Whirled Views with Dan Burrell

Bob Byers at Watchman’s Words discovered an interested tidbit about where the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee fall in terms of the relation to the “mainstream” in America about which they are constantly pontificating. Read his comments here.

When you consider RINO’s like Arlen Specter are the Republican representatives on the same committee, the Republican contingent is far more “moderate/mainstream” than the Democrats pretend to be.

Just thought some of you might find this interesting.

Because I’m holed up in a motel room working this week during the afternoons, I’ve had the opportunity to catch a pretty regular stream of the hearings for Samuel Alito as a nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States. I understand politics and how it works. I understand how politics works in a world covered by the electronic media second by second.

That said, this is absolutely one of the most nauseating and absurd political exercises that has ever been inflicted upon the American populace and it absolutely shows in perfect detail that complete and total intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Democratic party as this once proud political institution finds itself hostage to the most extreme and maniacal element of any political party this side of Greenpeace.

The Supreme Court hearing process has turned into the equivalent of a barbaric gauntlet wherein men and gals wearing expensive suits stand in two lines and those on the left side of the line do their best to beat the stuffing out of the nominee while some of those on the other side do their best to pull him through to the end. Those doing the “beating” have no rules of decency, do not care about the family members of the person they are beating, will use anything they can find or manufacture to swing for the beating and have a singular goal — to land as many blows as possible in the hope that one of them will destroy the individual making their way through the guantlet. They are no less savage than those who performed this primitive ritual in days gone by.

If I was a Democrat, I’d be ashamed — ASHAMED to have people like Chucky Schumer, Joe “the Plagiarist” Biden, Teddy Kennedy and the lesser liberals represent me and my party. They lied, they accused, they berated, they lectured, they pontificated, they lied some more. In their extremist world, a person who conscientiously objects to abortion is unqualified to serve the public even though somewhere over 50% of the people in this country are opposed to some forms of abortion. Isn’t it sad that they stake their whole political identity on the right of women and doctors to murder pre-born children?

The Democrats have made Joe McCarthy look like an altar boy. Their arrogance and viciousness should anger dignified and civilized people. They have defamed and abused the good name Alito has worked a lifetime to acquire. I can’t imagine a more barbaric exercise being televised — and Democrats are against public or televised executions? Why?

Just now they are reporting that Mrs. Alito left the room in tears. Perhaps that says it all. What kind of person could sit in a room while the person they love most is verbally flayed for two days without it affecting them? No wonder people don’t want to serve this country on courts….who in their right mind would want to endure this.

Several years ago, I spent nearly an hour with Justice Clarence Thomas in his office in a private appointment. We talked about his hearings and the viciousness he had endured. I looked on his walls and they were covered with framed editorial cartoons that chronicles the attacks madeon him. Fifteen years after he had been seated, Justice Thomas remembered. Every day he remembered. He is now immune to their cutting remarks as he sits in a job where he can’t be dismissed on a whim. But make no mistake, he remembers.

These people are human. They bleed when they cut. And I hope the future Justice Alito will never forget what the liberals, the elected tyrants, the liars and demagogues who have trashed his reputation did to him in January of 2006. I have no doubt from what I’ve seen and heard what kind of man Lance Alito is that he will never resort to revenge from the bench. But I hope he gets a small thrill, when he takes the constitutional position that abortion is not a guaranteed right under the constitution. He will survive this gauntlet. I just hope his heart and soul does.

I hope history buries Chuck Schumer in the scrapheap of forgotten demagogues where he so richly belongs and the sooner, the better.

Note to my BBC students….if you’ve watched any of this on TV, you are watching the consequences of a worldview that is both postmodern and relativistic. For the liberals, the means are irrelevant, goals are primary and not subject to morale confines and changing rules and definitions are perfectly acceptable as tactics.

This entry comes from the historic city of Boston — home of Boston Baptist College (formerly known as Baptist Bible College East). BBC is the only Bible college in the state that is recognized the state board of higher education and under the leadership of dedicated educator, David Melton, this school is making significant strides into being a beachhead for training young New Englander’s for reaching this needy area of the country with the Gospel.

