Calling Out Matt Walsh

An Appeal for Charity and Moderation: 
Addressing Blogger Matt Walsh’s Comments on Bruce Jenner

At some point last fall, An Evangelical pastor friend of mine turned me on to a conservative blogger named Matt Walsh. Due to my rigorous academic work here in Princeton, New Jersey, I normally do not have time to surf the blogosphere to get the latest social and political takes of non-academicians. A cursory examination of current trends on the worldwide web will conclusively demonstrate that there are a lot of people on line espousing a multiplicity of views from a myriad of ideological, sociological and theological perspectives.

However, in my estimation there is something unique and admirable about this young man named Matt Walsh. I personally like the guy and think his earnest theologically informed perspective is refreshing in a world filled with substance free rhetoric. It is very obvious that Matt Walsh a young man on the move. He is a real mover and shaker in the American world of ideas with a bright future as a public intellectual.

Having said this, it greatly pains me to be an interloper and rain on his ever increasing parade. However, in diametrical counter-distinction to many American conservatives who are praising Walsh for his bold take on the Bruce Jenner issue, I believe Walsh’s recent Op-Ed piece on the Blaze entitled, “Bruce Jenner is not a woman. He is a sick and delusional man,” is pejorative and most certainly not helpful in fostering civil and conciliatory discourse in a world awash in vitriol and polarization.

You can read Matt Walsh’s Op-Ed on Bruce Jenner at: http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/bruce-jenner-is-not-a-woman-he-is-a-sick-and-delusional-man/

I think it is important from the onset to communicate that I am a conservative who understands full well the audience that appreciates this sort of rhetoric. As a younger man, I think I would have been more appreciative of Walsh’s commentary, but as I get older, I think this sort of cultural militancy is not serving the American people very well. Sure, it gets conservatives fired up, but I am just not certain there will be a positive outcome from increasing the saddening divisions already tearing this storied nation apart.

As a an Evangelical Christian who very much wants to honor Christ with my words and actions, I am concerned that Mr. Walsh’s view that Bruce Jenner is little more than a “sick and delusional cross dresser,” will hurt those who are struggling with gender related issues and only confirm popular suspicions and commonly held societal stereotypes about Evangelicals and other social conservatives.  It is a fact that many people in secular society believe that Evangelicals hate them.

While I am sympathetic to the idea that God intended human beings to remain in the gender that He originally created them to be, I believe the issue is far more complex than Mr. Walsh and others crusading against Bruce Jenner and other transgendered individuals make it out to be. Since time immemorial, human beings have struggled with their gender and Mr. Walsh’s pejorative laden commentary will not change that, but will serve to divide America further and further.

There are deep divisions in contemporary American society as the current smoldering riots and ruins of Baltimore can attest to, we all must do our part to be ambassadors of peace and reconciliation to a hurting world. I am just not certain that Mr. Walsh’s comments on Bruce Jenner are very Christian. I do not hear the authentic voice of Jesus in his comments about Bruce Jenner.

The Bible teaches us to love our enemies and if Mr. Walsh perceives Bruce Jenner to be his cultural enemy, I think he would be better served to use words of compassion towards Bruce Jenner in a manner that could potentially win him over to Walsh’s position on gender identity and the historic Christian faith.

I am not attempting to squelch Mr. Walsh’s considerable gifts and zeal for his conception of truth, far from it. I just want to see a gifted man like Matt Walsh love Bruce Jenner as Christ would. I am just not certain that Mr. Walsh’s comments meet Jesus’ criterion of loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).

Lee Edward “Ed” Enochs (B.A. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is an Evangelical Christian with distinctive Libertarian views on politics and the US Constitution. Lee has also studied at such noted schools as the Moody Bible Institute and Westminster Theological Seminary in California and is currently a full-time graduate student in Princeton, New Jersey. Lee is also the author of a book on the relationship between economics and Christianity entitled, “A Biblical Defense of Capitalism” which can be purchased at: http://www.amazon.com/Biblical-Defense-Capitalism-Lee-Enochs/dp/1505809061

God and the Eternal Now

“Teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom.”

                                                                                      (Psalm 90:17)

 

In recent days two of my former undergraduate professors have died. Both of these professors were very influential in my life and their deaths have caused me to reflect upon the eternity and the temporality of human existence. Life is so short and fleeting and I need to focus on what God has intended for my life. Life is short and then we die. It's that simple.

 

 

 

 

Tragic Words from Jim Morrison

                        "I am not sure what is going to happen when I die, but I am going to get my kicks before the  whole sh-t house goes up in flames."

-Jim Morrison 

Circa 1970.

The Cross of Jesus Christ

"Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!"

