Taking a page from Scripture’s 40 days in the desert, a consortium of faith groups, led by Jim Wallis’ Sojourners,  is promoting “Forty Days of Health Reform” as a political campaign stressing the moral necessity of enacting meaningful health care reform in America.  Will that campaign appeal to people of faith, or backfire in religious communities? And what do you think of the option for a public option?

Father Thomas Williams - St. John’s Orthodox Church

There’s an ongoing debate about the value of church-affiliated youth missions trips – for both the youth who make them and for the poor poverty-stricken populations they intend to help through volunteer service.  Are church missions trips, valuable as learning experiences and cultural exchange as they are, really worth the monetary costs?

Father Thomas Williams, St. John’s Orthodox Church

I can only speak for our diocese - The Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Wichita and Mid-America. Clearly the answer would be yes. Let me explain.  The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America traces its roots in unbroken succession to first century Antioch, the city in which the followers of Christ were first called “Christians.”  Hence we are under the Omophorion (stole) of the Patriarch of Antioch. The number of Christians in Syria now is a little less than 10 percent of the population. Our sister diocese there with which we share  is Bosra Hauran, which is made up of many poor, war-torn areas in southwest Syria and its environs, including the Golan Heights.

This summer 18 teenagers and young adults from our churches in Texas spent two weeks in Damascus and the Houran region as guests of the archbishop there working on restoring Orthodox churches. These churches go back to the fifth and sixth centuries. They also worked on other church projects ongoing in Houran. Were they missionaries.  Not really, for they were in an area where the first bishop was one the the first seven deacons whose ordination is described in the Acts of the Apostles.  Antioch, Syria, was home to St. Peter and St. Paul for a time. The Christians there still speak Aramaic, and many live in an area called the Valley of the Nazarene. But it is a poor area and the Americans had come to help.

The great thing that came out of the two weeks was that Orthodox Christians in the  Houran diocese of Syria, who can trace their roots to the apostles, got to know Orthodox Christians from the United States who can trace their roots to Orthodox priests in Houston, Texas. When they worshipped together the Arab Christians said, “they pray like we do. We are brothers.” It was very moving for both groups. What the Americans brough home was priceless. What the Arab Christians gained was seeing how “their church” is embraced in America

Bill Bogard, Jewish
I won’t comment on the “monetary” cost-benefit ratio of Christian Missionaries.  That question is best left to the Christian community.
But as a non-Christian, I find the missionary efforts of any religion–if the goal is to convert others to their faith–morally objectionable.  Central to any attempt to convert another is the assumption that other faiths are evil,  those who hold that other view of G-d are bound for Hell (at least certainly not to  attain eternity with the Supreme), a statement that only the missionary’s faith is “complete,” and a supercilious form of religious Imperialism.
How would our good Christian supporters of missionary efforts feel if, say,  Saudi Arabia spent millions of dollars sending Muslim missionaries door to door in Rapid City to convince  the America Infidel that Islam is the only way to paradise, that Christians are evil, and the American constitution should be rejected in favor in Sharia law?  Why should I not feel equally antagonistic to the bright-eyed, idealistic,  juvenile Mormon missionaries who knock on my door to “show me the way” of Joseph Smith? I’m sick and tired of Christian arrogance, the assumption that Judaism is an incomplete religion and needs some sort of completion through Jesus Christ. Why should  not a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Jew, or even an agnostic not show similar animosity toward someone who denigrates his or her faith, the faith of their parents, and the whole cultural set of values?
Thus, let the evangelist help the “poor poverty-stricken” population of the world with the American dollar.  But if they really wish to relieve their physical suffering–which is real–don’t go as an arrogant Christian with the hidden agenda of saving his dark and blighted soul by alleviating their pain; rather, keep their religious views to themselves and help them as just another child of G-d, spiritually equal, and needing human help.  Aid others–that indeed is the spiritual way– but leave your proselytizing at home.

Dr. Nicholas Wallerstein–humanities and religion professor

I agree absolutely and unequivocally with Dr Bogard. Christians will defend their missionary and proselytizing endeavors by stating  that they must bring the “Good News” to non-Christians in order to save their souls, for there is no other way to God except through Jesus. They cite the Gospel of John, in which Jesus purportedly says “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but by me.” But as the great Bishop John Shelby Spong (perhaps the most learned Christian in the world) has pointed out, it’s doubtful that Jesus ever even spoke these words. To quote the good Bishop:

“[These words] appear in the Fourth Gospel, which was written 65-70 years after the death of Jesus. They are also part of a series of ‘I Am’ sayings, which appear nowhere except in John and are regarded by most biblical scholars today as the words of the Christian community that have been placed onto the lips of Jesus. They are clearly not the words of the Jesus of history. The scholars in the Jesus Seminar regard nothing in the Fourth Gospel, not a single one of the sayings attributed to Jesus in that gospel, to be the authentic words of the Jesus of history.”

To use these words from the Gospel of John, never even spoken by Jesus, as an excuse to harrass and intimidate non-Christians, and to threaten them with eternal damnation, is immoral and unjust.  Neither Jews nor Muslims nor Buddhists claim that their way is the only way to God. Even the Qur’an, for instance, explicitly states that there will always be room (and that there must be room) for God’s other faiths.

