Letter to a Friend

James, Please forgive the delay in responding.
I'm so thankful for you, and esp. your willingness to use your formidable intellect and broad-scoped thinking to propagate the Gospel. It has always, since the time of Christ's coming, been of ultimate importance to do so, but especially in our time when the collective mind is flooded with so much stimuli, and man is armed with powers as never before--military and communicative powers. The materialistic promises and impressive advances of science have had the effect of drawing our minds away from the deeper experiences of the soul; and even cast doubt upon their existence, since they can not yet be measured in the laboratory. Yet we see in societal ills the deleterious effects of such ignorance. [I do not say this in arrogance.]  There are spiritually blind men who possess a high degree of intelligence, and these must be countered by intelligent faith. This is true because humans are impressed by intelligence. Men whose philosophy makes no sense at all in its core can assemble great crowds of followers when the philosophy is clothed in intelligence and presented in bold confidence. But, of course, no philosophy can compare with the Love of Jesus Christ, without which all philosophies, all systems of government, in fact every pursuit of man becomes vain and meaningless, arrogant, and doomed to degenerate into the struggle for power.
Jesus has rescued us from this darkness. And we can now live in a growing, infinite peace, powered by a growing, secure knowledge that we are now connected with the fathomlessly glorious Creator of the universe, who is Love!
 I quote Julian of Norwich:
"Truth sees God; wisdom contemplates God; and of these two comes a third: a holy and wonderful delight in God, who is love."
This contemplation and its resultant delight is the wellspring from which evangelism [including apologetics] flows.
We are not thwarted by the pain that we continue to feel in our hearts; nor by our fears and lack of confidence. The pain is the "cross"  that Jesus has called us to bear; the same that He bore--life in this fallen world. It is the pain that drives us to love people with His Love--the only solution to the pain--both theirs and ours. We embrace it in the peace that He gives us—that transcends the circumstances.
We experience ever more deeply the reality of being “in, but not of the world.” We persevere—not in growing strain, but in growing peace and rest and strength, like the widening river as it approaches the ocean.
I've written enough. I mainly want to thank you and encourage you in this supremely important work of fulfilling His great command [Mt. 28], using our particular gifts and speaking into our particular sphere of influence.
You are a good brother, and I thank God for you.
Mark

Charlottesville, Christianity and Atheism

Hatred of persons is forbidden by Christ {Matthew 5:44}. No political agenda, therefore, that promotes hatred of any person or people group can legitimately claim to be Christian.

The recent events in Charlottesville, VA may be interpreted as the result of the waning influence of Christianity in American culture, coupled with the fact that humans are innately bent toward supreme devotion to something. If we are not devoted to the God of this universe Who is love {1Jn 4:8}—the God of Jesus Christ—then we either languish in meaninglessness or attach ourselves to some purpose; anything from saving whales {a noble endeavor} to promoting one's own race above other races {an ignoble one by Christian and perhaps all rational standards}. This is why it is important not to suppress the evangelistic efforts of the Christian faith. To use a metaphor that I read somewhere: The fires of Christianity are like the fires of the ancient cave men that held at bay the ravenous beasts that would otherwise devour them. As long as the fire burned brightly, men were safe. But you could see the glaring eyes of the hungry beasts around the perimeter of light.

Christianity unifies in love. This is the expressed prayer of Jesus {John 17}. Outside of this unifying love there are hundreds of motivating pursuits that potentially divide people against each other. If our egos are not subdued by a conscious submission to the love of Christ, they dominate the personality, and the “common good” gets left behind in the dust. Our Founding Fathers were clear on this. They knew that government “of, by and for the people” could only prosper in a culture of spiritually mature people who could overcome selfish motives and work, sometimes sacrificially, for the common good. And they also knew, from personal experience, the value of legitimate religion, particularly the teachings of Christ, in bringing men to this level of maturity. That is why we see religion protected from the State, and hear words such as “endowed by their Creator...”.

