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Here’s a video from the folks at my Church that may soothe some heartache you may have had today when engaging for the culture. You do not engage alone.  

Not that the Commission on Presidential Debates needs any help, but here are some examples of better questions we should all be asking of our elected officials and those who would aspire to public office. What are “better” questions?

The first thing I want to hear when I ask a candidate a better question is absolutely nothing, at least for the first five to ten seconds. I want to “hear” them thinking because “better” questions should make them go deeper than a superficial first impression. I don’t expect my respondents to act like a baseball umpire who has to immediately call balls and strikes. “Better” questions should make them think.

Think of the worst person in the world. Now, imagine that person walking towards you waving a white flag as he crosses the culture war’s many battlefields and he asks you for the reason for the hope that you have. Here’s what that looks like (with thanks to Steve Hartman and CBS News):...

Here is a thought for you today from Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas who said this over fifteen years ago. The national discourse has always been challenging. Yes, we must be civil — and I would add “full of grace” — but we must also say what must be said.

“None of us should be uncivil in our manner as we debate issues of consequence… [But] by yielding to a false form of ‘civility,’ we sometimes allow our critics to intimidate us. As I have said, active citizens are often subjected to truly vile attacks; they are branded as mean-spirited, racist, Uncle Tom, homophobic, sexist, etc. To this we often respond (if not succumb),

Our logo is simple and meaningful.

At the center of the logo is the cross, just as the cross is central to who we are and proclaims whose we are.

The Bible says God’s shield of faith protects us from the flaming arrows of Satan’s attack and the wreath of victory symbolizes the fact that God has already won. He has already defeated the evil one.

Life is so much more than a game. Life is not bounded by sidelines, or defined by statistics, or determined by a finite length of time. When a team loses a game, the coach doesn’t look at them and admonish them that they are on the “wrong side of history.” He tells them they need to return to blocking, or fielding, or clearing for a rebound—getting back to fundamentals.

In his seminal work on the subject, University of Virginia professor Dr. James Davison Hunter describes culture war dialogue as each side of an argument trying to demonize and then dismiss as irrelevant the other side’s ideas.¹ In my observations, each side of the cultural divide generally keeps his cards close to his chest, playing them only when it’s advantageous to his position. This will not be the case with me. Like the University of Virginia’s Mr. Jefferson, I believe that truth needs no defense from me. The truth can stand on its own.²