Newspaper Page Text
December 12, 2012
PAGE 10A
^Reporter
A LIVE NATIVITY
Brought to Monroe County by Rocky Creek Baptist
Church and Christ United Methodist Church.
-
PHOTOS COURTESY WILLIAM HAUN/WWW.WHAUN.COM
Larry Winters, Lydia Harrell and John Cox sing Christ
mas hymns.
Right, tax collector
Ty Parker address
es the crowd.
Lou Harris was a guide for the Nativity.
The Rev. Matthew Michael,
associate pastor of Rocky
Creek Baptist Church, deliv
ers the message of the Nativ
ity.
Emily Benson as Mary.
Among the angels singing Christmas praises were Natalie Pippin, Megan Bishop, Lindsey
am, Kayla Kuhr, Angel Stegall and Michelle Bittick.
Pastor’s Corner
Bible or bayonet: One
or the other must rule
BY NATHAN JACK-
SON
love football and this
past week on NBC
Sunday night foot
ball, all was well un
til Bob Costas popped
in and delivered what many
are calling a political ex
ploitation of terrible events
that occurred The
previous Saturday
morning in Kansas
City. Jovan Belch
er, a linebacker for
the Chiefs, shot
and murdered his
girlfriend, Kassan-
dra Perkins, moth
er of his 3-month-
old daughter, and
then committed
suicide at the
Chiefs’ practice facil
ity in front of his head
coach and general manager.
Costas made a passion
ate plea against “our gun
culture” and quoted from
Jason Whitlock, a Fox
Sports writer, that “if
Jovan Belcher didn’t pos
sess a gun, he and
Kasandra would both be
alive today”. Whitlock, in a
follow-up interview, said
that he didn’t go far
enough in his article, and
that he believes the
National Rifle Association
is “the new KKK”—highly
incendiary words.
This created a strong
backlash nationwide.
Costas is still backped-
dling on his stance, stating
that he was just misunder
stood and by no means
was he calling for gun con
trol. Nonetheless his state
ments are almost impossi
ble to understand any
other way.
This issue is certainly a
lot deeper than it appears
on the surface, with our
culture taking sides yet
giving no real solutions. So
let's take a step back and
look at what is really
going on, something much
deeper and much more
critical to our nation’s
health.
Del Tackett says it best
that "Much of our culture
today, regardless of ‘pro
fessed’ beliefs, lives out a
‘naturalistic’ worldview—
that all reality is bound up
in the material world—
where all is morally neu
tral, man is basically good
and no moral absolutes
exist. It is important to
catch the ‘professed’ versus
‘lived out’ part of this
because there are many in
our culture who
‘profess’ some
form of belief in
God, but there is
a vast difference
between ‘profess
ing’ and ‘living it
out’."
Tackett sums up
our current cul
tural atmosphere
perfectly in the
above statement.
So where does that
leave us as Christians?
What must we do to intro
duce our society to Christ
in a public sector where
the existence of God and
all things related are “off-
limits”? This includes poli
tics and “big media” where
only “token” references are
allowed such as when
tragedy strikes, public fig
ures are allowed to say
benign things such as “our
prayers are with those
affected by this set of trag
ic events.” This is basically
a way to sound emotional
ly sincere but actually
means nothing. In fact, if a
public figure were to say,
“Let’s pray for those people
right now...” the whole of
listening existence would
drop into frantics.
What does this have to
do with Costas’ staements?
Everything.
Our culture is at the
point where it only allows
itself to think and talk as
if there is nothing but the
material world, therfore
all solutions must there
fore come from this mate
rial world. If Jovan kills
his girlfriend and himself
with a gun, then the only
solution we have is to con
trol the stuff—in this case,
the gun.
If people are getting too
fat then the only solution
is to control the butter and
the sugar.
If some people have more
stuff than other people,
then the only solution is to
take their stuff away and
share with everyone.
Politicians who love
nothing more than power
love this and lust for it to
take full effect in America.
However, things were not
always this way.
In the early stages of this
nation, “government” was
primarily understood to
mean “self-government”.
This was the notion that
the individual was sup
posed to govern them
selves according to a tran
scendent ethical notion
(which, in politically incor
rect language, is a biblical
understanding of absolute
right and wrong). The
Founders referred to it
often, stating over and
over again that their hopes
and dreams for liberty and
freedom had been built
upon the foundations of
religion and morality. This
meant that the people
would govern themselves
morally. If they did not,
then the Founders
believed everything would
collapse. At a minimum,
the state, which they had
invested with limited
power, would, of necessity,
have to grow and grow
incessantly.
Robert Winthrop, said it
best "Men, in a word, must
necessarily be controlled
either by a power within
them or by a power with
out them; either by the
Word of God or by the
strong arm of man; either
by the Bible or by the bay
onet."
Since the public dis
course doesn’t acknowl
edge the reality of “sin”
(the banned word in public
discourse today) and the
sinful nature of man and
the consequences of that
sin upon individuals and
our culture, then the pub
lic discourse is, by necessi
ty, confined to seeking for
answers within the mate
rial realm. This ensures
that the proposed solu
tions will forever be impo
tent to deal with the real
problems and will, instead,
continue to explode the
growth of more and more
laws and, with it, the
increased loss of liberty
and freedom of the people.
In other words...we will
be governed by the bayo
net.
Furthermore, it will also
ensure that we will fail to
recognize that while we
bemoan the consequences
and tragedies on the back
end, we continue to water
and fertilize the causes on
the front end. We do more
and more to stir up the
sinful nature with the left
hand and wipe the tears
over the consequences
with our right.
Big media will never,
ever admit that it is
increasingly pouring gaso
line upon the fire with its
sensual, self-centered pro
ductions and messages.
NBC’s Costas points the
bony finger at a piece of
cold steel, while his net
work and the rest of big
media pollutes the minds
and hearts of its viewers,
sowing and cultivating the
seeds of the tragedy he
laments.
Businesses won’t confess
that their marketing and
advertising campaigns
contribute as well to
uncontrollable passions of
greed and self-interest and
the “all about me” atti
tude.
Politicians will never
admit that their policies
and rhetoric are fomenting
and provoking a greedy
class warfare that will,
like an aggressive cancer,
destroy the fruit of this
nation and provoke
unspeakable violence
toward fellow citizens.
But the real culprit lies
within each of us...for we
walk with greater and
greater lust and less and
less self-control. And we
feel right in doing so,
because we are confirmed
in our selfishness from the
voices in the public square.
And if we don’t see the
real problem or talk about
it, we are certainly guar
anteed to never solve it.
No matter how many
guns we take away...or
soft drinks...or Big Macs.
The longer we foolishly
insist that the dialogue
remain within the confines
of the accepted box, the
more we will chase silly
and ineffective solutions.
The more we chase silly
and ineffective solutions,
the more we will see the
culture disintegrate
around us.
And the tragedies will
continue to grow in num
bers and severity...as will
the laws.
The more we foolishly try
to live in an unreal world,
the more the reality of
that foolishness will keep
showing up on our
doorstep.
In the end as Christians
it comes down to Christ.
Do we share His grace and
mercy with everyone and
watch as He changes socie
ty from outside the box?
Or do we allow our selfish
ness to keep Christ all to
ourselves, sharing him
with no-one and watch as
inside the box we continue
to crumble as a society?
The Pastor’s Corner is
sponsored by the Monroe
County Ministerial
Association. Nathan
Jackson is the youth min
ister at New Providence
Baptist Church in Smarr,
whose motto is so that
lost may be found, found
may be stregthened, and
God may be glorified!
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