Originally published October 8, 2015
I am a huge fan of the musical Les Miserables. I saw it on Broadway when I was 11, and I thought it was just about the most amazing thing ever. (more…)
Category: Gospel
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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins with a list of blessings called the beatitudes. The second of these blessings, found in Matthew 5:4 is “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”What does that mean?To mourn? -
The greatest commandment: the love of God
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6:5).We shouldn’t follow God’s ways because we think that will make him love us. That’s not the basis for God’s love for us. We shouldn’t follow God’s ways because we feel that God will forgive us. Our forgiveness is rooted in our faith in the gospel. We should follow God’s ways and live for God because we have a love for God.Jesus said: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15)”There are a lot of rules that we can force ourselves to follow, perhaps even if we don’t want to do them. -
Presbyterian Church in America adopts Nashville Statement
This week, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) voted to endorse the Nashville Statement. The Nashville Statement is a series of affirmations regarding traditional Biblical views of sexuality and gender and was created by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.To give a sense of what the Nashville Statement discusses:
WE AFFIRM that God has designed marriage to be a covenantal, sexual, procreative, lifelong union of one man and one woman, as husband and wife, and is meant to signify the covenant love between Christ and his bride the church.
WE DENY that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous, or polyamorous relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God. (more…)
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Bachelorette talks about faith and premarital sex
ABC reality show the Bachelorette is in the news regarding a confrontation from bachelorette Hannah Brown and contestant Luke Parker. Brown is a professing Christian and Parker is a born again Christian. The subject of sex outside of marriage came up in a conversation. Parker said “let’s say you have had sex with one – or multiple – of these guys, I would be wanting to go home.”Brown says “I’ve had sex and Jesus still loves me.” Certainly Jesus is infinitely gracious. But we also should not take a casual attitude towards sin. Brown has received criticism from many Christians this week. I think her attitude is one that has become too common among professing Christians. We take anyone pointing us to Christians teachings as them judging us. And we treat “thou shalt not judge” as the first and only commandment that matters in the 21st century. (more…)
