What should we do with the South Carolina church shooter?

Yesterday, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was asked on the Today show if the 21-year-old white man who shot and killed 9 black men and women in a historically black church in Charleston should be executed by the state.

"Absolutely," she said.

I have a problem with that.

To be clear, I would have answered as Haley did.  If any crime deserves the death penalty, this does.  A man comes to a church prayer meeting, sits for an hour listening to a discussion of the Scriptures, then suddenly pulls out a gun and tells the people who have welcomed him into the house of God, "You've raped our women and you're taking over our country," and "I'm going to kill you all," then opens fire.  He reloaded five times.  It's hard to comprehend such cold-blooded evil.

Here's the problem I have with executing this young man: It's too easy.

These are strange, difficult times we're living in.  Every time we turn on the news, we see yet another violent incident with race involved. For many white folks like me, it's confusing: Shouldn't we be beyond this?  As we watch black crowds demonstrate, we grumble on social media, "Why does everything have to be about race?"  It's disturbingly reminiscent of the mid-nineties, with the LA riots that followed the Rodney King verdict, which culminated in the OJ Simpson verdict. The only difference is that in those days, social media hadn't yet been invented (thank God for that much, at least).  The mid-nineties were only a few decades removed from the Civil Rights struggle of the sixties, with its televised scenes of marches, police dogs, fire hoses, and assassinations.   It's almost as if we can count on a series of events, once a generation, that expose once again the racial divide in our country.

Why do our black neighbors complain about discrimination?  For the same reason that a man with a broken leg has a limp: There's a wound that hasn't yet healed.  White people like me would rather not think of such things.  We like the idea that racial issues were sown up in a neat, tidy package when Dr. King overthrew Bull Connor and his ilk with biblical non-violence, and LBJ signed the Voting Rights Act.  We're comfortable condemning the racism of our grandparents, thinking it has nothing to do with us.  But we must confront the facts: A group of people were captured and brought to this country against their will, enslaved for centuries, then upon their emancipation, were subject to a series of laws that disenfranchised them in ways almost equal to slavery.  A nation cannot inflict such injustice upon a group of people, then criticize them for not getting over it as quickly as we'd like them to.  Of course, very few of us today are directly responsible for the racial divide we live with.  I'm not saying we should live in a constant state of White Guilt.  But we can at least acknowledge the problem.  We can at least listen.

The real problem is that we--all of us, black, white, brown and otherwise--hate to face our own sins. God knows this about us, and He refuses to let us off lightly.   If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, says 1 John 1:8.  We want the evil in our hearts--in our nation--to be easily destroyed.  Just put this sick nut to death, end of story.  That's too easy.  We have to own up to the evil in our own hearts.  We have to admit that, deep down, we're not good.  We're twisted, destructive, irredeemably wicked.

Unless...

Unless there's a moral force out there righteous enough to incinerate the evil.  Of course, since the evil is bound up in you and me, that's bad news for us.  Sin is destroyed, but so are we.

Unless...

Unless the One possessing such righteous hatred of sin also loves us with an incomprehensible love.  Thank God, He does.  And so the one who is unimpeachably just is also willing to be our Justifier.  And so the destroyer of sin destroyed Himself in order to rid us of sin.  And so, as 1 John 1:9 goes on to say, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Granted, while that makes us individually right with God (Hallelujah!), it doesn't solve the racial divide in our nation.  I don't know how to do that. I have an inherent skepticism that legislation alone, no matter how well-intentioned--can do the trick.  But I believe the Gospel shows us the way: The healing begins is in us admitting we have a problem, and listening.  We're commanded by Jesus to love our neighbors.  If the demonstrations of this past year tell us anything, it's that a group of our neighbors are hurting deeply.  Instead of telling them their pain is illegitimate or inconsequential, instead of denying responsibility for their pain, the love of Jesus demands that we at least listen to what they are saying.  

So whatever happens to this man in South Carolina, executing him won't solve the problem.  Once this current spasm of racial unrest ends, in a year or two or three, we can count on another one in another twenty years or so.  Only love will heal the wound: the love it takes to listen to people telling us things we don't want to hear.  

The Worth of a Child

A shot from our VBS worship rally this morning (thanks Kyle Damron for taking this).  Vacation Bible School is a little different than it was in my day.  