This is my fourth year of teaching at BBC. Every one who graduates from BBC must take the course that I teach. (I actually teach the front end of a 2-week interterm course — I provide the heavy lifting of 25 hours of lectures on Worldview, Philosophy, Comparative Religions and Apologetics. Next week, they begin work on an application practicum, visit some non-Christian institutions and do some practical exercises.) It’s a pretty intensive topic. For example today we compared a Theistic Worldview with a variety of other perspectives including Pantheism, Panetheism, Atheism, Naturalism, Postmodernism, Existentialism, Nihilism, New Age and a lot of other “isms”. Watching students try to get their intellectual arms around the nihilistic and existential concepts of ultimate reality, living in a box of experience and the ramifications of those philosophies is a fascinating and challenging exercise. Those that don’t slip into a coma, end up with a level of discernment that will be a useful tool as they challenge a culture that has long since abandoned a Biblial Worldview.

Each year, I enjoy taking in a different facet of Boston and the surrounding area. I hope I will be able to eek out a couple of hours to do that this year. One of the highlights of this week is when President Melton, a Harvard alum, takes us to the Harvard Faculty club for lunch. They serve a banana/bread pudding there that certainly was first created in Heaven. (It might well be the most spiritual thing on the entire campus.) It’s a blast to sit in a dining room decorated with over-stuffed chairs, cherry paneling, art and sculptures as tweed-jacketed professors (replete with leather-patch elbows) hold conversations in foreign languages about topics I don’t even fake trying to comprehend. I feel smarter just being in the room. I always keep thinking, “How did I end up here from Moberly, Missouri (my hometown)?”

I do have a few observations about my time in Boston….

• I always think of New Englanders as fairly-well educated folks. If that is this case, I’m always amazed at how many of them smoke. Maybe its because they have strict indoor smoking laws or something, but there are a LOT of smokers here…or at least more than I expected and I live in North Carolina. As for good breeding, I dropped by a mall earlier this evening and some 20-something lady with a baby and holding a cigarette hocked up a loogie and nearly spit it on my shoe as I was walking by her.
• I’m quite surprised at the number of Muslims in this neck of the country. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering some of them used Boston’s Logan Airport as a starting point on 9/11, but everywhere I turn, there’s another Muslim family, speaking Arabic and wearing their garb. Of course, I see a lot more in Charlotte than one would think as well.
• It makes me sad to see all the old churches that once actually were part of the work of the Gospel and which now are nothing more than social clubs or dead monuments to what once was. The place of Moody and other great revivalists is now a cold mission field in need of a new spiritual awakening.
• In a wierd quirk, along Interstate 93, it is legal to drive on the shoulders of the roads during certain hours. It is unnerving to see folks buzzing along the break-down lanes at 70 mph. But it is also cool and I always try to drive on them as well just for the cheap thrill of it all.
• The food in Boston is just great all the way around. From Italian to Seafood to everything in between, it is just great. I’d weigh 300 pounds if I lived here.
• We are experiencing a heat wave here. It’s been in the 40’s daily. Two years ago, I don’t believe it got above 0 degrees most days and and every year it seems to snow. I’m thinking people who buy natural gas to heat their homes gotta’ be happy about this warm snap.

Well, that’s my update. Nothing substantive, but just some miscellaneous thoughts as I enjoy teaching another generation of Boston Baptist graduates.

Four-day work weeks are mixed blessings. I enjoyed taking Monday off, but of course that leaves me with the same work crammed into four days. My blog numbers have been at record levels this week and Ive been getting a lot of fan and not-a-fan email (more of the former than the latter, I would hasten to add). I dont have time for a whole-blown blog entry for today, but I have a lot of niggly little comments Im going to post to allow some desk clearing. So, as usual, in no particular order.

1. Next week, this blog will be brought to you from Boston (technically Dedham), MA where I will be teaching a Senior Level Course at Boston Baptist College where my good friend, David Melton is the new President. This is my fourth year teaching this course and I really look forward to it. The course includes philosophy, worldview, comparative religions and some apologetics. Coma-inducing for slow thinkers, but more fun than Disney if you like intellectual exercises. David Melton holds a graduate degree from Harvard and is one of the rising young-stars among fundamentalist thinkers. Boston Baptist is a small, but important school that is training young people to stay in the New England area one of the most needy and hardened parts of the country.

