something (but really didn’t).  It’s another for disciple after disciple to claim to have seen Jesus, sometimes individually and other times as a group.  They were all on the same page on this.  This is not a normal phenomenon, for entire groups of people to experience the same hallucination.  

·     Their experiences were so powerful that they literally died proclaiming that this was true. This is no small point.

·     They believed so strongly in the resurrection that when they retold the story (as we see in the gospels), they made it clear that it was women who found the tomb first. Now in that culture women had no standing whatsoever.  No rights. Their testimony wasn’t even admissible in court.  If the disciples were making all this up, there’s no chance they would have placed women in a central role in the discovery of the empty tomb.  That would have undermined the credibility of their story. But they were included in the story, and why?  Because that’s what happened.  

When all that is put together, all I can conclude, in an effort to take all this seriously, is that the tomb was really empty, the belief in the resurrection was present from the very beginning and turned these scared men into bold proclaimers of a risen Jesus, and that there’s no other legitimate explanation that takes the facts into account.  None of this proves that the resurrection happened, and as I said, your mileage may vary on all this evidence.  But to me, this is powerful and compelling stuff.  This reminds me that the belief in the resurrection isn’t out of nowhere, and it’s not a Zeus-like myth.  It’s rooted in historical events and historical facts and is – despite being an obviously fantastic claim – a reasonable thing to believe.

How about you?  Do you believe Jesus rose from the dead?  If not, why not?  If so, what difference does it make in your life?

I am voting

On Tuesday I will vote.  I will vote because it's my right as a U.S. citizen.  Because it's my responsibility as the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.  Because it's my privilege, as many people throughout the world cannot do so.

This is my voice.  It's a small voice, granted.  But it's my voice.  In my vote I get to have a say in who represents me in my community, my state, and my federal governments.

When I vote, I understand that no matter how I vote, approximately half of my Facebook friends will disown me, hate me, revile me, and believe that my vote proves that I don't value them as human beings.  And it will be proof to them that I'm completely stupid.  This is what I have learned from reading many, many people's posts on Facebook recently.

Despite that, I will proceed with my vote.  I will vote for the people that, in any given race, best represent my own values and socio-political philosophy.  I will vote knowing that no candidate is perfect, or is fully aligned with me.  Every candidate is flawed in their views and in their character.

My vote will reflect my socio-political philosophy and my value system.  It will be informed by my theological beliefs, which I'm sure is itself flawed but represents my best understanding of God, humanity, society, and government, and how, in a fallen and broken world, government and society should act.

My theology includes a theology of civil government.  My theology makes distinctions between Christian behavior and the role of civil government.  I do my best to understand what the Bible says is the role and responsibility of secular, civil government.  I believe that sometimes, how an individual Christian (or the Church) should treat people in one instance is not necessarily the same as what civil government policy should be.

Romans 12:17-13:7 provides a good example.  When we've been wronged, we are not to repay evil with evil.  We are not to take vengeance on our own.  But we are to let the governing authorities, which Romans 13:4 calls God's "servant" and "avenger", bring justice to the wrongdoer.  The punishment of a wrongdoer is not to be handled by an individual citizen, but rather by the system of justice expressed in the civil governing authority that has been ordained by God.

As private citizens, as Christians, we are to forgive others.  Seventy times seventy, as Jesus put it.  But imagine if the civil government simply forgave those who commit crimes.  Imagine if the government never enforced the law but only forgave.  We would live in total anarchy.

So I am going to vote on Tuesday for the people that I believe represent what the Bible calls civil government to do, as it is expressed in the American system (since, of course, this is the United States of America).

When I vote on Tuesday, I know that my choices will disappoint and anger about half my Facebook friends.  No matter which way I vote.  My votes may make them think I don't care about them.  May make them think I'm literally completely stupid.  Even people who know me well may think this about me, if some of their own Facebook posts about this election are to be taken seriously.

I am in a no-win situation, if my goal is to please my friends with my vote.

So here's what I'm going to do.  I'm going to risk it and vote anyway.  I won't tell my Facebook friends how I've voted.  But I'll vote, making my best effort to vote well, knowing that there will be many out there that will instantly think less of me for the very votes I cast.

