An elderly man fidgets against the wrist and ankle restraints of his ICU bed, mentally “altered” and not comprehending what is happening in his delirium. No visitors. He pleads with me: “Can you stay? I wish I had someone who could sit here with me and be nice.”

Down the hall, a woman in her 80s cuddles a teddy bear as she recovers from a complication from brain surgery, cut off from her brother and sister. They are all that remains of her social support. She has been in the hospital for almost a month. “I’m running out of faith,” she says.

Working as a hospital chaplain on the gerontology team has given me another understanding of the truth God spoke in the beginning, that it is not good for people to be alone (Genesis 2:18).

I am not talking about a newly formed mud man yearning for a helper, but a whole demographic of society in desperate need of a host of champions to care for them in a unique isolation.

Social isolation and loneliness

Research among people aged 65 and older in our communities shows they endure multiple variations of loss—relationships, senses, motor function, cognitive capabilities, independence, etc.—and chronic diseases such as heart failure, kidney disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s and dementia, arthritis and chronic pain, among others.

The suffering that stems from social isolation and/or loneliness often is not screened during routine clinic visits.

Social isolation often is defined as having minimal or no contact with other people in a physical sense and/or social sense, even if virtually. Loneliness is the perceived absence of meaningful or intimate relationships.

Social isolation and loneliness by no means are issues exclusive to older members of society. We all can empathize with the sting of feeling alone, even when in a crowd. The statistics regarding these issues in the geriatric population, however, are considerable.

Statistics and effects

Some studies have found as much as 15-20 percent of older adults experience social or emotional isolation from others for an extended period of time. Included within this statistic are those who live in skilled or assisted living facilities and retirement communities.

A study within a senior living facility found 60 percent of the residents felt like they lacked companionship some or most of the time.

Troubling correlations exist between social isolation and loneliness and a person’s well-being. A study in 2018 found “individuals who are socially isolated have been found to be at greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease, stroke, depression, dementia and premature death.” One poignant finding: loneliness is a predictor of suicide in people aged 65 and older.

Cultural factors concerning social isolation and loneliness are more complex. Many may not be willing to admit they feel lonely because of a negative stigma attached to loneliness or being perceived as “weak.” In addition, American and Western societies tend to fear or shun old age, adding to isolation and loneliness among older individuals.

COVID-19 as a reminder

Now, countless people are learning how prolonged separation from community affects their physical, emotional and spiritual health. In a time of social and physical distancing, creativity is a necessity in maintaining meaningful relationships.

Hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities designed to care for the sick and elderly are prohibiting visitors for their protection. For more than six months, my own family has tried to make do seeing my grandmother from outside her window. At multiple points during the pandemic, her situation, like many others, has been like living in solitary confinement.

Another way of looking at this situation is to see it as a reminder of what already has been there for decades, staring us in the face. Social isolation and loneliness did not crop up with COVID-19.

The isolation and loneliness of old age long has been expressed in questions like: “What legacy am I leaving behind? How have I spent my precious years? Am I now nothing more than a burden to my family? What is my purpose? Has God forgotten me?”

Pondering these questions is uncomfortable. Having even more time to dwell on them while quarantined can be tortuous.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I ask you to imagine yourself in the hospital bed or nursing home during this time. How would you want your church to relieve your suffering?

The challenge

It is time to stretch our creative muscles a little further. It will take more than a couple of people from the congregation visiting “shut-ins” every few weeks. The challenge before us demands relentless intentionality, stemming from the love of God found in each of us, in the effort of building a culture that lives and breathes inclusiveness found in true community.

All areas are fair game for change, including how technology, music, written word, social media and other mediums are used to establish hearty individual and group relationships. By so doing, we may gain a fresh understanding of what it means to live by the Golden Rule (Luke 6:31).

Why is this important? Because the “Silver Tsunami” is happening. This is the influx of Baby Boomers reaching geriatric age. Soon, the number of geriatric people in the nation will surpass those aged 18 and younger. No matter how strong a support system any given person may have, that is a lot of lonely people.

This pandemic provides an opportunity for us to step back and evaluate our situations in different ways. We still have a chance to alter the pattern of isolation and loneliness experienced by so many of our elderly loved ones.

Sara Long is a hospital chaplain, finishing a clinical pastoral education fellowship program at a level 1 trauma hospital and specializing in pastoral care to geriatric patients and their families. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

“Let the children come to me. Do not stop them. For the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it” (Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-16 and Luke 18:15-17).

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself in tears and on my knees, seeking the mercy of God to right a wrong. As a devoted mother and grandmother, I am in disbelief at the treatment of families and their children who come to us seeking asylum.

We know Jesus loves children. In the Gospels, we are reminded Jesus was displeased with his disciples and rebuked them for restricting the children access.

Advocates for children coming to America

Earlier this month, I participated in a virtual conference, Immigration Summit 2020: A Path Forward for New American Children.

The leadership team consisted of the organization’s CEO, Robert Sanborn, in addition to Yael Ross, the director of the Center for New American Children. The summit was hosted by Children at Risk, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization dedicated to addressing the root causes of poor public policies affecting children.

The opening speaker was Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. For those of us working in or following immigration issues, she simply is known as “Sister Norma.”

I have had the blessing of visiting with and supporting Sister Norma’s work. I think of her as “Texas’ version of Mother Teresa.” She has spent many years working at the border, providing love and essentials to children and families seeking asylum in the United States.

Conditions in border camps

Sister Norma gave an account of the deplorable conditions in the camps south of the border following Hurricane Hanna in late July. Under the “Remain in Mexico” policy, asylum seekers have been waiting months for their opportunity for a hearing on their asylum request. Both the stories and photos were heartbreaking.

In her words, “It is horrible …” She described the destroyed camps and the invasion of snakes, rats, spiders and mosquitos. Mothers stood guard outside their zippered tents to safeguard their children from larger, more dangerous human predators. She also noted there is a growing threat of dengue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases.

A different kind of undocumented

Later in the summit, I learned of another unthinkable situation: unaccompanied children crossing into the United States, then taken to hotels by contractors of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to await return to their countries of origin.

It was shocking to learn these children never were recorded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department Health and Human Services. Nor were they allowed their legal right to apply for asylum.

I questioned if this was possible and permissible. Could children be taken alone and housed in hotels without appropriate and qualified supervision, such as a parent or a trained social worker? Surely, there are laws in place for the protection of minor children who present themselves to a border guard. Surely, this was a “one-off” case.

I pulled up a fact sheet from the American Immigration Council to make certain I had a clear understanding of the law.

According to the sheet, Customs and Border Patrol “must transfer unaccompanied children to the custody of ORR within 72 hours ‘except in the case of exceptional circumstances.’” CBP and ORR are required to document every person in their custody. Yet, this isn’t happening for untold numbers of unaccompanied minors crossing the border.

