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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 09 December 2024

Does it amaze you as it does me, that in a generation, rainbow flags have become globally ubiquitous, that the LGBTQ+ movement is now visible in every subsection of society, including religion?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #182 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

In a few earlier podcasts, I’ve addressed what was once called Gay and is now called the LGBTQ+ movement, Pride month, and related issues like same-sex marriage.

Pride month, not just a day but an entire month, suddenly declared as a national if not global time of obeisance to immorality is particularly egregious because it is visual, “Out, Loud, and Proud” as proponents say, in your face.

In June, nearly nude people parade about on city streets wearing. chains, leather, animal fur, or artificial, exaggerated anatomical parts. This is not pride but perversion. It is not freedom. It is enslavement, bacchanalia, debauchery.

Add Drag Queen, people who now openly chant, “We’re coming for your children,” and you get human debasement on a level with anything you’ve read about in ancient pagan civilizations. Sodom and Gomorrah would feel right at home.

One highly successful marketing and messaging tool developed by the LGBTQ+ movement is the now near-ubiquitous rainbow flag.

The rainbow flag, also known as the gay pride flag or LGBTQ pride flag, is now a globally recognized symbol representing LGBTQ outward identity, support, and “pride.” The original creator of the pride flag is Gilbert Baker, a gay artist who wanted to make a proud statement through a symbol showing diversity. He believed that the rainbow was ideal because it is found in nature. The original gay pride flags flew at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade celebration on June 25, 1978.

The initial rainbow flag had eight colors, including pink to represent sex, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit. Today, the original colors remain except for pink and turquoise.

“On June 26, 2015, the White House was illuminated in the rainbow flag colors to commemorate the legalization of same-sex marriages in all 50 U.S. states, following the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision.” This was the Obama Administration virtue signaling.

In recent years, in the name of “inclusion,” the rainbow flag has been updated and redesigned repeatedly to represent the intersectional diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQIA2-S) communities, progress, and social justice pride.

Christian apologist and social critique Os Guinness observed, “as Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote in The Brothers Karamazov, if God is dead, everything is permitted. You can be as free as you desire to be. The only limits are the limits of your own thinking.”

Dostoevsky was half right. If God is dead, everything is indeed permitted but you are decidedly not free.In his 2024 book, Our Civilizational Moment: the Waning of the West and the War of the Worlds,Guinness goes on to say, “For Jews and Christians, the rainbow is the symbol of a divine promise–God's covenanted promise originally given to Noah after the flood as the sign of God's commitment to his creation (Gen. 9:8-17).

Whatever humanity does, the rainbow is the reminder that God will keep faith with humanity. God's faithfulness will overshadow the worst that humanity can ever do. 

For the sexual revolution, on the other hand, the rainbow stands quite literally as the symbol of Pride. It stands for the revolution and its stated objective of repudiating the Jewish and Christian understanding of the created order.”“Which understanding of the symbol is to prevail? The rainbow as a reminder of God's promise? Or the rainbow as the assertion of human pride? The recent explosion of LGBTQ rainbows across the world is a deliberate inversion of its biblical and centuries–long meaning and a massive statement of where the West is today.”

Ostensibly Christian enterprise “Sojourners” website publishes articles like “How the Pride Flag Speaks to the Promises of God” by an author who says he is a Christian and a gay man.

There is a long and growing list of Protestant churches that reject traditional biblical teaching as they embrace and promote LGBTQ+ lifestyles.

Some Christian colleges and universities now allow or embrace LGBTQ+ students and, for some, staff as well, what’s sometimes called “gay-friendly campuses.” 

Christian colleges and universities are currently under enormous pressure and some are changing their view of LBTQ+ matters because they’ve concluded they will lose financial support if they do not, or they will be scrutinized by accrediting agencies, or they have recalibrated their doctrinal views.

Meanwhile, the Word of God has not changed:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27).

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).

In Leviticus 20, God lists several sexual sins, not just homosexual sins but several heterosexual sins. In God’s eyes, sexual sin is sexual sin. He is not singling out or somehow condemning only those engaged in homosexuality.

For example, “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death” (Lev. 20:10).

And then also, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination” (Lev. 18:22).

Or this, “If a man lies with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them” (Lev. 20:15-16).

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says, “For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men” (Rom. 1:26-27).

“Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

While Christians assume different positions regarding LGBTQ+, in my understanding of the plain English of the Scripture, these sexual behaviors are matters of choice, they are individual and thus personal responsibility, they are spiritual rebellion, not mental illness. I, therefore, cannot embrace or promote heterosexual sin nor LGBTQ+ sin, but I offer these observations:

• Teaching biblical doctrines of sin, or specifically not condoning same-sex relationships, is not ipso factohomophobia, insensitive, or intolerant. Such teaching could be presented in unloving, condemning ways but need not be. God defines sin but always offers love, forgiveness, redemption, and hope. Understanding the chains of darkness, no matter what the sin, is the first step toward understanding the liberty of light.

• There is no biblical or logical justification for bigotry, hatred, gay bashing, bullying, or violence toward LGBTQ+ individuals. None. No room for tearing down rainbow flags that do not belong to us. Such acts are expressions of fear, not love and not faith. 

• Christians should support LGBTQ+ people in their civil liberties and civil rights as Americans, not special rights but constitutional rights.

• Christians should avoid labeling people because labels can imply the existence of unalterable conditions. No sin, other than the ultimate and final rejection of Christ, is an unpardonable sin or an unalterable condition. In my view, LGBTQ+ persons are not defined by their sexual orientation or behavior. Consequently, rather than call someone lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender I’d rather say a person has chosen to express his or her sexuality in these ways. The Spirit of God always offers and can enable another Way.

While I cannot endorse LGBTQ+ moral choices and while I reject the perversion of the rainbow’s divine message, I recognize that each person is made in the image of God, that God loves them, and that Christ died for them as he did for me. 

“Those people” are not our enemy.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024     

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 02 December 2024

Did you have a mother that reminded you from time to time that, “Hey, be sure your sins will find you out?” I did.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #181 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

“Be sure your sins will find you out.” My Mother quoted this verse from time to time in my youth (Numbers 32:23).

A lot of Mothers have quoted this verse, and with good reason. They were trying to tell their teenagers that doing bad deeds rarely remain secret for long. Sooner or later, as they say in the halls of justice, “The truth will out.” So, our mothers’ point: we’d better take care to do right and do well if we wanted a good reputation and a bright future.

But we now live in the Cyber Age, which is to say, “of, relating to, or involving computers or computer networks (Internet).” We now have social media and the sources of Good and Evil are doing ongoing surveillance in our lives. And technology makes us more vulnerable than ever to our own foibles and bad judgment.

Nearly everyone is walking around with a smart phone. In a pocket, on his hip, in her purse is a mobile camera, audio recorder, and high-resolution video camera. And all these phones are linked to social media, so what’s captured can be posted in seconds for a worldwide audience. 

In a nutshell, this means that what was once-private is private-no-more. Private has gone public at warp speed.

Celebrities are especially susceptible to missteps, which are almost instantaneously writ large for the world. They’re more susceptible not because they’re necessarily more inclined to stupidity or bad behavior (though this is debatable). No, they just spend their lives trying to be relevant and create photo ops, so they’re literally plugged in more than the average citizen. 

-The leaking of several alleged DMs where he said he was "100% a cannibal," Armie Hammer was dropped by his publicist, dropped by his agent, and dropped out of multiple projects.

-Roseanne Barr lost her TV sit com job after several racist tweets surfaced.

-Mel Gibson’s self-destructive , drunk, racist rants hit the news not once but thrice, all recorded for posterity. 

-Alec Baldwin infamously berated his then-11-year-old daughter on her cell phone voice mail. 

-Baywatch star David Hasselhoff apparently asked his then-16-year-old daughter to video tape him if he got drunk, so he could later see for himself how bad his addiction had become. Her video of her half-naked, falling-down drunk father slobbering over a hamburger is difficult to watch. But watch it we may on the net.

Celebrity brushes with social media infamy are legion, many of them resulting from unexpected photos or videos of them with someone other than their spouse, thus resulting in later divorce. 

But celebrities aren’t alone. Not a month goes by without some new story of a kid (immature by definition) going too far—naively or with malice aforethought—posting content online that, whoops, proves to be illegal, or just stupid.

One high school youth posted pictures of his teenage peers engaging in sexual encounters at a party. Dumb? Yes. Naïve? Probably, but also criminal because the photographed individuals were underage. Now this young man faces jail time, a record, and a damaged life.