So be it.  I'm going to vote anyway.

Gratitude - A key to happiness

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States.  It's a time to celebrate together and be reminded of our great many blessings.  Being thankful - having gratitude - is one of the most important qualities a person can possess, and not being thankful - not having gratitude - can lead to so much pain and misery.

The Bible, not surprisingly, has a lot to say about gratitude and thankfulness.  Consider the following:

- 1 Thess 5:18 - "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

- Colossians 3:15 - "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called into one body.  And be thankful."

- Psalm 107:1 - "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever."

There are hundreds upon hundreds of passages in the Bible that speak to the theme of gratitude and thanksgiving.  The question is, why should we be so thankful?

If we are thankful, we understand that we are experiencing good things, even if they are hard.  Thankful people focus on the good in their lives.  If we are not thankful, we believe that we are missing something that we are somehow entitled to.  Unthankful people focus on the bad in their lives, or on their lack of good.

Imagine what a thankful person looks like versus an unthankful person.  I will use a Facebook meme that got posted by a friend of mine (that I reposted).  The first part of each line will be a complaint - focusing on the negative.  But look how this person turns it around into gratitude.

Complaint:  Early wake-ups by little ones who do not understand your need to sleep.
Gratitude:  Having children to love.

Complaint:  The house is so messy.
Gratitude:  I have a home in which to live.

Complaint:  So much laundry to do; it never ends.
Gratitude:  I have clothes to wear.

Complaint:  The kitchen sink is full of dirty dishes.
Gratitude:  I have food to eat.

Complaint:  There are crumbs under the table to clean up.
Gratitude:  We have meals together as a family.

Complaint:  So much grocery shopping to do.
Gratitude:  We have enough money to take care of our needs.

Complaint:  There are toilets to clean.
Gratitude:  Indoor plumbing!!!

Complaint:  This house is so noisy.
Gratitude:  I have lots of people in my life.

Complaint:  The kids have endless questions about this and that and it drives me crazy.
Gratitude:  The kids' brains are growing and they are learning.

Complaint:  I'm sore and tired from a long day.
Gratitude:  I'm still alive after another day!

If you are in the first camp, you will see all these realities and complain about them, seeing only the negative.  Life can be so hard, and there really are lots of things to complain about.  How many things do NOT go your way in a given day or week?  A great many, I'd suspect.  But how miserable a person would you be if you focused on all these negative things?

Conversely, if you are in the second camp, you will see all these realities and give thanks in them, seeing the positive, the blessings.  Life can be so hard, but even in the midst of it, God has so much good for you.  Raising children has been extremely hard but instead of complaining about how hard it is, how about rejoicing that God gave you children to love and raise!!  The house can constantly be messy, but how about rejoicing that you have a place to live?

Thankful people tend to be happy people.  Unthankful people tend to be unhappy people.  When you encounter a situation that offends you, you could focus on the negative and complain about the offense.  And it would be a REAL offense, make no mistake.  But you could also choose to focus on the positive and think, "Well, Lord, thank you that I have lots of people in my life who are kind to me."  Or, "Thank you God that you took on all the offenses upon yourself in the cross.  Thank you that you don't hold MY offenses against YOU, against ME!"

Do you see how a negative can be turned into a positive?  How a thankful heart can be a key to your happiness?

Now, this doesn't mean that there aren't real bad things going on, and this isn't meant to be a pie-in-the-sky kind of thing, pretending that bad things don't exist.  There are really awful things in the world, and real injustices.  Being thankful doesn't mean we don't work to address these things and try to make things right.  Julia has type 1 diabetes and of course we want to work to help her handle it as well as possible.  We hope someday scientists will find a cure.  Something is not right in the world, and we want it fixed.  But our ATTITUDE towards being in the midst of a chronic (and deadly) illness can either be one of gratitude or ingratitude.  We can complain about her having this illness, which would lead to bitterness and resentment and misery.  Or we can be grateful that we live in a world where there are medical professionals and scientists working to help people like her, that we have a loving and supportive family, and that God has used her diabetes to introduce us to a whole new group of people that we otherwise never would know.  We struggle sometimes with the former, but we focus intentionally on the latter.

