I think it's more than the name

From The Washington Post:

The Rev. Todd Thomason looked out at the nearly empty pews of his congregation at Baptist Temple Church last Sunday. He had preached long and hard about Abraham leaving all that he knew and setting out into an unknown future on nothing more than faith in God. He was hoping that, after the service, what was left of his flock would have the courage to do the same.

After 100 years, Baptist Temple, he feared, was dying. In its heyday in the 1950s, more than 900 members crammed into the sanctuary of the pretty white church in Alexandria that was built for 500. Now he was lucky to get 30. Perhaps the problem, he began to think, was the name itself.

"We're probably the most progressive church in the city, but 'Baptist Temple' sounds weird, like it's charismatic and conservative," Thomason said. He worried that the word "Baptist" had become indelibly tied to the political religious right and that when combined with "Temple" it sounded like a fundamentalist "bring out the snakes" kind of place.

I wonder. Perhaps it isn't the name but the doctrinal position that is causing people to abandon the church. You can get trendy left-wing politics and new age spirituality anywhere so why bother to get up early on Sunday and drive to church?

The same is true about conservative politics as well. You can get right-wing politics on talk radio so why get up early on Sunday for that either.

A Christian Church has one thing which the world simply does not and never can have and that is Christianity itself. A church should be a place where Christians can come together to receive instruction, exhortation, edification, comfort and council on matters of their Christian faith and it should be a place where people can participate in a corporate of worship and praise of God.

The church experience should also provide an opportunity for Christians to serve the Lord by serving their fellow man in various types of charitable activities but always with the understanding that such good works are not ends into themselves but are designed to earn a hearing for and provide credibility for the Gospel message.

If you look at the mainline Protestant denominations you find that most of them are not just "declining" but out-and-out dying. The reason for this is that they have abandoned biblical literalism for a watered down theology and political correctness.

To paraphrase Martin Luther, if I uphold all of scripture except for that part which the world and the Devil are currently attacking I have not confessed Christ no matter how loudly I profess Christ. Churches which act embarrassed about the Bible either ignoring or explaining away things like special creation or miracles or its teaching on homosexuality may receive praise from some activists but they only earn the contempt of ordinary citizens.

Wrongly dividing the Word of Truth

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON, May 7 — A new coalition of more than 100 largely evangelical Christian leaders and organizations asked Congress on Monday to pass bills to strengthen border controls but also give illegal immigrants ways to gain legal residency.

The announcement spotlights evangelical leaders’ increasingly visible efforts to push for what they say is a more humane policy in keeping with biblical injunctions to show compassion for their neighbors, the weak and the alien.

The new group, Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, includes members like the Mennonite Church U.S.A. and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which represents Latino evangelicals.

It includes individuals like Dr. Joel C. Hunter, pastor of Northland, a megachurch in Longwood, Fla., and Sammy Mah, president of World Relief, an aid group affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals.

The concerns of the coalition mirror those of many evangelical leaders who have often staked out conservative positions on other social issues or who have avoided politics entirely.

In late March, Dr. Richard Land, the conservative president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, stood with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in supporting routes to legalization for illegal immigrants.

The Rev. Joel Osteen, whose television ministry reaches millions but who steers clear of politics, has also spoken out for compassionate changes.

Immigration “for us is a religious issue, a biblical issue,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, president of a liberal evangelical group, Call to Renewal, and a member of the coalition. “We call it welcoming the stranger.”

In 2 Timothy 2:15 The apostle Paul tells Timothy "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." The words translated "rightly dividing" are Greek for "cutting straight". Paul's trade was making tents out of leather. In order for the finished product to fit together properly the cuts had to be straight and according to the overall pattern.

The Bible is the same. Each part must be interpreted correctly and in context in order for the whole to fit together and present a single unified theology. Many people in the Church today fail to rightly divide the word by applying the commandments which God gave to His covenant nation Israel to nations in general and the United States in particular.