There are, indeed, many paths to wisdom, not just the Christian path. The only thing we know for sure is that, as poet/singer Leonard Cohen put it, each and every path to wisdom begins with a broken heart. Christian missionaries need to stop compounding the misery of the world and start to heal it through true love and true brotherhood and true compassion and true toleration. We have not yet  seen this.

Hazel Bonner - Seventh Day Adventist

I do not feel that Church group youth programs such as this are worth the cost or the trouble. There are so many worthy projects right in their own communities. Donate the money for such a trip to a worthy cause here, while

taking the time to work for that cause. There are many worthy causes at the mission, like the new Day Care program there, the assisted living homes, building a playground for them. I donate a lot of time at the mission and there is so much that needs to be done. I work primarily for a handicapped veteran whom I became acqauainted with there. He now has a broken ankle and needs someone to take meals to him as I am gone all weekend. As soon as I am done with my work here, I will have to go back there and care for him so he can stay off that ankle. Thank God the bus now runs on Saturday, and there is a bus stop right across the street from me. So I no longer have to walk a mile to the nearest bus stop. I will be doing that instead of going to my church today. I ask myself What Would Jesus Do and I hear him telling me I should go back to spend the weekend with my special friend that I met at the Mission. 

Any way enough of my praise for the Lord. The mission is not the only worthy cause here either. There are so many here and the youth pastors must know them, Donate to build a house for Habitat for a local family or go no further than the rez to donate.

My daughter attends the University of Wyoming and they do alternate spring breaks and special internships during the summer. She went to a homeless program in DC last spring and loved the experience. They had to actually spend the first four days being homeless and panhandling. They then donated the money to homeless shelters there and worked in those shelters. That was a great experience for them and also helped the homeless there, but not for the long term.

She did a tabling project this summer in North Yellowstone, but it was not volunteer and she earned her tuition for fist semester there.

So I am sure this would not have come up except the youth brought back the Swine Flu, the H1N1 virus. We also cannot be so afraid of that flu that we isolate ourselves. I am not even eligible for the vaccine as I am over 65, and currently in good health.

The death penalty — in the form of convicted murderer Briley Piper, is front and center in South Dakota again this week, as the Supreme Court of South Dakota overtuled the circuit judge who sentenced him to death. Both opponents and proponents of capital punishment offer biblical justification for their viewpoints. What’s yours?

Hazel Bonner — Seventh Day Adventist

Our hearts go out to Dottie Poage for the pain this re-sentencing must bring her. But Murder Victims for Reconciliation believe that forgiveness is essential to healing. And we know that our murdered children will always be held in the highest esteem, while the murderers are forever scorned by society - as it should be.

            The death penalty in South Dakota continues to grow as murders continue happening in this small state.  However on Thursday, July 29, the death sentence of Briley Piper was overturned by the South Dakota Supreme Court. The SD Supremes say he must be sentenced by a jury.

            Fourth Circuit Judge Warren Johnson sentenced Piper to death for the murder of Chester Allen Poage in Lawrence County in 2000. Piper, 19 at the time,  pleaded guilty and was sentenced by a judge, along with Elijah Page who was executed in 2007, after giving up all appeals. The third person involved, Darrel Hoadley, the only area resident, did not plead guilty and was convicted at trial and sentenced by a jury to life in prison, which in this state is life without parole.

            Piper, from Anchorage, Alaska, was appointed two attorneys, as happens in all death penalty cases in South Dakota. He claims they did not properly advise him that every juror would have to vote for death in order for him to face execution. He also was not informed of that by Johnson when he waived his right to not be sentenced by a jury. The SD Supremes agreed that he was not properly informed.  

            The Lawrence County States Attorney, John Fitzgerald, Jr. has notified Poage, mother of the victim. Fitzgerald and Poage have both started a campaign to give Piper death again at the sentencing by a jury.  The sentencing will perhaps take place here in Rapid City or may go on in Deadwood. Thus the pain of Poage’s death will remain with  Ms. Poage forever. She appeared to be happy with the execution of Page stating that justice worked at his execution. We should not execute adults, but educate our children about violence.

            Piper will remain in administrative segregation in the Jamison Annex at the Sioux Falls prison until he is sentenced by a jury.  Fitzgerald and Poage both still want him to be executed. Apparently said sentencing will take many months. While death Row in this state contains only three inmates with a fourth man hanging himself several years ago, it is a horrible life for those inmates.

            They remain in isolation every day, never getting to go outside, and never having contact visits with their family or friends, except by special request. According to the Administrative Segregation handbook, they get out of their cells only 45 minutes per week day to shower and exercise. Both Piper and Page are from out of state but people in Lawrence County, and his father, visited Page before his execution. His was the first execution in this state in over 60 years.

            This writer worked on death row in South Carolina during an internship the summer of 1993. Many people on death row there, most of them black, for killing white people, have already been executed. One inmate remains there for a murder he probably did not commit, Eddie Lee Elmore, has been on death row for decades for the murder of an elderly white woman. 

            Inmates there are not held like caged animals. They have contact visits and go outside for exercise. They are served meals together in a congregate dining hall. This writer had meals with the inmates there. If they create problems they are put in a lock down cell. This writer visited inmates there in their cells and sat and talked with the inmates during meals. They had a birthday party for this writer on August 22.

