Tag Archives: marriage

A World My Grandparents Would Not Recognize

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changeChristianity is the underdog. Times have changed. My grandparents have all past away, but if they were here to see our current state, I believe they would be shocked. How quickly the tides can turn. Biblical Christianity is the minority, yet that does not change our convictions. It just makes it harder to stand up for them. These are the times where individuals, churches, denominations will all be tested in their convictions. Below are some thoughts on Atheism today and the changing definition of Marriage, concluding with a video addressing the key need.

In our day Atheism has a new face. It is the normal face. This is what an Atheist looks like today. The Atlantic published an article where they interviewed college age unbelievers to get an understanding of the new mindset soon to be the primary influencers in our generation. Listening to Young Atheists is a revealing article. Check it out in full at the link but here is a summery.

  1. They had attended church. Most of our participants had not chosen their worldview from ideologically neutral positions at all, but in reaction to Christianity. Not Islam. Not Buddhism. Christianity.
  2. The mission and message of their churches was vague. These students heard plenty of messages encouraging “social justice,” community involvement, and “being good,” but they seldom saw the relationship between that message, Jesus Christ, and the Bible.
  3. They felt their churches offered superficial answers to life’s difficult questions. When our participants were asked what they found unconvincing about the Christian faith, they spoke of evolution vs. creation, sexuality, the reliability of the biblical text, Jesus as the only way, etc. … Serious-minded, they often concluded that church services were largely shallow, harmless, and ultimately irrelevant.
  4. They expressed their respect for those ministers who took the Bible seriously. “I really can’t consider a Christian a good, moral person if he isn’t trying to convert me.” As surprising as it may seem, this sentiment is not as unusual as you might think. It finds resonance in the well-publicized comments of Penn Jillette, the atheist illusionist and comedian: “I don’t respect people who don’t proselytize. I don’t respect that at all. If you believe that there’s a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that it’s not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward…. How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?” Comments like these should cause every Christian to examine his conscience to see if he truly believes that Jesus is, as he claimed, “the way, the truth, and the life.”
  5. Ages 14-17 were decisive. One participant told us that she considered herself to be an atheist by the age of eight while another said that it was during his sophomore year of college that he de-converted, but these were the outliers. For most, the high school years were the time when they embraced unbelief.
  6. The decision to embrace unbelief was often an emotional one. With few exceptions, students would begin by telling us that they had become atheists for exclusively rational reasons. But as we listened it became clear that, for most, this was usually connected to a deeply emotional transition as well.
  7. The internet factored heavily into their conversion to atheism. When our participants were asked to cite key influences in their conversion to atheism–people, books, seminars, etc.—we expected to hear frequent references to the names of the “New Atheists.” We did not. Not once. Instead, we heard vague references to videos they had watched on YouTube or website forums.

While belief is under attack, the institution of marriage that has been upheld for thousands of years is being redefined. The recent Supreme Court decision will have ramifications beyond what we can foresee.

Trevin Wax writes a article titled Why Gay Marriage is Good (and bad) for the Church. He shows clearly that things will never be the same, the question is how will the church respond and what foundations do we really have that will guide us in these changing times.

Al Mohler addressed the hypocrisy of the supreme court, and particularly Justice Kennedy, for striking down DOMA with accusations of making “moral judgments”, all the while making an equally moral judgment, just with the opposite conclusion. Read his thoughts in Waiting for the Other Shoe – The Supreme Court Rules on Same Sex Marriage.

Here is an interesting take on the subject. If Jesus were to be interviewed, what might He say about Same-Sex marriage? Joe Dallas takes this imaginative response in this clever article. Check it out – Jesus and Same Sex Marriage.

Above all, the linchpin for how we decide what to do about all these issues, and issues we haven’t even seen yet, are dependent on one thing. Has God Spoken?  If He has, we must heed his words and adjust our lives. If He has not, we live as we wand do the best we can without any real consequences or meaning.  Has God Really Spoken?

This is an interview between three brilliant minds and godly men: Don Carson, John Piper, and Tim Keller. They are addressing the issue of Biblical Authority in an Age of Uncertainty. How will we respond to God’s Word when our culture rejects it?

