Holidays

Discerning What Is Best
with Dr. Rex M. Rogers

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 31 March 2024

Who is this man Jesus, and is He risen, is He risen indeed?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #141 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.

I believe the most important question in the Bible, and thus for every human being, is this:

“What think ye of Christ?”(Matt. 22:42) as worded in the KJV.
“What do you think about the Christ?” ESV.
“What do you think about the Messiah?” NIV.

This inquiry puts the ultimate question to each person about our existence, purpose, and potential for mending our broken relationship with the Heavenly Father. It is the central question of the Gospel. Who do you believe Jesus Christ is?

Do you believe he is who the Bible says that he is? And do you place your faith in him and him alone, his sacrifice on the cross for your sin and his resurrection defying and defeating physical and spiritual death forever?

“Salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is the main topic in the New Testament…The Gospel is the good news of our reconciliation from the death of sin to eternal life in Christ.”

In Acts 4:12, the Scripture says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

And of course, the best-known verse in the Bible, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

So, answering the question, what do you think of the Christ, is an experience with eternal implications.

Think of Jesus on the crucifixion cross. Sinner on one side, a robber condemned to death who angrily mocked Jesus as the Christ (Luke 23:39-43).

Sinner on the other side, a man who rebuked his fellow criminal, saying, “Don’t you fear God,” we deserve this, then sincerely expressed his faith but asking Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Savior in the middle, who responded to the Sinner’s plea with “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

I’ve always valued this detail in the Bible account. We’ve all heard of deathbed confessions and salvation in the Lord. Perhaps some of us have witnessed this. They are possible, just like the thief on the cross, because as long as we have breath there is hope. And the salvation of a dying person, who seems to be saved by the skin of his teeth, is just as complete and the blessings of heaven just as great as any who come to Christ at a young age and live a life as unto the Lord.

Think again of Jesus on the crucifixion cross. “We get our English word excruciating from the Roman word ‘out of the cross.’” I’ve written before about how the cross, an instrument of torture and gruesome death, which in the providence of God has now become an internationally recognized symbol of hope.

In one sense it is ironic. Why would Christians worldwide want to hang a tool of torture and death, a cross, on the wall of their house or place one in their churches? Why would they want to wear a cross on a necklace? Because the cross has become a symbol of the “redeeming benefits of (Jesus’) Passion and death. The cross is thus a sign both of Christ himself and of the faith of Christians.” What we now see in the cross is not death but Jesus’ victory over death (1 Cor. 15:26, 54-57).

But the story does not end on the cross, which is why I prefer an empty cross over a crucifix.

The question “What think ye of Christ?” focuses us back to Easter, for without Easter, without the resurrection, there would be no future for Christianity or for humanity.

We believe what the Bible teaches that Jesus was crucified on the cross, died, spent three days buried, and then rose the third day, Easter morning.

In Matt. 28:5-7, the Scripture records, “The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you.”

In 1 Cor 15:14-22, the Apostle Paul responds to those in the Corinthian church who apparently rejected the idea a body could be resurrected. He says, “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”

Because of the resurrection on Easter morning, there is:

Victory over sin and death.
The reality that if we know Christ, we will see again those believers who have died and gone on before us.
A future in which we know the end of history.
Everlasting hope.

When I was a kid, Easter seemed to have been a bigger deal than it is now.

People dressed up, I mean really dressed up in what was called their “Easter Sunday best.” Clothes, of course, do not matter in terms of worshipping God, but then again, to strive for a higher level of excellence said something about the importance of the occasion. Now, our dressed down culture seems to delight in going the other way. OK, so be it, but it makes me wonder.

Churches back then scheduled more Easter sunrise services than they do now, though I know some still do this. Again, there is nothing extra-sacred about such a service. It is just a time for the church community to join in celebrating “He is risen. He is risen indeed.”

My upbringing and church background did not include Lent, a Christian religious observance commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, before beginning his public ministry. “In Lent-observing Western Christian denominations, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends approximately six weeks later; depending on the Christian denomination and local custom, Lent concludes either on the evening of Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday), or at sundown on Holy Saturday, when the Easter Vigil is celebrated, though in either case, Lenten fasting observances are maintained until the evening of Holy Saturday.”