            As the Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator for Amnesty International (AI), this writer is seeking to find a way to end the total isolation of inmates on our death Row. While our hearts go out to Ms. Poage and know that this re-sentencing of Piper opens up those wounds again, this writer has watched the death penalty in this state over a period of at least 30 years.

            Attending the sentencing of Jason Star on July 27 and hearing his cry for help to the victims’ family reminded me of what happens to natives who kill white people in this state. Star pleaded guilty in the death of his girlfriend, Jody Ellis in February. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison. He was so drunk he does not even remember killing her.

            Star has serious alcoholism problems and may die in prison. Another native man, Shannon Fast Horse was also sentenced to 45 years for killing his white girlfriend in Hot Springs.  He too was intoxicated at the time. Both had prior protection orders issued against them by the victim. But protection orders are not mutual.   

            In spite of many murders of natives, this writer does not recall the death penalty ever being sought in those killings. This writer attended the March for Justice from Pine Ridge to White Clay Nebraska last month. Tom Poor Bear was seeking justice for Wilson Black Elk, Jr. and Ron Heard heart, his relatives. Since we are all related we are all relatives of these two murdered men. The deaths of these two natives have not even been solved. Many murders of Indians remain unsolved there and here.

            Many natives here have been murdered in horrible torture type killings, but the death penalty has not been sought. Their killers receive short sentences – 51 months in a recent killing of two natives in federal court.  Does the death of a native mean less than the death of a white person?  We do not think so. AI opposes the death penalty under any circumstances, especially since most executed persons have killed whites and most are brown skinned.  We acknowledge every human life and mourn for the victims’ loved ones. But the executions cannot be carried out in our name.  

            In some instances the killing of a native is written off as self Defense.

            If the death penalty kept the residents of our state safer, then there would be some small reason for it, but it does not. Neighboring North Dakota does not have a death penalty but is one of the five safest states in the nation. South Dakota does, but ranks far down in the list for safety of our citizens. In fact all five of the safest states do not have the death penalty – that says something about deterrence of murders in states with the death penalty, doesn’t it?

            In the meantime many natives are victims of our society and when they are murdered, or commit suicide in a treatment facility; their deaths do not lead to the execution of their killers.

                        .    

Rev. Brian Carpenter — Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis
Reformed theology, which is the branch of theology to which I and my denomination adhere, is also known as “Covenant Theology.” This is because we believe that God interacts with human beings based on the model of a covenant, or agreement, which binds both parties. We believe there are two main, overarching covenants that govern our dealings with God as human beings, The Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. We believe that there are several smaller covenants that fit within the framework of those two main covenants. These covenants cannot simply be forgotten or done away with. They can be fulfilled and subsumed by another, greater covenant, but they don’t just go away.

One of those smaller covenants is called the Noahic Covenant. This was the sovereign covenant that God made with Noah and all mankind through him. We find it in Genesis 8 and 9. The Noahic Covenant has not been subsumed or fulfilled by later covenants. It is a covenant that lasts as long as the earth itself lasts. Its instructions are binding upon all men everywhere for all time. The relevant part for today’s discussion is found in Genesis 9:6, and reads as follows,

“Whoever sheds the blood of man,
by man shall his blood be shed;
for in the image of God”
has God made man.”

In other words, the Bible mandates the death penalty for murder. Jesus never abrogated that during his earthly ministry, and his designated and authorized spokesmen, the Apostles, never did either. In fact, Paul upholds the right of the magistrate as “one who bears the sword” in Romans 13:

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities”

I want to suggest that the sword represents a divine warrant for an authorized agent of the state to use lethal force for the punishment of wrongdoers.

I do not think that those who try and use the Bible to justify an anti-capital punishment stance have a leg to stand on. They either revert to so-called extrabiblical “revelations” or descend into a gauzy haze of muddle-headed thinking that goes something like, “Jesus was nice and capital punishment isn’t nice, therefore Jesus wouldn’t like capital punishment.” The only trouble with that sort of argument is that no true Christian of any stripe could entertain it for very long, for it does violence to one of the foundational articles of the Christian faith. Namely the article concerning the eternal pre-existence of Christ as the Word, or Logos, who was fully present and in agreement when God the Father decreed the Noahic Covenant, and who himself will come again in glory to punish His enemies with an everlasting “death penalty.” (Rev. 19:11-21, 20:7-15)

Finally, to those who blather about the deterrent effect (or lack thereof) concerning the death penalty, I have two observations:

1. If it were speedily and evenly applied, I guarantee that the murder rate would go down. As it is, a man can die of old age in prison before the State finally gets around to executing him.

2. Having said that, I don’t support the death penalty because of any deterrent effect, real or imagined. I support it because God requires it. When we departed from the model of jurisprudence that took for granted that crimes deserved a measured and proportional punishment and embraced instead a model which claims that crime is an illness and needs treatment, and any treatment applied must justify its usage by showing measurable effects, then we lost something very important. We ripped the criminal justice system out of the hands of ordinary men and women and placed it in the hands of self-appointed specialists. What punishment someone deserves for a bad act is something any thinking man or woman can have an opinion on. What is most likely to rehabilitate someone from an inward sickness is something that only an “expert” can claim knowledge of.

Ask yourself, is society better or worse since the “experts” took over?

Father Thomas Williams, St. John’s Orthodox Church

The minimum wage jumped to $7.25 this week in what proponents say is a step toward economic justice for the working poor. But with unemployment nearing 10 percent and teen and elderly unemployment rates even higher, others argue the increase puts the most vulnerable at higher risk of losing their jobs right now.

