Rex M Rogers - Discerning What Is Best

Discerning What Is Best
with Dr. Rex M. Rogers

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 21 October 2020

Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker staff writer and CNN legal analyst, has been suspended by the New Yorker while it investigates his behavior and given time off by CNN to deal with a “personal issue.” He exposed himself—allegedly engaging in a sex act—on a Zoom call with colleagues. His excuse was he thought he’d muted the video and that no one could see him—nothing about why he thought having his pants down during a work Zoom call was necessary or appropriate, mute video or not. Toobin got his own hashtag, #MeToobin.

Since Toobin is a well-known liberal star conservatives have gloated online about his downfall. But this is nothing new. When conservative star Bill O’Reilly fell from the limelight due to sexual harassment claims, liberals and the Left gloated.

Rose McGowan, the actress who helped launch the #MeToo movement, slammed liberals who rushed to Toobin’s defense. Toobin joins media figures Roger Ailes, Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer, Mark Halperin on the list of do-badders. And if you branch out to entertainment, there’s Bill Cosby or chef Mario Bartali, then of course the new measure of lowest of the low, Harvey Weinstein.

The same happens in politics. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dennis Hastert, Republicans, and John Edwards and Al Franken, Democrats, come to mind. Then there are the big names: Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, all accused of sexual misconduct before or during office. And by the way, the same happens in religion and the Church.

The point here is not sexual misconduct, though this is wrong, nor is it that men have done this before and will do it again, not that this excuses anyone.

The point is: whether you are on the Right or the Left, Republican or Democrat, both sides of the ideological spectrum and partisan aisle have and will again sometime soon find themselves in a scandal related to sexual misbehavior.

Neither the Right or the Left, Republican or Democrat have any room to gloat.

If your political opposite is publicly suffering now due to sexual malfeasance, just wait a bit and your team will be in the wrong limelight soon enough.

Christians are reminded:

“Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God” (Psalm 146:3-5).

Worldwide culture with all its segments, Far East or Middle East or West, is becoming ever darkened by sin.

Sexual misconduct and perversion among society’s elite will get worse (Romans 1). This is just one manifestation of Satan’s influence as “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work” (Ephesians 2:2).

But no nation-state, no politician, no political party platform or ideological manifesto has ever been able or will ever be able to resolve the spiritual challenges facing humanity.

Only Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, the Light of the World (John 14:6; 8:12). And he has given to Christians the honor of being ambassadors:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors” (2 Corinthians 5:17-20).

There is no place for gloating, only grace.

*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: 19 October 2020

1-Why did Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth have to wear masks on Sun, NBC football coverage while Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, on Mon, Fox did not?

2-Why were 20,000+ fans allowed in the stadium for Alabama vs Georgia in Tuscaloosa Sat night, nearly 25,000 fans Mon for Cowboys and Cardinals in Dallas, about 6,000 for Steelers and Browns in Pittsburgh Sun, while in Buffalo tonight for Bills and Chiefs no fans were permitted in the stands?

3-How do so few, ie., No, fans cheer and boo so loudly?

4-What health logic requires officials and coaches to wear masks but allows 45 players on each team to play or stand on the sidelines without masks?

5-What health logic requires officials and coaches to wear masks but allows 45 players on each team to play or stand on the sidelines without masks?

6-Early on, we were told to trust WHO and CDC, and now we’re still being told by politicians we must continue to trust the scientists while extending lockdowns or other restrictions in some states, like no fans at games, yet WHO now says lockdowns were dangerous to health and CDC tells us this virus has a 95-99% survival rate, and this is for people who actually catch the virus?

***People’s willingness, even seeming eagerness at times, to embrace or ignore the innumerable contradictions of this coronavirus experience continues to baffle me.

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

For years, I’ve found the phrase, “willingly are ignorant of,” 2 Peter 3:5, in the old King James Version of the Bible (the version with which I and virtually everyone in the English speaking world since 1611 grew up) to be useful in a variety of contexts.

In other versions, the phrase is variously translated: “deliberately forget” NIV, “escapes their notice” NASB, “willfully forget” ASV, NKJV, “purposely ignore” GNT, “deliberately ignore” RSV, “deliberately overlook” ESV.

They all mean essentially the same thing: people intentionally choose to believe falsehood.

I’ve always preferred the old KJV wording, “willingly are ignorant of,” maybe because it is the vocabulary I learned as a kid, or maybe because “willingly ignorant” seems to me to summarize much of what I hear, see, and read in American politics today.

I won’t provide examples. It would spoil your fun.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 16 October 2020

SAT-7 employs satellite television and social media to broadcast hope in Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish in the Middle East and North Africa. SAT-7 affirms a “culturally sensitive” approach to ministry.

