If you don’t think you have high blood pressure, this story may change your mind. Or cause your blood pressure to rise.

New guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology define high blood pressure as 130/80 or greater. Under this standard, the number of adults with hypertension will rise to 103 million from 72 million under the previous standard.

Stress causes blood pressure to rise. And fear of failure causes stress. Therefore, learning to manage our fear of failure is a healthy idea.

Failing to succeed

This topic is on my mind today after reading a surprising Harvard Business Review article. The writer quotes James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola Co., who says: “If we’re not making mistakes, we’re not trying hard enough.”

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, told a technology conference that his company has too many hit shows. “We have to take more risk . . . to try more crazy things . . . we should have a higher cancel rate overall.”

Jeff Bezos, arguably the most successful entrepreneur in the world, adds: “If you’re going to take bold bets, they’re going to be experiments. And if they’re experiments, you don’t know ahead of time if they’re going to work.”

Jerry Jones, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys, recently described his business philosophy: “There’s nobody that I’ve ever met that bats over .500 or 50-50 on making the right decisions. There’s nobody that can see around corners. Nobody can. But the guys that succeed are the ones that cut their bad decisions off quicker than others and let their good ones run longer than others.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – CEO wants his company to make more mistakes →

Bill Gates has announced that he is investing $100 million in the fight against Alzheimer’s. The world’s wealthiest person is joining the fight in part because men in his family have suffered from the disease. He notes in his latest blog: “I know how awful it is to watch people you love struggle as the disease robs them of their mental capacity, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Gates’s legacy in the world of computers is assured. But one day, if the Lord tarries, every technology he invented and every line of code he wrote will become obsolete. However, if he helps defeat one of our most feared diseases, his significance will far outlast his success.

By contrast, the gossip columnist Liz Smith has died at the age of ninety-four. Famous for covering the private lives of A-list celebrities, she once said of her work: “We mustn’t take ourselves too seriously in this world of gossip. When you look at it realistically, what I do is pretty insignificant. Still, I’m having a lot of fun.”

A third news item caught my eye this morning: the yellow-crested cockatoo is wreaking havoc with Australia’s broadband network. The country spent $36 billion on this infrastructure project, but as a spokesman explains, the birds have “developed a liking for our cables . . . these birds are unstoppable when in a swarm.”

What we do today may not last or matter tomorrow. How do we leave a legacy of significance?

Live for eternity today

Life is both short and unpredictable.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Bill Gates, Liz Smith, and Australian cockatoos →

The Harvey Weinstein scandal has ignited a bonfire of allegations in recent weeks. The problem is so acute that the Los Angeles County District Attorney is forming a task force to evaluate sexual assault cases in Hollywood.

Over the weekend, more names were added to the list.

Benny Medina is a music executive who has managed Jennifer Lopez, Will Smith, and Mariah Carey, among others. Now he’s been accused of attempted rape. His attorneys have categorically denied the allegation.

Actress Rebel Wilson has also claimed that a male costar sexually harassed her while his friends tried to tape the encounter on their phones. She also described an incident with a “top director” who invited her to his hotel room, but she was able to escape.

We now know that many of the accused had a prior reputation for sexual immorality. Why did their colleagues and industries tolerate their behavior?

“Art for art’s sake”

Writing for the New York Times, Amanda Hess offers an insightful answer: the “myth of artistic genius” has excused the abuse of women and other personal immorality. Hess cites a 2009 New York Times round table on the relation of artists and their work.

One artist wrote, “Being an artist has absolutely nothing—nothing—to do with one’s personal behavior.” Another responder: “Let the art stand for itself, and these men stand in judgment, and never the twain shall meet.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Why did Hollywood ignore sexual abuse? →

The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) has unanimously passed a resolution calling on all players to honor the Veterans Day Moment of Silence Act during Sunday’s games.

What is this Act? Why is it so significant?

An Act with a noble history

The Act was passed unanimously by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Obama on October 7, 2016. It calls on all Americans to observe a two-minute moment of silence on Veterans Day.

