One more thought

This weekend marks the Presidential Campaign event at Saddleback Valley Church, a Southern Baptist mega-church, hosted by its pastor, the Reverend Rick Warren, he of The Purpose-Driven Life fame. Warren explains that he will ask questions more in line of principles and motivations for actions and not related to policy statements. Should you have the opportunity to submit a question to Rev. Warren to ask John McCain or Barack Obama, what would you want to ask them?

Thought for the weekend

One of the many quotes I have saved from the pages of The Christian Century (regrettably without more detailed citation than that) is one from an Egyptian Coptic monk named Ruwals el-Anthony, who said,
There's nothing wrong with microwaves or mobile phones - they save time. But God will ask you what you have done with the time that was saved.

As we are part of a culture with more "labor-saving" devices than ever before and as we start our weekend filled with "free time", it might be instructive to think about what we have done with all the time we have saved. If our answer has just been to cram more things into our days, then perhaps we have missed the boat.

Interesting Comments from Kirk Cameron

For those who do not remember, Cameron played the wise-cracking Mike Seaver on the TV show "Growing Pains" back in the 1980's and 1990's. I watched the show a lot because Adam, our older son, loved it. During the final years of the show, Cameron became a Christian. He began a Christian ministry, The Way of the Master, and became associated with films and other projects with an explicit Christian message.

BeliefNet.com has featured an interview with him for the last several days. He is obviously a very sincere believer and expresses his beliefs in a very humble and compelling way. One of the Q&A's, though, struck my interest. Not necessarily because of any original thoughts in his answer, but, probably because of the timing of the interview in the midst of the rapidly heating up political campaigns. Let me share the complete question and answer with you:

It seems like so many bad things are going on in the world right now. Do you think God is angry at the way things are going and is He punishing us?

That's the exact same question that I ask people on the streets on our TV show, "The Way of the Master." 'Do you think God is angry with Americans? Does He have anything to do with hurricanes and floods and tornadoes?" You'd be shocked at the answers that people give.

You look at all of the countless hurricanes and tornadoes that line up off the coasts and just destroy crops and houses and everything, and you start to wonder who is in charge of the weather department anyway? I mean, does God have anything to do with cancer and floods and droughts and these kinds of things?

I think we can get a clue about the way God deals with nations by looking at the nation of Israel. If you go back into the Old Testament you'll see that God promised this special nation of Israel [and] that if they would obey His commands that He would bless their crops and bless their nation and their children and their marriages and things would go well for them. But, that if they didn't, if they turned and rebelled against Him and followed after other gods, that he'd remove that hand of blessing and they instead would inherit a curse and He would allow their enemies to overtake them.

The Bible says that God will bless those nations who honor Him. America was founded on biblical principles, but no longer do we honor those principles as a nation. We kicked God out of schools and we can't pray there, and we're giving more honor to the right of free speech and let people burn our flag and curse the God that's blessed us that I think we're watching, perhaps, God remove His hand of blessing from a country that once had it in generous amounts.

I think the hope is not going to be in who our next president is. I think our hope is not going to be in the laws that govern us, but in the power of God working in the hearts of people who turn their back to the Lord and humble themselves and read His word and honor Him in the things that they do and that they say. That's why I'm so concerned about getting the gospel out to people because that really is what it's all about, is people coming to know God through faith in Christ.

There are several things about his answer which I question.
1) This puts Cameron in the camp of those who have said for years that various natural disasters and various diseases came from the hand of God as a judgment on people. That would suggest that anyone afflicted by any of these things was judged sinful by God, and God did smite them. Knowing many people on the Gulf Coast who were affected by Katrina and knowing many people who have dealt with cancer, including my wife and her brother, I take umbrage at this broad generalization. Historically, there have always been storms and diseases; these have not just come about as a result of no longer having school-led prayers in public schools. If you equate the occurrences disasters and diseases with a nation no longer honoring God, then can anyone say that any nation, including America, has ever honored God? If you argue that innocent people may have been caught in the middle, so to speak, as God sent judgment on the sinners, what does that say about the nature of God that God is willing to smite the innocent just to get the guilty?

2) Cameron is confident that America once enjoyed the bountiful blessings of God. What do we do with the Great Depression, with the Spanish flu epidemic, with the Civil War, with the sufferings during the Revolutionary War? When was this golden age of which he is so confident?

3) He asserts the fact that America was founded on Biblical principles without defining precisely what those principles are. Does he suggest that slavery and the lack of rights for women are Biblical principles? Both existed in this country at its beginnings and continued on for quite some time.

4) He conflates Biblical principles with particular views of patriotism when he mentions the lack of prayer in public schools and rights of free speech and flag burning. To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing in the Biblical text that speaks against free speech or prohibits flag burning.

5) He is just incorrect when he trots out the standard "we have kicked God out of school" argument. It is true that the Supreme Court prohibited officially mandated prayer, but that ruling in no way prohibits anyone, student or teacher, from praying.

I applaud Kirk Cameron for having the strength of his convictions and being willing to put his beliefs on display. I certainly would defend his right to hold his beliefs and express them freely. I also defend my right to disagree, respectfully.

Poll Vaulting

As part of my research for a sermon illustration recently, I looked at the J.K. Harris Polling Company polls over the last few years. I know that poll results can be skewed by the way questions are asked and by who is asking the questions and by any number of other factors, BUT there is an interesting poll from November 29, 2007. It is identified by the Harris company as Poll #119.

