Ringing in My Ears

I have a hearing problem called tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

And it’s gotten worse over the years.

And it’s social price-tags are going up.

There.   I’ve said it.   The cat’s out of the bag.

The Incident

Several weeks ago, I took my son to a high school class registration event where we worked our way through numerous lines in a large, loud, public area.

For some reason having to do with self-consciousness and not wanting to draw attention, he lowered his voice.

I kept asking him to speak up, and he kept refusing.

Finally, after losing my patience with him and him wondering why I was upset, I did something I have never, ever done before in my life.

I admitted to another human being that I had a hearing problem.

Explaining to him that I had tinnitus, a constant ringing in the ears that makes it really hard to hear in loud, echo-filled, background noise intense, public places.

I described how it affected me in funny ways–I heard everyone else in that room talking super loud, but I couldn’t hear him–the person right next to me.

My son was shocked, told me he had no idea…and began to speak up.

Why the Silence

Truth be told, it’s not cool to be mild-to-moderately deaf twenty years too early.

I have these unattractive images of older people who’s lost their hearing:

• Hearing people wrong and repeating their wrong guesses out loud.
• Speaking too loud when replying on a phone or in person.
• Saying, “What?”, “Could you say that again–I didn’t hear you?, “Could you repeat yourself?”
• Fumbling with their hearing aids.
• Having them squeal in a quiet part of a worship service and not realizing it until their spouse elbows them.
• Dropping them into a cup of coffee–and spending thousands of dollars to replace them.

They are not pleasant or attractive images.

They are images full of social awkwardness, hindered communication, and, above old, growing old.

They are the butt of jokes and fodder for comedians.

It’s Me, O Lord!

I don’t want these pictures to be me.

But they are me!

So there’s a lot of social pain wrapped around the condition.

I’d rather pretend and live in a fantasy land of denial.

Until I can’t anymore.

Of course there’s nothing shameful about having a disability.

Too many loud rock band practices, concerts, and performances during my teen years are the culprit.

And there’s not much I can do about it thirty years later until it gets so bad a hearing aid becomes compulsory.

Or perhaps the exciting developments in Great Britain about a potential breakthrough in non-invasive tinnitus treatment will bring relief.

They’re discovering tinnitus might not be physical damage to the ear but circuitry damage to brain from sound overload.

Compensating for the Secret Problem

When one is going slowly deaf, you try to work around it. So…

I avoided large, bad acoustic, public settings.

I invited people talking with me to step into the hall.

I arrived at large social events late and left early because the din was so great it was a torment.

I delayed getting a cell phone as long as possible.

I avoided making phone calls as much as possible–it’s really hard for me to catch silences and social signals of who’s turn it is to speak or when someone is done.

I’ve largely limited communication to writing, or in live, one-on-one settings.

I would be largely silent on conference calls because the static and background noise from all the participants’ phones was too difficult to overcome.

My Second, Worse Problem

My deafness is undeniably a problem.

But my failed, shame-driven attempt to conceal it was a far worse problem.

On account of my personal embarrassment, very few people in the world know this part of me.

I’ve denied myself their compassion, understanding, and, most tragically, their conversation.

And I’ve hindered ability to minister to others because, to the unaware critic, my compensating behaviors come off as anti-social or unfriendly.

The untold story is I was greatly embarrassed and had this dread of being unable to work in churches if my secret ever came out.

“Who would want to hire a somewhat deaf pastor?” was the fear.

I failed to ask, “How can I help them to work with a somewhat deaf pastor, adjust their expectations, and not take my limitation personally?”

To put it another way, “How can I give them the information they need to not be frustrated and extend Christ’s love to me?”

Coming Out

So, as an act of humility and repentance, I decided to go public.

It won’t change my limitations.

But at least honesty promises to build more bridges of compassion and understanding, and tear down walls of misjudgment and isolation.

Questions for Pope Francis

As most everyone knows, Pope Francis is visiting our country, has met with our president, and spoken before our Congress.

Francis encouraged us to have wide open borders and use our wealth to fund global carbon reduction goals.

“Welcome them all in” and “fund carbon reduction around the world” would be the slogans.

So let me ask him some hypothetical questions….

On America Welcoming Any and All Migrants

Are we morally obligated to have no effective, functional borders, and no controls over who can and can’t enter our country?

Are we morally obligated to let anyone cross our borders who wishes–as long as conditions in their home country are economically worse than ours?

Are we morally obligated to treat foreign nationals who follow the legal process for entry and residency the same as those who violate/disregard that process?

Is raising the above questions sinful?  And is disagreeing with the policies of governments and/or advocacy groups that have this agenda morally wrong?

