Reviews, Interviews, News, Commentaries, Excerpts, My Top 5 Books, Wilson's Bookmarks, Book AwardsDeath Is For Real
I recently was reading the story of a former evangelical Christian, profiled by Tony Kriz in his new book,Neighbors and Wise Men.After growing up in a small, insular expression of the faith, he discovered a wider world outside it. In particular, this passionate believer discovered an environmental movement that spoke to his soul while his church home ridiculed the environmentalists. So, he switched his allegiances: "The Christian church has no coherent answer for earth care. And for that reason I now know I could never be a Christian."
Initially, this remark angered me. The evangelical movement has more than a few dissenters from the typical attitude toward environmentalism. They could have saved this man's faith. But as I gained some sympathy, I realized that the man's apostasy illustrates our need for faithful dissenters, insiders who stay true to the movement while critiquing its failures. These dissenters add diversity and show us new ways to be faithful followers of Christ.
It wasn't too long ago—when political evangelicalism was loud, and its hypocrisy easy to see—that I, immature and ignorant, wanted to lodge my own critiques against the church.
A faithful dissenter
Thankfully I discovered Ed Dobson, the faithful dissenter who voiced my own critiques while remaining inside the evangelical fold. Dobson was formerly a board member of the Moral Majority, a spokesperson for Jerry Falwell, and a vice president at Liberty University. Dobson had since become a successful pastor, leading a megachurch in Grand Rapids, and he remained a powerful voice in the pulpit and in his books. He was named "Pastor of the Year" by Moody Bible Institute. Dobson was an evangelical of evangelicals. He was a religious righter of the Religious Right.
And he gave me an answer to the problem of the church entwined with politics. In Blinded by Might, coauthored with fellow Moral Majority member Cal Thomas, they blame the Religious Right for that entwinement: "We have confused political power with God's power." Dobson and Thomas argue that the church has been compromised and distracted from its central mission. In 2008, Dobson voted for Barak Obama, telling ABC news that Obama "more than any other candidate represented the teachings of Jesus."
Dobson was a dissenter even during his days as a student at Bob Jones University. He turned away from, but never fully rejected, those who once nurtured him. Dobson speaks fondly of his days in fundamentalism and doesn't deride those he left behind. As Dobson has matured beyond the fundamentalist and Religious Right communities, he has simply pursued greater faithfulness and obedience to God for himself, his congregation, and the church at large.
Another kind of leadership
Now, Dobson is embracing a new role. After several years living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, Dobson is breaking the mold of the public figure diagnosed with a terminal illness. Such personalities typically retreat into private, preventing the public from seeing them in a weakened state. Or, these figures blandly assert that the disease will have no effect on their responsibilities.
The 'Handicap Icon' Gets New Life
Sidelining the Stigma of Mental Illness
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Claire Guest
Laura, this question you asked - "Is this going to be the measure of a Christian from now on, whether they voted against Obama?" - is the distinct impression several posters have given me: That if I voted against Obama, I can NOT be a Christian, that only nonChristians could vote for a Republican. The "energy" I see in many comments here goes toward demonizing those who are not "sufficiently anti-Republican" and "ferreting out possible Republican sympathies". Obama himself is not THE issue, though of course his stands on issues are (which includes those expressed at the DNC of course). IMHO, *the* main question is, "What is our standard of truth?" IF our standard of truth is God's Word, then how can Christians vote for leaders who villify and blaspheme God's Word? How can Christians vote for candidates whose party openly, blatantly, unashamedly opposes God's Word on virtually EVERY issue? I have asked variations of this question several times, and no one has answered it as of yet.
LAURA C STEEL
For some commenters here, the only thing they got from this article is that it is value-less because the subject voted for Obama. Is this going to be the measure of a Christian from now on, whether they voted against Obama? Are all articles, books, and other communications to be judged by whether they are sufficiently anti-Obama? Is this where the energy of Christians is going to go now, ferreting out possible Obama sympathies? Ugh.
Claire Guest
RE: "In 2008, [Ed] Dobson voted for Barak Obama, telling ABC news that Obama "more than any other candidate represented the teachings of Jesus." RE: "As Dobson has matured beyond the fundamentalist and Religious Right communities, he has simply pursued greater faithfulness and obedience to God for himself, his congregation, and the church at large." WOW. He thinks Obama represents the teachings of CHRIST JESUS? I wish he had cited examples. The article is also unclear about the meaning of the following statement in Ed Dobson's life. I hope it doesn't mean that he has departed from the truth of God's Word, as so many professed Christians are doing these days. TWO THINGS in this article were very encouraging: Ed Dobson's apology to the woman named Kathy, and the fact that James Dobson called HIM and they had a wonderful conversation. James D's name is so often unjustly used in a pejorative manner, it is indeed remarkable to see such a refreshing difference here.
David Sanford
So it's clear, Tony Kriz is talking about someone else, not his own experience. I wish this was more clear in the opening lines of this review, which of course discusses another book. In the future? I'd love to see a strong, positive review of Tony's brand-new book, "Neighbors and Wise Men." Each chapter tells one or more compelling stories that lead to a new epiphany. Long before the end of the book, you see Tony following ever closer to Jesus Christ, whom Tony loves with all his heart. You also see Tony loving others in amazing, often surprising, Christ-like ways. True, not everyone in Tony's book is a Christian at this point. But you find yourself praying that they do!
ek swenson
If Ed thinks President Obama best represents JESUS, I would like to see where JESUS condoned deliberate sin? The fact is that JESUS would never have condoned homosexual marriage or outlawing medical care to a baby who survived an abortion procedure. The sad truth here is that Ed knows the scriptures and that JESUS embraced and reaffirmed every single passage from the Torah, Prophets and Histories in Matthew 5. Is it compassionate to let someone live in their sin so that they will confined to the pit, or tell them the truth so that they will be saved? Ed seems to think the later. JESUS always told every sinner, myself included, to go and sin no more. How does that line up with murdering innocent human life and embracing homosexual marriage: it does not! He also embrace President Obama because he endorsed universal health care. Where in the scripture did JESUS ever endorse government programs? The truth about Obamacare: please do an internet search of Dr. Jill Vechio! She has read it.