What a Strange Trifecta

Has there ever been a more strange Trifecta that James Brown, Gerald Ford, and Saddam Hussein? One man struggled with personal demons while touching the world. One man did what he thought was right despite public opinion. And one man was insane.

Like much of the Iraq debacle, the United States made another strategic blunder in executing Hussein. Once a paria, he is now a martyr. History books are filled with good men who are considered great simply because they were executed. John F. Kennedy probably is the most glaring example, but an untimely death always tends to cause historians to forget one's faults.

No matter how bad Hussein was, let us take a moment to condemn capital punishment. Death is not an answer for death. As our savior taught us, one should not match an eye for an eye. We cannot as Christians protest the killing of the unborn while celebrating the killing of the born. A better - morally and politically - fate for Hussein would have been to rot in on of his own Iraqi jails.

Let us also celebrate Gerald Ford. A man - like President Bush - lambasted for being an imbecile despite an extraordinary academic record. He was an unusual man who did not seek power or fame and when it found him, he responded with dignity, grace and vision. We need a man like Ford in the White House today.

And the Godfather of Soul. Rest in Peace. You defined a generation of black Americans and gave the rest of the country a window into the black experience and soul.

More Sex Scandal, Circling the Wagons Around a Deceased Kingmaker

Since the weather's dreary, I thought I would peruse Ben Cole's for a little rainy-day humor. Ben's always good for a laugh. Instead, I stumbled across the big sex scandal that is going on at Bellvue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tenn. Bellvue is where famous fundy Adrienne Rodgers pastored for many years. Rodgers may be best described as the Senator Palpatine of the Fundamentalist Takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was the public face of Emperor Patterson's phantom menace.

One can only imagine the machinations that have gone on behind the scenes since the new guy took over. For some reason, anytime a pastor quits, the church must undermine the new guy. This particular the case with someone like Rodgers, who is all but worshipped in fundy circles. But it really exploded when it came out that a long-time staff member admitted to being a child molester, and the new pastor kept silent for more than six months.

The new guy, Steve Gaines, already seems to be unpopular. There is a whole web site dedicated to his destruction. He's pretty funny too, as one reads his resume it comes off like a used car salesman ... he's the top Jesus salesman in Alabama! But I digress. And we wonder why churches are dying. Gaines should call Joel Gregory and learn about stepping into a hornet's nest. Rodgers I guess in many ways was W.A. Criswell's fundy successor - big-money, big-time mega-church leader, cult of personality. Seems like a lot of the little fundies look up to Rodgers like the older fundies looked up to Criswell.

What is funny now, is the full-scale PR effort/legacy salvation/spin control/revisionist history that is being launched to make sure everyone knows that Rodgers never knew his longtime staff member, Paul Williams, was not a child molester. Our buddy Ben makes Rodger's widow, Joyce, seem almost divine as she comes out to defend her husband's honor. Yet, she offers no words of prayer or consolation for the victim, for Williams, for the church ... she just wants to make sure everyone knows that Adrienne didn't know. Here we have a family friend, someone the Rodgers know for more than 30 years, has lost his ministry, his reputation, and all Joyce can think about is protecting her late husband's legacy.

I think I see a parallel between Joyce and Betty C. If anyone read's Gregory's book or knows much about FBCD, it was Betty as much as Willie that ruled San Jacinto Street. One cannot rise to political power in the SBC - or any institution for that matter - without burying some bodies and a wife willing to hold the shovel.

Now I was not born yesterday. Is Joyce and the rest of the Rodgers apologists asking us to believe that Paul Williams, a long-time friend and employee of Rodgers who appears on his memorial video, never once confessed to his mentor but confesses to this new pastor within six months of his ascension to the throne? Gaines told the church a "retired staff member" knew about the incident ... who else would it be? Did Williams confess to the youth minister? The A/V guy? The janitor? Either something fishy is going on or Rodgers was such a terrible pastor that his own friends and collegues did not trust him or his ministry.

What is lost in all of this tragedy is that a young person was sexually molested by his relative, and that it provides another example of Christian hypocrisy. What is even more telling is that for all the PR/BS about Rodgers, just like when he was alive, the focus is more about power and legacy than healing and redemption.

The History of Christmas

Last night, the History Channel ran a great piece on the history of Christmas. Contemporary Americans tend to take a very short view of history, and it was interesting in light of all of the annual controversies surrounding Christmas.

Most know that the Church co-opted pagan celebrations around the Winter Solstice to create a Christian holiday. Most do not know that the pagan revelry continued throughout Western Europe and the United States until the mid-1800s. Throughout European history, Christmas was a bachannalian celebration more akin to Halloween or New Year's Eve. It included a trick-or-treat-type ritual as well as drunkenness and debauchery.

The Puritans hated Christmas and forbid its practice in Massachusetts ... but some still reveled that day. It was not until the young government realized it needed some cultural cohesion that holidays - which were not recognized the first 60 or so years of the republic - began to be incorporated into the calendar. One of those was Christmas. Much of the 18th Century view of Christmas came from Washington Irving. Not until Christmas has been accepted as a popular secular holiday did Protestant churches begin to recognize the holiday. It was not until Dickens' - a nominal Christian if not anti-Christian - A Christmas Carol in that people begin to formulate "a Christmas spirit."