We're in the midst of Vacation Bible School week here at WBC.   When I was a kid growing up in Hope Baptist Church, we sang special songs every year at VBS time.  One was “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”  Here at WBC, we sing that song every year at Christmastime in conjunction with the world missions offering.  You know how it goes, right?  “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world.”  I once had a very good friend named Robert Casarez, who insisted that the song should say, “Red BROWN yellow, black and white…” and honestly, that’s how I sing it to this day.  This Sunday, we’re looking at the story from Scripture that gave birth to that song: Mark 10:13-16.  I’m in a series right now called Relationships in the Real World.  The past two Sundays, we talked about relationships between the genders.  In coming weeks, we’ll talk about relationships with people of other faiths, people of no faith at all, and the people we work with.  But Sunday, I want us to look at how our faith in Christ changes the way we relate to children.  This applies not just to parents, but all Christians.  We should see children through the eyes of God.  So as we get into the text, let’s look at three things: What does this reveal about how God sees children?  How did that change the ancient world?  And how do we as modern-day American Christians need to change the way we relate to children? 

Biblical Womanhood

No, I won't be dressing up as Willy Wonka this Sunday; but I will be preaching on womanhood.  Which is a bigger mistake?  I leave that to you to judge.  

When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s, you often saw ads in magazines showing old black-and-white photos of dowdy women doing menial chores, juxtaposed with a dazzlingly beautiful, full-color modern woman with a cigarette in her hand.  The tagline said, “You've come a long way, baby.”  It was the golden age of feminism, and Virginia Slims were the cigarette just for women.  “See ladies: Lung cancer and emphysema aren't just for men anymore!”  In many ways, we can say that women have come a long way in my lifetime.  But still, as I look around at our world, it must be hard to be a woman.  You face stresses men like me never even dream of.  These days, you’re held to an impossible standard of beauty.  Essentially, the world expects you to look your entire life like you did when you were sixteen.  No one expects that of a man.  And while you’re supposed to maintain this flawless skin and perfect hair and slim body, you’re also expected these days to be as physically tough and capable as any man.  You have to be successful in your career, but also be a perfect mom, whose children behave perfectly and dress fashionably and win every competition and get into the best schools.  You have to give birth to those children, of course.  The father of those children is no help at that point; his contribution is over as soon as the fun part ends.  And you have to do all of this in four-inch heels.  To make matters worse, now you have some male preacher telling you how to do it. 

Remember these ads?

  

Seriously, I am utterly unqualified to tell you anything about how to be a woman.  My job this Sunday is to tell you what the God who created you has to say.  What would He say to women today?  Specifically, what would He say to you about how you relate to men?  Let’s start with Genesis 3:16.  Last week, I preached on Biblical Manhood, and I said this verse is often wrongly used to justify male dominance.  But this isn't a command from God; it’s Him telling us the consequences of our sin.  When it says your desire will be for your husband, it doesn't mean that women will always find their husbands physically desirable (guys, don’t you wish that’s what it meant?).  It’s the same word God uses in 4:7, when He says to Cain, Sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.  It means “desire to control.”  So God is saying, “I created you to fit together perfectly, to co-exist beautifully.  But now that there is sin, there will always be trouble between men and women.  Women will try to control men, and men, since they are physically stronger, will oppress women.”  That’s not the way God wants it to be; it’s the way things are when we follow our sinful natures instead of His Spirit.  Last week, we looked at God’s instructions to men that counteract that curse.  Now, what would God say to women?  That's what I'll be talking about Sunday. 

Biblical Manhood

Recently, I saw an interesting article online.  It was titled, “Twenty-five Skills Every Man Should Know.”  I won’t run through the entire list, but here’s an example of some of the things this author thinks real men should be able to do: Skin a dead moose, cut down a tree, give a good massage (side note: if you’re a man and you’re offering massages to any woman other than your wife, no matter what a magazine says, you’re creepy), parallel park, wire a ceiling fixture, stop a running toilet, make pancakes from scratch, carve a turkey, and comfort a crying woman.  By the way, I like the way the instructions on that one begin: “Pull out a clean handkerchief, and move toward her as if you are advancing on a wounded animal that may still be able to bite.” 