“In Lent, many Christians commit to fasting, as well as giving up certain luxuries in imitation of Jesus Christ's sacrifice during his journey into the desert for 40 days; this is known as one's Lenten sacrifice. Often observed are the Stations of the Cross, a devotional commemoration of Christ's carrying the Cross and crucifixion.”

Since I grew up among many Catholic friends in our community, I often heard them say they were “Giving it up for lent” in reference to all manner of habits and practices. I’m not suggesting here that people who observe Lent are not sincere or in some way unbiblical, but I will go so far as to say that much of what I observed of this religious practice seemed to be about checking certain boxes and getting it over with. But again, I can’t see in a person’s heart, so I cannot stand in judgment of their sincerity. I can say, though, that those who put their faith in the observance of Lent as a part of a works-based, earn salvation approach, are indeed at odds with what the Scripture says and the Reformation remined us. Sola fide. Sola gratia. Sola Christus.

Easter is a day like no other in religion.

Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

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.

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

*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 connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers or https://twitter.com/RexMRogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 01 January 2024

Have you ever noticed the dramatic change that takes place the week following Christmas from “peace on earth” to “let’s let it all hang out”?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #126 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 my recollection, when I was a kid, most people enjoyed the Christmas season right on into the New Year’s. These days, I’m not so sure if most people still enjoy the season, though I assume it’s reasonable to say many people do.

But Christmas to New Year’s involves a big shift, at least I always thought it did and I still do. What I mean is there is a palpable transformation in tone from the few weeks leading up to and including Christmas on into the week following Christmas up to New Year’s Day.

Before Christmas, people catch the Christmas spirit. Gas station clerks wish you “Merry Christmas.” People at the airport, though harried by travel, for the most part are excited, happy, and pleasant. Retail stores brim with red and green, bright colorful lights, and various representations of Christmas, whether religious or secular.

Then Christmas is suddenly over and in one fell swoop, people’s moods change.

Gas station clerks return to their often seen-it-all surly selves. People at the airport are manic and driven. Retail stores still brim with color, but Christmas disappears fast, moved to the discount section, and customers take on a frenzied push to find the right foods for the planned blowout New Year’s Eve.

Media, especially television, really evidences this mood swing. Sure, there’s a few Christmas themes, commercials, and classic films still on air, along with football bowl games, but the big push is New Year’s Eve – ads about celebrities, singers and bands, and a lot parties. In fact, it’s a take a walk on the wild side atmosphere from here on out.

The focus is the upcoming last midnight of the old year and ringing in the new year.

Nothing wrong with this per se, but I’ve always felt the values being expressed were radically different from the week before Christmas. Earlier, it was silent night, love, home, family and friends, tranquility, peace on earth. With New Year’s, it is raucous rowdiness, sensuality, hit the clubs, noise, revelry-around-the-world, bacchanalia, the ball dropping in Times Square, and maybe most of all, drinking, a lot of drinking.

It’s probably the latter that makes me react. An endless evening of shallow celebrities expressing how ostensibly happy they are in their carousing status.

Maybe part of my pullback is that I have never been a drinker. I don’t think it is a sin, per se, to drink alcoholic beverages. Excess or drunkenness is the real problem.

That said, I do think drinking alcohol is like playing with fire. Clearly, many people cannot handle it and succumb to alcoholism. Even for those who don’t become substance abusers – like so many Hollywood and entertainment stars, a community that year-after-year lose a few to the all-too-predictable endgame of their addiction, for example, “Friends” star Matthew Perry, who at 54 years of age recently drowned in his hot tub. He was not drunk and in fact had apparently been sober for some time, but he struggled with years of alcohol abuse, surgeries, treatments, and prescribed drugs to assist his return to normalcy. However, his autopsy showed he died of acute effects of ketamine, a drug designed to treat anxiety and depression. He’d apparently taken too much, which resulted in unconsciousness, and he slipped below the water. In other words, one of the variables in his early death is traceable to his long abuse of alcohol.

In 2012, once-in-a-generation singing voice Whitney Houston died similarly at 48 years of age, drowning in the bathtub of a Beverly Hills hotel. Alcohol was a factor, while her “toxicology report found that ‘cocaine and metabolites’ contributed to her passing.” There is incredible sadness in this kind of early, avoidable demise. In 1991, to open Super Bowl XXV, Whitney Houston sang the “Star Spangled Banner.” Her presentation was so special, so goose-pimple-producing, it is yet regarded as one of the best renditions of the National Anthem ever sung and may be watched on YouTube. So, losing Whiney to alcohol and substance abuse is dreadfully sad.