The Act follows a long tradition in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries in which a two-minute silence is observed each year on Armistice Day, November 11, at 11 a.m. The silence coincides with the time in 1918 when the First World War came to an end. A two-minute silence is also observed on Remembrance Sunday, the Sunday closest to November 11 each year.

This tradition originated in Cape Town, South Africa, where the mayor suggested one minute of thanksgiving for those who returned alive from the war, followed by another minute to remember the fallen.

A South African author named James Percy FitzPatrick proposed that this silence become an official part of the annual Armistice Day service. He explained his reasoning:

It is due to the women, who have lost and suffered and borne so much, with whom the thought is ever present.
It is due to the children that they know to whom they owe their dear fought freedom.
It is due to the men, and from them, as men.
But far and away, above all else, it is due to those who gave their all, sought no recompense, and with whom we can never repay—our Glorious and Immortal Dead.

Continue reading Denison Forum – NFL players urged to observe moment of silence →

Tuesday night, Danica Roem became the first openly transgender state legislator in US history. She is one of more than twenty transgender people running for public office this year.

I have written on the issue of transgender rights in a Daily Article and devoted a chapter to the subject in my recent book, 7 Critical Issues. My purpose today is not to address this topic per se, but to explore one particular response to Roem’s historic election.

A tweet that created a firestorm

Andrew T. Walker is Director of Policy Studies for the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. After the election, he sent this tweet: “Christian parents, the nation’s first transgender elected official enters into American history tonight. What are you doing to prepare your children for this new world?”

Time magazine chose to make a story out of negative reactions to his question. A “Jewish parent” called Walker a “narrow-minded hate-filled bigot.” Another responder called him a “bigot” as well. Others categorized him with “fear mongers” and “hateful followers who twist everything Christ stood for.”

I have not met Andrew Walker, but everything I have read by and about him depicts a person who is the opposite of bigoted and hateful. He is brilliant and thoughtful, with a deep passion for Jesus and his kingdom.

His question is legitimate: the first openly transgender person to be elected to a state legislature is indeed indicative of a “new world.” Preparing our children to navigate this culture is the job of every Christian parent. In no sense was his tweet hateful or bigoted.

However, we live in a culture which brands anyone who does not champion its relativistic morality as intolerant and prejudiced. As I noted yesterday, the tide of antagonism against traditional morality is continuing to rise. More than ever, American Christians find ourselves on the defensive, seeking to serve Jesus in a world that rejects his message and rebels against his authority.

The question that prompted this article Continue reading Denison Forum – Tweet about transgender legislator provokes anger →

After news broke about the shooting in Texas last Sunday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan tweeted, “The people of Sutherland Springs need our prayers right now.” The reaction on his Twitter feed was ferocious:

• Someone going by the name “Count Ziggenpuss” replied, “What they need is meaningful gun control. Your prayers to the made up invisible being in the sky aren’t helping stop these repeated massacres.”
  • “5 AM RISE N SHINE” tweeted, “they dont need prayers they need gun control. A prayer won’t do [expletive deleted]. This happens every week now in this country.”
  • “Gv89” added, “They were literally in a church. Clearly prayers do absolutely nothing.”

Mr. Ryan responded to his critics: “It’s disappointing. It’s sad, and this is what you’ll get from the far secular left. People who do not have faith don’t understand faith, I guess I’d have to say. And it is the right thing to do is to pray in moments like this, because you know what? Prayer works.”

Is American Christianity under attack?

Ridiculing Christianity began at the beginning of Christianity, when skeptics at Pentecost mocked the Spirit-filled believers and accused them of drunkenness (Acts 2:13). But slandering American Christians has clearly escalated in recent years.

Those of us who defend biblical sexuality are now branded as homophobic. People who oppose same-sex marriage are accused of hating gay people. Pro-life supporters are allegedly waging a “war on women.”

