Two new cases of human plague have been confirmed in New Mexico’s Santa Fe County. Plague can be transmitted by fleas from wild rodents that have died. The fleas can be carried by pets back into the home, where they put people at risk. Plague can be treated with antibiotics, though it can be life-threatening if treatment is not given in time.

Now consider what I call “the parable of two trees.”

I was hiking in the woods over the weekend and came upon a tree felled by a beaver. The trunk was sawed in half and the tree’s branches lay on the ground.

Returning to Dallas, I was walking in our neighborhood when I came upon a tree whose leaves are turning brown. I’m no arborist, but even I know that leaves in Texas are not supposed to lose their color in June. A bit of research revealed that “leaf scorch” is a likely explanation. This condition is caused by nutrient deficiency, damaged roots, poor drainage, or insect damage.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Two cases of plague confirmed in New Mexico →

Jewish people celebrating LGBT pride in Chicago were told they could not display the Israeli flag because other people found it “offensive.” Ironically, the march from which they were banned is described by organizers as being “more inclusive” than Chicago’s main Pride parade.

Several people who carried the Star of David flag were removed from the march. One of them said that she lost count of the number of people who harassed her. The organizers explained that they are “anti-Zionist” and that their organization “supports the liberation of Palestine and all oppressed people everywhere.”

Jews were not the only people rejected by this march for “tolerance”—American flags were also not welcome, as they were likewise considered signs of oppression. Flags from other nations were present at the event, however.

The illogic of the organizers’ position is remarkable.

First, they assume that the Chicago marchers supporting LGBT rights in Israel are opposed to the liberation of Palestine. Having traveled to Israel more than twenty times, I can testify that many—if not most—Israelis want a separate state for Palestinians.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Israeli flags expelled from gay pride parade →

Jordan Spieth won yesterday’s Travelers Championship in miraculous fashion. In a playoff, his sixty-foot shot from a bunker rolled into the hole and won the match. Watching his victory on television was one of my sports highlights of the year.

Spieth is now the youngest player after Tiger Woods to win ten tournaments in his career. But his astounding win is not his most important victory of the year.

Golf Digest has ranked “the top 30 nice guys of the PGA tour.” Players were graded on several criteria, including treatment of fans, being a good role model, treating the “little people” well, and being “nice when no one is looking.” Who came in first place?

Jordan Spieth.

Three years ago, he established a charitable trust that supports youth with special needs, junior golf, military families, and the fight against pediatric cancer. Spieth says, “When I look back on my life, what we accomplish [with the foundation] will be more important than anything I do in golf.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Jordan Spieth won the tournament that matters most →

Senate Republicans have unveiled their version of a health care bill that would replace ObamaCare. Unsurprisingly, the partisan divide in Washington continues: Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has condemned the bill, calling it “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” while Republican leader Paul Ryan says he is “eager” for it to pass.

Meanwhile, something caught my eye that didn’t happen but made the news anyway.

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that a 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit the Pacific Ocean about ten miles from Santa Barbara. A quake of that magnitude could cause buildings to crumble. But none fell to the ground. In fact, no one felt a tremor.

That’s because there was no earthquake.

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology were studying a quake that occurred on June 29, 1925. Someone accidently triggered an email that automatically generated a story on the Los Angeles Times website through an algorithm called Quakebot. The Times quickly tweeted a correction.

Continue reading Denison Forum – The earthquake that didn’t happen →

Face-detecting systems in China now authorize payments, provide access to facilities, and track down criminals. According to the current MIT Technology Review, this technology may soon spread to other countries around the world.

Speaking of new technology, the Drone Racing League World Championships are on television this week. Last year, more than thirty million people from forty countries watched. Venture capitalists have invested $20 million in the sport this month.

Meanwhile, Amazon is on track to become America’s largest clothing retailer. It is planning a program called “Prime Wardrobe” that lets you try on clothes before you buy them. The company is already expanding its grocery delivery business and recently agreed to acquire Whole Foods.

If you remember when you needed money to buy things, drones didn’t exist, and Amazon was just an online bookstore, you’re as old as I am. But the world is changing faster than ever, and we can wax nostalgic or we can embrace the opportunities of this new day.

Scripture repeatedly calls us to “sing to the Lord a new song” (Psalm 96:1; 98:1; Isaiah 42:10). God can help: David testified that “he put a new song in my mouth” (Psalm 40:3). In heaven, the four living creatures and twenty-four elders “sang a new song” (Revelation 5:9).