I’m beginning a new series this Sunday called Relationships in the Real World.  As followers of Christ, we should live in a way that’s distinct from the rest of the world.  That includes the way we treat children and adults, people at work, people who don’t believe like we do, and people of other faiths.  And it should govern the way we treat the opposite sex, as well.  This Sunday, we’ll be talking about biblical manhood, specifically how Scripture says a man is to treat a woman.  This isn’t just young men or old men, it isn’t just married men.  It’s all men.  And if you’re a woman, I hope this message will be instructive for you, too.  Because one question we need to tackle right out of the box is “Does the Bible say men are superior to women?”  We’ll be looking at several Scriptures, and we’ll uncover three principles of biblical manhood.  

When the World Gets Real...

Recently, I heard something that absolutely astonished me.  I overheard a conversation between two girls in my church.  They were talking about prom, and one said, “If a guy is going to ask me to prom, I want him to do it in a creative way.”  I butted into their conversation and said, “You mean asking someone to prom should be like asking someone to marry you?”  They both looked at me as if I had been living under a rock, and informed me that this was indeed the expectation now.  It even has a name: Prom-posal.  One cannot simply call a girl up and ask her to the prom; one has to stand on a table in the middle of the school cafeteria and sing a song he himself wrote, or hire a skywriter, or some other elaborate gesture.  I am so glad I am not a teenaged boy!  I think back on my marriage proposal (my wife and I celebrate 23 years together this week).  The only things I got right that night are that I asked the right girl, and she said yes.  And that was marriage, not the prom!  An older man I knew used to say, “I’ve lived too long.”  I’m not ready to call myself old yet, but I feel that way sometimes.  Times are changing, and in many ways, not for the better. 

Times are changing in our spiritual landscape, too, and in many ways, not for the better.  The latest Pew Research survey on religion came out a few weeks ago, and once again, the irreligious are growing faster than any religious group. Evangelical Christianity is holding steady--1 out of 5 Americans is evangelical, and kids raised in churches like ours tend to keep the faith--but other forms of Christianity are declining markedly.  This June, the Supreme Court is expected to render a decision that strikes down all state bans on gay marriage.  Even if they don’t, which would be a shock, people across the political spectrum agree that it’s only a matter of time before same sex marriage is legal in all fifty states; that’s the overwhelming desire of the people.  Now you may ask, “What does that have to do with being a Christian in America?”  Well, nothing directly.  But think about what it means.  America was founded as a secular democracy; our founders made sure there was no state religion.  But Christianity has always held a place of high moral influence in the culture.  Not everyone was Christian, of course, but society at large tended to listen to the teachings of the Christian faith in determining what was right and wrong.  The Church was seen as a force for good, and therefore, was given respect.  In other words, we’ve had a home field advantage in this country since the very beginning. 

In 1996, around 25% of Americans thought people should have the right to marry someone of the same gender.  Now, less than 20 years later, that number is up to around 63%.  What does that mean?  Today, for the first time I know of, we see American culture saying, in effect, “It doesn’t really matter to us what the Bible teaches* on this issue.”  And not only do they not care, a significant portion are saying, “If you continue to believe what you believe on this issue, you’re not being faithful to your God, you’re being hateful and bigoted, and you need to be forced to change.”  This is a brand-new place for Christians in America; not only have we lost our home field advantage, in the eyes of many, we’re the bad guys.  That’s not just true of the so-called Christians who are hateful and judgmental (those people have always been seen as the bad guys in secular America, and in much of the Church) that’s now true of anyone who claims the Word of God as his or her authority in life. 

            

*(For the record, what does the Bible teach?  Unequivocally, it says that sex is meant for a man and woman within marriage, period.  Any other use of sex, whether it’s two teenagers sleeping together, or a married person having a fling, or homosexuality, may produce short-term pleasure, but it’s not what God designed us for. It will lead to long-term brokenness and alienation from God.  That doesn’t mean that people with homosexual orientation are cursed by God or hated.  I have several sinful tendencies that seem to have been in me since birth; but that doesn’t mean God hates me for it.  In fact, I believe some of the most courageous Christians I know are men and women who feel a homosexual orientation but, out of a desire to obey Christ, have chosen a celibate life.  They say, “I’m going to follow God’s plan for every part of my life, even though it’s hard, and believe that ultimately, that is where I will find joy.”  Scripture also doesn’t justify treating homosexual men and women with anything other than love.  Yet I know that many people today, if they heard me say those words, would say that I hate homosexual people.) 