How does the Old Testament command to Jews to treat well the Gentile individuals in their midst, directly apply to a mass migration situation confronting Europe and the United States right now?

Did the Jews not guard their territorial integrity, safeguarding their societal and religious distinctiveness, all throughout their history–all in obedience to the Mosaic covenant?

Our immigrating great-grandparents entered the country legally, learned English, embraced American culture and the melting pot idea–is it therefore morally wrong to expect today’s newcomers to do this as well?

On America Funding Global Carbon Reduction

Is a nation so heavily in debt as ours is right now obligated to pay the bill for other nations’ carbon reduction programs, simply because we are wealthier than they are or industrialized earlier than they did?

If, as you point out, we are neglecting the care of our own people, do we have any business funding other nations’ environmental programs?

Is it right to point out that, in so many of these Third World nations, corruption reigns and the vast majority of our foreign aid has been squandered over many decades or lined the pockets of their elites?

Is it right to wonder if this endeavor won’t end up being another foreign aid boondoggle that ends up hurting our own working poor the most?

If, as you advocate, we ought to take the lead in funding the reduction of carbon emissions, will this cost not fall the heaviest on those poor folks who drive the oldest, least fuel efficient cars?

Will this not hurt rural communities with high levels of rural poverty, whose livelihood is tied to the coal industry and/or who must drive the furthest distances and travel the most miles to jobs, shops, etc.?

What about them?

Inside vs. Outside Perceptions

To be fair, Francis spoke in generalities, and he is, by his own admission, largely unfamiliar with the United States, its culture, and its unique society.

To his Argentinian eyes, we are the land of unrivaled plenty, a source of endless wealth, full of wide open spaces, and home base for an unbridled, exploitative capitalism that is destroying the world.

Almost like we still live in the late 1800’s–with its industrial robber barons, their monopolies, their exploitive rape of the environment, and their social darwinist approach to their workers.

This unchecked, exploitive, resource raping capitalism was curbed at home in the early 20th century, but continued abroad well into the 1960’s and 1970’s.

But, to our eyes, we have become a massively indebted society that is heavily regulated and deeply polarized–unfairly blamed for all the world’s current woes.

To our eyes, we are overwhelmed by the huge levels of chronic dependency and feel already overpopulated rather than empty.

We feel broke and crowded, and therefore think the most responsible thing to do is to reduce expenses and limit newcomers.

I wish Francis well.

But I wish he had truly understood us better as we are right now here at home, not as we used to be abroad.

Awakening the Dragon

It’s no secret that our nation is deeply polarized right now.

We are  a nation of two all-encompassing, firmly entrenched ideologies locked in contention.

One could even argue that we are a nation of two political religions, both radicalized and both forming the core identity of their followers.

This has happened before.

In the 1850’s, abolitionism and pro-slaveryism became far more aggressive in their tone and far more expansive in their goals and in their arguments.

They became religions in their own right, disguised as Christianity.

Americans at that time self-segregated and broke relations with those on the opposite side of this divide.

Americans at that time began to see everything in zero sum terms–a win for their side is automatically a defeat for our side, and vice-versa.

Every event, however mild or incidental, fed the drum-beat of paranoia and stoked the fires of aggressive defense.

The circle of what they shared in common as Americans shrank until nothing was left, and they began to see and think of themselves as completely different nations occupying the same space.

Even Lincoln, at his first inaugural address, was unable to bridge the divide and keep the nation together.

“We must not be enemies, we must remain friends” fell on deaf ears and 4 years of terrible civil war followed.

What I find most interesting is how both sides saw themselves as defenders–defending the union or defending states rights.

And they saw the other side as insatiable aggressors–as those who were trying to destroy the union or as those who were invading the homeland to destroy a way of life.

My point in saying all this is to note there was a long process in the run-up to Civil War, an outcome that was not foreseen in 1840 but which built a momentum of its own over the next 20 years.

I see the same thing now.

Today we are similarly divided, and every bit as deeply polarized as they were.

Whereas the conservative ideology held the upper hand until the mid-2000’s, now the progressive ideology is dominant in the media, the courts, in the regulatory agencies, in educational circles, and in the executive branch.

Internationally and here at home this ideology has championed homosexuality as a positive good, and made it a litmus test of whether or not you can serve in public or private leadership.

Dissenters, however mild in their disagreement, are hounded out and made to resign their leadership positions through social media campaigns.

Or, if in small business or private organizations, dissenters are sued, tried by media, and required to be “re-educated” (in New Mexico) or fined hundreds of thousands of dollars (Oregon).