2. Its interesting for me to see which of my blog entries create the most interest. Without a doubt, the top interest article in 2005 was my Review of the News for Fundamentalists and Evangelicals. Ive been linked to some very large aggregators, linked to multiple blogs, received inquiries and comments from folks ranging from the editor of a top Evangelical Magazine to Pastors and administrators of schools. The greatest criticism and commentary has come from my Catholic friends several of whom are great guys with excellent knowledge of their beliefs. Apparently, I have made some within the leadership of some of the Fundamentalist institutions I mentioned a bit nervous to which I would reply, theres no reason to be anxious unless you have something about which to be anxious. Im not Geraldo, for Petes sake. With my thoughts and 50 cents you can get a cup of coffee. But remember this, you often learn more from your critics than you do your complementors, so think about it. And yes, Im still going to post something about the state of Fundamentalist Christian institutions in the weeks to come.

3. I didnt post anything about Pat Robertson (at least this time) and his asinine statements regarding the illness of Prime Minister Sharon. He should be ashamed to share the title of Stupidest Comments of the Week with none other than the President of Iran. I do believe his comments are indicative of an arrogance that goes hand-in-hand with our national propensity for turning religious leaders into icons. Hes unaccountable, arrogant and disruptive. I received correspondence from one of our faithful and dear missionaries who has served the Lord with New Tribes Missions in Venezuela for years. They are finalizing their packing as they have been expelled by the Dictator of Venezuela who, reacting to stupid earlier comments by Robertson that suggested the US should assassinate Chavez, expelled all the missionaries. Their expulsion and the spiritual impact it causes is on Robertsons hands as far as Im concerned. Other than that, Robertson is not worthy any more of my ink.

4. Im giving my annual State of the Church message this week to the membership of Northside Baptist. I may put portions of it on this blog sometime next week or you can hear it at www.northsidebaptistchurch.com. Beginning this month, you may also view our services in their entirety via live video stream from your computer.

5. I dont think the Republicans really realize how bad the November elections are going to be for them unless they get their acts together and NOW. I predicted last year that they would lose at least one of the houses of Congress if nothing changes before November and Ive seen nothing happen that would make me change that prediction.

6. John Piper is one of the most interesting guys I read. Some of his stuff really challenges me. Ive been put off a few times by other positions associated with him including the recent controversy on accepting paedobaptism as legitimate (though their elders have recently put that position on hold.) Particularly disturbing is one of their statements in their articles of belief that sounds too much like progressive justification for me. But he is one of the most prolific Christian pens going right now and is, without a doubt, a major voice of evangelical Christianity today. News is now public that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Though the prognosis looks good, we should still be praying for this brother.

7. Lots of folks asked me for my opinions on the Narnia movie and King Kong. Liked Narnia. Didnt like Kong.

8. I get a lot of emailsI mean a LOT. Often more than 100 a day. I find that Im just overwhelmed trying to answer them all. Particularly for our Northside family, I want to assure everyone that I personally read every single email. I do my best to respond to as many as I can. (In fact, I plan on spending a lot of my down time in Boston doing just that.) However, I just cant humanly reply to every single one as much as Id like to do so. Please forgive me if you dont hear back from me, but do know I appreciate hearing from folks and I do read every one I receive. Im not trying to be rude, Im not important, you ARE important theres just not enough time in my life to always do what Id like to be able to do.

And with that, I need to run. Be in church on Sunday! Make it your plan to be engaged in the worship by praying, listening, singing, responding. Find someone near you and reach out to them in edification. Make it your mission to encourage them. And as always, thanks for reading my lil ol blog!

If someone were to ask you if the church you attend is friendly, I imagine that you as most others would answer, Sure! I mean, were friendly, arent we? We shake hands, we know folks, we pray for each other, we give the visitors special parking and a little sticker to put on their lapel. Doesnt that qualify as friendly?

