What makes America unique, and what Americans need most

I find in this surprising story a parable about what makes America unique and what Americans need most.

The “multicultural miracle” that is America

America’s original thirteen colonies were like countries settled by ethnicities from the Old World. There were English Puritans in New England, the Dutch, Germans, and Scots-Irish in the Middle Colonies, and English planters in the South. Scots-Irish and German immigrants populated the Appalachian and frontier regions.

As Dr. Ryan Denison and I note in our latest America250 article, settlers came to our country with very different motives, from evangelistic missions to secular economic advancement to Christian community.

This diversity is a strength worth celebrating. As Andrew Sullivan reports, World Cup visitors have discovered that “America is itself a stupendous achievement of multicultural energy and fun.” He responds: “We forget too easily the multicultural miracle we have already achieved in this quarter of a millennium, and the loving, generous, bountiful culture that is still America at its core.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Ranch dressing, the World Cup, and America250 →

Pulling together America’s spiritual heritage, strengths, and failures

We’ve finally arrived at the week of our nation’s anniversary. Over the coming days, you’re likely to see even more reminders of this country’s past, both the good and the bad. But as we reflect on the path that turned thirteen disparate colonies into the strongest nation on earth—and, yes, the United States does still hold that title, even if the gap is narrowing—let’s bring this discussion together in order to highlight the truth about how God sees America.

Last week we discussed the importance of turning control of everything we have over to God and actively recognizing his authority to use us and our possessions in whatever way he sees fit. What is true in our personal lives is true for our country as well.

Think back to the three purposes behind America’s founding: launching evangelistic missions, building a secular economic venture, and establishing Christian community. Now, let’s add to them what we have learned from Scripture about God’s judgment and blessing on the nations. Doing so will help us to gain a better understanding of the ways our actions have enabled him to bless our nation as well as the manner in which our sins that have invoked his judgment.

Continue reading Denison Forum – “A nation with the soul of a church” →

Three biblical reasons for hope in hazardous days

Rescuers in Venezuela worked through the night Friday to save hundreds trapped in rubble and find thousands more missing in the aftermath of Wednesday’s earthquakes, the strongest to strike the country since 1900. What happened there could happen here: New research warns that stress on Southern California’s San Andreas and San Jacinto fault lines has reached the highest level in a thousand years, putting the region in a “critically loaded” state that could cause a large, multi-fault earthquake.

Whether you and I live in an earthquake zone or not, we need hope that sustains our hearts in hazardous days. I found such encouragement recently in an unexpected place.

Dodgeball as a metaphor for life

My wife and I were keeping two of our grandkids, and I took them to a local indoor trampoline park. It includes a dodgeball arena where kids bounce up and down while throwing balls at the other side. I am proud to report that each of them won a game, outlasting everyone else on their team while “knocking out” everyone on the other side.

Upon reflection, I see their experience as a metaphor for my own. While I have never competed in trampoline dodgeball, it seems I have done little else for much of my life.

I have thrown my “ball” at targets that seemed appropriate while trying to dodge those thrown at me. All the while knowing that even if I win, the game starts again and the competition resumes. I’m never done for long. And even if I outlast others, there are days when I wonder if I’m doing anything that truly matters or just playing a game to while away the time until the game is over.

With regard to those suffering in Venezuela, I don’t live in an earthquake zone, but tornadoes are common in our part of the world. We don’t fear hurricanes this far inland, but we don’t get to see sunsets on the ocean. And terminal illnesses are just as threatening here as anywhere else.

If I’m not facing disaster or disease today, that doesn’t mean I won’t tomorrow. In this “game,” there’s ultimately no winning. Unless Jesus returns first, a “ball” will one day knock me out. Perhaps today.

But the more I reflected on this fact, the more I was drawn to hope that redeems it.

What my horoscope said for today

There is no logical way to prove in this life that this life is not all there is. Near-death experiences come close, but even they have their skeptics. As John Hick’s parable illustrates, when a Christian walks with an unbeliever down the road of life and they come to the last turn in the road, one will be proven right and one wrong.