I learned, much to my horror, about a case of two cousins aged 16 and 13 who were kept secretly in a hotel. Joel Rose, a correspondent on NPR’s National Desk, reported their story. According to court documents, “unaccompanied minors have been held secretly in hotels for days, sometimes weeks,” until they can be returned home.

The reason given for this practice is “to protect public health during the pandemic.”

Where Christians can get involved

I understand immigration is an emotional issue. I am hoping Christians will read Scripture, pray and let the Holy Spirit guide their thoughts and address their fears.

Children love without regard to personal interests, color, creed or financial well-being. I believe that is why Christ says, “Anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

Please join me in taking the Evangelical Immigration Table’s 40-day I was a Stranger Challenge. Allow Scripture to guide us to learn more about God’s heart for immigrants.

Leviticus 19:33-34 was the Scripture that pierced my heart and drove me to repentance in 2009. See where Scripture lead you.

Brenda Kirk is the south central regional mobilizer for the National Immigration Forum and Evangelical Immigration Table. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Justice looks like …” is a special series in the Voices column. Readers will have the opportunity to consider justice from numerous viewpoints. The series is based on each writer’s understanding of Scripture and relationship with Jesus Christ. Writers present their own views independent of any institution, unless otherwise noted in their bios.

You are encouraged to listen to each writer without prejudgment. Then, engage in conversation with others around you about what justice looks like to you.

Click here for more information about the series. Click here to read the full “Justice looks like…” series. 

I am a public school teacher, an adoptive mom and a sister of a woman with Down syndrome. I am a Bible-believing woman with a desire to fight for every person to know Jesus’ love and to love him in return.

Special education

Growing up, I watched my parents advocate for my sister’s education. Quite literally, they fought for her right to be taught how to read.

The public school system thought Angela needed to be taught social skills, but they didn’t believe she could learn to read. My parents believed differently, and Mom would sit in ARD meeting after ARD meeting, advocating for her child’s right to be taught how to read. (ARD stands for Admission Review and Dismissal, which determines a child’s placement in or release from special education.)

As a public school teacher today, with a passion for enabling children to learn and grow in the least restrictive environment, this blows my mind. Did those teachers forget Angela needed to read a menu, a street sign as she walked home from the park, a label or price tag on a shirt?

I am not naïve. I know she’s not going to read Tolstoy. But reading is a part of living life. Justice for Angela included learning how to read. Angela needed an advocate to fight for her.

Adoption

In high school, I had my first personal look at adoption when my music minister’s sister adopted a little girl. I knew I would be a part of that world, someday. At age 32, someday arrived, and I became a licensed foster single parent.

After the privilege of fostering five little girls over seven years, I adopted 12-year-old Mia. She is now 13 and a joy of my heart. I would love for her to stay innocent, but I can’t allow her to stay innocent and still be prepared for this world.

When Mia first came into my home more than two years ago, people asked me if she “was an illegal,” because of her Hispanic heritage.

She has gorgeous, thick, dark brown hair that will do anything she wants. Her huge smile with white flashing teeth makes me smile, because it’s bubbling with joy. And, I’m not worried about her like I would be if she was Black. But, I do know she will encounter racism, and we talk about it regularly. Each time a Black man or woman has been killed, we talk about it again.

It is my job to educate her, to encourage her to stand up for others, to be prepared when someone acts in a threatening way toward her because of her gender or ethnicity or both. I said “when,” not “if.” But I don’t feel like it’s enough.

How do I, as a white woman with white privilege and wealth privilege—and that’s coming from a single mom who is a teacher—talk with my Hispanic daughter about racism, knowing she will experience it, but not as badly as a Black friend, and that she needs to be able to stand up for herself and others? I don’t have the answers. All I know is we have to have the conversations.

Justice for Mia includes a loving, safe home and a forever family. Justice for Mia, and all children of minority ethnicities, includes having hard conversations. Our children need an advocate willing to do difficult things.

Public education

I have taught in public schools for 18 years. There have been times when parents and I worked as a team, because they did not know what to do to help their children grasp a difficult academic concept or learn social skills or have strong character qualities.

There are times when I sat in ARDs and handed tissue to parents processing information they knew was coming but was still hard to hear. There are times a test doesn’t show what I know a child can do.

Justice for our children means someone is willing to fight for their best. Our children need an advocate to fight for them.

In Proverbs 31, King Lemuel’s mother taught him well: “Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”

We cannot remain silent. We cannot stand by inactively. We must speak up, and we must stand up when someone—anyone—needs us to advocate for them. That is what justice looks like to me.

Alyssa Ross is a public school teacher and advocate for children from hard places. She has been a member of Citizens Church, previously The Village Church Plano campus, for almost eight years. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

Click here to read the full “Justice looks like…” series. 

David Maltsberger has been a professor in the School of Christian Studies for Wayland Baptist University in San Antonio for seven years. From deep in the heart of one Texan, he shares his background and thoughts on Christian higher education. To suggest a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated leader to be featured in this column, or to apply to be featured yourself, click here.

Background

Where else have you served, and what were your positions there?

I began on the faculty of the Odessa Theological Seminary in the Ukraine, then was a pastor in British Columbia for seven years. In 2001, I joined the religion department of the Baptist University of the Américas, where I taught for almost 12 years and worked on initial certification and accreditation. I also have served on staff of Baptist congregations—both English and Spanish—in Peru and Texas.

Where did you grow up?

San Antonio

How did you come to faith in Christ?

Two middle school friends told me of their youth activities at First Baptist Church Castle Hills and invited me to come along. My first week there, I joined a group that spoke out at a business meeting about something regarding the youth. For me, a Christian group that promoted participation of members was an eye-opener. Not long afterwards, I was baptized by the pastor, George H. Harris.

Where were you educated, and what degrees did you receive?

Recognizing a call to ministry fairly early, I attended East Texas Baptist College—now University—as a religion major, and later, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where I earned the Master of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. in biblical backgrounds and archaeology.

As an archaeologist, I have pursued projects in Israel, Jordan and Turkey.

What was one of the most exciting or important digs you’ve been a part of?

To an archaeologist, almost any dig or survey is exciting. Over the past several years, working in Cilicia of southwestern Turkey, near Tarsus, the hometown of the Apostle Paul, we’ve been tracking traces of Judaism and early Christianity as it came of age in the ancient Greco-Roman world.

Last year, we also finally summited a large volcano in central Anatolia to reach the remains of an ancient Hittite temple and fortress from the 7th century B.C. Walking across the dormant caldera and the seldom-visited ruins of an ancient military camp—climbing into the fallen stones of the abandoned temple once guarded by large stone lions—makes a stirring afternoon.

The world of archaeology not only adds depth to the people of the Bible; it builds our knowledge of the “who, how and why” of so many biblical events.

About education

Why do you feel called into education?

My personal mission always has been to “discover, uncover and share” the story of the biblical world. My ministry call is paralleled by my call to work as an archaeologist in the Near East.

