Josh Benner

Tag: politics

  • 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…)

  • Despite having done nothing wrong, backlash continues against Kentucky students

    student+native+americanTruth matters. Or at least, it should.

    There was a firestorm last weekend as attention was drawn to a group of young men from a Catholic school in Kentucky who attended the March for Life in Washington. In particular, a picture of one of the students went viral. The original narrative was that the students were chanting racist epithets and menacingly intimidating a Native American who began chanting a prayer of peace.

    (more…)

  • Lauren Daigle catches heat for punting on LGBT question

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    Lauren Daigle’s new album “Look Up Child” has been incredibly poplar. It’s been a #1 album on Christian charts but the incredibly talented singer has also been achieving mainstream success with her album reaching as high as third on the Billboard Top 200, a rarity for a religious album. She’s even appeared on the Tonight Show, Ellen, and Dancing with the Stars.

    On a recent interview with Domenick Nati, Daigle was asked if she believed homosexuality was a sin. The singer responded: “You know, I can’t honestly answer on that…too many people that I love (that) are homosexuals.”

    Within Evangelical circles, Daigle has been heavily criticized this week.

    She did have an opportunity to publicly defend the sanctity of marriage.

    But I can also appreciate that it was a difficult situation to be in. Because it’s an issue where it’s hard to disagree and not be viewed as hateful or bigoted. It’s an issue that warrants individual conversations rather than broad commentary.

    I do think she could have handled that question better than she did, but she was basically put in a no-win situation.

    I know many Christians would disagree with me.

    But I think we can make a mistake of weighing homosexuality ahead of other areas of sin, as if it’s preeminent. We can put it on a pedestal.

    Don’t misunderstand me. I do believe it’s a sin.

    And if you’ve ever listened to my preaching, I don’t think I’m someone who would be accused of taking sin lightly.

    All sin and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). All are equally dead in sin apart form Christ. The gospel is not saving someone to heterosexuality but it is saving people to Jesus. The gospel is not “get straight and then get saved,” it’s to come to Jesus where you are. The starting point of the gospel is not to try to change a person’s orientation. It’s to love people unconditionally, and invite them into a relationship with Jesus.

    The Bible is clear that marriage is between one man and one woman. The Bible is clear that the only framework by which a sexual union can be morally engaged in is through marriage. The Bible is clear that anything outside of that is sin.

    But someone want people beating their chest in the public arena on this issue.

    It’s true that in the Old Testament, there were prophets who warned Israel of divine wrath and judgment. In the New Testament, Paul called out those who were distracting people from the gospel. Jesus railed against the sinfulness of the moral teachers. But these were groups within the Jewish religious communities.

    I’m not arguing for cultural relativism. God is righteous and God has a righteous standard to approach him: Jesus. My point is that in the Bible, within the faith community, because it was a faith community, there was a common and agreed upon standard to which to hold people accountable and question people for disregarding.

    God’s moral will is still righteous, and holy, and good. And immorality should be addressed. But in the context of desiring to build relationships, does calling out everyone’s individual sins need to be the starting point? Or is the issue not about one particular sin but a sinful nature and a life that is sinful and opposed to God apart from Christ?

    The disease for all of humanity is sin and the cure is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

    I have no doubt that she does have relationships with people who are homosexual that she genuinely loves. It’s a complicated subject. It’s a hard balance to maintain relationships and to hold to fundamental Biblical truths which many dislike. Because those relationships are important. And publicly coming out with a hard line position against homosexuality could be harmful to relationships. She’s a singer not a theologian.

    I can appreciate not wanting to alienate a lot of people (not just in terms of record sales and popularity), but also not wanting to turn people away from a message.

    Much of our society has made up its mind on this subject and so a traditional Biblical view will make a person seem hateful and homophobic. The idea that you can “love the sinner, not the sin” has been rejected by much of the culture.

    However we love the sinner, not the sin in all sorts of other areas of life. Why is there no room to love people while morally disagreeing on this issue?

    I know some are extremely critical of Daigle. I don’t see what that really accomplishes. Frankly, the vast majority of people will never be in the position she’s in with the platform she has. I’ve heard people say that she’s not even a Christian based on her response. That seems a bit heavy handed. The Apostle Peter denied even knowing Jesus on Maundy Thursday.

    The starting point needs to be the gospel.