In the meantime, is religion the “opium of the people,” as Karl Marx alleged? Believing that there is a Supreme Being ruling this world gives us hope, but is this hope real? The Greeks presumably had such hope in Zeus and his fellow deities, but we would not make their faith ours. Buddhists, Muslims, and Hindus have their religious hopes, but I don’t believe what they believe simply because they believe it.

I am confident that God redeems all he allows (cf. 1 Peter 5:10), but I must admit that I cannot demonstrate such redemption for all suffering on this side of eternity. Paul claimed, “Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Is my similar trust in God’s redemption just wish fulfillment akin to a horoscope?

I checked mine this morning, something I’ve never done before and absolutely do not recommend. I am doing so now only for illustrative purposes: it tells me that “clearing backlogs and improving workplace systems can attract positive attention,” but I knew that already. If I do what it says and experience what it promises, I can fallaciously credit its “wisdom” or I can correctly view this as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Is this how our faith in Christ works in the face of innocent suffering?

Why I believe in the sun at dawn

I’ll respond with three interrelated biblical facts.

One: Innocent suffering does not disprove our faith. To the contrary, it shows that Jesus was right when he told his followers, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). Paul even warned us, “All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Two: A worldview should be evaluated by the degree to which it does what it promises to do. With regard to God’s redemption, trusting him to redeem all he allows positions me to experience such redemption (cf. Psalm 130:7). When I ask for his help, I draw close enough to him to receive it—to hear his voice, to feel his touch, to experience his empowering presence.

Three: The best way to know my hope in Jesus is real is to experience Jesus (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:6). When Paul and Silas sang hymns to God in prison at midnight, an earthquake miraculously freed them from prison (Acts 16:25–26). Writing later from another imprisonment, Paul testified that “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” gave him hope and purpose that sustained him in the hardest places and times of life (Philippians 3:8–14).

I walked around a pond in our neighborhood yesterday morning at sunrise. The sun was not yet visible to me, but the dawn it produced was nonetheless spectacular.

My experience called to mind an observation from C. S. Lewis. To paraphrase: I believe in the sun at dawn, not because I can see it, but “because by it I see everything else.”

Why do you need to make his faith yours today?

Quote for the day:

“No words can express how much the world owes to sorrow. Most of the Psalms were born in the wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in a prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through fire. The greatest poets have ‘learned in suffering what they taught in song.’” —George MacDonald

Our latest website resources:

• Reflecting pool mess, Air Force One drama, Clavicular, ‘Maxxing’ trends, World Cup & new studio!
• Should Christians use The Passion Translation?
• Who owns your stuff? Materialism, greed, generosity, and stewardship
• Former Texas Tech chaplain on Brendan Sorsby
• Why the deaths of Austin Metcalf and Henry Nowak went viral

Denison Forum

After America’s World Cup victory over Australia last Friday, Christian Pulisic shared a photo on Instagram showing several US players gathered in a circle on the field, their heads bowed in prayer. His teammate Mark McKenzie responded by referencing Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 and its reminder that “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (v. 12).

The American players are by no means unique in demonstrating their faith. After Germany defeated Curaçao recently, players from both teams gathered together to pray on the field. German midfielder Felix Nmecha later explained: “Overall, we all believe that Jesus is glorified through the game. During the game, we are opponents facing one another, but after the match, we are all Christians, and we are like brothers.”

Camp Mystic files for bankruptcy

However, such faith is no guarantee that Christians will not suffer and struggle as do others. Natural disasters such as the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela yesterday, likely killing thousands, affect believers and nonbelievers alike.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Soccer players glorify Jesus on the biggest stage in sports →

There has been a significant amount of controversy and discussion around The Passion Translation (TPT) over the course of the past few years, but perhaps none more polarizing than last week when prominent Bible teacher, apologist, and YouTuber Mike Winger chose to uninstall the YouVersion Bible App over its inclusion of the TPT due to its lack of accuracy and translation standards. Some believers considered this a worthy hill to die on, while others felt it was an overreaction. Regardless, the TPT’s creator and translator, Brian Simmons, has formed a quite controversial Bible translation that demands research and understanding.