When Christian columnist Rod Dreher opposed same-sex marriage in his Dallas Morning News column, a campaign of harassment culminated in the newspaper hiring off-duty police officers to guard his home and family. When Chick-fil-A’s charitable foundation made donations perceived as hostile to LGBT rights, activists called for protests and boycotts.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Paul Ryan condemned after calling for prayer →

Bryan Holcombe was the guest preacher for the day. His wife Karla came to worship with him, along with their son Marc Daniel, their pregnant daughter-in-law, Crystal, and their grandchildren, Noah, Emily, Megan, and Greg. Then Devin Kelley opened fire, killing them all.

Joe Holcombe, Bryan’s eighty-six-year-old father, was left to mourn the generations he had raised. “We know where they are now,” he said. “All of our family members, they’re all Christian. And it won’t be long until we’re with them.”

Pastor Frank Pomeroy lost his teenage daughter and much of his congregation. When asked how to make sense of the tragedy, he said, “I don’t understand, but I know my God does.”

The “hardest thing” to understand

God gives us free will so we can choose to love him and others (1 Peter 2:16). If he prevents the consequences of our misused freedom, we are not truly free.

And yet, there are times in Scripture when he does just that. God spared Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace to which they were consigned by King Nebuchadnezzar’s egotism (Daniel 3:27). He sent his angel to free Peter after he was imprisoned by King Herod (Acts 12:6–11).

If God sometimes saves us from the sins of others, why did he not intervene in Sutherland Springs? Why did he not spare the children, teenagers, and adults who were gathered to worship him?

I am convinced that our Father redeems all he allows. Sometimes his redemption is obvious and clearly justifies his decision to allow what he redeems. But when horrific, innocent suffering happens, it is difficult for me to imagine how God could bring enough good to explain the evil.

Continue reading Denison Forum – ‘I don’t understand, but I know my God does’ →

Yesterday was the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. While Christians were praying for persecuted believers around the world, a shooter walked into a Texas church service and opened fire. At least twenty-six people were killed and twenty more were injured.

Sutherland Springs, population 643, is in Wilson County, about thirty miles southeast of San Antonio. The First Baptist Church was holding morning worship services when a gunman identified as twenty-six-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley entered the church about 11:20 a.m. After attacking the congregation, he fled into neighboring Guadalupe County where he died.

The New York Times describes the horrific scene: “Families gathered in pews, clutching Bibles and praying to the Lord, were murdered in cold blood on the spot.” The victims ranged in age from five to seventy-two. Among the dead were several children, a pregnant woman, and the pastor’s teenage daughter.

It was the deadliest shooting in Texas state history.

Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gamez Jr. told CNN, “My heart is broken. We never think where it can happen, and it does happen. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. In a small community, real quiet and everything, and look at this.”

Shootings at churches

Shootings at churches have become so common that authorities have created a National Church Shooting Database. It documents 139 shootings at churches between 1980 and 2005, killing 185 people, including thirty-six children.

Since 2005, there have been numerous other church shootings, including the 2015 massacre of nine at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. By one calculation, 2015 saw 248 violent incidents on religious property.

Continue reading Denison Forum – The worst mass shooting at church in US history →

Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Why do we need such a day?Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Why do we need such a day?

In The Global War on Christians, John Allen calls the worldwide persecution of Christians “the most dramatic religion story of the early twenty-first century, yet one that most people in the West have little idea is even happening.” The respected journalist describes this persecution as “the most compelling Christian narrative of the early twenty-first century.” According to him, “Christians today indisputably are the most persecuted religious body on the planet.”

What evidence does Allen offer for his claim?

The scope of persecution

According to the evangelical group Open Doors, one hundred million Christians face interrogation, arrest, torture, and/or death because of their religious convictions. Todd Johnson of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary documents that one hundred thousand Christians, eleven per hour, have been killed on average every year of the past decade. The Catholic humanitarian group Aid to the Church in Need describes this global assault on believers as “a human rights disaster of epic proportions.”

While 30 percent of the world’s population identifies as Christian, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination around the world are directed at Christians. One scholar estimates that 90 percent of all people killed on the basis of their religious beliefs are Christians.