The educational setting at Wayland allows me to train and build up other ministers who take that message of our sacred past and lay it before many more hearers than I could alone. By educating men and women for service to the church, I see my work multiplied.

How does being a Christian influence your work in education?

I am fortunate to serve a university that reaches out, not just within our own denominational lines, but also serves many unchurched students. I have opportunity to make not only the gospel message known, but to share the ethos—the beliefs and values—of our Baptist heritage.

From the fascinating story of Wayland’s Flying Queens women’s basketball team to the path-forging racial integration of the school, I am allowed tell the tales that reflect the best of Texas Baptists and the essence of Christ’s message in action.

What is your favorite aspect of education? Why?

Having taught again in Texas for almost 20 years, I am blessed to see students from so many backgrounds, cultures and languages go and serve in a variety of ways across the world.

When I see former students serve congregations in India, across Latin America and Europe, and in business and education here and abroad, I know any struggle has been overshadowed by lives that have been changed and continue to change others.

Part of our Wayland mission is lead students “to professional success and service to God and humankind.” Seeing that in action inspires me to continue.

What is your favorite class to teach? Why?

I teach a lot of graduate-level Old Testament courses. I enjoy the “Aha” moments when ministry students discover a biblical story or its implications in ways they may never have heard before. When you know you have planted a new seed that can grow into some greater message or work in the future, there is no other feeling like that.

What one aspect of education would you like to change?

If I could, I would change grading systems. I don’t like to place a numeric value on an experience. It often takes a long time for what a student found in a classroom experience to grow into a mature knowledge. Longer still, sometimes, to produce fruit. Rather than inspire, grades often hinder further exploration by students.

Name the three most significant challenges and/or influences facing education.

The continuing need for greater funding, the shift from content-focus to competency-focus, and the struggle for faith-based schools to remain relevant choices for students offered so many opportunities across the globe.

What do you wish more people knew about education?

I have encountered more and more voices in the church that look down on education, especially of their minsters, as though it is a tainted and negative influence. The need for a thoroughly educated clergy has not diminished. It is greater today than ever before.

Those who will accept less than the best-prepared minister for their congregation are losing out.

While the simplicity of the gospel message needs no vast education to share or be understood, an educated pastor can assist a church to multiply her outreach, deepen her discipleship, and advance the kingdom more effectively than an undereducated one.

About Baptists

Why are you Baptist?

Baptists bring to the family of faith a dedication to principles that build up individuals and the larger church.

Our traditional calls for the centrality and authority of the Bible, freedom of churches to choose their leaders and associate with others, an individual’s soul freedom to interpret Scripture and interact with God directly, and the unequivocal separation of church and state all attracted me as a teen coming to Christ and still guide me today.

What are the key issues facing Baptists—denominationally and/or congregationally?

As American evangelicalism grows, Baptists too often feel we have to compete with other congregations by offering more entertainment-focused gatherings and events. Large is in, and small is dying. We often forget smaller can be better, and the quietude of worship can outpace the glamour of the three-ring circus.

About David

Who were/are your mentors, and how did/do they influence you?

My Texas Baptist professors shaped my knowledge and my practice. Donald Potts introduced me to crafting a sermon that communicates the whole story of the passage. Bruce Tankersley opened up the world of church history and the New Testament to me. George Kelm at Southwestern Seminary opened for me the greater world of the Bible as we excavated together in Israel. He also modeled for me classroom teaching.

What is your favorite Bible verse or passage? Why?

For many decades, I’ve relied on 1 Peter 5:6—“Humble yourself, therefore, under the mighty hand of God”—to remind me I never am too big nor too proud to take on a task out of the limelight. Learning to be humbler is a difficult journey.

Who is your favorite person in the Bible, other than Jesus? Why?

I have always have been partial to the prophet Amos. He was a layman who accepted a call to follow God in difficult circumstances. His plea to “let justice roll down like water” still echoes across the centuries, and we would do well to hear him again in the tumultuous times we live.

The year 2020 continues to make history for all the wrong reasons.

The good news is Hurricane Marco weakened overnight to a tropical storm before its expected landfall on the Louisiana coast later today. The bad news is Tropical Storm Laura is forecasted to strengthen to a hurricane before it makes landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday.

Parts of Louisiana will start to see the effects of Laura by Wednesday morning, after Marco leaves the state Tuesday evening. National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Scott said, “The unprecedented kind of thing here is that it’s the same state within 48 hours of each other.”

And this is happening in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic; the Louisiana Department of Health reported 1,223 more cases and 59 more deaths in the last two days.

In a year filled with so many challenges at the same time, Christians can make a transforming difference in our culture. However, there’s an empowering key we need to remember.

When we are more Socratic than biblical

I teach the history of Western thought in the doctoral program at Dallas Baptist University. In our study, we note an essential shift comes early in our intellectual history with Socrates’ dictum, “Know yourself.”

Four centuries before Christ, Socrates taught we know truth by knowing ourselves. This focus on the individual as the locus of knowledge, in contrast to truth known through the community or by divine revelation, has been foundational to secular culture from his day to ours.

Even evangelical Christians can be more Socratic than biblical.

In answer to Jesus’ imperative, “You must be born again” (John 3:7), we rightly emphasize the urgency of personal faith in our Savior. We know God wants us to know him in a transforming, personal way.

However, seen through the Socratic lens of our culture, this emphasis on individual faith can lead us to believe once we have decided to trust Jesus, we have done all Jesus asks of us. Our focus is more on the act of faith than on its Object.

By contrast, God’s word teaches choosing to believe in Jesus is only the beginning.

God “never asks us to decide for him”

Oswald Chambers notes our Lord “never asks us to decide for him, but to yield to him, a very different thing.” Why should we “yield” to Jesus?

Jesus’ first beatitude is the foundation of the Sermon on the Mount that follows: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). The word translated “poor” (ptochos) means to be so impoverished as to have nothing at all.

To be this impoverished “in spirit” is to recognize the depth of our spiritual depravity. It is to admit, like all other humans, we have “sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It is to acknowledge further that “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:23).

Chambers explains: “If I know I have no strength of will, no nobility of disposition, then Jesus says—Blessed are you, because it is through this poverty that I enter his kingdom. I cannot enter his kingdom as a good man or woman, I can only enter it as a complete pauper.”

When we admit our desperate need for our Father’s transforming love and grace, we will come to him as a dying patient comes to his doctor. As David testified, “My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).

Salvation in three tenses

The knowledge that “nothing good dwells in me” (Romans 7:18) extends from my need for salvation to my need for sanctification as well. A painter can paint only the parts of the canvas he can touch. A surgeon can heal only the patient who is submitted to her care.

If we limit our submission to God to our salvation, we miss all he can do with the rest of our lives. If we do not begin every day by surrendering that day to his lordship, we miss all he can do in and through us across that day.

