Sarah Lockner was working at a California McDonald’s on September 4, 2017. Fellow coworkers notice a trail of blood leading to Lockner. She tried to attribute the blood to a heavy period, but a coworker went to the bathroom and found a newborn baby in the toilet. Lockner had given birth during the shift and tried to flush her own child down the toilet. (more…)
Category: society
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Woman will serve no prison time for trying to flush newborn baby down toilet
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The Church: serving together in the Mission of God
What this is saying is that we have one body but our body has many parts to it.In 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul gives a fantastic illustration for the church. It functions like a human body. Everyone in the church is part of the body and has a purpose within the body. If a part of the body is unhealthy or is not functioning properly, that effects the rest of the body. -
People oppose Christian prayer gathering at the day of prayer
Today is the National Day of Prayer. It’s a day set aside to turn to God in prayer. The modern day National Day of Prayer was established by an act of congress in 1952, although similar themed days in American government go back to the 1770s.I came across an article in my former college’s newspaper this week talking about some division within the Bowling Green, Ohio community over this year’s day of prayer.
Bowling Green has an annual prayer gathering in front of the Wood County courthouse. This specific prayer gathering is organized by a privately funded Christian task force. The Christian task force (prepare to be shocked) keeps their prayer gathering as a Christian prayer meeting with Christian speakers.
This is the heart of the controversy because some think that it’s wrong that the event is excluding other faiths.
One of the wonderful things about our nation is the freedom to assemble and associate. Anyone of any other faith is welcome to setup a similar event for the day of prayer (or every day, for that matter). But a Christian group has every right to keep their event as a Christian event. The job of the privately funded task force is not to setup an event that equally represents all faiths.
Literally hundreds of thousands of churches meet in a similar fashion every week. They’re also not meeting to pray to the deities of other religions.
Part of the argument against this exclusively Christian prayer gathering is that it gets away from the heart of the meaning of the day of prayer. We can agree to disagree over that, but it doesn’t change that this specific group has decided to make their prayer service an exclusively Christian service.
I ask: would anyone take offense at Buddhists having a Buddhist only prayer service? Would there be objections to Jewish people having a Jewish prayer service? Absolutely anyone is welcome to attend this Christian prayer service so long as they understand that it is a Christian prayer service, and that involves praying to Jesus in the name of Jesus. And that’s the heart of the issue. The Christian task force isn’t interested in generic prayers.
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!
Josh Benner has a Master of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He has served churches in Minnesota and Illinois. He enjoys writing about faith and culture. He lives with his wife Kari in St. Louis.
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North Carolina church hosts drag performance in opposition to LGBT policy
A Methodist Church in North Carolina is protesting the recent vote within their denomination which kept traditional marriage the official policy of the UMC denomination. In response, Calvary United Methodist Church hosted “drag me to church,” which the church described as “a family friendly drag performance.”
Calvary pastor Chris Agoranos said, “It brings such good and positive energy, which is really what we wanted this to be about,”
This is blasphemy. (more…)
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What the Mayo Clinic can teach us about personal growth
Last weekend, I watched “The May Clinic: Faith, Hope, and Science” by Ken Burns. I’ve always been a fan of Ken Burns’ work, and this documentary was a fascinating look into one of the greatest hospitals on earth, its history, innovation, and the people they’ve helped. At times, it was very touching.The Mayo clinic is named after founding doctors William Mayo and his sons William and Charles. One of the things that struck me about the documentary was their commitment to learning and teaching. They made medicine collaborative. In the documentary, medical historians argue that in their day, doctors weren’t always keen on sharing what worked with other doctors out of fear that someone could just turn around and use their techniques. (more…)
