Derek Johnson Muses

It is my daily goal to make everyone around me better people, thanks be to God.

Tag Archives: Christianity

Even if it Weren’t True…

1 Comment Posted by Derek Johnson on May 21, 2013

Why doesn’t this work for you?

The socially liberal lifestyle (or progressive, as it likes to be known by) is a tempting proposition. For the most part, people can do whatever they want in that life and can follow any kind of whim that they, and if anyone wants to challenge you, you just have to claim personal autonomy.

But I still follow conservative Christian social teaching for a simple reason: Christians are kinder.

Of all the half-truths that are propagated about Christianity and “religion” on TV, this is the one that the world gets the wrongest. They keep portraying Christians as stuck in their ways and unchanging, and sure, I know some Christian people who are bit crusty and who come off as cold and unfeeling.. But all of my Christian friends have better countenance, are better educated, and generally more pleasant people than the non-religious people I know.

There have been times in my life where, yes, I was wandering about, and I would have happily adhered certain liberal positions. But I missed the Lord, and even though Christians are a bit rigid and unwavering, at least they are for the right reason. The modern leftists are so insecure they don’t just want to win, they want the other side’s argument completely silenced in the public square. Why? What is it about Christianity that makes you so afraid?

In my observation, the simple difference between secularists and Christians is that Christians believe in joy over happiness, and secularist just believe in happiness over joy. Secularist look to whatever makes them happy in the moment, to whatever gratifies their fancy as something that deserves moral public standing. Christians believe in joy, that whatever is happening to them, God never lets go, and in fact, whatever happens is part of God’s plan. This is no more different when look at a Christian’s attitude toward having children versus a secularist’s attitude toward having children. Secularists say, “Have a child if it helps you realize yourself. Don’t compromise your lifestyle because of it.” Christians see children as a gift from God, and no matter how much work they are, they have intrinsic value beyond this life. (As someone who really struggles with the idea of having kids, that does help me.)

And even if that wasn’t true, who wouldn’t want to believe in that?

Religion Christianity, human-rights, liberal lifestyle, liberal positions, personal autonomy, Politics, religion, Secularism, social politics, society, Socio-Political

John 17:20-26: One Because of Christ’s Glory

Leave a Comment Posted by Derek Johnson on May 11, 2013

John 17 is a prayer, the sacerdotal prayer, that Jesus prays in the midst of the disciples, somewhat as a sermon. What is prayer? Jesus knew what was going to happen and what the Father was going to do, even after he ascended. But he prayed for His own strength, and that His disciples would be strengthened. In the prayer that Our Lord gave us, we ask for him to do things He has already done (“hallowed be Your name”), but we ask them because we are weak.

Throughout this prayer, Jesus connects himself to His Father, and then Himself to His disciples, and finally, His disciples to His church. It is through this line we receive the Gospel.

Jesus has spent the last couple of hours giving His final teaching to his disciples, and with this prayer, He first looks at himself. He needs His father’s help as much as His disciples. Then he turns His attention to His disciples, those He has trained and prays for their strength.

v. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,”

Note how Jesus connects the church to the Apostles. Jesus has first testified to the father, and now the disciples will testify to what they have seen and believed about Jesus. (16:30, and post-resurrection). Throughout this prayer, Jesus has connected his work (His “glory”) to His union with God, and the work that God sent him to do.

Grammatical point: the word of the disciples comes before in me. Faith always come through hearing the message, God’s word to us. (Mary conceived through her ears.)

v. 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

We have access to the Father via the Son. Through the Son’s work, we can stand forgiven before the Father.

Where are we one with Christ? In His supper. This is an uncomfortable topic. In the age of ecumenism and our ELCA cousins badgering us, we de-emphasize how we are united to our fellow believers at the Lord’s table. It is an easy trap to fall into-we only talk about the forgiveness we receive at the table, and then, we feel awkward when we tell our neighbors they can’t go to the supper, and they take it personally. We need to take seriously how the Supper judges us.

