Pastor Jeffress and the Church's "Diminishing Minority"

Robert Jeffress, who makes his living as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, has an extraordinarily obtuse column in the Washington Post today. The blinders are most apparent in this paragraph:


"Yet evangelicals need to remember that we are a diminishing minority in America. If we care about winning elections with candidates who will push back against abortion and immorality, then we have to be willing to compromise on some secondary issues to form a winning coalition with other Republicans."

So, to be clear, Mr. Jeffress is acknowledging the decline of the Church ("diminishing minority in America"), yet he wishes to focus his concerns on garnering "a winning coalition with other Republicans."

There can be little doubt, as Mr. Jeffress suggests, that this would be good for the Republican Party, which during better days has ridden evangelical foot soldiers to political victory. However, the minister never bothers to ask about the impact of this on the church, which has raised hostility toward itself for reasons that frequently have had nothing to do with the Church's commission. The reduction of evangelicals to the place of a voting block has not helped their cause, and when the public at large hears about a bully pulpit, they now think of it as more bully than pulpit.

While Mr. Jeffress, and others, are right that the church should take stands on issues such as abortion and gay marriage, it is questionable whether subordinating the church to the Republican Party has really been the right way to go in that regard. In addition, the positions that the religious right have taken on matters such as the separation of church and state, not to mention the propriety of voting for a Mormon, have frequently manifested historical and theological ignorance, as well as a failure to develop a philosophy of the goals and limits of public policy engagement (note Mr. Jeffress vague assertion about wanting candidates that push back on "immorality," a rather broad goal that would require a very un-conservative expansion of government authority).

The public knows very well what evangelical leaders think about the Republican Party. Unfortunately, they have little idea what those leaders think about justification by faith. The Church will be better off when that is reversed.

Reformation Day 2012

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany and, thus, unwittingly, launched the Protestant Reformation. Far from being stale history, this unleashed powerful religious, cultural, and intellectual forces that altered the course of western civilization. Secularists can appreciate the blow that Luther's hammer struck in behalf of the concept of freedom of conscience. Those who understand Luther's religious message have even more to appreciate. Unfortunately, many sectors of American Christianity have forgotten or even deny that message, and that has contributed to the impoverishment of the church's teaching, both to congregants and to those outside the church.


Luther was a volatile personality given to both emotional and rhetorical excess, but his early career gives testimony to the vacuity of the religion of do more and try harder. Luther read the biblical phrase "the righteousness of God," and he was terrified by the notion of a perfect and all powerful righteousness and justice that contrasted sharply with his own failures. Luther knew himself to be a lawbreaker and cowered at the idea of standing before the bar of justice of One who was perfect light. But what could he do to bridge that chasm?

As a monastic priest he spent hours in confession and flagellated himself at night in hopes of ridding himself of the sin lurking within him. Rigorous effort brought no peace, because he recognized that efforts at self-improvement and religious commitment could only take him so far. They could not rid him of the soul gnawing guilt that afflicted him. Liberation came with the understanding that "the righteousness of God" was not only the righteousness that God embodies and requires, but it is the imputed righteousness that God gives freely by His grace. By Christ's sinless life and substitutionary death, an exchange of accounts takes place: all of my sin was deposited upon Christ, who suffered for it; all of His righteousness was deposited in my account, and I am counted righteous as a result. Justification comes not to the one who works, but to the one who believes. Peace with God is His accomplishment, not ours. Thus, we can believe with gratitude.

Luther's soul liberating message centered around five "solas" (alones). Justification, he came to contend, was 1) by grace alone; 2) through faith alone; 3) through Christ alone; 4) for the glory of God alone. Ultimate religious authority was found in 5) Scripture alone.

Many churches now consider this message to be irrelevant to modern hearers, and so they provide congregants with a sort of light legalism of how to's: steps to a meaningful life, how to be a better leader, how to love your wife, and so forth. These are sometimes nice things that one doesn't need a church for. As the chief end of religion, they can bring guilt and more effort, but they cannot justify. These supposedly relevant churches fail to offer the message of true liberation from the slavery of sin and death, and of the joy of life for the glory of God. Churches don't need to go back to Luther to find this, but they do need to go back to the Bible and rediscover Luther's gospel.

Happy Reformation Day. And may churches experience a new reformation turning back to the primacy of the gospel in the 21st century.

Why Would Anyone Buy an Airline with These Pilots?

Whatever one may think of the American Airlines pilots' union and the pilots' particular grievances with regard to the termination of their contract due to the bankruptcy filing of their employer, this much is clear:  the union, and many of its member pilots, is committed to the destruction of its employer.  While walking through Love Field last night surrounded by passengers arriving or departing on the planes of American's most notable discount rival, I overheard numerous people discussing the AA pilots and their decision not to fly that airline and risk being stranded as a result of the pilots' game playing.

