To Consolidate or not to Consolidate

...is not the real question.

To be sure, it's an important question, but it's a secondary question. In my opinion, the primary question is the same one that Cain asked God as a response to God's question, "Where is Abel your brother?" Cain's response: "Am I my brother's keeper?" This is a question that needs to be asked as we as Memphis voters consider this decision.

I admit that I am not very into politics, and I realize that there is a lot that I do not know. But the more I learn, the more I am convinced that we, especially those of us in our county who consider ourselves to be followers of Christ, need to ask this question. How responsible are we to one another? How responsible are we to those children in our city who do have anyone taking responsibility for them? The answer to questions like these will determine how we make decisions in regards to an issue like this one.

The Commercial Appeal has a great section devoted to this issue on their website. One of the most helpful is this chart. It's very telling.

On Glenn Beck & the Rally

Over the past week I've heard or read a number of opinions on the rally last Saturday in Washington DC. And they've been varied, from the one lady I spoke to who was so hopeful after watching it (even though he's a Mormon), to very angry editorials that are all over the internet. So when I read this piece by Russell Moore, I was very encouraged. Here are the opening paragraphs:

A Mormon television star stands in front of the Lincoln Memorial and calls American Christians to revival. He assembles some evangelical celebrities to give testimonies, and then preaches a God and country revivalism that leaves the evangelicals cheering that they’ve heard the gospel, right there in the nation’s capital.

The news media pronounces him the new leader of America’s Christian conservative movement, and a flock of America’s Christian conservatives have no problem with that.

If you’d told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times. But it’s not. It’s from this week’s headlines. And it is a scandal.

And then Moore writes,

Too often, and for too long, American “Christianity” has been a political agenda in search of a gospel useful enough to accommodate it. There is a liberation theology of the Left, and there is also a liberation theology of the Right, and both are at heart mammon worship. The liberation theology of the Left often wants a Barabbas, to fight off the oppressors as though our ultimate problem were the reign of Rome and not the reign of death. The liberation theology of the Right wants a golden calf, to represent religion and to remind us of all the economic security we had in Egypt. Both want a Caesar or a Pharaoh, not a Messiah.

Finally,

It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m not pessimistic. Jesus will build his church, and he will build it on the gospel. He doesn’t need American Christianity to do it. Vibrant, loving, orthodox Christianity will flourish, perhaps among the poor of Haiti or the persecuted of Sudan or the outlawed of China, but it will flourish.

Any thoughts?

Health Care Reform

The current health-care system renders the best health care to the wealthiest, depletes the savings of solidly middle-class Americans, and leaves 46 million with no health-care coverage at all. (Jim Wallis, Sojourners).

Thoughts?

Weekly Links

Jonathan Merritt writes about the shift in political thinking for young evangelicals

Excellent talk from Chris Seay at Q 2007 on consumerism. Check out some of the other talks while you're there.

One of my favorite all-time quotes, and one I need to be reminded of from time to time

Joe Boyd on what it means to be a pilgrim

Seth Godin's Tribes Q&A ebook is available for free download. I haven't read the book yet, but this makes me want to.

The Resurgence has the audio and video from their Shepherding a Child's Heart Conference available for download.

Final resource, I promise…Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost's new book, ReJesus, is out. You can download the intro and chapter 1 here.

Weekly Links

• Jordan Cooper writes about the coming changes to the church based on our economic woes. This post led me to the next few posts/articles.
  
• Jason Evans, Chris Marshal, et al write about the same thing.
  
• James Howard Kunstler's Forecast for 2008. Again, I found this through Jordan's post. He seems to be quite angry, which means that I don't agree with everything he says. And he's definitely a lot smarter than me, which means that I don't understand much of what he says. However, you can't argue that it's a little eerie at just how much of this came to pass.
  
• NY Times: Consumers believe that the worse is yet to come
  
• Ron Paul on the Bailout Plan
  
• Good insights on the credit crisis from Allelon
  
• The audio from the Total Church Conference is now online
  
• My buddy Joe's new movie has just premiered. Here's the info and the trailer

Scary Times Ahead?