Through Christ word’s here, we can be assured that no matter what disagreements we may have, we will always be one in Him, because of how He is one with God.

v. 22 “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one” God’s glory is through suffering. Glory doesn’t just mean shiny stuff. Glory is the work of Jesus, that He would set His majesty and titles aside, all so that we should be forgiven.

Religion Bible Study, Christianity, Church, contemplation, High Priestly Prayer, Jesus, jesus prays, John 17, LCMS, one in Christ, religion, Sacerdotal Prayer, theology

How an Old Person Should Ask a Young Person to Church

2 Comments Posted by Derek Johnson on May 7, 2013

“…always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;” 1 Peter 3:15, ESV

A lot of times when I visit a church (or sometimes at my own church), I get this eager look from old people, as if they want to cheer, “Yes, finally someone under the age of forty is showing up! All is not lost!” And just like that, those eager eyes send me running in the opposite direction (okay, not like that.)

But seriously, a large percentage of young people leave the church in their twenties, and since I am still in my twenties and have gone to church consistently throughout the last ten years of my life, let me give some advice to the AARP crowd about how to talk to Gen-Y about church.

First, listen to where they are in their lives. Young people get a lot of messages from the culture about what the church is, and have a lot of things vying for their time. Let them give voice to some of them before you offer yours.And know that, of all the options that they have, you have one that speaks of true life and salvation, so…

Go to them in hope and optimism. As I alluded to before, if you come off as eager, you’ll just look desperate. If you say “What are you looking for in a church?”, it puts the onus on them. They may not even be looking for a church or want anything to do with a church, and will look at you as if you are coming to them to fulfill a need. Instead, talk to what knowing God in this place has meant to your life, and how the ancillary support system has helped you.

Speak in humility and have a message about how God has called you. They will expect you to preach at them, so make sure to make it personal when you talk about your relationship with God and His church on earth. Remember, they can listen to any message that they want to hear. You need to give them a reason to listen to yours.

And make sure you have a message that has theological content, albeit basic. Most young people won’t go to church just for the sake of going, so talk about your specific beliefs and about how Christ comes to you in His word and sacrament.

Do all of this in confidence, because it’s God’s work. Our socially liberal culture may seem appealing and act as if the church will eventually die out, but the peace that passes all understanding only comes through Christ. Churches may rise and fall, but God sustains them all.

Our culture preaches a message that accepts the breakdown of the family in all areas: divorce, premarital sex, living together without marriage (for many, many years even), and homosexual relationships. Many young people simply accept that a lifelong marriage is an unrealistic goal. This contemporary world is very similar to the one Jesus sent His apostles into to preach the good news and offer an alternative to the pagan lifestyle of the day. That is what you and the church have to offer Gen Y, thanks be to God.

Where I watch the sermon from when I'm on Worship Committee Duty

The Lord’s House, not ours

Religion Christianity, culture, Evangelism, Gen Y, Generational Gap, Jesus, Lutheranism, religion, Sharing the Good News, spirituality

Study on John 16:12-22, The Trinity and the Holy Spirit’s Job

Leave a Comment Posted by Derek Johnson on April 28, 2013

All Scriptures English Standard Version (ESV)

This morning, I had the privilege of leading a Bible study at St. John in Seward on John 16:12-22, the reading of the day for the fifth Sunday after Easter on the sending of the Holy Spirit and “a little while, and you will see me no longer.” (v.16). The Heritage Room study is a very talkative group, which allows for a very open discussion and easy day if you are the leader. Here’s some notes from that study and thanks to everyone who was there who contributed.

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (v. 12) Jesus has told his disciples that one of them will betray him and now has lead them to the garden and has warned them that the world will hate them (15:18), all before his crucifixion. Jesus has laid on them many tough teachings on how the church will be after He is gone and their minds must have been swimming.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (v. 14-16) We see the interplay in between the members of the Trinity. In mysterious fashion, Jesus will have to leave His disciples after His great victory over death for the Spirit to come. But the Spirit will not lead people according to their whims or directives, but “will not speak on his own authority.”

Our God is modeling within himself what relationships are to be, as each person of the Godhead serves according to the will of all three. Jesus said in John 5:19 “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.” Proper relationships are all based upon service and how we serve our neighbor.