And, predictably, there is a backlash, even a counter-revolution, that is mobilizing its forces, gathering steam, and deepening its ferocity.

Why Donald Trump?

That’s why, contrary to all reason and wisdom, so many are flocking to Donald Trump.

He has tapped into the simmering anger, the smoldering rage of those who feel like they are having progressivism, homosexualism, socialism, etc. shoved down their throats.

He is mouthing off vicariously for folks who feel silenced, belittled, and on the receiving end of social shaming and bullying by the progressives.

And they love it!

He is giving them an outlet to send a gigantic, upraised middle finger of defiance against political correctness, against belittlement of their morality, and against the constant pressure to conform.

My guess is 30-40% of the white electorate feels this way.

And the more the media deplores Donald Trump, the more they laugh and cheer on his unapologetic, give-it-right-back responses.

This is more than political theater.

I fear a dangerous dragon has re-awakened.

The dragon is the suppressed anger and collective rage on the Conservative side that, once awakened, will be terribly difficult to send back into its cave.

Conservatives are not, by nature, firebrands and revolutionaries.

But once they feel like they have no legitimate place anymore in society–in business, in governing institutions–their normally solid attachment to the established order of things is severed.

(Note:  We are STILL dealing with Southern backlash 150 years after the Civil War ended!)

But the progressives are so heavily invested in “expanding” homosexual “rights”, governmental programs, political correctness, etc. it becomes a compulsion.

Their zeal extends in purging dissenters from holding any position in public society, so they will not acknowledge this building backlash.

From my chair, I would argue that it’s not conservatives, but the progressives, that have created the creature Donald Trump.

He is the mirror image of their own sanctimony, their dismissiveness and utter contempt for those who disagree them, and their narcissistic, self-justifying rudeness.

They sadly deserve each other….but our nation deserves better.

We need to step back from this precipice, this dead-end going nowhere but armed conflict in the end.

That’s why I daily pray we are not on the road to a second Civil War, and for us to get off the road if we are.

What Infinity Teaches Me About God

Infinity is a number with very strange properties, unlike any other.

Here’s some examples:

You can add any number to it, and the resulting sum still equals infinity.

Even when you add an infinity to an infinity, you still just get one infinity.

Subtract any number less than infinity from infinity, and it still equals infinity.

Place infinity over any number less than infinity, and it still equals infinity.

But place infinity under any number less than infinity, and the resulting sum equals zero.

Even dividing an infinity by an infinity will still only equal one infinity.

It’s unmultipliable, unaddable, unsubtractable, and indivisible.

How is infinity relevant?  And what does it have to do with our faith?

Simply this, it gives us some unique insights into God.

The Being we call God tells us that He has infinite capacities–all mighty, all knowing, all present, etc.

Which means He is infinite–He Himself is an Infinity in every infinite way.

God and Infinite Time

This Being claims to simultaneous exist in the Past, Present and Future.

He occupies all moments, and yet stands outside and above all time. (“Who was, and is, and is to come.”  Rev. 1:4, 8; 4:8)

Which is why there are so many prophecies–strange instances where events are foretold from the perspective of after they’ve already happened!

He can look at one instant for all time, and can survey all of time in an instant. (“With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day.” 2 Pet. 3:8)

From His perspective, we who know Him “now” are already with Him “then” in His beyond-all-time time.

Infinity helps explain such temporal conundrums like fore-knowing, election, predestination, etc. that violate our time bound perspective–the sequence of moments, cause-and-effect universe we exist in.

God and Infinite Space

This Being claims to fill and occupy all of space-simultaneously filling the heavens and the earth. (“”Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” says the Lord.”  Jer. 23:24)

Yet He no amount of space, however vast, contains Him, and He stands outside the physical universe. (Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house that I have built!” 2 Chron. 6:18)

There was no space an Infinity Person could have come from, nor no time that was before He already was.

It explains the statement, “From everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” (Ps. 90:2; 103:17; 106:48)

From His perspective, we who know Him and are “here” are already “there” with Him in His beyond-all-space place.

God and the Infinite Name

Infinity also explains His odd-sounding name, “I AM”–a self-existing, outside-of-all-time being who simply and always is. (Exod. 3:14)

And speaking of names, the “I AM” name in Hebrew lends itself to being joined to an unlimited number of marvelous qualities, “I am faithful”, “I am holy”, etc.

It’s the unlimited fill in the blank with any superlative kind of name.

Which means it’s the one name an infinite Being could use with finite people that does not limit Him in any way.

