Tim Keller finished strong. Tim Keller finished well. His life and calling has me thinking.

A Crisis has Developed right under the Nose of the American Church

In March 2022, Barna revealed a sad statistic about the state of American pastoral leadership – 42% of pastors have “given real, serious consideration to quitting being in full-time ministry within the last year”, citing “the immense stress of the job” as the number one reason. 

Even 20 years ago, I remember hearing that 50% of seminary graduates drop-out of full-time ministry within the first five years. When you contemplate the enormous financial and personal costs associated with receiving a three-year M.Div. degree, the situation can fairly be summarized as “the stats are staggering but the stories are heartbreaking”.

Over the years, I’ve heard my fair share of anecdotal stories about the meteoric rise of pastoral burnout and the myriad of churches experiencing back-to-back-to-back pastoral transitions where the previous pastor either flamed out spectacularly or went quietly into the night in being unable to sustain a healthy pastoral tenure at the church (the average tenure is now between three and four years for a senior pastor).

When I was ordained at 27 years of age, I was informed that I was part of the “Seven Percent Club”: only 7% of American Presbyterian clergy were under the age of forty. (I have often wondered whether this meant that I was also part of the “One Percent Club” of Presbytery clergy under the age of 30.) Our denomination has openly talked about the “Gray Wave” which has already started whereby a significant number (majority?) of our pastors are now hitting retirement age. At the other end of the age spectrum, many American seminaries are scrambling to feverishly downsize by selling property or close extension campuses because “Gen Z” is attending seminary at record low rates – meaning that the American church is producing fewer and fewer biblically competent and theologically trained pastors.

A crisis?  Yes. (More like a tsunami.)

My Personal Take: Ministry as Joy

I am thankfully not part of the “42% Club”. I consider ministry an absolute privilege. And a joy. Even in the trials of malaria or the attempted break-ins at our house in Central Africa, I have always considered ministry a joyous privilege.

I get to do this!!

I frequently tell newcomers to our church: “The Lord has brought together so many special people together in this place.” I continue to be thankful for a church family that allows me to “Preach, Pray, and Be with People”. I often boast to my friends around the country about how well Trinity has loved our family from day one.

The Tim Keller Effect

Considering the crisis of American pastoral leadership, it is hardly surprising to witness the extraordinary outpouring of love and appreciation for Tim Keller and his ministry (he recently passed away from pancreatic cancer). Much of the appreciation, amongst the younger generation of leaders, can be summarized with this sentiment:

Tim Keller finished well. Tim Keller finished strong. It can be done.

One day, I hope to look back at my own life and say:

I loved my wife well. I loved my boys well. I faithfully preached the gospel (2 Tim 4:1-2). I discipled believers (Matt 28:19) and raised up leaders (Matt. 4:19). I truly loved the people of Trinity Wellsprings Church by shepherding them with high grace, high truth, and high integrity (1 Peter 4:8; 1 Thess. 2:8).

Three Important Questions for Healthy Congregations

I also recognize that the congregation plays a pivotal role in creating a culture which is healthy and sustainable for the long haul of ministry. Deep down, I believe most congregations long for all of their pastors and staff to love their families well, to thrive in their ministry areas, and to engage in Christ-centered ministry from places of health and sustainability. What does this mean for the congregation? 

Healthy congregations which sustain healthy and joy-filled pastorates habitually ask three important questions:

1)    Can this wait until Monday?

During the installation service for Pastor Kristian, Rev. Dr. George McIlrath recently challenged our congregation with this question: Can it wait until Monday?

His question brought back memories of my first year working as an ordained pastor in Illinois. Those were the days where people still left frequent voice messages on your – gasp! – home phone’s message machine.

I probably received about 70 messages during the course of my first year which started with the phrase: “Sorry to bother you on your day off, BUT…” 

70 times in 52 weeks. Looking back, it was a church that fueled a high level of burnout and turnover amongst its staff. Ultimately, it’s up to the pastor and staff to carve out healthy personal and professional boundaries. Yet, in healthy church cultures, lay leaders who are working closely with staff members know the “day off” of the staff person with which they are working (FYI: my day off is Friday - as Sunday is a “working day”).

