It’s hard to predict when a blog post will be particularly popular or controversial. I had no idea that my post last week about “the least of these” (Matt. 25:40) would provoke the response that it has. Some people have expressed appreciation, and others have been positively outraged at the suggestion that “the least of these” might be a reference to Christians and not to the poor in general. In fact, the comments from some on social media have been downright angry and sometimes even foul. There was even a news story devoted solely to discussing the post. One of the most consistent objections that I have read is that…
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The “least of these” are not the poor but the Christian baker, photographer, and florist
Yesterday during the panel discussion at the Poverty Summit, I noticed a repeated biblical allusion to the “least of these” (Matt. 25:40, 46). I think every speaker on the panel—including President Obama—used the phrase “least of these” to refer to our fellow citizens who live in poverty and who need help. This is how the phrase is commonly understood, and so it wasn’t a surprise to hear the panelists speak this way. The phrase stood out to me because I recently delivered a sermon to my church on this very text from Matthew’s Gospel (download here or listen below). . It turns out that the panelists’ use of this phrase…
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The mother of an aborted child speaks-out
A mother writes for The Washington Post what she went through after deciding to abort her unborn child, whom she aborted because doctors identified a birth defect. She writes: I was well aware beforehand of the statistics about pregnancy loss —about one in five won’t make it full-term (though some studies place the number much higher)— and that my age, 37, upped my risk. But what really knocked me off my feet was the depth of my grief, the most profound of my life, and discovering just how misguided our society is in reacting to such a loss.
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Christian schools to lose tax-exempt status over gay marriage
In a column for USA Today, Michael Farris looks at the implications of legal gay marriage for Christian schools. He writes: If the court rules in favor of same sex marriage, how can religious colleges that refuse to acknowledge such unions avoid [losing tax-exempt status]? No one should think that IRS implications will stop with colleges. Religious high schools, grade schools and any other religious institution will face the same outcome. And this includes churches. All of these entities are exempt from taxation under the same section of the IRS code. And even though churches can be exempt without application, their exemption can nonetheless be revoked. Even if it takes…
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Happy Mother’s Day!
Source: Igniter Media
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Boyce College student is stabbed and forgives attacker
I was coming out of a movie theater on Sunday evening when I received word that one of our students at Boyce College, Joshua Lewis, was stabbed while on the job delivering pizzas. It just so happens that Joshua was making a delivery to a local hospital. For that reason, he was able to get immediate medical attention for a collapsed lung after the attack. Obviously, our entire campus has been concerned for this brother, who is in stable condition now and posting updates to Facebook.
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Transgender Contradiction at Smith College?
Transgenderism is more than an identity. It is an ideology that represents the next phase of the LGBT-rights revolution. It mandates the decoupling of gender norms from biological identity. Transgenderism says that a male of the species can be a woman if he feels himself to be one. As an ideology, transgenderism requires society to recognize and validate a person’s self-defined gender identity even if it is at odds with their biology.
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Protecting Your Ministry from Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Lawsuits
In 2006 Chai Feldblum—whom Pres. Obama would later appoint as a commissioner of the EEOC—wrote that gay rights create a bona fide conflict with religious liberty. In an interview that same year, she told Maggie Gallagher that when there is a conflict between sexual liberty and religious liberty, sexual liberty should almost always win. In Feldblum’s own words,
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How To Take Christ out of Christianity
Last week Alana Massey wrote a fascinating piece for The Washington Post titled “How To Take Christ out of Christianity.” The gist of the article is this. Churches need to make room for unbelievers who do not want to follow Christ but who want to remain connected to the community and moral vision of Christianity. That is precisely what she wishes for herself, an unbelieving Episcopalian. She writes:
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A story of terror, pain, and loss swallowed up by grace
Many of you readers know that my co-author for a forthcoming book on homosexuality is Heath Lambert. Heath is not just a co-author and colleague, but a very close friend. I have heard his testimony before but never in the length or detail that he shares in the video above. It is a tale of great pain, terror, and loss swallowed up by grace. I wouldn’t recommend it if it weren’t worth your time. So take a listen. [Source: Association of Certified Biblical Counselors]