But even among those who don’t abuse alcohol, there are the special occasions like New Year’s when there seems to be an expectation and an acceptable excuse. So people get drunk because, well, Hey, everybody’s partying, and some later die in vehicle accidents, some get pregnant, and some embarrass themselves physically or in what they say or do while drunk. Remember actor Mel Gibson’s horrid antisemitic comments he made while knockdown drunk, comments that yet stain his legacy in the film industry.

In my view, all this is celebrated in the party-hardy motif of New Year’s Eve. Lost in this are the “Silent Night, Holy Night” values of Christmas.

Now you could say, Rogers, you’re just a prude, or maybe, Rogers, you’re just getting old. Maybe. But my unease with the riotous living of New Year’s Eve doesn’t change the fact it all takes place worldwide.

This year, ringing in 2024 takes place under the shadow of threat assessments warning of potential terrorism. God forbid that any attacks happen, but the threat is viable. “Heightened security measures in the hours ahead of and after ringing in 2024” are in place for New York City’s Times Square. “The move comes after the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other federal agencies warned police departments across the country about potential threats to large crowds celebrating the holiday, including from lone actors motivated by the Israel-Hamas war.”

France is on very high alert. “German police are planning one of their largest security operations in Berlin. In light of the Middle East conflict, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she was ‘concerned that New Year's Eve could once again be a day on which we experience blind rage and senseless violence.’”

Similar concerns focus on New Year’s Day parades and football bowl games featuring large, concentrated crowds. Unprecedented security efforts will take place during the Rose Parade and at the Rose Bowl.

Year 2024 is an unknown to all of us looking into the future. None of us are Nostradamus, who was not all that accurate a prognosticator himself. We hope to avoid pandemics and protests, wars, rumors of wars, and culture wars. But whatever 2024 entails, as believers we can rely upon the providence, the presence, the promises, and the peace of God.

We know God is Sovereign. He is the Creator, and he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. We know there is no such thing as luck, fate, destiny, or “May the Force be with you.” Rather, in the vernacular, we know God the Heavenly Father is providentially in charge.

We know God is with us. His son, Jesus, and our Savior is called Immanuel, “God with us.” We know Jesus said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt 28:20). We know Jesus also said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Heb 13:5). The Holy Spirit “himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Rom 8:16). We know we are never, no matter what we experience, outside of the presence of God.

We know God keeps his word and fulfills every promise. Scripture says, “You know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one of them has failed” (Josh 23:14). We know that “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Lk 18:27). God is God, our God, today and tomorrow, and his promise stands even to be with us in the valley of the shadow of death. (Ps 23).

We know, too, that only in the Lord there is peace. Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”(Jn 16:33).

Whatever the new year brings, trust in God’s providence, experience his presence, lean on his promises, and enjoy his peace. And celebrate the spirit of Christmas throughout 2024.

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

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 25 December 2023

Do you think it’s possible to experience peace of any kind in a world so bent upon envy, disruption, violence, and sin?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #125 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.

Christmas is a time we typically think good thoughts about family, friends, and oh yes, peace. But the world is anything but peaceful Christmas 2023.

The Ukraine struggles against Russian aggression, Sudan finds itself once again in a senseless, brutal civil war, and the Holy Land is immersed in war as Israel attempts, as they say, “to eradicate Hamas,” in response to Hamas’s barbaric unprovoked, surprise attack killing, maiming, raping, and kidnapping hundreds of Israelis, Oct 7, 2023.

Christmas, though, is about peace. Isaiah 9:6 announced, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Jesus’s peace, as we sometimes assume, is not necessarily physical safety and political harmony.

The babe in the manger who became the Savior because of Calvary and the Resurrection, said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid,” Jn 14:27.

The Hebrew word for peace is shalom, commonly used as Jewish greeting. Shalom in this verse means more than just the absence of war. It references all kinds of peace: wholeness, welfare, physical health, quietness, mental and emotional stability. It means “an appearance of calm and tranquility of individuals, groups, and nations”…and “the deeper, more foundational meaning of peace is “the spiritual harmony brought about by an individual’s restoration with God.”