Just like today, it was not the Church but commercialism that drove the adoption of Christmas. Retailers soon capitalized on gift-giving and the newly popular "Santa Claus" to promote winter sales. Even today, much of our Christmas traditions are not Christian but commercial. So next time one hears, "put Christ back in Christmas," one has to wonder if he ever was in it.

Who is more annoying: Rosie O'Donnell or Oprah Winfrey?

Sexual Abuse

The Dallas Morning News reported last week on two Baptist ministers in the Dallas area accused of sexual abuse. Larry Reynolds, pastor of Southmont Baptist Church in Denton, confessed to molesting a 15-year-old girl. He still pastors the church. Read more about it as well as the BGCT's secret file from Ethics Daily.

Next, the paper reported on Dale Amyx, pasotor of Bolivar Baptist Church near Denton. Here is the story on WFAA. Apparently, Amyx has not admitted his alleged wrongdoings.

I really do not know what to say. There are few more crimes that do as much damage to young people, to faith, to the spirit and to the body/Body as sexual molestation. The Roman Catholic Church has suffered for decades, and I wonder how many active pastors are in the BGCT's secret file. I know there are issues of legality, but there is also the issue of faith and being faithful, countercultural, and right.

Crash

Last night, I finally got around to viewing the movie Crash, the 2005 Best Picture. Despite the controversy that it beat out the big gay cowboy movie, I cannot imagine a better movie that Crash. It is one of those few movies that I think every American should watch.

Crash basically uses the automobile accident as a metaphor for human interaction particularly in Los Angeles. The plots interweave a group of individuals whose lives interact. And there are no good people. Every character either is a racist or commits a horrible act. And of course I use the word "racist" loosely - is there a word more misused and misdefined in American pop culture than "racist?" Only a few characters probably would qualify as genuine racists; most just frame the world in racial stereotypes that make up every person's world view.

The real beauty of Crash is its attempted honesty and authenticity. Most Hollywood movies fall into the simple, formula; but Crash turns the mirror on many people explores how their stereotypes, biases and prejudices affect the way they see the world. The movie turns itself on its head. In the end, the character setup to be the big racist turns out to be not one at all; the character setup to be the idealist committs the most violence act stemming from his own prejudices; and most everyone in between let their own self-interests drive them.

If the other two people who read this blog have seen the movie, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Taking Baptist Up a Notch

The joke used to be that anytime a Baptist got mad, he started a new church. Well, it seems like we've upped the ante a bit, and everyone is starting new denominations. Why would you want to be a church planter when you can be a bureacracy planter?

It seems everyone in their dog is driving around Texas and other places holding "meetings" to build some type of coalition. There was a group last summer of "young" pastors who were "fundies but not as fundie as you" who met in Memphis and had the self-righteousness to issue their own declaration. Now a few of those leaders still travel around and play politics.

Now, another group wants to meet in Dallas soon for more of the same. The leader is a seemingly nice and integrous guy who blogs here. I'm sure these guys will travel around Texas after the meeting and play politics (I do not mean that pejoritively).

I admire these attempts at reform, but there does seem to be a lot of Gen X instant gratification underpinnings. These guys want reform yesterday. Say what you will about Paige Patterson - I need hits from SWBTS - but the guy at least plotted his takeover for decades. It was what, about 30 years from the time he started planning his coup to when he final got its target - Pecan Manor?

It just seems like pastors spend an inordinate amout of times on internal bickering and politicking than ministry. Something tells me that if pastors worked on their individual spiritual lives as hard as they work on politicing, everything else would fall into place. All of the conflict and discord springs from sinful hearts and selfish wills. If every Christian leader worked on himself or herself more and the other stuff left, our internal problems would subside.

Dang, I'm naive.

GodMen

The GodMen post below got quite a reaction from my dear friend Meg ... I cannot say that I blame her. GodMen is one of those popular phenomena whereby we try to place a "Jesus face" on our popular lifestyles. My favorite example of this are the Christian trophy hunters: "Let's kill a bear for Jesus." These are part of that same megachurch movement that preachers prosperity and Starbucks. I think it all rolls under that fundamental question - will you be transformed by the Gospel or will you transform the Gospel? For Americans, who love cheap grace more than $4 coffee, I think it in most cases will be the latter. We want to live our lives and find way to incorporate Jesus. Hence, we have the cussing Jesus of GodMen.

GodMen

My friend Chris asked me to blog about GodMen, which I will do as soon as I finishe skinning this bear.

Happy New Year

I want to wish my fellow Christian brothers and sisters a Happy New Year! The new year should be a time of (in good ole fashioned alliterative three-point Baptist sermon form):

• reflection
• repentance
• renewal

First, reflect on the past year but primarily reflect on Bethlehem. Reflect on Immanuel. What does it mean, "God with us?" What does it mean that our faith does not promise a way to reach God but that God reached us?

Second, repent. We've all sinned the past year, and now is the time to repent. Consider Calvary. Do we not owe Christ our full allegiance and obedience? In light of the cross, can we not do a better job of following?

Third, renew. The new year is all about resolutions. Allow this time of new year to provide a sense of spiritual and emotional and physical renewal. Put into practice those resolutions that await. Resolve to live more authentically for Christ.

The new year is a time of hope, joy, peace and love. Let us offer each this new year!