Category: Engaging Our Culture

Why Ferguson Riots Might Make Sense – by a white person.

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In the mid 20th century wealthier whites moved out of the inner city then carved off the parts of the city with more tax revenues. They added those areas to their suburban cities which left lower income blacks with poor cities. This causes great frustration to see neighboring towns with better schools and better opportunity. Blacks were born into this and grew up with this. Children don’t know why others are better off, they just know they are black and the others are white. This type of inequality has led to unrest for hundreds of years . So when a policeman kills a black person it can trigger the release of the pent up frustration. Even when the officer is justified to use deadly force, residents may react by transferring their anger about their circumstances to the officer and the police. This is unfair to the officer but the blacks Continue Reading →

Houston Mayor Part Two – Exploring Wise Cultural Engagement

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What should we expect of unbelievers? In this case it is fair to fight for freedoms guaranteed in our constitution. When the Phillipian officials sent a messenger telling Paul he could leave Paul said ” you’ve beaten and jailed us and we are Roman citizens, we aren’t just going to leave, the officials need to come and release us themselves” Acts 16:37 paraphrase. The officials were afraid because of Paul’s citizenship and rights and they came to apologize. But my idea is that in this particular case , and in every incident, it might be helpful to consider: what is the best way to achieve our goals? Our highest goal (after honoring God ) is changing the hearts of Americans to support religious freedom, if that doesn’t happen our freedom will fade no matter what we do. So in this case when an opponent has overreached like the mayor then Continue Reading →

Houston Mayor Subpoenas Pastors.

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I’m wondering if the Houston thing is really more of an opportunity than a problem. Maybe it’s a chance just to be Christlike or maybe if the pastors let the authorities come and take their speeches the pastors will be viewed as victims they are by most Americans and backfire on Houston. Maybe they would be justified in bringing an action against Houston for violation of civil rights, which could cost the city much, which would scare other local governments from ever trying to do anything similar.  I guess I’m just concerned about Christians screaming bloody murder instead of just calmly moving with what is happening and asking and looking for the opportunity God might be giving. Often it’s better to move with your opponent than against them, like in martial arts. Christians are getting a reputation for being shrill in our culture, which could end up backfiring on them. The Continue Reading →