The Need for True Justice: A Short Essay on Injustice in the American Criminal Justice System

Justice is an important concept to understand for all persons in all places. Legal systems are theoretically built on that which is believed to be just by their respective governments. Within the geo-political borders of states that uphold the belief that all people deserve civil rights and liberties, a right understanding of justice must be obtained to succeed at establishing whatever those civil rights and liberties are believed to be.

For the Christian, justice is particularly important given the following biblically-based, logical equations:

1. If (a) all people are made in the image of God and (b) God is just, then (c) all people reflect the image of God’s justice. 
2.  If (d) all people inherit original sin and (c), then (e) we all do so imperfectly.
3.  If (a) + (b) = (c), then we should also (f) seek to establish God’s justice for all people because being (c) means (g) all people have God-given dignity as image bearers.

Religion and Politics: Non-Profit Ministry in the Public Square

Disclaimer: This is a much longer post than what is typical and resulted in a larger time gap between posts.

For those who know me well, you know my interests are pulled in a thousand directions. I am deeply committed to my Christian faith, I have worked in government and politics (despite my paradoxical disdain for politics), I am an academic (despite my lack of trust in academic work), and I am a musician. However, God in his coolness and sovereignty, has provided me with the perfect job to fit almost all of my interests as CEO of Transforming Jail Ministries.

In this post, I really want to focus on this intersection of government and religion. It is an important relationship to understand and equally important in order that churches are prepared for future changes. After all, like the Apostle Paul, we are citizens of two kingdoms: the geo-political state we belong to and the Kingdom of God.

Jonah and the Kingdom

“Let them die, they don’t care about you.”

“These… [people] are hell-bent on killing themselves. Let them do it before they take someone else with them.”

Perhaps you assume the subject of these two quotes must be terrorists. They aren’t. They are quotes from members of our community here in Cincinnati referencing an individual who overdosed in public recently.

Online news articles almost always end with a comments section. If you’ve never read through them, or posted yourself, I urge you to avoid the temptation. They are almost always disheartening and the bitterness people feel toward their neighbors is downright terrible. Even worse, you will be tempted to chime in and it doesn’t take long before you are behaving in a manner far from our calling.

I have to confess that I did make the mistake of reading some comments recently on articles covering heroin overdoses and other crimes. A couple of quotes from that read preface this post. With each comment I read, I felt myself getting angrier and angrier.

Welcome Back & Prayer for Police Officers

It has been a long time since my last post. Too long. Nearly three years to the day. I’ve decided to begin writing again due to my current situation. As the new Director and CEO for Transforming Jail Ministries (Hamilton County, Ohio), I feel it is best that I share my experiences and what I learn as I take this journey.

In the midst of this transitionary period, I have decided to journal privately each day, tracking the greatest moments. My hope is to have a “first 100 days” journal that could potentially be useful for others who are becoming executives for the first time. 

Additionally, this new position has brought about a number of highs and lows. In my first month, I’ve delivered several death notices, gave an invocation and benediction for a sheriff’s deputy academy graduation, and learned that the relationship between faith and government is simpler than I had thought. 

We Are All Slaves, Pt. III

Support and opposition to Citizens United by political id.

Image is not my own.

How We Exacerbate Our Problems

Today’s post reaches both the series climax and midpoint. With that said, it also necessitates a preface. This post is dangerous for my political career because what I am about to state runs contrary to the conventional wisdom of my party. Without further ado, my preface and defense.

I am deeply committed to the orthodox Christian faith, particularly from a Reformed/Calvinist perspective. Labels may not always be desirable, but they are often helpful. At times I have encountered dissonance between my political philosophy/ideology and my faith. This is one of those moments. 

Wendell Berry: 2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities at the Kennedy Center

“We should give ourselves to things that are true, just, and beautiful. A large machine and a large, toxic, eroded cornfield, subjectively speaking, is not an affectionate sign.”

