I find it instructive and quite horrific that a handful of Muslim extremists around the world are zealously protesting (not with mere placards and raised voices, but with flag burning, violence, and killing) their prophet Mohammad being portrayed in a way they alone consider blasphemous.   All this they justify by some obscure video that would not receive any attention were it not for the Internet which—just about everyone knows—is filled to the brim with hate, lies and deception against every group known to man.   Going viral sounds like a sickness and indeed this situation bears all the hallmarks of something truly sick.

The low budget and now high profile clip has been glommed onto by the mobs looking for an excuse to denounce their enemies–particularly America and Israel–and engage in some holy war, all ostensibly to defend their prophet.  To these extremists, their prophet needs defending, I guess.  Mine doesn’t.

But they now have a pretext, a convenient excuse.

An excuse is nothing more than the skin of a reason, stuffed with a lie.

The skin of a reason is easy enough to discern.  What is the lie?  The lie is that innocence may be found among any Muslims, people of any other religious group, or humanity period.

In all earthly history, there has only been—and will only be—one innocent human being. 

Only one innocent Prophet. 

That Prophet was the person Jesus of Nazareth.

Ironically, as Christ, Jesus was exposed to ridicule, charges of blasphemy, and died a cruel death on a cross to purchase our souls.  He was ridiculed, blasphemed, persecuted, mocked, stripped, beaten, and crucified in His lifetime, not after His death.  Of course, after His death and resurrection, Jesus’ followers—the Christians—have certainly experienced their share of persecution.

Persecution happened to Muhammad too—at least that’s what some supporters of Islam assert.  It’s a religion of peace, they cry.  David Wood writes, http://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Wood/two_faces.htm

“Islam has never been able to decide whether it wants to live in peace with unbelievers, or to pile their severed, unbelieving heads into a giant pyramid. I’m sure many would disagree here, but they would be disagreeing with one of the most empirically verifiable facts in the universe. Think about it. One Muslim beheads an innocent woman to protest the war in Iraq, while another Muslim curses him for slaying the innocent. One group of Muslims flies an aircraft into a building, while another group condemns the attack. One Muslim detonates a bomb on a bus filled with passengers, while another Muslim says on the evening news, “Islam is a religion of peace.” Each side quotes the Qur’an to support its actions. However, it may be even more important to note that each of them is following the example set by Muhammad.”

The italics are original to the piece and highlight something truly interesting.  Muhammad did set an example of both violence and peace in his lifetime.  Does Muhammad truly need defenders within Islam?

Well, the strong Messiah—true Prophet—needs no defenders.  That’s the lesson Jesus teaches.  He needed no defenders at all.

The proof is in the Resurrection.  The proof is in His present sitting at the right hand of the Almighty in heaven.  The proof will be case-closed when He returns to judge the quick and the dead.

Muhammad died either in what is claimed to be a natural death in the arms of his wife…or a death from poison, proving that he was a false prophet.  But frankly, how he died is immaterial.  Muhammad died.  He is still dead.

Jesus, on the other hand, rose from the dead. 

The strong Messiah, the true Messiah, the innocent Prophet needs no defenders. 

His life both in the past, but importantly—in the present—is all the proof one needs. 

How He lived set an example. 

How He died changed the world as we know it.

Why are these Muslims so upset about the ridicule of their prophet?  The Bible tells of Jewish prophets being persecuted throughout Scripture.  Is anyone defending them by killing those prejudged to be infidels?  Nope.  With the exception of Elijah, all of Israel’s prophets died.  Why defend the man Muhammad?  What makes the human prophet of Islam different? Whether Jewish or Muslim, a dead human prophet is still dead.

I can tell you what makes Jesus different:

• He wasn’t just any prophet.  Jesus is the innocent Prophet because only He is the Son of God. 
• He is the innocent Prophet because He never sinned, not even once.
• Nor did He ever shed blood, except His own on the Cross at the hands of others. 
• In His entire life, He never encouraged His followers to pursue violence in His name, to defend Him, or to save His reputation. 
• Not even in his early days. 