This belief that free government is bolstered and preserved by religion {and the ensuing morality} is clearly set forth in George Washington's Farewell Address of 1796. Quoting therefrom:

…Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

I compare atheism to cancer, and Christianity to the immune system. All human bodies contain some cancer cells, but our immune system protects us from their aggressive spread. If the immune system is suppressed, cancer flourishes and, ironically, ultimately destroys its own host. There is something sinister in any efforts to subvert or suppress a religion that promotes the love of all humankind—a willingness to practice unselfish, sacrificial service to one's fellows, even those very different from oneself. The life and teachings of Christ exposed, and exposes, that darkness. But the demons scream, criticize and attack—now as then. Or else sit and smile in smug, but ignorant, condescension.

Meanwhile, earnest Christians continue confessing their sins, looking to God to help them become better human beings, love their enemies and help those in need as Christ commanded, receiving the gifts of peace, joy and abundant life expressly promised by their Lord, forgiving, and then ignoring those who gloatingly point at their failures, realizing that they “know not what they do.” 

Mark Graham 

Crusades and Jihad {James Willis}

"Here's a response I've been earnestly working out for myself through research to respond to the comparison of modern day Islamic jihadist terror with so called Christian Crusades, as if this is historical justification for jihad, and 'an eye for an eye'. The comparison simply doesn't work if you consider historical facts for the purposes of justification, but ironically the comparison works for enlightening the flaws of jihad.

The Crusades, there were several, were a bad response to the violence of Muslims upon Christian sojourners traveling to the Holy Land, which was used in part as a pretense by Roman Catholic popes at the time to organize a so called holy war to 'defend the faith' and Jerusalem, also in part as a means of establishing an increase in the economic and military power, and the sphere of political influence of the Roman Catholic popes. The Roman Catholic popes at the time, (there were initially more than one at one time) were struggling for power among themselves and with various emperors and kings to rule both church and state. One can argue the 'chick or the egg' theory as to whether or not the economic, military and political power was needed to organize resistance against the Muslim attackers of Christians and infidels, however, that question is still unsettled to this day and ironically is stimulated by the phenomenon of Islamic jihad.

Although the violence of the Muslims attacking Christians in and on the way to the Holy Land was the original trigger for this corruption in the Roman Catholic church, yet there have been at least two major modern responses to this corruption of note:

1- Martin Luther in the Christian Reformation sought to bring visibility within the church, of the corruption within the Roman Catholic church doctrine and practices of the time, and to separate and preserve both the doctrine and practice of the truth as revealed by God through Jesus Christ. Direct evidence of this can be read in Martin Luther's writings, as well as the words of Christ, and of his witness by John in the Gospel of John. When John writes "in the beginning was the Word", John is referring to that which created the universe according to the Greeks - Logos - becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ but that is not all that was revealed through John. Whereas the Roman Catholic church, in error, teaches that salvation is through Jesus Christ but only through the Roman Catholic church sacraments, in contrast Christians  believe not that God became man or part of man as if descending, but that God through Jesus Christ adopted man into Himself through salvation. Further, in providing propitiation to Himself for our sins through Jesus Christ, God invalidated the need for man to attempt atonement for sins by animal sacrifice or by jihad, as a 'way to God'.

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. ( 1 John 2:1 Isaiah 2:1-2 )

2- The United States was founded in part in response to the corruption of church and state known at the time in the Church of England. Although progressive activists would have us believe that the United States consitution  provides for separation of church and state so that church has no influence on state affairs, the founders of the US believed that separation of church and state was the other way round, i.e., that the state has no business regulating and governing the affairs of the church. In this way, men of the church would influence state affairs by being Godly men.

