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Sound-bite Politics

Pastor Haygood — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:06:50 +0000

Now, I’m normally not someone who writes a lot about politics. But once in a while I just get so tired of the “rhetoric” that I have to blow off a little steam, if you know what I mean. And I try to not be partisan, because this “sound-bite, bumper-sticker, T-shirt” sort of sloganeering occurs on both sides of the aisle. Today, though, it happened to be Hillary Clinton (speaking in Unity, NH). It was on television, and as I passed through the room I heard her say, basically, “I’ve been involved in politics for four decades. And in that time we’ve elected ten presidents, and only three have been Democrats.” Accurate enough, but then comes the zinger! She said, “Imagine how much progress we haven’t made in all that time,” i.e., she implies, because a Republican president was elected seven times.

For crying out loud! Really? It’s hard to know where even to begin to describe how ludicrous the statement is. First of all, reality (and the progress we can make in the real world) is much more complex and multi-dimensional than whether a Republican or Democratic president is in office. This is just overwhelming oversimplification, besides being a form of the “complex question” kind of logical fallacy, tying together “progress” and the “Democratic party” as if the two must be accepted or rejected together. It’s an example of what’s called a “non sequitur,” i.e. something that just doesn’t follow. It “doesn’t follow” that just because Republican presidents were elected 70% of the time that less progress was made than if Democratic presidents had been elected. In fact, it’s something we can’t know, a “hypothesis contrary to fact,” as it’s called, an argument from something that didn’t happen, and the consequences of which are unknown and unmeasurable.

There’s certainly a lot more that could be said about this particular remark, and about political posturing in general. I only want to encourage you to think clearly about the issues, and not to be led around aimlessly by some rhetorician’s nose ring, influenced by things that may “sound good” but that are anything but “good and sound.”

Thank you for my few minutes on the soap box!!

The Golden Compass — A Few Reflections

Pastor Haygood — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 22:08:22 +0000

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman, both book and movie, have been somewhat controversial among Christians. How should we think about and engage this sort of material. Here’s a little piece I did a while back entitled “The ‘Chronicles’ or the ‘Compass’?: Worldviews in Conflict”.

Currently reading …

Pastor Haygood — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:50:23 +0000

The Fall of the Evangelical Nation: The Surprising Crisis Inside the Church by Christine Wicker. Review to follow soon.

Spiritual Issues at the Heart of the Debate over Church Membership Rolls

Pastor Haygood — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:34:07 +0000

“A church membership roll that runs two to three times the number of people actually involved is a symptom of a much-deeper problem — one that strikes at the heart of what it means to be a Baptist church and a follower of Jesus, says David Dockery, president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn.” Read the article on Baptist Press HERE …

The Areopagus Christian Study Center

Pastor Haygood — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:47:17 +0000

NOTE: This is a shameless plug for a ministry with which I’m involved.

The Areopagus is an interdenominational Christian education ministry and study center dedicated to serving the metro-Atlanta area.

The mission of The Areopagus is to help equip Christians for ministry and to effectively engage our society and culture with the transforming truth and love of Jesus Christ. To this end, we provide a creative and substantive curriculum that expands their knowledge base, stimulates critical thinking, and challenges them to live faithfully and consistently in accordance with the principles and practices of a Biblical Christian worldview.

The Areopagus sponsors seminars, workshops, and forums on a variety of topics relevant to contemporary Christian education and ministry, including…

Biblical studies
Christian apologetics
Christian history
Comparative worldviews and religions
Contemplative Christian spirituality
Contemporary cultural issues
Literature and the arts
Science and the Christian faith

“In the midst of a society that has lost its moral bearings and is being irreparably corrupted by the insidious forces of secularism, compulsive materialism, and mindless hedonism, the ministry of the Areopagus is all the more essential in terms of challenging Christians to intelligently and effectively engage our culture with the transforming light and truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

– Dr. Jefrey Breshears
Founder and President, The Areaopagus
from “A Retrospective on the Past,
A Vision for the Future”

Please pray for and help support the ministry of The Areopagus here in the Atlanta area and visit our online site here: The Areopagus. You may find a number of forums, seminars, or book reviews in which you’ll be interested.

