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- Written by: Rex M. Rogers
The Jonathan and David Fellowship in Grand Rapids, Michigan is an all-too-rare multi-racial gathering of men committed to the Lord, their Christian faith, and a heartfelt desire to grow in brotherly love.
Founded and directed by Rev. Chico Daniels, President of Mel Trotter Ministries, the JDF, as it's called, meets monthly for breakfast, Bible study, and discussion, 7:00 am to 8:30 am. In the interim between breakfasts, JDF men meet one-on-one for lunch to get better acquainted and periodically show up en masse and unannounced with their wives at one of the churches represented in the JDF.
During Bible study and discussion, no questions are off-limits. Pain, personal stories, and progress all find their way into the conversation. Often-used words don't seem adequate: integration, reparations, reconciliation, anger, healing, history, revisionism.
No one, if he's honest, really wants to discuss past sins, but sometimes it's appropriate so those responsible may experience forgiveness and those affected may experience release and closure. Be angry at sin, not the people, we sometimes say. But in our human nature our response is uneven. Yet Christ, a Jew, set the example when he met the woman, a Samaritan, at the well. He acknowledged and turned from her promiscuous past, but he offered her forgiveness and living water.
Race in America will always be "an issue," especially again in 2008 where differences in color and culture are at times over-shadowing legitimate discussions of personal character and political competence in the presidential campaign. We are a "conflicted" people, evidenced by one of our most eloquent heroes of freedom, Thomas Jefferson, a man who maintained slaves and a slave mistress throughout his life.
Political answers to our racial questions may help. Clearly the country has made some progress in racial matters since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. But answers to our racial questions will never be fully developed in the give and take of politics.
Answers to our racial questions will most fully be developed in a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ, followed by a greater application in our lives of the principles of the Christian faith. Loving our neighbor as we love ourselves is only possible as we abide in Christ and he abides in us. Learning to do this by getting to know our brothers in the Jonathan and David Fellowship is one way to start.
© Dr. Rex M. Rogers - All Rights Reserved, 2008
This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Dr. Rogers or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/rexmrogers.
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Paul Gordon was a model in all the right ways. Paul (1923-2008), the patriarch of the Gordon Food Services family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, went home to be with the Lord this week. I am glad to say that I knew him.
Paul was an innovative, highly successful business leader of a large and growing privately-held food services company. But he will be remembered by people throughout the world--thousands that he helped during his lifetime--for his overt and always evident commitment to the Lord, for his vision and insight, for his deep, gravelly voice, for his side-splitting sense of humor, and for his generosity. It is not exaggeration to say that he was "beloved" by virtually all who made his acquaintance.
Paul's heart for international Christian missions took he and his wife, and often his children and grandchildren, to mission fields in countries around the world. In countless places he gave significantly and he gave quietly, generally insisting his name appear nowhere in print or on facilities because he wanted God to be glorified. His quiet approach is legendary, so much so many in his hometown simply do not realize how extensive Paul Gordon's influence is among Christian people and those they help worldwide.
Paul called me one day a few years ago and said, "Dr. Rogers, how would you and your lovely bride like to go with us to Turkey?" I said, "Turkey? When?" He said, "October." At the time he called it was early September. Long story short, Mr. and Mrs. Gordon underwrote my wife's and my trip for ten days with a Christian tour visiting biblical sites in Asia Minor like Ephesus, Galatia, and many more. It was a wonderful, instructive time in which we were privileged to get to know Paul and Dottie better, learn about the Apostle Paul's missionary journeys, and fellowship with other believers. Thank you, Paul.
Paul Gordon showed us what a Christian man ought to be. I will always be grateful God allowed me to be Paul's friend.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2008
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Dr. Rogers or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/rexmrogers.
Racial Politics
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- Written by: Rex M. Rogers
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's problems with his once-and-former pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, have inserted, or perhaps reinserted, race into the campaign in a serious way.