Another college youth posted video online, this one featuring him singing sexually risqué lyrics seemingly in front of a group of elementary school children. Turns out, he’d edited his song into an earlier video of the children, so they hadn’t actually heard the song, yet were still pictured in the video. It was a joke, he said, but parents, school officials, and local authorities weren’t laughing. Now despite his apologies he faces criminal charges for posting pictures of minors in a “sexual situation.”

Teens, even “tweens,” are not just texting but “sexting,” meaning they’re sending suggestive words, pictures, and videos of themselves to others. Aside from the moral concerns raised by this practice, these youth are engaging in behavior that makes them vulnerable to sexual predators, stalkers, criminal indictments, or simply embarrassment and broken relationships. 

And don’t forget, because the Internet won’t. Whatever is posted online lives in perpetuity in cyberspace. Even more so if it becomes popular, i.e., “goes viral.” The posted material can be accessed, reposted, hyperlinked, and downloaded indefinitely. 

Or it may “go away” only to return a few years later when the content originators or participants are applying for college or graduate school, interviewing for employment, dating or getting married, or running for office.

Remember too, if police can track perpetrators’ online activities, other people can track yours. Emails are discoverable in lawsuits. Individuals have lost their jobs, some in ministry, when their online history was later for some reason revealed.

Country clubs and athletic clubs ban cell phone use in locker rooms because illicit photographs have been spirited from these “private” domains. Suspicious wives are using Google Street View webcams to catch husbands visiting paramours. 

Scanners pick up local phone conversations.

Ostensibly for marketing purposes, corporations now snoop legally into a wide array of once private but now online personal data. We leave electronic fingerprints online, this information is digitized, and it can be sold. Certain companies also conduct what’s called “data mining,” selling their research capabilities to anyone willing to pay. 

Who you are is on the grid. Google your own name and see what comes up. 

Since 2003, social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter or X, YouTube, and more have made telling our story ever easier. 

Social media has put a culture that’s already predisposed to exaggerated self-expression on steroids. If anything, social media seems to encourage our human penchant for narcissism, for proclaiming “I am here,” “I am somebody.”

Beginning with Boomers, my generation, and especially the later generations, we seem to crave publicity in any form. We must be on stage, on camera, on air, online. 

This is the genesis of “reality TV.” It’s a driving part of our psyche, our therapeutic need to express, confess, and profess.

Millennials and the younger Generations, Z and Alpha, are even more inclined to say or do anything for the camera, as long as they get their moment.

They don’t have to work at it. I’ve shared in this podcast before that nearly everywhere we go we are now on camera. Atlanta remains the most surveilled city in America. Virtually everywhere we go we’re now on one of a ubiquitous array of ground or satellite cameras. Nowhere is “safe” from the prying eyes of the technological grid. You’re on the grid whether you want to be or not.

Well, how you process all this is up to you. It is still, praise God, a free country. 

But surely it would behoove us to remember how the wisest man Solomon summarized life:  

He said, 

“Now all has been heard; 
  here is the conclusion of the matter: 
Fear God and keep his commandments, 
  for this is the duty of all mankind. 
For God will bring every deed into judgment, 
  including every hidden thing, 
  whether it is good or evil.”  (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

What’s utterly amazing is not that Tiger Woods’s proclivities came out a few years ago, but that they took so relatively long to do so in this no-secrets era. But, still, his experience is a reminder of many a mother’s injunction, “Be sure your sins will find you out.”

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel //www.youtube.com/@DrRexRogers" style="color: #96607d; text-decoration: underline;">@DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube channel //www.youtube.com/@DrRexRogers" style="color: #96607d; text-decoration: underline;">@DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 25 November 2024

Let’s consider some ways we can participate in “thanks giving” during Thanksgiving.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #180 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Thanksgiving is a rare precious tradition that combines Christian theology and the best of Americana.

God told us to “give thanks in all circumstances.” (1 Thess. 5:18).

He said, “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” (1 Tim. 4:4-5)

And we’re commanded to “enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Ps. 100:4)

The Pilgrims celebrated what’s considered the First Thanksgiving with Native American neighbors in Plymouth Colony in 1621.

October 3, 1789, President George Washington issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation, recommending the People of the new United States express their sincere and humble thanks to the Lord. 

October 3, 1863, with the nation riven by Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation designating “the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving.” 

Certainly, other countries have their own versions of harvest festivals or days of giving thanks, although they may not be exactly the same as the American Thanksgiving. For example:

• Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October. While it has similar themes of giving thanks for the harvest, it has a different historical origin—linked more to the early French settlers in Canada and the end of harvests in late fall.