This is a mystery: how does an almighty God not only exist as three persons, but be one. If God would have wanted us to know how this could be, he would have told us, but, as Jesus said to His disciples, they already had enough to bear. This goes against the grain of American culture, where storing up things is encouraged and we can access a wealth of information on the internet. How can we not understand how the persons of the Trinity submit to each other? And yet, in this regard, it is a blessing not to know.

As the Lutheran Study Bible notes (literally), the Spirit is “guiding” the church “in truth”, that is the truth that is already revealed in the Scriptures and through the Apostles. This is not meant to be a directive to deduce new revelations from God, as some would assert. In a speech dissected on Issues, Etc. earlier this year, openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal Church in the USA used “the Spirit…will guide you into all the truth” as the reason believers should disregard all the passages against homosexuality. Basically, whatever anyone asserts comes from the Holy Spirit is valid truth, even when it’s contrary to other parts of Scripture. This is why clear passages interpret unclear passages.

“‘…A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.’ So some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What is this that he says to us, “A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me”’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father”?’ (v. 16-17) In retrospect, we know that Jesus was talking about his death and reappearance after his Resurrection, but these words must have come to them as a play on words. (In verse 29, the disciples will thank Jesus for saying plainly that he is going to the Father.) If a husband telling his wife that he will take out the trash “in a little while”, the wife may wonder when a little while is. So the disciples wonder here.

Devotional, Lutheranism, Religion Bible Study, Christianity, Gospel of John, Holy Spirit, religion, spirit of truth, spirituality, St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, theology, Trinity, Triune God

Good. Working on it.

2 Comments Posted by Derek Johnson on April 13, 2013

So let me say this first: I believe in the Lutheran teachings about good works, that they flow from the heart of faith only, and that we can’t consciously do good works. I believe that, I really do. But I still have a question.

When I started going to St. John, I wasn’t really involved in anything. I had a lot of time on my hands, so I began helping with the tape ministry, welcomers, and serving on worship committee for the sole reason that I was bored and wanted something to do around church. I didn’t really care about the people who were getting the tapes or I was helping into church. Okay, that is not really true. Technically, I do care about people who are shut-in and in the nursing home. I’d have to be a pretty cold guy not too.

But those good works, like a number of my good works were done simply because they were right in front of me and I just didn’t want to be the bad guy. I wanted to be the bad who once in a while did something not as terrible. Does that make my good works a little less good? Well, any way I answer that question, I’ll end up saying that my good works came from me.

That’s really part of the practical problem with the Lutheran doctrine on good works. Said doctrine states that good works flow from faith, that they are the work of the Holy Spirit, and that even if we try, our good works are just filthy rags. Even when we are thinking we do a good work, it becomes soiled because we are always sinking in our sinful motivation. Perhaps my good works out of apathy reflect this to a degree. My problem with this doctrine is, how do you go out after hearing it and do anything for God, if you know that what you do will ultimately just get soiled by your sin? It’s like the problem with inception Arthur points out to Saito in Christopher Nolan ‘s movie: if you tell someone not to think about elephants, they’ll just think about elephants. If you tell a Christian that good works only flow from faith and have nothing to do with himself, won’t the Christian automatically just do good works because he was told that good works don’t come from himself?

I’m not sure how to answer that, other than to say there’s no good or perfect way to live in this fallen, sorrowful world. Trust whatever certainty you have to Christ, and seek His forgiveness and image. The sheep in the parable didn’t know their good works, so I don’t worry if I can’t know mine.

Lutheranism, Religion Christianity, Devotional, Good works, Gospel, Life, Love, Lutherans, Martin Luther, parable of the sheep and the goats, self-righteousness, the Law

Why go to Easter Vigil and Long Communion Lines

1 Comment Posted by Derek Johnson on March 30, 2013

If you are good Lutheran, you will have been to church three times in four days by the time Easter is up, so why would it hurt if you went four times in four days? I get it: you’re physically spent, and you literally can’t go to church again. But if you live in Seward, here’s the benefit of coming to Easter Vigil at St. John: you will get to watch yours truly play with fire!