This reminds me of the beloved Christmas carol, “Silent Night.” My SAT-7 colleague Dennis Wiens recently observed, “Josef Mohr, a Salzburg clergyman, wrote the lyrics in 1816, just after the Napoleonic Wars. (His) congregation in Mariapfarr (Austria) was reeling from the war, which had decimated the country's political and social infrastructure. The song's message of peace was sent into a time marked by war, hunger, disease, and natural disasters.”

Two years later, “Josef walked to a hill overlooking his town one evening. This quiet time, alone, allowed him to process and reflect as he and the town prepared for Christmas Eve 1818.

“Reveling in the majestic silence of a wintry night, Mohr looked over the Christmas card-like scene of his town. He reflected on a Christmas play he had just watched that triggered his memory of a poem he had written a couple of years before. That poem was about the night angels announced the birth of the long-awaited Messiah to shepherds on a hillside. Mohr decided those words might make a good carol for his congregation the following evening at their Christmas Eve service. The one problem was that he didn't have any music to which that poem could be sung.”

“So, the next day, Mohr went to see the church organist, Franz Xaver Gruber, “a local schoolteacher who the next year became the organist of Old Saint Nicholas Church. By that evening, Gruber had managed to compose a musical setting for the poem. That the church organ was inoperable no longer mattered to Mohr and Gruber. They now had a Christmas carol that could be sung without an organ.”

“The now-famous carol was first performed as "Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht," Josef Mohr, the young priest who wrote the lyrics, played the guitar and sang along with Franz Xaver Gruber, the choir director who had written the melody.” It was later first performed in the United States in New York City in 1839.

“The contrast between the carol's message of tranquility and hope and the violence during a time marked by war, hunger, disease, social upheaval, and natural disasters is obvious and compelling.”

“It was sung in churches, in town squares, and even on the battlefield during World War I, when soldiers sang carols from home during a temporary truce on Christmas Eve. It's considered the Christmas carol that paused a war!”

“Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace!”

The prophet Isaiah also reminded us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord” (Is 55:8-9). So, he does not always immediately bring peace in the face of war, as he could, in part because he knows that people are drawn to him at such times and perhaps in part because he grants human beings the opportunity to choose to seek him and to do right versus wrong.

Human beings want peace; we want the world on our terms. The Beatle’s John Lennon wrote at least two songs about peace, one in 1969 called “Give Peace a Chance,” an anti-war statement that reads like he must have been high when he wrote it. The gibberish lyrics make no sense, but still, the phrase “Give Peace a Chance” caught on for a time. The problem is, Lennon offered no basis for accomplishing his dream, no acknowledgement of sin and evil, no way of redemption, no spiritual means of achieving peace, and certainly not achieving it on our own.

The other Lennon song about peace became his anthem and legacy. “Imagine” was released in 1971, becoming the best-selling song of his career and has now been covered by more than 200 artists.

Why is “Imagine” so popular? Aside from its catchy tune, it’s an idealistic secularist view of the world. Anyone can embrace the song’s longings. It imagines a world without disturbance, in other words, peace. Lennon says,

“Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people living life in peace”

Certainly, we can relate to John Lennon’s desire to live a life of peace, but sadly, the utopian dreams he recommends for achieving peace aren’t real. Lennon’s aspirations are spiritual dead ends.

“John Lennon’s song Imagine is frequently used as a call for peace and unity. It’s an especially common selection in response to acts of violence.”

“Critics often note that what Lennon depicts is end-stage communism: the pursuit of which has been the cause of millions of deaths throughout history.”

Actually, “history disproves Lennon’s optimism. A denial of heaven and hell does not result in world peace—quite the opposite, in fact. The worst human atrocities—counter to the rest of Lennon’s vision, ironically—have been driven by an atheistic rejection of the afterlife and the removal of religion from society. When leaders assume there is nothing “above” man, the result is usually genocide: witness Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and others who saw themselves as the highest authority.”

Hamas says they serve the Islamic conception of God, Allah. But their way of serving is anger, fear, destruction, brutality, and killing. And there is no peace.

Back to Lennon: there is a heaven, and there is a hell, and there is religion, and if properly understood in biblical terms, God has given us the prescription we need to seek peace and through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ, to experience it.

The Prince of Peace, Immanuel “God with us,” born as the incarnated God-Man in a manger about two thousand years ago is God’s answer to mankind’s “relational dilemma,” that is, our broken relationship with God, others, and creation. Scripture says, “therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Rom 5:1).

