Rex M Rogers - Discerning What Is Best

Discerning What Is Best
With Dr Rex Rogers

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Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 20 December 2022

Do our values determine how we think and behave, and even so, does it matter?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #59 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.

There’s an aphorism in political philosophy: “ideas have consequences.” Many attribute this to University of Chicago conservative political philosopher Richard Weaver’s book by that title in 1948. But the concept probably goes back to the Greeks.

Theologian John Piper noted how Victor Frankl, a Jewish professor of neurology and psychiatry, who was imprisoned in the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau during World War II, and later became world renowned for his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, in which he shared the essence of his philosophy that came to be called Logotherapy—that the most fundamental human motive is to find meaning in life. He observed in the horrors of the concentration camps that human beings can endure almost any “how” of life, if they have a “why.”

Later in life in his 90s, Frankl said, “I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.”

What he was saying is that ideas have consequences, for good or for evil.

The Nazis demonstrated this, crafting a comprehensive empire in just a couple of decades, one that ended in destruction and death, the logical consequences of their false ideas and ideology.

God created human beings in his image as reasoning, thinking, moral agents, people who can evaluate and make choices, whether motivated by nobility or ignobility. What people believe matters.

During the World Cup, word began circulating from Iran that an Iranian professional footballer had been arrested, accused of “waging war against God,” and sentenced to death.

Whether this tragedy occurs, he is by far not the only one scheduled for execution. People who are not famous, unknown to the world, are giving their lives for liberty. They will be killed because religious authorities hold to immoral ideas, which have consequences.

John Piper pointed to the Bible’s observation, “Whatever was written in former days was written…[that] we might have hope,” (Rom 15:4). The ideas presented in the Scriptures produce the practical consequence of hope.”

Ideas in Scripture – that is to say, revealed truth, principles – are there for our benefit so that we may know how to order our lives in a fallen world to serve God and others, to be free and productive, and to flourish.

Regimes like the one in Iran embrace ideas arranged in ideologies that lead to tyranny, destruction, and death.

In the U.S., we’re awash with ideas producing negative consequences.

--Identity politics leads to oversensitivity, cancel culture, seeing racism in everything, and more.

--An assumption that all human beings are basically good, generally the victim of their circumstances and environment, and a sense that all cultures are equal or relative, leads to consequences like the belief police are bad, secure borders are unnecessary, and crime is just the poor getting what they deserve.

--If we embrace the idea sex is just a physical act and nothing more, among the consequences is a celebration of the sexual revolution in all its perverse forms including now the sexualization of children, along with the ongoing hedonism and promiscuity promoted every day by celebrities and online influencers, something that only ends in degradation of lives and families.

--If we don’t think the idea of sin is valid, the consequence is we look for psychological sources to blame for problems, wrong choices, and evil. It becomes easier to call people’s bad behavior “mental illness.” Take Kanye West, now called “Ye,” for example.

I’m not arguing there is no such thing as genuine mental illness or that we should not care about or care for people struggling with mental illness.

I’m simply observing that “mental illness” is now a media “go to” whenever some celebrity behaves badly. It’s a convenient “Get out of jail free” card.

Kanye West has a history of abominable statements, including recently making antisemitic comments. He seems to get a pass from a lot media anchors who say, well, he’s sick, he’s mentally ill, and that’s it. Few people say, Kanye is making wrong choices based upon wrong values and he needs to repent before the Lord.

Ideas have consequences.

Jesus said, “What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them,” Matt 15:11. “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person,” Matt 15:18-20.

In another passage of Scripture, Jesus said, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.

People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of,” Luke 6:43-45.

What is in our heart is what matters, which is to say, our ideas, whatever the source, what we believe has consequences. These consequences emerge in how we think, behave, and the ways we approach living in this world.

In the Old Testament, we were enjoined to “Buy the truth and do not sell it—wisdom, instruction and insight as well,” (Prov. 23:23).

