12 Stones
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12 Stones
'The more urgent question that America, and the western world in general, is wrestling with is this:
Can Whiteboarders and Pineboarders live together in peace?
Why the Divide? Feb/March 2026Friends, It seems to me that the fault line that runs through almost every relationship I have and our very nation itself might be summed up as a Whiteboard vs Pineboarders conflict. Let me explain....
WhiteboardersThere are largely two kinds of people in the US. There are Whiteboarders, and there are Pineboarders. Whiteboarders believe that life is akin to a whiteboard upon which they can draw wherever and whatever they wish with the respective marker of their lives. The only rule is that there are no rules. A central Whiteboard axiom is this: Life is about experimentation and self-expression, free of scrutiny, critique, inhibitions, and constraints of any sort. As such, we are accountable to no one and to nothing outside of our own wills, desires, and passions. The debate over national borders is emotionally charged precisely because it symbolizes a much larger issue, which is this: In Whiteboardism, ‘borders’ of any sort, whether they be theological, marital, moral, biological, or geographic in nature, are the enemy. They must be identified, transgressed, and destroyed. In the lexicon of Whiteboardism, words like 'boundaries, limitations, or perimeters' are little more than euphemisms for 'oppression.' So much so, that daring to insufficiently celebrate the self-expressive choices or behavior of another is, itself, considered an act of aggression. The 'insufficiently-enthusiastic' (i.e. not fully devout) bear the proverbial 'scarlet letter' precisely because they represent a barrier to a self that struggles to be free and fully ‘realized.’ In Whiteboardland, the more conventions transgressed, the more shocking the behavior..... the more liberated (and ‘courageous’) is the person engaged in such things.
Whiteboarders insist that the ‘good life’ will be realized as we discover that we are, if not actually, then practically, ‘a god,’ sovereign unto ourselves, going where we want, doing what we want, with whomever we want. If Jean-Jacques Rousseau is their prophet, then Lucifer is their archetype. (though most don’t yet realize it). For it was Lucifer who first sought to be ‘as god,’ discarding all divine constraints, so determined was he to usurp God’s central place, longing to overturn divinely created order symmetry with chaos and formlessness. Lucifer remains, in the minds of fully devoted Whiteboarders, an inspirational revolutionary, worthy of emulation.
PineboardersOn the other side of the American divide, you will find (small 'o,' orthodox) Christians and a variety of others whom I refer to as Pineboarders, of which I am one. We Pineboarders believe that running through the fabric of this world is a divinely ordained and finely tuned ethical symmetry and moral order, not unlike the grain found within your average pine board. That's because the bible teaches, and Pineboarders believe, that people flourish most when they live 'within,' and 'not against,' the grain of God’s laws and created order. Pineboarders believe that living in harmony with, not against, the grain of creation constitutes ‘the good life,’ or as Jesus put it, ‘life abundant.’
What's more, Pineboarders believe that pretending the world is a white board, devoid of grain, invites living cross-grain, which is a recipe not for liberation but for injury and hardship (i.e. splinters). As a fellow Pineboarder once commented, ‘We don’t break God’s laws, because they are fixed and unbreakable. Rather, we only break ourselves against God’s laws when we pretend that they don’t exist.’ That is why my friend Bruce Carter calls the Ten Commandments, 'The Tender Commandments:' Given in love in order to protect us from splinters and the pain that goes along with those splinters. To Sum Up... Pineboardism insists that we are made in the image of, and accountable to, a perfectly holy and loving God who has given us commands that constrain us, FOR THE SAKE OF us. In other words, we believe that GOD IS GOOD and precisely BECAUSE He is good, He constrains us FOR, AND NOT AGAINST, US. Whiteboarders, by contrast, believe EITHER that God doesn't exist (which means that we are 'gods' by default) OR..... that IF somehow God DOES exist, He is NOT GOOD, and as such He constrains us precisely because He is AGAINST US, NOT FOR US.