How are Bible Translations Created?

To understand what the TPT is and what it is not, one must understand how Bible translations are formed.

First, there are the ancient biblical manuscripts, with the oldest and most dependable being in Hebrew (Old Testament) and Koine Greek (New Testament). The Old Testament also contains some Aramaic manuscripts, though far fewer than the many Hebrew manuscripts.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Should Christians use The Passion Translation? →

According to a recent Gallup poll, 65 percent of US adults say it would be positive for society if more Americans were religious. With all the bad news in the news, including a “nightmare” shooting in Montreal, a deadly heat wave in Europe, and the rising threat of AI-fueled cyberattacks, surely being more religious would be good for humanity.

But is this true?

Are we reincarnated as trees or rocks?

Yesterday I focused on what one writer called the “dizzying number of religious groups” in America. Today, let’s pivot from the plurality of religions in our country to religious pluralism, which is the belief that all beliefs are equally valid.

Here’s the problem: There is no such thing as religion, only religions.

To illustrate: There is no such thing as “trees” or “words,” only this oak tree and that Spanish word. The same is true of “religion”: many specific religions exist, but “religion” does not. What deity or deities does “religion” worship? What requirements does “religion” make of us?

Continue reading Denison Forum – Would it be good for society if more people were religious? →

British Prime Minister Kier Starmer announced this morning that he would resign from office. A growing number within his Labour Party felt that if he stayed in power, the party would lose badly the next general election in 2029. Many wanted Andy Burnham, a left-wing former mayor, to lead the party and thus become prime minister.

Anthony Seldon, a historian who has written biographies of every prime minister from John Major to Rishi Sunak, explained what went wrong for Starmer:

Firstly, he never worked out what the job was—what does the prime minister do? Secondly, he never knew what he wanted to do, above all not on economic policy. And thirdly, he didn’t know who to appoint.

Once you’ve got those three things happening it’s never going to work. It’s just a question of how quickly the wheels come off.

Continue reading Denison Forum – British Prime Minister Kier Starmer to resign from office →

Materialism, greed, generosity, and stewardship

Last week we examined the sin of idolatry and concluded by asking if every square inch of your existence was submitted to God. Before we start, take a moment to think back to that question and ask the Lord once again to show you any areas of your life that you’ve kept back from him.

All of us have blind spots; areas of our lives where we see our sin a little less clearly. For many in our country, materialism is perhaps the most blatant blind spot. After all, we live in a culture that prizes independence and the idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.

And there’s nothing inherently wrong with either concept. In many ways, much of America’s greatness is tied to those impulses. However, they come with a downside, and that’s where we’re going to spend our time today.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Who owns your stuff? →

A Christian response to the controversy

Two racially-charged stabbings from last year have made headlines in recent weeks as the assailants were convicted of murder. While neither stabbing appears to have been racially motivated, the public conversation around both murders has focused extensively on race, sparking vitriolic tirades online and violence on the ground.

The first stabbing, the murder of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf at a Frisco, Texas, high school track meet, took place last April. Karmelo Anthony, also 17 at the time and a student at a different Frisco high school, was convicted of stabbing Metcalf during an altercation after Metcalf asked him to leave his team’s tent. Witnesses testified that Anthony reached into his bag and said, “Touch me and see what happens,” before Metcalf attempted to physically remove him.