Whatever our feelings about these men, whatever our partisan inclinations, whatever our hopes regarding race relations, racial politics are not going to go away. That's not a pessimistic statement, just a realistic one. This reality doesn't mean we shouldn't work for something better and seek to assure justice and opportunity for all Americans. Ironically, acknowledging a problem isn't going to go away is a perspective that should keep us from disillusionment. As the Scripture says, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people..." (Gal. 6:9-10).
Political parties, politicians, preachers--all leaders--will always, eventually, disappoint us. They and we are human beings. As one Black pastor wisely said, "The problem is not the color of our skin but the depth of our sin." Racism no matter who expresses it is not just a Left or Right issue, not a Republican or Democrat issue. It's a Christian issue and should be a Christian concern.
And we should remember that race is more than a Black and White issue in America. It's a Red and Yellow, Black, Brown, and White issue. It's broader and deeper than the progressing-but-still-challenging relationship of Blacks and Whites.
From a Christian perspective the bottom-line is that we are commanded to "Love your neighbor as yourself" and to model Christ in all we think, say, and do. That's a tall order, but it's right and good, and when practiced by the Spirit's enablement it restores integrity of the soul.
© Rex M. Rogers - All Rights Reserved, 2008
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Dr. Rogers or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/rexmrogers.
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Say “Ben Stein” and the word “comedian” is more likely to come to mind than “intellectual.” And Ben is certainly funny. But he’s more than that and proves it in his feature film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
This film asks the weighty question, “If we expel freedom in science, where will it end?” To find the answer, Stein travels to 12 countries on 4 continents, interviewing an impressive list of scholars in the sciences, theology, and philosophy. He asks them why “Big Science” makes no use of the hypothesis of God and why Intelligent Design discussions are suppressed. The answers he records are breathtaking in their political correctness, disdain for religion and religious people (“idiots,” one scholar said), cavalier attitude toward debate, and fear of free speech.
Expelled is not an advocacy flick for Intelligent Design. Rather, Stein probes why a scientific elite is systematically betraying one of America’s founding principles: the freedom to create, explore, fail, overcome, inquire, debate.
I.D. is simply the study of patterns in nature best explained by intelligence. It is not necessarily Christian or religious. Yet in its zeal for Darwin’s theory of evolution, the scientific community stifles serious consideration of Intelligent Design. I.D. is called propaganda, a racket, stupid, an excuse to introduce creationism into the classroom, and my favorite—boring. But what could be more intellectually engaging than to allow evidence, rather than the courts, to decide the merits of I.D., evolution, or any other theory of origins?
No matter. In the scientific community today, power trumps freedom in the name of truth.
The intellectual supremacy that rules science is on full display in Expelled. It’s a supremacy based upon a worldview, a philosophic paradigm rejecting the idea of God, or even the idea of “an Intelligence,” while embracing the “staggeringly improbable” idea that life began by chance. In this view, human beings, along with the rest of the universe, were not created by the Sovereign Creator of the Bible’s Book of Genesis, nor by some kind of Intellect. Life began when, by chance, crystals or particles or an explosion generated a molecular cell. Life (you and me) just happened. Thereafter, Darwin’s evolutionary processes took over and the cell became an organism became a fish became a monkey became a cave man became our Great, Great Grandpa.
Some anti-theists waffle a bit, suggesting the cell was initiated by a visitor from another galaxy—a brainy being of some kind—but they’re uncertain about what or who. Though there’s not a shred of evidence for this fantasy, anti-theists still smugly maintain the alien space traveler wasn’t God. And they conveniently avoid explaining the origin of that alien species.
Proponents of Darwinism-sans-deity claim their pseudo-religion grants us freedom from primitive superstition. But it’s a faux freedom that enslaves human beings to meaninglessness. No deity? Than no objective standard for determining right from wrong. No morality. No accountability. No responsibility. No life after death. No certainty, just chance, just chaos. Most devastating of all: No hope.
