Reflecting On The Message of Simon & Garfunkel for Today

With more and more people quarantined at home due to the spread of the coronavirus, I have had time to do some reflecting on the songs of Simon and Garfunkel from the 1960s. For me, a Baby Boomer, these were the stirring upheaval years of the Vietnam War, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and folk artists like Simon and Garfunkel. To modern ears these mournful, folksy, haunting songs have little of the brashness and harshness of modern popular music. What they do contain, however, are reflective songs of a changing America and a changing society. They signaled a major shift from the swoon songs of the 1950s and the post-war dance songs that my parents enjoyed. What do they tell us for today's world and society?

They tell us that separation and aloneness can be both a boon and a sadness for people. Isolation can protect us, but leave us sad and lonely, prone to no one caring or even knowing our state — listen to "I Am A Rock" and "A Most Peculiar Man" —
I've built walls
A fortress deep and mighty
That none may penetrate
I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain
I am a rock
I am an island

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me
I am shielded in my armor
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb
I touch no one and no one touches me
I am a rock
I am an island

And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries.

------------------------------------------------

He was a most peculiar man.

He lived all alone within a house,
Within a room, within himself,
A most peculiar man.

He had no friends, he seldom spoke
And no one in turn ever spoke to him,
'Cause he wasn't friendly and he didn't care
And he wasn't like them.
Oh, no! he was a most peculiar man.

He died last Saturday.
He turned on the gas and he went to sleep
With the windows closed so he'd never wake up
To his silent world and his tiny room;
And Mrs. Riordan says he has a brother somewhere
Who should be notified soon.
And all the people said, "What a shame that he's dead,
But wasn't he a most peculiar man?"

They also tell us that class separation and a desire to be "top dog" and admired by all can end in bitterness and suicide — "Richard Cory"

They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.

But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.

He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."

They haunt us with the desire to be "homeward bound" and feel rest from the frantic pace of work, popularity and busyness —

I'm sittin' in the railway station
Got a ticket to my destination
On a tour of one-night stands
My suitcase and guitar in hand
And every stop is neatly planned
For a poet and a one-man band

Tonight I'll sing my songs again
I'll play the game and pretend
But all my words come back to me
In shades of mediocrity
Like emptiness in harmony
I need someone to comfort me

Homeward bound
I wish I was
Homeward bound
Home where my thought's escapin'
Home where my music's playin'
Home where my love lies waitin'
Silently for me

And finally they tell us that we all need to be like "bridges over troubled waters" for one another —

When you're weary, feeling small
When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all (all)
I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough
And friends just can't be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

When you're down and out
When you're on the street
When evening falls so hard
I will comfort you (ooo)
I'll take your part, oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down

So take some of this "time out" and listen carefully to the messages that meant so much in the 1960s and beyond.

Rights, the Constitution, and the Partisan Divide

In a recent issue of Imprimis newsletter put out by Hillsdale College, a privately funded conservative school, Christopher Caldwell talks about "The Roots of Our Partisan Divide." (https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/roots-partisan-divide/) In that speech and from his book, The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties, Caldwell, among others, traces the roots of the extreme political and social divide in America between the progressive left and the conservative right back to the vestiges of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Passed by Congress to seek to address the segregation of the Jim Crow southern states, it was slowly expanded to outlaw discrimination in every sector of society and every walk of public and private life. He notes, "They did so by giving birth to what was, in effect, a second constitution, which would eventually cause Americans to peel off into two different and incompatible constitutional cultures." This was done by taking a "lot of decisions that had been made in the democratic parts of American government and relocate them to the bureaucracy or the judiciary." Consequently, while Americans never voted for bilingual education, the office of civil rights simply established it. Sexism cases for women's rights have exploded to this day with the #metoo movement. Hate crimes are now against every form of anti-lesbian or homosexual or transgender speech or actions or legislation.