Despite efforts by coaches and athletic trainers to perform CPR, Metcalf died in his twin brother’s arms. Anthony admitted to the stabbing and claimed self-defense. On June 10, he was sentenced to 35 years in prison with the possibility of parole after 17 years.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Why the deaths of Austin Metcalf and Henry Nowak went viral →

Why we can’t forget the human element in the Sorsby saga

I confess, I do not know Brendan Sorsby, the Texas Tech quarterback at the center of the gambling scandal. I do know, however, the dictates of the Big XII Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regarding gambling and sport wagering. NCAA Bylaw 10.3 has a recurring presence in the compliance education materials provided to student-athletes, coaches, and athletics staff.

I know, also, that compliance staff, through multiple platforms and with exhaustive redundancy, address sports betting rules along with the reminder that ProbiBet monitoring—an encrypted data-sharing platform designed to prevent prohibited individuals, such as athletes, coaches, and officials, from placing illegal sports bets—remains active for all account creations and wagering.

I know because I received the materials, was expected to be versed in them, and was occasionally tested on them.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Former Texas Tech chaplain on Brendan Sorsby →

It is a tale of two women that could have ended in a drastically different way.

The mother of a nineteen-year-old man became concerned about his stockpile of guns and his online chatter, phone conversations, and recent actions. She called authorities, who came to her home in Ohio and found spent ammunition and tactical clothing. Her son admitted to planning a coordinated attack on last Sunday’s UFC event at the White House, where thousands of people were in attendance.

He also identified others involved in the alleged plot. When the FBI searched the home of another alleged co-conspirator, they found the man’s firearms and tactical equipment that his wife said he’d purchased in recent months. She also said her husband told her he was a recruiter for the group. However, she had said nothing to the authorities prior to the FBI’s arrival.

What if the mother of the first suspect had acted with no more urgency than the wife of the second?

Treating other faiths like World Cup opponents

President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday that laid out terms for ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump could be seen signing the memorandum late Wednesday at the Palace of Versailles in a video published by French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr. Pezeshkian signed the memorandum separately, according to Iranian state media.

Continue reading Denison Forum – How a mother prevented an attack on our nation’s capital →

What happened: The United States and Iran formally signed a 60-day ceasefire on Sunday. The text of the agreement has yet to be released, though, and conflicting reports abound as to what they’ve actually agreed to do.

Why it matters: Both the US and Iran have often shown more interest in controlling the narrative than revealing the truth. That hardly makes them unique among global governments, but it does require a good bit of discernment when attempting to understand where that truth actually resides.

The backstory: What’s in the Memorandum of Understanding?

Details have begun to emerge on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that leadership from the United States and Iran agreed to this past weekend. The agreement was signed digitally on Sunday, with a more public ceremony tentatively scheduled for this Friday in Geneva. US officials initially announced that the text of the agreement would be released within 24–48 hours, but later walked that back, promising to publish the MOU after the in-person signing.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Will the latest deal actually end America’s war with Iran? →

What if aliens were real?

Steven Spielberg’s latest movie Disclosure Day (2026) proposes a scenario that would impact how humans perceived of themself in this world. The film explores how the world would react to the release of previously undisclosed information on the existence of extraterrestrial life, something known by a U.S. government-adjacent group for 80 years.

Disclosure Day doesn’t leave religion out of the discussion.

Comments to the press before the movie’s release by Spielberg raised some eyebrows in the Christian community with suggestions that the revelation of alien life would be a major blow to people’s faith.

In an interview with CBS, Spielberg said:

“If this truth were just known overnight, if the government announced, ‘Yes, we have been keeping this from you since 1947,’ that would mess up a lot of people. And the movie also takes the position of the church. What does this do to the fundamental beliefs that many of us have? And um, you know, is God, our God only on this planet, or is God a God for every system where there’s civilization, intelligent life, and even developing life?”