                                     (John 1:29)

    Jesus died for me. This simple but profound statement is ultimately the essence of Christianity. Christians of all denominational flavors and stripes believe that God the Father sent His only Son (Jesus Christ) to die on the cross for our sins. We Christians also believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. The concept that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead is the most profound idea in the history of humanity. I personally believe this truth with all of my heart, mind, soul and strength.

Why I Support Israel

My Ultimate Confession: I am Jewish

by Lee Edward Enochs 

 I think it should be known that I plan to return back to Southern California and make a difference in society. In fact, my plan is to return home to Orange County as soon as I earn my Master's Degree here in Princeton, New Jersey.

Having said this, I think the time has come for me to confess something to my friends and to the entire world. I am Jewish. Through some thorough genealogical investigation of my family origin, I have come to the careful conclusion that on my father's side of the family, I am a direct descendent of Ukrainian Jewish people who immigrated to the United States in the 1880's. It took most of my lifetime to track all this information down, but it is true, I am Jewish. I am of Hebraic descent and this is why I am a vocal and staunch supporter of my ancestral homeland, Israel.

Let me try to explain to you briefly how I discovered my ancient Jewish identity. You see, my last name is Enochs. In 2007, during my year long stay with my father, Thomas Enochs in Honolulu, Hawaii, I came to this conclusion. After intensive questioning of my own father and after a thorough "paper chase" investigation of very old and important family documents, I came to the determination that my paternal family name Enochs is in all actuality an anglicized version of the Biblical and Hebrew name Enoch.

While it took some time to trace all this down, I discovered that my great grandfather immigrated from a Jewish community in the Ukraine during the later part of the 19th Century. When my great grandfather came to this country, he added an "s" to his last name for some reason. For over the last 100 years, my paternal family name has been Enochs. However in all actuality, my original Hebrew family name which endured for centuries in the same essential etymological form was Enoch.

 According to the Hebrew Scriptures, Enoch was the son of Cain and a city was named after him and the Biblical text says,

"Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.  To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech" (Genesis 4:17-18).

 The Book of Genesis says that Enochs was the seventh progenitor of the human race, descending from Adam. Enoch was the son of Jared and the father of Methuselah. Enoch lived and "walked with God" for 365 years until the Biblical text says, "He was not, because God took Him" (Genesis 5:24).

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia and the Targum; Pseudo-Jonathan (Gen. v. 24) Enoch was a pious worshiper of the true God, and was removed from among the dwellers on earth to heaven, receiving the names (and offices) of Meṭaṭron and "Safra Rabba" (Great Scribe). This view represents one and (after the complete separation of Christianity from Judaism) the prevailing rabbinical idea of Enoch's character and exaltation.

Needless to say, my genealogical and family records conclusively demonstrate that I am a direct paternal descendent of a Jewish family with the surname Enoch, that lived in the Ukraine. Eventually, towards the last part of the 1800's, my great grandfather immigrated from Europe and settled in a farming community in rural Illinois until they moved to the Detroit area sometime in the 1930's.

My Jewish roots makes sense to me. I have had a spiritual and emotional connection with the Jewish people all of my life. I love the Jewish people and will defend Israel until the day I die.

I will let you in on something very personal to me. I have encountered antisemitism in several different contexts here on the East Coast and it angered me. I heard someone say that something very bad about Jewish people and the nation of Israel and it outraged me. I think it deeply upset me because at the core of my being I know that I am Jewish. I am not ashamed of this. I am who I am because this is who the Lord God of Israel made me to be.

Broken by God

                         


                          "It has been good that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes."
                                                                                                           (Psalm 119:71)


The last few weeks have been exceedingly difficult for me. In fact, I have not been through such affliction, sorrow and hardship in a very long time. However, at the risk of uttering a cliché, I believe this time of suffering was necessary to bring me to the end of my own self-sufficiency. These trials have broken my massive pride and have made me realize that God is God and that I am not.

In other words, these difficulties have brought me to my knees. I have been pushed to the breaking point of human existence and have come out of this trial of faith believing in Jesus Christ. Like one who has been bitten by a snake and must have the snake poison removed in order to survive, I believe I had to to undergo this massive trial in order to purge and prune me my inherent folly and wickedness.

Begin Again

As many of you know, I experienced walking through a raging snowstorm last week. The effects of this snowstorm took a considerable toll on me. I went through something akin to hypothermia and severe shock to my system. I was not myself and have not eaten very much or had many fluids since last Thursday. Despite the raging headache and heightened senses I experienced, the worst thing about it, was the utter feeling of isolation and abandonment I went through. I still cannot believe I did not have one person to call that could have helped me get home in that state of emergency. But, for now, I am not going anywhere. I do want to self-censor myself for a while to heal from the storm and avoid communicating out of pain and discouragement. But I plan to begin again.