This weekend, Fox News pundit Tomi Lahren (a woman who’s generally conservative-libertarian but who happens to be pro choice) argued that abortion isn’t a battle worth fighting.
In her argument, Lahren says that conservatives lose on social issues. I think this is part of the failure of her argument. The life of an unborn baby is not a “social issue.” It’s a fundamental right that the child has.
She argues that a challenge on Roe vs Wade is unlikely to succeed. That might be true. But does that mean it’s not worth trying?
I don’t think Lahren gets it because she’s. not. pro. life. She’s pro choice and she’s also looking at the issue from a political perspective, what’s expedient, what’ll help get votes.
The argument I find most troubling is that Lahren argues that “it’s not the government’s place to dictate.” It’s not the government’s place to dictate? The government necessarily has to dictate some things with this issue. For instance, for Miss Lahren, at what point is an abortion no longer justified? And who decides that?
If she feels like it’s not the government’s role, wouldn’t a better answer be to leave it up to the states? It’s not like a reversal of Roe would make abortion illegal or dictate to everyone what they can or cannot do.
But I return to my point that the lives of the unborn are worth fighting for. Political popularity doesn’t dictate what’s moral.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
“Accountability” is one of those popular words that I hear in the church.
People form accountability groups where they answer questions in regards to lust. People tell friends that they “need to be held accountable” for a certain area of sin in their lives.
Accountability is a good, wise, and Biblical practice. James calls us to accountability: confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16).
But accountability is only as good as a person’s willingness to be held accountable. In a moment of struggle, there can be a renewed commitment to changing your life and calling people to hold you accountable. But what about a few days, a few weeks, a few months later when the same old temptations come creeping back? An initial reaction can be to want to hide, to withdraw, to say “I’m fine” when you’re not fine. All of these make accountability worthless.
It’s good when we hold one another accountable. But more important than someone else’s commitment to holding you accountable is your commitment to actually being held accountable, to being willing to be held accountable when the going gets tough, and a willingness to be vulnerable before you’ve fallen back into an area of struggle.
Accountability must be accountability in practice, not in theory. It’s more impo
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
This spring, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Philadelphia. Neither of us had ever been there before. I loved it. Thought it was an amazing city. As someone who loves history, there are some incredible sights to see in Philadelphia. It’s surreal that you’ll be in the middle of a major city and you’ll also be walking between buildings that housed some of the most important events in our nation’s history, and that were here over 200 years ago.
My favorite sight to see was Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and adopted. It was surreal to be in a room, and to think, “George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton have all been in this room.” It felt as though I was standing on hallowed ground.
Much gets said about our founding fathers and our history. They were imperfect men. But imperfect as they were, they also did something great.
Revisionist historians like to argue that the only reason the Founding Fathers declared independence from Britain was out of a desire to not pay taxes. This overlooks the fact that the founders committed an act of treason against the Crown when they declared independence. Had the United States lost the war, they would have all been hanged. And it wasn’t a guarantee that the United States would win. The Continental Army had the daunting task of synthesizing an army together from colonies (who had largely been independent of one another) into a cohesive army.
Assembly Room at Independence Hall
The last line of the Declaration of Independence says:
For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Many of our Founding Fathers paid dearly in the cause of liberty and freedom.
Robert Morris of Pennsylvania had amassed great wealth and gave it all away to support the army and navy. He also had loaned money to the Continental Congress in 1776. Morris was never paid back and died in poverty.
Thomas Nelson of Virginia had his home overtaken and used as a headquarters by General Cornwallis. Nelson ordered his own home to be burned down. He spent $2 million of his own money (an incredible sum in the 18th century), to help fund the war. Nelson was also never paid back and died impoverished.
Phillip Livingston of New York was one of the richest men in America but also lost all of his fortune and didn’t survive to see the end of the war, dying less than two years after he signed the Declaration of Independence.
Richard Stockton of New Jersey was arrested by the British in 1776 and spent three years as a prisoner. When he was released, his health was failing, and he died two years later in financial ruin.