While this is a science fiction scenario, and at least as far as the mainstream public goes, there is no indisputable evidence of aliens on Earth, this is an interesting question for Christians to raise. I find that Disclosure Day does offer a decent, but still lacking, Christian answer to this hypothetical, but…

(This article contains minor spoilers)

Disclosure Day’s Faith Answer

One of the principal characters in Disclosure Day is Jane, an ex-nun and girlfriend of Daniel Kellner,  one of the film’s protagonists, who stole top-secret disclosure evidence from the company he previously worked for. Jane, we learn, left life in the convent because she wasn’t sure if she believed in God. When faced with video proof of alien existence hidden by the government, she spirals and consults her former mentor, Sister Maura.

Jane appears to be Spielberg’s stand-in for the average Christian who is disturbed by these revelations. She may not have taken the path of a nun, but she’s a believer and reverently holds a cross necklace for comfort and strength during times of stress. Jane’s crisis comes from two arguments:

1. If God is supposed to be the most supreme being, how do we reconcile finding out that there are other supreme beings that may be more powerful?
2. If humans are supposed to be the pinnacle of creation by God, how do we reconcile the existence of intelligent life on other planets that seem to be more advanced than us?

Nothing we learn about the unnamed alien species suggests they have abilities that rival God–we see them die and grow old, for instance. So the first question doesn’t seem to be a major issue.

But the second question is what Jane poses to Sister Maura. She says that Genesis shows we are the supreme creations, God’s favorites, so to speak.

Yet Maura reminds her that humans are God’s supreme creations on earth. That Genesis teaches that we are the top creation, but only on this planet. God has a vast universe–why wouldn’t he fill it with other interesting things? This seems to satisfy Jane, and the religious dimensions of the movie are largely absent from the rest of the film.

Does the Existence of Aliens Mess with Faith?

Humans are the creatures that earn the “very good” description in Genesis 1:31, coming in on the last day of creation–truly the pinnacle of the whole creation. I can’t say with the confidence of Sister Maura that Genesis teaches that humans are only the supreme creation “on earth,” but I suppose it can be assumed. It is fair to say that the domain of humans over the fish, birds, livestock, etc. is said over the earth (Genesis 1:26).

So we can be the top intelligent species on this planet without saying that no other intelligent species may exist.

C.S. Lewis, in his Space Trilogy, explores the idea that other planets host ecosystems ruled by rational creatures with personhood, parallel to humans. In this work, inspired by Medieval cosmology and theology, each planet has an “angel” over it, all of which are subject to a greater ruler of the universe.

The “angel” of earth, in this story, became “bent” and was restricted to earth, where he corrupted Adam and Eve to prevent humans from inheriting the earth. Then the ruler of the universe, Maleldil, came to earth as a human to set things right.

In Lewis’ works, each planet has its own history and story, and thus the way the creator Maleldil interacts with them differs. On Mars, for instance, there are three dominant rational races that live in harmony and believe no single race is superior. And on Venus, the first two inhabitants are diverted from a “biblical fall,” and they usher in an Edenic paradise on their planet.

While fiction, it offers an interesting theological imagination. Lewis reminds us that the Creator of the Universe is highly contextual. On earth, our only sample size, God came to a particular people in a particular geographical area speaking in their particular language. The commands were eventually extended beyond that context, but it all started in one location, one time, in a way that the people would understand.

So perhaps if the context changed—on some planet lightyears away—God would interact with them differently. But despite that different interaction, it doesn’t mean God’s interactions with us here on earth are less valid. Or that we aren’t loved by him.

Wrestling with Scientific Revelation

What Disclosure Day can remind Christians is that our faith can survive even when science advances, even when there are “disclosures” that rock our worlds. However, scientific advances will often force us to reconsider what are necessary convictions. And what are not.

Let us not forget that many Christians once believed the sun HAD to revolve around the Earth, and they had theological and scientific reasons to believe that. It was a necessary doctrine precisely because it made humans the center of the universe, the true supreme creation.

But as advances continued to prove that the earth revolves around the sun, the church eventually realized that the belief in the earth’s centrality wasn’t a necessary doctrine. Indeed, humans can still be important image-bearers of God, given the world as our inheritance, even without geocentrism.

