BLC is an author, speaker, scholar, and global traveler, who holds graduate degrees in Theology & Intercultural Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and received his doctorate in Intercultural Studies from Fuller. He is the author of Undiluted: Rediscovering the Radical Message of Jesus, and Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith.
(It was sneaky of him to wait this long, huh?)
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BLC is an author, speaker, scholar, and global traveler, who holds graduate degrees in Theology & Intercultural Studies from Gordon-Conwell, and earned his doctorate in Intercultural Studies from Fuller.
He is the author of Unafraid: Moving Beyond Fear-Based Faith, and Undiluted: Rediscovering the Radical Message of Jesus.
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For much of my life there was no debate on the display of racist symbols such as the rebel flag, or statues erected to memorialize
“Socialism,” big-government solutions, safety nets, and financial handouts, feel a lot different when you’re the one desperately struggling and the check is made out to you.
Trump claims to be pro-life, but it’s not pro-life to intentionally sacrifice Grandpa Jones for Dow Jones.
Allowing group-panic to drive our actions will have far more destructive consequences than the Corona virus itself.
So you think Christians ought to be voting with biblical values in mind? Great, here’s a few to consider.
When torn paper is more outrageous than torn families, it is a mirror that reveals to us the heart of a people.
51 Responses
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.
That’s a good one Benjamin, a real good one! 🙂 Hmmmm, you think I better check and see if my guns are still, where I last put them?! 🙂 LoL
No fair! He didn’t come to our house to take away our airsoft handgun!
Nor my Daisy Red Rider BB gun
Dr. Ben, isn’t this the kind of smug derision of conservatives/Christians that drove so many to hold their nose and vote for Trump in the first place? — and I’m speaking as a progressive pastor!
No, there is no other way to make it clear we do not forget lies and/or convenient alternate facts! Progressive means no more than striving for a more perfect union in heaven and on earth for all and liberal means to exceed frugality in the example of our Lord Christ. Jesus made it quite clear to the Pharisees and teachers of the law God doesn’t forget, and yes He was smug about it. What do you think all the “you heard it said”s were all about?
No, what “drove” Conservatives to vote for Trump was wanting to win at any cost, least anyone they don’t like might be free and happy. Holding their noses is simply posturing to cover their behinds, to keep the appearance of holiness despite their consistently evil actions.
Or like someone once said: “You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”
Any sympathy you show to their self-pity will simply be seen as
weakness and used to harm either you or one of their preferred victims. Ever heard the term “useful idiot”? Don’t be one.
Or my personal favorite, make an executive order that makes him president for life. I heard this one from an extended family member, and when I challenged him he said “No, that’s what I heard will happen for sure”.
HA. ?
How funny!!! Yes only to the pun.
It saddens me actually that what you wrote isn’t true. We are a country that has gone mad. We argue as to whether there should be background checks on people purchasing guns. We can stockpile weapons that are clearly offensive not defensive. Nothing!!! Tears, prayers, exhortations and mass slayings of young children as was the case with Sandyhook will make us budge from “our constitutional” right to bear arms. We refuse to see reason. People die everyday because of that ideology. Last year there were 1,000 mass shootings in the US (a mass shooting is defined as whether 4 or more people were injured). The only reason for that is the availability of guns.
The NRA wants us to believe that instead of being in Des Moines or Birmingham we are actually in Mogadishu. I once compared that the crime rate against the British and American Virgin Islands and found the strangest thing. That in an armed society the crime rate was high , especially violent crime, however it was much lower in the unarmed society.
I get that you were poking fun at the extreme right and all of their ludicrous charges against Obama. My question is this: ‘will they now concede Mr Obama was born in Hawaii after he declared Michelle Obama has no Presidential aspirations?’
” My question is this: ‘will they now concede Mr Obama was born in Hawaii
after he declared Michelle Obama has no Presidential aspirations?'” <> This is a very interesting take, YES they will all say he was born in Hawaii if and only if it is understood Michelle won’t run for the Presidency. I believe if she runs, then Obama will continue to be born in Kenya and this time Michelle will be born in ‘ Timbuktu’ …. and the one that promotes such junk will go on to win the GOP and the Presidency. It’s a wining formula for future candidacy.
“Today Is Obama’s Last Day In Office, Which Can Only Mean One Thing:”
Tomorrow will be better.
Bye bye black man.
Neo fascist whitie is in back in charge.