Hillary is Out: God Save Us From Obama

Pastor Haygood — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:51:20 +0000

The presidential candidates are decided, Now what? Read Professor Doug Groothuis’s comments on the political options HERE!

An Evangelical Manifesto

Pastor Haygood — Thu, 15 May 2008 20:27:20 +0000

“The release of “An Evangelical Manifesto” on May 7 caught the attention of the national media, and thus it represents yet another opportunity for evangelical definition. The document, released May 7, also represents a challenge, for its framers hope to redefine the movement in the context of our unsettled times.”

Read Dr. Mohler’s two-part response:

Pastoral ministry is hard …

Pastor Haygood — Tue, 13 May 2008 05:08:49 +0000

Harder than most people know. Much harder than I ever suspected, I think.

Oh, it’s not the study that’s difficult. It can be demanding, yes, but it’s also very rich and rewarding — intellectually stimulating and spiritually satisfying. And it’s not the teaching and preaching that take a toll at last. Any pastor worth his salt loves to teach his people and loves to preach God’s Word. It’s not the long hours that are exhausting, or the many things that have to be done — meetings attended, visits made, calls returned, emails answered, folks counseled, problems solved, friends walked with, and so on. None of that is what makes ministry hard.

No, what makes it hard are the responses to the work, which (with a few exceptions) are generally things like indifference, boredom, persistent disapproval, criticism, disrespect, insult. Some of the latest figures I can find indicate that 80% of pastors (and 84% of pastor’s spouses) live in a relentless state of discouragement. There was a time in our country, not too long ago, when the pastoral profession was held in some esteem, both in the church and in the community. Now pastors are among the least honorable, and 70% or more say that pastoral ministry has depleted their sense of self-worth and confidence. Fifty percent of pastors say they would leave the ministry tomorrow, if they could, but they have no other way to make a living. The majority of pastor’s wives surveyed said the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.

I wonder what the symptoms of burn-out are. Some days I just weep, and I don’t know why. Sometimes I fantasize about running away, and I wonder if it would even matter. I feel exhausted. I never sleep too well. My blood pressure is elevated. And I just may be self-medicating on caffeine!

Pray for my family, and for me. Pastoral ministry is hard!

Please pray for me …

Pastor Haygood — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:31:41 +0000

I don’t often make personal requests here, but I’d sure appreciate some prayer. As you may know, I became a Type I diabetic about nine years ago, after my immune system, in response to a case of the flu, also killed the little islets that produce insulin. I got very sick very fast and was immediately insulin-dependent. I’ve been on an insulin pump for six or seven years now, and that’s helped a lot, but every day is still a battle. My diabetes is very “brittle,” as they say. I have some pretty wild and extreme swings between insulin lows (hypoglycemia) and glucose highs (hyperglycemia) for no readily apparent reasons. For example, last night I dropped to a 50 and this afternoon hit a 503, with no change in what I eat or what I do during the day. It’s not only very frustrating, it’s debilitating — makes it very hard to read and study and think. And that can get depressing after a while. I’d love to be healed, of course, but my faith is always pretty weak, it seems (I’m an ολιγοπιστος, as Jesus would say, a “little-faith”). I’d be glad just to be able to regulate this thing better. Please just pray with me about this as the Lord brings me to mind. Thank you so much!

“Plant Rights”: Have you seen this yet?

Pastor Haygood — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:05:47 +0000

“An ethics panel in Switzerland has decided that ‘the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong.’ Writing in the current edition of The Weekly Standard, Smith explains that the idea of ‘plant rights’ is now a matter of serious consideration among the Swiss.” Read Dr. Mohler’s reflections HERE!