Safe Haven

 She's one of the most qualified nominees in our history, perhaps the most qualified. Her experience as a public defender is a huge plus for me. She attended public school, before making her way to Harvard. She's paid her dues as a judge, doing all the things we should want Supreme Court nominees to do. The fact that I might disagree with many of her rulings is beside the point. Is she qualified, and free of major temperamental concerns? Yes. These things are always a circus, but all I needed from Judge Jackson was the assurance that she understands the limitations upon her power come from the text of the Constitution itself. When she said this herself, I was assured.  I generally believe that the president is entitled to deference in these matters, absent a major concern. Our Senators like to hear themselves talk, and rarely ask anything informative. They could illuminate the differences in judicial philosophies, informing the public, instead of inflaming them. I would probab...

 I’m spending my next few days in the hospital, and it’s been a lot already. Don’t worry; my problems are orthopedic. Anyway, there’s a rhythm to hospital life that I don’t think exists anywhere else. Maybe prison is the same way, in the sense that you are not totally in charge of your life. Someone says, “You must do this,” and you do it. One of the irritating and possibly painful aspects of it is the frequent blood draws. Every now and again, if you go to your doctor in the course of ordinary life, she may request this. But in a hospital, it’s much more frequent. I have admired some recent roommates, in their chutzpah to refuse medications and blood draws. It’s all technically voluntary, but personally, if a doctor who seems competent asks me for blood, or to take a drug for my well-being, it’s not proud hero-guy time. I beg your indulgence if it’s too fast a transition, but Jesus didn’t refuse any of the humiliation and violence that culminated in the Cross. He did it all willin...

 I’m receptive to the idea that it’s a pointless partisan exercise, gilded with fake pageantry and dignity. But in light of the fact that the corrosion of civil society is partially aided by the cynicism concerning the same, I wanted to watch and listen. The first 12 minutes roughly was about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. There is a large amount of agreement between our leaders on both sides, and the president ably pointed it out. I have deep concerns that these sanctions are simply going to hurt Russian citizens, and not Putin or his enablers. I don’t think war is ever preferable, but we shouldn’t think economic sanctions are cost-free. I have to say that I don’t have strong opinions about traditional economics, but when the president turned to domestic policy, a little voice kept replying, “I don’t know if that’s going to work.” There’s an inherent tension it seems, between economic growth, and the shift to renewable energy. From a moral perspective, I think policymakers shoul...

 I checked the COVID cases and deaths this morning. Over 2,200 people already, dead. I hear people saying that we're overreacting, that somehow, we're "living in fear." I just have to suppose that some folks cannot handle "9-11" nearly every day. What mental gymnastics do you have to do, to persuade yourself that it's "no big deal"? I've had 3 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, so I'm not overly concerned about being harmed personally. What I did, I did partly for others. I've lost a lot of friends and loved ones in this life, and suddenly. Death comes for us; it is our fate in this world, we could say. I don't understand why we would want to bring it more quickly, and for no sensible reason. A lot of my friends and family are just stubborn, gullible, or some combination of both, I guess. If that offends you, good. I'm over 40; if people's love for me is conditional at this point, I don't need them. We won't be here fo...

 I have a loose acquaintance who has a frame on her Facebook profile picture that says, “I don’t care that you are vaccinated.” There have been plenty of reactionary spoofs like this, related to COVID. I think people still think that it’s OK to play politics with the virus, or that if there are any undeniably political elements to safety and care in a COVID world, that opposition is morally neutral or good. It’s an act of charity, to protect yourself. It’s an act of charity to protect others. I hope that “political” isn’t just “anything I don’t happen to like,” and that it’s not consequently synonymous with “social.” If there is no “we,” eventually, there is no “I.” I won’t say that every vaccine refusal is illegitimate, obviously. Some of us literally cannot safely take it. But most are. And the facts are that this thing mutates, the more people it infects. With more mutations brings the possibility and even likelihood of greater lethality. If some people might rightly argue that ...

 Let me get some potentially hostile questions out of the way. Is this deconstruction premised in philosophical skepticism? If it is, no one will be able to know when they have arrived anywhere meaningful, because it starts an endless loop of interrogation concerning one's own conclusions. One obvious requirement, if someone wants to remove unnecessarily particular cultural baggage from an expression of Christianity, is that one be able to distinguish between that cultural baggage, and something that is universal to all, or fundamental to the Christian message. Is anyone actually able to make that distinction in a principled way? I haven't seen it. And then we must deal with that troublesome word: "evangelical." I still don't always have a handle on what it means, but let's do the best we can, and give it a meaning that its proponents seem to agree with. "Evangelicalism" is a socio-cultural movement within Protestant Christianity, that emphasizes per...