Biblical salvation is in three tenses: we have been saved and justified (1 Corinthians 6:11), we are being saved and sanctified (1 Thessalonians 5:23), and we will be saved and glorified (2 Corinthians 3:18). By focusing only on the first, we miss the second and are unprepared for the third.

The secret of life is not to “know yourself” but to “know Jesus” with intimate and passionate dependence on him.

“There is no relationship more satisfying”

When we know Jesus through holistic submission to his lordship, we will be empowered and impassioned to make him known. Others will see the transformational difference he makes in our lives. Our faith will move from Sunday to Monday, from religion to the “real world.” And we will act as the salt and light we are (Matthew 5:13–16).

Craig Denison captures the urgency of this opportunity: “There is no source of true love apart from [Jesus]. There is no relationship more satisfying than one with our God. There is no identity more freeing than being the child of the Creator. And there is no real grace outside of his overwhelmingly patient heart.”

Craig adds: “Your God is patient toward you, waiting with expectation in his heart for what he can do in your life.”

The next step is yours.

Jim Denison is the co-founder and chief vision officer of Denison Forum. He pastored churches in Texas and Georgia and now speaks and writes to empower believers to navigate cultural issues from a biblical perspective.

An “unprecedented” threat on the Gulf Coast: In a year of crisis, an empowering key Christians need to remember was first published in The Daily Article by the Denison Forum. Daily Articles are republished in the Baptist Standard under agreement with Denison Forum and are not intended to represent the Standard’s views.

NOTE: The section on Black Lives Matter has been updated to clarify the difference between the movement and the foundation by the same name.

While churches try to answer how and when they can return safely to in-person worship and small groups, they also need to give attention to other questions in the minds of some of their members.

• What should I think about Black Lives Matter?
• What if I identify with (some of) the description of a Christian nationalist?
• What if QAnon is right?

And why should we care about any of these in the first place?

Three reasons to care

One reason churches should care about Black Lives Matter, Christian nationalism and QAnon is that all three make truth claims in competition with truth claims churches uphold.

A second reason churches should care about all three is they each have political and structural aims that will affect churches if realized.

A third reason to care is that all three are affecting “the unity of the Spirit” (Ephesians 4) in many churches—maybe yours. Sunday school classes, friends and even families are moving apart over questions connected to one or all three.

Church leaders need to give some attention to these, because church members are.

Black Lives Matter

By this point, the Black Lives Matter movement may be well understood by many readers. Like me, however, readers may not be entirely clear about the difference between the movement and the foundation by the same name. For those who do not know the 15 commitments of the Black Lives Matter Foundation, they can be read on the foundation’s website under What We Believe.

Most Christians can agree with certain aspirations of the foundation, such as “intentionally build[ing] and nurtur[ing] a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting” and “embody[ing] and practice[ing] justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.”

On the other hand, many Christians will strongly oppose commitments like “foster[ing] a queer affirming network” and will react strongly to goals like “disrupt[ing] the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement.” Such goals make some Christians suspicious of the Black Lives Matter movement because of some aims espoused by the BLM Foundation.

The BLM Foundation’s all-or-nothing posture suggests a person cannot believe Black lives matter without also fully affirming all the foundation’s aims.

Churches can and should engage in constructive conversations about what it means for Black lives to matter among them. They can address how Black lives matter without the BLM Foundation setting the rules for how churches show Black lives matter.

Christian nationalism

The website of the Christian Nationalist Alliance, which has not been updated since 2017, defines a Christian nationalist as someone who “adheres to a political platform that advocates for Christian principles in government and law. … Christian nationalism is a means by which we, as Christians, reassert our rights to live in a society which accurately reflects the will of God.”

The definition continues: “We advocate for representative democracy, limited government, States Rights, Christian charity, the Three C’s[—Christianity, culture and capitalism—]and the Holy Bible as a blueprint for a lawful society.”

Additionally, the Christian Nationalist Alliance opposes communism, Islam and same-sex marriage and promotes the right to bear arms and strong national borders.

Like the Black Lives Matter Foundation—a polar opposite of the Christian Nationalist Alliance—self-identified Christian nationalists present an all-or-none posture. Viewing their “ideology” as the only way America can be “made great again,” they imply that to be a Christian—and an American—requires one to oppose all the things Christian nationalists oppose and promote all the things they promote.

Churches know what it means to follow Jesus—to be a Christian—without a political ideology defining that for them. Church members can and should search Scripture together and seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance together to discern how they can live as citizens of a heavenly kingdom within earthly societies of any kind.

QAnon

The Wall Street Journal, Religion News Service and others have reported on QAnon recently, pointing to its origin on the far right. They describe it as a “community of believers” that embraces and promotes conspiracy theories about a “deep state” network of elitists working secretly to defeat Donald Trump.

One theory purports COVID-19 is part of that secret work. A recent study by Pew Research found 25 percent “of U.S. adults see at least some truth in” this theory about the coronavirus pandemic.

Such theories feed on a lack of knowledge average Americans have about the inner workings of government and conversations among so-called elites. Theorists then fill in those gaps in knowledge with enough plausibility to manipulate truth entirely. In response to such conspiracy theories, we must ask: “To what end? Who benefits from spreading these theories?”

The popularity of QAnon and its conspiracy theories undermines efforts at truth-telling, including efforts by the church.

Churches can be confident in the face of QAnon, however, not because churches are smarter or know more than Q, but because the church is not limited by what we know and don’t know. Instead, the church lives by faith in Jesus, whose life, death, resurrection and teachings have centuries of verification.

Church, we face a lot of questions. COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, Christian nationalism and QAnon are just some of them. We need to engage the questions as followers of the life-giving Lord, knowing we don’t have all the answers, and the answer we do have stands up to all the questions.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com or on Twitter at @EricBlackBSP. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

One of the most iconic war movies of all time is the 1979 Academy Award nominee for best picture, Apocalypse Now. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the movie chronicles the story of a U.S. Army officer tasked with the assassination of a renegade special forces colonel who sees himself as a god.

The title of the movie is a metaphor for a journey into the self, and how, in the face of the horrors of war, the self easily darkens into an abyss as it becomes more and more separated from reality.

Upon hearing or reading the word “apocalypse” today, many immediately would associate the term with a whole litany of Bible prophecies describing dark, dystopian images of cataclysmic events marking the end of the world.

In light of our current coronavirus pandemic, some Bible prophecy and end times prognosticators no doubt would make the case this current global plague—along with what they would perceive to be an ever-increasing number and intensity of earthquakes, floods, famines, wars and rumors of war, and other so-called “signs of the times”—is but another indicator the apocalypse is now, or at least nigh, upon us.

So, is the end of the world really near? Is it already here? Are we living in “apocalypse now?”

My answer would be an emphatic, “Yes, we most certainly are!” But not in the sense most would interpret that answer.