The Nothingness of Idolatry

God forbids idolatry–“You shall have no other gods beside/next to/alongside of Me” (Exod. 20:3; Deut. 5:7)

Put any finite being or quality above God, however wonderful or vast, and it cannot lessen Him.

In fact, He lessens all else that attempts to be above Him and, compared to His Infinity, all else equals “zero”.

Would it surprise you to know that the word “idol” in Hebrew means “a zero”, “a nothing”?

But when anyone or anything places itself under God, under infinity and in its proper place, then God remains infinite and the person under Him retains their full value while in that subordinate position.

Even better, when under Him we find ourselves caught up in His infinite purposes and He is infinitely able to express His Infinite character and capacities through us (i.e. – changed hearts, miracles!).

When relating to the Infinite, we will find that the submission, surrender, and subordination of our entire person to Him is the only place where our full value can ever be experienced!

It’s when we try to be above Him, seeking to place ourselves above or downgrading Him to be our subordinate, that we end up devaluing ourselves and experience futility (nothingness).

Infinity and the Trinity

Infinity also helps us understand what we call the Trinity–the three-Person society of His single, undivided Being.

Three infinities–each distinct in and of themselves, yet which, when added or multiplied with each other, will ever and only yield the sum of a single infinity.

We have one God, eternally existing in Three Persons who share infinite love, society, and joy between, within, and among their one infinite Self.

All this infinity makes our finite minds go “TILT!” but, in light of the unique qualities of infinity, such a Three-in-One infinity makes sense.

Which is why worship is the best, most fitting, and only true response to Him from finite human beings!

Caricatures of God

Human beings are always putting masks upon God of one kind or another.

Truth be told, an infinitely perfect, absolutely holy God who sees all, knows all, and controls time and space is threatening to our egos.

So, to create some comfortable space for our egos, we downgrade, redesign, and give God an extreme makeover.

He make Him into something familiar, something we can understand, something we can control.

But it’s no longer Him.

Self-Projections

Many of us unconsciously project ourselves onto God.

He’s the big, blown-up version of ourselves that likes what we like, hates what we hate, and makes things go our way.

He’s our ideal us.

This god exists to stroke our ego, justify our choices, and make us feel good at all times.

He validates and reinforces what we already think, what we already feel, how we already live, and what we already believe.

He serves our career, our family, our political party, and our national interests.

He’s our safety blanket, who’s there when we need him to help get us out of jams.

Parent Projections

Perhaps He’s the great big mommy-or-daddy-in-the-sky.

The indulgent, enabling parent that we manipulate, or the punitive, abusive parent we avoid.

A being without compassion, or a being without standards.

No wonder so much of our religiosity is a toxic mess, a hypocritical cesspool, or a con-job scam.

We’d like to live in a universe with no final judgment, no ultimate accountability, and no Hell–so we make God into a cheerful grandpa or “nice Santa” who gives us whatever we want and winks at our wrongs.

We’d also like to live in a universe where bad guys are punished, where wrongs are righted, and where people who hurt us get their richly-deserved comeuppance.

So we end up with this drill sergeant kind of God, this out-of-control rage monster who is arbitrary, peevish, and unpredictable.

De-Masking God

One of the greatest tasks facing the person who truly wants to know God is to allow God to speak for Himself, represent Himself, and be Himself–however humbling or threatening to our egos that is.

We stop telling God what He’s like, stop comparing Him to ourselves or to a human authority figure, and stop playing our dysfunctional games from childhood with Him.

He defines Himself–not us.

He speaks for Himself–not us.

He acts like Himself–and doesn’t put on an act for us.

We expect Him, as infinite and perfect, to have to infinitely stoop to reveal to us what He’s really like.

We expect Him to be far higher, far deeper, and far greater than our poor little finite minds can ever comprehend.

He’s full of surprises to our conventions, has infinite levels to discover, and is unendingly fascinating and ultimately beautiful–blindingly dazzling and splendorous!

No boxes will fit Him.

The Very Embodiment of Infinite, Moral Perfection

When we remove the mask, what will we find?

He’s perfect in every way and His character has all perfections.

He’s not merely good, He’s goodness itself.

He’s not under any standard of justice, He Himself is the perfect standard of justice.

He simply cannot be improved and will never be downgraded from an absolute, unlimited, unalterable perfection at the timeless, boundless summit of all existence.

Anything less is something of our making, and not Him.

The moment we put Him under some standard and condemn Him by it, we’ve lowered Him to our level.

That’s why He forbids idols–mental and physical images that, by definition, degrade Him in some way.

If He didn’t reveal Himself to us, we would never know Him or discover Him or ever get Him, let alone get Him right.

