By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Mar 2, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET  Biblical origins of Democrats and Republicans?
A few years ago I had the honor of sitting next to former Ohio Representative Tony Hall who spoke at Kentucky’s prayer breakfast.
He’s a faithful and inspirational leader and we discussed a range of serious topics before I inevitably had to try to inject some humor into our heavy topics.
Rep. Hall had a wonderful sense of humor and inevitably the discussion turned to the bitter partisanship that was dividing our country.
There was a mix of Republicans and Democrats at the dinner. Actually more Republicans…and we wondered aloud where this division started.
I offered my theory that the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son may help answer that question.
The Prodigal Son was wasteful and extravagant and disrespectful but returned home humbled and wiser and was embraced and forgiven by his father who welcomed the lost son back and called for a celebration at his son’s return.
The Prodigal Son also had a brother–an elder brother–who had stayed home, worked hard and was respectful and not wasteful but who watched on with jealousy and bitterness as the father embraced the formerly wayward younger son.
My theory is that Democrats descended from the Prodigal Son. And Republicans descended from his brother.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Feb 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET Great moments in Biblical interpretation.
When my daughter was young–around age 5–I read to her a children’s Bible.
It was great. The stories were condensed and easy to understand and discuss after reading.
Our first reading (and discussion) was a memorable one.
Adam and Eve. Maggie was intrigued by the story and got the “big picture” lesson….but she got hung up on something that really bothered her.
The nakedness part.
“Dad, do you mean they wore no clothes? As in no clothes at all? Weren’t they embarrassed?”
I explained that wasn’t quite the case. There were fig leaves, albeit not terribly fashionable by themselves, but they did do the trick of covering up important parts.
I said, “Well, remember, this is right at the beginning of things so maybe clothes hadn’t been invented yet.” I was trying to get Maggie to think for herself and asked, “What to you think may explain it?”
A light bulb went off with Maggie and she offered up her own explanation for why it was OK to run around naked back in the day.
“Maybe, Dad, they just hadn’t invented looking down yet.”
We decided to go with that explanation. It was simple, clear and made perfect sense to both of us.
So, if you–like Maggie and me–have ever wondered about this question, now you have a possible explanation.
And as a rule, I prefer the clear perception of a 5 year old on issues like these.
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Feb 14, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET Some random Valentines Day musings on the latest professional sports phenomenon, Jeremy Lin — the Harvard grad and current New York Knicks basketball point guard, who came out of seemingly nowhere to light up a sports nation frozen in the post-Super Bowl, pre-March Madness tundra of February:
- A recent Sunday ritual of mine — donning a Tom Brady jersey and stepping up to the bar at my neighbor Buffalo Wild Wings — continually was challenged by by fellow Kentuckians who’ve wondered how I became a New England Patriots fan. The first reason — my man-crush on Pretty Boy Brady (as revealed in this piece about Pretty Boys I Begrudgingly Admire) — is not sports bar-appropriate. Neither is the other — my seven year tour of Harvard University — so I would mumble something about living in Boston. Next year, I know I can lift my head up proudly in this basketball-fanatic town and announce, “I went to the same school as Jeremy Lin!”
- One previously unremarked consequence of our Twitter and Facebook dominated world is how quickly jokes now become old and clichéd. Over the weekend, I must have read 500 tweets struggling for a laugh by adding appending “Lin” to a word or making some pun with a word that can be transformed somehow to use “lin.” (I.e., “Linsanity” “Blew up like the Lin-denburg”) Yesterday, I received an email from a fellow Harvard alum (see now I don’t need to hide it!) who passed on this bon mot: Jeremy Lin’s ball-handling is so sick; the other teams are in need of some insu-Lin. My response? That joke’s so February 10.
Read the rest of…
The RP: I Heart Jeremy Lin
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Feb 13, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET  Daily Gratitude.
I try to do this daily.
Think of something–anything–I’m grateful for. Puts me in a pleasant and generous frame of mind for the day. And it’s easier than you think.
This morning I’m at a stop light and look up at a store sign, “Amish Hills Furniture Store.”
I think to myself that I’m really grateful I wasn’t born Amish. I have tremendous respect for the Amish people, their culture and their faith, but I would have had difficulty thriving within it.