Innovation has always been part of God’s plan for his people. In The Saint vs. the Scholar, Jon M. Sweeney makes this point in a perceptive way.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Will you soon make payments with your face? →

Gary Rehm was three months shy of retirement when he died on the USS Fitzgerald last Saturday. At thirty-seven, he was by far the oldest of the seven sailors who perished. According to his uncle, Rehm called the other sailors on the ship his “kids.” When the ship docked stateside near his Virginia home, he invited those who were far from home to join him on holidays.

When the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship, Rehm said, “If my kids die, I’m going to die.” By various accounts, he saved at least twenty of them. He then went down to save more and perished with six others.

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). The sailors saved by Gary Rehm will spend the rest of their lives knowing that someone loved them enough to give his life for them. Imagine the sense of personal worth and significance such knowledge would bring.

Actually, you can know the feeling personally: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Now we have a choice: we can assess ourselves by what we do or by what God has done.

We live in a culture that measures us by our performance. Commenting on the special election in Georgia, today’s Washington Post says of Republican Karen Handel, “She won, so she’s a winner.” You probably remember that the Cubs won last year’s World Series. Do you remember the team that lost?
Continue reading Denison Forum – Navy sailor gave his life to save his ‘kids’ →

That’s how CNN describes today’s special election in Georgia, which has become “the most expensive House race in history.” Today’s Washington Post has a headline story on the death of American college student Otto Warmbier, who was released in a coma from North Korea a few days ago. And NBC News warns that “dangerously hot temperatures” are forecast for California and the desert Southwest today.

However, if you were reading the news on the other side of the world, the headlines would be very different. The Jerusalem Post reports on yesterday’s meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Jordan’s King Abdullah in Paris. China Daily tells us about an anti-smog campaign in Beijing and other northern cities. And The Korea Times reports on a water shortage crisis in southern Korea.

The Greek philosopher Anaximander is credited with drawing the first map of the world. He lived in Miletus, on the western coast of modern-day Turkey. Unsurprisingly, Miletus was at the center of his map.

Wherever you are, you seem to be in the center of the world. What leads the news depends on where you’re reading the news. But God has a different perspective.

Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘Democrats seek first big win of Trump era’ →

The Bat-signal was projected onto City Hall last night in Los Angeles, but Batman did not respond. Adam West, who played the superhero in the 1960s television series, died last week at the age of eighty-eight. However, he was only one of eight men to play the role over the years, five of whom are still alive.

Lewis G. Wilson was the first and least successful Batman, playing the role in 1943. Critics complained that his voice was too high and that he had a Boston accent. Robert Lowery played the role in 1949, then Adam West took over on the TV series that ran from 1966 to 1968. Next came Michael Keaton in 1989, followed by Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and now Ben Affleck.

(A bit of movie trivia: two years after the Batman series went off the air, West was offered the role of James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever. He turned it down, believing that Bond should always be played by a Brit.)

The popularity of movie superheroes is at an all-time high—Marvel is releasing at least two films a year, and DC is making more than ever before. One columnist explained, “In times of trouble, people tend to wish for someone who is bigger than them to help them. . . . When things get scary, we all want someone to save us, to tell us things will be okay.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Sending the Bat-signal in ‘times of trouble’ →

Congressman Steve Scalise remains in critical condition this morning. At least six people including Scalise were hospitalized after yesterday’s shooting at a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia. The alleged gunman, James Hodgkinson, was killed.

Sen. Rand Paul was in a batting cage when the shooting started. He heard fifty or sixty shots. Then members of Scalise’s security detail began returning fire. Rand later told reporters, “I do believe that without the Capitol Hill police, it would have been a massacre.”

The attack by a Bernie Sanders supporter on Republican congressmen was condemned by Sanders as “despicable,” who added that his “hopes and prayers” were with the victims. Today we are not Democrats or Republicans but Americans. This was an attack on our democracy.

Meanwhile, officials report this morning that at least seventeen people died in the fire that engulfed an apartment tower in London yesterday morning. The London Fire Brigade commissioner said, “In my twenty-nine years of being a firefighter, I have never, ever seen anything of this scale.” The death total is expected to rise as more bodies are found.