I try to limit myself to four main ministry activities during Friday/Saturdays:

• (1)   I occasionally visit the hospital in emergency situations.

• (2)   I occasionally visit the hospital for new births.

• (3)   I participate in the life of the church (visiting missionary, Presbytery meetings, Special Events in the Life of the Church, etc.)

• (4)   I finish prepping for preaching.

I say all this only to say: “Especially if it’s an administrative question where a toilet is not flooding the entire building (yikes!) or a roof is not hanging on for dear life by a single nail, then it can probably wait until Monday.”

Healthy churches cultures frequently ask: “Can it wait until Monday?”

2)    Can you put this in an email?

I recently came home at 6:00 pm on a Monday night. And received 14 text messages.

Here are the text messages that are helpful for pastors:

• “Did you know Joe Smith just had a heart attack; he arrived at the hospital 45 minutes ago.”

• “My wife just gave birth this afternoon. She and the baby are doing great!”

• “My marriage is in crisis. Can we talk?”

Administrative details about the running of the church and its programs and its properties – an email is always better because it communicates “this isn’t pastorally urgent” and “I can wait until you are doing administrative tasks in the office”.

Healthy church cultures frequently ask: “Can you put it in an email?”

3)    Can you practice patience?

Patience is a necessary ingredient for cultivating a healthy church family. Why do I highlight patience as a particular virtue in a healthy church?

First, many of our church’s ministries are either led or co-led or staffed by a team of lay leaders who have full-time lives! Realistically, this means that ministry initiatives and decisions will move at a much slower pace than you might be accustomed to in the business or military arenas. Can you practice patience with the slowness of the church?

Second, think of the big ministry priorities of your pastor: relationships and texts. Relationships take time. Lives are messy. I love listening to people, meeting new people, counseling people, visiting people during hard times, and generally just “being with the flock”.

This is important work. Because it’s the relational work of a pastor. Ministry is relationship.

Yet, I often go home (on Thursday evenings) with the sentiment: “Next week, I’ll do better.” Because I recognize that I missed seeing Mrs. Jane Doe who was in and out of the hospital when another relational crisis blew up. Or I missed reaching out to Mr. John Doe when a leadership hailstorm or administrative windstorm blew across my desk.

Texts also take time. Exegeting ancient texts of scripture requires intellectual curiosity, spiritual sensitivity….and time. About 12-14 hours of my week for a sermon.

Yet certain weeks, the text punches me in the nose. I limp into the pulpit. You can’t see my bandages but a war has been fought in my study. Recently, I was preaching through Ephesians which contains the following:

Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?~Eph. 4:8-9

Oh, wretched preacher that I am! Who will deliver me from this week’s sermon? (Loose pastoral paraphrase of Rom 7:24.)

Some scriptural texts – let the reader understand – take 12 hours only to arrive at the place of complete despondency and homiletical despair before the text.

This is simply to make the point: your pastor is called to make relationships and texts the “main thing” which means, likely, that your pet project or your sacred cow may take a back seat during a normal week. Not because it’s not important. Not because the pastor doesn’t care. Simply because texts and relationships are the main tributaries flowing into the river of the pastor’s schedule.

Healthy church cultures practice patience with the slowness of the church, recognizing that pastors are called to work with relationships and texts in order to prioritize (what the Puritans called) “the care of souls”.

The Crisis of American Churches: What can a Single Church do to Help?  

Given the malaise affecting American pastors specifically and the American church in general, what in the world can a single church really do? 

I do believe that we (at Trinity Wellsprings Church) have a critical role to play in the larger church.

I believe Trinity is a healthy place to experience ministry.

And because I believe in our church and in the effectiveness of our staff, I also believe Trinity has the responsibility to be a “teaching church” where we model a highly relational Jesus-centered ministry to the next generation. 

These are some of the reasons why Trinity chooses to invest in internships and summer ministry interns. Church interns are primarily about investing in the next generation. So young people have the opportunity to see ministry “up close and personal”.  