• In Liberia, a country founded by freed American slaves, Liberians celebrate Thanksgiving on the first Thursday in November, mirroring the American tradition, though it has its own unique history and customs.

• Many countries have harvest festivals or days of gratitude, like the British Harvest Festival or “Brits-giving,”which celebrates the harvest season and is similar in spirit to Thanksgiving, but it doesn't have the same historical narrative tied to it.

So, while the American version of Thanksgiving is distinctive in its historical and cultural context, the idea of giving thanks and celebrating the harvest is a theme that resonates in many parts of the world.

But the Pilgrim Thanksgiving at Plymouth Colony was special in several ways:

1. “Pilgrims were singularly motivated by a quest for religious freedom.” Most other pioneers to the New World looked for gold or furs or land.

2. “Pilgrims stand out for they succeeded in maintaining the longest-lasting and most equitable peace between natives and immigrants in the history of what would become the United States.” 

3. The Pilgrims rejected “socialism (in favor of) the adoption of private enterprise.  
   1. After the meager Thanksgiving harvest, the second season of collective farming and distribution proved equally disappointing. 
   2. Governor Bradford had seen enough, recording that the system ‘was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort.’ 
   3. So, before the 1623 season he scrapped socialist farming and replaced it with private ownership of land for each of the families. 
   4. As a result of becoming responsible for their own welfare and gaining freedom to choose what to grow for consumption or trade, the Pilgrims’ productivity surged.”

Sometimes, we hear that the holidays, Thanksgiving included, is a difficult time for some people, not a time of joy but of pain and sorrow. This is because holidays are generally considered times for family and friends and if you happen to be a person whose relationships have broken down for any number of reasons you may very well be alone. This is a way for the rest of us who are blessed to minister to those in need by inviting them to socialize with us, whether at the Thanksgiving dinner or otherwise. Being alone is not a plus in the human experience.

Then what about Thanksgiving Day traditions – other than giving thanks, eating, and football – what other fun and fellowship do families pursue on this special day?

• Well, it is interesting to note that in 1956, the business Swansons developed the famous TV dinners off leftovers from Thanksgiving meals.

• Pumpkin pie is as associated with Thanksgiving as are turkeys.

• According, to plumbing company Roto-Rooter, the day after Thanksgiving is “far and away the busiest day of the year.” The company warns to be extra careful with turkey grease, potato peels, rice, and stuffing, as they are sure to clog your drain or overwork your garbage disposal.

Stores all across the country have some of their biggest sales the day after Thanksgiving. Now known as Black Friday, this day is almost a holiday in itself. While this shopping tradition has changed with the rise of e-commerce, people still stand in line for hours early in the morning to get great discounts and start their Christmas shopping.

Some people, especially those who supported the losing candidates during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, are now saying that family and friends with whom they disagree politically should not be invited to Thanksgiving festivities. In other words, if you are conservative or Republican, you distance yourself from family and friends who happen to be liberal, progressive, or Democrat, and vice versa. This point of view absolutizes politics, making political matters the end-all, be-all of life, and it perpetuates division and social disintegration.

This is not a Christian view, because it elevates temporal political ideas and angst above biblical values like love, forgiveness, tolerance, and the rest of the fruit of the Spirit. There is no reason Christian believers need separate themselves from those with whom they disagree politically, and if this means not discussing tense disagreements for a time, so be it. No matter one’s political views, what matters is the Lord, His Word, Christian teaching, and how we live out our Christian faith in family and community. Thanksgiving should be a time of gratitude, and there is much to be grateful about, whatever our politics.

In recent years, there’s been a kind of cultural backlash among some Americans against religious holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas – so much so we’ve been told to avoid celebrating Thanksgiving because Americans decimated Indians and it’s hypocritical to perpetuate a myth of good feelings, or we’ve been told not to say, “Merry Christmas” because this pushes Christianity on others. Has this trend changed? Is it changing?

I think it may be changing. There seems to be a growing awareness that our country, though strong, is also in some ways weak, for example, a declining commitment to truth and thus right and wrong, lack of respect for law and order and thus increasing crime, promotion of sexual libertinism and thus emotional damage, disease, broken families, unwanted and unloved and thus traumatized children.

Hopefully many in our country are recognizing a need to return to time-tested, values, values that reinforce families and hold a nation together. If we don’t think and act right, we won’t thrive or maybe even survive. But if we embrace a Christian moral ethic, we can flourish.