The meaning of “apocalypse”

Our English word “apocalypse” is a transliteration of the Greek word apokalypsis, which literally means “an unveiling or unfolding of things not previously known.” It means “to uncover or reveal.”

Interestingly, the first word in the opening verse of the New Testament book of Revelation is that Greek word apokalypsis. The book launches with these words, “The revelation (the apokalypsis) of Jesus Christ …”

But the word “apocalypse” can vary greatly in its meaning, depending on the context in which it is used. While we may not be living in the apocalypse—in a prophetic, biblical, end times sense of the word—we most certainly are living in an apocalypse … or we should be.

Perhaps this current pandemic isn’t really about future, dystopian, end of the world events at all. Perhaps God is allowing us to go through this current pandemic period to “apocalyptically reveal” some things about ourselves and our world right now.

Perhaps God, right now, is attempting to “uncover or unveil” some “eye-opening,” previously hidden things, that long have needed exposure, things that long have beckoned for, if not demanded, our attention.

Making apocalypse personal

As a theologian, I try to think through this pandemic period theologically. I am seeing God reveal a lot to me regarding my personal life and relationship with him.

With all the uncertainties surrounding us these days, what have I been trusting in and depending on most in my life? What “gods” have I been clinging to more than the one, true God? What idols have I erected in my life that I’ve been looking to for my ultimate safety and security in life?

Where am I placing my ultimate hope for the future? Is it the government, the health care system, a vaccine? While I certainly love and support our government and heroic health care workers, and hope and pray for a vaccine sooner than later, have I been placing too much faith and trust in the “things of this world” that never fully answer life’s biggest questions and never fully offer ultimate, eternal solutions?

In this time of greater personal isolation and its call for subsequent reflection and introspection, perhaps God has been “uncovering” for me that I have been taking too many things for granted in my life.

Having been forced to “social distance” from my kids, grandkids, friends, Sunday school class, church family and co-workers, what is God “apocalyptically revealing” to me about relationships that are most important in my life, relationships I should be investing in more and more right now to grow, nurture and develop?

Making apocalypse social

During this pandemic period, what might God be trying to reveal to us about the state of our society right now?

I would echo the words of Nishta J. Mehra, a first-generation daughter of Indian immigrants and a high school teacher in Phoenix, Ariz. In the summer 2020 edition of Rice Magazine, she perceptively discerns:

“So for me to say that we are living in an apocalyptic age is not to invoke futuristic, dystopian imagery, but rather to argue that the current global pandemic is showing us a great deal about the brokenness of contemporary America; the inequality of our systems—particularly health care, the gaps in our infrastructure, the frailty of our social safety nets, our cultural discomfort with uncertainty and grief.

“Populations that were already marginalized and vulnerable—indigenous and African American communities, the elderly who live in nursing homes, incarcerated Americans—are the ones who face the highest rate of COVID-19 infection. Unemployment is at a record high and food banks are struggling to provide assistance to citizens of one of the richest nations in the world.

“Our mythology of exceptionalism and insistence on rugged individualism have blinded … ; the cost of this blindness is high …”

So, are we living in an “apocalypse now” moment? I certainly hope and pray we are.

If Apocalypse Now is a movie metaphor for a journey into the self in the face of the horrors of war, what is our current “apocalypse now” moment—in the face of the horrors of a war against a pandemic—revealing to you personally about your own journey into the self?

Apocalypse doesn’t just refer to the end times, it speaks to the now times. God is in the business of constantly—apocalyptically—revealing and uncovering truths for us to see. What truths is he revealing to you and about you right now?

Jim Lemons is professor of theological studies and leadership in the College of Christian Faith and the director of the Master of Arts in Theological Studies at Dallas Baptist University. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

Dr. Issam Raad, a leading expert and physician inventor in the field of health care-related infections and infections in cancer, is the founding senior pastor of Arabic Church of Houston. He also is the founding president of Health Outreach to the Middle East—a Christian medical missionary organization focused on the Middle East—where he has served for 30 years.

From deep in the heart of one Texan, Raad shares his background and thoughts on ministry in his context. To suggest a Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated leader to be featured in this column, or to apply to be featured yourself, click here.

Background

Where else have you served in ministry, and what were your positions there?

• Assistant pastor in an evangelical church in Beirut, Lebanon, while in medical school (1980–84)
• Main team leader with Campus Crusade for Christ in Lebanon, also while in medical school (1978–81)
• Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Fla. (1986–89)
• Sunday school teacher at Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Sugar Land (1997–2001)
• Currently, distinguished chair and professor of medicine at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston

Where did you grow up?

Beirut, Lebanon

How did you come to faith in Christ?

I was a student at the American University of Houston, searching for freedom and being a rebel, wanting to change my society and make it free from corruption. Then I discovered, with the help of a friend who was a believer, that unless the Son sets you free from internal corruption, you cannot be free indeed. I accepted Christ in 1974, and he changed my life.

Where were you educated, and what degrees did you receive?

• Medical doctorate from the American University of Beirut, 1982
• Residency in internal medicine and fellowship in infectious diseases from the University of Florida, 1989
• Ordained as a pastor at the Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Sugar Land, 2003

About being a Christian in health care

Why do you feel called into health care?

I believe it is a profession through which I can show the compassion and loving-kindness of my Savior who is the Great Physician.

How does being a Christian influence your decisions in health care?

Being a Christian makes me a better physician, because it gives me a deep sense of putting the patient first and practicing sacrificial Christlike love and treating my patients the way I would like to be treated.

About ministry life

Why do you feel called into ministry?

After much prayer, the Lord spoke to me from John 21:15-17. I was persuaded that if I love him, I should feed and care for his sheep. I have done that for the last 26 years as a pastor, while also being a practicing physician.

What is your favorite aspect of ministry? Why?

Shepherding, pastoral care, preaching and teaching.

What one aspect of ministry gives you the greatest joy?

Soul winning makes me share in the joy of heaven.

Name the three most significant challenges and/or influences facing your ministry.

Ministering to people from different countries, backgrounds and faith, many of whom are refugees and immigrants.

What is something distinct about your congregation?

There are 22 Arabic countries, mostly in the Middle East and North Africa, that speak the Arabic language, although the dialects are different.

Our Arabic church has people from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Iraq, mostly. Some came to the Christian faith from a Muslim background, but most were raised in Christian homes.

Lebanon, where I grew up, is the only Arabic country led by a Catholic president. All other leaders are Muslims. Lebanon is a country very open to the West and modernized. Lebanese can speak at least three languages, and most of them are highly educated.

What do you wish more people knew about your ministry, and ministry, in general?

We need more people to help us minister to Arabs—including help with youth, young adults and children. This is the mission field right here in your backyard.

About Dr. Raad

Why are you Baptist?

Baptists are Bible-based and emphasize the unity and priesthood of believers.

Who were/are your mentors, and how did/do they influence you?

