Two Virginia politicians have faced backlash this week regarding statements they made on abortion. What we’re going to do this evening is look at those comments and some of the recent news in state abortion laws.
The Commonwealth of Virginia had proposed a law that would have expanded abortion parameters. The bill failed, but many were shocked by the cold manner with which bill sponsor Kathy Tran discussed the allowances under her law, if passed. (more…)
This story is a fantastic illustration of the power of greed.
If they had just split the money, no one would have ever known!
I remember hearing about this when it happened. A nice story of a woman running out of gas in a dangerous part of Philadelphia. A kind hearted, homeless veteran saw her plight and went to get gas for her, spending the last $20 he had to buy gas for the lady.
And so the lady setup a GoFundMe account to raise money in order to help get this selfless veteran back on his feet.
And so people donated to the GoFundMe. A lot of people donated! 14,000 people donated. More than $400,000 was raised to help this man get back on his feet.
But things took a turn earlier this year.
The homeless man (Johnny Bobbitt) sued the woman and her boyfriend (Kate McClure and Mark D’Amico) for not giving him the proceeds of the GoFundMe campaign.
At the time, people had mixed opinions. “You can’t just give a drug addict hundreds of thousands of dollars,” to “it’s his money.” There were allegations of the couple using some of the funds for themselves. GoFundMe promised to make it right.
And then today, the couple AND Bobbitt are being charged with theft by deception. After an investigation, the authorities claim that the whole thing was made up! If convicted, they face up to 5-10 years in prison, according to CNN.
GoFundMe has said they’ll refund the money that people donated. While the average person spent just $28 in this scam, I feel that what these people did is just as bad as robbing someone. They took people’s money by creating a ruse that preyed upon the good nature of people.
GoFundMe is not above reproach. It’s not a perfect site. And there are certainly frivolous things which raise money on that site. But it’s also been a life changing blessing to many people in need. And this scam hurts the credibility of GoFundMe.
It’s poetic justice that people who scammed others also tried to scam each other. Like I said in the beginning, had they just split the money amongst themselves, no one would have known!
Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to subscribe!
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. His hobbies include working out, watching sports, and photography. Josh and his wife Kari live in Minnesota.
There’s a high school in East Hanover, New Jersey. They had cheerleader tryouts. Some girls didn’t make the team. Parents of one girl complained. The school district revised their policy and decides to allow every girl to be on the squad.
It’s disappointing to want something and not get it. From many personal experiences, I can relate. Jobs I didn’t get. Goals I failed to achieve. I still have a letter from a graduate school that didn’t accept me (I still think they were wrong!)
In college, I ran for vice president of the organization that oversaw the fraternities. I had the goal of becoming president my senior year. When I ran for vice president, I lost. It was a disappointing setback.
When you don’t accomplish a goal, you can complain, make excuses, or feel sorry for yourself. Or you can refocus, work harder, and try again.
High school is old enough to learn start learning that lesson. And it’s an important life lesson. We learn so much more from disappointment and challenge than we do from winning and ease.
Show me a person who always succeeds, and I’ll show you a person who needs to be striving for some more challenging accomplishments.
Many are criticizing the school as another example of “snowflakes” and of our participation trophy culture. In this situation, I think those criticisms are warranted.
Some of the cheerleaders went before the school board and a young woman said that this new policy threw her hard work “out the window.” We make a mistake when we let the unqualified participate in the name of fairness. And it also undermines those who worked hard. It cheapens their effort.
So instead of girls who didn’t making the team learning a valuable lesson about disappointment, the girls who rightfully made the team are learning a different life lesson: “life isn’t always fair and you have to deal with a lot of ridiculousness.”
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.
A few weeks ago, the Episcopal diocese in America voted to remove gender pronouns for God in updated versions of their Book of Common Prayer.
I think many in our world believe in a gospel of “you’re ok.”
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about liberal Christianity.
They place a strong emphasis on love. And love is obviously important. The greatest commandment that Jesus gives is to love God and to love our neighbor. Not just to love our neighbor, but to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
But here’s where liberal Christians get it wrong.
They emphasize love to the exclusion of other aspects of God.
God is love. But he is not only love. God is also holy. God is also wise. God is also just and a judge.
And when we hold up love as the only aspect of God that matters, it will ultimately lead to affirming that which is blasphemous.
The gospel is not there to tell us that we’re all ok. Actually, it’s the opposite of that message. We are not called to love sin. Nowhere in the Bible is sin seen as a good thing. The Bible teaches that all of humanity is sinful. In fact, we are so sinful that the only way that we could be reconciled to God was for God to bear the cost of our sin. Jesus did that on the cross.
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).
Absolutely, we see the love of God in the gospel. But we also see his justice. Sin has an eternal penalty apart from Christ. And while he went to the cross to show his love, it also shows the cost of sin. Let us not take sin lightly.
When we try to decide what is good apart from God’s moral law, it ends up becoming merely the opinions of men. As the common refrain in the Bible’s book of judges goes: “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25).”
God is love but he is also wise. And just as we can’t pick and choose who to love (we are called to love everyone, to want what’s best for everyone, to have concern for people) we also cannot pick and choose which aspects of God’s wisdom and morality we want to like. It’s all true.
In the Beatitudes, Jesus teaches: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessedness is not in pursing worldly goals, it’s not in “following your truth,” it’s not in doing what makes you happy. It’s having a desire for the righteousness of the righteous and holy God who created the universe.
And because God loves us, he doesn’t desire for us to be kept the same when we come to him. It’s not a difference of opinion between us and God in regards to sin. It’s truth and falsity.
jrb