The United States is not God's new covenant nation. It may be a "shining city on a hill" metaphorically in that it is a beacon of political freedom, however it is not the New Jerusalem - the Kingdom of God on Earth. The Evangelical leaders know this. Notice that none of them are calling for the US to observe jubilee years or adopt the system of indentured servitude which God established for Israel. I also don't see any of them denouncing the practice of lending at interest which is one of the cornerstones of our prosperity just because Jews were forbidden to practice usury.

The fact is that the Old Testament commandments which God gave to national Israel apply only to national Israel and there are no New Testament instructions to governments. Let me repeat for those from Rio Linda THE NEW TESTAMENT DOES NOT SAY ONE WORD TO GOVERNMENTS IT ONLY SPEAKS TO INDIVIDUALS.

Any attempt to take the Bible's instructions to individual Christians or church congregations to practice charity with their own money and make them apply to national governments, who can only simulate charity by using force to take money from those who earn it and then give it to those who have not earned it, is a perversion of biblical Christianity.

Likewise any attempt to make God's instructions to national Israel on how to deal with "the alien" apply to other nations is a misuse of Scripture. Christians are instructed to be kind to those in need as individuals and as congregations, but we are also instructed, in the thirteenth chapter of Romans, to strictly obey the secular laws. This means that if a Christian runs across an illegal alien who is hungry or thirsty we should give him food and drink and let him enjoy them while we call the authorities to come and pick him up to take him back to Mexico (or wherever he came from).

Never mind.

From The Jerusalem Post:

Several prominent scholars who were interviewed in a bitterly contested documentary that suggests that Jesus and his family members were buried in a nondescript ancient Jerusalem burial cave have now revised their conclusions, including the statistician who claimed that the odds were 600:1 in favor of the tomb being the family burial cave of Jesus of Nazareth, a new study on the fallout from the popular documentary shows.

The dramatic clarifications, compiled by epigrapher Stephen Pfann of the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem in a paper titled "Cracks in the Foundation: How the Lost Tomb of Jesus story is losing its scholarly support," come two months after the screening of The Lost Tomb of Christ that attracted widespread public interest, despite the concomitant scholarly ridicule.

It would seem that the producers of the film left some information out and misrepresented the opinions of some of the scholars who appeared in or were quoted in the film.

Typical.

He Is Risen

John 20 (NASB)

1Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
2So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him."
3So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb.
4The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first;
5and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in.
6And so Simon Peter also came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he saw the linen wrappings lying there,
7and the face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.
8So the other disciple who had first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed.
9For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.
10So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
11But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb;
12and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying.

13And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
15Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
16Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher).
17Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'"
18Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that He had said these things to her.
Jesus among His Disciples 19So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you."
20And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

21So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
22And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
23"If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."
24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe."
26After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be with you."
27Then He said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
28Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
29Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed."

30Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;
31but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

Luke 24: 44-53 (NASB)

44Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."
45Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day,
47and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48"You are witnesses of these things.
49"And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."
The Ascension 50And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them.
51While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
52And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
53and were continually in the temple praising God.

Good Friday

Matthew, chapter 27:

1Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death;
2and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.
3Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!"
5And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.
6The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood."
7And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers.
8For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "AND THEY TOOK THE THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER, THE PRICE OF THE ONE WHOSE PRICE HAD BEEN SET by the sons of Israel;
10AND THEY GAVE THEM FOR THE POTTER'S FIELD, AS THE LORD DIRECTED ME."
Jesus before Pilate 11Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, "Are You the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."
12And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not answer.
13Then Pilate said to Him, "Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?"
14And He did not answer him with regard to even a single charge, so the governor was quite amazed.
15Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the people any one prisoner whom they wanted.
16At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas.
17So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"
18For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over.
19While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him."
20But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.
21But the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas."
22Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Crucify Him!"
23And he said, "Why, what evil has He done?" But they kept shouting all the more, saying, "Crucify Him!"
24When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man's blood; see to that yourselves."
25And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"
26Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.
Jesus Is Mocked 27Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him.
28They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him.
29And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
30They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.
31After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.
32As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.
The Crucifixion 33And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull,
34they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink.
35And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots.
36And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there.
37And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS."
38At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.
39And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads
40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."
41In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying,
42"He saved others; He cannot save Himself He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.
43"HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
44The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.
45Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.
46About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"
47And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah."
48Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.
49But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."
50And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
51And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.
52The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
53and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.
54Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
55Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him.
56Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Jesus Is Buried 57When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.
58This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
59And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
61And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the grave.
62Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate,
63and said, "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.'
64"Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first."
65Pilate said to them, "You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how."
66And they went and made the grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the stone.