Here's a rough timeline
Muhammad dies 632 AD ->
oldest Quran 790AD, oldest fragments 725AD ->
Hadith (modifies Quran by some, history ongoing) ->
Muslim attacks on Rome and Churches 846, 850, 886-908 AD ->
Crusades 1096-1291AD ->
Martin Luther, reformation 1521 AD ->
United States founding as a nation, 1776 AD->
First Barbary War, Muslim attacks on United States ships with Quran as authority 1801 AD ->
Second Barbary War, Muslim attacks on United States ships with Quran as authority 1815 AD
etc

In contrast to these two corrective measures described above, both the preservation of Christianity apart from the Roman Catholic church (justification is by faith alone, Christ alone, scripture alone, i.e., not dispensed by the Roman Catholic church and sacraments) and the establishment of a Christian nation indivisible, and under God, what we see from those that claim a similarity of current Islamic jihad with the Crusades of the middle ages is simply continued violence upon God's people and other so called infidels. Where is the corrective action on the part of these perpetrators of violence? The corrective action is against those that don't believe in Islam.

Consider, from a global perspective above religion the corrective action of the jihadists appears as backward progress.

However, the perpetrators of jihad would have us believe that their dedication to Allah, intended in part to be atonement on their part for sin and evidence of right living, and to achieve Allah's favor and therefore attainment of paradise, would be gained by their own works for the propitiation of their sin and God's wrath by the sacrifice of Christians and all other so called infidels, like animals at an ancient alter. Only a psychopath will pour gasoline over a captured Jordanian pilot, light him on fire and film him as he screams to death.
Psychopaths that use religion as a cover story are still psychopaths or worse.
Fortunately psychopaths can't ultimately skew the truth of Christ's revelation, only the intentional blindness of the individual to the truth of Christ's revelation will do that, call it voluntary deception.

Further, if someone still claims that the Crusades are justification of Islamic jihad, then they must also acknowledge that the violence perpetrated by Muslims at the founding of Islam hundreds of years before the Crusades, must be owned by the Muslims of today. It works both ways - either human beings make real progress over the mistakes of the past or they will inevitably repeat them.

Instead, Islamic jihad is just one prong of a multi prong attack on diverse cultures different from Islam.
While the news focuses on jihadist terror operations and results, and the filming of captured, tortured, assassinated so called infidels in jihadist videos, the jurisprudence of entire nations are bending under the multicultural pressure of Islamic law fighters that claim, and I paraphrase, "because you offend me, you must change your laws, until they are my laws". This attempt to take over other nations throughout history both through violence and through political change and the resistance of target nations is often veiled in phrases like a "reaction to the expansion of Muslims" or "as a result of the expansion of Islam" to shift the focus to the intolerance of the nation that resists the real goals of jihad from the actors that are trying to bring about change.

Finally, for anyone that compares the Crusades to modern day jihad for justification, note that the comparison brings down the jihadist and the crusader in the argument- both parties used the concept of holy war for the secular purposes of gaining power and influence. Even so, the origin of the Crusades (1096-1291) is based in defensive action albeit with corruption, whereas the origin of jihad is based in offensive action, arguably also with corruption.
James Willis

Fifty Year Class Reunion Speech

Fifty years! I trust you have let that sink in. The Bible says our life is like a mist that arises for a moment then disappears—like grass that withers in the noonday sun. C. S. Lewis said, "to be in time is to change." Time means change. It's inevitable. It's those old scientific laws of gravity, of friction, and entropy. And from our graduation day until today, we have had a lot of it. In particular, we've had to adapt to new personal technologies — email, the Internet, texting, Facebook, selfies, flash drives, Bluetooth — all unheard of in 1967. In fact when I typed those words in my word processor, some of them came up redlined. “Bluetooth, texting and selfies” have not yet been added to the spellcheck dictionary! “Facebook and Internet” made the cut though. But they may not have at our last reunion! We have probably seen more technological change in our lifetimes than in the past three generations combined. And the accompanying social and moral changes. A few years ago I visited our campus while Faye, Lynn's Mom was living in the retirement community across the street from it. I saw something etched on one of the glass windows that I never saw in my 12 years at the school: The “F” word. I had a small anxiety attack—felt like running away quickly thinking, “O my God! Somebody's in a world of trouble, and I don't want to be suspected. They'll probably shut down the whole school until somebody confesses! And if no one does, Coach Hayes will probably line up the whole school and give every one a lick”. ... Then I remembered that times have changed. Our society certainly has become more desensitized to vulgarity in our lifetimes. In our lifetimes we've either progressed or regressed from a time when Ed Sullivan wouldn't show Elvis from the waste down because it was too suggestive, and Lucy and Ricky slept in separate beds, to Victoria Secret commercials and beyond.