You see, suppression of freedom to debate all ideas in the scientific classroom is about more than Evolution vs. I.D. It’s about more than academic freedom. It’s about scientists teaching a philosophy that devalues human life (what Pope John Paul II called a “culture of death”) and—literally—makes anything acceptable. Eugenics, euthanasia, ethnic cleansing, genocide. Why not? If life begins in the Great Lottery in the Sky why should we believe it ends any differently? And if life begins and ends meaninglessly, than what happens in the middle doesn’t matter either.
Scientists who suppress freedom inexorably create an Orwellian world where only two choices are left to us: Nihilism—pointless, violent fear and loathing, or Hedonism—pointless, immoral, pleasure-seeking. Is it any wonder that so much of cinema today is about one or both?
Ben Stein’s Expelled does freedom proud. And in doing so he serves up truth and hope.
Originally published: “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Why Ben Stein says “No Lie Lives Forever.”),” The Dove Foundation , (March 17, 2008); and Family Entertainment Central, (March 19, 2008); and The West Michigan Christian, (April 2008), p. 1.
© Dr. Rex M. Rogers - All Rights Reserved, 2008
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in with a full attribution statement. Contact Dr. Rogers or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/rexmrogers.
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This academic year marks my 30th year in Christian education and my 25th anniversary year in Christian higher education. It's difficult to believe, but time does indeed go by quickly.
God is good, as we know, but he's demonstrated his unfailing love to me many times over, including this past week. I like to dream and at times I like to "think big, think bigger"--or at least I imagine that's what I'm doing. But on several occasions God has blessed me and he has blessed Cornerstone University in ways that I did not have the sense to pray for, dream about, or bring to pass. "God Is, and He Is Not Silent," as Dr. Francis Schaeffer reminded us many years ago.
This is my 19th year in upper level leadership. Again, God is good. What more is there to say?
© Rex M. Rogers - All Rights Reserved, 2007
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After much prayer and discussion with Sarah, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me to initiate a transition plan that will ultimately result in my leaving the presidency of Cornerstone University.
I have enjoyed many blessings of God in my years as President, but I believe it is time for Sarah and me to seek whatever new adventure God intends for us. I am 54 years of age, enjoy good health, have been in the presidency for 16 years, and have completed a number of university initiatives we set out to accomplish.
It is a good time for me to make a change. It is a good time for the university to seek a new leader to take it to the next level.
At its meeting last Friday, I informed the Cornerstone University Board of Trustees of my intentions and the Board, while surprised, acted graciously in accepting, approving, and after some thought appreciating my proposed transition plan. The plan maximizes the Board's ability to construct and conduct a professional presidential search, something that typically requires as much as a year to implement.
The Board's response will allow me to work together with trustees to manage this transition and its announcement in a manner that reinforces Cornerstone University. Presidential transitions can be noisy, political, and too often hurtful to the schools involved. On the other hand, transitions can be smooth, professional, and actually a benefit to all involved. Both models have been evident in West Michigan in the past couple of years. I prefer the latter example.
Given that this is the end of the academic year, with the Board's support, I expect to continue as CU President likely into the next academic year, departing by May 31, 2008. This gives me time to connect with other organizations and it allows me to work with the Board to orchestrate as smooth and as seamless a passing of the baton as we can.
I am open to whatever God wants for me, e.g., another leadership position in a Christian college or university or perhaps in a different kind of Christian nonprofit organization, corporate or consulting work, etc.
I have nothing but good things to say about Cornerstone University and my experience here. I’ve given the role my all, I’ve tried to honor God in what we did and why we did it, and I believe that any objective measure will indicate the university is better positioned today than it was in 1991. I expect to tell media I have enjoyed my service, I have been blessed with a good run, and I am seeking God’s next step in our journey.
© Rex M. Rogers - All Rights Reserved, 2007
*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Dr. Rogers or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/rexmrogers.