Can Trinity be a place where young people “get their feet wet in ministry”? A place where their calling to the ministry is tested and tried out? A place where young people are shepherded by a staff team that comes alongside them and by a congregation that encourages them?

Healthy ministry experiences are the fuel and fire that will propel a gospel movement in our country, and I’d love nothing more than for our church family to continue to play a small role in that great and strategic endeavor!

Thankful to be your pastor,

Rev. Dr. Jason Carter

Our church is going through a sermon series on the Gospel of Mark. Our simple prayer is: “Lord, show us Jesus.” In some respects, it’s easier to preach on Daniel or Job or Ephesians because Christians think we already know about Jesus.

We’ve been taught the parables. We’ve heard the miracles. We know how the story ends – with the cross and the resurrection. It’s all so very familiar.

And yet, what would it be like to be re-introduced to Jesus in a fresh way? To be astonished and in awe of Jesus like the crowds? To be overwhelmed and confused, just like the disciples? To be strengthened in our own sufferings as Jesus heads to Jerusalem to die with resolute purpose?

What would God make of me if I took a long and purposeful gaze again at Jesus?  

Let me recommend four popular-level, easy-to-read books on Jesus of Nazareth:

Beautiful Outlaw: Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus by John Eldredge (219 pages).

“An intimate encounter with Jesus is the most transforming experience of human existence. To know him as he is, is to come home. To have his life, joy, love, and presence cannot be compared. A true knowledge of Jesus is our greatest need and our greatest happiness.” ~ John Eldredge, p. 11.

Eldredge helps us ponder from various viewpoints the (sometimes hidden) personality of Jesus: his emotional life, his disruptive honesty, his extravagant generosity, and his scandalous freedom at being 100% comfortable in his own skin.

Beautiful Outlaw is a typical Eldredge book: well-written, full of interesting antidotes, and longing to put you in a face-to-face encounter with Jesus.

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper (123 pages).

I still remember exactly where I was (on a dock and overlooking a lake in North Carolina) when I encountered John Piper introducing me to a memorable expression of Jonathan Edwards.  Edwards indicates that what makes Christ glorious is “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies”. 

“..we admire Christ for his transcendence, but even more because the transcendence of his greatness is mixed with submission to God. We marvel at him because of his uncompromising justice is tempered with mercy. His majesty is sweetened by meekness. In his equality with God he has a deep reverence for God. Though he is worthy of all good, he was patient to suffer evil.” ~ John Piper, p. 29

In chapter 3, Piper reflects on Rev. 5:5-6 where Jesus is presented as a “Lamb-like lion and a lion-like Lamb” – an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies which reveals the glory of Christ!

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ is a very short, very simple book which will point you unmistakably to Jesus.

The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering Who Jesus Was and Is by N.T Wright (197 pages, with a new introduction in 2015).

N.T. Wright is often regarded as the foremost living scholar of the New Testament and Early Christianity.  Simply put, his work on Jesus is paradigm-changing. Wright makes you think through old assumptions while portraying Jesus in fresh ways which challenge you to root Jesus in his own historical context but in ways that are fascinating, gripping, and relevant to the modern age.

“The disciplines of prayer and Bible study need to be rooted again and again in Jesus himself if they are not to become idolatrous or self-serving. We have often muted Jesus’ stark challenge, remaking him in our own image and then we are left wondering why our personal spiritualities have become less than exciting and life-changing.” ~ N.T. Wright, p. 11

Back in 2017, I wrote an essay entitled “Jesus as the New Israel: The Reconstitution of the People of God around the Person of Jesus” during a sermon series on the gospel of John. The essay was an attempt to synthesize The Challenge of Jesus for our church family. Yet going directly to the source would be even better!

Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Suffers by Dane Ortlund

This is my absolute favorite popular-level book on Jesus.

This book arrested me with a simple question: What if we avoid deep fellowship with Jesus “out of a muted understanding of his heart”? What if the (Big C) Church has a difficult time fully embracing the heart of Jesus for sinners and suffers?  What would it look like to come to Jesus, understanding that it’s actually our sin and suffering that attracts Jesus to us like a magnet?