I don't feel good today. I have that darn cold that has been going around. I'm lying in bed, but I don't want to sleep, and I have a lot of work to do. So I'm catching up on some reading online. I've focused my reading on the economic crisis that is affecting not only our country, but the whole world. I don't believe that this is the end of the world, but I do believe that it is a very big deal. I've felt for awhile that the decisions that are being made throughout our country may not affect me, but they will definitely affect my children and grandchildren, primarily in negative ways. However, in light of the events of the last month or so, I am beginning to believe that our way of life here in America may soon be severely challenged.

I don't think anyone needs to be reminded of the challenges we face: foreclosures, job losses, shrinking retirement accounts, rising healthcare costs, overextended living and record debt, shrinking oil production and rising costs, rising food costs, etc. What does it mean for us as followers of Jesus? Or, as Francis Schaeffer put it, "How then should we live?"

As scary as this time is, I'm also encouraged. There is hope. It doesn't take one long in their study of church history to learn that the church has thrived most when she could depend on God alone. What happens when our resources begin to vanish? Perhaps it's an opportunity for us to think creatively, to imagine new ways of living, and to redefine what it means to have the good life. Perhaps it's an opportunity for the church to speak prophetically during this time of change.

Weekly Links

• Bailout bill fails to pass - I didn't see that coming, but I'm glad it didn't. I know the government needs to do something, but $700,000,000,000 scares me (doesn't that look a lot scarier than just writing "700 billion?"). There's got to be a Plan B, right?
  
  
• For what it's worth, here's Dave Ramsey's thoughts on how to fix this problem
  
  
• Mark Batterson's 10 Steps for Setting Life Goals - you'll have to give your name and email address, but I think it's well worth it.
  
  
• James Howell on why Christians should be defined by more than just Liberal or Conservative (from Ben Witherington's blog). I especially like the John Yoder quote.
  
  
• Wendi Thomas' article on Ron Sider - I got to hear him speak last Wednesday at 2nd Presbyterian Church, and am currently reading one of his books in preparation for a talk I'll give at church in a couple of weeks.
  
  
• Ben Witherington's Evangelical Voter's Guide
  
  
• New Advent Conspiracy website is up. I'm looking forward to taking part in this again this year.
  

The Ordinary Radicals

Politics

I have a confession to make: I am not sure who I'm going to vote for in November. I know that most of my family and many of my friends probably won't understand my dilemma. Most of my family votes Republican every year, while most of my friends and neighbors vote Democrat. And here I am caught somewhere in the middle.

I watched most of the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week, and I'm planning on getting caught up on the Republicans this weekend. As I listen to what both sides say, I find myself agreeing with much of what is said. I like one party's candidate for these reasons, and I like the other party's candidate for completely different reasons. Yet all of those reasons are important to me. It's hard for me to relate to those who see this as such absolute black and white.

I'm encouraged by people like Jim Wallis, who say that we should vote on the issues rather than the person or party, but that seems impossible at a time like this, when everything is becoming more and more polarized. Here's what I do know. Neither of these men is a savior. Neither of them will lead America to destruction, nor will either save us from all of the problems in our society. Both will lead the way their parties have always led, focusing on some things at the expense of others. That's not meant to be pessimistic, just realistic.

For now, I'll just continue to read, think and pray, and then two months from today I'll make use of the liberties I've been given and I'll cast my vote.

Who are we called to be?

We're in week four of our book group on Greg Boyd's Myth of a Christian Nation. Here's a great quote from chapter 6:

This is what we are called to be: a community characterized by radical, revolutionary, Calvary-like love; a community that manifests the love of the triune God (John 17:21-26); a community that strives for justice not by conquering but by being willing to suffer; a community that god uses to transform the world by providing it with an alternative to its own self-centered, violent way of existing. How socially and politically revolutionary it would be if his disciples lived up to their calling!

Vote Chooser

Answer 10 questions, and this website will tell you who you should vote for. Pretty nifty!