News Weakly - 5/4/19

Because of You (Rom 2:24)
Last Saturday a gunman walked into a synagogue in Poway, California, and opened fire. It was the second synagogue shooting in six months. It was the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day. Lori Gilbert Kaye was killed when she threw herself between the gunman and his intended victim, Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein. Lori had attended synagogue services two days before to mourn the death of her mother. The 19-year-old perpetrator was raised in a Christian home and attended an Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). All sorts of bad news.

You can guess the conversations that are being spawned. "We need better gun control!" "You can't trust Christians!" "This was done in the name of Jesus!" Even, "Thank you, Lord, that I'm not like that guy." We need to remember that sin is a problem -- theirs and ours -- that there are tares among the wheat, that everyone both in and out of the church needs the gospel. We need to remember to pray for the Jews ... and the government and the people of God and the people who are opposed to God and our neighbors of any stripe. And not get distracted.

Symbols Have Meaning
I've always argued that words are symbols of things that mean something. As symbols, they have meaning. Now there is a dispute between New Jersey and Mississippi over symbols. The "progressive" first term governor of New Jersey has ordered the removal of Mississippi's state flag from a public display of the 50 state flags because it is not inclusive and the display is about being inclusive. The problem? The flag includes the confederate emblem. "That kind of hate will never do. We'll exclude that state from our inclusive 50-state display because we hate it. Our idea is that Mississippi must change their flag. Because we're all about love and inclusiveness." Sometimes the self contradiction is glaring.

All aTwitter
According to the Pew Research Center, Twitter is not the thing most of us think it is. If you read the news you'll discover that more news than not is using Twitter as a part of their story. There used to be interviews, opinions about stories, that sort of thing. Now they simply point out what Twitter is saying. That might be okay ... if Twitter was sizable. It's not.

Twitter users are younger and more likely to be Democrats than the general public. Apparently 10% of the users produce 80% of the tweets. Pew's analysis said that 22% of the users were representative of the broader population. Read that again. That would mean that more than 3 out of 4 Twitter users do not represent typical Americans. According to one statistic, only 38% of millennials in the U.S. have a Twitter account. (That is, it is not the majority most of us feel like it is.) On the same site they indicate that the percentage of the global population that uses Twitter is 3.9%. In the U.S., 16% use Twitter. By no stretch of the imagination is Twitter a viable finger on the pulse of American opinion. And we're still using them for that purpose. Not very bright.

Because of You (the sequel)
During the presidential campaign season of 2016 I earned more than a few dislikes from fellow Republicans and even Christians because I was opposed to Donald Trump for president. I warned that he was dangerous. I warned that he could damage the party, damage the church, damage the nation. The best response was, "But Hillary would be worse." I just wasn't sure that was true. This story makes my point. The National Review points out that folks like Franklin Graham who opposed Clinton in the 90's for his lack of morals but now endorse Trump despite his lack of morals are diminishing the witness of Evanglicals. When Graham complains about presidential candidate Buttigieg calling himself a "gay Christian," the National Review points out Trumps string of sexual sin that still engenders Graham's support. Back in the Bill Clinton scandal the Southern Baptist Convention released a Resolution on Moral Character of Public Officials which stated, among other things, "Tolerance of serious wrong by leaders sears the conscience of the culture, spawns unrestrained immorality and lawlessness in the society, and surely results in God’s judgment." This was my concern in 2016; this is the reality of 2019. I fear it is a case of "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

So Confused
Kamala Harris said last week that she would use her "bully pulpit" to fight "right-to-work" laws because they are "an attack on workers' rights." Now, she was talking to the Service Employees International Union, so she was clearly playing to her audience, but if she's serious, the idea is this. "You don't know what's best for you. The government does. The unions do. My plan is to remove your right to work because it's bad for you." Thanks, Kamala. (To be fair, Bernie agrees.) So removing your right to work is what's best for workers' rights. I am so confused. (Please note, Harris, et.al. -- you'll have to do it over the Supreme Court's dead body.)

Sour Apes
A biological male who identifies as a female shattered four women's powerlifting world records this last week. Olympian Sharron Davies decried the competition. "To protect women's sport those with a male sex advantage should not be able 2 compete in women’s sport," she tweeted. "No surgery required today... no hormones... no medical diagnosis.. just self ID & reduced testosterone to a level x5 the highest average (98%) of XX females." Sounds like sour apes to me.

The Way the Game is Played
The Supreme Court is going to hear cases that will redefine "sex" to change it from "male or female" to "the gender with whom you'd like to have sex" and "whatever gender you feel like you are." It's a mind trick, a bait-and-switch. "You said not to discriminate on the basis of sex. We will change what that word means and get what we want." In Houston the voters rose up and demanded that firefighters receive equal pay to police officers of corresponding rank and experience. Seems fair. Seems right. Except the City Council, in accordance with the mandate, opted to pay for this change in pay by laying off 220 firefighters. Now, there is some gamesmanship going on here and it may not come to that, but if everything remains the same, expect the firefighters of Houston to have equal pay ... but with much fewer doing the job. Think about that as we demand radical leaps in wages to other workers. "Yeah, sure, if you mandate $15/hr minimum wage to our lowest workers (which, by the way, will require an equivalent increase in pay to those above that), we can do it. You know who's going to pay for that, right? That's just the way the game is played." Stand on something "good," then change the definition. "That's what you wanted, right?"

Say Goodnight, Grace
Well, it's out in the open. It's in the media, so it's true. According to USA Today's Oliver Thomas, "American churches must reject literalism and admit we got it wrong on gay people." He assures us that we will continue to decline until we understand that "Being a faithful Christian does not mean accepting everything the Bible teaches." It's not that Thomas believes we're interpreting it wrong. He believes it is wrong. "The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures did not float down from heaven perfect and without error." (True enough. They didn't "float down from heaven." They were "God-breathed" ... making them perfect and without error.) Thomas betrays his standard for truth and goodness when he says, "The most difficult challenges arise when the teachings of Scripture are contradicted by reason and experience." Because "reason and experience" trump the clear reading of Scripture every time. The media, then, encourages us to jettison the Bible as authoritative, nay, even correct. The Bible clearly teaches, for instance, women shouldn't lead in church, but modern realities say that's wrong, so throw it out. The Bible isn't unclear that homosexual behavior is wrong (even according to Mr. Thomas), but we know it's okay so we need to reject the Bible on that. And more.

Mr. Thomas is a retired American Baptist minister, so he should know. Not all Scripture is God-breathed and is not profitable to fully equip the man of God for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17). That will take "reason and experience" and helpful voices that are willing to defend Christ by removing any solid support for Christ. Grace? Who needs it? We're not that bad if we get to define what good is. "Liberate yourself from the authority of the Word ... and trust me to tell you what's better."

Some can tell 'em and some can't
Back in the presidential run of 2016, Trump made the mistake of joking about suggesting that the Russians hack Hillary's email. It was outrageous, stupid, uncalled for, unwise ... and no one was amused. Least of all Mrs. Clinton. She is amused, apparently, to return the stupidity by suggesting, "China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns?" It's funny if a Dem says it; it's crude of Trump says it. Double standard? Again?

Fair Play
Perhaps you heard about the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue that boldly included a Muslim model in a burkini. Did you hear about the first-ever edition that featured the Baptist model in a floor-length denim skirt? I thought not.