Rex M Rogers - Discerning What Is Best

Discerning What Is Best
With Dr Rex Rogers

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Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 22 March 2022

Isn’t it amazing to hear seemingly sophisticated people saying things that seem to lack common sense? Does common sense even exist anymore?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #15 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

The idea of “common sense” goes back to Aristotle and, generally, refers to a kind of basic awareness or ability to perceive, understand, and judge in a manner that shared by nearly all people.

But for there to be common sense, people need to believe certain thing in common. In other words, they, and the culture they produce, embrace certain understandings, what the philosophers call “presuppositions,” about God, humanity, the created order, right and wrong. We order our lives around such presuppositions.

But we now live in an upside-down age that defies presuppositions rooted in Christian faith. Consequently, we live in an irrational age. Pretty much, like the days of Noah, people do whatever they want to do, when they want to do it, with whom they want to do it. This sounds good. Sort of sounds like freedom.

But what we’re doing doesn't add up. No matter if you measure by history, religion, moral philosophy, nature, or common sense, the answer is the same: a lot of what we’re doing is irrational, i.e., it makes no sense.

Why? Because so much of what we’re doing jettisons concern for right or wrong, defies faith and reason, and is disconnected from reality as God designed it.This is the very definition of irrational.

Freedom is a wonderful thing, a blessing, and a gift from God to humanity. God created us with free will. It’s part of being made in his image.

But freedom works best, guided by belief in God, individual responsibility, and personal accountability. For freedom to thrive, it needs a culture wherein moral concerns remind us that life is best when lived within divine parameters.

The Scripture says it like this: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13).

But these are old ideas, ones contemporary culture no longer recognizes. We want no one, least of all religion or even duty to God and country telling us what we cannot do.

Freedom to act with a moral compass of our own devising, freedom to do what’s right in our own eyes is what we want, and we’re chasing after this wind with all we’re worth.

This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends.

And I don’t just mean “bad people,” the violent, the murderer, the rapist. Certainly, they act with no regard for anything but their own gratification, rage, or emptiness.

Nor do I mean just the bold, often articulate, or creative, secularists, atheists, or hedonists among us. We know them today. If not “celebrities,” they’re called “influencers,” a term that means individuals who post their shallow values online, day in and day out, for millions of followers to read and emulate.

But these celebrity influencers are not a cause but a symptom. They’ve become who they are because they’ve been enabled by a culture enamored by the beautiful people, their high rent looks, or outrageous behavior, or material excess.

So, when I say we’re riding hell-bent for leather into irrationality, I don’t mean just the wayward ones out in la-la land. I mean “us,” our culture.

Contemporary culture—meaning our “way of life”—seems bent upon finding ways to embrace, even promote ideas, attitudes, values, and practices earlier cultures, and earlier generations in our culture, considered lacking in common sense. Indeed, in much of this, contemporary culture is celebrating irrationality.

Some of the ideas, attitudes, values, and practices we’ve recently embraced are irreverent, some are immoral, some are ill advised, and some, at least at one time, were illegal.

I say, “recently embraced,” but Solomon reminded us in the book of Ecclesiastes that there are no new practices under the sun, just old ones recycled (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

Of course, what one calls irreverent, immoral, ill advised, or illegal depends upon one’s worldview. What you believe—your presuppositions—about God, life, and truth influences what ideas, attitudes, values, and practices you consider legitimate. This is the prime reason contemporary culture celebrates irrationality. It does so because the current cultural zeitgeist, or “spirit of the age,” has jettisoned the idea of moral absolutes in favor of a new (ironically) absolute called “moral relativism.”

According to moral relativism, ultimate truth doesn’t exist…or if it does, it can’t be discerned or defined. And moral relativism also rejects the existence of clearly knowable, objectively established truth. In place of ultimate truth, or knowable, objective truth, contemporary culture affirms the idea, “There is no truth” or “What’s true for you may not be true for me.”

Consequently, since we can know nothing for sure, we cannot believe anything for sure. If we can know nothing and can believe nothing for sure, what we believe and, therefore, what we do does not matter.

A culture that does not believe in objective truth is vulnerable. Well, actually it is wide-open, to subjective “truth.” In other words, if we don’t believe truth is determined outside of us than it must be OK to determine it within us.

