The Back of the Bus

Living in the Atlanta area in the 1940s and 50s offered some unique conveniences. One of those was public transportation. We could get on a trolley (it traveled by an electrical current that ran from overhead wires) and in twenty minutes we would be in downtown Atlanta in the front of the Rich’s Department Store. From that spot you could walk to the movies, department stores, the Federal Bakery, the Planter’s peanut shop, and the S & W cafeteria. It was better than a sterile, closed-in mall. There were sights, sounds, and smells that contributed to the special experience of being in the city. The trolley ride only cost fifteen cents and you could get a transfer to anywhere else in the system. To many older Atlantans those were the good old days.

But they weren’t such good old days for the black population of Atlanta. There was a sign in the front of every trolley which read, “White passengers sit from front to rear, and Colored sit from rear to front.” This was not a convenience, among other things, if you weren’t white. If you were black and were seated in the middle area of the trolley and there was no room for a white person to sit you were expected to get up and give the white person your seat. The trolley operator controlled this situation (all the trolley operators were white). No matter how weary the black passenger, the white rider was entitled to the seat. Most white folks didn’t question this state of affairs. Society in the South mandated many entitlements to the white population for no other reason than their skin color. It was the status quo until one cold day on December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama that things begin to change. Rosa Parks, a black lady, was sitting in one of those middle seats on the bus when she refused to get up and let a white man have her seat. She was arrested, tried and found guilty of refusing to obey a bus driver. What is strange is that this even had to happen. How could a Christian dominated white culture be so content with the racism of a segregated society?

What is really scary is that as a teenager I too accepted segregation as an inherited fact of life. It aroused no moral outrage. It was just assumed that this was the way things were supposed to be. Where were the Christian voices raised to challenge the system? I don’t remember any, at least in the South. Actually, churches dug in their heels and, by and large, resisted the Civil Rights movement. The owner of a Christian restaurant handed out axe handles in defiance of those who sought to integrate his place of business. The Ku Klux Klan held rallies on street corners where white robed firebrands quoted Bible verses and preached the supremacy of the white race. Christian schools refused to enroll black students. Churches self-righteously turned away protestors (protesting their segregated church) from their services. It was a shameful and sad day in American church history.

All this should not be lost on us. It is easy to adopt a self-righteous and condescending view toward previous generations. We think, “How blind and prejudiced they were.” “We are much more enlightened and have moved beyond the foibles of our forefathers.” The culture of our day bewitches us just as the segregation mentality did decades ago. Living in debt up to our ears and paying enormous sums of interest is accepted as necessary. Compassion as a virtue is the excuse to slay the unborn. There are no protests. Christians divorce and their church is silent. The Bible is butchered and truth is abandoned as churches continue on with their happy hour of feel-good theology. Is anyone sounding the alarm? The church marches to the drum beat of the culture and no one seems to notice. Every generation has its evils to fight. The problem is that those evils masquerade as good. They are those things that pretend to make life better for us. They ensure our security and comfort. We are medicated by what is approved in our society. A Christian school can teach evolution (disguised as theistic evolution) in its science classes, but never mind, we have a dress code and like-minded friends. All is well. It is like sitting on that trolley in 1955 and enjoying the ride when a titanic moral issue was riding with us. All was not well in the back of the bus. It took someone with courage in the name of justice to ask the question, “Why do you all push us around?” With those words, instituted segregation began to crumble.

Racial prejudice has not been banished. It is bound up in every human heart. That is what makes it a perennial social cancer. But there is more. Our moral laziness and lack of biblical convictions continue to anesthetize Christians to the sins of the culture. Segregation went unchallenged by a previous generation of Christians. What evils are we embracing that will astound a future generation?

Dr. Howard E. Dial
Berachah Bible Church

DTR

We have all known (or perhaps been) couples that “sort-of” dated for years. We could not quite decipher what the status of their relationship was. Were they just friends? Were they “seeing” one another? Were they serious? At times they would be inseparable and seemed exclusively committed to one another. Then the next month it appeared as though they were not at all interested in long-term commitment. If we were close friends with one of these parties, we would exhort them to D.T.R.

DTR. In dating lingo, this refers to, “Defining The Relationship.” This is "the talk" when a male and female who've been seeing each other a while decide if they're officially a couple. In the same vocabulary genre is ATI. This is when a couple “Acknowledges The Intent” to move from friendship to romance. These, “So, what are we?” dialogues are preceded by both sheer terror and nervous excitement. Whatever you call it, this is an important moment in the relationship that sets the course for the couple’s future.

As confusing as dating relationships are between male and female, many people also live in a grayish, perplexing haze when it comes to their involvement with the local church. Are they simply interested in the church? Are they dating the church? Or are they wholly committed to the church? Many church-attending Christians are in need of a DTR moment so they can evaluate the status of their union with the local assembly.