We aren't NOT treating Julia's diabetes.  Real injustices should be corrected.  But consider 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."  This was spoken by a man who both dealt out injustice and who was treated unjustly.  He was wrongly imprisoned and beaten to the point of near death, simply for his faith.  This is a man who knew injustice inside and out.  And yet, his perspective was to be thankful in all things.

Instead of being miserable and bitter, we rejoice even in the midst of trying times.  This can be true whether you're facing an illness, an injustice, or some other difficult circumstance.

Cultivating a thankful attitude might not come naturally.  One child receiving a present might be happy, until he sees his sibling receive a nicer present.  Then that joy turns to jealousy very quickly.  We have to work to develop a grateful heart.  We need to choose to see the good instead of the bad.  We need to purposefully thank God and others for the many blessings we have.  We need to focus on what we have, not on what we don't have.

When we are grateful, we are humble.  We are happy.  We are more loving and giving to others.  When we are ungrateful, we are proud.  We feel entitled.  We are bitter and resentful and jealous.  We are less giving and loving towards others.

We all have much to be thankful for.  And incredibly, the genuine heart act of giving thanks only increases our happiness, and that of those around us.

Be thankful this Thanksgiving - and every day.

Death, Death, and More Death

The horrific Las Vegas shooting has once again brought the debate over the Second Amendment to the Constitution to the forefront in American society.  It was an act of evil that is hard to stomach, as 59 people were slaughtered, and more than 200 others injured.  Some day we may know the motives of the shooter.  Some day we may know how he had access to the kinds of weapons he used to kill all these people.

In social media, it is easy to post "memes", single pictures with captions that attempt - often in snarky fashion - to make a profound point.  I saw one today that said, "The uterus is more regulated than assault weapons."  The idea, of course, is that we make a woman's body harder for her to control than we make it for people to have access to these weapons that can kill many people in seconds.

Memes are sometimes clever.  The pictures and snarky words are meant to catch your attention, but they really don't do much to actually make an argument.  I will give this one credit, however - it's made me enter the conversation, albeit in a much more serious way.

So let's take a minute and talk about this.

According to recent statistics, there are approximately 29,000 gun deaths a year in the United States (homicide, suicide, and accident).  More than 19,000 of these are suicides.  That is a lot of people.  That would be like every citizen of the town of Branford, CT (2010 population of 28,026) dying from a gun-related death every year.

That's a staggering number, really, if you think of it that way.  One in every 11,000 citizens in the US will die a gun-related death every year.

But now you need to sit down and take a deep breath.  Do you know how many abortions take place every year in the United States?  According to the Guttmacher Institute, there were 926,200 reported abortions in 2014.  Nearly a million abortions per year in the United States.

The number of unborn children killed by abortion is nearly thirty-two TIMES the number of people killed annually in gun-related incidents.  It's like entering the cities of Baltimore, MD (2016 population of 614,664) and St. Louis, MO (2016 population of 311,204) and killing them.  Every year.

These are the gruesome facts.  We can argue whether or not the woman's right to terminate her pregnancy should trump her unborn child's right to live, but the fact is, abortion kills her unborn child.  That's its purpose.

Due to the Second Amendment, US citizens who pass through the screening process have the right to own firearms, even certain kinds of assault rifles.  It's built into our Constitution.  That does NOT, of course, give them the right to murder people with them.  People often take lawfully-owned guns and use them in very unlawful ways.  To the tune of 29,000 deaths a year, people use guns to kill people (themselves or others).

Due not to a right built into the Constitution but rather to a Supreme Court ruling in 1973 (Roe v. Wade), women have the right to abort their unborn children.  And to the tune of 926,000 deaths a year, women use abortion to kill their unborn children.

If we want to talk about how our laws in this country open the door to death, death, and more death, and if we want to make the comparison of government regulation of guns and the uterus, then let's honestly talk about it.  Abortion is by FAR a greater killer of human life than guns.  It would take nearly 32 years' worth of gun deaths to equal one year's worth of abortions.

Yes, let's talk about this.  By all means.