"Let's say you are a progressive gay man in a gay marriage with two adopted children. The civil rights version of the country means everything to you . . . Quite likely, your whole moral idea of yourself depends on it too. . .. You are on the side of the glorious marchers of Birmingham, and they are on the side of Bull Connor. To you, the other party is a party of bigots." "Gender fluidity" taught in the first grade in public schools cannot be defeated or even complained against. You are designated as a bigot, a hate monger. "To you, the other party is a party of totalitarians." So, indeed, the sky may be falling in the future for this American republic. Whether we agree with Caldwell or not, it is fairly evident there is a great divide in this country that never existed, even during the decade of the 1960s.

I went to college in the 1960s. We had sit-ins, marches, the  SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) who marched beside my ROTC cadet corp placing roses in the gun barrels that we carried. The Vietnam War was moving ahead, and truth be told, well-heeled students in colleges got deferments while garage mechanics out of high school were drafted. A two-tiered society resulted. The war was most unpopular and my wartime friends who came back from Nam were booed and hated or dismissed for their efforts. Many of them suffered PTSD effects. It took many years and much pain to honor these wounded veterans. However, that revolution of the sixties took place against a background of morality rooted in the Judea-Christian codes of the Bible. Little did we know then that "civil rights" meant a dismissal of those codes and the substitution of it for individual rights individually defined.

I trace this great divide today to spiritual and religious reasons. Leonard Sweet said way back in 2009 that we are living in a "cut flower society," where the flower of religious activity may exist, but there is no longer any rooting in the Scriptures or in any Judaeo-Christian law code. Young adults now dismiss any absolute truths, favoring whatever "truth" may seem to be in their favor for the moment. Thus, Bernie Sanders' promise of free education and universal health care especially for those with higher educational or health debts is most appealing. It doesn't matter how we pay for it, since the government becomes our mother and father, entitling us to these human freedoms and benefits. This is pure socialism and may indeed move into pure communism or Marxism as the anti-God trends travel down the road. Then we will be without God and without freedom rooted in a God-centered framework of morality. Individual freedom of whatever sort will be substituted for responsible social freedoms. And the sky will indeed fall.

Pro, Anti, Reluctant Trump Voters -- Is That All there Is?

Two recent articles that attempt to explain why evangelical Christians would vote for President Trump in the 2020 elections have caught my attention -- Andrew Walker's "Understanding Why Religious Conservatives Would Vote for Trump" and John Fea's response in "The Problem with the Reluctant Trump Voter: A Response to Andrew Walker's National Review Essay." Walker is from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Fea is from Messiah College. They are from different theological stripes, and see most every issue from those stripes. One is apparently a "reluctant Trump" voter and the latter is an anti-Trump voter. The arguments seem to be focused on the person of Trump and his morality (or lack thereof) and the extent of progressivism in the Democratic Party among the candidates now running. How about "in spite of" Trump voting?

I did not cast my vote in the 2016 election for Trump. Neither did I cast my vote for Hillary Clinton. Nor did I cast my vote for any Green Party candidate or any other write-ins. People would say I am a "disengaged" voter, that I wasted an opportunity to exercise my freedom as an American voter. Perhaps. I am also a white, evangelical male, who attends an Anabaptist-Wesleyan church (Brethren in Christ) but who has also been an orthodox Presbyterian as well as a Reformed Baptist in my personal and ministerial career. It wasn't that I could not make up my theological mind, but rather that I sought to follow God's direction in my life and ministry through the years, and that direction led me to seemingly diverse theological and ministerial positions as well as training. So, it would not be surprising to say that I disagree with Walker as well as with Fea on a number of points.

I seek to be a biblical Christian. That means that I do not blindly follow the Religious Right or the Moral Majority or the Anabaptist counter cultural "upside down" kingdom model either. I vote, when I vote, on informed moral, cosmological or world-and-life viewpoint grounds. I am first of all a citizen of heaven through allegiance to Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. I am an "alien" to the citizenry of any world order, including America. I love my country, no doubt, but I am not dependent on my country and its political woes or suppositions to determine my destiny. I obey my governmental leaders according to the precepts of Romans 13 in the Bible. I am not blind to their prideful, often ostentatious, lies and subterfuges and moral misgivings.