The late Christian philosopher Francis A. Schaeffer observed something similar. “Most people,” he said, “catch their presuppositions from their family and surrounding society, the way that a child catches the measles.

But people with understanding realize that their presuppositions should be *chosen* after a careful consideration of which worldview is true.”

If indeed ideas have consequences, and clearly, they do, then as Schaeffer reminded us, we should take care to choose carefully our presuppositions, which are our basic ideas or assumptions about life. We need to do what Solomon said in Proverbs, “Buy the truth and do not sell it.”

In the early 21^st Century, a time saturated by information and online influencers promoting every evil known to humanity, and at a time when culture has rejected the idea of moral or even scientific absolutes, it is imperative individuals, especially Christians, stay moored to truth. For our own sanity and for the well-being of society, we must critique all ideas, recognize their consequences, and stand for truth.

Ideas have consequences.

Believe and act on false ideas and you will sadly, even if enjoyably for a season, drift with the masses along the broad road to destruction.

Believe and act on truthful ideas, and you will be a beacon of light in a dark world, a testimony that there is – still – love, beauty, blessing, and hope.

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.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 13 December 2022

I remember when same-sex marriage was not a remote possibility. What social change is next, do you think, in the sexual mores in American culture?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #58 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.

The Respect for Marriage Act, codifying same-sex marriage as federal law, already bequeathed to us by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, has now passed the Senate and the House.

President Joe Biden will sign it into law in our politicians’ mad rush to protect American culture from the evils of a perceived conservative backlash when the new Congress comes to power in the new year.

If this were not so serious it would in one sense be laughable. Canada, for example, approved same-sex marriage 10 years before it was made legal in the U.S. The Netherlands was first out of the progressive gate, legalizing same-sex marriage way back in 2001. Now, some 33 countries allow for legal same-sex marriage.

Prominent among those countries that do not permit same-sex marriage are Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the so-called “Stans” in Central Asia, Russia, and all countries in Africa except South Africa.

“Some view acceptance of same sex marriage as a bold new step to a freer and more just society. But, despite Gallup now showing 71% in favor of same-sex marriage, 58% of those who attend church weekly are opposed.”

The so-called Respect for Marriage Act notably repeals the (1996) Defense of Marriage Act, which established a federal definition of marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.

Thankfully, the Respect for Marriage Act as presently written, “under the religious freedoms amendment, nonprofit religious organizations — including churches, faith-based social agencies and religious educational institutions — would not be required to ‘provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods, or privileges for the solemnization or celebration of a marriage’.”

All this means there is going to be an ongoing free-for-all, or moral free fall, if you will, to push for more changes in what’s acceptable in public morality as understood historically by traditional Christian teaching and therefore also American culture.

This is happening now in Christian colleges. Those that oppose same-sex marriage could be in danger of losing their tax-exempt status.

A “movement is afoot to silence religious opponents of same-sex marriage. Just two days after the Court’s ruling (back in 2015), journalist Mark Oppenheimer took to the pages of Time to argue for the total abolition of tax-exempt status for religious institutions. The American Civil Liberties Union, meanwhile, announced that it would no longer support the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a federal statute designed to protect Americans against laws that ‘substantially burden’ the free exercise of religion, for fear that RFRA will be ‘used as a sword to discriminate against women, gay and transgender people.’

In public education, we’re experiencing a tsunami of pressure to endorse all manner of sexual orientation and gender identity changes. Virtually every public school in the country, from kindergarten to graduate school, has now radically changed, or is at least backpedaling on, any policy that seems to reinforce traditional, binary understanding of human sexuality, all this in the name of freedom.

Polymorphous marriages, sexual relationships with children, freeing children and youth to experience sexual expression at ever younger ages, is already a common theme in materials propagated by Planned Parenthood and others of its ilk marketing to public schools.

Age of consent laws, with California being the leader, are also changing. Recent Democrat political party platforms have included support for “medically accurate, LGBTQ+ inclusive, age-appropriate sex education.”

