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Showing posts from 2013

The Isolated Christian

Prov 18:1 “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;    he breaks out against all sound judgment” I have lived most of my life as a lone-wolf Christian. I attended church, went to small group, met up with an accountability partner. I even played the guitar sometimes for the campus ministry. I went on mission trips all over the world. I read the Bible with others and prayed with them. But I never allowed any of them to ever know me. Nor did I think that I needed them to. I figured I was smart enough to think things through on my own. That I could handle whatever came my way. Besides, I didn't want people to know who I was. I didn't want them to know that I was a sinner. And I didn't trust anyone to know me. I thought they just wouldn't get it, or they would expose me, or they would laugh at me, or they would try to change me. I though that they wouldn't love me. So, I put up a smoke screen and took a mask - giving just enough to make it look li...

Porn: Is it Really a Big Deal?

Is porn really a big deal? Let's listen in on what Pastor John Piper has to say to a young woman considering marriage to a man struggling with pornography.   So, how does porn affect us? Consider the four elements Piper puts forth. - It is unloving. - It is adulterous. - Destructive to a man's capacities to love a woman purely for herself. - Destructive to a man's soul; his capacity to see God in the purity and greatness of His glory is shriveled. How does this play out: Porn says reality is not good enough. Pornography is a conglomeration of photoshopped images and tantalizing scenarios. None of which exist in the real world. Today on the internet there are infinite amounts just clicks away. Every click brings a new experience and new stimulation. You can fast-forward and rewind. Nothing in the real world comes close to the expansive nature of sexual images and videos. Porn tells a woman she is not good enough. Nothing...

Response: Does the Pro-Life Movement Need a New Strategy?

Abortion has been relegated to the backseat in the general social arena in recent years. That is, until the current murder trial of Kermitt Gosnell once again forced it into the limelight. Largely lacking the mainstream attention of other potential social shifts, the abortion dialogue is being conducted through blog posts, counter-posts, response posts, and Twitter (#Gosnell). Along with it comes a familiar vitriolic output of both those promoting and condemning abortion. In response to this reignited war of words, Donald Miller recently posted   an article   calling on the Pro-Life movement to proceed with compassion. More specifically, he calls for a display of love like that of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and he calls for a voice like Dr. King's to lead the movement. All of this is good and commendable. Abortion is a polarizing issue and often carries unfathomable secret and personal pain. A quick word or a sharp tongue can turn a civil convers...

A Moment of Silence - 40 Years After Roe v. Wade

"Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life's worst hazards and misfortune. ... Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm." - President Barack Obama, Inauguration Speech, January 21, 2013 Today, let us take a moment to remember the lives we were unable to protect. Those lives whose end was neither natural nor accidental. Let us think upon those never allowed to fill their lungs with air. And let us think upon those who have bought the lie that this is "choice." Let us, in silent vigil, remember the one out of every four children [1]   and the millions of woman left with empty arms. But, let this moment be brief. For, as President Obama has exhorted us, there is work to be done. Let us turn our at...

Reconsidering Chivalry

There's an old saying, "Remember when men were men?" It may not feel that old, but it harkens back to a day well before my generation stepped foot on this earth. A time we fondly look back on as too "chivalric" and laugh at as being unrefined and uneducated. A time of inequality, even inhumanity. Today, the simple act of opening a door so that a woman might pass through first, or walking her home simply to make sure she arrives safely is scoffed at. On a deeper level, we have told men they are overly-violent, sexually-driven vagabonds who cannot be trusted with responsibility. In short, we make the claim that men are irrelevant to society, denuding them of parental and spousal responsibility - making the claim that the burden they should have been carrying is best suited to be born by women. All this we know. All this has been coalesced into a singular societal expectation, where, when we hear of a man who stands by his family for a lifetime, he is l...