Cities are People: The Relational Disconnect of Some Calvinists

Moore Cemetery: Photo by Billy Hefton, Enid News

After spending two days in Moore, Oklahoma and returning to Enid late last night, I caught up on some email correspondence and social media this morning. I mentioned in an earlier post being surprised by a tweet from John Piper that seemed calloused toward the suffering of the victims of the Moore tornado. Today, a Facebook friend linked to a post from Doug Wilson, praising Doug for taking Rachel Evans to task for challenging John Piper's theology of God's sovereignty. Those who know me would tell you I have more in common with John Piper than I do Rachel Evans. However, it seems to me John Piper and Doug Wilson have a great deal to learn from people like Rachel Evans.

Rachel is a person who relates to an individual in the midst of suffering.  Doug Wilson and John Piper are theologians who wish to teach an individual in the midst of suffering.  What Doug and John can learn from Rachel is this: People don't care what you know until they know that you care. Jesus first gave a cup of cold water and accepted the woman at the well where she was before He ever addressed any confusion in her theology. John Piper and Doug Wilson don't have a theological problem, they have a relational one. They summarize all tragedies, including the Moore tornado, like this: "If disaster befalls a city, it is from the hand of God" (Amos 3:6).  They see cities, not people.

Of course, Doug Wilson and John Piper express a concern for people in their writings. Doug writes, "The sovereignty of God is a hard shell case that carries and protects the tender heart."  Doug is unintentionally miscommunicating what he believes. It is a fact that sometimes tender hearts are broken, and those broken hearts do not fall outside of God's sovereignty. Doug means to write, "Belief in the doctrine of the sovereignty of God is a hard shell case that carries and protects the tender heart." I happen to agree with Doug's message, but I greatly disagree with Doug's methodology. You don't shout at a city that a tornado is a display of God's holiness, majesty and justice in order to protect the tender heart of an individual; you sit down with that individual who lost his or her home (or loved ones) and show compassion and mercy and then you help them restore what was lost. After you show them mercy, you then have earned the right to teach them how God will work all things for good to those who trust Him.

I guess I'm saying one of the wisest things a theologian can do in the midst of tragedy is to shut up his teaching until he shows up in mercy. You don't change someone's theology until you connect with them relationally. Calvinists need to start seeing people, not cities.

I have never met John Piper, Doug Wilson or Rachel Evans. I know all three through their writings. All three have a great deal to offer the body of Christ. Rachel maybe can learn some theology from John and Doug, but I'm of the opinion its more important that these two men learn something relationally from Rachel.

Postscript: Since I posted the above this morning, I was made aware that John Piper acknowledged taking his tweet down and that he gave an explanation for why he did. He writes: "The reason I pulled my tweets from Job is that it became clear that what I feel as comfort was not affecting others the same.” Maybe this post will help explain to him why.

When Love Trumps Theology: The Moore Tornado

The long skinny pole in the center of the photograph to the left is the top of the crane at Plaza Towers Elementary School, Moore, Oklahoma. I was standing one block west of the school where those seven children died when I took this picture. The devastation of the neighborhood around the Plaza Towers is beyond comprehension. My brother Brett and I walked west from the Command Post near Warren Theater on I-35 through a Moore neighborhood that had been destroyed. After traversing a city park strewn with debris, we crossed the Little River. The park and river are where the homeless in Moore, Oklahoma usually live, and we both had the feeling we would find bodies as we walked. Normally, we would not have been able to cross the river, but the debris so clogged the water flow--debris that included dozens of  destroyed cars-- that we walked across the river without getting wet. On the west side of the Little River, about a half mile west of Warren Theater, we hit ground zero of the Moore tornado. People are still not being let in, and search and rescue teams are continuing their work. Moore city officials are overwhelmed trying to get the infrastructure repaired. We walked with Oklahoma Natural Gas teams as they sought to shut off gas that continued to seep from broken pipes above concrete slabs. The area was still extremely dangerous. Twenty-four bodies have been found, but I can't imagine that there will not be additional deaths uncovered when debris begins to be cleared. One particular house we passed had been cleared by search and rescue three times (you can tell by an orange X, a silver M, and a Green ^). Surprisingly, there were a number of dogs in houses where there were no people. Animal control and additional police were helping get the animals to shelters. Of course, the focus was on finding people alive, and in one particular house we passed, search and rescue found a man alive - the third time the house was cleared.