In a day when we are more insulated from mortality than any generation in history, such tragedies bring the reality of death into focus.
Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘It would have been a massacre’ →

Burger King has nearly doubled its profits in recent years. Its sales have grown by $4.2 billion; it opened 735 new restaurants worldwide last year. Who is responsible for such remarkable success? One of the youngest restaurant CEOs in history.

Daniel Schwartz was thirty-two years old when he took over the fast-food chain four years ago. He worked the broiler, assembled sandwiches, took customer orders, and even scrubbed toilets and washed the floors. Along the way, he discovered that Burger King’s menu needed to be simplified greatly and that corporate expenses were far too high.

Though his home is in Miami, he spends most of his time traveling. “I literally live on American Airlines’ 737 commercial airplane,” he told a reporter. The reason: “I believe in MWA—management by walking around—so I spend as much time as possible traveling and visiting franchise partners. You only learn by walking around and meeting people.”

Shifting topics, Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday. He called the accusation that he participated in or was aware of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign a “detestable and appalling lie.”

Meanwhile, former NBA player Dennis Rodman is back in the news after returning to North Korea. The State Department has declared that he is not acting in any official capacity. Rodman tweeted, “I will discuss my mission upon my return to the USA.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – What Burger King can teach us about truth →

Cleveland artist Sandy Buffie is the creator of “LintBron,” an eight-pound bust of basketball superstar LeBron James. Why the name? She used thirty gallons of lint, three gallons of glue, and various recycled materials to create the sculpture. It sits outside her design studio.

She encouraged Cavaliers fans to come by and rub LintBron’s head for good luck before Game 4 of this year’s NBA Finals, which the Cavaliers won. She made a similar sculpture last year, which she credits with helping LeBron’s team win the NBA title. LintBron was not enough last night, however, as the Golden State Warriors defeated Cleveland to become NBA champions.

Buffie’s effort was notable for its sacrifice. It took her five weeks to make LintBron. Of course, it took the subject of her sculpture nearly his entire life to become the player that he is.

James was raised by a single mother who realized her son needed a more stable family environment and allowed him to move in with a local youth football coach. The coach introduced LeBron to basketball when he was nine years old. He has been passionately committed to the game ever since, winning state titles in high school and moving directly into the NBA as the first overall pick of the 2003 draft.

ESPN recently ranked him the third-greatest player of all time, behind Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. James led all players with forty-one points last night, but the Warriors were clearly the better team.

Continue reading Denison Forum – LintBron not enough to defeat the Warriors →

President Trump has nominated Russell Vought as deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Last year, Vought wrote a blog post in which he stated, “Muslims do not simply have a deficient theology. They do not know God because they have rejected Jesus Christ his Son, and they stand condemned.”

Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is opposing Vought’s nomination, calling his blog post “indefensible.” In Sanders’s view, “It is hateful. It is Islamophobic. And it is an insult to over a billion Muslims throughout the world.” He then stated, “This nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about.”

Southern Baptist ethicist Russell Moore rightly notes that Sanders completely ignores Article VI of the US Constitution, which states, “No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Sanders has no right to oppose Vought’s nomination on the basis of the candidate’s personal religious beliefs. The senator’s position is clearly unconstitutional.

Here’s another reason Sanders’s opposition is so significant: by his standard, Jesus could not serve in American public office. Our Lord said of himself, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). Muslims, while they consider Jesus to be a great prophet, emphatically deny that he is the Son of God: “Jesus was no more than a mortal whom Allah favored and made an example to the Israelites” (Qur’an 43:59).

So Jesus would agree with Russell Vought that Muslims “stand condemned.” Would Bernie Sanders vote against Jesus for public office?
Continue reading Denison Forum – Would Bernie Sanders vote for Jesus? →

Former FBI Director James Comey testified for nearly three hours yesterday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. My wife and I listened to the entire session. Meanwhile, British citizens were casting votes in an election to determine their leader as they begin the process of exiting the European Union (the so-called “Brexit”).

In light of these historic events, consider two biblical principles.

One: The future is impossible to predict.

On this day a year ago, Hillary Clinton led Donald Trump by six points in nationwide polling. At the same point, Brexit polls showed that those who wanted to stay in the EU led those who wanted to leave by two points; just prior to the June 23 vote, “stay” led by six points.

