Anglican Prayer for a Baptist
Glamping, Epstein, & John MacArthur
Dear Friends,
And, we’re back! I had a lovely time last week “glamping” in the State of Colorado with my eldest daughter. Glamping is different from camping because we were not exactly roughing it. An 8-person tent for two people, off-the-ground cots with mattresses, an awning for shade—that’s the way to do it. We didn’t do anything except listen to an audio book, watch and/or listen to baseball (dependent on some spotty campground WiFi), and travel to Trader Joe’s daily for our food (We do not have Trader Joe’s in Montana, so we take advantage when we can!). Filet mignon seared over a camp stove might sound really “bougie,” but it is very inexpensive if you compare it to going to a restaurant.
Pretty much unplugging from the Internet was also very refreshing.
Colorado itself was fairly underwhelming. For a Montanan, anyway. On the “pretty” scale, it scores positively but doesn’t quite impress someone growing up under the shadow of the Beartooth mountains. When the snow melts on Montana mountains, they remain beautiful because there is tundra and greenery; in Colorado, the tops look dry, dead, brown, and barren. Yes, they are “fourteeners,” but give me a Montana “twelver” any day of the week.
On the population scale, Colorado scores negatively. There are just too many people; the campgrounds were cramped with spots too close together. We had to drive deep to a mountain reservoir to get any real peace and quiet (where we paid $11 to have a picnic, much to the outrage of my daughter). And the reservoir was man-made, and there it really struck us at just how “cultivated” Colorado has made its “wilderness.” It was impeccably groomed and landscaped. Picnic areas with mortared stonework. It was a Disney Wilderness. It seemed like a place for rich city ladies to feel like they’re in the wild. I am sure this assessment isn’t completely fair because we were seeing a snapshot. I have no doubt that if you backpack into some really remote areas, you’ll find real wilderness. But in Colorado the cultivation has pressed in on those margins in a way it hasn’t where we live.
My general impression is that Colorado is fast becoming yuppies, hippies, pot, and paganism. Sort of the “Portlandification” of the Rocky Mountain West. And keep in mind, this was mostly in the Colorado Springs area, ground zero for evangelical cultural engagement! This goes some way to broadly explaining the state’s relentless persecution of baker Jack Phillips along with its radical progressive policies on transgender (and other) issues. It will work just as well as it has worked in Portland. Meaning, it will rot and destroy the place from the inside out. And that is a shame.
Obviously, I have not been keeping up with the news. It seems the Jeffrey Epstein story will not die with him. I am disturbed and amused simultaneously.
Disturbed because I find a lot of things about the mysterious late Mr. Epstein disturbing. Unanswered questions will do that. Among other things, I very much do want to know where that guy got his money. I want to know how and why he got so cozy with the jet-setting elite. It would be nice to know and to prosecute his co-conspirators in his sex-trafficking endeavors.
On the other hand, I am amused. Trump and his crowd have made Epstein a matter of great importance: surely the dreaded “THEY” were covering up the truth, and a victorious MAGA will expose everything! Epstein was a cipher for “Deep State,” a symbol of secretive government corruption at the highest levels. It was a regular spice added to the red-meat they’ve thrown their audience for years. And then … Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, and Pam Bondi (!) finally get themselves prime office real estate in the halls of power and discover … nothing. Nothing at all! Instead, they insist that, well, actually, Epstein did kill himself. And, oops: there is no “client list.”
Either the “truth” they discovered was so earth-shattering that they suddenly joined the conspiracy to hush it up, or they just learned the real truth and have nothing to offer the rabid MAGA mob. Now, maybe you might think that they discovered the earth-shattering truth that their Dear Leader, Donald Trump, is deeply implicated in Epstein’s crimes. That is not implausible, and could explain the about-face. But it doesn’t explain why or how the Biden Administration, and Attorney General Merrick Garland specifically, knew all this and never bothered to mention it, much less investigate him or indict him. That is well-nigh unfathomable. So, yes. It’s option two. There is no “there” there.
It’s a picture in miniature of Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum. Don’t promise people—particularly conspiracy theorists!—what you cannot deliver. They might devour you in the end.
John MacArthur has passed away. He was certainly a major figure in the evangelical and conservative theological world over the last half century. My social media feeds are lit up with loving tributes; many friends and acquaintances were deeply and profoundly impacted by his ministry. Strangely, it has made me realize how little he impacted me, for better or worse. I guess I’ve never been attracted to his style nor the corner of the theological and sociological house he occupied (and he failed my personal test of “not trusting anyone who publishes a Bible with his name on it). Calvinistic in soteriology, I am gratified that he led so many in that direction. But theologically, I would not call him Reformed. His Dispensationalism (about which he was not altogether rigid) was a hindrance, and I guess I found many of his contemporaries to be more reliable theological guides.
Regardless of such quibbles, we ought to be immensely impressed and grateful for such a shining example of personal and pastoral faithfulness. John MacArthur stood firm, unwavering, to the end. A man of great conviction. There is no doubt in my mind that he received a “Well-done, good and faithful servant.” I think even a Baptist like MacArthur may appreciate an Anglican prayer: We remember before you all your saints who have departed this life in your faith and fear, that your will for them might be fulfilled, and we ask you to give us grace to follow the good example of all your saints, that we may share with them in your heavenly kingdom.
That will do it for this week’s Quarter Inch! Have a great rest of your week.
Perfectly balanced and magnanimous.