Jesus Christ is the only reason we can truly live peacefully with God and in peace with others and creation.

The Prince of Peace is the reason for the season.

Jesus did not stay a baby in a manger but became the Savior whose sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection made our redemption possible, and makes peace possible.

“Jesus Christ is called the Prince of Peace because He restores every broken relationship, provides for a well-ordered and balanced life, and offers the assurance of eternal life” to all who call upon him.

Peace be with you this Christmas.

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

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 30 December 2022

Have you ever made New Year’s Resolutions you didn’t keep? Ever know anyone who fulfilled their resolutions? Are resolutions worth making?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #61 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.

From time to time, I’ve made New Year’s resolutions, as much for the fun of it as any real commitment or need to make them. A few I fulfilled, maybe most, but the idea of New Year’s resolutions didn’t tend to move me because I was one who set goals periodically throughout the year.

As far as I can tell there’s nothing wrong with making New Year’s Resolutions. Key is whether you really have the desire and thus the follow through to see them across the finish line.

A lot of people make resolutions about dieting, by which they mean losing weight. Just watch the commercials aired in January and you’ll know what I mean. Lots of weight-loss programs.

Funny thing is, the word “diet” means food and drink consumed or a regime of eating and drinking, habitual nourishment. In other words, whether you “go on a diet” or not, everyone is actually “dieting” because it primarily signals that you eat—and everyone eats. The word “diet” is not about losing weight, though in popular parlance “diet” has become synonymous with weight loss.

Many people make resolutions that deal with their health or their desire to improve their health. This is a good thing.

Does it surprise you to know that most common illnesses and ailments that human beings endure trace back to our lifestyle choices. While we certainly experience disease that comes upon us as a result of living in a fallen world, in other words, to no fault of our own. Still, much of what we experience is in some since self-inflicted.

Think about these health challenges, for example:

Obesity
Cardiovascular disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD
Type II diabetes
Stroke

Genetics may be involved in some of these, but health experts tell us the root cause of these problems are unhealthy habits we develop in our largely sedentary routines. Meanwhile, we’re told that 80% of cardiovascular disease, heart disease, and strokes are preventable.

Culturally speaking, we don’t exercise, even as much as 150 minutes per week. We eat nutritionally imbalanced meals, i.e., fast food and processed foods loaded with calories, sodium, fat, and “additives,” a scary word for sure.

The first question nurses ask me when I visit a medical facility is “Do you smoke?” Thankfully, I can say, No. Next question is, “Do you drink alcoholic beverages excessively?” Thankfully, I can say, No. The reason these questions are asked is that a Yes response introduces a long list of health-related problems directly linked to the practice of tobacco use and alcohol consumption. If you choose to smoke or drink, then you opt for self-inflicted health problems.

Of course, drug abuse, including marijuana, opioids, and prescription medications all can and generally do introduce negative health side-effects.

So, if you want to make a few New Year’s Resolutions, I suggest adding these goals to your list:

Healthy diet
Exercise
Proper sleep
Stress relief
An active social life

You should also add, if this is not a pattern in your life, regular church attendance. Researchers have repeatedly demonstrated that active participation in the spiritual and social life of a local church fellowship can help reduce stress, lower the risk of depression and suicide, result in better sleep and lower blood pressure, and provide for a more stable, happy, and even sexually satisfying marriages.

Church attendance, or rather actual spiritual engagement with the teachings of the Word of God, can result in longer life expectancy.

Learning and applying the principles God provided us in his Word is not only an act of spiritual obedience but of rational self-interest and preservation. Why do I say this? Because God created reality and told us how the natural world works. He gave us everything we need for life and godliness, meaning he told us who he is, who we are, who you are—your own sense of self, who we are as sinners, loved eternally by Creator God and in need of grace. He told us how to live in a manner that yields not only good morals and good manners but a means of flourishing.

I don’t suppose I have to remind us or need to list the social upheaval in which we now live, the chaos that surrounds us as more and more people give themselves over to false ideology. This means the culture and the individuals that create it are growing weaker and as this happens, government plays a greater and greater role in directing and controlling our lives. Meanwhile, the Church plays a lesser role.

Scripture said, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,” (Romans 1:21-22). I call this a celebration of irrationality.

Our culture has long-since begun to “suppress the truth by their wickedness," (Rom. 1:18) so it is now becoming irrational, unrealistic, and dysfunctional. Unfortunately, it can get worse. There's more sophisticated insanity yet to come.

