What identifies one as an Evangelical? What are the private and public commitments of Evangelicals? Those aren’t easy questions given the landscape of current discussion on Evangelicalism. To help in your understanding of these matters, An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment was released today at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. and signed by over 80 evangelical leaders. The purpose: “The two-fold purpose of this declaration is first to address the confusions and corruptions that attend the term Evangelical in the United States and much of the Western world today, and second to clarify where we stand on issues that have caused consternation over Evangelicals in public life.” (2, original emphasis)

I have not yet read the Manifesto in its entirety, but needless to say there will be much conversation about this document in the days and months to come. Justin Taylor has a very helpful summary you would do well to read. You can also download the Manifesto along with a study guide.

Clarity is invaluable when there is much confusion!

You’ve probably noticed from the news coverage that this week is the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, i.e. Hajj. It’s been particularly news-worthy because the president of the predominantly Shi’a Muslim and Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is on the pilgrimage and thereby inadvertently causing sectarian tension in the Sunni dominated kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam expected of all adult Muslims physically and financially able (Quran 2.196-203). It is a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca located in Saudia Arabia, the birthplace of Islam. It is a week long festival filled with a variety of activities. Circling the Kabah that is centered in the Grand Mosque (picture above) and kissing the “Black Stone” is the apex of the Hajj. Yesterday pilgrims visited and prayed on the plains of Arafat where the Prophet Muhhammad preached his last sermon. Last night they gathered stones for today’s “Stoning the Devil” where they cast stones at the rock of Mina. At the end of the Hajj, pilgrims will sacrifice an animal, usually a sheep, in remembrance of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, not Isaac according to Islamic tradition.

If you want to know more about the Hajj, here is a good internet source. But in this post I want to point out two ways I think Christians can be praying for Muslims during Hajj.

1. Safety: Every year a number of Muslims die either to, from, or on the Hajj. They are trampled to death by the crowds, die from heat exhaustion, killed by sectarian violence (oh the irony since they dress in solid white garments symbolizing purity and global unity), and the list goes on. In addition, a Muslim is immediately granted Paradise and considered a martyr to die while on the pilgrimage. So it’s fitting to pray that God would see fit to spare many lives during this year’s pilgrimage.

2. Freedom from Spiritual Deception: From a biblical worldview, one of the best ways to describe Muslims is that they are spiritually deceived into believing in a false god and false gospel (injil).  For example, they believe Allah is the only true, eternal, wise, omniscient, transcendent god.  He begot none nor was he begotten.  Furthermore, Jesus was only a prophet and Muhammad came as the “seal” of all prophets with the fullest and final revelation - the Qur’an.  In addition, Jews and Christians (”People of the Book”) have perverted and falsified the scriptures.  Thus, they can no longer be trusted.  And for a Muslim to find favor with Allah, he is required to observe a number of things and included are the Five Pillars; one of which they are observing this week. 

Pray that Muslims will hear the gospel and know that God is finally not pleased with their sacrifices and pilgrimages.  Pray that they will no longer be deceived by the devil into believing the falsehood of Islam but will experience the freedom of knowing Jesus Christ who is “the way, the truth, and the life”.

New York Times reported today that the Diocese of San Joaquin voted on Saturday, Dec. 9th, to split from the Episcopal Church.  As reported, this is monumental because it’s the first time in the church’s history that an entire diocese has split from the church. 

The split stems from the ongoing battle within the Episcopal Church regarding the Bible’s authority, particularly as it relates to homosexuality.  “The church will inevitably leave the Bible behind at point after point,” said Bishop John David Schofield of San Joaquin to the diocesan convention on Friday, “but since on this view the Bible is the word of fallible men rather than of the infallible God, leaving it behind is no great loss.”

Let me encourage you to take the time to read this article and to keep an eye on the Episcopal Church.  Church history is chalked full of moments such as this.  In addition, it highlights the truth that the church of Jesus Christ will stand or fall on the Bible’s authority. 

(You can also find information on the diocese’s website.) 

I thought that maybe Keith would post something about Tammy Faye’s death since he has taken care of discussing the passing of other “luminaries” of late. Maybe it’s because of the news cycle that not many blogs have said anything about her passing yet either. At least the handful of blogs that I regularly check have been silent about her. There could be other reasons for silence about Tammy Faye, but I won’t attempt to speculate why.