Okay, that’s a really lousy reason compared to hearing about God’s grace and reason. But it is ironic that the two major festivals in the church, Christmas (celebration of the Incarnate Word) and Easter (Celebration of Christ’s victory), are both marked by service the night before that involve candles. One is the height of all celebration, the other is an afterthought.

Pastor Will Weedon does a lot better job of explaining Easter Vigil in this podcast, but let me state this from my experience: the service is a lot of readings (not unlike Christmas day), and focuses on how the story of the Bible has culminated in the event we celebrate on Easter, Christ’s resurrection, the promised and testified to hope. If you’re home, going to bed early for 6:30 sunrise service, I understand. But you are missing out.

It’ll look just like this.

Lutherans seem talk about communion a lot, but in one of two ways: one, there are those who talk about what a joy it is to receive Christ’s body and blood, and two, how long it takes. I haven’t met a lot of Lutherans who will talk about both.

Let me just say this, since Easter is tomorrow and you’re probably going to find yourself in a long line: give thanks that it takes so long to go up for communion. You get to sing more hymns, and more time to ponder the mystery of the sacrament. And if you’re church has a lot of old people who sit in front like mine does, it’s going to take them a long time to get up there. I’m on the ushering committee at St. John, I know how long it takes.

I’m guessing there are certain congregations in the LCMS that discontinued weekly communion because it just took so long and so many volunteer hours, which I get. But while it’s up to an individual congregation to decide how often they communion, just remember: you are receiving a gift from God, with your brothers and sisters, for your eternal salvation. Do you really want to complain about how long it takes to set the table and do the dishes?

Let me share from my own personal experience. Since I usher at St. John’s, there are Sundays I don’t get to read the prayer in the front of the hymnal before I go up to take communion. Sometimes, I do feel rushed, since I communion at the end and have to tell Pastor who needs to receive communion in the pew (which is a significant responsibility). I don’t always take communion with the best mindset, but I’m there, and my receiving depends on what God does for me, not what I’m thinking at the time.

So this Sunday, when you’re in a long line headed to an assist who is standing outside the altar, just remember: you’re able to have slice of heaven this because Jesus gave up his God-head and rose from the dead. Even if you’re groggy, you’re getting Christ’s body and blood.

Holidays, Lutheranism, Religion altar guild, attitude, candlelight service, Christian, Christianity, Church, church year, Doctrine and Practice, Easter, easter celebration, Easter Vigil, Holy Communion, incarnate word, Liturgy, Lutheran, Real presence, religion, salvation, Service, sunrise service, Volunteering

Days Gone By

3 Comments Posted by Derek Johnson on March 27, 2013

Ever since I got past the initial burst of buying the house, I hit a personal slump with less to do. I even found out today that the loan is on schedule and I don’t need to do anything for that for a while. With great relief, I’m doing my taxes; this year, the money is more important than it normally is, given what I will have to invest in the house.

I’m in a bit of a writing funk, pretty typical for this time of year. If I’m going to write, I need a lot of walk-outside, free-headspace time on the trail, and the current weather has restricted this this. It hardly feels like I’m two months away from hitting the road to go and see little corn plants popping out of Wisconsin and Michigan soil, ground that is probably now covered with snow. I still try to wear shorts every day that I can, as a way of protesting the snow that still insists on falling.

I’ve stalled on the fiction piece I was working on earlier this year. I have a large chunk of it down, and I have written notes to finish it, but it doesn’t feel as fresh as it did. Of course, all writing goes through phases, and it probably needs a polish. But I worry a lot that it has stalled out after a major revelation, at a point where some of the main characters will need to be very confrontational. Confrontation isn’t always my specialty.

I have followed through on my commitment to listen to more Issues, Etc, and other religious/educational podcasts and regulate out some ESPN radio. It works most of the time, although Issues, Etc, is pretty heavy, and probably does contribute to my need to walk more and process stuff.