The Ugly Sin of Racism

We are living in scary times. As a kid growing up in rural Maine, I never encountered even so much as a conversation about racism. When I went to college at Syracuse, my eyes were opened to the issue of race and racism. I learned so much about what black Americans, specifically, went through on a daily basis. I learned how our history of slavery and Jim Crow impacted them decades later. My first year roommate was (still is, obviously) Jewish, and that was my first friendship with someone who was Jewish. I learned a lot about his heritage and experience.

Over my 26 years in campus ministry, I have worked hard at developing relationships with students, staff, coaches, and faculty from other ethnic backgrounds, and even other nations. I have a long way to go in this area. I will never truly know what it’s like to be a minority in the United States, unless I live another 40 years, when whites are projected to be in the minority. But even then, institutions that have been built by white majority culture will be in place, so I will never really understand what my minority friends have had to deal with.

But I am learning. Every conversation. Every individual. Every relationship. Our staff conferences with Cru in 2015 and 2017 have focused on issues relating to race. I cannot lie – it’s been hard stuff to hear. It’s been super challenging. It’s been offensive sometimes, yes that too. And I don’t always agree with what everyone has been saying about race and racism. But I am working, just like I have since my freshman year in college, to move towards greater understanding and commitment to standing with my minority brothers and sisters.

I am a Christian. I have a worldview. And like any worldview, it impacts my views on all sorts of things. Including race and racism. I view racism as an evil that plagues the human condition, and I’ll explain why in a moment. Let me first talk about an alternative worldview. Look at things from an evolutionary perspective.

Evolution holds that organisms struggle for survival and reproduction. There’s an individual level of struggle, where individual members of a species compete for resources and for mating/reproductive opportunities. Over time, those more fit for survival will pass their genes on to the next generation. This struggle is a gruesome reality, not reflective of moral good or bad – it just IS. “Nature red in tooth and claw”, wrote Tennyson.

This struggle goes beyond the individual, however. Most honeybees are drones, infertile and unable to pass their genes on to the next generation. Yet they exist and participate in the colony’s struggle for survival. Their willingness, as it were, to work and live and die to allow other honeybees to pass on their genes is known as kin selection. An individual is more likely to favor members of their close kin than members outside that kin. We see this all the time in all sorts of species. A group of meerkats will stick together and oppose another, different, group of meerkats, even though they are of the same species. They do this because their own group is their kin – not just their brothers and sisters, but cousins and second cousins, etc. So even within the same species, you will see what we might call in-groups and out-groups, as those closer to their own kin are favored over those outside their kin.

This phenomenon is, of course, seen in our species as well. You may argue with your little brother, but when someone outside the family picks on him, you will stick up for him and protect him, because he’s family. It goes beyond that as well. You will favor your cousins, generally speaking, over strangers. You will favor your countrymen over people from other nations. When you are in a foreign land, and you hear someone speaking your language, you will gravitate towards him. In the Christian world, it is said that the most segregated hour of the week is on Sunday morning, because people tend to worship and fellowship with people LIKE them, more than people NOT like them. That’s why we see racially and culturally-oriented congregations. There are in-groups and out-groups, and they can be based on genetic relationship, affinity, or, yes, even race.

Generally we see racism activated when it confers a particular advantage to the in-group, or if the in-group senses (fairly or not) a threat from the out-group. Some white Americans are just fine with Hispanics staying in, say, Latin America, but they display their racism when they perceive that “too many” Hispanics will immigrate to the United States, threatening their majority status. In the case of American slavery, the advantage the in-group of whites gained is obvious – free labor from members of the out-group (black slaves).

In the case of the Jim Crow era, whites felt threatened by blacks pursuing equal rights. Thus the in-group (which, of course, had the political power) created institutions and laws conferring special favoritism upon themselves, and conferred disadvantages towards the out-group (blacks).

The long story short is this: evolution has an explanation for why racism exists. It is a natural extension of kin selection, which is a real thing. It’s kind of hard-wired into us from our evolutionary history, and so it’s not at all surprising that we tend to favor people more like us than people more unlike us. Human history is littered with this reality.