For those who are too young to remember anything about the Bakkers before their fall, you may be interested to know that they represented to the world, and to evangelicals, much of what it meant to be Pentecostal along with others like Jimmy Swaggert, Oral Roberts, etc. They had their minor differences, but in the North among my very separatist roots, the Bakkers and others showed what the charismatics were like. It wasn’t fair of course to lump them together like that, but it happened. John Piper and others have made charismatic expressions more mainstream today, but it wasn’t so in the late 1980’s. Nobody wanted to seem like the Bakkers and company.

What should we be thinking today about Tammy Faye and the Bakkers? In some ways the Bakker scandal is very far removed. In other ways it remains fresh. It reminds me of the problems we all face of grasping for power, influence, success, etc. When mixed with religion it is a very dangerous potion. The results unfortunately can compromise the name of the church and of Christ. The Bakker’s lives became parables of that problem.

Do you read the True Hoop blog by Henry Abbot? Keeping up with the NBA is my one hobby. Okay, that’s not exactly true. Keeping up with the Blazers who, by the way, have the first pick in this year’s spectacular draft, is actually my hobby. Henry Abbot happens to be a rabid Blazers’ fan and a blogger at ESPN.

Today, Abbot wrote a post about whether LeBron James — 22-year old basketball superstar — should sign a letter rebuking China, host of the 2008 Olympic Games, for financially supporting Sudan (Darfur being in the Sudan). Here’s what I found amazing. After doing a bit of research, Abbot realized that while it might not make sense for LeBron to sign the letter, the 22 year-old could really make a difference:

Here’s my suggestion: LeBron James can be more than an activist here. He can be an executive. (Sign the letter or not — I don’t know. The wording is sufficiently vague, even if the intent seems to be shaming the Chinese and solving the problem with peacekeepers.) If he hasn’t already, he should pick up the phone. James has the best possible contacts at Nike. Nike has the best possible contacts in China. Couldn’t hurt for James to send word down the pipeline that he’d really like to see meaningful progress towards long-term peace in Darfur over the next year. That way, when the attention of the world is on James in Beijing next summer, James can congratulate everyone on their progress, instead of prodding them to do better.

So, here’s the deal. Genocide in Darfur and a 22-year basketball player is looked to make progress. What role do Christians have? What role does the church have? We live in a world where athletes have influence. I understand that. I long for the day when Christians make a difference. Some are.

I appreciated Greg’s sermon yesterday (Psalm 139) and his comments on abortion in our culture. As individual Christians in our culture, we need to give thought to our roles in society with particular attention to the issue of abortion. While driving to work this morning, I happened to hear a tragic account of Chinese provincal authorities forcing abortions on women even late in their pregnancies (7-9 mos.) One couple that was interviewed was identified as a Christian family who were pregnant with their second child. They were forcibly taken to the hospital where the wife’s pregnancy was terminated by lethal injection. You can hear the whole story at NPR. We should be advocates for cultures of life not only in the USA but also throughout the world. Kudos to NPR for running the story.

The funny thing about so-called “one-issue voting” is so many people think it leads to or results from politicians who are two-dimensional (or, perhaps, one-dimensional); mere caricatures. It does not have to be this way. I worked for a couple of years for Senator Mark O. Hatfield, an evangelical Senator from Oregon. He is retired from politics now, teaching at George Fox University.

I bring him up as an example of an evangelical politician who could not be stereotyped. Hatfield is firmly pro-life, he even opposed the death penalty. This is not your typical, evangelical position–but there are many Christians who agree with the death penalty in principle but oppose it in practice. He became very well known, and disliked by evangelicals, for opposing the Vietnam War but he supported invading Iraq. Hatfield is a conservative who sided with the Oregon’s timber industry for the sake of Oregon’s economy–but he was also one of the first to sponsor the Endangered Species Act. Again, he is not easily stereotyped.

So, for a Christian to be a one or two-issue voter rightly makes some issues hills to die on, but it does not make politicians who share this worldview cardboard cutouts with no other ideas that need to be seriously evaluated.