Rex M Rogers - Discerning What Is Best

Discerning What Is Best
with Dr. Rex M. Rogers

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 19 July 2011

I wrote a column this morning for SAT-7 USA called “The Practical Impact of Christian Values.” I’ve been thinking about this for some time.

The column’s thesis is that we sometimes spiritualize Christian values to the point we think of them only as a means to inner peace or worship or emotional wellbeing or religious expression. If we take this to an extreme, which I believe some do, we miss the fact or forget that Christian values rightly understood and applied can also make an enormous practical impact.

The idea is that Christian values were providentially designed to make our lives run more smoothly, more enjoyably, more fruitfully. I make no case, for the Bible doesn’t, that individuals who live lives characterized by Christian values miraculously escape all problems. No, I’m simply saying that persons who embrace and live out Christian values live lives closer to what God intended in the first place, i.e. reality, when he brought us into Creation and defined his values in the Scriptures. When we live aligned with God's reality we're better off.

Think about these examples of the practical impact of living based on Christian values:

--If more people were honest and did not steal, we could tak e the locks off doors and wouldn’t need to fund costly criminal justice systems of police, courts, jails, and counseling centers.

--If people did not behave in sexually immoral ways, we would not need to fear AIDs or fund medical research pertaining to AIDs and other STDs, or even abortion.

--If people did not lie or cheat, we could avoid contracts, lawsuits, and the expensive attorneys who go with them.

--If married individuals loved their spouses, stayed committed for life to their marriages, did not covet another’s spouse or commit adultery, divorce, alimony, child support, prenuptials, and a lot more would diminish or disappear.

--If people were not greedy, did not hate, and loved their neighbor, armies, wars, rumors of wars, low and high tech ammunitions, security systems, and the intelligence community would not be draining the federal treasury.

--If people did not commit people-on-people crimes of assault, battery, and murder, we could take long walks in the dark without fear, avoid incarcerating and supporting criminals at tens of thousands of dollars per person per year, and stop buying weapons for protection.

--If people exercised good stewardship and conservation of the natural environment and its resources, we would not face costly oil spill eco-damage and cleanups, contend with smog or other air and water pollutants, or debate global warming; nor would the Passenger Pigeon be extinct.

This is a short list of ways Christian values could leverage truly positive and extensive practical impact upon our daily lives if simply enough people actually applied them. It’s amazing really, and it’s not rocket science.

An old adage (long but erroneously attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville) suggests “America is great because America is good.” Insofar as this observation has been arguably true, it is disconcerting to think of the implications of its reverse: “America is no longer (or, not) great because America is no longer (or, not) good.” Christian values, though not embraced by all, have historically played a role in the good to greatness of this nation. I hope we don’t forget the practicality of those values and thus lose a shot at continuing greatness.

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Rex or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com or follow him at www.twitter.com/RexMRogers.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 16 July 2011

This past week my cousin was laid-off by a well-known ministry where she had served for 32 years. She was one of 31 individuals who lost their job in an afternoon purge. One of these staff members had worked for the ministry 38 years.

To function, survive, and thrive corporations and organizations must make periodic financial adjustments. When revenues are significantly down it’s almost impossible to make such financial adjustments without laying-off personnel, particularly since personnel costs generally represent about two-thirds of an organization’s budget.

So the issue is not that corporations and organizations are doing something morally suspect when they lay-off staff, it’s more about how they go about laying-off staff.

During my 20 plus years of administrative experience in Christian higher education I had to make lay-off decisions. Professionally speaking, this experience was without question the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. The university where I served as president went through a period of financial realignment in which we had to lay-off several staff members, friends and long-time associates. While I wouldn’t suggest our process couldn’t have been improved, I would say we worked hard to inform, walk carefully through a planned process, treat people with respect, and do what had to be done with as much concern for all involved as possible.

What my cousin experienced, however, defies explanation. The ministry did not give people any forewarning, told employees they had to clear out their desks and be gone by day’s end, including three-decade staff like my cousin. The ministry gave these people, again including longtime staff, no financial considerations, no extension of benefits, and in general no assistance. Basically, the ministry threw a good portion of its staff members into the street.

My guess is someone read a manual on how corporations lay-off employees and decided it had to be done in a sort of Friday Afternoon Massacre. Apparently, at least the ministry leadership thought it had to be done this way. But it doesn’t.

Years ago, one of our friends, a pastor, was surprised by his deacon board with the precipitous news his services were no longer required. The deacons informed this young pastor, a father of three, that he and his family would have to vacate the parsonage by the end of the month. Like the ministry I mentioned above, after that month this church provided no financial consideration for the pastor's family. In other words, they threw a family of five into the streets. In my estimation what these deacons did was immoral. The later chapter of this story is that God took care of this family. Our friend and his wife were approached by a few families and asked to start a church, which they did, and that church today runs more than 800 people on Sunday mornings. The church that tossed them aside languishes with four or five families.

