Another Mascot Canceled?

Holland, Michigan’s school district has set up a committee to consider changing its mascot from the Dutchmen.  Though founded by the Dutch, the argument goes that minorities are now the majority in the school district.

Here were my thoughts:

Having a mascot like the Dutchmen is not racist or even culturally insensitive in any way. It is a way to point residents to the history of the place they live.

What is so offensive about this is the erasing of valuable history to make ourselves feel better about how diverse and sensitive we are.  Probably a bit of white guilt going on, here, too. What is so frustrating is that most will be for this, because the alternative would feel like being mean to non-Dutch people, which is... silly.

The reason for doing this would also require removing the name Holland. And Zeeland. And Drenthe...

History creates inequalities and majorities. Some seek to remove them all. But we do not all have a right to as much income, or "cultural privilege" as everyone else. That's a socialist pipe dream. Some will always be more equal than others. Right now, those setting up this committee have unequal access to the levers of power. It's an Orwellian forced whitewashing of history in the name of equality.

Equal opportunity is a must for all. But whose opportunities are being curtailed by Holland being the Dutch?

You Can Be Strong // On Voting for Biden // Health Insurance Woes

1. You Can Be Strong

This is a really insightful piece, on Generation Z specifically.  But it applies across the board.

The hubris of my college generation has been replaced with a sense of resigned weakness.

If I needed to hear “you are weak,” my students today increasingly need to hear “you can be strong.”

2. On Voting for Biden

"The pro-lifer who votes against Biden may not keep him from winning. He will, however, at least refuse to join in tolerating a massive violation of human rights for hundreds of thousands of victims of direct and intentional lethal violence."

Robert George and Rommesh Ponnuru - National Review

3. What is health insurance for?  One thing driving up premiums is our own expectations...

Who to Vote for, If At All?

 Joel Belz’ commentary on World Magazine’s podcast, The World and Everything in It, on October 14 (at the end, 30:00 mark), about who to vote for is a classic case of evangelical Christian naivete, when it comes to politics.

He rightly rules out Biden, as every faithful Christian must, given his ardent support for abortion alone.  But he then goes on to give Trump deniers a righteous sense of rejecting rudeness and being careless with the truth.

Christians have struggled with perfectionism in politics for a long time.  Joel Belz still falls into it.  Your vote is not a valentine for a candidate, nor is it a religious action that before the Lord you believe this candidate has done nothing wrong before God (or even that he is in good standing with the Lord). 

No, your vote is a chess move on a political board.  It doesn’t endorse every imperfection of the candidate, not even unconfessed ones!  Votes should take account of the policies a candidate pursues long term, and the viable alternatives.

Don’t strain out the gnat and swallow the camel.  We’ll take a rough character who effects Christian policies over a nicer-appearing guy aggressively promoting abortion, sodomy, insistence that 8 year-old’s be allowed to transition their gender only on their say-so, and more.  Trump’s immigration policy has been very unhelpful and saddens me, but it pales in comparison to the good judges he has appointed, using the bully pulpit for pro-life, tax cuts, toughness to China, Iran and Russia, and more.

I believe personally that not voting for Trump in this election would be a sin of omission for the Christian.  Faithful Christians can disagree on several things I've listed above, but cannot vote for things God calls an abomination.  (There are three of those above, if you're counting.)  As a pastor, it isn’t something I’m going to go after members for.  Many are caught up in Belz’ perfectionism, and just can't pull the lever for Trump.  Teaching is the need of the day.  

Every non-vote for Trump is a boost for Biden and his wicked policies.  It would be failing to act when you could, to avert serious negative consequences to our country.

Violent Society // The Left Captured Sports // Bad Shepherds

 1. This is some excellent commentary on where we are as a society today.

"Absence of God beget[s] random violence."

2. Imprimis is consistently good.  Here's one raising a flag of concern about our kids and the sports world.

Highlights:

"Kids shut their bedroom doors, turn on their televisions, laptops, and game consoles, plug in earbuds, open social media apps, and disappear into a world far removed from mom and dad.... They tune out the worldview of their families and tune in the worldview of LeBron James..."

"China... rules the National Basketball Association and its defacto parent company, Nike, the same way it rules Hollywood.... Nike, and not the NBA, controls basketball....  helps explain why Nike pitchmen LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick enthusiastically smear the United States as inherently racist and evil."

"The Leftist mob has forced the National Football League, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, and the National Basketball Association to take their own knees and pay homage to the dishonest Black Lives Matter narrative on police brutality."