I’ll let you imagine what this material entails.

“More than half the states mandate sex education in Kindergarten. State boards of education are also blessing such approaches.”

“Sexualized childhood is the next frontier for the sexual revolution. It comes in the sheep’s clothing of pregnancy prevention and healthy lifestyles, but it is a wolf. It promises to disorder human sexual relations—and to undermine what remains of our marital and family ethic and subvert civilization itself.”

“Because the sexual revolution is about identity and the legitimation of sexual behavior associated with identity, it presents a serious challenge to religious freedom. Societies which have been reshaped by the sexual revolution will regard Christians who refuse to grant legitimacy to, say, homosexual behavior as those who are opposed to the common good…those Christians who hold firm on traditional sexual morality can expect their freedom of public exercise to be curtailed or even removed.”

Consider this example. Actor Candace Cameron Bure was recently asked by a reporter whether Great American Family, the new cable channel she joined after she left the Hallmark Channel this year, would feature same-sex couples as leads in holiday movies. Cameron Bure said no. “I think that Great American Family will keep traditional marriage at the core,” she said.

For this minimalist support of traditional marriage, in which she did not attack, demean, or otherwise disrespect gay people, she has been vilified by several other actors and of course by the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, which said Bure’s comments were “incredibly dangerous” and “perpetuated the idea that LGBTQ people don’t belong.”

This exchange illustrates how many advocates now believe gay people have the right to make movies or other public expressions of art or entertainment or sports or business featuring same-sex couples, but at the same time, these same-sex marriage advocates believe others who support traditional marriage should not be allowed to make movies or any other public expression featuring traditional marriage without gay inclusion. Despite the fact Bure said nothing negative about LGBTQ people or same-sex marriage, she is still being called a bigot, hateful, and intolerant.

This is the culture in which we now, one in which millions, especially under the age of 40, no longer believe in God, Christianity, traditional religious sexual morality, or in anything other than their self-defined interests.

These Americans see nothing wrong with sexual expression in virtually any form as long as the people involved “consent”—which as noted earlier is a wide-open concept.

So, if same-sex marriage is here to stay, and other immoral sexual permissiveness is already in the pipeline, likely next on the hit parade of social acceptance, how should Christians respond?

Remember that the sexually charged culture in America today is not that different from what Paul faced in Corinth or what the Early Church experienced in Rome and subsequent civilizations. As they let their light shine, so we must also amid darkness.

Avoid rejecting or otherwise conveying to people who participate in sexually immoral practices that they are unacceptable, or worse, unloved. It is possible to maintain commitment to biblical teaching and doctrinal integrity, thus rejecting immoral practices, yet showing compassion. It’s called “speaking the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15).

Assure your own life is characterized by righteousness, which is a witness of God's truth and redemption.

Fix your thoughts on Jesus (Heb. 3:1) as Paul did in his day in the great immoral city of Corinth (1 Cor 2:4-5).

Dig deep into the Word, learn not just the Scripture but theology, know what’s happening in the world but know the Word better, apply it to everyday life, and live in hope.

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

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 07 December 2022

Have you ever experienced anxiety when you received bad news, weathered trials, or faced the uncertainties of illness?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #57 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.

Since we live in a fallen world influenced by the sin, we know that sooner or later we will face trials and tribulations, troubles and problems, difficulties, illness and disease, or loss.

If you have not experienced any of these challenges, you simply haven’t lived long enough. Hang around awhile and you, too, will run out of steam, reach the end of your rope, hit the wall, walk through a valley, or feel like you’re on your last legs.

Our emotional reactions to such trials are many: concern, nervousness, angst, apprehension, dread, discouragement, despair, anguish, fear, desperation. And, of course, worry, which someone defined as trying to solve problems without God, and anxiety, defined as worry that’s below the surface.

