The Galli Report: 10.23.20

The blessing of loneliness, evangelicals behind closed doors, deadly politics, bad news and good, and joy in the school cafeteria.

What Good Is Loneliness?
Well, for one thing:

I believe that human beings can never be truly fulfilled except in God, and that there is therefore a very deep spiritual loneliness that we all share, a loneliness that springs from our being far from God in this life. We human beings have a tendency to flee from this pain at the center of our souls. As Blaise Pascal noted in his Pensées, the restless pursuit of pleasure and excitement is often an attempt to divert ourselves from our own misery. The monastic life is all about drawing back from that diversion—entering into a silence and monotony that allows us to really feel the pain of our spiritual loneliness. So that then we can let that pain be healed in the relation to God.

This is an excerpt from “A Deeper Loneliness” by a Cistercian monk, a crisp and wise apology for the celibate life, which still applies to the rest of us.

Behind Evangelical Orgs’ Closed Doors
One of the more courageous people of this last year is Napp Nazworth, former editor of The Christian Post.  Many have called me brave for my December editorial, but Nazworth’s job was actually on the line when he refused to sign off on a pro-Trump editorial last December. He’s just published a long and detailed piece, “How The Christian Post Sold Its Soul For Trump: The inside story of a major Christian publication gradually joining Team Trump and losing itself along the way.”  Besides narrating the specific history in question, it’s deep look at what goes on—the good, the bad, and the ugly--in Christian organizations when something controversial is at play. 

My only quibble is with how, at time of publishing GR, he characterizes a Christianity Today story, “The Second Coming Christ Controversy.”  He claims, “CT had accused CP of being part of a cult.”  Not true.  The CT article simply said that CP, along with Olivet College and the World Evangelical Fellowship, had close ties with someone, David Jang, who at the time was being accused of claiming to be “the Second Coming Christ.”  In at least two or three places, the article notes that Jang had no influence over the work of any of these organizations.  

That being said, it is no doubt true that those who didn’t read the CT article carefully began to equate CP with Jang’s suspected teachings.  In retrospect, I can see how CT could have made things clearer (I was managing editor at the time so have to take some responsibility) and I’m sorry this caused CP so much grief.

Deadly Politics
Speaking of the election, here’s a piece by John Piper in which he puts a pox on both parties. He spends most of his time showing how Trump is just as dangerous as any Democrat, something most conservative evangelicals have a hard time grasping.  He makes a strong biblical case, starting with this observation:

Actually, this is a long-overdue article attempting to explain why I remain baffled that so many Christians consider the sins of unrepentant sexual immorality (porneia), unrepentant boastfulness (alazoneia), unrepentant vulgarity (aischrologia), unrepentant factiousness (dichostasiai), and the like, to be only toxic for our nation, while policies that endorse baby-killing, sex-switching, freedom-limiting, and socialistic overreach are viewed as deadly.

He argues both are deadly, which makes voting as a Christian really hard.  More “preaching” like this might help us all be a little more humble about our political choices.

Why Bad News Beats Out Good News
The old newspaper mantra, “If it bleeds, it leads,” is one reason.  Readers just gobble up stories of misfortune and worse.  But it’s not that simple. As Morgan Housel’s “Lots of Overnight Tragedies, No Overnight Miracles” puts it: “An important thing that explains a lot of things is that good news takes time but bad news happens instantly.”  His examples are persuasive.

Secret Baptisms
Another reason good news in not reported as much as it might be, especially when it comes to evangelism overseas, is that it would put lives in danger.  Many Christian journalists will not report specifics about conversions (who? where? when?) because hostile government or religious bodies would be able to hunt down the new Christians and imprison or kill them. Who wants to read a story about “Some people, somewhere became Christians recently”? But once in a while, good news breaks through in a way that retains the anonymity of the new Christians, as in this short video from Open Doors, “Watch a Secret Baptism in Bangladesh.”

A Most Unusual School Lunch
Now that many children are making their way back to the classroom--albeit donning masks, remaining 6 feet apart—we should remember a time when something surprising and wonderful could happen in a crowded school cafeteria (HT to T Steers).

Grace and peace,

Mark Galli
markgalli.com