So, in this kind of zeitgeist, our task is to remain faithful, to live not the lies, to not be weary in well-doing.

As the Apostle Paul reminded us, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Rom. 8:37-39).

So, if you make New Year’s Resolutions, think about some that reinforce a lifestyle that improves your health and glorifies God, and then make a few that recognize your confidence in the Hope we have in Christ.

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

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 24 December 2022

Have you ever noticed how the tone and tenor of television content and even interaction with locals immediately switches right after Christmas in the week prior to New Years?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #60 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.

One of the things I have always found disconcerting each year is how fast the focus or, for want of a better word, the messaging changes immediately after Christmas during the week before New Year’s Day. It’s not just noticeable; it’s dramatic.

During the run-up to Christmas there’s season’s greetings, Merry Christmas, love, babe-in-a-manger, carols, peace, hope, and general good feelings.

The next day after Christmas, when some folks inexplicably for me take down their tree and decorations, there’s a shift, especially on TV and in media. Now the messaging is louder; it’s about partying, drinking, rock bands, all-nighters, clubs, and maybe New Year’s resolutions.

Now I know this is not neat and clean, a sharp divide wherein no partying and consumer materialism took place prior to Christmas and no peace and good feelings remain for New Years. But the contrast is still evident.

I’ve always thought it was a switch from bits and pieces of a Christian worldview and the Christmas story sort of borrowed by the world for a time, because people hunger for what this story provides and want peace and good will toward men, to a kind of secular or worldly worldview that celebrates the now and the individual—each of us as “me,” prosperity over peace, and hedonism.

If this seems overstated, I encourage you to watch the late-night Christmas programs on Christmas Eve, then watch the late-night programs on New Year’s Eve. If you haven’t noticed the contrast yet, you will now.

Others can have the New Year’s riotous engagements. I much prefer the message of the angels, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

In the Christmas story found in Luke 2, the Scripture tells of the Savior’s humble birth, the angels appearing to the shepherds in the field by their flocks, and the shepherds’ immediate departure to see the baby in the manger. Then Scripture notes that Mary, likely just a teenager and the mother of Jesus, along with others who heard the shepherds, being “amazed” and that Mary treasured up these things and “pondered” them in her heart.

Amazed and pondered. To me, these verbs summarize well how we should and can respond to the Christmas story today.

We can be amazed, to wonder at the striking aesthetics of Christmas decorations and celebrations, to enjoy how different people decorate their homes or how various public displays are presented. We can be amazed at church and family Christmas traditions, Christmas carols, bright colored lights, and Christmas trees. We can be amazed at the way different cultures around the world invest themselves in infinite varieties of Christmas traditions. It’s not wrong, in fact it is OK, to embrace and appreciate the beauty of Christmas and the season, to be amazed.

Then it is important for us to ponder, to think about the meaning of the Christmas story, the Christ child, his sinless life and work, the cross, and the resurrection through which God the Father shares his love with the world. We can ponder the Good News, the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. We can ponder the startling and humbling fact that the Sovereign God loves you and me. We should do as the shepherds did, glorify and praise God for all the things that we have heard and seen in the Christmas story. With Mary, we should ponder.

I use the word “story” not to imply myth or fiction but to communicate written history or “his story.” The Christmas account is fact of history past with a far-reaching impact into eternity like no other. This, too, can cause us to be amazed and to ponder.

Charles Dickens ends his 1843 classic “A Christmas Carol,” saying of Ebenezer Scrooge, “It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!”

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

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 21 November 2022

Have you gotten caught up in what’s called identity politics, wondering if your race, sex, social background makes you good enough, makes you matter, gives meaning to your life?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #55 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.

As we approach Thanksgiving Day, after a year of trial and turmoil, I am thankful we live in a country that enjoys religious liberty.

Just last year, 2021, we commemorated the 400^th Anniversary of the first Thanksgiving celebrated by the Plymouth Colony Pilgrims, a group that had fled tyranny in quest of religious freedom, braving the Atlantic in the 110-foot wooden Mayflower.

In 1863 during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day, encouraging citizens to exercise their religious liberty through prayers for peace, harmony, tranquility, unity—grace we certainly still need today.

Another thing for which I am profoundly thankful is my identity. Now this may surprise you, or maybe it does not, given the intense focus upon identity in American culture.