Back to gratitude. 

It is not possible to thank God “too much.” Think about a loved one, perhaps your spouse. Do you get tired of hearing that he or she loves you? Is it possible to tell your children too often that you love them?

In the Psalms, the shepherd-King David repeatedly praises and thanks the Lord for every conceivable circumstance and blessing in David’s life. This is our model. Thanks be to God the author of every good and perfect gift.

I hope your personal experience with Thanksgiving has been endearing and uplifting. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to thank God from whom all blessings flow, to enjoy family and friends, to acknowledge God’s redemptive message of hope.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).

Happy Thanksgiving.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube Channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 17 November 2024

American patriotism has taken a lot of hits in recent years. Should Americans be patriotic? Is there anything really to be patriotic about?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #179 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

America has been called a Christian nation, though this description has been hotly debated. 

America has been called “the first new nation” by eminent sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset. 

America has been called “The Great Experiment” by no less than George Washington.

America has been said to be great because it is good, and that it would cease to be great if it ceased to be good. 

This observation has been variously attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville and others, but whoever said it the phrase captures America’s sense of itself as the land of opportunity, the land of the free and the home of the brave, ideas rooted in the Judeo-Christian moral consensus that gave meaning and destiny to the American people their first two hundred years.

America’s experience with Christianity is an historic and storied one, not always consistent with biblical theology but one of depth, influence, and impact.

Several lines of scholarly consideration developed from America’s unique experience with religious liberty and the impact of Christianity: 

• American exceptionalism, the idea America developed from a set of values that became a creed affirming what the Founders considered self-evident truths, that human beings are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, equality before the law, justice, individual responsibility. It is an historical interpretation and cultural philosophy that bespoke America’s sense of itself as different, special, and “the last best hope of earth.”

• American imperialism,in the late 19^thand 20^th Centuries an extension of American ideals and power across the world, some say to protect freedom, others say to dominate. It captures an American view of its purpose as special, different, or above.

• Christian nationalism, the idea America was created by Christians and should be run by Christians without separation of church and state. It is a political ideology that conflates the cross and the flag, in essence looking upon the USA as a kind of theocracy. This point of view distorts both the Gospel and democracy.

• Civil religion, a sort of melding of a country’s dominant religious views and its political philosophy in everyday practical social life and rituals, e.g., displaying the US flag in churches, singing the National Anthem or “God Bless America” at sporting events, what sociologist Robert N. Bellah called, “an institutionalized collection of sacred beliefs about the American nation.” 

These expressions of Christianity and culture in American history offer upsides and downsides. The upside of American exceptionalism, for example, is that it gave America a purpose, a moral destiny. The downside is that it worked itself out at times in movements like 19^th Century Manifest Destiny, which in its best suit gave Americans a proactive, optimistic, forward-looking attitude, “Go West young man, Go West.” People strongly believed in the virtue and the right of the American political culture and system and that their progress was inevitable and justifiable. But in its worst suit Manifest Destiny destroyed the beaver, the buffalo, the rich prairie eventually resulting in the Dust Bowl, and the Native American population.

Historically, many indigenous, aboriginal, or other people-groups, including Native Americans, thought of themselves simply as “The People.” The Ancient Chinese referred to themselves, for example, as “the People of the Middle Kingdom,” meaning they considered themselves the center of civilization and all those around them and beyond were barbarians. 

The point is, whether American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, American imperialism, Christian nationalism, or civil religion, it is fairly easy to demonstrate that Americans have, like other civilizations, tended to think of themselves as remarkable. 

This, in itself, is not remarkable. It is only an issue if this sense of our own identity, as remarkable, morphs into a philosophy that we are somehow better, or above, or special, or entitled, by which we, “the people,” begin to judge and treat others as less than.

Or, this sense that Americans are remarkable becomes an issue when many in the current political environment of the 21^st Century think America is anything-but-remarkable, in fact these Americans reject their heritage and identity by attacking the values, the political system, and the spirit of what it has meant to be an American. This is remarkable.

In America’s past, Christianity was cited to justify slavery in the ante-bellum South and decimate the American Indian in the 1870s-90s, yet Christianity was also applied righteously in the abolition movement and the Civil War in the 1860s and eventually the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. The record is mixed because American Christians are, like all human beings, finite and sinful creatures. We see through a glass darkly.