 I always get a little jumpy, when I hear someone say they want to do great things for God. God doesn't need us to do things for him. We need to find ourselves in Him. Have you ever had the thought that the moment that just passed was the moment that made your destiny? Even if it was mundane, that's a possibility. Lewis's devils in The Screwtape Letters seem to think that slow and steady wins the race for them. I don't fancy myself a too impressive follower of Jesus, but if I can claim one moment for the good, if I can steal one moment of contemplation of the goodness of God, that is one moment less for evil, and one moment less of my participation in evil. I have an awareness of my own failures enough to know that I haven't won anything; the forces of evil never stop, and they will never surrender. Yet I have an opportunity to string lots of little moments together, to make a life of goodness and charity.

 It was dishonorable to sit on the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland for over a year, and then hypocritically rush Justice Barrett through the process before an election. Dishonorable, but not illegal. I don’t think the seats were “stolen,” therefore; the Democrats got beaten at the game they started. Unless the confirmation process itself was illegal, no one on the Court sits illegally, and any noise to the contrary is just that. And if Roe v. Wade goes down, there won’t be any sad tears here. My dislike for the GOP and President Trump notwithstanding.

"They say the captain goes down with the ship So, when the world ends Will God go down with it?" --Fall Out Boy, "What A Catch, Donnie," (2008) "Folie a Deux" LP. -- It's a solid question, actually. The answer is surprising: yes. God did, in a sense, go down with the ship. We could see the world as we know it after the fall of mankind as in a certain way dominated by evil. God had of course promised to redeem, right from the beginning, but until the death of Christ, the great blow against evil had not been struck. From one angle, the crucifixion of Jesus is the high point...

 That's what we celebrate today. It's a bit like Church New Year's, and that makes sense, because after this is Advent. As I think back over the year, it's a lot. We have much to be thankful for, but we have much to weep and cry about. It's so hard to be a Christian, and I don't mean just in the usual spiritual ways. It is the hardest when the people who are supposed to be like Christ to us fail in some heinous way. I honestly can't blame anyone who goes through the darkness of unbelief, if their spiritual leader does something truly evil. It goes beyond the forgiveness that Jesus requires of us in "normal" life. If we lose our temper, or we forget something important, or we say something hurtful, these are things that are normal, almost routine. And then some things are much, much worse. It's natural to wonder if God is watching, and if he is watching, why isn't he doing anything? Tim and I were talking about this the other day, and I reca...

 The reason why the vaccines against COVID are being provided free of charge to citizens is that a large group of citizens that are unvaccinated poses a serious health risk to everyone, not just to themselves. Of course, this shared burden of risk is why "I'll take my chances" is an incredibly selfish reason to refuse the vaccine. And you would have to believe that a good socialist or a social democrat is going to call this bluff, if you somehow argue that diabetes or cancer treatment is more worthy of being paid for by the government. The person who posted this foolish meme is now in the process of backtracking and denying that she favors "socialism," but the clear implication of the argument, such as it is, is that she favors public funding for the things that she worries about, and not the things that you might worry about, like catching the virus that causes Covid-19. If this strikes you as inconsistent, well, it is. For my part, the only thing more galling ...

 Bryan Cross is right. The text is here . I was actually quite prepared to criticize Archbishop Gomez--if only internally--for being woefully out of touch with the lived experience of people in America. What I found is not so much a criticism of the political movements themselves, or of particular injustices they raise, but of the primacy of politics in our society today, and the belief that the most important needs of human beings can be addressed by political means alone. In this light, the archbishop's comments deserve considerably more reflection on our parts, if not sympathy. The context of his comments about social justice movements as "pseudo-religions" is the replacement of a Christian worldview by a materialist worldview, where the battle is exclusively political, in the ends and in the means. I consider myself quite sympathetic to these movements on the whole, but I personally do so through the lenses of the Christian story. Specifically, the God-given dignity o...

 I guess that destroys that old secular idea that religion makes people comfortable here on Earth, until they die. On the other hand, I don't blame the sociologists for thinking that's exactly what people do with God. "God" tells them they are great, and that they don't need to do anything else. Forgive me; I never want these thoughts to become grumpy, and have the quality of "get off my lawn!" But Love has a Name, and a face. He looked right at St. Peter, after he was a coward and denied Him 3 times. He died for all of us, but he died for you. He certainly didn't die so you could believe whatever you want. God has revealed Himself in Jesus. He requires things of us! Now, understand that I beat the "Mercy" drum for good reason. If we knew how much we were loved, we would live differently. But we get this nationalism and sentimental garbage about God, because we treat Him like our plaything. Maybe people of my generation saw "Aladdin...

I felt really tender when I went to church last night. "Tender" in my parlance usually means that I'm going to cry about the trials and tribulations of fictional characters that I love and appreciate. I'm just really into stories, and I find that the stories I really enjoy are the ones that help me put words to my feelings and experiences. I had it in my head: "We're just here to be memories for our children." That's the sort of climactic line in the beginning part of Interstellar that really resonates with me emotionally. I was thinking of my father, and that most of what I really have from him is a memory of who he was. I suppose that if you are about to make the fitting sacrifice of the new covenant in Jesus, thinking about your dear departed loved ones is proper and good. As I continued to sit there, I realized that I am deeply drawn to all stories of love, reconciliation, and harmony. I think many people in the business of telling stories think ...