In recent years, we’ve been inundated with something called “identity politics,”

the idea that one’s sex or gender, race, religion, social background or social class, nationality or ethnicity, not only influences but in the view of some, determines a person’s potential, political agenda, and, well, value.

“Identity politics is deeply connected with the idea that some groups in society are oppressed and begins with analysis of that oppression.”

These ideas have morphed into a neo-Marxist philosophy called critical race theory, which is now dominating discussions in American education—kindergarten to graduate school—corporations, entertainment, even sports and religion.

It is not too difficult for me to understand that these highly divisive, fragmenting philosophies have developed at a time when the existence of God, absolute truth, moral certainty, natural law, and Creation have all been jettisoned in favor of supposedly more enlightened understanding.

Think about it. If there is no God, or at least no God who cares or is involved with humanity, no truth, no certainty, then it makes sense that human beings would begin to search for meaning in particulars, in myriad breakouts, and consequent breakdowns, of society.

If there is no God, no centripetal force, if you will, that acts like moral gravity to hold everything together (see Col 1:17: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”), then there are only infinite centrifugal forces spinning out of control, going off in all directions.

This is American culture today. It no longer has a center, no social glue, only a pell-mell rush to proclaim individual significance even as culture falls apart.

Now I am not saying that all identifying attributes are somehow ipso facto bad or wrong or inconsequential. I am saying they are not ultimate, not our end-all, be-all, not what defines us, not what determines us or our destiny. They are attributes, gifts from God, not fatal forces.

Regarding my own identity, I mean that I am thankful I for Christian parents who took me to church from before I was born and faithfully thereafter, introducing me to Christ and Christianity both through how they lived their lives and, in time, Bible teaching and theology.

Dad is with the Lord now and Mom turns 91 on Thanksgiving Day. Their love has been constant, so unlike many unfortunate boys and girls, I never doubted I mattered, I belonged. My sense of self, my identity, was enormously secure because of this.

Beyond this, I came to understand two important principles of my Christian faith:

As with all other human beings, I am a unique human being created in the image of God, temporally and eternally significant (Gen. 1:26). As Os Guinness puts it, “Each human being has a measureless worth.”

Once I became a Christian at age 6, I became a born-again believer, a follower of and disciple of Christ, a child of God born of his Spirit.

As the Scripture says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” (John 1:12).

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

So, my identity is not rooted in what I see in the mirror, not my sex, race, ethnicity, nationality. It is not rooted in my citizenship, politics, bank account, professional position, possessions, talent, things, or even my religion.

My identity is rooted in the Sovereign God who created me, and my identity is in Christ through whom I am a child of God.

And there’s more, “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,” (Rom. 8:17). “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession,” (2 Pet. 2:9).

So, my identity is both an exalted and a rock-solid secure one. No matter my failing or sin or doubts, my identity in Christ will never be insecure.

Unlike the Pharisees of Jesus’ day, or the celebrities of our day, we do not have to work to attain or maintain our position.

It saddens me to watch this happen virtually every day. For example, musicians or actors once lauded for their artistic contributions and now seemingly past their creative prime, work hard to maintain social media relevance. Often, particularly if they are women, this means posting Instagram pictures of themselves in various stages of undress. They do this because in their view, this is all they have left, the only way they can make news.

We’re back to thanking God this Thanksgiving weekend for religious liberty, for in this profound truth and condition we find room for learning our true identity.

In Os Guiness’s words, “Freedom of religion and conscience affirms the dignity, worth, and agency of every human person by freeing us to align ‘who we understand ourselves to be’ with ‘what we believe ultimately is’ and then to think, live, speak, and act in line with those convictions.”“What is at stake with freedom of religion and conscience is nothing less than human dignity, human self-determination, and human responsibility.”

If we seek the meaning of our existence in something other than the Sovereign God, including identity politics, we will be disappointed.

I am thankful for the religious liberty in this country that allowed me to come to understand truth. I am thankful for Christian parents who lived and pointed me to truth. I am thankful for God’s revelation telling me I am made in his image. I am thankful that by grace through faith in Christ I am a child of God.

I am thankful that I matter eternally not due to my demographic identity but because God made me so.

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

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Easter Hope

Christmas to New Year's

Peace Be With You

New Year's Reflections

Christmas Reflections

Thanksgiving, Religious Liberty, Identity