When Charleston, South Carolina was overtaken by the British in 1780, three of the four signers of the Declaration of Independence were taken as prisoners of war. When they were released, their property had been pillaged.
And there are many other examples. They cost of starting a nation. A nation that is imperfect, but which has also spread more freedom to the world than any other nation in history.
I think our founding fathers, and the subsequent millions of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who have fought to defend that freedom. Most especially, I’m thankful for the freedom of religion that we have in this nation. That we are free to worship as we desire. So many tyrants throughout the world have attacked the freedom of religion at the alter of imposing religions or eliminating religions. But the beauty of America is that we can worship as we choose.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
We live in a soulmate focused society. We love the idea of finding the one.
As a millennial, perhaps it’s because our generation grew up with VHS and we were able to watch and rewatch and rewatch the same Disney movies over and over again, seeing the happily ever after. But in fairytales, we never actually see the day to day of what the “ever after” ends up looking like.
You don’t have a perfect person because YOU’RE not a perfect person. And a relationship takes two people. And since a relationship includes you, it’ll have problems. Now multiply that by two as you find someone who is also imperfect.
The problem with trying to find the right person is that it’s inherently self-centered. It implies you can find one person who completes you, who builds you up, who makes you whole.
That’s not how God designed us.
It is God who makes us whole. It is in God that we find purpose and life.
If we have the mentality that another person will be what completes us, we’re viewing the relationship as a taker. Thinking that a significant other or spouse’s sole job in life is to support you and build you up will lead to an unbalanced and unhealthy relationship. Too many relationships are made up of two takers.
But that’s what we want. Instead of looking for that person, you need to be that person. You need to be a giver, you need to want to support and honor another person.
“The doesn’t seem fair!”
But it seems fair to look for someone who’s going to do that for you?
Both people need to be focused on giving, being selfless, and serving the other. We’re imperfect and so we’ll do that imperfectly, but when people work to build that relationship, it’s a beautiful thing.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
It was only three years ago today that the Supreme Court which guaranteed the right to marry for same-sex couples.
It feels a lot longer ago than three years.
It’s amazing how fast it all happened.
Many years ago, the argument for recognizing the legal validity of same-sex marriages and unions was the “what if two people are in a loving relationship for many years and one is in the hospital. Their partner can’t visit them?”
We’re so far beyond that now.
A celebrity says something critical of same-sex marriage and there’s a backlash, efforts to boycott and essentially destroy the person.
Tolerance has been traded for tyranny.
The conversation has been crushed on this issue.
State after state after state voted against it. 32 of 33 states where this was voted on, voted no. In 13 of those states, the vote wasn’t even close, with more than 70 percent of people voting to ultimately preserve the traditional American definition of a marriage.
And now, it’s a fundamental right. And now, if a business owner doesn’t want to support it, he’s a hateful and bigoted. The public arena does not tolerate dissent, it doesn’t tolerate having any moral opinion on the matter other than enthusiastic support and affirmation.
America has changed the definition of love, promoting the idea that you cannot love a person and simultaneously disagree with an aspect of his or her life. But love is not purely about affirmation. Everyone knows that. We see people do things all the time where we disagree with them but still love them.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
-1 Corinthians 13:4-7
We flourish when we live in accordance with Godly wisdom. God’s ways are better than our ways. True joy and purpose is found in living for God, desiring to honor and follow God. Based on the Bible, it is my firm conviction that same-sex relationships are fundamentally inconsistent with this and are sinful.
Love is meant to be unconditional. Love doesn’t mean to always love everything someone does but it means to love a person where they are today. Love is loving a person even if they never do live in agreement with what we think is moral or right.
Love is also ultimately wanting the best for someone.
In Evangelical circles, there have sadly been many examples of unloving treatment towards the LGBT community. This is tragic. Culturally, we’ve been losing the public discussion on LGBT issues.
Part of the mistake that we make is we start at the wrong place. The Church shouldn’t be trying to save people to heterosexuality. We need to build relationships and spread the gospel. It is God who transforms souls and lives.
Josh Benner is the associate pastor at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.
It was only three years ago today that the Supreme Court which guaranteed the right to marry for same-sex couples.