We live in a world my Grandparents would not recognize. Yet fortunately I believe there is a God who has spoken to us for this day. He has made a plan and given us hope. Above all He has given us Jesus. So no matter what the winds of change bring, there is one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Jesus Christ.

Looking to Him,

-Adam

The Divine Institution of Marriage Video

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To supplement yesterday’s post on Chick-fil-a’s stand against homosexual, I turn to a lyrical description of the institution of marriage as prescribed by God. I believe this is one of the best understandings of what God meant for the husband and wife union to be a picture of Jesus and the Church.

Maybe the style of this video is not your thing, but listen to the words. Hear the plea for the Lordship of Christ in this incredibly necessary institution. Hear the sound theology undergirding the lyrics of this man’s view of marriage.

Your fellow worker in the field,  Adam

Chick-fil-a Takes Stand Against Homosexual Marriage

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With the recent “coming out” of Oreo, JC Penney, and other businesses in support of homosexual marriage, the lines are being drawn. (Apparently it hasn’t worked out to well for JC Penney so far.)

Chick-fil-a has addressed the issue publicly also. In a day when being politically incorrect can tank a business, President Dan Cathy, son of founder Truitt Cathy, emphatically aligned his restaurant chain with the conservative view of traditional marriage.

“I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage,'” Dan Cathy, the company’s president and chief operating officer, said in a recent radio interview. “I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”

In an interview with the Baptist Press published this week, Cathy doubled down on his stance against same-sex unions.

“Guilty as charged,” Cathy said. “We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.”

“We know that it might not be popular with everyone,” he added, “but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”

Find this quoted section in the full article as reported by Yahoo News, HERE.

I have to say, Good Job for standing up for what you believe in! I love how Cathy draws attention to the right in the United States to operate your personal and business lives according to the values you believe in! While the LGBT community champions this right for themselves, it works both ways. Conservative people and business owners have the right to operate according to their own belief systems too.

I honestly wish that this was a non-issue. I wish fast food chains didn’t have to declare a stance on heated moral issues. But these are the days we live in.

Chick-fil-a has communicated with nothing but kindness and respect while standing firm on their beliefs, yet they are recieving a lot of grief because of it. With a quick google search there are already tons of images being adjusted and turned into weapons against Chick-fil-a as the one posted to the right. There is talk of the LGBT community boycotting that golden fried chicken and waffle fries. We will see what impact this has on the bottom line of the company. But I know one thing for sure, my support of and respect for this restaurant will continue as normal, if not be increased.

Thank you Dan Cathy for standing your ground in difficult times.

Your fellow worker in the field, Adam

10 NEEDED Reminders for Dating Couples Before Marriage

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1. It’s not bad to want to have sex with your significant other. It’d be another sort of worry if you didn’t. The key is to want to glorify Christ more than you want to have sex with each other.

2. The key to glorifying Christ more than you want to have sex with each other is that it is a decision to be made over and over again.

3. Persons in a dating or courting relationship are on their best behavior. So however they are now, you can expect, over time, for them to get “worse.” As familiarity grows, people let their guards down. Marriage does not fix bad behavior; it often gives it freer reign. Ladies, this means if your boyfriend is controlling, suspicious, verbally condescending or manipulative, he will get worse, not better the longer your relationship goes on. Whatever you are making excuses for or overlooking now, will get harder to ignore and more prominent the longer your relationship goes on. You can’t fix him, and marriage won’t straighten him out.

4. Nearly every Christian I know who is married to an unbeliever loves their spouse and does not necessarily regret marrying them, but has experienced deep pain and discontent in their marriage because of this unequal yoking and would now never advise a believer to marry an unbeliever.

5. Assuming you’re special and you’re different and their experiences won’t reflect yours is shortsighted, unwise, and arrogant. The people who love you and are warning/advising you against your relationship might be ignorant fools. Those sorts of people do exist. But odds are better that your parents, your pastor, your older married friends are wiser than you think.

