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Jesus for President Reviewed by Ed Housewright Christian Ethics Today A Journal of Christian Ethics Volume 14, Number 4 Aggregate Issue 71 Fall 2008 “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” Isaiah 40:3; John 1:23 Lemuel, I Found One! Joe E. Trull ........................................................................................................................2 EthixBytes ............................................................................................................................................... 3 We’ve Got Mail—Letters From Our Readers ................................................................... 4 The Saddleback Forum: Two Viewpoints Richard Pierard and Robert Parham .... 5 Survivor: The Story of a Pastor and a Church Glen Schmucker ................................. 7 Southern Baptists: Struggling with Sexual Predators and Wife Abuse Marie Fortune .....11 Islamic Terrorism: Fact vs. Fiction Glenn L. Carle .................................................................13 Left Behind or Left in Cyberspace? Noreen Herzfeld ........................................................14 Living Apart Together: Why I Am Trying To Stay Jon Mark Hogg .........................15 On Patriotism, Public Preaching, and the IRS Martin E. Marty ................................17 Torture and We’re Number 1? Britt Towery .............................................................................. 19 Early Challenges to Capital Punishment David W. T. Brattston .................................21 CHRISTIAN ETHICS AND THE MOVIES Reviewed by David A. Thomas Evolution vs. ID: Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008) ......................23 War: Stop-Loss (2008) .......................................................................................................... 25 BOOK REVIEWS Jesus for President Reviewed by Ed Housewright ........................................................ 27 The Fall of the Evangelical Nation Reviewed by Je"rey Weiss & Darold Morgan ...27 Church State Matters Reviewed by Aubrey H. Ducker, Jr ............................................ 28 Globalization and Grace Reviewed by Darold Morgan ............................................ 28 The Great Awakening Reviewed by Darold Morgan ................................................... 29 POETRY God Speaks By James A. Langley ........................................................................... 31 KUDZU by Doug Marlette COMING IN NOVEMBER T. B. MASTON’S CLASSIC —“Why Live The Christian Life?” Reprinted for CET and our Subscribers —Watch for Details Lemuel, I Found One! By Joe E. Trull, Editor n September 6 fifty-three years has been scrutinized by pulpit com- ministers and missionaries, and once Oago I persuaded a young girl mittees, interrogated by busybodies, again lived in a home not our own. barely out of high school to leave the and mistreated by those who were During all of these stays, we were security of her own life for the chart- upset with her husband—yet she has far away from our families Yet, she less seas of being the wife of a Baptist remained sweet and calm through it never rebelled or complained, even preacher. all! when her husband was grumpy. During that first decade of married Her job description includes She has continued to listen, encour- life we passed through some chaotic answering the phone at least a thou- age, understand, sometimes caution, times—I completed my final two years sand times to explain she did not know but always support and believe in her of college and seven years of seminary how to reach her husband (pre-cell- husband, even when he lacked faith in education. She somehow found time phone world), smoothing the ruffled himself. to bear and raise our three children, feelings of many distraught members, For these last ten years, we have hold down two full-time jobs, acquire and listening patiently to tearful tales enjoyed “early retirement,” working two years of college and seminary of woe with empathy and concern. side-by-side in our home produc- education (she later graduated from She has also listened over and over ing this Journal—she serving as sec- U.T.), and filled the role of pastor’s to the same old humorous stories told retary, proof-reader, bookkeeper, and wife at three student churches. by her pastor and always laughed at associate to the Editor, who could not With a woman’s “know how” the right time. She has endured the produce this bi-monthly publication and “make do,” Audra washed dirty same sermons time after time, and not without her help. faces and dirty clothes, ironed shirts gone to sleep. Over the years I have Fifty-three years together. What a and dresses every Saturday night, and learned to listen to her gentle criti- wonderful life! stretched the budget beyond our mea- cisms and take heed, because she is In the Old Testament, King Lemuel ger means. almost always right. asks a rhetorical question, “Who can She did not have a home of her own Without grumbling or question- find a capable wife, for her price is far until we moved to our first full-time ing, she has journeyed