final days forum

Listening to a Superior Voice

After the Summer of Rage, incivility continues to simmer throughout the U.S. -- on vociferous talk radio, cable news, websites, tell-all books and even in some pulpits. Unfortunately, the nation can't collectively make an appointment with Dr. Phil to explore what ails it, but as individuals we can seek help.

In the film, "Madea Goes to Jail,"  Tyler Perry's Madea resists anger management when she verbally jousts with Dr. Phil and behaves as if her fury is his fault.  The exchange between the two is dead-on because many of us behave with the same ghetto-fabulousness when we wear irritation like exposed skin...And it doesn't matter what neighborhood you come from for this term to apply.

We can roll our eyes and justify our raving, but in the end, anger obscures truth and barricades peace. Think back: hasn't this been true? We sought to hear God amid the crashing noise of of our circumstances, fumed at him as the mountains of life quaked about us, but when does he most often answer us? In the stillness. The prophet Elijah learned this and was privileged to witness how God is no less magnificent when his voice is still and small.

If we want to live like children of God, does that include changing our perspective on anger? Without learning to deal with anger daily, without learning that a quieter voice repels wrath, we will look as ridiculous as the prophets of Baal in Elijah's day. They screamed, hollered, cut themselves bloody and called out to a god who never answered.

Judy Howard Ellis

Debates reveal a clash of world views

Monument Valley, originally uploaded by Wolfgang Staudt.

Two political debates later and the spin still swirls. My take is simple:  It barely matters what actually happened during a political event. Our predisposition for spin is so idolatrous that what used to be obvious no longer is. The emperor boldly walks the streets of Main Street America and the tendency is to shout: What a great outfit!

If what we perceive as true and honorable is so fragmented by partisanship and party agendas that dictate what we say or value is true and honorable, we tread chaotic territory. This is not to suggest that everyone does--or should--think alike. What I am saying is that places where people differ are deep and wide.

Increasingly, we're like homeowners in a subdivision who never talk with their neighbors. Jim Lehrer attempted to prod Senators John McCain and Barack Obama to debate each other. Apparently, Lehrer was trying to demonstrate the wisdom of how eye-to-eye contact may influence what a candidate says to a rival and how much spin is delivered within the message.

Senator Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin exchanged eye contact, but their debate last night reflects another dimension of what ails America. Does America really want a serious discussion that would be a flop on reality TV? Do we prefer our politics delivered like powdered doughnuts with a surprise filling?

The debates -- and the responses to them -- are extensions of clashing world views. And it's not just Christian world view versus non-Christian. Even among believers there are vast rifts in thought about how we see life and this election. Should we all agree? I think not. Should we find a place of sincere common ground? Absolutely.

Judy Howard Ellis

Rage: the new normal

Web (HDR), originally uploaded by iChaz.

Everyone is angry. It's not that anger cannot be an emotion that can move us in the right direction or right a terrible wrong. Unchecked anger is what I'm talking about.  Anger without boundaries coats our politics, flavors our school board meetings, and poses as the uninvited guest at family dinner. We are ticked. We mercilessly spew our rage at the driver who cut us off on the highway, the callers who disagree with us on our talk radio programs, and the spouse who just won't do right.

Anger throbs in the hearts of Christians who pummel with the ferocity of hell those who have abortions or choose same-sex unions. The intent may be to bring people into alignment with Scripture, but they use the fist of Satan to inspire the obedience of Jesus. Our anger curdles like sour milk and reeks of rottenness. I have wondered at my own anger and the wrath seething on television programs and throughout the blogosphere. It's like we have supped with the devil and brought home poisoned leftovers.

I don't expect those who do not know Christ to curb their rage. They need God's intervention to see truth. To expect the world to do differently than it does is like expecting Tony Soprano to actually renounce killing forever. You need a revelation from God to follow kindness, peacefulness, and love.

But I do call on the church to check the level of its rage. Not all of our anger is righteous indignation, as Christians like to declare. Much of our anger is the refuse of inner issues left untended in our lives. The Bible tells us to be angry but sin not, and we have not obeyed that instruction. The sun has gone down many times on our anger. We accommodate anger, as if it were an admirable quality, a selling point, or a competitive sport.

In the church of Jesus Christ the Lord, this should not be. Unchecked anger blinds us. Anger obscures the view of heaven and lessens its power in our lives.

Judy Howard Ellis

Let’s be civil, shall we?

Love of the game is cool.  But why did fans at last Sunday's New York Jets/Pittsburgh Steelers game abandon gridiron joys for halftime cheapness?

According to The New York Times, several hundred men lined up near the pedestrian ramps at Gate D in Giants' Stadium, chanting obscenities and demanding the few women there to expose their breasts. One woman acted like she would comply, but when she did not, the fans were livid and spat and threw plastic beer bottles. What was that? A page from the etiquette playbook from the heyday of the gladiators at the Roman Coliseum?

This is scary: The Times' story says this kind of behavior is standard at Gate D in Giants' Stadium.

This is so scary it makes my heart hurt:  One woman did what the fans demanded. Who told her she had to play to the crowd?