Again, the issue is not that organizations are wrong to lay-off personnel. This will happen in the life of virtually any and all organizations. The issue is how it is done.

There is no pleasant or easy way to inform someone he or she has lost a job, and there is certainly no pleasant or easy way to hear this news. But the process can be constructed in a manner that treats people, understandably upset, with dignity. This requires as much lead-time as possible, information, explanation, clear statement of financial and benefit considerations, and outplacement assistance as desired.

What incenses me about my friend’s church long ago and about the ministry for which my cousin worked is that they evidenced little or no care for their people’s transition. They sent them away with nothing, so these organizations not only created short-term financial hurt but likely, with at least a few, long-term bitterness.

Leadership is another form of stewardship and in my estimation these Christian organizations did not act “Christianly,” nor did they demonstrate good stewardship of their people, their reputation, or their mission. In this approach everyone loses.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 02 July 2011

Awakened every morning by a local rooster. Guy owns the town and let us know.

In the area we stayed up the mountain Lebanon apparentlly has a lot of tree frogs. We heard a bunch at two different outdoor restaurants earlier this week and I've heard them periodically throughout the evening via my room balcony door.

Lebanese food is very, very good, especially the meat and fruit, but dinners often go late, as in return-from-dinner-at-11:00 pm. Two fellows from Jordan, who of course speak Arabic, went shopping. Said things are cheaper in Lebanon than at home in Jordan. I saw them just now. Came back carrying stuffed plastic bags.

I've learned to enjoy watching little Lebanese children whenever I've had the chance. The wee little ones, like any wee little ones anywhere, are especially cute. Here, though, they're real eye-catchers because of their usually big dark eyes and lots of curly black hair. Beautiful kids.

Beirut climbs the mountain or high hills if you prefer, which makes for fantastic views over the city and sea. People on the hills and back into the mountains often live on property owned by their families for several generations. And, like anywhere, it’s cooler at higher altitudes.

People in Lebanon tend to live in religiously-defined areas, including in Beirut where you can see or drive through both Christian in “East Beirut” and Muslim in “West Beirut” areas or neighborhoods. The level of social interaction between these areas varies with circumstances at different times. Commercial interaction pretty much exists except in the most tense of times.

Parliament Square and blocks around it were shattered by the war in the 1980s, but the buildings in this downtown district have been beautifully and meticulously rebuilt. Government buildings and shops like Starbucks, ice cream, and souvenir stores line adjacent streets. Police are everywhere in evidence. A “mall” populated by high-end stores is located along three or four streets a couple of blocks away.

Martyr’s Square monument is rather interesting to say the least. The statue was erected in 1937 to memormialize the Lebanese who suffered under a blockade by the Allies in WWI. The people endured famine, starvation, plaque, and the hanging of nationalists on May 6, 1916. The statue, amazingly, survived the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990) and is now riddled with bullet holes. It is a poignant and important symbol, a salute to the resolve and resilience of the Lebanese people.

The Lebanese people I have met are friendly, capable, and interesting. They are well educated, multi-lingual, and generally involved in the pursuit of some profession. They’re very much into family over multiple generations and they think globally, in part because they have so many Lebanese relatives living in diaspora worldwide.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 02 July 2011

Beirut is a city by the Mediterranean Sea facing West. Huge, multi-million residents. Mountains just behind or East, somewhat like LA or San Francisco but much closer and higher mountains with the city climbing the sides.

Our hotel is in a community up the mountain about 30 minutes from the city proper. Long way from the sea but can see it and the city clearly whenever we travel down hill. Sunsets spectacular. Birds everywhere, first wildlife I saw: pigeons.

City features few Western-style skyscrapers of glass and steel, instead, thousands of all off-white stone, cement, or manufactured stone-surfaced highrises maybe 20-30 stories at most with smaller windows and less glass than Western buildings, probably due to the constant sun. Many residential buildings have huge canopy-like curtains hanging from the top of the balcony to shield the sun and heat.

The Lebanon flag is a distinctive one: a red band on the top and bottom covering about one-third of the flag with a wide, white band in the middle two-thirds. In the middle of the white is a green Cedar of Lebanon. Red, white, and green. Beautiful.

Boiled eggs and goat cheese for breakfast, along with Nescafe coffee brewed in my cup at the table, served like tea with hot water and makings, very strong, which I like. Also black olives with every meal, salty and not bad but not my favorite.

English-language CNN available on the tube and maybe one other English station, the rest Arabic of course, along with some French. Lebanon has a French colonial history, so people here speak Arabic, French, and maybe English. My cab-driver spoke no English, but we got to "J'mapelle Joe" and Rex.

People at the hotel call me "Mr. Rex." I thought this was because they had confused my last name until I heard them address others in a similar way. The hotel key is attached to a bolt-shaped piece of gold metal that weighs a good pound or more. Probably won't forget it's in my pocket.