The very generous people of Emmanuel Enid have helped the people of Moore. By the end of the day we were able to place twenty-one 7,000 watt generators with law enforcement, search and rescue personnel, fire crews, and rescue shelters, all of whom were in need of portable electricity. Paul Baker's Emrick's Moving and Storage (a member of Emmanuel) continues to collect donations at his office on South Van Buren in Enid and will be transporting the materials to the people of Moore. Go by tomorrow and drop off your supplies at Emrick's. The greatest needs are batteries (C and D), gloves, flashlights and trash bags. Paul will get the materials to Moore. Money for fuel to run the donated generators for weeks has been given by an Emmanuel member. Five Moore families who lost homes and/or loved ones have received cash through Emmanuel's benevolence fund. Our young people will be coming down Friday or Saturday to help clear debris. I saw the Enid Police Department guiding traffic at 4th Street and Telephone Road, just north of the Command Center. Donations have flooded into Moore from around the world, but the people of Emmanuel Enid (and Enid proper) have made a huge impact in this city.  I have not seen much from social media or watched television the last 24 hours, but Brandy Ester, a nurse from Emmanuel, sent me a text quoting NBC Television newscaster Harry Smith, who when interviewed by Brian Williams said, "If you are waiting for the Federal Government to help it's going to be a while, but the Baptist men will get it done tomorrow." Amen, Harry Smith. After seeing the huge Baptist Disaster Relief Tent in the parking lot of FBC Moore, Oklahoma,  and the crowds being fed by Baptist men (and women), I echo Harry's sentiments.

There are all kinds of heartbreaking stories from the disaster zone in Moore. The story of the seven children who drowned in the basement of their school has broken all of our hearts. The most difficult rescue for a couple of the men with whom I spoke was pulling a eight-year-old boy out from under his dead mother, a boy who had been trapped underneath his mom who had shielded him from certain death. During the May 1999 Moore tornado I found a little dead baby in a field. I almost stepped on the child, thinking she was a doll. Every step I took today through Moore brought back that memory. I thought for certain I might find something similar, but thankfully I did not.  About 6:00 p.m. tonight, after walking hours through the devastation of Moore, Oklahoma, my father sent me a text asking "Wade, have you seen this?" He included a photo of John Piper's tweet (see above). Honestly, I thought maybe Piper's twitter account had been hacked. Though I believe in the sovereignty of God,  I can't fathom how somebody like John Piper can allow his theology to trump his love. People who have lost loved ones to death during a great wind don't need theologians to quote Scripture about people dying in a great wind. They need our love. Thank goodness Oklahoma is filled with people who let their love trump their theology.

I thought about closing today's post with a picture of a woman in tears as I handed her cash  to help with her short term expenses, cash that came from the people of Emmanuel Enid. She burst into tears and couldn't even say "Thank You" because of her emotions. My brother took the picture and then hugged her as I told her that the people of Emmanuel Enid just wanted her to know that there are people in Enid who cared for her and her family and were praying for them during their time of loss. I am not going to show you the picture out of a desire to protect Kaylee's privacy. But as I close this post after a very long day I just want to say "Thank You" to all of you who have helped the people of Moore through your love, your prayers, and your finances. Let us always allow our love to trump our theology. It is the only way people will know we belong to Christ.

Jailed for Your Ideas: R.B.C. Howell, Pastor of FBC Nashville, and His Imprisonment by the United States Government

R.B.C. Howell (1801-1868)

Patrick Henry once said, "The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." Our Founding Fathers understood that a free country has a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Countries without freedom have governments over and separate from the people. This is why Thomas Jefferson once wrote "What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance?"

Recently, the government of the United States has admitted targeting certain political groups for IRS audits. Franklin Graham has written a poignant letter to President Obama asking why the Billy Graham Association was targeted. It seems that the United States government is acting like a bully, infringing on personal freedoms, demanding ideological conformity, micro-managing personal affairs, burdening future generations with debt by borrowing more than half it spends, and acting as if the government is the final authority on all matters, including those moral and spiritual.

There are number of people who have been expressing ideological differences with the present administration of the United States government, and it is now public that the government targeted some of those dissenters. Is there a precedence in America for anyone being imprisoned by Federal government for simply expressing ideological convictions different than the government's?

Of course there is.

Robert Boyte Crawford "R.B.C." Howell (1801-1868) was the Pastor of First Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, the President of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1851 through 1858 (an unprecedented seven years), and according to  Cathcart's Baptist Encyclopaedia  "one of the ablest and most learned men in the South." In 1862 the Federal government declared Nashville part of a military territory and installed Andrew Johnson as territorial governor. Governor Johnson demanded every Nashville citizen, particularly prominent ones like  Dr. RBC Howell,  swear an oath of allegiance to the United States government. The oath went like this:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, allegiance and loyalty to the same, any laws, ordinance, resolution or convention to the contrary notwithstanding; and further, that I do this with a full determination, pledge and purpose without any mental reservation or evasion whatsoever; and, further, that I will well and faithfully perform all the duties which may be required of me by law. So help me God."

