Attack of “Who’s it gonna be?” Part 2

I am a political junkie — I confess, I probably need to get some help. With the exception of brief (but nauseating) portions of the DNC roll-call, I’ve managed to successfully avoid watching the Democratic National Convention. I might even have to check out Obama’s speech at his mini-parthenon at Invesco/Mile-High Stadium tonight. I hear talk of “specifics.” We’ll see.

Anyway, while I’m confessing, I might as well confess that, despite my best efforts, I did get sucked into the “who’s it gonna be” VP speculations last week leading up to the pick of Joe Biden. I was at the gym saturday morning and the the tv was on with the volume down. As people came in, they kept asking about “the standoff.” As one looked at the coverage, the reporters had staked out Biden’s compound and were waiting for him to emerge. They then proceeded to stalk him for the rest of the weekend. It was actually quite humorous.

So once again this week, I don’t know who McCain will pick as his VP, but I do care. Romney would be a good pick, but Tim Pawlenty might be good too (although he’s from Minnesota — that state hasn’t gone red since Nixon!). I pray it isn’t Lieberman. He’s good on the war, but please John McCain have some sense!

Anyway, we’ll know tomorrow at noon who McCain picks — maybe then I’ll give my thoughts on the guy (or gal – it could be Sen. Hutchinson from TX).

On the Vanity of VP Speculations

Ever since we’ve had our two Presidential nominees – McCain and Obama–we’ve been hearing speculations about their running mates. I enjoy listening to talk radio, and I do keep an eye on the 24 hour news networks. So for the past several weeks I’ve been hearing the speculations of the political pundits, and the hosts who invite them, on just who the presidential candidates will choose as their running mates.

What amazes me is that every night on FoxNews or CNN the hosts take time to talk about the latest “news” on the Veep choices. Hosts tells what they “know” about the nominees’ choices every night — which is nothing. So for the last several days I’ve stopped caring. I will find out when everyone else does — after the running mates are announced.

I became fed up about a week ago when I remember seeing a Fox News panel discuss the VP choices, and the host asked each of the panelists who they thought each candidate would pick — each panelist (no doubt hedging their bets) said, “oh, he could pick this one, or he might pick that one, or even one of these two.” I interpreted this as “I don’t really know, but want to sound intelligent and don’t want to go on record as picking the wrong person.” I mean, sure, nobody wants to say “Obama will pick _______ as his running mate” only to look silly when Obama picks somebody else — likewise with McCain. It is funny though to hear some of these hosts talking about who they think Obama or McCain should pick — they all try to give their spin on what they imagine someone else is thinking or would do.

So here’s where I am on this issue — nobody outside the campaigns really knows who McCain or Obama will pick for their Vice Presidential running mates, but lots of people have many guesses. As for me — I’ll just wait patiently until the announcements are made, then there may be something to talk about, until then it’s just hot air and vain speculation.

How Separate?

Every election year the issues of separation of church and state come to the forefront of our national consciousness again. This is an issue that seems to be constantly simmering in our country, just waiting for opportunities to boil over and make the news again.

First
I was going to devote a post to Rick Warren’s Saddleback Civic Forum that occurred on Saturday (check it out on Google or YouTube – it’s far too long to post the video here). I watched the forum and strongly encourage you to do so too. I think Pastor Warren did an excellent job, and I am thankful that he made this event happen — I believe it will be one of the most critical appearances for these candidates throughout this whole campaign. It’s also appropriate that it was conducted by a pastor, at a church. As Warren said, Church and State should be separate, but not faith and politics.

Considering that our nation was founded and built in communities of faith and our leaders have often made important decisions in houses of worship, this forum is highly appropriate. So with that I move on to:

The Second Part of my Post
Today I received an email that directed me to this story where once again, another militant Atheist is challenging the appearance of national motto (“In God We Trust”) on US currency.
Michael Newdow is at it again, after trying unsuccessfully before to get the words “Under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, and previous tries at banning “In God We Trust” from the public square. He argues that the motto is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

His suit alleges that, “The placement of ‘In God We Trust’ on the coins and currency was clearly done for religious purposes and to have religious effects.” The story goes on to note:

Newdow’s latest lawsuit came five days after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected, without comment, a challenge to an inscription of “In God We Trust” on a North Carolina county government building.
In doing so, the justices upheld the Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that “In God We Trust” appears on the nation’s coins and is a national motto.
“In this situation, the reasonable observer must be deemed aware of the patriotic uses, both historical and present, of the phrase ‘In God We Trust,”’ the appeals panel ruled in upholding the inscription’s display.

What do you think?
First, what about the Saddleback forum? How was the format? What about Warren as moderator?
Second, what about this suit? Frivolous, or does this suit have merit? I gotta give him one thing–he’s persistent.

More Thoughts on the Lotto Tithe

I was going to post as a comment, but the thought just kept getting longer and longer so I decided to make it a full post. If you haven’t read the previous post, go ahead and check that one out for some background.
I’ve been thinking this situation over and I have another question too. The pastor of this church (First Baptist Orange Park, Florida) has a blog and posted about “living in the gray areas.” (Note: If you decide to visit his blog, please be kind).
Several have applauded him for not accepting “sin money” (my words, not theirs). I also read an interesting post that one of the commenters posted. I learned that John Piper has an article on his website entitled “Don’t Play the Lottery for Me.” In that article Piper speaks unequivocally of the lottery as gambling, as sinful, and talks about the lives ruined by gambling. In those things, I think I mostly agree with him. We are called to be good managers of what has given us, and we should not take advantage of others, as those who entice gamblers so often do.