Over these 50 years some got married, and some divorced, and some remarried. Some became parents, some early on, some later. Some of us went to Vietnam. Some watched it on TV—the first generation that was able to watch a war unfold in real time. We've all had to, in some ways deal with the confusion, grief, anger and guilt that resulted from it. We've seen TV programming evolve from extremely unreal to extremely, sometimes refreshingly, sometimes sickeningly real. Those of us who've had children are still helping them [and our grandchildren] negotiate this complex, bloated society. As some of you know, I've lost one—a very good one—to drug addiction. Most families have been impacted in some way by addiction. We've learned that prosperity only blesses when it's paralleled by spiritual maturity. And it is usually the pain of deprivation that drives us to spiritual maturity. Prosperity puts us out of touch with our deprivation. When God was delivering the Hebrews into the Promised Land, He warned them solemnly about becoming “full, fat, and forgetful.” He even commanded a set of rituals designed to keep them mindful that they had not delivered themselves—that they owed a debt of gratitude to Him and obedience to His commands if they wanted to continue to prosper. They failed. I still hope we won't. But if we do, I want to be among the faithful remnant. One thing is for sure; we have certainly lived in at least a close proximity to the Promised Land; evident in any study of human history. We have been blessed on this big bountiful continent! We owe our Founding Fathers a debt of gratitude for giving us a democracy and a system of government that has built in protections against the ever-threatening lust for power.

I'm thankful that they were men of faith and prayer.

I told some friends recently that I had this vision of my life like a river. Earlier, in those cold mountains where the river originated, there were many twists and turns down the descending rocky stream—alot of waterfalls and boulders to avoid. There were people in my boat who depended on me to steer us clear of the dangers. Sometimes I ran aground or faltered, and we all suffered. I had to pay better attention to what I was doing. Diligence was necessary. Had to decide which fork in the river would take me in the right direction. The river was moving fast..for a long time. But one day, not too long ago, as I took time to look around, I realized that the river was wider now, and moving more slowly. The noises along the river banks was quieter—fading away in the distance. I started to put a paddle in the water, as I was accustomed to doing, and realized that the boat was floating right on down the river, just fine without a lot of effort—at least that kind of effort. I laid back and, for the first time in a long time, looked at the beautiful amazing sky. I felt a little anxious at first—like I was ignoring something—so I sat back up and looked around. But sure enough, everything was Ok! And as I let that Okness sink down deep into my soul, I relaxed my gut for the first time, maybe since I was a baby at Momma's breast. And those words that I had read and even studied in seminary took on a more profound meaning for me: “I have calmed and quieted my soul. Even as a baby at its mother's breast is my soul.” “Peace I give to you. My peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” “Fear not. Let not your heart be troubled...” “Be still and know that He is God.”

Diligence is still required—the diligence to guard my heart against whatever is dark in our culture—and in myself! All that stuff that steals and kills and destroys our peace and faith, hope and love—especially our love. Jesus said that, in the end times, because there would be much evil, that our love would wax cold. I can see how that happens. It's hard to love in a culture of apathy, hedonism and hatred. But He said that whoever endures to the end will be saved! That's what I want us to do—endure. Keep on loving our people all the way to the end. Just like I saw my mom and dad do. When I think of all my teachers at BB Comer [school], I realize they were loving me. I never felt mistreated by any of them. I appreciate their stern requirements that shook me a little, and caused me to begin waking up. I never want to stop waking up. And, as you've already surmised, Jesus has been the most unspeakably profound influence in my life. I give Him credit for all that is good in me, because without Him, it would have been choked out by what is not good in me.