What do you think? Is raising the minimum wage right now a moral, or immoral, act?

Rev. Brian Carpenter– Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis
Well, I’m not sure “moral” and “immoral” are the appropriate categories. Perhaps “effective in bringing about the desired end” and “ineffective in bringing about the desired end” or “smart” and “dumb.”

This debate is a sterling example of how the general public could benefit from a basic course in economics. Last night, for instance, Alicia Garcia, a KOTA tv anchor, said that workers were getting a raise courtesy of the government. I looked at my wife and asked her if she had gotten any of that money from the government to give to our employees. You see, in addition to being a minister, I am also a small business owner. My wife and I own a food concession business. The business is marginally profitable for most of the summer and really only makes money during the Sturgis Rally. I can therefore provide a real life example of how the minumum wage works.

There is only so much money “in the business.” We do everything we can think of to maximize it, of course, and are endlessly tinkering and experimenting in order to do so. Out of that amount of money we have to pay expenses. When somebody raises the price of a product we need to run our business, we have several options. We can seek to cut expenses somewhere. We can take that increase in input costs out of the business and further reduce our profit, or we can pass that expense on to the customer in the form of higher prices. When our selling price goes up, the basic laws of economics decree that the demand will decrease to some extent. We will sell less product. At some point, we cannot sell enough product to be profitable, and we either expand the business in order to spread our input costs over a wider area, which is the model of American capitalism today, with all its mergers and acquisitions, or we shut down the business and walk away, throwing six people out of work (but making me much less tired and grumpy.)

When the government mandates a rise in the minimum wage, our expenses go up. That takes more money out of the business. We either accept lower profits (and we can’t go much lower, trust me) or we pass the cost increase on to our customers, thus further decreasing our sales, or we find a way to reduce our labor input costs. We hire fewer people and demand more work out of the people we do hire. Working for us becomes less pleasant than it was before.

It is axiomatic to the laws of economics that when the government intervenes to place a floor under the price of something, they artificially increase the supply, and when they place a ceiling on the price of something (like rent-controlled apartments in New York City) they artificially increase the demand and thus decrease the available supply. The minimum wage is an artificial floor under the price of labor. It draws people into the labor pool that might otherwise find other things to do. The best example of this is the teenager. She might rather do summer sports than work if she could only get $5.00 an hour for her labor. But she is willing to work instead of do summer sports for $7.25 an hour. So she tries to find a job. So do all of her friends. This increases the supply of labor relative to the demand for labor. When supply exceeds demand, the price always goes down. But since the government will not allow the price of labor to go down below $7.25 an hour, then the effect is a continuation of the artificially high supply of labor. That is the definition of unemployment, more laborers than there are jobs. For every dollar you raise the minimum wage, the effect is a small, but measurable increase in unemployment.

There is also a more pernicious effect as well. If we were able to keep those dollars in our business instead of paying them to the employees, we take very few of them out for ourselves. We would plow most of them back in to the business. We would buy things that most of you wouldn’t buy, like another ice shaving machine, or new linoleum for the trailer floor. We also might expand the business, and then we would need to hire more people, thus creating new jobs that weren’t there before. Or we would save it to carry us through the lean times, thus providing more money for the bankers to lend and further stimulate our economy. That is good for the manufacturers and retailers. If we were a large, international corporation instead of a Mom and Pop business, we would pay the excess money out to our stockholders in the form of dividends, which would be good for you if you own the stock in your IRA or pension fund.

But our high school aged employees buy consumable items, like gas for their cars to cruise on Saturday night, or IPods. If you have a bunch of teenagers with money in their pockets, most of them spend it. The working poor also are able to save very little, and spend almost every penny they make on consumables. When more people have money and desire to spend it, they spend it. This will, at least in the short term, cause inflation, which is more money chasing a fixed supply of goods. When everyone wants an IPod, the price of IPods stays high or even increases. When everyone wants a gallon of gasoline, that gallon of gas will rise in price. Raising the minimum wage has also been demonstrated to increase the price of basic consumable goods that we all rely on every day. Food, gasoline, used cars, etc. etc. increase in price. These price increases eat up the benefit of the increase in the minimum wage, prompting politicians to raise it again and start the process all over. When I was in high school, I worked for an Albertson’s grocery store for $3.35 an hour, the minimum wage in 1985. I could purchase slightly less than three gallons of gasoline with one hour of my labor. Now the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and our teenaged employees can purchase slightly less than three gallons of gasoline with their labor. What’s changed? Nothing but the numbers involved.

If the government would stay out of the price fixing business and let the laws of supply and demand work as they always do, we would actually have less poverty and less inflation. It’s counter intuitive, I know, but it is true nonetheless.

With all the Christian music in town this weekend for the Hills Alive music festival, what’s your take on music to praise God by?

Is the current crop of contemporary artists an improvement over the old-time hymns?  And what is the best hymn ever written, anyway?