As a transplant to true Southern culture (not to be confused with the culture of South Florida where I previously lived), I have found that we often confuse being friendly with being a friend.

In our minds, perhaps. We aim to be friendly. We feel friendly. We even want to be friendly. But probably, in too many churches, guests feel like outsiders in spite of our intentions.

When you consider how much effort is spent trying to get people to come into the church, youd think that wed be a little more mindful of how we treat them once they do drop in for a visit. We advertise, promote, invite and even bribe people to come visit our church, yet there is growing evidence that we are putting our attention in the wrong place.

Studies have shown that the single most important factor in predicting whether a church will grow is not the number of visitors that come through the doors; it is the percentage of them that stick around. It is the Velcro Factor; not the Magnet Factor.

Research indicates that there is very little difference between growing churches and churches that are at a plateau with respect to the Magnet Factor. Both growing churches and stagnant churches have visitors. Both have around 3% - 5% visiting. This is plenty of visitors to meet, evangelize, disciple and get to know. The big difference between growing churches and flat-lined churches is that in growing churches, the visitors stick around. Growing churches are sticky. This is the single most important factor in predicting the growth of a church The Velcro Factor.

The single most important factor in predicting the Velcro factor is the Attention Factor - how much personal attention we pay to visitors. The single best way to pay attention to visitors is to see that someone - and hopefully several someones - invite visitors to lunch, pizza or an evening of fellowship. The single most important factor in predicting whether people invite visitors to lunch is the example of the leadership (pastor, staff, deacons, teachers, disciplers, class officers, …).

Now keep in mind that in many cases we might even be dealing with folks who do not have a relationship with Christ. Perhaps they came as a result of a special invitation from someone, maybe they are going through a crisis in their life, maybe there was a special speaker or even that drew them into your church. In these cases, building a relationship wherein we can communicate the Gospel of Christ is of utmost importance.

Few people will stumble into a church, hear a gospel sermon and find themselves at an altar repenting of their sins and accepting Gods grace for eternal life. In todays culture, people are often cynical or at least inquisitive. The idea of quickie conversions that largely consist of an emotional response to a manipulative message and crowned with a repeat-after-me prayer is as ludicrous as it is unscriptural. Indeed, some conversions are faster than others we must not take shortcuts to teaching the full message of the gospel to those being called by the Holy Spirit to salvation.

Part of communicating the gospel is establishing a relationship, ascertaining ones spiritual need and patiently answering questions and explaining Truth. This means we need people skills and a spirit of hospitality. Thats why Paul reminded us that we are Ambassadors of Christ Jesus our demeanor, our attitude, our love for people are all used by the Lord as He draws people to Himself.

Perhaps this is why Paul noted that hospitality is to be a qualification for leadership in the Christian church: Church leaders must “be given to hospitality.” Titus 1:7-8

We must not only have guests in our home or take them to lunch or invite them to an event with us, but we should enjoy it. It is the most important thing. If we do that, we can lead others to do so. If we do that, we can enjoy a healthy Velcro Factor and see plenty of visitors join, many of them accepting God’s love for them for the first time.

Since beginning to think about this, Ive watched the behavior in my own church not just our members, but my own. Often, it is easy to spot a new face and go up and welcome them warmly, shake their hand and ask them how they are doing. But then, we tend to move quickly on to more familiar territory where conversations are conducted and continued. Hugs are exchanged. Plans are made.

As a pastor, Ive rarely experienced what it is like to attend a church as an outsider for the first time. Im either in my role as a pastor or Im an invited guest to speak. I recall visiting in a large church in Greenville, South Carolina a few years ago with a black friend and noting the underlying racial tension that existed in what was an all-white congregation. I can remember wanting to bolt from the door feeling out of place and uncomfortable.

Im committing to becoming more hospitable to those around me. Whether it is toward the waitress at the restaurant that waits on me regularly or the family thats just moved to town and are looking for a church (and a doctor and a barber and the right grocery store), I want to go beyond being friendly and genuinely be a friend. Somehow I think if I change my focus on what is really friendly behavior Ill be able to point them to Christ and His family with greater ease and success.