Wendell Berry, a man keenly set on preserving and protecting creation, has upset many and influenced many more. He is a humble man. A farmer from Port Royal, Kentucky the Kentucky River just south of it’s opening into the Ohio.

Berry has written much, said much, and done much. He is a person who does not fold on his words, but rather, has persisted in his effort towards recovering his plot of land in the rolling hills of Kentucky. That’s not to say Berry hasn’t made mistakes along the way. He admits as much. But he is a simple, honest, and a trustworthy man who has been genuine and true in his pursuits.

We Are All Slaves, Pt. II

Addicted to Stuff and Debt

Do a quick Google search (“average American debt”) and you will see that 160 million Americans have credit cards, the average credit card holder has three, and the average household credit card debt amounts to $15k. What happens when you total this number? The total U.S. consumer debt is around $11.4 trillion. 

As a nation, we are addicted to debt. There are countless stories of Americans committing suicide because they neither understand how they got into such dire straits, nor do they know how to escape. 

Turn on your television and you will see ad-after-ad seducing viewers to purchase more stuff. Annually, new lawsuits surface where consumers have purchased products claiming to do “x” and the products fail to follow through. Marketers suggest if we purchase their products we will look better, feel better, live better, and be successful. 

We Are All Slaves

When I was wee tot, I lived in poverty. Around age six or seven, my mom met her second husband and waved goodbye to the outhouse and stovetop baths.

Before I left poverty, my mom and dad had racked up debt (mostly because of my dad) and I spent much of my time with my grandmother after their divorce. She was a humble lady content with the little she did and did not have. 

Several of my family members ordered a lot of “stuff” from Fingerhut, JC Penny, and Sears catalogs. They amassed unnecessary debt and accumulated piles of junk. I wanted the junk too.

I thank my step-dad who gave me my first wise words of financial advice: most of the people with nice homes, new cars, and lots of stuff aren’t rich, they are in debt.

I didn’t get it. 

Revelation 21

Our sinless Savior came to die;

So that we might be sanctified.

He washed us clean from all our sin,

He broke the curse, He conquered death.

It Is Not Death to Die

Three months ago my dad passed away. There were a number of us who had shared the Gospel with him throughout his life with increased passion in his last days. On his deathbed, my dad professed faith in Christ, praise be to God. I certainly miss him a lot, there’s not a day that passes that I don’t think of him. His favorite singer-songwriter, John Prine, has been playing nearly every day since my dad was in the ICU for the first time.

Just days before he went into septic shock, ultimately resulting in cardiac arrest, my dad went from being terrified of the unknown to embracing it. Something in his heart changed. He no longer feared the grave and I am convinced it is because he knew what it would bring.

BOOK REVIEW: Go+Do

GO+DO
DARING TO CHANGE THE WORLD ONE STORY AT A TIME

Jay Milbrandt
Tyndale House Publishers, 2012

Here is a book I wish I had read sooner. When I first received “Go+Do” from Tyndale House Publishers I was in an incredibly busy stage of life. My dad was about to be released from prison and my spring semester of seminary was coming to an end. Looking back, I would have been better served by not placing this on my “roundtuit” list. Now that I have actually read the book, I am grateful.

As a forewarning for potential readers, this is not a book filled with great theology. I would urge you to read Milbrandt’s work with your theological guard up. At the same time, Milbrandt’s intention was never to give good theology. On the contrary, the title well summarizes his purpose. He wants to inspire his audience to “go and do” the work needed to aid in a hurting world.

Why Learn?

The aim of knowledge is to grow more like Christ, giving him all glory. The educational aim for the Christian teacher should be primarily to point to Christ through whom all truth flows. Education institutions are to teach both general revelation (regarding the natural) and special revelation (regarding the supernatural). Because schools design cultures, Christian schools ought to teach both forms of knowledge through a biblical worldview.

If God created the world, then it must be the case that the world reveals something about him. That's not to say that everything perfectly reveals something about God because we do live in a fallen, corrupt state. However, that should not keep us from learning and studying further about the Creator who designed all things. Thus, when we study science, theology, or philosophy, the goal is to reveal something about the glory of God. That is valuable.