• My local pastors in Lebanon—Pastor Melki and Pastor Saddi
• The head of Campus Crusade for Christ in Lebanon—Pastor Masri
• Dr. Marc Erickson, a physician who also is a pastor of a large evangelical church
• Dr. Gerald Bodey, the previous chair at MD Anderson Cancer Center

What did you learn on the job you wish you learned in seminary?

How to unite, motivate and mobilize the people of God to serve as lay ministers.

What is the impact of ministry on your family?

All three of my children are committed to Christ. They are married to committed Christians and seek to serve the Lord daily.

Other than the Bible, name some of your favorite books or authors.

• A.W. Tozer’s Pursuit of God
• Warren Wiersbe’s Be Series
• David Wilkerson’s Hungry for More of Jesus

What is your favorite Bible verse or passage? Why?

1 John 3:16. Jesus laid down his life for us, and hence, we need to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Romans 8:35. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

Who is your favorite person in the Bible, other than Jesus? Why?

Dr. Luke, because he was a physician with a mission who portrayed Christ as the compassionate Savior and healing physician.

A physicist has calculated the universe will end in the “next few trillion years.” According to other experts, it could end for us far sooner.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine recently testified before Congress that an asteroid strike is perhaps Earth’s biggest threat. Last Sunday, his fears were made real when an undetected asteroid made the closest pass without hitting our planet ever recorded.

Here’s the troubling part: NASA did not see the object until six hours after it flew past us. While it was small enough that it likely would have broken up in the atmosphere, it was undetected until it would have been too late to respond.

What happened in the skies overhead is a metaphor for what is happening in the world around us. And the situation is more dire than most seem to think.

Technology that “changes everything we’ve ever known”

This New York Times headline caught my eye: “The Poly-Parent Households Are Coming.” The author points to “a technological revolution in baby making” called IVG (in vitro gametogenesis).

This process would allow anyone to manufacture an egg or sperm cell from a sliver of their own skin and that of others. Children could be created with genetic material from anyone and any number of people, whatever their gender or relational status.

IVG is already in laboratory experimentation. If successful for humans, the author states it would “dismantle completely the reproductive structure of heterosexuality” through technology that “changes everything we’ve ever known about sex and babies and marriage.”

“Poly-parents” may be the future, but “tri-parenting” is the present. According to the Boston Globe, lawmakers and/or courts in at least 12 U.S. states have declared some children can have more than two parents. One example involves “a three-part intimate relationship among a husband, his wife, and a female neighbor.” The husband and wife later divorced after the women split off as a couple; all three have custody of the child.

Why God delays his judgment

Jesus’ position on sexual morality was clear: “A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Matthew 19:5). As a result, we are to “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Corinthians 6:18) and to “let the marriage bed be undefiled” (Hebrews 13:4).

Here’s the part of God’s word on our subject I want us to focus on today: Hebrews 13:4 continues, “for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” If our secular culture is aware of this fact, most seem not to care.

Peter warned about “those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority” (2 Peter 2:10). In this context, the “authority” is that of the Lord himself. Such people “have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin” (v. 14) and face severe judgment to come (v. 17).

Of course, it’s easy for secular people to discount the warning of spiritual judgment. Peter quoted such skeptics in his day: “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:4).

The fact is, God delays his judgment only out of his compassion: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (v. 9).

However, he will not stay his judgment forever: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (v. 10).

In light of the certainty of judgment, we must choose “lives of godliness and holiness” (v. 11) and “be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace” (v. 14).

My response to a radio question

We cannot expect lost people to adopt biblical morality in light of judgment by a God they ignore. But we must not adopt their presumption as our own. Every day brings us one day closer to the day when “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

And we must not allow the presumption of our lost culture to deter us from warning those we influence. The more a cancer patient ignores his disease, the more urgent his doctor’s warnings.

I was asked yesterday in a radio interview to offer ways Christians should respond to the “cancel culture” censure many of us face. My suggestion was to reframe such conflict as a divine appointment.

The more people reject us for the biblical truths we hold, the more they need these truths. And the more we respond to their condemnation with Christlike compassion, the more we show them the transforming relevance of our faith and our Lord.

We should expect such conflict in our fallen world. Francis Chan was right: “Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers.” But we should respond with intercession and service that pays forward the grace we have received from the Lord we love.

If you knew a gigantic meteor was on a collision course with our planet, wouldn’t you do everything you could to warn everyone you could?

Jim Denison is the co-founder and chief vision officer of Denison Forum. He pastored churches in Texas and Georgia and now speaks and writes to empower believers to navigate cultural issues from a biblical perspective.

An asteroid just missed our planet: “Poly-parent households,” “tri-parenting,” and the urgency and hope of biblical truth was first published in The Daily Article by the Denison Forum. Daily Articles are republished in the Baptist Standard under agreement with Denison Forum and are not intended to represent the Standard’s views.

(RNS)—It’s a rough time to be a pastor. An election year, national racial unrest and a global pandemic each challenged the usual methods of ministry. Taken together, many church leaders are facing the traditional post-vacation ingathering season with a serious case of burnout.

But there’s another challenge pastors I spoke with say is on the rise in their flocks. It is taking on the power of a new religion dividing churches and hurting Christian witness.

Mark Fugitt, senior pastor of Round Grove Baptist Church in Miller, Mo., recently sat down to count the conspiracy theories people in his church are sharing on Facebook. The list was long. It included claims that 5G radio waves are used for mind control; George Floyd’s murder is a hoax; Bill Gates is related to the devil; masks can kill you; the germ theory isn’t real; and there might be something to Pizzagate after all.

“You don’t just see it once,” said Fugitt. “If there’s ever anything posted, you’ll see it five to 10 times. It’s escalating for sure.”

The rise of QAnon

Conspiracy theories—grand narratives that seek to prove powerful actors are secretly controlling events and institutions for evil purposes—are nothing new in the United States. But since 2017, a sort of ur-conspiracy theory, QAnon, has coalesced in online forums and created millions of believers. “To look at QAnon is to see not just a conspiracy theory but the birth of a new religion,” wrote Adrienne LaFrance in The Atlantic in June.

Named after “Q,” who posts anonymously on the online bulletin board 4chan, QAnon alleges President Donald Trump and military officials are working to expose a “deep state” pedophile ring with links to Hollywood, the media and the Democratic Party. Since its first mention some three years ago, the theory has drawn adherents looking for a clear way to explain recent disorienting global events.

Once the fascination of far-right commentators and their followers, QAnon no longer is fringe. With support from Trump and other elected officials, it has gained credibility both on the web and in the offline world. In Georgia, a candidate for Congress has praised Q as “a mythical hero,” and at least five other congressional hopefuls from Illinois to Oregon have voiced support.

One scholar found a 71 percent increase in QAnon content on Twitter and a 651 percent increase on Facebook since March.