Cultural sensitivity means SAT-7 shares Christian teaching with viewers from diverse cultural, ethnic, political, and religious backgrounds, in a manner that demonstrates understanding, respect, and love.

SAT-7 does not broadcast from other regions using non-Middle Eastern faces or languages. It is based among the people it is serving. SAT-7 produces programming in the Middle East by Middle Easterners for Middle Easterners.

Culturally sensitive ministry broadcasts in a way that enables the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa to hear, understand, and grasp the essentials of the Christian faith for themselves.

SAT-7 is culturally sensitive, building relational bridges, speaking the truth in love.

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

1--I like it, whether or not I agree, when politicians speak truth as they understand it based upon their principles, especially when what they say seems to undermine their preferred outcome, i.e., is not to their advantage. Like Walter Cronkite said, "And that's the way it is."

2--I dislike it, in fact they lose me, when politicians make statements that can easily be debunked with even the most cursory review of evidence, which they nevertheless argue because the "narrative" is to their advantage. Like Stephen Colbert said, "Truthiness - It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that's not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all."

3--I'm a staunch proponent of the First Amendment, i.e., freedom of speech, so I consider Big Tech/Social Media and Big Media's increasing censorship of information and points of view they believe is "misinformation" or "dangerous" and does not align with their version of the "publicly acceptable narrative" (e.g., earlier, views re the pandemic, now partisan politics) fundamentally un-American, Orwellian, and a serious threat to free democratic society. I say this re all points of view on the ideological spectrum.

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

A few years ago, we visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. A different year we visited The World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. Neither visit was fun, but I recommend the experiences for everyone. The history and perspective they provide are priceless.

I noted how the US museum set up displays such that the most gruesome pictures or artifacts illustrating the horrific results of the Nazi’s genocide of Jewish people could not be seen by simply walking past the display. An adult could only view these worst examples of cruelty by choosing to walk near the display, look over the upraised boxed edges, then look down at the display. This architectural precaution was implemented to protect children and to allow for the fact some adults simply did not want to engage the gore and ghastly images and objects of the Holocaust, even though they wanted to tour the museum and learn about this history.

I’ve also noted that articles about the holocaust, particularly those discussing the conditions Allied troops found in Nazi prison camps in 1945, are often prefaced with what today we might call a trigger warning, a note saying horrid information is included herein. This brings me to my point.

I think abortion, which is by definition the killing of an unborn human baby in the womb, is for most people a distant, abstract, at times even sanitized concept. It’s a legal idea or a political cause or a court case, not an actual physical and emotional human experience.

People of course know abortion happens. They understand it as one option now available for dealing with an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. Many people consider it a woman’s civil right if she so chooses. Yet the vast majority of Americans do not actually interact with the back end of the operation. They do not see blood and human body parts, they do not see the actions taken by doctors a la abortionists, they do not usually even read about this, though sources are available, they do not have any direct personal experience with this thing called abortion.

Americans don’t “see abortions,” we don’t understand this ugliness any more than the Allies really understood the Holocaust until the camps were finally breached, the gas chambers and furnaces were opened, thousands of bodies lay before them stacked haphazardly like cordwood or tossed into pits, and thousands of emaciated survivors were liberated who testified of their experiences.

I recognize that some pro-life groups make the physical images of this surgical procedure available to those who wish to view them. These images are gut-wrenching. I confess that when I’ve seen tents at county fairs sponsored by pro-life groups I did not want to see the images any more than others might. Sickening is not a strong enough term. Most people have never “seen an abortion.”

But here again is my point. Americans don’t “see abortions” like we’ve seen the Holocaust, so it is easier to not really feel this issue at an emotional level or to not grasp the barbarity of this “final solution.”

I understand that some within the American Church have not always demonstrated or may not yet be demonstrating appropriate empathy for the women involved, and in fact at times has been judgmental toward the women rather than seeking to help them. I understand that some Christians may not be as informed or engaged with myriad reasons women end up in an abortion clinic. To this I say, let’s do more.

But I don’t see why demonstrating Christian love for the women involved is an either/or, a versus, toward the pro-life cause to end abortion. Why can’t we, why shouldn’t we, do both?

Abortion is an American holocaust, and I say this with utter respect for the meaning and history of the Jewish Holocaust. The human tragedy of the Jewish Holocaust came to an end. The human tragedy of the unborn baby holocaust must come to an end as well.

Abortion was foisted upon the American public by Roe vs Wade (1973) and it may yet be codified into law via legislation in the US Congress. God forbid this would ever happen and pray for the day abortion can be stopped forever.

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