On the contrary, He said this, Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Jesus is the innocent Prophet because He told us to love our enemies.  He is the innocent Prophet because even when people tried to take defense of Him into their own hands and solve things in a violent or political way, He reacted thusly: 

Matthew 26:49 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. 50 Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for.” Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51 With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him,

for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”

55 At that time Jesus said to the crowd,  Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56 But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

Jesus is the innocent Prophet because He is God and knew every detail of the past and foresaw that true prophets of God will get persecuted and He would be sending prophets, wise men, and teachers whose role would involve persecution:  their own persecution, not persecution of others.

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

Violence—as a holy war—is the path of those who do not know God.

The strong Messiah needs no defenders. 

Matthew 23: 30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! 33 “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

The violence we see today piles up as accumulated signs of the end of the age.  Whether today or tomorrow or the next, the Gospel of Peace—the Gospel taught by Jesus Christ—will be preached until He returns.

This Messiah–Jesus Christ–is not dead.  He is alive!

Dead men cannot get out of their graves!  But Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, rose from the dead.  This is how He—and He alone—can return as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

 The strong Messiah, the innocent Prophet, Jesus Christ needs no defenders. 

He is God and one can’t get any more powerful than that.

Whatever happened to shame?  I was listening to oldies radio the other day and Love Child by Diana Ross and the Supremes was playing.  As I reflected again on the lyrics, I became aware that it was written in a different age: 

Don’t think that I don’t need you
Don’t think I don’t wanna please you
No child of mine’ll be bearing
The name of shame I’ve been wearing

Love child, love child, never quite as good
Afraid, ashamed, misunderstood

There was a time in America in which shame still existed, wasn’t there?  When there were things people were ashamed about?  People hid events and histories, behaviors, beliefs, and life circumstances from public view because they brought a name of shame upon the person or their family—a sense of guilt—as though the public understood a generally-agreed-upon-wrong to have occurred.

Shame.  It’s not usually viewed as a good thing. 

But I miss it, perhaps because shame served a purpose. 

It reflected a collective conscience that said we still cared about right and wrong.  Truth and lies existed and weren’t muddled into some collage of my-truth-your-truth in every shade of dark but never black and white.   Right and wrong, good and evil have been lost among the 50 shades of gray and are no longer prominent in the American spotlight, although some of us still cling to the idea.  I remember a day when good and evil still mattered.  Or was it a dream gone by?

Shame has disappeared down the same path as truth and conscience.  What used to be a source of shame is now the substance of celebrity, heading off to rehab with 15 minutes of fame, fodder for the nightly news, the ticket to getting on the front page of tabloids, or getting someone a book deal.  Baby bumps are everywhere, far more prevalent than wedding rings or golden anniversaries.

This is what Diana Ross sang about as part of raising the social consciousness regarding unmarried teenage mothers. One blogger writes about Love Child:

 In 1960, approximately 15 percent of teenage women who gave birth did so out of wedlock. In 1970 that number had doubled, to 30 percent. Teenagers began marrying less, too…A 1985 version of the NCHS study noted the following: “Teen parents . . . tend to have larger numbers of children, to face a higher probability of being a single parent, to experience poverty more frequently, and to be disproportionately represented on welfare.”

These are the facts that underscore the song’s urgency. The song isn’t about the rejection of childbirth–it’s about the avoidance of having kids out of wedlock. It’s about not wanting to raise your children single, to avoid poverty and welfare, about not getting locked into a cycle of having even more kids you can’t take care of as well as possible.

But then came Madonna’s Papa Don’t Preach and People Magazine (which is singularly kept in business by parading an endless stream of those who are pregnant out of wedlock, who are going to rehab this week for drug or alcohol abuse, who cheated on whom, who killed whom, and who are getting divorced and battling over custody of their child).