Here in the U.S. Bible Belt, thousands consider Trump to be God’s man because he is an anti-tax white capitalist republican nationalist. The fact that he appears largely unconcerned with protecting the rights of the LGBT community, but yet beefing up national security, proclaiming himself now to be pro life and keeping ‘undesirables’ from crossing over American borders somehow makes him morally superior to the nonracist, nondiscriminatory Obama. Such a mindset just goes to show how people are dramatically influenced by a version of Christianity that feeds their bigotry and hate. And though surely not every professing Christian who voted for Trump fell victim to this mentality, thousands upon thousands did. It’s almost as if they hold Fox News reports to be divinely inspired.
Ron, the next time I hear the words, “family values,” from a conservative, and especially a conservative Christian, I am going to open up a verbal can of whoop ass that will leave that person battered and bruised.
I am still in a state of disbelief that this misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic, bigoted and narcissist toddler has now been sworn in as POTUS.
I have been nauseated since the election results were reported. I wonder how long it’s going to last.
Love you, brother.
Great reply. I wake up everyday thanking God for the election of Donald Trump. Now we have an adult in the office; someone who can actually run the government. The eight year social experiment is over and just in time. There is a limit as to how much damage our great country can absorb.
Someone”s gonna get their arse kicked for putting their faith in man let alone a neo fascist.
“Now we have an adult in the office..”
LOL! Seriously? An ‘adult’ who engages in Twitter rants with celebs, a long lasting public feud with Rosie O’Donnell, making fun of people’s appearances, etc. I’ve heard “the Donald” described in a lot of ways by both sides but ‘adult’ wasn’t one of them.
Yes the experiment with da black man is over.
Now we’re back to the neo fascist white man experiment which has worked so well in the past.
Thank you, Bob, for being the poster-child of cognitive dissonance! One can see that, in your case, cognitive dissonance can do brain damage.
Charles, another party has been chosen. Their belief system is different from yours. But if this president creates jobs as promised all things domestic will be better. The world is now a very frightening place. His challenge here is much greater for sure.
Melania call ? her husband a boy ?. Many Republicans have a problem with his temper tantrums which is what spoiled boys does.
The country was damaged under Bush before Obama but he repaired the damage, now Trump is inheriting a thriving economy, the greatest in the world and a home land free from foreign terrorist attacks. But don’t let facts bore you ok…
Obama has exacerbated the damage. The economy is stalled. We have had several attacks attacks from FL to CA. Those are the facts. That is why Obama’s legacy was rejected at the polls. 65% of likely voters think the country is on the wrong track. Liking Obama is not the same as believing he has been effective.
Bitter!!
… for whom?
All the Billionaires.
That one thing means, tomorrow is the day that BS and rhetoric must be translated into policies, and that can’t be done with a tweet. It also means that tomorrow the Republicans begins to plot ways to impeach Trump.
No fear!! They already have a plan and it’s ready to be deployed in my humble opinion!!
What plan?
I don’t know. I just put it out there to be Artful and make myself feel important. I needed some attention. I’m lonely today!!
`€=-)
Is “Progressive Christian” synonymous with “Democrat voter?”
I’m from the UK you see so I don’t know about these things.
It’s not necessarily synonymous with Democratic (not Democrat) voter, but I think most of us do tend to vote Democratic.
No…but Evangelicals are synonymous with being a Republican.
Very prescient of you. Actually Progressive Christian is closely aligned with childlike. Just keep reading….
Haven’t found Obama birth certificate yet Bob.
Keep digging.
You really are slow, aren’t you Bob?
Look up narcissism and see if that doesn’t fit, exactly, someone you might have voted for (no not Adolf, you’re too young) … your responsibility.
Wait, he absolved you of that responsibility with, “only I can fix it”.
“What do you have to lose?” Unfortunately we will see beginning tomorrow, won’t WE? Thanks!
Oh Herm. Ye of little faith. Give the man a chance. The people elected him. Let’s see what he does. You really have no other choice anyway…
Those poor White Evangelicals are so oppressed since Obama took away all their guns!
I caught Obama in my basement trying to take my guns. I explained to him I didn’t have any guns. It was kind of an awkward moment.
Then he asked if there were something he could take just on the principle of the thing. I asked what ideas he had, and he suggested my freedom of choice on healthcare providers.
I asked how he planned to do that, and he said he really didn’t know; it was just a side project and hadn’t really taken off, but he might Kickstarter it or something and see how it goes, or maybe he could get his cousin to help some weekend.