QAnon shared by church goers

Jon Thorngate is the pastor at LifeBridge, a nondenominational church of about 300 in a Milwaukee suburb. In recent months, he said, his members have shared “Plandemic,” a half-hour film that presents COVID-19 as a moneymaking scheme by government officials and others, on Facebook. Members also have passed around a now-banned Breitbart video that promotes hydroxychloroquine as a cure for the virus.

Thorngate, one of the few pastors who would go on the record among those who called QAnon a real problem in their churches, said only five to 10 members are actually posting the videos online. But in conversations with other members, he’s realized many more are open to conspiracy theories than those who post.

Thorngate attributes the phenomenon in part to the “death of expertise”—a distrust of authority figures that leads some Americans to undervalue long-established measures of competency and wisdom. Among some church members, he said, the attitude is, “I’m going to use church for the things I like, ignore it for the things I don’t and find my own truth.

“That part for us is concerning, that nothing feels authoritative right now.”

Lack of trust in sources of truth

For years in the 1980s and ’90s, U.S. evangelicals, above nearly any other group, warned what will happen when people abandon absolute truth—which they located in the Bible—saying the idea of relative truth would lead to people believing whatever confirms their own inward hunches.

But suspicion of big government, questioning of scientific consensus—on evolution, for example—and a rejection of the morals of Hollywood and liberal elites took hold among millennial Christians, many of whom feel politically alienated and beat up by mainstream media. They are natural targets for QAnon.

There’s no hard data on how many Christians espouse QAnon. But Ed Stetzer, executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, noted distrust of mainstream news sources “can feed a penchant for conspiracy theories.”

A 2018 poll from the Billy Graham Center found 46 percent of self-identified evangelicals and 52 percent of those whose beliefs tagged them as evangelical “strongly agreed that the mainstream media produced fake news.” It also found regular church attendance (at least once a month) correlated to believing mainstream media promulgates fake news (77 percent compared with 68 percent of those who attend less regularly).

Conspiracy theories affecting the church

Jared Stacy said the spread of conspiracy theories in his church is particularly affecting young members. The college and young adult pastor of Spotswood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Va., Stacy said some older members are sharing Facebook content that links the coronavirus to Jeffrey Epstein and secret pedophile rings. He says his and other pastors’ job is to teach conspiracy theories are not where Christians should find a basis for reality.

“My fear … is that Jesus would not be co-opted by conspiracy theories in a way that leads the next generation to throw Jesus out with the bathwater,” Stacy said, “that we’re not able to separate the narrative of taking back our country from Jesus’ kingdom narrative.”

Others are concerned the theories will become grounds for more mistrust. “Young people are exiting the church because they see their parents and mentors and pastors and Sunday school teachers spreading things that even at a young age they can see through,” said Jeb Barr, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Elm Mott outside Waco. He said conspiracy theories are “extremely widespread and getting worse” among his online church networks.

“Why would we listen to my friend Joe … who’s telling me about Jesus who also thinks that Communists are taking over America and operating a pedophile ring out of a pizza restaurant? … Why would we be believed?”

But Barr and other pastors I spoke with are reticent to police church members’ social media conduct. Instead, they try to teach broader principles. “Christians are meant to be agents of hope, to be peacemakers; the Bible says we’re not to be quarrelsome,” said Barr. “We’re not to be the ones spreading fear and division and anger.”

Barr also teaches critical thinking skills and encourages his members to read “boring news.” He will recommend news sources that are credible.

Combating conspiracy theories

But teaching media literacy isn’t enough, precisely because QAnon thrives on a narrative of media cover-up.

Fugitt said it’s not effective to tell conspiracy spreaders what they are sharing online is false. “Nobody joins a cult. I don’t think anybody shares a conspiracy theory either because they believe it’s truth.” Rather, he tries to address the dehumanizing language of QAnon theories that equate certain people with evil. History is replete with examples of where such language can lead.

“I can’t hate another person, but boy if I can make them less than human, that’s the Crusades, that’s Jewish persecution throughout history, that’s racial issues hand over fist there.”

In a fraught political moment, the pastors I spoke with worried taking on QAnon, by addressing politics directly, would divide the church.

QAnon as a religion

But QAnon is more than a political ideology. It’s a spiritual worldview that co-opts many Christian-sounding ideas to promote verifiably false claims about actual human beings.

QAnon has features akin to syncretism—the practice of blending traditional Christian beliefs with other spiritual systems, such as Santeria. Q explicitly uses Bible verses to urge adherents to stand firm against evil elites.

One charismatic church based in Indiana hosts two-hour Sunday services showing how Bible prophecies confirm Q’s messages. Its leaders tell the congregation to stop watching mainstream media—even conservative media—in favor of QAnon YouTube channels and the Qmap website.

And it’s having life-and-death effects: It’s hampering the work of anti-sex trafficking organizations. The FBI has linked it to violence and threats of violence. And its adherents are downplaying the threat of COVID and thus putting others’ lives at risk.

The earliest Christians contended with syncretism in the form of Gnosticism, which blended elements of Greek philosophy and Zoroastrianism with Christianity, emphasizing the good-evil spirit-flesh divide as well as secret divine knowledge (Greek: gnosis is “knowledge”). Early church fathers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian battled Gnostic ideas, rejecting them as heresy.

At a time when church leaders are having to host digital church and try to meet members’ needs virtually, the idea of adding “fight heresy” to their to-do list might sound exhausting. But a core calling of church leaders is to speak the truth in love. It’s not loving to allow impressionable people to be taken in by falsehood. Nor is it loving to allow them to spread falsehood and slander to others.

“Conspiracy theories thrive on a sort of cynicism that says, ‘We see a different reality that no one else sees,’” said Stacy. “Paul says to take every thought captive—addressing conspiracy theories is part of that work.”

Katelyn Beaty is a former managing editor of Christianity Today and the author of A Woman’s Place. The views expressed are those solely of the author.

This fall marks my two-year anniversary writing regularly for the Baptist Standard, particularly in their “Texas Baptist Voices” column. This occasion has prompted me to reflect on why I do this. Why do I write for the Standard?

It certainly is not for riches or fame. I have not become wealthy by doing this, nor do I anticipate ever becoming so. Have I become famous? Maybe somewhat more famous for a niche audience, but not to the point of being able to claim any sort of celebrity status for myself. But even if I were to gain wealth and fame by doing this, that would not be my main motivation.

So, why do I write?

“That without which I could not live”

Although I started writing for the Standard two years ago, I first was published as a writer nearly a decade ago. During my senior year in high school, I served as an editorial intern at a local newspaper in my hometown for a few months, during which time I had the opportunity to write a handful of opinion columns.

When I was preparing to start college, my primary career aspiration was to become a journalist. This sense of vocational calling stemmed from my passion for writing, particularly nonfiction writing that focused on contemporary issues in religion, politics, culture, etc. While my career goals have shifted somewhat in the intervening years, that passion remains.