Terrorist attacks against Christians escalated 309 percent between 2003 and 2010. There have been seventy million martyrs since the time of Christ, forty-five million of them in the twentieth century. In other words, more Christians died for their faith in the last century than in the previous nineteen centuries combined.

Persecution and Islam

Continue reading Denison Forum – Are Christians the most persecuted faith on earth? →

Amy Coney Barrett is a law professor at Notre Dame. She also clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Now she has been nominated by President Trump to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Here’s the problem: she’s a Catholic.

Barrett is the mother of seven, including a special needs child and two children adopted from Haiti. She is also a very public Christian. She told the 2006 Notre Dame Law School graduating class, “If you can keep in mind that your fundamental purpose in life is not to be a lawyer, but to know, love, and serve God, you truly will be a different kind of lawyer.”

She has also written that Catholic judges should not impose their faith on others. In rare cases, they should recuse themselves when their religious conscience prevents them from applying relevant law.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein wasn’t satisfied, protesting during Barrett’s confirmation hearing that “dogma lives loudly within you.” Sen. Al Franken compared her speech before a religious freedom organization to giving a speech to Pol Pot, the genocidal Cambodian dictator. Sen. Dick Durbin asked her, “Do you consider yourself an ‘orthodox Catholic’?”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Senators criticize Catholic nominee for her faith →

As Hurricane Irma bore down on my brother and his family over the weekend, I was watching television coverage of the storm nonstop. I heard a commentator reporting from Florida make the perceptive statement, “The worst in Mother Nature often brings out the best in human nature.”

He was right.

The damage from this historic disaster is continuing. As of this morning, at least forty-two people have died because of the storm. Jacksonville, Florida, has experienced record floods. A flash flood emergency has been declared in Charleston, South Carolina. About 6.5 million people in Florida are without power.

But there is remarkable good news in the news.

The New York Times is reporting on sacrificial ways Christians are serving each other and their communities after Hurricane Harvey. One example is Rabbi Michael Vowell, a Messianic Jew (a Jew who accepts Jesus as his Messiah). According to the Times, he came to faith in Christ as a young man “as part of his escape from drug abuse and dealing.”

How does he deal with faith questions related to Hurricane Harvey? “My theology is that if I can see God moving through people, neighbors helping neighbors, I can shelve the bigger question of why is this happening,” he said. “That there are still people caring for each other is evidence enough that God is in this world.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Responding to Irma: Good news in the news →

Hurricane Irma is personal for me in a way no other storm has been. The reason: it targeted my family.

My brother and his wife live in the Tampa area. My wife’s older sister and her husband live in Orlando. Last night, they were directly impacted by the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic. All four survived, but we do not yet know the damage to their homes.

Irma has already devastated Cuba, becoming the first Category 5 hurricane to hit the island since 1924. Havana has experienced unprecedented flooding; homes and towns across the north of Cuba are destroyed.

Then the hurricane turned its wrath on Florida. As of this morning, 6.5 million people have been evacuated. Four million Floridians are without power, more than 40 percent of all customers in the state. Five have died, in addition to twenty-seven deaths in the Caribbean.

I prayed for the Lord to push this storm away from land and out into the sea. Instead, it attacked Cuban Christians, brothers and sisters I dearly love and have visited many times over the years. Then it turned and targeted my family.

I pray each day for God’s protection for my family and nation. I’m sure you do the same. When our prayers seem unanswered, how can we continue trusting the One to whom we pray?

Continue reading Denison Forum – Hurricane Irma attacked my family →

A magnitude-8.1 earthquake struck Mexico last night, leaving one million people without power. Mexico’s president called it the strongest quake his country has seen in a century. And Hurricane Katia is threatening to strike his country tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Irma is coming. The second-strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, Irma is responsible for at least thirteen deaths so far. This morning, the National Weather Service warned that the eye of the storm could strike Miami directly. The governors of Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina have all declared states of emergency.

And there’s more bad news: Hurricane Jose is strengthening and threatens islands devastated by Irma.