As with other evangelical believers, I believe abortion on demand is a horrific tragedy and a Holocaust of mega-proportions. But I also believe and know that no Supreme Court decision, nor a pro-life President, nor a Republican Congress can ultimately stop the practice or the inane thinking that the child in the womb is not a person in his or her own right. I remember the Christian Jimmy Carter as President as one of the most moral, yet probably most ineffective, President we ever had. Where are the Abraham Lincoln's of today? I have been part of an activist pro-life group in upstate New York when I pastored a church in Schenectady, NY, but also sought to pray for and discuss the issues with the Planned Parenthood president, a move that my pro-life brothers and sisters saw as tyranny of the worst sort. All people everywhere need the Lord, no matter their party or abortion affiliations.

So, I guess I am an "in spite of" Christian in America. Will I vote for Donald Trump in 2020? That will be up to prayerful direction sought from God and the Bible, not from the political ranker from either party. The bigger issue is not how moral or immoral a candidate for President is, but rather does his or her worldview comport with a biblically defined and crafted viewpoint? If neither does, then neither gets my vote. Many would disagree with me or say I am "compromised" in my thinking. So be it. The larger question always for me is the biblical salvation status of Donald Trump or the Democratic contenders for that party. At the end of the day, that is what will really matter, and should matter to us all.

The Partisan Divide and Its Recovery

I am a subscriber to Imprimis, a conservative newsletter published by Hillsdale College, a privately funded college with traditional Christian values and insights. In the latest issue of Imprimis, Christopher Caldwell, Senior Fellow, The Claremont Institute Author, The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties, talks about the deepening partisan divide in this country (See https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/). In that article, Caldwell says that "American society today is divided by party and by ideology in a way it has perhaps not been since the Civil War." He then goes on to point to "strands" that have produced such a divide, including the Vietnam War, role of women, and the "emergency" Civil Rights Law of 1964 that has gone way off the original mark and is now used for every divide between Republican and Democrat, conservative and liberal, Christian and non-Christian that we see today. For me to even quote or refer to Imprimis puts me in the "bigot" category, seemingly unable to carry on a civil discussion with people of opposing viewpoints.

I must, however, take exception to this caricature (or even reality to some). In my ongoing role as a retired pastor and a current church health consultant (for NCDAmerica), I am fully aware of several realities in this partisan divide that Caldwell and other conservatives portray. It is always easier to critique and analyze the problems rather than to do the hard work of curing or alleviating the problems. It is not that I disagree with the analysis, but I am reminded of taking a graduate course in a highly recognized seminary where I raised the theological question -- "If our understanding of the Bible is so 'air tight' why don't those on the other side ever deal with these arguments?" The answer from our professor was simple--"They never read our journals, never digest our books and never engage with us in any way." That is part of our problem today, isn't it? We don't really read or talk with one another, especially on opposing sides of the aisle. Caldwell and others like him are hardly ever read, and when they are read, they are dismissed as bigots, hate mongers, and so forth. So, my first point is, Why can't we honestly read one another? Why can't we really "hear" one another, not merely listen? 

I am a Baby Boomer, a child of the late 1940s, a teenager of the 1960s, having seen America transform from the values of the 1950s to the radical ideas and concepts and precepts of the 1960s and later years. I have ministered through the raucous 1970s, the "me" generation of the 1980s, the economic tensions of the 1990s and the "new age" of the 2000s. I have spoken to and with people from every generation in those years. While perspectives and assumptions have radically changed, people hardly ever change. Fears of the 1960s are fears of the 2000s. Technological advancements have separated, not united us, and the beast we have launched with the internet of the 1970s has become all consuming and threatens to devour its children. It is not that we should go backwards, but are we really prepared to go forwards? The greatest needs of economic and job security, fairness, safety for us and our children, peace at home and abroad are still there, still behind all the rhetoric. It is not a matter of "civil rights," but rather a matter of human rights, of Constitutional rights, of being able to live and speak and exist freely as a society, not merely as isolated individuals.

