Good morning,

Every day, new evidence is revealed demonstrating how much faith folks must have if they are to disbelieve in God. So, I end the week reflecting on the facts of faith. 

But first, here is the Texas Minute for Friday, July 22, 2022.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Republican Rep. Hefner Bucks Texas GOP, Demands Chairmanships For Democrats

• Despite the Republican Party of Texas standing overwhelmingly in opposition to the establishment crony practice of placing Democrats in leadership positions in the GOP-dominated Legislature, State Rep. Cole Hefner (R-Mt. Pleasant) is vigorously supporting the practice.
      
• As Brandon Waltens reports, more than 80 percent of Republicans in the March primary voted for a ballot proposition opposing the practice of Democrats holding committee chairmanships in the GOP-dominated chamber.
     
• At a meeting this week, Hefner urged the Smith County GOP to join him in bucking the state GOP platform and legislative priorities. They declined to follow him.
     
• Instead, the county’s GOP executive committee voted 17-14 for a local resolution decrying the influence Republicans have allowed Democrats to exert over the legislative process.

Life On The Border

• On 1,300 square miles of rough, rugged wilderness dotted with scrub brush and baked brown by the South Texas heat, Kinney County is a hotspot for smugglers and traffickers—and reveals just a glimpse of the shocking humanitarian crisis at the U.S. southern border. 
      
• Sydnie Henry describes the plight of Americans trying to survive in the increasingly lawless, and dangerous, stretches along Texas’ porous border with Mexico.
      
• To be clear: Illegal border crossers trekking through Kinney County are not of the “women and children searching for a better life” variety hyped by the media. Instead, coyotes herd groups of people in vehicles or on foot past patrol checkpoints and through local ranches.
       
• “You don’t leave the house before daylight, and you’ve got to be home before dark, and you keep your blinds closed,” explained John Schuster, who lives 25 miles from the Rio Grande River. “The destruction and the fear, it’s 24/7. We never get a break.” 

Indictments Issued On Smuggling Deaths

• Homero Zamorano Jr. and Christian Martinez  have been indicted for their role in the death of 53 illegal aliens discovered in late June near San Antonio, in what has been called the deadliest human smuggling incident ever reported in the United States. Jake Peterson has the story.
     
• According to federal court documents, the two men claim they “did not know the air conditioning was broken” before leaving the illegal migrants to die in the Texas heat.

Democrats Attack Crisis Pregnancy Centers

• Although the Texas Democrat Party didn’t pass their new platform last week, Emily Wilkerson explains how a draft version passed by their temporary platform committee gives insight into the party’s continued leftward lunge ahead of the November election.
        
• Most notably, the draft document details the Democrats’ opposition to crisis pregnancy centers. Such centers have been a lifeline for women facing unexpected pregnancies, offering access to resources like baby formula, clothes, and shelter, as well as pregnancy and parenting classes. 
      
• “It’s no wonder the Democrats didn’t have enough votes to pass their platform. These radical ideas are what’s driving people away from their party,” said Kim Schwartz of Texas Right to Life. 

‘Creepy’ Teacher Allowed To Resign

• A high school teacher in Lovejoy ISD, who kids called “Creepy Cooper,” was allowed to resign last month after getting caught sending sexually suggestive messages to a student. Erin Anderson reports on the highly disturbing story.
       
• Ray Cooper was set to be fired in June for “serious misconduct,” after learning he had sent a string of inappropriate messages to a male high school senior in early April. However, Superintendent Katie Kordel told district trustees firing Cooper was no longer an option, because the teacher had tendered his resignation.
      

• Cooper’s communications with the allegedly gay student checked several well-established boxes for inappropriate behavior. He texted the boy late at night, complimenting him on a photo and then asked if there was “a boyfriend in the picture.” The teacher observed, “You seem like the total package.” Cooper then texted the boy, asking his preferred position during sexual intercourse.

       
• Now, parents in Lovejoy worry the district may be set to adopt a curriculum that encourages similar encounters!

Friday Reflection: Facts of Faith

For far too long, we have allowed the foundation of faith to be relegated only to metaphysical "truth" rather than actual "facts." Indeed, many shy away from talking about the facts of their faith, preferring instead the personally emotive, distinctly modern and substance-free "personal truth" as a guide for conversations. 

I’ve grown weary of people talking about their "truth," when what they mean is their disjointed and often irrational opinion. To steal a line from the late John Nance Garner, that "truth" isn’t worth a warm bucket of spit. 

Frankly, a faith that isn’t built on a foundation of facts isn’t worth much – no matter how much "truth" we feel is behind it.

For generations, we have been told to think of faith as a purely metaphysical experience, something in which we can "believe" without the burden – or support – of facts. This is emotional hogwash, driven by an intellectual inferiority complex that is foreign to the pages of Holy Scripture.

In 1 Peter 3:15, for example, the faithful are told "in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." And, I’m sorry, but your emotions don’t really count for much as a "reason." Like the proceedings of a court case, solid facts are the reasons that matter most.

There is actually very little in the Old and New Testaments that we are asked to accept on "faith" without a lot of attending evidence. Time and again, Scripture makes bold claims of things that happened in reality. And thanks to advances in the science of archeology, we have greater evidence than ever before for the factual reliability of those biblically recorded events.

Pharaoh wasn’t asked to explore his emotions for the "truth" of Moses’ words, but instead was given very public evidence for the demands of God. Jesus didn’t lounge around saying, "Trust me, I’m the promised messiah" – He offered signs and performed miracles as proof.

Over the years, the intellectual elites mocked Scripture as fairy tales, claiming there was no proof for any of it. And so, the various schools of divinity and theology retreated, treating the stories of Scripture as allegorical rather than literal.

Unfortunately, facts keep intruding on the carefully constructed disbelief of the fallen world. Here’s just a couple of examples.

It was fashionable, up until a few years ago, for the anti-religion crowd to claim there was no evidence, apart from the Bible, for the existence of King David. Pretty basic, right? If King David was a mythical figure, then most of Scripture – Old Testament and New – is little more than fan fiction for a non-existent God.

Except… an ancient tablet was uncovered in the city of Dan referring specifically and unambiguously to the Davidic line of kings. One cannot have a Davidic line without a David…

Now, archeological digs taking place under modern Jerusalem are almost daily finding more evidence of life in the court of King David and his immediate successors.  

Among my favorite recent discoveries are those of seals for two royal administrators from Israel 3,000 years ago. Ordinarily, such finds would have been little more than a curiosity, attesting to an ancient royal court. Yet these two names appear next too each other in Jeremiah 38:1, each mentioned just that one time. In context, the discoveries powerfully attest to the overall reliability of Scripture in delivering verifiable facts.

It is almost as if God ordained their names to be placed in the Bible so that the discovery of their seals would serve as signposts to the skeptical three millennia later.

The list goes on and on and on. 

(As an aside, Texas Scorecard leads educational trips to the Holy Land every other year to explore the biblical roots of American self-governance. We’ll be announcing our next trip soon, so watch for those details.)

Every time the intellectual elite claim the Bible cannot be true because there is no physical evidence of such-and-such, it seems another discovery is made dashing their faithless claims. For all who sincerely seek, God makes evidence available so that their faith can be anchored to facts.

As evidence mounts for the factual reliability of Scripture, those who deny its basic truths are the ones clinging blindly to a false faith.

Yes, Scripture makes extraordinary claims – but backs them up with details that can be tested in the real world for those with patience to do so. Facts are the foundation of Holy Scripture, which we disregard at our peril. An honest faith is found in how one chooses to apply those facts.