What can we do to help?

A week ago, I asked you to join Denison Forum in raising funds for Hurricane Harvey victims. Our ministry contributed a $25,000 matching grant to this effort. All donations would be given through Texas Baptist Men (TBM) to help those devastated by the tragedy.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Strongest earthquake in a century rocks Mexico →

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) is an executive order issued by President Obama in 2012 that grants temporary legal status to those brought to the US as children. According to government figures, 787,580 people (known as “Dreamers”) have been approved for the program.

They have been able to obtain driver’s licenses, enroll in college, and secure jobs. They also pay income taxes. The program doesn’t give them a path to become US citizens or even legal permanent residents. But they can apply to defer deportation and legally reside in the US for two years. Then they can apply for renewal. Nearly 800,000 renewals have been approved since the program began.

On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would rescind the program in six months unless Congress and the president enact a law reviving it. The president believes that such legislation should originate with Congress, not the White House. Officials will no longer accept new applicants to the program, but protections for current DACA recipients remain in effect.

Continue reading Denison Forum – DACA and the Bible: 3 principles →

This is an historic moment for evangelical Christians in America.

A group of Christian leaders met recently in Nashville, Tennessee, to ratify a statement regarding biblical sexuality. More than 150 leaders signed the document, now known as the “Nashville Statement.” The group’s organizer stated, “It was our aim to say nothing new, but to bear witness to something very ancient.”

I have read the document carefully and can testify that they accomplished their goal. The Nashville Statement simply describes in clear language what the Christian faith has believed for twenty centuries about men, women, and sexuality.

But our culture is convinced that truth is subjective, sexuality is our choice, and any religion that disagrees is dangerous. That’s why the New York Times lambasts the Nashville Statement as “an attack on L.G.B.T. Christians.” It’s why New Republic describes it as “the death rattle of a movement that has disgraced itself.” It’s why an LGBTQ advocate calls it “deadly theology.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Attack on biblical morality escalates: 3 responses →

“Their royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting their third child.” Thus, an unborn baby in Great Britain dominated Labor Day headlines even in America. Carl Sandburg was right: “A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.”

In other headlines, the North Korean crisis seems to be escalating while Florida has declared a state of emergency in preparation for Hurricane Irma. As the news reminds us each day, life is both precious and tenuous.

Over the holiday weekend, I witnessed two strange sights that reinforced this balance.

I was driving in the country and came upon a field covered with healthy trees. In their midst stood a tree just like the others except that its leaves were turning brown and falling from their branches. Clearly it was dying while its neighbors were thriving.

Meanwhile, Dallas has been in the throes of an unusual gasoline shortage. Word got out late last week that Hurricane Harvey could cause massive gas shortages. As a result, thousands of people in our area rushed to gas pumps. My wife and I witnessed one such line stretching for hours. They exhausted the local supplies and created a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Consider my experiences as parables.

Continue reading Denison Forum – A royal birth and an escalating hurricane →

Americans will celebrate work today by taking a day off work. What we will do instead: 150 million Americans will eat a hamburger, while 109 million will eat a hot dog. Forty percent of us will eat barbeque chicken; 37 percent will eat steak; 32 percent will eat ribs. Tomorrow, we’ll be back at work again.

In honor of today’s holiday, let’s look at work through the prisms of culture and Scripture. Consider three options:

One: Work for what you get because you work.

For many, work is a means to an end. We put in the hours to pay for what we do after hours. Our labor is purely transactional—work performed for money and benefits received.

Christians can approach work in the same way, serving God so God will serve us. Like the ancient Greeks, we can sacrifice to God to receive what we want in return. The more we do for him on earth, the more he will do for us on earth and in heaven—or so we think.

Two: Work because we are what we do.

A surveyor spoke to hundreds of people at a busy intersection, asking each the question, “Who are you?” Each person responded with what he or she did for a living: “I’m a doctor” or “I’m a teacher” or “I’m a pastor.” In our work-centered culture (Americans work almost 25 percent more hours than Europeans), we are measured by what we do and how well we do it.