But the real affect of listening to theology and reading Christian blogs, it’s realizing all the crappy television and cheap lit I read is full of secularist garbage that keeps me from sharing and living in my faith. Most of this particular revelation comes from a book by Ben Shapiro, Primetime Propaganda, a book about how far left the television is, including breakdowns of specific shows from the last forty years. I knew everything on TV was liberal, but what I didn’t know was that Hollywood treats conservatives with a blind hatred, refusing to hire moderate conservatives who grow up around liberal and keep their politics “in the closet”. Of course, I still watch TV (it’s crack, what can I say), but I do it with understanding that it won’t provide me with any affirmation I need.

And at the center of it all, I think I’m just lonely. My thoughts have turned toward dating again, or at least connecting with people. Perhaps it’s just the natural progression of things, of doing something like buying a home that people usually wait to do until they get married. Certainly, getting married would make all the work I have to do around the house a lot less taxing.

It’s times like this I’m actually happy to go to the office and plant samples, empty the trash, move trays, and mop the floor. I love writing and doing this blog, but I think to myself a lot that I’d be just as happy if I was working with samples every day. Did I just write that?

Washed up? Hopefully not yet

At least Holy Week is early this year. I’ll miss midweek dinners at church and seeing my church family on Wednesdays, but I don’t like having to wait until the end of April for Easter. Lent hasn’t felt like the downer it has in the past, because I’ve come to realize that repentance is something to be done in joy, as we are coming before a merciful God, knowing he will forgive us. I’m looking forward to the musical festivities of Easter, and moving forward with the church year. Thanks be to God.

Religion, Personal Journey Challenges, changes, changing seasons, Christianity, climate, Growth, introspection, Life, nature, self-evaluation, slumps, Snow, winter, Writer's block, Writing

Prayers

2 Comments Posted by Derek Johnson on September 2, 2012

This past year, I received a leather bound journal for Christmas. Presently, I wasn’t in a journaling frenzy, so I decided to turn it into a prayer book, with the prayers I write down and pray again and again, along with other spiritual meditations. Here’s a sampling of them.

Heavenly Father,

You have said that all who turn to you in faith, You will not turn away. Save me according to Your unfailing love and grace through your Son Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice is good enough for You. May my hope be the one who needs no repentance. Amen.

You are the Creator of all that is good. Cause my mind to meditate on such things, so that I may not be drowned into sin and my mind may be renewed.

You have given us your word for our salvation. Grant us patience to study it, that we may be faithful unto death. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Heavenly Father, You created male and female. Grant us oh Lord grace to serve each other in peace, according to the gifts You have given us, neither out of envy nor strife, but out of love for one another.

In the Light

Lutheranism, Religion Christianity, religion, spirituality

Alien, Prometheus, and the Married Life of Abortion and Darwinism

Leave a Comment Posted by Derek Johnson on July 15, 2012

(Warning: The following post contains spoilers from the movie Prometheus. Proceed at your own risk.)

I saw Alien and Aliens ten years ago, and when I began reading about Prometheus, the prologue to Alien, last year, I was curious Damon Lindelof’s bold statements that Prometheus would be a bold film about idea and philosophy, and after reconsidering Alien, I wanted to see the film. Lindelof himself is among a group of sci-fi writers who seek to provide man with an explanation for the universe that can exclude God (which I wrote about last winter after seeing Super 8) and is generally a preachy writer who insists on inserting his big, meaty ideas into what would ordinally be an interesting narrative on its own.

Remembering the original film and it’s signature images, I saw Alien as an analogy for how the breakdown of the family can lead to abortion. Think of a young woman, who has a rocky relationship with her parents, then runs off with a boyfriend who turns out to be abusive. Then she hears that she’s pregnant, and in that instant, she envisions the baby growing inside her as a monstrous combination of her parents and boyfriend, just waiting to burst out of her chest. Her abusive boyfriend blames her for getting pregnant, she is an object of scorn to her family, and the weight of caring for a baby weighs on her. She has to kill it, even if it means killing part of herself.

Unwanted pregnancy?

