Headline Highlights: 2012, July 30th

Newspaper (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I link these articles here because I believe the issues are important for Christians to be mindful of and to carefully weigh out.  Some articles are of a controversial nature, and their inclusion here does not necessarily express my agreement with either the political or theological views of the source.  I simply find these articles worth discussing and bringing to the attention of my fellow believers (or worth reminding about).

Desiring God: Why Read the Bible?  If you follow any link from this post, follow this one.  I sincerely wish to inspire this sort of study (more with my other posts than the Highlights).  I also wish that I had come to this sort of attitude towards Bible study much sooner than I did.

The Gospel Coalition: 60 Second Summary: Defining Religious Liberty Down

The Foundry: Business Owners Battle Obamacare for Religious Freedom and Chick-fil-A Latest Example of How Same-Sex Marriage Threatens Religious Freedom

CNS News: DOJ to Colorado Family: Give Up Your Religion or Your Business

The practice of faith in and through business – actually, anywhere outside the home and the physical church – is being attacked on two fronts right now.  First, through healthcare “reform” rules; second, gay marriage vs. traditional family values.  There is undoubtedly both a spiritual and a political battle going on here, religious freedom is an absolutely critical issue – both to religious practitioners (of any faith), and to a moral society.  Some Christians may not realize the significance of this – that government might try to restrict us to exercising our faith only within the walls of our homes and churches, for them, I recommend this article from the Resurgence.  I strongly believe that the worst thing a Christian can do is take a head-in-the-sand attitude towards this issue in its current form.  The next worst thing is to limit his or her response to “I’ll pray for my leaders and trust God.”  While it is certainly necessary to pray for our leaders and to trust God, if we stop there, we are either adopting an attitude of pride towards the issue (it’s not worth my time to deal with that), or complacence (showing by our actions that we don’t really care about the outcome).  If you are honest enough to acknowledge your stake in this issue, here is what I suggest:  pray, pray, and pray some more.  Then talk to your pastor, other church leaders, and fellow congregants about what is going on – make people who agree with you aware of the issue, then pray corporately over the issue.  Talk about it when you’re in public, and invite bystanders to join the conversation – maybe next time you’re getting coffee with a Christian friend, ask the person at the next table what they think.  Don’t be shy, but also don’t be rude or confrontational if you find out that they disagree.  If they do disagree, then it’s a golden gospel sharing opportunity, and you can raise the questions about first amendment and religious freedoms as sort of an appologetics technique.  Beyond that, if you can do so in a God-honoring manor, contact your elected representatives (Congress, Senate), as well as your local media, and call on them to report on the issue in an honest way.

Fox: Black Wedding Banned by Baptist Church:  Racism still exists, even within the Church, and it is utterly wrong! I don’t know if lack of spine in this sense is a sin that should disqualify a pastor from ministry, but it would not bother me if the local First Baptist affiliation revoked their endorsement of that church and pastor.  If you are a Christian living an a multi-ethnic community, seek to build a multi-ethnic church; if you are a part of a mono-ethnic congregation in a multi-ethnic  community, seek to change that, and seek to build ministry and outreach partnerships with other congregations of different ethnicities (yes, you might also have to work across denominational lines).

Desiring God: How to Watch the Olympic Games and How Does Physical Exercise Relate to Sanctification?:  I don’t have any particular comments here, I just found these topics interesting, what do you think?

Headline Highlights: 2012, July 27

I link these articles here because I believe the issues are important for Christians to be mindful of and to carefully weigh out.  Some articles are of a controversial nature, and their inclusion here does not necessarily express my agreement with either the political or theological views of the source.  I simply find these articles worth discussing and bringing to the attention of my fellow believers (or worth reminding about).

The Foundry: The Dad Divide in Child Welfare:  Here are current stats on the absence of fathers.  The Church, and thoughtful Christians have a role in addressing this issue.  Part of that role is in protecting the sanctity of marriage (see below), but it is also in mentoring and building Godly men and fathers.

Christianity Today: Why Gay Marriage is More Than a Legal Issue:  It is very accurate to liken McCarthyism with the modern liberal attitude towards traditional Christian Family Values – and anyone espousing such values.  As I have mentioned before, Christians should make careful distinctions between the civic and evangelistic dimensions of this issue.  As a citizen, I will ardently oppose any legislation condoning gay marriage.  But as a Christian, homosexuals are no more sinful than any other person guilty of sexual sin, and  I will minister and relate to homosexuals in the same way as I would to a person who was a porn addict, adulterer, or promiscuous.  Any other approach is either theologically inconsistent or incoherent – either to speak on God’s behalf and say that he holds a different attitude towards homosexuality than sexual sin in general, or to allow contradictions within scripture by utterly mutilating the intent of any biblical passage addressing sexual sin or homosexuality.

The Gospel Coalition: Do You See the Suffering:  While immigration is undoubtedly a hot-button political issue in the US.  How should the Church respond?  Admittedly, my faith and my politics are in conflict here.  But I remember (thanks to either Spurgeon or Lawson) that politics is not the God ordained venue for world change, but the Gospel.  If we see the suffering of the impoverished, many of whom immigrate illegally to the United States, we will be better equipped to bring the Gospel to them.  But if we merely criminalize their immigration and lump them in with the genuine criminals who also immigrate illegally, we reduce the issue to race, and fail as ambassadors of Christ.  This article is also very much in line with Stearns’ Hole in Our Gospel.

Right of Refusal vs. Loving Your Neighbor

Before you read my thoughts, here’s the source article from Desiring God: Some Foreseen Effects of Legalizing So-Called Same Sex Marriage.

When a Christian business makes a business decision based on their religion, shouldn’t that be protected by the First Amendment? To Christians doing business, I don’t know the case law or constitutional issues around a “right to refuse service,” but you would be well advised to follow this issue, or to somehow include in your marketing materials that you are a faith based business.  However if you see your work as “Business as Mission,” then how are you going to reach people if you refuse to accept them as clients based on their unbeliever’s decision to live outside of a believer’s moral standard?  If it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict the heart and induce repentance, then we should exercise discernment and be open to allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us in that person’s life.

Hopefully it is at least somewhat clear that I see both a civic and an evangelistic dimension in this issue.  From the civic dimension I believe that the court was utterly wrong to infringe on what appears to me to be the First Amendment rights of a business (we know from the Citizens United decision that the First Amendment applies to businesses).  From the evangelistic dimension (which Pastor Piper didn’t mention in his post, but I assume he would agree) Christians still have a duty to love and evangelize homosexuals (under the Great Commission and Greatest Commandment).  As this is a particularly delicate area of evangelism, great care should be taken when deciding the nature of even a business-as-mission interaction with a client living in overt sin.  Not every Christian, and certainly not every Christian business is equipped to minister effectively to homosexuals; and even if they are effectively equipped for such work, the business relationship with that particular client or prospect may not be conducive to evangelism.

If you are a Christian doing business, are you personally equipped for ministry to homosexuals (or addicts, or xyz overt sinner)?  If you are, might the typical business-client relationship in your field open doors to do such ministry?  If not (which I believe was most likely the case for Elane Photography), then you are probably correct not to do business with that client in a way which might be perceived to condone their sin – and any American court which chides you for exercising such right of refusal is infringing upon your First Amendment right to practice your religion without interference from the government.