That brings up the thought that, despite all this change, there are thankfully some things that don't change. Just like Babe Ruth said, “The most important thing is love; but baseball is good too.” “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” The most important thing is still love—the love that Jesus brings us to in a powerful and commanding way; and that he keeps us rooted and grounded in despite the glaring distractions of change. The love that is the greatest adventure of life. As that river of life gets closer and closer to the infinite ocean, all that stuff that doesn't matter—all those distractions—really do begin to fade away. We let those who are in a hurry dash past us. We've learned that it doesn't do any good to push the river. We're gonna reach the place we're going to. I wrote this poem some years ago:

Why are we going so fast, so fast?

Why are we going so fast?

Where will we end up at last, at last?

Where will we end up at last?

Why are we going so fast to where we will end up at last?

Maybe a good way to think of our life span is: it's like a process of waking up. We see the process clearly in our little infants; new born; squinting their eyes in the bright light outside the womb. Unable to open their eyes in the bright light of day. Then growing onward they begin to realize that they are a self—they have a separate identity—the terrible two's—waking up to insects, rocks, and other people—the ocean for the first time. Discovering later that there are people who believe differently than they and their parents—about the most important things: God, Truth, Eternity. We wake up to the fact that relationships are as tough as they are important. We wake up to deep and profound pain that either defeats us or sends us on a quest for Truth. Pain awakens us! We discover that we're going to die. Then, like Ernest Becker pointed out in his book, The Denial of Death, we spend some energy trying to distract ourselves from that fact. If we're blessed, and especially at our age, we stop doing that. We look at death squarely in the face; and keep looking, and looking until he smiles at us and gives us some important wisdom. “Your days are limited and precious. Live them well. Sow good seeds. Love your people well,” death says to us. “And by the way, I am not the end. I am a doorway, just like Jesus said.” We wake up to freedom from fear. We wake up again, as when we were children, to the wonder of each present moment. The mystery of a blade of grass, a flower, a child's precious mind. And we may grieve some, knowing that we've missed some things. We've strained out some gnats and swallowed some camels. We lost some of our people before we could love them very well. We made some bad decisions with long-term affects. We've been in some darkness, and, in that darkness, even perpetrated some evil. We've hurt some people. But when we face that darkness in us, and take responsibility for it, we hear Jesus say, “Father forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing.” A major part of waking up is realizing that we didn't know what we were doing. And still don't to some degree. We still “see through a glass darkly” as Paul wrote. At some point in the awakening process, if we carry it all the way through, we fall on our knees and say “God have mercy on me, a sinner!” And if we are listening, carefully, intently, to that still small voice, we hear Him say “You are justified. I forgive you. I love you more than you love your children and grandchildren. I am the One Who put that Love in your heart. All is well. The universe has been designed lovingly to get you to this place. You have arrived. You are home, as well as going home. Go, and sin no more. I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”

What a wonderful awakening that is! Now we are no longer walking in darkness, but in the Light of Jesus Christ, the Eternal Light of the world. But this is not the Jesus that we thought we knew—the “religious” Jesus. This is the Jesus who imagined a butterfly and the process of conception. Bigger than we can imagine. The Author of imagination. Above all our concepts; and closer than the beating of our hearts. We understand now that all our suffering, all our mistakes and weaknesses were part of the Great Plan. And we find rest for our souls.

May He bless us as we strive peacefully to impart the wisdom that He has given us to the coming generations. May we not allow our weaknesses and failures prevent us from pointing others in the direction of the One who embraces all those failures in Grace and Love—the One Who has enabled us to refine what we have been given by our elders—our teachers and parents, pastors and guides. In this final leg of our journey, may we bring all that we have gleaned from life into a laser beam focus. May we build a solid foundation for the next generation to stand upon as they take life to the next level. May we not leave any Truth unspoken, nor any Love unexpressed when we depart from this amazing journey; when this river reaches its end, and our lives pour out into the infinite ocean of eternity, where God's Love will be more evident than ever.

Mark Graham