“In short: it is impossible for the affectionate heart of Christ to be overcelebrated, made to much of, exaggerated. It cannot be plumbed. But it is easily neglected, forgotten. We draw too little strength from it.” ~ Dane Ortlund, p 29

The affectionate heart of Jesus? “Please help become more convinced of the affectionate heart of Jesus, oh God!”  

Recommending Two Big Books:

Jesus and the Victory of God by N.T. Wright (approx. 650 pages without index/bibliography)

Jesus and the Victory of God is the best book on Jesus that I have ever read. It’s magisterial. It’s paradigm-changing. It’s scholarly yet beautifully and engagingly written. It’s the best “big book” that I’ve ever invested in reading.

N.T. Wright’s contribution in Jesus and the Victory of God will guide future generations of scholars in their own search for the historical Jesus. The Challenge of Jesus is the popular-level book which synthesizes the insights of Jesus and the Victory of God into a manageable meal. Yet sitting down at the original banquet is well-worth the time and energy!

A Theology of Mark’s Gospel by David E. Garland (559 pages).

This volume is part of the “Biblical Theology of the New Testament” series.  Chapters 3-14 are especially helpful in exploring “Major Themes in Mark’s Theology”:

• Chapter 5: Enacted Christology

• Chapter 7: The Kingdom of God in Mark

• Chapter 8: The Secrecy Motifs in Mark

• Chapter 9: Mark’s theology of discipleship

• Chapter 11: Mission in Mark

• Chapter 13: Mark’s Eschatology

If you want to follow-along theologically with the sermon series on the Gospel of Mark, this would be a great in-depth study.

MA. in Ministry with three tracks: Theological Education, Pastoral Leadership, Bible Translation. January 25, 2023.

Graduation of M.A. in Ministry

In 2016, I helped launch — in partnership with SETECA (Central American Theological Seminary) located in Guatemala - the only Master’s level degree in any discipline in the entire country. SETECA is generally regarded as the “top dog” in evangelical theological education in the entire Hispanic world.  In 2016, I secured a grant of $60,000 through an anonymous couple in Canada which paid for the program: the finances principally brought visiting professors over to Equatorial Guinea from the USA and Latin America, Spanish-speakers with Ph.D.’s who could teach at the Master’s level. The airfare of my own trip back to EG in Jan. of 2023 was paid for through this fund, as the graduation ceremony basically emptied the coffers of the original grant.

The goal of the M.A. program was principally to raise the level of education of IBCP’s own African professors who teach at the diploma level program.  Three “tracks” of the M.A. were eventually added: M.A. in Ministry with Emphases in “Theological Education”, “Pastoral Leadership”, and “Bible Translation”.  Eight graduates persevered and were honored not only with M.A. degrees but with B.A. accredited degrees through SETECA.

With national professors possessing M.A. degrees, the way forward towards establishing an accredited B.A. program in Equatorial Guinea at IBCP Seminary now opens up in the future, to help evangelical Christianity keep pace with the next generation of young people graduating from college in the country.

Personally, it was immensely rewarding and satisfying to see this program come to a glorious conclusion; all the churches and pastors and extended families were overjoyed at the accomplishment, which was definitely a “big thing” for Christianity in the country, as no Christian evangelical leader had ever possessed that kind of degree.  I was even interviewed by the national media the day of the graduation. To God alone be the glory! 

Overview of IBCP Seminary:

IBCP Seminary resides in the former Spanish colony (Spanish Guinea) which received its independence in 1968. Equatorial Guinea is the only country in African where Spanish is the official language. IBCP plays a critical and important role in the discipleship and training of pastors and leaders amongst all the Evangelical and Pentecostal churches in the country.

Instituto Biblico “Casa de la Palabra” Campus in the city of Bata, Equatorial Guinea

At the present moment, IBCP Seminary is training leaders in both the two major cities of the country: the main campus in the city of Bata on the African mainland and the extension campus in the island capital of Malabo. Within the last couple of years, IBCP has also pioneered training leaders and pastors “in the interior” of the country in the largest interior village of the African mainland, in the village of Evinayong, with an additional 20 students from the interior set to graduate in June of 2023 in phase one of “Biblical Studies”. 

