Kirsten Powers has a very curious column in today’s USA Today. It’s “curious” because of what we know about Powers. On the one hand, Powers has gone public with her Christian commitment. On the other hand, she seems to be wobbly on the Bible’s teaching about sexuality. I’ve heard her make statements to this effect in the past, and her column today seems to be very sympathetic to Matthew Vines’s book God and the Gay Christian. I say “seems” because technically speaking the article is not so much about what she thinks, but about what American Christians might do. Her opening question frames the whole article: “Could there be a…
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A Resolution on Transgender for the SBC
You know you’re at a cultural tipping-point when both Newsweek and Time magazine run cover stories on your cause within the span of a single year. Such is the case with transgender, which both Newsweek and Time have declared to be the next phase of the gay rights revolution. Transgender is the “T” in LGBT, but it is not a sexual orientation. It describes those whose perception of their gender identity does not match their biological sex. Whereas transgender used to be considered a condition to be remedied, the sexual revolutionaries are telling us that is no longer the case. Last year, the American Psychiatric Association removed it from its…
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Download the new JBMW for free
The Spring issue of The Journal for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood has just been released. You can download the entire issue for free from CBMW.org. This issue includes articles from Owen Strachan, Andrew Walker, and more. Strachan’s article takes a critical look at the moniker “gay Christian.” Walker has an insightful piece about religious liberty and current debates about sexuality. This issue also includes David Schrock’s interview with the author of True Sexual Morality, Daniel Heimbach. This issue is filled with helpful material, and you can read the full table of contents is below.
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Where Same-Sex Marriage Stands in the 50 States
NBC News has a report explaining where same-sex marriage stands in the United States. There is good bit of information in this article, but I think this is the key line: Since last summer’s Supreme Court ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act and Prop 8, two historic marriage cases, not a single state marriage ban has survived a federal court challenge. This of course does not bode well for states that have lawsuits still pending. Those states are Utah, Oklahoma, Nevada, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. The ground is moving beneath our feet. Read the rest here.
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What Jesus Does with False Faith
“Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man.” –John 2:23-25 In verse 24, there’s a play on words that you miss in English translation. Literally, John says that even though the people were believing in Jesus, He was not believing himself to them. The idea is that even though they were trusting in Jesus, He wasn’t reciprocating. Jesus…
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They asked whether I was prepared to die as a Christian
NBC News has the story of a Nigerian Christian man who was shot by Boko Haram terrorists for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. This man’s name is Habila Adamu, and he was attacked by the same group of terrorists who recently abducted 200 Nigerian school girls. They broke into his home, shot him, and left him for dead all in full view of his wife and son. It’s a miracle that he is alive. It’s even more a miracle that he stood. You must read his story in his own words. Below is an extended excerpt from the NBC News report:
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Marilynne Robinson’s red-letter hermeneutic
Over the weekend, I read Sarah Pulliam Bailey’s interview with Marilynne Robinson, author of the highly acclaimed novel Gilead. Among other things, the interview reveals that Robinson is no exemplar of Christian orthodoxy. She is pro-choice and pro-gay marriage even as she claims to be a Calvinist. It is an odd mix. On the issue of gay marriage in particular, she writes: Q: For Christians who hold the view that marriage is between a man and a woman, do you think they’ll become a smaller group over time?
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Recommended Children’s Book: “Great Kings of the Bible”
Deepak Reju is a pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. He is also the author of a new children’s book titled Great Kings of the Bible: How Jesus is greater than Saul, David and Solomon. As the title indicates, the book is a condensed biography of the first three kings of Israel. The narrative highlights key events in each of these kings’s lives and includes illustrations of the stories. Two things I like most about this book: 1. It’s a great way to engage young readers in the biblical storyline. Anything with battles and swords and kings and armies is bound to capture the attention of a…
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How to determine whether your sexual desire is holy
A few months ago, I wrote a short piece on the ethics of temptation and sexual desire. In short, I argue that morality of sexual desire is defined by its object. If desire fixates on something evil (i.e., adultery, fornication), then the desire itself is evil. That is why Jesus says what he says about lustful leering in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:28). If desire fixates on something good (i.e., the conjugal bond of marriage), then the desire itself is wholesome and good. That is why Solomon enjoins his son to celebrate sexual desire when it is directed toward one’s spouse (Prov. 5:18-19). Thus our desires are not…
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Sarah Palin quadruples down on baptism remarks
I guess I am starting and ending the week with Sarah Palin. She has issued yet another statement defending her recent remarks to the NRA that “waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” She writes,