So I still believe I can stand by what I posted yesterday, but I have another question. What about the man? The guy who won and tried to tithe. I hope and pray that this pastor and his church are ministering to him. As I thought about this situation, I moved beyond thinking about the money and what I would do with it if I were the pastor. I began thinking about this man.

Some people are telling him that it’s a sin to play the lottery and that he’s a dirty sinner. Maybe he’s hearing that God doesn’t want anything to do with his money. I certainly hope that he is hearing that God does want him. The other question I have is, what now? What can he do with the money? If God doesn’t want it (at least the church won’t accept it, I don’t agree that God doesn’t want it or can’t use it), then what is he supposed to do? Is he supposed to give it back? Throw it in a ditch? No, I think surely there are good things that he can do with that money. I think that God can redeem it, and can redeem this man’s life. There are many who could be helped by this kind of donation, and I trust that he will give it somewhere, and that it will be used by God wherever it may be given.

Church Declines Jackpot Tithe

I saw a story this morning that got my attention.

Here’s the rundown of the story: Man wins lottery ($6million+), offers tithe to church (10% – $600k), the pastor turns him down, saying the do not accept lottery money.

There may very well be more to the story, that I don’t know, but this is a head scratcher for me.  My wife and I were talking about this issue just yesterday (oddly enough).  We know people who attend church, but also play the lottery.  We ourselves do not play, as much for pragmatic reasons (i.e., the odds are stacked against you) as a belief in not gambling.  The question Kelly and I asked was, what if we played and won?  We talked about the difficulty of having to confess that we’d gotten the money in the lottery, and tithing on it.

This situation seems a bit tricky.  On the one hand, most baptist churches (this was a baptist church in the story) do not approve of gambling and consider the lottery to be gambling.  However, on the other hand I have to commend the guy for being willing to tithe 10% of the winnings.  Now I doubt I will ever play the lottery, I generally tend to believe that it can do more harm to the winners than if they’d never won (cf. Prov 1:19).   I’m not sure I’m ready to put hitting the jackpot on the same level as stealing.  As I say, I admire the guy for trying to give.  If he’d robbed a bank, I feel strongly that the church should accept no part of it, but he didn’t rob a bank, he probably bought a lottery ticket at a gas station. I do believe that he should give the first portion (that does count as increase).

Try this out: God is lord over all.  I don’t believe in coincidence, rather I believe in God’s providence.  Can God bless this guy through the lottery even if it’s wrong to gamble?  If God chooses to allow this guy to win, and scripture clearly teaches that we are to give our first fruits to God, then the guy HAS to give.  So from that standpoint, if my thinking here is correct, the church is just losing out.  I hope he gives the money somewhere else.  We’ve got a building campaign at my church.

What do you think? Was the pastor right to turn him down? What else could he have done?

Cheapening the Gospel?

Last weekend I went to visit my in-laws on the east coast. While there we attended church together. The town they live in is in an area that is a major summer vacation spot, so the population is greater in the summer than the rest of the year. I say this in order to give a little background. The visiting preacher who preached the sunday of my visit talked about Vacation Bible School. He congratulated the congregation on their VBS, contrasting their efforts with those of “other churches” who had offered prizes, such as a new bicycle, as incentives for kids to come and bring friends to VBS. He spoke of such measures as, “cheapening the gospel.”

When I heard him say this, I have to confess, I wasn’t sure what to think. On the one hand I could kind of understand his sentiment. He was expressing his belief that the gospel ought to be able to stand on its own, without the need for gimmickry or bribery. I agree that the gospel is of immeasurable value and the rewards of the gospel itself are far greater than any earthly reward. However, on the other hand, I asked myself, “doesn’t the apostle Paul say that he would use almost any means to spread the gospel?” (cf. 1 Cor 9:21-23). So if there’s nothing inherently evil or sinful about giving away a bicycle, then I’m not sure I have anything bad to say about it. If kids come for a bike and hear the gospel, that’s a good thing right?

What do you think? Churches do this sort of thing all the time, are they cheapening the gospel? Should the church use incentives like this?

Something More Substantial

Since I’ve been posting about the Jet Favre Drama, I think it’s time for something a little more substantive. Fellow blogger Eric Carpenter posted a great post on monday about Christian music recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman. Chapman and his family have recently been through a major tragedy, where his youngest daughter was killed in an accident at their home several weeks ago. Now he and his family are speaking out about what happened, and how their faith in God has helped them to get through. I watched them last night on Larry King Live. I was planning on posting the video from that interview here, but another fellow SWBTS blogger has already done so, so I’ll share a little link love and direct you to Ronjour Locke’s “Magnify God” blog. I hope that you’ll watch these clips and be touched by the grace God has given them and offers to each of us.

Jet Favre and Madden 09

I realize that the last several posts I’ve made here have been about Brett Favre, but I can’t help but be interested in the goings on. ESPN has this pic from the press conference yesterday in New York. Interesting also, in a related story, EA Sports has released the cover for their new perennial hit Madden 09. And there’s Favre, still in Packers uniform. They are, however, making some changes, as you’ll see by looking at their game website. Gamers will get to see the all new Jet Favre in NY gear for this year’s edition.

Jet Favre

Madden09_Pack_edition

Brett Favre Drama Resolved?

Well it looks like the Brett Favre saga may finally have come to some sort of resolution. Brett Favre is going to the New York Jets. They are proud to have him, and it could be that the Packers are happy to turn the page on what has been a PR nightmare for the last couple of weeks.

Now maybe the teams can look forward to getting ready for the season, and actually playing some football.