Christians can view their work in the same way. Many pastors base their self-esteem on the affirmation of their people and numerical success of their church. Christians in any calling can define themselves by that calling.

Three: Partner with God for his glory and our good. Continue reading Denison Forum – Three reasons to work: A Labor Day reflection →

1. J. Watt is one of the best players in the NFL. He is also one of the best people in the NFL.

Long known for his character and humility, Watt’s compassion has been on display this week. He plays for the Houston Texans and has watched firsthand the devastation Hurricane Harvey wreaked on his city. So, he set up a simple funding account and recorded a video asking people to help him raise $200,000 to help the victims. As of this morning, his fund has grown to more than $12,000,000 and counting.

1. J. Watt is just one of many Hurricane Harvey heroes. A truck driver named Nick Sheridan drove nearly two hundred miles with his rig to help those stranded in floodwaters. With the help of two other drivers, the three rescued more than a thousand people.

Dr. Stephen Kimmel canoed through floodwater to perform emergency surgery on a teenager. A realtor named Stephanie Fry has opened her apartment to flood victims. Team Rubicon, a nonprofit composed of military veterans, helped get people to safety. A group of neighbors formed a human chain to rescue a man trapped in his flooded car.

Jim McIngvale, the iconic owner of Gallery Furniture in Houston, opened several stores to serve as shelters. Flood victims are sleeping on his showroom mattresses. National Guard members are staying in his stores as well. “This is the right thing to do,” he explained. “That’s the way I was brought up.”

Continue reading Denison Forum – Please join Denison Forum in helping storm victims →

Two explosions rocked a chemical plant east of Houston early this morning. Residents in the area are being evacuated. Up to 30 percent of Harris County (the area that includes Houston) is flooded—an area equivalent to the combined square miles of New York City and Chicago.

Meanwhile, a church in Houston has been in a storm of its own. Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church posted on Facebook Sunday night that it was “inaccessible due to severe flooding.” When photos were posted that seemed to contradict this claim, the church received severe criticism. Some of the tweets were so blasphemous and obscene that I would not consider quoting them here.

Osteen spoke to CBS This Morning yesterday to clarify. He stated that Houston officials initially asked his church to be a distribution center since the city had already opened a shelter nearby. Several areas of the church were flooded at that time. When the city later asked the church to serve as a shelter, it complied immediately, using parts of the campus that were accessible.

My point is not to criticize or defend Joel Osteen. It is to note how willing the media have been to publicize appalling condemnations of his church before giving him an opportunity to respond. But a story about an “uncaring” megachurch fits the secular narrative of our “religion is irrelevant or dangerous” culture.

Continue reading Denison Forum – Four lessons from the Joel Osteen controversy →

Louisiana began evacuations for Hurricane Harvey yesterday, on the twelfth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane has dumped a record fifty-one inches of rain as of this morning, the equivalent of four typical hurricanes.

Why has God allowed such devastation? Here are the logical options as I see them.

One: We didn’t pray enough.

Scripture teaches that “you do not have, because you do not ask” (James 4:2). Did this storm strike because we did not pray enough for God to stop it?

If so, what about those who prayed fervently but still lost their homes to this storm? Is a lack of intercession to blame for every natural disaster and disease? Can intercession prevent all natural calamity?

Two: We’re being punished for sin.

God brought the plagues against Egypt in response to Pharaoh’s “hardened heart.” The book of Revelation is replete with natural disasters sent by God to punish those who reject him. Is Hurricane Harvey an instrument of his wrath against our sinfulness?

If so, does this mean that people living on the Gulf Coast are worse sinners than those living in Los Angeles or New York City? I’ve lived in Houston and Dallas and cannot say that the former is more sinful than the latter. Clearly, God can use disasters to bring us to repentance, but is this always the explanation for such calamity?

Three: Fairness demands that he not intervene. Continue reading Denison Forum – Why God allowed Hurricane Harvey: 4 wrong answers →