When it comes to reading Scripture, which is the very word of God, we aim to learn about him as well. Unlike the world we live in, the Bible is not corrupt. It is the inerrant, infallible Word of God (original autographs). Thus, when our churches and Christian schools teach, they teach to point to our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. They are to teach both natural revelation and special revelation. It's important to have Christian schools and Christian educators because schools design culture. This is the very reason for the secular takeover of the public education  system in the West. 

What is Knowable?

There are two types of revelation, general and special. All learners can know general revelation because it has been revealed in the natural world. General revelation, therefore, is primarily sensory and discovered through sciences. Only some can know special revelation though. It is revealed by God through his Holy Spirit. The Christian learner should study both as he is able to know both.

Going back to the question of "What is Truth?" we learned recognized two kinds of truth: (a) natural; and (b) supernatural. Natural truth is observable by the human eye (or the aided human eye in the case of microscopic things). Supernatural truth, on the other hand, is recognized by experience and special divine revelation. For example, natural revelations are those things we can come to know through the use of empirical science as to where supernatural (special) revelations are those which God reveals to us. 

Scripture, being the very words of God, explain how God created everything originally good. Thus, it is also good (valuable) for us to study the natural world as well as theology and philosophy. By studying these things we can come to greater knowledge of God. At the same time, not all science, theology, and philosophy is true. Thus, we use the Word of God (the 66 books of the Bible) to discern what is truth. If it is true it will not run contrary to the Word of God.

If something does run contrary to God's Word, then there are three possibilities: (a) we have incorrect truth claims; (b) we have interpreted Scripture wrongly; or (c) we have incorrect truth claims and we have interpreted Scripture wrongly.

[Romans 1, 2; Matthew 28]

What are Values?

Values can only be found in God’s glory. They are determined by God who is the creator of all things. All things were created to glorify him. And all things were originally created good. God is good and defines what is good.

We do not live in a dualistic world, meaning, evil is simply a lack of good. Thus, when someone murders an innocent person, evil is not a thing that lives within the murderer, but rather, a lack of good within the murderer. What is good is determined by God. His character is the very definition of good. 

When people ask, "Can God logically commit evil?" it's like asking if God can make a rock to heavy for himself to lift or if he can make a squared circle. The answer is no. It's not that he is too powerless to create a rock too heavy even for him to lift, it's that the questioner has given a question that goes against the law of non-contradiction. Therefore, we can conclude, God, being holy and perfect, cannot commit evil because it goes against the law of non-contradiction. If he were able to commit evil (remember this is a lack of good), then he wouldn't be God. One of the requirements of God's character is that he is good.

If the God of Scripture exists, and I believe we have ample reason to believe this is the case, then we can expect that only that which he defines as being good is actually good. Those are the things of value.

[Romans 9, 11; Ephesians 1; Proverbs 16:33; 1 John; Genesis 1, 2]

What is Truth?

Truth is objective and determined by God. “All truth is God’s truth,” but not all claimed truths are actually true. Truth does not run contrary to what is spoken by God through his Word. Jesus Christ is knowledge and truth. General revelation tends to be truth that is universally recognized. Knowledge is truth. The truth is everywhere the same. Truth is objective and valued. Some truth and knowledge are so clear cut that issues will be agreed upon by the majority of all peoples.

For starters, truth is not arbitrary. Regardless of whether or not one recognizes truth as such does not change the "reality" of it at the end of the day. That's not to say that if you and I give two contrary sets of truth claims that we are both right. We could both be wrong, but we could not both be right. One of us would have to be wrong by necessity. 

Therefore, truth is not like some kind of moral zeitgeist of the day. It does not change from culture-to-culture or time period to time period. For example, today the world exists. That fact will not change tomorrow. It is logically conceivable that the world won't exist tomorrow, but it will not change the fact that the world exists today and it certainly doesn't change if you go to another nation or culture. The world still exists. That is a clear cut issue that no rational being can deny. The world exists.