That’s why there’s a Bible.

In it we read that for the One who is morally perfect, infinitely holy, and absolutely righteous, no moral imperfection, evil or sin can be with Him or in His presence.

Yet, as One who is infinitely compassionate and unfathomably grace-giving, He went to ultimate lengths to both satisfy His righteousness standards and to gift-righteous guilty sinners so they could be redeemed and restored to Himself.

All brought together in His Son, God-in-Human-Flesh–Jesus Christ.

In Christ–God’s ultimate self-revelation–we seek how He is gloriously multi-dimensional and perfectly balanced in His character–His holiness is loving and His love is holy, for example.

So when anyone dares to invoke His name, or quote His word, to advance some personal, political, national, or social agenda in this fallen world, beware!

The chances are almost certain that the being they refer to as “God” isn’t God at all, God as He tells us He is and as He represents Himself to be.

And that should give us all pause.

Me Afraid of Me

Last week I did something I haven’t done in 20 years:  I wrote a letter to the editor of our local newspaper.

Even though I gave careful thought to the tone and choice of words, I found myself sweating after I clicked on the “Submit” button.

“What am I so afraid of?!” I asked myself and then in prayer to God.

The thought of being published, of having my name “out there” on a controversial subject, and all the likely responses/reactions, evoked a kind of dread I didn’t see coming.

I was losing my anonymity by breaking silence.

Several days later in the quietness of a late afternoon, the answer came.

God gently pointed out that the one person I’m most of is myself.

Didn’t expect this answer, but it was the truth.

I’ve been afraid of me without realizing.

I am frightened that I might say or do would bring the world crashing down on my head, that some word or act that would hurt or ruin those I hold most dear.

“Where did that come from?” was the next and obvious question.

And, almost immediately, the Spirit brought my mind back to another afternoon 39 years earlier, when I returned home after being raped by a predatory pedophile.

Life had handed me something horrific, something far bigger than an innocent 12 year old could handle, something uncontrollably terrifying.

It was a life-shattering, inexplicable, there-is-no-good-reason-for-this event.

In grief, we look for something or someone to blame.

We look for the reason so that we can fix it and never have it happen to us again.

That’s why we do the “if-only-I-hads” and “why-didn’t-I’s” after such a trauma.

And why one of the people I blamed the most (unfairly of course) was me.

I went from being afraid for me to being afraid of me.

Because I failed me and was to blame (by that tortured kind of logic), controlling the naive, unaware, unguarded person who didn’t see it coming was essential to my safety, and my survival.

I therefore dreaded me failing me in such a terrible way ever again.

So I hid.

Hiding Myself From Danger By Hiding My Self

Hiding become my strategy of choice–physical, social, and emotional hiding.

I withdrew from all society the rest of that awful summer, never once venturing out.

But I also hid me from me.

Self-hiding involved a withdrawal deep into myself, a tightening down hard on the screw of remembrance and, with it, barring the way back to the open-faced, free capacities of spontaneous joy and adventurous risk-taking.

In the ensuing years, there has been much grace and much mercy, much hard work and much recovery.

And there have been other traumas, other abuses at the hands of abusers, which God has used to peel back another layer of the pain-onion and release another level of grace.

Many buried things have been brought to light, healed, cleansed, and largely resolved.

But every once in a while, these old issues surface again and long-buried reactions come to light.

Stepping Out from Under

So when I hit “submit”, I had just come out of hiding in my own local community.

I have taken a public stand and it won’t go down well with some–which is the name of the game.

I have run the risk of me getting me into trouble, of me opening myself up to abuse in a vitriolic, polarized culture.

But God wasn’t yet finished.

It became clear that some repenting and relinquishing control were and are needed.

God doesn’t want me to hide me from the world, or withdraw my gifts, or take no holy risks.

He says, “Let your light shine before men” and “blessed are you when men speak evil of you and utter all manner of insults against you on account of Me”.

Coming to Terms with a Risky God

To be on close terms with Him is to throw down the gauntlet at the devil and the world super-system.

It’s getting outed and noticed unfavorably…for His sake and for the good of others.

So, because I do want to be as close to Christ as possible, my choice is to come out and stay out of hiding.

And my even deeper choice is to trust Him with me, to see Him as far bigger than me and dwarfing anything stupid I might say or do, to see Him shaping and redeeming any tragic consequences that might follow.

He can handle me–even though I can’t.

The pressure’s on Him–and off of me.

I’m now His problem to solve–and no longer mine.

How about you?

End the Current Marriage System

America developed a quasi-religious/governmental system of marriage early in its history.