The edgy and controversial new movie, Brokeback Mountain has been an instant favorite of the artsy and leftist Hollywood crowd and liberal activists and the recipient of fawning reviews of the majority of professional reviews. It is being depicted as a breakthrough movie which will forever change the way we view homosexuality, cowboys and homophobia. If I were a betting man, Id say the producers should start writing their Oscar speeches as the Academy loves to recognize financially unsuccessful, but snobbishly liberal movies like this one at the annual Academy Awards.

Im a big fan of westerns and cowboy stories and the whole American Expansion genre of movies, books and art. However, I have no more interest in paying eight bucks to view a propaganda piece which has been created to trash Christian values or promoting unbiblical ones than I am in sitting in a brightly lit gulag listening to a tape of Fidel Castro espouse the virtues of Communism.

That said, Al Mohler offered a commentary (see at www.albertmohler.com) recently that provoked a lot of thought in my own mind and some interesting conversations with male friends of mine. Mohler, President of Southern Seminary and a leading evangelical thinker and scholar, opined on the impact that the in-your-face promotion of homosexuality is causing on authentic relationships between men. I think he has a point.

In the Brokeback Mountain story, apparently two cowboys fall in love, marry women while maintaining a private sexual relationship between themselves which revolves around periodic trips into the wilderness under the guise of fishing or hunting. Using soft camera focus and tasteful editing, the producer works to convince the viewer of the beauty of their physical relationship that centers on their homosexual attraction and the pain they have because their love is not accepted by an [implied] bigoted culture.

When I was a kid, groups of teenage boys thought nothing of heading for the woods for a few days of fishing, exploring even skinny dipping. Men often went on trips together to enjoy some male fellowship, hearty exercise or sport and the kind of camaraderie that most women would find unappealing, if not irritating. It wasnt about anything remotely sexual. It was just a couple of guys or a group of men hanging out, enjoying their friendship and being wellmen. There was usually food involved, some gross conversation, a complete absence of scatalogical discretion and often a good deal of rough housing. But there was absolutely no kissing. None.

What is commonly called today, “Male Bonding” has historically been an important part of a man’s life and part of attaining manhood. It’s where brothers made memories with each other. It’s when fathers and sons discussed the important and the mundane. Whether on a ball field, on a fishing trip, in a gym lockerroom or at a Church men’s retreat, there were life lessons that could best or only be taught when guys get together.

Today, we have a culture that has sexualized so much of life that there is almost a stigma attached to the kind of relational non-sexual intimacy that men used to enjoy and take for granted. Men think twice before giving a hug and thumping someone on the back with affection. Sharing a tent, taking a cross-country trip or popping someone on the rear-end with a towel after a hard-fought basketball game is likely to invite smirks or raised eyebrows by people who have now bought into the notion that men cant be close friends without there being some sort of underlying homosexual attraction.

Extremist gays have gone as far as to suggest that relationships recorded in Scripture between men like David and Jonathan, Paul and Barnabas or even Jesus and John were somehow perverted instances of homosexual love. By doing so, they hope to rationalize acceptance of their Biblically condemned conduct or at least cloud or confuse those who are woefully ignorant of both Scripture and relationships.

Men need other men in their lives. Men sharpen each other, challenge each other, understand each other. Men were not intended to live solitary lives or lives only around their wives. Men are more than work relationships and even family relationships. Scripture is filled with male relationships which exhibited deep and heart-filled love, loyalty, devotion and sacrifice. David described his love for Jonathan as exceeding the love he had for his wives.

Many men today are living lonely lives or lives made emptier due to the absence of a male friend because of the new stigma of homosexuality brought into our national psyche by the aggressive agenda of liberal activists. Men ought not be intimidated out of having authentic and healthy relationships with other men simply because Hollywood and homosexuals are too shallow to understand that the world does not revolve around sex.

Healthy male relationships make for stronger Christian leaders, more accountable husbands, more balanced fathers and positive and encouraging relationships. Dont let the ridiculous characterizations of people who dont understand Gods plan for relationships, sexuality and accountability keep you from enjoying the companionship of a Godly friend.