Maundy Thursday

From Wikipedia:

In the Christian calendar, Holy Thursday - also called Maundy Thursday and, in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches, Great Thursday[1] - is the feast or holy day on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. It is followed by Good Friday.

On this day four events are commemorated: the washing of the Disciples' feet by Jesus Christ, the institution of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot.

The evening celebration of these events marks the beginning of what is called the Easter Triduum or Sacred Triduum. The Latin word triduum means a three-day period, and the triduum in question is that of the three days from the death to the resurrection of Jesus. In the time of Jesus, and still today in some cultures, such as the Jewish,[2] the (24-hour) day was reckoned not from midnight, but from sunset. The Last Supper was held at what present-day Western civilization considers to be the evening of Holy Thursday but what was then considered to be the first hours of Friday. Its annual commemoration thus begins the three-day period or triduum of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, days of special devotion that celebrate as a single action the death and resurrection of Christ, the central events of Christianity.

To my Christian readers who will be celebrating this evening God bless you and have a good time.

Come out from among them. . .

From The New York Times:

ATLANTA — When the Rev. Dennis Meredith of Tabernacle Baptist Church here began preaching acceptance of gay men and lesbians a few years ago, he attracted some gay people who were on the brink of suicide and some who had left the Baptist faith of their childhoods but wanted badly to return.

At the same time, Tabernacle Baptist, an African-American congregation, lost many of its most loyal, generous parishioners, who could not accept a message that contradicted what they saw as the Bible’s condemnation of same-sex relations. Over the last three years, Tabernacle’s Sunday attendance shrank to 800, from 1,100.

The debate about homosexuality that has roiled predominantly white mainline churches for years has gradually seeped into African-American congregations, threatening their unity, finances and, in some cases, their existence.

In St. Paul, the Rev. Oliver White, senior minister of Grace Community Church, lost nearly all his 70 congregants after he voted in 2005 to support the blessing of same-sex unions in his denomination, the United Church of Christ.

In the Atlanta area, a hub of African-American life, only a few black churches have preached acceptance of gay men and lesbians, Mr. Meredith said. At one of those congregations, Victory Church in Stone Mountain, attendance on Sundays has fallen to 3,000 people, from about 6,000 four or five years ago, said the Rev. Kenneth L. Samuel, the senior pastor.

This should not be difficult. The state of finding oneself sexually attracted to persons of the same sex is not in and of itself sinful. Not any more than being attracted to persons of the opposite sex to whom you are not married. The sin comes in what you do with the temptation.

For a church to turn someone away because of the kind of temptation he or she is struggling with is wrong. It is a negation of the purpose for which the Lord created the Church in the first place. He came to seek and to save sinners.

When criticized by the self-righteous religious leaders of his day Jesus told them that he was the physician coming to treat the sick, not the healthy, to call sinners to repentance not the righteous. Since the leaders thought that they were spiritually healthy and righteous they refused the Lord's help.

Many homosexuals today are like the chief priests and Pharisees of Jesus' day. They are sinners in need of salvation, but they will not admit it. They demand that the Lord accept them on their terms, not his. They elevate their own judgment above the divine will and substitute their own desire for God's express commandments.

These pastors who are opening their church's membership rolls to unrepentant practicing homosexuals have substituted their own word for God's Word and are preaching another gospel. The people of God are rightly fleeing from them.

Why am I not surprised?