But this idea doesn’t work well, because human beings have depraved hearts and minds (Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 1:28), so, what’s inside us is not strawberries and cream but darkness, a capacity for and an inclination to evil.

Scripture repeatedly describes human beings as created good and for good. Yes, humanity by God’s design started out well. But with what’s called the Fall, human beings gave over their hearts to sin and depravity.

Scripture uses phrases like “willingly ignorant” or “deliberately forget.” We forget on purpose what is right (2 Peter 3:5). We are influenced by sin’s “powerful delusion” (2 Thessalonians 2:11). We “suppress the truth by…wickedness,” we function with futile thinking and foolish hearts, and we “exchange the truth of God for a lie” (Romans 1: 18, 21, 25).

We’re so good at this we “invent ways of doing evil” and in terms of our evil ways of life we “not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:30, 32).

This approach to what’s right allows us to determine what to do based upon personal experience, or the new catch phrase—“fairness”—as opposed to deciding what’s righteous or what’s best, based upon biblical doctrine (Philippians 1:9-11), Church teaching, history, or even “natural law.”

So, if we want to have our cake and eat it too, or if we think “just the right amount of wrong” is a sustainable lifestyle, then what’s to stop us from joining Frank Sinatra and singing the classic humanist anthem:

“And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my wayFor what is a man, what has he got?

If not himself, then he has not
To say the things he truly feels
And not the words of one who kneels

The record shows I took the blows
And did it my way

Yes, it was my way.”

My way…

If we want to get an abortion, it’s my way.

If we want to say heterosexual relationships outside monogamous marriage are OK, well then, “If you can't be with the one you love honey, Love the one you're with.”

If we think we can win not just a race, we can beat the races, than why not gamble with abandon? Life is just a crapshoot anyway so let it ride.

If we want to believe life began by chance and that human beings are descended from some animalistic humanoid, it’s my way.

If we want to spend beyond our means including spending other peoples’ means (our children and grandchildren), there’s no piper to be paid, no reckoning. It’s all going to work out. It’s my way.

If we think God is an unnecessary hypothesis, that we can live life, and apparently the afterlife, without him, then what’s stopping us from creating our world and our future in our image? It’s my way.

And that’s the problem. We’re creating an increasingly scary world with a scarier future.

Celebrating irrationality is not rational.

Our culture cannot sustain itself indefinitely with this kind of pell-mell rush to senselessness. Yet lemming-like, we keep running toward the cliff.

But God is still the God who created reality. If we want to celebrate rationality, to exercise common sense, do it God’s Way.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. For more Christian commentary, be sure to subscribe to this podcast, Discerning What Is Best, or check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

*This podcast blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 16 March 2022

Have you ever been betrayed? I mean you discovered your trust had been misplaced and the hurt is real? Betrayal is sadly a part of life in a sinful world, but the Lord did not leave us without perspective and support.

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #14 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

A few years ago, I visited the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, and I was glad for the opportunity. It brought back a lot of memories.

When Richard Milhous Nixon was re-elected in 1972, I was a 20-year-old college student studying political science. I was thoroughly into the issues and the campaign, and Nixon became the first president I excitedly voted for. He was “my president” in the same way the college students who campaigned for President Barak Obama will forever feel a special attachment to him.

Later, as I walked to my car, I realized I felt down and a little twisted inside, and I thought, what’s this? Then it hit me. I felt betrayed, even a little angry.

The politics of Nixon’s second term had turned quickly to Watergate chaos. “What did he know and when did he know it?” In a painful few months Nixon’s presidency collapsed under the weight of malfeasance and an unexplained 18½ minute gap in a White House audio tape.

August 8, 1974, Richard Nixon announced his resignation. August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned, and Gerald R. Ford was sworn into office. August 10, 1974, Sarah and I got married. It was an eventful week.

It’s been over 40 years but viewing Nixon’s gravestone rekindled emotions I didn’t know remained. I’d been energized by this man’s leadership. I’d agreed with a measure of his policy perspectives, but he’d fooled me, Billy Graham, and many others.

Nixon squandered enormous political talent and experience. His personal character was exposed and didn’t match his public persona. He cheated to win re-election. He covered up. He lied. He did this to his country. He did this to me.