The title of the Poll says a lot, "The Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans." In a reasonably straight forward way, those taking the poll were asked to indicate whether they "believe in" or "don't believe in" or are "not sure" about a list of subjects. Then, they were asked, again from a list, which collections of writings they considered to be "The Word of God", and how religious they considered themselves and how often they attended religious services. Each of these results was further parsed by religious affiliation.

Many of the results could have been predicted. The overwhelming majority of Americans affirmed their belief in God (82%) with strong support for the other typical beliefs of the Christian faith, as in miracles, angels, heaven, Jesus as God or the Son of God, and the resurrection of Jesus. And, those self-identified as "born-again Christians" had the highest % of belief in each of these; though there was never a 100% result in this group.

Yet, there were some surprising results for me as well. Let me list just a few of these:
** 42% of all believed in evolution; 39% of all believed in creationism. Based on the rhetoric I hear, I would have thought many more would affirm creationism than evolution. Of course, the numbers for the "born-again" group were on target with my expectations with 60% affirming creationism and only 16% evolution.
** 35% of all believe in UFO's, with 29% of the "born-again" group agreeing. This means that more evangelicals believe in UFO's than in evolution.
** Here is a kicker: 21% of all people believe in reincarnation, with 8% of "born-again" Christians agreeing. I always thought that reincarnation is so antithetical to conservative Christian beliefs that I am shocked at this number, even as low as it is.
** "Born-again" Christians accept the "Old Testament" texts (88%) and the "New Testament" texts (86%) as the "Word of God", but only 33% accept "The Torah" as the "Word of God" even though the Torah is a Jewish term referencing the first five books that comprise the Christian "Old Testament." It would seem that, whatever you call it, if it is God's Word, it is God's Word.
** 50% of the "Born-Again" Christians said they attended worship services every week or more, which I would expect - though I find it curious that more of them do not attend more often or claim to attend more often. Yet, 12% of this group say they attend less than 1 time a year; that means they do not even make the minimum Christmas and Easter visit.

After much reading and study into the nature of the American religious experience, I am still amazed by what religious Americans say they do or do not believe.

Mix of Politics and Religion -- Again

There are two relatively minor currents swirling around the presidential elections involving things religious that have caught my fancy. Those looking for deep thoughts will be disappointed, I know, but, then, what do you expect from me by now?

The first is one I have commented on before and is the continuing frenzy that Barack Obama is the Anti-Christ or has Anti-Christ like tendencies. If you want to see my previous reference check July 14 on the blog. At that time, there were about 650,000 hits for "Obama and antichrist" on Google. As a result of recent speculation fueled by a McCain ad, that number is now up over 800,000.

On the feature "Fundamentalist" from The American Prospect, comes this 'clarification.'
1. Religious Right Debates Whether Obama Has "A Spirit of the Antichrist."
At a state GOP convention and across the American Family Association's (AFA) radio airwaves, religious-right activists reacted to Obama's speech in Berlin by suggesting that he will undermine America's sovereignty and greatness and that he might just be channeling the Antichrist.
Mike Huckabee, speaking at the Arkansas GOP convention, said that "the kind of change [Obama] would bring makes us more of a part of some global, mushy, middle-of-the-ground [sic], milquetoast world in which America loses its sovereignty and distinction."
The AFA reaches a rural audience through its radio stations -- it owns over a hundred of them, making it the sixth-largest radio-station owner in the country -- and its daily AFA Report show presents a "Christian worldview" on the news of the day. On Friday, the day after Obama's Berlin speech, the AFA Report's host, Fred Jackson, made note of the "messianic tone" of the speech, then quickly denied that he believes Obama is messianic. Ed Vitagliano, one of the program's roundtable guests, chimed in, "I don't think he's the Antichrist, but there is a spirit of Antichrist at work in the West in a very strong and open way that is leading people to want to solve their problems and have a desire to have their lives improved without Christ. That's what the spirit of Antichrist does, it denies Christ." In other words, Obama's not the Antichrist. He's just like the Antichrist.

It seems that this may be an on-going undercurrent among the religious right until the election. Then, if Obama is elected, I can see this being the unspoken accusation throughout his administration.

One of the fears of the religious right about the endtimes is the creation of a one-world government headed by the Anti-Christ. Thus, I can see any treaty arrangements in an Obama administration being looked at through this lens. It will be interesting to see what continues to happen in this regard.

The second item was also found on The Fundamentalist. It probably speaks for itself.
2. Pray for Rain
"Would it be wrong if we asked people to pray…to pray for rain? Abundant rain, torrential rain. Urban and small stream advisory rain. At a particular time, and a particular location? Say at August 28, right here at Mile High Stadium in Denver? During prime-time TV hour when a certain presumptive nominee is scheduled to make a certain acceptance speech at a certain Democratic National Convention?" That's Stuart Shepherd, managing editor of Focus on the Family's Citizen Link, who recently mocked hate crimes legislation in a mid-July CitizenLink video, and now aims to set prayer warriors about the task of drowning out Barack Obama at the DNC convention at the end of the month.

This may have been a suggestion made in jest or, at least, with tongue-in-cheek, but I still find the suggestion to invoke God's power to rain out a political rival reprehensible.