However, to the good, Christianity influenced the development of American law, education, politics, economics, culture, and progress toward liberty and justice for all. The impact of scriptural values can be seen in cultural mores regarding sexuality, marriage, family and child-rearing, work ethic, property, free enterprise, public morality, social cohesion, and politics.

E Pluribus Unum, Out of Many One, served as a de facto national motto from 1782 until “In God We Trust” was officially adopted in 1956. E Pluribus Unum is a Latin phrase rooted in a Christian conception of society. Significantly, it is not E Pluribus Tantum, Only Many. The “diversity” being marketed today, often absolutized as a value with little or no concern for unity, is a recipe for social disaster.

I love my country, and I am blessed with many international friends who love their country, but it must be said, being “Christian” and being American or Lebanese or English or French or Chinese or Egyptian or any of the other 195 nations in the world is not the same thing. 

This does not mean God does not care about nations. In fact, the Scripture is chock-full of references to the Lord’s work in the midst of, despite, and through nation states. 

But God’s will and the Word of God are not the same, in fact are entirely distinct from, the presence, politics, and/or policies of nation states. God accomplishes his purposes in every age, no matter the political configurations of the time.

What then does all this have to do with the ease with which some equate their religious faith, ideology, partisanship, or demography with a morally superior, righteous, and unassailable position?

It is this: if American “Christians” carry an attitude of superiority into their ideological, partisan, or personal identity they not only sacrifice the power of the faith to change the world, they also easily fall prey to a self-appointed moral righteousness. 

In other words, one’s viewpoint is no longer just one perspective to be evaluated and debated along with many others in the marketplace of ideas. No, one’s viewpoint is non-debatable, non-negotiable, unimpeachable, inviolable. One’s viewpoint can brook no challenge, give no quarter, take no prisoners. One’s viewpoint is sacrosanct. The other viewpoints are therefore by definition not worthy, not worth hearing, and possibly so dangerous they must be silenced.

While this assumption of ideological superiority is exactly what the Left and left-leaning liberalism does, no Christian who attempts to adhere to Scripture can justify such lack of humility and outright arrogance.

This assumption of unbreachable moral righteousness is also something that political conservatives must avoid. Winning is fun, and MAGA supporters earned a substantial victory in the November 2024 election, so yes, to the victor belong the spoils, and in the months ahead the conservative MAGA movement should enact its policies as supported by the American people. But they must also avoid the human desire to dance on their opposition’s logo, to vindicate themselves by quashing others needlessly, to seeking to silence other points of view. Freedom of speech means freedom to speak viewpoints others consider objectionable, Christian or conservative or liberal or left.

Scripture says, “Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,”
Col. 3:12.

The USA, God be praised, is still a land where religious liberty is honored, and with it freedom of speech. It is a place where all people, including Christians, can learn to discern how their faith can contribute to lives and culture. May this struggle, this Great Experiment, continue.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024   

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube Channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.

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Written by: Rex M. Rogers

Published: 11 November 2024

Have you experienced adversity, trials, or tribulations in your life? Have you ever hit the wall?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #178 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Everyone experiences adversity. It’s a part of life no one escapes. In fact, if you haven’t experienced adversity, you haven’t lived long enough.

Something unpleasant happens, often unexpected, and we suffer. Sometimes it's a mild inconvenience like a flat tire, a toothache, a stubbed toe.  Sometimes adversity is more severe like an illness or the death of a loved one. Or the car engine coughs rather than purrs, the furnace breaks down in January, we lose a job, Fido goes to his reward. Things don't work out the way we hoped or planned—instead, we experience trials and tribulations.

Robinson Crusoe learned the hard way about adversity. Remember him? At age 18 he foolishly ignored his father's advice, pursued a prodigal drunken sailor's life, aimlessly bounced around the world for a few years, and eventually was shipwrecked alone on a deserted island for what turned out to be 28 years.

Crusoe blamed God—cursed him, actually—for his predicament and lived in bitterness and despondency. Much later he began reading one of the Bibles he’d rescued earlier from the derelict ship. In time, his spiritual eyes were opened, and he accepted Christ. Eventually, he evangelized "Man Friday," the native friend he’d rescued from cannibals. When Robinson Crusoe was finally delivered at age 53, he exuberantly praised God for putting him on the island. 