I felt betrayed because I’d put my trust in his leadership.

This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends.

I’ve also felt betrayed a few times in more personal ways than a distant president. I’m guessing you have too. It’s more realistic than cynical to say that if you live long enough someone will eventually trade on your trust.

And then there’s our behavior toward others. I don’t like to think that I may have betrayed someone, but as a sinner saved by grace, who’s still a sinner, I probably have.

Betrayal comes in many forms. Maybe in your workplace: people you trusted said things publicly about you that you later heard and could scarcely believe. People close to you, or so you thought, stayed faithful while they worked for or with you but verbally kicked you on the way out the company door. People were your friends as long as they got something out of the transaction; when circumstances changed, they stabbed you in the back. People lied about what really happened, or worse, they lied about you and assassinated your character. People you helped gain their positions used their newfound empowerment to undermine you.

By the way, criticism and betrayal are not synonymous, particularly if you hold a leadership position. Criticism rightly given and rightly received, iron sharpening iron, makes us better, stronger. Criticism seeks to help. Betrayal seeks to harm.

Maybe your company leaders betrayed the trust of thousands of employees, of which you are one, and now your pension fund or your investments are diminished or gone.

Maybe a spouse you loved was unfaithful.

And, of course, there are many more ways in which people betray people. Human beings are infinitely creative, so they keep inventing new ways to betray. It’s one of the sins of the human race that began when Cain betrayed Abel, and it’s not going to go away this side of heaven. It’s not fun and in fact it can hurt deeply.

Given the sin nature in all of us, betrayal, or the experience of being betrayed, is probably unavoidable. Betrayal comes to us all. So now what?

We have a choice on how we respond to betrayal. We can retaliate, hitting back in some tangible way that attempts to hurt others who’ve hurt us. We can seek revenge (kidding ourselves that it’s justice we’re after). We can contract for legal redress (I recognize that such remedies may at times be biblically justifiable, but I’d recommend mediation or arbitration before pursuing lawsuits as a last resort). We can dissolve into bitter recrimination.

Or we can look to the Lord for another way toward resolution that may or may not ultimately result in reconciliation. The Bible tells us how.

1-Pray. James 5:13 - “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray.” My Mother used to tell me this. I’d come home from school with some story of what an evildoer had done to me and she’d say, “Have you prayed for him?” I didn’t want to pray for him. I wanted to punch him. But I did discover that one cannot pray sincerely for someone and continue ill feelings in your heart. The Spirit takes over, changing our feelings if not the circumstances and directing our response toward life.

2-Never respond in kind. James 4:11 - “Brothers, do not slander one another.” Never put in print what you’ll be ashamed of later. Print possesses a shelf-life longer than your life. Cyberspace magnifies your responses even broader and faster, potentially to billions. Besides, vitriolic responses are about hurting, not healing.

3-Never over-react. Proverbs 15:1 – “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” This too shall pass. It’s amazing how different personal battles appear from the vantage point of time. Not long ago I spoke with a man with whom I’d battled a few times. He and I were just different, and it came out, not in things we’re ashamed we said but in periodic friction. Funny thing was, when we talked, neither of us could remember the substance of the issues involved. All we could remember is that we used to butt heads and now we wondered why.

4-Never seek vengeance. Romans 12: 17-19 - “Do not repay anyone evil for evil…If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge…I will repay, says the Lord.” Turning the other cheek may be one of the more difficult things we’re called upon to do in our lives. God is sovereign. He knows. He’ll make things right in his good time.

5-Forgive. Colossians 3:13 - “Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Responding to betrayal with forgiveness brings resolution to us even if the other person(s) never change or are never open to reconciliation. Forgiveness is not only right; it’s a release. It literally liberates us. What mattered no longer matters. When we forgive, we don’t work to make the offending parties “admit” or “apologize.” We don’t work to “win.” We simply ask the Lord to enable us to forgive when it’s beyond our ability to do so. And he does.

6-Bless and be at peace with them. Romans 12:14, 16 - “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse…Live in harmony with one another.” No one’s ever been betrayed like Jesus. Judas used his three-year relationship to identify Jesus with a kiss and betrayed the Savior for 30 pieces of silver. Peter denied Jesus three times. The Disciples deserted him.