with her hus- above rubies?” (Prov 31:10). This was church in Austin in 1965. Yet in all band from the plains of Oklahoma a cynical observation on the scarcity of of those moves into the “parsonage,” to the mountains of East Tennessee, good wives. where the furniture never matched and from the hill country of Austin Well King Lemuel, I have news for the chartreuse and pink drapes, the to the West Texas town of El Paso. you. I found one! ■ wallpaper bulged from the wall when She even joined me in a brief stay at --JET the winter wind blew, and the tornado Richmond, Virginia, before going to shelter was better than the manse— the “foreign” world of New Orleans, Editor’s Note: This article was adapt- she always managed to change every where we lived on a seminary campus ed and expanded from an article first house into a home. for fifteen years. written in 1971 and is used by per- Through it all she has listened to While in New Orleans, we fled mission of the author who insists the statements like, “Our former pastor’s hurricanes, endured the demands of article is even more true in 2008 than wife did it this way!” Usually she weekend interim pastorates and week- it was then. smiled—sometimes she cried. She day teaching jobs, taught hundreds of Editor: Joe E. Trull Publisher: Christian Ethics Today Foundation, 9608 Parkview Court, Denton, TX 76207 (940) 262-0450; Cell: (940) 230-6931 CHRISTIAN ETHICS TODAY is produced in the U.S.A. and is published five times annually and mailed from Dallas, Texas, where third-class postage is paid. Articles published in CET reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily the viewpoint of CET or the Editor. Send corrections and change of addresses to P.O. Box 1165, Argyle, Texas 76226. r'"--r$)3*45*"/&5)*$450%": EthixBytes A Collection of Quotes Comments, Statistics, and News Items “Five months from now, I wanted writings and the movie footage you Investment billionaire Warren them to remember that this occasion have requested. We know the truth Buffett , arguing that not every failing brought them together.” because we were there on the boat.” business or investment bank should be Luke Russert, 22-year old son of Letter from 10 men who served in rescued, but that homeowners who were Tim Russert who requested presidential Vietnam with Sen. John Kerry who want deceived should be helped. nominees John McCain and Barack Dallas billionaire T. Boone Pickens to ❖ Obama sit together at his dad’s funeral. fork over the $1 million (for charity) he “Whoever fights monsters should see They did. offered anyone who could disprove the to it that in the process he does not ❖ Swift Boat ads in the 2004 campaign. become a monster. And when you look “The idea that you have to offer some- ❖ long into an abyss, the abyss always one a $10 million pension just to keep “Afghanistan produces 93% of the looks into you.” him around—there’s something wrong world’s opium. The opium [heroin] Nietzsche. with that. People taking compen- trade provides $100 million to the ❖ sation have a moral duty not to take it, Taliban each year.” “Let none say: God has blessed us with a moral duty to be underpaid. If gen- U.N. Annual Report on Global money and possessions, and then live erals and archbishops can do it, why Drug Trade (6/26/08). as if they and their God were alone in can’t leaders of large enterprises take ❖ the world. Possessions are not God’s less than the last dollar?” “Ninety Religious Right evangelicals blessing and goodness, but the oppor- Warren Buffett and Charlie met in Denver July 1 and decided tunities of service which God entrusts Munger to 30,000 Berkshire Hathaway to support Sen. John McCain as the to us.” shareholders (May, 2008). president who most shares their values. Dietrich Bonhoeffer ❖ . They are concerned about other ❖ “There’s nothing wrong with micro- issues . , but determined that oppos- “Unless and until there is a safe place waves or mobile phones—they save ing abortion and gay marriage are so to which the victims themselves can time. But God will ask you what you central that they have no choice but to report abuse with some reasonable have done with the time you have support McCain.” expectation of being objectively heard saved.” Christianity Today (July 2008). everything else will be window Egyptian Coptic monk Ruwais el- ❖ dressing.” Anthony . “There’s now a pitched battle for the Christa Brown (SNAP), in response ❖ soul of the religious right. That to the SBC rejection of a database of “I learned that God reveals himself movement is withering at the top and Baptist ministers convicted of sexual through Scripture and in general in revolt at the grass roots. What’s abuse. through creation. When we destroy new is how widespread social justice ❖ God’s creation, it’s similar to ripping issues are in the evangelical world.” “5 million opposite-sex couples in the pages from the Bible.” Former Bush staffer David Kuo. U.S. live together unmarried, up from John Merritt, speaking for 44 ❖ half-a-million in 1970.” Southern Baptist leaders rescinding a “30,000 Americans die of gun violence Leadership (Summer, 2008).
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