It’s not about statues. It’s about America. It isn’t about the dark past of slavery, treason, rebellion, segregation, and dominance symbolized by racist statues and flags. It’s about the present and the future–how do we see America? What do we want it to be? Racists demand “Blood and Soil.” Your ancestors and where you were…
In preparation for a couple of lectures I’m giving for a class this fall on evangelism, I was asked to read Elmer John Thiessen, The Ethics of Evangelism: A Philosophical Defense of Proselytizing and Persuasion. Some in chaplaincy want to distinguish between “evangelism” and “proselytizing.” Thiessen refuses, saying, “Let’s accept that these terms mean the…
(pace Campbell)1 The primal myth stirs. Ancient sagas, Pagan rites, Warrior heroes Converge, Kindling a fire which shatters The restraining chains of the centuries: Science Religion Civilization. The god-hero mounts the altar Beneath the eagle’s wings. Torches burn in the darkness Reflected in the hopefilled eyes Of the regathered tribes. And the twisted black arms…
It has been a mind-numbing few days. White supremacists have marched with torches in scenes reminiscent of the Nuremberg rallies. Some political and religious leaders condemned them, and others issued a blanket condemnation of “all sides” (as if “all sides” were equal). We can’t equivocate. I will not be party to any feigned neutrality or…
I read Rod Dreher’s new book, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. Christians, he argues, must realize we have lost the culture wars. He compares the situation to the fall of the Roman empire. Christianity survived through Christians gathering in intentional community, where they preserved their heritage and also had…
A Lutheran congregation’s blog posted an article this week denouncing “social justice” as unbiblical and “Marxist.” Equality, they said, is a human idea. Justice, a Marxist one. They’re wrong. Equality is rooted in the doctrine of Creation. God created humanity from the dust of the earth; he created us male and female. We’re all descendants…
(Chapel talk at Houston Graduate School of Theology, March 23, 2017) I first heard the story when I was a young boy. The story of a young man who volunteered for the Army in time of war, but refused to carry a weapon. He was eligible for a deferment from the draft, since he worked…
The Christian Church is at a crossroads. We stand “in statu confessionis”–a time when we must confess God’s truth in the face of the world’s opposition. We must confess God’s sovereignty over all political powers, earthly agendas, and religious claims. We must confess his universal rule and love against all nationalism and racism. We must confess…
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is perplexed. It doesn’t know what to do about women in ministry. It allows for women elders and deacons (ordained for both roles). It allows for women to be pastors, chaplains, and administrators (other than President). It allows for women to preach in evangelistic series the world over. These women can…
During travels yesterday I finished reading Shūsaku Endō’s book, “Silence.” It’s a fascinating story, based in history, of two Portuguese Jesuits who travel to Japan in 1639 to find out about rumors that a fellow Jesuit had apostatized under torture. The time frame is similar to the events of the “North American Martyrs,” Jesuit missionaries in…
What should military chaplains be prepared for in the coming years? First, remember that those under Title X are obliged to respect UCMJ art. 88, which prohibits “contemptuous words” against the president. Focus on speaking to issues and actions, and speaking from your faith tradition. Second, realize that many service members and their families may feel anxiety…
I went to bed last night depressed and angry. A sizable enough percentage of Americans had embraced Donald Trump’s vision and attained for him an electoral college majority. They had accepted his fearful vision of America, his fear of immigrants and his disdain of women and of other religions. They had embraced his vision of…
Mel Gibson’s latest film, “Hacksaw Ridge,” tells the story of Desmond Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist Army medic who was the first noncombatant to receive the Medal of Honor, for actions on Okinawa during World War 2. The story as presented is very familiar to Seventh-day Adventists–how a boy from Lynchburg, Virginia, volunteered for the Army…
I got to see the final cut of “Hacksaw Ridge” last night with a large Adventist crowd. Lots of laughter and cheering and clapping throughout. Lots of Adventist “Easter Eggs” in the movie–subtle references that SDAs will pick up on (like the first time he ties the double bowline, and when he puts it into…
Remember how Trump attacked the pope for his views on immigrants? Republicans have long thought Catholics should only be heard on issues that agree with them: abortion, marriage, school tax subsidies. Republicans like Deal Hudson and Richard John Neuhaus had a record of trying to undermine the bishops on issues like immigration, labor, nuclear weapons,…
