A [retired] college psychology professor's observations about public policy, mental health, sexual identity, and religious issues
Weekend wisdom from Eric Metaxas:
Christians who are more worried about "their witness" than about doing what is right are actually damaging their witness. Chose ye this day.
— Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) September 24, 2016
Read the responses. His followers don’t get it either.
On September 7, religious right history writer and Christian nation advocate David Barton posted a video on his You Tube and Facebook accounts claiming to have an “earned doctorate.” The very next day he removed the video, perhaps in light of the revelation that the degree may have come from unaccredited Life Christian University. LCU is on record as giving what it calls “earned doctorates” to famous people who never attended the school.
Since he removed the video, Barton has not commented or explained why he claimed to have an earned doctorate but failed to say from where he earned it.
In case you missed it, here is Barton’s video with some commentary provided by me in pop ups to keep things light (see the original here).
In an another amusing twist, it turns out that Barton took his information about honorary doctorates from a secondary source. Even though he cited West Virginia University in the video, the phrasing he used to describe why a school might award an honorary doctorate came directly from reference.com and not West Virginia University as Barton claimed. Barton said:
The website Reference.com cites WVU’s honorary degree web page and reads:
Although reference.com cites WVU, a search of West Virginia University’s honorary doctorate page doesn’t turn up that phrase. Apparently, the phrase Barton’s quoted and attributed to WVU was a paraphrase constructed by reference.com. He used that paraphrase and attributed it to WVU.
In any case, neither of Barton’s honorary degrees come from WVU so their procedures don’t apply. Barton’s honorary degrees come from two schools which are not regionally accredited. Barton is on the board of one of those schools (Ecclesia College).
The bottom line is this. Barton’s tenuous credibility is at stake. He directly and forcefully claimed to have an earned doctorate. However, he hid the diploma and then removed the video evidence. He has not explained why he won’t supply verification after saying for years that he did not a PhD. It is simply not credible to claim to have an earned doctorate and then refuse to disclose the details about it. To claim such a degree without having one is academic fraud and in the real world has significant consequences.
Let me welcome you and let you know where we’re going today, and a couple of things like that, and how this all got started. I’m gonna share just for a moment, have an opening prayer, and then we’ll have one more worship song, and then Dr Tony Evans, who’s the head of the Executive Council, that we’ve called this together, this Solemn Assembly is going to-to bring a word to us. So just to let you know, we were praying and talking a few years ago about what we could do to bring our nation to God. We could say, ‘bring our nation back to God’ but I’m not sure our nation’s ever been totally to God. Huh-huh. But we want to bring our nation to Christ, and we know that.
And that’s the most important thing is for us to come before Him. And that scripture reading I was thinking about the “IF’S” and the “THENS” And y’know, the most famous verse, and so sometimes when a verse is well known, we tend to forget the “theo-pneustos” part of it, the God-breathed part. But it’s still God-breathed. And that’s 2nd Chronicles 7:14. “IF my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways, THEN I will – no doubt about it – I will hear from heaven. Will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.
So, a few years ago as we were meeting, we said, “You know, I think the best thing we could do to help our nation is pray. And let’s call a Solemn Assembly and ask people to come together and pray and so that happens tonight at Seven. We are completely full tonight plus overflow. And we are simulcasting to many other churches, and we welcome those of you who are joining us by simulcast.
But we also said, let’s gather the pastors and the leaders together in the day. And let’s have a prayer meeting before we have the Solemn Assembly at night. So that’s why we’re here.
I wanna tell you one thing that you wouldn’t normally say to pastors without having the time to explain it, but I wanna tell you something that-that’s not theologically correct, but it actually is, when I get around to it. You ever preached a sermon like that?
God needs us to do our part. And when the Lord told me that a few years ago, that He said, “I need you” I explained to Him why that’s not theologically correct. I went to Criswell Bible College but I know that’s not theologically correct, because God is self-existent, self-sufficient, and self-sustaining. And I said, Lord you don’t need anything, and he said, “I need you.” And then the Lord began to explain to me what He was saying. God decided to partner with us. And that’s where the IF and the THEN comes in.
You know, God parted the Red Sea, but Moses raised the rod up. I coulda done that. I coulda raised a rod up. That’s a natural thing. My part’s always natural. His part’s always supernatural. So what we’re gonna do today is we’re gonna do our part. And we’re gonna come before Him, and we’re gonna pray. And so I wanna ask you just to join me now, and let’s let this be that first opening prayer, and please agree with me, where two or three are gathered, let’s agree.
Lord, we come and agree that today can change something in our nation. God, we come and agree, Lord, that if we will pray, that-and seek your face, and turn from our wicked ways, that you will hear from heaven, no doubt about it. You will hear our prayer today. And you will forgive our sins, and you will heal our land, and we receive it today, in Jesus’ name, and everyone said, “Amen”.
As Tony Evans did after him, Robert Morris recited the incantation to get God to change his mind (2 Chronicles 7:14):
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Here I will repeat what I wrote about Tony Evans’ misuse of 2 Chronicles 7:14.
I have never understood why people mistake this as a promise to America. American citizens are not His people called by God’s name. This verse is not addressed to Americans. This verse is the second half of a sentence started in verse 13 and concerns the dedication of the Jewish temple led by King Solomon.