So, here's a radical thought--get to know and listen to your neighbors, especially the ones who disagree with you, but have the same needs as you do. Engage in civil discussion, even when it seems hopelessly insane to do so. Reject the anger, vitriol, hatred, narrowness that often defines people. Agree to disagree. Prove that you are no bigot, no hate monger, but rather a follower of Jesus Christ who believes in his principles. Take the admonition of Paul to Timothy seriously -- "Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God’s servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and a teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know how or when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the Devil’s trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands." ( 2 Timothy 2:23-26. The Message)

Why Some Churches Make It and Others Don't: Observations from a Church Consultant

“And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles… . Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” (Acts 8.1, 4) A small church in our town, decreasing in numbers, was assigned to a larger church in the same denomination as a “satellite” of that larger church. Another small church in a nearby town fights for survival. A starter church in upstate New York wonders if it will make it. And a church in a nearby city is on the verge of closing its doors. These are usually the types of churches and ministries that I as a church consultant get called in to analyze, help and offer coaching advice. And there are thousands of them across the country. Instead of asking the question of what went wrong with these ministries, the better question is how does the Word of God and the gospel of God spread successfully and fruitfully? I find some principles here in Acts.

Churches and ministries get too content where they are doing what they do. It is not that the church in Jerusalem was sinning against God, or not witnessing for God, or going the wrong way with God. They had become “cocooned” in the city, growing and even prospering in their cloistered environment. The gospel of Christ was shut up to that place and was not being spread about, as the resurrected Jesus had told the early apostles — “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.“ (Acts1.8) Acts 8:1 became the fulfillment of Acts 1:8. In general, God many times has to “force” churches or ministries to break out of their comfort zones for the spread of his Word.

Persecution grows the Church of God. There are a number of downsides to persecution, no doubt, but the great upside is that God often uses persecution, even violent persecution, to spread and grow his church. Spurgeon once said that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” What persecuted ministries and churches need to see is the future for what they are suffering. God’s cause is often advanced through tragedy and trouble in one place so that his Word and gospel can thrive in another place. While many churches and ministries in trouble want to shore up the walls and try to survive, they rather need to look beyond themselves to what God really wants for a region, a city, a nation or the world. What is God really saying? That Is the question that they must really answer and honestly answer. This is hard but necessary.

Taking risks for God always costs. But they are necessary risks for the spread of the gospel. The leader Stephen was stoned to death because he took a risk in preaching the truth to jealous Jews wanting to destroy followers of the Way. Philip and others took a risk by spreading the gospel message to places that the Jews had regarded as “forbidden” territories, as “unclean” places filled with “sinners.” The message of the Cross is for ALL people everywhere, not just the receptive, the trained, the “clean” and the “deserving.” This is why God’s Word must go to prisons and prisoners, not merely those locked up, but those caught up in the prison houses of their addictions and fears and deviant lifestyles. Not everyone of these will be saved, no doubt, but God’s destiny and plan for the gospel will be secured. The hard question for the churches and ministries cited in the opening paragraph is, Are you willing to die so that others may succeed with the Word of God and the gospel of his grace?

There is no magic church growth pill. In working with over 130 churches of various sizes and denominational backgrounds and in different places, the conclusion I have reached is that there is no one "formula" for growth and church health. Some churches simply seem to have the right "mix" of people, place, vision and calling from God to succeed. Others do not. It is not that the others are sinning against God or making grievous errors in judgment or goal setting or vision casting. The right "mix" simply is not there. And, that does not necessarily mean they have failed or come short of what God wants for them. Most of the time the sense and definition of "church" forbids real growth and healthy change. Sometimes the way the church started and gathered people forbids their continual growth. Every church has its imperfections and needs, no doubt, but there are a lot of congregations where the "mix" of people and agendas and hopes and dreams simply do not favor healthy church growth. And I believe sometimes God has a certain calling and place and ministry for a church that prohibits what we would cite as "normal" growth and development patterns. There is no magic pill for church growth and development.

