Josh Benner

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  • Legal victory for Christian organization at the University of Iowa

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    A Christian organization at the University of Iowa had a legal win this week.

    The University of Iowa has a human rights policy to which it holds registered student organizations. In this policy, it disallows students organizations from treating people different based on: “race, creed, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, disability, genetic information, status as a U.S. veteran, service in the U.S. military, sexual orientation, gender identity, associational preferences, or any other classification that deprives the person of consideration as an individual.”

    But several student organizations require that leaders and members adhere to traditional Christian values, which includes abstaining from sex outside of marriage as well as not engaging in same-sex relationships.

    This week, a U.S. District Court ruled that the university cannot revoke the recognized status of registered student organizations who uphold Christian principles. This specific suit was brought by Business Leaders in Christ. In 2017, an openly gay student was denied a leadership position in BLinC.

    Recognition of the university matters for several reasons: it allows an organization to participate in various university functions, it allows the organization to use campus space for meetings, it makes an organization eligible to apply for various types of university funding, among other benefits.

    This is a win for all of the Christian organizations on campus. The university was selectively discriminating against faith-based organizations. All sorts of registered student organizations violate the Iowa policy, and are still allowed to exist. You have fraternities which only allow men, sororities which only allow women. Iowa has a registered Chinese student organization, which is only open to Chinese students. There’s a women’s a cappella group that only allows women.

    But many people in our society hate the moral beliefs of Christianity, and so Christian groups are an easy target.

    Gong forward, I fear that this is something we will continue to see: trying to overrule Christian values and Christians trying to live out those values by attempting to supersede Christian organizations and institutions with discrimination laws.

    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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  • The gospel is unstoppable in a world that is often hostile

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    Paul was the greatest missionary who ever lived. When writing to the Philippians, he was in jail. That’s the last place he needs to be! Why would God allow this to happen? Wouldn’t it be better for Paul to be out in the mission field sharing Jesus?

    Regardless of what is happening in the world, God is still at work.

    In Acts 16, Paul was also imprisoned, yet in that passage, it was because God did not spare Paul from prison that he was able to witness to his jailer. (more…)

  • Online dating 101: understanding that it’s different from traditional dating

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    There are a lot of different places where Americans meet their significant others. School, work, church, social organizations, through friends, just to name a few.
    But one commonality in these organic means of meeting someone is that you don’t generally pursue a relationship from the start of getting to know them. A relationship or friendship marinates, it grows.
    If you meet someone online, it gets the whole process reversed. Instead of getting to know someone and later seeing if a relationship could blossom, with online dating, the start of the conversation is often aimed at screening someone to see if a relationship could be possible.

    (more…)

  • One senator blocks bill protecting born-alive babies in failed abortions

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    We’re continuing to see how radical the democratic party and the pro-choice movement are getting on abortion. They keep denying how radical they are. Two weeks ago, it was the late term abortion ban in New York. People argued that it wasn’t really all that radical. It was a law that was strictly meant to provide late term abortions just in situations where it was medically necessary (which was already legal in New York), and that the only reason a person would even have a late term abortion would be situations where it was medically necessary.

    Then why change the law when it was already legal? The new law was an expansion of abortion protections that has a wider scope than many wanted to acknowledge. The new law broadened circumstances when late term abortion was legal to vaguely include “health,” which was not necessarily merely referring to a life-saving procedure. (more…)

  • Jesus and the one necessary thing

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    38     Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

    -Luke 10:38-42
    The text tells us that Martha was distracted.
    Think about it from Martha’s perspective. Martha is just trying to be a good host!
    Jesus is at her house!
    Wouldn’t you want to be a good host too?!
    Wouldn’t you want to impress him too?!
    Wouldn’t you want him to think well of you too?!

    (more…)