Pastor R.B.C. Howell refused to take the oath. The Federal government disbanded his church and imprisoned Dr. Howell for several months. My great-great grandfather (F.T.D. Cherry) was imprisoned in Nashville with Howell for a few days before F.T.D. was transferred to Rock Island. Dr. Howell used the time he spent in jail to handwrite the history of First Baptist Church, Nashville, Tennessee. Last week Rachelle and I were in Nashville for couple of days, and while she was at Vanderbilt, I went to the Tennessee State Archives to study the handwritten history of FBC Nashville. To my surprise, I came across a letter Dr. Howell wrote to Governor Andrew Johnson explaining the reasons why he would not take the oath of allegiance to the federal government, a letter that preceded his imprisonment. I have since discovered that Howell's letter has never been published via the Internet.

I am posting R.B.C. Howell's letter as an example of cogent, Christian thinking during times when people may be unable to swear their allegiance to a government.  Dr. Howell died shortly after being released from prison and is buried in historic Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Nashville. The Nashville Banner described the funeral procession of the venerable pastor as "the longest this city has ever witnessed." I would encourage you to read the following letter slowly and contemplate the principles stated, particularly those in numbers 3, 4, 6, and 7 (a PDF of the letter can be found here).

__________________________________________


Governor Johnson - Sir:

Summoned  before you I am requested to take the following oath:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support, protect and defend the Constitution and government of the United States against all enemies, whether domestic or foreign, and that I will bear true faith, allegiance and loyalty to the same, any laws, ordinance, resolution or convention to the contrary notwithstanding; and further, that I do this with a full determination, pledge and purpose without any mental reservation or evasion whatsoever; and, further, that I will well and faithfully perform all the duties which may be required of me by law. So help me God." 

I have ever scrupulously conformed myself to the government under which I have lived. I do this as a religious duty. I have never knowingly violated any law of the Federal Government, of the state government, nor of the military government now established. I am informed that no violation of the law is charged against me. My purpose is to pursue the same course hereafter. I intend not to resist "powers that be," but to comply with their requisition as far as they do not come in conflict with my duty to God. Respectfully I feel myself obliged to say that I cannot do it (take the oath) for several reasons, some of which I beg permission very briefly to state.

First - I cannot take this oath, because there are some parts of it which I do not understand. When I am requested to swear that I will "bear true faith, allegiance and loyalty to the Constitution and government of the United States, any law, ordinance, resolution or convention to the contrary notwithstanding", I am at a loss as to the meaning. What law, ordinance, resolution or convention is referred to, I know not. I cannot tell whether reference is had to some existing law, ordinance, resolution or convention which I am likely to suppose obligatory upon me, or to something of the kind which may hereafter be inaugurated. Nor do I know who is to be the judge, I myself, or someone else, whether such laws, ordinances, resolutions or convention, if there be any such, are or are not in conflict with the Constitution and government of the United States.

And further, when I am called upon to swear "that I will well and faithfully perform all duties which may be required of me by law," I perceive no conditions nor limitations. What laws may be adopted by the United States and by the State of Tennessee, who knows? They may be laws in conflict with my duty to God; they may be laws in collision with the Constitution; they may be laws in antagonism with other laws claiming my obedience. Such compliance with them is impossible, yet it is demanded of me to swear that "I will well and faithfully perform all duties required of me by law" without condition and without limitations.

An oath so vague, indefinite and impracticable respectfully I must decline to take.

Second- I cannot take this oath because once having sworn to support the Constitution of the United States, and having up to this hour faithfully complied with the obligation, and receiving now no office nor privilege of any kind under the government of the United States nor of the State of Tennessee there is nothing known to me in the Federal Constitution, nor in the constitution of this state, nor in the laws made in the pursuance of either which requires me to repeat that oath. The demand that I shall do so under the circumstances in which I am placed implies that I am offender against the Constitution or the laws, or both. That implication I respectfully decline to countenance by taking the oath.

Third - I cannot take this oath because, since the present government of the United States, and the Constitution of the United States, are in some respects at least confessedly in antagonism, to "support, protect and defend" both is clearly impossible.

To support, protect and defend the one is necessarily to oppose and resist the other. To keep this oath, therefore (I speak for myself only) is impracticable. Perjury is inevitable. From taking it, therefore, I must be excusable.

Fourth - I cannot take this oath because it binds me to support and protect and defend the "government of the United States," by which doubtless is meant the government of the United States as at present administered. Already the administration has done many things which I cannot support and defend, and which I cannot conscientiously swear that I will support and defend: what it may do hereafter, and what its successors may do, I cannot tell. This oath makes me swear without conditions and without limitations "that I will support, protect and defend the government of the United States."