Wasn’t there a time not too long ago when these things above—though they were a sad reality—were not considered socially promising and therefore remained quiet, private matters?  Fearing they’d make for embarrassing gossip not a cause de célèbre, they were hung in the closet, never on a flagpole.

Wasn’t there a time when a person would have experienced–at the very least–the tapping of their conscience upon their heart if they contemplated telling a lie to a good friend or the public at large?  I want to believe there was a time when a speaker taking the public’s podium treated the microphone with a modicum of respect, understanding the heavy responsibility for telling the truth. To tell the truth that a public once expected from its leaders instead of half-truths, self-serving spun statistics, or bald-faced lies.   Now, we don’t know if they will even feel guilty for lying or if it’s just another day at the office.

Shame.  There was a perfect time in which shame did not exist:  before sin entered the world.  Genesis 2:25 tells us, “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.”  There was nothing to be ashamed of, for there was nothing but good in all of creation.  There was a time when we were not ashamed of good, to be called good, or to pursue social good.

Then sin came along.

But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” (Genesis 3:9-10)

Shame and hiding used to go hand in hand. 

But now, the list of generally-agreed-upon-wrongs has been stripped down. 

Don’t get me wrong: 

I don’t like the idea of people being ashamed or experiencing public humiliation. 

I like the idea of shame (as a possible outcome) deterring people beforehand from doing shameful things.  I like shame’s giving people incentive to be responsible today for doing good since it will benefit them tomorrow.  Fear of shame (and sucking up my pride, frankly) kept me from doing many things.  When I was in college and others around me were signing up for charity and public assistance, I said, “I can’t.”  You see, shame limited my seeking charity that I didn’t truly need, though there were times that a little charity would have helped.  But I feel better today knowing it likely helped others–ones who needed it far more than I did–by my sacrificing then.  Shame played a positive role.

Without shame we have lost the positive deterring effect, but we have also become nothing short of shameless in other areas.

It’s like a storehouse of truth that’s being looted and we’ve been watching the whole thing unfold on the footage from the security camera.  We see the truth disappearing right in front of our eyes, but it doesn’t seem to matter.

We’re just gawkers of reality TV…and reality isn’t what it used to be, unless the reality is happening to us personally.  Only then do truth and lies, right and wrong seem to matter.  When you’ve been bilked out of your fortune, had a spouse cheat on you, been served divorce papers, found a + on a pregnancy test and an inconclusive minus for whose paternity, purchased a product on empty promises, or had the theft, home invasion, or murder affect you personally.

It’s a crying shame that only when reality hits us squarely in the head, do we see how we’ve been led along the garden path, waving good-bye all the while to both conscience and truth.

As far as I can tell, for a huge swath of the American public, there is no scarlet letter for anything anymore.  And I wonder if that special time I remember…was it just a dream?

I’m coming off a long stretch of women confessing abortions to me.  They are confessing because they are scared…and looking for hope.

I know some of you may be thinking that I’m hitting on a bunch of political topics these days.  Yes, I am.  But in this article you will not find photos of unborn children or the usual pro-life message. My thoughts go soul deep.  You will not find guilt-tripping or politics-as-usual because it’s not just usual politics in the lives of women I meet.  It’s personal to them.  They’re frightened because it’s their story and they’re looking for answers to questions.   They’re looking for hope.

I’m writing about this today because good politics arise out of good theology.  If one’s worldview is to be consistent, that is.   Whether your worldview is one that includes God or not, it’s not a cafeteria where you choose some from each group, a knife and a fork, and head to the cashier.   

Presently, the Democratic National Convention is underway in the United States.  Numerous women are scheduled to speak, ostensibly on behalf of American women. 

* * *

They do not speak for me.

They do not speak for me because I hold a well-developed theology on the Image of God.  These women, because of their views, simply cannot speak life to any woman who thinks theologically as I do.

