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Christians and the Abolition of Roe v. Wade
June 24, 2022, will go down in history as a great day! On this memorable day, the Supreme Court of the Government of the United States of America ruled that the court precedent of Roe v. Wade was illegitimately established and was overturned. Moments like this are rare in America’s history but are deeply cherished. In this article, I want to briefly assess some of the implications of this court decision and then provide some Christian reflections. What Does the Abolition of Roe v. Wade Mean? Samuel Alito, writing the majority opinion for the ruling, notes the following on page 6 (of 213): It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives. “The permissibility of abortion, and the limitations, upon it, are to be resolved like most important questions in our democracy: by citizens trying to persuade one another and then…
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A Mark of the Fool is Lack of Understanding
Recently, a meme was circulating on social media, which had a picture on top and on the bottom. The photo on top showed Prince William making an obscene gesture to the crowd by holding up his middle finger. We could see the disrespect and arrogance oozing from the photo. However, the image on the bottom showed a different angle of the same situation. From this new perspective, we observe that the gesture was not obscene at all. Instead, it became evident that the initial view prohibited us from seeing the other fingers. The caption for the meme read, “Seeing only one side can be very dangerous.” I like this meme because it illustrates two aspects of biblical wisdom. First, there are many scenarios where our first impressions or perceptions are incorrect. Only through gaining a complete perspective can we be sure of what we are looking at. Second, wisdom obligates…
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Do Dispensationalists Cause Cultural Decay?
Postmillenialists will often claim that dispensationalists do not engage the culture and have no interest in seeing the culture flourish. Furthermore, it is often stated that wherever dispensationalism flourishes, the culture decays. Thus, it is dispensationalism which is dangerous and causes cultural decay. Although I have written before that many incorrectly argue that dispensationalism hurts the church, today I want address the subject again, focusing on whether dispensationalists promote an escapist worldview which causes cultural decay. It is my goal that the argument that dispensationalists don’t care about culture should be be retired from use, since it is neither true nor the real issue. An Eschatology of Escapism for Dispensationalists? It is quite popular in some Christian circles (postmillenialists usually) to accuse dispensationalists as being escapists, unconcerned by what happens in the culture. Gary DeMar describes this alleged inaction and laziness as the “Fatal Flaw in the Culture War.” He…
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Does Dispensationalism Hurt the Church?
Not too long ago while I was on social media I stumbled across a quote by a Christian cultural apologist who said, “Wherever dispensationalism has gained ground, Christian culture has lost ground.” Although the claim that dispensationalism has hurt the church is not new, it was interesting to see how much agreement the post garnered in the comments. Some commenters labeled dispensationalism as the worst heresy the church has seen. Others said dispensationalism is a damnable heresy which has single-handedly lost the American culture war. In this post I would like to analyze the argument that dispensationalism itself is dangerous and responsible for the cultural loss we see in Western culture today. What is Dispensationalism? As I have written elsewhere, it is unfortunately common for people to wrongly attribute heretical beliefs to dispensationalism which are not inherently a part of the system. Dispensationalism should simply be viewed as a set…
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Is it True that Homosexuals are Born That Way?
How significant is the argument that homosexuals are born that way? And, is it valid? In 2015 the Supreme Court decided that, against millennia of human history and biblical teaching, the definition of marriage should be expanded to include homosexual relationships. The case was Obergefell vs. Hodge, and Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. In his reasoning, he demonstrated that the born that way argument held significant influence on his decision. He argued that it was important to give homosexuals the right to marry since homosexuals are born that way and can’t change. “Only in more recent years have psychiatrists and others recognized that sexual orientation is both a normal expression of human sexuality and immutable.” Anthony Kennedy, Obergefell v. Hodges, June 26, 2015. The key word used by Kennedy is “immutable.” The idea that gay individuals are born that way with an unchangeable sexual orientation was a key driving…
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Should Christians Use Preferred Gender Pronouns?
Should Christians use the preferred gender pronouns for transgendered individuals? This is a question which has a variety of answers in the Christian community. Some individuals, like Preston Sprinkle or JD Greear have espoused an approach called Pronoun Hospitality, where the Christian refers to the transgendered individual by their preferred gender pronouns in an effort to show love and kindness. Others have argued Christians ought to use pronouns that match with God’s created intent. How should a Christian think through this issue biblically? At the outset, it should be noted that this is not just a theoretical question. Many individuals have already suffered consequences for deciding they cannot in good conscience use preferred gender pronouns and thus call a female a male or vice versa. There are many examples of this, whether it be a Christian doctor in the UK who was fired for refusing to call a male “madam”,…
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Avoid Every Appearance of Evil (1 Thess 5:22)
Growing up I often heard the King James Version rendition of 1 Thessalonians 5:22, “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” The implication of course was that Christians should avoid even the appearance of evil, not just evil actions themselves. Unfortunately this verse, like many others, has often been misinterpreted and misapplied. English Translations of 1 Thessalonians 5:22 KJV Abstain from all appearance of evil. NKJV Abstain from every form of evil. ESV Abstain from every form of evil. HCSB/CSB Stay away from every kind of evil. NIV Reject every kind of evil. NASB Abstain from every form of evil. NET Stay away from every form of evil. Comparing the various English translations, we can see that only the KJV translates this verse as “appearance of evil.” There is a significant difference between “appearance of evil” and “form/kind of evil.” Hence, we note that it is the KJV against the rest of the English translations. Although some would use this difference…
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Responding to Your Friends about Homosexuality
Unless you have been living somewhere without a computer, lights, electricity, or people, you have no doubt noticed the massive cultural shift within the last few years on the issue of homosexuality. In 2008, the majority of California’s voters passed Proposition 8, a stipulation that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. Now, years later, the culture has turned and it is considered not only politically incorrect to oppose gay marriage, but downright evil. One clear example from 2014 is the Mozilla co-founder and CEO Brendan Eich, who was forced from his position simply because six years ago he did the popular thing and supported Proposition 8. This example is just one of the numerous cultural examples that show that the homosexual culture is far-reaching and will impact everyone in the future. It is necessary for a Christian to be able to interact with a culture that believes homosexuality is…
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Christian Ethics and Worldview Systems
Everyone is responsible for their actions, thus ultimately everyone has to decide whether an action is right or whether it is wrong. Even those who reject God must still have a system for determining whether something is right or wrong. One name for this systematic reasoning is called ethics. Ethics is simply a philosophy of determining what is morally right and what is morally wrong. There are two basic systems which people hold to in determining right and wrong. Consequential Ethics The first kind of system is called consequential ethics. Consequential ethics determines what is right or wrong based on the outcome. According to this system of thinking, no act is inherently good or bad in and of itself. It is the result that matters. In other words, consequential ethics believes that the end justifies the means. The underlying assumption of consequential ethics can take various forms, but ultimately proponents…
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Happiness is not the Ultimate Goal for Christians
Unfortunately it is common to view happiness as the ultimate goal in life. This trend seems to be increasing with more people literally searching for happiness than ever before. Although this might be expected from unbelievers, who don’t know better, viewing happiness as the ultimate goal in life is actually quite common among professing Christians as well. An illustration of heralding happiness as the ultimate pursuit is an infamous sermon from Victoria Osteen, wife and co-pastor with Joel Osteen (her husband). In front of a church of 40,000+ people in Texas she said the following. I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we’re not doing it for God–I mean, that’s one way to look at it–we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we are happy. . . . That’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy. . .…