Prometheus has a much more direct abortion scene, where central character Elizabeth Shaw (a Ripley without Ripley-isms) has a Cesarian section of an alien baby in automated medical chamber. It is grizzly and terrifying as anything in the original Alien, as Shaw programs the machine to remove the rapidly developing offspring from her deceased lover. But what the scene gets really right is the loneliness of abortion: Shaw runs down the corridors of a ship full of people alone, has the alien removed by machine (apparently without numbing medicine), and afterward, stumbles out down the hallway. Abortion, in one sense, really is a desire to remain alone, out of the sense of sin. If you can’t deal with your own sin, how could you deal with the sin of the next generation.

The sadness of being

The tragedy of abortion is just the tip of Prometheus‘ ice berg of man’s desire to make a god that works for him. The film throws around view points: Shaw herself is the child of Christian missionaries, but Lindelof’s choice of her religion seems blase. The film doesn’t even seem that interested in proving Christianity wrong (which it does anyway), but showing the danger of what happens when man ventures to seek that which is above him. To Prometheus, the “maker of humanity” (humanoid aliens who left their DNA on earth to give Darwin the boost he needed) is a cruel, arbitrary judge who destroys the humans and would go to destroy their homeland and start over. In short, the ancestor in Prometheus is how non-Christians view God, all justice and no mercy.

After watching the film, I was curious as to why Deism was replaced by Darwinism. Deism allows man to believe in a creator without dealing sin. Darwinism lead man on a path that puts man into such a more depressing situation.That is the world where literally you would want to kill the offspring that comes from your flesh. The original Alien had much better philosophy.

Movies, Religion abortion, Alien, Christianity, Damon Lindelof, Elizabeth Shaw, Ellen Ripley, Films, Meaning of Life, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Sci-fi, Space Opera

Jesus and His Brothers

Leave a Comment Posted by Derek Johnson on June 3, 2012

And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:31-35 ESV)

This was the text for the Sunday morning Bible study I attend, and its one that cuts to me personally because of what it says about the family. In conservative, religious-based political circles, there is a lot of talk about fighting for the family, family first, etc. Given the track record of the lifestyle left, I’m actually surprised that they haven’t used this passage to say, “See, Jesus didn’t confine himself to the traditional definition of family.”

Jesus’ family must have been an interesting dynamic. Jesus is the talent sibling who goes out into the world to pursue his teaching and ministry, which leads to “Jesus mania”, aka Bieber fever without social media. Jesus is out teaching the people. Back home, Jesus’ brothers and sister are running the carpentry business, taking care of Mom, and feeling that Jesus is ignoring them.

Yes, Jesus does still care for His family. From the cross, he told John to look after his mother (John 19:26-27). But his vocation was/is God’s Son, Savior of the World. In short, head of God’s family. What God gave, first to Adam and Eve (the first family), he fulfills in Christ, who unites us to him.

Devotional, Lutheranism, Religion Christianity, Devotional, Gospel of Mark, Jesus, Jesus' Mother and Brothers, LCMS, Lutheran, Mary, Mediation, Religious

Vocation of Writer/Artist

2 Comments Posted by Derek Johnson on May 31, 2012

I have a conflict within my vocation as an aspiring writer/artist becomes. As an aspiring artist, it is my duty to follow my heart every day, but as a Lutheran Christian, following my heart causes me grave concern. I have to give into time of free head-space and wandering thoughts, but wandering thoughts in many instances causes me to turn to places I know I shouldn’t go. It is in those moments, I have to run back to the words and sacrament, remember why my Lord and Savior has called me to this life.

In many ways, it leads me on a course where it would be natural to despise God’s Word. The path of an artist is one of finding what is new. Read as many books as you can, listen to every kind of music, travel, met new people, have new experiences.The nature of God’s Word is to read it over and over, keep its sayings close, and there are times when I open it up and find myself bored with it after five seconds. (Previous forlornings on not knowing the scriptures.)

As an artist, you have to accept things as they are. If you can’t photograph a certain barn on the road without power lines getting in the way, then you have incorporate the lines into the photo in the best way. As a writer, you have to find the best way to express yourself. But as a Christian, you have to know that “all things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.” (1 Corinthians 10:23). While emotions aren’t wrong, using them as your only guide in life is.