Of course, the surprising American election put Mr. Trump in office. And the shocking UK election led to Brexit, Prime Minister David Cameron’s resignation, and Theresa May’s ascension.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Two responses to James Comey and the UK election →

Author Margaret Atwood recently likened abortion legislation in Texas to “a form of slavery.” She is “waiting for a lawsuit that says if you force me to have children I cannot afford, you should pay for the process.” In her view, “It is really a form of slavery to force women to have children that they cannot afford and then to say that they have to raise them.”

The illogic of her statement astounds me. First, Atwood ignores adoption, an option that spares the life of the child with no financial burden to the mother. Second, she is apparently unaware of the financial resources available for impoverished families from public and private funds. Third, her argument would apply to children as well as to unborn babies.

If a mother becomes impoverished, is it slavery to prevent her from killing her child? If not, why is it slavery to prevent her from killing her unborn child? When her baby is born, it merely changes its location from inside her womb to outside her body, but our laws illogically grant protections to the latter that they deny the former.

Of course, these facts would not change Margaret Atwood’s mind. In her view, an unborn child is not yet a person and thus deserves no protection from the government. This is how abortion advocates view the nearly sixty million lives ended by abortion since 1973. Many cite rape and incest as justification for their position. However, as of this morning, there have been 404,332 abortions in the US this year; only 3,922 were due to incest or rape.

Some see life through the prism of opinion, elevating the “mother’s right to choose” above the unborn child’s right to live. Others see life through the prism of Scripture, viewing life as sacred from conception to natural death. According to the Bible, God formed us in the womb (Isaiah 44:24; Psalm 139:13; Jeremiah 1:5) so that we are all the work of his hand (Isaiah 64:8). He planned our lives before we were born (Galatians 1:15) and views each of us as worth the death of his Son (Romans 5:8).

Continue reading Denison Forum – Is pro-life legislation ‘a form of slavery’? →

I still remember my first crime. I was six or seven years old and was standing with my mother in the grocery store checkout line. As she paid for our food, I snatched a pack of chewing gum from a nearby rack and buried it in my pocket.

I have not shoplifted since. Apparently, I’m the exception to the rule.

The National Association for Shoplifting Prevention (its existence tells us this is a serious problem) reports that one in eleven Americans are shoplifters. Many become addicted to the “rush” of getting away with their crime; 57 percent of adult shoplifters say it is hard for them to stop even when they’re apprehended.

Enter facial-recognition software, which uses biometrics of known shoplifters from store databases and police logs. Every visitor’s face is tracked automatically and compared at thirty frames per second. A match is sent to employees’ smartphones. One company says its software has reduced shoplifting by 91 percent.

This is just one way technological innovation is improving our lives.

Apple will soon introduce an iPhone feature that will prevent texting while driving. It will detect that your car is moving or your phone is connected to the vehicle via Bluetooth or cable. Your phone will then withhold notifications for text messages and news updates. This is good news—the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 3,477 people were killed by distracted driving in 2015. That’s nine people every day.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Facial-recognition software is coming to stores →

New research indicates that church attendance reduces stress. Before I explain why, let’s survey some reasons we need the help.

According to an expert on radicalization, the latest terrorist attacks in Great Britain are “just the tip of the iceberg, and it’s an enormous iceberg.” British authorities are currently investigating 500 active terrorism plotters, 3,000 other persons of interest, and 20,000 others with links to militancy. UK security officials say the number of radicalized individuals has become unmanageable.

Shootings such as yesterday’s tragedy in Orlando seem to make the news daily. In addition to violence, consider the escalating moral challenges of our day. A Catholic farmer was recently barred from a municipal farmers market in Michigan because he stated on Facebook “his Catholic belief that marriage is a sacramental union between one man and one woman” and chose not to host a lesbian couple’s wedding at his orchard.

A transgender man is in the news because he stopped taking testosterone and is now pregnant. The Church of England will vote next month on whether to create an official “baptism-style” service to celebrate sex changes. A woman in San Diego says she is “objectum-sexual,” a person who is in love with an object. In her case, she says she married a train station in California.

Do you feel your stress level increase when you read the news? So do I. This is not good—stress has been linked to cancer, lung disease, fatal accidents, suicide, and cirrhosis of the liver. It can damage the heart, weaken the immune system, and cause weight gain.

Fortunately, there’s an amazing remedy for stress: going to church.