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
God made an agreement with Solomon regarding Israel. On behalf of America, who made such a covenant?
This promise was made in a very specific way to Solomon about the very homogeneous Jewish nation. Despite a majority Christian population, there is no civil requirement to keep Christian morality. There is no civil requirement to even be a Christian to serve in government. It is very simple, these verses have nothing to do with us. We are not a new Israel.
There is nothing wrong with praying and repenting. However, a nation such as ours doesn’t do it, people do.
In the past, Morris’ needy god asked Morris’ permission to move The Kings’ University from California to the Southlake campus.
Tony Evans is the founder and pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas TX and the chairman of the executive council of The Gathering, a solemn assembly of pastors and Christians which took place yesterday. In his introduction to the day, Evans raised three possibilities regarding America. One is that Christ will return and set up His Kingdom. The second one is that America will be judged and taken off “the scene,” and a third is that American Christians pray and repent and change God’s mind about America’s demise. Watch:
Transcript:
There are 3 options before us. If Jesus comes back, we won’t worry about any of this. In the immediate future, it won’t be our problem. The second option is that our nation is under final judgment and so there is no hope.
But there is a third option. “If my people will call my name, shall humble themselves, turn from their wicked ways, and seek my face, I will heal them, and I will flow from them.” If Jesus doesn’t come back in the immediate future, that’s your children, and your grandchildren, and your great grand children, and they’re gonna live in some kind of land. Either it will be a land influenced by God’s people and godliness, or influence led and ruled by evil, and it all depends on the church.
Regularly, as Pastor Morris says, God say, I’m waiting on you. Moses, as he said, put out the rod, Joshua, tell the priest to put the water-put their foot in the water before I open up the Jordan River. Martha, pull the stone away, until you pull the stone away, I do not need a discussion on mortuary science, until you move the stone, you will not see what I am up to in secret, because you won’t do what I told you to do in public.But when God’s presence and purpose is being manifested through his people, we give Him another option. And let me tell you how powerful this option is. If Christ be not come. It is such a powerful option that if we gave-give God our undivided attention and undivided focus, it is such a powerful option that we can literally change God’s mind, on earth about what He had previously decided to do from eternity. Throughout the Bible, you will see God changing His mind. So even if Option 2 is on the plate, to remove America off the scene, Christ be not come, let’s go about changing God’s mind. Let’s do what we do like Moses did when God said He would destroy Israel and Moses pled that would mess up your reputation, and when He heard his prayer, He changed his mind. God is flexible. Let’s appeal to that flexibility.
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
I have never understood why people mistake this as a promise to America. American citizens are not His people called by God’s name. This verse is not addressed to Americans. This verse is the second half of a sentence started in verse 13 and concerns the dedication of the Jewish temple led by King Solomon.
11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
God made an agreement with Solomon regarding Israel. On behalf of America, who made such a covenant?
This promise was made in a very specific way to Solomon about the very homogeneous Jewish nation. Despite a majority Christian population, there is no civil requirement to keep Christian morality. There is no civil requirement to even be a Christian to serve in government. It is very simple, these verses have nothing to do with us. We are not a new Israel.
There is nothing wrong with praying and repenting. However, a nation such as ours doesn’t do it, people do.
Today, Eric Metaxas published an article at CNSNews talking up Christian colleges. The major talking point is that Christian colleges are well rounded while secular schools are one-dimensional. Actually, in the article, he reported the views of NY Times columnist David Brooks. Speaking of Ivy League students, Brooks says:
“They’ve been raised in a culture,” Brooks says, “that encourages them to pay attention to the résumé virtues of how to have a great career but leaves by the wayside … time to think about the eulogy virtues: the things they’ll say about you after you’re dead. They go through their school with the mixture of complete self-confidence and utter terror, afraid of a single false step off the achievement machine.” It’s flat, lifeless, and soul-killing.
But Christian schools attempt to educate their charges in three dimensions. Brooks told Christian college leaders that Christian universities “are the avant-garde of 21st century culture.” Christian colleges “have a way of talking about and educating the human person in a way that integrates faith, emotion and intellect. [They] have a recipe to nurture human beings who have a devoted heart, a courageous mind and a purposeful soul. Almost no other set of institutions in American society has that, and everyone wants it.”
I can’t agree or disagree with Brooks about Ivy League students, but I can say he is close to the mark on the place where I teach.
It interests me that Metaxas resonates with Brooks observations. Recently on Twitter, Metaxas has blocked several Christian college professors who have publicly expressed concerns with his newest book, as well as his support for Donald Trump. To David Brooks observations, I would add that several of the Christian colleges that I know well are not intimidated by the celebrity culture which marks evangelical Christianity. We encourage students to question the status quo both in and outside the church.
Over the past couple of months, Metaxas has blocked Messiah College history prof John Fea, Oklahoma Baptist University English prof Alan Noble (recently unblocked), Tyndale University College Philosophy prof Paul Franks and me. There are others but these are the ones who came to mind. It isn’t a major thing to be blocked and my point isn’t to gripe about that. My point is that in addition to the virtues identified by Brooks, many profs at Christian colleges seek the truth wherever it leads, even when that upsets a few big name apple carts.