Asteroid 2015 TB145 passed our planet three years ago. It missed us by just 300,000 miles and was visible to those with good telescopes. Eerily, it visited us on Halloween and looked very much like a skull.

This time around, however, the asteroid will not be in a Halloween mood. It will be twenty-five million miles away and will appear as a “dot of light,” according to NASA. Its shape may have changed due to collisions with other celestial objects. And it won’t be at its closest to us until November 11, well after Halloween.

A neighborhood our Founders envisioned

While the asteroid won’t be celebrating Halloween, my neighbors will. One already has “ghosts” hanging from their trees and a giant inflatable dragon breathing fire at those who pass by. If history holds, there will soon be dozens of houses in our area displaying a variety of goblins, ghosts, and ghouls.

It’s apparently not too early for Thanksgiving, either. A home in our neighborhood is displaying the word Thankful for passersby to see. Personally, I prefer their decoration to the lawn dragon.

As the November elections draw closer, we’re seeing more and more homes with yard signs supporting one or the other of our senatorial candidates. Campaign signs for state offices are proliferating as well.

While our Founders may not have imagined lawn dragons, this kind of opinionated diversity is just what they intended.

A parable made of bricks

In a monarchy such as the English system our Founders rejected, the king retains authority because his subjects fear his power and hope he will serve their interests. Governments in China, North Korea, Cuba, and Russia stay in power through the same means.

It is different in a republic like America, a system built on consensual self-interest. We elect those leaders we believe will best meet our needs. We support our country and trust that our country will serve us.

How is that working for us these days?

I was walking in our neighborhood yesterday and came upon a brick mailbox that appeared to be intact from the front but was falling apart in the back. Bricks were lying on the lawn, victims of decaying mortar.

I wondered if the mailbox is a parable for our day.

The mortar that holds us together

The mortar that holds our democracy together is trust in democracy. Are we seeing an erosion in such trust?

Curated news feeds expose us only to the reports and opinions we choose. I know people who only listen to Fox News or CNN and would never consider changing.

In addition, our 24/7 news cycle is starved for content and has given more people a platform than ever before. The more strident their voices, the more profitable their shows.

And support for the institutions that bind our nation together has been declining for decades. The Vietnam War and Watergate undermined trust in our government. Corporate corruption such as the Enron scandal has damaged trust in business. Moral failures by clergy members have eroded confidence in denominational and religious leaders.

It’s not surprising that trust in our government, once at nearly 80 percent, is now below 20 percent, a historic low. Fifty percent of Americans were members of a Protestant church in 2003; the number has fallen to 36 percent today while the number with no religion has nearly doubled from 12 percent to 21 percent.

Our unique contribution to culture

I don’t know if Americans can or will regain the trust in institutions that has historically held us together. But I do know that Christians must not be identified primarily with these institutions.

Perhaps we’re seeing a decline in religious affiliation today because we’re offering the wrong value proposition. Too many people think we’re inviting them to join and support just another institution, political party, or social cause.

Our only unique contribution to culture is our invitation to a personal relationship with our Lord. Nothing else we do matters as much. Everything else we do, others can imitate.

For people to believe that they need a personal relationship with Jesus, however, they must first see that such a relationship has been transforming for us. They will know we are Christians by the “fruit of the Spirit” we display (Galatians 5:22-23). They will be attracted to Jesus when they see Jesus making a difference in us.

I became a Christian because I wanted what I saw in Christians. Forty-five years later, I remain grateful for believers who lived so authentically and joyfully that their faith was contagious.

Julian of Norwich: “The greatest honor we can give Almighty God is to live gladly because of the knowledge of his love.”

Will your life and influence honor God today?

Denison Forum

The FBI is conducting another background check on Judge Brett Kavanaugh this week. Agents can interview his friends from high school, study his calendars from the summer of 1982, and check his records from college as well.

I have heard people say, “I’m glad it’s not me. I wouldn’t want my life from thirty-six years ago to make the national news.”

I understand the sentiment. Some of the political cartoons I have seen in recent days are horrifically deplorable. Tweets and other public comments about Judge Kavanaugh and Dr. Ford have been demeaning in the extreme.

The paradox in our system

Here’s the paradox in our system.

On one hand, it allows us to hold our leaders to a higher standard than we ask of ourselves. As Judge Kavanaugh undergoes his seventh FBI investigation, details from his private life will be on public display.

On the other, in a representative democracy, leaders reflect those who elect them. The bitter rancor of the Senate hearings mirrors the divisiveness of our day.