Even as artists, you do have to make judgments about how you present your work. You have to decide what to edit and what to go with, and how to tweak your photos on the computer. There are some directions that an artists just shouldn’t go: even though the nude form is good, not every presentation of it is appropriate. You find a way to express yourself, but if others don’t find it meaningful, then what good is it?

But God is the ultimate authority on what is good, not man. It is He who sends rain on the good and the bad, and this is His creation. I just express it to his glory, Amen.

Art, Religion Art, Artistic Freedom, Christianity, Doctrine of Vocation, God, head space, lord and savior, Luther, Lutheranism, nature of god, new experiences, religion, spirituality, Vocation

Ron Brown’s Testimony: Wasn’t it a Sports Issue?

1 Comment Posted by Derek Johnson on May 27, 2012

(A note: while I write for a website that covers the Nebraska Cornhuskers, this is derekjohnsonmuses.com piece and not a piece that reflects the views of huskerlocker.com . The goal of this piece was to cover the one aspect of the Brown-fiasco that concerned sports, although I may have spilled over into social commentary in some places. As those of you who read this blog regularly know, I consider myself to be a devote Christian and a social conservative. In future posts, I intend to deal with the other aspects of raised by Brown’s testimony that concern Christian apologetics.)

For a while, Ron Brown’s testimony at a public forum in Omaha has been on my mind, as both a sports topic and a Christian apologist’s topic. I wonder if the whole thing would have blown up the way that it did if Brown had just differentiated his position from that of the University of Nebraska’s at the meeting. He spoke for three minutes at the meeting, mostly just calling the council to consider the Scripture and what it said. It was a bit uncouth, but never in the statement did Brown say anything hateful. In response, ESPN’s Page 2 was flooded with articles calling for Brown a bigot and that leaders who took such “hateful” positions should be relegated to positions with religious non-profits.

But there is really only one relevant question for sports talk radio in this matter: should an assistant coach at a major college be taking any political position? I’ve mulled over how I would feel if there was a Nebraska assistant taking the opposite position on homosexuality. I would be saddened, but that’s that particular coach’s right to do so.

In general, there’s a good reason that coaches are discouraged from taking controversial political positions. To develop a well-formed position that is above reproach takes time and study, and coaches spend all day in their offices studying tape. The debate over a gay anti-discrimination ordinance specifically is a difficult piece of legislation to debate. While they are community leaders, they are not the first people we should look to on issues like the one before us.

Brown’s testimony at the public forum could have been tailored better (as it was in his open letter he sent to the Lincoln Journal-Star the day before Lincoln had their public forum on the “fairness” amendment). Don’t misconstrue what I’m writing: I’m not saying that Ron Brown can’t take the stage at public forums as a private citizen. But, in the debate over the gay agenda, each side is waiting to pounce on the others flubs, and Brown did give them a reason with his unpolished statement.

But the sports writers who have taken up positions against Brown have made the same mistake he did, only worse. Charles P. Pierce wrote in his grantland.com post said “But somebody should take [Ron Brown] aside and explain to him that the world is changing around him and that, for everyone’s sake, it’s time for him to adjust or get out of the way.” Just telling Ron Brown to shut up and get out of the way? While they gay lifestyle is widely accepted where Pierce lives in Massachusetts, it’s not as widely accepted in other areas of the country (even California voted to ban gay marriage), and that hammering it at other people’s heads doesn’t help his position, the hallmark of which is tolerance. Which means being permissive of the views of other and supporting their right to have those beliefs, even if they disagree with your own.

Alongside Pierce, Rick Reilly and Gene Wojciechowski have been quick to publish angry, politically driven piece on ESPN. If one of these sportswriters took these positions and went into town hall-debate with a Christian apologist like James White or Colleen Carroll Campbell on the homosexual lifestyle, I would not be surprised if their arguments looked shoddier than Ron Brown’s did. But then of course, they are sportswriters.

Football, Religion Charles P. Pierce, Christianity, Controversial Issues, ESPN, Gay Lobby, Gay Marriage, Homosexuality, Nebraska, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Politics, Public Square, Pulic Forum, religion, Rick Reilly, Ron Brown, social conservative, Sports

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