Yes, the pilots are committed to the destruction of their employer.  Passengers are currently taking note.  Any potential buyer of AA -- or any potential employer of these pilots -- would be wise to do likewise.

Steroid User Ties Gehrig's Mark

Last night, Alex Rodriguez became the first admitted steroid user to hit 23 grand slams in his Major League career.  Lou Gehrig remains the only Major League player to hit that many grand slams without the advantage of chemical enhancement.

Perhaps we will one day speak of those passed over for Hall of Fame consideration in spite of gaudy statistics and because of known steroid usage as having Alex Rodriguez' disease.  That is, unless the honor should pass to Barry Bonds or Mark McGuire instead.  One hopes for their sake that it is only their reputations that have been damaged by such usage.

Perry, Cruz, and the Future of Republicans in Texas

Introducing Ted Cruz at the American Legislative Exchange Council's December 2010 States and Nation Policy Summit, Texas governor Rick Perry referred to the youngest solicitor general in the history of the state of Texas as "the future of the Republican party."  However, in the race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison, Governor Perry has decided to endorse a reversion to the past, throwing his support to establishment moderate Lieutenant Governor David Dewherst.

Given Governor Perry's general willingness to align himself with tea party and evangelical conservatives, with whom Mr. Cruz is popular, his choice seems odd, though it makes sense on a pragmatic level.  If Mr. Dewherst fails in his quest for the U.S. Senate seat, he retains his role as Lt. Governor, which includes the ability to drive policy in the Texas state senate.  Had Mr. Perry endorsed Ted Cruz, and if Mr. Cruz was elected, Mr. Dewherst's remaining in Texas likely would not be helpful either to the Governor's policy initiatives nor to his seeming interest in pursuing another term in the governor's seat.

In yesterday's primary, Mr. Dewherst won a plurality of votes and is the favorite to win the nomination, but he did not garner enough votes to avoid a runoff with Mr. Cruz.  Governor Perry's craven interests aside, it will be a shame if a candidate who has the potential to excel on a national stage suffers defeat in this race.  Regardless of the outcome in 2010, Mr. Cruz will have a strong future in Texas and American politics.  Mr. Dewherst will never be anything more than a placeholder.

PNC Park

The Oracle flew to Pittsburgh over the weekend and saw two titanic struggles between my Cincinnati Reds and the hometown Pirates.  Though I had never been to the stadium before, I had heard much favorable comment about the venue where the Pirates play, and I was not disappointed.  I enjoyed the Saturday night game from center field, which was good.  Sunday, I sat along the third base line, and that was spectacular.  The view of all parts of the fields was good.  And, looking out and seeing the bridge over the river along with the Pittsburgh skyline provided a great view. 

"Satch, Dizzy, & Rapid Robert": A Review

Before Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers integrated Major League Baseball in 1946, white and black professional ballplayers competed against one another in barnstorming tours in the fall and winter of each year. In "Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert," historian Timothy M. Gay provides a history of that era, capturing both the prejudice and discrimination characterizing those times and the hopeful events of these tours.

While numerous other stars, both white and black, are covered, Mr. Gay focuses on the contributions of the three players named in the title. Lanky in physique, and mercurial in personality, Satchel Paige would certainly have been universally regarded as one of the greatest players of his time if he had been permitted to play in the white leagues earlier in his career. Past age 40 when he was finally allowed to pitch in the Majors, he nonetheless put together some solid years in the big leagues.

Dizzy Dean and Bob Feller are neither lionized nor demonized in the book. While they are praised for participating in tours that helped open the door to integrating baseball -- at a time when many white players refused to compete against black players and MLB frowned on the inter-racial off season games -- it is also noted that Messrs. Dean and Feller primarily engaged in these events for money making purposes, not for social ones.

Modern baseball fans will be surprised at the number of innings pitched, working almost daily at times, during these tours. While the strain of barnstorming probably contributed to the early retirement of Mr. Dean (though he ultimately hurt his arm by changing his motion after a line drive broke his toe), it did not seem to affect either Mr. Paige or Mr. Feller.

While the book covers much interesting ground about a world that is thankfully foreign to the modern reader, it sometimes suffer from a travel log type style, with repetitive recounting of cities, crowd sizes, and numbers of hits and strikeouts by various players. Nonetheless, the descriptions of the various personalities involved, as well as anecdotes from the various tours, make this book a recommended read for any baseball fan.