3. Michael Kruger draws lessons for religious leaders from Jesus' interaction with the Pharisees in Mark 3.

Rejection // Lessons from Acts

1. This is a helpful, short article on rejection.  A personal wound many people struggle with.

2. The experience of the early church proves that underhanded tactics have been around a long time.  When you can’t win by persuasion, resort to lies, prosecution, and violence. 

Acts 6:8-14:“And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹ Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰ But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹ Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³ and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ¹⁴ for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.”

3. Saul was cage stage!

Acts 9:29-31 – “And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. ³⁰ And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.  ³¹ So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”

Saul of Tarsus was too vigorous and disruptive in his aggressive apologetic approach.  He needed seasoning and training to cool down and learn to engage people in a more constructive way.

Barrett is Pro-Life! // Obergefell's ruinous consequences // Platt on Voting

1. The liberal media acts surprised that Judge Barrett is pro-life.

Then they cover a celebrity’s miscarriage as the loss of their precious baby.

Hmm.

Al Mohler nails this one.

2. Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to sign marriage licenses for same sex couples, is being sued by one of those couples.  She appealed and just lost at the Supreme Court.  SCO1. TUS, following its recent Obergefell decision, refused to hear her appeal.

Justice Thomas' dissent, a small four pages, is worth the read.  His conclusion: "By choosing to privilege a novel constitutional right over the religious liberty interests explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and by doing so undemocratically, the Court has created a problem that only it can fix. Until then, Obergefell will continue to have “ruinous consequences for religious liberty.” "

3. Pretty disappointed in Gospel Coalition for promoting DavidPlatt’s latest on voting.  From the podcast transcript, he seems to advocate a morally equivalent position between Trump and Biden.  That’s crazy.  Interviewer Colin Hansen says, “We see abortion as being a fairly nuanced issue…”  Really?!?!  At least Platt corrected him later: “We’re not nuanced about abortion.”  But Platt still allows room to make abortion a less important factor in deciding your vote.

It’s like they’re mirroring and pandering to their younger, social justice warrior, somewhat-woke audience, instead of leading them out of that cesspool of CNN-think.

Platt refuses to say it is our duty to vote, even though voting and jury duty are the two pillars of citizenship in our nation.  Romans 13, man!

But I was glad to hear Platt say, “The Bible uses justice over a hundred times. Let’s learn what that means…. Part of why we did that was to show the difference between the gospel and God’s Word and critical race theory or what Black Lives Matter as an organization might be promoting that are not in line with a biblical worldview.”

 And he’s frustrated by kneejerk reactions from conservatives, which I understand: “as soon as you mention the word “justice” or “race,” you are automatically labeled and put into certain categories, and people start to assume you’re promoting a worldly idea of justice or race…”

On the Pastor and Politics

I enjoy the podcast Pastor’s Talk with Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman.  Leeman’s views on politics are too tolerant for me, but these principles from a recent edition are good.  Here they are, with some commentary of my own.

 

Don’t be a brawler

I appreciate political energy and opinion, but there’s a way to fight that divides and tears people down.  We should fight for God’s ways in the public square, but in a way that helps the body of Christ, not tears it apart.

Don’t panic

AMEN.  Election seasons, like pandemics, expose our real priorities.  And we tend to love too much (idolize) our nation, our own opinions.  We also tend to think we are the captains of our fate, that if we work hard enough we can make life how we want it.  Politics exposes this lie, and it really bothers us.  We are unsettled with the real-world consequences that God is sovereign, not ourselves, not “We the People,” and not the USA as a nation.

 

Speak pastorally and charitably, instead of demonizing the other side

Most talk radio/podcasts fail miserably here.  Ben Shapiro castigates liberals as garbage.  Trump insults his opponents on Twitter.  One reason this is happening is because popular media no longer discusses substantive ideas and policies.  They mostly focus on political processes and races and personalities.  We vote for candidates based on how they look, and how they make us feel.

 

Stay in your area of expertise as a pastor.

This is a tricky one.  I am not a two-kingdoms guy as much as Dever and Leeman.  The Bible addresses politics, medicine, the whole gamut of current events.  But they are on to something to say that pastors are not medical experts, and ought not parrot Fox or CNN talking points from the pulpit.  The key is to be bringing the Word of God rightly to bear on current events.  Not to assume it doesn’t relate to politics.  And not to be carried along by an earthly agenda.