Greetings!
Hopefully, this will be the final DHD to cover issues relating to the Supreme Court Nomination process involving Brett Kavanaugh. I am committing a majority of my topics to this fascinating yet disappointing course the U.S. Senate is on to fill a SCOTUS seat.
But first, I start with an appeal that has been made to my fellow Southern Baptists.
- Pray for SBC Leadership Searches
Earlier this week, Southern Baptist Convention President J.D. Greear announced a call to pray and fast on Monday, Oct. 8 on behalf of search committees for presidents for five different SBC entities, including SBC Executive Committee, the International Mission Board, LifeWay Christian Resources, Southwestern Seminary and New Orleans Seminary.
Chuck Kelley announced his retirement as NOBTS President will occur July 31, 2019, making this the most searches for SBC executive leaders at one time since the late 70s.
I pray that God will fill these important roles and cause a great resurgence among the SBC, which eventually will lead to a great revival across our country.
- Superior Senate Speeches
Lots of speeches are happening in the U.S. Senate, beginning Thursday, Oct. 5 and continuing through Sat., Oct. 6. I want to highlight the speeches from two of my favorite political leaders – Sens. James Lankford and Ben Sasse.
Lankford has always encouraged me whenever I have heard him speak, and I appreciate that he represents me and my state. He said he grieves for people who have been sexually assaulted and mentioned his 22 years of working in student ministry, counseling and consoling those who have dealt with such pain in their lives. I know from experience, Sen. Lankford is someone to be trusted when it comes to young people.
His whole speech is excellent, but I do appreciate these comments near the end of his speech:
“We have got to learn how to disagree about political issues without destroying someone personally for the sake of gain on anything in politics.”
As much as I appreciate Sen. Lankford’s speech, I believe Sen. Sasse’s speech is just a notch better. IT. IS. POWERFUL.
He also was rather vulnerable. He disclosed that he asked President Trump to nominate a woman for SCOTUS earlier this year.
Sasse addressed the saturation of sexuality in our country. He mentioned all people are created in the image of God, Imago Dei. He criticized President Trump’s remarks about Professor Ford at a recent rally.
Sasse covered the gamut, and everything he said needed to be said in the place where he said it.
- Women supporting Kavanaugh
David French is becoming one of my favorite political writers. In his piece, “Brett Kavanaugh Hearings: Understanding Women Who Support Him,” he shared how not all American women are against the Kavanaugh nomination.
Many women, French wrote, actually are in support of Kavanaugh out of defense of husbands and sons who appear to be falsely accused.
“A person hasn’t just made an accusation against a man,” French said. “A person has threatened the sanctity and security of a family, and that is a grave matter indeed.”
- Defending Kavanaugh’s temperament
Sen. Susan Collins from Maine has just given her speech from the Senate floor. Though she made me squirm with some of her comments, I appreciate she has decided to vote “Yes” in Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation.
Even though it appears Kavanaugh will be confirmed by Senate vote, I know many have problems with the way Kavanaugh appeared last week, defending himself in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. To many, Kavanaugh’s temperament was a problem. They thought his responses to Democrat committee members were inappropriate.
The fascinating thing is this seemed to transfer the opposition’s argument about Kavanaugh from sexual abuse to having anger problems. However, I yield to a point made once again by David French.
In his article, “Matt Damon, Meet Matt Damon,” French quoted the famous actor about expressing passion if he were falsely accused. Here is what Damon said:
“Now… with social media, these stories get — it’s like they get gasoline poured on them. So the moment a claim is made, if you make that same claim today to me, I would be scorched earth. I’d go, ‘I don’t care if it costs $10 million to fight this in court with you for 10 years, you are not taking my name from me. You are not taking my name and my reputation from me. I’ve worked too hard for it. And I earned it. You can’t just blow me up like that.’ [Emphasis added.]”
Kavanaugh himself admitted he was emotional during the hearing. I think he was justified because, as he said, he was speaking as a husband, father and son and needed to express himself in such a way to defend his loved ones.
- Responding to SS letter about Kavanaugh
Baptist Press featured a letter by Doug Parkin who wrote to his Sunday School class of eighth-grade boys. Parkin gives solid advice, but I don’t know if I entirely agree with his conclusion:
“If you live for Christ, it will be difficult for anyone to legitimately criticize you,” Parkin wrote. “In fact, you will find that a Christ-obedient life will bring you more benefits in this life than you would ever expect.”
Many examples in the Bible would speak against what Parkin said, including Joseph who was falsely accused by Potipher’s wife.
I think it would be better for Parkin to say if you live for Christ, even if anyone criticizes you, God will still guide you through the journey.
- Christians and Politics
Andrew Sandlin gives an interesting response to an article by Tim Keller about Christians being involved in a two-party political system.
I struggle with aspects of the Republican Party, but the list of criticisms is shorter than my struggles with the Democratic Party. How I go about it is how I view specific issues, and I may not always agree with the GOP. Unfortunately, I have yet to see how I could agree with the Dems.
I do want to help the poor, the disabled. I do want racial reconciliation. I support issues that perhaps the Democrats say they advocate. However, I don’t agree with solving the problems the way Democrats propose, which is mostly through a Big Government approach. Ultimately, the only solution to these problems is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Republicans do not fully embrace Christianity and the Gospel, but the GOP platform allows Christianity to be communicated more freely. The Democratic Party, however, act as though they are repelled by the Gospel.
Here is my favorite section from Sandlin’s articles when analyzing the two political parties:
“…the fact is that a number of ‘historical Christian positions on social issues’ do ‘fit into contemporary political alignments.’ The GOP and the historical Christian position define marriage as between one man and one woman. The Democrats do not. The GOP and the historical Christian position see unborn children as persons entitled to legal protection from murder. The Democrats do not. The GOP and the historical Christian position recognize that economic liberty (free markets) is a moral imperative that, not coincidentally, erases poverty. The Democrats do not. The GOP and the historical Christian position embrace the rule of law as a cornerstone of the Founding philosophy of classical liberalism, itself shaped by Protestant Christianity. The Democrats do not. There is no moral equivalence between the parties. The GOP is far from perfect, but it is also usually not far from the ‘historical Christian positions on social issues.’ The Democrats, on the other hand, aren’t even close. And don’t want to be.”