Joseph de Maistre claimed, “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” I don’t think that’s true of repressive regimes such as I have witnessed in Cuba. But it’s true of a democracy, where we elect people to represent us.

So, if we want character in our leaders, we must first seek it in ourselves. We cannot expect leaders to take us further than we are willing to go.

There was a day when Christians were the conscience of their pagan society. When Romans discarded unwanted babies, Christians rescued them and raised them as their own. In a day when they had no political capital to outlaw slavery or prostitution, followers of Jesus purchased slaves and prostitutes, then set them free. When plague swept Rome and the emperor and wealthy classes abandoned the city, Christians stayed behind to serve the sick and bury the dead.

The first Christians risked their lives to honor their Lord with the boldness of their witness and the compassion of their service. And by Acts 17:6, they had “turned the world upside down.”

My silent retreat Continue reading Denison Forum – As FBI probe continues, hope amid the conflict →

In breaking news, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote this morning on whether to recommend Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the full Senate.

I watched yesterday’s Committee hearings. The senators were sharply contentious; the two witnesses were deeply emotional.

As conflicted as the day was, however, this thought prevailed in my mind: the process worked.

An American citizen was able to bring her concerns about a federal judge and now Supreme Court nominee before United States senators charged with investigating his candidacy. He was able to respond publicly to her allegations.

The number of countries across world history where such a scene would be possible is indeed small.

“Democracy is the worst form of Government”

Seven decades ago, Winston Churchill stated: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

1. S. Lewis testified that he believed in democracybecause “I believe in the Fall of Man.” He disagreed with “people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that every one deserved a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they’re not true.”

What is his evidence? “I find that they’re not true without looking further than myself. I don’t deserve a share in governing a hen-roost. Much less a nation.” Lewis concluded: “Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows.”

The best government is one that holds leaders accountable. Not dynastic rule as in North Korea, or one-party rule as in China, or one-man government as in Russia.

But we also need a system in which leaders hold us accountable. William Wilberforce used the governmental system of his day to abolish slavery. American leaders used our legislative process to enact civil rights. I am glad that sex trafficking and illegal drugs are illegal. I am grateful for police officers who enforce the law for the benefit of those who obey it.

And we need an adversarial judicial system. I am glad we have both prosecutors and defense attorneys so that anyone can gain a fair hearing and anyone can defend himself or herself in such a context.

“The Kingdom of God will not arrive on Air Force One”

But none of these advantages found in a democracy can repair what is truly broken about our society.

Our root problem is spiritual. It is a disease no doctor can cure, a brokenness no law can repair, a condition no judge can reverse.

Even if a conservative majority on the Court makes abortion illegal, there will still be abortions (as there were before 1973). The Supreme Court infamously advanced slavery in the horrific Dred Scott case of 1857.

Time notes that in 1973 the justices “discovered an unwritten ‘right to privacy’ in the Constitution” when they legalized abortion, resulting in the deaths of more than sixty million babies. The Court discovered a right to same-sex marriage in the Constitution, overturning centuries of precedent for traditional marriage.

As Chuck Colson famously noted, “The Kingdom of God will not arrive on Air Force One.”

Human words cannot change human hearts

Christians can make two mistakes in response to yesterday’s hearings.

One: We can shake our heads at the chaos of the system and retreat from engagement in governance. But Plato was right (as paraphrased by Ralph Waldo Emerson): “The punishment which the wise suffer who refuse to take part in the government, is to live under the government of worse men.”

God calls us to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:2). We are to speak biblical truth to them, as Paul did to Roman leaders (Acts 24-26). And we are to engage in the political process as God directs.

Two: We can ask our government to do what it cannot. A fallacy popular in evangelical circles is that if we can just elect enough evangelicals, we can “turn around” our country.

While we need more evangelicals in office, human words cannot change human hearts. Laws can regulate society, but they cannot transform it.

“How do you know when the gold is pure?”

Let’s invert the pyramid that puts governmental leaders at the top and citizens at the bottom. In a democracy, our leaders serve us. That’s why they’re called “public servants.” We elect them, and we can remove them.

The esteemed former Congressman Frank Wolf notes that “Congress is downstream from culture.” Beyond participating in our democracy, Christians have a high calling to be the change we wish to see.

As the “body of Christ,” we continue the earthly ministry of Jesus today (1 Corinthians 12:27). The apostles were so Christlike that their enemies saw their “boldness” and “recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Now our Father wants us to know him so intimately that his Son is displayed in our lives and our influence advances his kingdom in our culture.

A group watching a goldsmith at work asked, “How do you know when the gold is pure?”

His answer: “When I can see my face in it.”

How pure is your “gold” today?

Denison Forum