The health of discipleship, the integrity of trained pastors, and the overall health of sound doctrine for the churches of Equatorial Guinea can all be traced back, principally, to the vital ministry of IBCP Seminary which works with the breadth and width of the churches of Equatorial Guinea. No other mission in Equatorial Guinea, I believe, plays such a pivotal role for the development and integrity of evangelical Christianity in Equatorial Guinea than does IBCP Seminary. Countless churches have been started by graduates of IBCP Seminary over the last 20 years in a context where virtually all the pastors and leaders of the churches are first-generation Christians.

Gregorio Nsomboro, Rector of IBCP

Churches like this one on the island capital of Malabo deserve pastors who “correctly handle the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15).

Here is a PDF overview of the first six “everyday practices” from our Sermon Series The Intertwined Life: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad.

I distinctly remember my freshman year at Baylor University.

I had many burning questions from “Why do I need an email address?” to “Where’s the gym for pick-up basketball games?” 

Yet, midway through my freshman year, a burning question of faith roared to the top of the list: “Why does everyone seem to hear the Lord speaking with such clarity and regularity?” I was surrounded by (some) zealous Baptists who loved to begin faith conversations by stating, “The Lord told me…”

After about 100 times of hearing my friends exclaim: “The Lord told me”, I had my own question for the Lord: “God, why don’t you ever speak directly to me?” I was experiencing a mini-crisis of faith.

Eventually, I sensed that in the instances where I might say: “Here’s where I sense the Lord is leading me” or “God’s Word taught me this cool thing” or “I believe the Lord is calling me to…”, my Baptists friends were more comfortable with “God spoke to me” or “God told me” language.

At the time, I chalked it up to denominational differences and differences in personality.

Today, upon further theological reflection, I believe my hesitancy to state so baldly “God told me” and “God said to me” is based upon two ideas:

1) The Sufficiency of the Word of God.

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the their of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Heb. 1:1-2).

The point of Hebrews 1 is that in Christ “we have the fullness and finality of God’s redemption and revelation”.

Kevin DeYoung writes, “And we must not separate redemption from revelation. Both were finished and fulfilled in the Son…The words of the Bible and the Word made flesh are distinct, but they are also inseparable. Every act of redemption—from the Exodus, to the return from exile, to the cross itself—is also a revelation. They tell us something about the nature of sin, the way of salvation, and the character of God. Likewise, the point of revelation is always to redeem. The words of the prophets and the apostles are not meant to make us smart, but to get us saved. Redemption reveals. Revelation redeems.”

“Does this mean God no longer speaks? Not all. But we must think carefully about how he speaks in these last days. God now speaks through his Son.”

“So, yes, God still speaks. He is not silent. He communicates with us personally and directly. But this ongoing speech is not ongoing revelation. “The Holy Spirit no longer reveals any new doctrines but takes everything from Christ (John 16:14),” Bavinck writes….In these last days, God speaks to us not by many and various ways, but in one way, through his Son. And he speaks through his Son by the revelation of the Son’s redeeming work that we find first predicted and prefigured in the Old Testament, then recorded in the gospels, and finally unpacked by the Spirit through the apostles in the rest of the New Testament.”  Read DeYoung’s entire article here.

So when I heard my friends say “God spoke to me,” it felt to me, theologically, that the immediacy and clarity of that kind of religious language should be reserved exclusively for the Word of God.

Impressions are different. The Holy Spirit’s leading is different than God speaking decisively and finally through his Son (Heb. 1:2).  

2)     Theological Humility

One of the weaknesses of John Eldredge’s religious language that he utilizes throughout Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad, is that he gives off the impression that when he enters the kitchen, “God tells me this,” and when he sits down in the living room, “God tells me that”.

That kind of religious language, I believe, could use some theological humility.

We are to enjoy a personal and intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father. That is the hallmark of an evangelical faith. Yet, that kind of “casual” and “immediate” encounter by God seems to be worlds away from how God typically speaks and reveals himself in Scripture.