A pastor of ours once commented, 'All human pathologies and behavioral problems are not always simple, but they are always, at root, theological in nature.' Whiteboarders and Pineboarders are separated by differing beliefs over WHO God is and WHAT God is like. It's essentially a 'theological' difference with earth-shaking consequences. When the dust settles.... this, I think, is what lies at the root of our national (and international) division. We Pineboarders appear to be a decided minority, though I wish it were otherwise. What’s more, I am doing all I can (as, I know, are many of you) to persuade Whiteboarders that ‘There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death’ (Pr 14:12). The truth, however, is that almost all culture-shaping institutions subscribe to Whiteboard orthodoxy, which cuts a wide swath in the American consciousness. It's a heavy lift to persuade those who have been well catechized in Whiteboardism that the 'god of self' is akin to a concrete life buoy. It promises the good life, but delivers the opposite. Then again, to God, heavy lifts don't exist. The good news is that Jesus Christ reigns no less now than He did when Whiteboardism was restricted to the fringes of the American consciousness. Can We All Just Get Along?The more urgent question that America, and the Western world in general, is wrestling with is this: Can Whiteboarders and Pineboarders live together in relative peace? I, for one, surely hope so, for war is ugly, and civil war is uglier still. Living side by side will not be easy, as our gods differ greatly. As such, our respective definitions of ‘love’ are often diametrically opposed to one another, and our prescriptions for ‘the good life’ typically vary dramatically as well. Most of all, let's keep in mind that God is up to something. Whatever that ‘something’ is, we are told in the book of Daniel and elsewhere that His kingdom will prevail. That, to say the least, is a comforting thought. (see Daniel 2:44-45)
Christus Regnat,Greg Porterwww.danfdtn.org
Whiteboarders insist that the ‘good life’ will be realized as we discover that we are, if not actually, then practically, ‘a god,’ sovereign unto ourselves, going where we want, doing what we want, with whomever we want. If Jean-Jacques Rousseau is their prophet, then Lucifer is their archetype. (though most don’t yet realize it). For it was Lucifer who first sought to be ‘as god,’ discarding all divine constraints, so determined was he to usurp God’s central place, longing to overturn divinely created order symmetry with chaos and formlessness. Lucifer remains, in the minds of fully devoted Whiteboarders, an inspirational revolutionary, worthy of emulation.
PineboardersOn the other side of the American divide, you will find (small 'o,' orthodox) Christians and a variety of others whom I refer to as Pineboarders, of which I am one. We Pineboarders believe that running through the fabric of this world is a divinely ordained and finely tuned ethical symmetry and moral order, not unlike the grain found within your average pine board. That's because the bible teaches, and Pineboarders believe, that people flourish most when they live 'within,' and 'not against,' the grain of God’s laws and created order. Pineboarders believe that living in harmony with, not against, the grain of creation constitutes ‘the good life,’ or as Jesus put it, ‘life abundant.’
What's more, Pineboarders believe that pretending the world is a white board, devoid of grain, invites living cross-grain, which is a recipe not for liberation but for injury and hardship (i.e. splinters). As a fellow Pineboarder once commented, ‘We don’t break God’s laws, because they are fixed and unbreakable. Rather, we only break ourselves against God’s laws when we pretend that they don’t exist.’ That is why my friend Bruce Carter calls the Ten Commandments, 'The Tender Commandments:' Given in love in order to protect us from splinters and the pain that goes along with those splinters. To Sum Up... Pineboardism insists that we are made in the image of, and accountable to, a perfectly holy and loving God who has given us commands that constrain us, FOR THE SAKE OF us. In other words, we believe that GOD IS GOOD and precisely BECAUSE He is good, He constrains us FOR, AND NOT AGAINST, US. Whiteboarders, by contrast, believe EITHER that God doesn't exist (which means that we are 'gods' by default) OR..... that IF somehow God DOES exist, He is NOT GOOD, and as such He constrains us precisely because He is AGAINST US, NOT FOR US.
A pastor of ours once commented, 'All human pathologies and behavioral problems are not always simple, but they are always, at root, theological in nature.' Whiteboarders and Pineboarders are separated by differing beliefs over WHO God is and WHAT God is like. It's essentially a 'theological' difference with earth-shaking consequences. When the dust settles.... this, I think, is what lies at the root of our national (and international) division. We Pineboarders appear to be a decided minority, though I wish it were otherwise. What’s more, I am doing all I can (as, I know, are many of you) to persuade Whiteboarders that ‘There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death’ (Pr 14:12). The truth, however, is that almost all culture-shaping institutions subscribe to Whiteboard orthodoxy, which cuts a wide swath in the American consciousness. It's a heavy lift to persuade those who have been well catechized in Whiteboardism that the 'god of self' is akin to a concrete life buoy. It promises the good life, but delivers the opposite. Then again, to God, heavy lifts don't exist. The good news is that Jesus Christ reigns no less now than He did when Whiteboardism was restricted to the fringes of the American consciousness. Can We All Just Get Along?The more urgent question that America, and the Western world in general, is wrestling with is this: Can Whiteboarders and Pineboarders live together in relative peace? I, for one, surely hope so, for war is ugly, and civil war is uglier still. Living side by side will not be easy, as our gods differ greatly. As such, our respective definitions of ‘love’ are often diametrically opposed to one another, and our prescriptions for ‘the good life’ typically vary dramatically as well. Most of all, let's keep in mind that God is up to something. Whatever that ‘something’ is, we are told in the book of Daniel and elsewhere that His kingdom will prevail. That, to say the least, is a comforting thought. (see Daniel 2:44-45)
Christus Regnat,Greg Porterwww.danfdtn.org