Monthly Archives: September 2013

The healing of Naaman, recorded in 2 Kings 5 has always left me with a question. As he prepared to leave after his healing he asked for forgiveness as he accompanied his master, the king of Aram, in worshiping an idol. Elijah’s answer “Go in peace” (2 Kings 5:19a) has always left me conflicted.

Naaman’s healing was real and immediate. His response certainly indicates a changed heart as well as a changed body (2 Kings 5:15).

The Bible teaches that we must live separated lives- clearly distinct from those who are participating in ungodly behaviors. But Elijah seemed to make an exception for Naaman. Is his testimony about the uniqueness of God thorough? Or, by participating in the worship of an idol with the king of Aram is Naaman setting a standard of compromise that can – and may very well explain the weakness of Western Christianity- lead to syncretism?

Just asking….

Recently our President sought an action of the US Congress to authorize some sort of strike against Syria after the government reportedly used chemical weapons. The Russian President countered with an unprecedented article in the New York Times suggesting that President Obama’s claims about Syria and America’s responsibility were patently false. Who do we believe?

                In June of this past summer the United State Supreme Court struck down provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, passed by Congress in the late 1990’s. In the majority opinion Justice Kennedy suggested that the motives behind that congressional legislation were sinister and even mean spirited.

                A recent performance by a former Disney television star at the Video Music Awards suggests that moral boundaries have eroded to the point of non-existence.

                Apparently the United States Constitution and once agreed upon moral standards no longer have the authority once ascribed to them.  We could list multiple sociological reasons for the disappearance of the moral authority once agreed upon by many of those sharing the geographical space called the United States of America.

                The shifting and sliding of morality should not surprise those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. Our own history as Southern Baptists points to a struggle over authority. Do we accept the Bible as authoritative for all areas of life or are we free to pick and choose areas to which the Bible can and does speak?  

                While many of us who serve as pastors and in other leadership roles in our denomination remember the Conservative Resurgence, many of those who attend our churches have no recollection at all of those events much less the theological arguments that were raised on both sides of the issue. Instead, as we argued and debated, many in our congregations were battling their own issues of authority as they, their children, and grandchildren struggled with issues of sexual identity, failing marriages, and questions about reproductive technologies.

                The erosion of authority is no myth. The results are being seen and felt by most of us. The challenge of eroding authority is not met by withdrawal or even loud protests but rather, in the words of Carl F. H. Henry “the preaching of the Gospel, in the interest of individual regeneration by the supernatural grace of God, in such a way that divine redemption can be recognized as the best solution of our problems, individual and social” (The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism [Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,1947], 88-89.).

In an unprecedented move, Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote an open letter to the American people and their political leaders in today’s NT Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?_r=0). His claim that the chemical weapons used in Syria were by rebel forces and not the government, As a matter of fact, every claim our President made Putin countered.

I am no expert in presidential power but I understand the precarious position in which our President now finds himself. Does this argument continue in the newspapers? Are we to hear another speech from the White House? Where does Congress fit into this particular context?

I am no prophet nor the son of a prophet yet I see the shifting of the balance of power in our world away from the US and towards a more European centered balance. Though we may still have one of the most powerful standing military forces, we may very well have given up the moral strength to use them.

If ever God’s people needed to pray for our President, now is the time.

I recently completed John Milton Cooper, Jr.’s biography of Woodrow Wilson (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009). Wilson is rather a tragic figure in many ways. His meteoric rise to the office of President is unlikely to be repeated in our era of political intrigue – though there was plenty of that in his own rise to power. 

However, what struck me about Wilson’s life was the last segment of his life- his unsuccessful campaign to enlist the support of the United States Senate in his dream oif creating the League of Nations. Cooper writes a compelling – though at times a bit uneven- account of Wilson’s life. If you are interested (like I am) in politics and the history of the US I heartily recommend Cooper’s work. (My goal is to read at least one biography of every US President…I still have a ways to go.)

As Cooper recounts,

On the speaking tour that he would make in September 1919, he would look at the  children who flocked to see him and say, “I know, if by chance, we should not win this great fight for the League of Nations, it would be their death warrant.” This was going to be the fight of his life – one that would cost him more dearly that any other and would, if he lost it, be believed, “break the heart of the world.”

Indeed, the failure of the Senate to ratify the treaty that would have created the League of Nations, broke a heart…Wilson’s.

All of us have unfinished business- dreams that we have aspired to, goals we have set, and hopes that have fueled our hearts when times were hard. At what cost will we pursue these dreams, goals, and hopes. Wilson’s pursuit may have cost him his life, and perhaps his reputation. As Cooper closes his work he writes, 

“Wilson, along with Lincoln and Jefferson, would come to be one of the best remembered and most argued over of all presidents. “