stillhaventfound.org

International Development:

1) The New York Times on Preaching Free-Market Gospel in Skeptical Africa.

2) BusinessWeek on Acumen’s New Model for Third-World Aid.

3) Cleaning product firm SC Johnson chasing the Bottom of the Pyramid.

4) Joseph Stiglitz on how we should respond to corruption in development.

5) The Washington Times on why free trade in America loses out to protectionism.

Politics & Economics:

6) Barack Obama, the radical centrist.

Progressive Christianity:

7) World Vision, the AIDS evangelists.

8) Essential concerns regarding the Emerging Church.

Others:

9) Daily Times on idealism and realism in life and politics.

10) Slate has a series of articles on philanthropy.

My work with the pastors and laypeople there deepened my resolve to lead a public life, but it also forced me to confront a dilemma that my mother never fully resolved in her own life: the fact that I had no community or shared traditions in which to ground my most deeply held beliefs. The Christians with whom I worked recognized themselves in me; they saw that I knew their Book and shared their values and sang their songs. But they sensed that a part of me remained removed, detached, an observer among them. I came to realize that without an unequivocal commitment to a particular community of faith, I would be consigned at some level to always remain apart, free in the way that my mother was free, but also alone in the same ways she was ultimately alone.

(Barack Obama, My Spiritual Journey)

International Development:

1) The Boston Globe on whether fair trade labelling is losing its meaning?

2) BusinessWeek on what happens when organic food goes mass market.

3) The Sydney Morning Herald on the difficulties of being an ethical consumer.

4) The New York Times on philanthropreneurs: philanthropists out to harness the marketplace as a force for doing good in the developing world.

5) Creative advertising on poverty.

Politics & Economics:

6) China’s New Left calls for a social alternative.

Progressive Christianity:

7) The Washington Post on stereotyping evangelicals.

8) Not a bad try at differentiating between Evangelicals and Fundamentalists.

Others:

9) What does it mean to eat ethically?

10) Eurozine on multiculturalism: see here and here.

More than once I have visited with pastors who have spent hours immersed in pornography and then gone on to preach their most “spirit-filled” sermons against immorality a day or two later. It’s a disconnect that boggles the rational mind. (Gordon MacDonald, The Haggard Truth)

How could one of the most prominent and respected evangelical leaders turn out to be such a deceiver at heart? Indeed, his Church was one of the fastest growing Churches in America and it wasn’t too long ago that he became the president of the 30 million member National Association of Evangelicals (NAE). All this occurred while he was deceiving his congregation and millions others by living a sexually immoral lifestyle. How could all these blessings take place in his life when he was living a life so contrary to God’s will? Certainly, this is a question that many people have been asking. Yet I think in the end this is the wrong question.

Why do I think such questions are ultimately the wrong ones to ask? The reason is that they are based upon a very simplistic logic that God blesses those who are obedient to Him and therefore if a person’s ministry is being blessed it is because the person has been obedient to God. Now, there is no doubt that many verses in the Bible speak of God blessing His children’s obedience and also of His children prospering (in every way) because of their obedience. However, to say that this is true in all circumstances is to miss the mystery and complexity of God’s ways.

Many Christians defend the teachings and practices of mega-churches (or even any church, mega or otherwise) by pointing to how God has blessed such churches. It may be that the church has grown numerically or that miraculous healings have taken place during the services. For such Christians, these are evidences of the fact that the teachings and practices of such a church is right. After all, such Christians think, if the church is teaching something it shouldn’t be teaching, why would God have saved so many people there and why have so many healings taken place? Indeed, the pastors and leaders must be doing the right thing - so it is claimed.

One doesn’t really have to be a reflective Christian for long to realize that such a way of thinking is utterly simplistic. The truth is that God’s ways have been and is more mysterious and complex than we’d like to think. Many prominent leaders have “fallen from grace”. Such leaders had been used mightily by God to heal many and draw many to Christ. And it is not true that the ministry of such leaders was blessed mightily only when they were living godly lives but then started to fail when they began to sin. Rather, the fact is that their service to God was blessed mightily even whilst they were sinning blatantly against God.

For those of us who think that the prosperity gospel is wrong, we have to face the question as to why so many people have been saved and blessed spiritually wherever such a gospel is preached. God’s power has manifested itself powerfully in such churches. While prosperity gospel Christians may believe in something that we believe is fundamentally wrong, we cannot escape from the fact that God has moved there and continues to move in churches we think are teaching dangerous doctrines. Why?

Ultimately, the only way we can reconcile all this is to believe that God still blesses the imperfect and the disobedient. In fact, if He were to only bless Christians and churches which have got everything (doctrine, practices, etc.) right, no Christian or church would be blessed by Him. Indeed, to say that God only blesses the obedient and those who preach a theologically perfect message is to underestimate how sinful and theologically inept we all are.