Yet Jesus loved them all, even calling Judas “Friend,” and he continued in the Father’s mission to sacrifice the Son to make forgiveness and reconciliation possible.

I know that responding to betrayal with forgiveness is not the natural thing to do. But that’s the point. Christians aren’t supposed to be natural, but spiritual.

Jesus is the only one who can enable us to overcome betrayal.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 16 March 2022

I like watching football. But I don’t much like the NFL.

There is the politicization of the game, first the national anthem controversy, then the wokeism, in the name of civil rights but really pretty shallow self-serving posturing.

Then there’s the League’s history dealing with or rather winking time and again at players involved in abuse of women. Lot of examples. Take the current DeShaun Watson case: 22, or is it 24, women accuse him of sexual assault, misconduct. Yes, a TX Grand Jury declined to prosecute. Yes, one is innocent until proven guilty. But that’s a lot of smoke to suggest there’s no fire. In the post-“Me Too” era it’s mind boggling how many teams are actively considering trading for him to be their QB. Do you want this guy to be the face of your franchise? Apparently many do.

Then there’s the League’s decision, as soon as the law allowed, to embrace sports gambling as a business opportunity, this after decades arguing gambling could undermine the integrity of fair and free competition. And while the League pulls in millions on the backs of its fans, it has the moral audacity to fine players who gamble on their teams.

Remember Al Davis? “Just win, baby.”

*This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact me or read more commentary on current issues and events at www.rexmrogers.com/, or connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/rexmrogers.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 15 March 2022

If you look under “healthcare” in the dictionary you’ll probably see the word “expensive,” so wouldn’t it be great to identify some healthcare steps that make for a healthy body, mind, andbank account?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #13 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Healthcare is a long way from what our forebears endured during the 1800s and earlier. Thankfully, we no longer use leeches to suck out poison, understand germs,

recognize the importance of hygiene, and have developed a vast array of medicines and medical technology that improve the quality and often the longevity of our lives.

But with this advancement has also come increasing costs—for the meds and med tech but also for health and medical insurance to helps us pay the bills. Consequently, some argue the government should do more, then do more again, taking care of us with socialized healthcare programs that too often trade benefits for liberties.

But take heart, there are costfree healthcare steps we can choose. We shared a few of these steps in the last podcast episode, “Costfree Healthcare 1,” so here we go with “Costfree Healtcare 2.”

What can we do for little or no cost that will improve our health?

Avoid Narcotics.53 million Americans, or 19.4% of people 12 and over, used illegal drugs or misused prescription drugs within the last year. Remember the commercial: “This is your brain. This is your brain on drugs”? Sizzling fried egg. Actually, that commercial understated the problem. Hard drugs debilitate not only the brain but every part of a substance abuser’s life. “Using” is unwise, illegal, and unhealthy.

Don’t Abuse Alcohol.If alcohol and tobacco are included, 165 million or 60.2% or of Americans aged 12 years or older currently abuse drugs and alcoho Alcohol abuse slows reflexes, impairs mental processes, increases the risk of several diseases, and often leads to alcohol dependence. It’s not called “Getting hammered” for nothing.

Develop a Hobby. Hobbies typically involve collecting, accomplishing, enriching, learning, expressing, developing, preserving. Part of the fun is that we don’t have todo these things. The very “unnecessary” character of many hobbies is evidence of the creative talent we possess as imago Dei, beings made in the image of God. The capacity to develop, arrange, or make is a form of investing ourselves and our values in the Created Order. It’s a God thing, which raises our quality of life.

Forgive.The man or woman who does not forgive is the man or woman who is hurt in perpetuity, embittered, and enslaved. Meanwhile, the unforgiven often go on unscathed. Jesus commanded us to forgive “not seven times, but seventy-seven times,” i.e., unto infinity if necessary (Matt. 18:22). Forgiving doesn’t exonerate another; God still brings things to account. Forgiving is a divinely enabled act that releases us. You probably know someone who hasn’t forgiven a parent dead for 25 years. Sad. Unforgiveness is a cancer of the soul. I can’t prove it, but I think unforgiveness is the number one sin in the Christian Church.