In fact, from a purely evolutionary perspective, racism is neither surprising nor…morally wrong. As I mentioned earlier, evolution does not speak to moral right or wrong. It simply speaks to what IS. If we are simply the product of evolution, it is understandable that we would have racist tendencies built into our nature.

Now, that being said, I reject this narrative. It makes sense insofar as evolution is concerned. But there is much more going on than this. I say that as a Christian who believes that morality is something real, that there are things that are Right and things that are Wrong, and they are not based in our evolutionary biology or psychology.

Racism is one of those Wrong things, despite whatever what an evolutionary perspective might suggest. It is Wrong because right and wrong are not rooted in evolution, but in God and in the very moral nature of God. Not only does God have a moral nature, but it is a GOOD moral nature.

The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:68, speaking to God, “You are good and do good.” Jesus said in Mark 10:18, “No one is good except God alone.”

God’s goodness is reflected in creation. As God created the world, He continually noted that “He saw that it was good.”

Humans made by God reflect God’s goodness. We are made in His image, which means, among other things, that we are moral beings, capable of moral reasoning. Capable of subjecting our instincts and biological drives to a greater moral law.

Genesis 1:26-27 tells us, “26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Another aspect of being made in God’s image is that we possess infinite worth. In Matthew 13:44-46, Jesus tells two short parables, each conveying the same meaning. In the first parable a man is in a field and he stumbles upon a treasure that he knows is worth more than the field itself, so he purchases the field and the treasure along with it, and thus he ends up with something of even greater value than the price he paid. In the second parable, a man finds a pearl worth more than anything he’s ever owned, and he sells everything he has to get the money to buy the pearl. We often look at these parables as us needing to be willing to give up everything in order to have Jesus, who is of surpassing value. And it’s true.

But think of it from God’s perspective. He gave His only Son, while we were sinners in rebellion against Him, so that we might live with Him. He valued us so much that He sacrificed His Son Jesus so that we could have eternal life with Him.

That is just an astounding truth. From God’s perspective, WE are the pearl of great price, even as He is the same to us from our perspective.

We possess infinite value because of the imago dei – the image of God – inside each of us. Each one of us. None of us possessing more of the imago dei, and none of us possessing less. All of us made in God’s image, and infinitely valued and loved by God.

This fact alone should be an end to racism, at least among Christians who accept that we are made in His image. Why in the world should we look down on another person due to their skin color if that person is also made in God’s image and is infinitely loved and valued by God? What right do I have to denigrate someone on that basis?

But alas, this imago dei has been stained by the reality of sin. Humans are made in God’s image, but we are also self-centered and corrupt. Sin manifests itself in so many different ways. None of us are exempt. Romans 3:23 says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells the story of two men who go up to the temple to pray, and the end result surprises his listeners. “9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.””

You see, Jesus here is reminding us that none of us has the right to stand before God and compare ourselves favorably against another. We each must recognize our own sin and understand that none of us is “better” than anyone else. We all are sinful and in desperate need of a savior. We all stand before God facing the awful consequences of our sin, in need of repentance and salvation. The idea that we can stand before God and feel morally superior to another person is laughable, really. And in this parable, the Pharisee might actually have a “good” reason for doing so! He’s actually talking about real sin this other man committed. In the case of racism, we think we are superior to another person simply on the basis of skin color! How absurd!

When a person repents of sin and places his or her trust in Christ, they become a new creation. Still stained with sin, but forgiven and set free from sin’s bondage. Individually, we are no longer bound by sin. But something else happens as well, something collective. We become part of the same family. That means that, no matter what your age, your culture, your gender, your socio-economic status, or your race, everyone who is a Christian is a member of the same family.

Paul put it this way, in Galatians 3:28 – “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The barriers that normally divide people go away in Christ. The differences are still there, but they are no longer things that divide. There is unity amidst our differences. In the world, the differences are things that divide; not so in Christ.

Paul explained how this works in the case of Jews and Gentiles in Ephesians 2:14-16 – “14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.” In other words, there was a racial and cultural division between Jews and Gentiles that kept them at odds. When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, what made it so shocking to Jewish ears was that the hero of the story was a wicked Samaritan, not a pious Jew. The outright hatred between racial groups was real.