While the temptation for those who hold dear to biblical truth is to think that God’s blessing of a church implies the teaching of that church is always correct, the temptation for charismatics is to think that God’s blessing of a church implies the practice of the spiritual gifts (especially the prophetic) there is always perfect. Thus, Christians in charismatic churches which are growing and seeing many powerful manifestations of the Spirit occur are tempted to think that everything that involves the practice of spiritual gifts is right in that church. Indeed, for them the powerful manifestation of the spiritual gifts proves that the leadership of the church is right with God and that they are moving the church in the right direction. Therefore, when their leaders and pastors speak a prophetic word, it is assumed the word is correct. When they lead the church to accept an unorthodox or controversial doctrine, church members assume such a doctrine is correct. After all, their leaders are blessed by God (as proven by God’s Spirit moving powerfully in the church) and thus what they say or do ought to be correct too.

Such a way of thinking is really another form of being too simplistic logically and not appreciating the complexities of faith or how imperfect we are.

Dr. Andrew Jackson of the excellent blog SmartChristian.com commented on the Haggard saga here and here.

If Haggard has been living this lying dark lifestyle for most of his life (it seems that male porn was likely involved), where was the discernment of the leaders of New Life Church and the NAE? It is hard to believe that the Holy Spirit would not have been active and speaking and providing discernment to at least some of the leaders that worked closest with him.

WHERE WERE ALL THE PROPHETS? I don’t say this as a put-down to anyone or even the reality of New Testament prophets, but I need to ask, why were all the prophets silent? New Life Church has been the center for self-identified New Testament prophets for years, and Ted Haggard was one the primary leaders over many of these prophetic councils and conferences meeting on the New Life campus and at the World Prayer Center. Where was Cindy Jacobs and others? Don’t you think at least one prophet out of the hundreds visiting New Life Church would have received some discernment from God? It seems that many of them can receive divinely inspired messages from God concerning pending judgements on cities and our nation, but when it came Ted Haggard the heavens were apparently brass.

While normally agreeing with much of Dr. Andrew Jackson’s insights, I have to disagree with his sentiments above. At least, I am not so shocked by the lack of spiritual discernment exhibited by the leaders of New Life Church, the NAE and the prophets. I don’t think that the fact that they did not receive any warning or discernment from God during all this time that Ted Haggard was living an immoral life implies that there’s something fundamentally wrong. Rather, I think it’s normal. If anything, it implies that we’re all imperfect. Mega-churches are imperfect, large church associations are imperfect and prophets are imperfect. And imperfection is normal in this age.

The fact that prominent prophets are used mightily by God doesn’t mean that they ought to be elevated to a higher spiritual plane such that we believe that everything they say or do comes from the mouth of God or is 100% endorsed by Him. In the same way, if they are not used mightily by God (in this particular instance, they weren’t alert to Ted’s sins), that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are any less blessed or anointed by God.

If I’m right in saying all of the above, two things can be concluded. Firstly, Christian leaders are imperfect. Leaders strong in the Word will still get their interpretations and doctrines wrong. Be careful not to idolize them. And leaders strong in the Spirit will still fail in their prophecies and healings. Be careful not to idolize them too. No leader is worth idolizing, because no leader is perfect. Don’t trust too much in any leader or authority for they will all ultimately fail. Only trust in Jesus Christ.

Secondly, God still blesses the imperfect. In fact, there is no other kind of Christian that God blesses than the imperfect kind.* And if we are confused as to why God still blesses the imperfect, we may not yet have confronted our own imperfections and that of every Christian. Indeed, God blesses us in spite of the fact that we still sin and wrongly believe many things. That ought to be a most wonderfully assuring thing to know.

* I need to clarify what I mean when I say I believe God blesses imperfect Christians. God does not bless or reward sin or untruth. Rather, God blesses righteousness and truth. But God still blesses imperfect Christians because there will be righteousness and truth in the life of every Christian - no matter how imperfect or sinful he or she is. There is no doubt that God desires that we seek to become more perfect in our lifestyles and beliefs. However, let’s not forget that we will always fail. But when that happens, God would still bless us because of the little righteousness we have and the little truth we believe.

(Click here to access Part 1)

International Development:

1) On Climate Change, YaleGlobal has a two part series on Global Warming by Jim Hansen, one of the world’s foremost climate scientist: part 1 & part 2. An old climate change article of his in The New York Review of Books here and a recent one by Bill McKibben here.

2) A new film on how debt relief damns countries by its imposed conditionalities. See here also.

3) How (not) to write about Africa.

4) The Christian Science Monitor on how a coffee farm in Rwanda brings ethnic rivals together.

