A Response to Jack Beatty’s “A Call to Order”

In this article, Jiles Brooks responds to Jack Beatty’s article “A Call to Order; Reflections on the Rhetoric of Evasion” in JBC 12:1. Brooks argues that Beatty is correct in asserting that “root causes” will never address the problem of wrong behavior. However, Brooks points to the true root cause found in Matthew 15:16-20 and Mark 7:18-23: “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” Brooks maintains that only Jesus Christ will make us a people who live lives that please God and create a liveable society.