We can experience anxiety about social or societal developments – the macro level negative developments we hear about daily on news channels. I remember people, Christians, in the early days of COVID in 2020, who were clearly struggling with anxiety and maybe fear about this threatening and for many, deadly, virus.

Or we can experience anxiety about personal, or for want of a better term, emotional developments – the micro level negative circumstances that occur in our own or our loved ones or friends’ lives.

It is at this point, when we’ve hit the wall dealing with – or rather we’ve come to a point where we realize we cannot deal with our problems, especially personal ones – that we have choices to make. We can yield to overwhelming, crushing anxiety and perhaps end up in depression.

Millions of Americans, we’re told, turn to opioids or some other form of medical treatment, sadly, even though these addictive, expensive, dangerous solutions are no solutions at all. They may deaden emotional pain and anxiety, but they do not make them go away, or provide a long-term source of healing and peace.

Some people never get out of this cycle, living out their lives in perpetual addiction or a few ending their lives in suicide.

Or, we can do as the Lord instructed us in his word:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus,” (Phil. 4:6-7).

We instructed not to be anxious, which of course is difficult to do in many circumstances. Yet the Lord says in every situation. And if we do this with thanksgiving, the Lord will grant us peace that passes understanding. This is a phenomenal and powerful promise.

In the Psalms, the shepherd king David loudly and poetically laments his trials, troubles, and fears. He tells God about everything he’s confronting and feeling, and as a poet, he does so with creative imagery and memorable phrasing.

But David does not stay in his feelings and fears. He does not, like modern psychology says to do, “look inside himself” or “trust himself” to make changes. He knows he cannot handle the trials and tribulations that overwhelm him.

David does not stay wallowing in himself but looks outside himself to the Sovereign God. Time and again, when David’s anxiety is supreme and his fears threaten to drown him, he turns to the Lord.

David says this: ^“We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in you,” (Psalm 33:20-22).

David looks to the Lord for refuge, for deliverance, for peace.

David remembers:

the Person of God, meaning God’s character, who he is.
the Providence of God, what God has done in the past,
the Promises of God, what God says he will do for us in the future,
the Presence of God, how God never leaves us nor forsakes us, even in the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
and the Peace of God, what God grants to those who place their faith in him.

David celebrated God’s person, providence, promises, presence, and peace, all of which delivered David from his anxiety and fear.

David said,

“Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come,” (Ps. 71:17-18).

In the Christmas song, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” the lyrics reminds us: “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” “And peace to men on earth.”

Jesus’ advent in the manger, and his later life and finished work on the cross and in the resurrection, sealed God’s promise to those who believe. Our hopes and fears are met in him, and he provides peace.

One last reminder and encouragement from the shepherd King David: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever,” (Ps. 73:26).

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

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 28 November 2022

Have you known certain people who made an out-sized impact upon your life, for good or maybe even for not-so-good? It’s called influence, and I like remembering the legacy my Grandpa passed on to me.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #56 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.

“Bones” Davis was my maternal grandfather. I was privileged to know him for years and spent a lot of time with him when I was a kid, in part because his and Grandma’s home was a few hundred yards from our home across an open field.

His name was Lewis, but his little brother could not pronounce the name, called him “Bones,” and so he became for the next eighty years.

The irony for me was that when I knew him, he was a short but hefty, let’s say thick, fellow and I never saw a bone.

I tell you about him because he was the spiritual patriarch of our family. He had an 8^th Grade education, something that embarrassed him a bit but back during the aftermath of WWI when he came of age this level of schooling was not uncommon.

Grandpa could read, and he read his Bible and organic gardening books. No one knew which flourished more, his spiritual life or his incredible gardens.

When he passed, Grandma placed a small plaque alongside him in the casket that said 38 years, a tribute to how long he had served as a deacon in the Baptist church in our small town that they and a few other couples helped start. They made this move because the other Baptist church in town had begun, as they said then, “to go liberal,” appointing pastors that did not believe or preach the whole counsel of the Word of God. It was not easy to leave friends and a church they loved, but their commitment to the truth took precedence.

