Shaken and Stirred: Faith in Tragedy
November 2001
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Biblical faith, first of all, begins with the sovereign God Who, in His grace and mercy, redeems man through the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
I am a "Christian libertarian." I believe in maximum individual liberty under God's law. As a result of this, I am a "liberal conservative." I support constitutional democracy (a "republic"), democratic processes hedged in by constitutions that protect minorities and peaceful dissent.
We orthodox Christians are nothing if not dogmatic. To us, certain matters are beyond dispute the creation of the universe by the Triune God; the atoning death, bodily resurrection, and second coming of Jesus Christ; the divine inspiration of the Bible; and so on. They are cornerstones of our Faith and life. We are quite dogmatic about all of this.
The religion embraced by the men who murderously decimated the World Trade Center and assaulted the Pentagon on September 11 is also dogmatic. But there is a huge chasm between these two dogmatisms.
The Christian must view life as service to God and His Christ, and death as entrance into reward. Until we are thankful in all things God brings our way we do not understand what it is to give thanks.
Henry Van Til said that culture is religion externalized and made explicit. There has always been a dominant culture in every society that results from the dominant religion of that society.
As one committed heart and soul to the principle sola Scriptura, I find the trend toward traditionalism most unfortunate. It has, in my view, weakened the evangelical witness in our time.
Were he alive, George Calhoun may have discouraged my writing these remarks for public consumption. George was the founder of Mt. Olive Tape Library (P.O. Box 422, Mt. Olive, Mississippi 39119).
The question of "How do we know?" is a question that does not cross our minds very often (unless you are a philosopher!); yet, it is a very important question.
The destruction of the two World Trade Center towers was the equivalent of the total obliteration of a city of 50,000 people. There is nothing left except ashes and twisted metal.
Shortly after 9:00 a.m. on September 11, I got a call from our firstborn, Sarah Faith (23), who works for Morgan Stanley. She was at her office in Midtown Manhattan the Rockefeller Center area about two miles north of the World Trade Center. "Daddy, did you hear about the Trade Center?"