Avoid Sex Outside Marriage.“Friends with benefits” is a hip phrase communicating the general moral state of our culture. It denotes unmarried friends who have sex-sans-commitment whenever they’re inclined. But sex outside marriage is neither as casual nor as inconsequential as commonly believed. On the contrary, certain pathologies form a scary list of direct and indirect consequences: STDs, unwanted pregnancies and sometimes abortions, broken marriages, and additional psychological, spiritual, and physical forms of duress that can last a lifetime.

This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends.

Serve Others.If you’re feeling depressed, down in the mouth, or logy, focus upon someone else’s problems. Then help them. It’s amazing what “Love one another” does to one’s perspective, feelings, and even actual circumstances.

Don’t Speed.From our youth we’ve heard “Speed Kills.” It does.

Get Married.I’m hard-pressed to argue this one is costfree, but researchers have repeatedly made the case that married people are healthier and tend to live longer than unmarried people. It seems God knew what he was doing when he said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Of course, women have always known that men would make a mess of things if left to their own devices.

Get a Pet.Again, not sure this is truly costfree, but with the dividends the costs are minimal and worth it. People who own pets live longer, healthier lives. It’s called pet therapy. Go figure.

Our Brownie the Beagle has a philosophy, a consistent one:

--If I say, I’m really stressed…Brownie says, “Let’s go for a walk.”

--Me: Such and such happened and it’s a bummer…Brownie: “Let’s go for a walk.”

--Me: My favorite team lost…Brownie: “Let’s go for a walk.”

--Me: The world is ending as we know it…Brownie: “Let’s go for a walk.”

Moral of the story: If you need near costfree healthcare, get a dog or other pet. Pets are less expensive than Peloton or gym memberships, and they ask very few questions about our problems. They focus on “joie de vivre” – the joy of life.

Costfree healthcare is in our grasp, just a choice or two away. Live without self-induced health problems. Live longer. Deciding to live healthy is a matter of God honoring stewardship.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 11 March 2022

With the cost of health and medical insurance continuing to go through the roof, wouldn’t it be great to find healthcare that didn’t cost us anything?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #12 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Healthcare might be the most contentious compound word in the English language.

Health care, the phrase, only recently became healthcare, the compound concept, a near inevitable progression already recognized by several respected dictionaries.

In high school, we took a class called Health, which is to say, how to take good care of yourself. Now,healthcare is something government does, or insurance agencies provide for us.

Whether we think healthcare reform is overdue or overdone, most of us would probably agree it is, and ever will be, overpriced.

But what if we could enjoy cost-free heathcare—sort of like the citizens of Greece, only for real, with no one else in the E.U. helping pay the bill?

Maybe cost-free is a phrase that can come to our rescue. We’ll make it compound. Not cost -dash- freebut costfree, a newly evolved word that makes 21^st Century sense, to us if not to our grandparents.

Or is costfree a compound redundancy? If something is costfree, why don’t we just say it’s free? Well, because nothing’s really, free.

Anything worthwhile costs us something by way of investment of time, talent, or treasure. It’s the accountability God built into the world’s economy so that, despite our continuing efforts to debase ourselves, we cannot run amok forever.

Eventually, bohemian youth grow up—though among musician rockers there seems to be a lot of bohemian holdovers into advanced age.

Still, everyone, sooner or later, must pay the piper, unless of course we just keep looking to government to take care of us cradle-to-the-grave.

It’s a hard lesson that I’m afraid our country, or at least a lot of our political leaders, have not learned—the idea that, eventually, we must live within their means.

But then again, if you’re a duly elected politician of either Party, or you’re an appointed for life or good behavior bureaucrat, when the time comes, you retire and go home. The bill coming due for expansive expenses you created is someone else’s problem. It’s a classic “kick the can down the road” scenario.

So costfree healthcare makes sense to me. Whatever results from ideologically or partisan-driven political healthcare battles in government, Congress, or state legislatures, we’re not hostage to it.

We can still do a number of commonsense things for our health.

We can assume individual responsibility and initiative.

We don’t have to wait for government or health insurance companies to take these steps. As good stewards of the life God gave us, we can make our own responsible healthcare choices.

This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends.