I would have been bullied a lot had I been born Amish. For one thing most Amish men seem to wear a beard. For whatever reason I’ve never been able to grow a beard. I’ve tried but have several bald patches and can, at best, only grow a soul patch or Fu Manchu mustache (which is worse looking than a patchy beard).
Another reason I’m grateful I’m not Amish is they seem to spend a lot of time building furniture. I’m a consultant and lawyer and not good with my hands. I wouldn’t be good at making chairs and tables. I may have invented Amish Minimalism but wouldn’t have succeeded in woodworking.
And Horse and Buggies? I gotta admit I like to get places faster and have a mild allergic reaction to horses. And wouldn’t do a good job mucking the stables. I’m better with cars.
So by the time the light turned green, I was feeling a heavy dose of gratitude for being Presbyterian and not Amish. I do wish Presbyterian was easier to spell. But other than that I know it’s a much better fit for me—and something I’m grateful for today. Especially the beard part.
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Jan 31, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET  Today in Sunday School we discussed discipleship and how hard it must have been to follow Jesus’ call.
I was assigned to read the verse about Peter denying Jesus three times and asked what would I have done in his shoes, if called by Jesus to drop everything (family, friends, business) to follow Jesus.
Tough spot to be in.
It’s church so, on the one hand, the pressure is on to give the Christian and obvious answer.
On the other hand, it’s church so you better be truthful.
And what if the two conflict?
My answer was that I would have said, “Yes, sign me up! I’m on board….all the way!”
And then later in the day, when no one was looking, I would slip off.
People (including other disciples would wonder, “Where the heck did John go? He was here earlier.” I’d stay gone long enough for the group to move to the next town.
And I’d show up where I left the group the next day. I’d blame Peter for giving me the wrong date and time to meet (pointing out that Peter’s seemed a little off the beam lately with all the denial stuff and I’ve been worried about him and praying for him).
I’d further blame the rest of them for leaving without me. I’d remind everyone I was one of the first to sign on and cite my enthusiasm at the time…..and disappointment for being left behind.
If you hadn’t figured out by now, I went with the “honest” answer over the “most Christian sounding” answer.
I did add –and this was my “save,” sort of. I would quietly monitor the group for several weeks. If after that time it looked like they were completely legit, I’d make a surprise appearance, act like I’d been trying to catch up with them for several weeks and become a loyal disciple once and for all.
By Jason Grill, on Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 4:00 PM ET  Jason Grill: Rebuttal #10
[The RP’s Provocation; Artur Davis’ Rebuttal #1; Rod Jetton’s Rebuttal #2; John Y. Brown, III’s Rebuttal #3; Ron Granieri’s Rebuttal #4; Robert Kahne’s Rebuttal #5; Artur Davis’ First Response; Michael Steele’s Rebuttal #6; The RP’s First Defense; David Host’s Rebuttal #7; Zack Adams’ Rebuttal #8; Artur Davis’ Second Response; Rod Jetton’s First Response; Ron Crandall’s Rebuttal #9]
Looks like this issue has almost been completely hashed out. Interesting responses and creativity throughout this entire debate on the RP.
Now, since I am charged with the late two-minute drill, let’s talk football:
Is it Tebow Time?
The Facts…
The Great: Career College Passing: 661 Cmp, 995 Att, 9285 Yds, 88 TD. Career College Rushing: 692 Att, 2947 Yds, 4.3 Avg, 57 TD, Heisman Award Winner (2007), BCS National Championship Winner (2007, 2009), 1st round NFL draft pick.
The Good: 8-6 as an NFL starting QB and 1-1 in the NFL playoffs.
The Bad: 18th QB scoring in Fantasy Football in 2011 (This is important to millions including me), ranked 32nd QB in passing yards (1,729), ranked 28th QB in overall rating (72.9), and ranked 34th QB in completion % (46.5) in 2011.
Tim Tebow is one of the best college QB’s of all time, but he is a below average NFL QB. Tebow will only continue to have a winning record in the NFL if his team’s running game and defense are great. In 2011, Denver finished 4th in the NFL in rushing and 6th in total defense.