To do this would be to "resign my right of thought" and to renounce my liberty as a free citizen of my country.

Fifth - Nor can I take this oath as a measure of expediency. By expediency I refer to the fact that since an oath taken under duress is not binding then on those who resort to save their families from suffering and themselves from punishment. I have a large, helpless and dependent family; I am myself not indifferent to the ease and comforts of life, but I cannot avail myself of this plea for several reasons, one only which need be mentioned. This oath makes me swear that I will take upon me these obligations "without any mental reservations or evasions whatever:" that is as I understand it, that I do not avail myself of this expedient, but take the obligation heartily and in good faith. In me, who cannot disregard its moral binding force, this would be perjury.

Sixth - I cannot take this oath because it would be a violation of my duty to God. My duty to God requires that I shall take no oath the entire import of which I do not fully understand, that I shall not swear unless there be good and sufficient reason for it, that I swear to do contradictory things, that I shall not do impracticable things, and that if I do swear that I shall not swear falsely, but shall truly and fully perform my oath. To take this oath would therefore be to violate my duty to God.

Seventh - Without an oath I shall in future, as I have heretofore, perform as a religious duty every just obligation to the "powers that be," but this oath I cannot take. I cannot take it as a measure of expediency; I cannot take it at all. I most respectfully decline it and take the consequences.

R.B.C. Howell
January 28, 1862

It Is Time to Get New Friends When...

On Tuesday mornings I meet with a group of men for fellowship and discipleship. Our small group, which has met for twenty-one years, alternates between theological books studies and chapter by chapter inductive Bible studies. Right now we are going through Jeff VanVonderen's book Tired of Trying to Measure Up. Jeff has a been a friend for many years. He is the author of several books and the professional interventionist on the Emmy winning show Intervention.

In this morning's study from the book, on page 181, we read a quote that struck us as pretty profound. Jeff wrote:"If the relationship you have in God's name don't say about you what God says about you, I recommend that you seek new ones."

Two things are needed to understand that statement: (1). A knowledge of what God says about you, and (2). A willingness to let go of Christian friends that don't say the same thing about you that God says.

Friends who shame you, friends who harbor grudges against, friends who expect or demand certain performance from you, friends who are disappointed in you as a person, friends who won't forgive you, friends who don't/won't/can't give you freedom, friends who get angry with you and close off emotionally from you, and friends who expect/need certain things from you are saying, "I have placed you on a platform of performance expectations, and if you don't meet my expectations,  I want nothing to do with you."

God does not treat you in this manner. If you have Christian friends who relate to you like this, then it is time to get new ones.

Sharia Law Should Be Resisted in the 21st Century Like Nazism Was Resisted in the 20th Century

Oklahoma is one of a handful of states who has been actively engaged in the political arena in opposing any possible foothold of Sharia Law within our borders. Our state has undergone a heavy dose of criticism for what is perceived by elitists as a bigoted and backward political maneuvering.

Yesterday the Australian news agency's Channel 7 broadcast a two-part special entitled ABANDONED. It is the gut-wrenching story of an Australian woman named Alicia Gaili who was brutally raped and beaten in Dubai by three men. According to Yahoo News: "Alone and frightened, Alicia took herself to hospital. What she didn’t know is that under the UAE’s strict sharia laws, if the perpetrator does not confess, a rape cannot be convicted without four adult Muslim male witnesses. Alicia was charged with having illicit sex outside marriage, and thrown in a filthy jail cell for eight months."

Does Oklahoma look so backwards now? In this age of political correctness, it is incumbent upon Americans who know their history and the Judeo-Christian heritage of United States law to not just say "no" to Sharia Law, but to oppose it like the greatest generation of Americans past opposed Nazism and Bolshevism.  Neville Chamberlain tried to make peace with Adolph Hitler, believing Hitler had no desire for expansion of the Aryan ideals and principles throughout Europe. He was wrong, and it cost the lives of millions of people.

Winston Churchill rightly understood that any government which relies on terrorism to maintain its regime is built on an ideology that must be opposed by civilized people. Churchill said about Bolshevism: "I yield to no one in my detestation of Bolshevism, and of the revolutionary violence which precedes it. ... But my hatred of Bolshevism and Bolsheviks is not founded on their silly system of economics, or their absurd doctrine of an impossible equality. It arises from the bloody and devastating terrorism which they practice in every land into which they have broken, and by which alone their criminal regime can be maintained. ... Governments who have seized upon power by violence and by usurpation have often resorted to terrorism in their desperate efforts to keep what they have stolen, but the august and venerable structure of the British Empire ... does not need such aid. Such ideas are absolutely foreign to the British way of doing things."

It's time those who love freedom to realize that Sharia Law is as dangerous to our modern day as Nazism and Bolshevism was a century ago.