In the previous article, Asking All the Wrong Questions about Discrimination, I outlined the necessity of holding a high view of the Image of God and asserted that this is our way to solving the racial divide.  Likewise, a well-developed understanding of the Image of God ought to inform our views on abortion.

There is a wrong question out there:  Should there be limits on a woman’s right to choose?

There are many reasons this is a wrong question.

1. The first one is grammatical.  “To choose” –a verb—typically needs an object for the sentence or question to make sense.  One needs “to choose” something whether it is a choice to do or not to do, or a choice among alternatives.  The implied object in the question above is abortion.  If the object were different (substitute anything you choose and see for yourself), the whole question changes.  As does the answer.  The meaning and the value given to the object are what determine the rightness of the choice.
2.  Sometimes the word choice just reflects a manner of choice as in “Choose wisely.”  But even Indiana Jones knows the choice is among alternatives (e.g. to drink from the Holy Grail or select a different cup).  The alternatives have consequences, if the choice truly makes any difference.  What are the implied options in the question above?  Choose what?  You know the two answers.  There is no half-life or anything in between.
3. Then, there’s the issue of whether it’s any person’s right to choose.  At present, Roe v Wade has been a turning point, giving a woman a right to choose an abortion because it’s her body in which the baby is formed.  This is the legal premise on which a woman has a choice.  What our wrong question presumes is that we can discriminate in favor of one party.  No wonder it’s a coveted “right” for so many women.  I know some of you will find this offensive, but it’s the same selfishness behind slave owners having liked the choice–the right–to have Negro slaves, even though it would have not been the choice of the person enslaved nor those who sought emancipation for them.  If the object of the question were “to choose gradual eradication of black Americans,” a woman’s right to choose seems significantly less noble and far more horrific, does it not?  Consider this: “Abortion kills more black Americans than the seven leading causes of death combined, says Centers for Disease Control data,” according to published news reports.  BlackDignity.org writes:

In America today, almost as many African-American children are aborted as are born. A black baby is three times more likely to be aborted as a white baby.

“Since 1973, abortion has reduced the black population by over 25 percent. Twice as many African-Americans have died from abortion than have died from AIDS, accidents, violent crimes, cancer, and heart disease combined.”

“80 percent of abortion facilities are located in minority neighborhoods. About 13 percent of American women are black, but they receive over 35 percent of the abortions.”

4.  A fourth reason (and there are many others) that this is a wrong question is that a society without limits, by definition, exhibits anarchy.  There must certainly be limits and laws to keep our society from becoming a lawless place where one person’s right to choose results in the extermination of other people.

Let me say this differently: When a choice involves one class of people’s “right to choose” and results in selective and intentional elimination of another class of people because the powerful choosers have determined that the vulnerable have little or no utility, this is not a social good.

In China, the death toll among girl babies has been astronomical.  According to researchers, this year alone perhaps a million have been aborted and tens of thousands abandoned.  As the BBC captions this photo of a boy, “Boys are considered much more useful than girls” and quoting a Chinese mother, “Boys are best, because they can work.”

Boys have utility.  Girls don’t. 

In America we might do fewer gender-selective abortions, but perceived utility for the chooser is the driving factor nonetheless.

So the debate becomes focused on when life begins. 

If the embryo has fullness of life and a woman were to choose to abort it; if she doesn’t want it to live or be a burden to her, this is no mere choice.  It’s like what’s happening in China.  But if it’s not life, then it’s like removing a wart.  A choice between a woman and her doctor.  It explains why the Supreme Court doesn’t want to weigh in on when life begins because then another person’s choice might come into play.  These people are judges not biologists and sadly, everyone has their own political interests.

I want to tell you my personal journey.  Please consider joining me on the next page to read how it applies to the Right Question about Abortion: 

How well do we see the Image of God in the unborn?”

I can’t tell: am I angry or grieved?  Maybe both.  Both, I suppose, are suitable responses to Discrimination.  In my recent series of Asking All the Wrong Questions, I’ve stated that Good Theology Must Answer Hard Issues…and it does so with the redemption of the Gospel.  It does so with Truth and Love.