Joshua Harris, pastor and author of Stop Dating the Church!, mentions three ways in which a “church-dater” can be spotted: (1) Their attitude toward church tends to be me-centered. They go for what they can get—social interaction, programs, activities for children, etc. The main question is, “What can church do for me?” (2) They are independent. They attend church, perhaps regularly, but they are careful to avoid getting too involved. They are non-committal—going through the motions without really investing themselves. (3) They are critical. They treat church with a consumer mentality. As Harris says, they are “looking for the best product for the price of their Sunday morning.” They are shopping and comparing.

Do any of these marks define your relationship with the church? If so, I plead with you to, “Stop dating the church!” Rather, commit to her and marry her. Define the relationship and join the local body.

I realize that some have active or passive objections to church membership. Some say that local church membership is not taught in Scripture. They reason, “You don’t read about rosters and attendance sheets in the early church. Our modern membership system is a recent invention.” True, the Bible does not contain “church rolls,” but the local congregations we read about in the New Testament were congregations of specific people. Certain people were known to be a part of the assembly; certain people were known to be outside of it. Certain folks were included; others were excluded. How else could they “remove the wicked man from among yourselves” if they did not know who was “in” and who was “out” (1 Cor. 5:13)?

Others passively protest membership by saying it is simply unimportant. “I don’t need to be a member to be involved in the church. I can take part in the work and ministry of the church without joining,” they say. That is possible, but there is no biblical support for such a stance. There were no “un-affiliated” Christians in the early church. It was unthinkable for a believer to say they were “in Christ” but not “in a local church.”

Charles Spurgeon thought that it was disobedience for a Christian not to join a church. He humorously but accusingly called such disconnected Christians, “good-for-nothing bricks”:
I know there are some who say, “Well, I have given myself to the Lord, but I do not intend to give myself to the church.”
Now why not?
“Because I can be a Christian without it.”
Are you quite clear about that? You can be as good a Christian by disobedience to your Lord’s commands as by being obedient? What is a brick made for? To help build a house. It is of no use for that brick to tell you that it is just as good a brick while it is kicking about on the ground as it would be in the house. It is a good-for-nothing brick.
So you rolling-stone Christians, I do not believe that you are answering your purpose. You are living contrary to the life which Christ would have you live, and you are much to blame for the injury you do.
(taken from Stop Dating the Church!, pg. 46)

How would you define your relationship to the church? Maybe the weeks, months, and years have rolled by and you, though unintentionally, have failed to join the local body. If you are simply flirting with or dating the church, please consider covenanting and uniting with us in meaningful church membership. Though the commitment is solemn, the actual process of membership is simple. (1) Fill out a membership application (available at the back of the auditorium) and place it in the “in-box” outside the church office door. (2) You will be contacted and asked to meet with some of the elders to share your testimony of trust in Christ. At this time, you will also have an opportunity to ask any questions you might have concerning Berachah. (3) You will be presented to the body so that each member can pray for you, care for you, and keep you accountable in your walk with Christ.

If you have committed and are a member, please renew your love for Christ’s local body. Don’t let your union with Berachah be a spiritual crutch for your troubled conscience. Make your membership significant by being faithful in attendance, active in worship, sacrificial in giving, persistent in prayer, selfless in caring, and zealous in outreach. Be a useful brick in the building of God.

Justin Culbertson
Berachah Bible Church

Truth Decay

I spent an hour on Tuesday morning at one of my least favorite places (sorry Dr. Crowe)—the dentist office. I was there to have a cavity filled. My dentist told me my problem: too much Dr. Pepper and sweet tea, too little flossing—a lethal combination for teeth. Tooth decay is caused by the over-consumption of sugary foods along with neglect of proper teeth cleaning and maintenance. If the cavities are not dealt with, they will lead to more serious problems that require more severe treatments. So children, get in the habit of brushing and flossing your teeth now.

In a similar manner, there is a growing malady in the “teeth” of Christianity. As the spiritual diet for God’s people shifts from the meat of God’s Word to the comfort foods of cultural-Christianity, great cavities are forming. Bible exposition is replaced with sugary feel-good “sermonettes” (which produce “Christianettes”). Bible doctrine is substituted with laboratory-created artificial teachings of health and wealth. The preference (and pocketbook) of the consumer is what is driving the spiritual food industry rather than the decrees of God.