Back in the 1890s Ellen White called for Seventh-day Adventists to embrace the public university and see it as a mission field, sending students to it to evangelize through a ministry of presence and positive witness. Today, two-thirds of Adventist college students are at non-Adventist colleges and universities; though campus ministry efforts are growing, Adventist…
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is wondering what to do about women’s ordination. Specifically, the General Conference is trying what to decide to do about those Unions and Conferences which are ordaining women, despite a 2015 decision to not allow a “local option.” The Adventist Church permits women to be ordained as “local elders.” It grants…
Donald Trump spoke to an evangelical group of retired veterans; many news outlets reported his remarks on veteran suicide. I listened to and read his full comments (transcript), and I found lots of troubling statements. He denounced “political correctness” and spoke positively of “profiling” by Israelis. Hen he said, “And we may have to do that, and…
This fall, the Adventist church will get a lot of attention, thanks to Mel Gibson. He’s made a movie, “Hacksaw Ridge,” about Desmond Doss, an Adventist Army medic who received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Okinawa in World War 2. Doss refused to carry a weapon, and was subject to rough hazing…
Tonight my wife and I went to a local theater that was showing Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satire, “Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” It’s a hilarious film–but sobering, at the same time. Lots of people love the Bomb. They express their love whenever anyone criticizes Truman’s decision to…
When I was young, I would listen to older people recall where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot. I remember thinking, “That was so long ago!”– though I was two years old when it happened. Today’s freshmen and military recruits were three years…
I thought Nicea settled the Trinitarian debate for Christians, for the most part. But it seems that it has become fashionable in some circles (Evangelical and Adventist) to reject the “eternal generation of the Son.” Those who reject it claim that it leads necessarily to Arianism and subordinationism–which is ridiculous, since it was a response…
When I was a student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg some thirty years ago, a professor, Eric Gritsch, told us about a book of Lutheran satire, Little Journeys with Martin Luther, by William Nicholas Hardy (1916). In it, the statue of Luther at Luther Place, in Washington, DC, comes alive, and wanders American Lutheranism looking…
So a rich young athlete is in the news, not for his football playing, but for sitting during the National Anthem. Now, lots of us who believe in freedom would normally respect such an action–like when young Jehovah’s Witnesses, out of religious conviction, choose to sit in classroom ceremonies, despite bullying. But what irked many,…
(Sermon preached at College Station Adventist Church, August 27, 2016). This past week, I saw an interesting discussion on a friend’s Facebook page. He posed this question: “If Seventh-day Adventists really believe in the soon return of Jesus, why do we have a health care system?” Some see a contradiction, my friend said. Some Adventists contrast…
Important article for Adventists. George R. Knight, “The Great Disappearance: Adventism and Non-Combatancy,” Journal of Adventist Education, 2008. “In the early 21st century, the church is in danger of losing an important teaching related to the Christ who claimed that Christians must love their enemies, rather than be trained to kill them. … What should…
Pew did a new study of why people choose a new place to worship. They included non-Christians, but in all the graphs they are lumped together as “non-Christians”–Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, etc. It is assumed that “houses of worship” have “clergy.” Emma Green at the Atlantic writes about it in “It’s Hard to Go…
We’re a year away from the five hundredth anniversary of Luther’s “95 Theses on Indulgences,” whose posting generally marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. In light of that, ecumenical dialogues are hoping for irenic celebrations of dialogue and consensus. Towards that end, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical…
In “Hacksaw Ridge,” Director Mel Gibson tells the story of Desmond Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist Conscientious Objector who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as an Army medic during World War 2. You can see the trailer at YouTube. A documentary, “The Conscientious Objector,” was made in 2004. You can read about his…