Dr. Nicholas Wallerstein–religion, literature, and humanities professor

Though I am trained in theology, I’m also trained in aesthetics, since I teach literature. Contemporary Christian music has learned to use contemporary pop and rock and rap music very effectively for its rhythms and electronic sounds. Unfortunately, the lyrics remain pretty bad. As a teacher of lyric poetry, I find the lyrics of contemporary Christian music to be banal, insipid, jejune, hackneyed, vapid, and cliche. On the whole, they are an embarrassment. As an English professor, I teach some of the greatest Christian poets  in the history of the English language–John Milton, George Herbert, Edmund Spenser, John Donne, W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, and many others. The junk that passes for Christain lyrics these days would make all these Christian writers roll over in their graves. I defy anyone who listens to contemporary Christian music to find something that is even remotely close in aesthetic and intellectual brilliance to such a great lyric poem as Gerard Manly Hopkins’ “The Windhover: To Christ Our Lord.” It can’t be done.

Nonetheless, there are some Christian songwriters out there right now who are quite admirable. And I don’t just mean great bands with a Christian slant, such as U2. I mean singer/songwriters like the Canadian Bruce Cockburn. His album “Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws” is a work of wonderful and mystical imaginings of Jesus, with lyrics of great depth, aesthetic qualities, and spiritual intensity. I recommend it to anyone who wants to hear Christian folk music at its very best.

Slightly edgier would be another highly gifted Christian singer/songwriter, Joseph Arthur, especially his first album, “Redemption’s Son.” Lyrics that are intimate, painful, and stunningly honest.

As for the best hymn ever written, I’m sure everyone has his favorite. But from an aesthetic perspective, Julia Ward Howe’s ”The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” adopted by the Union Army during the Civil War, is about the most itense you can find, and makes–through poetic displays unsurpassed anywhere–the Christian case for the abolition of slavery. Julia Ward Howe is the first great female poet in the English language. In the Nineteenth Century, only Emily Dickinson is better.

Rev. Brian Carpenter — Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis
I have to agree with Dr. Wallerstein. Most of the poetry is abominable, but this is not an age for making poetry, so we ought not be surprised by that. I’m also humbled to remember that CS Lewis referred to the hymns (including, apparently, many I like) to “third rate poetry set to fourth rate music.”

My only caveat is that some of the old hymns are now being rewritten with more contemporary tunes, and I like most of those very much. There is also a movement towards writing new hymns, led mostly by a group of Irish and British musicians who have really done some nice work. “In Christ Alone” by the Gettys and Stuart Townsend is a good example that some might be familiar with. That song shows forth the purest gospel, and I love to sing it. I am also attempting in my own church (with little success) to revive the old Presbyterian and Reformed practice of singing the metrical psalms.

These contemporary songs are fine to listen to, and I enjoy many of them myself, but they are not really that useful for corporate worship. The music is heavily syncopated and irregular. The only people that can really sing them well are those who have heard them over and over on the radio. It is extremely difficult to teach them to a congregation, even for skilled worship leaders.

As for the best hymn, well, we all have our favorites. I personally love “Be Thou My Vision,” “A Mighty Fortress,” “Before the Throne of God Above” and “O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.”

Do mass evangelism events like the  Greg Laurie  Black Hills Harvest 09 crusade deliver what they promise? These events have fallen out of favor in recent times with many Christian churches, which favor a more one-on-one relational approach. Will there be any lasting effect on Rapid City from it?

Rev. Brian Carpenter – Presbyterian

We did not really promote the Greg Laurie Crusade in my church and neither encouraged nor discouraged anyone from attending.  One of my elders was on his local Board, and contributed financially to the work, however.  His literature was in the church, but not mentioned in the announcements.  Thus, I am not aware of any impact upon my church at all.

I am ambivalent about Crusade-style evangelism for four reasons.

1.  My understanding of what conversion is and how it happens.

2.  My understanding of the great danger of false conversion.

3.  Some reading I’ve done on the subject, particularly a book called Evangelicalism Divided by Iain H Murray.  Rev Murray explains the negatives in a very compelling way without dismissing the truth that God can use who and what He sees fit to use. 

4.  My own experience with the Billy Graham Crusade in Cincinnati in 2004.

Crusade style evangelism grows out of the theological heritage of a 19th century Presbyterian minister named Charles Finney.  Finney invented the Crusade as we know it today.  Finney is a hero to the Evangelical movement, primarily because they do not understand what the man believed and how his methods grew out of his theology.  His theology was terrible.  He was actually a heretic, embracing an ancient heresy called Pelagianism.  Pelagius was a British monk who was a contemporary of St. Augustine, and was the main and most powerful opponent of Augustinian theology.  Augustine’s disputes with Pelagius and his followers are still available today in a work called Against Pelagius. Augustine was very successful in his arguments, and Pelagianism has been rejected by literally every segment of Christendom over and over again throughout history.  It is one of the few things we all agree on.  It keeps popping up, however, because it fits perfectly with how sinful man prefers to see himself and God.  It is a kind of endemic nonsense that humanity is prone to blunder into over and over again.

19th and 20th century Evangelicals thought they could adopt Finney’s methods either in total ignorance of what he believed, or in the mistaken belief that they could separate his methods from his theology.  But they can’t, and the absolute circus that is contemporary Evangelicalism is the result.