I grew up in that church where along with my grandparents my mother was a charter member. So, you could say I am a direct spiritual beneficiary of my grandparents’ fidelity to the Christian faith.

Grandpa served for years as a volunteer worship leader. He had a good tenor voice. This was back in the day when people in the church fulfilled such roles as opposed to the practice now of appointing a professional staff person to serve as worship leader. Grandpa would get in the pulpit and say, “Greetings in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” His favorite hymn was “Saved, Saved, Saved.”

I remember dozens of people, usually but not always men, who would come from several counties around just to sit on one end of his over-sized back porch swing, looking out to that fabulous garden, as Grandpa sat on the other end, and then ask him his advice and counsel of life. I did it myself when I got into my 20s. He was funny, biblically, and therefore spiritually, knowledgeable, and wise. His counsel was worth the trip and the time.

I never once heard Grandpa raise his voice at Grandma. I remember his incredible sense of humor, some of which I’m blessed with to this day. I remember his love of biblical prophecy, singing, and sports. In his youth, he had been an accomplished baseball player, even trying out for the traveling teams that built the game into a national pastime in the 1920s. I remember his love for his family and his dog named “Pudge.”

Grandpa “Bones” Davis was a world class people watcher. I remember “going to town” when I was a kid and being left in the car with Grandpa because he didn’t like to shop. Parked along the main street, I’d want to go here or there, and he’d say, “Just watch the people. They’re interesting.”

Granpda never made catty or cutting remarks, nothing negative, just insightful things like, “Look, that boy is walking exactly like his Dad, same motions, same gait.” Or, “Those people look like they’re having a good time.” Or, “Hey, they’re eating chocolate candy. How about us getting some?” Sitting with Grandpa in that car along a well-populated street is one of my good childhood memories.

So, I learned young to watch people. Now one of my favorite activities when I’m in a mall or airport is to watch people, especially older or elderly couples. I like the feeling in South Florida when I’ve often seen 80-something couples strolling or sitting, demonstrating in a variety of ways they still value their spouse. It’s fun and offers a load of life lessons.

Grandpa would have loved malls and airports, neither one of which were part of his experience.

Grandpa left me a heritage, a legacy of profound impact. Let me give you one example.

I’m old enough to remember cigarette commercials and smoke-filled restaurants. And I’m old enough to remember when cigarette commercials disappeared and when restaurants and other public spaces first developed “non-smoking” sections and then became “smoke free.” If you aren’t old enough to remember these things, watch movies from the 1960s and earlier and witness the actors, especially the women, smoke one cigarette after another. What was cool then is not cool now.

I like the smell of some cigar or pipe smoke, but frankly, I’ve never understood the appeal of smoking. It’s a dirty—to one’s teeth and one’s breath, as well as the nearby physical space—unhealthy, expensive habit. It provides no nutritional value. It enslaves people to the need for the next smoke. It’s no longer considered suave or debonair.

Smoking is even threatening to the environment. I’ve long maintained that smokers litter more than any other person. Non-biodegradable cigarette butts clog city sewers, start forest fires, and otherwise pollute the landscape in manner that costs the public significant sums for clean-up.

From a Christian point of view, though, I cannot say categorically that smoking is a sin. I could, like many people do, make the scripturally based argument that one should not debase or destroy one’s own body, made in the image of God and for believers the temple of the Holy Spirit. And this would be correct. God commands us to care for our own bodies. But he did not say “You shall not smoke.” Then again, not everything we can do, we should do.

When I was a child of maybe six or seven, Grandpa “Bones” Davis quit smoking his pipe. He didn’t make any grand spiritual issue out of this act. He simply made the choice because he had three grandsons, of which I was one of the two oldest. Later, he eventually had thirteen grandchildren in all. He quit smoking because he did not want any of us to see him smoke and then start smoking ourselves. To my knowledge, only one grandchild ever smoked, and he quit after a time. Grandpa’s example bore good fruit and is still bearing it today.