[Genesis 1, 2; 2 Timothy 3; 2 Peter 1; John 10; Matthew 5; Luke 24]

What is Reality?

Reality is independent of the human knower. There are two distinct, but not separate realities. The natural reality is sensory while the spiritual reality cannot be empirically proven or tested. God is the creator of all things, natural and supernatural, with the exception of himself. God is uncreated. All things were originally created good until the fall when the serpent deceived Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. All of humanity inherited a sinful nature and are fallen. Everyone is need of redemption to be restored.

Reality isn't brought about by experience and it certainly isn't created by human minds. At the same time, there are two aspects of reality: (a) the reality that is; and (b) the reality we experience. The "reality that is" simply means that this is the cold hard fact. It's sometimes empirically provable (natural) and at other times it is not (supernatural/spiritual). 

Because God created all things, he is the only one who has exhaustive knowledge about either natural or supernatural reality. He created all things and he created all things originally good. At the fall, man was deceived and sinned against a holy, perfect God. Thus, the first couple (and they are historic) brought sin into this world. All are infected. All are therefore separated from God. All are in need of a Savior.

[Genesis 1-3; Romans 3, 9; Deuteronomy 39:39; John 1; 1 John 1]

A Shot of Faith to the Head

A SHOT OF FAITH TO THE HEAD 
BE A CONFIDENT BELIEVER IN AN AGE OF CRANKY ATHEISTS

MITCH STOKES

THOMAS NELSON, 2012

Mitch Stokes has studied under some of the greatest Christian thinkers and philosophers alive today. His mentors are some of the most influential philosophers in the world, religious or secular. This book is self-defense training to build confidence for believers in the midst of a world that constantly attacks their faith.

Mitch Stokes has authored a fascinating book on apologetics. A Shot of Faith to the Head makes a wonderful addition to any library. I believe this book will be most suitable for younger generations who are facing the problem of New Atheism and a rise of agnostic friends more so than their parents. But, this is a great book for training up any person in apologetics.

Never Ever Ever, Like Ever

Illustration by Tim Sheaffer (Vanity Fair).

Never Ever Ever, Like Ever: What the Billboard Charts are telling us about culture on this day

As of today, Taylor Swift’s “We are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” is the number one song on Billboard’s “Top 100”. In 2012 she became Billboard’s “Woman of the Year”.  What’s the message that makes her number one? For starters, the message is clear: grammar don’t matter. Never ever ever, like ever. 

If you have followed my blog for very long, you know I never ever ever agree with Christopher Hitchens, like ever. But, back in 2010, he wrote an article for Vanity Fair criticizing the new use of the word like. “Since, like, the 60s, and definitely since Clueless, one word has been, like, everywhere.” 

Dad, It's Been a Month Since You've Been Gone

Dad, It's Been a Month Since You've Been Gone: And that puts me on a morning train

Today makes it one month since my dad died. He died. He did not pass on, pass away, or move on to the other side. He died and that is the reality of it all. He did profess faith in Jesus in the weeks leading up to his death, but there is no way around the ugly fact that it was death. Too often we skirt around that language to make things more bearable, but I am afraid that when we do so we are trying to cover up reality. Reality tells us that death is real and it is real because of sin.

My dad would not have denied being a sinner. Matter of fact that was the biggest obstacle for him to profess faith in Christ (from his perspective). He feared that he sinned too much, that his offenses were too great to be forgiven. And that very view point is sin as well. Paul says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Romans 1:18 ESV).”

Bless the LORD, O my soul!

He has shown his people the power of his works 

in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

- Psalm 111:6

The opening verses of the book of Psalms reads: “Blessed is the man… [whose] delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night,” (1:1a, 2). Recently my small group went through JD Greear’s “Gospel Revolution” study. This is one of the key points Greear brings up throughout the study. Our obedience should not be primarily out of obligation (though we are obligated), but a result of desire, or as the Psalmist says, “delight.”