I don’t know Greg Laurie’s statistics, but I do know Billy Graham’s statistics.  I imagine Greg’s are similar.  In one year after coming forward to profess faith in Christ, if memory serves, a full 90% of those having done so are exhibiting no life change whatsoever.  They are not praying, not reading their Bibles, not going to church, not hating their sin and moving toward loving God with their whole heart and mind and their neighbor as themselves.  They have not been truly converted.  But if you ask them if they have been saved, they say, ‘Oh yes!  I went forward at the Billy Graham Crusade and prayed the prayer.”  In my belief they are still on the path to hell, but are now clothed in the finest armor against seeing their sin and their need of a Savior that I know of.  Jesus described the psychology of true and false conversion perfectly in the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:4-15.  God’s grace inexorably produces results if it is truly present.  The truly saved bear at least some measure of visible fruit and are known by their fruit.  If there is no fruit, then there has been no salvation.

My own experiences mirrored Billy Graham’s statistics perfectly.  I was an Evangelism Coubsellor, a Team Leader, and an Area Follow-Up Director for the Cincinnati Mission.  I was given ten names to contact and to go through a followup Bible study with.  It was a good study and gave good basic info for the living of the true Christian life.  Of the ten I was given to contact, only one man showed any interest whatsoever.  We met weekly for several months, and he was a different man.  I watched him be changed and grow in a very discernable way in that time.  I spent several weeks trying to follow up with the rest, but could not even get them to meet with me one on one.  I do not believe any of them were soundly converted.  When a man is truly born again, he knows certain things because he has experienced them, the way a woman whose had a baby knows more about childbirth than any male OB/GYN ever could.  She speaks with a confidence and a quiet authority when she speaks on those things.  Anyone who talks with her can tell that she has had this experience herself.  It’s the same with spiritual birth.

So then I did a little math.  We raised and spent several million dollars to put on the Crusade (I forget how much), not counting man hours and the things they had us purchase on our own in the months leading up to the Crusade… things like thousands of cases of Coke and Pepsi to give away on street corners all around the city.  I’m sure the soft drink bottlers were big fans of Billy. 

I took the number of decisions recorded and calculated 10% of that number, figuring that was the rough estimate of the true conversions.  Then I divided it by the millions of dollars we spent.

Basically, the Church could have just evangelized each of these people for free, as they are commanded to do in the Bible, and then we could have taken all the money we raised and bought each new convert a brand new Toyota Camry.  That’s a lot of money to spend just so the 95% terrified Christians who never share the Gospel with anyone can continue to be disobedient to their Lord.  It was an utterly sincere waste of God’s resources motivated both by fear and insecurity, and by a sincere desire to do good to the people of Cincinnati.

I see no reason to think any differently about the Greg Laurie Crusade.  Sure, some were truly born again.  But the invisible bad effects of this method far outweigh the visible good effects.  That’s a hard case to make to pragmatic, impatient, shallow, superficial, anti-intellectual, visible-results-oriented American Evangelical Christianity.

 Father Thomas Williams - St. John’s Orthodox Church

It would be difficult for me to present any significant information on this topic. Rev. Brian Carpenter covered it well. I would, though, offer that Pelagius is often shaded a bit too darkly in the West, while Augustine is seen too much the hero. But that’s another issue.

Crusade-style evangelism possibly may have seen its day, but in these Godless times in our country any public exhibitions, or mass meetings that aim to stir thoughts about Almighty God and have us look into our hearts and, perhaps, still the noise of the marketplace, even for just a few moments, is a wonderful thing. There had to have been some positive effect here in Rapid City. And that’s a good thing.

A few days after Pope Benedict issues the third encyclical of his papacy — “Caritas in Veritate” — which addresses the current economic crisis in light of Catholic social teaching, he will meet with President Obama at the Vatican.  Obama will be in Italy for a meeting of the G-8 summit.

Does the invitation to a private audience with the Pope on July 10 mean that, despite Obama’s reputation in many Catholic camps as “the most pro-abortion president in history,”  the Pope feels Obama’s economic policies have plenty in common with Catholic social justice teaching  on other issues?

The Anglican Church in North America completed the historic task of creating a church this week in Plano, Texas, as it installed an archbishop and approved a constitution that says its members “are grieved by the current state of brokeness within the Anglican Communion.”  That’s a dig at American Episcopalians, of course, who disagree with the ACNA on the ordination of gays and the blessing of same sex unions. Church schisms are usually portrayed in a negative light, but isn’t this a healthy parting of the ways of two groups whose interpretation of scripture is so different that they can’t be expected to share a denomination? And where is the nearest ACNA -affiliated congregation, anyway?

Below is the official Father’s Day proclamation from the White House by President Barack Obama on Father’s Day, courtesy of his Office on Faith. Following that you’ll find Johann Christoph Arnold’s view that a strong belief in God the Father makes earthly fathers better at fatherhood. True?