Then he just kind of looked at the floor and shuffled around a little bit, asked if I was sure I didn’t have any guns he could take, then said something about needing to get to the next house and left.
… you too? He is just too predictable … all those uppity people are … give ’em a little they take it all … we were warned about those Kenyon Muslims … so we elected he who told us so … not popular but electoral. I sent my investigators over to Russia and you wouldn’t believe what they found about the new guy … actually they liked the weather in Hawaii so they just stayed and investigated from there, by Twitter.
@realDonaldTrump: Just heard some guy found Obama in basement taking guns? Sad.
That was Bob.
@realDonaldTrump: less than an hour before I can fix it alone, bigly. He’s going back to Kenya, trust me!
obama used a drone to kidnap my puppy
First day….
Bye bye Obamacare…….
Donald Trump has begun his presidency with a series of seismic policy interventions, starting the repeal of Barack Obama’s healthcare policies, initiating a new US missile defence system and ushering in a new period of American protectionism.
The 45th president of the United States, who was sworn into office on Friday, began his four-year term of office with a series of executive orders that will set the tone for his government. It was, he said, a government that would “put only America first”.
Before attending a series of inaugural balls around Washington DC, the Republican sat down to sign an executive order aimed at undermining Obama’s signature healthcare law, known as Obamacare.
The order notes that Trump plans to seek the “prompt repeal” of the law. In the meantime, it allows the Health and Human Services Department and other federal agencies to delay implementing any piece of the law that might impose any economic cost.
Using similar orders, the new president also signed into law a new national day of patriotism and signalled plans to build a new missile defence system to protect against perceived threats from Iran and North Korea.
The Trump White House stripped the official website of all mention of Obama’s key policy agendas, including climate change and LGBT rights along with the civil rights history section.
The various subsections of the White House website were replaced with just six; energy, foreign policy, jobs and growth, military, law enforcement and trade deals.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/21/donald-trump-era-begins-with-obamacare-rollback-and-missile-defence-orders
1-20-2017 The day the United States became a Russian state.
The one and only reason he never made that move is because he didn’t have the power in Congress to get the job done. He did release lots and lots of criminals via pardon/clemency. He did try to push through left-wing items at the last minute, items that he did not show a lot of concern for in his administration. He did release terrorists from Gitmo… but happily was not able to shut it down. His administration pushed the left side of the political scale. He alienated and divided the nation. He left behind a divided country where he pushed race, ethnicity, gender, etc. all in the name of advancing a left-wing liberal social/political agenda. His hand picked successor lost in her bid to continue his policies largely because voters rejection of him and his administration. He and she had support among areas commonly supportive of liberals. That support only gained her the Electoral College support of 20 states. Trump had the support of voters in 30 states, which gave him EC support in 30 states… and the Presidency. Furthermore the nation rejected him and her and the party they represent at the local and state levels and in the voting for the House and Senate. The Democrats had a candidate who could have probably won the election. But, they threw Bernie Sanders under the bus in favor of a looser. That was their big mistake. Now it’s cost them big time.
The people who divided the country were the extremist right-wingers. They were the ones who chose to attack every move Obama made, no matter how useful or necessary, blocked appointments for ridiculous periods (not even allowing a vote so that a decision could be made).
Obama never even made guns a part of his agenda (Hillary did). He didn’t support gun restrictions or furtherance of bans.
Obama was not left wing. By any reasonable definition, he was actually centre-right. The people you seem to follow, the Republican caucus and Trump? They’re so far to the right they’re in the realm of Hitler and Mussolini. Even Sanders wasn’t really left-wing, by his policies he was centrist, maybe Social Democrat.
Crawl out from under the rock of US politics and take a look at the rest of the developed world. Europe, Canada, Australia – pretty much all have actually centrist governments, and we’re doing much better than the USA in most areas, like citizens’ health, general happiness, education, economic health…the USA is becoming very backwards. American exceptionalism now means exceptionally poor.
Miss him like crazy! And where are his FEMA camps for all the Rightwing Christians? Trump is going to give Alex Jones press credentials so the lies will be mainstreamed.
Missing him? It’s like a nightmare. Given time, it will fade away. Like the old proverb says, “Time heals.” Give it time.
Today Is Obama’s Last Day In Office, Which Can Only Mean One Thing:
It’s Time to Celebrate!