In God’s redemptive plan of history, what is His end game? It is the entire unity of all ethnicities and races under the Lordship of Christ. Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of ALL NATIONS….” In Acts 1:8 He tells His disciples that they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. In Matthew 24:14, we read, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” In other words, the mission of the Church is to work towards the fulfillment of this objective – that men and women from every single nation (an ethnic group, not a political state) would come to know Christ. This Great Commission to the Church immediately stamps people of every single race and ethnic group as infinitely valuable and infinitely loved by God. It is hard to hate someone of a different race if you take seriously the idea that that person is loved by God and that my task is to help bring that person to Christ and the brotherhood of believers.

We see this played out in the Revelation given to John, in chapter 7, verses 9-12 – “9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen.””

The vision, which shows us what God’s grand plan is, is for people of every single tribe, tongue, and nation standing before the throne of God, united in worship and fellowship. Every single tribe, tongue, and nation. None left out. If a Christian thinks that a person from another ethnic group or race is less than he is, well, he’s got another thing coming, because someone from that ethnic group or race will be standing next to him in the throne room of God, worshipping the Lord side-by-side.

If God sees people from every culture, every tribe, every language, every ethnicity, like this, who are we to say that one race is superior to another? Who are we to favor one race over another? Who are we to treat people with contempt, simply because they are different culturally or racially? What arrogance! What pride! What grotesque sin!

If we see the world through Darwinian lenses, racism is explained and justified. If we see the world through Christian lenses, racism is one of the ugliest sins of all, because it devalues humans, and it does so for absolutely no good reason.

There is one more, and no less important, reason why Christians need to outright reject racism. Jesus, in Matthew 22:37-40 answered the question posed by a lawyer about which was the greatest commandment. He said, “37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment.39 The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” Loving your neighbor ranks as one of the highest and greatest things we can do. But who is our neighbor? Jesus explained THAT in the parable of the Good Samaritan, to which I have already referred. The Samaritans and Jews hated each other with what can really only be called racism. Jesus told the story in a way that the Samaritan was the hero, and the story was a great example of what it means to love your neighbor. Your neighbor is anyone who has need, regardless of their race or ethnicity.

But Jesus took it a step further as well.

In Matthew 5:43-47 Jesus said, “43“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47“If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”

It is one thing to love those who love you. That's easy. It's another thing altogether to love someone who does NOT love you. That's really hard, but that's what He calls us to. He does not simply call us to tolerate one another. But rather, to LOVE one another. And not to love just anyone. To love...our enemies. This is a shocking statement. To the neo-nazi, it means loving blacks and Jews like you love whites. To the black, it means loving the neo-nazi who wants you gone. This is what Jesus calls us to. How can we hate people at the same time we're loving them as Christ loves them? It's not possible.

Sadly, there are no human solutions for racism. Education may help, but education does not fix the human heart. Laws may help keep racism in check, but laws, as Paul says so clearly so often in the New Testament, cannot make one’s heart righteous. Racism is a problem of the heart. It infects the human soul like a disease. Laws and education may help deal with some of the symptoms, and it’s not like we shouldn’t pursue those sorts of things, because of course we’d rather not let the symptoms get worse. But racism, like any other sin, can only be cured by a heart transplant. It can only be cured by the grace and forgiveness and life changing work of Jesus Christ.

As individual Christians, we should be asking God to work in our hearts in this area. We should seek to understand. Ask God to show us where we fall short, and pray for Him to change us. As the collective body of Christ, we should be asking God how we can better represent the heavenly vision John saw in Revelation 7. We need God’s help. We all do. This doesn’t mean that everything that’s called racism IS racism. Sometimes what is believed to be racism is just another form of human sin – selfishness, stupidity, a person being a jerk. But before we think it’s not, we need to listen and seek to learn why a person may have perceived an action as racist. There may be more to the situation than what we can see on the surface. And in all ways, we need to bring grace and truth to the situation.

May God have mercy on us and lead us in the path of righteousness, and may His children be an example to the world on how to love one another as He loves us.