6. Living together before marriage is a marriage killer.

7. Premarital sex de-incentivizes a young man to grow up, take responsibility, and lead his home and family.

8. Pre-marital sex wounds a young woman’s heart, perhaps imperceptibly at first but undeniably over time, as she trades in covenant benefits without covenant security. This is not the way God designed sex to fulfill us. Never give your body to a man who has not pledged to God his faithfulness to you in covenant marriage, which presupposes an accountability to a local church. In short, don’t give your heart to a man who is not accountable to anybody who provides godly discipline.

9. All of your relationships, including your romantic relationship, is meant to make Jesus look big more than it is meant to provide you personal fulfillment. When we make personal fulfillment our ultimate priority in our relationships, ironically enough, we find ourselves frustratingly unfulfilled.

10. You are loved by God with abundant grace in Christ’s atoning work, and an embrace of this love by faith in Jesus provides Holy Spiritual power and satisfaction to pursue relationships that honor God and thereby maximize your joy.

 

This awesome article was written by Jarred Wilson and published through The Gospel Coalition at This Link. I pray it help you think biblically about your dating relationships leading to a godly marriage.

Your fellow worker in the field,  Adam

Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage will Impact ALL of Us.

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As we have all been aware of President Obama’s recent endorsement of legalizing same-sex marriage, we may not all be aware of the implications of such an action will have on all of us, even those who oppose it.  I’ve already read many versions of “if you don’t like it, then don’t do it”.

Psychologytoday.com posted this article defending gay marriage and ended with this quote:

From my perspective, it comes down to common sense. If it helps some people and it doesn’t hurt anyone, why not let in happen. I think the comedian Wanda Sykes put it best, “It’s real simple. If you don’t believe in same-sex marriage, don’t marry someone of the same sex.” In other words, why not allow gay marriage?

Why not?  There are many negative implications that must be considered!  Marriage is the foundational institution of our nation.  To redefine it changes the foundation and thus the trajectory we are headed as a nation.  Marriage was instituted first by God himself, before sin came into the world, and defined as one man and one woman. To redefine that is to reject God’s design and plan.

If same-sex marriage is legalized will it really effect you and me?  Yes.  We are seeing this already in Massachusetts, the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

This clip shows how the public schools are teaching same-sex marriage as “normal and acceptable”.  I just registered my daughter for Kindergarten in our town literally last week.  It scares me to think she will be exposed to anti-biblical, morally bankrupt lifestyles as “normal and acceptable”.

From kindergarten to high school, our children will be exposed to “tolerance” and “equality” as a way to impose an unbiblical worldview into their developing value system.

Whenever you hear the counter argument stating that “studies show” same-sex marriages do not have a negative impact on a child’s development, be ready to think rationally and critically.  Do your research to find what “studies” have been done.  We all know statistics can be used in a bias manner to prove anything.

In his blog article Same Sex Marriage: Good for Gays, Bad for Children, Dennis Prager quotes on this topic:

As Professor Don Browning of the University of Chicago recently wrote in the New York Times, “We know next to nothing” about the effects of same-sex parenting on children.” “The body of sociological knowledge about same-sex parenting,” he and his co-author wrote, “is scant at best. … There are no rigorous, large-scale studies on the effect of same-sex marriage on the couples’ children.”

With a sample size as limited and reclusive as practicing same-sex couples with children, even a non-scientific mind as myself sees a flaw in reporting any results as authoritative. Beware what the “studies show”, because the studies are extremely limited at best and conducted with bias at worst.

So lastly, what should Christians do and think about these issues in our day?  It is good to remember that Jesus engaged His culture, not ignored it.  We should take an active role as this is developing.  We are blessed to be able to voice our opinions and vote accordingly. Start there.  Also we need to think rightly about these issues.  Here is a post a good friend of mine, Mark Moore, used to direct Christians to 5 good blog responses to the current debate.  Read over these and know where you stand. There is some valuable wisdom written down here.

We know God is in control and trust Him through the thick and the thin.  Be in prayer for our country and our leaders as we traverse difficult days.  Teach the truth, even when it is not politically correct.  2 Tim 3:12-14 says, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,  while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it.”

Let us continue in what we have learned, because we know where we have learned it, namely the Word of God.

Your fellow worker in the field,  Adam