The Church in Acts grew and prospered, but not every local congregation had the same story of growth and health. Take a hard look at the churches cited in the opening chapters of Revelation. Most of these congregations did in fact disappear from the church scene. Indeed, they had different needs and problems and challenges to overcome. Many did not make it. That never means the Church (capital "C") has failed in its mission from God. The main or central question for your church or ministry is, What does God want from us? Taking a hard and close and biblically satisfying look at that question will tell you how to proceed from where you are now.

Three Decades Ago, America Lost Its Religion. Why? — A RESPONSE

"Three Decades Ago, America Lost Its Religion. Why?" is a recent (Sep 26, 2019) Atlantic article written by staff writer Derek Thompson on the rise of the "nones" (non-affiliated religious people) since the 1990s. He cites a sociology and religion professor, Christian Smith, from the University of Notre Dame for the reasons for this upward tick in this sector of society and religion. Professor Smith has come up with several reasons for the rise, with the three main ones being three historical events: the association of the Republican Party with the Christian right, the end of the Cold War, and 9/11.

Many "nones" are young adults disenchanted with the identification of organized, evangelical religion with the Republican Party. "Smith said it’s possible that young liberals and loosely affiliated Christians first registered their aversion to the Christian right in the early 1990s, after a decade of observing its powerful role in conservative politics." Additionally, the ending of the Cold War with atheistic Communism, adding fuel to the "nones" declaration of being unaffiliated with organized, evangelical Christianity and the Church. Finally, the attacks of 9/11 by radicalized Islamic terrorists made all fundamentalist religion suspect to the "nones." These and a few other incentives gave spectacular rise to the "nones" since the 1990s.

I find, however, this analysis wanting and shallow. It fails to recognize the inherently destructive tendencies of secular humanism in our American and Western European societies, societies that have discarded biblical religion and its standards for no religion and the moral decay of ethical standards. Abortion, same-sex marriage, the rise of the LGBTQ community, the rejection of ordained authority and the skepticism of the institutional Church have added fuel to the "nones" insistence of being "spiritual" but not institutionally religious. They have thrown out "the baby with the bathwater," so to speak. 

To the post-modern, post-truth age, there is no absolute truth, no binding ethics, no unwavering morality that cannot be challenged and then discarded. This has been well documented by Christian theologians and philosophers for decades now. We live, as Leonard Sweet would say, in a "cut-flower society," with no rooting and only a dim residue of Christian values and morés. This drives the heart throb of many "nones." They can therefore be "spiritual" without being biblical. They can own God without knowing the biblical God. They can practice in-house religion without attending the community of religion. 

The deeper problem has always been a failure of the conservative, evangelical Christian Church to offer a thoroughly thought out and biblically supported Christ centered world and life view on everything--from work to politics, from school to play. We have lost the truth that all vocations are God-callings to be served for God and under God's Word. Work has lost its foundational Christian ethos. Colleges have lost their Christian roots, opting for the secularism of an anti-God academic snobbery. Consequently, the "nones" have seen the Church fail them at defining and describing what real biblical Christianity is all about.

"Nones" cannot be reached by contemporary, hiphop music and Christian-light messages aimed to secure their interest in the Church once again. Many are finding their way back to solid, orthodox liturgy and biblical exposition where the Bible is studied, analyzed, explained and applied to their lives. The "old ways" are proving to be the "good ways" back to God and the Bible. 

I know these factors to be true from having a forty plus year experience as a pastor and a church health consultant for the latter twenty of those years. Working with many churches, large and small, and many different kinds of people professing faith in Christ, including young adults, I have found the above factors to be more of an explanation than Smith has given in his analysis of the "nones."

However, there is always hope to recover the "nones." Real authentic Christianity preached and practiced in our churches will help. Ridding ourselves of cultural Christianity and the hypocrisy that it spawns will also help. This is more than staffing food kitchens or providing homeless shelters where they are needed. This is good, but not enough to capture the "nones." We must once again offer captivating, encompassing Christ centered Christianity for them, wherever they call "church." The way ahead is hard, but truly worthwhile, especially for a generation that want to know God, the real, authentic God of the Bible.