When God speaks, the world is created (Gen. 1). When God speaks, the apostle John falls down as though dead (Rev. 1:17). When God shows up, people are undone (Isaiah 6:5, Luke 5:8-10).  

Brother Lawrence in The Practice of the Presence of God talks about a sweet communion with his Savior even while doing the most menial of tasks (like washing dishes) at the monastery. No doubt, that can be true! Yet the humility of Brother Lawrence invites you “practice the presence of God” without resorting to describing God’s direct speech outside of the Bible.

The point is that the way we talk about the faith matters.

The sufficiency of the Word of God matters, even in our Christian world which is always looking for something unique, fascinating, and alluring other than the Word of God. We must not become bored with the Word of God yet always extol its utter Sufficiency for life and godliness.

By the same token, theological humility matters. We should never presume to be more in touch with the Almighty God than is biblically and reasonably warranted. We should not speak as if God is our Genie in the Bottle or Must Show Up at our Every Decision. Being a Christian means being authentic to the entire repertoire of the human and biblical experience of God: sometimes God withdraws his presence, his silence is a mystery to us, and we wonder with the Psalmist: “How long will you hide your face from me?” (Ps. 13:1). In fact, these experiences of God are much more commonplace for the people of God than we often dare admit.

In our zeal to hear from God, let us not forget humility before God.

In our digital age, Christian leaders are increasingly called to be a “curator of resources”. Here are five resources that I believe will challenge you, sharpen your life in Christ, and generally bless you as you seek to follow Jesus:  

The Question of Marriage

The first resource that I heartily recommend (and thus place it at the top of this list) is a lengthy podcast about marriage from Tim and Kathy Keller. So many nuggets of wisdom. You could listen to it twice and be blessed both times!

Podcast: “Marriage and Our Culture” ~ Tim & Kathy Keller from the “Gospel in Life” podcast.

The Question of “I love Jesus but Not the Church” Posture in America

An interviewer gives John Piper a scenario very much alive in 21st century American religiosity.

Interviewer: What about the scenario - “I’m not walking away from Jesus, but I’m done with the church.”

John Piper: “If you do that, you’re walking away from Jesus” 

See the video here: https://twitter.com/brmorris/status/1713087443849593238

Trevin Wax explores this dynamic in a blog post entitled “Prone to DeChurch, Lord I Feel It”.

“While not ruling out the choice of a believer to walk away from a particular congregation, Piper stressed the impossibility of thinking someone could follow Christ and leave the church altogether. ‘To walk away from the church is to walk away from Christ,’ he said…..if you zoom out of our contemporary Western setting, you find that Piper’s comments about following Jesus and belonging to the church are standard fare for nearly all Christians around the world today, as has been the case for nearly all of church history…

We can go back even further, to the New Testament itself, to see this connection between following Christ and belonging to his people. The church is the body of Christ (Rom. 12:4–5; 1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 1:23; Col. 1:24). It’s impossible to cling to the head of Christ without doing the same to his body…

…An unchurched Christian, as John Stott pointed out, is ‘a grotesque anomaly’. . . . The New Testament knows nothing of such a person.” ~Trevin Wax

What is the Factor of Why Most People Attend Church?

The answer may surprise you, especially if you went through the “worship wars” of the 1990s or you have recognized the relational poverty that characterizes our era, where people are desperate for community and connection. The answer to “Why Do People Come to Church” is this:

A Gallup poll indicates that it’s neither the music (38%) nor community (49%) nor the kids or youth ministry (64%) as the leading number one reason of why people come to church. That distinction belongs to preaching (75%). As Brandon Hilgemann argues: “Three-quarters of the people come to church because of the preaching.”

Check out Brandon Hilgemann’s blog: “Fact: Preaching is Why People Attend Church”.

Check out the Gallup Poll entitled: “Sermon Content is What Appeals to Most Churchgoers”.

The Question of “Do you actually know the Scriptures”?