Several years ago, I first heard a piece of writing advice from the late Christopher Hitchens that deeply resonated with me: “If you want to write, it must be the thing not that you want to do or would like to do; it must be the thing you feel you have to do. It must be that without which you could not live.”

The irony is not lost on me that I, a Christian, have taken such inspiration from another writer who perhaps is most well-known for his passionate opposition to all forms of religion. But as Augustine said, “All truth is God’s truth.” Hitchens himself might have enjoyed the irony.

I never would claim the title of prophet for myself, but I also resonate with the words of Jeremiah: “Within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot” (20:9 NRSV). For years, I have felt an irrepressible urge to write and speak publicly on matters I consider important.

My (desperate) need for an editor

For several years, my primary outlet for the “fire shut up in my bones” was social media. By my senior year of college, I had mastered the Facebook jeremiad. I also had mastered the art of losing friends and alienating people on social media. I still stand by many of the opinions I expressed on Facebook over the years, but I regret much of how I expressed those views.

While I was home on break from seminary a few years ago, my pastor from college ate lunch with me, and we talked about my incendiary social media habits. He told me I was passionate, articulate and sometimes even right in the things I posted to social media. But he and I both agreed Facebook and similar platforms simply are not the best medium for the kind of discourse I was trying to engage.

He suggested if there were subjects about which I simply could not help but say something, I should consider reaching out to different publications and pitching opinion pieces. This approach would force me to slow down, think more carefully about what I want to say, and let an editor hold me accountable for what I write. It also would grant me a wider audience.

After returning to seminary that fall, I took his advice. Through some connections with a few friends, I got in touch with Eric Black at the Baptist Standard, and the rest is history.

There have been more than a few occasions when Eric has saved me from publishing something that would needlessly hurt someone else—and my reputation and career. He also has helped me sharpen my writing skills in general and build a portfolio that could provide a foundation for further writing at an expanded number of publications.

How to write for the Baptist Standard

Perhaps you, too, have a fire shut up in your bones and would like to know how you can write an opinion article for the Standard. Here are a few tips and suggestions that have helped me over the last two years.

Your primary contact person will be Editor Eric Black, naturally. He has written a helpful editorial describing the Standard’s criteria for determining what they will publish. If you email him with an article proposal and he expresses interest, you can proceed with writing and submitting your piece.

Common word processing software like Microsoft Word is all you need to write and format your article. Articles need to be single-spaced, Times New Roman 12-point font, 1-inch margins and no more than 1,000 words; 750 words is ideal. Your word count does not include your title, byline, section headers or bio.

It is helpful for paragraphs to be 3-4 lines in length. This makes for easier online reading. You also will want to break your article up into sections, each beginning with a section heading in bolded text.

Citations are simple. Include the title, creator(s) and page numbers, if applicable. Include a hyperlink if the source is available online.

Do you have a fire shut up in your bones? Is there a subject you are passionate about and must express? Then writing an article for the Baptist Standard might be a great option for you.

Joshua Sharp is a writer and Bible teacher living in Waco. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Truett Theological Seminary. The views expressed are those solely of the author, especially those nice things he said about the editor.

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Justice looks like …” is a special series in the Voices column. Readers will have the opportunity to consider justice from numerous viewpoints. The series is based on each writer’s understanding of Scripture and relationship with Jesus Christ. Writers present their own views independent of any institution, unless otherwise noted in their bios.

You are encouraged to listen to each writer without prejudgment. Then, engage in conversation with others around you about what justice looks like to you.

Click here for more information about the series. Click here to read the full “Justice looks like…” series. 

If Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann is correct in defining justice-making as figuring out what belongs to whom and giving it to them, then we must support universal education for all children.

Education provides the ability to name God’s world. As the first human did at the feet of God in the wonderful creation story recorded in Genesis 2, discovering and naming our world is the enterprise that makes us fully human. In order to “be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, and subdue it,” we must engage in this labeling and categorizing project.

As any learner and teacher knows, humans do not “have dominion” over any reality until and unless we understand it, label it and identify it. Such activity constitutes our humanness. It distinguishes us from the rest of the natural order.

Being human is in a name

In Genesis 2, this naming is listed with two other activities. First, the human is placed by God in a garden of provision with that marvelous command, “You may eat.”

Then, at the end of the chapter, the human is introduced to another human, at which magical moment he exclaims, “At last, bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.” In an ingenious flourish, God commands the human to “cleave” to the other human, thus establishing the gift of relationship, marriage, family. The gift of love.

Long before Abraham Maslow theorized his famous hierarchy of needs, the word of God outlined a similar dynamic order in explaining human motivation and behavior. First, our physical needs are primal and primary. Second, language and learning—the naming impulse—is necessary for us to advance to a fruitful subduing of the earth. Third, love and the quest for self-awareness and self-identity is the highest, noblest impulse of humans.

Education is essential for both human sustainability and provision on one hand, and self-actualization and discovery on the other. This is why justice—what belongs to whom—looks like quality education for all children everywhere, a provision only secured if accepted as a universal human right and provided as a necessary public trust.

Public education and the social contract

There simply are not enough personal human resources, nor is there enough philanthropic human motivation, for education to be left to private enterprise. If education is to be extended equitably to all children regardless of class, race, gender and religion, it must be secured and provided by the public.

In our confused season, when the very word “public” suffers much suspicion, what this means is everyone in the community invests in the education of everyone in the community.

Public education is integral to the social contract we make with one another as citizens. If we “hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” then we must—by logical extension of this conviction—provide equal education for all.

When our forebears launched the American experiment 244 years ago, they knew the only hope for sustaining their revolution in human affairs would be for all their fellow citizens to be as educated as they were. Thus, they began a conversation about education provided by public tax dollars.

Some decades later, in the 1840s, that conversation became implemented in policy, first in Massachusetts. By the latter part of the 19th century, every state constitution had a statute calling for mandatory education paid by the public.

Naming the gap

We have a long way to go in making this institution of American life truly just and equitable for all children. Because local tax dollars, chiefly through property taxes, underwrite the costs of public schools, all too often a child’s zip code determines the quality of that child’s education.

While state and federal law demands equity—namely, that publicly provided education must be uniformly executed regardless of the economic level of the community—we have fallen far short of realizing that lofty goal.

Furthermore, because public education serves the sector of the body politic least likely to advocate for their own interests—children—we have seen public school funding has not kept pace with our children’s educational needs.

Tragically, we now have powerful forces seeking to demonize public schools as “failed,” to divert their already depleted funding to underwrite private schools through school vouchers, and to privatize them for the financial gain of a few.

These unjust policies subvert the purpose of public education by making it a commodity for only those who can afford it, rather than a social good for all.

What does justice look like? Great public schools for all children, the crown jewels of our nation and neighborhood.

Charles Foster Johnson is founder and executive director of Pastors for Texas Children and co-pastor of Bread Fellowship in Fort Worth.

Click here to read the full “Justice looks like…” series.