Grandpa Bones Davis lived a full life. When he passed at age 83, it was not that people weren’t said at his departure, but his funeral was more like a celebration of a life well lived.

Grandpa Bones taught me how to live, and he modeled how to finish well. He’s in heaven today and I look forward to seeing him again someday.

Do you have a person like Bones Davis in your life? Better yet, are you and I people like Bones Davis in someone else’s life?

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.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 15 November 2022

Is meeting someone’s physical needs or spiritual needs more important? And which approach really makes a difference in a troubled world?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #54 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.

The ministry with which I serve, SAT-7, works to share the gospel and Christian teaching with people throughout the Middle East and North Africa region.

SAT-7 does this 24/7, presenting God’s Word and Christian hope via un-censorable satellite television broadcasts and now also online video on demand.

Yet with that, I find it interesting that when people, including Christian radio staff who interview me, become aware of serious crises in the region – which is nearly every week – they ask, “What is SAT-7 doing?” Emphasis on the word “doing.”

What they mean—whether they realize it—or what they are implying, is that physical or humanitarian needs require a direct physical response. Providing food, clothing, housing. I’ll call this, Feeding the body.

This need and opportunity for direct physical response could develop in the wake of war, growing food insecurity, poverty, or serious spin offs of social unrest…

There is, of course, nothing wrong with, and in fact a lot right with, responding to physical or humanitarian needs by, so to speak, feeding the body. To love your neighbor as yourself you can do no less than respond to people’s physical or humanitarian needs.

Some Christian nonprofit organizations and NGOs are exclusively dedicated to direct physical or material responses to people’s physical and humanitarian needs. This is a good thing.

But, while providing people with physical help, like food and clothing, even money, is good, even commanded of believers, still, providing for physical or humanitarian needs with material goods is not all they need and tends to address only immediate circumstances.

This is not a criticism of organizations or people who work to feed the body. It’s just an observation about the total picture.

The question remains, have we helped them in the long term?

Since SAT-7 is a broadcast and media ministry, it is not typically and regularly working on ground with material resources. So in some people’s minds, SAT-7 is apparently not “doing” anything. But then again, SAT-7 is “doing” something every day. It’s feeding the soul. It is broadcasting the gospel, the most powerful transformative message in the world.

Sharing Christ with needy people—including those in the midst of crises—then seeing dramatic spiritual change in their lives, allows us to witness how spiritual transformation changes how people think and act, often affecting their personal opportunities and condition.

My friend Tom Atema, observed, “Jesus knows that he can make a person's life better, and then they will become better at life. They will, as they mature, have an inward want to to make their life better - and they do. It’s one evidence that a person has accepted Jesus as Savior and is growing in this relationship. New believers gain dignity and self-respect. They become image bearers of Jesus in their everyday life. Before long, they take themselves off the aid given and provide for themselves.”

It seems to me that some Christians don’t really have the confidence or deep-down belief that their faith can change the world. They seem to be looking for something else, some other solution to address the intractable social problems confronting us.

If so, in my view, they are missing the point that they already have the answer. They are God’s ambassadors of reconciliation. And they must have the understanding and the confidence to acknowledge that no other values or approaches or philosophies offer the power of new creation that is in the gospel:

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

As the late British theologian John Stott once put it: “Evangelism is the major instrument of social change. For the Gospel changes people and changed people can change society.”

We know God’s Word makes a difference because we can see some changes with our eyes. We experience the fulfilment of his promises.

We know God’s Word makes a difference because he promised this in his Word: Scripture says, “So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Is. 55:11).

So, “What is SAT-7 doing?” Well, it is sharing with desperate people the one and best solution to every and all problems, every and all challenges, which is to say, SAT-7 is pointing people with a relational, sin-problem dilemma to the one relationship that resolves their dilemma, salvation in Christ.

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

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