I recently recommended the best long answer essay that I know on infant baptism was written by Dr. Gregg Strawbridge. A staff member sent me this vignette written by a mentee about Greg Strawbridge himself:

“When I was first ordained, Gregg inserted himself onto my examination committee with the primary intention, I am convinced, of giving me a good-natured ritual hazing. One of the questions he asked me has now become something of ecclesiastical lore in my old communion. “How important would you say the Psalms are to the life of the Christian?” Gregg asked. I immediately began extolling the Book of Psalms as the prayerbook of the church, a model for both personal devotion and public worship, even a divine hymnal of sorts. I spoke of its role in spiritual warfare and how it prophesied the messiah. All very high and pious-sounding stuff. “Ok, great answer,” Gregg said. “Now I wonder if you could just work through each of the psalms, giving us a one or two sentence summary of what they say.” I laughed, wondering if the question was serious or not. But here we all were, on the floor of my ordination exam. This was on the record. “They don’t have to be exact quotes,” he smilingly reassured me. So, I tried to get started and made it to about Psalm 3 before sputtering out. “Oh that’s ok. You know, for some people it helps to jog their memory if they work backwards. Maybe you could try starting with Psalm 150.” On this second try, I made it through Psalm 148.  There was a sort of playfulness to this, for sure. But Pastor Strawbridge also wanted to make a point. It’s all well and good to have strong theology and good ideas about the Scriptures. It’s another thing entirely to know the Scriptures.”

The Question of Moral Proximity

“Proximity and Plausibility: Why Do People Behave Contrary to their Beliefs?” by Samuel D. James:

Samuel James: Why do self-described pro-life people still get abortions? Freddie Deboer’s recent piece isn’t interested as much in answering this question as simply pointing out the fact that there are, indeed, people who do this. Freddie observes that abortion rights are a “revealed preference,” meaning how people actually behave in the marketplace—i.e., what they consume/buy/obtain for themselves—is a more accurate indicator of who they are than their stated political views.

He’s right about this. Freddie makes this observation in the context of celebrating legal abortion, but the same point is made by Christian professor David Ayers in his recent book After the Revolution: Sex and the Single Evangelical. The entire book is a compendium of research showing how American evangelicals say they believe sex is sacred, meant only for marriage, but behave as if they don’t. In fact, in the introduction, Ayers mentions that when he was teaching at a small fundamentalist school, he was told by the director of a local crisis pregnancy center that several students from the school had recently visited the center but decided to get abortions.

So here’s the question: When people who engage in pro-life activism, sign student covenants, and assent to traditional Christian teachings have premarital sex and get abortions, are they proving that they really don’t believe that? Certainly this is possible. There are lots of reasons why someone would feign certain convictions; pressure to conform, wanting approval from parents, etc. Absolutely, that happens. But I think Freddie’s concept of the “revealed preference” is insightful here. I wonder if in many cases, these people really do believe that abstinence until marriage is best and that unborn babies are human persons. But these convictions are connected to thick plausibility structures which can get suddenly, and forcefully, challenged. And the further away a person finds themselves from that conviction’s plausibility structure, the less likely they are to actually make life harder or less pleasureable for themselves for the sake of it.

Abortion makes this very obvious. As Freddie points out, a pro-life woman who gets an abortion will almost certainly reason that her particular situation is exceptional. She might even admit that it’s wrong. But the alternative to the abortion is so unthinkable, so impossible to contemplate, that she simply absorbs the moral offense. What is that alternative? Having a baby. Thus, for some who ascribe to pro-life worldview, the plausibility structure of their convictions is life without an unprepared-for child. When that structure fades, the conviction doesn’t go away, it just feels much further away.

Same thing with premarital sex. There is obviously a big difference between saying you are waiting for marriage when you live at home, have no car, and little realistic opportunity to sleep with somebody. Thus, the plausibility structure of sexual abstinence could be life without an urgent sense of desire and/or opportunity. In a college dorm, this plausibility structure disappears. Again, it’s not that the person stops believing something, or that they never actually believed it in the first place. It’s that putting conviction up against a hot and heavy moment of desire and opportunity is, for the vast majority of people, an unfair fight. It’s not about what they believe; it’s about what they prefer.