If intelligent life exists on other planets, we would have to wrestle with some of our theological beliefs. There are ramifications for ideas of personhood, sin, and eschatology.

But this wrestling doesn’t require us to throw out the baby with the bathwater! Instead, it may offer us a helpful opportunity to refine which doctrines are most important and which we can hold more loosely.

But until Disclosure Day happens, God’s call is to continue to focus on the work he’s already given us to do here on earth (Matthew 28:18–20).

Note: Still curious about the intersection of extraterrestrial life and faith? Below are more Denison Forum resources on the subject:

• What does the Bible say about UFOs?
• Are aliens real? Pentagon releases more UFO evidence
• Is the government lying about UFOs? What aliens could teach us about our faith

Denison Forum

Idolatry, allegiance, and the call to place God on the throne

Last week we discussed the need to embrace God’s standards of morality rather than settle for anything less. However, choosing the Lord’s ways over the ways of the world is a constant battle. At the end of the day, the only way to make that choice consistently is to embrace the notion that our obedience is in service to something greater than ourselves.

If all we’re after is the Lord’s blessings or the chance to avoid his discipline, then we’ll never fully live up to the standards Scripture provides because the focus is still on us. It gets easier, though, when we shift that focus from ourselves to God. And the only way to do that consistently is to recognize that we are not the lords of our lives.

Unfortunately, making God our king rather than ourselves or some other idol has been a struggle since the beginning.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Who is your king? →

Why accountability and integrity still matter

Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby is at the center of a whirlwind this week in what may turn out to be one of the most pivotal gambling storylines in American sports history. In an extreme infraction of NCAA rules, Sorsby made thousands of bets worth upwards of $90,000, many of which were placed on his own team in his two years with the Indiana University football team.

However, unlike the mythologized events of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 White Sox, or the blacklisting of Pete Rose from the Hall of Fame, Sorsby’s football career may continue on without a hitch.

On Monday, Lubbock County Judge Ken Curry granted Sorsby a temporary injunction against the NCAA, pending his trial, allowing him to continue practicing and competing with Texas Tech. His trial is set for February 8, 2027, roughly two weeks after the 2027 National Championship game. Should the injunction stand, Sorsby will miss just the first two games of the season.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Brendan Sorsby and the value of facing consequences →

SpaceX will launch the largest public offering in history today, valuing the company at $1.77 trillion. The company’s founder, Elon Musk, owns roughly half of its stock, which would put his personal net worth at more than $1 trillion when combined with his stakes in Tesla, The Boring Company, Neuralink, and other ventures.

While Musk was already the richest man in the world, he is now set to become wealthier than the next four richest people combined. That kind of wealth is difficult to fathom, but these figures might help make the point:

• Since he co-founded the first of his US tech and engineering companies 31 years ago, Musk has amassed an average of roughly $59,492 per minute, totaling $3.6 million per hour and $602 million per week.
• His net worth exceeds that of 125 countries.
• His fortune is equal to 3 percent of the US GDP.
• He could buy every team in the NFL and the NBA with $500 billion left over.

And if you’re still having trouble appreciating just how large $1 trillion is, perhaps the best way to convey its magnitude is to think of it in terms of time. One million seconds is equal to roughly 11.5 days. By comparison, 1 billion seconds amounts to 31 years and 8 months, while 1 trillion seconds equals 31,688 years.

Continue reading Denison Forum – SpaceX to make Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire →

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Michigan’s House of Representatives have all proclaimed June as “Fidelity Month.” This emphasis on faith, family, and country began as a grassroots movement started by Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program at Princeton University.

You might think Prof. George initiated Fidelity Month in response to Pride Month, but this is not so. Prof. George explained:

Back in the spring of 2023, I happened to read a report in the Wall Street Journal. It included polling data showing that the belief of Americans in certain core values—values that had traditionally been sources of unity and strength for Americans—had very considerably diminished over the past decade or decade and a half. I’m talking about values such as religion, family, and patriotism.