In the last few weeks I’ve seen television coverage of the shootings at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, the carnage at a movie theater in Colorado, Trayvon Martin’s death, Chicago gang shootings, and even an act of violence against the American Family Institute.

I’ve been comparing and contrasting what drives the American curiosity and concern.   It’s not good.  And I’m appalled.

On top of that, out of the blue I’ve encountered people who are unabashed segregationists and separatists who believe that desegregation has only contributed to problems.  Furthermore on TV, we have witnessed an increasing number of self-proclaimed supremacists—and that makes me angry.

What happened to the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? 

(Click here to listen to the full audio of this powerful speech, excerpted below)

“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Regarding that dream, there are those who say, “We’re already there.  We are completely desegregated.  Racial discrimination is a thing of the past.” 

I would disagree.  Rather, I’d say that over and over again, we’ve traded one form of discrimination for another and yet in America, we haven’t really dispensed with any.

It’s why—in a shameless act of indifference—the news media gave a giant yawn over the Sikhs and don’t even blink an eye at the ongoing violence in the City of Chicago, but can’t get enough of Trayvon Martin, the issue of amnesty for illegal immigrants, or throwing down “the race card” whenever it might possibly deflect responsibility from those who don’t want to accept legitimate criticism or when racial guilt or fears of being called the epithet racist might fill in the gap for insufficient qualifications.  No person of color I know wants lower or higher standards set for someone basis skin color alone.  This is at the heart of racial discrimination and it is not good.

Diversity, however, is good!  We see the beauty of human diversity throughout Scripture. 

Plenty of people purportedly want a “color-blind society.”  I want a “color-full society” in which each person’s beauty shines in a biblical kind of diversity.  Yes, with every skin tone, a “color-full” display of moral excellence and accomplishment in advancing truth, love, knowledge, and faith.

But for far too many Americans, this diversity has become diminished in quality, filtered through the lens of racism.  It’s a thin diversity.  And it only goes skin deep. 

If so many people want discrimination to end, why is it still an issue?

Because racism and discrimination sell–that’s my guess.  Perpetuating division sells newspapers, gains fundraisers, secures votes, increases viewership, and employs special interests.  Do we see it in the unwillingness of certain television networks to show political convention speeches—even little soundbytes from these quite eloquent speakers—because they are people of color who believe differently than the stereotype?

That’s discrimination, is it not?

What would Martin Luther King Jr. say about the ongoing trumpeting of our President’s being the “first black President?”  I can only imagine both he and our President would want his legacy to reflect better things than just being born of a darker skin color, as if melanin might constitute his highest and greatest achievement on behalf of the American people.  Celebrate a milestone, yes!  But as one who had a milestone event of my own, rather than rest on that rock forever, I pray for God to use me to change our culture in the best possible ways: stopping evil’s insidious creep, and seeking God’s favor to advance truth and love. A turning point, not a journey’s end.

Discrimination—whether in favor of one or against another—is wrong.  It matters little whether it’s racial or gender discrimination.  If it grieves the heart of God who created this glorious diversity, shouldn’t I be angry or grieved, or both? 

If civil rights marches and media coverage can’t change this problem, how can it be changed?  Good Theology Answers Hard Issues when we see each other through the Gospel’s truth and love.

It clearly has not.  Skin color, race, or ethnicity trumps character in so many ways.  Polls, crime statistics, educational standards, affirmative action, the Census, and an administration that “looks like America”:  these determinations are almost always basis characteristics that are skin deep.

That’s why the Right Question—for changing a culture—is, “How well do we see the Image of God in our fellow man?”

Or as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreams, have we ceased judging others—favorably or negatively—by skin color and are we free at last to judge by “the content of their character?”

A deep understanding of the Image of God ought to inform our judgments.  Seeing the Image of God in our fellow man ought to make issues of race disappear.  Let’s go beyond skin deep on the next page.