Four more years of Obama: Updated and expanded

Barack Obama has been reelected and it was not as close as many predicted. I am not much of a political prophet but I had already pondered this outcome and have decided how I will handle four more years of an Obama presidency.

For examples of voices with whom I will not join see this. For the prime example of conservative Republican candidates self-destructing, see this. I predict a surfeit of similar things in the weeks ahead. Count me out.

I encourage my conservative friends to take the rest of today and gripe all you want...and then join me in the following. 

I WILL BE PRAYING FOR THE PRESIDENT. We followers of Christ are asked to do no less. My prayers will be for his safety, for his decisions, for his leadership. My prayers will be genuine and authentic rather than some contrived, boilerplate, grudging pseudo-prayers.

I WILL NOT BE LAMENTING THE DEMISE OF AMERICA. The republic will survive another four years of an Obama administration. The country survived a couple of generations of Democratic control of the House of Representatives. We survived a civil war. We have endured much over the centuries at the hands of corrupt, inept, and incompetent politicians and have survived. I have no exit America plan.

I WILL CONTINUE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE POLITICAL ARENA. Not that my vote and voice count for much, but I have no plans to relinquish either in a fit of despair.

I WILL NOT JOIN THE DISGRUNTLED, 'TAKE BACK AMERICA' CROWD, sometimes presenting itself as the 'Wake Up America' crowd. There is a pretty substantial civil rights industry and a sizable poverty industry. Lots of folks make good money in these and in like fashion, there is a growing evangelical, 'Take Back America' industry wherein not a few demagogic Christian ministers and others gain a following and often make good money out of it.  This industry is counterproductive, futile, and often unchristian. No thanks. If you want a more Christian America, then get out of politics and get back to preaching and living the Gospel and winning souls. There is no political salvation for this country.

I WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT SPEND THE NEXT FOUR YEARS BEING ANGRY, WHINING AND COMPLAINING. At my age I look back on far more years that I have the right to look ahead to and it makes little sense to spend any of these years in an angry, unhappy snit over national politics. I will not spend much time around those whose lives are dominated by an unending stream political complaints. This is a great country. Does anyone prefer the America of the depressed 1930s or racist 1850s to the one we have now? Does anyone prefer the dirty, grimy America of the late 19th century to the America of today? A little perspective, please.

I was up early this morning and checked closely: Yep. The sun rose again; birds are singing. Later today I expect to see children playing and people smiling. Did I say already that this is a great country?

My hope is built on nothing less...than...Jesus blood and righteousness.

I struck a blow yesterday for truth, justice, and the American way...

...I voted for My Favorite Mormon presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, the second time I've done so. The 2008 Georgia primary was the first time.

All this folderol about voting for a member of a cult, advancing the agenda of a false gospel, and the like is just so much high-minded Baptist hot air. Very, very few Southern Baptists who have expressed such concern about a Mormon president will end up not marking or punching their ballot or touching their screen for Mitt Romney.

To tell you the truth, we look a little silly and somewhat hypocritical in the whole process.

Romney is a vastly superior presidential candidate. I am happy to vote for him.

God can take care of His Gospel and is not powerless even if the POTUS is a Mormon, or a Southern Baptist.

Obama doesn't have much of any chance here in Georgia anyway, but I feel good about having voted for Romney. I'm still trying to atone for  the insanity in voting for Jimmy Carter in 1976 when I was in a state of  irrational exuberance over our home state candidate.

Go thou and do likewise.

2012 Predictions

My understanding is that Harold Camping, having endured the fate of every other person who predicted the return of Jesus, is pouting for the year 2012 and that the Mayan end-of-time prediction isn't until December, so I'm going ahead and make some 2012 predictions.

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North American Mission Board: In spite of many changes that left a good number of SBCers disenchanted, NAMB's Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions will be up when the report is made for 2011, and by over a million dollars.

International Mission Board: Sorry, but the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions will show a decrease for 2011. Because 2012 is the centennial of Lottie's death, the IMB will vigorously promote the 2012 offering and will not stint on the dubious assertion that Lottie starved herself to death, even though the latest Lottie bio calls that into question.

Name Change: The Name Change Committee with offer what they see as a more palatable name for the SBC, “Southern” being the main culprit, but the convention in session will choose not to go along with the sanitized name.

SBC Politics: Fred Luter will be nominated for SBC prez and will win.

Calvinism: Calvinism will continue to be a divisive issue in the convention with more churches designating their Cooperative Program giving around Southeastern and Southern seminaries because of their strong Calvinistic bent.

Baptist Press BP will blithely press ahead with sports coverage and other irrelevant subjects and studiously ignore important stories that have real relevance to SBC pastors and churches.

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship The CBF will complete the re-engineering, re-jiggering, re-imagining of their struggling group. The results will be propounded with great enthusiasm but the result will be a moment, not a movement beyond what they have now.

Secular Politics: Barack Obama will be defeated in his re-election bid, in spite of backhanded support from many SBCers who eschew voting for the eventual president, Morman Mitt Romney.

Cooperative Program After a miniscule increase this year the Cooperative Program will show another decrease for fiscal 2011-2012.

Assorted miscellaneous predictions:

In spite of various worthies declaring complementarianism/egalitarianism to be a critical measure of a church or convention's health, a few serious and committed SBCers will begin to wander off the complementarian reservation.

Baptist Associations will continue to make news in their march toward complete irrelevance by dismissing churches for various reasons including Calvinism and female pastors.

Having completed a second term as SBC president, Bryant Wright will continue to be one of the SBC’s best megapastors and will not seek a denominational sinecure, not even a designer one just for him as was the case for some others.

No Southern Baptist of the female persuasion who is not married to or offspring of a prominent SBC pastor, institutional leader, or other figure will be appointed to any significant SBC role in 2012.

Friday commentary on the human condition

...it's all around us.

Stealing a page from the National Hockey League, where the old cliche ('we went to a fight and a hockey game broke out') has been retired, two college basketball teams had an unholy brawl recently. Scholar athletes cum thugs spoke of being 'disrespected' and bragged about being 'gangstas,' the former a killing offense in some circles and the latter a virtue. Many thanks to the coach of one team who noted that his university was the place where the polio vaccine was created and that basketball is (gasp!) just a game. Good words, coach. Now control your thugs.

Upwards of ninety percent of churches will have some worship this Christmas, a Sunday. The newsworthy item is, of course, the remaining ten percent. "We're too busy" sayeth the cutting edge ten percenters. Sure.

Rick Perry is desperately trying to get a decent following and has pulled out all the stops to tout himself as the best Christian. Sure, Rick, have at it. But it would be helpful if you could demonstrate competence for the job that you are seeking. So far, you haven't.

This is my first Christmas season as a non-pastor after three decades as a pastor. I'm missing some of the serious eating that was part of pastoral duties during this time.

Do Southern Baptists really prefer another four years of a Christian president, Barack Obama, to four years of a Mormon president, Mitt Romney? I'll bet you ten thousand dollars that when it comes to voting, my colleagues will vote for the Mormon.

I don't care what people say or how many people have ebook readers, I like the heft, the rustle of pages, and the look on a shelf of REAL books.

Three Sundays consecutively I have visited other churches. I have yet to hear the pastor of a church preach. Some would call me lucky...