How do we deal with this “dental” problem? First, through the painful yet necessary surgery that gets to the “root” of the problem. The Psalmist gives the only sure cure; the "double-edged" scalpel of the sufficient Word of God:

"The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the LORD is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the LORD are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward."
-Psalm 19:7-11

The Word of God is both the means of correction and of regular maintenance. This is why we must be careful not to neglect the daily reading of God’s Word. The effect of Bible reading is sure, though it is not always immediately felt or seen. It is like the movement of a glacier across the landscape of our lives. At times it seems to be doing nothing. However, it is always moving and always affecting us. It is constantly, though sometimes imperceptibly, making subtle changes to your thoughts, words, actions, motives and desires. As the weeks, months, and years go by, you will be able to look back and see the cumulative effect of this essential habit in your life.

If daily Bible reading is not currently a habit in your life, begin now. Many in our church have been following a Bible reading plan that we distributed at the beginning of 2005. If you did not begin with us or stopped somewhere along the way in 2 Chronicles or Lamentations, now is the time to get back on board. We just began reading Matthew yesterday, so why not finish the year out having read through the entire New Testament? Plans are available at the information table or on the website.

Please commit with me and to one another, that we will never substitute a consistent and healthy diet of God’s Word for the cotton candy of our culture. Let us make every effort to do the spiritual flossing and brushing that is necessary to maintain and strengthen the teeth of the church.

Justin Culbertson
Berachah Bible Church

A Moment of Silence

Being a grandparent offers opportunities to revisit places that were long ago a natural habitat. Recently our five year old granddaughter, Meredith, called (yes, she did it all by herself. How could we resist?) and invited her grandfather and grandmother to grandparents’ day at her school. The morning came and we were there. The place was alive with children dutifully following their morning routines, teachers and administrators cheerfully welcoming everyone, and older people (a.k.a grandparents) waiting for instructions. We went to Meredith’s room and she came happily bounding toward us. Memories were not very far away. Well painted, cinderblock walls and shiny floors beckoned us through the building. Classrooms were colorfully decorated with pictures, student artwork, and other environmentally stimulating decorations. As I recall, our rooms were not quite so busy with stuff. There were the teachers, all women, patiently and kindly setting the schedule for the morning. I can only remember one male teacher in the four different grammar schools I attended. Announcements were being made from the principal’s office. Then came the singular moment and we were awakened to the fact that things are not the same. All the classes were asked to observe a “moment of silence.” For those whom the public school is an everyday experience this is probably taken in stride. But for these two sixty-somethings it was depressing.

There they were. Hundreds of children, age five to ten, who came from all kinds of homes with who-knows-what sorts of worries, fears, grief, and insecurity. Now what in the world is a five year going to do mentally with a moment of silence? For one thing, aren’t moments of silence reserved for memories of the deceased? But that presents another problem. Does one turn to a pleasant memory of that person? What if there are only bad memories? The moment of silence could be a hazardous thing if one is not properly prepared. But I imagine that a moment of silence could be quite welcome to a weary school teacher at about three o’clock in the afternoon. We had a version of this when we were asked to put our heads down on our desks after lunch for some moments of silence. This tended to invite trouble from the more mischievous boys in the class. I am sure the principal and teachers all meant well by their request that morning for a moment of silence. It was, after all, the agreed-upon substitution for prayer in school. The Supreme Court put an end to that some years back.

We are now being told that the separation of church and state prohibits the imposition of prayer to a deity by the state. Thomas Jefferson’s now famous wall of separation statement in a private letter in 1802 has become the shibboleth of liberals and others committed to our national well-being. But how one derives this from the “establishment of religion” clause in the First Amendment is beyond me. I have the sneaking suspicion that there is a not-so-subtle agenda at work here, namely, the gagging of God in public life. Ironically, however, at the swearing in of Chief Justice John Roberts, he said he needed God’s help in order to fulfill his duties (“so help me God”). If the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court needs God’s assistance, I am sure my five-year-old granddaughter needs it too. There is a lot of divine help needed for our children. Every year 500,000 to 1,500,000 children are sexually abused. There is a thirty-five percent divorce rate at work among professing evangelical Christians. There are forms of child abuse beyond the physical. Divorce, alcohol and drug abuse leave innocent little children struggling for survival in school houses across our nation. For many of them the only time they hear the name of God is in the profane language of television, movies, and parents. To add insult to injury the nation’s future adults are submitted to the myth of evolution as an explanation for our existence on planet earth. That moment of silence can be filled with the comforting thought that no matter what kind of emotional or physical abuse you may be enduring, you are only an accident. There is no ultimate meaning in life. Chance rules the day.

The moment of silence seems to be here to stay for awhile. But it doesn’t have to rule the day. Or should I say, ruin the day. Parents ought to make sure their children are loved, instructed, and prepared for a day at school and the rest of life. Let society proceed on its merry way to self-destruction, but my grandchildren don’t have to be eaten alive by it. We can teach them and fill their minds with what matters for time and eternity. God has given us what we need to know. It’s in the Bible. Does that rule out a well-rounded education? Of course not. But the school day can begin with a prayer within that little mind, asking for the Creator’s wisdom and strength for the day ahead. That’s a moment of silence that redeems the time.

