Rex M Rogers - Discerning What Is Best

Discerning What Is Best
with Dr. Rex M. Rogers

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 20 March 2020

This 1:45 min video looks at the coronavirus pandemic from one Christian perspective. How should Christians think about, respond to, and work within the current pandemic? How can we be a testimony to the world?

Should we panic or prepare in the face of the pandemic? Christians have an answer.

The Coronavirus is sweeping the world, has been declared a pandemic, has

in-fected thousands and a-ffected millions. Clearly, it’s a real disease presenting a real threat at perhaps unprecedented levels, at least in the modern age.

One response is panic: panic-buying of items like toilet paper, riots in some major cities globally, an epidemic of fear. This response is understandable but not healthy.

A second response is preparedness: listening to public health experts, doing what we can to encourage prevention, like washing our hands, not gathering in large groups, reducing travel, not shaking hands.

Because we know and trust the Sovereign Lord God, Christians need to model preparedness over panic.

The Psalmist said, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (Psalm 91:4).

In the face of fear, Christians can offer aid, solace, and hope.

Christ and Christianity are nothing if not the antidote to panic.

*This video may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Dr. Rogers at www.rexmrogers.com/. Follow at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 19 March 2020

So you’re sheltering in place? Or maybe quarantining or self-isolating? And you can’t do anything, right? Well…

-In prison, the Apostle Paul wrote four epistles of the New Testament.

-Under house arrest in 1521, Martin Luther translated the New Testament into the people’s German.

-While in prison for twelve years to 1678, John Bunyan wrote the matchless Christian allegory “Pilgrim’s Progress.”

-In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” explaining nonviolent resistance to racism.

Moral of the story: you can do a lot.

*This 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.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 18 March 2020

Politics 101: Why do candidates run in presidential primaries, and continue to run, when they have no chance of winning?

1-You never know, e.g., Jimmy Who? or the Comeback Kid Bill Clinton or the skinny kid with a funny name Barack Obama.

2-You become famous by developing name recognition, e.g., Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer.

3-You position yourself for higher political office or future campaigns, e.g., HW Bush, Joe Biden, Ben Carson.

4-You position yourself for higher income jobs, increased speaker fees, e.g., Mike Huckabee, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

5-You’re described in media the rest of your life as “former presidential candidate,” e.g., Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, et al.

6-It’s fun, you travel around treated as royalty, media follows you, e.g., Herman Caine, Carly Fiorina.

7-You keep your issue in the news, e.g., Ralph Nader, Jesse Jackson.

8-Egos and Logos, e.g., Ross Perot, Michael Bloomberg.

9-Money, Sex, and Power, or what Scripture calls Lust of the Eyes, Lust of the Flesh, and Pride of Life, e.g., John Edwards, Gary Hart, and enough others to run the alphabet.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 15 March 2020

This is a 5:41 remembrance of my colleague Ray Heinen’s and my visit to Petra, Jordan, April 2019. We also talk about developing issues in the Middle East and SAT-7’s ministry.

*This vlog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Dr. Rogers at www.rexmrogers.com/. Follow at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 14 March 2020

I am not an infectious disease expert, so I can only go so far commenting about coronavirus. But I can make these observations:

*Human beings (leaders, professionals) are not omniscient, can’t predict the future, make mistakes, and the Law of Unintended Consequences happens.

For example, schools close to reduce spread of the virus. Good? Maybe. But we can’t foresee what kids will do w/this time, or ID umpteen other ripple effects.

Similar re shutting down major sports schedules. Good? No one knows.

Remember Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld?

“We know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones.”

By the way, this goes for Republicans and Democrats, Media and Entertainment, Business and Nonprofit, even Religion.

This said, I also don’t know if draconian mass closings will help slow the virus. However, I can say that I do not like governors like Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer using executive orders to ban gatherings including churches.

I know this is not an anti-religious action. But I still don’t like ceding to the government power over religious assembly. A public health crisis is short-term, while unhindered religious congregation is a matter of church and state, a long-term basic civil liberty essential to free society.

Sorry, I just don’t like the optics or the reality of these “orders.”

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 12 March 2020

This 57 sec video talks about COVID-19, the Coronavirus, now declared a worldwide pandemic.

*This vlog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Dr. Rogers at www.rexmrogers.com/. Follow at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

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