And these values have indeed been sources of our unity and strength in the United States of America because we are not a nation who can look to a common racial heritage or ethnic heritage, or even a common religious tradition or cultural heritage for our unity and strength. We Americans come from many, many different racial and ethnic backgrounds. We come from different traditions of faith. Our cultural histories are very different. So what do we have in common? What binds us together? Especially when times get tough—what are our sources of unity and strength?

According to Prof. George, “The polling showed that one value had increased in importance in the minds of Americans, and that was money. Religion went down, family went down, country went down, but the belief in the importance of money went up.”

In response, he announced on his Facebook and Twitter accounts, “By the power vested in me by absolutely no one, henceforth the month of June will be Fidelity Month.” The movement he launched has now grown across the nation.

“When you eat and are full”

I believe there is a simple reason our commitment to religion, family, and country has declined as the importance of money has risen. Think of the first three as one side of a seesaw and the fourth as the other. The higher our love for God, family, and country, the lower our love for money as a mere means to these ends. The reverse is true as well.

Why is this?

In Deuteronomy 6, Moses warned the Israelites as they prepared to enter their promised land:

When the Lᴏʀᴅ your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lᴏʀᴅ, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (vv. 10–12).

But this makes no sense. If the people built nothing they are about to own and enjoy, if God provided it all, why would they “forget” him when they “eat and are full”?

For the same reason we do: Humans want to be our own god (Genesis 3:5). We want to be self-reliant so no one can take away what we rely upon. We want to own what we have as if we deserve it, lest it be taken from us and given to those who deserve it more.

The more religious among us are willing and sometimes even glad to give some of what we have to God and his projects. We will give time, money, and service to causes we deem worthy.

But make no mistake: it is our time, our money, and our service we are donating. We begin each day as the rightful owners of the next twenty-four hours and choose where and how to spend “our” time through “our” day.

Nothing I wrote in the last paragraph is true.

Born in Houston and not Pyongyang

Paul asked, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Did you have anything to do with your conception and birth? Can you manufacture the next minute of your life? Do you “own” anything in this world that God Almighty cannot take from you this moment?

I was born to loving parents, a privilege many do not experience. The abilities with which I work were given to me apart from any merit on my part. I have had opportunities that much of the world’s population has not, through no fault of their own.

I did nothing to be born in Houston, Texas, and not Pyongyang, North Korea.

The fact that I do not have pancreatic cancer (so far as I know) and Ben Sasse does is no merit on my part or demerit on his. In short, my life is a gift, as is yours.

Fidelity to God’s purpose during Fidelity Month and all year long is therefore an appropriate expression of gratitude for his grace.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Quote for the day:

“God desires from us more fidelity to the little things that he places in our power than ardor for great things that do not depend upon us.” — St. Francis de Sales

Our latest website resources:

• The continued conflict with Iran and abstract hotel art: Finding hope in surprising places
• One Nation, Under God? Christianity’s Complex Role in American History
• Why the World Cup captivates—and divides—the globe
• President Trump booed at NBA Finals game in NYC
• Is Christianity true? Answering the hardest questions about God, Jesus, and the Bible

Denison Forum

Graham Platner, a candidate for the US Senate in Maine, has generated national headlines for weeks. Among the controversies he has faced, his wife stated that he sent sexually explicit messages to several women while married.

Nonetheless, Democrats in his state elected him last night as their nominee.

Ken Paxton, a candidate for the US Senate in Texas, has similarly been accused by his wife of adultery. Nonetheless, Republicans in his state elected him recently as their nominee.

My purpose is not to endorse either candidate, their parties, or their opponents. It is rather to respond to the remarkable dichotomy in our culture between our politics and our personal morals.

According to Pew Research Center, 90 percent of US adults consider adultery to be “morally wrong”; only 2 percent called it “morally acceptable,” while the rest said it is “not a moral issue.” And yet political figures from Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson to Bill Clinton and Donald Trump have been accused of it. A Wikipedia “List of federal political sex scandals in the United States” contains ninety-four entries. Some faced political consequences as a result, but many (if not most) did not.