Dr. Howard E. Dial
Berachah Bible Church

Another Pay Cut

The daylight hours are growing shorter. The shadows are lengthening. Fall is upon us. And with it are some financial shadows that are falling across our path. The price of gasoline is stubbornly staying at near three dollars a gallon and may increase even more in the short term. The housing market is glutted with homes for sale. Businesses are feeling the effects of Delta Airlines declared bankruptcy. What was once a symbol of enduring financial stability, Delta is now fighting for its survival in the highly competitive and financially unstable airline industry. One of the immediate effects of Delta’s cost cutting is pay cuts. Its employees are experiencing shrinking pay checks and challenges to budgets, bills, and plans for retirement. The stresses that come with these economic changes are not small. Many of us remember quite well the social upheaval caused by the demise of Eastern Airlines. Some were not prepared for the financial fallout that occurred. There was anger, divorce, and a multitude of interpersonal conflicts. The entire community was impacted. New careers were sought. Houses went up for sale. Early retirement was taken. Families moved. Lives changed.

These same kinds of things are taking place again. Some have prepared themselves for a new set of economic realities. They have lived within their means, saved money, and stayed out of debt. Others have found themselves unable to sustain a lifestyle that allowed for little or no room for pay cuts. This is not to say that pay cuts don’t hurt. They do require adjustments and sacrifices that are not easy to bear. With that in mind it would be helpful to review God’s wisdom in the matter of finances. Money and material possessions are temporary in nature and do not provide lasting satisfaction (Prov. 27:24; 1 Tim. 6:17; Jas. 5:1-6). How quickly material wealth can disappear. Just ask Katrina and Rita Hurricane victims. One day you have all your worldly possessions at your disposal and then in a few minutes or hours they are gone with the wind. We must never forget that true satisfaction in life comes by having one’s life centered upon God (1 Tim. 6:6-8). Financial gain is vaporous and is subject to lasting disappointment. The joy that God gives does not depend on how much money one has. If we invest our happiness in financial gain, we are inviting some very unsavory characters into our lives (misery, disillusionment, and sorrows to name a few).

God has promised to provide the Christian with the basic necessities of life and with these we ought to be content (1 Tim. 6:8; Phil. 4:19; Matt. 6:25-33). Food and clothing are the essentials. A job to provide these basics is a provision of God. We are to work hard (the birds work at feeding themselves all day long) and be satisfied with God. It is a truism that “what you do with your money shows where your values lie.” If seeking first the kingdom of God is not our passion in life, there is no financial plan in the world that will be adequate. But when God’s wisdom shapes our financial decisions we will not spend more than we are making (live on less than you earn). We will give generously to our local church and other God-honoring ministries. High-interest credit card debt ought to be eliminated. Are you an impulse spender? Leave that piece of plastic in your wallet at home in a bag of frozen water, if you can’t control its use. Save as much as you can. Do you have an emergency fund? Are you prepared to buy another refrigerator when your present one has served its time? The failure to set up a savings account may be an indication you are funding a lifestyle you can’t afford. Everyone who claims to be a Christian should be meeting their financial obligations. Do you have bills that are going unpaid? Incurring financial obligations is not wrong (mortgage, car payments, etc.), but once a promise has been made to a creditor it should be fulfilled. Lying or stealing can come in many forms and one of those is the failure to pay one’s creditors.

Pay cuts can serve as pruning, so the believer in Christ can bear more fruit. A reversal in a family’s income can uncover attitudes and values that are hindering spiritual growth and productivity. Short-temperedness, grumpiness, and complaining as a response to our disappointments are villains that need to be shown the exit. We have a debt of love that is to be paid to all in our household and to those in the work place. Anger over what the company has done to one’s prospects for financial security is an open door for the evil one (Eph. 4:26, 27). Satan would love nothing better than to exploit our bitterness toward a CEO who bailed out with a golden parachute. Yes, even the mismanagement of the company in which we have invested some of the best years of our lives is part of God’s purpose for us (Rom. 8:28). We must not forget the Joseph principle, for it was he who said, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20).

Living on less is an invitation to experience more of God. It gives the opportunity to discover more of His wisdom and more trust in His ability to provide for us. It is a call to the body of Christ to rally around that member who is suffering. It is the occasion for the church of Jesus Christ to demonstrate the greatest defense of the faith, namely how much we love one another (Jn. 13:35). A pay cut can be an open door for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Dr. Howard E. Dial
Berachah Bible Church