Our Current System of Marriage

In a nutshell, the churches did the ceremonies, but the State had to give prior permission for individuals to marry.

This shared responsibility reflected the moral consensus in place–Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish–on the definition of marriage (two people, opposite gender, for life, for the best kind of family).

You obtained a “license” to marry, in other words, issued and granted by the State, while the State accepted the religious consensus on what marriage was and wasn’t.

For those couples without a religious background, county clerks, local judges, sea captains, and others provided non-religious ceremonies–but, again, each State (through the local counties) gave prior permission.

Blood tests were once required to check for blood antigen compatibility, and parental permission was also required by the State before underaged people could marry.

All State-sanctioned marriages involved single, widowed, or legally divorced individuals of one gender, solemnizing a life-long, exclusive commitment to someone eligible of the opposite gender.

One was legally forbidden to be married simultaneously to more than one person, marry someone of the same gender, or, up until the post-segregation era, marry someone of another race.

At times, the State rewarded married couples in its tax system, and at other times taxed such couples more heavily than single adults.

Each partner shared a degree of liability for the actions of the other and held property together, and also received special status and benefits in a number of financial, legal, and other private venues.

The Shift and the Conflict

As our nation has become far less religious, and as marriage itself evolved into a legal arrangement that ratified a couple’s pursuit of mutual self-fulfillment, our quasi-religious marriage system began to falter.

Our once-shared, religious-moral consensus on marriage has broken down so that it began to mean different things to different groups.

Marriage began to be seen as a “right” that was being denied to those who had historically been forbidden to marry under the prior moral-religious consensus.

To refuse to marry, especially by the State, is now seen as a denial of human rights.

But notice the mechanics of the system were still the same–the State gives prior permission to couples, and State-recognized ceremonies are then held by those given “official sanction” to marry.

What’s Changed

There’s a problem now that wasn’t there until very recently.

The State, through the courts, has expanded and fundamentally altered the scope of who they give prior approval to marry, and granted once-denied groups the “right” to marry.

Yet religious folk who occupy official positions, as well people whose consciences are bound to the biblical moral code, find themselves unable to approve of what the State now approves.

By this action of the State, our marriages were now made the same as, fundamentally associated with, and forcibly connected with those practicing an immoral kind of lifestyle.

Hence, the Kim Davis saga.

A Humble Proposal

So let me suggest a simple proposal:   turn the State into a mere record-keeper of marriages after the fact, not an approver of marriages before they can happen.

End the prior-approval, marriage license system, in other words.

Instead, have newly married couples stop by the county courthouse and fill out a one page form to register their new marriage.

This form could provide a number of options regarding what type of marriage it is.

It involves no State approval at all, but merely records what’s already happened and allows each couple to inform the state whether their marriage is opposite gender, same gender, religious, non-religious, etc.

Neither does it requires me, as a biblical conservative, to approve of anyone else’s marriage, either.

County officials and administrative staff merely receive the paperwork and file it properly.

The debate over what kind of marriages the State will approve is rendered moot, for the State doesn’t approve or disapprove of any marriages (while still requiring parental permission for minors and still forbidding bigamy and polygamy).

And someone like me doesn’t have to contend with the State over the definition of marriage, or be associated with what anyone else does or doesn’t do.

Instead of being told by the current system, “Same-sex marriage is the same kind of marriage as yours!”, and I could, under the new system, affirm, “Their kind of marriage and my kind are fundamentally different!”

I tell the State what kind of marriage I have, and the State provides a checkbox that religious conservatives can happily check off (but nobody else would).

Our distinctiveness is protected, and we are not required to associate or identify with an alien definition of marriage that’s repugnant to us.

Backed Into a Corner

The fact is we (both the State and the conservative faith communities) are backed into a corner under the current system.

Now there promises to be a decades-long, acrimonious, irresolvable conflict over what kind of marriages the State approves, and what kind of marriages its definition requires us to associate our own marriages with.

The alternative facing us, should this proposal not be adopted, is to completely opt-out of the system altogether.

Our clergy fill out no State-issued licenses, and our religious couples do not obtain them en masse.

Then eventually the State can no longer tell who is and isn’t married and the current system breaks down completely.

Then we could implement this proposal….

Modern Issues and the Bible

It’s getting to be more common for public figures, who usually never read the Bible or respect it or allow it to govern their lives or their views, to quote it to advance their agendas in the public square.

More common, but not better.

It’s Not There

I say this because nowhere in the Bible do we encounter most of what people are arguing about in our society.

We don’t find modern liberalism, the welfare State, planned economies, socialism, unionism, social justice movements, equal rights, feminism, or the Democratic Party.