In other words, being a Christian is going to be much tougher than it used to be. It’s tempting to respond to all of this with anger and/or fear, to either become militant against people who slander us and threaten our freedoms, or crawl into a little Christian ghetto, where we associate only with people who think as we do.  Those two responses have been par for the course for many Christians for decades now; frankly, I think those two responses are a large part of why we are where we are today.  So how should we live in the days ahead? This Sunday, I will show you what I believe is a true biblical response to times such as ours.  

Head-to-Toe Alleluia

A Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot.  

--St. Augustine.


There once was a small town at the foot of a big mountain.  It was a beautiful little town, with a crystal clear stream running right through the heart of the city.  Kids swam in that stream, couples boated there, and people even drank from the waters, which were said to be tastier than anything bottled or piped in.  The source of the stream was a spring, high up in that mountain.  The town fathers paid a small salary to a hermit who lived near there; he kept the spring clean of any, silt, tree branches, and other pollution.  He was called the Keeper of the Spring.  One day, the city council was making big plans to build stadiums, concert halls, and other attractions they thought would turn that little town into a big city.  They voted to lay off the Keeper of the Spring in order to save money. After all, no one really saw him at work, and his position seemed irrelevant to a city on the move.  At first, nothing happened.  Then people began to notice that the stream looked dirty.  Soon, there was a noxious smell coming from the waters.  People who had swam and sipped from the stream all their lives began to get sick.  In spite of all the state-of-the-art upgrades, the little town shrank instead of growing, because the stream was polluted...and with the death of the stream, there was no life in the town.

In the parable, you are the town.  The stream is your soul.  The things it takes to maintain your soul are small and silent.  No one knows whether you do them or not.  But if you fail to do them, if you focus on flashier, more immediately rewarding pursuits, your soul will wither, and your life will suffer.  What are you doing to feed, cleanse and strengthen your soul?

All this Spring, I've been talking about the spiritual disciplines that help us encounter God in fresh ways, feeding our souls and transforming our lives.  This Sunday, I'll wrap up the series with some "next steps" that should benefit all of us.  We were meant to be people of joy and celebration, whose lives would be infectiously attractive to others and a blessing to the world.  Come this Sunday, and see how such a life is possible.

Getting Back on Track

Sometimes when I’m driving, if my wife catches me looking at something on the side of the road, she will clear her throat, poke me, or in some other way remind me to keep me eyes on the street.  Now that my kids are older, they do the same thing.  It’s annoying, to tell you the truth; after all, I manage to drive quite frequently by myself, and have yet to kill myself or anyone else on the road.  Yet at the same time, I know they are doing me a kindness (I hope none of them reads this...I want them to think I am still annoyed with them).  

God did me a similar kindness recently.  In a devotional book I was reading, the author quoted Colossians 1:28-29:

²⁸ We proclaim Him, warning and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹ I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.

That’s actually one of my favorite passages.  In fact, when I first came to WBC nearly 8 years ago, and I was asked for my favorite Scripture (to post in my bio on the website), that’s the one I named.  Yet seeing it again in that devotional book was like God clearing His throat at me, as if to say, “You’ve gotten a bit distracted.  Get your eyes back on the road.”  As a pastor, it’s far too easy to get caught up in running church programs, trying to add new members, and keep the present members happy, instead of doing what I am called to do: Make disciples.  Paul knew his job, and stayed focused on it at all times: To preach Jesus with the goal of making everyone mature (the Greek word means “complete”) in Him.  I realized to my shame that I rarely do anything anymore specifically for the purpose of helping individual Christians become the people they were created to be, complete in Jesus Christ.  When I saw that Scripture, I resolved to change.

What does that mean exactly?  I don’t know yet.  But here’s where I will start: I will pray every day for WBC members, using my handy church directory.  I will pray for your needs as best I know them (In a church this size, I certainly don’t know everything that you’re struggling with).  Here’s how you can help me: Call or write or email and tell me what you think God wants to do in your life.  Where do you most need to grow?  What virtues is He trying to add to your character?  What temptations, doubts, and questions do you struggle with the most?  If you want to send me an anonymous letter, that’s okay.  But help me, as pastor, know how best to help you take the next steps in your journey toward being complete.  This is just the beginning; I don’t know where God’s Spirit will take me after this.  But I’m glad to be back on track.

Jeff Berger
jeffberger@wbchouston.org
713-723-6428
Westbury Baptist Church
10425 Hillcroft
Houston, TX 77096