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Dear Friends,
I had some difficulty turning my phone into a hotspot from the vehicle today, so I had to wait until some reliable WiFi to get this sent today. Sorry for the delay!
Greetings from the flat, fecund farmland of North Dakota, as it rolls past my car window. It has a real beauty all its own, especially as you get closer to the eastern side of the state as I am now: the Red River Valley holds a special place in the my heart since my Mom is from there and I took a great many road trips to my Grandparents house in my youth.
I’ve got a bit of time before I need to take over the driving again, so here goes.
Twenty years ago in a seminary class on ethics our professor was emphasizing the “leavening” power of the Christian gospel and how, as it transforms individuals and families, its effects spread beyond the narrow circle of its actual adherents. That is, even unbelievers benefit from the civic and social aspects of Christianity. It is a better thing for all to live in a society where truth is honored, people keep their commitments, are faithful to their wives or husbands, are thrifty and hard-working, seek the good of their children, and are neighborly and willing to offer helping hands to those in need. And many other things besides. In other words, our professor was affirming the goodness of Christianity as a cultural or “civil” religion.
During a break I overheard a couple of my Reformed Baptist classmates talking. They were having none of it. One of them said, verbatim (as I recall it twenty years later): “So I should care that my neighbor is a good person even if he’s going to hell?”
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