‘Clean up your own back yard’

 When I was a child my parents had the album “O.C. Smith at Home,” which was released in 1969. One of the songs on that album was “Clean Up Your Own Back Yard,” two of its three verses referencing a so-called religious prophet “telling everybody how things oughta be” but still in bed on Sunday morning hung over from a night of drinking and a businessman who prided himself on integrity having an affair.

It was the first time I ever heard that phrase, and I was the kind of kid who in those days took things quite literally. And yet I knew the point of the song.

Last week the Southern Baptist Convention released a report that noted that it had kept a secret list of leaders who had engaged in sexual misconduct. I won’t get into the details, but one of the concerns that top leadership had was that, had that list become known, the reputation of the association would have been damaged, compromising its evangelism efforts.

The sad part is that such leadership missed the point of evangelism in the first place — not merely to get people “saved” but to encourage them to live holy lives different from the world. And part of that is recognizing one’s own shortcomings, sins and struggles thanks to the “unholy trinity” of the world, the flesh and the devil.

Put another way, it didn’t appreciate the comprehensive nature of sin. Many of these churches were leading the “culture war” against abortion and gay rights, which generally take place outside the church, but likely never about the things that went on within it.

Of course, this is hardly news. Most of us got a glimpse of it in 1987-88 thanks to the TV evangelist scandals and it’s since been repeated in the Roman Catholic Church and with some “old order” Amish groups, so when it happened again in the SBC, it took virtually no one by surprise.

What’s the root of all this? I would say pride — a desire to appear respectable but on the inside, as Jesus said in Matthew 23:27, “full of the bones of the dead.” Let’s remember that God sees all and knows all — and, when things got out of hand, will tell all.

One thing that I appreciate about the Scripture is its honesty. A few years ago it dawned on me that virtually every major biblical character (except Jesus, of course) is recorded as falling into gross sin. That goes for Abraham, Noah, Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Peter, Paul and a few others. And that should give us pause as to what we think we can accomplish — that is to say, if all these characters fell short in some major way, what makes us think that we’re more “spiritual” or “enlightened?”

I think some humility might be in order. Instead of shaking our finger at “sinners,” I say we should look at ourselves soberly and admit, “There but for the grace of God go I.” And not only that, but the Scripture tells us to confess our sins to each other because in doing so “we will be healed.”

In no way am I trying to minimize the emotional damage perpetrated on victims of sexual abuse in churches; if anything, I don’t think it can be emphasized enough. Nor am I trying to ignore the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. That being said, however, God is a God of justice Who in the end always gets His. That should fill us with holy dread but for some reason doesn’t always.

We can laicize or expel offending clergy all we want and certainly should do so. But doing so won’t address the real issue — that, even after conversion, we still have this bent away from God; as the hymn goes, “Prone to wander — LORD, I feel it / Prone to leave the God I love.” And that means that we have work to do in our own hearts, because if we can’t get that right our “evangelism” will have no effect.

And if Trump dies ... what then?

Over the past year, since Donald Trump was dethroned as president but has since expressed interest in returning to the White House, one of the questions on the lips of a lot of people, whether supporters or detractors, is “What are his chances of doing so, and what would happen if he succeeds or fails?” Should a run fail, some have suggested that a failed run would result in an incident that would make the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection look like — pardon the pun — a tea party.

But I think we need to consider another possibility: Suppose Trump doesn’t live that long. That isn’t beyond such a realm, since he isn’t a young man, in great physical shape and even, as we saw two years ago, wasn’t even immune to COVID-19, with reports that he was sicker than he let on. (For a while he defiantly refused to wear a mask, insisting that doing so made him look weak.)

And even if these weren’t the case, he’s a mortal like everyone else and his time on this earth is limited. What bothers me about Christians’ worship of Trump is that they almost assume that he is indeed immortal and thus not subject to the normal parameters of life. As I’ve written before, he’s seen quite ominously as a messianic figure who will remove power from the people they hate — that is, “liberals” — and restore things to the way they, shall we say, “used to be.” (Recall that was the misunderstanding of the original prophecy of the Messiah.)