5) The New York Times on how concern for US jobs shapes where America spends her foreign aid money.

Politics & Economics:

6) An old article on economic fundamentalism. Still very much relevant today!

7) All the Economics You Need to Know in One Lesson by Michael D. Yates.

Progressive Christianity:

8) George G. Hunter III on Democrats and evangelicals.

9) Newsweek on the war between the religious right and believers who want to go broader. And on what impact the religious right has actually had on public policy.

Others:

10) Dove’s Evolution Commercial.

Ted’s a sinner, a deceiver and a liar, so he acknowledges.

As a progressive evangelical who disagrees strenuously with most evangelicals (right-wing or otherwise) who constantly condemn homosexuality and homosexuals, I have every reason to dislike Ted. He’s one of the most prominent evangelical leaders against homosexuality.*

And yet, while I could be happy with his fall from grace and the fact that his cause (of which I’m not in agreement with) would suffer as a result, I am not. It is saddening to read his confession. (By the way, it is not my role to judge whether he is truly repentant or not. Rather, I’ve always believed in giving people the benefit of the doubt and I do so here). My heart goes out to him. While not condoning what he has done, there is no place for condemnation of him. It is a sad day for Christianity - no matter what tribe of Christianity you’re from.

It is most saddening for me to see progressive Christians gloat about what happened to Ted. I’ve read responses (especially by gay Christians) like, “What a hypocrite he is!” or “I’m so glad he’s been exposed” or “Justice at last!” I cannot agree with such sentiments. If anything, one of the things that attracts me to a more progressive form of Christianity is its focus on love and forgiveness. It is meant to have a more tolerant outlook and a less dogmatic one. There ought not to be any place for laughter at our enemies. Indeed, people like Ted ought not to be treated as our enemy in the first place.

Ted was and is imperfect, but so are we. He was a leader of millions but deceived them all. That’s probably a greater sin than many of our sins - and yet we all are also sinners. Big sins or small sins: both led Jesus to the Cross. Yes, he ought to be disciplined, but grace also ought to be extended to him. There is no sinner too great that God’s grace cannot reach. If that is true, then who are we to glory in his downfall? Only the self-righteous who thinks he’s better and more righteous than him will do so.

How ought a progressive Christian respond to the downfall of one of the most prominent conservative Christians? There’s only one way: in love and with grace. For if we choose to respond in any other way, we are but hypocrites ourselves. But if we respond in overwhelming love and acceptance towards someone who has done much wrong to our kind, we may just win others over to our progressive views. Just as the Amish did recently in Lancaster. The whole world (Christian and non-Christian) were amazed at their brand of Christianity - one that elevated love and forgiveness above all else.

I lean more towards pacifism and believe in non-violence simply because I believe love will overcome. It may not overcome all in this world, but it will in the end. Love is what we’re supposed to do, not fight back, not get even, not laugh when our enemies fall. To show love and acceptance is one of the greatest things a person can do. It is to reflect what God did in sending His only Son Jesus Christ to die. Love, forgiveness and acceptance is what we ought to extend to Ted, without forgetting to extend that same love and compassion to those hurt by him.

* Note, however, that Ted wouldn’t be considered a Right-Wing Christian. Although accepting the typically conservative Christian condemnation of homosexuality and abortion, he also has a heart for more progressive issues like the environment and world poverty.

(Click here to access part 2)

International Development:

1) Sir Nicholas Stern, a former Chief Economist with the World Bank, has released his Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, which has been making its rounds in newspapers all over the world. Talk about environmental issues becoming mainstream! See the press notice for a summary of the document. The Economist has a short piece on it. Critical responses to the Stern Review can be found at CATO and The Business. Famed Skeptical Environmentalist, Bjorn Lomborg, has his say here.

2) Another game about development, this time by Global Kids: Ayiti: The Cost of Life. The purpose of this game is to teach global issues to youth. For more about this game and its makers, go to the Global Kids website.

3) The New Yorker on Microfinance.

4) William Duggan discusses an alternative to aid for the world’s poorest countries.

Politics & Economics:

5) Crooked Timber has put together a virtual seminar on Sheri Berman’s new book on Social Democracy.

6) Policy Review on Anti-Americanisms.

7) Radical Middle on reviews Stephen Kinzer’s new book, “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq.

Progressive Christianity:

8) Scot McKnight on What is the Emerging Church?

9) The Dateline report on Carlton Pearson and his Gospel of Inclusion (Universalism).

Others:

10) Joseph Epstein on how as facts accumulates, ideas diminish. This supports a movement from dogmatic certainty in grand ideas (meta-narratives) towards a more post-modern or critical realist view that the world of understanding and knowing is complex.