Went to another Lebanese restaurant tonight at 7:30 pm, ordered meal about 8:20 and it came a half hour later. Long mealtimes. Left the restaurant at almost 11:00 pm. Restaurant was a huge outdoor patio on the side of a mountain over-looking a deep valley. Patio covered by various canopies, lots of flowers, seating areas part couches with cushions, part straight-back chairs. Interesting place. Ate raw liver, chicken wings, sausages, a sort of hush puppie with beef inside, salads, and more. Dessert here is about 10-12 kinds of fruits placed on the table in bowls. Cantaloupe and watermelon fantastic.

For those who wish, meals end with a small cup of Turkish Coffee. Strong enough to kill a moose, probably why I didn't sleep much at all last night--either that or the jetlag. Restaurants we've been to both had pools of water with frogs in them that made an incredible racket. Few or no bugs. Balmy, pleasant to sit outdoors into late evening.

Full moon out tonight over the mountains populated by thousands of lights in the dark. Looks like San Francisco.

Saw Martha Stewart on a TV channel called "Fatafeat." Found out this word means "Crums," their version of the Food Channel.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 28 June 2011

Since New Year’s Eve several countries in the Middle East and North Africa have experienced a wave of unprecedented social unrest played out in street demonstrations, many of them ending in violence. The countries involved include Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria and more. The goal for most protesters, as far as can be discerned, is to replace long-time autocratic regimes with some version of democracy, or at least a more open society.

Among the more than 500 million people in the region many are fed up. They want to share in the freedoms, opportunities, and material wellbeing they’ve seen in the West or elsewhere in the world. They do not generally want to transpose Western values and practices upon their cultures but rather develop their own versions of open societies that respect human dignity, life, and liberty.

Christians can and should support all efforts to achieve human freedom. To do this, Christians do not necessarily need to “take sides” in the political processes at work in the region, although this may at times be warranted too. They can support change by presenting moral structures and providing principles based upon a Christian worldview.

The Word of God is not a political manual, yet it speaks to politics. Our task is to ever seek to apply unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world.

Details: Written by: Rex M. Rogers; Published: 27 June 2011

I’m in Beirut as I write, my third visit to Lebanon, so I’m beginning to learn a few things about this interesting country and people. Here’s my lengthening list:

--The food is excellent. Hummus, varieties of spiced meats, sweet and to-die-for fruit, which tends to be fresher than what’s available in supermarkets in the States because most of the fruit comes from within the country.

--The children, as all children everywhere, are beautiful. But there’s something about Lebanese little ones that attract my eye every time. They look like black-haired (sometimes curly), dark-eyed, olive-skinned angels.

--Beirut fills a basin around the Mediterranean Sea and quickly climbs the mountain backdrop to the east. Four to six story residences and even larger apartment buildings dot the hillsides offering spectacular views of the city and sea to the west or valleys and mountains to the east.

--The Lebanon Mountains, or Mount Lebanon, run along the central part of the country north to south. The highest point reaches above 10,000 feet. I saw snow patches on several mountaintops during our drive over a pass yesterday. The mountains boast some good ski resorts, are populated by pines (including the ancient Cedars of Lebanon), and a tree-line that can be seen on most of the ranges, meaning the tops are bare, much like California’s southern ranges. Another range called the Anti-Lebanon Mountains runs along the eastern border with Syria.

--The BeKaa Valley is a rich agricultural plain lying between the mountain ranges, is some 75 miles long and up to 10 miles wide. The valley is beautiful and produces much of the country’s farm foods like potatoes and fruits, including grapes with associated wineries.

--Baalbek, an approximately 2100 year old Roman ruins is located to the east and north in the BeKaa Valley. It features incredibly preserved stone works, in particular the temple of Bacchus or Dionysus, the god of wine, ecstasy, and madness. Bacchus is the word from which we get the term bacchanalia, meaning wanton orgies. Add temples to Venus, the goddess of love, and Jupiter, the ruling god, and you get the picture of the activities that took place in Baalbek, which by the way gets its name from the idol Baal. But the architectural antiquity is fantastic to see.

--Lebanon is a country divided by religious sectors. Maronites, Christians, Druze, Muslims, Greek Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and more tend to live in historically defined areas. There’s a history of friction, but there’s also a history of periods of productive and peaceful interaction, like now.

--Lebanon is surrounded by politically powerful neighbors: Israel to the south, Syria to the east and north. When the big powers rattle sabers Lebanon gets caught in the middle.

--Lebanon is a geographically small nation. If you dropped it into Lake Michigan, the country would disappear.

--Lebanese people live in diaspora all over the world. About 4.3 million live in Lebanon. As many as 15 million plus people of Lebanese descent live elsewhere, many known for the business prowess, especially in restaurants.

--Lebanon may have some Bedouin peoples, but there are no deserts in Lebanon, the only Middle East country that can make this claim.

--Lebanon enjoys its French colonial heritage in that children often attend schools structured upon French educational systems and take French courses each year. Many Lebanese speak Arabic, French, and English.

There’s much more. Lebanon’s economy is growing and for now its politics are relatively stable. Lebanon is small but influential, an engaging country, people, and culture.

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