From The LA Times:

ALTHOUGH THE 110th Congress has brought to Capitol Hill 43 Jews, two Buddhists and a Muslim — Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who took his oath of office on Thomas Jefferson's Koran — Washington remains a disproportionately Christian town. More than 90% of federal legislators call themselves Christians, making Congress more Christian than the United States itself. The president is an evangelical Protestant. Catholics enjoy a majority on the Supreme Court. Biblical references — from the Jericho Road to the golden rule to the promised land — permeate political speech. Yet U.S. citizens know almost nothing about the Bible. Although most regard it as the word of God, few read it anymore. Even evangelicals from the Bible Belt seem more focused on loving Jesus than on learning what he had to say.

In a religious literacy quiz I have administered to undergraduates for the last two years, students tell me that Moses was blinded on the road to Damascus and that Paul led the Israelites on their exodus out of Egypt. Surveys that are more scientific have found that only one out of three U.S. citizens is able to name the four Gospels, and one out of 10 think that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. No wonder pollster George Gallup has concluded that the United States is "a nation of biblical illiterates."

I remember a scene in the movie Luther when the head of his monastery asked Martin if he had ever read the New Testament. Luther hadn't. The abbot said that not many had. I fear that the modern Church is becoming like the medieval Catholic Church, biblically ignorant and vulnerable to superstition.

Every time I see some smarmy faith healer on television or pass some church whose pastor styles himself (or all too often herself) as "apostle" so-in-so I grieve and wonder how long it will be before a latter day Johann Tetzel travels about the land selling "Get Out of Hell Free" cards, for a price.

Doomed to fail

From NRO:

Even as Europe seems to slip further from its religious moorings, Christianity is growing rapidly elsewhere in the world, including in the PRC. The Chinese State Administration for Religious Affairs estimates that there now are 130 million Christians in China, roughly 10 percent of the population.

The number of Christians in China is increasing despite sustained state repression. Bob Fu, president of the China Aid Association (CAA), notes that “the unprecedented growth of the Chinese church has happened under ceaseless persecution.”

When Fu speaks of persecution, he is not referring to something mild. Some American Christians use the word to mean cultural hostility. Nasty as Hollywood can be, it cannot arrest and jail. Beijing can.

The CAA reports that, in 2006, “the Chinese government continued its general crackdown on unregistered house churches.” What is notable is Beijing’s change in strategy:

Although Public Security Officials still held church leaders detained in the raids for extended periods, church members were released after short interrogations on the spot. This strategy effectively decreased the number of arrests, but had the effect of transferring the pressure onto the church leaders, who were sometimes held for weeks or months. There is clear evidence that a number of these leaders were tortured and physically abused during the time they were held.

The CAA estimates that more than 600 Christians were detained in 2006, down from about 2,000 the year before. But most of those arrested last year were church leaders. Moreover, “local officials closed and demolished more house churches in 2006 than 2005.” China also targeted congregations as cults. “After being classified as a cult, House churches in Langzhong city, Sichun province were severely persecuted in 2006.”

Local authorities have raided meetings between Chinese Christians and overseas believers. CAA goes on to list episodes of arrests, detentions, and imprisonments of Christians, as well as church closings and building demolitions. Nor is that all. In addition, “homes of Chinese Christians have been searched, crowds of peaceful protestors have been charged with electric shock batons, and access to Bibles and teaching has been restricted.”

This will not work. You cannot kill Christianity by persecution you can only make it stronger. If the PRC wants to destroy the Church in China they should make it the state church. Give it plenty of money and big beautiful buildings. Pay the pastors large salaries dress them in fine cloths and give them big luxury cars to drive.

Then after 10 years of their getting used to all of this start telling them what to preach.

It is easy to hold on to your faith when you don't have anything else. It is somewhat more difficult to hold onto your faith when your hands are full of other things.

Another gun control post

Just so everybody knows, gun control is not a religious issue. Many sincerely believing Christians support gun control because they mistakenly believe that the Bible supports non-violence when confronted with criminal attack.

Many people of other faiths than Christianity believe in civilian firearms ownership as do people of no faith whatsoever.

Now it is true that most Christians who actually believe that the Bible means what it says are politically conservative and also think that gun ownership is a constitutionally protected freedom, as well as a good idea, but not all.

BTY, "turn the other cheek" means "don't hold a grudge" not "don't defend yourself".