Blurring the Lines

During the week of July 5, 2017, President Donald Trump make an impassioned speech to the Polish people in the historic Krasinski Square, in the heart of Warsaw, Poland. Among other things, the President said, "The people of Poland, the people of America, and the people of Europe still cry out, 'We want God.'" (Quoted in God and Donald Trump, by Stephen E. Strang, p. 142) All we heard from the liberal Washington Post was that this was a "dark and provocative address with nationalist overtones." It is no secret that most of the national media and TV and movie people "hate" Donald Trump. They are still smarting from an election they want to call rigged by the Russians and refuse to give evangelical conservatives the voice they deserve on national politics, policies and platforms. From their point of view, we are all bigots, homophobes, hate-mongers and out of step with most of America. What is more disturbing to me, however, is that many church-going, decent, fair minded American people believe the same thing about evangelical, Bible-believing Christians. What is going on?

What is going on is a massive seismic shift in traditional, Bible-based values. The authority of Scriptures has been so eroded, denied and ignored over the past several decades that it has been relegated to a past, pre-enlightenment era of thinking and doing. The obvious traditional definition of marriage, for instance, between one man and one woman is being systematically replaced by same-sex marriage partnerships and alliances. And we are told that all of this is fair, just, needed and reflective of America of today. Anything less, or "biblical," is out of step, old fashioned, and inimical to true freedom and discovery. And current and coming hate-speech legislation will make it a crime to publicly speak against anti-biblical practices and habits. High level, Supreme Court cases are being brought to bear against Bible-centered businesses and business practices. Either we go with the flow, or we will be forced out of business, out of our neighborhoods and even out of our churches. If you don't believe me, watch and learn. But, why is this happening, and can't people see it?

The answers are more complicated than a straight "yes" or "no." There are national, state and local influences that are determined to excise any biblical references or allusions to right and wrong. This is an intentional, deterministic anti-God league of people and powers that desire to denigrate and deny any God-oriented witness and safeguards to the fabric of society and life in general. This is planned, promoted and deviously initiated in our schools, courts and political arenas. It is all done under the guise of love and fairness to all without prejudice. But what is done is very prejudicial to those who believe and want to live out biblical values and priorities. This is a first obvious line of attack.

A second line of attack is promulgated by people who think they are correcting the ship of fairness. They have seen fundamentalist organizations and churches and Christian ministries who have operated out of meanness, narrowness and a spirit of being always against something and someone. They have witnessed Planned Parenthood center marches, tracts and even bombings. They have seen blood-red hatred in the eyes of zealots and fanatics who identify themselves with Bible-believing faith stances. They merely want to do the right thing and be protective of people of different belief systems and faith stances, or no faith stance at all. They want a society where all is love and warmth and personal freedom. Anything that limits absolute personal freedom is to be discarded and legislated against. They believe they are doing society a favor.

A third line of anti-biblical thinking and action is undertaken by those who are confused by a society seemingly divided into opposites. They want nice people with nice stories and non-confrontational agendas to go to school with and be their neighbors, grocery and gasoline clerks and helpers. Whatever they can do to foster a "gentler, kinder America" is what they want. Instead of the rule of law, they want a rule of love and tolerance. So, when the national news media generates a story of children raising money for a local Planned Parenthood or a gay couple who has fallen on hard times, this is Oh, so nice and lovely. This is what we should be doing, they think, especially against those Christians who want to cause division and disruption. Live and let live is their motto. These folks, unfortunately, have forgotten the old story of the frog in the kettle, who while sitting in a slowly increasingly heated kettle was eventually boiled to death. Our society is being boiled to death.

The solution is and always has been justice with love, or love with justice. As a theologian I have had to deal over the years with the false dichotomy of a God of wrath versus a God of love, or an angry God of the Old Testament versus the gentle God of love of the New. This is a false division of Scripture and a flagrant misreading of the nature and character of God. We have a just and righteous God of love. The same God who revealed himself to Moses and the ancient nation of Israel has not changed or been replaced by a new God -- “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6, 7) Ignoring or seeking to replace or recast this God means doing away with Him. We can have the rule of law with the blessings of love and fairness and kindness. It is not and never has been, either/or.