We already knew that church attendance improves the longevity of women. A Harvard professor’s study found that women who attend religious services more than once a week have a 33 percent lower risk of death than women who never attend worship.

Now a new report by a Vanderbilt University professor indicates that those who attend church services may reduce their mortality risk by 55 percent. The study collected data on more than 5,000 people, finding that those who did not attend church at all were twice as likely to die prematurely as those who had attended a worship service in the past year.

Why is churchgoing so healthy? The Vanderbilt professor explains that social support, a sense of compassion, and personal holiness result from church attendance. Each is known to contribute to reducing stress. And the lower our stress, the longer and healthier our lives.

The remedy for stress is not found in our fallen culture but in our risen Lord. Fifty days after Easter, his followers were surrounded by a hostile Empire and decadent society. As they met God in worship, they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. They witnessed so boldly and preached so courageously that three thousand came to Christ (Acts 2). Before long, they “turned the world upside down” for Jesus (Acts 17:6).

Now God is ready to do through us what he did through them. Two days ago, Christians around the world marked Pentecost Sunday. Will today be Pentecost Tuesday?

NOTE: For more on today’s topic, see Ryan Denison’s Going to church leads to longer life.

Denison Forum

Last night, ISIS claimed responsibility for the London attack that killed seven and wounded forty-eight. One of the terrorists wore a fake bomb vest. According to ABC News, the vest was likely intended to guarantee a police response that would lead to his martyrdom.

He was the father of a toddler; his wife was expecting a child. What would motivate him to carry out such an atrocity at the cost of his own life?

The day of the attack, an ISIS message called on its followers to use knives, guns, and vehicles in an “all-out war” on “infidels” during Ramadan. The audio message instructed jihadists to “attack them in their homes, their markets, their roads and their forums.”

When Ramadan began this year, jihadists attacked a bus filled with Christians in Egypt, murdering twenty-nine. Ten of the victims were children. The day after Ramadan began, a suicide bomber murdered eighteen people in Afghanistan, two of them children.

Last year’s Ramadan was the bloodiest on record. A gunman killed forty-nine and wounded fifty-three at an Orlando gay night club. An Islamist then stabbed a police officer and his wife in Paris. He claimed that he was responding to ISIS’s call for violence during Ramadan. Later that month, three ISIS suicide bombers killed forty-five and wounded more than 250 at Istanbul’s main airport. When Ramadan ended last year, the final global body count was 421 dead and 729 wounded.

Why would terrorists make Ramadan a time to escalate their violence?

Continue reading Denison Forum – Why so much violence during Ramadan? →

“Racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America, and hate in America—especially for African-Americans—is living every day.” This is how LeBron James responded after someone spray-painted a racist slur on the front gate of his Los Angeles home.

This atrocity is not why James should be in the news today. Although his Cleveland Cavaliers lost last night to the Golden State Warriors in the first game of the NBA Finals, James led his team with twenty-eight points.

Earlier in this year’s playoffs, he passed Michael Jordan as basketball’s all-time postseason scoring leader. The list of his records and achievements in the game is staggering. LeBron James is not only one of the greatest athletes in history—he is also one of the greatest sports ambassadors in the world.

If he can be victimized for his skin color, anyone can. James is right: “No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough, and we’ve got a long way to go for us as a society and us as African-Americans until we feel equal in America.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – LeBron James and the answer to racism →

Oscar Wilde claimed that “there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” I’m not sure Kathy Griffin would agree.

The comedienne has made headlines with a photo in which she proudly held up a model of the decapitated head of Donald Trump. Widespread criticism ensued. She responded by tweeting, “OBVIOUSLY, I do not condone ANY violence by my fans or others to anyone, ever! I’m merely mocking the mocker in chief.”

Outrage continued to escalate. President Trump tweeted, “Kathy Griffin should be ashamed of herself. My children, especially my 11 year old son, Barron, are having a hard time with this. Sick!” Chelsea Clinton called the picture “vile and wrong.” CNN‘s Anderson Cooper, who hosted the network’s New Year’s Eve broadcast with her, called the photo “clearly disgusting and completely inappropriate.” CNN fired her as co-host of the program.

Griffin eventually posted another tweet saying, “I am sorry. I went too far. I was wrong.” She added that she would ask the photographer to take down the image, although it has already spread across the Internet.

Continue reading Denison Forum – CNN fires Kathy Griffin over Trump photo →