For a couple years now I’ve been fleshing out the idea that proximity creates plausibility. In other words, the place you’re at, the moment you inhabit, the people and words and objects around you—these are all live wires jolting your soul. People are not robots whose convictions are uploaded into their motherboards from age 0 to 18, who then go through life pre-programmed. Rather, human nature is constantly responsive to our situations. We believe, but we also feel, and these feelings are deeply contextual and in turn shape our beliefs. Behaviors can make more sense to us the more we watch them, the more we give our attention to them. Ideas can commend themselves to us the more time we spend contemplating them—actually, the more time we spend around them.

The key text for this idea is Proverbs 7. Have you ever wondered why Solomon goes out of his way to describe in great detail the encounter between a foolish dude and an adulterous woman? It seems at first glance that Solomon takes a long time to tell a very simple story. But I think Solomon belabors the details—the time of day the boy goes by her house, what she’s wearing, and what she says—because he wants us to feel just how powerful this moment is. Every aspect of this interaction builds up a plausibility structure of illicit desire, to the point that not even the boy’s best logic can resist. For Solomon, the lesson is clear. He concludes not with, “Resist her charms” or “counter her lies,” but: “Do not stray into her paths.”

I’m sure many people will read this and think, “Well that’s 15 minutes of my life I can’t get back.” All of this may sound very obvious to you. But let me push back on that for a minute. In the age of the Internet, how obvious is the relationship between proximity and plausibility? How intuitive is it actually? I don’t think it’s intuitive at all. I think the digital age has made this concept deeply counter-intuitive. All of us feel in control of our input. All of us feel in command of our virtual worlds. And yet all of us have instantaneous, un-filtered, completely private access to every single behavior, idea, or identity imaginable. Everything, all of the time. We literally inhabit a digital universe that possesses the power, every second of the day, to conjure up any image, any scenario, any how-to, any bigotry, any kink, any manifesto, any truth-claim…..anything we want. “Desensitized” is too small a word for our imaginations in the computer age. We are constantly on the precipice of human (and nonhuman) imagination, every, single, day.

Let us grant that proximity creates plausibility. Let us also grant that the modern, 5G-connected person is proximate to just about anything, from violent pornography to kinism to “how to make a bomb.” What kind of plausibility structure is arising out of this? Just how far out are the limits of our conscience expanding? And why don’t we seem to talk about this more?

Any framework for Christian witness in the 21st century—much less any framework for political theology or the wielding of power—must account for this. Any framework that doesn’t cannot comprehend the modern situation.

You can subscribe to Samuel James’ “Digital Liturgies” online.

"The Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.” ~ Dwight L. Moody

How do you, at the same time:

• relativize your own feelings (because they often lead you astray)

• know “the good” and keep your life pointed in that direction

• minimize sin while increasing joy

• know the truth and understand how to live truly free

• become wise, increasingly knowledgeable about how to live well

• understand there is a “word from God to you” that has already been spoken

• soak in the height and length and breadth and width of the love of God

• know such a great salvation, that you are united to Jesus Christ, the Son of God

• practice the faith by breathing in the words of God and breathing out prayers to God

• become like Jesus in quoting scriptures to keep the devil at bay

• know your sin, so you can daily repent and believe in the gospel

• know your Father who so loves you that he has numbered every hair on your head

You pick up the Word. You meditate on the Word. You study the Word. You submit your life to the Word. You choose the Word every time rather than the voice of your culture, your fears, your failures.

You let the Word lead you to the Word Incarnate.

As you breathe in the Word of God, you breathe out worship, you breathe out prayers, you breathe out gratitude.

There are lots of Bible reading plans: here are 20 options.

I’m going back to one that I created a few years ago called The Gospel-Centered, Wisdom-Inspired Bible Reading Plan that allows you to:

• Read the Gospels 2x per year. (I want to keep Jesus’ life and teachings always before me; hence - the “Gospel-Centered” part of the plan.)

• Read the NT Epistles and Letters 2x per year.

• Read the OT Wisdom Literature 1x per year (I want to worship, lament, and acquire wisdom from God; hence - the “Wisdom-Inspired” part of the plan.)

• Read the rest of the OT once every two years

• While reading 4 chapters a day Monday-Friday.

 “The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying.” ~ John Flavel