Read the rest of…
The RPs Debate Tim Tebow: Jason Grill Rebuts
By RP Nation, on Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 3:30 PM ET  Ron Crandall: Rebuttal #9The author is the Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary
Thanks for the word on Tim Tebow (nice pose by the way–keep it up).
I think one of the things that people misunderstand about the John 3:16 scripture is the meaning of “eternal life.”
The tendency is to see it as something that starts when we die. Rather, Jesus clarifies it in John 17:3 when praying for us he says, “And this is eternal life, that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Tim has already discovered that life, as have others of us. It’s now. God’s desire for us all is not just to get us into heaven, but to get heaven into us.
By Rod Jetton, on Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET  Rod Jetton’s First Response
[The RP’s Provocation; Artur Davis’ Rebuttal #1; Rod Jetton’s Rebuttal #2; John Y. Brown, III’s Rebuttal #3; Ron Granieri’s Rebuttal #4; Robert Kahne’s Rebuttal #5; Artur Davis’ First Response; Michael Steele’s Rebuttal #6; The RP’s First Defense; David Host’s Rebuttal #7; Zack Adams’ Rebuttal #8; Artur Davis’ Second Response]
While Jonathan is right that we can’t say with certainty when a fetus is a life, science is finding out that a fetus is viable at a younger and younger date with each new medical advance. I had a very good progressive female friend who was strongly pro-choice and would debate the subject with me vigorously. After she was married and decided to have children she had a sonogram.
She had a photo of a hardly recognizable fetus and she pointed it’s heart out to me. She stopped drinking, took extra vitamins and lived the healthiest lifestyle I had ever seen her live.
I didn’t bring it up, but she told me the whole pregnancy experience had made her think about abortion in a whole new way. She still believed a women had a right to control her own body, but the thought that that fetus might be a living person who could survive caused her to re-evaluate her position.
Read the rest of…
The RPs Debate Tim Tebow: Rod Jetton Responds
By Artur Davis, on Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 2:30 PM ET  Artur Davis‘ Second Response
[The RP’s Provocation; Artur Davis’ Rebuttal #1; Rod Jetton’s Rebuttal #2; John Y. Brown, III’s Rebuttal #3; Ron Granieri’s Rebuttal #4; Robert Kahne’s Rebuttal #5; Artur Davis’ First Response; Michael Steele’s Rebuttal #6; The RP’s First Defense; David Host’s Rebuttal #7; Zack Adams’ Rebuttal #8]
He underscores why Tebow’s brand of religiosity has lasting political relevance. The Focus on the Family ad is so effective because it attacks the pro-choice movement in one of its strongest places–abortions related to medical risks for the mother or fetus. Typically, the pro-life cause has dodged this line of attack in favor of a focus on abortions as a fallback when birth control fails, or abortions deep in the third trimester.
That the ad works so well, that it did not even strike many of its viewers as intensely political or even anti-choice, is an adman’s dream. And that’s no slight to Tebow or his mother; its actually a nod to the power of their testimony. But as Zack Adams appreciates, the ad is an argument for restricting or even criminalizing a different choice than Mrs. Tebow made. It’s not a plea for compromise; its a plea for codifying the value of unborn life even in the most morally complex, scientifically ambiguous context. With r espect to Jonathan, calling it something less than that probably understates what the Tebows and Focus on the Family meant to say.
Read the rest of…
The RPs Debate Tim Tebow: Artur Davis Responds
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Mon Jan 23, 2012 at 2:00 PM ET Zack Adams: Rebuttal #8
[The RP’s Provocation; Artur Davis’ Rebuttal #1; Rod Jetton’s Rebuttal #2; John Y. Brown, III’s Rebuttal #3; Ron Granieri’s Rebuttal #4; Robert Kahne’s Rebuttal #5; Artur Davis’ First Response; Michael Steele’s Rebuttal #6; The RP’s First Defense; David Host’s Rebuttal #7]
As a liberal with no religion, how I feel about Tebow’s existence in popular culture mirrors how I feel about, let’s say, Justin Beiber. What they do is somewhat annoying to me, but what is far more bothersome is the level of coverage they are given and how much I have to hear about their antics. Of course, I fully respect Tim’s rights to practice his religious beliefs and honestly, he seems like one of the nicest guys in the world. However, like Robert, I find his personal brand of Christianity to be a turn-off.
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