    Since she was asked, I do have criticism that she basically avoided the question. If she doesn’t have an opinion on that issue, she needs to study the clear Biblical teachings on the matter. If she does think it’s wrong but didn’t want to say it, she should have more backbone than that.

    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. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Remembering our 41st president: George H.W. Bush

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    I do not mistrust the future. I do not fear what is ahead. For our problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are great, but our will is greater.
    -George H.W. Bush

    It’s a National Day of Mourning as America’s 41st president is laid to rest.

    Anyone who knows me knows that the presidency has always fascinated me. Regardless of what we might think about a particular president, we spend years seeing them in the news. They sign legislation that impacts future generations. They make court appointments that influence legal decisions for years to come. They make decisions on foreign policy that impact America’s relations with other nations. I do think the presidency should be respected. It’s often been said that one of the greatest strengths of the American political system is the peaceful transition of power when one presidency ends and another begins.

    He was elected president in 1988, after spending two terms as vice president under Ronald Reagan. That was the first time a sitting vice president had been elected president in over 150 years when Martin Van Buren was elected president in 1836. Like George H.W. Bush, Van Buren was also a one-term president.

    It’s perhaps a blessing and a curse to be in that situation: people who didn’t like your predecessor won’t like you. There’s a shadow over your administration from your predecessor. People who liked that person might judge you when compared to them, and since it was their popularity that may have helped you, it’s hard to go up.

    At the same time, you want to be your own president. None of this is to undermine the accomplishments of our 41st president. Even before becoming president, Bush had already had an illustrious career.

    He enlisted in the navy on his 18th birthday and served as a fighter pilot in World War II. After the war, he moved to Texas and became an oil tycoon. He entered politics in the 60s, being elected to the House of Representatives from Texas in 1967. In 1971, he became the United States ambassador to the United Nations. In 1973, he became the chairman of the Republican National Committee. He was a liaison to China. Bush ran for president in 1980. When the republican nomination was unwinnnable, eventual winner Ronald Reagan brought Bush onto the the ticket where Bush served as vice president from 1981-1989.

    As president, George Bush saw the Berlin Wall come down in 1989 and Germany was reunified in 1990. He was president when he Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.

    He signed the Americans with Disabilities Act which made discrimination illegal in employment, public accommodations, and transportation. He signed the Clean Air Act in 1990. He was Commander-in-Chief during the Persian Gulf War. He appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. He helped negotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Bill Clinton later signed into law. He passed a civil rights bill, a farm bill, and a crime bill.

    President Bush had promised “read my lips, no new taxes” when running for president. But deficits made tax increases inevitable during his tenure. That and third party candidate Ross Perot were contributing factors to his defeat by Bill Clinton in 1992.

    An American hero, a public servant, a leader of the free world.

    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. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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  • Election of firsts – but you have to be the right first to get attention

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    Update: there have been chances in vote leaders in certain elections since the writing of this article. Martha McSally and Young Kim would go on to lose their elections.  

    I’ve seen a lot of posts and Tweets about the diverse candidates who were elected on Tuesday. Van Jones of CNN said the election didn’t turn out to be a blue wave but it was a rainbow wave.

    Many are celebrating that the first female Muslims were elected to congress, the first openly gay governor was elected, the first two Native American women were elected to congress, the youngest woman ever was elected to congress.

    Young Kim was narrowly elected to California’s 39th congressional district. I don’t see her on the list. But she’s the first Korean American elected to the US congress. She’s a republican so that doesn’t get celebrated with the others. I did a search on Twitter for these lists that also happen to mention the first Korean American woman. I found five. TOTAL. On all of Twitter.

    But that makes the celebration seem disingenuous to me. Diversity gets celebrated but only if it’s the right people, otherwise it gets ignored. Martha McSally was elected to the senate in Arizona. She was a pilot in the air force and the first female to fly as a fighter pilot. When she retired from her 22 year military career, McSally was a colonel and one of the highest ranking female pilots in Air Force history. A remarkable woman. But she’s a republican so she gets largely ignored.

    Essentially it doesn’t matter to people who celebrate it. It’s not about any of these diverse candidates who won. If it were, Young Kim would also be celebrated. What matters is people who adhere to a certain political ideology. And if they happen to check intersectional boxes, that’s great. If they check those boxes and aren’t progressive, they’re ignored.

    Also, why the need to front load things with a person’s race, gender, or orientation instead of their plans to govern?

    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. He lives with his wife Kari in Minnesota.

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