Allow me to share several ways you can enjoy costfree healthcare:

Read the Bible. Numerous studies have demonstrated that regular Scripture reading makes a positive, cumulative impact upon spiritual and emotional and, thus, physical well-being. Don’t read it as a fetish or good luck charm but read and apply the Word in your life. God’s Word never returns to him void of impact.

Pray.When I was a kid in Sunday School, teachers told me that reading the Bible is “God talking to us” and praying is “Us talking to God.” Talking to God changes us and bolsters our well-being, no matter how the Lord chooses to respond to our needs and requests.

Attend Church.Researchers have repeatedly found that people who attend religious services one or more times per week live longer, healthier lives. Church provides us with community, meaning, and fellowship, all ingredients of better living.

Exercise.Regular exercise benefits all human systems, respiratory, digestive, muscular, circulatory, everything. Exercise improves moods, reduces stress, re-energizes energy, maintains weight, purifies skin, enhances sleep. Even just walk—walkers live longer, enjoy better mental acuity, experience lower incidences of disease, age more slowly, reduce risk of catching colds, and more. You don’t have to compete for the Olympics. Just get a step counter app. Walking just 30 minutes per day reaps rewards. It’s impossible to overstate the positive impact of exercise upon our health. Put another way: “Couch potatoes are less healthy potatoes.”

Eat Better. We are what we eat. Poor diet, poor health. Better diet, better health.

Lose Weight. Some 73% of Americans are overweight or obese.The US spends more per person treating obesity than any other economically advanced country. Presently, overweight issues are at 14% of the country’s total annual healthcare expenditure. Obesity accounts for overtwo-thirds of all diabetes treatment costs, about a quarter of treatment for cardiovascular issues, and 9% for cancer. The moral of the story: burn calories, reduce pounds.

Quit Smoking. Walking away from smoking is an act of liberation. A one-pack-per-day smoker spends about $2,292 per year on the habit. Quit smoking and you liberate your pocketbook from daily loss, from higher insurance costs and, believe it or not, from lower resale value on your cars. Quitting liberates you from higher probabilities of heart disease, lung or throat cancer, and other diseases. The first question I’m asked at the Doctor’s office, after my birthdate, is do you smoke? Why is that?

Get Sleep. Adequate sleep recharges the body, protects the heart, may increase memory, and generates a long list of other benefits.

Get Rest. Sleep and rest are different. You can be caught up on sleep but still be going full tilt, non-stop, gung-ho in the rat race…over prolonged periods. This is a recipe for myriad health problems. We need rest and relaxation = R&R. God created the world in six days then rested on the seventh. He didn’t rest because he was tired. He rested to enjoy what he’d done. Rest need not be synonymous with doing nothing, though this can be beneficial too. Rest can be recreation, or re-creation. Rest revives, restores, rejuvenates. Rest is detachment from the norm. Jesus combined rest with prayer, drawing away to the mountains, the water, or the Garden of Gethsemane. Rest is best when it reinvigorates the soul.

There are more healthcare measures that arguably don’t cost us a dime. I’ll share those with you in the next podcast. I commend costfree healthcare to you. It’s eminently affordable.

Details: Written by Rex M. Rogers; Published: 08 March 2022

Diversity and inclusion are now measures of excellence and ultimate trump cards not only in culture but increasingly the Church, but what do these words mean and how do they square with a Christian worldview?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #11 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

Diversity and inclusiveness are mantras of the emerging Postmodern ideological religion of moral relativism and political correctness. Not that these values are necessarily bad or wrong in themselves. Diversity can be a good thing. So can inclusiveness, if you aren’t tossing aside morality when you use the term. But definitions vary with the ideology of the user.

Certainly, diversity is a watchword of our culture today. One’s demography is now destiny. News stories of appointments to government offices lead with the gender, race or ethnicity, maybe sexual orientation of the appointee before they report the professional credentials and accomplishments that hopefully justify the appointment.

I am saddened by the resurgence of racism in recent years. And I believe our society should continue to enlarge freedoms for all American citizens, regardless of race. I’m not so sure that racializing virtually every issue, calling all differences the result of discrimination much less white supremacy, or arguing any difference of results ipso facto violates the highly subjective idea of equity is the answer to racial harmony. There’s a better, biblical way.