To say the least this is an amazing change of heart. Crusoe goes from cursing God to worshipping God for the same predicament. It took years, new insight into God’s character, and a realistic assessment of his own attitudes, but in the end, Crusoe realized God’s seemingly cruel intervention in his life was actually a providential act of divine love and mercy. Crusoe knew that, left to his own vices, he likely would’ve died young, alone, and un-mourned in a bar fight in some far-off port. In the words of Scripture, he would have “squandered his wealth [and wasted his life] in wild living” (Lk. 15:13). 

But God had protected Robinson Crusoe from himself. What he considered affliction or adversity, God considered protection and blessing.

Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) is a classic of English literature that upon publication immediately became what today we’d call a bestseller, and it’s never been out of print since. The book helped earn Defoe the honorary sobriquet “Father of the English Novel.” 

But Defoe was about more than fame and fortune. Defoe developed the fictional Crusoe character to help illustrate the sovereignty of God. Sovereignty, or ultimate knowledge, authority, and power, is the belief God holds everything in His hands.

In the Old Testament, Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery with evil intent. Yet God used these misguided brothers to accomplish his purposes. He placed Joseph in high Egyptian office so Joseph could later save those very brothers from famine—“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Gen. 50:20). Joseph’s adversity demonstrates that not all of our trials are due to personal sin (Jm. 1).

Job, too, experienced overwhelming adversity, none of it due to his disobedience. While it's possible to bring adversity upon ourselves by ignoring God's commands, it's also possible that many of the problems we face in our lives come upon us because we live in a fallen sinful world (Rom. 1).

With all that happens in this capricious fallen world God is never surprised. He's never taken off-guard. He's never the victim of circumstances. “Accident” and “mistake” are not words in God’s vocabulary. Indeed, the phrase “divine mistake” is an oxymoron. As the sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent, eternal God of the universe it is impossible for God to make a mistake. In point of fact, the reality of the Sovereign God and the concepts of “accident” or “error” are mutually exclusive ideas. So, for God there are no “oops.”

The doctrine of the sovereignty of God—this “No-Oops” God—is one of the most comforting teachings of Scripture. God is in control not only of creation but also of his creatures, and he never takes a misstep.

The world is a confusing mix of good and evil, beauty and ugliness. Acts of human courage and nobility coexist with unbelievable human cruelty and debauchery. It's what the Bible calls the "wheat and the weeds" (Matt. 13:24-30). In the face of this moral mixture, Christians sometimes wonder, "Is God on our side?" 

Abraham Lincoln struggled with this question in his Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865. He said, "Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained...Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other...The prayers of both could not be answered--that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes...Shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? So shall it be said 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'"

God works His purposes with both the wheat and the weeds. Christians will not always "win" or be blessed. Businesses owned by Christians will not always succeed. Life will not always seem "fair." Yet God will work all things, including adversities, together for good (Rom. 8:28).

Not only acts of good but acts of evil are within God’s universal and permissive will—his sovereignty. God does not cause evil. He is not the source of evil. Satan is the source, along with the evil heart of humankind. But even evil men or women committing evil acts do not catch God off-guard and do not unsettle Him in any way. Sovereignty isn’t a part-time attribute.

Consider this passage from the Psalms: “God reigns over the nations: God is seated on his holy throne. The nobles of the nations assemble, as the people of the God of Abraham. For the kings of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted” (47:8-9).

Psalm 52 is too long to quote. Just think about these phrases: “Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man…Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin” (52:1, 5).

No mass killer, no deranged gunman, no suicide bomber, no hijacker, no evildoer, no strongman, no terrorist, not even Satan himself can operate beyond the limits of God’s sovereignty.

While we are finite and cannot anticipate, much less eliminate, all risk, God is omnipotent and has us in the palm of his hands. While we may hear of random violence, nothing is ever random in the omniscient eyes of God. While we do not understand exactly how God exercises his disposition over evil in the world, knowing that he does is an immense solace. While we may at times be understandably fearful in a maniacal world, we need not live in fear. God knows when we rise up and when we lay down. We belong to the Lord, and so does history itself.

While we'll not always understand our adversity much less the soul-wrenching adversity of the complex world in which we live, we trust the Lord. He never leaves us nor forsakes us (Heb. 13:5). 

Like Robinson Crusoe we must learn to understand all things, especially adversity, from the perspective of a Christian worldview.

God is near, and he's in control. God is sovereign. What a fantastic, liberating, comforting truth.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024  

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/ or my YouTube Channel @DrRexRogers, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://x.com/RexMRogers.