 If you spend any amount of time reading the news, you will become aware that human beings live a tenuous and fraught existence. Death is always close at hand, but in our comfort and blessing, we can almost pretend that it is not. When people realize they are not in control, things can go two ways: either a person becomes irretrievably anxious about their lack of control, or they come to know that the One who is in control has them securely. I have been made master of a few things; I have plenty to eat and drink, and I can choose whatever thing I want. I'm quite particular about my clothing, and I have a favorite shirt. I have a pair of "happy pants" that I'm quite fond of. Yet maybe my tendency to become upset at the utterly inconsequential things of life is an occasion to reflect on the ways that I still seek control which I do not have. If we are simply chasing money, or influence, or any number of things, the emptiness of it all is readily apparent, eventually. Th...

 I stopped in the neighborhood church today. Today was the day that they decided to test the fire alarm in my apartment building, so I would rather be in a church. I can't remember what hymn was being played, but as it turns out, the organist likes to practice, when he thinks no one is there. For an entire hour, it was the same hymn. I wish I could remember, but I know it was about the love of Jesus. Then again, aren't they all supposed to be about the love of Jesus? As I sat there, a friend found me, and he said, "Don't you get curious about the hidden places in here?" Or something like that. I said that I did, and that one time years ago, I got to see "in the back", where most ordinary folks don't get to go. I said I had the feeling that I shouldn't be back here, and he said, "You're an institution; you belong here." That was a very kind thing to say, but when did I become an institution? I only know that it was a joy to rest in t...

 I was in the bathroom of my residence hall in college, brushing my teeth. It was pretty late in the morning, actually. A guy ran in, telling me that 50,000 people probably just died in the World Trade Center, because some terrorists attacked it. I remember saying, "Come on man, don't joke about that. That's not funny." He wasn't joking. I was sort of numb, but I went to the front desk, where I knew we would have news. On the whiteboard which had news every day, there was a little box off to the side, and it said, "In spite of what has happened, we are committed to not judging people based upon religion, or national origin." Today, it is fashionable to bash sentiments on diversity, or even to claim that a certain openness in that regard stifles discussion as to the nature of the truth. That may be true sometimes, but I have never been more proud to have been spoken for in that way. I did truly fix in my mind that the attackers were some sort of radical f...

 Is any particular expression of it premised in epistemic skepticism? That is, are we able to reason together, to test particular assertions against evidence, and reach a shared conclusion, or must its claims be accepted on authority? If it cannot be questioned, its assertions collapse into fideism, a kind of dogma without reason. In that way, certain expressions of it may be a "religion," as many critics claim. Notice I said "theories." Every unique expression of a theory that could fit under the umbrella of CRT has aspects that may explain particular observations best, and other aspects that explain what is observed less well. That's the nature of theories. There isn't one Critical Race Theory. I will say that banning CRT because it is Marxist is foolish. You can't avoid the pitfalls of Marxism, if you don't know what it is. I studied Marxism up close; even young people don't automatically become advocates of whatever they are taught. That not ...

 I am gratified that I maintain relationships across the Christian world, in spite of the divisions among the Christian people. "In spite of" probably hits some people the wrong way, because I think a lot of times, "ecumenical dialogue" means, "let's get together and celebrate all that we agree on," instead of what it is, which is dialogue concerning the matters of revealed truth, with the express purpose of reaching agreement in that truth. Then again, this is one of the reasons that I don't like debate that much, because I don't enjoy telling people that I love that they are completely wrong, and that their wrongness could have dire eternal consequences. There is a large part of me that is a hippie, who just hopes that all the historic talk of sin, judgment, and wrath--not to mention heresy and schism--will just be wrapped up in a big ball of hugs from the Trinity. I'd like to be a universalist, but I am not. This is a tough balance to st...

 Admittedly, I have been spending too much time at the neighborhood McDonald's. It is perhaps a betrayal of a commitment to slow food, healthy eating, and localism, but it's right there, and I don't have to cross any major streets to get there. Anyway, I often see the same man at the neighborhood McDonald's. I'll call him Gabe. He's one of those guys that could be anywhere from 50 to 80, and I can't tell. When I first met him, he seemed solicitous for my well-being. He asked me if I wanted a refill on my drink, and I did not, because even I don't think 32 ounces of Coke should be upgraded to 64. We started talking about kindness--ironically enough--and we both decided that we thought there wasn't enough of it in the world. I decided that Gabe must've been a leader of men at some point, like a coach or in the military. Still sharp, and perfectly able to tell people what to do, if the need should arise. I thanked him for his kindness, and we went o...