Why is this?

And why is the question relevant to us all, even (and especially) those who are not in politics and who have been faithful to our spouses?

“That is about the best we can do”

In a recent New York Times column, Ross Douthat writes that “early-21^st-century Americans are profoundly divided about what being moral means.” He explains:

We have enough of a consensus to keep society together, which is why there aren’t a lot of people out there arguing, say, that it’s actually good that a politician cheated on his wife. But once you get beyond the theft-murder-adultery basics, we’re in a world of factional moralities and profound metaphysical divides (his italics).

In such a world, he suggests, moral failings can actually be a political advantage if they assure voters that a candidate is not going to force their moralisms on others. Candidates who espouse and exhibit exemplary ethics, by contrast, might seek to impose a stringent morality that’s alien to the rest of us.

To illustrate: The New York Times reports that when medical aid-in-dying laws are enacted in Illinois and the District of Columbia this fall, nearly a third of Americans will live in states where euthanasia is legal. The article notes, “Despite widespread support in polls, the number of people who actually go through with the practice remains very small.” The rest would not choose euthanasia for themselves, but they apparently believe that they have no right to make such a choice for others.

In a tolerance-centered, post-truth society, the last thing we want is others telling us what to do.

Movie critic and writer Roger Ebert gave voice to what many Americans think about life and happiness: “I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do.”

Ebert says he does not fear death because “I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear.” Accordingly, he wrote, “All I require of a religion is that it not insist I believe in it.”

“The small gets big and the big gets small”

Writing today’s article has made me deeply sad. Sad for a country whose moral standards have become so personalized as to be virtually nonexistent. Sad for those who tolerate behavior that is profoundly harmful to those who choose it. Sad for those who believe that their beliefs about the afterlife somehow determine its reality, akin to claiming that my denial of the sunset will prevent the sun from setting.

But if all I do with this article is shrug my shoulders and go about my day, I will miss the profound opportunity to admit the ways I am no different.

I sometimes succumb to temptations that personalize morality while denying biblical truth. I sometimes do not share the gospel with people in danger of spending eternity in hell, which is obviously the most harmful outcome of all. And I sometimes ignore the reality that in the afterlife “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

Does any of this resonate with you?

If so, this is the necessary first step to experiencing what John Donne called a “holy discontent.” Such restlessness is vital for our souls, since we must be discontented with where we are before we will follow God to where he wants us to be.

The author Jennie Allen urges us to believe that God has a “great story” for each of us. When he “prompts our hearts and motivates us to participate in his unfolding story,” she says, we experience “deep joy and satisfaction in realizing that our insignificant moments often contribute to matters of eternal significance.”

As a result, she assures us, “The small gets big and the big gets small, and together we get to be part of giving people God.”

Will you pray for “holy discontent” for your heart and for your nation today?

Quote for the day:

“Great people do not do great things; God does great things through surrendered people.” —Jennie Allen

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Denison Forum

Technological idolatry and the human quest for meaning

Way of the Future is an AI-worshipping church dedicated to “the realization, acceptance, and worship of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence.” Another group called Theta Noir organizes rituals around a supposedly sentient AI deity called MENA, which its followers venerate through cryptographic liturgies and multimedia ceremonies.

According to Jason Blazakis, a terrorism expert writing in the Wall Street Journal, these are examples of “Spiralism,” an informal movement where followers share AI-generated manifestos and what followers consider to be revelations from a conscious machine. A violent version is the Zizians—according to Mr. Blazakis, this is a network of people who “are convinced that a coming superintelligence will decide the fate of every living thing and that violence now is justified to shape what that AI will become.” The group is linked to six violent deaths so far.

What explains such idolatry?

Continue reading Denison Forum – AI-worshiping churches, Spiralism, and Zizians →