Some two thousand years ago, God ordained something called the church, understood in lower case as a local body of believers (and usually non-believers as well), and capitalized as, the Church, the trans-cultural, trans-country, trans-time Body of Christ, the universal Church, the Family of God.

The Church, by definition, is diverse. How can it not be? Thinking of it as the Family of God it includes believers from every kindred and tongue since Adam and Eve.

Heaven is and will be the most diverse place we’ve ever been.

So too, today, in the universal Church, the Body of Christ on earth. It’s diverse—Americans, sure, but Chinese, Russians, Iranians, Saudis, and more are part of the Church, not due to nationality but to their relationship with Christ.

The Church is a picture of a diversity that includes every nationality, black, brown, yellow, red, and white race, ethnicity, both sexes, all ages and language. However, while these attributes bring a richness to our world, none determine moral character and virtue.

What matters is not demography but habits of the heart. Put another way, God created everyone and cares about their race and sex, but he cares far more about whether in their heart they honor Him. So should we.

Meanwhile, some so-named “progressives” emphasize “inclusiveness,” but what they mean by this is sexual orientation and gender identity – not just biology but socially constructed morality.

These attitudes about sexual orientation and gender identity—the acronym SOGI—are now the point of the spear of a rapidly emerging ideologically driven religious worldview that directly rejects Judeo-Christian values.

Sadly, what these progressives mean by “inclusion” is a different doctrine than the creation order and morality given in the Word of God.

Their inclusive view may sound loving, but in the end it is not. Affirming falsehood, which is to say, a lie that perpetuates irrationality and unreality, does not help anyone, least of all the person caught in a web of confusion and struggle about his or her sexual desires or perceived gender fluidity.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is the best inclusive statement ever written, but it comes with the rest of God’s design. Certainly, Christians must help individuals struggling with their understanding of their sexuality and sex.

There is no place, none, zero, for harsh, arrogant, or self-righteous attitudes, much less physical or emotional abuse ostensibly in the name of the Lord.

We can, and we should, love the person even as we disagree choices with gentleness and respect with their lifestyle choices. Jesus loved, “accepted,” and forgave the thief on the cross, personally and spiritually, but this did not constitute an affirmation of the thief’s thievery.

Christians who believe the Word of God cannot simply waive aside God’s definitions of moral matters.

Accepting people struggling with sexuality as a person made in the image of and loved by God? Absolutely.

Accepting them without personal condemnation while speaking the truth in love? Yes.

Accepting their struggle with dark forces and embracing, defending, or endorsing their choices? No.

Adopting their redefinition of language and use of fabricated pronouns? No.

So, inclusiveness is a loaded word. Like “tolerance,” inclusiveness generally now applies to anything and anyone except biblical Christianity and Christians, particularly on public university campuses and increasingly in politics, media, and in some churches and denominations.

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Sexual progressivism is also the point of the spear when it comes to religious liberty. Increasingly, expressed biblical views of sexuality are labeled “hate speech.” Individuals or even churches who publicly cite biblical views of sexuality are declared intolerant, bigoted, hatemongers, racist, sexist, phobic.

Under the guise of inclusiveness or “nondiscrimination,” religious, especially Christian, convictions and the liberty to hold them and speak or teach them in a free society are now coming under attack. Worse, these views are called unacceptable and thus it is argued they should be “silenced” and the people who express them “cancelled,” which can mean loss of freedom of speech, due process, reputation, influence, or employment.

So beware. The diversity qua inclusiveness being touted now by progressives is not the diversity God established and blessed either in the created order or in the Church.

Current trends toward cultural diversity are divisive centrifugal forces pulling apart the country and many in the Church. On the other hand, the diversity in the universal Church is a beautiful fellowship based on righteousness and created reality, allowing for blessed unity and peace.

The history of Christianity teaches us that every generation has introduced new error, new challenges to the faith once delivered in the Word of God, but no ruler, regime, or ideology, no false religion, no “Ism,” nothing, has ever or ever will prevail against the Christian Church.

The Word of God is given for all times, countries, and cultures, and in it there is no room for prejudice, racism, idolatry, immorality, only unity of the faith.

In God’s Kingdom, the Family of God, and the diverse universal Church: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Scripture says, “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:1-6).

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