And neither do we encounter modern conservatism, modern democracies or republics, free-market economies, free-trade, modern corporations, or the Republican Party.

People who want to co-opt Christianity for such causes are unconsciously guilty of idolatry (placing something other than God alongside of Him as an equal or above Him as a superior).

They also unknowingly practice syncretism (inserting the core of an alternative belief system inside an outward shell of the biblical faith, and passing it off as Christianity).

Instead, the light of God’s truth flattens us all.

It’s supposed to cause us to squirm, be convicted of evils, be exposed as guilty sinners, be outed as powerless slaves of sin, and brought to a place of either hardened fist-shaking at God or abject surrender to God.

Which means there’s simply no class of all-innocent victims, and another of all-bad villains, in any of our conflicts or causes on a personal, societal, or national level.

We’re all sinners, in other words, from a holy God’s point of view.

The earth is full of victimized villains, and villainous victims–all hearts are black with sin and red with blood, however much they’ve been hurt by other groups or individuals and seek to justify themselves.

Which strips “identity politics” of its foundation and renders class or race or gender warfare moot.

All belief systems, philosophies, personal identities, and social movements are marbled with sin, are built on false hopes of a man-made earthly paradise, and thus repudiated by the Word of God.

However noble any political or economic or religious system might be in one or several areas, it will never be enough, will decay in the end, and will never overcome sin or death.

We Christians are, in fact, commanded to never be taken captive by the reigning philosophies of the world super-system (that encompasses all political, economic, and religious sub-systems on earth), but be captivated only by Christ Himself (Col. 2).

It’s Not Him

The same goes with Jesus–He’s neither the pin-stripped suit-wearing corporate Jesus nor the alternative lifestyle, revolutionary, labor-championing Jesus.

And anyone who says otherwise is overwriting their own ideas onto the Bible, and/or projecting their own self onto Jesus.

But Christ is the lackey of no nation, no cause, no political party, no social cause, no modern philosophy, and no personal agenda of anyone on earth.

He uses us; we don’t use Him.

To try and place Him in the service of conservatism or liberalism, in the service of the status quo or of changing the status quo, is twisted and is demeaning to Him.

He deserves better.

He’s above–infinitely above–all that, occupying the summit of all existence forever and ever.

He transcends and will outlast all nations, all tribes and cultures and societies and peoples and tongues.

He, instead, will judge the nations, require every soul to give an account to Him, and “every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2).

It’s Not His Agenda

Our Lord is simply not interested in saving humanity’s current religious-policial-economic systems, or reforming our fallen, ego-based society.

Rather, He’s going to overthrow them all in the end and replace them all with His own worldwide government–a divine, absolute monarchy!

And as for the planet itself…

It’s days are numbered and it will be subject to horrific, wholesale environmental ruin in a series of terrible judgments on sinful humanity and our Satanic masters.

Happily, the current Earth will be replaced with a brand new one, in a brand new universe, and populated by a brand new people who live forever in brand new bodies in endless bliss.

He’s not going to fix the existing, fallen races, classes, or nations of rebellious humanity.

Instead, He’s created something far, far better–a brand new human race composed of called-out people from all races, tongues, nations, cultures, and eras.

And His church is supposed to model that, not join or fight or take up fallen causes.

It’s Not His Message

The gospel message–the good news about how God saves souls from ruin, corruption, and eternal death– is the gateway to forming a new human race.

It tells us how He reconciles sinful people to His infinitely holy, righteous Self by the perfect righteousness and the horrific self-sacrifice of Jesus, and is neither a liberal message nor a conservative message.

It creates brand new people on the inside, which the Bible calls being born again or a new birth.

It is all about Christ, is His message, and is not about us or our messages, our traditions, our wishes, or the kind of society we want or require.

There are echoes of His message among all nations, bridges to His message in all cultures, and similarities to His message embedded in all belief systems.

But that does not make them the same thing as His message, or equally good or valid alternatives to His message.

His message is not one among many, but one that calls us out of and away from our many beliefs, religions,  idols to an exclusive love and loyalty to the Christ of the Bible.

In other words, we don’t add Christ to what we already believe or think, He completely replaces what we already believe and think to become our Lord.

Is it asking too much of Christ-followers to keep these things straight?

Ashley Madison and Fallen Leaders

I was greeted this morning that R.C. Sproul, Jr., a noted Christian leader and theologian, had been outed as a user of the adultery-facilitation website, Ashley Madison.

It made me terribly sad, even if it didn’t surprise me the way such things used to do.