The journey of fatherhood provides unique and lasting joys. Cradling a baby in his arms, a father experiences the miracle of life and an unbreakable bond. Fathers imagine a world of possibilities awaiting their children and contemplate the privilege of helping them reach that expanse of opportunity. As kids grow and mature, they look to their dad for a special kind of love and support. Providing these necessities can bring great happiness.
Fatherhood also brings great responsibilities. Fathers have an obligation to help rear the children they bring into the world. Children deserve this care, and families need each father’s active participation.
Fathers must help teach right from wrong and instill in their kids the values that sustain them for a lifetime. As they encounter new and challenging experiences, children need guidance and counsel. Fathers need to talk with their kids to help them through difficult times. Parents must also help their children make the right choices by serving as strong role models. Honest and hard-working fathers are an irreplaceable influence upon their children.
Communities must do more to counsel fathers. Family and friends, and faith-based and community organizations, can speak directly with men about the sacrifices and rewards of having a child. These groups can support men as they take on the great challenges of child-rearing. Through honest and open dialogue, more men can choose to become model parents and know the wonders of fatherhood.
On Father’s Day, we pay tribute to the loving and caring fathers who are strengthening their families and country. We also honor those surrogate fathers who raise, mentor, or care for someone else’s child. Thousands of young children benefit from the influence of great men, and we salute their willingness to give and continue giving. We also express special gratitude to fathers who serve in the United States Armed Forces for the sacrifices they and their families make every day. All of these individuals are making great contributions, and children across the country are better off for their care.
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NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, in accordance with a joint resolution of the Congress approved April 24, 1972, as amended (36 U.S.C. 109), do hereby proclaim June 21, 2009, as Father’s Day. I direct the appropriate officials of the Government to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on this day. I urge all Americans to express their love, respect, and admiration to their fathers, and I call upon all citizens to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
BARACK OBAMA

Re-founding Fathers
by Johann Christoph Arnold

Many problems in our society will be solved when young men are willing to become good fathers. Of course, they can do this only if they have an example to follow. As fathers, we need to be the strongest role models for children, especially for our sons.
I loved my father. He had a tremendous sense of humor, but he also was strict and set boundaries which I didn’t always appreciate at the time. I always knew he loved me. Once when I was eight or nine, I angered him so much that he threatened to punish me.  I looked up at him and, before I knew what I was doing, blurted out, “Papa, I’m really sorry. Do what you have to do-but I know you still love me.” To my astonishment, he leaned down, put his arms around me and said with a tenderness that came from the bottom of his heart: “Christoph, I forgive you.”
Like many fathers today, my father’s work sometimes kept him away from home for long stretches. I remember as a five-year-old, if I refused to obey, all my mother needed to do was to show me his picture. “Your Papa wouldn’t like it,” she’d tell me, and I’d give in.
I felt very secure just being with my father. As a small boy I decided I wanted to be like him when I grew up. This relationship held me through hard times, even after his death. Now I want to pass this on to my children, grandchildren, and to all of you.
Fathers, if you love your wife and if you love your children, give them your time. Spending time together will give your family inner and emotional security. This is much more important than financial security. The Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral writes, “Many things can wait. Children cannot… To them we cannot say ‘tomorrow.’ Their name is today.”
The love we show our children by giving them our time and attention can hold them in good stead even years down the road. As Dostoevsky reminds us in The Brothers Karamazov, “You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome for life in the future than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood, of home…For if a man has only one good memory left in his heart, even that may keep him from evil.”
To be a father is to fulfill a noble vocation. But fatherhood is not for everyone: it is not for cowards or for those who are unsure of themselves. Once we become fathers, we remain fathers until we die. A true father must be a leader-a captain who guides his family’s ship through perilous waters to safe shores, a general who rallies his troops to take on the daily battles.
On the other hand, a father should also model love and compassion. Jesus was not afraid to compare himself to a hen gathering her chicks. He also wept. These qualities belong to true manhood, and a true father will seek to embody them.
Finally, I believe even the best intentioned fathers will not be able to fulfill their task without finding a firm faith in God. When they do, our families and the entire country will be strengthened, because strong families form the backbone of our nation.

[Johann Christoph Arnold is a pastor and author of ten books, which are now available as free e-books at www.plough.com.]

Rev. Brian Carpenter — Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis

I would argue that it’s not a “strong belief in God as Father” that transforms fatherhood, but a direct, deep, and personal experience of the Fatherhood of God as it comes in the adopting of a man into His kingdom through the finished work of Christ on his behalf. I think that’s the general way of things, anyhow.

For me, however, the usual order was reversed. I came rather late in life to the role of fatherhood. My wife and I were unable to have children, and we were providentially hindered (as we Presbyterians say) from adopting for a full 6 years after our infertility was confirmed. I often wondered what kind of a father I would be, and if I had what it took. I wondered if I would be so selfish that when the going got tough, I would find it burdensome to take care of this child who was not of my own seed. After all, there are plenty of fathers that are that selfish towards those who are of their own seed.

When I first laid eyes on my daughter in that incubator, only hours after she was born, God poured something into my heart that I will always be grateful for. I was overwhelmed by a love for this tiny child of a different race and from the womb of a woman other than my wife. It astonished me then. It astonishes me still. It has not dimmed to this day, but instead has slowly seeped into all the other relationships in my life. It was only months later that I realized that what I felt for my daughter, as overwhelming as it was and still is, is infinitesimally small and broken compared to the love which the Heavenly Father has lavished on me.

There is a lovely old hymn called “The Love of God” whose final stanza always overwhelms me and brings me to tears when I sing it. I can seldom finish the hymn without my voice breaking.

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest hell;
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled,
And pardoned from his sin.

When years of time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,
When men, who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call,
God’s love so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

Refrain

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

The U.S. Senate is apologizing to African-Americans for the wrongs  committed against them by slavery, much like the U.S. House of Representatives did last year. Both resolutions are non-binding and contain no monetary reparations.  Can the U.S. government apologize for something as big as slavery? Should it even try? And will it make any difference to black people if it does?