That was the case with the two travelers on the road to Emmaus, recorded in Luke 24, who didn’t recognize Jesus, who by this time was resurrected, as He walked among them, but He opened the Scriptures to them — and then vanished. The travelers understood that they had completely missed the point — that he had come to redeem mankind, not just Israel.

We would be foolish to expect something similar from Trump despite the prayers and singing of Christian songs before the riot of last Jan. 6. After all, we can be sure of this: When he dies, he will not be coming back.

 

Overturning Roe v. Wade — be careful what you wish for

American anti-abortionists are likely giddy over the Supreme Court’s tacit approval of Texas’ recently-passed draconian abortion law, one that banned it when a heartbeat could be detected and that contains the power of citizens’ arrest for anyone who assisted in procuring an abortion. They may be especially excited because of their commemoration later this month of Roe v. Wade, which removed most restrictions on abortion in 1973.

If they’re Christians and thus believe that abortion will simply end because they laid down the law so to speak, they will get a rude awakening.

This is for several reasons.

One, the linchpin of the entire modern conservative movement, especially the “religious right,” will have been eliminated. Republican candidates in states that have outlawed abortion will no longer be able to run against abortion, especially in “swing” states, and as a result, I suspect, a barrage of urban-based liberal political action in a way we’ve never seen before will result.

Because the “sanctity of human life,” despite what they might say, has never been the issue. It’s always been a pretext for bullying.

What most people don’t realize is that the “religious right” didn’t even start because of abortion — it added it only as moral cover for, in essence, segregation. In 1978 the Carter Administration removed tax exemptions for private Christian schools in the South founded to circumvent court-ordered public school desegregation — angering the likes of Jerry Falwell Sr., who founded Moral Majority with the help of secular conservatives. That should give you pause right there, because secular conservatives have never given a rip about God, faith or religion — except, as both Billy Graham and Barry Goldwater suggested, to manipulate religious people for the sake of power.

Another issue is that such secular conservatives subscribe to an anti-biblical worldview in that the second of Jesus’ two Great Commandments — “love your neighbor as yourself” — is at best abridged and at worst totally ignored or trashed. Sometimes doing what’s right means political action, the last thing secular conservatives want because it threatens their power. Oh, sure, they make allowances for a purely anti-abortion stance but only to sell a pro-industry and anti-poor agenda. That’s why they won’t support truly diaconal support for those women who really need help — they just don’t want the money to be spent.

Moreover, evangelicalism has placed an overemphasis on the “spiritual” aspect of abortion, which is never directly mentioned in the Bible. That is to say, many people and organizations have insisted, with no evidence, that once outlawed revival would result. (I do oppose it but did so before becoming a Christian as part of an overall “social justice” ideology.) On top of that, fighting abortion has built many an organization — and thus, what will happen when the money dries up, as it will?

This might be a case where Christians may be isolating themselves — not just from the greater society but even from the very movement that gave them power in the first place. Put another way, we may be winning this battle but ultimately losing the war for hearts and minds — and have nothing to show for it.

‘Let’s [not] go, Brandon!’

The raging bitterness and over last year’s presidential election is continuing to overflow and shows no signs of stopping. And now an apolitical NASCAR driver has become part of that campaign of anger.

You may have heard the chant “Let’s Go, Brandon” in certain inappropriate situations as code for “F___ Joe Biden” — even, at times, in churches.

For what it’s worth, Brandon Brown is a NASCAR driver who won his first race a few months ago, and while a sportscaster was interviewing him a group of fans was chanting that vulgar anti-Biden diatribe behind them. Perhaps in a diplomatic way, she said they were saying, “Let’s go, Brandon!”

Wrong. 

Clearly, we have a situation where folks can’t accept defeat graciously and work with opponents to make this country a better place. And since the epithet is “clean,” that will make it acceptable for Biden-hating Christians to express their unwillingness to bow to the inevitable.

But you best believe that God sees the heart, and if the heart is wrong so will the resultant actions be.

And for that matter, Brown, while he did vote for Donald Trump, said in a recent op-ed that he had no intention of being a focal point of the anti-Biden campaign. He said that he was interested only in winning his next race.

So “let’s not go, Brandon.”