Here’s the link to the breaking story:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2015/august/ligonier-suspends-rc-sproul-jr-over-ashley-madison.html

Ed Stetzer provides a helpful approach to those churches with a leader outed on the site.  Here’s the link:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/august/my-pastor-is-on-ashley-madison-list.html

Let me offer first a disclaimer, and then I’ll offer some of my own observations about Ashley Madison and why even highly revered Christian leaders were drawn to it.

My Personal Disclaimer

I am not morally superior or inherently better than anyone who has fallen.

I cast no stones, even though I confess to a deep sadness over this news–it’s a wound to the entire body of Christ and to Christ’s reputation in our culture.

Having been in recovery from a sexual trauma experienced in childhood, I am keenly aware that, on account of my greater vulnerability in this area of life, I have been specially protected by God.

Like everyone else, I have a sin-monster within me.

Part of that monster is my propensity to over-notice feminine beauty, my propensity to store and gaze upon sexual images in my mind, and my capacity to develop attractions towards other women who are not my wife.

Admitting this openly is part of self-outing my own sin-monster, and allows me the grace to live like I’m weak and terribly vulnerable instead of pretending I’m invulnerable.

So I take precautions, observe limits, live within healthy community, build up my marriage, and guard both the eyeball entry gate to my soul and fight unholy images with holy images.

Observations About Ashley Madison

So, with all that said, let me make some observations about Ashley Madison.

First, the users are overwhelmingly male, and females are fairly rare on it.

The provocative image of a gorgeous woman with a finger on her lips, promising to tell nobody about the fulfillment of illicit fantasies, is a dead giveaway.

The site is primarily about male fantasies, most of which probably aren’t consummated in actual adultery.

Ashley Madison is really are just another kind of digital pornography site.

Second, their guarantee to remove the identity of users for a special fee is telling.

Part of fantasy is secrecy and the ability to control who knows and who doesn’t know.

So Ashley Madison caters to this whim as well.

Finally, these fantasy-based promises are lies.

The reality is far less happened in real life than most male users wanted, and, with the hacking, all the secrecy has been blown apart.

Now painful reality is breaking forth upon the fantasists.

Their names are out there for all the world to see, and all who have compromised their morality or positions of trust are being outed.

As Moses said, “You can be sure your sins will find you out!”

Pressure at the Top

So why were Christian leaders using this site and engaging in mostly fantasy and some acting out on adultery?

I think the simplest answer is this:  we don’t do well spiritually in a high elevation life.

When people occupy high positions, receive adulation and praise from followers, carry heavy responsibility and bear the highest expectations, it becomes jailing.

And as the pressure grows, and the gap between their personal brokenness and what’s expected of them increases, they begin to look for an escape.

And that’s often true in their families and marriages–which are supposed to be perfect and above all problems as well.

And that fantasy of escape from their unhealthily entwined, spiritually toxic church and marriage life quite frequently turns towards sex.

Illicit sex is the fastest way out of the pressures of home and ministry, and therefore the strongest tool a self-sabotaging person has in their arsenal.

Lonely At the Top

I think another part of the answer is how utterly alone it is at “the top”.

Leaders are usually very isolated and deeply lonely.

They have little time for their spouse and children, and can never quite get away from the demands of their high-elevation position.

Personal vulnerability, sharing of real issues and struggles boiling in their own souls, is not rewarded but punished by adoring, spiritually sick followers.

The reason is such self-disclosing soul honesty destroys the fantasies of the followers.

It requires followers to take responsibility for their own sin-monster instead of vicariously living above their own level through a leader.

It destroys the two-level, more comfortable universe for them–leaders live above so they can live below, leaders live high so they can live low and get away with it.

So where can these mighty rams we call leaders be little lambs in the arms of God?

Where can they be flawed human beings with a fallen nature, who deeply need community and regular public confession of sin and repentance as a normal part their Christian life?

They mostly can’t–and that’s a huge problem and also feeds unholy fantasies of escape.

Sick People Pursuing Spiritual Health Together

I say none of the above to justify betrayal or sexual sin.

Rather, I want us to understand the soul dynamics behind self-destroying leaders who override all their values, beliefs, and morals to pursue fantasies of escape.

So pray for your leaders–already fallen or vulnerable to a fall.

And work to de-fantasize your church culture, recalibrate expectations about sin, and head towards a culture of radical self-honesty.

Allow and expect leaders to have practices of confessing sin, of repenting early in their sin cycles, and of needing to immerse themselves in a mutually vulnerable, self-disclosing community.

If we do that, we’ll not only have less fallen leaders, we’ll have a whole bunch of spiritually healthier followers as well!