 Father Thomas Williams - St. John’s Orthodox Church

 Almost 20 years ago when our family was in St. Louis we had a wonderful friend, Camilla. She was 100 years old then and lived in a nursing home, but we would often have her to our home. My wife would take her out for chocolate shakes, which she greatly enjoyed … and she would tell us stories.

At that time I had a large collection of Civil War history books. Her favorites were the large ones, with collections of Matthew Brady photos. She would always go to the same book and open it to a full page  photo of a federal soldier, an African American in full uniform with his medals. “That was my father,” she would say. “He ran away from his boss in Arkansas in 1862 and joined the Army. We were all very proud of him.”  She would always add, “you know that was before I was born, but he told me all about it. Now they are all gone. I am the only one left,”  this daughter of slaves would  quietly say. She was a gentle woman who loved to attend church. She wasn’t sure where her father was buried, but she thought it was in a national cemetery, perhaps in the South.

When I was working in Washington I went to Arlington National Cemetery a number of  times; the first time to visit President Kennedy’s grave. But then I started to walk by the graves of many Civil War veterans, thinking of Camilla’s father. 

At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War. Of every 1,000 Federals in battle, 112 were wounded. Of every 1,000 Confederates, 150 were hit.  In just two weeks, on July 4, we will commemorate the bloodiest battle of the Civil War when 51, 116 were killed or wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. 

In all our national cemeteries today lay many soldiers who helped bring an end to slavery by giving their lives.  The government-issued headstones with their stark markings  tell us clearlyof  the final sacrifice of those who gave all to right the egregious wrong of slavery in a country they loved. “They are all gone now” as our friend Camilla would say. But their memory tells us volumes about this country.

Hazel Bonner–Seventh Day Adventist

It definitely is too little, too late. Others have been paid reparations haven’t they? Of course maybe the senate thinks reaparations for this are not called for. What is needed is an end to the racism that continues not only for blacks but other minorities and women as well. The ending of the injustices in courts  is major with blacks having the highest incarceration rage of any group in our SD prisons, over 4,000. The incarceration rate of other minorities and the disproportionate minority confinement is also very high. More than 70 percent of youth in secure detention are minority youth with 65 percent being American Indians. We also  are not making reparations to natives for what the government did to them. We just have to change things today and that does not seem to be happening.

Dr. Nicholas Wallerstein–humanities and religion professor

I think that Father Williams makes a very fine, subtle point. I remember, at Harvard, walking through Memorial Hall, built in memory of  Harvard men who gave their lives for the Union side during the Civil War. The idea that whites in America have somehow a collective guilt for slavery is not wholly fair. I am from New England, and grew up among homes filled with remnants of the “underground railroad,” a system of hide-outs to bring slaves north to freedom. I can understand the sentiment that the resolution by the Senate is trying to express. But isn’t America’s repudiation of slavery far more powerfully expressed already in the fact that a majority of the white people of this nation voted for an African-American as president? And not only is our president black, but our First Lady is the great granddaughter of slaves, and the children of this couple–the First Daughters Sasha and Malia–are the great, great grandchildren of slaves. How better can America express its repudiation of slavery than to put the descendants of slaves into the White House, which was built by slaves? I have no idea what “reparations” would do for anyone, other than be used as a cynical way to redistribute wealth. Black people don’t need reparations. They need to follow the example of the Obamas: Work hard, graduate from high school, go to college, graduate from college, go to graduate school, get a career. THEN get married, and THEN, as the final step, have children. This is what the Obamas did, and it is a model that works. A symbolic check from the U.S. Government for a few hundred dollars will not help anyone. There needs to be a dramatic change in behavior in inner-city neighborhoods, where nine out of every ten black children are born to single black mothers. The Obamas are a great gift, and represent far more than any apology or reparation ever could.

Rev. Brian Carpenter– Presbyterian Church in America, Sturgis

Well, I think it is a good thing to apologize for the past sins of a nation. It would be a better thing if the nation had apologized immediately after sinning, and thus that generation which perpetrated it could admit some measure of guilt over it. Alas, that opportunity is lost.

I would have been pretty skeptical about how much an apology would mean to African Americans had it not been for a personal experience I had a few years ago. A black woman, a fellow PCA minister’s wife, commented on Rev. Peter Marshall Jr.’s words. Rev. Marshall had openly said that white people owed black people an apology for slavery. This was profoundly meaningful for her. I’m sure it wouldn’t be for many black people, but it was for her. Perhaps the actions of the Congress will be similarly meaningful.

To my mind the issue to day is one of what we might call “generational sin.” No one alive today has held slaves. But those slaves were used (both in the North and the South) to build the basic infrastructure of this country. That infrastructure paid huge dividends. Those slaves were deprived of the lawful fruit of their labor and their descendants (both slave and free) were systematically deprived in many ways and in varying degrees of the ability to fully enjoy those fruits while white people were not. I came into this world with an advantage, just because I am white. So did my father and mother. So did my grandfather and my grandmother. It was only a few years before I was born that we had to pass a special law just so black people could vote, so the effects of that privilege are not too far removed, and their effects occur to this day. Are they decreasing? Yes, I think so. But slowly.

As for reparations, I believe that was why Lyndon Johnson tried to create the “Great Society.” I think that was as close to reparations as we could come. It was a dismal failure for the most part, but it was a noble effort.